Utah History Encyclopedia

EXPLORATION IN UTAH Boats of the Powell expedition, Desolation Canyon United States government exploration in Utah played a pivotal role in its settlement and economic development of the state. Most, but not all, of the men that carried out the surveys represented the U.S. military as members of the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. They were the link between the early exploration by Indians and fur trappers and the later civilian scientists and researchers. These explorers not only located and mapped the physical features of this region, but also studied native flora and fauna and made ethnological observations. The majority of the published reports of their findings were well written and interesting to an eastern public eager to learn more about western territories. These narratives were greatly enhanced by illustrations done by artists (and later, photographers) who accompanied the explorers. Most of the surveyors were treated hospitably by Utah settlers who appreciated gaining information about their surroundings at U. S. government expense. The Corps officers also utilized local citizens on many of their projects. John C. Fremont There is not a more recognizable name in early government explorations than John Charles Fremont. Although he traversed very little new ground in the west and used former mountain men as guides, 1 of 13 his reports and maps provided much valuable information which stimulated westward migration. Fremont′s enthusiastic description of the valley of the Great Salt Lake did much to encourage Brigham Young to bring the Mormons to the Great Basin to settle. Among the few government explorers not educated at West Point, Fremont came west for the first time in 1842, as far as the Wind River Mountains. In May 1843 he mounted a more ambitious, well-equipped exploration that would take him as far as Fort Vancouver in the Oregon country. While en route to the northwest, he detoured south when he reached present-day Soda Springs and went through Cache Valley toward the Great Salt Lake. Following the Bear River to its mouth he was disappointed in not being able to get a good view of the lake. Fremont therefore went south to the Weber River to a point about six miles west of present-day Ogden, proceeded to Little Mountain, and climbed to its summit where he and his men could view the whole expanse of the lake. A few days later, Fremont′s party, which included Kit Carson, reached an island (later designated "Fremont Island") from which they made a telescopic survey. They drew a map of the lake from a position on its rocky summit. Just below this point, the group carved what Carson called, "a large cross" on 9 September 1843. Though only seven inches long, it is visible on that rock formation to this day. Fremont also did a brief scientific analysis to determine the lake′s salinity. After completing his trek to Fort Vancouver, Fremont journeyed south along the east slopes of the Sierra Nevadas searching for the mythical Buenaventura River. He confirmed the findings of the early mountain men that there was no channel that drained any of the Utah lakes into the Pacific Ocean. In 1844 Fremont left California and picked up the Old Spanish Trail, returning to the East via Utah Lake, Spanish Fork Canyon, and the Uinta Mountains. He was first to call the area that he had skirted during the year′s exploration, "The Great Basin." In 1845 America′s "Pathfinder" spent some more time in the Salt Lake Valley. On this particular trip he discovered the relationship between the Utah and Great Salt Lakes with the connecting Jordan River. Again with Kit Carson, he paid a visit to the large island which he named for its abundance of antelope. When he left the lake, he headed west across the Great Salt Lake Desert toward California, following a central route between those taken earlier by Jedediah Smith in 1827 and by Joseph Walker in 1833. Fremont′s course would become a portion of the later Hastings Cut-off. He gave names to Pilot Peak and the Humboldt River 2 of 13 in Nevada on this trip. Fremont′s final excursion through Utah was in 1853. It was a privately financed exploration to find a route for the proposed Pacific railroad. His course was similar to another undertaken earlier that year by Captain John W. Gunnison and was of little consequence to Utah′s history compared to his earlier visits. However, it is interesting to note that he undertook this exploration in an effort to ascertain what the route would be like during the winter months. He entered present-day Utah by way of the Colorado River, and by the time he came through Fremont Pass and arrived in Parowan his entire party was suffering from hunger and exposure to the harsh winter conditions, having already lost one of their number in death. The local residents took the survivors into their homes and nursed them back to health before they continued on to California over the Old Spanish Trail. Howard Stansbury Howard Stansbury was not a graduate of a Military Academy. He spent several years as a non-military civil engineer; however after extensive survey experience in the East, the Great Lakes and other areas in the Trans-Mississippi West, he was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in 1838 when the Corps of Topographical Engineers was first organized. After service during the Mexican War, Stansbury received orders in early spring of 1849 to make a reconnaissance of the Platte River Trail proceeding west across the Wasatch Mountains to Salt Lake City. Among his various tasks, Stansbury was expected to survey the entire valley of the Great Salt Lake, study the Indian tribes and the Mormons, locate a supply route from the valley settlement north to the emigrant trail and make a study of the natural resources in the area. When the exploration team arrived at Fort Bridger en route to the Salt Lake area, Stansbury had Lt. John Gunnison take the supply train over the Mormon Trail into the valley. Meanwhile, at the Fort, the Stansbury engaged Jim Bridger to lead a small group of his party to explore the country from Bear River Valley to Ogden′s Hole. They emerged from Ogden Canyon onto the Mormon Road along the eastern edge of the Great Salt Lake. He concluded that this would not be a good wagon or railroad route into the valley. After Stansbury met with Gunnison in Salt Lake Valley, allayed the fears 3 of 13 of Brigham Young and the local settlers as to the purpose of his survey, and rested a few days, the captain began the location of a wagon road north to Fort Hall, which he found entirely satisfactory for overland travel. Next, starting from the Fort, Stansbury conducted a reconnaissance of the Great Salt Lake traveling counter-clockwise, reaching as far west as Pilot Peak. His party is credited with being the first to completely circumvent the lake by land. The exploration team wintered in the Salt Lake Valley and then completed their project the following spring and summer. This was the first time that a complete scientific investigation was made of this portion of the Great Basin. By the time the team left the valley in late August 1850 they had established an astronomical base line six miles in length, and surveyed the Jordan River and the Utah and Great Salt Lakes (with all its islands), mapping their definite boundaries. On his return to the East, Stansbury located a new route crossing present-day Wyoming that saved sixty-one miles by using Cheyenne Pass. This route would later be utilized by the Overland Stage, the Pony Express, and the Union Pacific Railroad. Stansbury′s account of his exploration was the most ambitious scientific report of all those submitted prior to the Pacific Railroad Reports, and it had both popular and scholarly appeal. John Williams Gunnison West Point honor graduate John Gunnison was transferred for health reasons to the Corps of Topographical Engineers after serving in the Seminole War in Florida. In 1849 he received orders to serve as assistant to Captain Howard Stansbury as he explored and surveyed the region of the Great Salt Lake. While left in charge that first fall, Gunnison began surveys on the Jordan River and south to the Utah Lake area. He and his crew laid down the astronomical base line upon which a network of triangles could be constructed, thus enabling them to make an accurate map of the entire valley. They erected fourteen triangulation stations to prepare for the mapping operation. After all work was completed a year later, Gunnison assisted Stansbury in preparing his famous report and he drew the excellent maps which accompanied it. 4 of 13 John Gunnison wrote a book focusing on the history, culture and theology of the Mormons based on information he gleaned during his year′s stay in the valley. It was probably the most objective work to that date on the subject and had wide appeal as evidenced by its eight domestic and two foreign editions published prior to 1890. In the summer of 1853 Captain Gunnison (now a captain) was selected to lead one of four main survey parties sent by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to find the "most practicable and economical" route for the Pacific railroad. Leaving Fort Leavenworth on 23 June 1853 Gunnison supervised the reconnaissance of the 38th parallel course through Kansas, Colorado and into Utah. Planning to winter once more in the Salt Lake Valley, Gunnison hurried to finish the survey by dividing his party in two to cover more ground.

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