The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-07-24
PIONEER s, DAY.

ms IL AOlHCCIO Qcy. IL SllOQl4 Uc
held in honorable remembrance for
ever. Forty-eight years ago today a
band of pilgrims, led by Brigham
! Young, emerged from the canyon and
gazed for the first time on the valley of
the Great Salt Lake. They had fed from
! the confines of civilization because of
! religious persecution favored perhaps
with political hatred. They had trav-
eled across the plains from Winter
Quarters, now called Council Bluffs,
on the Missouri river. This was to be
their future home.
They commenced at once to pillow
the arid soil, and in order to do so had
to turn water from the scanty stream
which flowed down from the noun
tains toward the lake. that the ground
! might be sufficiently softened TO be
capable of blowing. They planted po-
tatoes the same day. A city was laid
out, the land was divided out into lots
for residences and outside tracts for
farms.
The pioneers settled here for perma-
nent residence. The plans prepared
were entered into with the view to es-
tablish a great city. Its proportions
were predetermined. The broad streets
which constitute one of the attractions
Of this now beautiful city were part of
that plan. So were the trees which
line their sides and the bitches for the
streams of water to irrigate them. The
foresight and good judgment of the
chief
today in the grand proportions of this
charming city and the method on
which it has been built.
The pioneers who opened this west
ern country to civilization were no
doubt religious enthusiasts, but they
were not wild, impracticable fanatics.
They were workers as well as behev
ers. They did not spend their time in
dreams or in fanciful theorizing. Their
religion was one of industry. They had
no use for the idler and the loafer.
They were practical persons and be-
Heved in the religion of labor They
laid the foundation for the state when
is about to enter the Union. What has
been accomplished since has been built
upon that basis. Those who have
come after them may differ in many
respects with the views they enter
tanned in politics and of theology, but
all must respect their sincerity, their
energy, their good intentions. their
perseverance and their answering de-
votion to that which they believed to
be right.
Their entrance into this valley was
the opening up of this whole inter-
mountain region. They demonstrated
the capability of this soil, then thought
to be sterile and impossible of cultiva-
ton, 70 produce those things that are
necessary for the sUstenance of man
and beast. From the work which they
commenced has sprung the labors
which have opened up surrounding
tracts of country that are now peopled
by thrifty and prosperous settlers, who
have been organized into rich common
wealths that have become a part of
the glorious Union of states, adding to
the strength and the wealth of this ma
ton
All honor 10 the pioneers of Al!
NUS VI NLlSlll 1IclN e 1IlllSIIGO lI1CII NOI n
and have gone to another and better
sphere. Those who remain are fast
passing away. Their names should be
recorded on a roll of honor to be pre-
served in the records of the state of
Utah through all coming time. The
day on which they entered the Salt
Lake valley is properly made a legal
holiday.
1t should be a time of rejoicing and
Of gratitude, for the region opened up
to white settlement, once the home of
the savage, the cricket and the snake,
where sage and rabbit-brush and
greasewood were almost the only vege-
tatiOn and where rain but seldom fell,
is now one of the most glorious spots
upon the American continent for Guilt
1-ated people to make their home. The
climate, modified in later years, can
not be excelled. All the elements of
wealth and the means for advance
ment are here, and the prospects bid
fair for the growth and development
of one of the most magnificent states
Of the great Federal Union.
Let US all unite in thankfulness for
such home, and let us properly cele-
br~te this glorious and never-to-be-
forgotten anniversary. Pioneers day.