The Wilmington morning star., 1947-05-23
utah TO REENACT
Pho R DAYS
Covered W agons To Be
Used In Mormon
Celebration
By WILLIAM 3. HATCH
United Press Staff Correspondent

AACoS etOA
SALT LAKE CITY, W.H-E you
happen to be visiting the plains
OF Nebraska this summer and see
a train of old-time pioneer Gov
cred wagons come whipping by at
40 miles per, don't call for the
little men in white jackets.
1t will be the Mormon Pioneer
Train, replete with covered
wagons and men and women
dressed in pioneer clothing. They
will be carrying rifles which first
crossed the Great Plains 100 years
ago this July.
A band of 143 men, three women
and two boys, all direct descend
ants OF Mormon pioneers, will re-
enact the famed trek OF the First
Company under Brigham Young.
They will have u automobiles
covered with canvas and with
wooden oxen apparently straining
in front.
All members making the trip
will be dressed as their fore
fathers were dressed. They also
will be carrying souvenir relics of
the pioneers with them.
The trek will start On July IA
at Nauvoo, a tiny hamlet Oh the
banks of the Mississippi, which at
one time was the largest city in
Illinois. Eight days later they will
swing down through Emigration
Canyon, just 100 years after ire
first Mormons entered the Great
Salt Lake valley.
To Follow Young's Route
The itinerary follows exactly the
route of the hardy band under
Brigham Young. From Nauvoo the
caravan will travel to Garden
Grove, Ia, to spend the first
night. Then to Omaha and North
Platte, Neb., Fl. Laramie, indie
pendence Rock, Rock Creek and
TT. Bridger, Wyo., and on to Salt
Lake over the new Brigham
Young Memorial Highway through
Emigration Canyon.
In each of the states the cara
van will cross, elaborate prepara-
tons + being made. The gov
errors of the four states involved
have promised highway patrol es-
corts.
In charge Of the expedition is
Wendell Ashton, president of the
Sons of Utah Pioneers, the organ
ization sponsoring the trip.
Ashton said members c. the
band have been carefully selected
by member chapters OF the SUP.
They are all direct descendants of
pioneers, coming from all parts Of
the west. and one from IS far
east as Chicago"
Ashton said the covered wagon
effect OF the automobiles had been
developed by Willard Smith, Sal.
Lake City bank cashier, who
worked on it in his spare time.
Three Women Picked
The canvas covering rests on a
hoop frame bolted to the auto
mobile. The whole thing weighs
about $50 pounds, with AZ OF them
being the canvas top.
Ashton said the three women be-
ing taken on the trip were the
hardest to find, since they them
selves had to be direct descend
ants OF pioneers. and also had to
be married to direct descendants.
The two boys are Boy Scouts who
also must be descendants, bat in
addition must have high rating in
scouting and be recommended by
their scoutmasters.
One of the women making the
trip is Norma Williams Waldron,
a pretty. dark-haired girl, whose
grandmother crossed the plains
with a baby in her arms and lead
ing a blind horse.
Others making the trip include
Brigham Young V. direct descend
ant of the church leader and
George Albert Bullock, son Of
Thomas Bullock, clerk of the First
Company.
Thomas Bullock was known as
the Johnny Appleseed" OF the
Mormon pioneers. He sowed corn
and wheat at the camping grounds
each night so there would be
ample food supplies for those FOL
lowing.