<== Site Review (2006-07-24) ==>

This Is The Place Heritage Park

The This Is The Place Heritage Park commemorates the founding of the capital city of the great Empire of Deseret. On July 24th, 159 years ago, the LDS leader Brigham Young entered the Salt Lake Valley at Emigration Canyon. On seeing a fertile valley surrounded by tall mountains and clear streams, he is recorded as saying "This is the Place."

In 1847, Utah was officially a Spanish Territory, although its true owners were the Native Americans who had lived in state for a several millennia. In Washington, DC, the expansionist president James K. Polk was engaged in a war with Mexico with the goal of creating the United States as a continental country. Manifest Destiny made the Utah Territories part of the United States of America.

The pioneer days were an exciting time. The Mormon pioneers pushed their handcarts across the expanses of the web were not sure if they were moving to found a new U.S. territory or moving west to establish a utopian society in the latter days of the Lord's creation.

The pioneer days in Utah were an exciting time of new ideas and experiences. Only a few white explorers (Jim Bridger, Father Escalante, the Donnor Party, etc.) had explored the area. The pioneer experience of '47 has imbued the state with a pioneer spirit that exists to this day as Utahns work to establish their niche on the frontiers of cyberspace.

Other sites of interest for Pioneer day include The Salt Lake Marathon and Days of 47 which has the inside scoop on parades, festivals and fireworks and the Native American Celebration in Liberty Park.