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UTAH -- Salt Lake County
Photos taken by Andy E. Wold, 04 Mar 2001. | |
Brigham Young Historic Park sits on the northwest corner of the block east of the Church Office Building, at the corner of State Street and North Temple. | |||||||||
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   "Brigham Young Historic Park"Honored here for his roles as pioneer, colonizer, governor, and religious leader, Brigham Young was best known as simply "Brother Brigham." A beloved leader and wise counselor, he served as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 to 1877. This park is a representation of the lives and industry of Brigham Young and the early pioneers. The traditions of family care and wise management they established in the beginning are still honored by the pioneers of today. "The Young's family estate, which included this site, extended north of Eagle Gate nearly three blocks. It included the eastern half of the block containing the Lion and Beehive Houses and continued east up the hill for about two blocks. The property was large enough to accommodate carpenter, shoe, and blacksmith shops; a pigeon house; a flour mill; barns; sheds; and corrals. What they called the "upper garden" had vegetables and fruit and an orchard of apple, peach, pear, and walnut trees as well as beehives. "The many buildings were needed to supply and care for the Youngs' extensive frontier family. help with Church projects, and assist pioneers. In addition to the chores family members had, full-time employees and many newly arrived pioneers found employment on the estate." | |||||||||
 
The city of Zion plat, for which this award was given,
was designed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, Brigham Young's
predecessor. The plat defines a mile-square
city laid out on a grid. Three fifteen-acre blocks form
the civic center. The surrounding ten-acre blocks are
subdivided into half-acre lots with one home per lot.
Farms with livestock, barns, and stables circle the city.
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Pioneer gardeners made "the desert blossom as the
rose." Brigham Young, in his vision of their new
communities, urged immigrants and missionaries
to bring plants from around the world. All kinds of
flowers; fruit and vegetable crops; medicinal plants;
and fruit, nut, and shade trees resulted. Daily work
in the garden was an integral part of pioneer life.
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Canyon quarries provided stone for may pioneer
structures. Much of the sandstone used in homes,
civic buildings, and the temple's first foundation
came from Red Butte Canyon, just east of here.
Little Cottonwood Canyon, to the south, supplied
granite for the massive temple walls and for replacement
of the weaker, early sandstone foundation.
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Waterwheels commonly powered pioneer mills. The
first mill on City Creek was a gristmill, built by hand
in October of 1847 to grind wheat that the pioneers
had brought across the plains. The energy harnessed
from canyon streams in the area powered many early
pioneer industries. Blacksmith shops, furniture making,
and clothing mills were among those to benefit.
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Wooden flumes often had to be built to harness the
power of streams and rivers. Flumes took water from
a stream's natural channel and directed it to the
waterwheel. Branch flumes were used to control the
water flow that bypassed the waterwheels. Keeping
the flumes repaired was vital to the success of any
industry using power generated by the waterwheel.
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Brigham Young's estate was surrounded by a nine-foot-high
stone wall. Built to protect gardens, orchards, and
buildings from canyon flooding, it also helped secure
the whole property. Family members had keys for the
conveniently placed gates, which were locked in the
evenings. Remnants of the estate's original wall have
been incorporated in the wall that remains here today.
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©2001-2005 by
Andy E. Wold About the host of this USGenWeb page. |
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| Page created 05 Mar 2001 | ||
| Other USGenWeb county pages I host: UTGenWeb (State Coordinator). |