West to Zion - Markers - Pratt's Pass Camp - Mormon Emigrant Camp

The Mormon migration from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, in the mid 1840's, was a movement of an entire people, an entire region, and an entire culture driven by religious fervor and determination. More orderly and efficient than many emigrants traveling to Oregon and California, they traveled in semi-military fashion, grouped into companies of 100's, 50's, and 10's. Discipline, hard work, mutual assistance, and devotional practices were part of their daily routine on the trail.

Knowing that others would follow, they improved the trail and built support facilities. Businesses, such as ferries, were established to help finance the movement. The story of the Mormon Pioneer Trail is the story of the best organized mass migration in American history.

Pratt's Pass Camp - Mormon Emigrant Camp

Here at the south of Main Canyon, on Thursday, July 15, 1847, Orwin Prattt found he was seeking, "Mr. Reid's route," as he called it, was visible only as faint traces left by the wagons of the Donner Reed party, who had pioneered this route on their way to California in August of 1846. Pratt's advance party of Mormon Pioneers became the first of thousands of travelers to use this campsite on their way to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Thereafter, Mormons referred to this portion of the trail, from present-day Henefer to the mouth of Emigration Canyon, as "Pratt's Pass."

Pratt's Pass Camp - Mormon Emigrant Camp

• I Walked to Zion
  Young Pioneers on the Mormon Trail



• Historical reading
  The Old Spanish Trail


• The Dominguez-Escalante Expeditions Journals
  Through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico in 1776



• Hiking Historic Trails in Utah
  Utah's Favorite Hiking Trails


• Driving in Utah
  Scenic Driving in Utah



---