Salt Lake City to Nephi

My train arrived in Salt Lake City early, and a short cab ride took me to the motel where my daughter, Rachelle, who will be traveling with me, had arrived earlier.

On Thursday we played tourist and visited the History Museum which is next to the Genealogy Library. It contain many original documents and artifacts from the Overland Trail and the exhibits are exceptional.

A docent there suggested I talk to Mel Bashore, a trail expert, at the History Library. So after our lunch at the Lion House, Brigham Young’s home, the next stop was the History Library. What a lucky introduction that was. Mel Bashore, once he’d heard about my quest, immediately said, “ You need to talk to Michael Landon.” I learned so much from these two gentlemen about the Pomeroy group and the trail to Los Angeles.

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Salt Lake City as Alonzo would have seen it

On the morning of Friday, the 15^th, I returned to the History Library to look at some materials in their archive and also met again with Michael Landon who gave me additional background information and some contact names. Both Michael and Mel Bashore were unbelievably generous with their knowledge and time.

When Alonzo and the Pomerory group left Salt Lake City on November 3, 1849 they traveled southwest toward Big Cottonwood Canyon. We worked our way across the city to Holloway Road that winds its way toward the Canyon and the “Old Mill.”

Big Cottonwood Creek flows from the canyon of the same name and Alonzo spent his first night on the trail from Salt Lake City on its banks. In 1861 the Deseret Paper Mill was built near the creek to provide paper for the Deseret News. The paper was made from wood pulp brought from the canyon and rags from families in the valley.

The “Old Mill” was burned on April Fool’s Day in 1893. It had become somewhat obsolete by that time as it had become cheaper to ship in paper by train. The remaining ruins provide an interesting photo subject.

The Deseret Paper Mill

The "Old Mill" and the Wasatch Mountains

Big Cottonwood Creek

A winding road with spectacular views of the Wasatch Mountains led us down from Cottonwood Heights to Draper.

We spent too much time after American Forks trying to find secondary roads, that Utah declines to mark, so we took the coward’s way out and took I-15 past Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork, Payson, and Santaquin.

We left busy I-15 at the Mona exit and drove west to Hwy 41/Old Hwy 91 which also had no marker, but a quick stop verified we were on the right road. We still travel with the mountains on our left, but now we were in the Juab Valley.

A few miles down the road is Nephi, a name found in the Book of Mormon, where we found a Best Western and spent a comfortable night in a room with a view of the mountains. Alonzo also camped here at Salt Springs.

Deserted Country Store at Mona, Utah