Grants of up to $250 have been approved for projects relating to the Gunnison Expedition of 1853, when Captain John Williams Gunnison was killed near present-day Delta by Pahvant Indians.
The grants are awarded by the Utah Humanities Council through donations from Robert Kent and Dorothy Stratton Fieldon. They wanted to increase public awareness of the expedition through histories, art, memorials and other projects.A monument now at the site was designed and its installation arranged for by the late Stanley A. Houghton. The Fieldons were so impressed by the work of the artist that they created a fund for other projects.
Applications for the grants may be submitted to the Utah Humanities Council. For more information, call board member Carol O'Conner at (801) 797-1294 or the Council office at (801) 359-9670.
When Gunnison's party was attacked, he and some others in the group were murdered by the Indians in retribution for the killing of their Indian chief by a white immigrant wagon train. That location is now commonly referred to as the Gunnison Massacre Site.