MIDWAY -- Participants in the 1997 Mormon Trail Sesquicentennial Wagon Train gathered for a reunion during the weekend to reminisce about their experience and keep in touch with friends.
It was the second Christmas reunion in the Heber Valley for the group, which also gathered last year.Among those attending the reunion at the Midway ranch of Tom and Linda Whitaker on Saturday were participants from Iowa, Colorado, Idaho and Illinois. The gatherings have become a family reunion for some.
"Trail dust is thicker than blood," said Joseph Johnstun of Salt Lake, who walked the trail as part of the wagon train company and met his wife, Shalisse, along the way. "Even when we were crossing the first section of the trail through Iowa we all got close and then for the rest of the way we were like family."
Invited were all those who drove wagons or walked across Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and into Utah to honor their LDS pioneer ancestors.
"I don't know if any of us realized that putting ourselves through that ordeal would bond us together so much, but this is the same thing that happened with the pioneer companies," said Tom Whitaker. "I was reading the journal of my great-great grandfather George Whitaker (a Mormon convert from England) and once his wagon train company got to Utah everyone in the train settled on lots next to each other."
While a few 1997 trek participants have moved from out-of-state to Utah, others keep in touch through newsletters, phone calls and visits. Many spend holidays or family events together.
"We've been to eight weddings involving wagon train people so far," said Dale Worwood of Nephi, a teamster on the trek.
Some Mormon Trail teamsters spent the summer on a wagon train that trundled from the Cache Valley to Canada to commemorate the flight of early Mormons at the turn of the century eluding federal marshals during a crackdown on polygamy.
Others may participate in next year's possible re-enactment of the 1849 California gold rush over the California National Historic Trail, routes of which splinter from Salt Lake City across the west desert and southward down what is now the I-15 corridor.
Planning also is under way for a wagon train along the coast of Japan in the year 2000 as a visual Western history lesson for the Pacific Rim.
"The largest advertising agency in Japan has agreed to help find us a sponsor, and we have gotten some interest and enthusiasm for the magnitude of what we're undertaking," Tom Whitaker said.
In addition, some are planning for the sesquicentennial of the 1856-57 handcart journey by Mormon converts across the plains to Utah.
"That will indeed happen in 2005 and 2006," said Wilkinson, a member of the Iowa Mormon Trails Association that is planning the handcart trek. "I've already had people calling me saying they want to do that, where do I sign up."