AMERICAN FORK -- "I think I'd like to live here."
Those words, spoken in 1850 by then 17-year-old Nathan Adams, became the thread that tied together the dedication Monday of the Pioneer Monument on a hill overlooking the American Fork Cemetery.The ceremony culminated a five-year effort to build the stately obelisk atop stones that once formed a wall on one side of the cemetery. Ground was broken two years ago.
The dedication included a re-enactment of the four horsemen who first camped along American Fork Creek exactly 149 years ago on their way to Provo from Salt Lake City. It was then that Nathan Adams uttered those words after exploring the area with his cousin William Henry Chipman as their fathers prepared dinner over a campfire.
The riders were all descendants of those early pioneers: Dale Adams for his great-grandfather Arza Adams; John Adams, grandson of Nathan Adams; Stephen "Mack" Chipman, for his great-grandfather Stephen Chipman; and Brian Chipman for his great-grandfather William Henry Chipman. Two wagons carrying descendants of those first settlers were also a part of the re-enactment.
Plaques surrounding the spire recalled those first pioneer families, whose names are cut into granite benches surrounding the monument. Utah Lake shimmered in the background and the sun dipped low in the west as the dedication began.
Daniel Copper, chairman of the monument committee, emceed the proceedings, drawing from the writings of local historian George F. Shelley, who wrote an early history of American Fork. The Utah Valley Skyline Chorus provided some of the music, along with soloists former Miss American Fork Lisa Liberatore and performer Shauna Thompson.
Eleven-year-old Shannon Babb offered her winning Memorial Day speech that recalled those early days transcending into modern times. The youth said she and her family moved to American Fork five years ago.
"I think it's a nice place to live and call home," she said, echoing Nathan Adams' century-and-a-half old statement.
Raylene Jorgenson, chairman of the cemetery committee, presented the towering monument to Mayor Ted Barratt. Barratt accepted the monument "for the ancestors whom you cannot see" and then issued a welcome to newcomers to the city "who will someday be considered the old stock of American Fork."
Paving stones around the monument are inscribed with the names of people who contributed to the construction. Copper recalled the dedicatory prayer offered two years ago by cemetery sexton Ray Garrett when the ground was broken. "The pioneer spirits were very much a part of it," he said.
The location of the monument was moved twice during the planning because of new cemetery roads and other cemetery needs. Its final resting place is atop a hill overlooking the valley.
"American Fork has the distinction of being the first settlement in the territory to provide free public education for the local children," said Gareth Seastrand of Orem, a retired educator whose ancestors, including pioneer George Robinson, are buried in the cemetery.
Seastrand, who was raised in American Fork, offered the dedicatory prayer.
"May all who visit these grounds be moved upon with a spirit of love and appreciation for their ancestors," he prayed, "having a desire to count one's own personal blessings."