The first recorded wagon train camping in Salt Lake City was the Donner-Reed party in the summer of 1846, almost a year before the Mormon pioneers arrived.
To recognize the significance of the Donner group's contributions, a new historical marker was installed Thursday morning at the approximate location of their campsite.
The Utah Crossroads Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association placed the trail marker and plaque at roughly 2710 S. 1070 West, on the eastern bank of the Jordan River.
"We're trying to mark all the trails across Utah," Roy Tea, a member of the Crossroads group, said.
Tea said while mountain men like Jedediah Smith had likely camped in the Salt Lake area previously, the Donner-Reed party was the first wagon train to do so.
The Donner-Reed party had perhaps the most tragic tale in all of U.S. westward migration. Their 80-plus wagons eventually reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California too late in the season. What followed was a disaster. About one-half of the people starved and some of the others stayed alive by resorting to cannibalism.
Tea said swampy areas in the Salt Lake Valley, as well as the salt flats to the west, combined to delay the wagon train, at least partially resulting in the winter tragedy that occurred almost 156 years ago. A year later, the Mormon pioneers followed the trail the Donner-Reed party had blazed from Henefer to the Salt Lake Valley, through Emigration Canyon.
An excerpt from the diary of James Frazier Reed on Aug. 23, 1846, tells of the stop in today's Salt Lake City:
"Son (Sunday) 23 left Camp late this day on acct. of having to find a good road or pass through the Swamps of the Utah outlet. Finally succeeded and encamped on the East Bank of Utah outlet (Jordan River) making 5 (miles),"
In pioneer days, Emigration, Parleys and Mill creeks combined to create a swampy mess for early travelers.
"It was grassy and green" with no shortage of soggy ground, said John Eldredge, president of the Utah Crossroads Chapter. "Things have changed considerably in 150 years or so."
Today, the Donner party's campsite is in the back yard of an industrial park and across the Jordan River from a quiet residential neighborhood.
After the difficult pull over the hill at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, the Donner-Reed company of 1846 paralleled Emigration Creek down to today's 1100 East where they crossed Parleys Creek. Then, they encountered Mill Creek and soon reached the swamp.
Tea said an 1856 map indicates they would have had to cross Mill Creek and follow it to the Jordan River where they camped. From there, the Donner Party went west to Grantsville. (The Mill Creek channel was straightened out some 30 years ago and now flows into the Jordan River just north of 2900 South.)
The new marker now stands beside an asphalt footpath, part of the Jordan River Parkway trail. It can be accessed by car by taking 900 West to 2780 South and following it west until 2780 South dead-ends at the river. The marker is a couple of hundred yards to the north.
The marker is the 25th to be placed along the Donner-Reed trail in Utah.
The Utah Crossroads Chapter is a volunteer organization and works closely with the Sons and Daughters of the Utah Pioneers groups, the Bureau of Lake Management, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and other groups.
Contributing: Zack Van Eyck
E-MAIL: lynn@desnews.com