Mount Pisgah on the Iowa Mormon Trail was both a campsite as well as a way station or temporary settlement, utilized during the years 1846-1852. The site was selected and named by Parley P. Pratt. This site was about 30 miles beyond the Garden Grove settlement.
Mount Pisgah was established for the poor and others who were unable to proceed further west because of a lack of teams or other challenges. Accordingly, they built living quarters, fenced, plowed and planted to assist. It was recorded that “an immense amount of labor was performed in a very few days.”
After several weeks, Brigham Young continued westward with those who were better equipped to make the journey toward the Rocky Mountains. From Mount Pisgah, wagons were sent back to Nauvoo to assist the Saints who couldn’t afford them. Captain James Allen arrived at Mount Pisgah on June 27, 1846, looking for President Brigham Young to discuss the call of the Mormon Battalion. He had already moved on to Kanesville. The white obelisk at Mount Pisgah Park honors the approximately 150 souls who died there.