The story behind the day
Pioneer Day, 24 July, commemorates the day in 1847 when Brigham Young and the vanguard of the Latter-day Saint pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. It is an official state holiday in Utah, where the celebrations are known as the Days of '47. It was first celebrated in 1849. For the Native peoples who already lived in the valley, the arrival of the settlers brought lasting change.[1–4]
Origins
Brigham Young entered the Salt Lake Valley on 24 July 1847 with the vanguard company of Latter-day Saint pioneers. By tradition, as the company reached the foothills of Emigration Canyon, Young is said to have declared, "This is the right place. Drive on." In the next two decades about 70,000 Latter-day Saints followed on foot, in wagon trains and, from 1856 to 1860, in handcart companies; about 3,000 of them travelled by handcart. Two of the handcart companies, the Martin and Willie companies of 1856, were caught by severe winter weather in what is now Wyoming, and many died before rescuers reached them.[1, 5–8]
What it marks
Pioneer Day marks the arrival of the first pioneers and the founding of the Latter-day Saint settlement in the valley. The Church describes it as a time to recognise all people who have helped to build the state, regardless of religion or background, and the Utah Historical Society likewise says the holiday has long honoured the community-building efforts of all Utahns. The arrival also changed the lives of the Native peoples. The valley had been shared by the Shoshone and the Utes, and the settlers' effect on their hunting and gathering was soon disastrous, in the words of a Utah Historical Society history. A Brigham Young University history page notes that many of their descendants today see the coming of the settlers as a tragic development, while others joined the settlers and adopted their ways.[1, 4, 9]
How it came to be and is kept
The settlers first celebrated 24 July in 1849. The day had gunfire, music and patriotic speeches, with a reading of the Declaration of Independence, and afterwards a meal was served to the pioneers, to forty-niners bound for the California goldfields and to local Native Americans. Historians describe it as a patriotic festival mixed with religious rhetoric, and a BYU Studies article reads it as a celebration of deliverance. In 1897 a jubilee marked fifty years since the pioneers arrived, and in time 24 July became an official state holiday in Utah. Today, in Utah, the celebration is called the Days of '47. Its organisers, a private nonprofit corporation, stage a parade through downtown Salt Lake City, a rodeo, a marathon and a pops concert, and a BYU history page lists parades, rodeos, races and fireworks among the festivities.[2–3, 10–13]
Sources
Each statement above was checked against published sources; the verdict says whether it stood as written, was corrected or was hedged.
- Verifiednps.gov; history.utah.gov.
- Verifiedhistory.utah.gov; Days of '47, Inc.; New Era.
- Verifiedhistory.utah.gov; Olsen, BYU Studies.
- CorrectedMcPherson, A History of Utah's American Indians, ch. 1, Utah Historical Society; Nokes, BYU History; history.utah.gov.
- CorrectedHistory to Go, This Is the Place Monument, Utah Historical Society; Gong, Liahona.
- Verifiednps.gov; Church History Library, About the Pioneer Dataset; History to Go, The Mormon Trail: A Photographic Exhibit.
- Verifiednps.gov; Church History Topics, Handcart Companies.
- Verifiednps.gov; Church History Topics, Handcart Companies.
- CorrectedNew Era; history.utah.gov.
- Verifiedhistory.utah.gov; byustudies.byu.edu, Celebrating cultural identity pioneer day in nineteenth century mormonism.
- Correctedhistory.utah.gov; Olsen, BYU Studies.
- Verifiedhistory.utah.gov; byustudies.byu.edu, Celebrating cultural identity pioneer day in nineteenth century mormonism.
- CorrectedDays of '47, Inc.; Nokes, BYU History.