Utah Travels - Part 4

Our Pioneer Heritage

As part of the family reunion we got to travel to where the pioneers came in to the Salt Lake Valley.  We have ancestors on both sides that came with those faithful pioneers.  One of them was Hosea Cushing, my great grandmother's grandfather.  That makes him my great, great, great grandfather.

As the pioneers approached Zion they crossed over Little, Big Mountain and Mormon Flatts where they took the wheels off to slide their wagons down the mountain because it was too steep to roll down. Hosea drove the wagon for Heber C. Kimball.  He was young and strong as he worked that wagon on the trail.  Later, he would go back through this area to bring his wife back to Utah.  She stayed behind in Winter Quarters.

We met up with the family in Emmigration Canyon.  My kids had a hard time climbing up this little slope that the pioneers crossed over.  Walking where the pioneers walked gave us new appreciation for what our ancestors endured for us, their future family.

We were there about the same time of year as the pioneers when they first arrived.  I can imagine the young pioneer girls picking sunflowers and other wild flowers as they moved through the brush and the long green grass of the Utah mountains.  The sun beating down on their exposed skin as sweat dropped from their bonnets.

Soon they came through the canyon to the place where Brigham Young proclaimed, "this is the place!"

Now there's a monument and a pioneer village.  We saw this cute family all dressed in period clothes.  I love the little girl in her dress and boots.  

Right here on this plaque is the name of Hosea Cushing, one of the first pioneers to come to Utah.

We then continued on to Liberty Park for a picnic and some play time along our journey.

Beautiful!  Isn't it?  No matter what angle or what side you photograph this temple always looks stunning.  I love the Manti temple because that's where we were married but I think my second favorite temple is the Salt Lake one.  I love the architecture and the symbolism of it.

Just up the street from the temple is a small burial plot where prophets and other important people in the church have been buried.  It is also the resting spot of Great Grandpa Cushing.  He was adopted by Heber C. Kimball and buried along side the rest of the Kimball family.

I don't know if my kids got much out of our family field trip but I'm writing it down so that someday when it is important to them they can come back and read it and remember that they have walked where our pioneer ancestors have walked.