The Mormon Trail
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 40° 52.973 W 098° 22.500
14T E 552656 N 4525944
Historical marker located on the grounds of Stuhr Museum in Grand Island, Nebraska
Waymark Code: WMNZA
Location: Nebraska, United States
Date Posted: 08/30/2006
Views: 22
A visit to this historical marker will cost you the price of admission to the
museum ($8 per adult) unless you are a fast talker :-). The museum is a very
good museum to visit.
Text of historical marker:
"Religious freedom, an American ideal, has on occasion been denied certain
sects because of prejudice. Mormons were once persecuted and forced from their
homes. The north bank of the Platte River served as the exodus route for
thousands of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons). Driven from Nauvoo, Illinois, Mormon leader Brigham Young led the
first migration up this valley in 1847 to found the proposed state of Deseret,
now Utah.
During the following two decades, thousands more gathered at Winter Quarters
on the west bank of the Missouri River near present Florence, Nebraska, before
beginning the trek across the plains and mountains to their land of Milk and
Honey. The journey called for strength and courage, as well as faith, for
tragedy often stalked their wagons and handcarts, turning this valley into a
Mormon "trail of tears." Hundreds of pioneers lie buried along this trail, most
in unmarked graves.
After 1860 the overland trail along the south bank of the river was lined
with road ranches and stage stations, but the Mormon Trail had few such
conveniences, and the pioneer settlements here in Hall County were almost the
last vestiges of civilization until the travelers reached Utah."