| As one approaches This is The Place Heritage Park, it is impossible not to be impressed by the large, stone monument rising majestically from the hillside. On July 24, 1847, at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, Brigham Young, the stalwart Mormon leader, lifted himself up from a sick bed in his wagon to view the Great Salt Lake Valley. After a few moments of deep contemplation, he uttered the now-famous statement, “It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on.”
With these words, one of history’s most intriguing sagas began as some seventy thousand Mormon pioneers traveled thousands of miles by ship, train, wagon, handcart, and on foot to settle this unwanted land and turn it into thriving, self-sufficient communities.
On July 24, 1947—one hundred years after Brigham Young first entered the Salt Lake Valley—the 60-foot high and 86-foot long This is The Place Monument was unveiled. World famous sculptor, Mahonri M. Young, a native Utahn and grandson of Brigham Young, created the monument.
Although this pioneer migration is one of the best-known stories in Utah’s history, it is certainly not the only story. The founding of the Great Salt Lake Basin involves the exploits of many others besides the Mormon Pioneers. The massive granite structure gives recognition to other great people responsible for the exploration and settlement of the Great Basin, including James Bridger, the celebrated trapper; Jedediah Smith, the first man to traverse Utah; Chief Washakie, Chief of the Eastern Shoshones; and John Fremont, who conducted the first scientific exploration of the Great Salt Lake.
It is fitting and proper, however, for the great Western colonizer and first governor of the Utah Territory, Brigham Young, to stand atop the center pylon. Young led his people to transform the wilderness into well-planned cities with broad streets, homes, schools, businesses, and churches.
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