| Show CHAPTER FIFTEEN Solving Transportation Difficulties Perhaps Howard Stansbury an early visitor to Utah aptly described the territoryneed for land transportation in his 1852 book Winter Among the Mormons He did so it might be pointed out in manner which would agonize most newspaper editors The descriptive paragraph extended 102 words withoutperiod In fact almost withoutplace to catch the breath hard-bitten wielder ofblue pencil would ve carved it unmercifully Nonetheless Mr Stansbury whose book intrigued readers in both the United States and Great Britain recognized what the Mormon pioneers already knew making it possible to get wagon loads from one place to another wasmajor challenge Wrote Stansbury The founding withinspace of three years ofa large and flourishing community uponspot so remote from the abodes of man so completely shut out by natural barriers from the rest of the world so entirely uncon nected by watercourses with either of the oceans that wash the shores of this continentcountry offering no advantages of inland navigation or of foreign commerce but on the contrary isolated by vast uninhabitable deserts and only to be reached by long painful and often hazardous journeys by land pres ents an anomaly so very peculiar that it deserves more thanpassing notice Wagon roads if the term roads isnan exaggeration were the first organized and planned means of travel in Utah In general they formedcross east-west meeting north-south in the Salt Lake valley Needless to say they were by no means as straight and direct as that might imply For exam ple Ezra Knowltonextensively-researched book History of Highway Development in Utah decribes one early route in these terms The most important link in this system was the 279 Digital image 2005 Marriott Library University of Utah Al rights reserved |
