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Show THE UTAH PIONEER JUBILEE. • • • |HE Utah Pioneer Jubilee ranks among the notable events of its kind in American history. Spectacles more splendid, more magnificent and comprehensive, other parts of the country have undoubtedly witnessed; but no part has seen a presentment more characteristic, a celebration more fitting and appropriate, based upon and commemorative of a cause more worthy. To Governor Heber M. Wells belongs the distinction of voicing a general wish among thoughtful and patriotic citizens, that the Fiftieth Anniversary of the arrival of the Pioneers upon the shores of the Great Salt Lake should be fittingly celebrated. In the first gubernatorial message presented to the Legislature of the State of Utah, January 8, 1896, he said: "On the 24th of July, J897, a half century will have elapsed since the Pioneers entered this valley. The event is of such importance as to be worthy fitting commemoration. I recommend that the Board of Directors of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, or such other authority as you may constitute, be directed to consider the advisability of holding an Inter-Mountain Fair in J897. In case the project shall be decided upon, I recommend that no State Fair be held in J 896, but that all our energies and funds be reserved for the Inter-Mountain Fair, which, if properly managed, would prove of great advantage to the new State." As a result of this recommendation, a joint resolution embodying the following provisions was passed by the first and special Legislature of the State: "J. The Governor is hereby directed to appoint a Commission of ten persons to conduct a Semi-Centennial Celebration, in 1897, of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the arrival of the Utah Pioneers in Utah. |
