- Site of Bethlehem and South Mormon Ferry
- Sight of Eight-Mile Grove, South Mormon Trail
- Weeping Water Campsite
- Wyoming, Nebraska
- Murdock Gravesite
- Site of Saline Ford
Mormon Trail Center Tour:
Start at Mormon Trail Center, State Street and North Ridge Drive, Omaha, NE 68112, (402) 453-9372.
(Click on images for larger pictures)
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1. MORMON TRAIL CENTER AT WINTER QUARTERS
(formerly Winter Quarters
Visitors Center).
Site of Mormon cemetery on bluff overlooking Winter Quarters.
Mormon Pioneer Cemetery and Cutler's Park Cemetery were either side by side
or same.
Log cabin, covered wagon, handcart, restrooms, historical films, numerous
markers,
displays, and guides.
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2. WINTER QUARTERS.
Stretched more than a mile southeastward from the Council House just below bluffs overlooking Missouri River. It was at least one quarter mile wide, until houses were moved west to reinforce the picket fence, making the city even wider. Population reached almost 5,000 by Spring of 1847.
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3. WINTER QUARTERS PICKET FENCE AND MOAT.
Go eastward down State Street hill two blocks to north/south gravel road just west of Presbyterian Church, which in turn, is just uphill west of the Florence (or Mormon) Park. West of Winter Quarters corral and hemming Winter Quarters to the Missouri River was a six-foot high picket fence, probably two miles long, running approximately along the path of this gravel road.
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4. MIDDLE MORMON FERRY WESTBOUND DEBARKATION SITE.
Follow Highway 75 southward about 10Ç miles. It follows 30th Street until it feeds into the North Freeway, which then joins I-480 South. Stay in the leftmost lane as Highway 75 crosses over I-80 and feeds into the southbound Kennedy Freeway. Exit at "L" Street (Highways 275 and 92) and turn left. As you go eastward about one mile, "L" Street becomes Missouri Avenue. Turn right at the light on 13th Street just before Highways 275 and 92 cross the South Omaha Bridge over the Missouri River into Iowa. Just below this bridge is where the eastbound Middle Mormon ferry departed downstream across the Missouri River to Iowa. Go south on 13th Street about 1Ç miles past two Mandan Park entrances on your left and then turn left at the second Mount Vernon Gardens park entrance. Get out and follow the rock pathway through the trees until you are looking southward along the Missouri River. The westbound Middle Mormon ferry landed from Iowa at the base of the bluff on which you are standing. After debarking, wagons made a tortuous assent up the steep coulee to present "V" Street.
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5. MIDDLE FERRY II (SARPY'S FERRY) WESTBOUND DEBARKATION POINT.
Go southward about Ç mile on 13th Street and turn left onto Bellevue Boulevard. Proceed southward to the Fontenelle Forest Preserve Headquarters at 1111 Bellevue Boulevard. (Ask the Ranger to describe the course of the Missouri River in the 1840s and 50s.) For a fee, you can take the nature trail hike to the site of a historical marker being placed along Hidden Lake, an old "oxbow" remnant of the 1847 Missouri River channel.
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6. COLD SPRING CAMP.
Retrace your route northward up 13th Street to "L" Street. Then go westward
about 4 miles on "L" Street to 60th Street. There is a historical marker
near the
Satellite Motel on the northwest corner of the intersection. In 1846, the
area had several
wooded hills around a "favorite cool spring" just east of Little Papillion
Creek.
Unfortunately, the park-like vista of the area has been dramatically
transformed from its
appearance in the mid-1800's. In recent times, the hills west of 60th Street
have been
leveled, either for the railroad grade just to the north or when the Karen
Addition
subdivision was laid out here. The "favorite cool spring" known to the
pioneers is no
longer visible, but has been capped and its water piped underground westward
to the Little
Papillion Creek. The two remaining hills are on the northeast corner of the
intersection on
the site of former Catholic St. Joseph High School, now owned by an group of
Christian
churches.
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7. COUNCIL HILL.
Go north on 60th Street and take the westbound entrance to I-80. Take the 72nd Street exit and turn northward. Just before the exit, note the cuts in the hillsides on either side of the freeway. The highest point of this hill was apparently cut down by construction of Interstate 80.
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8. CUTLER'S PARK.
Go northward on 72nd Street about 8 miles and turn right onto Sorenson
Parkway. Then go about 1Ç miles eastward and turn left on 56th Street. This
road
becomes Mormon Bridge Road. Follow it about 1Â miles to the northeast and
pull off the
road just past Young Street. The first project of the Douglas-Sarpy Counties
Mormon
Trails Association has been to create a memorial park around this small
monument
commemorating the first civically organized community in Nebraska. Occupied
on 6-7
August 1846, this site was intended to be the 1846-47 winter headquarters of
the Church.
But only five weeks later, on 11 September, the Mormons abandoned it in an
effort to avoid
war between its Indian hosts, the Oto/Missouri Tribe and the Omaha Tribe,
over rent for
temporary use of their land. The Oto/Missouri had occupied the area since
about 1700,
while the Omaha Tribe had just arrived there from the Elkhorn Valley in 1845.
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Kanesville Tabernacle Tour:
Start at Kanesville Tabernacle, 222 East Broadway, Council Bluffs, IA 51503, (712) 322-0500.
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1. REPLICA OF 1847 KANESVILLE TABERNACLE.
Little more than a block southeast of original tabernacle. Current site encompasses nearly a city block landscaped as Kanesville Park. Warm weather springs destroyed the floor of the original tabernacle, and it gradually fell into disuse. The tabernacle was dismantled in about 1849. [Original tabernacle was located north of present Kanesville Boulevard and east of present North 1st Street.
Marker is located at southwest corner of Baugh and Kanesville Boulevard.]
Situated next to the tabernacle is a visitor's center. The picture includes
the Eternal Flame which was lit at the bonfire in Council Bluffs on February
4, 1996. Bonfires were built along the entire trail in commemoration of the
pioneers leaving Nauvoo on February 4, 1846.
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2. SAW PIT SITE.
The Mormon pioneer saw pit was just east of the rebuilt 1847 log tabernacle, about where the Taco Bell Restaurant now stands. A long trench was dug there, probably in 1846, deep enough for a man to stand in.
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3. HISTORIC BLOCKHOUSE SITE.
Where stood Blockhouse Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nucleus around which Kanesville/Council Bluffs grew. The Blockhouse straddled East Pierce Street just east of Franklin.
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4. SITES OF UNION HOTEL, MUSIC HALL, AND COTTONWOOD JAIL.
Along the west side of Hyde (now South First) Street opposite Platner Street are the sites of three important buildings, side by side, from the thriving 1840s of Kanesville. These three buildings were likely the "upper" extent of the Kanesville business district.
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5. SITES OF CITY PHARMACY & WHOLESALE AND WASHINGTON STORE.
These two businesses were east of Hyde (now South First) Street north of Main Street (now Broadway).
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6. SITES OF J. E. JOHNSON ENTERPRISES.
Although his emporium on Main Street (now Broadway) was the largest mercantile supply house in Kanesville, Joseph Ellis Johnson (not to be confused with Confederate Civil War General J. E. Johnston) was innovative in expanding it into what we now would call a mini-mall. The emporium itself was stocked with great amounts of general merchandise pharmaceuticals, food, cloth and clothing, dishes, and books. The second floor included a rental hall, supplied on request, with delicacies, soft drinks and ice cream.
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7. SITES OF THE FRONTIER GUARDIAN AND THE WEEKLY BUGLE.
Strange as it may seem, the Mormons published competing newspapers directly across the street from each other. Orson Hyde published his very newsy Whig Frontier Guardian newspaper from an office and adjacent print shop looked north on Main Street (now called West Broadway) from just west of Hyde Street (present South 1st Street). [Present location of Lyle's Discount Tires on Southwest corner of 1st Street (Hyde) and Broadway (Main).] First Almon Babbitt, and then J. E. Johnson published The Weekly Bugle directly across the street to the north. [Present location of Sewing and Vacuum Sales store on Northwest corner of 1st Street (Hyde) and Broadway (Main).]
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8. KANESVILLE MORMON CEMETERY.
This is the largest LDS cemetery in the Middle Missouri Valley, although only half a dozen marked graves now date back to LDS times (1846-53). [Renamed Fairview Cemetery in 1863 and given to the City of Council Bluffs in 1974.]
East Mormon Trail Tour:
Start at Kanesville Tabernacle, 222 East Broadway, Council Bluffs, IA 51503, (712) 322-0500.
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1. GRAND ENCAMPMENT.
Catch-basin near Missouri River for LDS wagon trains crossing Southern Iowa
during exodus from Illinois and Southeast Iowa. (On either side of Highway
92 from Iowa School for the Deaf, east nine miles, almost to Treynor, Iowa.)
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2. MORMON BATTALION MUSTERING GROUNDS.
The longest infantry march in the history of the U.S. Army started here 20 July 1846. About 489 men, about 12 teenage boys (serving as aids to officers), and about 20 wives (serving as laundresses and cooks) volunteered in July 1846 to serve in the U.S. Army during War with Mexico. [Historical marker located just north of the main west entrance to Iowa School for the Deaf, southeast of where Highways 92 and 375/275 cross.]
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3. TAYLOR/PRATT HILL.
Where John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt camped in June 1846 as part of Grand Encampment. At the foot of the hill was built an arbor for church meetings and social activities and where Mormon Battalion cotillion ball was held. Lower Mosquito Bridge was built nearby. [200 block of East 29th Avenue atop hill just south of Interstate 80 and east of US Highway 275.]
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4. MORMON TRAIL WAYSIDE PARK.
South of Pioneer Trail or Highway G66, and west of County Road L45.) This privately financed park is a window on rural southwest Iowa 150 years ago.
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5. SITE OF HYDE PARK.
This community sometimes is confused with the rather long grove of trees also called Hyde Park. This is where Orson Hyde came to farm after his nine month mission to England. He had about 50 acres, about 30 acres in crops. Hyde said he had his farm enclosed with split rail fence, which he himself built. (West of Dumfries Road, about half a mile northwest of St John's Church. By permission of Henry Brandt, owner of the land, you may wish to open the long iron gate and walk several hundred yards west of the gray house. That is the approximate location of the Orson Hyde home. Be sure to close the cattle gate both on entering and on leaving the site.)
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6. SITES OF COUNCIL POINT, EMIGRANT LANDING, AND WELSH TABERNACLE.
Council Point was the first LDS town built in the Middle Missouri Valley. As a support town (population about 250-300) for Middle Mormon Ferry (July-September 1846), it was the third largest and most cosmopolitan LDS town in the Middle Missouri Valley. The Welsh Tabernacle was the site of the 4 July 1850 parade escorting Orson Hyde just prior to his first trip to Salt Lake City. Emigrant Landing/Fort Croghan/Hardin was the Missouri River landing for more than 8,000 European LDS who traveled from Liverpool, England to New Orleans by contract ships and up the Mississippi/Missouri Rivers by steamboat. A "String Town" of widely separated houses spread along the road running Northeastward from here to Kanesville. [The town of Council Point stood in the vicinity of South 24th Street and Gifford Road, south of Highway 92, a quarter of a mile west of Lake Manawa. It's Main Street ran East-West along or parallel to Gifford Road between 20th and 24th Streets. A historical marker is placed just east of 24th Street and south of Gifford Road. Welsh Tabernacle was located on high ground a few hundred yards northwest of Council Point. Emigrant Landing/Fort Croghan/Hardin was located about 100 yards south of Gifford Road and west of 20th Street. To see it, go east on Gifford Road to 20th Street, and then south past the last house on your right. Look west 300 yards and see the sharp, but uniform rise in the land. That was the north bank of the Missouri River.]
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7. WESTERN HISTORIC TRAILS CENTER.
This visitor's center was dedicated October 4, 1997. This is a place of
education where families can come to draw from a collection of resources,
that correct more than a century of historical misconception concerning our
pioneer migrations. While there were many points along the Missouri River
where travelers left for the migrations to Oregon, California, Utah, Colorado
and to other future western states and territories, the northernmost point
covering the Council Bluffs, Omaha, and Bellevue area was th
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