Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument
The Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument is dedicated to the more than 6,000 pioneers who died making the journey to Utah from Illinois and other parts of the world between 1847 and 1869. It is also contains the gravesite of Brigham Young and other early Mormon leaders. The monument is open to the public daily.
Brigham Young was born in 1801 in Vermont and died in Salt Lake City in 1877. Often referred to as "The American Moses," Young succeeded Joseph Smith in leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and led the pioneers on the challenging journey from Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley. Upon arrival here, he oversaw the settlement of Salt Lake City and much of the state of Utah as well as areas of Idaho, Arizona, and Nevada. He served as territorial governor for six years from 1850-1856 in addition to his responsibilities as an ecclesiastical leader and was generally loved by the pioneers who established the Salt Lake Valley, and is revered by members of the Mormon Church today as a tremendously determined, faithful leader and prophet.
Also buried at the Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument site is Eliza R. Snow, who wrote many of the church's hymns and served as president of the Relief Society, the church's women's organization, for 21 years.