Urban expansion in southern Nevada is rapidly encroaching upon land that was only recently considered isolated desert. Within this once isolated desert, now caught in the web of urban development, is the route of the Old Spanish Trail, which extends Read More …
The purpose of the Mormon Trail portion of the project was to research, field inventory, and evaluate those roads that represent the Mormon’s path across Iowa and clarify the the apparent and intrinsic qualities of these routes.
The Iowa portion of the trail was used relatively little, mainly by the Mormons fleeing Illinois in 1846, and by some other Mormons jumping off from Keokuk, Iowa, in 1853. It was also used in 1856-1857 by seven companies of Read More …
Some months ago a lost marker was brought to the Iowa Historical Museum. It was wooden, the carving weathered and a little forlorn. It looked as though it had been hiding in a fence comer for a dozen hard Iowa Read More …
Leaving Nauvoo in late February of 1846, approximately 500 wagons and 3000 people led by Brigham Young crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa and traveled into Van Buren County. Due to thawing conditions and rain, the roads became difficult to Read More …
Most people have a certain image of archaeological work. It’s a dig, perhaps with trowels scraping off layers of dirt to find artifacts.
The Mormon Wagon Road was an outgrowth of the Old Spanish Trail, which itself utilized an existingnetwork of Native American trails. The Escalante-Dominguez expedition of 1776 was the first attempt by Euro-Americans to journey over Native American trails in southern Read More …