Highway to History

April 24th, 2017 | Park City Community

Their hearts were pounding in their chests. The panic they felt for the survival of their families and their church kept them moving until what would have seemed an impossible feat had been accomplished. Stones that each weighed more than the equivalent of two men were heaved and piled atop one another until the group could kneel down behind them and remain unseen. The year was 1857, and federal troops were marching through Utah with the intent of quashing the Mormons’ practice of polygamy. Along the trail, the Mormons built low stone walls called breastworks so that they could hide behind them and rain gunfire down on their persecutors as they traveled through the narrows of Echo Canyon. As it turned out, no gunfire was ever exchanged and the Mormons actually took the cold and hungry troops into their care. But, more than 150 years later, the breastworks remain as evidence of the persecution the Mormons endured. They constitute just one of the many fascinating points of interest on the Summit County Historical Driving Tour.

History never says goodbye; it says “see you later” …
Park City and Summit County are packed with historic sights that make for a great day of adventure for the whole family. Early spring is the perfect time to do this – everyone’s antsy to get outside, but the hiking trails are still too muddy and the weather too iffy for long-range biking. “It is so fascinating to visit the places where the early pioneers carved their lives out and set the stage for Park City’s future,” said Steve Chin. “To see and touch where they were makes the past come alive for me and heightens my appreciation of where I live.”

Try the back roads once in a while …
The Lincoln Highway was the first transcontinental road in the United States. Upon its completion in 1913, people could travel by car on a gravel road from New York City all the way to San Francisco. Although this sounds unbearably uncomfortable, it was a major milestone in American history. The roadway is still used in bits and pieces all over northern America, but the stretch through Echo Canyon is surely the most breathtakingly beautiful. Red rock formations tower over the two-lane road and parallel railroad tracks that have been in use for more than a century and a half. This was the route used by hundreds of thousands of westward-ho travelers looking for new lives, and it remained the principal east-west road through Utah until I-80 was completed in 1956. All through Echo Canyon are artifacts that make your imagination run wild.

Good advertising will stand the test of time …
A short way into Echo stands the first billboard in Utah, aptly named Billboard Bluff. The words “Plantation Bitters” are neatly printed on a low, flat rock that sits close to the train tracks; the opportunity to advertise to a captive audience of several hundred railway passengers every day apparently could not be passed up. Plantation Bitters, whose main ingredient was rum, was marketed in the 1800s as a curative for everything from headaches to cholera, and it sold like gangbusters in Utah. Today the empty bottles, shaped like log cabins, sell on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

Before Banksy …
Another mile up the road is what at first appears to be a large, narrow cave. If you hike up to get a closer look you’ll realize that it’s a long stone outcropping that forms a natural shelter. Called Hanging Rock, it served as a waiting area for stagecoach passengers. While people killed time waiting, a few of them wrote their names on the rocks, much as graffiti taggers do today—attesting to the uniquely human urge to leave future generations evidence that they existed.

The self-guided Summit County Historical Driving Tour pamphlet, including maps, photos, and terrific historical narrative, can be downloaded at the county’s website. It describes Park City, Echo Canyon, Kamas Valley, and the Uinta Mountains. We at CMFH encourage you to make an adventure out of learning about our local history – it will deepen your understanding and appreciation of how we came to be one of the greatest places to live in the American West.

 

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