Mountain Meadows

Mountain Meadows, Utah is the site of  a horrendous crime committed jointly by Indians and Mormons against about 140 unarmed men, women, and children in the mid 1800's.

This is a long story with a lot of variations, but essentially what happened at Mountain Meadows goes like this:

A large and fairly wealthy wagon train with many families and hired hands was making its way west from Arkansas to eventually settle in California.  They decided on the southern route through Utah not realizing that there was festering tension between the Mormons in Utah and the central US government.  On some level, the decision was made that the settlers had to be disposed of.  How high up in the chain of command from which this order originated is still a subject of hot debate in the Mountain Meadows incident.  Regardless, after being attacked by Indians and putting up a formidable defense for a couple of days by circling their wagons, the settlers were running out of ammunition, food, and water.  They were then approached by some white Mormon men waving a white flag, who promised safe passage if they would relinquish their weapons and belongings.  They promptly did this, obviously feeling it was their only option, and they were escorted out into the surrounding countryside in groups, women and children in front, and men in back.  After walking for a short period, the order was given to "Do Your Duty" and the Mormons and Indians attacked the defenseless settlers, killing everyone within minutes.  Only young children who couldn't "tell the tale" were spared execution, and they were marched away to a nearby ranch, some badly wounded.  There were 17 children survivors.  The rest of the settlers were hastily buried in mass graves or alone all over the site of the massacre and many grave sites undoubtedly remain undiscovered today.  Some were left to be ravaged by wildlife in the area, and some of the bones found have had markings consistent with being chewed by wild animals.  The belongings of the settlers were apparently divided between the Indians and the Mormons.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre is the worst crime against humanity ever committed in the settler days, and indeed to this day is only surpassed by the Oklahoma Bombings of 1996 in number of innocent victims.  As we know, areas like this almost always have a history of eerie tales and sightings, and this is no exception.  Almost everyone who takes the time to visit here reports a sad feeling about the whole place.  Indeed, though it is named Mountain Meadows, it is a kind of desolate area, giving the feeling that even the landscape feels the sorrow here.  There's no doubt that there is phenomenon waiting for that picture or EVP by someone in the right place at the right time.  However, this is hallowed ground, and deserves the utmost respect from visitors.  As such, please do obey the rules and don't dig for souvenirs or wander onto adjacent private property. 

Below are directions from the Mountain Meadows Association site:

From St. George, in the Southwest corner of Utah, go north on state Highway #18 about 30 miles. Look for the signs indicating the parking lot on Dan Sill Hill on the right side of the road.

From Cedar City,  north of St. George on Highway15, go west on State Highway #56 about 35 miles to the intersection of state highways #56 and #18.  Turn south on #18and go about 11 miles to Enterprise. Continue on south  about another 5 miles to the Mountain Meadows.  The monuments are on the south end of the valley.

Just before you go up a small rise into the main parking lot for the 1990 monument, there is a road on the left. If you take this road, you will go to the old monument in the valley that was rebuilt.
 

 

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