By definition,
mountain meadows
are lush, spongy
oases of sedges,
wildflowers and
shrubs at
elevations from
about 6,000 to
above 11,000 feet
where yearly
precipitation is
high. Often
intermingled with
spruce-fir
forests, subalpine
meadows can range
in size from small
glades to
extensive
grasslands of
thousands of
acres.
(Source:
National Wildlife
Federation)
Mountain Meadows,
Utah
Some 300 miles
south of Salt Lake
City, at the
southern tip of
the Wasatch
Mountain
foothills, lies a
five-mile-long
section of rock
and brush that
belies the name it
was given when
white men first
found it about 150
years ago.
Christened
Mountain Meadows,
the area was once
green and lush,
fed by mountain
streams that
brought snow from
the tops of the
Iron Mountains to
the floor of the
high desert some
6,000 feet above
sea level.
The Meadow, a
fertile strip of
land that marks
the divide between
the Colorado River
and the sloping
profile that forms
the Great Salt
Lake Basin, was a
popular respite
area for weary
emigrants who made
the thousand-mile
trek from Fort
Smith or
Leavenworth before
they crossed the
Mojave Desert to
their new homes in
Southern
California. To
these travelers,
Mountain Meadows,
emerald and
temperate almost
all year long,
appeared like a
Garden of Eden
amid the red rocks
and scorching sand
of Utah.
Today the site is
heavy with the
judgement of
history
Beneath the sands
of the
once-beautiful
land lie the bones
of more than 120
men, women and
children slain at
Mountain Meadows
in 1857, their
mortal remains
left to the
caprices of nature
and their killers
protected by
Utah's theocracy.
Only one
participant was
ever punished for
the butchery,
although more than
50 men took part.
The Mountain
Meadows that
existed until the
late 19th century
is gone now.
Scientists point
to devastating
droughts and
floods that killed
the meager amount
of grass left by
hungry cattle as
the reason the
Meadows looks like
just another patch
of southwestern
U.S. desert.
(Source:
www.crimelibrary.com)
Others that know
its history,
believe the
Meadows have been cursed
...
an infernal region
on earth... The
dried and desolute
graveyard of more
than 120 spirit
voices calling for
remembrance...
That which we have
done here...
"That which we
have done here
must never be
construed as an
acknowledgment
on the part of the (LDS) church of any complicity in
the occurrences of
that fateful day"
(President
Gordon B.
Hinckley,
dedicating the
Mountain Meadows
Massacre Monument
on Sept. 11, 1999)
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