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 The Mormon Trail - Ogallala, Nebraska Posted by:  gparkes
N 41° 07.536 W 101° 43.218
14T E 271641 N 4556266
The town of Ogallala, Nebraska, before it was a town, was an intersection of many trails and rivers. This series of markers throughout town explain the history of the evolution of rivers to trails to rails to highways and finally interstate.
Waymark Code: WM856R
Location: Nebraska, United States
Date Posted: 01/30/2010
Views: 7
Marker text states:
The Mormon Trail
Mormons traveled the Great Platte River Road to fulfill a religious mission. In the 1840s members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) moved westward to escape religious persecution beginning in 1847 they crossed the Plains to establish their New Zion in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley. To avoid contact with those who did not share their faith, the earliest Mormon emigrants followed the north bank of the Platte, which is often called The Mormon Trail. By the 1850s and 1860s, however, non-Mormons were also using the north bank route, while many Mormons followed trails south of the Platte.
Some of the Mormon emigrants used handcarts to carry their belongings, enabling poorer converts to make the journey west. Some handcart pioneers died on the trail from starvation or cold when they left too late in the season. In all, more than 70,000 Mormons went west on the Great Platte River Road.
Road of Trail Name: Mormon Trail
State: Nebraska
County: Keith County
Historical Significance:
The Mormon Trail is the trail used after 1946 by the Latter Day Saints for exodus from the east to the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah.
Years in use: 1846-1848
How you discovered it:
I had researched the area prior to vacationing in Nebraska. I was searching for sites along the Oregon, California and Mormon trails.
Book on Wagon Road or Trial:
Granzwa, Gregory. Maps of the Oregon Trail. St. Louis: The Patrice Press, 1990.
Website Explination:
http://www.nps.gov/mopi/index.htm
Why?:
Exodus - The Mormons had been run out of Illinois, and were looking to start a new life in Utah, free from religious persicution.
Directions:
Intersection of West A with 2nd Streets in Ogallala, Nebraska.
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Visit Instructions:
To post a log for this Waymark the poster must have a picture of either themselves, GPSr, or mascot. People in the picture with information about the waymark are preferred. If the waymarker can not be in the picture a picture of their GPSr or mascot will qualify. There are no exceptions to this rule.
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