Last updated: January 26, 2021
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1857 Mormon Defensive Breastworks at Mormon Flat, Utah
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Fearing an invasion by the approaching US Army in 1857, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Brigham Young evacuated Salt Lake City and ordered the Mormon Militia to prevent the soldiers from entering the valley. The federal troops would come through Fort Bridger, a trading post in in present-day southeastern Wyoming, and pass through Echo Canyon, about 50 miles northeast of Salt Lake City, before following the California-Mormon Trail up Big Mountain and entering the city from the mouth of Emigration Canyon. Along this route lay several defensible locations, including a spot at the eastern foot of Big Mountain at Mormon Flat where the trail turned sharply to the northwest and passed along the foot of a ridge as it headed up the mountain. On the ridgetop the militiamen built a defensive breastworks --a low wall of stacked rocks--from which they could fire down upon the passing troops.
As it turned out, they never had to use it because the so-called "Mormon War" was peacefully resolved, but the breastworks remained in place and can still be seen and visited. It is clearly visible from Mormon Flat, a pioneer camping area that today is a public campground operated by the State of Utah. From the campground visitors can follow a steep path to the ridgetop to explore the breastworks, or hike and bike four miles to the summit of Big Mountain following a four-mile stretch of original wagon and handcart trail that was pioneered in 1847 by the Donner Party.