Last updated: August 5, 2025
Place
Sevenmile Creek Camp Swales
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
2.3 mi west of Murray, IA, on Kansas St. (GPS 41.03942N, -93.99921W);Viewing stand is open; the meadow is closed to the public.
Significance:
Hundreds of passing Mormon wagons cut multiple swales—shallow, ditch-like features—into this lush field of native Iowa prairie, located about 2 miles west of Murray, IA. Visible trail remnants created by the 1846 Mormon exodus from Nauvoo are rare.
MANAGED BY:
Private
The weather continued blustery and wet as the appointed captains led their companies west from Garden Grove. Some parties lagged behind due to illness, childbirth, or lack of teams to draw the wagons, leaving the Camp of Israel strung out for miles along the trail. On May 18, 1846, the forward companies rolled through the future site of Murray, IA (established 1868), and made camp about 2 miles farther west, above Sevenmile Creek.
No happening of particular note at this location is mentioned in emigrant journals, but the place is significant because landowners have never plowed this field of native prairie grass. Their care for this historic site has helped to preserve the original swales—broad, shallow, ditch-like depressions—created by hundreds of passing wagons of the Camp of Israel.
In this field are several sections of trail trace, including at least three parallel swales where wagons rolled beside each other, aligned southeast/northwest. From the viewing stand near the fence, look for wide bands of grass that is greener or taller than surrounding grasses. The swales are knee-deep or more, but they can be difficult to spot when the prairie grass is tall. The swales also are easily identifiable on online satellite imagery. Wagon ruts and swales exist farther west through Nebraska and Wyoming, but those occur in a corridor that was used for several decades by hundreds of thousands of wagons heading to Oregon and California, as well as by later Mormon emigrations.
Wagon trail remnants that can be directly ascribed to the 1846-1847 Camp of Israel are rare. To reach the Sevenmile Creek site, start on 5th Street in Murray and continue west on Kansas Street (unpaved) for 2.3 miles. After the street curves sharply south, look for the viewing platform to the left, opposite a white farmhouse. Please do not enter the meadow without the owner’s permission.
Site Information
Location (2.3 mi west of Murray, IA, on Kansas St. GPS 41.03942N -93.99921W); Viewing stand is open; the meadow is closed to the public.