It was a good spot, with fine views of the valley to the west and the Wagner Brewery practically next door to the south. Visitors wanting to tread in the footsteps of pioneer forebears were rewarded with the heady smell of hops and fermenting barley.
In 1921, the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association replaced the wooden marker with a small concrete obelisk. Some 2,000 people attended the dedication, including Lorenzo Sobieski Young, who, at age 6, entered the Valley with his Uncle Brigham 75 years before and was the sole surviving witness to the original event. Lorenzo wasn't sure the location was right. But William R. Riter, 84, who was 9 years old when he entered the valley a few weeks after Lorenzo, defended the monument's location as the correct, "This is the Place" place.
The obelisk is still there, off by itself about 100 yards east of the current monument - a geographical shift probably dictated more by topography than history, which was a trifle sketchy, anyway. The monument, commissioned by the state and designed by Mahonri Young (the sculptor grandson of Brigham) has a commanding sweep of the valley with room for parking. About 50,000 attended the dedication, held on July 24, 1947, the centennial of the Mormon arrival.
The Wagner Brewery was gone, but those in attendance had a clear view of the old property. Most were aware that a developer had bought it and was planning to turn it into housing and commercial development. There were already plans for streets and infrastructure.
A Deseret News editorial from July 21, 1947, titled "Protect Our Pioneer Monument," said "There is . . . no question in any one's mind of the imperative need of the State to add this acreage to that of its chiefest and most historic park. It has long been the intent of the State Legislature . . . that the whole mouth of the canyon and certain other lands adjacent there to should be included in the 'This is the Place' State Park.
"It is the intent of the state to preserve the mouth of Emigration Canyon and area adjacent thereto, excepting only a small tract around the monument itself, in the same primitive condition that existed when Brigham Young stopped there to view the Salt lake Valley for the first time," the editorial stated.
It went on to say that commercial and residential development "would mar the beauty of the area and prevent its preservation . . . the State must have the land."
It would take 10 years of wrangling, but in the end, a group of community-minded Utahns bought the land from the developer and gave it to the state.
It took another 60 years, but once again there is talk about about allowing commercial development around This is the Place Monument to help pay the bills. Former Gov. Mike Leavitt called This is the Place the "Crown Jewel" of the state park system. It's not the kind of thing we Utahns should consider pawning.
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* PAT BAGLEY is The Salt Lake Tribune editorial cartoonist. Glen Warchol contributed to this article.
