Trail 
Marker
PIONEERING YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
Official Newsletter of the National Society of the Sons of
Utah Pioneersª
May 2010, Volume 6, Number 5
PRESIDENTÕS MESSAGE
SUP Members,
Welcome to Spring! The next 6 months will be busy and full
of fun activities in your chapters and at National as well. Be sure to let us
know what is going on in your Chapters. We would appreciate your support in
these different activities:
á
May 22, Chapter
PresidentÕs Council Meeting with your wives. Noon at the National
Headquarters
á
May 27-29, Scandinavian Trek. Contact National for details
á
June 19, SUPPRISE! Watch for information!
á
July 13-23, Nauvoo Pageant and Mormon Trail Trek.
á
July 14-20, 7 Day option for the Nauvoo Pageant and Mormon Trail
Trek.
á
July 23, Brother BrighamÕs Ball at This is the Place Heritage
Park
á
July 24, Sunrise Service at the Tabernacle on Temple Square
á
July 24, Days of Õ47 Parade, 9am. Handcarts are available for
your Chapter to pull in the parade. We are hoping every Chapter will be
represented.
This is the perfect time to invite your family, friends or
neighbors to these fun activities and get them acquainted with the Sons of Utah
Pioneers.
We need names submitted to become members of our 3 new
Chapters: Pocatello, Smithfield and Hyrum.
If you have any friends or family living in these areas,
please email, call or mail their contact information to National so we can
invite them to an informational meeting.
Thank you for all you do.
Happy Pioneering
Dil Strasser
2010 SUP National President
thesassers@hotmail.com
NATIONAL
NEWS
Send national news to: rogerflick@comcast.net
Ceremonial Signing of House Bill 132
– Pioneer Trail Memorial Highway
The Pioneer Trail Memorial
Highways is the last 36 miles of the original pioneer trail from Henefer to
Salt Lake Valley. The bill that was originally proposed in 1913, was signed
into law by Governor Gary Herbert on Monday, April 19, 2010 at 1:15 PM in the
Utah State Capitol Gold Room (below).
Special thanks to: Governor Gary
Herbert, Representative Rhonda Menlove, Senator Wayne Niederhauser, The Sons of
Utah Pioneers, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, John R. Tanner, Scott D. Ericson,
Gerald B. Laycock, and Michael L. Mower.
Little Denmark/Scandinavian Heritage Festival
Trek – May 27-29, 2010
The first of its kind three day heritage festival
celebrating the Scandinavian pioneers who settled in Sanpete County will be
hosted by the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area. This can be attended
individually, as a chapter, or you can join in a National SUP trek on a bus.
Local guides will be provided for each town. Additional information will be
sent email to all Area Vice Presidents and Chapter Presidents. This would be a
great activity for those of you who have Scandinavian ancestors who settled in
Sanpete County.
Chapter
Presidents Meeting
will be held May 22, 2010, at the National Headquarters. A BBQ will be
provided at noon. Meetings should end around 3 p.m. All chapter presidents
are encouraged to attend.
CHAPTER
NEWS
By Louis Pickett: louwill@utahbroadband.com
BRIGHAM YOUNG (Provo, Utah) A former Area Counsel for the LDS
Church in Eastern Europe, Mr. Michael L.
Jensen, spoke to the chapter in March. He reported that there are
approximately 600,000 members of the church in the Philippines, and tens of
thousands more throughout Asia, including in Indonesia, a country which has the
highest number of Muslims in all of Asia. Even though the church is relatively
new in Mongolia there are thousands of members in that country. In Ulan Bator,
Mongolia a very prominent building is the church headquarters building. There
are around 120 fulltime Mongolian
missionaries serving all over the world. The church is not officially
recognized in China, but by following the rules, a great amount of trust in the
Church and itÕs members exists there. The Church is very well established in
Japan and there are very few challenges there. The church is multi-generation
in Japan and there are two temples and many stakes in that land. The Church is
still developing in Russia and in other Eastern European countries. Mr. Jensen
emphasized that the members of the church in both Asia and in Eastern Europe
are truly pioneers and because of them the Church has a bright future in many
of those countries.
CENTERVILLE (Centerville, Utah) The program for the April dinner
meeting for the Centerville chapter will long be remembered as Kitty Bons told her story. It was about
the hardships her family went through in the concentration camps during WWII. The attendees were impressed with
her motherÕs strength of character and the miracle of her survival and that of
her family as they stood up to their captors on multiple occasions. Her mother
showed great dedication and bravery. The veterans in the audience were
especially touched by KittyÕs reverence for the U.S. military that helped free
her family and her special feeling for this nation. At the meeting a life membership was presented to Frank Tidwell. Preliminary plans were
discussed for the summer trek and about the scholarship award and the donation
to support that program.
COTTON MISSION (St. George, Utah) The chapter enjoyed a great
program in April as five high school seniors, each from a different high school
in the area, were given scholarship awards of $500.00 and one was given a $1,
000. 00 award through the generosity of an unnamed donor. 
Award winners pictured are left to right: Jennifer Merkel, Marlene Cintoro, Mackenzie
House, Chandis Jade Paramore, Michael Jake King and Allison Marie Thomas.
In addition to the
presentations and acknowledgements from the recipients, Terry Ogborn spoke of her experiences as principle of the Millcreek
High School for the past 23 years and as Director for the ÒAt RiskÓ and ÒYouth in
CustodyÓ programs for Washington County School District. Dean Terry presented a special memorial
tribute to the late Robert Horrack.
Entertainment for the evening was by Clay
Davis, Ann and Nolan Lowe and Abe Young (below). 
HOLLADAY (Holladay,
Utah) A very large number of members and guests attended the March chapter
meeting. Chapter President, Ted Pierce,
spoke about the importance of writing histories and then introduced the guest
speaker, Sharalyn Howcroft. Sister
Howcroft works for the church history department as an archivist and document
specialist for the Joseph Smith Papers.
She gave an insight into the life and testimony of Lucy Mack Smith including several reasons for her not going west
with the saints. She told of the conditions that she would go which included:
She wanted her family to go with her, she had bad health and she wanted her
remains to be brought back to be buried with Joseph. Sharalyn stated that Lucy
Òwanted to live with the SaintsÓ and that she was ÒThe greatest Mother in
Israel.Ó Jack Marshall was the
guest presenter at the April meeting. He is a seasoned religion educator at the
University Of Utah Institute Of Religion. His presentation featured the
dissemination and discussion of evidences and research regarding Book of Mormon geography and culture
within a Mesoamerican context and why Mesoamerica fits Book of Mormon
geography. He discussed the Mayan
culture and presented a visual tour of many of the ruins in Mesoamerica.
HURRICANE VALLEY (Hurricane, Utah) At the chapter meeting Carl Wadsworth told the story of the
construction of the Hurricane Canal 
and the challenges of keeping it in good
condition. The story had been told before, but Carl put a few new bits of
information in the story. His report caused those present at the meeting to
think about the struggles of building it. He told that when the water was first
put into the canal it was found that it did not hold water very well. He
explained that as the floods came down the river, the muddy water flowed
through the canal and plugged the cracks that previously had been leaking. As
he told the story of the Ditch Riders,
it helped all present to appreciate more deeply the struggle of keeping the
town of Hurricane supplied with water. His story included reports of the
difficulty of repairs to the ditch when there were breaks, especially when rock
slides ripped open the sides of the flume.
JORDAN RIVER TEMPLE and TEMPLE
QUARRY (South Salt Lake Valley) April 3, 2010 marked the 150th
anniversary of the start of the Pony
Express. 
At the April meeting of the two chapters Mr. Pat Hearty (below), the President
of the Utah State Division of the Pony Express Association shared the history
and some exciting stories of the men who braved the elements and hostile
Indians to transport the U.S. mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento,
California. The time required for that mail delivery was just ten days, an
accomplishment never thought possible. The men who did the riding were typically
in their early to mid twenties. They rode day and night, summer and winter.
Each rider rode approximately 75 to 100 miles and changed horses many times at
stations established for the purpose of providing fresh horses and some to
house and feed the rider until time for his ride on the reverse route. The
speedy delivery of mail was appreciated by many who were anxious to hear from
family and friends in the East. The cost of postage was $5.00 per ½ ounce. That was not enough to cover
the cost of the program so it was not a financial success. The program ran for
18 ½ months and was discontinued when the transcontinental telegraph line was completed on October 24, 1861.
MAPLE MOUNTAIN (Mapleton, Utah) At the March meeting of the chapter
Holly Barney gave a brief account
from the Johnston army period entitled ÒFirst
ImpressionsÓ. The army entered the Great Salt Lake Valley on June 8, 1858.
There was no reception for them but a death-like stillness. The doors were all
closed and there were no carriages or horses to be seen. Lee Nelson did a wonderful job of presenting a smorgasbord of
fascinating pioneer stories. He observed that the U.S. Congress did not like Brigham Young being the governor of the
Utah Territory so they appointed E.E.
Cummings. His was a short term and congress then appointed John Dawson who came out to Utah
without his wife. The Deseret News reported that Dawson was well-qualified as ÒEunuch in the KingÕs CourtÓ. He lasted
only a few weeks as governor. Lee told several tales from the history of Howard Egan, one of ÒBrighamÕs boysÓ in
running the mail from SLC to California. Egan made the trip in 10 days by
getting only 3 hours of sleep per night. Joseph
F. Smith, as an attorney, successfully defended Egan who had chased down
and killed a hired hand after the hired hand had an affair with one of EganÕs
wives.
MESA (Mesa, Arizona) National President, Dil Strasser, attended and participated in the March chapter
meeting. With his encouragement, and that of chapter members, there was a large
attendance and two new members joined the SUP. On the 27th the
chapter took a trek to the Arizona
Railroad Museum in Chandler, AZ. Area
Vice President, Bill Snarr is in the locomotive cab in the picture (above,
right). 
The museum is normally open only on
Saturdays and Sundays but they opened on Friday for the group. Work goes on
daily at the museum restoring cars. There is one car there that is privately
owned and used by the owners for trips and special occasions. (The visit of the
SUP group was not a special occasion.)
MILLS (Southeast Salt Lake City) Major wood milling and
architectural design projects of the firm named Architectural Wood Working Company were reported by family member, Paul Fetzer. Two locally prominent
projects were the redesign of the O.C.
Tanner store in down town Salt Lake City and the L.D.S. Conference Center. The Tanner store location was the former
Salt Lake City library and later the Hansen Planetarium. Unique features of
the renovation were the innovation of a spiral staircase reaching to three
floors, and stunning glass display cases used throughout the store. The story
of the walnut tree in the Hinckley family yard being transformed into the
pulpit in the Conference Center had the audience spell bound. The firm has
built many of the nationÕs performance area centers, such as the Julliard Music Center in New York City.
The firm is 100 years old and has clients internationally. Their store designs
have taken them to China, France and Russia.
SETTLEMENT CANYON (Tooele, Utah) The talented ÒTooele County Coral SocietyÓ provided a wonderful musical program
for the chapter in March. Chapter members are working to get the museum ready to open for the season.
The scheduled date for the opening is May 1st. The chapter also
continues to award a $1,000.00
scholarship to a grandchild or great grandchild of a chapter member. Those
who compete for the scholarship must write a short history of a family pioneer
and describe how this pioneer heritage has impacted their life. The candidate
must also describe what he or she will do to preserve pioneer heritage. Another
activity that chapter members are considering is to place a monument to
commemorate the Clinton Hotel that
was located at Lake Point. That hotel had an interesting history.
SEVIER VALLEY (Richfield, Utah) The speaker at the March meeting
was Chad Reid, County Extension Agent, USU Extension Service – Iron County.
To demonstrate changes in range conditions he showed historic pictures of
public land around the state and then in contrast he showed pictures of the
same places today. In most cases the conditions today seem to be much healthier
than they were around the turn of the last century. Mr. Reid shared some of his
observations of how the treatment of the lands by the Native Americans (burning and limited harvest) seems to greatly aid
in the health of these public lands
TAYLORSVILLE –BENNION (Taylorsville, Utah) In March the
chapter enjoyed a performance by Laurie
Tye. She is a lady with many talents and shared some of them with the
group. Laurie has written childrenÕs books, short stories, poems, songs and
performs cowboy poetry. She is a member of Cowboy
Poets of Utah, Cowboy Poets of Idaho and the Western Music Association. She
is a mother of six, spends a lot of time on the family farm in Hooper and was
awarded the title ÒMrs. UtahÓ in 2004
and ÒMrs. IntercontinentalÓ in 2005. At the meeting she performed a number
of well known cowboy poems and also included several that she had written. Her
performance was especially interesting as she related stories that went along
with the poems she had written.
TEMPLE FORK (Logan, Utah) Mike
Ohman, (right) an organist and organ builder, was the presenter at the
March chapter meeting. He has played many of the great organs of the world and
has built, restored and installed many organs. A couple in California has
donated an organ that is being installed in the Utah Theater in Logan. The
console of the organ has been rebuilt, enlarged and painted white with the
ornamentation gilded in gold. The organ (below) 
will be stored
in the basement of the theater and then raised to theater floor height via an
elevator when it is used. Mike talked about the organ being used during silent movies. He then played the music
to accompany a 20 minute silent Laurel
and Hardy film. It was a hilarious comedy and the musical accompaniment was
superb. Mike said that audience participation was very important. Mike also
played the organ to accompany an audience
sing-along. After playing the piano with instruction from his mother he started
taking official lessons when six years of age. At age eight his parents took
him to General Conference in the Tabernacle. He said Òit blew me awayÓ hearing
the Tabernacle organ. He became the ward organist at age 12. Mike supervised
the installation of the organ in the Conference
Center in Salt Lake City and made some of the pipes.
THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY (Heber City, Utah) The April meeting of the
chapter had by far the biggest turnout they have ever had. The increased
attendance was attributed to the success of the previous monthÕs open house. At
the meeting Mike Witt (below) reenacted
the 
colorful
and eccentric personality of Porter
Rockwell. Chapter president, Erik Rowland, stated that Ònot many
people understand PorterÕs life as well as MikeÓ. He further stated that the
presentation got about as close as you can get to knowing what Porter was
really like. Orrin Porter Rockwell was born June 28, 1813 in Belchertown,
Massachusetts and was baptized on April 6, 1830, making him one of the first
members of the church. He was endowed and sealed to his wife, Luana Beebe, in the Nauvoo Temple. During his later years
he was commonly known as the loyal bodyguard to both Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young. His long hair was his most
striking physical characteristic. The long hair was due to a statement by the
prophet that Ò. . . so long as ye shall remain loyal and true to thy faith ye
need fear no enemy. Cut not thy hair and no bullet or blade can harm thee.Ó His
reputation of being Òun-killableÓ led to numerous attempts on his life. He was
reputed to have killed many men while defending his life. He has been referred
to as the ÒDestroying Angel of
MormondomÓ. Porter became as famous and controversial as Pat Garrett or even Wyatt Earp.
UPPER SNAKE RIVER VALLEY (Rexburg,
Idaho) Kerry and Diane Denny (below)
gave a very interesting presentation to the chapter on the life of John Tanner at the April meeting. Along
with the oral report there was a video presentation titled ÒTreasure in Heaven, the John Tanner StoryÓ. He was born in 1778
but had a serious disease in his leg and was not expected to live long. He
attended a meeting conducted by Mormon missionaries with the intent to show
them the error of their ways. He was impressed with what was taught and the
feeling of the spirit. He desired to be baptized but believed his handicap
would prevent it. He was given a blessing by the missionaries and was
immediately able to walk and to be baptized. John was a wealthy man and helped
other members in need. In 1834 he dreamed that he was needed in Kirtland, Ohio. He took his family and
went there immediately; arriving in time to pay off the loan on the land the Kirtland Temple was being built on. In
addition to helping members immigrate to Ohio, he put his money in the Kirtland Bank in an attempt to bolster
and save it from closing. He lost everything and had to beg for food for his
family as he moved to Missouri.
Because of his sacrifices the Prophet,
Joseph Smith gave him a promise that he would not go hungry again. He moved
to Utah and had an experience along the way with Indians where the Lord
intervened and saved his life along with several women in the group. One of
JohnÕs descendants was Nathan Eldon
Tanner.
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