Bodil Mortensen Statue

Bodil Mortensen was a Danish girl of nine or ten, sent ahead of her parents in 1856 to join an older sister already in Utah. She traveled with the Willie Handcart Company, which started west too late and was caught by early blizzards in Wyoming. On the brutal climb over Rocky Ridge she helped mind younger children; that night, sent to gather firewood, she was found the next morning frozen against a handcart wheel, sagebrush twigs still in her hands. Her parents learned of it only on reaching the valley. This statue keeps her.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• This Is The Place Heritage Park — steps away
  A living history village at the mouth of Emigration Canyon
• Natural History Museum of Utah — 0.8 mi
  A world-class museum built into the foothills above Salt Lake City
• Red Butte Garden — 1.1 mi
  A 100-acre botanical garden with panoramic valley views
• Emigration Canyon — 2.0 mi
  The final stretch of trail the Mormon pioneers took into the valley

More markers nearby

• Angels Are Near Us — steps away
• First Company of Pioneers into the Valley — steps away
• Eyes Westward Statue — steps away
• This is the Place State Park — steps away