Burraston Ponds

Long before it was a ranch, this was a gathering place with a spring the Ute called bottomless. Punjun Spring, they named it, and the chiefs met here before and during the Walker and Black Hawk wars; the story went that in the evening stillness you could hear a baby cry from its depths. The Domínguez-Escalante party camped here in September 1776 and mapped it as Ojo de San Pablo. Settlers came last: Richard and Emma Burraston, called in 1865 to guard the mail route, ran a great church cattle herd here and left the ponds their name.

What the plaque says

Burraston Ponds was the campsite of the Escalante Expedition, 27 September 1776, from Santa Fe to the Utah Basin. Father Escalante mapped this area and named this spring "Ojo de San Pablo" or Eye of Saint Paul. The great Indian chiefs before and during the Walker and Black Hawk Indian Wars used this campsite as a meeting place. They called it Punjun Spring and said it was without bottom and that in the still of the evening a baby's cry could be heard from its depths. Richard James Burraston and his wife Emma Price were called to settle this area in 1865. They were to protect the mail route. They had private livestock under the Burraston brand. They managed a large cattle operation for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1878, over 1,000 head of cattle, taken from this ranch, provided funding for the Mormon Church's purchase of what is now Snowflake and St. Johns, Arizona. In 1879, railroad ties from Mount Nebo timber were used for the building of the Utah Southern Railroad. In 1901, this pond site was gifted to the State of Utah by Mr. Burraston to commemorate its statehood and for the enjoyment of the people.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mount Nebo — 5.8 mi
  At 11,928 feet, the highest and southernmost peak in the Wasatch Range
• Nephi — 6.0 mi
  A quiet ranching town at the foot of Mount Nebo
• Devil's Kitchen — 7.3 mi
  A pocket of red-rock hoodoos high in the green Wasatch — a "little Bryce Canyon"
• Nebo Loop Summit — 9.0 mi
  The byway's 9,300-foot high point, with Utah Valley spread out below

More markers nearby

• Mona Bicentennial Park — 1.5 mi
• Old Pioneer Cemetery — 1.9 mi
• Salt Creek Fort Wall — 5.6 mi
• First School — 5.6 mi