Fort Utah

Provo's founding fort went up on the Provo River in March 1849, when Brigham Young sent John S. Higbee and thirty families to build it. They raised log houses inside a fourteen-foot palisade, twenty by forty rods, with gates at either end and a raised deck in the middle to mount a cannon. That cannon was not decoration: within a year the militia turned it on the Timpanogos Ute whose fishery and homeland the fort had claimed. In 1850 the fort was moved east to what is now Sowiette Park, named for a Ute leader who counseled peace.

What the plaque says

The original settlement at Provo (Fort Utah) was established March 12, 1849 by President John S. Higbee, with Isaac Higbee and Dimick B. Huntington, counselors, and about 30 families or 150 persons, sent from Salt Lake City by President Brigham Young. Several log houses were erected, surrounded by a 14 foot palisade 20 by 40 rods in size, with gates in the east and west ends, and a middle deck for a cannon. The fort was first located west of town, but was moved to Sowiette Park in April, 1850.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bridal Veil Falls — 8.8 mi
  A dramatic double waterfall cascading 607 feet into Provo Canyon
• Sundance Mountain Resort — 12 mi
  Robert Redford's intimate, arts-minded ski resort on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos, in the North Fork of Provo Canyon.
• Thanksgiving Point — 12 mi
  A massive complex with dinosaur bones, gardens, and a curiosity museum
• Aspen Grove — 13 mi
  The mountain-base trailhead for Mount Timpanogos and Stewart Falls

More markers nearby

• Settlement of Provo — 1.5 mi
• First Tabernacle — 1.5 mi
• Utah Lake Fishing Industry — 1.5 mi
• George A. Smith Provo Pioneer Village- Living in the Frontier 1849 to 1872 in Utah County — 1.5 mi