Historical Marker · No. 2145
Jordan Narrows
Bluffdale, Salt Lake County · Utah
Erected by PTLA, 1934
This gap in the hills was the great doorway south. Ancient Lake Bonneville cut it, waves gnawing a notch through a ridge on the lake's leeward side; when the water fell, the notch became the natural gateway between the Salt Lake Valley and everything below it. Nearly every route to central Utah and California funneled through here — the first settlers heading south from 1848, the San Diego mail line, the Overland Stage to San Francisco, the Pony Express, and the first transcontinental telegraph. For twenty years the traffic of a growing territory squeezed through this one narrow neck.
What the plaque says
Gateway to Central Utah and California; formed by wave action on leeward arm of ancient Lake Bonneville. Route of first settlers in Central and Southern Utah 1848 to 1854; of government mail line to San Diego 1854 to 1857; of Overland Mail and Stage line to San Francisco 1858 to 1868; of Pony Express line 1860 to 1861; and of first transcontinental telegraph line 1861 to 1868. Control and way stations on Overland Stage and Pony Express route about ten miles apart, mostly in view from this monument, were: Salt Lake City, Traveler's Rest, Rrockwell's, Joe's Dugout and Fort Crittenden (originally named Camp Floyd). A celebrated Ute indian chief, named Tintic, led an attack on the early settlers of Lehi, between this monument and Utah Lake in February 1854, killing several men. Utah National Guard and Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks
Where it stands
40.43458, -111.92223 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Lehi Roller Mills — 4.8 miThe flour mill from the movie Footloose
- Thanksgiving Point — 7.8 miA massive complex with dinosaur bones, gardens, and a curiosity museum
- Timpanogos Cave National Monument — 11 miThree spectacularly decorated caves connected by hand-carved tunnels
- Bingham Canyon Mine — 13 miThe largest man-made excavation on Earth