Pond Town Fort

The town that calls itself the City of Peace began as a fort. In 1851 David Fairbanks and David Crockett claimed land at the head of the spring-fed lake and threw a dam across the stream that fed it. Five years later more families settled the place they called Pond Town and, uneasy on ground that was Timpanogos Ute country, built a fort a hundred and sixty feet on a side. Lyman Curtis later gave the settlement a gentler name, Salem — Hebrew for peace — though the pond it grew around is still there at the town's heart.

What the plaque says

This monument marks the site of Pond Town Fort. In 1851 David Fairbanks and David Crockett located land adjacent to a small stream at the head of Salem Lake and built a dam. In 1856 Eli Ashcraft, Royal Durfrey, Silas Hillman, Aquilla Hopper, Jacob Killian, Trumen Tryon and their families settled Pond Town and began building the fort for protection from the Indians. The fort was 160 feet north and south and 150 east and west. Robert Davis and Thomas Killian arrived later in the same year. The name of Pond Town was changed to Salem, (City of Peace) by Lyman Curtis. Salem Camp D.U.P.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Payson Lakes — 9.4 mi
  Three alpine lakes in the pines, twelve miles up Payson Canyon
• Thistle Landslide — 10 mi
  The ruins of a town destroyed by a massive landslide in 1983
• Nebo Loop Summit — 14 mi
  The byway's 9,300-foot high point, with Utah Valley spread out below
• Mount Nebo — 17 mi
  At 11,928 feet, the highest and southernmost peak in the Wasatch Range

More markers nearby

• Keele Monument — 2.9 mi
• Payson City Hall — 2.9 mi
• Payson's Pioneer Industries — 2.9 mi
• Leland Historical Monument — 3.1 mi