The Utah War-fortifying Echo Canyon

For a few months in 1857, this quiet canyon was Utah's front line. Convinced the Mormons were in rebellion, President Buchanan sent twenty-five hundred soldiers to march on Salt Lake — and Echo Canyon, a choke point on their road, was where the Nauvoo Legion meant to stop them. Through a brutal autumn two thousand militiamen stacked dry-stone breastworks along these cliffs, dug trenches, and dammed the creek to drive the troops beneath falling rock. In the end no shot was fired here: the Utah War was settled by negotiation in 1858, and the walls were never tested.

What the plaque says

Historic Corridor Modern roads and highways often follow historic transportation corridors. In the mid 1800s, the California, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express Trails all passed through this canyon. Today, Interstate 80 in Echo Canyon follows the same historic route. The Canyon Remembers Sounds of travelers have lingered between these red canyon walls for hundreds of years. Sometimes, if you listen closely, through the din of today's auto and truck traffic you may hear the echoes of our past: • the scraping of native Ute and Shoshone travois on river gravel, • the crunch of fur trapper's footsteps in the snow, • the whinnying, braying, and bellowing of horses, mules, and oxen, • the crack of a teamster's whip, • the creaking of wagons and stagecoaches, • and the chugging, hissing, and clickity-clack of a steam locomotive on rails. (Drawing Caption) Walking next to an ox-drawn wagon in 1847. It took two days to get here from the Wyoming border. By Overland Stage in 1859, the trip took over three hours. By train in 1870, the distance was covered in just under two hours. How long did it take you today?

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Utah Olympic Park — 21 mi
  The ski jumping and bobsled venue from the 2002 Winter Olympics
• Park City Mountain — 24 mi
  The largest ski resort in the United States, grown straight out of a 19th-century silver town.
• Park City — 24 mi
  Silver built it. Snow saved it.
• Park City Main Street — 24 mi
  A historic mining town turned world-class ski and film festival destination

More markers nearby

• Deputy Sheriff Rodney Badger Gave His Life — 4.4 mi
• East Canyon Campsites — 13 mi
• Porterville Settlement — 14 mi
• Mormon Flat — 15 mi