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Show Just History By Albert P. Philips Whila Salt Lake City waa tartad on July 24, 1847. It waa not given a nam until August 22 nor did tha Jordan river receive) lffe name until that date, aa also the mountain Btreams on the eaatern aide of the Salt lke valley. So today la the eeventy-alxth anniversary anni-versary of the birth of Great Salt Lake City. The namee wtro given at a special conference) held in the Salt Lake valley on that date. The river Jordan had bn christened the Santa Ana by the 8 pan! arcs, Father Eecalante and Father Dominguea, two Spanish frlara of tha Franclaoan order having named the atream, although Eecalante did not follow the atream1' up from Utah lake. Hla party reached the headwaters of the Pro vo river or one of tha neighboring atreams and followed It down to Utah lake. While the Salt Lake valley was a renion that waa long coveted. It Is probable that tha roaaon for Its being shunned until the nloneera came In 1S47 was due to the Great Salt lake, whoa existence was known and which was regarded aa a great dead sea around which was simply a barren desert This waa tho vlaer hlrf h atic-h man ss Danlsl Webster, then a senstor of th Unltsd States, who In a speech delivered In the eenate In 147 on the matter of the establishing estab-lishing ef mall route from Independence. Inde-pendence. Mo, to the mouth of the Columbia river, said: "What do we want with this vast worthless worth-less area, the Great American desert, this region of savsges and wild beasts, of deaerta of ehlftlns sanda and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and prairie doyaT To what use 'could we ever hope to put these great deserts, or those endless end-less mounts In rsnges? Senstor McDuffi. of Snath Carolina Caro-lina said that he "would not give a pinch of snuff for ths whole territory. and concluded saying: "I thank God for His mercy In placing ths Rocky mountains there." The preliminary survey of the site of Salt Lake city had been made on the second day of August. 147. by Orson Prstt snd Henry O. Sherwood. The sltltuds wss determined de-termined at 420 feet above the sea aa the base and meridian line. I-ater It wss found by the I'nltsd States surveyor general to bo practelally the same, the latter being made In 1151. A monument now etanda at tha southeast corner cor-ner of ths Temple grounds, almost al-most sgainat ths wall which mark ths Salt Lake meridian. In tha laying out of the city four block were reserved for public pub-lic squsrea Pioneer square, where the pioneers erected the old fort. Is now a beauty spot: Wsshlng-ton Wsshlng-ton aqosre. where the pioneers first camped, containa the Joint elty and oounty building; Union square Is now occupied hy ths West Side High school, while the Tenth word squsre Is now used! by the Utah IJght and Traction company. Liberty nark waa given to the city later en. The etiglnsl nun siren ths elty bv the conference held on August It. 14T. was City of the Oreat Salt Lake, but this aoon changed by common usage to Great Salt Tjike. and the word "Oreat" waa! dropped by act of the legislature I on January t. lilt, a It was also from the "county. . I |