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Show Marks Of Utah's First Wagon Road Still Visible The oldest wagon road in Utah is in Box Elder county. Over it passed the first recorded train of emigrants headed for California and known as the John Bcdwell party. They brought the first wheeled vehicles ve-hicles into Utah six years ahead of the Mormon Pioneers. In fact, Brigham Young's original party had no difficulty in following the wagon wheel trails left by the Bidwcll party, who with another group of adventurers led by Father DeSmet, left Sapling Grove, Missouri in the spring of 1841 for California. Near Soda Springs, Idaho, the Bidwell party of 34 persons traveling in covered wagons left DeSmet and followed the Bear River south. They crossed the low hills near Collinston, Utah, where Jim Bridger first viewed the sparkling waters of Great Salt Lake in 1824. Near where Corinne now stands, the party turned west and crossed Promontory Prom-ontory Mountain over the exact spot where years later in 1869, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific rails met. From Promontory Promon-tory westward, their wagon trail can still be traced as it wended its way to the present site of Kclton and thence onward to Owl Springs, Box Elder county, where two wagons were abandoned, aban-doned, None of these wagons of the 1841 trek ever reached their destination. After suffering terrible ter-rible hardships, the party finally final-ly reached California without loss of life. |