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Show Sugar House Sermonettes by E. Cecil McGavin This is the second in a series of articles on the early day hintory of Parley's Canyon. The series is presented under the sponsorship of Sugar House Camp, Sons of Utah Pioneers. As a result of the gold rush, the Great Salt Lake Carrying Company was organized, primarily pri-marily for the purpose of carrying car-rying freight and passengers from the Missouri to the Pacific Pa-cific Coast. The fare for each passenger was set at $300, while one ton of merchandise would be transported for $250. This project, together wi'h the flood of emigrants seeking the quickest route to the Pacific, Pa-cific, prompted the development develop-ment of the toll road, now known as Parleys Canyon. Parley P. Pratt, in whose honor the historic highway was named, conceived the idea of opening a roadway in the. canyon as a means of shortening shorten-ing the distance and encouraging encourag-ing the gold-seekers to pass through the Mormon settlements settle-ments instead of taking another an-other course and thus bypassing bypass-ing the Mormon communities. Elder Pratt was Impressed with the beauty of the canyon when he camped one night in the lower part of the canyon. He liked it so well he named it Parleys Park. Later he laid claims to the valley and built a small cabin there, the first began to think of building a roadway through the canyon in order to eliminate the rough course over Big and Little Mountains. |