The Great Trek

The Great Trek. . In April of 1847, Brigham Young and his advance party left Winter Quarters on the Missouri River and trekked to the Great Salt Lake Basin arriving July 24, 1847. One Hundred and fifty years later this trek was reenacted with covered wagons and handcarts. This reenactment in 1997 was called "The Great Trek." , The Max Pitcher family of Alpine, Utah and other modern pioneers from "This is the Place Park" in Salt Lake City pushed and pulled this handcart 1000 miles from Omaha to Salt Lake City. The trek followed the Platte River Valley 600 miles across Nebraska, through the Sandhills of Nebraska and sagebrush plains of Wyoming. They followed the original Mormon Trail along the Sweetwater River to Martin's Cove and Rocky Ridge - the sites of early handcart disasters of 1856. They then went over the Continental Divide at South Pass, across the Green River Basin to Fort Bridger and finally over the Rocky Mountains into the Salt Lake Basin. , Upon completion of The Great Trek this handcart was donated to the city of Alpine display here at Historic Moyle Park