This is the Place

This is the Place. . When Brigham Young first looked over the valley from the area of the This is the Place Monument, five miles southeast of here, he saw Ensign Peak and knew that it marked the right place for the gathering of the Latter-day Saints., Before leaving Nauvoo, Illinois, President Young had prayed to know to where he should lead the Saints. He envisioned Joseph Smith, who showed him this peak with a flag upon it, saying that it overlooked the place for the new city. , Long after Wilford Woodruff wrote: "Forty-one years ago this day I passed through Immigration Canyon with President Brigham Young. He was taken sick on East Canyon Creek, and I made a bed for him in my carriage. When we came upon the bench…I turned the side of the vehicle to the west, so that he could obtain a fair view of the valley. President Young arose from his bed and took a survey of the country before him for several minutes. He then said to me, "Drive on down into the valley; this is our abiding place. I have seen it before in vision. In this valley will be built the City of the Saints and the Temple of our God'" (Millennial Star, 50:561). , This would be the center place of Zion, where Latter-day Saints could be free to develop their distinctive community.