Qualla: This Is the Place Monument

This Is the Place Monument: Introduction

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ben P L from Provo, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. The words were simple: "This is the right place, drive on." On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young, weakened by Rocky Mountain spotted fever and riding in a wagon, looked out over a valley of sagebrush and salt flats bounded by mountains. The Great Salt Lake shimmered to the northwest. No trees. Little water. But Young had led his followers 1,300 miles from persecution in Illinois, and this desolate basin would become their Zion. Exactly one hundred years later, on July 24, 1947, church president George Albert Smith dedicated a monument at the spot where Young first viewed the valley. The sculptor was Mahonri M. Young, the prophet's own grandson, who spent eight years creating a bronze tribute to the pioneers.

Image: Ben P L from Provo, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

This Is the Place Monument: A Grandson's Eight-Year Labor

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. Mahonri M. Young was already an accomplished sculptor when he received the $50,000 commission in 1939. He had studied in Paris, worked alongside Auguste Rodin, and created the Seagull Monument that had stood on Temple Square since 1913. For this larger project, he retreated to We...

Image: Public domain

This Is the Place Monument: The Journey Through the Canyon

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PerryPlanet, Public domain. The monument stands at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, the final passage of a brutal westward journey. The Mormon pioneers had followed earlier travelers, including the Donner Party, who had passed through the canyon just one year before on their doomed journey toward California....

Image: PerryPlanet | Public domain

This Is the Place Monument: Faces in Bronze

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nathan 02, CC BY-SA 4.0. The monument rises with Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Wilford Woodruff at the summit, the three men who first entered the valley. Below them, bronze figures represent the full scope of Western exploration. The Donner Party appears, commemorating their 1846 passage through ...

Image: Nathan 02 | CC BY-SA 4.0

This Is the Place Monument: Heritage Park and Living History

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. In the mid-1970s, a living history museum grew beside the monument. This Is the Place Heritage Park began by relocating and restoring pioneer-era buildings from across Utah, creating a village where the nineteenth century continues. Log cabins, a blacksmith shop, and period homes...

Image: CC BY-SA 3.0