Westward Expansion Trails the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The Mormon Trail followed part of the Oregon Trail and then branched off at the fur trading post called Fort Bridger, founded by famed mountain man Jim Bridger. Heading south and following river valleys southwestward to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, Brigham Young led the first Mormons into present-day Utah during 1847. The Mormon Trail is 1,300 miles long and extends from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Mormon Trail was used for more than 20 years after the Mormons used it and has been reserved for sightseeing. The initial
Salt Lake City Council Hall was originally Salt Lake City Hall, built to replace an older, smaller city hall completed just six years earlier on the eve of the Utah War, a standoff between Latter-day Saints ("Mormons") and federal troops. This small city hall was almost immediately inadequate for the growing city, so planning work on a new City Hall began by 1863. Ground for the new hall was broken on February 8, 1864 under the direction of the prolific Salt Lake City architect William H. Folsom who was then the official architect for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Built