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 in both 2004 and 2008, Utah was not invited to participate in the national championship in either season because it was a member of the Mountain West Conference, a BCS non-AQ conference. The Utah Avalanche, formed in January 2011, were a development rugby league team for the now defunct American National Rugby League. In June 2012, Salt Lake City hosted the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy, a major international rugby union tournament for under-20 national teams from "second-tier" nations. Utah became the first state outside Minnesota where bandy exists when Olympic Bandy Club was formed in Salt Lake City. Salt