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 by giving the LDS Church preferential treatment, while LDS residents perceived a growing anti-Mormon bias in city politics. The city's political demographics are considerably more liberal than the rest of Utah. While Utah as a whole is a strongly conservative and Republican state, Salt Lake City is considered a Democratic bastion. Since 1976, all of the city's mayors have been Democrats. The city is home to several non-governmental think-tanks and advocacy groups such as the conservative Sutherland Institute, the progressive Alliance for a Better Utah, the gay-rights group Equality Utah, and the quality-growth advocates Envision Utah. Salt Lake hosted many