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
First Congregational Church (Salt Lake City, Utah) First Congregational Church (Salt Lake City, Utah) The First Congregational Church of Salt Lake City, Utah is a Congregational church affiliated with the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches. Established in 1865, it was the first church not a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Utah. The congregation started Utah's first free public schools. The church was founded in a period when mining activity had started to attract non-Mormons to the Utah Territory. The American Home Missionary Society sent minister Norman McLeod to the Utah Territory to minister to military personnel and other