History of Salt Lake City the Salt Lake Valley. At the time of its founding there were no Indians present in the Salt Lake valley. The first two in this company to enter the Salt Lake valley were Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow. These members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("LDS Church") sought to establish an autonomous religious community and were the first people of European descent to permanently settle in the area now known as Utah. Thousands of Mormon pioneers would arrive in Salt Lake in the coming months and years. Brigham Young led the Saints west after the death
John Brown (Mormon pioneer) John Brown (Mormon pioneer) John Brown (1820–1897) was a leader among the Mormons in the southern United States and in the Mormon pioneer exodus to the West. He was also a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature. Brown was born in Sumner County, Tennessee. He was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Perry County, Illinois by George P. Dykes. He later served as a Mormon missionary in Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. He headed a group of Latter-day Saints, mainly from Mississippi, who moved west in 1846. They did not realize that