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
George Reynolds (Mormon) Twelve Apostles. Reynolds continued in this position and as the secretary to the First Presidency until his death in 1909. Reynolds was a gifted writer and after his release from prison he became active in writing church literature. His most famous works are his "Story of the Book of Mormon" (1888), which was intended for children; "Complete Concordance to the Book of Mormon" (1900); and "Dictionary of the Book of Mormon" (1910). Reynolds suffered a nervous breakdown in 1907 as a result of stress incident from overwork. He died from meningitis at Salt Lake City on August 9, 1909, at