utah war

In 1852, Charles Lajeunesse built a trading post at Devil’s Gate, funneling all Sweetwater Valley emigrant traffic past his door. Abandoned by 1856, its ruins sheltered the stranded Martin Handcart Company that winter. Lost for a century, the site was rediscovered and rebuilt in 2001.

On Oct. 5, 1857, a band of Mormon militia attacked U.S. Army supply wagons at Simpson’s Hollow west of what’s now Farson, Wyo., burning 26 wagons and stampeding army mules. The army was advancing on Utah to enforce federal law there, and the Mormons resisted—all part of the bloodless Utah War.