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 PARLEY'S HOLLOW   
- Gateway to the Great Salt Lake Valley  

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By Florence C. Youngberg                                                                         
List Price: $16.00 
Soft Cover 6 x 9 150p     60 Photos  
ISBN 1888106131 Aug 1998  
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Stories and over 60 photos explore the rich and changing history of this Hollow associated with Salt Lake City's early days-from first settlement in 1848, of people, business, industry, agriculture, parks, prisons, wildlife, plants, and much more. Parley Pratt, prominent LDS early leader, discovered this entrance into the Salt Lake Valley. Indexed.   
Awards   About the Author    Stories from the Book 
 

  Visit the Sons of Utah Pioneers Library in Salt Lake City for more history and photos: 3301 East 2940 South. Call 801 484-4441. Director of the library is historian Florence Youngberg, who will be glad to show you around and answer questions. She has produced a 16 page color booklet called Parley's Historic Nature Park with 31 photos, and it sells for only $8.00.

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Parley Pratt.  

AWARDS

Utah State Historical Society has awarded Florence Youngberg, author of Parley's Hollow, the 1999 Utah Heritage Award for excellence in history.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 


Florence C. Youngberg, resident of Utah, is director of the Sons of Utah Pioneers Family Research Library, and is the Editor of their 1999 four-volume, 3000 page, Conquerors Of The West: Stalwart Mormon Pioneers.

She also wrote the history of the Granite Education Association.


 

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Stories from the Book.

PARLEY’S HOLLOW

On the morning of July 22, 1847, two groups of Pioneers entered the valley which lay east of the great salty lake and west of the Rocky Mountains. The first ones to enter that day were Pratt, Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, and seven other horsemen. The purpose of their expedition was to make a reconnaissance of the valley and determine the best place to locate and start planting seed, etc.
    The second group to enter the valley was the Willard B. Richard’s Company. Starting at 8:30 a.m. from their camp up Emigration Canyon, they soon caught up with and joined the Orson Pratt Company. They spent about four hours helping to cut away shrubbery etc. to make the passage easier for the following wagons. At the end of this time, they took a southwest course.

  Early Transportation. Click photo for full image 

William Clayton recorded: "At half past five, we formed our encampment on a creek supposed to be Brown’s Creek (later known as Parley’s Creek). We are now five and a quarter miles (southwest) from the mouth of this canyon."
    Parley’s Creek or Canyon, as it is known today, was named Brown’s Creek by William Clayton and others when the pioneers, on July 20th, passed over Big Mountain and came in view of Parley’s Canyon. In John Brown’s Autobiography of a Pioneer, p. 78, he wrote:
    "On the 20th (July, 1847) we passed over Big Mountain onto another Creek which we called Brown’s Creek (now known as Parley’s Creek) and the gap in the mountain was called Pratt’s Pass."

Parley’s Pass is in Emigration Canyon and Parley’s Creek starts in that area.

At a meeting of the Pioneers held in the bowery on what is now known as Temple Square, on August 22, 1847 at 2:00 p.m., on the motion of President Brigham Young, it was agreed that the northernmost Creek emanating from Wasatch Mountains be called City Creek. Progressing southward, the streams should be known as Red Butte Creek  and Big Kanyon Creek. Red Butte Creek retained its name while Kanyon Creek became Emigration Canyon Creek, Big Mountain Creek, also known as Brown’s Creek, became, in due course of time, Parley’s Canyon Creek.
    It is this Creek and its passage from above the mouth of the canyon west to about 11th East and the surrounding area, which is the object of our study.
    It is important to establish the fact that Brown’s Creek and Parley’s Creek are one and the same because in both Thomas Bullock’s journal and in William Clayton’s journal it is definitely stated that the first Mormon Pioneer wagon group to enter the valley on July 22, 1847, camped on "Brown’s Creek" or "Kanyon Creek" and that in order to reach this encampment on Brown’s Creek (Parley’s Creek), the Company traveled five and a quarter miles southwesterly. In Thomas Bullock’s journal, he wrote:

"As we progressed down the valley, small clumps of dwarf oak and willows appeared; –the grass grown six or seven feet high; many different kinds of grass appeared, some being ten or twelve feet high. After wading through thick grass for some distance, we found a place bare enough for a camping ground, the grass being only knee deep but very thick. We camped on the bank of a very beautiful stream–Kanyon Creek (Parley’s Creek)–skirted by very tall grass."

Orson Pratt’s journal entry of July 22, 1847, helps to more clearly establish this point.

"After riding about 15 miles around the valley on our reconnaissance mission, we returned and found our wagons encamped in the valley about five and a quarter miles from where they left the canyon."

He further wrote the next day, July 23, 1847:

"This morning we dispatched two persons ( John Pack and Joseph Mathews) to President (Brigham) Young, and the wagons which were still behind, informing them of our discoveries and explorations. The camp moved its position two miles to the north, where we camped near the bank of a beautiful creek of pure cold water (City Creek)."

Erastus Snow, another member of the nine horsemen who rode into the valley July 22, 1847, states in his journal:

"Finding no place equal to that east of the Utah outlet (Jordan River), we returned to the camp (the Brown’s Creek Camp) that night and the next day, Friday 23rd, 1847, we moved north to a Creek (City Creek), about four miles, where we commenced preparations for putting in seed."

His statement of "four miles" is closer to the actual move from the first camp to the final camp than is Orson Pratt’s statement of "two miles." It should be noted that some of the Pioneers camped at different sites between the two places as they came into the valley.

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PARLEY’S CREEK

Suicide Rock    Click photo for full image

  Parley’s Creek, as it would become known and as we will hereafter refer to it, was the largest of the streams of water which flowed from the Wasatch Mountains.
    Parley’s Creek was originally known as " Obit-Ko-Ke-Che CreekObit-Ko-Ke-Che Creek" by the Indians that frequented the area. This creek had its beginning high in the Wasatch Mountains to the north near what is known as Pratt’s  Pass near Lookout Peak. It ran through the pass near Little Mountain Summit and over into Parley’s Canyon.
    It was joined by several smaller streams as it came. By the time it reached the canyon known as Lamb’s Canyon where it was joined by another stream, it was becoming a good size stream. Other streams from Mountaire Canyon and other tributaries joined it until it reached the mouth of the Canyon.
    After leaving Parley’s Canyon, the stream flowed down through the hollow, generally working its way in a northwesterly direction where it was joined by other creeks including Mill Creek, or, as the Indians called it, Ombit-O-PahOmbit-O-Pah. From here it flowed to the Jordan River where it joined with that river in the area of 5th South.
    The first Pioneers soon gave it the name of Big Kanyon Creek and it was known as that until Parley P. Pratt surveyed the canyon for a road, at which time it was given the name of Parley’s Creek, by which it is still known.
    Parley’s Creek, being the largest of the streams close to Salt Lake City, would now have to go to work to help support the Pioneers who were coming into the valley in ever increasing numbers. It has been said that as many as 20 mills were, at various times, located along its banks. All of these mills required the water from Parley’s Creek to run them.
    At the same time, families were moving into the upper canyon area and establishing ranches and homes. A church, schools, and several inns, plus other businesses were soon established along its banks or near the area, all of which required a portion of the water.

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