Day 27 -- Springville, Utah to Wendover, Nevada -- 185 Miles

At first I thought that describing today's events probably wouldn't fill a 3"x5" index card since it involved mostly driving under a blazing sun across a witheringly hot desert. There wasn't any fascinating places to pull over once we reached the boundaries of civilization and headed out across the infamous salt flats that straddle the border between Utah and Nevada. Places to stop are few and are mostly exit opportunities for the infrequent side roads.

However, before we departed the green hills of western Utah, I had one important stop to make. If you've been reading this blog as we’ve traveled this spring, you know that our route today is simply a reversal of our departure itinerary from Nevada to Utah in early May. You will probably also remember that once we had crossed into Utah we left the Interstate 80 Route that passes through Salt Lake City and dropped south toward the towns of Grantsville, Toole, Stockton, and beyond.

The purpose of this deviation from Interstate 80 was to enable us to make a very specific stop in the remote desert village of Fairfield more than an hour's drive south and west of Salt Lake City. Back in 1858 this now quiet, sparsely-settled village adjoined a bustling army post known as Camp Floyd, which housed a couple of thousand regular army soldiers.

The army post existed where it did because the U.S. government and the Mormon Church very nearly ended up in a war back in 1857. The reasons for the war can be attributed more to political posturing than to any real threat posed by the Mormon Church, but President Buchanan nevertheless dispatched General Albert Sidney Johnston to the Utah Territory to take charge and "bring order” to the supposedly unruly Mormons.

Mormons, who had been victimized incessantly for more than two decades by various governments, knew what bringing order meant to the U.S. Military. Brigham Young immediately recognized the threat and issued a call to all Mormons to return to Salt Lake City to help defend their church and their brethren. At the same time, young men in Salt Lake City and the surrounding local areas were organized and made ready to repulse an invasion.

In order to delay the army that the Mormons knew was advancing from the east, Mormon's fortified the canyon approaches to Salt Lake City and made ready to ambush any soldiers who might venture there. In addition, cavalry forces traveled east to meet the oncoming supply trains that were traveling separately from the federal troops. Once found, the trains were attacked, ransacked, and put to the torch.

Mormon efforts to destroy the army's supply trains were extraordinarily successful. They were so successful that the army had to halt their advance while still in the Wyoming Territory and wait for more supply wagons to reach them from the east. Ultimately, the army never received enough supplies to wage any sort of conflict with the Mormons and were forced to spend the winter of 1857/1858 bivouacked on the plains in close to starvation conditions.

Fortunately, cooler heads eventually prevailed and war was averted. However the Mormons had to agree to allow a U.S. army post to exist in the Utah Territory for the protection of overland immigrants and as well as all other citizens of the United States. The Mormons agreed to this demand with the stipulation that the fort had to be well removed from any settled areas.

And that's how the fort known as Camp Floyd came to be established, though it only existed for a little over two years. Along with Camp Floyd, the civilian town of Fairfield sprang to life which soon grew into the second largest town in the territory. The Mormons were never comfortable with the existence of the fort, nor of the lawless nature of the town of Fairfield. But opportunities for commerce at both the fort and the town were a boon to local farmers and ranchers for the short time both existed.

Eventually, Camp Floyd was closed and abandoned when the American Civil War broke out in April of 1861. By August of 1861 the Fort was abandoned, the furnishing and supplies sold off, and the soldiers marched off to join in the war effort. Most of the fort's buildings were dismantled for their materials or moved to local farms or ranches, and virtually nothing remains of the fort today save one building which now houses a museum devoted to this particular episode in history.

The museum building once housed the post commissary. Across the street from this sole remaining Camp Floyd building is a two-story structure that was once a way station for both the pony express riders and the overland stage line employees. Concetta and I visited the museum on our way east in May, and photographed the way station. We found both to be well worth a stop to get acquainted with the story of the fort.

Unfortunately, what we missed doing in May was visit the fort cemetery which was situated just down the road to the southwest from the museum. Today I intended for us to recify that bit of oversight. Even though we were told at the museum that only soldiers were buried at the fort and no civilians, I just had to see for myself.

So why am I intersted in the saga of Camp Floyd? Because back in 1861, between the firing on Fort Sumpter that began our Civil War, and the August date that Camp Floyd's troops marched off to fight in that war, my great great Grandfather, John Stephen Daley, was supposedly murdered by Indians, perhaps somewhere in the Camp Floyd area. John, who lived in Springville, Utah, about fifty miles to the east and south, had loaded up his wagon to deliver supplies to an unknown location and was never seen again. I figured if John had been murdered, perhaps the soldiers found him and brought him back to Camp Floyd for burial, especially if he had no identification on him.

Visiting the cemetery today didn't exactly prove that John wasn't buried there, since it doesn't appear that civilians were noted in the record. But he might be there since the cemetery in his home town contains no stone for him that I have found. It's certainly a mystery that I hope to solve someday. At any rate, it felt great to finally get to see a place I've only read about for many years.

And that was our one "adventure" for the day. Right now we're camped in Wendover, Nevada, and tomorrow we'll be headed down Interstate 80 toward Reno. We do plan a stop at the Overland Trail museum in Elko, as that facility is just too good to miss when you're in the area. Tomorrow night we'll be in Winnemucca, which should be our last night on the road.