Discovery Road – Winner of Best In State 2022 – Best Documentary

Since its debut in 2012, Discovery Road has produced over 60 episodes, taking viewers on immersive journeys down U.S. Highway 89 through six historic counties in central and southern Utah.

 

Each 30-minute episode blends history, mystery, heritage, and natural beauty into family-friendly storytelling that educates as much as it entertains.

 

Broadcast locally on KUED-TV and across the country through the National Educational Television Association, or NETA, the series has become a public media touchstone for anyone seeking a deeper connection to the region’s past. It is also used in classrooms across the state as part of Utah’s history curriculum.

Mormon Pioneers traveling to the west Covered Wagons Courtesy of Shaun Messick

The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area is the only National Heritage Area designated and named for a specific people, the Mormon Pioneers – as they forged to the west. Their remarkable story of dedication, fortitude, and extraordinary efforts offers one of the best features of the Mormon colonization experience in the United States. The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area has been identified by Congress as a factor in the expansion of the United States and contributing to the United States.

Districts

travel planner for the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area

Cowboys, Outlaws, and the Movies 

The unique landscape features a geological wonderland that has been the backdrop for feature films including; “Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid,” and “Jeremiah Johnson.” While traveling through the picturesque scenery, you might recognize a scene or two. Included in the heritage area is the birthplace of Utah outlaws, Butch Cassidy and Matt Warner. Matt was a lifelong friend and a gang member alongside of Butch.  Many movies were filmed in the scenic Under the Rim District of the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area.

Mormon Colonization 

In the later part of the 1800s the Mormon pioneers began their great relocation to the west. They trekked 1,400 miles from Illinois to the Great Salt Lake. This mass-Exodus brought about colonization in Utah, Nevada, the southwest corner of Wyoming, the southeast corner of Idaho, southeast Oregon, and a large portion of southern and eastern California.

log cabin with Mormon Pioneer Family Echo City Utah
Family Portrait of Mormon Pioneers in Echo City, Utah

Community Working Together to Restore Veterans Memorial – Press Release 9/2/2003

DATE 9/02/2003 12:54 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

This is part of an occasional series by the Sanpete Country Travel and Utah Heritage Highway 89 Alliance on the people and places along U.S. Highway 89.

Community Working Together to Restore Veterans Memorial

An effort is underway to restore the Veterans Memorial in Mt. Pleasant City, headed by a citizens committee and involving the Sanpete County Travel and Heritage Council, the Utah Heritage Highway 89 Alliance and local members of Veterans of Foreign Wars.The goal is to restore the memorial, a monument located on Main Street in Mt. Pleasant that honors local veterans who served in the Black Hawk War, Spanish American War, World War I and II, the Korean War and Vietnam War. Plans call for adding the names of those who also served in recent wars and conflicts in the Middle East.

“The monument is in a state of disrepair,” says Sally East, Sanpete County’s Economic Development Director. “The Travel and Heritage Council has gotten involved in this restoration effort as a way to acknowledge the important role veterans played in the development of Sanpete County.”

The project is being overseen by a committee of more than 20 local residents, along with representatives of the aforementioned organizations. “The monument sits right on the corner of U.S. Highway 89 and Main Street in Mt. Pleasant, making it an important historical site along the northern end of U.S. Highway 89,” says Monte Bona, a member of the highway alliance.

The preservation and restoration effort will include restoring the names of veterans currently listed, adding more names, and searching for names that were lost due to deterioration or were removed from the monument over the years, Bona says. Mt. Pleasant Mayor Chesley Christensen and Edith Sparks will head the effort to research the names of local veterans. The Mt. Pleasant newspaper, The Pyramid, is also providing assistance by running enlarged photographs of names on the monument in hopes of tracking down family members.

“We are hoping that relatives of those who served will see the names of their family members and contact us. We’re also relying on the community to let us know of the names of people who served that may be missing from the memorial,” Bona says.

Part of the restoration effort includes fund raising. The committee will be applying for grants to assist in the $50,000 project and is hoping to collect small contributions from family members of veterans. “This is truly a community project, one that honors the past and helps unite us for the future,” Bona says.

For more information Contact:Monte Bona
Sanpete County Travel and Heritage Council
(435) 462-2502

 

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