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

Forest Service Grants to Support Preservation, Development Projects – Press Release 4/28/2003

Press Releases

DATE 4/28/2003 4:55 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.

Forest Service Grants to Support Preservation, Development Projects

Three significant restoration and development projects in Sanpete County have received grants from the U.S. Forest Service via the Manti La Sal National Forest and Sanpete County Travel and Heritage Council.In Centerfield, the beneficiary of a $15,000 grant is the LDS Meetinghouse, built in 1886. Local preservationists, overseen by resident Debbie Hansen, have been working to restore the structure for some time. They already secured a Certified Local Governments Program grant from the Utah Division of State History to help finance the project, which will now be supplemented by the U.S. Forest Service grant.

Now owned by the city, the former LDS Meetinghouse is built of oolite, stone and wood. It has a T-shaped floor plan and consists of two sections. Its steep, pitched, sloping roof is its distinguishing design feature, and it also boasts nine-foot panel doors, wainscotting and unique moulding. A tower was later added in 1897. The meeting house has stood vacant and has been neglected for years and once restored will be used as a community and vocational center.

A $7,500 grant was awarded to Illusion Academy and Mt Pleasant City to provide computer use and advanced training to students at Snow College and throughout the region. Illusion Academy is a “high tech center” that houses the computer illustration business as well as providing space for a community classroom and Internet Café.

Owned by Dean Kleven, a computer illustrator who has worked for Disney and Dream Works, the business is located in Mt. Pleasant’s old industrial arts building, once part of Sanpete County’s high school. The computer designs Kleven and his partners create are used in children’s books, as well as high-tech digital imaging and three-dimensional graphics, such as the kind used to produce movies such as Toy Story. The U.S. Forest Service grant will be used to construct work stations to teach students and to offer permanent, part-time jobs to qualified artists in the area.

In Fountain Green, a project to restore the town’s Social Hall received an $11,600 grant. The money will be used to help restore the 1918 structure to its former glory. Preservationists including Dean Peckham have already raised some $300,000 for the project, in addition to securing a $45,000 grant from the George S. and Delores Eccles Foundation. Peckham said the group is in the process of applying for an additional $180,000 grant from the Community Impact Board to finish the project. Once complete, the social hall will be used as a community gathering place.
For more information Contact:Monte Bona
Sanpete County Travel and Heritage Council
(435) 462-2502

 

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This program receives Federal financial assistance for identification and protection of historic properties. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in its federally assisted programs. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to: Office for Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 849 C Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20240.

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