Mapping the Alberta Route of the 1887 Mormon Trek from Utah to Cardston.

Wright, Dennis A. ; Dorius, Guy L. ; Innes, David L. 等

The exact route travelled in 1887 by the first Mormon (2) pioneers from Logan, Utah, to Cardston, Alberta, has remained relatively unknown. However, through an application of modern satellite mapping technology, (3) combined with a correlated review of period maps, documents, and pioneer accounts, it is now possible to determine with relative accuracy the route of this first party of Mormon pioneers. The two objectives of this paper will be to identify the contemporary trails that aided the first Mormon migration from Utah, and a specific description of that portion of the trail that led from the Canada-United States boundary to the original settlement site of Cardston.

While the fur traders and explorers entered Alberta from the east, it was not long before there was a north-south connection between Alberta and Montana territories. After the Civil War, the United States government attempted to suppress the sale of alcohol to First Nations people. This prompted the growth of whiskey trading on the Canadian side of the line, centred at the trading post of Fort Whoop-up, located near the present city of Lethbridge. This trading success led to increased use of what became known as the Whoop-up Trail between Montana and Alberta.

During this time, a trader named John Riplinger began using another trail as a means of getting his goods from Sun River, Montana, to Alberta. (4) Gradually, this route became a surveyed road from northern Montana and known as the "Riplinger Road." (5) This road should not be confused with the "Whoop-Up Trail." The Riplinger Road ran from Sun River, in a northwesterly direction to Standoff and Fort Macleod, whereas the Whoop-Up Trail ran from Fort Benton northward to Fort Whoop-Up and then on to Fort Macleod.

In 1874, the North-West Mounted Police came west to curb growing lawlessness. Prior to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883, all freight and mail came to southern Alberta via Montana. As a result, the north-south trails became even more important as thousands of tons of freight moved north to support the growing population. Freight wagons travelled the Whoop-up Trail and the Riplinger Road bringing a variety of goods to the residents of Alberta.

By the late 1880s, southern Alberta was still a sparsely settled land, but it was far from being an empty and uncharted wilderness. While many immigrants came from the east, others followed well-established north-south trails from Montana. (6) One of these was the Canadian Mission--as the Mormons termed their effort to establish a settlement in southern Alberta--which began in Logan, Utah. (7) There, Charles Ora Card received encouragement from Church President John Taylor to seek refuge in Canada from the persecution of federal marshals in Utah. As a British subject and former resident of eastern Canada, Taylor believed that the members of the church would find the Canadian government to be much more tolerant of their religious practices than had the government of the United States. At that time United States legislation prohibited the church's practice of plural marriage. Feeling that this was infringement upon their religion, the Mormons challenged the constitutionality of the law and practised civil disobedience. Repeated arrests forced many Mormons to go into hiding, moving from one place to another to avoid arrest. Rather than live in this manner, many fled to Mexico where they could practice plural marriage in peace. (8)

Card accepted his leader's direction and organized an exploration party into what is now British Columbia and Alberta. After many weeks of travel he determined that the area near the present Cardston was an appropriate site for his proposed settlement. When he returned to Utah he organized a pioneer company to establish a colony. Although the achievements of this group have been well documented, a detailed description of their route has not.

Leaving Logan, Utah, Card and his party travelled to Helena, Montana. From there they went to the Sun River country where they picked up the Riplinger Road. This trail started from Sun River and ran north to the Blackfoot Agency, which was located on Badger Creek. It then continued north of Robare on Birch Creek to Emigrant or Immigration Gap on the international border. From there it proceeded on to Standoff and Fort Macleod, passing only one and a half miles to the east of the present town of Cardston.

Evidence that the first Mormon company travelled the Riplinger Road rather than the Whoop-Up Trail comes from several sources. During the golden jubilee of the trek, celebrated in 1937, Fred Shaw, a member of the North-West Mounted Police from 1878 until 1883, later a rancher in the Cardston area, stated:

 Don't confuse the Whiskey Gap trail with
 the Mormon Trail. The Card Company
 came through what was known as
 Immigration Gap that was south [west] of
 Whiskey Gap. I think, too, you should
 understand that there were two Benton
 trails. One often reads of the Benton trail.
 Well, there was an Upper and a Lower
 Benton trail. Cardston was on the Upper
 Benton trail and Lethbridge on the Lower
 Benton trail. (9)

The Upper Benton Trail was the Riplinger Road, and the Lower Benton Trail was the Whoop-Up Trail. A comparison of the names of the rivers, streams, towns, and places along the Riplinger Road in northern Montana to the names mentioned in the diaries and personal histories of members of the 1887 Mormon pioneer company, (10) demonstrates that they followed the Riplinger Road through northern Montana.

It appears logical that, if the pioneers were travelling on this road in northern Montana, they would continue to travel on the same route in southern Alberta. This is especially reasonable given the fact that the Riplinger Road passed only a short distance to the east of the present site of Cardston. In support of this, the Lethbridge sheet of the 1910 Alberta sectional survey map shows the route of the Riplinger Trail and a lesser-used trail branch running west toward the town of Cardston. (11)

A review of the journals of selected Mormon pioneers indicates that they were following an existing chart or map. For example, when Johannes Anderson and his party were camped by a stream on the trek northward, they were joined by John E. Layne who asked them, "Are you following Charles' map?" (12) Because the Riplinger Road was marked on both the 1878 and 1881 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maps of northern Montana, and on George Dawson's 1884 Canadian survey of the Bow and Belly Rivers, it is probable that these or similar maps were available to Charles Card in 1887. (13)

The recording of the Canadian portion of the Riplinger Road on George Dawson's 1884 map and on the 1910 Alberta sectional survey map is important, because over the years much of the original trail has been ploughed under or lost to road construction. It would have been difficult to identify the route used by Card's party without the aid of these maps. Because the scale in which the survey maps were drawn was much too large to provide accurate details, old township maps drawn on a much smaller scale also proved useful.

The Riplinger Road was marked on the township maps but was labelled as the "Trail from Macleod to the U. S. Border." A careful comparison of the route of the Riplinger Road, as marked on George Dawson's 1884 survey, and the 1910 Alberta Sectional Survey map, to the route of the trail shown on the township maps as the "Trail from Macleod to the U.S. Border" indicates the trails were one and the same.

There are a number of pioneer accounts that describe the three-day trek from the international boundary to present-day Cardston. The journey took them across Willow Creek and the St. Mary's River before finally reaching Lee's Creek. Charles Card recorded the events of these last few days of the journey that began with the pioneers crossing the international boundary on 1 June 1887, and ended with their arrival at Lee's Creek on Friday, 3 June 1887. He wrote:

 Wednesday, June 1, 1887. Today we
 resumed our march and about 9 A.M. we
 crossed the north fork of the Milk River
 in a rainstorm, which lasted about an
 hour and about 10:30 a.m. we crossed the
 Boundary line between the British
 possession and the United States, halted
 and gave three cheers for our liberty as
 exiles for our religion. We drove north as
 far as Willow Creek and camped about 2
 P.M. for the night. Shortly after we
 camped it began to rain, which lasted
 through the night but ended in about 4
 inches of snow.

 Thursday, June 2, 1887. Although it
 stormed nearly all the forenoon it cleared
 up about noon and we went to work and
 made our Boat preparatory to crossing
 the St. Mary's on the morrow. Tonight we
 had a sharp frost. I should here relate we
 held a fast day and had a little meeting in
 the evening. I advised the brethren and
 sisters to be guarded in their sayings
 before strangers, also told them to ask the
 Lord [to] open the way that we might
 cross the River in safety. We all made it
 the burden of our prayers in public and
 secret.

 Friday, June 3, 1887. Today we landed
 on the South Bank of the St Mary's River
 about 10 A.M. I met Sgt. Brimner who
 piloted me across on horse back and Bros
 Miles and J. A. Woolf followed after
 which we double hitched teams and
 crossed with safety by 1 P.M. During the
 48 hours previous to our arriving here the
 stream fell about 18 inches which just
 allowed us to cross safely for which we
 are all grateful. (14)

A 1901 township map shows where the Riplinger Road crossed the border. (15) Jane Eliza Woolf Bates described seeing a pile of stones that marked the border where the pioneers crossed. (16) A comparison of the township map with the report of the boundary commission and current satellite readings indicate that the nearest official marker to the pioneer crossing would have been number 372 which was some distance west of the trail. It is most likely that Jane Bates did not see one of the official markers but one that had likely been erected as an unofficial cairn by travellers to mark the international boundary. (17) The Mormon pioneers followed the example of others who travelled the route and added stones to this cairn to celebrate their crossing into Canada. (18)

The area where the pioneers crossed the border was well recorded. In 1937, as part of the golden jubilee celebrations, the Alberta Stake (19) erected a stone cairn at the site to commemorate the entry of the Mormon pioneers into Canada. (20) Unfortunately, over the years vandals and harsh weather eroded this monument, making it necessary to replace it in 1987 with a modern one located at the side of a nearby public road. (21)

Concerning the 1937 stone cairn placed by the church, Byron Wolsey, a long-time resident of the Cardston area stated:

 In 1937, fifty years after the Mormon
 Pioneers crossed the border into Canada,
 the Alberta Stake of The Church of Jesus
 Christ of Latter-day Saints, as part of the
 Golden Jubilee Remembrance
 Ceremonies erected a small stone cairn
 on the border between United States and
 Canada to mark the place where those
 early pioneers entered Alberta. As a
 young boy I helped carry the rocks to
 build that cairn. The old stone cairn was
 located about 300 metres west and a
 little to the south of where the monument
 erected in 1987 now stands. The original
 cairn was right on the border. (22)

After crossing the international boundary, the next significant site on the trail to Lee's Creek was Willow Creek. It is apparent from the comments of Charles Card, Jane Bates, and Mary Lula Woolf Ibey that Willow Creek was close to the border. Both Card and Bates state that the wagon company drove north as far as the creek and made camp. Ibey indicated that a storm forced the pioneers to stop at the creek early in the day. A 1901 township map shows the Riplinger road crossing a small creek named Rolph Creek approximately three miles north of the border. Evidence of an old trail can still be seen in this area in the form of wagon ruts entering and leaving the creek. Wolsey provided this insight:

 Willow creek, as it used to be known, is
 just a couple of kilometres north of my
 house. The official name of that creek is
 Rolph Creek. When I was growing up,
 everyone used to call this creek Willow
 Creek because of the willows that used to
 grow in the creek bottom. The
 government changed its name to Rolph
 Creek in honour of some men by that
 name that used to farm near the creek. I
 don't know why the government did that.
 Willow Creek was a much better name.
 The trail is pretty visible both leading in
 and running out of Willow Creek ...

 I grew up seeing those old wagon ruts of
 the original trail almost every day of my
 early life. My father told me many times
 that they were part of the original pioneer
 trail, the one Charles O. Card travelled
 over, and I do not doubt the testimony of
 my father. (23)

It was near Willow Creek (Rolph Creek) that weather conditions forced Card and his small company of pioneers to make camp.

Zina Card, wife of Charles Card, states that a member of the North-West Mounted Police piloted their group across the St. Mary's River. (24) Jane Bates remembered that it was Sergeant Brimner that met the pioneer company as they travelled to the St. Mary's River and then helped them cross the swollen stream. (25) Mary Ibey noted that two North-West Mounted Police men rode into their camp on Willow Creek. Jonathon E. Layne stated that they crossed the St. Mary's River near a police detachment.

Archive research confirms the existence of the old North-West Mounted Police post on the St. Mary's River. (26) An 1896 map shows the trail from Macleod to the U.S. border, or the Riplinger Road, passing on the south side of a North-West Mounted Police quarter section. (27) This site is seven miles northwest of where the pioneers were camped on Willow or Rolph Creek. The current landowner, Guy Bowlby, described the traditional site of the police barracks as being located a few hundred yards west of his home. (28) Fred Shaw remembered:

 There was a Mounted Police detachment
 on the St. Mary's where the Upper
 Benton trail crossed the river. The
 detachment was just above the old Pilling
 house, four miles southeast of
 Cardston.... The old detachment was
 flooded out in 1888 and a new one was
 built on the east side of the river. (29)

The satellite readings for the old trail visible just south of the Bowlby home were compared to the map coordinates showing the location of the Riplinger Road in a contemporary setting. These measures support the conclusion that the old wagon ruts still visible south of Bowlby's home are likely part of the original pioneer trail and that the traditional site of the police post is reasonably accurate. (30)

Jonathon E. Layne described the place where the pioneers crossed the St. Mary's River as deep and dangerous due to the spring run off. Jane Bates recalled this crossing:

 The wagon boxes were tied down so they
 could not float away. Even so, the water
 ran in, soaking everything. With the
 Sergeant piloting the way several trips
 were made double team each time,
 crossing and recrossing, until the seven
 wagons were safely across as well as the
 stock and drivers. The crossing had been
 accomplished in four hours. (31)

Long-time resident and local historian, Forest Jensen, observed the following relative to possible crossing sites:

 When I was growing up, there were three
 or four places where people commonly
 forded the river. One was located directly
 east of Aetna, near the place where [the]
 Tanner family had their first home.
 Another was located on the south end of
 the quarter where the old North West
 Mounted Police detachment used to
 stand, across the river from the old
 Pilling home, and there was one more
 located further north. I am not sure which
 one of those fords, the pioneers used. (32)

Guy Bowlby contributed this insight:

 The quarter on which the old North West
 Mounted Police post used to be on is
 literally crisscrossed with old wagon
 trails. It must have been a very busy
 place. There are lots of tracks in
 different places leading to the river, but
 some of the most pronounced are located
 near the south end of that quarter. By the
 number and depth of the wagon ruts in
 that area, I think the pioneers crossed the
 river on the south side of the quarter
 owned by the North West Mounted
 Police. There is a good place to ford the
 river there. (33)

While at the St. Mary's River the pioneers reported that a miracle occurred. According to Jane Eliza Bates and Mary Ibey, the river was too high to cross. Card had been advised that it would be weeks before anyone could cross the river safely. Both Bates and Ibey indicate that the pioneers fasted and prayed that they could safely cross the river and arrive at their destination at Lee's Creek in a timely manner. They felt that their prayers had been answered when the river dropped enough to allow them to cross over safely.

After crossing the river, the pioneer company travelled north-westerly toward the Lee's Creek area. The Brethren of the East Cardston Hutterite Colony currently own much of the land where the pioneers travelled after the crossing. Peter Hofer, cattle and range manager for the colony, commented on the evidence of old trails that still exist on land west of the river, directly across from the original site of the old North-West Mounted Police post.

There is an old wagon trail in the river bottom down by the old Pilling place. You can see this trail just to the east of a more recent vehicle path. There are several places where old wagon ruts come out of the river and head north. There must have been more than one place where people used to cross in that area. The trail runs north as it climbs up out of the river bottom, then switches back to the south up a small hill, avoiding a slough, and then near the top of the hill turns back to the northwest towards Tom Cardwell's property. (34)

Local residents have long debated the exact route the pioneers followed during the final leg of their journey. It is well known that they camped on the east side of Lee's Creek when they arrived in what would later become the Cardston townsite. In fact, there used to be a small stone monument marking the place where the pioneers first camped. According to town historian, Willis Pitcher:

 This cairn was located on the east side
 of Lee's Creek, near the main office of
 Sage Industries. The creek has changed
 course since the monument was erected.
 If the cairn was still standing, it would
 now be on the west side of the creek. (35)

The Lethbridge sheet of the 1910 Alberta sectional survey map indicates the most probable route from the Riplinger Road to Lee's Creek. This map shows that the Riplinger Road passed one and one-half miles east of the present-day town of Cardston. Here the pioneeers left the road and proceeded westerly on a smaller, less-used trail running to the present-day townsite of Cardston. This side trail is most likely the final leg of the pioneer trek to the original Lee's Creek 1887 camp. Here the Mormon pioneers ended their journey and established their settlement. From the information presented in this paper, it is now possible to retrace the most likely route of the Mormon pioneers through northern Montana to the international boundary and on to their final campsite at Lee's Creek. The authors hope that this work will encourage increased interest in this important pioneer trail.

 Sun River Choteau Blackfoot Muddy Dupuyer
 Agency Creek

Charles Ora * * * * *
Card

Jane Eliza * *
Bates Woolf

John W. * *
Woolf

Jonathon E. * *
Layne

Johannes *
Anderson

 Birch Piegan Two Cutbank
 River Agency- Medicine River
 Reservation River

Charles Ora * * * *
Card

Jane Eliza * *
Bates Woolf

John W. *
Woolf

Jonathon E. * * * *
Layne

Johannes
Anderson

 Milk River Milk River Boundary
 South North Line
 Branch Branch

Charles Ora * * *
Card

Jane Eliza *
Bates Woolf

John W.
Woolf

Jonathon E. *
Layne

Johannes
Anderson

NOTES

(1) The preliminary report of this research appeared as "The Canadian Mormon Trail," Guy L. Dorius, David L. Innes, and H. Dale Lowry in Regional Studies in Church History: Western Canada, Dennis A. Wright, et. al. eds., Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 2000, pp. 35-74. With the completion of the project, the present article provides the final research results and conclusions. Copies of the project field report authored by David L. Innes and H. Dale Lowry, Logan, Cache Valley to Lee's Creek via Fort Benton- Macleod Trail into Canada. Home at Last, May 2001 are located in the L. Tom Perry Special Collection, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, as well as universities in Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge, and many public libraries in southern Alberta.

(2) Mormon is a term that refers to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While the group currently prefers not to be referred to as Mormons, the term was in common use throughout the latter part of the nineteen and most of the twentieth century. For this reason the term is preferred for the purposes of this discussion.

(3) GPS refers to the Global Positioning System, a satellite- based technology that enables a hand held GPS receiver to accurately determine a location in global coordinates. For the purposes of this project, GPS readings were used to identify on site the actual locations described by early map coordinates.

(4) Margaret Kennedy, "Multiple Properties Documentation Form and National Register Nomination for the Whoop-Up Trail in North Central Montana," unpublished report on file, Helena, Montana: Montana State Historic Preservation Office, 1991.

(5) Richard Shockley interview, 11 March 1998, Lethbridge, Alberta. Copy in possession of Innes and Lowry, Cardston, Alberta. Shockley is the executive Director of the Fort Whoop-up Interpretive Centre, Lethbridge. In Montana, the route of the Riplinger Road appears on John Wilson's 1881 map, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Map of Northern Montana. John Wilson, 1881. Montana State Historic Preservation Office, Helena, Montana and on Cram's 1896 Township map of northern Montana. Copies of these maps are located in the Montana State Historical Preservation Office, Helena, Montana. In Canada the road is marked as a surveyed road on the Lethbridge sheet of the 1910 Alberta Sectional Survey Map. The route of the Riplinger Road is also documented in official U.S. government correspondence.

(6) For an expanded discussion of the Mormon migration to Alberta see: L. A. Rosenval, "The Transfer of Mormon Culture to Alberta," Essays on the Historical Geography of the Canadian West, L.A. Rosenval and S.M Evans, eds., Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1987.

(7) For information related to a history of the Card pioneer party, see: Dennis A. Wright, "Hurrah for Canada," Bruce A. Van Orden, et. al., eds. Pioneers in Every Land, Salt lake City: Bookcraft, 1996, 39-56; Donald. G. Godfrey, et. al., The Diaries of Charles O. Card: the Canadian Years, 1886- 1903, Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1993; Brigham Y. Card, "Charles O. Card and the Founding of the Mormon Settlements in South Western Alberta, North-West Territories," Brigham Y. Card, et. al., eds. The Mormon Presence in Canada, Edmonton, Alberta: The University of Alberta Press, 1990, 77-107; Donald G. Godfrey, "Canada's Brigham Young: Charles Ora Card, Southern Alberta pioneer," American Review of Canadian Studies, XVIII (II), (Summer 1988), 223-238 and L.A. Rosenvall.

(8) The U.S. government prohibited the Mormon practice of plural marriage. The church challenged the legality of the legislation and continued the practice. Federal marshals began enforcing the law, resulting in an underground movement designed to protect Mormon polygamists. Card and others preferred to leave the United States rather than to live in hiding to avoid arrest. Card was unique in his move to Canada because most sought asylum in Mexico. See, Leonard J. Arrington & David Britton, The Mormon Experience: A history of the Latter-day Saints, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. For the Canadian response to the Mormon practice of plural marriage see: Dan Erickson, "Alberta polygamist? The Canadian climate and response to the introduction of Mormonism peculiar institution," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, v. 86, n.4, (Fall 1995), ill.

(9) Fred Shaw, "An Early Ranch of Two Ex-Mounties," The Lethbridge Herald Cardston Golden Jubilee Edition, 19 June 1937, 46.

(10) For the purpose of this paper the pioneer journals cited come from the following sources unless otherwise noted. Charles O. Card, Donald G. Godfrey & Brigham Y. Card, The Diaries of Charles O. Card: The Canadian Years 1886- 1903, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1993; Jane E. W. Bates, "A Trek of the Pioneers of 1887," The Lethbridge Herald Cardston Golden Jubilee Edition; "John W. Woolf, Story of Cardston's First M.L.A.," The Lethbridge Herald Cardston Golden Jubilee Edition; John E. Layne, unpublished personal journal in possession of Ardell Layne of Cardston, Alberta, and used with permission; Sam Anderson, "Father As I knew Him," unpublished journal of Johannes Anderson. Used with the permission of Dr, Barton Anderson, Cardston, Alberta.

(11) Alberta Sectional Map, 1910. The branch off the Riplinger Road near the site of Lee's Creek appears on the map at SE 1/4-11-twp 3-R25-W4.

(12) Anderson.

(13) George M. Dawson, Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, Alfred R. C. Selwyn, LLD, F.R.S., Director. Geological Map of the region in the Vicinity of the Bow and Belly Rivers, Embracing the southern Portion of the District of Alberta and part of Assiniboia North West Territory George M. Dawson, D.S., F.G.S., &c. Assisted by R.G. McConnell, B.A., 1884. Copy located in the Archives of the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta.

(14) Godfrey & Card, 57-58.

(15) See Appendix, Map 1 for current map of site. A 1901 Department of the Interior map shows the trail in the southeast corner of Section 2 (SE1/4 Sec 2, Twp 1, R24, W4th.). Second Edition (Corrected) Plan of Township No. 1, Range 24, West of the Fourth Meridian, Compiled from official surveys by C.F. Miles, D.L.S., 1893, A. Driscoll, Jr., D.L.S. 1888, F.W. Wilkins, D.L.S., 1895. Department of the interior Topographical Surveys Branch. Ottawa, January 24, 1901. Copy located in University of Calgary Archives. A ground positioning satellite system (GPS) reading of the site showed the approximate location to be at latitude N48 59' 54.6" and longitude of W113 05' 52.7".

(16) Jane Eliza Woolf Bates & Zina Alberta Woolf Hickman, Founding of Cardston and Vicinity, Cardston, Alberta: William L. Woolf, 1960, 16-17; Mary Lula Woof Ibey. Unpublished personal history used with permission and supplied by Tom Matkin, Cardston Alberta; and John E. Layne.

(17) Lowry and Innes suggest that the pioneer company left the established road that ran along the base of a nearby hill. They drove their wagons to the top of the adjacent hill because an unofficial cairn had been erected there to mark the international boundary. It was the only marker visible to them from the road. From the top of the hill they also had a better view of the surrounding area. Personal correspondence from H. Dale Lowry dated 12 October 2002.

(18) Bates and Hickman.

(19) A stake is an ecclesiastical unit of the Church. It consists of a congregation of several thousand members in a given region presided over by a stake president.

(20) T. M. Matkin, K. J. Taylor, & V. A. Wood, Our Legacy of Faith and Sacrifice: The Founding of the Alberta Stake, Cardston: Trojan Printing, 1995, 5. The site for placing the 1937 cairn met with the approval of the surviving members of the original pioneer company and those who traveled the same trail in the years that followed. The GPS reading at the site of the 1937 monument is N 48[degrees] 59' 59" and W 113[degrees] 05' 45.4".

(21) The original monument straddled the border and had a plaque commemorating the arrival of the first pioneer company on 1 June 1887. In 1987, the original stone cairn was removed, and a new monument erected one-fourth of a mile east and about one hundred yards north of where the original 1937 monument stood.. The new monument is Located on the road allowance about a hundred yards north of the international boundary. It is located at latitude and longitude coordinates of N 48 59' 59.0" and W 113 05' 45.4". There is a plaque on the east side of the monument that relates the story of the first Mormon pioneers. On the west side is the original plaque from the 1937 monument.

(22) Personal interview with Byron Wolsey, 11 February 1998, Cardston, Alberta. Wolsey lived near the border in the Taylorville community for many years. He grew up seeing those old wagon ruts throughout his early life and discussed the significance of them many times with his father. Copy in possession of Innes and Lowry, Cardston.

(23) Wolsey.

(24) Zina Card, Picturesque Cardston and Environments--A Story of Colonization and Progress in Southern Alberta. Cardston, Alberta: N.W. McLeod, 1900, 8.

(25) A search of the National Archives of Canada has revealed that an individual named Bremner served in the North- West Mounted Police at the time Card's party crossed the St. Mary's River. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Records, RG18: vol. 3348, file 1126.

(26) St. Mary's post was established in 1884 as part of the "C" Division. In 1886 the post was transferred to the "D" Division. RG32 Public Service Canada Personal Files, Vol. IIII, file 1910.12.12 and Vol. 29, File 1889.01.01, National Archives of Canada.

(27) Third Edition (Corrected) Plan of Township 2, Range 24, West of the fourth Meridian, 1896. C.A. Bigger, D.L.S. 1888, J.F. Ritchie, 1889, and A. Driscoll, 1888. Department of the Interior Topographical Surveys Branch. Ottawa. Copy located in the University of Calgary Archives, Calgary, Alberta. This map shows the trail or Riplinger Road passing on the south side of a North-West Mounted Police quarter section located at SW 1/4-29-twp 2-R24-W4. The GPS reading for the compound area location is approximately N 49 08' 46.3" latitude and W 113 10' 28.5" longitude.

(28) Guy Bowlby interview, 10 February 1998, Cardston, Alberta. Bowlby currently owns the land where the old North West Mounted Police barracks appear to have been located. Copy in possession of Innes and Lowry, Cardston.

(29) Shaw, 46.

(30) North-West Mounted Police superintendent, Sam Steele, noted in his report concern that old trails in the area were disappearing due to increased settlement in southern Alberta. Of special concern was the trail to the international border that crossed the St. Mary's River. Turner, 507.

(31) Bates and Hickman, 16-17.

(32) Forest Jensen interview, 17 February 1998, Cardston. Jensen is one of the oldest living people in the Aetna area and is knowledgeable about the early history of the area. Copy in possession of Innes and Lowry, Cardston.

(33) Bowlby.

(34) Peter Hofer oral interview, 11 February 1998, Cardston. Copy in possession of Innes and Lowry, Cardston.

(35) Willis Pitcher oral interview, 11 February 1998, Cardston. Pitcher is a long-time resident of Cardston and served for many years as the town historian. Copy in possession of Innes and Lowry, Cardston.

Dennis A. Wright, Guy L. Dorius, David L. Innes, & H. Dale Lowry (1)

Dr. Wright and Dr. Dorius are professors of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, while Mr. Innes is an administrator with the LDS Church Educational System in Cardston, and Mr. Lowry is president of the Cardston Historical Society.