Salt Lake Meridian Initial Point, Utah

All of Utah was surveyed from this point, with the exception of a portion of Indian land which was surveyed later. In the summer of 1847, when Utah was still part of Mexico, Brigham Young came over the Wasatch Mountains and declared the Salt Lake Valley to be “the place” for the band of Mormon pioneers to settle. He immediately chose a spot for a temple and ordered a survey to be made of the area, which began a few days later, starting from the temple site, in order to plot the City of Zion, which became Salt Lake City. In 1855, when the state’s surveyor general was summoned by the federal government to begin a survey of the whole territory, he used this same site as the Initial Point. It is one of 37 federal survey points of origin covering the USA (outside of the 13 original colonies), known as Initial Points, selected over a span of 150 years, to anchor newly acquired federal land to the legal and cartographic grid. The Salt Lake Meridian Initial Point is unique as it is in the middle of the city. In addition to the grid of all of Utah originating from this point, all street names and addresses in Salt Lake City originate from this point as well. The stone monument set here in 1855 was covered by a protective wrought iron cage in 1932, which remained until 1989, when it was moved into the church history museum, and was replaced with a replica.