Deseret Oasis

Long before a group of members of The ^

Church ofJesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints would happen upon the desert mesa that later became known as bm

Mesa, Arizona, the Hohokam people inhabited the area I where they worked to tame the sCI&iM

desert terrain. Evidence suggests that by the year A. D. 1450, the Hohokam people had constructed hundreds of miles of canals which they used to irrigate the parched soil of the American Southwest. Missionaries, explorers, and various Native American tribes inhabited the region at various times throughout the following centuries until westward expansion brought white settlers to the

area.

After the end ofthe war with Mexico in 1847, members of the Mormon Battalion, a group of Latter-day Saint soldiers enlisted by the United States Army, came upon the desert mesa and re¬ ported back to Church leaders in the Salt Lake Valley that the local residents of the area were friendly and the climate was suitable for farming various products. Church leaders later asked Daniel WebsterJones to lead a group ofLatter-day Saints to settle in Arizona. In March 1877, he and Jk a handful of families settled in

J TPT. Lehi (just north of present-day HL \\m LJ Mesa). On February 14, 1878, Francis Martin Pomeroy, Charles Crismon, George M. Sirrine, and Charles L Robson happened upon J the ancient irrigation system and for the next eight months, the men and other settlers worked to re-

store one ofthe thousand-year-old structures. Their efforts allowed water to once again flow to the desert, which soon blossomed into a thriving community.

On February 13* 1988, over 1*500 citizens ofMesa, Arizona, gathered at the city’s Pioneer Park to dedicate the Mesa Sons ofthe Utah Pioneers monument honor¬

ing the areas early settlers. Sculpted by pioneer descen¬ dant Claude Pomeroy, the monument features life-size statues ofthe four men who first came upon the desert mesa. Over 500 contributors donated their means to

funding the erection ofthe monument. Q

Source: “Mesa Chapter Cooperates in Erection ofMonumentto Early Pioneers, * February 1988, Florence Youngbergfiles; “A BriefHistory ofMesa, Arizona,"http://www.mesalibrary.org.

MESA* ARIZONA PioneerPark, $26E, Main Street EarlyArizona Pioneers Sponsor: Mesa Chapter, 1988