THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS: historic stopping place on the Spanish Trail BY JUANITA BROOKS
T
he use of the Mountain Meadows on the Spanish Trail stretches back into prehistoric times. Although Father Silvestre Velez de Escalante in 1776, and Jedediah Strong Smith a half-century later, missed the Mountain Meadows by following Ash Creek to the Virgin River, traders on the Spanish Trail as early as 1805 had come to use this area as a place to recruit their animals. By the following decade, an annual caravan left Santa Fe each fall for California — autumn was the only time of year traders could safely brave the desert. _ Mrs. Brooks, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Utah State Historical Society, has lived in the southern Utah area most of her life and is an authority on the history of the region. She is a past contributor to the Quarterly and author and editor of several books and numerous articles that have appeared in scholarly publications.
