Father Lawrence Scanlan Established the Catholic Church in Utah

W. Paul Reeve History Blazer, September 1995 When Father Lawrence Scanlan, a Catholic Priest, arrived in Utah nearly a century had passed since Fathers Dominguez and Escalante had led their famous expedition through the rugged Utah terrain. In the interim, the Catholic history of Utah was only lightly speckled with visits by traders, explorers, and missionaries of that faith, none …

Pioneers

Thomas G. Alexander Utah, The Right Place In spite of the fears of some governmental officials that Mormons might plant themselves on the Missouri indefinitely, in December 1846, the Saints began to plan in earnest for their exodus to the Great Basin. Agreeing to send a small pioneer company to establish a settlement, they prepared for the evacuation of the …

Overland Migrations

Thomas G. Alexander Utah, The Right Place In the tradition of Dominguez and Escalante, American clergymen led the migrants to the West. Following the visit of a group of northwestern Indians to St. Louis in 1831, Methodist and Presbyterian missionaries left for Oregon beginning in 1834. Catholic missionaries, including the intrepid Jesuit Pierre Jean De Smet, started moving west in …