Fort Davy Crockett

John D. Barton Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 In 1836 William Craig, Philip Thompson, and Previtt Sinclair built a fort at Brown’s Hole, where Vermillion Creek merges with the Green River. Brown’s Hole was a favorite wintering place for mountain men and Indians because of the mild winters and abundant forage and game animals. After news of the fall of the …

Seeking Adventure

Coarse-frocked Spanish friars from Santa Fe, New Mexico, penetrating the Great Basin in 1776—year of the nation’s Declaration of Independence—were Utah’s first tourists of written record. The Spanish Fathers came not to see the scenery—though they made the first written account of it in their journals and maps–but were trailblazers seeking a suitable shorter route between two Catholic frontier mission …