Salt Creek Canyon massacre
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The Salt Creek Canyon massacre occurred on June 4, 1858, when four Danish immigrants were ambushed and killed by unidentified Indians in Salt Creek Canyon, a winding canyon of Salt Creek east of present-day Nephi, in
Juab County Juab County ( ) is a county in western Utah, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 10,246. Its county seat and largest city is Nephi. Juab County is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical ...
,
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
.


Massacre

In early June 1858, Danish immigrants Jens Jorgensen, his pregnant wife Hedevig Marie Jensen Jorgensen, Jens Terklesen, Christian I. Kjerluf, and John Ericksen were journeying, unarmed, to settle with other Scandinavian immigrants at the
Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into se ...
colony in the Sanpete Valley. The group was traveling with an ox team hitched to a wagon and another ox hitched to a handcart. On the afternoon of June 4, they had come within a mile and a half of Salt Creek Canyon's opening into the Sanpete Valley when members of an unidentified Indian tribe emerged from hiding places and attacked them. Two of the men were killed and burned with their wagon. Another was killed after running about . The pregnant woman was killed near the wagon with a
tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Eur ...
, which received special note from historians. Ericksen, who had been walking some distance ahead of the others, escaped unharmed and made it to the nearby town of
Ephraim Ephraim (; he, ''ʾEp̄rayīm'', in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath. Asenath was an Ancient Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughte ...
around dark. The ox attached to the handcart, frightened by the attack, fled back to Nephi. The victims' bodies were brought to Ephraim for burial. The motive for the attack remains unclear.


Monument

A
Daughters of Utah Pioneers The International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers (ISDUP, DUP) is a women's organization dedicated to preserving the history of the original settlers of the geographic area covered by the State of Deseret and Utah Territory, including Mormon ...
monument (number 11), erected in 1936 on Utah State Route 132 between Nephi and
Fountain Green, Utah Fountain Green is a city in Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 1,071 at the 2010 census. History Fountain Green was originally called "Uintah Springs", and under the latter name settlement was made in 1859. A post office ca ...
, marks the site of the massacre.


See also

* Fountain Green massacre *
Mountain Meadows Massacre The Mountain Meadows Massacre (September 7–11, 1857) was a series of attacks during the Utah War that resulted in the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train. The massacre occurred in the southern U ...
*
Utah War The Utah War (1857–1858), also known as the Utah Expedition, Utah Campaign, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the US go ...
*
Mormon pioneers The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter Day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the ...
*
Latter Day Saint martyrs Latter Day Saint martyrs are persons who belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) or another church within the Latter Day Saint movement who were killed or otherwise persecuted to the point of premature death on acco ...


Notes


References


External links

{{Coord, 39, 42, 12.48, N, 111, 42, 23.60, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-UT Canyons and gorges of Utah Danish-American history Juab County, Utah Mormonism and Native Americans Massacres by Native Americans -Salt Creek Canyon Massacre Sanpete County, Utah Utah Territory Utah War 1858 in Utah Territory June 1858 events Conflicts in 1858