The Seagull Monument is a small monument situated immediately in front of the

Salt Lake Assembly Hall The Salt Lake Assembly Hall is a building owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) which sits on the southwest corner of Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. It has seating capacity for an audience of approxima ...

Temple Square Temple Square is a complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately ...

, in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

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 it ...

. The Monument commemorates what some members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church) call the miracle of the gulls.

History

In 1848 the

Mormon pioneer 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 S ...

s planted crops for their first spring season in

. As the crops ripened,

Mormon cricket The Mormon cricket (''Anabrus simplex'') is a large insect that can grow to almost in length. It lives throughout western North America in rangelands dominated by sagebrush and forbs. Despite its name, the Mormon cricket is actually a shield-bac ...

s descended upon the farms from the foothills east of the valley. The insects consumed entire fields. According to traditional account, the harvest was saved when the pioneer farmers knelt in prayer, which prayers were answered by flocks of native seagulls which devoured the crickets. This event, popularly called the " miracle of the gulls", is remembered by Latter-day Saints as a

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

. The incident is somewhat controversial in nature with some

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

s questioning the credibility of the account. To celebrate the role seagulls played in the pioneer's first year in Utah, the LDS Church erected Seagull Monument on their

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. The top of the monument is a bronze statue of two insect-devouring seagulls cast by sculptor Mahonri M. Young, who designed the monument. Young studied in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, and was grandson of LDS leader

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...

. The monument was dedicated October 1, 1913, by LDS Church president Joseph F. Smith. The Seagull Monument is believed to be the first monument dedicated to birds. The monument is featured in the 1940 film, ''

''.

Notes

External links

*
An on-line tour of Temple Square
from allaboutmormons.com 1913 sculptures Animal monuments Bronze sculptures in Utah Gulls Monuments and memorials in Utah Outdoor sculptures in Salt Lake City Sculptures of birds in the United States Temple Square {{LDS-stub