Camp W. G. Williams, commonly known as Camp Williams, also known as Army Garrison Camp Williams, is a National Guard training site operated by the

Utah National Guard The Utah National Guard consists of the: * Utah Army National Guard **19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) **65th Field Artillery Brigade **85th WMD CST **97th Troop Command **115th Engineer Group (CBT) **204th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade **211th ...

. It is located south of Bluffdale, west of

Lehi Lehi (; he, לח"י – לוחמי חרות ישראל ''Lohamei Herut Israel – Lehi'', "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi"), often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang,"This group was known to its friends as LEHI and to its enemie ...

, and north of Saratoga Springs and Cedar Fort, approximately south of Salt Lake City, straddling the border between Salt Lake County and Utah County in the western portion of the Traverse Mountains. Camp Williams is also home to the Non-Commissioned Officer's Basic Leader Course, which is taught to Active, National Guard, and Reserve components. Camp Williams land comprises about of flat area and of mountainous region.

History

The Utah Army National Guard traces its beginnings to the Utah Territorial Militia, known as the Nauvoo Legion. The Nauvoo Legion operated similarly to militias in other states and territories, including requiring adult men—between the ages of 18 and 45—to serve. The militia served as guardians of the Central Overland Route, and in the Utah War,

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crosse ...

and Walker War. During this period the legion's various units had annual musters and training camps, with Lehi's unit often doing so near the site of today's Camp Williams. During a power struggle between the Federal government of the United States and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the militia was abolished in the

Edmunds–Tucker Act The Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 was an Act of Congress that focused on restricting some practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). An amendment to the earlier Edmunds Act, it was passed in response to the dispute ...

of 1887. By March 1894 conflicts had settled down, and the Utah Territorial Legislature authorized

Caleb Walton West Caleb Walton West (May 25, 1844 – January 25, 1909) was an American politician. Born in Cynthiana in Harrison County, Kentucky, West was a Confederate veteran and a municipal judge in Kentucky. He was Governor of Utah Territory The Terr ...

, the Governor, to establish The National Guard of Utah. Twenty years later, in 1914 and 1915, US president Woodrow Wilson set aside 18,700 acres to provide permanent training grounds for the guard. This was the first official designation of land that would comprise Camp Williams. This original land makes up the western majority of the current site, which is rough and rugged, and lacked flat land for a

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

area (headquarters and camp). So the State of Utah rented nearby flatter land, and then later purchased it to build a cantonment area. Permanent use of the area, including buildings, was not established at this time, due to World War I, and the site was just occasionally used until the 1920s. In both 1926 and 1927 the guard's annual encampment was held at the site, and in 1928 the camp was officially established for permanent use as Camp W.G. Williams. It was named after Brigadier General William Grey Williams in recognition of his war participation since the Spanish–American War and his work in establishing the site as a permanent training location.

Machine Gun Fire

On 19 September 2010, live fire .50-caliber machine gun training at the camp sparked the "

Machine Gun Fire The Machine Gun Fire or Camp Williams Fire was a wildfire in Herriman, Utah in 2010 that burned several dwellings. It was started by a mistake at a firing range by National Guard troops on a training exercise. 4,351 acres burned, approximatel ...

" that resulted in over 3,500 acres burned and the loss of three homes in the city of Herriman to the north.

Utah Data Center

From 2011 to 2013, the National Security Agency (NSA) built a ''Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center'' at Camp Williams, the first in a series of data centers required for the

Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative The Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) outlines U.S. cybersecurity goals across multiple agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Agency. The initiativ ...

. The facility is built on where Camp Williams' former airfield was located on the west side of Utah Highway 68. It is rumored to be capable of storing 1 yottabyte of data by 2015, although this figure remains highly speculative. The facility will use 65 megawatts of electricity and will cost another $2 billion for hardware, software, and maintenance. This facility will greatly increase the NSA's ability to store and process millions of emails,

IMs Ims is a Norwegian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Gry Tofte Ims (born 1986), Norwegian footballer * Rolf Anker Ims (born 1958), Norwegian ecologist See also * IMS (disambiguation) Ims is a Norwegian surname. Notable people wit ...

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

, and phone calls made daily by people around the world and in the United States.

References

External links

Official Site

{{Portal bar, Utah, United States, Politics Buildings and structures in Salt Lake County, Utah Buildings and structures in Utah County, Utah Military installations in Utah National Security Agency facilities Installations of the United States Army National Guard Training installations of the United States Army