October 1 - City Tour

This blog entry is a joint effort by Elder and Sister Tolman.

Today we went on a City Tour that was organized for the Senior Missionaries serving at our mission.  We left the house and headed over to the Family History Library.  There was a tour bus waiting for us.  The tour director indicated that she would host the tour around the city showing some of the sites just as if we were tourists so we would know what they had heard. The cost was $10 per person and it was well worth it.  We started the tour just after 5pm and got back to our apartment at about 8:30.

Itinerary

We traveled down Main Street, past city hall (City and County Building), we skipped the Great Salt Lake Marina State Park as it closed at 5pm, Pioneer Park, Historic South Temple from 3rd West east to 13th East, This is the Place Park (Heritage Park), University of Utah Campus, Olympic Stadium (2002 Winter Olympics) and the State Capital.

City and County Building

She told us so many things that it is hard to even remember a portion of what she said.  We drove down and around the city and county building.  She told how when Salt Lake was laid out that the Mormon population was all to the north more toward temple square and Ensign peak.  The south part was where the Jewish people lived and they were referred to as the gentiles.  This division of the city went on for many years until the Hotel Utah was built.  All contributed to the building of it and then worked to make it successful.  As they said this was probably the only place where the Jews would be called Gentiles. 

They talked about how the religions have worked together in the area for the betterment of the city.  This is true especially of the church and the Catholics.  They now support and help each other to help take care of the homeless.   The Catholics have a soup kitchen that feeds one hot meal at lunch time every day.  The church has the welfare programs where they teach and train them how to work and take care of themselves.

They showed us the homes of many prominent people from Utah’s past.  They were people who started different industries or did different things to help the city be prosperous.  Many of these were at one time going to be torn down but someone always stepped in to see that it didn’t happen.

They talked about the theater and symphony and how the early members of the church were encouraged to enjoy music and the theater and how they built a theater where plays could be held.  They also started a band and eventually a symphony under the hand of Maurice Abravanel.  There is now a theater named after him that is just for the symphony and that type of entertainment.  This is where we went on Saturday night.  

We went up to the This is the Place Monument and she told us the story of the pioneers and the many difficulties they had with the federal government on an ongoing basis.  She told us how the Lord watched out for them in unforeseen ways such as the Mormon Battalion.  Because of this they lost many of their men to go fight in the war but for everyone that signed up they were given a clothing allowance that helped them to cross the planes.  They were able to ward off the advances and attacks by the soldiers sent by the government and the soldiers were eventually called back to fight the civil war.  The Donnor party came through the area before the pioneers and they paved some of the way making it easier for the pioneers to get into the valley earlier and start planting.

There is a plaque there listing all those who were on the original Pioneer Company with Brigham Young in 1847 and then a plaque listing all those who participated in the re-enactment 100 years later in 1947.  Elder Tolman's Grandpa Walter A Kerr participated in the re-enactment.  Sure enough we found his name.  It is listed below

The main monument at Heritage Park

As we were leaving to get on the bus we noticed a person in the parking lot on a motorcycle and he looked familiar.  As we looked closer it was the star of the BYU TV show “The American Ride” Stan Ellsworth.  We went over and talked to him and we had our picture taken with him.  He said come on and get closer let's hug and so we did.  What a cool, neat little side light to our trip. 

Random photo of Stan Ellsworth from the internet

Elder and Sister Tolman with Stan Elsworth from American Ride

We traveled through the University of Utah campus. There is so much more there now than when Elder Tolman attended from 1965 to 1973 with the 2 1/2 year break for his mission in Tahiti and where Sister Tolman attended 1970/71.  It is amazing how huge it has become.  It now has at least six hospitals on the campus and numerous medical research schools.  It is a leader in many of these fields of research and medicine.  They talked about how the old Fort Douglas now is a great part of the University of Utah campus and the land is being used for the medical portion of the campus.

The olympic village from 2002 is now used a university campus housing.  A lot of what was built for the 2002 Olympics is still being used.

Olympic Flame in front of the stadium

We drove up to the Utah State Capitol building.  It truly is a majestic building.  The second floor is amazing with beautiful paintings and intricately cut granite that lines the walls.  Sister Tolman was reminded of a dance she attended a dance up there in the rotunda when she was a sophomore in college.  She talked about the difficulty of gaining statehood and how promises were broken more than once about this issue alone. 

She told us of the rich resources of this state and it amazed me.  The little brine shrimp that grow in the Great Salt Lake produce a billion dollar business (exported to Japan as feed). We always thought they were useless little creatures.  The state is rich in copper, gold, silver and some other minerals that are useful in the production of steel.   The state is rich in oil reserves as well as coal.  There are four national parks and eight state parks in Utah.  However its greatest resource is tourism and the place in the state that is most visited is Temple Square.  She said they get about 5 million visitors a year.  We are really glad that only a portion of those come into the Family History Library.  We are swamped some days as it is. Below are some pictures from inside the building and then outside.

looking up at the rotunda

large solid marble pillars

individual pillar 

We took some pictures of the city from just in front of the capital building looking south.

This tour was worth more than the money we paid.  The tour guide was a wealth of information and we were glad we had taken this Family Home Evening Trip.