Geographical Characteristics of Early Mormon Settlements

• Main Author: Baum, John Haws
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 1967
• Subjects: Cities and towns; Utah; Description; travel; Mormons; Colonization; Mormon landscape; Civil and Environmental Engineering; Mormon Studies
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4512; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5511&context=etd

Considerable literature has been written about the Mormons and their settlement of the lands within the Great Basin; yet no one has produced a systematic study which analyzes the following geographical factors: What pattern of land occupancy was actually used by these early pioneers? Which physical characteristics determined the selection of a site for the Mormon village? What type of city survey pattern was instigated as towns were established along the eastern margin of the Great Basin? What was the relationship between the forts and the settlements in their lay-out patterns? As these questions were systematically analyzed new findings were brought to the surface, thus shedding new light on topics which previously had not been explored satisfactorily.