62 FOREST OUTINGS 



and the first summit house on Mount Washington was erected in 1824. In 

 those early years of the nineteenth century numerous hiking clubs were 

 formed in New England. Early records and historical writings of the great 

 Southwest, of California, and the other Western States tell of many people 

 seeking relief from the tropical summer heat of the valleys in the adjoining 

 forests and mountains. There they fished, hunted, or simply rested in the 

 cool shade of the woods and beside lakes or streams. 



Brigham Young's Pic-nic . . . Among the more interesting of early 

 accounts of recreational use is one from the records of the Mormon Church 

 in Utah. The Mormon pioneers arrived in Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 

 1847, and it is recorded in their Journal History, a daily record of their 

 activities, that on August 21 of that year a party climbed Twin Peaks, 

 lying between Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons on what is now the 

 Wasatch National Forest. 



Again on July 18, 1856, Brigham Young, president of the Mormon 

 Church, issued the following invitation, and a copy of it was printed in the 

 local Deseret News: 



Pic-nic Party at the Headwaters of Big Cottonwood 



President Brigham Young respectfully invites and family to attend 



a Pic-nic Party at the Lake in Big Cottonwood on 



THURSDAY, 24th of JULY 



You will be required to start from the city very early on Wednesday morning, as no one 

 will be permitted, after 2 o'clock P. M. on the 23rd, to pass the first mill about 4 miles up 

 the canyon. 



All persons are forbidden to make or kindle fires at any place in the canyon, except on 

 the campground. 



Salt Lake City, July 18, 1856. 



Four hundred and fifty people attended this picnic. These records also 

 note that campfires must be "all well put out" and that special roads were 

 built to reach the recreational area. 



Scattered beginnings of recreational use on lands now embraced in the 

 national forests had increased considerably by the time the actual setting 



