House Resolution 45

PAG LIN

  1  1                HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. ___
  1  2 BY  WATTS, HEATON, REASONER, WISE, DOLECHECK, BOGGESS,
  1  3   WHITAKER, SWAIM, ARNOLD, JONES, GASKILL, B. HANSEN,
  1  4                       and STRUYK
  1  5 A Resolution requesting the State Department of
  1  6    Transportation to identify the Mormon Trail route
  1  7    across Iowa on the official Iowa highway map.
  1  8    WHEREAS, in 1846, the year that the State of Iowa
  1  9 was officially admitted to the Union, a tragic series
  1 10 of events forced nearly 20,000 citizens of Nauvoo,
  1 11 Illinois, who were members of the Church of Jesus
  1 12 Christ of Latter=Day Saints, to abandon their homes
  1 13 and seek refuge on the western banks of the
  1 14 Mississippi River; and
  1 15    WHEREAS, in February 1846, severe winter weather
  1 16 froze the river, allowing wagons to cross over into
  1 17 Iowa, but claiming the lives of many who died of
  1 18 extreme exposure; and
  1 19    WHEREAS, parties were eventually organized to
  1 20 transport families and their belongings to a new
  1 21 settlement to be established in the West, and the
  1 22 story of that journey is one of the most tragic, yet
  1 23 triumphant, examples in American history of human
  1 24 determination to survive against overwhelming odds;
  1 25 and
  1 26    WHEREAS, in addition to those who made the original
  1 27 trek across Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming on their way
  1 28 into Utah on the route that is now known as the Mormon
  1 29 Trail, many thousands more followed in the years
  1 30 afterward, and today the Mormon Trail is recognized to
  2  1 be as significant historically as the Oregon Trail and
  2  2 other trails used for westward expansion; and
  2  3    WHEREAS, when the original residents of Nauvoo fled
  2  4 their city, they left behind a temple which was
  2  5 destroyed by mobs and vandals, and the Church of Jesus
  2  6 Christ of Latter=Day Saints has now completed
  2  7 reconstruction of that temple on the original site;
  2  8 and
  2  9    WHEREAS, the rebuilt temple in Nauvoo is an added
  2 10 attraction for descendants of the original residents
  2 11 of the city, who will be traveling to Nauvoo in future
  2 12 years, along with others interested in the history of
  2 13 those people, to visit the home of their ancestors;
  2 14 and
  2 15    WHEREAS, there are several significant Mormon Trail
  2 16 sites along the U.S. Highway 34 corridor across
  2 17 southern Iowa that may represent a tourism opportunity
  2 18 for cities along that corridor; NOW THEREFORE,
  2 19    BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
  2 20 That the State Department of Transportation is
  2 21 requested to identify the Mormon Trail route across
  2 22 Iowa on the official highway map issued periodically
  2 23 by the Department and made available to the traveling
  2 24 public in publications and at rest areas throughout
  2 25 Iowa.
  2 26 LSB 3073HH 80
  2 27 dea/pj/5