Handcart Pioneers (also known as the Handcart Pioneers Monument) is a 1926 bronze sculpture by Torleif S. Knaphus, installed in Salt Lake City’s Temple Square, in the U.S. state of Utah.

Handcart Pioneers
Handcart Pioneers Monument
Artist	Torleif S. Knaphus
Year	1926 (1926)
Medium	Bronze sculpture
Dimensions	1.8 m × 1.2 m × 3.0 m (6 ft × 4 ft × 10 ft)
Location	Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Description

The sculpture measures approximately 6 x 4 x 10 feet and rests on a stone base which measures approximately 1 x 5 x 12 feet. It depicts people moving a handcart; most are pulling the loaded cart, apart from one young boy who is pushing from the rear. A nearby plaque reads:

Handcart Pioneer Monument / The Handcart Pioneer Monument is a / tribute to the thousands of hardy Mormon / pioneers who, because they could not / afford the larger ox-drawn wagons, walked / across the rugged plains in the 1850s / pulling and pushing all their posses / sions in handmade all-wood handcarts. / Some 250 died on the journey, but nearly / 3,000, mostly British converts, completed the 1,350-mile trek from Iowa City, Iowa, to / the Salt Lake Valley. Many Latter-Day Saints / today proudly recount the trials and the triumphs of their ancestors who were among the Mormon handcart pioneers.[1]

History

The artwork is administered by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints' Museum of Church History and Art. It was surveyed by the Smithsonian Institution's "Save Outdoor Sculpture" program in 1993.[1]

References

External links

• Media related to Handcart Monument (Knaphus) at Wikimedia Commons

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