They'd long heard about the Bear River which flowed into the Great Salt Lake. And on this July 12, 1847, the pioneers forded it, not far from this bridge along along the Mirror Lake highway. Wilford Woodruff even took some time to break out his fly rod.

Wilford Woodruff:

"I FOUND IT A DIFFICULT STREAM TO FISH IN WITH THE FLY IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE THICK UNDERBRUSH."

Mountain fever finally hit Brigham Young the night beforeand his condition worsened as the pioneers reached the formation known as the Needles, near today's Utah-Wyoming border. Brigham wouldn't recover, fully, until after his pioneer band reached the Salt Lake Valley.