LDS Church Pledges to Rebuild Mountain Meadows Grave Marker
Salt Lake Tribune (AP) 2Jan99
By Robert Gehrke: Associated Press

and

Mountain Meadows group aims to rebuild
Deseret News 3Jan99
S. Utah site marks graves of 1857 massacre victims

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will join efforts to improve the area where the Mountain Meadows Massacre took place in Southern Utah in 1857. The head of an association of descendants of those killed in the tragic incident says they are extremely pleased with the Church's willingness to help fix up the site, located about 30 miles north of St. George. Ron Loving says, "We've come a long way in the past 3 months from the last 141 years" and he credits President Gordon B. Hinckley's insight for the feelings of the families who were affected.

It's believed that a group of LDS settlers and Paiute Indians killed most of the members of a party of approximately 120 people, who were trying to travel from Arkansas to California. They had been promised safe passage, but were attacked instead. A major in the Mormon militia, John D. Lee, was one of a group of people excommunicated as a result of the massacre. Almost 20 years after the event, Lee was taken back to the site, and was tried and executed.

At an October meeting, President Hinckley said "No one knows fully what happened at Mountain Meadows. But we express our regrets over what happened there and we all need to put this behind us." President Hinckley says a recent visit to the site saddened him, when he saw the condition of the marker indicating the tragedy. The Church will built a new monument. A wall around the site is also giving way. It will be rebuilt on a stronger base.

The family association is still trying to locate gravesites for other victims. They are being asked to help choose the design of the new monument by voting at the group's website by January 18th. The site is located at http://www.mtn-meadows-assoc.com/