"Nothing like this monument has ever been designed or built before. It is original and unique. Few states can boast the achievements such as are commemorated in this design. More than 72 years have elapsed since the battalion made its memorable march, and the most of its members have passed to the great beyond. So this monument should be built at once if we are to proceed according to first hand evidence and information and not according to more or less fanciful and legendary tales concerning them and their difficult journey.
"It is sufficiently creditable and glorifying to tell their history as it was and without adornment. The most important events are to be shown in bronze and stone upon this monument.
"Its execution will certainly tax the sculptor to his utmost, but I believe it is in thoroughly capable hands and when built will be one of the really great monuments of the United States. * * *
"Therefore, let us adhere to the proposed model with steadfast purpose to build it not only as an added attraction to the many we have for the tourist and visitor, but more especially as an object of great interest for study and inspiration for our children and our children's children."
The Duty of the People of Utah.—Such is the Monument to be erected in commemoration of this great march of infantry whose achievements are so closely and inseparably connected with winning for the United States her present inheritance in the intermountain west and on the shores of the Pacific. Also whose achievements and glory are so inseparably connected with the founding of the State of Utah, as the work of part of her pioneer-state builders. It is the duty of the people of Utah, to whom appeal is now made, to raise the $100,000 necessary to make the State's appropriation of a like amount available to build the monument. To fail in such a duty would be to disgrace the State. No other State in the Union has such a unique incident to celebrate as this Battalion incident in our Utah Pioneer history. It is both heroic and dramatic; and in the results achieved is one of the largest events contributed by any state to the history of our country. Utah owes it to the state and to the nation to build this monument, that memory of this greatest march of infantry in the world, and the heroism of those who made it, shall not perish from among men.
It is the purpose of the Utah State Mormon Battalion Monument Commission to raise this fund by the 30th day of January, 1920,—Battalion Day—being the seventy-third anniversary of the official ending of their march, and arrival upon the shores of the Pacific. The respective counties have been organized for the campaign for the funds, subscription lists have been opened. It is proposed to conduct a campaign of public meetings in the interest of the Monument throughout Utah and the surrounding states, and give the people of the inter-mountain west every opportunity to honor themselves and their posterity and their state by fittingly memorializing the March and Achievements of the Mormon Battalion.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original.
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