Senator John Curtis introduced a resolution last week in Washington D.C. that commemorates the arrival of the Latter-day Saint pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Curtis delivered remarks on the Senate floor, emphasizing that the pioneer spirit is the American spirit. When the pioneers finally reached the Salt Lake Valley, they didn’t dwell on what they had lost but instead they focused on what they could build, emphasized Curtis. “Within days, they were planting crops, digging irrigation canals, laying out streets, and creating communities where none had existed before. Over the decades that followed, they established hundreds of settlements across the Mountain West, built roads and bridges, and helped countless other emigrants traveling west. That is the pioneer spirit. That is the American spirit. It is resilience in the face of hardship. It is self-reliance married with cooperation. It is choosing to build instead of surrender,” continued Senator Curtis. “As our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, I believe those values are as relevant today as they were nearly 180 years ago.”
