LOGAN-Parades and celebrations across Utah acknowledge Brigham Young and the original bunch of Mormon pioneers’ arrival in the valley of the Great Salt Lake on July 24, 1847. Cache Valley records indicate that July 24, 1859, was the beginning of the tradition that continues today in many communities.
It was not long after the arrival of the first settlers in the valley. Although Maughn’s Fort/Wellsville was credited with being the first community in Cache Valley, many communities were also founded in 1859 including Logan.
In the first years Logan residents were building their community, they experienced several deaths and a cemetery was designated on a plot of ground in Logan at 5th North and 7th East. This small burial ground was used for a short time before it was determined, a larger place, further away from town on higher ground was needed. The current Logan City Cemetery was established on 53 acres of ground a year or two later.
The bodies from the original cemetery were exhumed and given a new place of rest in the new designated location.
Some of the bodies were identified and moved into plots with other family members. Some bodies were not identified and put into a common area in the cemetery.
In 1981 the Brigham Young Camp of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers with help from the North Cache County Camps designed and installed a stone marker with plaque to honor those not identified and named the plot, “The Unknown Pioneers of Logan.”
On Pioneer Day 2025 numerous flags were mounted on the area behind the marker that at one time had sort of a waffle board effect on the ground, indicating the burials were in wooden caskets.
Part of the inscription on the marker reads:
“Approximately 42 others, known only to God, having no identification or relatives to claim them, were moved to this special sacred area known as “Pioneer Plot.”
The marker is one of many markers on the Logan City Historical Walking Tour.