Fort Douglas

by Louwane Vansoolen, Fort Douglas Military Museum

Overview

On October 26, 1862, Col. Edward P. Connor and the 3rd California Volunteers set up Camp Douglas for the purpose of protecting the overland mail and telegraph routes between Nevada and Wyoming. This began a long history of a U.S. military presence in the Salt Lake Valley Mormon community. Although the camp closed on October 26, 1991, the U.S. military still has a presence today on the east bench of Salt Lake City known as Fort Douglas. The base as it was during its heyday of the 38th Infantry is gone, but the parade ground and Gothic sandstone homes of Officers Circle, shaded by trees planted long ago, still remain at Fort Douglas. The horses have disappeared and the "old soldiers have faded away," but the stable and red-brick barracks also remain. A few old-timers still enjoy a stroll around the parade ground, listening for the canyon breeze ruffling through the trees that echo faintly the calls of yesteryear.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738571119
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	11/11/2009
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,042,519
Product dimensions:	9.16(w) x 6.60(h) x 0.33(d)

About the Author

The Fort Douglas Military Museum and longtime curator Louwane Vansoolen have pieced together this insightful volume into Utah's rich history, featuring over 180 vintage images. The museum, housed in two of the old sandstone barracks built in 1875, has kept the old fort alive with relics of military life, then and now.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

History of the Fort Douglas Museum 9

1 Colonel Connor and the Establishment of Camp Douglas 11

2 The Early Years 19

3 Fort Expansion and Mobilization 33

4 World War I Era 69

5 World War II Era 99

6 Closing of the Fort 121

Bibliography 127