All aboard....the buses are about to depart the Sugarhouse prison for the Point of the Mountain!

Some believe scallywags hornswoggled the Utah taxpayer in closing the Utah Draper prison and moving elsewhere, for the sake of progress! Well, if you check a little history, that sounds like the same tactics used when they shut down the old prison(third photo of 1920) in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake. Regardless, we thought it may be fun to give a bit of history to it all. When the buses were loaded on March 12, 1951, it was quite the sight, as people from Nephi and all over Utah lined up along Highway 91 to watch the inmate parade. Various police agencies were standing along the way to shoot if needed, but the truth was in those days inmates were not very violent and happy as a lark to get new digs. Hopefully, before the Big House slams the iron doors for the last time, they will give due respect to all humanity that lived and died in the area. That should include the Ancient Ones who dwelled there before the Red Rock dam breeched in Idaho, and Lake Bonneville(19,000 square mile fresh water lake) broke and spilled its water to the Pacific Ocean via the Snake River. If you pull in McDonalds just off I-15 at Bangerter, you can gaze up to the southeast part of the Point(by the old widowmaker), and see the beach heads from 15,000 years ago. Pretend you can see a Fremont or Anasazi body surfing. Although artifacts of the Ancient Ones are scattered all through the prison and Jordan River area, it doesn't appear there is a slow down to consider the cultures and history of the area. When the prison was built there, it was a haven for the ring neck pheasant and a winter feeding ground for the mule deer, but most are now gone because of progress, not the hunter!