Seagull Monument

The Seagull Monument is a small monument situated immediately in front of the Salt Lake Assembly Hall on Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Monument commemorates what some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) call the miracle of the gulls.

Seagull Monument, Salt Lake City Temple Square. Assembly Hall in background.
The bronze seagulls atop the monument.

History

In 1848 the Mormon pioneers planted crops for their first spring season in Utah. As the crops ripened, Mormon crickets descended upon the farms from the foothills east of the valley. The insects consumed entire fields. According to traditional account, the harvest was saved when the pioneer farmers knelt in prayer, which prayers were answered by flocks of native seagulls which devoured the crickets. This event, popularly called the "miracle of the gulls", is remembered by Latter-day Saints as a miracle.[1] The incident is somewhat controversial in nature with some historians questioning the credibility of the account.[2]

To celebrate the role seagulls played in the pioneer's first year in Utah, the LDS Church erected Seagull Monument on their Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. The top of the monument is a bronze statue of two insect-devouring seagulls cast by sculptor Mahonri M. Young, who designed the monument. Young studied in France, and was grandson of LDS leader Brigham Young. The monument was dedicated October 1, 1913, by LDS Church president Joseph F. Smith. The Seagull Monument is believed to be the first monument dedicated to birds.

The California gull is now the Utah State bird.

Notes
  1. Saal, Mark. "Not since the bingeing/purging of the gulls have we seen such a mighty miracle". standard.net. Ogden Standard-Examiner. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  2. Hartley, William G. (1992), "Mormons, Crickets, and Gulls, A New Look at an Old Story", in Quinn, D. Michael (ed.), The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past, Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, p. 137, ISBN 1-56085-011-6
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