"All of us owe something to certain people who have gone on before us," said Elder Loren C. Dunn of the Seventy, who returned July 25 to this city of his childhood to dedicate a plaza constructed in memory of the pioneers who settled the area.
"They probably did not fully understand what would come out of their efforts and sacrifices," he said of those who were first sent to this area 30 miles west of Salt Lake City, beyond the Oquirrh Mountains near the Great Salt Lake, to establish a lumber mill.The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Tooele Company and the Sons of Utah Pioneers Settlement Canyon Chapter joined to create the Pioneer Plaza in an area near downtown Tooele formerly known as Pioneer Park.
The plaza is anchored by a museum of pioneer artifacts. The building was erected in 1867 and was constructed of rock quarried from nearby Settlement Canyon. It was originally used as a social center for the pioneers, but later served as a city hall and county court house.
The plaza also contains a horse-drawn doctor's buggy and an original cabin built by Andrew Gowans in 1854. The area is tied together with a new black wrought iron fence.
"I remember my childhood days when the cabin didn't look as good as it does now," Elder Dunn said of the Gowans cabin.
During his comments to an audience of approximately 100 people who had assembled in the shadows of the museum for the commemorative ceremony, Elder Dunn pointed out that the many good efforts performed in behalf of others - efforts that may go unaccepted or unappreciated - are not forgotten by the Lord.
He related how many years ago, a stake president in Tooele requested that a well be dug at a Church welfare farm in a nearby farming community. When the well was dry at 300 feet, it was assumed there was no water.
"When you dig a well to 300 feet in this area and there is no water," said Elder Dunn, "it's a dry well."
Years later, Elder Dunn's brother, who was then serving as stake president, received a phone call, saying that water was in the well. Elder Dunn told how the well was uncapped and continues to supply water to that farm today.
"It's an interesting pattern with the Lord," said Elder Dunn. "The dry wells we dig are not forgotten by the Lord. He remembers. The day will come when our righteous efforts will bless those who come after. Out of the sacrifices of the past we mold the future."
