Dominguez-Escalante statue proposed for Capitol

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — A resolution proposed by Rep. Mark A. Wheatley (D-Salt Lake) is seeking approval from Utah legislators for a statue of Franciscan friars Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante to be placed at the state Capitol.

“Although the Dominguez-Escalante expedition of 1776 was not the first incursion of Europeans into the area of present-day Utah, it was the first one of importance,” said Gary Topping, Diocese of Salt Lake City archivist. “Traveling north from Santa Fe, N.M. through western Colorado, then west across the Uintah Basin to Utah Lake and south to the Colorado River roughly along the route of today’s Interstate 15, the Franciscan friars were able to impart to the European mind the first accurate conception of what existed between the Rockies and the Sierra. The expedition failed in its stated objective of finding an overland route between Santa Fe and Monterey, Calif., but it accomplished a reconnaissance of incalculable scientific and commercial importance. The friars’ daily journal described in detail the terrain covered and the cultures of the Indian groups encountered, while the accompanying map offered an accurate depiction of the geography of the region. In time, the knowledge compiled by the friars led to completion of what came to be known as the Old Spanish Trail from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, a corridor that placed Utah at the center of a lucrative international commerce until the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848.”

The Capitol is already home to several statues honoring prominent people in Utah’s history, and Wheatley’s resolution “urges that a statue of Fathers Dominguez and Escalante be erected in the Utah State Capitol in recognition of their extraordinary lives an accomplishments that have bettered the lives of Utahns and many millions of other people throughout the western United States.”

“I think it’s important to acknowledge Latinos have been in the state for many years,” Wheatley said in an interview. “There’s a great history here that encompasses all ethnicities and all religions that have been here for quite some time.” 

The proposal for the statue builds on a resolution that Wheatley sponsored a few years ago that honored the contributions of the two Franciscan friars. Since then, a bipartisan group has been working to identify potential private-sector donors for the statue, which Wheatley estimates will cost between $150,000 and $250,000.

No public money will be used for this project, said Wheatley, a St. Ann parishioner, who is recommending that the statue, if approved by the legislature, be placed outside the Capitol building, at the west end.

The text of the resolution can be found at http://le.utah.gov/~2016/bills/static/HCR007.html. Those interested in supporting the resolution should contact their legislators. Those interested in donating funds for the statue should contact Wheatley.