Seagull Monument - Definition and Overview

Seagull Monument, Salt Lake City Temple Square. Assembly Hall in background.

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 (the LDS Church, see also "Mormons") call the Miracle of the Gulls.

History

In 1848 the Mormon pioneers planted crops for their first spring season in Utah. As the crops riped, 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 by flocks of native seagulls which devoured the crickets. This event, popularly called the "Miracle of the Gulls", is well-remembered by Latter-day Saints as a miracle.

Seagull Monument in the 1920s, Salt Lake Temple in background. Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library.

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 stature of two insect-devouring seagulls cast by sculpter Mahonri M. Young, who designed the monument. Young studied in France, and was grandson of LDS leader Brigham Young. The monument was dedicated October 1st 1913 by LDS Church president Joseph F. Smith. Seagull Monument is believed to be the first monument dedicated to birds.

The seagull (California gull) is now the Utah State bird.

Outside link

• LDS Church page on Seagull Monument (http://www.lds.org/newsroom/showpackage/0,15367,3899-1--34-1-185,00.html)