Comments on: We’ll Find the Place: July 13

By: Clark

Clark — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:58:16 +0000

And my guess is that William Clayton (inventor of the odometer and composer of “Come,Come Ye Saints) is directly behind Bridger taking notes.

LDS iconography isn’t really up to Catholic standards, where every saint has his readily-identified symbols (St. Peter with the keys, St. Thomas with his skin, St. James with his seashell) Meaning of the bullwhip, anyone? Or the kneeling figure with the map? And what is Jim Bridger drawing? A figure of corn, for the bushel of gold he’d give if it grew?

And why a black hat for Brigham? Hoss Cartwright knows that the good guy always should wear a white hat…

By: Dane

Dane — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:04:40 +0000

Stapley’s article at BCC — http://bycommonconsent.com/2009/07/13/of-healings-canes-and-gardens/ — has a picture of Willard Richards, which looks like the figure here in the red shirt sitting across from Bridger.

By: Curt A.

Curt A. — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:36:11 +0000

The painting is one by Lynn Fausett and might be part of the mural at the This is the Place park or is at the BYU museum. It depicts the June 28, 1847 meeting of Brigham Young and Jim Bridger up on the Big Sandy (now Farson, WY). Other samples of Fausett’s work include include the crossing of the Mississippi from Nauvoo in (apparently) February 1846 and “To Them of the Last Wagon” showing a pioneer company winding down Emigration (?) Canyon with a “last” wagon in the foreground at the end of the train. Fausett was much better at western landscapes than figures although Bridger is easily depicted with his buckskins and the pushed back brim of his hat. I join in the guess that the man in the black hat is Brigham. But who is the cowboy-looking character leaning on the (miniature) oxen?

By: Hunter

Hunter — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:48:04 +0000

Dane – I believe the illustration depicts the meeting of Jim Bridger with the en route Mormons where they discussed the conditions of the Salt Lake Valley.

Not my favorite illustration, actually. The Brigham-looking character looks like a mix between Boss Hogg (from Duke’s of Hazzard fame) and Hoss Cartwright (from Bonanza). Although, the artist apparently got the facial hair thing right!

By: Dane

Dane — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:33:04 +0000

I see pioneers, covered wagons, and a desolate landscape. I’m afraid that none of the people look particularly familiar to me (although the standing man with the black hat has something of a Brighamesque appearance).