July 22nd-28th

Pioneer Day The Mormon Trail Center was busy and many people are visiting the pioneer trail. The young Sisters all dressed in their pioneer dresses and as usual gave their wonderful tours. 

As they are coming into the Center they pass the Handcart Monument that is just outside the door. We found this article about the statue:

Like the hardy Mormon trailblazers it was created to honor, a bronze likeness of handcart-pulling pioneers was beautified and strengthened by a refiner's fire. Lehi artisan Franz Johansen has toiled for a year on a life-size statue that will be shipped this week to the Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters near Omaha, Neb. It will be showcased on a concrete pedestal at the entrance of the year-old visitors center.With a craftsman's pride, Johansen points out the intricate detail carved into the seven figures, which capture the struggle of a family running on faith to a Promised Land.

One of his favorite touches is the delicate, outstretched hand offered by the sculpted woman to her husband, who is pulling the wooden cart filled with cargo packed around a small child."I really like that. It's what I call a good story-telling statement," Johansen said at a Lehi foundry where it was made. "It shows the love that was there. It's an emotional pulling rather than a physical pulling."

The sculpture also includes two children, a young son and daughter, who walk alongside the cart. A grandfather and grandmother follow, looking into the horizon, pushing the cart from behind.

The sculpture, Johansen said, is a reminder of that dedication and sacrifice. "I'm grateful I could use my abilities and talents to help the church," Johansen said. "It's neat to serve this kind of a mission to help build a kingdom; that's what it is all about."

Nate Johansen, Franz Johansen's son, works at Metal Letters foundry, where the display was built. He has worked on the statue with his dad for about 10 months.

An arduous process was followed to create the sculpture. The first step was to make a small model of the sculpture to use as a blueprint for the life-size version. Metal frames of the people were then pieced together "kind of like stick figures," Nate Johansen said.Then a foam padding was placed on a frame. A layer of clay was added to allow artists to carve the human characteristics. Next, a mold made from the clay statue was filled with wax. After the hot wax was dumped out, a liquified bronze was poured in. Only small pieces of a statue can be made at a time with the mold, so parts were later welded together to complete each figure.As a finishing touch, the statue was sandblasted and heated with a blowtorch to prepare the material for sealant that will protect the bronze from the weather. Rough spots were then smoothed away, and some texture was added. "The mold is one of a kind," Nate Johansen said. "We'll probably throw (the mold) away after it's taken away." The statue, which weighs about a ton, will be transported on a flat-bed trailer. Deseret News Article April 20, 1998

This image is showing the family ready to face the trail ahead, they are looking forward and happy to be on the way, and determined  to follow the call of the prophet and reach Zion.

Compare the statue at Temple Square at the end of the trail and how they look so worn and tired, but they completed their journey . . .  amid all the conflicts ....

There are many Pioneers in the world today, they are finding their way to Zion and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We see that everyday in the Mission Field. We would hope that all of us will remember our pioneer ancestors and their struggles and may we gain stronger Testimonies as we study their lives.