History worth saving

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em>"English history is all about men liking their fathers, and American history is all about men hating their fathers and trying to burn down everything they ever did."

-- Malcolm Bradbury

British author

We'll admit right off the top that what first caught our eye about the petition drive to save 12 acres of This Is the Place Monument from being leased to a medical firm was not the desire to preserve history. It was the part about two rubber-wheeled trains.

This Is the Place Monument, of course, is the site, more or less, at the mouth of Salt Lake City's Emigration Canyon where Brigham Young told his flock that the Salt Lake Valley would be their new home -- a refuge from attacks made on the Mormon people in the Midwest. In recent decades, the area adjacent to the stone monument itself has been developed into a pastiche of historical buildings and activities designed to recreate the pioneer era of the mid- to late-19th century Great Basin.

On May 10, the anniversary of the Wedding of the Rails at Promontory, Utah, the folks at This Is the Place Monument will reportedly use two rubber-wheeled "trains" -- we're not sure how large or long -- to re-enact the 1869 completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, which actually happened many miles to the north in Box Elder County. We're still trying to picture this in our heads -- rubber-wheeled trains? -- and it prompts a smile every single time. (This Is the Place Monument is a fine historical site, but on May 10, people interested in history where it actually happened and with honest-to-goodness steam locomotives should head on out to the Golden Spike National Historic Site for an authentic experience.)

Anyway, while having a good chuckle, we noticed that the foundation board of This Is the Place Heritage Park has authorized the leasing of 12 acres to the Associated Regional and University Pathologists for construction of an office building. The board, still smarting from its having to beg $2 million from the Legislature to set its books in order, is keen on the $400,000 in annual lease revenue promised by the pathologists.

Understandably aghast at the thought of professional office space encroaching onto the park, one of the park's former administrators and other concerned citizens have launched a petition drive to convince the Division of State Parks, which has the final authority to grant the lease, to reject the board's plan.

We're with the petitioners on this one -- This Is the Place Heritage Park, despite its cheesy inclination toward rubber-wheeled trains, is a piece of ground that should be preserved in the public trust.

Allowing new office buildings to chip away at its margins is not in the interest of historical preservation, which ought to be the goal.

So, we urge people to visit the group's Web site -- www.savetheplace.net/index.html -- click the "petition" link on the left side of the page and sign it. Nothing less than history hangs in the balance.

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