Mendon Memorial Day poppies in front of Wellsville Mountains. Photo by Karole Sorensen.

(Utah State University Special Collections & Archives, Folk Collection 67)

Nestled beneath the Wellsville Mountains in the Wasatch Range in Cache County, Utah, Mendon has a long and storied past. The Shoshone Nation called this place Sihiviogoi. For centuries, they seasonally visited the area to hunt game, fish, and gather herbs and other natural resources. The area’s abundant natural resources also attracted fur trappers during 1820s, who often hid, or cached, their bounty before taking it back East to sell. The practice provided the area with its present name, Cache Valley. The verdant valley eventually attracted settlers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These settlers were also known as Mormon Pioneers, especially at the time. These pioneers brought their cattle herds to graze Cache Valley’s luxuriant grasslands, settling first at Wellsville in 1856 before expanding to the North Fort, or Mendon, three years later. Below is a scan of a land grant was officially given by the U.S. government in 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant. To better situate this information, below are maps of the area.