Camp Floyd State Park Museum, Fairfield, UT – 10 JUN 11

I spent three weeks teaching at Camp Williams in Riverton, UT, which is 27 miles south of downtown Salt Lake City. The first week, it was rainy and it wasn’t until the fourth day when the low clouds lifted and I saw the beautiful surrounding mountains. I found one very interesting mailbox.Definitely the largest, most unusual box holder.I saw a sign pointing out the direction to Camp Floyd, so course I had to drive over after work and see what it was all about. Tinky Winky waves hello from the only remaining building which was the Commissary Building (1858) and is now a very small museum.
I learned all about Camp Floyd. President Buchanan dispatched 1/3 of the entire US Army (3,500 troops) to Utah to put down a Mormon rebellion that never happen. The Army settled in to monitor the Mormons; however, three years later, they were recalled to fight the Civil War. The peaceful invasion of Utah was also known as the Utah Mormon War which resulted in the polygamist Brigham Young stepping down as power of the Utah Territory and allowing a non-Mormon Territorial Governor, Alfred Cumming to take command.
Across the street from the Museum is the two-story adobe and frame hotel, Stagecoach Inn, also built in 1858. It was the first stop south of Salt Lake City on the Overland Stage Route. Sleep tight on this bed would mean having the ropes tightly strung.

Judging from the size of the rooms and lounge area, it must have been “5 Stars” accommodations. The Stagecoach Inn also served as a Pony Express Station.Besides the Commissary, the only other remnant of Camp Floyd is the Cemetery.
The actual number, location and identities of buried soldiers is unknown.
There are several flat granite markers but none of them are over actual graves and more than forty of them represent people who were not buried here. (Ref: Camp Floyd Cemetery )

You would need to be very self contained to camp here…beside the cemetery there are only a few picnic tables.