On 23 July 1847, the pioneer party of settlers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered on the banks of City Creek in what is now downtown Salt Lake City. Impressed with the "very rich land" and "deep grass," they prepared to start planting and irrigating farms near the creek. At about 9:30 in the morning, before the farmers and irrigators started their work, Elder Orson Pratt of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles made "a few introductory remarks." Then he returned "thanks, . . . consecrated and dedicated the land to the Lord; & entreated his blessings on the seeds about to be planted; & on our labors in this valley."1 Pratt and Willard Richards organized committees to carry out the various tasks. A committee of five selected land; a committee of three superintended the stock, plows, and drags; another committee of three rigged up scythes to cut the grass; and Stephen Markham managed the stock. At about noon Seth Taft's company turned the first furrow in the "fertile, friable loam" on a plot of land between 200 and 300 South and State Streets and 200 East Street.