Howard Stansbury

• Born — 8 February 1806 • Birthplace — New York City, US • Died — 17 April 1863 • Place of death — Madison, Wisconsin, US • Known for — Surveying the Great Salt Lake • Occupation — Surveyor

Stansbury was born in 1806 in New York City. He was trained as a civil engineer and joined the Topographical Bureau in 1828. In the service of the bureau he surveyed the James River in 1836, and the Illinois and Kaskaskia Rivers in 1837. In 1838 he oversaw the construction of a road from Milwaukee to the Mississippi River. In July 1838 he joined the new U.S Corps of Topographical Engineers as a first lieutenant. As a member of the corps, he surveyed the Great Lakes in 1841 and conducted an extensive survey of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire harbor between 1842 and 1845. In 1848 he oversaw the start of construction of the Carysfort Reef Light in Florida. During the Mexican–American War he oversaw the building of fortifications in the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1849 Stansbury was ordered to travel from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to survey the Great Salt Lake in Utah, to evaluate emigration trails along the way (especially the Oregon and Mormon trails), and to scout for possible locations for a transcontinental railroad. The expedition consisted of 18 men including second-in-command Lieutenant John Williams Gunnison. During the next two years, the expedition explored the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake and the Cache Valley of northern Utah all the way to Fort Hall in southern Idaho. When he arrived in the Utah Territory, the Mormon leaders were worried that the expedition was part of an effort by the U.S government to oust the settlers. Stansbury held a meeting with Brigham Young where he assured the leader that the expedition was purely scientific. Young responded by assigning his personal secretary, Albert Carrington, to assist the expedition. In his report, Stansbury wrote: This pledge thus heartily given was as faithfully redeemed and it gives me pleasure here to acknowledge the warm interest manifested and efficient aid rendered as well by the president as by all the leading men of the community both in our welfare and in the successful prosecution of the work. In 1850, he advised Brigham Young on the extermination of the Timpanogos, which he said "could not but meet my entire approval" and gave supplies for the Battle at Fort Utah. Upon completing the mission in Utah, the expedition started back east to Leavenworth. Rather than follow the standard Oregon Trail route from Fort Bridger over South Pass through the Sweetwater River valley, Stansbury wanted to scout a more direct route east. Following the advice of Jim Bridger and local trappers and traders, the expedition followed the Blacks Fork River east, crossed the Green River near the present town of Green River, Wyoming and proceeded east along the Bitter Creek valley, crossing the Red Desert, and skirting the northern side of Elk Mountain across the Laramie Plains. They passed over the Laramie Mountains and made their way to Fort Laramie where they struck the Oregon Trail heading east. Having now brought our reconnoissance for a new route from the waters of the Pacific to a point where its results can be at least approximately ascertained it is very gratifying to be able to state that these results are in a high degree satisfactory more so indeed than I had anticipated. It has been ascertained that a practicable route exists through the chain of the Rocky Mountains at a point sixty miles south of that now generally pursued and in a course as much more direct as the chord of an arc is than the arc itself.

After the Utah expedition, Stansbury oversaw construction projects in Minnesota and Ohio. He served briefly as a mustering officer in Columbus, Ohio and as a recruiting officer in Wisconsin during the early years of the Civil War. He died in Madison on April 13, 1863.

The Stansbury expedition named numerous geographical features in the Salt Lake Valley and environs. Some islands in the Great Salt Lake are named for members of the expedition, including Stansbury Island and Stansbury Bay, Carrington Island and Gunnison Island. The Stansbury Mountain range is located on the western side of the Tooele valley, and the community of Stansbury Park, Utah and Stansbury High School is located within the valley. In addition to Uta stansburiana, Stansbury was also honored with Purshia stansburyana (cliff-rose).