The Dominguez-Escalante expedition, seeking a route between Spanish New Mexico and California, were the first white men to enter Utah Valley. They camped a few miles north of this site on September 23, 1776, and spent several days exploring and teaching the Indians. In 1844, Lt. John C. Fremont also visited this area, and his careful scientific observations led to the definition of the Great Basin. His reports were studied by the Mormons before their departure from Illinois in 1846, and he noted that there was good soil and good grass adapted to civilized settlements, a fact that undoubtedly contributed to the choice of the Great Basin as the destination of the Mormon pioneers. Although the general Mormon policy was to feed rather than fight the Indians, their settlement on Indian lands in Utah frequently brought loss of life and property to both Indians and white men. Before Congress extinguished Indian land title and removed local tribes to the Uintah Basin, a 640 acre Indian Farm was established in 1855 near the mouth of the Spanish Fork River in an effort to educate the Indians to sustain themselves through agricultural pursuits.