Mormons in Star Valley
First Mormons of record in the valley were 40 emigrants, miners
from England, employed in 1858 by F.W. Lander to work on the Lander
Cut-Off of the Pacific Wagon Road. By 1870 Church cattle were
summer pastured in the valley. In 1879 the Church directed the
colonization of the valley. In August 1880 apostles Moses Thatcher
and Charles C. Rich renamed Salt River Valley to Star Valley and
dedicated it for settlement by organizing a branch of the Bear Lake
Stake with Charles Drake Cazier as president with 21 members in 5
households in the valley. 1880 census shows 45 persons in the valley.
1900 census shows 2,219. In 1892 the Star Valley Stake was formed with
7 Wards. The rock meeting house in Auburn was built in the winter
of 1889 and the tabernacle in Afton in 1905. In the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints Sesquicentennial year 1997 there exists
the Afton and Thayne Stakes. There are 15 wards including Smoot,
Osmond, Fairview, Salt River, Afton 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, Grover, Auburn,
Bedford, Thayne 1st and 2nd, Freedom and Etna/Alpine, with a combined
membership of 6,214. Welcome to Star Valley. (Isaiah 2:2)
