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MORMON PIONEERS SETTLE AT BYU

By Jeff McClellan

Along about the third week of July, the area around the Harman Building experienced a transformation. It began with a few logs in the Deseret Towers (DT) parking lot. Then leafy tree branches appeared on the baseball backstop on the northeast corner of DT Field. Soon there were cabins being constructed and tepees rising as everything from the baseball backstop to the Bean Museum parking lot turned into a giant Pioneer Rendezvous.

The Rendezvous was sponsored by the LDS Church to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the Mormon pioneers' arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. And although Provo is a couple of days by wagon from Salt Lake's Emigration Canyon, BYU campus was chosen as the host of the event. BYU's involvement, however, extended beyond merely hosting. Volunteerism emanated from all corners of campus as BYU employees and departments became involved in the Rendezvous as well as the Sesquicentennial Spectacular that erupted in Cougar Stadium on July 24 and 25.

Alton Wade, BYU's student life vice president, recalls meeting with President Merrill J. Bateman when the Church requested to use BYU campus for the celebration. The two discussed it, he said, and "agreed we should throw heart and soul into it." Heart and soul and tables and chairs and computers and scenery and stadiums and parking lots. The list goes on. There were hamburgers and drinks, tents and poles, televisions and VCRs, and a football field. There were grounds crews and technical people, computer programmers and cooks, cashiers and event staff--hundreds of people and thousands of hours.

The Rendezvous alone was Herculean in size, drawing an estimated more than 100,000 visitors in two days. In the Bean Museum parking lot, a huge camouflage net tent shaded the Chuck Wagon--some 116 tables and 928 chairs where BYU dining services handed out more than 50,000 meals. On the Harman Building patio, the BYU scene shop built a frontier town facade, behind which the BYU Bookstore sold pioneer products. Inside the Harman Building, 80 computers and a software program written for the event by two BYU professors spit out participants' pioneer ancestry, including stories and photos. There was also an Indian tepee village, a pioneer village, and demonstrations on printing, weaving, bread making, and more. And the north DT parking lot became the plains--complete with sage brush and juniper trees--where modern pioneers pulled handcarts and witnessed various aspects of trail life.

Rendezvous co-chair Ann Seamons raved about BYU's willingness to help. For example, she said, when Rendezvous planners decided to import rocks to the DT parking lot so handcart pioneers could experience rough terrain, BYU grounds manager Roy Peterman responded, "Rocks! Heck, I'll give you a river!" And so the grounds crew tapped into the sprinkling system, producing not only a river but also rain to add to the rocks and the sand on the DT plains.

Sesquicentennial organizers are singing BYU's praises left and right these days. Janielle Christensen, producer of the Spectacular and artistic director for BYU's Living Legends (formerly the Lamanite Generation), used the word wonderful more than once in describing the cooperation she received from campus entities. "The really wonderful thing about BYU's involvement was we had President Bateman's full support," she said.

That full support extended across campus, she said, allowing the Church to use the 65,000-seat stadium (which sold out both nights) without the usual rental fee and causing the stadium turf supervisors to permit their football grass to be impressed upon by four stages, four dancing water fountains, 32 speaker clusters, 130 automatic light fixtures, 14 handcarts, a wagon train, multiple horse hooves, and more than 12,000 human feet, two of which belonged to LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.

"This becomes a great culminating chapter in a long series of chapters," said President Hinckley of the Spectacular and its role in the sesquicentennial celebration. In addition to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Mormon Youth Chorus and Symphony, the show featured some 500 members and alumni of BYU's Young Ambassadors, Folk Dancers, and Living Legends. Talents, time, props, scenes, and technical specialties from BYU were all drawn upon to "create a very unique celebration of who we are and how we feel about our ancestors," Christensen said.

"This truly was a celebration of the Savior," said Seamons. "It was for the pioneers, but it was because of Him that they came."

Others at BYU celebrated the sesquicentennial as well. In May, about a dozen members of the BYU Dancer's Company traveled to various Utah landscapes where they dressed in pioneer attire. Then, with cameras running, they swayed and twirled to music composed by former Mormon Tabernacle organist Robert Cundick, all in celebration of "Woman, the Pioneer." Created in 1962 for the Seattle World's Fair, the dance was first re-created in 1973 by Christine Ollerton, a BYU dance faculty member. It has since been performed many times by BYU dancers, and for the sesquicentennial, it was produced on film to memorialize the sacrifices and faith of Mormon women pioneers.

"Whenever this piece is performed, it stirs emotions and feelings," Ollerton said. "It is fitting that it is a part of the sesquicentennial, because it deals with the struggles of the pioneers and portrays a universal saga of all women." The production aired on KBYU in late July.

The struggles of the pioneers were felt perhaps most profoundly by those members of the BYU community who participated in the reenactment of the Mormon pioneer trek across the plains. Five students or recent graduates and one staff member joined the 93-day trek this summer, traveling by handcart, horse, wagon, and foot from Winter Quarters, Neb., to Salt Lake City. Others joined the trek for a day, a weekend, a week, or more.

B.C. Moore, who graduated in April in biochemistry and is beginning a biochemistry graduate program at BYU in September, was among the students who went the whole way. "For the past three years I felt driven, I felt this was something I should do," Moore said. He said the experience taught him faith and dependence on the Lord.

James Fairbourn, the book repair supervisor at the Harold B. Lee Library, saved up vacation days for two years to be able to join the wagon train. He said the trek helped him appreciate more what his ancestors experienced. "It began with my love for my pioneer ancestors," said Fairbourn. "They were my heroes and I just wanted to follow in their footsteps and see what it was like."

7.51% 2654157 7.11% 2 347690 7.58% 251033 8.01% 338598 7.82% 1500 3.30% 1567 5.85% 2454669 6.58% 3 397073 8.66% 272390 8.69% 387614 8.95% 1653 3.63% 1591 5.94% 2731805 7.32% 4 398767 8.69% 278665 8.89% 389079 8.98% 1447 3.18% 1580 5.90% 2763743 7.40% 5 300422 6.55% 196523 6.27% 294397 6.80% 1227 2.70% 1081 4.03% 2061843 5.52% 6 22484 0.49% 16081 0.51% 19091 0.44% 595 1.31% 652 2.43% 333468 0.89% 7 174131 3.80% 121967 3.89% 165551 3.82% 1248 2.74% 1302 4.86% 1344653 3.60% 8 124747 2.72% 77226 2.46% 116957 2.70% 1546 3.40% 1371 5.12% 947490 2.54% 9 46757 1.02% 30475 0.97% 36996 0.85% 1407 3.09% 1463 5.46% 672051 1.80% 10 41372 0.90% 27149 0.87% 31758 0.73% 1510 3.32% 1498 5.59% 803012 2.15% 11 54462 1.19% 36839 1.17% 45097 1.04% 1803 3.96% 1546 5.77% 553703 1.48% 12 39728 0.87% 27135 0.87% 32020 0.74% 1805 3.97% 1484 5.54% 411409 1.10% 13 52910 1.15% 36012 1.15% 46287 1.07% 1475 3.24% 1247 4.65% 699625 1.87% 14 69546 1.52% 46064 1.47% 61882 1.43% 1463 3.21% 1331 4.97% 776626 2.08% 15 348648 7.60% 228051 7.27% 338102 7.80% 1828 4.02% 1601 5.98% 2487738 6.66% 16 62895 1.37% 42196 1.35% 52708 1.22% 1626 3.57% 1521 5.68% 691236 1.85% 17 41906 0.91% 28745 0.92% 31658 0.73% 1690 3.71% 1695 6.33% 515054 1.38% 18 54342 1.18% 36871 1.18% 44945 1.04% 1607 3.53% 1516 5.66% 627082 1.68% 19 269938 5.88% 175292 5.59% 260967 6.02% 1462 3.21% 1341 5.01% 2003242 5.37% 20 198866 4.33% 128674 4.10% 190201 4.39% 1353 2.97% 1317 4.92% 1454282 3.90% 21 181974 3.97% 118382 3.78% 174028 4.02% 1381 3.03% 1323 4.94% 1353684 3.63% 22 100854 2.20% 66787 2.13% 92240 2.13% 1462 3.21% 1381 5.15% 846226 2.27% 23 27015 0.59% 19528 0.62% 17411 0.40% 1669 3.67% 1466 5.47% 462144 1.24% 24 27006 0.59% 18778 0.60% 18202 0.42% 1659 3.64% 1379 5.15% 456637 1.22% 25 27085 0.59% 20559 0.66% 18598 0.43% 1506 3.31% 1381 5.15% 534060 1.43% 26 473876 10.33% 311029 9.92% 466392 10.77% 1493 3.28% 1354 5.05% 3345418 8.96% 27 66850 1.46% 44709 1.43% 60649 1.40% 1498 3.29% 1197 4.47% 594385 1.59% 28 96277 2.10% 66362 2.12% 88581 2.04% 1518 3.33% 1286 4.80% 1193631 3.20% 29 87509 1.91% 60308 1.92% 78936 1.82% 1547 3.40% 1392 5.20% 759802 2.04% 30 100516 2.19% 68433 2.18% 92448 2.13% 1857 4.08% 1520 5.67% 798648 2.14%

Hourly usage for June 2009

Hourly Statistics for June 2009
Hour Hits Files Pages KBytes
Avg Total Avg Total Avg Total Avg Total
0 6707 201226 4.39% 4625 138774 4.43% 6490 194702 4.49% 52556 1576691 4.22%
1 8434 253033 5.52% 5766 173003 5.52% 8261 247834 5.72% 62539 1876173 5.03%
2 10800 324018 7.06% 7317 219523 7.00% 10640 319216 7.37% 76041 2281236 6.11%
3 8405 252166 5.50% 5702 171060 5.46% 8261 247850 5.72% 59845 1795353 4.81%
4 7812 234375 5.11% 5289 158689 5.06% 7675 230261 5.32% 52614 1578426 4.23%
5 6345 190359 4.15% 4340 130219 4.15% 6144 184343 4.26% 44486 1334572 3.57%
6 6937 208129 4.54% 4572 137169 4.38% 6720 201611 4.65% 58198 1745934 4.68%
7 7026 210789 4.59% 4742 142269 4.54% 6725 201759 4.66% 51266 1537990 4.12%
8 6633 199006 4.34% 4498 134961 4.30% 6255 187679 4.33% 54585 1637543 4.39%
9 6817 204531 4.46% 4747 142416 4.54% 6354 190641 4.40% 61441 1843220 4.94%
10 6096 182880 3.99% 4023 120691 3.85% 5608 168264 3.88% 55274 1658206 4.44%
11 6686 200587 4.37% 4602 138081 4.40% 6203 186108 4.30% 52739 1582164 4.24%
12 5334 160026 3.49% 3709 111273 3.55% 4882 146460 3.38% 43041 1291236 3.46%
13 6202 186077 4.06% 4272 128171 4.09% 5695 170854 3.94% 46833 1404992 3.76%
14 6354 190649 4.16% 4390 131729 4.20% 5844 175344 4.05% 53453 1603589 4.30%
15 5396 161900 3.53% 3727 111816 3.57% 4907 147217 3.40% 47051 1411524 3.78%
16 5335 160070 3.49% 3711 111334 3.55% 4863 145898 3.37% 48688 1460651 3.91%
17 4367 131033 2.86% 3092 92771 2.96% 3950 118518 2.74% 35477 1064302 2.85%
18 4861 145855 3.18% 3318 99567 3.18% 4469 134094 3.10% 47831 1434932 3.84%
19 4879 146372 3.19% 3367 101032 3.22% 4468 134053 3.09% 43116 1293481 3.46%
20 5686 170608 3.72% 3896 116889 3.73% 5275 158274 3.65% 50234 1507016 4.04%
21 4332 129960 2.83% 2935 88076 2.81% 3934 118028 2.72% 40256 1207681 3.24%
22 5431 162930 3.55% 3743 112318 3.58% 5041 151257 3.49% 52120 1563606 4.19%
23 6035 181050 3.95% 4115 123454 3.94% 5721 171647 3.96% 54700 1641004 4.40%

Top 30 of 5839 Total URLs
# Hits KBytes URL
1 1244247 27.12% 15214223 40.75% /g/
2 1033119 22.52% 9677018 25.92% /
3 322643 7.03% 338562 0.91% /email.php
4 322319 7.03% 2336663 6.26% /print.php
5 22367 0.49% 321840 0.86% /style.css
6 19059 0.42% 24267 0.07% /jsfunctions.js
7 15829 0.35% 33879 0.09% /images/BYUTitle.jpg
8 15806 0.34% 33553 0.09% /images/magHead2.jpg
9 15715 0.34% 1593 0.00% /images/go.gif
10 15322 0.33% 4956 0.01% /images/r_arrow.jpg
11 13776 0.30% 11726 0.03% /images/email.jpg
12 13776 0.30% 10838 0.03% /images/print.jpg
13 10749 0.23% 41922 0.11% /rss/podcast8.xml
14 7467 0.16% 45294 0.12% /robots.txt
15 5292 0.12% 14220 0.04% /images/icon.png
16 4480 0.10% 457994 1.23% /issues/25/822/1076.jpg
17 1324 0.03% 57561 0.15% /issues/121/cover.jpg
18 1245 0.03% 61773 0.17% /issues/121/2387/layout.jpg
19 1225 0.03% 50794 0.14% /issues/121/2388/layout.jpg
20 1201 0.03% 61552 0.16% /issues/121/2389/layout.jpg
21 1199 0.03% 51529 0.14% /issues/121/2390/layout.jpg
22 1189 0.03% 53934 0.14% /issues/121/2391/layout.jpg
23 1068 0.02% 278893 0.75% /google.php
24 861 0.02% 2087 0.01% /images/BYUM.gif
25 848 0.02% 350 0.00% /google.css
26 475 0.01% 31 0.00% /issues/120/2362/files/ContemporaryRealisticFiction.html
27 461 0.01% 2850 0.01% /issues/9/250/524_thumb.jpg
28 458 0.01% 3339 0.01% /issues/9/250/525_thumb.jpg
29 458 0.01% 3726 0.01% /issues/9/250/526_thumb.jpg
30 456 0.01% 3323 0.01% /issues/9/250/527_thumb.jpg
View All URLs

Top 10 of 5839 Total URLs By KBytes
# Hits KBytes URL
1 1244247 27.12% 15214223 40.75% /g/
2 1033119 22.52% 9677018 25.92% /
3 322319 7.03% 2336663 6.26% /print.php
4 389 0.01% 1654938 4.43% /issues/121/2390/files/patrickmaddenonlaughter.mp3
5 193 0.00% 884585 2.37% /issues/84/1200/files/electric_blue.mov
6 63 0.00% 539313 1.44% /issues/104/2163/files/Return of Captive Israel-2-big.mov
7 4480 0.10% 457994 1.23% /issues/25/822/1076.jpg
8 54 0.00% 454259 1.22% /issues/103/2121/files/Band-large.mov
9 39 0.00% 450789 1.21% /issues/121/2386/files/WIBBYU-desktop.m4v
10 41 0.00% 342079 0.92% /issues/104/2163/files/Moving South-2-biggish2.mov

Top 30 of 26793 Total Sites
# Hits Files KBytes Visits Hostname
1 4065314 88.61% 2749045 87.68% 25792736 69.09% 175 0.38% gurgle.byu.edu
2 42432 0.92% 26143 0.83% 293705 0.79% 35 0.08% crawl-66-249-68-39.googlebot.com
3 19121 0.42% 13787 0.44% 154028 0.41% 5 0.01% llf520075.crawl.yahoo.net
4 15296 0.33% 8016 0.26% 195447 0.52% 4 0.01% 24-205-66-238.dhcp.psdn.ca.charter.com
5 13940 0.30% 7834 0.25% 88854 0.24% 54 0.12% 67.110.143.50.ptr.us.xo.net
6 12796 0.28% 6488 0.21% 100976 0.27% 13 0.03% crawl-12c.cuil.com
7 8211 0.18% 7691 0.25% 65579 0.18% 62 0.14% spider13.yandex.ru
8 7981 0.17% 5469 0.17% 57298 0.15% 1 0.00% llf531175.crawl.yahoo.net
9 6191 0.13% 4921 0.16% 45256 0.12% 10 0.02% ops8-r106.searchme.com
10 3696 0.08% 2290 0.07% 27185 0.07% 11 0.02% crawl-66-249-68-80.googlebot.com
11 3382 0.07% 2949 0.09% 23264 0.06% 14 0.03% nat.ops8-r106.searchme.com
12 3014 0.07% 1497 0.05% 19140 0.05% 1 0.00% 116.30.233.130
13 2952 0.06% 2110 0.07% 17264 0.05% 3 0.01% nat.ops9-r106.searchme.com
14 2911 0.06% 490 0.02% 9204 0.02% 10 0.02% jyxo-crawler3.streaming.cesnet.cz
15 2490 0.05% 1631 0.05% 15724 0.04% 28 0.06% crawl2.nat.svl.searchme.com
16 2405 0.05% 1494 0.05% 19972 0.05% 5 0.01% crawl-66-249-68-89.googlebot.com
17 2350 0.05% 1114 0.04% 27533 0.07% 122 0.27% pmpc755drpnuse2.byu.edu
18 2270 0.05% 1564 0.05% 16986 0.05% 1 0.00% llf531388.crawl.yahoo.net
19 1990 0.04% 1270 0.04% 16172 0.04% 1 0.00% crawl-66-249-68-112.googlebot.com
20 1781 0.04% 1163 0.04% 12008 0.03% 2 0.00% crawl-66-249-66-1.googlebot.com
21 1666 0.04% 1274 0.04% 15659 0.04% 459 1.01% -
22 1324 0.03% 1015 0.03% 10045 0.03% 337 0.74% msnbot-65-55-209-191.search.msn.com
23 1296 0.03% 985 0.03% 9422 0.03% 308 0.68% msnbot-65-55-209-193.search.msn.com
24 1291 0.03% 993 0.03% 9598 0.03% 319 0.70% msnbot-65-55-209-200.search.msn.com
25 1281 0.03% 973 0.03% 9137 0.02% 291 0.64% msnbot-65-55-209-194.search.msn.com
26 1204 0.03% 953 0.03% 9252 0.02% 305 0.67% msnbot-65-55-209-189.search.msn.com
27 1177 0.03% 8 0.00% 49 0.00% 0 0.00% slovo05.yandex.ru
28 1152 0.03% 903 0.03% 8869 0.02% 288 0.63% msnbot-65-55-209-190.search.msn.com
29 1127 0.02% 834 0.03% 7593 0.02% 275 0.60% msnbot-65-55-209-192.search.msn.com
30 1111 0.02% 843 0.03% 7635 0.02% 167 0.37% crawl10.dotnetdotcom.org

Top 15 of 429 Total User Agents
# Hits User Agent
1 4065390 88.62% gsa-crawler (Enterprise; S5-MRURBVA5SGSAB; search@byu.edu)
2 128112 2.79% Mozilla/5
3 94519 2.06% MSIE 7
4 75812 1.65% MSIE 6
5 49768 1.08% Googlebot/2
6 30668 0.67% Yahoo! Slurp/3
7 22951 0.50% MSIE 8
8 19222 0.42% msnbot/1.1 (+http://search.msn.com/msnbot.htm)
9 15854 0.35% Charlotte/1
10 14394 0.31% FAST Enterprise Crawler 6 / Scirus scirus-crawler@fast.no; ht
11 11184 0.24% msnbot/2.0b (+http://search.msn.com/msnbot.htm)
12 8137 0.18% Win16
13 5171 0.11% msnbot-media/1.1 (+http://search.msn.com/msnbot.htm)
14 3738 0.08% Googlebot-Image/1.0
15 3700 0.08% MSIE 5
View All User Agents

Usage by Country for June 2009

Top 30 of 122 Total Countries
# Hits Files KBytes Country
1 4088678 89.12% 2766575 88.24% 26265846 70.36% US Educational
2 190257 4.15% 149502 4.77% 5544923 14.85% Network
3 188027 4.10% 131707 4.20% 2950841 7.90% US Commercial
4 61878 1.35% 48611 1.55% 1527177 4.09% Unresolved/Unknown
5 11911 0.26% 8353 0.27% 106657 0.29% Russian Federation
6 8038 0.18% 4358 0.14% 68928 0.18% Canada
7 4376 0.10% 3488 0.11% 40139 0.11% Non-Profit Organization
8 3814 0.08% 3081 0.10% 139414 0.37% Australia
9 3040 0.07% 607 0.02% 12949 0.03% Czech Republic
10 2129 0.05% 1012 0.03% 10865 0.03% Singapore
11 1909 0.04% 1249 0.04% 136474 0.37% Germany
12 1811 0.04% 1429 0.05% 27120 0.07% United Kingdom
13 1513 0.03% 1355 0.04% 16063 0.04% US Military
14 1401 0.03% 1106 0.04% 14683 0.04% United States
15 1146 0.02% 863 0.03% 42156 0.11% New Zealand (Aotearoa)
16 1114 0.02% 771 0.02% 9518 0.03% Japan
17 1081 0.02% 756 0.02% 16596 0.04% Brazil
18 1026 0.02% 923 0.03% 11451 0.03% US Government
19 955 0.02% 904 0.03% 29789 0.08% Ireland
20 953 0.02% 778 0.02% 8317 0.02% India
21 868 0.02% 614 0.02% 26447 0.07% Italy
22 833 0.02% 443 0.01% 5989 0.02% South Africa
23 622 0.01% 537 0.02% 9976 0.03% Mexico
24 578 0.01% 497 0.02% 19957 0.05% Netherlands
25 557 0.01% 331 0.01% 9715 0.03% France
26 493 0.01% 289 0.01% 5726 0.02% Argentina
27 394 0.01% 265 0.01% 3331 0.01% Thailand
28 345 0.01% 234 0.01% 8167 0.02% Denmark
29 342 0.01% 257 0.01% 4479 0.01% Malaysia
30 337 0.01% 172 0.01% 2182 0.01% Taiwan


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