The first mayor of Salt Lake City, Jedediah M. Grant, called it "a big toe of the Wahsatch range" while writing to the New York Herald in 1852,[7] and it was later dubbed an "ugly nub" by a writer for the Deseret News.

Those church members who chose to accept Brigham Young as their new leader would end up traveling to the Western United States by wagon train or handcart, along what became known as the Mormon Trail.

[10] When Young's wagon train entered Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847 (presently celebrated as Pioneer Day in Utah), he stated the area was the right spot as soon as he saw it.

British author William Hepworth Dixon wrote that Young told him as he was coming over the mountains, he had a dream of an angel standing on a conical hill, which pointed to an area where a new temple should be built.

[14] Richard Francis Burton, another British author, wrote that Young had seen Joseph Smith appear on Ensign Peak and point out the location for a new temple.

This legend has often been repeated in literature and celebratory speeches, and the supposed event is even memorialized as part of the painted cyclorama in the Utah State Capitol rotunda.

"[17] Instead, based on available accounts, it is believed that Heber C. Kimball tied his spotted yellow bandana to the end of Willard Richards' walking stick and waved it while the group was at the peak's summit.

Early in the church's history, Joseph Smith had claimed that in 1823, the angel Moroni appeared to him and quoted Joel 2:32 and Isaiah 11:9–12, in which is found wording related to "Mount Zion" and setting up an "ensign" for gathering.

[23] After Smith's death, while the church was headquartered in a temporary settlement called Winter Quarters, Brigham Young became ill and claimed to have a near-death experience, in which he "actually went into Eternity...[and] came back."

Often they were vague about their flag's appearance, instead focusing on the symbolism of gathering and the establishment of what they believed to be God's kingdom, rather than a standard shape, design or name of a banner.

[27] On July 21, 1849, several church leaders, including Brigham Young, climbed the hill and consecrated it for "the erection of a standard thereon [and for] a place of prayer."

[35][36] A permanent flagpole was placed on the peak by the Salt Lake Herald newspaper in 1897 as part of a semi-centennial celebration of the pioneer arrival.

[38] With assistance from the Utah National Guard's signal corp, a spot for the flagpole was located on the peak, so as to appear in the very center of the hill when viewed from the city below.

The first flag to fly on this pole was raised on May 1 and it was planned to fly it continuously until the official end of celebrations on October 15, but after Governor Herbert B. Maw requested permission to do so from President Harry S. Truman, the president encouraged the centennial commission that it be lowered each evening and instead the flag only flew on special days during the celebration period.

The request was granted, and with the help of the Utah National Guard, a hole was blasted for the pole, the explosion causing concern for the residents of Salt Lake City.

[48] Vandals largely destroyed the pole in 1958, and its salvaged pieces were used to create a new flagpole which was placed in front of the Salt Lake City Council Hall in 1963.

The cross would be a symbol of Christianity and serve as a memorial to the Mormon pioneers, and was planned to be constructed of concrete and steel, large enough to be visible from everywhere in the city.

They requested that every stake in the church and every mission in the United States send a stone from their nearby historic sites, that then would be incorporated into the face of the monument.

[57] Numerous other stones would be sent, including from the gravesite of Buffalo Bill, and from sites such as Independence Rock, Martin's Cove, Hill Cumorah, Donner Pass, and so forth.

[61] The monument is 18.47 feet (5.63 m) high (in honor of 1847, the arrival year of the Mormon pioneers) and roughly 100 stones from historic locations were included in its construction.

[68] For several decades in the 20th century, nearby West High School students would haul flammable materials to the side of the peak and ignite a large letter "W" for football games and graduation ceremonies.