When Brigham Young's Pioneer Company left the "Last Crossing" of the North Platte River on June 19, 1847, Young detailed nine men remain behind to run the ferry during high water for emigrant traffic. However, they soon moved the ferry downstream about five miles to compete with a rival outfit that had begun ferrying emigrants. The Mormon Ferry may have been moved several times during its six years of operation, but in 1849 the mileage records of Captain Howard Stansbury of the Corps of Topographical Engineers document it at this site.