Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial

Brandon D. and I were walking from Grand Park to Chinatown when we passed the giant stone wall station declaring, «On this site stood Fort Moore built by the Mormon Battalion during the war with Mexico.»
Photo:
And we stopped to check it out. We’ve passed this monument many, many times, but never really stopped to read it before.
«Wow,» we thought. «There was really a fort right here and it was just plowed down without thought to preserve it?»
The inscription further mentions the Mormon Battalion making «one of the longest and most arduous infantry marches in history.»
As it turns out what was left of Fort Moore was plowed down in the ‘40s to make way for the 101 Freeway. The memorial was put up in the ‘50s, and its construction had apparently cost one Doyle Strong his life (photo of dedication mentioning his death:
).
According to the L.A. County Arts Commission, «The Fort Moore Pioneer Monument is the only public art in Los Angeles portraying an historic event that occurred at the actual site of the work» (source:
).
And yet the monument and the surrounding area has fallen into disrepair. The large waterfall beside the stone memorial, as well as the pool below, is completely dry with tiles missing. Apparently it’s been off since the 1977 drought (source:
).
The wall memorials, though some are cracked and tagged, have held up, though.
Other than passing cars the only other people around were kids shooting a skating video with one rolling around while the other ran behind focusing the camera on the other’s feet.