Camp W. G. Williams, commonly known as Camp Williams, also known as Army Garrison Camp Williams, is a

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

training site operated by the

Utah National Guard The Utah National Guard consists of the: * Utah Army National Guard **19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) **65th Field Artillery Brigade **85th WMD CST **97th Troop Command **115th Engineer Group (CBT) **204th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade **211t ...

. It is located south of Bluffdale, west of

Lehi Lehi (; he, לח"י – לוחמי חרות ישראל ''Lohamei Herut Israel – Lehi'', "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi"), often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang,"This group was known to its friends as LEHI and to its enemie ...

, and north of

Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over ...

and Cedar Fort, approximately south of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, straddling the border between

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The cou ...

and

Utah County Utah County is the second-most populous county in the U.S. state of Utah. The county seat and largest city is Provo, which is the state's third-largest city, and the largest outside of Salt Lake County. As of the 2020 United States Census, the ...

in the western portion of the

Traverse Mountains The Traverse Mountains, or sometimes Traverse Range, are an anomalous, geologically complex, east-trending range that separates Salt Lake Valley and Utah Valley in Salt Lake and Utah counties in the U.S. State of Utah. Point of the Mountain is ...

. Camp Williams is also home to the Non-Commissioned Officer's Basic Leader Course, which is taught to Active, National Guard, and Reserve components. Camp Williams land comprises about of flat area and of mountainous region.

History

The

Utah Army National Guard The Utah National Guard comprises both Army and Air National Guard components. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. The National Guard is the only United States milita ...

traces its beginnings to the Utah Territorial Militia, known as the

Nauvoo Legion The Nauvoo Legion was a state-authorized militia of the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, United States. With growing antagonism from surrounding settlements it came to have as its main function the defense of Nauvoo, and surrounding Latter Day Saint ...

. The Nauvoo Legion operated similarly to militias in other states and territories, including requiring adult men—between the ages of 18 and 45—to serve. The militia served as guardians of the

Central Overland Route The Central Overland Route (also known as the "Central Overland Trail", "Central Route", "Simpson's Route", or the "Egan Trail") was a transportation route from Salt Lake City, Utah south of the Great Salt Lake through the mountains of central N ...

, and in the

Utah War The Utah War (1857–1858), also known as the Utah Expedition, Utah Campaign, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the US go ...

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", cross ...

and

Walker War Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) * Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California ...

. During this period the legion's various units had annual musters and training camps, with Lehi's unit often doing so near the site of today's Camp Williams. During a power struggle between the

Federal government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

and

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

, the militia was abolished in the

Edmunds–Tucker Act The Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 was an Act of Congress that focused on restricting some practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). An amendment to the earlier Edmunds Act, it was passed in response to the dispute ...

of 1887. By March 1894 conflicts had settled down, and the Utah Territorial Legislature authorized

Caleb Walton West Caleb Walton West (May 25, 1844 – January 25, 1909) was an American politician. Born in Cynthiana in Harrison County, Kentucky, West was a Confederate veteran and a municipal judge in Kentucky. He was Governor of Utah Territory The Ter ...

, the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, to establish The National Guard of Utah. Twenty years later, in 1914 and 1915,

US president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

set aside 18,700 acres to provide permanent training grounds for the guard. This was the first official designation of land that would comprise Camp Williams. This original land makes up the western majority of the current site, which is rough and rugged, and lacked flat land for a

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

area (headquarters and camp). So the State of Utah rented nearby flatter land, and then later purchased it to build a cantonment area. Permanent use of the area, including buildings, was not established at this time, due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and the site was just occasionally used until the 1920s. In both 1926 and 1927 the guard's annual encampment was held at the site, and in 1928 the camp was officially established for permanent use as Camp W.G. Williams. It was named after Brigadier General William Grey Williams in recognition of his war participation since the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

and his work in establishing the site as a permanent training location.

Machine Gun Fire

On 19 September 2010, live fire .50-caliber machine gun training at the camp sparked the "

Machine Gun Fire The Machine Gun Fire or Camp Williams Fire was a wildfire in Herriman, Utah in 2010 that burned several dwellings. It was started by a mistake at a firing range by National Guard troops on a training exercise. 4,351 acres burned, approxima ...

" that resulted in over 3,500 acres burned and the loss of three homes in the city of Herriman to the north.

Utah Data Center

From 2011 to 2013, the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

(NSA) built a ''Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center'' at Camp Williams, the first in a series of data centers required for the

Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative The Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) outlines U.S. cybersecurity goals across multiple agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Agency. The initiativ ...

. The facility is built on where Camp Williams' former airfield was located on the west side of Utah Highway 68. It is rumored to be capable of storing 1

yottabyte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...

of data by 2015, although this figure remains highly speculative. The facility will use 65

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...

of electricity and will cost another $2 billion for hardware, software, and maintenance. This facility will greatly increase the NSA's ability to store and process millions of emails,

IMs Ims is a Norwegian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Gry Tofte Ims (born 1986), Norwegian footballer * Rolf Anker Ims (born 1958), Norwegian ecologist See also * IMS (disambiguation) Ims is a Norwegian surname. Notable people wit ...

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

, and phone calls made daily by people around the world and in the United States.

References

External links

Official Site

{{Portal bar, Utah, United States, Politics, War Buildings and structures in Salt Lake County, Utah Buildings and structures in Utah County, Utah Military installations in Utah National Security Agency facilities Installations of the United States Army National Guard Training installations of the United States Army