WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate sort of celebrated Pioneer Day this week, too. It passed a bill that would allow the National Park Service to add to the national trail system the variant routes taken by Mormon pioneers.

"These trails are the highways of our history," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, sponsor. It allows adding variants not only of the Mormon Trail but also the Pony Express, California and Oregon national historic trails.

"This legislation will help to preserve the stories of the early pioneers who settled in Utah and throughout the West."

When those historic trails were originally established, Congress allowed only one point-to-point path for each. The route followed by Brigham Young in 1847, for example, became the Mormon pioneer trail, although most other Mormon pioneers used other starting points. The bill now goes to the House for consideration.