Many of the Mormon Pioneers that came to Utah Territory during the mid-to late 1800's settled in the southwest half of the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, west of the Jordan River. They cleared and worked the land, built homes, had children, saw their children die of disease and problems in child-birth, bore more children and saw their older survivors marry and have children. By the early 1900's several viable communities had been created in the southwestern section of Salt Lake Valley and most of the first-generation settlers had died. West of the River is a collection of short stories about some of these people and their offspring that settled in one of those west of the river communities: West Jordan Utah.