Deseret News archives: Utahns have always had a fascination with Thor Heyerdahl, Kon-Tiki voyage

A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.

As a child growing up in northern Utah in the 1970s, my father helped broaden my world with stories of famous baseball players, camping in the great outdoors ... and Thor Heyerdahl.

The tale of Heyerdahl, the Norwegian adventurer who crossed the Pacific on a balsa log raft and detailed his harrowing 101-day voyage in the book “Kon-Tiki,” continues to intrigue us.

On April 28, 1947, a six-man expedition set out from Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a 101-day journey across the Pacific Ocean to the Polynesian Islands.

Utahns have had a fascination with Heyerdahl, as evidenced by the many articles through the years in the Deseret News archives.

Perhaps it is because the Book of Mormon, a sacred text for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, details sea voyages by early cultures in history.

One former BYU professor said the Norwegian’s famous drift voyages proved that similar travel recounted in the Book of Mormon is possible.

The late Paul R. Cheesman, a BYU professor emeritus, attended the Explorers Club Conference in New York on April 8, 1989, where Heyerdahl was the keynote speaker. “Cheesman said the conference gave him the chance to renew a 20-year association with Heyerdahl,” per the article.

Heyerdahl’s belief was that “ancient mariners could have settled Polynesia,” and he was able to replicate the feat. He later traveled in the reed boats Ra, Ra II and Tigris, to test his theory that civilizations were spread by ancient mariners.

Heyerdahl’s books describing his voyages captured the world’s imagination. His film of the 101-day, 4,300-mile Kon-Tiki voyage won an Academy Award in 1951.

Heyerdahl was a hero in his homeland, per his 2002 obituary. A Deseret News editorial following his death hailed the explorer who had “the courage and the curiosity to venture out and shake things up a bit.”

“History books are filled with the adventures of ancient people who wanted to examine the other side of the mountain, the ends of the ocean, or, for that matter, the moon,” the editorial said. “Why should ancient people have been any different?”

One last note: A ride at Utah’s popular Lagoon resort in Davis County has a ride named Kontiki, crafted and decorated similar to Heyerdahl’s boat. It was added to Kiddieland in 2004, according to the LagoonHistory.com website.