I
'BEEHIVE , HISTORV -
BY GEORGE E. LONG
In the northeastern portion of Utah and extending a little into Colorado lies a large basin, walled in on the north by the high Uinta Mountains and on the south by the Book Cliff Mountains. This area, called the Uinta Basin, is very rich in natural resources, one of which, found only within its confines, is the rare mineral Gilsonite. Gilsonite is a black, glossy, and quite brittle material. Almost 100 percent pure hydrocarbon, it is found in vertical veins varying in width h m less than an inch to upwards of 20 feet The depth varies considerably, exceeding 1,000feet in places. These veins run for miles in an east-west direction through Duchesne and Uintah counties, usually ending near the Utah-Colorado line. Around the turn of the century this newly found mineral, named after Samuel H. Gilson, one of its early promoters, was fast finding a place in the industries of our country.Its use in many manufacturing processes was multiplying, and the demand for it was becoming greater each year. Expansion was a must Thus the Gilsonite industry faced its number one problem - transportation from the remote Uinta Basin to the railroad. During the early years of development most of the mining of Gilsonite occurred near present-day Gusher, Utah, then known as "The Strip." The ore was hauled by freight wagons through rough Nine Mile Canyon to the railroad at Price, Utah, nearly 100 miles away. Other problems also plagued the Gilsonite mining industry - cave-ins and explosions.The St Louis Mine near Gusher, for example, had caught fire and exploded twice by 1902. Its walls in places were in danger of caving in due to the poor texture of the rock formation. Men lost their lives because of these hazards. By 1903 the Gilsonite company had decided to build its own railroad from Mack, Colorado, to its large Black Dragon vein some 55 miles to the northwest just over the Bookcliff Moluntains. This ore body was the closest to an existing railroad. The new rail line would provide many years of uninterrupted shpping of ore hom the mine. The only hitch in t h ~plan s was the mountain itself. The only feasible place to cross this obstruction was at 8,437-footBaxter Pass,but this would mean grades of 7.5 percent and 65-degree curves, a situation practically unheard of in the history of railroading. There would be mile after mile of these sharp curves and steep grades. It is doubthl that there would be a level sbetch of more than a few rods on the entire track Nonetheless,the line was surveyed and construction soon began.
Two shay engines negotiating Moro Castle curve, the sharpest on the line. This was part of a five-mile stretch of relentless 7.5 percent grade on the south side of the Book Cliffs. All photographs courtesy of author.
Taking into consideration the rough terrain and the means of building such a project in those days,the job was finished in almost record time.By fall 1904 the rails had reached their destination at the Black Dragon Mine, and the shipping of the rare product began. What a feelingthese men must have experienced as they made their first hip over the new Uintah Railway. Geared-type Shay locomotives were used on the steep grades and sharp curves Rod-type engines were used on either side of the pass where the c w e s would permit The towns of Atchee, Dragon, and Mack, and the coal mining camp Carbonera sustained the railroad and its workers.Mack was the jumping off point from the Denver and Rio Grande standardgauge line a few miles west of Grand Junction, Colorado. Atchee, named after a Ute Indian chiet was built at the foot of Baxter Pass on its south side. The excellent mechanics and repair shops maintained the rolling stock throughout its lifetime and always had standby equipment ready to help the Wns over the big hill. They constructed much of the rolling stock,even assembling one of the Shaytype locomotives there. Hardly a challenge arose
that they could not handle. Carbonera was a coal mining camp located between Atchee and Mack Its mine furnished fuel for the trains Dragon was the end of the line for a number of years. From there the stage and bight lines made their way into the Uinta Basin towns of Vernal, Fort Duchesne,and Roosevelt Dragon was located one mile from the Black Dragon Mine and camp,at the junction of Dragon and Evacuation canyons One of the finest hotels in eastern Utah was built at Dragon, together with freight and mine offices, railroad depot, barber shop, stores, schools, saloons, warehouses, and even a library. Before long, business was booming. Stagecoaches operated on regularly scheduled runs, and bight outfits left almost daily. Mail began coming into the basin over this route, and a telephone system was installed.As far as the Uinta Basin and the Gilsonite industry were concerned, history was being made. Problems on the Pass Life on the railroad was always exciting. The people involved never lacked for work or things to do. Mother Nature with her storms and floods and
Atchee, Colo'rado;-190.5,atthe souhern foot of Baxter Pass. Maintenance personnel tier6 kept railroad equipment operating.
Baxter Pass with its steep grades,sharp curves, and slides constantly threatened the line. Accidents happened on occasion, sometimes at the cost of lives, but with the determined courage of those who operated it, the Uintah Railway proved to be a success. This part of the country is known for sudden storms and raging floods down the canyons. Evacuation Wash, which the railway line followed and crossed several times, drained the entire north slope of Baxter Pass. Many times storms washed out bridges or severely weakened them Salt Wash on the south side of the pass threatened the line almost as much. Baxter Pass was known for hard winters,driving wind, deep snow,and slide danger. Huge earth slides on the south slope of the pass created the biggest problem of all. For nearly a half-mile the mountain was unstable and slowly moving, requiring that the rails be relined from time to time. Finally, the mountainside gave way completely in 1929. The big slide of that year caused the longest shutdown of the railroad during its history. Large steam shovels were brought in to clear the track During the winter, storms often covered the road over the pass with huge drifts of snow,Rotary snow plows could not be used on the Uintah because of the sharp curves, so as many as
three engines coupled together plowed out the drifts to try to get the railroad cars through. Inmany cases, the drifts were higher than the rail cars. On one occasion an engine left, after it had stalled for the night on Baxter Pass,was completelyburied by snow the next morning. W. A Banks of Vernal remembered times when the deep snow and large drifts could not be pushed aside,especially through narrow or winding cuts. The snow had to be pushed directly ahead which was sometimes more than the engines could do even hooked together. When this happened, men from Atchee, Carbonera, and Dragon would be called on to help shovel it out by hand. Everyone pitched in to get the train through, for they were all very much dependent on each other. Through the years people talked about extending the Uintah Railway line to Vernal, the
m
Watson, Utah, ca. 1913. This small town did a lot of business as a stage and freight terminus and a sheepshearing center.
county seat, 65 miles away. That plan never materialized, but the rails were extended down Evacuation Canyon in 1911to the site of Watson and then southwesta few more miles to the Gilsonitemining camp of Rainbow-a total of about 15miles.When the rails approached closer to Vernal rumors began to fly with more intensity than ever. One was that the rails would be made standard-gauge and that Baxter Pass would be tunneled to allow that The entire area for miles around was heavily laden with oil shale,and in some cases small plants were erected to process it But oil shale was developed no further until recent years. The Rainbow district became the main source of Gilsonite for approximately the next 25 years. Soon the freight, stage, and telephone offices were moved from Dragon to Watson. Though small in size,Watson did a tremendous amount of business. Wagons and later trucks moved in and out,hauling Gilsonite, livestock, wool, hight, mail, and passengers. Thousands of sheep were sheared each year at the big shearing plant in Watson, and the wool was shipped over BaxterPass by rail. The late L. 0.Jacobsen and W. A Banks operated a fleet of trucks to haul large amounts of Gilsonite from outlying mines into Watson
One of many open-cut Gilsonite mines in the Rainbow district Paint and varnish are among the many manufactured products made with Gilsonite.
Dragon, Utah, 1905, was a new town when this photograph was taken. Many more buildings, including a fine hotel, were yet to come.
Community Life Residents of communities along the Uintah Railway, isolated as they were from larger towns, had to create much of their own amusement Parties, dances, socials, hiking, horseback riding, ball games, and other activities filled their leisure time. Mr. Banks remembered that because of the narrowness of the canyon the wagon road went through the center of the baseball diamond He said the players had to be very careful not to step into a rut and twist an ankle, and he also recalled times when the game was held up while a wagon traveled across the playing field During the hot summer months many people rode the train to such cool and scenic spots as Lake McAndrews or Columbine on Baxter Pass to enjoy the day. Sometimes on holidays they would make up a special train just for recreation and head for the mountain areas. Occasionally, residents would hitch a ride behind the train on a push car,or go-devil,as some called them After disconnecting at the chosen destination, they could at the end of their excursion coast all the way back fmm the pass area to Dragon using the push car brakes as needed In the early days of Dragon's history outlaws hquented the area. Elza Lay, a close associate of Butch Cassidy, stayed there, as did several other men who rode with the Wild Bunch Because of its isolation the town also harbored is share of bootleggers during pmhibition It was not a lawless town, however, and anyone getting too far out of line was dealt with accordingly. The people were honest,hard-workingcitizensfor the most part ME Banks was a deputy sheriff in Dragon for many Yea New Eugines Basically the Uintah Railway was self-supporting with its own machine shops, its own coal mine for fuel,and its own commodity - Gilsonite. The bain also hauled wool, livestock, mail, other
The end of the railroad did not mean the end of the Gilsonite industry. It went on to bigger things In fact, it can well be said that Gilsonite has been the top industry for the basin since 1900, with perhaps the exception of oil in the past few years. The Gilsonite industry payroll has been important to the basin towns Several years after the dekise of the Uintah Railway the company shipped huge amounts of Gilsonite by pipeline over almost the same route traveled by the famous railroad, over Baxter Pass to the refinery near Fruita, Colorado. Charles Neal, a long-time producer of Gilsonite, sent his trucks over the old railroad bed to ship out the precious and rare product This story would not be complete without giving full credit to the people who operated the Uintah Railway. Theirs was not an easy job. Railroaders working on a narrow-gauge line deserve a place of honor in the annals of railroading.A narrow-gauge line was not a toy - quite the contrary. True, it was smaller, but that was the point A narrow-gauge could go places a standard line could never go. Without the narrow-gauge lines and the brave, dedicated people who ran them,the development of our great West would have been slowed considerably.The narrow-gauge truly rates its place in the historical record along with the covered wagon, the steamboat, the pony express, and the telegraph Some have claimed that the Uintah Railway had the steepest grades and sharpest curves of any comparable line in the world. It also rated high as to the number of hstles and bridges But two things are certain-the UR had the largest and most powerful locomotives ever built for a narrowgauge railroad and she hauled a unique cargo, Gilsonite.
Mallet No. 50 and cars loaded with Gilsonite leave the Thimble Rock mine at Rainbow headed for Baxter Pass and Mack. Colorado. height, and passengers, but Gilsonite was its main source of income and kept it going When other means of transportation came on the scene the railroad's profits began to drop. In order to continue profitably the railroad's management decided to put more efficient, powerful locomotives into service. So, during the late twenties, the company purchased two mallet-type engines especially built to traverse Baxter Pass. These engines could pull many more cars, and a special pivoting action enabled them to negotiate the sharp curves. They were the largest and most powerful narrowgauge locomotives ever built These mallets,No. 50 and No. 51, were indeed the pride of the Uintah Railway.After they made their last runfor the URin 1939 they were used for many years by other rail lines in the Pacific Northwest and Central America. The two engines were truly something to behold By the close of 1938 it was apparent that the Uintah Railway could not survive.Even her famous mallets could not keep her operating profitably. Large trucks and paved highways had spelled her doom. By June of the following year the railway was abandoned and the equipment was scrapped or sold to the highest bidder. Today all that remains of the Uintah Railway network are a couple of trestles, the railroad bed (nowused as a road),the walls of the large machine shop at Atchee,one dilapidated building at Dragon, the yawning mouth of its once-famous mine, and the tiny cemetery nearby almost overgrown with sagebrush. Countless rusty nails, railroad spikes, and pieces of tin, board, brick, and glass litter the ground. Similar mementos at Watson and Rainbow also let visitors know of the once-bustling communities that existed there. Baxter Pass in its formidable way remains much the same as it did years ago when the first shay chugged its way over the crest toward Dragon
Mallet No. 51 takes on water at Dragon, Utah. 6
Kenilworth,Utah, September 191 0. When theauthor lived hereadditionsand remodelinghad joined two stores on the left behind a single facade and a long veranda Hotel is on right Shipler photograph, USHS collections. BY MAXINE N. LlVSEY
My first view of Kenilworth came on a late summer afternoon in 1930 when I was nine years old. Mother and I had been on the road all day, starting from Salt Lake City. She was answeringan ad for a cook From Thistle the canyon road narrowed and stretched endlessly toward Soldier Summit - a desolate place where Mother stopped to fill and soak the canvas bag of water she always carried in the car. Miles later it seemed the road could go no farther. A solid rock wall cropped out from the mountainside like a giant gate. I learned later that it was called Castle Gate - a most appropriate name because it created the illusion of barring entrance into Carbon County. Past this gate the road dipped into Helper, wound under a green film of trees in Spring Glen, and continued upward through scrub pines and sagebrush to its final destination of Kenilworth Here the mining camp and mountains flowed together. Kenilworth, the story goes, was named by an early miner with a poetic heart He had looked at the middle towering mountain and seen the crumbling ruins of the ancient Castle Kenilworth in England.
The tree-lined main street of the camp ran a total of two very long blocks, neatly divided by a gully referred to as the wash. The cement sidewalks ended abruptly on each side of this wash; a slanting boardwalk provided passages across. I would learn to roller-skate across that boardwalk without pitching head over heels, and I would climb that castle mountain. Mother was hired as cook in the Kenilworth Hotel, a two-story, yellow frame building where single miners stayed to eat and sleep. A tiny post office,complete with neat rows of mailboxes,each emblazoned with a metal eagle, occupied one comer of the hotel. One day my mother stepped outside to find me, dress tucked inside my black bloomers, roller-skating over the hotel's smoothcement porch, past a delighted audience. She rearranged my dress in about one minute flat and sent me to skate elsewhere. Mother and I lived in a single room in the annex behind the hotel. When she married one of the miners, we moved into a standard, four-room frame house painted green, with a matching outhouse. Next door a Greek neighbor tended a patch of greenery for a yard, tiny trees, and the traditional bleating lamb - destined for Easter dinner.
Kgnklwm HQMC, tQlatThe autbar andl her mothiert Ifwed in anadcfitl~non the rear afthe howl when they first arrived in town. Shipler phaWgrsrph, WSHS
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IGmilw* b $ t d b u s s in *G=k Town"
and "lap TQWQ'"amtim-$Ie-wash"houses, back mw and h t mw howm, and an apwtmentb d t Ark fop sdmdba&em a d fadlies 1-u Sunhgra, we worshipped in the schoa,Ihow and all drankhm the101~8: d w ~sammenM r cup lAkJcday4 cbklrenthroughthe eighth p d e went to the schoolhouse far reading, writing, and iUit)lmeac Reaxis ww mmebes ~o~ Samebody was dways jwpirq a! ttii3etsr-tutteratthe mng U e 3 . F'lyhqj swdngs w m horn to bmak noses At the edge of the dirt pl8:ygmuad was a stem1 pole with aawral lea* of &&I, each mdiq in a metal hmd@p,h m h m the top. Taking turns, five or six uf us muld latch mto a handgrip and tun in m e w i d e m circles and l ~ a unl p all w m &bme. Too bad if yowr hand b a a m slippery with perspiration - you flew ofl into ~paoertnd hit the & s e d y d s away.
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The Meax Hed EvmyWq upperend of the KmtilwoA Mer~sntile~ at main streex m s a long yeflow wo~denbuilding, witb a longwooden porcb and Qltep on either sida You could get a h&ut for e quarter (orfree if you tended the barber's children), a &oi;oe of penny candyI a new dress, groceries or meat-all at the Men The miners paid for their me& 14th dthar company snip or s charge account Prices were high Mother d d o m s p ~ n her t new husband's paycheck them,and we'd stme bebore she wouM chaxg~. I,on the othm-waa happy to spmd dl my pennies in the candy wdectioeryry and clickety-clack a c m that wooden parch on m y h t s s
Across from the Men=,balanced on the brink of a small canyon, was the camp's entertainment center. Under a single roof were the sunny oneroom library where I made an acquaintance with the Wizard of Oz an upstairs movie house, a downstairs dance hall, and an ice cream shop. Miners' children were treated to a he-movie every Thursday afternoon Flying pinenut shells and stomping feet helped pass the time until the lights went out and the whirr of the film began Evening shows were for grownups only. Winter brought snow piled almost to the doorsteps. Many a Flexible Flyer swooped all the way downhill from Kenilworth to Spring Glen. Bonfires lit the return. Cold toes were warmed by the fires and roasted potatoes pulled from the ashes warmed cold hands. Candy pulls were an anytime favorite. However,it was understood that if you were invited,you brought a cup of sugar or a can of milk Another treat was a shivaree. The cry, "Shivaree!" brought every kid in town running with a pot and something to bang on it -Shivarees were designed to heckle newlyweds. Such a clamor of banging, clanging pots! It never stopped until the reluctant bridegroom led everyone to the confectionery for a nickel candy bar. We seldom noticed the shrill mine whistle signaling mine shifts. Only when we heard it repeated over and over in wailing urgency did it take on a terrible meaning - a mine cave-in! I remember the day in seventh grade when I heard that whistle for the first time. We all froze into silence,wondering whose father or brother was trapped in the mine. By nightfall we knew it was the father of one of our classmates. It was very quiet at school the next day. The teacher wept with us.
". . . We moved into a standard, four-room frame house. . . . " Kenilworth, 1910. Shipler photograph, USHS collections.
BY MARLOWE C. ADKINS. JR
Kenitworth auditorium Shipler photograph, USHS collections.
A fifty-year class reunion brought me back to Kenilworth in the 1980s. The narrow canyon mad is now broad Highway 6. It by-passes Helper, once the busy center for smoky, belchmg engines pulling gondolas of coal from surrounding mines,then whistling out of the canyons to thousands of businesses and homes beyond. Helper is quiet now. Price, to the south, once bustled with miners wno had paycheck.. Carbon High hummed with the morning arrival of school buses from th camps. Carbon's Dinosaurs were a fearsom ball team, and the high school's blue-andmarching bands gathered honors afar. Price, too, quiet now. The miners have been forced to elsewhere for a living and most camps ha I r disappeared. , The road still winds uphill to Kenilworth, past unchanging pine scrub and sagebrush.A few people still live in the camp, but most of the houses are gone, along with the school, hotel, the Merc, show house, and hospital. My old house remains, sagging and weed framed.I half expected to see a rusty pair of roller-skates tossed over the porch railing. The only thing remaining as it ever was is the Castle Kenilworth mountain
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ME Livsey lives in Salt Lake City.
As the sun began to crest the rooftops, two very different people moved toward the same destination. From the west, exiting his home, came Ray Kienzle who walked with a strong step in spite of his sixty-plus years. From the east came a fouryear-old boy to whom the world of the mid-1940s was still a place of ever-changing wonder. The destination of both was an unpainted building in an alley. Inside thls small structure crowded with machinery was a world of livelihood and fascination. It was Mr. Kiede's broom shop. Raymond Kienzle (known locally to his customers as Ray Kensell) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about 1878. The son of a broom maker, he learned the bade early,although his real love was baseball. From workers in the broom factory he heard tales of the West and he read every western novel he could lay his hands o n Even after marrying his childhood girlfriend and fathering their daughter and only child, his dreams of the West continued. Finally, in 1919 the family moved "west" to Chicago.When he became a buyer of broom corn for factories, he moved to Oklahoma, which was then one of the best areas for growing broom corn. During the next few years the family slowly migrated south, west, and then north until they eventually arrived in Salt Lake City, Finding that a broom shop in Murray, south of Salt Lake City, was for sale, Mr. Kienzle bought it and resumed the craft he had learned from his father. Since he was both a hard worker and a skilled craftsman, his business prospered. In his spare time he successfully taught broom making to students at the Utah School for the Blind. He also tried teaching broom making to the mentally handicapped at the State Training School,but this effort failed.It literally reduced him to tears of hsbation and sorrow when he could not teach his skill to the latter group. The Kienzle family's prosperity came to a temporary end during the Great Depression. As his daughter Myrtle put it,the day came when "people bought bread instead of brooms, and the business went kerplop!" Managing to salvage some of his broommaking machinery, Mr. Kienzle found a shack
owned by a family of Dutch immigrant. Times being hard,this family was happy to rent the shack to him for a small amount of money. This arrangement changed when the owners found themselves unable to make their house payments. Concerned about having to deal with new owners over the rent of the building, Mr. Kienzle purchased the property at 1443 Lincoln Street and moved his family into the house in front of his broom shop. From then until he died in the winter of 1960,this would be both home and work place as he produced and sold his brooms to businesses throughout the Salt Lake Valley under the name of Intermountain Broom
Blind workers sorting broom corn. Mr. Kienzletaught his broom-making skills to blind workers. USHS collections.
A one-man broom-making operation presents many physical and mental challenges that form a synchronized beauty. To me, at age four, the combining of broom corn (the"straw"in a straw broom) with a wooden handle and associated wire, nails, thread, and label proved endlessly fascinating. The narrow alley was paved with the clinkers and ashes of countless coal fires in stoves and furnaces. I can still hear their "crunching" beneath my shoes. At the door of the shack I waited for Mr. Kienzle's acknowledging nod that a visit was allowed Stepping up at the doorway, I first peered into a barrel full of blue vitriol (coppersulfate)and water solution used to soften and color the broom corn. If the barrel, located just outside of the door and constantly seeping a minute amount of its contents into the muddy ground, was not full of soaking broom corn, bits and pieces would still be floating on the surface offering a tempting but forbidden target for my inquiring hands. A Mixture of Smells Especially on a summer day the smorgasbord of smells made an immediate impression on me.
The undefinable smell of the blue vitriol and water barrel, the fresh odor of the broom corn, the mix of paint and fresh wood coming from the broom handles, the mild pungency of the leather drive belts, and the acrid smell of grease in the grease cups used to lubricate the machines all combined to create a unique experience. Inside the door Mr Kienzle turned on the switch that lit three bare lightbulbs hanging from the rafters. Another movement turned on the electric motor that began the wondrous ballet of creativity. A single electric motor started the overhead powershafts spinning. From the powershafts hung leather belts waiting to transmit energy into several machines arranged in a block U formation. The belts attached to each machine looked like danghng umbilical cords. Mr. Kienzle could operate all of his machinery from one motor through the power shaft system, a direct carryover from an earlier age when power originated with a windmill or waterwheel Moving with experienced and deliberate motions, Mr. Kienzle sorted broom corn that had dried for a day after being removed from the vitriol solution. On a broad table he divided the broom corn into various categories. The most coarse, or handle corn,he placed next to the wooden handle. Increasingly finer grades (side corn, turnover corn, and inside and outside hurl corn) that would be added to the broom layers he placed in its respective location on the table. When he was satisfied with the arrangementof the corn, Mr. Kienzle inserted a handle (usually painted red or, occasionally,pale blue) into the first
This machine shop photograph illustrates the overhead power shaft and belt system used to operate several machines as in Mr. Kienzle's small broom factory. USHS collections.
Woman displays broom corn and brooms, 1930. Shipler photograph, USHS collections. of the machines. With a quick movement he drove a nail into the handle, wrapped the end of a wire around it, and engaged the power belt While the broom handle rotated, his trained hands rapidly selected the proper corn, positioned it, and bound it into place. It is impossible to do justice to the ballet of motion that took place during this process. His rapidly moving hands, instant judgment as to which type of broom corn and what quantity fit into each place, the sharp rap of the hammer, and the flash of the trimming knife provided a visual experience that will be lost forever should this craft ever be totally replaced by modem methods Reaching for the proper lever, Mr. Kienzle disengaged the drive belt and briskly rapped a second nail into position and clipped the wire. He then placed the partially completed broom-resembling a witches broom with its round, ragged end shape-in a rack until the day's run was ÂŁhished. The Shop Was Small Since the shop was quite small, Mr. Kienzle took only a few steps to reach the next operation. Before he engaged this machine, he always gave me a very stern warning to remain well away for it could be a dangerous device. The seeder,in a way that remains mysterious to me, removed any remaining seeds from the broom corn. His prac-
ticed movements belied the skill this task required The brooms were rapidly inserted and removed from the mouth of the machine, then placed in yet another rack to dry for two or three days to prevent mold or mildew from forming within the broom After the seeding machine was disengaged fmm the powershaft, the sewing machine clattered to life, accompanied by the constant whappawhappa of the leather belts Deftly,Mr. Kienzle took one of the dry brooms and without a bit of wasted motion sewed the broom into its familiar flattened shape with the twine.As soon as the twine was cut, he placed the sewn broom in a rack next to the cutter with one hand while his otherhand plucked the next broom to be sewn. Disengaging the sewing machine, Mr. Kienzle moved to another machine I was forbidden to come to close to-the cutter.When he pulled back on the appropriate lever, the cutter began its r h y t h c swish-clunk By inserting a broom into this machine, Mr. Kienzle completed the broommaking process as the cutting blade squared off the sweeping ends of the broom c o n Thus, after a three-or-four day journey (includingdrying times) the wood, broom corn, wire, nails, and twine had completed the creative circuit and awaited only their labels before delivery to his customers.
Advertisement in Polk's Salt Lake City Directory.
As I waved goodbye and crossed the alley to return home, Mr. Kienzle's car with its bundles of brooms in back throbbed to life, and with the distinctive crunching sound of tires on cinders another wondrous visit to the broom shack came to an end Those days are long gone. Only two active corn broom manufacturing facilities remain in the West, one being the Utah Industries for the Blind Broom corn, once a major crop in parts of the United States, is now grown primarily in Mexico. Most brooms, both household and commercial,are now .made of synthetic materials.But in the television of my mind there will always be the sights, sounds, and smells of Mr. Kienzle's broom shop. Mr. Adkins,a high school historyteacher,lives in Richmond, Utah.
Architect ~ichardK. A Kletting's Salt Palace design reflected turn-of-thscentry taste for the ornate. USHS collections.
The Old Salt Palace "The Temple of Amusement" BY LINDA THATCHER
By 1899residents of Salt Lake City had several places they could go to enjoy a variety of leisure activities,including the Salt Lake Theatre,Calder's Park, and Saltair.Early that year some boosters felt that Salt Lake City also needed an exhibition hall similar to the Ice Palace in Minneapolis, Minnesota,and the Corn Palace in Sioux City,Iowa. They conceived the idea of building a Salt Palace to emphasize the uniqueness of the Great Salt Lake. A stock company was incorporated under the direction of W. A. Nelden, president, R K Thomas, Jacob Moritz, S. W. Morrison, J. P. Gardner, L. W. Dittman, and M. H Walker for the purpose of raising money for the building. The company held mass meetings to try to convince the public of the "commercialgood" of the venture, not only for the city but for the state as a whole. The future Salt Palace would serve as an "advertisement" for the city and would help the community economically. Subscriptioncommittees visited merchants, banks, and businessmen to encourage them to buy stock in the Salt Palace.Although they raised some capital that way, for the most part they met with dis-
couragement They also raised some money by holding a masked carnival, and they paid for the board fence surrounding the grounds by selling advertising space on it They requested an $8,000 appropriation from the Utah State Legislature,but Governor Heber M. Wells vetoed it because he believed that public funds should not be used for private enterprise. Eventually the company decided to begin construction of the Salt Palace despite lacking some of the funds necessary. Originally, the promoters proposed using Liberty Park as the site for the Salt Palace, but when that idea was rejected by the city council, Frederick E. Heath and J.F. Walker offered to donate their property, located on Ninth South between State and Main streets, rent free for a number of years. The property had been used earlier as a market garden Even though the Salt Palace was not completely finished, it opened with a big celebration on the evening of August 21,1899.According to the SaltLake mbune,it was an "impressivespectacle," while the Deseret News called it "a rare and radiant sight" Some 1,200people attended the ceremonies inside the Salt Palace, while another 1,800 milled
around the grounds. Speakers included W. A Nelden, Governor Wells,LDS Apostle B. H Ro and Judge Orlando Powers. The architect of the unique structure Richard K A. Kletting. One of Utah's most important architects, he is best known for designing the State Capitol and Saltair. His design for the Salt Palace reflects the Beaux Arts Classicism style popular at the turn of the century and characterized by "large volumes of spaces,exuberant decorative elements, and interrelated facade components." The pavilion-like structure was capped by a huge dome, with 30 flagpoles rising from ornate bases on the cornices around the porch A sculpture representing Liberty rested on top of the front enbance. The most spectacular part of the interior was the circular auditorium on the third floor which was 108 feet in diameter. The interior of the dome was painted blue and drab (light brown or olive brown)with touches of yellow and harmonizing shades that appeared iridescent when illurninated by 900 lights set in wire and covered with salt crystals. The dome contained sixteen panels, each bearing the name of a western state. The balcony at the base of the dome was 25 feet from the floor and was decorated with basrelief figures. At the base of the dome stood grouped figures of children cast in plaster. A dance floor filled the center of the auditorium, and on its south end was a stage for plays and concerts. The main floor contained a square exhibition hall
'
Probably Marshall "Major" Taylor, a nationally known bicycle racer, at Salt Palace track, July 21, 191 1. Shipler photograph, USHS collections.
where Utah products were displayed. The spaces between the windows of the exhibit hall depicted different Utah industries. The large basement housed the, concessions. Rows of wooden steps 60 feet wide and 10 feet high led onto an 18-foot-wideporch entrance on both the front and the back of the building. A wide gravel path between two parallel rows of poplar trees led to the steps. The Salt Palace was constructed bv building- a wood frame and then spraying powdered salt under air pressure over the surface. The large interior wall panels and moldings were made by immersing boards and rods in ponds of supersaturated brine that in time deposited salt crystals all over the wood. When the deposits were thick enough they were removed from the boards and rods and installed in the Salt Palace. Rock salt slabs, mostly from Salina, Utah, were cut into different shapes. The heavier, darker blocks were placed along the base for footstones, while the light-colored rock salt was used for porch pillars and arches. The building cost about $60,000 to construct Wiring for the enormous electrical system that lit about 3,000 lights cost over $3,000,and running water lines down Main and State streets required another $25,000. Exciting Races Through the years attractions on the Salt Palace grounds included the Midway Plaisance, the Streets of Cairo and Temple of Isis which exhibited "strange scenes of the Orient," a miniature railway, a steam merry-go-round, an operating
Strong man on the Salt Palace grounds, August I,1912. Shiplar photograph for Gllm Advertising Go., WSHS c~lledions.
a palm garden advertisedas the "only one in the Mk&" the Captive:Passenger BaTloon, a ~ : k l , e swing,a baseball d i a m d and the most papular atbadon - the SaltPalace Saucer where bicycle races w m held TI-& track,designedby Truman0. Angel&Jr, was h e fimt worrden b e k in MtL&e City. It could hold about 4,000 spectatom who sat mund the top of the Saucer anlE looked down at the mck, Some spxtat~rsdm sat inside of the track, when the cmwds ware extra lugeg and hoped that the ~mcemwould not lose csntrol and csme hurtling d m cm them. In lsl0 a typical race night Wuded a twomilehandicap 6orpmb&und and amatewraceq a hd-mileopen for pmbbnds, and a one-mile handicap for amateur r a c m As at most bicycle trrtcks across the country, Ebe Utah fans had their favodb racers, including Hady K D o d &who later h e a bo&ag pmmoter and dimwmd JackDarnpe; Carl Wth,vh~ was h o w n as T h e W-r;iding hrimon''; and Itfer Lamn, who was the mmt puWckd Wt Palace mcer. h x t n sFet n~rousmrda,Wu~awddmafdfar&e M i l e in 23.9 ~e~:on& The tracks Best p a r was
1911 when Floyd McFarland, a former top pro racer, managed the track and brought in the best riders h m the East Coast At the opening ceremonies for the Salt Palace in 1899,W. A Nelden had stated that, "This institution is not a money-making institution in the ordinary sense of the term. It is for the benefit of the public. . . ." His statement proved prophetic when the Salt Palace did not clear enough in its first season to pay its outstanding debt of $20,544.57.As a result, "the Salt Palace and all the paraphernalia ...including the streets of Cairo and the very fence surroundingthe buildings"were sold to 0.D. Romney for $18,000 at a sheriffs sale on January8,1900. The Salt Palace changed hands again about two and a half years later when Frederick E. Heath and J. R Walker, owners of the land, took control of the buildings. Later, Heath became the sole owner. From the frequent and often nostalgic mentions of the "old" Salt Palace found in diaries, letters, and other historical accounts, one would think that it operated for many years, when in actuality it existed for exactly 11years. At 3:30 on the morning of August 29,1910, a fire broke out in
the "Third Degree," an electric concession, and completely destroyed the Salt Palace. In 1912 the area was leased by Joseph Nelson and J. E. Langford who built a large open-airtheater in the space where the Salt Palace had stood.In 1913 the name of the site was changed to Majestic Park, and a large pavilion was built that housed an auditorium, skating rink, and dance floor. The bicycle track continued to operate until 1914 when a "spectacular blaze" destroyed it The pavilion and other attractions continued to operate until 1916 when the pavilion collapsed after a giant snowstorm. Today most who drive by the site of the Salt Palace see only the store fronts, but a few old-
Fire destroyed the Salt Palace on August 29, 1910. Shipler photographs, USHS collections.
timers remember lazy summer nights when the band played a waltz or a fox trot, the children rode on the steam-powered carousel, or the fans cheered on their favorite bicycle racer. Even though it lasted only eleven short years, the stately structure created enough of an impression to have its name given to the exhibit hall and arena completed in downtown Salt Lake City in 1969."Salt Palace"will long remain a special term to the city's resident and visitors.
M s Thatcher is a librarian at the Utah State Historical Society.
Richfield, Utah, June 1917. USHS collections.
BY HORACE J. GUNN
Situated in a land of red hills and green valleys, with the Sevier River winding through the area, Richfield is a picturesque town located some 160 miles south of Salt Lake City. As a southern Utah community claiming 3,500 residents in 1940 we thought of ourselves as a rather large city. In fact, on the license plates many of the natives attached a slogan that proudly stated,"Metropolis of Southern Utah" Nearby, in the town of Elsinore, Wilhelmina Jensen clerked in her father's store. A sheepherder by the name of F. Horace Gunn, who was tending his flocks in the Beaver Mountains, came to Elsinore for supplies. He spotted Minnie, as she was called, and they were soon married. I was one of the offspring of this Danish and English union. Horace and Minnie moved to Richfield arid bought a farm on the west side, next to the upper canal. There I was born. We moved from the farmhouse to a home at Second West and Second North in Richfield when I was in second grade. It was common practice for the larger farms to have a hired man who stayed at the farm full time and was in charge of the basic farm work A hired man was especially important to us because Dad was away much of the time buying lambs and appraising sheep for financial loans. We boys went
to school in the winter and then spent the summer on the farm or with the sheep. My father fed about 2,000 farm-raised lambs during the winter. In addition, he maintained another 2,000 head of sheep that grazed year round on public range. Horses were our means of transportation. Every morning we bridled them before taking them to a utility shed where we placed a collar and harness on them At noon we removed their bridles and turned them into the corral so they could eat and drink The advantages of horses at that time were evident in that they were reasonably inexpensive to purchase and maintain, and they provided fertilizer.Their good points were offset by the fact that when they kicked you with their iron shoes you could suffer considerable damage. In addition, teams of horses would often bolt and run away while you were trying to drive them One day I was cutting hay with a mower and one of the reins slipped from my hand. Startled,I called "whoa"in a loud voice. This panicked the horses and they took off at a run. I was thrown away from the mower,but the horses, pulling equipment with fast cutting blades, kept on running uncontrollably around the farm. I was lucky not to have been thrown into the mower and cut to pieces. A Large Family The Gunn homestead consisted of seven children - three girls and four boys - and our
parents, too many for us all to eat at one time in our small kitchen Mother and the girls prepared and served the meals. Since Dad maintained a large garden behind the house, we were able to have fresh corn,picked only a few minutes before it was eaten We four boys tried to outdo each other as to how much corn we could eat It was not uncommon for each of us to eat 1 2 ears - that was our entire meal On summer Sundays we would make eight quarts of ice cream and eat all of it My sister Edith Ann would mix it, and I would then take a 50pound block of ice and (it seemed) turn the old hand freezer all by myself It was important to put salt on the ice in order to keep the ice at its maximum coldness. I remember turning the crank for an hour and a half one day, and the cream would not freeze. Disgusted, I put a piece of the ice in my mouth - I had been using sugar instead of salt With seven children we never had the lwnuy of sleeping alone. We boys slept downstairs. You can imagine the difficulties that arose with having only one bathroom The girls always seemed to get into the bathroom first and lock the door behind them. Since all seven of us were getting ready for school at the same time, I would go outside to relieve myself On school days we awoke to our usual breakfast of oatmeal mush and cocoa.Mother also made us take cod liver oil in orange juice daily. To this
day,when I drink orange juice I still smell cod liver oil. We also swallowed a lot of mineral oil to prevent constipation.The first school bell in the old tower rang at 8:30 am., and the final bell rang at 980 a.m Each class lined up outside of the school. We marched into our room to a tune played on the piano. We stood by ourseats,and,when the teacher signaled,we all sat down together. When we were listening to the teacher we sat upright at our desks with our arms folded behind us. The principal was Miss Sophia Gulbrandsen,a stern old spinster.She also taught the sixth grade. Her office was next to the classroom, and students sometimes heard her slapping unruly boys she had taken into the office to discipline. We had a potato pit (a covered, underground storage area we climbed down into by means of a ladder)where we stored enough potatoes to last us through the entire winter. In addition, Mother bottled all her fruit and dried corn for cooking. I watched her make her own soap in big tubs over an enormous bonfire. We kept milk in pans in a refrigerator. When cream rose to the top we skimmed it off. We poured this thick cream over our h i t and cereal.We also spread it on bread and then topped it off with sugar. A coal furnace heated the house. We also had a small stove called a monkey stove that heated the water. This stove had to be kindled every time we wanted hot water. We all had chores and mine was
Harmonica band of Richfield school children. Courtesy of author who is third from left on the front row.
to cut the wood and bring in the coal for the stoves. My mother was not competitive and disliked controversy. A tender-hearted woman, she was dedicated to her husband, family,and church Dad was a hard worker, a devout churchgoer, and a dedicated family man In business his word was his bond He did not consider himself sophisticated, but he had numerous comrnon-sense statements that he used frequently "One good shirt will do him." "Every dog has his day," "Poor people have poor ways." 'We does not know enough to come in out of the rain" 'There is always something to take the joy out of life." Our clothing was basic. We wore blue bib overalls for work and striped bib overalls for school.During the summerwe often went barefoot As we grew older we had a pair of white shoes for dress during the summer, and we would dye them black for winter.
Horace Gunn, center, and two friends. Courtesy of author. I received a 25-cent weekly allowance, which was finally raised to $1.00 when I became a high school senior. I joined the National Guard to have some pocket money. The pay was $1.00 for each weekly drill. The Guard had a two-week summer camp, which paid $15.00. I had seen a pair of western boots in the J. C. Pemey window that I admired My two weeks' military pay would just
"I joined the National Guard to have some pocket money." Courtesy of author.
cover it However, during the time I was at camp, Congress reduced the two weeks' pay to $12.50. Dad refused to make up the difference, and I never did get my boots
MYSheep -P Days During my junior and senior years of high school I spent my summers at our sheep camp high up in the mountainswest of Marysvale,Utah. I didn't come home during these summers so I never saw any girls or went to any dances.I had only the sheepherderto talk to, and he was much older than I was. As the sheep moved from range to range every five days or so we moved with them. It was my job to strike the tent and pack all the supplies on horses. We never saw anyone except an occasional bootlegger, prospector, or a lost fisherman. Our reading material consisted of western stories published in so-called pulp magazines. These magazines, printed on cheap wood-pulp paper, sold for about ten cents each. Since the sheep went to bed at dark, so did the sheepherders.Old Mel, the herder, liked to read the westerns at night by candlelight He had a thick head of hair, and I warned him that someday it would catch on he. One night I awoke to the smell of smoke - his hair was in flames, He was so engrossed in his western that he wasn't even aware of the fire. I quickly rolled him in the bedding and put out the flame. We had no fresh h i t , vegetables, or perishables on our menu We ate mutton twice a day. We slaughtered the sheep at dusk and hung the meat in a tree at night to keep it from the wild animals, During the day we kept it in a tightly woven bag
that we rolled up in the bedding to keep it cool. Once in a while we got bold and killed a deer for venison. This was known as "governmentmutton." We had to keep a close lookout for the U.S. Forest Service ranger. If we spotted him our dogs had a banquet as they gobbled up the venison. Dogs and horses were considered the lifeblood of the men who tended sheep. With saddles and saddle packs we transported ourselves and all our supplies. We turned the horses loose after a day of work They were h e to roam, although they had hobbles on their front legs. Even then, they could outrun a fast sheepherder. We sometimes chased them for miles in the high mountain country. Dogs were the sheepherders' mainstay. Without them the sheep would ignore their tenders. The dogs were trained to climb the sides of steep mountains. The sheepherder, by a wave of his hat, would get the dogs to go higher into the mountains and bark at the sheep until the sheep were turned. When the herder dropped hls hat and walked off the dogs returned to camp. Dogs were like human companions to sheepherders. The important thing was to prevent losses. A group of sheep could easily stray off and become lost For this reason about one sheep in twenty had a bell around its neck There was no way to count the whole herd, which would vary from 1,000 to 2,000 sheep;however, the bell sheep were counted. In addition, we had another check In every herd of white sheep there is a certain percentage of black sheep. The sheepherder frequently counted the bell sheep and the black sheep to see if any of his flock were lost There was a reason for all this counting and additional activity, namely to make a living for the sheep owner. This was provided through two annual crops - lamb and wool. The lambs were born in the spring,usually on the range. Most ewes cared a great deal for their offspring; however, some just went off and left their lambs to become "dogies" or orphans. The ewes recognized their lambs among the herd by smell. If a lamb died it was not uncommon for the sheepherder to take the skin from a dead lamb and tie it on a dogie. The ewe without a lamb would soon adopt the camouflaged lamb, and eventually the extra coat could be removed. Sometimes the orphan lambs were never claimed. Then they would be taken to the sheep owner's home where they would be fed cow's milk with the use of a bottle and nipple. Each year we sheared the sheep in the spring. We brought the herd to the shearing corrals where they were shorn of their fleece. A good shearer would shear as many as 125 sheep in one day. As the shearer finished his operation, it was my duty
The author, second from left with sheep, as a student at Utah State Agricultural College. to tie the fleece. Using my legs I would assemble the wool and then tie it securely with twine. I placed these tied fleeces in large sacks, ten to. twelve feet in height Then I would get in the sack, which was well over my head, and tromp the fleeces down Handling all of this wool every day made me the object of attack by sheep and wood ticks. I removed a half-dozen of these little crawling creatures from my body every night One day a tick crawled into my ear, and the noise it made was driving me crazy. Finally, shearers got me on the floor. One of them spit chewing tobacco in my ear and the tick backed right out Another operation proved to be a real ordeal - branding and docking. Each sheeprnan had to be able to identify his sheep if they became mixed with another herd. Therefore, each sheepman had his own brand recorded with the State Department of Agriculture. After being sheared, the sheep were branded on the back with an asphalt-like liquid. Our sheep were branded F-H for Frank arid Horace Gunn,brothers and owners. Docking lambs was a bloody mess. I held the lambs while my father cut off their tails. Since the tails had no value and collected manure, we removed them. The life of a young sheepherder was a long way from that of the Biblical shephed. In southern ~ t a ithwas a rugged, tough assignment, sometimes frustrating and often lonely. However, it also provided a peaceful experience for us as we watched the sheep graze. Thls was the time for a high school boy to plan his future. This was the time that I leaked responsibility and how to meet life's challenges. Times were tough, since it was the depression, but we did our duty and took our licks. Now sheepherding is a fond memory for me. Mr. Gunn, who was executive manager of the Utah Chapter of Associated General Contractors of America, is retired and lives in Salt Lake City.
Murdock Resort on Utah Lake BY RICHARD S. VAN WAGONER
Utah Lake, freshwater remnant of prehistoric Lake Bonneville, has been a popular recreational site since the earliest days of Utah Valley settlement Despite its murky water, the result of bottom silt easily whipped up by gusty winds, the shallow lake,close to many towns from Lehi to Payson,has spawned numerous resorts dating from the 1880s. Seeking relief from scorchmg heat and penis tent flies, Leh citizens not wanting to make the more strenuous trek up American Fork Canyon often sought summer camping sites on the north shore of Utah Lake where cool breezes hquently prevail. The fine white sand on those beaches is alluvial deposit h m Dry Creek which empties into the lake nearby. George W. Murdock, who in 1890 owned a section of lakeside property for pasturing his animals, recognized the commercial potential of his beach and nearby grove of black willows. In 1891 the twenty-three-year-old began making improvements to the area. The first order of business was removing the cattle and their spore. Next a dancing pavilion that could be shuttered during stormy weather was built Three artesian wells eventually provided culinary water, and a pier with bathhouses extending over the lake was constricted. Recalling the history of the resort, May M Lott remembered the grand opening on Saturday,May 30,1891(Decorationor Memorial Day):"The opening day came and a grand opening it was. People came in all kinds of vehicles and on foot Many h m other cities were willing to help make it a successful resort" Though virtually everyone called the place Murdock Resort, its original name was the Lehi Bathing Resort as can be seen in the introductory advertisement in the May 29,1891, Lehi Banner. Two weeks later Murdock advertised in the June 12,1891, Lehi Banne~:LEM BATHmTG RESORT. Finest beach on the famous UtahLake. Conveyances run to and from the city at frequent intervals. Round trip 25 cents. All kinds of summer drinks and other refreshments can be obtained on the grounds at regular prices. Fine row boats for rent Grand baLl every Sa turdayNight Geo. W Murdock prop.
Lehi.Banner,May 29, 1891, announced opening of Lehi Bathing Resort, popularly called Murdock Resort. Courtesy of author.
People Enjoyed Walking In the 1890s Americans walked more frequently than they do today. MurdockResort was a paltry two-mile stroll south of Lehi's Main Street at 5th West Not all resort goers walked. Some pedaled bicycles or "wheels" as they were called then, and others rode horses or were conveyed in wagons, carts, or buggies. Excursions to the resort were regularly scheduled. The August 14, 1891, Lehi Banner reported that a "select company of ladies and gentlemen enjoyed a pleasure trip on the lake last evening on the steamer Florence." Dr. Seabright,a well known Lehi physician, arranged the outing which included "singing and music by the string b a n d aboard ship and dancing in the Murdock pavilion until after midnight The Lehi Banner chronicles numerous old folks' outings, Sunday School parties, grand balls, sporting events, picnics, and family gatherings at the popular resort Two fun-filled days in the "Gay Nineties" depict the varied activities at Murdock's. On the afternoon of September 6, 1894, the Har-
Boating on Utah Lake. USHS collections. mony Glee Club and friends played baseball and boated until 6:00 p.m. After a picnic in the pavilion the group danced until 12:30 a.m The September 20,1894, Banner reported that scores of "scholars and teachers" from the Lehi Sunday School had met early at the ward meetinghouse the previous Monday and climbed into wagons and buggies for the ride to Murdock's. Swimming,boating,picnicking, swinging, and baseball occupied most of the
day. Lehi's Silver Band arrived later and "made the afternoon more enjoyable with their strains of sweet music." In addition to the resort's natural facilities, adequate washrooms and outhouses were also provided.An advantage over Saratoga Resort, just two miles southwest, was Murdock's excellent drinking water. Some "sporting gents," however, desired more than a cold drink of water to whet
Lehi Silver Band, 1895. From Lehi Centennial History, 1850-1 950.
Lehi Banner, June 12,1891. Courtesy of author.
their whistle, and C. A Hosier, Lehi saloonkeeper, built a grog shop at the resort prior to the 1895 Decoration Day opening. The water was yet too cold for swimming and boating, but the large crowd was not disappointed by the day's events. "Professor Harris" floated skyward in a hot air balloon and then thrilled spectators by parachuting from the passenger basket The exciting exhibition ended in near disaster when the professor was blown into a fenceposton landing. Dusting himself 06 the slightly shaken daredevil reassured the crowd that he was uninjured and the entertainment continued The evening fare consisted of a concert by Salt Lake City's "Temple of Music" followed by a dance.
Many sports Baseball, horseshoe pitching, foot races, and football attracted the interest of many younger resort goers The August 1, 1895, Lehi Banner reported a football game between the Lehi Football Club and the Lehi Cricket Club. The Football Club won the grudge match 6 to 0 and claimed the fivedollar purse. The rough-and-tumble game,
played without protective equipment, injured several Lehi boys. Murdock's continued to be popular until 1897 despite the competition from the nearby Saratoga Resort which had superior swimming, lodging,and eating facilities. When George Murdock's health failed he closed the resort and moved to town where he died in 1899.Some of the resort buildings were moved elsewhere, and the remainder were tom down The area again became pasture and hayfields. The grove of black willows stood as the single reminder of the fun spot that had once existed there. In 1926 the Lehi City Council briefly considered establishing a recreation park at the old Murdock Resort, but this was never done. During the 1930s Clarence Holmstead leased the Murdock property from John Southwick An avid outdoorsman, Holmstead rented rowboats and other gear to fishermen from the site of the old Murdock pier. The Holmstead Boat Camp with its rowboat facilities, picnic tables, and restmoms - though enjoyed by hundreds of sportsmen,Boy Scouts, and others until the late 1950s-never attained the popularity of Murdock's, but the older resort had not had to compete for the public's interest with numerous other outdoor facilities easily accessible by automobile. The shoreline of Utah Lake is always at the mercy of the elements. The beaches are particularly vulnerable to fluctuating water levels. In the early 1930s, the driest period in Utah history, the lake,with only 12,000acre feet of water,practically disappeared The Homestead Boat Camp was miles from what little water remained in the shrunken lake. An article in the October 4, 1934, Lehi Free Press quoted deputy state game warden Joseph J. Madsen as saying the average lake depth was only 7-14 inches and sunburned carp were burrowing into the muddy lake bottom to survive. Utahns who witnessed the record wet years of 1981-84 may find it difficult to believe that the March 21, 1935, Lehi Sun ran an article entitled, "What Will a Dry Lake Mean to Utah County?" A week later the March 28,1935, Lehi Sun reported that the drought was so serious that some citizens had initiated a Save Utah Lake campaign. But the dry cycle had ended The lake quickly proved it needed no help from man, returning to its normal level through increased precipitation. Weather patterns have continued to affect the shoreline.Rising lake water in 1952 submerged the Holmstead Boat Camp until July 23, and the site remained completely underwater during the 1981-84 high water years The white sands of the old Murdock beach-advertised in the June 12,
-
History on the Rocks &,GARY TOPPING
,
My name is Ozymanddiasd king of 'king,s: - h kon my works, ye Mighty, and despair! Thre a n c h t world was not modest in proits achievements This heription, sup p d y m e p d to the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley by a tlaveier who was struck by the irony of such a boast on the pedestal of a statue now b k e n aad half covered by sand, isprobably fictitious, but examples of real ancientegotism crbound And historiansof the ancientmrld depend heavily upon such messages carved in rock or metal as source% The Res Geist9eDiviAw(%e accomp l i s b e n b of the divine Au-7, for example,an immense b a i p t i ~ n occupying about thirty modem printed pages, is a summary by the Roman Emperor Augustus of his lifelong achievementsin behalf of the Roman people and contains muchof what we know about the creation of the Rman Empire. And an entire historical specialty epigraphy - has developed to collect, translate, and interpret ancient inscriptions We modem historians lag far behind our colleagues who study the ancient world in our use of epigraphic evidence. Why? Generally became our other sources are so abundant that we do not feel we need it Beginning with the Renaissance,which gave us the printing press, increased leisum time resulting from the development of tmm,capitalism, and the general specialization of labor-and the development of modern egotism that finds itself compelled to record its achievements-we have seen a dramatic multiplication of historical sumes. Today, we have huge buildings like the ~ational Archives, and small&but d l impressive ones like the Utah State Historical socieG, to collect and preserve the tons of records our civilization produces each day.
d-g
1891,Lehi Banner as "the finest on the famousUtah Lake" - are again high and dry in 1989, though littered with far too much human debris The ancient black willows, north shore sentinels for more than a century,were virtually destroyed by the high water of the 1980s.In a few years perhaps even the skeletal remains of those trees will be gone, and like an unattended grave in a forgotten cemetery, no marker will designate the site of the once famous Murdock Resort Richard S. Van Wagoner is the co-author of A Book of Mormons (1982)and author of Mormon Polygamy A History (1986).He is currently writing a history of Lehi, Utah, his hometown
Trees mark site of Murdock Resort with Utah Lake beach in foreground. Photographed in 1987 by author.
1
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II 23
in Utal?
Utah,b t o r i m ought to be more
;interest& in kbric tmcdptions In .the first place, our state atmundts in them, particularly in the yam af -dre swlitheaskAnd Mptions am fun: manyoftbmarehunnmus,and though t h f q ~ n 8 ~ &at &rtAuce n w fix@, h e y add color to our histodcal writing Findy, there are instances
Denis Julien's May 3,1836, inscription in Hell Roaring Canyon on the Green River, photographed by Julius Stone, 1909. USHS collections. where, even in the modern world, we are dependent upon inscriptions for important factual information It takes a good while to carve your name in the rock, particularly if you make large, ornate letters, or if you add a lengthy message. (Youwon't experiment to find this out, of course, in any permanent location in the canyon country! If you have to venfy what I'm saying, use a rock from your back yard) So the places where inscriptions abound are places where their authors had some leisure time. Caves where cowboys camped or archaeologists excavated are good prospects for inscriptions,and so are placid stretches of river where boatmen or trappers could easily stop to record their presence. Labyrinth Canyon below Green River, Utah, is a terrific place to find inscriptions,for it offers steep rock walls along the slow-moving river. Some interesting inscriptions can be seen in Cataract Canyon further down, but most boatmen had its huge rapids to worry about, and few wrote their names Grand Gulch, which was home to many families of prehistoric Anasazi, naturally attracted
archaeologists who wrote their names in the rock after their dusty day's work was done, and so did the cowboyswho found the caves as appealing for campsites as did the Anasazi.
"Heap Hot" The irrepressible humor of the cowboys often came out in the inscriptions they carved or wrote with a fire-blackened stick Roy W. Johnson, cowboy son of another famous cowboy, guide, and explorer, Zeke Johnson, no doubt expressed the feelings of his partners one torrid day when they took refuge from the sun in a cave near today's Hall's Crossingmarina.After carving his initials,he carved a huge ''H" and added the letters to form two additional words "Heap HotnNearby at Green Water Spring, the cowboys' headquarters in that remote country they call "Lost Cowboy," another cowboy wit wrote, 'This is the country where the coyotes bark at strangem" Less humorous but more touching is a very faded inscription in Grand Gulch, so faded, in fact, that it almost impossible to make it out At a very
remote location about equal distances from the mouth of the canyon and the nearest side canyon where one can get out, some early explorer, miner, or cowboy wrote, "May 12th 1900 Hoges Played Out" We have no record of "Hoges's" identity, but there is a tantalizing story behind his inscription, a story easily imagined today by tired backpackers who venture that far into the canyon and rest in the shade where Hoges "played out" Denis Julien Finally, there is the story of the FrenchCanadian fur trapper Denis Julien who, according to his biographer,"wrote a solidly backed autobiography on the rock of the Colorado River Basin" And it is a good thing he did, for records of that intrepid explorer are otherwise very scanty;in fact, beyond a baptismal record and a few odd references in the records of fur companies, most of what we know of his activities in the Green River country comes from his penchant for carving his name and the date on the canyon walls. From fur trade records we know thatJulien first crossed the Rocky Mountains into the Uinta Basin in 1827 with a party of trappers led by Francisco
Anotner ~nscriptionby the French-Canadiantrapper Denis Julien is about 10 miles south of Whiterocks. USHS collections.
Cowboy Roy W. Johnson used a fire-blackened stick to express his feeling about the weather near Hall's Crossing. Photographed by author.
Robidoux His continued presence there is demonstrated by an inscription near Whiterocks giving his name and the date 1831. Julien's most important and best-documented venture, though, is one we know of only through inscriptions.In 1836he became the first white man of record to navigate Cataract Canyon and the lower reaches of the Green River, presumably on a trapping expedition. Our first record could be an inscription near the lower end of Cataract Canyon (now under the Lake Powell reservoir) reading simply "1836 D. Julien*The next, and most irnportant one, is about two hundred yards from Labyrinth Canyon of the Green River in the tributary known as Hell Roaring Canyon, far upstream from Cataract Canyon. This one reads "D. Julien 1836 3 Mai," and is accompanied by a drawing of a flying bird and a sailboat,thus suggesting that Julienwas using wind power to assist him against the strong current of the spring runofE The last inscription in the series is nineteen miles above there, near Bowknot Bend. It says, "D. Julien 16 Mai 1836," and indicates that he made only a little over one mile per day,a reasonable rate of speed consideringthat he was not only moving upstream against a powerful current but presumably trapping as well.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation personnel carved their names in Labyrinth Canyon on the Green River. Photographed by author.
the river to trap downstnxm through Cataract Canyon. The site of the 1836inscription in Cataract would have made a good campsite in fall's low water. We have no record of the death of DenisJulien An 1837 inscription further down the Colorado River in Glen Canyon has been suggested as his work, but it is not in his characteristic handwriting, nor is a recent discovery of his name in Arches National Park with the date June 9,1844. Could DenisJulienhave been not only the first explorerof Cataract Canyon, but its h t casualty as well? Miller, an associate of Cass Hite, was looking for gold in the Navajo Mountain area Photographed by author.
Another Ju!ien inscriptionin the Green River country, photographed by Julius Stone, 1909. USHS collections.
Thus the record unfolds of the first known white explorer of Cataract Canyon and the lower Green River. There is, however, another way to interpret the record. Julien could have entered the river canyon at the stillwater portion above Cataract Canyon's rapids,which would obviously have been rough going upstream, and traveled up to the head of Labyrinth Canyon before the summer rendezvous. Then in the fall, remembering his plentiful haul of beaver (whichare still abundantly present in Labyrinth Canyon),he may have returned to
Dc Topping is curator of manuscripts for the Utah Stab Historical Society Library. For more information on Juliensee Otis Dock Marston, "DenisJulien,"in LeRoy R Hafen, ed, The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West (Glendale, California:Arthur H Clark, 1969),W, p. 177.
Children's Clothing on the Utah Frontier BY WENDY LAVllT
Lucy Brown Smith and her daughter Edith Ann, born in 1861. The child's dress has a scalloped hem and other fancy detailing. Frontier mothers worked hard to provide their children with serviceable and attractive clothing. USHS collections.
I remember the last home-made cloth dress I had. I spun the yarn; Mother colored i d and Naeglek folks wove it It was a good dress for fiveyears ormore;then it waspieced into a quilf whereit did service for a tleast twentyyears longer.After one of these dresses was worn for best for a winter or two, it was tuned upside down and inside out and worn for a few more yeam When they got quite thin we wore them to work in the summer, and then quilted the sk& for petticoab for winter again Mary Hale's recollection of her childhood clothing on the Utah frontier is far from unique. Readymade clothingwas unobtainable,and families had to depend upon their own resources to supply their growing children's needs. A baby's layette was often started by a mother in a covered wagon while crossing the plains. En route to Utah Annie Clark Tamer embroidered yards of fine muslin with which she trimmed a layette. Years later her eldest daughter noticed tiny yellow marks on the delicate
garments and found out from her mother that each "mark is a little iron rust from a wire on the bow of the wagon where I tied my work when crossing the plaid' Not every mother on the hntier had the time to embroidera layette. Sacks and hastily cut cloths often sufficed Women sometimes cut up their white flannel wedding dresses and their husbands' "best"linen shirts for baby clothes When cloth was scarce women ingeniously found substitutes In nearby Woming a woman homesteader "saved some sugar-bags and some flour bags.. . [and] made some little petticoats of the larger bags and some drawers of the smaller." In Utah, Priscilla Merrirnan Evans recalled in 1856:
My baby's wardrobe was rather limited I made one nightgom from her fatherk white shirt, another out of a factory luung of an oilcloth sack Mis Markham gave me a square of homemade linsey for a shoulder blanket and a neighborgave me some old underwear thatI worked up intolittle
Echo Canyon flour mill. Flour sacks, inset, were often cut and sewed into items of clothing or used for curtains or dish towels.
things They told me I could have an old pair of jean pants left at the adobe yard. I washed them and made them into petticoats I walked down to the hdian Farm and traded a gold pen for four yards of calico that made her two dresses
An Old Bacon Sack The scarcity of cloth, mentioned in many diaries, prompted imaginative solutions. Melissa Jane Lambston Davis was seven years old in 1854 and living in the Salt Lake Valley when she found an old bacon sack Her mother soaked the sack in lye to remove the grease and dyed it with weeds to make a waist (bodice) for a needed new dress. Knowledge of homemade dyes was indispensable for the pioneer mother who created a variety of tints from sagebrush, alum, yellowbrush,madder, and indigo. Sabra Jane Beckstead Hatch remembered her "Grandmother Rollins had brought two stnw ticks with her from the East, and she colored
one with wild sage and alum and made us girls each a dress." She also noted that, "AfterJohnston's army came in, the people were able to get cloth very cheap,for many people were passing through Utah and wanted to sell cloth for foodn Even when commercial cloth was available, the making of children's clothingrequired skill and stamina. Not until the mid-nineteenth century did women's magazines include patterns for layettes and older children's garments. The first booklet of infant wear, No, 1 Baby Linen, published in New York in 1843,featured engraved patterns. Some of these treasured patterns were brought westward to be used over and over again. However, many women on the Utah frontier had to devise their own patterns. One woman who "was too proud to let anyone know she couldn't sew," took a readymade child's shirt from the East that was worn thin and "picked it to pieces, cut a pattern by the parts, then remade the old shirt so that no one would know what she had done."Another mother draped
material on her young girls, pinning, measuring, and cutting out each piece. Traditionally,her eldest daughter received the first dress. Once, however, the girl fainted from the long hours of standing still and was chagrined that her younger sister received the long-awaited dress. Children,especially girls, made their own clothing, often knitting all their own stockings by the time they were seven or eight Occasionally,an illadvised article of clothing was created One young Utah girl wanted to swim in a secluded bathing hole where her playmates swam without suits. Gathering a number of old scraps of cloth, she sewed them together into a slip "of many colors." She wore it only once,for when her father saw it he traded it for a piece of buckskin, ending her swimming days. As families prospered and life became easier children's clothing became more fashionable. Even fathers paid attention to color and trimmings. When Joshua Brown bought supplies at the dry goods store he would pick out bolts of woolens for his &rowing children: "For the boys he brought plain dark colors For the girls he chose green and black plaid or red and black with red flannel for
lining capes and hoods." He also trapped beavers and used the fur for trimming hats, hoods, and mitten cuffs. Mothers were especially proud of their handiwork, embroidering elaborate christening gowns and other children's clothing for special occasions. Those who could afford it hired dressmakers to help with fine sewing.Annie Clark used a set of wood block-pattern stamps, marking her designs with a mixture of indigo powder and pulverized chalk,to create be-hand designsfor braiding, eyelet, and solid embroidery. She found "a favorite model was a small child's red woolen dress with white piped seams and graceful braiding in white, decorating around the bottom of the skirt, sleeves,collar,and pockets. For warm weather white pique with bordering braid trimming in design replaced the wool." For infants she sold 'light wraps" with scalloped edges and trimmed with embroidered floral designs. hts of Hand-me-downs For everyday use simple, easy-to-make clothing was the rule, with hand-me-downs prevailing. One little girl living in Parowan, Utah "used to be in despair wondering if she would ever have a
A peddler's wagon, loaded with bolts of cloth, was a welcome sight to women who could afford to buy fabrics to make clothing for their families. Note bonnets and shawls hanging on door. USHS collections.
Children and adults wore basic clothing for a covered wagon journey. USHS collections.
brand new dress" She ruefully noted that by the time she had finished wearing a dress it was "torn into strips and woven into carpets or rugs" Nevertheless, despite dresses that revealed a few too many alterations, blouses that ran because of unstable homemade dyes, and woolen shirts that made the skin itch, few pioneer children complained or, indeed,thought their lot was any differ-
A group of Brigham Yaung" alder daugh&m dbplay the fancier side af childmn's clathOng in the IgeQs.U5WS culle~tians.
ent from that of their neighbor. A new ribbon or a piece of sprigged calico delighted the girls, while new mittens or earmuffs pleased the boys Christmas was the time for sprucing up children's wardrobes. Clarissa Young Spencer remembered receiving "our newest supplies in winter clothing"for Christmas in the 1860s, while another pioneer fondly recalled "a new gray linsey dress with red braid trimming" as the highlight of one Christmas. While most children today would not trade their designer jeans for homespun and calico, parents and grandparents occasionally succumb to nostalgic yearnings for the past As appreciation for the monumental task of creating entire children's wardrobes grows, the desire to re-create this feat wanes. Few of us could reply as one frontier girl did when complimented upon her dress - "And I did everythmg but shear the sheep!"
Ms. Lavitt lives in New York City. Quotations come horn journal entries,letters, and personal observations found in the multivolume works compiled and edited by Kate B. Carter,and others, published by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in Salt Lake City, includmg Heart Throbs of the Wst (1939-511 %asums ofPioneer History (1952-57),Our Pioneer Heritage (1958 77kAn Enduring Legacy(1978-).See also Annie Clark Tanner, A Monnon Mother (Salt Lake City University of Utah Pmss 1969);and Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Letters of a WbmanHomesteader (BostonHoughton MiMin, 1914).
A velvet and cotton suit made for Joseph ~ e e &
More children's clothing styles on back cover:
A fine muslin baby dress made for Joser~r~ Let: dorne.
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I nts qullrea rea conon DaDy Donner IS embroidered with a stylized leaf design hl edged in crocheted lace.
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E l i ~ a b ~,,,..ley . , ~ Uc," baby bonnet made of muslin, velvet, and silk ribbon. It protected her face from sun and wind. * $
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