The History Blazer, May 1995

THE HISTORY BLAZER SEI1'S OF LTA H'S PAST FROM THE

[Itah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City. I'T 84101 (801)533-3300 FAX (801)533-3503

May 1995 Blazer Contents The Sun D m e Opera Wowed Audiences in Utah and New York Strawberry Valley Was Utah's First Federal Reclamation Project A Presbyterian Minister Won the Hearts of Panguitch Residents

Minstrel Shows Proved Very Popular in 19th-Century Utah ColorEul Sam Gilson Did Much More Than Promote Gilsonite The Utah National Guard and the Battle of the Cow Just Who Was the Outlaw Queen Etta Place?

"WoodDances" Became Annual Events in Some Rural Towns A Bit of Polynesia Remains in the Salt Desert Transcontinental Telephone Service Began in 1914, But Who Remembers?

Why the Towns of Thurber and Grayson Changed Their Names When the Wolves Seemed to Be Taking Over Randolph, Utah 1883 Blaze Spurred Craion of Salt Lake City's Professional Fire Department The Wenner Family Enjoyed Life on Fremont Island Timpanogos Cave Became a National Monument in 1922 Sister Madeleva, Poet and Educator, Established St. Mary of the Wasatch Despite Its Critics, Remote Morgan Medical College Served a Need

Evil Spirits Plagued the Residents of Hebron, Utah The Rocky Mountain Sweepstakes in 1843 Provided Exciting Entertainment Colonel Comor Filled a Varied, Dramatic Role in Utah History

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The Sw Dance Opera Wowed Audiences in Utah and New York WHENWILL HANSON V I S ~ DTHE SUNDANCECEREMONIES at a Ute reservation in 1910 he was amazed at the beauty of the age-old traditions and music. As a music teacher at Uintah High School and ~ t e of rNative American traditions, he was inspired by the visit to write an opera that would depict the sacred melodies of the Sun Dance ceremony.

For the next three years Hanson worked to compile the songs he had heard at the Sun Dance into a musical score. He could never have completed the project without the help of Gertrude Bonnin. As a musician, academic, and full-blooded Sioux, she had the skills necessary to make the opera successful. Before she and her husband arrived in Fort Duchesne, Utah, in 1908, Bonnin had worked at the New England Conservatory of Music. She was a talented musician but decided to put aside her musical career for what she considered a more noble pursuit-to educate European Americans and her own people about the importance of maintaining the culture and traditions of Native Americans. She wrote a book entitled Old Indian Legends and gave frequent lectures about issues facing the Indians. In her public appearances she boldly wore traditional Sioux clothing-complete with buckskin, beads, and feathers--and condemned American history for its treatment of Native Americans. As a spokesperson for her people, Bonnin had filled important positions, first at the Dakota Reservation and later at Fort Duchesne where she relocated in 1908. There she met Will Hanson and became intensely involved in writing the Sun Dance Opera*

In 1913 Bornin and Hanson finally completed the musical score for the opera. The first performance took place in the small auditorium of Uintah High School on February 20, 1913. The audience was stunned by what they saw. Not only was the music uniquely Native American, but Ute and Sioux tribesmen performed as the principal actors and dancers. Dressed in full ritual clothing, the Native Americans danced the Sun Dance that had been performed on their lands for generations. Hanson later noted that the event was the first time some of the older Indian performers had been inside a European-style building. One older Sioux Indian looked at the audience before the performance began and said, 'Too much white man sit downs." The performance must have created 'culture shock" for both the Indian performers and the largely Caucasian audience.

Following the initial success of Sun Dance, the opera was performed for several years throughout the state. Known as the Hanson Wigwam Company, the traveling crew was composed of six Sioux and Ute Indians. One of the most famous actors was an elderly man named Old Sioux who had fought alongside Sitting Bull during the Custer battle. Since the Sioux people were (more)

restricted from worming the Sun Dance by the U.S. government, Old Sioux found his final years enriched by the opportunity to perform the sacred dance on stage. During a Salt Lake City performance Old Sioux finally broke his silence when he spontaneously took center stage and began to sing traditional songs af his people. Shocked by the outburst, the wnductor remained frozen with his baton in the air. To the surprise of Will Hanson, who initially thought the performance was doomed to failure because of the interruption, the audience joined in by repeating the words of the chant. By the end of the performance many were impressed by the profound message of the Native American experience that Old Sioux had conveyed.

Another impressive character in the Hanson Wigwam Company was Red Pipe, the son a revered chiefbin among the Ute people. Sitting motionless at the back of the stage, Red Pipe seemed a mysterious figure. To the Native American performers, however, he had the important role of providing them with courage.

Sun Dance was revived in 1926 and 1935. The traveling crew performed in Salt Lake City and Provo. During 1926 the Hanson-Wigwan--Company-stayed in -alarge. tent set up at 800 North and 300 East in Provo. It was home for several months as the crew traveled to schools and community centers in towns such as Heba City, Eureka, American Fork, and Price to perform the Opera* In 1937 the New York Light Opera Guild chose to produce Sun Dance for the annual American Opera performance. John Hand, the director and wnductor, had played a leading part in the BYU production in 1914. Convinced that the performance would be successful in New York, Hand had encouraged his colleagues to give the Utah opera a chance. Some members of the Hanson Wigwam Company traveled to New York to be part of the production. The rest of the cast was chosen from regular actors and Native Americans living in New York. Proud of the chance to share their traditions and knowledge, some Indians attended rehearsals in N 1 dress to supervise the songs and choreography for its authenticity. Yowlache, a Yakima chieftan and Hollywood actor, played the leading role.

Each performance of the Sun Dance, whether at New York's Broadway Theater or the small Uintah High School auditorium, was significant because of the message it brought to the audience about the value and importance of maintaining Native American traditions.

See Will Hanson, Sun Dance Land (1967); Deseret Naus, March 29, 1913.

HISTORYBLAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Wiety and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533-3500.

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Strawberry Valley Was Utah's First Federal Reclamation Project From the earliest years of the nation American public policy-has generally recognized agriculture as the best possible use for land. Thomas Jefferson's veneration of the independent, virtuous 'yeoman farmer" was shared by most of his countrymen. Legislation such as the Northwest Ordinances, which established the method for surveying and selling public land, and the Homestead Act, which granted lands to individual settlers, reflected the belief that public lands should be transferred rapidly into the hands of private, small-holding farmers. In the early part of the 20th century the federal government took the lead in mammoth projects to irrigate western farmlands. The first federal reclamation project in Utah was the Strawberry Valley project.

From approximately the 100th meridian of longitude west to the Pacific, the continental United States is relatively arid. American settlers, used to the plentiful rainfall and rich soil of the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys, discovered how difficult it could be to farm the Great Plains.

Tavelers passed quickly through the Great Basin on their way to rainy Oregon and northern California in the early 1840s. The Mormon fanners who came to Utah in the 1840s and 1850s immediately recognized the necessity for irrigation and began the laborious process of diverting stream and riVg water onto their fields. The primacy of water among the West's resources was recognized by its more astute explorers, most notably John Wesley Powell, who unsuccessfully proposed that state borders should follow drainage basins rather than arbitrary survey lines.

Western settlers petitioned the federal government to alter public land policies to accommodate the realities of scant water. Washington responded slowly, eventually authorizing a survey of irrigation practices. In 1900 the platforms of both national political parties called for a national 'reclamation" program to turn western deserts into abundant farmland. Senator Francis Newlands of Nevada became reclamation's most prominent champion, and the 1902 bill that created the Bureau of Reclamation bore his name.

Utahns quickly recognized the potential value of federal help for large-scale reclamation projects that were beyond the reach of local government or private means. State Senator Henry Gardner of Spanish Fork, among others, suggested that a reservoir in the Strawberry Valley could store Colorado River Basin water on the east side of the Wasatch Mountains and transfer it across to the Great Basin. Utah Valley farmers enthusiastically joined the campaign to imgate the southern end of the valley, and in December of 1905 the Department of the Interior authorized the project. (more)

The biggest and most difficult engineering feat, a nearly 20,000-foot long, concretelined tunnel from the reservoir to the head of the Diamond Fork of the Spanish Fork River, was begun in August of 1906. Crews from east and west met in June 1912, and the first irrigation water began to flow in June 1915. The reservoir itself began to fill when dam construction began in 1911. Eventually, nearly 300,000 acre-feet of water were impounded by a 71-foot high rock structure with a concrete wre wall. The Bureau of Reclamation had sought local bids for both the tunnel and dam, but when none was received the bureau's own work crews performed the labor.

The project was declared complete on June 30, 1922, and its various water users assumed control and began gradual repayment of construction costs in 1926. the Strawberry Valley project proved highly beneficial to the economic growth of southern Utah County, as sugar beets, alfalfa, and truck farming increased their total acreage and seasonal yields. The project also provided employment for local workers as well as incidental benefits such as electrical power and improved roads. The success of the Strawberry Valley project led to a number of other federal reclamation efforts in Utah, including the Glen Canyon Dam-and,the more recent.Central Utah.project.

See Richard White, aIt's Your Misfortune and None of My Own ".- A N m History of the American Wtst (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991); Thomas G. Alexander, "An Investment in Progress: Utah's First Federal R8chmation Project, the Strawberry Valley Project," Utah Historical Quarter& 39 (1971).

THE HISTORYBLAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533-3500.

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A Presbyterian Minister Won the Hearts of Panguitch Residents

THEY ~ ~ TOWNm OF CORINNE, " UTAH,WAS

THREE MONTHS OLD in June 1869 when the Reverend Melanchton Hughes stepped off the Union Pacific train to begin his ministry there. The following Sunday, June 13, Hughes conducted the first Presbyterian service in Utah at the Corinne City Hall, and by November of the following year the Presbyterians had dedicated their own chapel in that town. From that small beginning the Presbyterian ministry spread to other locations throughout Utah, usually focusing its efforts on boom mining towns where non-Mormons tended to congregate. By 1900 the Beehive State had 23 Presbyterian churches within its borders and a membership of over 1,300. Seven years later another church was added to this list when the Reverend T. M. Keusseff dedicated a chap1 in the rural, mostly Mormon village of Panguitch in remote Garfield County. His ministry was the first and only non-Mormon mission to Panguitch and proved rewarding to both Keusseff and the tiny town.

The impetus behind the mission to Panguitch was Miss Laura B. Work, a dedicated superintendent at the government Indian School located three miles north of Panguitch. After arriving in town she made repeated appeals to the Utah Presbytery to open a mission in Panguitch so that her students could enjoy a religious option. In early 1905 Reverend Keusseff was offered the Panguitch position, but he and his small family were comfortable with their work in North Dakota. The thought of pioneering the first non-Mormon ministry in Panguitch, let alone in all of Garfield County, was somewhat daunting and Keusseff declined. Over the next year, however, he seriously reconsidered his decision and in spring 1906 reversed it; he felt ready for the challenge.

Keusseff and his family reached their new home on May 10, 1906, and held their first worship.sewice that Sunday in a room above the Panguitch Southern Equitable Store. The bulk of the congregation were Indian children from the government school who attended regularly and enthusiastically sang the hymns. In time the new religion in town even attracted other children and adults to occasional seNices.

The first year Keusseff continued to hold worship meetings above the store, but in November 1907 he delivered his first sermon from the pulpit of his own stately chapel. It was located on Main Street and though largely built with eastern financing also benefited from considerable local donations. Even before its dedication Keusseff had opened a school in the new building. It soon prospered and continued to attract local children until the worldwide influenza epidemic reached Panguitch in 1918 and forced the school's closure. Following the epidemic Keusseff opted not to reopen the school but instead began a series of community outreach programs. He energetically conducted Sunday School and kindergarten classes and organized neighborly senice activities, sewing classes, and a variety of clubs. His wife also became actively involved in the community (more) ONLY

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A Presbyterian Minister Won the Hearts of Panguitch Residents

THEY ~ ~ TOWNm OF CORINNE, " UTAH,WAS

THREE MONTHS OLD in June 1869 when the Reverend Melanchton Hughes stepped off the Union Pacific train to begin his ministry there. The following Sunday, June 13, Hughes conducted the first Presbyterian service in Utah at the Corinne City Hall, and by November of the following year the Presbyterians had dedicated their own chapel in that town. From that small beginning the Presbyterian ministry spread to other locations throughout Utah, usually focusing its efforts on boom mining towns where non-Mormons tended to congregate. By 1900 the Beehive State had 23 Presbyterian churches within its borders and a membership of over 1,300. Seven years later another church was added to this list when the Reverend T. M. Keusseff dedicated a chap1 in the rural, mostly Mormon village of Panguitch in remote Garfield County. His ministry was the first and only non-Mormon mission to Panguitch and proved rewarding to both Keusseff and the tiny town.

The impetus behind the mission to Panguitch was Miss Laura B. Work, a dedicated superintendent at the government Indian School located three miles north of Panguitch. After arriving in town she made repeated appeals to the Utah Presbytery to open a mission in Panguitch so that her students could enjoy a religious option. In early 1905 Reverend Keusseff was offered the Panguitch position, but he and his small family were comfortable with their work in North Dakota. The thought of pioneering the first non-Mormon ministry in Panguitch, let alone in all of Garfield County, was somewhat daunting and Keusseff declined. Over the next year, however, he seriously reconsidered his decision and in spring 1906 reversed it; he felt ready for the challenge.

Keusseff and his family reached their new home on May 10, 1906, and held their first worship.sewice that Sunday in a room above the Panguitch Southern Equitable Store. The bulk of the congregation were Indian children from the government school who attended regularly and enthusiastically sang the hymns. In time the new religion in town even attracted other children and adults to occasional seNices.

The first year Keusseff continued to hold worship meetings above the store, but in November 1907 he delivered his first sermon from the pulpit of his own stately chapel. It was located on Main Street and though largely built with eastern financing also benefited from considerable local donations. Even before its dedication Keusseff had opened a school in the new building. It soon prospered and continued to attract local children until the worldwide influenza epidemic reached Panguitch in 1918 and forced the school's closure. Following the epidemic Keusseff opted not to reopen the school but instead began a series of community outreach programs. He energetically conducted Sunday School and kindergarten classes and organized neighborly senice activities, sewing classes, and a variety of clubs. His wife also became actively involved in the community (more) ONLY

and organized a popular social and educational club called the "Mothers' Meeting" in which most Panguitch :-.athers participated.

The Keusseffs did manage to convert one Mormon family to Presbyterianism while in Panguitch, but their impact on the community as a whole was far greater. Many town children attended Presbyterian Sunday School and kindergarten classes, and a few underprivileged children were even sent by the minister to his church's Wasatch Academy at Mount Pleasant. In addition, the townsfolk as a whole developed a fond affinity for the Keusseffs. One resident wrote: "The Rev. T. M. Keusseff and his lovely wife were among the best citizens our town ever had.

Everyone liked them and supported them in every way they could."

Unfortunately, the Keusseffs' mission to Panguitch ended in 1943. Three years later the Presbyterian church was tom down and replaced by tourist cabins.

See A. Wdtcm Roth, A Century of Sm*m in Utah, 1869-1969 (Salt Lake City, 1969); Garfield County Chapter of the DUP, GoIdcn Nuggets of Pioneer Days: A History of Ga@eId C o u (Panguitch, ~ 1949).

THE HISTORYBLAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533-3500.

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Minstrel Shows Proved Very Popular in 19th-Century Utah From the 1840s until the turn of the century blackface minstrelsy...was arguably the most popular form of entertainment in America. Traveling minstrel shows made Salt Lake City, Ogden, and other major Utah towns part of their regular circuit, and local residents formed amateur troupes. Minstrel shows, whether featuring whites in blackface or real African Americans, drew large and enthusiastic audiences of blacks and whites in Utah.

The Mormon pioneers valued dramatic entertainment, and Brigharn Young promoted the establishment of the Salt Lake Theatre in 1862, requesting that only performances of high literary and moral value be presented. From the start, however, minstrel shows were a favorite feature.

These shows offered a variety of songs and skits, the most characteristic of which featured an 'interlocutor" and two 'endmen"-Tambo and Bones-who provided comic commentary on the proceedings. Minstrel performances were highly ritualized and predictable; audiences sometimes knew and called out the punchlines to jokes before the performers did. The songs and skits featured and perpetuated negative stereotypes about African Americans, slavery, and the South: the lazy, slow-witted, shuffling 'Sambo" who longed for the old plantation, and the strutting, razorwielding, outlandishly dressed, lady-killing 'Zip Coon" were common stock characters.

Most of the early troupes that passed through Utah featured white wormers in blackface and generally advertised their shows as 'negro" or 'Ethiopian." In 1868 some local residents formed the Salt Lake Minstrels and put on a show of their own. The first real Afiican American performers (who generally billed themselves as 'colored") to visit Utah were apparently the Original Georgia Minstrels in 1876. Minstrelsy remained popular through the 1890s; a traveling promoter put together a minstrel show in 1895 that included '60 Salt Lake Society Ladies. " The Utah National Guard formed a blackface troupe as well. the 24th Infantry Regiment, an African American unit garrisoned at Fort Douglas from 1896 to 1900, performed a benefit show for the Semicentennial Pioneer Day Jubilee in 1897 and later formed a permanent troupe.

Minstrel shows often attracted members of Salt Lake City's small African American population as performers and audiences. Despite the general popularity of minstrel shows, however, some local African Americans strongly objected to their content. Julius Taylor, the African American editor and publisher of the Broad Ax, fumed that '. . . under no consideration would we permit ourselves to witness such degrading and demoralizing performances . . .they are both degenerating and they unmistakably tend to lower every negro in the estimation of the opposite race." (more)

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FA)( (801) 533-3303

Minstrel Shows Proved Very Popular in 19th-Century Utah From the 1840s until the turn of the century blackface minstrelsy...was arguably the most popular form of entertainment in America. Traveling minstrel shows made Salt Lake City, Ogden, and other major Utah towns part of their regular circuit, and local residents formed amateur troupes. Minstrel shows, whether featuring whites in blackface or real African Americans, drew large and enthusiastic audiences of blacks and whites in Utah.

The Mormon pioneers valued dramatic entertainment, and Brigharn Young promoted the establishment of the Salt Lake Theatre in 1862, requesting that only performances of high literary and moral value be presented. From the start, however, minstrel shows were a favorite feature.

These shows offered a variety of songs and skits, the most characteristic of which featured an 'interlocutor" and two 'endmen"-Tambo and Bones-who provided comic commentary on the proceedings. Minstrel performances were highly ritualized and predictable; audiences sometimes knew and called out the punchlines to jokes before the performers did. The songs and skits featured and perpetuated negative stereotypes about African Americans, slavery, and the South: the lazy, slow-witted, shuffling 'Sambo" who longed for the old plantation, and the strutting, razorwielding, outlandishly dressed, lady-killing 'Zip Coon" were common stock characters.

Most of the early troupes that passed through Utah featured white wormers in blackface and generally advertised their shows as 'negro" or 'Ethiopian." In 1868 some local residents formed the Salt Lake Minstrels and put on a show of their own. The first real Afiican American performers (who generally billed themselves as 'colored") to visit Utah were apparently the Original Georgia Minstrels in 1876. Minstrelsy remained popular through the 1890s; a traveling promoter put together a minstrel show in 1895 that included '60 Salt Lake Society Ladies. " The Utah National Guard formed a blackface troupe as well. the 24th Infantry Regiment, an African American unit garrisoned at Fort Douglas from 1896 to 1900, performed a benefit show for the Semicentennial Pioneer Day Jubilee in 1897 and later formed a permanent troupe.

Minstrel shows often attracted members of Salt Lake City's small African American population as performers and audiences. Despite the general popularity of minstrel shows, however, some local African Americans strongly objected to their content. Julius Taylor, the African American editor and publisher of the Broad Ax, fumed that '. . . under no consideration would we permit ourselves to witness such degrading and demoralizing performances . . .they are both degenerating and they unmistakably tend to lower every negro in the estimation of the opposite race." (more)

Although the shows seem offensive to 2Oth-century audiences, in its time minstrelsy may have held some attractions for African Americans. Such performances may have provided Utah blacks with a rare opportunity for local fame and recognition and a chance to demonstrate their talents. Within the strict limits of its stereotypal stock characters, minstrelsy offered some African Americans an avenue into show business.

See Robert C.Toll, Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-Century A m e r i ~(New York, 1974); Michael Hicks, 'Ministering Minstrels Blackface Entertainment in Pioneer Utah," UIcJl Historical Quarterly 58 (1990);Broizd AX, April 2, 1898.

HISTORYBLAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more- informationabout-the Historical -Society-telephone 533-3500. .-..- .

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Colorful Sam Gilson Did Much More Than Promote Gilsonite Samuel H. Gilson was a colorful and versatile figure in Utah history. He served as a federal marshal, prospected for gold, raised livestock, invented machinery, and defended the rights of organized labor. His name has become most closely associated, however, with a useful industrial hydrocarbon.

Gilson was born in Plainfield, Illinois, in 1836 and came west in 1850 with his brother James to search for gold. Fortune apparently eluded him, because by the 1860s he was raising livestock in Nevada and supplying horses for the Pony Express. In 1870 the Gilson brothers moved to the Sevier River Valley where they established the Mountain Ranch. In addition to ranching, Sam also served as a U.S. marshal and presided at the execution of John Doyle Lee at Mountain Meadows. In 1884 Gilson was hired by U.S. Attorney W. H. Diclcron as part of a detective team to enforce the antipolygamy provisions of the Edmunds Act; he quickly obtained enough evidence to indict ten prominent Mormon leaders.

In the course of his livestock dealings, Gilson came across a shiny black coal-like substance in the Uinta Basin The material was not unknown; some samples had been sent to the Columbia College School of Mines in 1865, and explorers and prospectors apparently knew of its existence.

In 1869 the blacksmith at 'Whiterocla Indian Agency, John Kelly, had asked the Utes to bring him some coal; the stuff they returned with burned so smoky and hot that it nearly bumed Kelly's shop down. Gilson either discovered an outcropping of the mineral in Horse Canyon in 1885 or, more likely, was shown the material by local cattlemen.

Gilson might not have discovered it, but he worked hard to discover commercial uses for the material. Analysis by the Smithsonian Institution revealed it to be 99.6 percent pure hydrocarbon. Gilson experimented widely with the substance, as his widow remembered decades later: 'It is such a sticky, messy, mined asphaltum when it's heated and you should have seen my kitchen!

There was gilsonite in every pot, pan and kettle I owned. Everywhere I turned I ran into the stuff. " In 1889 a St. Louis firm bought out Gilson's interest. He jokingly offered one silver dollar for the firm to name the company after him, and they did-The Gilson Asphaltum Company, for years the leading producer of gilsonite, as it came to be almost universally known. The material eventually came to be used for a vast array of industrial purposes, including as a base for paint, electrical insulators, signal flares, building paper, roofing material, floor tiles, and printer's ink.

The imaginative Gilson continued to experiment in a number of other fields, including the design of an efficient coke oven. His widow claimed that he invented a widely used platform for railway coaches and designed a workable airplane, neither of which he profited from. Gilson. (more)

continued prospecting and took an interest in the problems of labor. In 1904 he protested the treatment of striking Carbon County miners, even getting himself arrested for supposedly cursing Sheriff Hyrum Wilcox and his deputy. Gilson lived the last years of his active life in Salt Lake City where he died on-December 1, 1913.

So-: N e d Christy Remington, "A History of the Gilsonite Industry" (M.S.thesis, University of Utah, 1959); Allan Kent Powell, "The 'Foreign' Element and the 1903-4 Carbon County Coal Miners' Strike," Utah Historical QuwterZy 43 (1975); Douglas D. Woodad, 'Sam Gilson and the American Dream,"MS in Utah State Historid Society Library; Stephedl Cresswell, 'The U.S. Deportmmt of Justice in Utah Territory, 1870-90," U t d Historical Qmerb 53 (1985).

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The Utah National Guard and the Battle of the Cow

THELONG,

REVOLUTIONthat began in. 1910 was a -matter of great concern to the leaders of the United States. The two countries shared thousands of miles of border, and U.S. companies owned millions of dollars worth of property and business in Mexico.

American troops intervened actively in 1914-after the Tampiw flag incident-and otherwise watched the situation carefully. U.S. intervention helped Venustiano Carranza come to power, but the fighting continued with Francisco "Pancho" Villa, among others, struggling to gain control. In the spring of 1916 Villistas launched a series of bloody raids into New Mexiw and Texas, possibly hoping that American retaliation would aid their cause. In June 1916 President Woodrow Wilson e launching a 'punitive expedition" into called the entire National Guard into federal s e ~ c while Mexico with Army regulars. About 800 members of the Utah National Guard responded and served border duty. Their most serious encounter was the Battle of Cara Piedra ("Stone House"), although some called the skirmish "the Battle of the Cow." Utahns responded enthusiastically to the call for troops. One battery of field artillery, two squadrons of cavalry, and one field hospital unit hurried south to help guard the ArizondMexico border, a traditional region for cattle rustlers of both nations. Guard duty was generally quiet, even boring; only a handful of street brawls in Nogales pnd some incidents of horse theft enlivened the camp routine. Then on January 26, 1917, the action picked up.

The events of that day are uncertain, and the causes of the skirmish depend on the teller of the tale. Initial reports indicated that a group of American cowboys exchanged shots with Mexican vaqueros ('cowboys") over some cattle that were being moved across the international border near Ruby, Arizona, 30 miles west of Nogales. A few Utah National Guard cavalrymen from Troop E, Second Squadron, became involved in the fray. The Mexicans took refuge in a stone house, and the two sides exchanged fire throughout the night. Reinforcements from Troop E arrived the next day, and still more from Troop F helped as well. Some reports claimed that the Mexicans were in uniform and may have been some of Carranza's regular troops. Still another newspaper report ('FIGHT CAUSED BY COW WHO KNOWS NO LAW")by one L. V. B. Rucker of the Intemational News S e ~ c esupposedly , taken from the U.S. Army's official report of the incident, claimed that the trouble started when 'a yearling heifer on the Arizona side near Ruby crossed the international boundary for the very good reason that the grass appeared to be greener on the Sonora side of the invisible line. Who could expect an Arizona cow to respect international law?"

Rucker wrote that some American cowboys crossed the line to retrieve the heifer and were confronted by vaqueros who ordered them back. When 'three Sonora Indians" in Camnza (more) CONFUSED, BLOODY MEXICAN

uniforms arrived and shot at the American cowboys, they went for the National Guard. Meanwhile, the heifer wandered back to the Arizona side of her own accord: 'Thus ended the official report of the battle of the cow."

Many Utah newspaper reports, naturally enough, gave greater stress to the heroism displayed by their boys in this fierce struggle. 'UTAH TROOPERS ROUT MEXXCANS AT STONE HOUSE," shouted one headline, which told of the battle against '25 irresponsible Mexican bandit cattle rustlers." "MEXICANS DRIVEN ACROSS THE LINE BY THE TROOPERS, " claimed another story, which maintained that the Utahns 'rushed the invaders," 'routed them out," and drove them about a mile south of the border where they holed up in adobe houses.

The troopers rushed them again, displaced them, and burned the houses. The first article, however, reported that Lt. Carl H. Arns of Troop E had crossed the border to reach the Mexicans' rear on the 27th but found they had fled. Upon returning to Utah on March 3, a cavalryman told the SuZt Luke Tribune that Carranza's troops were rustling cattle, drove off American cowboys, holed up in the stone house, and-'kept up the firing for 48 -hours and then-disappeared." The Utahns suffered no casualties; and although no Mexican killed or wounded were ever found, 'the Utah boys saw at least five fall," and bloodstains indicated that some had been hit. Maj. W. B. Wallace, commander of the S a n d Squadron, told the Deseret News that 'It was a real test and I am proud to say that every man and horse came through it in excellent shape. E Troop had been under h.Now hostile fire is hostile fire and it doesn't much matter whether the shells are large or small [Mexican casualties were!] known to have becn 3 killed, 7 wounded."

While Utahns had reason to be proud of their National Guard, the U. S Army was less pleased with the Mexican incident as a whole. Many states' Guard contingents arrived late (if at all) and proved to be badly trained, supplied, and led. The regulars failed to catch Pancho Villa and stumbled into unwanted confrontations with Carranza's troops. The United States would have to move quickly to remedy their armed forces' shortcomings, for they were about to become involved in the European conflict. Utah's Second Squadron was mustered out of federal service on March 8, 1917, and Congress declared war on Germany on April 6.

...

.

See Richard C. Roberts, 'The Utah National Guard on the Mexican Border in 1916," Utah Histon'ml Quarter& 46 (1978), 262-81; and Salt Lake City newspapers.

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Just Who Was the Outlaw Queen Etta Place?

ACCORDING TO LEGEND, BUTCHCASSIDYAND THE SUNDANCEKID (Harry Longabaugh), infamous Utah outlaws noted throughout the West for their daring train, bank, and payroll heists, had a variety of female companions-but none quite as mysterious as the wild and sophisticated Etta Place. Some say she was a native of eastern Utah and grew up in the Castle Gate-Price region. Others claim she was born in New York or Pennsylvania. Separating facts from legend is nearly impossible, making Place the true 'mystery woman" of the notorious 'Wild Bunch." That is until Doris Karren Burton, a worker at the Outlaw Trail History Center at the Uintah County Library, instigated a series of computer photograph analyses of Place that she published in 1992.

The results linked Place to another colorfbl figure with ties to Utah's past: Ann Bassett, the socalled Queen of the Cattle Rustlers. Burton's fascinating research and the Bassett-Place connection illuminate the little known female side of Utah's tum-of-the-century outlaws.

The story unfolds in a rugged area on the Green River known as Brown's Park (also called Brown's Hole). Cut by impassable canyons and unfordable rivers, gulches, and gullies, Brown's Park not only offered an ideal hideout to fugitives but also provided excellent winter and summer range for stolen stock. The region was, in fact, used as such by the Wild Bunch on several occasions, and even the permanent residents of Brown's Park did their share of rustling. Ann Basset was no different; she spent much of her life as a rancher in Brown's Park, and there she met and forged a friendship with Cassidy and Sundance.

Closer scrutiny of Ann's life reveals that perhaps she was more than a friend to the two outlaws. Events suggest parallels too numerous to be coincidental between her and Etta Place, the cryptic outlaw companion of the Wild Bunch. Pinkerton National Detective Agency records give a physical description of Place that matches Bassett almost identically. Moreover, both women were noted for their classic good looh, intelligence, expert horsemanship, prowess with guns, and reputations as "loose" ladies. Adding to the likelihood that the two women were actually the same person is the fact that soon after each of Bassett's disappearances from Brown's Park, Place turned up with Cassidy and Sundance.

Ann Bassett was born in Brown's Park on May 25, 1878, to Herb and Elizabeth Bassett and experienced a childhood f111ed with every aspect of ranch life, including horse riding, calf roping, and a large dose of wild freedom. In 1894, two years after her mother's death, Ann's father enrolled her in St. Mary's Catholic School in Salt Lake City in an attempt to curb her wild side.

After only a year the nuns asked the uncontrollable Ann to leave, and she returned to Brown's Park. During one of Cassidy's visits to the region he developed a close relationship with Ann, and it was likely during the winter of 1896-97 that she first used the alias Etta Place. That winter Place (more) -

turned up in Emery County as Cassidy's companion. Apparently the lovers shared a cabin at Robber's Roost, the famous outlaw hideout in southeastern Utah, with Elzy Lay and his new bride, Maude Davis, and other gang members.

Upon returning home, Ann took to cattle rustling and sabotage to defend her family's holdings against the Two-BarRanch, a large cattle company vying for control of Brown's Park.

Meanwhile, the Wild Bunch left Utah and congregated in Texas in the fall of 1900. A few month's later Ann left Brown's Park and Etta Place turned up in Texas. A February 2, 1901, article in the Vemd &press noted that "Miss Annie Bassett*lefton this morning's stage for Texas." Again, using the alias Etta Place, Bassett met Cassidy and Sundance, this time as a companion of the latter, and the trio journeyed to New York and then sailed to South America. Pinkerton records indicate that Place and Sundance returned to the U.S. in July 1902. Six months later Ann r e a p e d in Vernal, and the newspaper reported that she had been 'traveling" for two years.

Mysteriously, news of Etta Place largely disappeared after a few more rendezvous in the early 20th century with Sundance, and possibly Cassidy, south of the border. Ann married Frank Willis, a cowboy and prospector, in 1923 and eventually settled in the small southwestern Utah town of Leeds where she died in 1956. To fulfill her wish to have her cremated remains scattered in her beloved Brown's Park, Frank drove there but "didn't have the heart to throw Ann out." Her ashes remained in the trunk of his car until he died in 1963. Family members then buried Ann's ashes at an unmarked location in Brown's Park.

Perhaps the historical evidence suggesting that Bassett and Place were the same person is purely coincidental, but when surviving photographs of each are factored in the results seem indisputable. Doris Burton, with the help of Bill Webb, a member of the Outlaw Trail History Association, researched the historical similarities between the two women and sent pictures of each woman to Dr. Thomas G. Kyle of the Computer Research Group at Los Alarnos National Laboratory. He had previously performed many such comparisons for government intelligence agencies. Using the computer to bring out characteristics too dim for the eye to recognize, Kyle ran a series of tests on the physical features of the two women. He concluded that there was only a 1 in 5,000 chance that the two women were different people. He was ready to remove the photos from his screen when he noticed something unusual he had somehow overlooked. A tiny elongated area at the top center of Ann's forehead seemed to be missing hair. Kyle had mistaken the spot for a part but upon further examination believed it to be a scar or unusual cowlick. He then zoomed in on Etta's head and found the same defect. He concluded: "The fact that the two women match in all their features and have this same defect removes all reasonable doubt that the two are the same person." Ann Bassett, Queen of the Cattle Rustlers, was Etta Place, queen of the outlaws.

See D. K. Burtw, Queen Ann Bassett Alias Etta Phm (Vernal, 1992); Debbie Spafford, 'Ann Bassett, Queen of the Cattle Rustlers," Outlaw Trail Journal, Winter\Spring 1992;Wallace Stegner, Monnon Country (New York, 1970).

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"Wood Dances" Became Annual Events in Some Rural Towns

F R OLIFE~IN 1 m - AND EARLY ~ ~ H - C E N T U RRURAL Y UTAHwas often filled with challenges and hard work. Pioneer colonizers in settlements that dotted the sagebrush expanses of Utah often struggled with perpetually broken dams, ditches, and canals and also battled droughts, floods, Indians, insects, and a variety of other difficulties. In the midst of these hardships, however, settlers still saved time to cultivate active social lives that often centered around town dances. Dancing was popular among all ages as it provided an opportunity for adults to mingle with fiends and other townsfolk and gave youth a chance to show off for members of the opposite sex. In some towns fresuent dance gatherings gave rise to interesting customs and experiences that form a colorful part of Utah's past.

In 1876, just one year after the first settlers arrived to colonize Escalante, the eager young people of that infant town sprinkled water on a barren spot of earth and trampled it hard to make a dance floor. Originally, dances were free in Escahte, but as accommodations improved admittance required an entrance fee. Ticket prices could be paid in produce-such as beans, grain, potatoes, and squash-prompting some local boys to seek work in the grain fields to earn enough grain to pay for their winter dance tickets.

In Beaver 'wood dances" became popular annual events. This tradition grew out of the need to provide fuel for the wood-burning stoves at the church and for widows and needy families in the community. On the appointed day, men and boys would secure every horse and wagon in town and head into the nearby hills to chop and gather wood. The wood haulers were paid for their efforts in tickets to the 'wood dance" and supper. Tickets were distributed according to the amount of wood each family retrieved, motivating large families to do proportional work to receive tickets for each family member. The women cooked a large meal complete with vegetables, meats, pies, cakes, and jellies, and those with tickets were admitted to the feast and ensuing dance.

A similar tradition evolved farther south in Hebron. Each fall the men of that town chose sides for the annual wood haul. At the appointed hour each side began its quest to chop and haul the most firewood. The losing side had to furnish a free dance and picnic for the winners and their wives. In this way residents provided wood for the church building to last through the winter and enjoyed food and a dance when the work was done.

In 1875 the men of Hebron organized a similar contest, again hoping to benefit the town.

According to Orson Huntsman, rabbits in the area had become tremendously 'over stocked" and were destroying the settlers' crops and range grass. After a town meeting Huntsman and Jefferson Hunt were appointed captains to make a contest of the hunt by choosing sides from among the men

and boys in town capable of shouldering a gun or club. The losing side was to 'make a party and supper for the other side." Early on November 22 the two teams of thirteen men and nine boys each commenced the slaughter. The contest ended on December 24 with Huntsman's team killing a total of 1,488 rabbits and Hunt's team 1,505. Huntsman recalled, 'So they ate and danced at our expense . . and we all had a good enjoyable time."

According to John Laub, there were other unusual aspects to some dances at Hebron. He recalled several dances where most of the boys did not have shoes to wear. A crowd of anxious youth would gather outside the dance hall and take turns with the shoes that were available. One boy would don a pair and go in and dance and then wme out and allow another boy a turn so that all were eventually able to dance. As in Escalante, the Hebron boys paid for their dance tickets in produce. A large squash, a few ears of wrn, or some potatoes would do, but the young man who showed up with molasses candy was extra fortunate. This sweet treat was never paid as admittance to the dance, but the boy who was lucQ enough to have it always saved it to share with his female dance partners.

Similar experiences typified life in most remote areas of Utah where dances were integral and enjoyable aspects of community life. Dancing provided a valuable form of social interaction that helped mitigate the loneliness of the frontier and offered opportunities for both young and old to forget the challenges of rural life and have fun.

.

See Aird G. M d e y , ed., Monumcnts to Courage: A History of Beaver County (Milford, Utah, 1948); Carrie Elinbstb L.ub Hunt, Memories of the Past a d Fmily History (Salt hike City, 1968); Nethella Griffin Wmlsey, ?he ~~e Stoly: A History of the Town of Escalante.. .187S-1964 (Springville, 1964); Diary of Orson W. Huntsman, typescript, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 1: 90-91.

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A Bit of Polynesia Remains in the Salt Desert

h o r n 75 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SALTLAKE CRY in the semibarren expanse of Sku11 Valley the bronze bust of a Polynesian warrior rises as an anomaly out of the eastern fringe of the Salt Desert. The bust and the nearby cemetery are the only reminders of an even greater anomaly from Utah's past-a colony of immigrants from Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, and New Zealand scratching out an existence in the Utah desert at the turn of the century.

Iosepa, (pronounced Yo-SEH-pa) the Hawaiian word for Joseph, was founded in August 1889 under the direction of then Mormon apostle Joseph F. Smith. The town's colonizers were devout converts to the Mormon faith who came to Utah in order to build Zion and worship in the soon to be completed Salt LaLE Temple. Certainly these tropical Polynesians were out of their element in the bone-dry desert of Utah and battled to adapt to the new climate, new language, and new foods, but in time they prospered and even made Skull Valley appear hospitable. On Arbor Day in 1899 they planted over 700 trees and shrubs, and during the initial stages of settlement residents installed a village water system, channeled a small stream from the Stansbury Mountains for irrigation, and developed a few natural springs to water their cattle. From their cooperative farming efforts they raised barley, hay, and livestock, with proceeds totaling near $20,000 in 1914. More important to the pious colonists, however, were their 77-mile treks to Salt Lak City.

They made the pilgrimage as often as possible to worship in the temple, which remained their primary motivation for staying in Utah.

At its peak in 1916 Iosepa was home to 228 inhabitants, but despite its remarkble successes the colony was also plagued with hardships. The Polynesian settlers were not accustomed to the harsh Utah climate; they baked in the dry desert summers and shivered in the d d white winters. Such challenges took their toll, and at times it seemed that the cemetery grew faster than the town. A small outbreak of leprosy in the mid-1890s added to Iosepa's difficulties. In all, only three colonists contracted the feared disease, but they were kept isolated from the rest of the residents in a barren shack well separated from town. The afflicted hoisted a flag on the pole outside their house when they needed provisions, and in this way the town cared for the lepers until they died.

In 1916 the Mormon church's announcement of construction of a temple in Hawaii started a return migration among Iosepa's colonists back to their homeland. Despite their difficult life in Skull Valley it was a mournful departure for most of Iosepa's citizens. In a show of solidarity Utah's Hawaiian residents cried and sang as they walked to the train depot 14 miles distant. By

January 1917 Iosepa was largely a ghost town, and over time the desert winds and desolation reclaimed the Polynesian village. Seventy-nine graves were the only lasting physical tribute to the colonists until their dehndants and the Mormon church dedicated a monument in their honor in August 1989.

Source: D e s m Ncws, August 27,29, Septernbef 2, 1989, M a y 29, 1994; Salt Loke Tdbune,February 24, 1952; Tracey E. Pan&, 'Life at Iosepa, Utah'sPolynesian Colony," Utah Historical Qmerly 60 (1992).

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Transcontinental Telephone Service Began in 1914, But Who Remembers?

WHILETHE COMPLETION OF THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD IN 1869 is still a wellremembered event in Utah history, relatively few people today recall the completion of the transcontinental telephone. On June 17, 1914, the final connection between San Francisco and New York was made on the NevaddUtah border near Wendover. Although that event was celebrated locally, the nation& festivities were reserved for January 25, 1915, when Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson re-created their famous original call on the transcontinental line.

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company had long planned and worked to complete the long-distance line. The technological sticking point was the lack of an adequate repeating device that wuld amplify voice communications at a constant level over great distances.

Theodore Vail, president of Am, turned the problem over to his chief engineer, John J. Carty.

Despite his initial skepticism, Carty and his coworkers eventually developed an adequate repeater using vacuum tube technology.

By 1911 regular telephone service stretched from New York to Denver, with some limited service between Denver and Salt Lake City. The final gap consisted of some 400 miles of Great Basin desert across Nevada and Utah. The hazards that telephone construction crews battled-blizzards, sand, floods, rock-hard ground, desert heat, and snakes-were the same ones faced by pioneer settlers and railroad builders in the nineteenth century. At one point the company sent a fleet of Model-T Fords to supplement equipment that had been disabled by sand.

By June 17 all the problems had been surmounted. The final pole had two flags flying from its cross arm: a United States flag and a banner emblazoned 'S.F.-N.Y. Toll Line Completed June 17, 1914." Proud crews from Bell Telephone of Nevada, which had built from the west, joined crews from Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph to celebrate the monumental feat.

According to a construction foreman, the feasting and partying went on for three days; the food, including large quantities of roast duck, was located on the Utah side of the border, while the champagne flowed on the Nevada side.

The first official message sent on the line was timed to coincide with the Panama-Pacific Exposition of January 1915 in San Francisco. Alexander Graham Bell in New York City and his former assistant Thomas Watson in San Francisco re-created their historic call. Both reported that the connection was perfect. Another connection to Jekyll Island, Florida, brought A'TT President Vail on the line, while U.S. President Woodrow Wilson joined the party call from Washington, D.C.The telephone company was taking no chances about the connection; Am informed the press that it had dispatched 32 repairmen on horseback across the desert, equipped with repair materials in case of any mechanical failure. The price of a call from New York to San Francisco was not (more)

cheap; $20.70 bought a three-minute conversation, with $6.75 for each additional minute.

While A I T trumpeted its accomplishment, the local press was more reserved. News from the battlefields of Europe pushed the transcontinental link to the back pages. The company's promotional literature promised that future schoolchildren would recall "January 25, 1915, as one of the big dates in the world's scientific, commercial, and political history. " History has proven that claim to be overstated. Nevertheless, transcontinental telephone service quickly became indispensable for both business and private communications.

See "The Story of a Great Achievement," undated ATT pamphlet in Utah State History Society Library; Sam Bloom, "Theodore Vail: He Made the Transcontinental Phone a Reality," me West, January 1974; SaZt Lake Tribune and Deseret Evening Naus, January 26, 1915.

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Why the Towns of Thurber and Grayson Changed Their Names

ORIGINS OF MANY UTAHPLACE NNAMES 'A~E'EASILY RECOGNIZABLE to most people, even with a limited background in U.S., Utah, and Mormon history. Some names like those given to Piute and Sanpete counties have Native American origins, while others reflect national political figures such as Washington and Fillmore. Many place names like Nephi and Lehi are traceable to Mormon scriptures and reflect the religious convictions of the colonizers. Others such as Brigham City and St. George are named for early Mormon leaders. Two towns, Bicknell in Wayne County and Blanding in San Juan County, both had original names that were also linked to their pioneer pasts, but a wealthy easterner named Thomas Bicknell and his wife Amelia D. Blanding changed all of that.

The town of Bicknell was originally named Thurber in honor of Albert King Thurber, a devout Mormon pioneer of Wayne County. Thurber was born April 7, 1826, in Rhode Island and at age 23, bitten by the California gold bug, traveled west in 1849 in search of riches. On his way through Utah, however, he stopped in Salt Lake City where he met some Mormons and decided to abandon his dream of finding gold and join the Saints instead. A few years after settling in Utah, Thurber was selected by the Mormon hierarchy to help pioneer Utah County; he subsequently moved to Spanish Fork where he was appointed bishop and helped build the first meetinghouse there. He was not allowed much time to rest, for he was soon sent on to the new settlement of Richfield in Sevier County. There he was made the ecclesiastical leader over the region and comm e n d exploring and settling the surrounding country. He headed expeditions into nearby mountains and valleys in 1873, 1876, and 1881 that ultimately led to the settling of Wayne County. In his various journeys Thurber longingly admired a section of land on the Fremont River in Wayne County and in 1879 settled on it. Others joined him at his chosen spot, and eventually it grew into a quaint little town that residents named Thurber in honor of its prominent pioneer settler.

The story of Blanding's original name is similar to that of Thurber's. Blanding rests in a beautiful spot ten miles south of the towering Blue Mountains on the upper end of the White Mesa in southeastern Utah. It was on the south side of the Blue Mountains in 1902 that Mormon colonizer Joseph A. Lyman bought a ranch and temporarily settled his family. He soon opened a post office which he named Grayson after his wife Nellie Grayson Rogers Lyman. In 1905 when Lyman's family relocated to White Mesa to found a new settlement they moved the Grayson post office with them. Residents of the new community agreed to apply the name of the post office to the town and Grayson was born. (more)

Both Thurber and Grayson seemed aptly named, each in honor of one of its pioneer settlers. But all of that qhanged in 1914 when, for undeterminable reasons, Thomas W. Bicknell, a wealthy author, educator, and publisher from Providence, Rhode Island, offered a library of 1,000 volumes to any Utah town willing to rename itself after him. One resident from Thurber, George C. Brinkerhoff, was in the East at that time serving a Mormon mission and approached Bicknell about his offer. Upon returning to Thurber, Brinkerhoff explained Bicknell's proposition to his fellow residents, a majority of whom voted in favor of changing the town name. Townsfolk in Grayson also heard news of Bicknell's offer and made a similar application for the promised library. To satisfy both communities Bicknell eventually m g e d a compromise. He agreed to give Thurber half of the library for taking the name of Bicknell, and Grayson the other half for changing its name to Blanding, his wife's maiden name. Thus, in March 1915 Gray son officially became Blanding, and in April 1916 .Thurber became Bicknell. The wealthy easterner thereby . . perpetuated both his and his wife's names in Utah forever-or at least until the two towns receive a better offer.

Sources: Annie Snow, ed., Rainbow Views: A History of Wayne County (Springville, 1953); John W. Van Cott, Utah

P h Names (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1990); Charles Kelly, "A Brief Biographical Sketch of Albert King Thurber," typescript, Utah State Historical Society Library; Gary L. Shumway, "Blanding: The Making of a Community," in Allan Kent Powell, ed., Sara Juan County, Utah: People, Resources, and History (Salt Lake City, 1983); Albert Nelson Marquis, ed., Who's Who in America (19 14-15).

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When the Wolves Seemed to Be Taking Over Randolph, Utah

ATTHE TURN OF THE CENTURY GRAY,WOLVES INVADED--RANDOLPH, UTAH, in an expansive migration to the Bear River country. Ranchers and hunters joined in a battle against the gray wolf that continued for some fifteen years. Those who experienced the "wolf years" in Randolph left lasting records about sharing the land with-the wolves.

Wolves constantly threatened livestock throughout the period. Kathleen Rex Thorncock recorded that in 1908 her brothers purchased the Ford Ranch, several miles east of Randolph at the foot of Crawford Mountain. Since wolves often attack livestock at night, the two men had to nightherd the stock. They continued this practice until Christmas Eve when both brothers attended a local dance. Upon returning to the ranch they met a pack of eight wolves stalking the livestock.

They spent the night chasing the wolves on horseback. By morning they had trapped six wolves, some over six feet long.

Wolf attacks also threatened the Jones Ranch. Every year Rosetta Jones accompanied her father to manage a sheep and livestock camp near the Bear River. Along with her daily chores of cutting river ice to make water for the horses and cattle, chopping willow shoots into small pieces to feed to the livestock, and cooking, she was responsible for setting the wolf traps in the evening.

At night Rose would sleep while her father guarded the camp. She recorded that she lay awake many nights worrying about the safety of her father. She always got "gooseflesh" when she heard the howl of the wolves get closer and closer to camp.

Those who were children during the "wolf years" had their own memories of meeting the predators. Myrtle Rex recorded that as she and her brother Elden rode to school from the Rex Brothers Ranch in 1910 they would often see a pack of wolves crossing the fields as they approached the foot of Crawford Mountain. Even if they were far in the distance, Myrtle Rex noted, the horse would stop until the wolves had crossed the road and gone out of sight. The children had their own way of communicating with the mysterious wolves. When they received a toy horn for Christmas in 1910, they stood on the porch and blew it, listening for the wolves to howl back.

Fred Feller first encountered wolves as a young boy in 1908. His mother had sent him to deliver a message to Mrs. Jensen, a neighbor who lived a mile away. When he arrived at the home, he saw her standing on the porch with a gun in her hand. She had shot a wolf that was stalking in her yard. As he grew older, Feller became the one who shot the wolves. At the age of 16 he was honored in a small western newspaper as a boy hunter in northern Utah who had earned $1,070 in bounties for killing wolves and coyotes. In the article he explained the benefits of (more)

trapping: 'Ranchers should trap to destroy pests and can make money at the same time." He later recalled that he had killed 30 wolves, 5 in 1917, and as a government trapper had killed more than 1,200 coyotes* From 1900 to 1915 Rich County was one of the leading regions in the fur market. The cold temperatures made the furs thick and healthy. Like Fred Feller, many Randolph residents hunted wolves both to help the ranchers and to earn some extra money on the side. Wolf pelts sold for $15 to $20, depending on the size and quality. Some lucky hunters earned even more money for the pelts. J. 0. Rex, owner of the Rex Brothers Ranch, caught his last wolf in 1917. He called the catch his "$72 wolf," since the county paid him $25 in bounty, the Cattlemen's Association paid $25, and he sold the pelt for $22.

After fifteen years of fighting, Randolph residents won the battle against the wolves in Rich County. Livestock patrols and excessive hunting greatly reduced the gray wolf population in the region. The remaining wolves, threatened by possible extinction, migrated northward into less hostile environments. Townspeople were left only with memories-and stories of the famous 'wolf years" in Randolph.

C

See Mildred Hatch Thompson, comp., Rich Memories (Rich County: DUP, 1962); Steven Thomson et al., comps., RandoZph-A Look Back (Randolph, Utah, 1981).

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1883 Blaze Spurred Creation of Salt Lake City's Professional Fire Department

FORTHE FIRST 36 YEARS OF ITS EXISTENCE SALT LAKECITY relied on the services of volunteer firefighters to protect lives and property. The volunteers strove to uphold their motto, 'We Aim to Aid and Work to Save." By the 1880s this system was insufficient for the growing city, and a professional force was created. A terrible-fire in the early morning hours of June 21, 1883, proved to be the final factor in the establishment of a professional fire department.

A number of volunteer brigades were created in the early years of the city, including several established by private commercial firms. In 1853 Mayor Jedediah M. Grant signed an ordinance creating a citywide volunteer fire brigade. Along with a reorganization of the department in 1856, engineer Jesse C. Little and others constructed a small, manually pumped engine christened the Volunteer. This sturdy little machine had to be hauled by hand to the fue site, sometimes a distance of a mile or more. With several strong men laboring on its levers in relay teams, a stream of ditch water four stories high could reportedly be maintained. A severe fire in 1871 pointed up the inadequacies of the Volunteer, and a number of citizens, including Henry W. Lawrence, combined to purchase an eastern-built steam engine. When the engine arrived, however, the group found that the maintenance, housing, and motive power for the heavy engine were beyond their means, and they prevailed upon the city to purchase it from them. The Volunteer was rebuilt by the Higgs brothers and continued to see some auxiliary service.

Just after midnight on June 21, 1883, fire broke out on the premises of H. B. Clawson's Wagon Depot in the block immediately south of Temple Square. The fire began in the southwest corner of the store in the agricultural implement department, which unfortunately was strewn with wooden crates. It quickly spread through the interior of the block, fed by a number of small wooden structures. The volunteers' turnout to fight the blaze was severely limited by the fact that many of them were still at Black Rock beach on the Great Salt Lake enjoying a picnic. The remaining members, along with the reserves and companies formed by the Utah Central Railroad and the Walker brothers, frantically worked to contain the fire. At about 12:30 A.M. an enormous explosion rocked the scene. Charles Feveryear and Brig Randall of the #2 Engine Company were blown off the roof of the neighboring Scrace's Bakery by the force of the blast. Windows were shattered for blocks; only two panes remained intact at the ZCMI building. The fire had reached a cache of powder that Clawson had stored (illegally) on his premises. Later estimates suggested that as many as 25 barrels of powder had exploded. Incredibly, no one was seriously injured; about a dozen received cuts from flying glass, and one man suffered a broken arm. (more)

The fire spread to Savage's Art Gallery next to Clawson's as well as to the old Council House, which housed the offices of the Woman's Erponent. A few burning embers blew across South Temple Street and ignited the roofs of the Tabernacle and the Tithing Officebut were quickly extinguished. When the fire was finally doused the damage was extensive: Clawson's and Savage's properties were almost total losses, along with the Council House, Scrace's Bakery, Elias Moms's headstone shop, Sorenson and Carlquist's furniture store, Joseph Hyrum Parry' s print shop, and Joseph Rawlins's and Ben Judson's shoe shops.

An official inquiry failed to pinpoint the cause of the blaze, but Clawson was widely held responsible for the explosion. It was decided, however, that his extensive personal losses precluded recovering damages from him. The volunteers officially reckoned the damage at $93,000, only some of which was insured. The volunteers also took the opportunity to petition the city for a raise in their fmfighting pay. In 1879 the city had granted them 25 cents an hour for time spent fighting blazes; the united volunteers now requested 50 cents. After much deliberation the City Council decided instead to institute a paid force. George Ottinger, the last volunteer chief, became the frrst professional chief. On October 1, 1883, the paid department was officially established.

Sources: Kate B. Carter, comp., Fire Departments of Utah (Salt Lake City: DUP, 1941); Salt Lake Tribune, June 2124, 1883, September 15-30, 1883; Deseret Evening Navs, June 21-24, 1883, September 15-30, 1883; A Pictorial Histoty of the Salt Lake City Fire Department, 1871-1976 (Salt Lake City, 1976).

THI3 HISTORYBLAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533-3500.

059513 (JN)

Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City VT 84101

The Wenner Family Enjoyed Life on Fremont Island

WHENKATEAM) U r n J-

-

:

WENNER m~ IN Salt-Lake City -in 1880 they expected to establish permanent residence in the city. The newlyweds built a home on East South Temple, and Wenner opened a law office. The couple soon became prominent members of Salt Lake society. In 1883 Wenner was appointed as a probate judge in Salt Lake County. Kate became involved in social functions and in raising the two children-George and Blanche.

All seemed to be going well for the family until Wenner became seriously ill with tuberculosis. Doctors suggested that a change of climate and exposure to open air would improve his health. After careful consideration the family decided to spend the entire summer on uninhabited Fremont Island in the Great Salt Lake. Though friends and relatives thought they were crazy, the isolated life and adventure appealed to the family. In 1886 the Wenners purchased part of the island from the Union Pacific and agreed to homestead the rest. Hearing that the island was perfect grazing land, the Wenners purchased sheep to be sent to Fremont Island. On the designated date of departure the family of four, two greyhound dogs, and a hired maid piled into an old sailboat to undertake the 20-mile journey. Kate later recorded that stormy weather made the voyage almost unbearable. It required almost three days to reach the island; and by then the crew was wet and exhausted. Kate spent an entire day ironing out heavy wrinkles in their salt-water-soaked clothes.

The Wenner's first summer on Fremont Island was full of adventures and new discoveries.

Kate, raised by a wealthy eastern family and educated at prestigious schools, recorded that she 'felt like a real frontier woman to begin homesteading our first acres. " The children spent long hours exploring the island and playing on the beach. The family had brought with them a copy of explorer John C. Fremont's book that recounted early discoveries on the island long before the Mormon settlers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. They read the book often, trying to imagine what events had taken place on their island. When the children found flint arrowheads, the story of the island's early days expanded to include Native Americans.

The summer stay on Fremont Island proved so enjoyable that the Wenners decided to take up permanent residence on the island. They built a small brick house to replace the camping tent that had been used most of the summer. Their sheep herd was healthy from summer grazing on the island. The Wenners purchased a boat called the Argo to transport the fleeces and lambs to market in Salt Lake City. They hired a man to sail the Argo back to the island to bring mail and books to the family. Meanwhile, life on the island became more stable and permanent. The children had to complete daily lessons before they wuld play or swim. The farm gradually increased to include horses, cows, and other domestic animals. As small as their community was, they celebrated most (more)

holidays. Kate recorded that on one memorable July 4th the cows were so frightened by the fireworks that they stampeded into the lake!

After two y w of isolation on the island, Kate left with her children to visit her parents in Illinois and give birth to a new baby. She humorously recalled that the three must have looked - peculiar when they got off the boat and walked down the streets of Ogden to board the train. Kate was wearing clothes that appeared old-fashioned, George was being followed by his pet pelican, and Blanche held a box of homed toads in her hands. Naturally, the family was viewed as a novelty throughout their journey and especially by their relatives in Illinois. Kate and the children happily returned to Fremont Island at the end of the summer. ' life on Fremont Island began to shatter. Judge Wenner' s By 1889.the W e ~ e r s peaceful health was gradually deteriorating. When he became too weak to ride a horse, Kate's chores became burdensome. For two years, though, she took care of all the household duties, tended the livestock, taught her children, and nursed her husband. Despite her efforts, on September 16, 1891, Wenner died of a hemorrhage of the lungs. On the day of his death, the family dug a grave and carefully placed pebbles on the spot to spell "LOVE." Later, an iron fence was built around the grave and the pebbles secured in cement. The grave can still be seen on Fremont Island today.

After the death of Judge Wenner, the family's blissful island life abruptly came to a halt.

Kate took her children to California where she eventually remarried. She retained possession of the island for ten years, renting it out to livestock owners. Even after the island was sold, the Wenner family never forgot about the years they spent there. Before her death in 1942, Kate Wenner wrote an account of their life on Fremont Island; upon her death, at her request, she was buried beside Judge Wenner on their former island home.

See David E. Miller, "Kate Wenner Noble's Story," Utah Historical Quarterly 33 (1965); Dale L. Morgan, The Great Salt Lake (New York, 1947), pp. 319-37.

THE HISTORY BWm is produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533-3500.

059514 (YDI)

rl'EI1'S OF UTAH'S PAST FROM THE

Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grailde Salt Lake City LTT84101 (801) 533-3300 FAX (801) 333-3303

Timpanogos Cave Became a National Monument in 1922

UNTIL THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE -TIMPANOGOS CAVE-NATIONAL MONUMENT IN 1922 several groups competed to claim the beautiN caves in American Fork Canyon as their own. The first recorded discovery of one of the three caves was by Martin Hansen in the fall of 1887. An American Fork resident, Hansen was cutting timber on the south wall of the canyon when it began to snow. He decided to go home and left his axe in a nearby tree to mark the place where he had been. When he returned to the spot the next morning, he noticed mountain lion tracks in the snow.

Following the tracks, he reached a small opening in the cliff face. He climbed inside and discovered a magnificent cave.

The discovery of the cave gave Hansen an informal claim to the place for several years.

The cave quickly became known as Hansen's Cave and was used by him to promote a small tourist industry. In'the winter of 1888 Hansen and three friends-Richard Steele, Charles Burgess, and Joseph Burgess-blazed a trail from the canyon floor to the cave entrance. When completed, the path went nearly straight up for 1,200 feet. Hansen conducted tours through the cave for healthy enthusiasts willing to climb the rough terrain to get there. The business was more discouraging than profitable. Some visitors would remove pieces of the cave, such as the priceless dripstone formations, to take home as souvenirs. When Hansen left in the evening, vandals would destroy the door to the cave opening and steal more cave decorations. After nearly four years of conducting tours at the cave, Hansen quit the business.

The departure of Martin Hansen opened the way for a new group to take over the cave.

During 1892-93 miners from the Duke-Onyx Company of Chicago mined Hansen's Cave for onyx.

At least two freight cars of onyx from the cave were shipped during the year. According to an American Fork resident whose father participated in the endeavor, some of the onyx was sent to Salt Lake City to be used in the ornamentation of the third floor of the LDS Temple. The effect of the. mining is noticeable even today. Hansen's Cave has few decorative formations on :its walls in stark contrast to Martin Hansen's raving descriptions of its original beauty.

The middle cave-later called Timpanogos Cave-was formally discovered by two fourteen year old boys during a group outing in 1914 or 1915. While others went inside Hansen's Cave, James Gough and Frank Johnson stayed outside to explore the area. James found the entrance to another cave by accidently falling into it. He later piled rocks over the opening to conceal the cave and went with his father to the Utah County Courthouse in Provo to file a mining claim on the area. When the family moved to Idaho they could not keep up work on the claim. (more)

The cave was not rediscovered until 1921 when Vearl J. Manwill, a member of an outdoor club from Payson, found the sealed entrance during an outing to Hansen's Cave on August 14.

That night, club members sat around the campfire and discussed the significance of the discovery.

Impressed by the beauty of what they had seen, the group decided to dedicate their time to preserving and protecting the cave. Two weeks later they returned to the site with a ranger from the Wasatch National Forest. He immediately declared the area a "Public Service Site" and arranged for the trail to the cave to be protected by a fire guard beginning the next day.

Encouraged by government support, the Alpine Hiking Club prepared to make the cave accessible to tourists the following year. After a large fundraising drive, the club had enough money to enlarge the path, install electric lights in the cave, and provide an adequate door to the entrance. In October 1921 the club met to determine the name of the cave. Among the many suggestions-including "The Cave of Crystal Cliffs," "The Wonder Cave," and "The Cave of Elves"-the club agreed on the name of "Timpanogos Cave." The club, renamed the "Timpanogos Outdoor Committee," received a special use permit from the Forest Service in April 1922 to collect entrance fees for tours and maintenance. By the spring of 1922 the committee was ready to open the cave to the public. On Decoration Day, 330 people went through the cave. Tours began every ten minutes. Since there was only one opening to the cave, the entrance became a bottle-

neck.

Only months after the cave opened for tours, the Timpanogos Outdoor Committee faced a legal confrontation with a mining company that had made claims to the area the year before. In July 1922 miners E. T. Gilman, S. F. Snyder, and Don Workman stated that they had legal claim to the area and wanted to drive tunnels below the cave level in search of rich mineral deposits. As a last resort, the local forest ranger wrote a letter to his superiors in Washington, D.C., asking that Timpanogos Cave be established as a National Monument. On October 14, 1922, President Warren G. Harding officially established Timpanogos Cave National Monument. The mining claims were immediately invalidated, and the cave became the property of the federal government.

After a long history of uncertainty, the battle over ownership of the Timpanogos Cave finally came to an end.

Sources: George V. Martin, The llmpanogos Cave Stoty (Salt Lake City, 1973); lIhe History of the Empanogos Cave National Monument (Prove[?]: National Park Service, [1970?], George F. Shelley, Early History of American Fork (American Fork, 1945); Amen'can Fork Citizen.

THEHISTORYBLAZER is produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society tel@.hone 533-3500.

Utah State Historical Societ!~ 300 Rio Grande (801) 533-3500

Salt Lake City. tTT84101 FAX (801) 533-3503

Sister Madeleva, Poet and Educator, Established St. Mary of the Wasatch Sister Mary Madeleva Wolff was sent to -Ogden,.Utah, in -1919 to take charge of Sacred Heart Academy in the dual role of principal and teacher. She had just completed her M.A. degree in English at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, one of only four sisters selected to pursue graduate work there. S.ince attaining her bachelor's degree at St. Mary's, a women's college also located in Notre Dame, Indiana, she had taught college-level courses. Moreover, she had won recognition for her poetry and according to one biographer was the "community poet laureate," producing poems upon request for special church occasions. She enjoyed her association with Notre Dame intellectuals, including Father Cornelius Haggerty, professor of philosophy, and Father Charles O'Donnell, a rising Catholic poet. Her assignment to a small western town puzzled and for a time disoriented Madeleva, but she answered the call without question. She would spend the next fourteen years in the West, establishing a women's college and publishing the books of poetry that would bring her national and even international acclaim.

Madeleva was born in a rural Wisconsin lumber town on May 24, 1887, to Lucy Arntz and August Wolff who named their only daughter Mary Evaline. Her German immigrant father was Lutheran and her mother Catholic. August Wolff, who had only a third-grade education, loved to read, especially poetry, with his daughter. She was an apt and dedicated student who learned to read Cicero and Virgil in Latin and translated Goethe as a high school senior.

She spent her freshman year at the University of Wisconsin, but as she matured she found herself increasingly attracted to the religious life. She transferred to St. Mary's College and changed her major from mathematics to English. The strict rules at St. Mary's proved hard for a girl who had enjoyed so much freedom during her country childhood. She hosted forbidden parties in her room and broke other rules that kept her from being listed on the honor roll. Still, she embraced the idea of becoming a nun of the Holy Cross order after completing her junior year.

During Madeleva's tenure at Sacred Heart in Ogden, Bishop Joseph S. Glass conceived the idea of establishing a college for Catholic women in the Intermountain West. In 1921 the Holy Cross sisters bought 400 mountainside acres from the Salt Lake Country Club in the area bordered by 1300 South and 3000 East. In September 1926 Madeleva was sent to Salt Lake City to direct the opening of the new liberal arts college-St. Mary of the Wasatch. She was fully qualified to for the task, having completed a Ph.D. in English at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1925 and having both classroom and administrative experience. Times were difficult, though. The college had a large debt to retire, and Madeleva's unusual talents and creative personality sometimes strained relations with her superiors. Nevertheless, the school and the poet thrived. (more)

Madeleva loved the mountains and later recalled hearing coyotes howl outside the college at night, being snowed in at least once each winter, and facing water shortages during the long hot summers. stud& and teachers enjoyed group hikes on the mountain followed by hot chocolate when they returned in the evening. She was pleased with the quality of the students and remarked that out of a group of fifty, seven read Beowulfwith her in the original Old English and delighted in the experience. St. Mary of the Wasatch developed a warm relationship with the University of Utah over the years. The U provided some teachers, and the two schools shared visiting guest artists and invited students and faculty to participate in their programs. Bishop Glass had assembled a collection of outstanding European art which his successor, Bishop John J. Mitty , arranged to display at St. Mary, making it in effect a small museum. By 1933 St. Mary was ranked nationally on the "A" list of four-year colleges qualified to grant degrees in science, arts, and letters.

Having achieved much in a short time, Sister Madeleva opted to begin a sabbatical year in 1933 at Oxford University in England. She studied medieval literature with the brilliant young scholar C. S. Lewis and later was inducted into the Medieval Academy of Arts and Letters, joining the likes of Andre Maurois, G. K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, and H. G. Wells. Despite her success as a scholar and poet, her religious life was her primary commitment. Her poetry reflects an intense devotion to God that expresses her inner fire.

Following her sabbatical, from 1934 to 1961, Sister Madeleva served as president of her alma mater in Indiana, St. Mary's College. During her long career she wrote some dozen books of poetry and critical prose and an autobiography, My First Seventy Years (1959). Among other awards, she won the gold medal of the National Poetry Center of the New York World's Fair in 1939 and the Siena Medal in recognition as the Catholic woman who made a distinctive contribution to Catholic life in the United States (1948). Madeleva died in 1964. By then the women's college she had established in Salt Lake City was serving as a girls' high school. In 1970 the school closed, and in 1972 the building was demolished, ending a unique story in Utah's educational and literary annals.

See Gail Porter Mandell, Madeleva: One Woman's Life (New York: Paulist Press, 1994), and Bernice Maher Mooney, Salt of the Earth: Zhe History of the Catholic Church in Utah,1776-1987 (Salt Lake City, 1987).

THE HISTORY BLAZER is produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533-3500.

059516 (MBM)

Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande

Salt Lake City LTT84101

Despite Its Critics, Remote Morgan Medical College Served a Need

WHEN FREDERICK KOHLER TOLDXI.S-FRIENDS A..ASSOCIATES that-hewas going to establish Utah's first medical college in the remote town of Morgan they laughed. How wuld a town of less than 300 people attract the students and resources needed to maintain a professional institution such as a medical school? But Kohler ignored the criticisms. Determined to achieve his dream, and with the help of civic leaders, he established the college in 1880. As predicted, it closed two years later due to a general lack of popular support.

After Kohler arxived in Morgan in 1879 he quickly gained a reputation as a skilled doctor.

Trained at the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania, on battlefields of the Civil War as a military surgeon, and at the Cincinnati Medical College, he was respected for his impressive medical education. Within weeks he developed a large clientele within the town and in the surrounding area. Although he was a Presbyterian in a largely Mormon population, Kohler was well liked in the town. He developed strong relationships with town leaders such as William Parker, the LDS bishop of the Morgan ward. It was to Parker and others that Kohler went to discuss the possibility of establishing a medical college in the town. The idea was strongly supported by the town leaders, and steps were immediately taken to establish the college. On January 31, 188O-only a few months after Kohler's arrival-a meeting was held in the ZCMI building to formally incorporate the school under the laws of Utah Temtory. The committee decided to call the school "The Medical College of Utah." Frederick Kohler was named dean of the college, Bishop Parker the president, Anthony Peterson the vice-president, and James M. Mason the secretary. By signing the contract, the four men promised to fulfill their respective positions for a period of 25 years.

During the next month the committee worked hard to increase public awareness of the school. Newspaper ads listed the credentials of Frederick Kohler and in bold the starting date of wurses as March 20, 1880. Some ads described the positive aspects of the school, including its quiet, peaceful setting that was conducive to learning: "The location is a favorable one in the midst of one of the most beautiful mountain regions on the continent. " The ads must have appealed to some, because after a trial session from March to the end of June, six students registered for the fall 1880 session. The one course offered during the term emphasized general medical practice, midwifery, and home nursing. The college's second session was delayed until the fall of 1881 because Dr. Kohler had to return to Indiana to settle some family business. During his journey he purchased a skeleton to be used for the college. This item was added to a small collection of books and teaching aids that had been donated or purchased (more)

during the year. When courses began in November for the second session ten students enrolled, including many who had attended the first session a year earlier. Those who completed both sessions and passed an exam in Salt Lake City became the college's first graduating class. The Medical College boasted four graduates in 1882.

One of the most exceptional graduates that year was Emmeline Grover Rich of Bear Lake.

As the sixth wife of Charles Coulson Rich (the man for whom Rich County was named) and mother of seven, Emmeline was highly involved in the affairs of her family and community.

Despite her enormous responsibilities, she was one of the first to enroll in the Medical College when it &st opened in 1880. Her interest in medicine stemmed from a blessing she had received from Brigham Young that described her special skills in healing and medicine. She had cared for the sick throughout her community but had lacked the education needed to perform complex medical procedures. Through her training at the Medical College she became a certified midwife and nurse. She practiced medicine for forty years in the Bear Lake area, serving as the region's only pharmacist and as a "doctor of nearly everything."

Just when the Medical College began to see some progress, a stinging attack in the Salt Lake Herald on July 27, 1882, ruined prospects.for a third session scheduled to begin in August.

The newspaper stated that no respectable physician or surgeon in Salt Lake City had heard of the college. Furthermore, the writer questioned 'why a college should have been founded at a mere way-station in a canyon. " The next day the Herald continued its attack, stating that a diploma from the school would not be considered valuable by any respectable physician. Although a statement by Bishop Parker that defended the reputation of Kohler and the college was published on July 30, the damage had already been done. No one registered for the third session. Discouraged, the staff of the college decided to close the institution.

When the Herald discovered that Frederick Kohler had left town at the end of August, they claimed a double victory in shutting down the school and driving the doctor out of the temtory. In reality, the victory of the bully newspaper was not so complete. Kohler, who had been visiting friends in Denver, returned to Morgan where he continued his medical practice and also trained nearly 20 women in midwifery. Among those certified from his training were Cordelia Smith, Lisette Ursenbach Compton, and Helen Condio Thackery. Though stripped of its name and formality by the press attacks, the Morgan medical school continued to train and educate students through the dedication of Frederick Kohler.

See Blanche Rose, History of Medicine in Utah (1939); Robert T . Divett,"Utah's First Medical College," Utah Historical Quarterly 31 (1963); Fine Arts Study Group, Mountains Conquered (1959); John Henry Evans, Charles CouIson Rich (1936);Mildred Thornson, Rich Memories (1962);Salt Lake Herald, July and August 1882.

THE HISTORY BLAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533-3500.

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Evil Spirits Plagued the Residents of Hebron, Utah

MYSTERIOUS OCCURRENCES AMONG EARLY MORMON SETTLERS -OFUTAHTERRlTORY often led the pious Great Basin pioneers to offer explanations for the unknown in terms of their common religious convictions. As tales of the unexplainable were passed down from one generation to the next they were often embellished and made more exciting by each successive storyteller. This process gave rise to a rich trove of folklore and legends that in themselves are commentaries on Utah's past. One such legend involves the present-day ghost town of Hebron in southwestern Utah.

It seems the title of ghost town was applicable to Hebron even when the small ranching community was filled with inhabitants.

Remembrances, diaries, and memoirs from Hebron abound with stories of evil spirits plaguing residents and at times sending them in mad rampages into the nearby hills before other townspeople could rescue them and exorcise the demons. John Pulsipher, an original settler of Hebron, recorded such an experience in his journal. In the summer of 1865 he described the town's recent 'warfare" with "evil spirits" and explained that the demons had "afflicted some of the young, making them perfectly wild and crazy. " Three residents, Orson Huntsman, James Wilkins, and Adelia Terry, were each afflicted, one at a time, according to Pulsipher. When the spirits possessed them they 'would try to run to the mountains or kill themselves and when caught would require the strength of three or five men to hold" them. The religious colonists used fasting, prayer, baptism, and anointing to rebuke the spirits and restore the young persons to "health and soundness. " In an effort to explain these strange events townsfolk apparently used a story that began in Mill Creek Canyon in northern Utah. As tradition had it, a man by the name of Alexander, who owned a sawmill in that canyon, was troubled by a series of freak occurrences. Every tool in his mill ended up missing, and all those that he borrowed from his neighbor also became lost. He could not find his chains, axes, hand saws, or cant hooks and soon had nothing left to work with.

Puzzled by these and other mysterious happenings, Alexander eventually appealed to Brigham Young. After visiting the mill, the Mormon prophet told Alexander that his mill was built upon property that anciently belonged to the Gadianton Robbers, a nefarious band of thieves mentioned in Mormon scriptures. Following Young's recommendation, Alexander moved his sawmill and the difficulties ended. An almost identical story was told about another mill in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and apparently the same thing happened at a sawmill in Pine Valley in Washington County near Hebron. (more)

It seems likely that when Hebron residents began experiencing trouble with evil spirits they remembered the sawmill story and became convinced that they had founded their town on ancient Gadianton Robber territory. Carrie E. L. Hunt, who spent much of her youth in Hebron, gave this explanation: "As a child I remember of hearing the older folks talking about how the evil spirits seem to hover about that part of the country. It was the people's belief that way back in history, that strip of country had once been the hideout of the notorious Gadianton Robbers that were so much talked about in history. They felt their spirits still haunted the country."

Over the years, in addition to evil spirits, Hebron had its share of other difficulties. It was plagued with ledq flumes, drought, floods, insects, fires, and earthquakes-all of which eventually culminated in the town's abandonment. Whether or not the evil spirits played a part in Hebron's ultimate failure is indeterminable. Regardless, if the Gadianton legend is true, then in 1905 when the last resident finally left Hebron the evil robbers regained their land and Hebron became a tnre ghost town.

See Came Elizabeth Laub Hunt, Memories ofthe Pasf and Family History (Salt Lake City, 1968); John Putsipher Diary, typescript, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University;James H. Gardner, "hcidents in Early Utah History: Some May Call it Folklore," in Kate B. Carter, ed., Heart Zhrobs of the West, vol.

5 (Salt Lake City: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, 1944).

THE HISTORY BLAZEF~ is produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533-3500.

059518 (PR)

THE MISTORY BLAZER I A7EI.1'SOF UTAH'S PAST FRO.&! T H E

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The Rocky Mountain Sweepstakes in 1843 Provided Exciting Entertainment

DURING THE SUMMER OF 1843, MOUNTAIN MEN, NATIVE AMERICANS, a d fur traders throughout the region spread the word about an exciting event to take place in August. Sir William Drummond Stewart, an English nobleman, was sponsoring a horse race that would pit his Missouri horses against those of the American West. The race, officially called the 'Rocky Mountain Sweepstakes," brought observers and competitors alike to a meadow near Fort Bridger, between Willow Creek and the Green River.

Before the races began on August 14, those planning to participate in the events set up camp at Piney Fork. Trappers and Snake Indians camped alongside each other to facilitate trading.

For nearly two weeks the camp was bustling with activity. Snake Indians negotiated with the fur traders for the best prices on beads, guns, and fur. Skilled seamstresses worked to prepare hides into fashionable clothing. In his diary Matthew Field recorded that he hired several Snake women to make mountain dresses out of his animal hides. The most skilled of these was the wife of Jack Robertson, one of the men that had signed up for the races. Field called her the "leader of Snake fashion." In the evening people would congregate around Robertson's tent, which Field humorously called the "St. Charles Hotel," for nightly entertainment and storytelling.

When they were not trading, camp members were busy having fun. Men played a popular ball game called "hand" around the campfrre in the evenings. On August 12, Sir William sent a letter to Jim Bridger asking him to come to the camp because 'we have commenced an extensive game of ball, and we want you to come and 'keep the ball in motion.'" Unfortunately, the letter was never dispatched. Matt Field, the man who was asked to carry the letter to Bridger, never reached his destination because he spent the entire day exploring the surrounding region. His laxity, however, was in the spirit of the relaxed atmosphere at camp. In his journal, Field described the time with Sir William as "great days of exploring and fishing and storytelling and drinking, culminating in three days of Rocky Mountain Racing."

The Sweepstakes began with an opening race on August 14th. A crowd gathered at a meadow along the Green River. Flags were secured on various posts to mark the site and course.

After a brief race consisting of five competitors, the participants went home to prepare for a long day of racing in the morning.

The most exciting race occurred on the second day of the Sweepstakes. Before the contest began, Sir William announced that the prize for the winner would include champagne, six leather shirts, one pair of pistols, Indian trinkets, and two mules. The value of the prize goods amounted to nearly $500. Anxious to win, the riders arranged their horses along the starting line. Jack (more)

I

Robertson, Sir William, Graham, and Miles Goodyear-the man who later became known as the fist white settler of Ogden-were all popular participants in the race. The most noticeable rider, however, was a Snake Indian named Tom who was riding for Colonel Sublette on his sorrel horse.

Tom rode naked ex&pt for a red handkerchief around his groin. His presence drew a large crowd of Snake Indians who came to support their fellow tribesman.

With a tap of a tin pan the race began. Tom's horse darted ahead of the others and quickly gained a lead of 30 yards. Excited, the Snake fans rode along the track to encourage their speeding rider. Meanwhile, the other riders trailed behind. Graham's horse fell on a pole and broke its collar bone. A medic, Dr. Tilghman, rushed to the scene to tend to the rider. But Tom sped on.

When he neared the finish line, he rose in his stirrups, threw back his head, and tossed his arms gracefully in the air. Field recorded that "he made a picture of wild grace and grandeur that threw us all into loud shouts of admiration." As if he were planning never to come back, Tom passed the judge's stand and rode on for nearly 30 yards. He won the race at a record speed of two minutes and five seconds.

The Rocky Mountain Sweepstakes ended the next day on August 17, 1843. Though several races had taken place during the three-day event, the most memorable was the one that marked the triumph of 'Indian Tom." This race, as well as the weeks preceding the Sweepstakes, represented a moment of union among Native Americans, fur traders, and Europeans. 1n a sense, Sir William succeeded in operating one of the region's first international sporting events.

Sources: J. F. McDermont and Kate L. Gregg, eds., Matthew Field= Prairie and Mountain Sketches (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957); LeRoy R. Hafen, ed., 2?ze Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West 10 vols. (Glendale, Calif. : Arthur H. Clark, 1965-72), see "Miles Goodyear" in vol. 7; Dale L. Morgan, "Miles Goodyear and the Founding of Ogden," Utah Historical Quarterly 21 (1953).

THEHJSTORY BLAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical society telephone 533-3500.

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.

Colonel Comor Filled a Varied, Dramatic Role in Utah History

ANIRISH AMERICANNAMED PATRICKCONNOR was a seminal figure in late 19th-century Utah. Often called "the father of Utah mining, " he was involved in military, economic, and political activities in the territory from 1862 until his death in 1891.

Patrick Edward O'Connor was born in Ireland in 1820 or 1821. Along with thousands of others, he and his family left Ireland, arriving in New York City when he was 12. Patrick later dropped the '0" from his name to seem more American but always remained proud of his Irish heritage.

In 1839 Connor joined the U.S. Army, serving first on the Missouri/Iowa frontier, where he experienced his first Indian fighting, and later in the Mexican War. The early years exposed Connor to news of the Mormons in Missouri and Illinois; he may have developed his life-long antipathy to the Mormon church at that time.

The gold rush attracted Comor to California where he engaged in a variety of business and political interests. When the Civil War began he offered to raise volunteer troops and was made colonel of the Third California Infantry. Hoping to fight Rebels, Connor's men instead established Camp Douglas in Salt Lake City. The troops' primary duty was to protect the Overland Mail between Fort Churchill, Nevada, and South Pass, Wyoming, from Indian attack. Some federal officials also felt that the Mormons were potentially treasonous and bore watching. Accordingly, Connor established his 2,500-acre camp on the east bench above the city, an excellent vantage point from which to observe the goings-on in the territorial capital. Camp (after 1876, Fort) Douglas was named in honor of the late Democrat from Illinois, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, champion of the concept of "popular sovereignty" and presidential candidate in 1860: Throughout his service in Utah, Connor carried out a war of words with the Mormon hierarchy. He particularly abhorred polygamy and considered Brigham Young to be a tyrant who flagrantly disregarded federal authority. For his part, Young was annoyed by Connor's bellicose rhetoric and open plans to overturn Mormon dominance in Utah. Connor considered it his duty to encourage gentiles to settle in the territory. Young discouraged Mormons from mining precious metals, while Connor promoted mining as a means of attracting gentiles and decreasing Mormon influence. Connor's troops were instrumental in discovering mines in the Bingham area in 1863.

To promote Utah's mineral resources, Connor founded the Union Vederte at Camp Douglas in November 1863. The newspaper provided a different viewpoint on local affairs from that of the church-owned Deseret News.

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Although Connor's men were stationed far from famous Civil War battlefields, they did enter the fury of battle during several punitive missions against the Indians, including the infamous Bear River Massacq in January 1863. The ioldiers killed some 250 Shoshone men, women, and children and returned to Salt Lake City as heroes. Comor was awarded a brigadier general's star.

At the end of the Civil War the volunteers were mustered out and regular army troops took over the post. In the 1870s the crude tents and wooden buildings at Fort Douglas were replaced by the fine stone barracks, chapel, and administrative buildings that still stand. The post became one of the most picturesque and sought-after assignments in the frontier army.

Connor remained in Utah after his military career ended in 1866. He was involved in a variety of mining and business ventures, including railroads and steamships, but great fortune eluded him. In 1870 he joined with other gentiles and Mormon apostates to found the Liberal party which vied in local elections against the Mormon People's party. The Liberals enjoyed a brief success in Ogden and Salt Lake City elections. Connor died on December 17, 1891, and was buried at Fort Douglas.

See Brigham D. Madsen, Glory Hunter: A Biography of Patrick Edward Connor (Salt Lake City: University of Utah

Press, 1990).

HIST~RY BLAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533-3500.

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