echoes
echoes
echoes
echoes from the past: The story of the ECHO F L O U I i
AftmLI* by Marguerite J. Wright
In the name of progress, another superhighway is being constructed and one more historic landmark has been torn down to make way for it. Within the past year the old Echo Flour Mill has disappeared from the scene. The mill was located one mile east of Echo, Utah, at the west end of colorful and historic Echo Canyon, a canyon which has played an important role in the history of Utah — from the Indian and mountain man to the pioneer and railroader. The salmon-colored rock formations in the canyon have been carved by the weather into fantastic shapes and suggest equally fantastic names such as Steamboat Rock, Giant Teapot, Sphinx, Gibraltar, Sentinel, the Cathedral, and Pulpit Rock. Sentinel Rock stood across the narrow canyon from the Echo Flour Mill. Steamboat Rock could be seen to the east of the mill across the canyon, and Pulpit Rock was near Echo. The latter had to be removed for safety reasons several years ago because it stood above and near the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. By the 1850's stagecoaches were traveling through Echo Canyon. They were making regular trips from Independence and St. Joseph to Salt Lake City and soon afterwards to Sacramento. In 1853 a stagecoach station was erected in Echo. In 1860 the Pony Express, organized to carry mail from St. Joseph to Sacramento, went through Echo Canyon. Mrs. Wright, of Midvale, U t a h , was reared at the Echo Flour Mill site and so has knowledge of its history. T h e photographs were furnished by the author.
first-hand
