Provonna Beach Resort: Born of a Boom, Died of Depression

Provonna Beach Resort: Born of a Boom, Died of Depression

BY D. ROBERT CARTER

SINCE THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, Utah Lake has been a recreational mecca, and many places of amusement have dotted her shoreline. At least five different private resorts have been established near the mouth of the Provo River in close proximity to Utah Lake. They all catered to excursionists who traveled to the lake to dance and picnic under the trees or to fish, boat, or bathe in the river and lake. The first four resorts were located near a site on the south side of the river a short distance northeast of the present Corleissen Bridge.

Very little is known about early bathing parties to the mouth of the river and Utah Lake. It appears that in Provo's formative years only a few people made use of that natural beach. However, as the years passed, bathing became more socially acceptable, and the population of Provo gained more leisure time A larger number of people made the trip to the lower Provo River and Utah Lake on what must have been a very primitive wagon trail During the summer of 1879 numerous sweltering local inhabitants traveled to Provo River's delta and found the waters "pleasant and exhilarating." Provo's local newspaper, the Territorial Enquirer, made a plea for amenities: "All that is needed now is a bath house and a few other accommodations, and bathing at the Delta would be among the chiefest of pleasures."1

Nine years later, vehicles were taking bathers to the lake every day during the heat of summer, but few improvements had been made on nature's bathing facilities. Provo's newspaper again made a pitch for development near the river's mouth: "Two miles from town is found a bathing spot as fine as there is anywhere on the Lake. We wonder why a little capital is not spent on this, or some other locality, in fitting it up for a regular bathing resort. It would pay. "2

Provo entrepreneur Niels Omanson, who had recently emigrated from Sweden, began plans for the development of such a bathing resort. For years citizens had been urging the city council to open a good road to the lake. In December 1888, Omanson petitioned the council to open a public road from the end of Center Street to the lake. The officials agreed to furnish the road.3 Omanson then hired contractors to construct bathhouses and other amenities on the site of his future resort, including a 40x50-foot, beautifully illuminated dance pavilion and a straight half-mile horse racing track.4

Many people enthusiastically awaited the opening of the resort, but not everyone was pleased with the prospects the new business presented; local church officials expressed vehement opposition to its establishment. At a Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association conference held in the Provo Tabernacle in May 1889, Elder Rodney Badger and other church officials struck out at Provo's future resort and the older bathing resorts on the Great Salt Lake Badger told those attending the meeting that the resorts "would do more harm than all the liquor saloons and houses of prostitution in the Territory combined." A string of other speakers harangued about the evils of resorts, and George H. Brimhall summed up the feelings of the officials by saying "that the sandy beach was created for our use and not for our abuse, and [he] regretted that harm had flowed from the people attending them."5

In spite of this antagonism, Niels Omanson continued with his plans to open his business the next month, and he assured the people of Provo that he intended to "conduct the business so that even the most fastidious can go there and enjoy themselves No intoxicating drinks of any kind will be allowed on the grounds." On June 8, 1889, Omanson opened the Provo Bathing Resort, the first known place of pleasure on the lower river.6

The attraction drew big crowds that year; on some days more than a thousand people took advantage of its accommodations. Bathing, swinging, picnicking and horse racing provided entertainment. Also, Professor Tappan, an itinerant dancemaster who decided that Provo needed instruction on "tripping the light fantastic," sponsored moonlight hops at the resort. Provo's Silver and Opera House bands and Professor Kent's famous military orchestra provided music for the dances. The steamer Eastmond plied the water between the Provo Bathing Resort and similar places of pleasure at American Fork and Saratoga. Hacks from Provo could be engaged for stylish rides to and from the lake. The resort was always kept neat and tidy, and local people agreed that the Provo Bathing Resort beat "the Garfield resort very much in attractiveness."7

Omanson's strict control somewhat allayed the fears of Provo church leaders who worried that patronizing the resort would lead to wholesale debauchery The Provo paper reported, "The management of Provo's Lake Resort is to be congratulated upon the good order maintained there on all occasions The absence of hoodlumism so prevalent where intoxicating liquors are sold, is a popular feature and one which brings favorable comment." The Provo police also visited the resort every night that an activity was scheduled. They found that "the best of order always prevails."8

At the beginning of its second successful year of operation, everything seemed to indicate that the resort would continue to make a good living for its owner. Omanson even planned to build a bridge across the mouth of the river and to open the bucolic land on the north side to picnicking.9 But suddenly, agonizing legal problems developed when a dispute arose over the ownership of the accretion land on which the Provo Bathing Resort was constructed Andrew and Herman Knudsen, farmers who lived near the river's mouth, succeeded in having an injunction placed on the operation of the bathing resort and eventually proved in court that Omanson had actually built on their land. Operations at the resort ceased permanently, and what might have been a long-lived and successful business was brought to a premature end.10

Through the years some recreationists continued to use the land near the location of the former Provo Bathing Resort. Provo City eventually acquired the title to ten acres of this land, which was called the City Grove, and set it aside for recreational purposes. In the early 1900s some small facilities for picnicking and boating apparently existed in the grove. During the summers people held launching parties; carrying picnics, small groups of weekend sailors boarded launches at the mouth of the river for excursions around the lake, sometimes visiting Geneva and Saratoga Resorts.11

William M "Billy" Wilson, an enthusiastic boater and devotee of Utah Lake, became increasingly aware of the financial possibilities of the City Grove, and in 1908 he leased the ten acres from the city That summer he created under the cottonwoods and willows at the edge of the river a small resort that he called Camp Riverside or Riverside Landing His intent was to stay as near to nature as possible and "maintain only what few little conveniences that are necessary." He improved the natural beauty of the spot by planting grass and adding more trees, then he brought in tables and benches, put up swings for the little ones, and pitched a large tent used as a refreshment stand and a shelter during storms. Wilson also built a new wharf from which patrons could rent boats and charter boat rides; the launches Cleo, Martha Ann, Grace, Abba, Minnie, and others took visitors out onto the lake. Wilson hired Jake Westphal, veteran boater, hunter, and fisherman, to operate the resort.12

William Wilson, Jr., son of Billy and a native Provonian, remembers his father telling of one Fourth ofJuly celebration at the resort The older Wilson had stocked up on soft drinks, beer, candy, and other refreshments for the holiday crowd. However, it snowed that year on the Fourth, and few people showed up for the celebration There was a plentiful supply of goodies around the Wilson household for quite some time.13

Billy Wilson controlled the lease on the land until the spring of 1911, when the city accused him of breaking the lease agreement The city council then cancelled his lease and granted the use of the property to William Gammon, who opened a small stand and offered the public a place to picnic, swim, boat, and fish.14 The new lessee named his place Riverside Boat Landing, but many people simply referred to it as Gammon's Resort. Gammon operated the resort until the end of 1918.

At this point Provo's prominent Taylor family began providing recreation at the Provo River's mouth. The family descended from George Taylor, Sr., pioneer photographer, early banker, and founder of Taylor's Furniture, one the most notable businesses in early Provo; following his example, many of Taylor's children and grandchildren became important business, political, and religious leaders in Provo Members of the family owned or managed resorts at the mouth of the Provo River for more than a decade, and for many years they also owned and operated Geneva and Saratoga resorts.

In 1919 Frank Eastmond, an ambitious Salt Lake schoolteacher, was looking for a summer job. He and his wife, Clarissa Taylor Eastmond, a granddaughter of George Taylor, Sr., took over Gammon's lease on the small resort. They managed the business, which they called Riverside Resort, in partnership with James F. McClellan, husband of the aunt for whom Clarissa had been named, Harriett Clarissa Taylor McClellan. Uncle Jim took care of the boat rentals, watched the small resort during the school year, and ran a twenty-acre farm on the north side of the river during the summer, when Eastmond and his wife were free to watch the concessions. The partners expanded their business by converting the front part of the caretaker's cabin into a small store stocked with candy, drinks, and a limited supply of picnic groceries They also served light lunches Rowboats were available, and the partners also rented bathing suits to excursionists.15

Swimmers frequently traveled the quarter-mile from Riverside to the shore of Utah Lake to bathe. People who made the trip found that there were advantages to bathing in the lake. The water was warmer than the water of the river, and beautiful sand covered the beach, making it a perfect place to sunbathe Besides, for certain bathers some of the scenery was really rather appealing. In 1920, when the printers of Provo took their annual bath in the lake, they reported that many people were using the beach, some of them quite curvaceous. The printers enthusiastically wrote that sitting on the beach had "any bathing revue beat that the stickers of type have witnessed."

They also noticed one definite disadvantage: there was no convenient place to change clothes The printers complained about "the long pull from the swimming water to the dressing places ... as going that distance in a wet bathing suit is no warm picnic, especially with the lake breeze fanning you." This problem did not go unnoticed by the operators of Riverside, and they were encouraged by Provo's Commercial Club to take steps toward solving it.16

The first action was taken in 1919 when Arthur N. Taylor, Provo mayor Le Roy Dixon, Frank Eastmond, and associates helped complete plans to form the Skipper Bay drainage district. Taylor, an uncle of Clarissa Taylor Eastmond, was a prominent Provo businessman who was vice president and assistant manager of the successful Taylor Brothers Department Store. When his health began to decline, he felt that ajob in the fresh air might help him recuperate. In the latter part of 1920, Arthur N sold his stock in the department store to his brother, Thomas N. Taylor, for $50,000 and other considerations. Arthur N. then invested the money in the Skipper Bay reclamation project and eventually bought about 140 of the area's 600 acres of farmland, hoping to reclaim it from the seasonal ravages of Utah Lake and plant it in sugar beets. In the fall of 1920 Taylor and other farmers began to dike the area north of the Provo River The dike, which extended more than a mile from the mouth of the river, was about six feet high and twelve feet wide at the top. A large drainage canal ran along the landward side of the structure; seepage water from the canal was pumped over the dike and into the lake.17

After the land behind the dike was safe from the lake's seasonal fluctuations, Eastmond planned "to build a large dancing pavilion on the north side of the river, across which a bridge . . . [was] to be built, and [to place] a large number of bath houses near the west dike."18 Before Eastmond's plans came to fruition, however, he and his father-in-law, Walter G Taylor, Arthur N.'s brother, acquired an option on the Geneva Resort, which was located on the lake slightly north and west of the present Geneva Steel Plant. Arthur N. Taylor now bought out Eastmond's interest in the Riverside Resort, retaining James McClellan, his brother-in-law, as a partner. During the summer Arthur N.'s boys could work on the nearby farm and help their Uncle Jim with the operation of the store and boat rentals.19

In the spring of 1921, as the Skipper Bay Dike neared completion, the climate for business expansion seemed favorable. Arthur N. Taylor confidently announced that work had begun on what he hoped would become a large resort on the sandy beach at the mouth of the river. A headline in the Provo Herald optimistically proclaimed in bold letters, "UTAH'S FINEST BATHING BEACH TO COST HALF MILLION."

The accompanying article described the future resort in glowing terms: "There will be parks, lawns, flowers, walks, quiet nooks and all that goes to make a resort that will give to the visitors a real touch of nature." Then the paper quoted Taylor as saying, "We not alone think but we know that the mouth of Provo river offers the possibilities of one of the finest bathing resorts to be found in the world. We have so much faith in the project that we are willing to spend money on it. We have already spent several thousand dollars in the way of starting the work. We will continue to spend until the resort iswhat we have in mind." Taylor further stated tihat the resort's motto would be courtesy and fair treatment. "We would rather have one visitor who goes away satisfied even if he does not spend a cent, than to have one who spends $10 and goes away dissatisfied."20 Unfortunately, Taylor was to eventually have his rathers.

The first problem to be solved was how to get cars to the new resort. There had never been an automobile bridge near the mouth of Provo River. Since the resort was to be on the north side of the river, and Center Street terminated on the south side, workmen began a wooden span across that stream. Providing a sturdy but economical bridge called for a great deal of Utah Valley frugality and ingenuity. "Doc" Loveless, who owned a farm in northeastern Provo, agreed to provide the piles for the bridge. Tough black locusts grew along the irrigation canal that ran through his property; Loveless furnished eight of the largest and straightest trees he had and hauled them to the site of the bridge. These twenty-foot-long locusts were driven into the bed of the Provo by means of an ancient horse-powered pile driver belonging to Utah County. The pile driver was pulled down the north side of the river, and four posts were driven from that side Then it was pulled upstream about two miles to the county bridge on Geneva Road and taken back down the south side of the river to drive the four remaining posts.

The material for the trusses came from the old Provo Tabernacle. When George Clark had demolished the tabernacle during the winter and spring of 1918-1919, he salvaged its red pine (Douglas fir) beams and trusses and stored them in his backyard. Taylor bought from Clark the majority of the material used to finish the bridge Two of the best beams, approximately one foot thick, were placed as plates, one on each side of the pilings. Using fishing barges borrowed from George Madsen as working platforms, workmen then placed two trusses on the plates and secured them together at the top with 3x12 planks Other 3x12s were then nailed to the girders spanning the river After the bridge was completed, several of the workmen danced a jig on it as part of a christening ceremony. 21

High water delayed the building of the bathhouses, but as soon as it was possible Taylor hired local carpenterJ.W. Howe, Sr., to supervise their construction Howe, working with Taylor's sons, built the bathhouses with their rear sides resting on the dike and the fronts supported by piles driven into the sandy beach. It was not until July 12, 1921, that the workmen finished construction on fifty of these bathhouses on stilts.22 The boat rentals, picnic tables, and concessions remained at the grove upstream from the beach

In preparation for the resort's opening, Taylor bought boxes of sturdy woolen swimming suits, and the family went to work with white lead paint, brushes, and stencils Soon the word 'Provonna' was emblazoned across the front of the suits, and they were ready to rent. The Provonna Beach Resort opened to the public on Saturday, July 16, of that year. It was basically a no-frills, family-run operation, but it provided the people of Provo with a place to cool off and have fun.23

Arthur N. Taylor's family of eight children usually took care of business at the beach Two of his sons acted as general supervisors Another of the boys was stationed at the bridge to collect the fees for using the beach. Yet another son was in charge of renting out the swimming suits. If people had their own swimming suits on under their clothes, they were charged a usage fee of fifteen cents each. If they needed to rent a suit and use the bathhouses, they were charged thirty-five cents Each night, a daughter took the used suits home, sanitized them in Clorox, and washed them.24

The bathhouses needed constant maintenance They had no electric lights at first, so kerosene lamps lit the dressing rooms. Each day a family member had to clean the glass chimneys, trim the wicks, and add new kerosene to the lamps. In addition, they swept the bathhouses and carried fresh water from the well to fill the foot tubs where the bathers rinsed the sand from their feet. After the boys had finished their evening work, they frequently ended the day with a swim in the lake. Those who stayed at the beach slept in the screened cabin in the grove. 25 Apparently some of the townspeople were disappointed that Provonna did not have more to offer. An editorial in the Provo Herald reminded the people of that town not to expect too much that first year: "A mountain isn't moved in a moment, cities are not built in a day, and bathing beaches are not perfected in a month." The paper proceeded to remind its readers that only with their support could the resort grow and improve. It concluded by cautioning that this could not be done "if the 'knockers chorus' works overtime."26

The resort made only enough money that first year to pay for the capital improvements, and Arthur N. sought another source of revenue to sustain his family. It was natural for him to turn back to the occupation that he knew best, the furniture business. He and a group of associates organized a business named the Dixon Taylor Russell Company, and they erected a three-story brick building at the corner of Third West and Center Street, on the south side of Provo's main business district. The new company opened on November 1, 1921. Business was good, the company grew rapidly, and eventually the directors opened ten branches throughout central and eastern Utah.

The owners of Provonna planned on making a profit in 1922, but their hopes were dashed when nature intervened. That winter huge piles of ice driven by a northwest wind swept ashore and demolished the bathhouses. When the spring thaws began, the Provo River became a rushing torrent and flowed over its banks east of the resort. Its waters filled Skipper Bay, flooded the resort from above, and finished the resort's destruction by scattering the wood from the bathhouses all over the bay When the floodwaters receded, salvage crews used George Madsen's fishing barges to pick up lumber and doors all along the lake front Salvagers even found some lumber washed up on nearby farms. The workmen stacked the lumber on dry land along the river.27

Although Taylor hoped to reopen Provonna that summer, the furniture business monopolized his time Meanwhile the family rented rowboats to visitors. Other than that, business at Provonna was almost non-existent.

In 1923 the U.S. Government considered helping to dike areas along the eastern and southern shores of Utah Lake. Taylor announced that when assurances were given that the diking work would begin, he would start rebuilding the resort. The diking program lost favor, however, and apparently it was two years later before Taylor made much effort to reestablish the resort near the present location of the ice skating rink at Utah Lake State Park.

Then in 1925 Taylor hired workmen to bring in power, construct a store, drill a well for drinking water, and build an ice storage shed not far from the bridge. After the resort re-opened, family members cut ice during the winter and hauled it to the ice shed; there they packed it in sawdust until it was needed to make ice cream and cool soft drinks. The family also continued to operate the store in the grove located further up the river.28

J. W. Howe, Sr., again supervised a group of workmen, who built thirty bathhouses out of the lumber that had been salvaged from the first, ill-fated buildings. The lake's demolition of the first bathhouses had provided a learning experience. Since the water level of the lake fluctuated widely, the carpenters constructed the dressing rooms on log skids so they could be moved to and fro and kept near the water's edge They could also be moved back from the edge of the lake so that they would not be victims of the next ice breakup.29

These improvements brought more business to the area. Many excursionists visited the beach in the evening and at night to cool off. One balmyJuly evening in 1929, Don McEwan and Porter McDonald of Provo were walking along the beach north of the resort when they made a startling find: in the distance a lifeless form lay on the beach Without closer investigation, the two rapidly returned to Provo and contacted the police. Equipped with flashlights, deputy sheriff Elias Gee and police officer George Durnell accompanied the two back to the scene of their discovery and found the body "dead as a door nail." In fact, it was completely inanimate Some ingenious bathers had molded a reclining man from sand and smoothed its lifelike exterior with a thin coating of mud The embarrassed pair and the officers had a good laugh and left the beach.30

In 1926 the resort was incorporated, and the family made more improvements. Connected to the south end of the store they built a screened 30x60-foot lunchroom complete with electric lights, sixteen picnic tables, ample benches, and a sand floor. Workmen planted clover on the grounds, placed tables under the trees near the river for those who wished to eat outside, built swings for the amusement of the children, and added 30 more bathhouses, making the total number 60. The bathhouses were now illuminated with electric lights.31

Late in the summer the river was often very low, and a sand bar formed across its mouth. To make boating in the lake more accessible to the public, the Taylors built a portable pier on wooden trestles As the water receded, the pier was picked up and carried into deeper water. Boats were rented from the pier, and owners of private crafts were charged a small fee for the use of the facility. The pier also provided a walkway for bathers.32

Ashted Taylor, Arthur N.'s brother, and his family managed Provonna that year. It was a year of exciting and bizarre happenings at the resort. One of them involved the pier. Even though the first flying machine had landed in Provo in 1911,33 airplanes were still somewhat of a novelty in Utah Valley in the 1920s. Those pilots who did come to the area frequently used the sandy beaches of Utah Lake as landing places. And when holiday crowds assembled at Provonna, it was not unusual for enterprising pilots to bring in planes and sell rides. On July 24, 1926, as a large group of bathers, sun worshipers, and observers gathered at the resort, one Milo Morrill of Provo brought in his plane piloted by H.A. Sweet of Salt Lake for the purpose of selling rides to thrillseekers. Two Lakeview teenagers, Clinton Shaw and Herbert Madsen, scrambled into the plane for their first ride. It proved to be a short one, but what it lacked in length it made up for in excitement.

The plane was parked on the east side of the resort about one hundred yards north of the bathhouses. As it started to taxi toward the waterfront for a takeoff, pilot Sweet noticed two small boys lying in the sand in a direct line with the course of the plane. He made a sharp turn to the left, spun in a complete circle, and barely missed the suit rental room of the resort's bathing department by a few feet. The plane careened straight toward a car parked at the edge of the water about four feet south of Provonna's pier. Mr. and Mrs. Leon Petit sat riveted in their large car and apprehensively eyed the rapid approach of the wayward plane. Their six-year-old son, Leon, stood transfixed on the running board of their car. A few yards away from the automobile the plane became airborne, but it was not high enough to completely miss the vehicle. There was a jarring racket, and the Petits must have flinched as the plane tore a large chunk from the roof of their car, struck a zigzag course along the pier, ripped a section of it out, and nosedived into the water, practically demolished.

Miraculously, Mr. and Mrs. Petit, the pilot, and his passengers were unharmed. However, the hapless Leon, who fortunately ducked his head fast enough to remove it from harm's way, left his arm resting against the roof of the car. Some part of the plane must have struck his arm and rolled him onto the sand. Bruised and shocked, he was taken to Provo's Aird Hospital suffering from a compound fracture of the left arm. Doctors expected him to make a complete recovery. However, he may have suffered from an aversion to airplanes the rest of his life.34

A little over a week later people at the resort witnessed another stirring event that almost turned tragic On the warm, lazy Sunday afternoon of August 1, four teenaged girls, Mable Olsen, Pauline Vincent, Beulah Thurgood, and Lorna Jones, decided to ride their bicycles to the lake and go for a swim Their parents were against swimming on Sunday so the girls had to act clandestinely. They arrived at the beach hot and sweaty after their three-mile ride, and they were ready for a cooling dip in the lake After walking out into the water as far as they could, they decided to swim out to a launch where several other young people had gathered.

Before they reached the boat, however, they became exhausted and decided to swim back to the beach. Beulah and Lorna led out; Mable and Pauline followed. After swimming a short distance, Pauline's strength left her, and she called to Mable for help Mable, who was a swimmer for Provo High, turned back to aid her friend. Pauline was panicky and almost pulled her friend down, but Mable pushed her away, grabbed her by the hair, and swam for shore with her one free arm. Seymore Prows, a Salt Lake insurance salesman, heard cries for help and rushed to the aid of the two girls. Mable was just about overcome by fatigue when he reached them Prows helped

the girls to shallower water, and they rested for a while before returning home The girls were afraid to tell their parents what had happened, and Mable's mother did not find out about her daughter's heroic actions until the next day, when she read the evening paper. Her first words to Mable were, "I wondered what was the matter with you." Fortunately, life at the resort was not always that dangerous.35

In 1927 Arthur N. Taylor became the sole owner of the resort, and again his family helped him operate the facility The Provonna slowly continued to grow as Taylor made several new improvements. Near the beach his workmen built a new dressing area with a freshwater shower North of the pavilion, overlooking the lake, they built two one-room cottages on seven-foot stilts; the cottages would be used by Taylor's family and their guests. Also, the Taylors doubled the size of the pavilion and added a first-class maple dance floor overlooking the river. A small, white, moveable picket fence between the dancing and picnic areas could be moved in either direction to provide either more lunchroom space or a larger dance floor One of the first electric amplifying phonographs, a Brunswick Panatrope, furnished the dance music. Later a Victor Electrola, which played ten records before it needed reloading, was installed For five cents, customers could hear a record of their choice. The new operators also added an eight-section ice cream cabinet, an eight-foot refrigerator, a sodawater fountain, a soda bottle cooler, and a Magnus root beer barrel to the store. In later years the Taylor boys fondly remembered the root beer barrel and how much they enjoyed making each new batch of the beverage. Many adjustments had to be made in the amount of concentrated syrup added to the barrel to give the root beer that "heavenly taste," and with each addition of syrup one of the boys had to taste-test the root beer. The end result was that belching became a routine part of the root beer taster'sjob. Consequently, it became a Taylor family custom to say "magnus" rather than "excuse me" every time somebody in the family belched.36

The city tried to help the resort by upgrading the road to the beach in 1928. For more than a week all of Provo's road equipment and a large crew of men worked on the unpaved segment of West Center David Stagg, supervisor of streets, hoped to make it "one of the best roads in the city."37

In spite of all the improvements, Provonna made very little money, even though in the late '20s the management staged several unique activities there in an effort to bring in customers. One of the most notable was a water carnival in 1929jointly sponsored by BYU, Provonna Beach Resort, and the Provo Yacht Association. Shirl Wilson of the Provo Yacht Association was appointed Lord High Admiral of the fleet of boats and general manager of the entire show Leroy Whitehead, president of the "Y' studentbody, became the grand master of the program that preceded the pageant and carnival. BYU professor E.H. Eastmond assisted in decorating the boats.

At 8:00 on the evening ofJune 30, a free program of music and dance was presented on a platform erected near the edge of Provo River After the program, a brilliantly lighted boat parade called "King Neptune's Fleet"—featuring bathing beauties and aqua board riding—sailed up the river from the lake to the bridge, a distance of about one quarter of a mile. The parade was followed by dancing at the Provonna Resort.38 For Utah County in 1929, this was a pretty exciting program, and it was accomplished on a small budget since most of the labor was contributed.

In 1930 Taylor lost two of his family helpers to school graduation and a mission. This, combined with the increasing amount of time that he spent on his other business interests and the fact that the Provonna had not been very successful financially, induced him to lease the resort to John and Denzil Brown. The Browns, who renamed the resort The Beach, had previously operated Benjamin's Arrowhead Resort in southern Utah County. The brothers provided twenty rental boats for the public, opened a new cafe, and built a 64x100-foot open air dance hall with a cement floor adjoining the enclosed dance floor. They held weekly dances during the summer season; the noted Ralph Migliaccio's Chicago Hotel Orchestra furnished music for the grand opening.39

The resort's only fatality happened during this year. After Thomas Christiansen of Salt Lake City purchased a speed boat, he and other members of his family drove to the beach to enjoy an outing and try out the new boat During the day Christiansen and other family members cruised on the smooth surface of the lake That evening Ruth Cole, Thomas's married sister, persuaded him to take the boat out again, even though a brisk breeze had now whipped up sizeable waves. The two were about three-quarters of a mile from the mouth of Provo River in water eight feet deep when the driver attempted to turn the boat and return to shore A wave struck the craft squarely and flipped it over. Thomas, who was heavily clothed, swam to his sister, and she seized him by the shoulders. Thus encumbered, he swam for the beach. But his clothing became waterlogged, and they both sank, just forty yards from shallow water.

On shore, George M Nuttall and Bob and Matt Phillips had seen the boat overturn. They rapidly launched a power boat and sped to the aid of the pair in the water. Mark Oakley and Barmore Snell also assisted. When they arrived, Thomas was floating unconscious in the water; his sister had disappeared. Men dived for the body of the missing woman while the unconscious man was taken ashore and revived by artificial respiration administered by Dr. CH. Smith.

Meanwhile, a search party frantically sought the body of Mrs. Cole using draglines and grappling hooks. The accident had happened at about five o'clock; at eight o'clock the hooks caught in part of the young woman's clothing, and her body was pulled from the water, only about ten feet from where the boat had sunk. Cole was taken to shore, where Provo fire chief Reed Boshard waited with a pulmotor to revive her; for nearly an hour he worked in vain attempting to restore life. Mrs. Cole, whose parents lived in Provo, was the mother of a one-yearold son. 40

Events at the beach that year were not all somber, however. During the summer of 1930 Provonians witnessed the glitziest spectacle ever staged at the resort. The Provo American Legion Post No. 13 helped sponsor a Fourth of July fireworks program that reenacted the Battle of Manila Bay. The Herald advertised it as "worth coming miles to see and something so different from what is expected on any but the great waterways of the country, that it will be the subject of pleasing comment for weeks to come."41

In preparation for the spectacle two mock battleships were constructed a quarter of a mile offshore in Utah Lake. The construction itself offered some entertainment to those present on the shore one Saturday night. On that night, Provo teenager Bob Boshard left work at the Paramount Theater and joined several of his friends for a ride to the lake When the car loaded with young men arrived at the beach, a group of skinny-dipping workmen was laboring on the boats. As the auto pulled into a parking place, its lights skimmed the surface of the lake and illuminated the naked workmen, who scampered into deeper water to cover their white bottoms. Women in cars onshore, many of whom were wives of the workmen, guffawed loudly and honked their horns. Despite this enemy attack, the ships were put in fighting trim, and early the following morning the men came wearily back to the beach on shore leave.42

In order to advertise the event, the Legion constructed a large battleship float and took it to parades as far away as Ogden. The veterans also made special preparations at the beach. South of the river they cleared a parking area big enough to accommodate 15,000 cars, and they also constructed a pontoon bridge over the Provo to make it easy for the holiday throng of pedestrians to cross the river Utah Power and Light installed floodlights along the beach. The legion obviously planned on a large crowd.43

When on July 1 the explosives to be used as fireworks during the naval battle arrived at the train station, they caused some alarm. The station agent frantically called the chairman of the fireworks committee and told him to come down to the depot as quickly as he could.

When the chairman arrived, he found more than a dozen barrels and crates marked "Dangerous—High Explosives—Keep away from fire— Don't drop or jar." Naturally, the agent wanted the material removed from the station as rapidly as possible.

But nobody wanted to move or store the explosives—until an ingenious member of the committee came up with a plan. The men removed the warnings on the boxes and replaced them with stickers that said, "Glass—Handle with care—Liquids—This side up." Then they hired a transport company to take the merchandise to the lake, where guards were placed around it. The deceivers had clear consciences; after all, during those days of prohibition there were both dry and liquid fireworks.44

On the afternoon of the Fourth, more than 4,000 cars filled with people surged toward The Beach to witness the "Great Naval Battle." Activities at the lake started with a program featuring a parade of bathing beauties (the top prize was a $100 diamond ring), up-to-date vaudeville acts, fancy dancing, and musical and vocal numbers. On the river there were swimming races, fancy diving contests, and fly-casting and aqua board riding exhibitions. Chairs and benches had been set up under the trees for those who desired them Fifty legion members patrolled the grounds as special police.

The evening "battle" came off without a hitch. Specially made shells and rockets were launched from the boats along with other fireworks, and in a spectacular finale one of the ships was blown up It was well after midnight before all the cars had left the beach.45

This event in 1930 proved to be the resort's last big hurrah That same year Arthur N. Taylor suffered a severe hemorrhage of the stomach caused by worry and long hours of work, and he was never entirely well after that. He had neither the strength nor the inclination to oversee the resort business With the coming of the depression, business dropped off, and the lessees did not maintain the resort well. By 1932 the beach was closed, and the surrounding land was again being farmed The Taylor family eventually dismantled the dance hall; much of the lumber was used to build two new houses for the Lynn and Henry Taylor families on the hill above where the Provo LDS Temple is now located.46

The short life of Provonna, the last private resort at the mouth of the Provo River, spanned a little more than a decade. The resort had been born at a time when Arthur N. Taylor was optimistic about business and searching for a way to expand. It died with the beginning of the Great Depression, when Taylor was forced to retrench In the end, the project resulted in a great deal of experience and many lasting memories but very little profit.

NOTES

Mr. Carter is a retired history instructor and local historian H e gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Clarence "Bud" D Taylor with this article.

1 Territorial Enquirer, August 23, 1879 In an October 17, 1976, article in Provo's Sunday Herald, Dr Willis Brimhall, then professor of geology at BYU, reported on a study of core samples taken from the bottom of Utah Lake He had found that current sediments were little different from those laid down in the past centuries and that the lake had never been clear and blue Brimhall pointed out that Utah Lake is shallow and that sometimes waves five or six feet high nearly reach the bottom of the lake, stirring u p turbidity At th e same time, conditions in the lake have always bee n ideal for the growth of algae However, Brimhall stated, it was possible that at the time the pioneers arrived "the waters were clear during nearly all of the days of the year" where streams entered the lake Th e author has talked to numerous elderly natives of Utah Valley who all remembered the lake being clearer earlier in the 20th century than it is today Maybe both are correct It is likely that Utah Lake has never been perfectly clear, but that its water was less turbid in earlier days, especially at the mouth of Provo River.

2 Utah Enquirer, July 13, 1888.

3 Journal of the Proceedings of the Provo City Council, July 3, 1882, p 143; August 6, 1883, p 208; August 13, 1883, p 210; September 3, 1883, p 211; February 13, 1886, p 360; December 18, 1888, p 512; and June 4, 1889, p. 551, City Recorder's Office, Provo, Utah.

4 Utah Enquirer, January 22, Jun e 7, and July 19, 1889.

5 Utah Enquirer, May 14, 1889.

6 Utah Enquirer, Jun e 4 and 7, 1889.

7 Utah Enquirer, Jun e 14 and 28; July 12, 16, and 26; August 2 and 9, 1889; Utah ValleyGazette, Jun e 28, 1889. The Garfield Resort was located on the Great Salt Lake, west of Black Rock.

8 Utah Enquirer, Jun e 28, 1889; Utah Valley Gazette, Jun e 28, 1889.

9 Utah Enquirer, July 2, 1889.

10 District Court Records, First Judicial District, Utah County, file #2153, Andrew Knudsen et al v Niels Omanson, County Recorder's Office, Provo; Utah Enquirer, March 22, 1894.

11 Utah County Democrat, August 15, 1906.

12 Salt Lake Tribune, April 8, 1908; Utah County Democrat, June 25, 1908.

13 Interview with William Wilson, Provo, Utah, May 11, 1995.

14 Journal of the Proceedings of the Provo City Council, April 3, 12, 26, and May 2, 1911; Ordinances and Resolutions Notebook of the Provo City Council, May 2, 1911, City Recorder's Office, Provo; Provo Post, June 12, 1914.

15 Clarence Dixon Taylor, comp., "George Taylor, Sr and His Family: Photographer - MerchantBanker," p 257, copy in possession of the author.

16 Provo Herald, March 18, August 12, 1920.

17 "George Taylor, Sr and His Family," pp 145-48; Provo Post, April 22, 1921; Lehi Sun, April 28, 1921.

18 Provo Post, June 20, 1919; DeseretEvening News, June 21, 1919.

19 "George Taylor, Sr and His Family," p 147.

20 Provo Herald, May 11, 1921; Provo Post, April 22, 1921.

21 Elton L Taylor, "My Association With Utah Lake," pp 31-35 MS, Elton Taylor Collection, Manuscripts Division, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

22 Ibid., pp 36-37; Provo Post, July 12, 1921.

23 Interview with Clarence D Taylor, Provo, Utah, August 19, 1997.

24 Elton L Taylor, "As I Remember Events in My Life" (privately published, 1984), p.15 Elton Taylor Collection, Marriott Library.

25 Elton L Taylor, "My Association With Utah Lake," pp 38-39.

26 Provo Herald, July 20, 1921.

27 Elton L Taylor, "My Association With Utah Lake," pp 28-30, 39.

28 Daily Herald, September 7, 1923; Sunday Herald, July 5, 1925; interview with Clarence D Taylor, Provo, Utah, June 11, 1996.

29 "George Taylor, Sr. and His Family," p. 258.

30 Evening Herald, July 15, 1925.

31 Evening Herald, May 12 and 27, 1926.

32 "George Taylor, Sr. and His Family," p. 260.

33 Sunday Herald, February 24, 1957.

34 Evening Herald and Deseret news, July 26, 1926.

35 Evening Herald and Deseret News, August 2, 1926; Mable Olsen, interview with author, Provo, Utah, March 21, 1993; tape and transcript in author's possession.

36 Sunday Herald, June 12, 1927; "George Taylor, Sr. and His Family," pp. 259-60.

37 Evening Herald, June 14, 1928.

38 Evening Herald, June 21 and 27, 1929.

39 Evening Herald, June 5, 7, and 13, 1930; George Taylor, Sr. and His Family, p. 260.

40 Evening Herald, Salt Lake Tribune, May 26, 1930; Springville Herald, May 29, 1930.

41 Sunday Herald,June 22, 1930.

42 Interview with Bob Boshard, Provo, Utah, November 23, 1995; Evening Herald, June 23, 1930.

43 Evening Herald, June 16, 23; July 2, 1930.

44 Evening Herald, July 1, 1930.

45 Evening Herald, June 19, 22, 23, 1930.

46 "George Taylor, Sr and His Family," p 260.