In This Issue

Biography is an essential element of history. Indeed, for many there is little or no distinction between the two. Without an understanding of the lives of those who have preceded us, our history would lack the passion, the variety, and the humanness that enrich and instruct. Lloyd E. Ambrosius in his introduction to Writing Biography: Historians & Their Craft, published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2004, writes that “…biography is an important form of historical analysis that can enable readers to transcend their own personal experiences and encounter another person from a different time and place.” Ambrosius argues that, “for that to occur, however, the biography must present the subject in such a way that ‘a living being walks off the pages.’” To accomplish this, the historian/author must have “…empathy to recognize both internal and external influences, both the psychological dimensions and the environmental circumstances that shaped a person’s life.” But with empathy and understanding, Ambrosius cautions, the writer must retain “…a certain detachment for the subject to achieve as much historical objectivity as possible, so as to distinguish fact from fiction, the biographer must see the world from that other person’s perspective” (viii-ix).

Three of the four articles in this first issue for 2009 are biographical treatments of three very different but contemporary individuals who resided in three different parts of Utah.

David Eccles, the subject of our first article, came to Utah in 1863 at the age of fourteen. His father, William, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints in 1842 but poverty, poor health, and a large family delayed immigration to Utah for more than two decades until the LDS Perpetual Emigrating Fund provided the means. Like another poor but fortunate Scottish emigrant,

Andrew Carnegie, David Eccles used his skills and persistence to become one of Utah and the West’s most successful businessmen. Although his enterprises ranged from banking and merchandizing to sugar, timber, and mining, this article focuses on Eccles’ role as a founder of the Utah Construction Company and its emergence as a world leader in the construction industry. In 1907, while David Eccles and his partners at the Utah Construction Company were involved with the economic challenges of the Panic of 1907, far to the south in the outpost of Aneth on the north bank of the San Juan River, the Navajo Medicine man Ba’álilee, The One With Supernatural Power, fought against Navajo policemen and soldiers from Fort Wingate, New Mexico. Our second article looks at the life of Ba’álilee and the changing conditions in the northern reaches of the Navajo Nation at the beginning of the twentieth century.

IN THIS ISSUE: These two photographs taken by Harry Shipler on October 8, 1913, provide two different perspectives of the same railroad construction site. Note the Utah Construction Company work camp in the photograph above. UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

In 1929, on the eve of the Great Depression, Dr. Myron Bird and his wife, Romania, and children moved to Delta to take over the medical practice and small hospital established by Dr. Bernard Smith. Our third article recounts the career of Myron Bird and the fifty-four years he practiced medicine in Millard County. He delivered more than five thousand babies, set countless broken bones, provided medical service to Japanese-Americans interned at Topaz during World War II, and met the medical needs of residents of the area for more than a half century.

Our final article for this issue chronicles the birth of Utah’s twenty-eighth county—Duchesne County from Wasatch County, a process that began with the opening of the Uintah Reservation in 1905 and was not accomplished until 1914. As residents of the Uinta Basin and Wasatch County found, creating a new county was extremely difficult. Legal and constitutional obstacles had to be overcome. Strong willed individuals influenced the process. Transportation, education, and religion matters were important elements. Grazing and water issues complicated deliberations, and disputes about the accuracy of previous land surveys brought into question whether or not the city of Roosevelt was within the boundaries of the proposed new county. All of these elements remind us of the complexity and vagaries of history.