T H E H I S T O R Y OF I S A A C S O R E N S E N SELECTIONS F R O M A P E R S O N A L J O U R N A L EDITED BY A. N . SORENSEN*
INTRODUCTION
I
LIVED IN Mendon in what my generation calls its golden age, 1880-1900. Pioneer conditions prevailed for most of this period, and the struggle for subsistence continued. Few modern conveniences were at hand until the mid-nineties, when headers, steam threshers, the Jackson Fork, fancy and white-top buggies and riding plows eased the burdens of the men, who had begun dry farming. N o household improvements cheered the women until a decade or so later when waterworks and electricity ushered in the modern era. The Mendon people were poor but happy, in a period when one of the tenents of the United Order, unity and friendliness, drew the residents together in a congenial bond of common interests. Young people associated in groups of the same age, about thirty in a group. In the summer-time we had frequent buggy rides, since the town was full of fine horses. It was also full of orchards, and all we needed for a good time was to meet under an apple tree and visit while we ate fruit that had not been visited by pests. In the many moonlit nights of summer we gathered on various lawns and sang or played games. Money was not half so important as was the hearty, friendly participation in all of our sports. Swimming was one. Blessed with radiant health and keen appetities, what mattered muddy roads or the never-ending chore of keeping the home fires burning. W e knew everybody's dogs, horses, cows, chickens and sleighs,
* Isaac Sorensen was one of the pioneers and founders of the community of Mendon in Cache Valley. His "History" is, of course, in great measure the early story of that town. It is here presented as a feature in the centennial celebration of Cache Valley, which occurs this year. A. N. Sorensen, who has prepared this material, is the son of the journalist and was for many years on the faculty of the old Brigham Young College and the Utah State Agricultural College.
