Robert Gardner

Utah Historical Quarterly

Volume IX, 1941, Numbers 1-4

ROBERT GARDNER 1

TYPICAL FRONTIERSMAN AND EARLY UTAH PIONEER

By Dr. Wm. J. Snow

Robert Gardner and his brother Archie were two of the first mill men in Utah. They built and operated both lumber mills and flour mills. Their forebears were Scots, coming to Canada in 1821. Here these two brothers grew to manhood.

Robert describes this wilderness country as follows: "My father immigrated to Canada in 1821 * * * I think he located in the backwoods of Canada in the township of Dalhousie, Banthest district, upper Canada. This was a very poor part of the country consisting of rocky ridges covered with heavy timber." 1

In 1844 Mormon elders visited the city and within a year the Gardner family was converted. Robert thus describes his initiation into the Church: "In the beginning of January, 1845, in company with a few Saints we went a mile and a half into the woods and cut a hole in the ice and I was there baptized * * * in the stream called Brown's Creek."

From now on Roberts' zeal almost outran his judgment. In the summer of 1845, he made a round trip to Nauvoo, traveling a large part of the way on foot. "My wife" said he, "made me a lot of crackers. I put them in a two bushel sack and I traveled on foot. I packed them on my back and they lasted me to Nauvoo. But it was a pretty good day for crackers, better than it was for money."

These few incidents preliminary to his pioneering in Utah illustrate the calibre of the man. Returning to Canada the Gardner family began preparations to join the Mormons in their westward march, no matter where their destiny might be. Accordingly we find the Gardner family at Winter Quarters in 1846, and with Apostle John Taylor's company in 1847. Robert relates many thrilling and some tragic incidents of the long trek across the plains, but these cannot be related here.

From his diary I quote: "At the mouth of Emigration Canyon on October 1, 1847, my wagon was badly broken, my team nearly given out, and myself worn out. We looked over the valley. Here was not a house to be seen * * * but we were glad to see a resting place, and felt to thank God for the same."

No time was spent in repining. Pioneering in all fields was immediately begun. To quote: "My brother Archie and I soon went to work building a sawmill on the Warm Springs two miles

north of Salt Lake City. But this proved a failure. Early in the spring of 1848, we moved camp six miles south of Salt Lake on Mill Creek. We moved our sawmill and we rebuilt on Mill Creek and commenced to make lumber and build houses and get us farms."

Between 1847 and 1850 the Gardners, like many others, endured many trials incident to pioneering in an undeveloped wilderness. But by this time prospects became brighter. Says Robert, "after 1850, Archie and I went into a partnership building mills. * * * We built a sawmill in Mill Creek Canyon and another one over on the Jordan River."

"We made lumber, raised grain, got horses and stock and made means fast." Later these brothers added a gristmill to their business. They proved themselves surveyors, practical engineers, mechanics, and in fact possessors of all the qualities of the best type of frontiersmen.

It was in Utah's Dixie, however, where Robert Gardner showed his leadership in transforming a primitive wilderness into thriving towns and villages.

In 1861, President Brigham Young called a number of families to go South, raise cotton, establish settlements and pioneer the way for more colonies to follow. Without previous notice the names of these were called off in a public meeting in the Tabernacle, and Robert Gardner's name was among the fist. He himself was not at the meeting but was told of the call by some of his neighbors. Listen to his response in his own words: "I looked and spit and took off my hat, and scratched my head, and thought and said: 'all right.' "

"The next day I went up to the city and saw George A. Smith in the Historian's office. I said to him: 'I have come to find out what kind of an outfit is wanted, and when we are to go.' He said, 'That is the kind of men we want.'

" 'If you don't want to go, step to the President's office and ask him to take your name off the list, and he will do it.' I said, 'I expect he would, but I shan't try him. I have come to find what kind of an outfit is wanted, and when to go.' "

Accepting this call as a mission, he immediately began preparation for the move to the far away Dixie land. He bought a span of mules, and with one of his families started on his journey November 12, 1861. Accompanying him was another pioneer family, that of William Lang. They encountered some severe snow storms in Round Valley and at Kanosh, but otherwise the journey was without particular incident. December 1st the company arrived at the future site of St. George, then called the Old Camp ground. At the time a number of families were already on the ground awaiting supervision and re-enforcement. Robert Gardner immediately became a leader among them. Next to Erastus Snow, he was one of the most important leaders in frontier colonization. As carpenter, surveyor, engineer and lumberman, he contributed much to the development of the latent resources .of Utah's Dixie.

It is to his achievements in the lumber business that attention will now be centered. In his memoir we find the following: "On invitation, I hitched my team to brother Snow's carriage and went with him to Cedar City * * * We came home by way of Pinto settlement and Pine Valley. That was the first time I had seen that place. (Pine Valley.) Timber then grew all over the upper end of the Valley, and all around the face of the mountains * * * Brother Snow was very anxious to have the lumber business increased, for all the new settlements needed lumber. He asked me if I would like to come to Pine Valley and take charge of the business."

Robert's experience in the lumber business made him a suitable choice for the undertaking, but at the time he was rather loath to accept the suggestion. His deference to authority, however, led him to say that regardless of his own feelings, he would go wherever he was sent. Accordingly a few years later he was doing one of the most careful and responsible lumbering jobs of his career.

At this time, December, 1861, Robert still owned his property at Mill Creek. In 1862, he returned to dispose of his holding there. His own account of the transaction is interesting and revealing. I quote from his memoir:

"In 1863, I returned to Salt Lake City. At that time I sold my property, which consisted of my farm, improvements and home on Mill Creek, and my half interest in the Grist Mill on Big Cottonwood, to President Brigham Young for $8000. I was to be paid in stock, wagons, stoves, and anything he had to spare. I asked him for $500 in money on the deal to help me start in making a home in a new place, but he said he would not give me a cent in money, and I always found him as good as his word. So I took some of the above mentioned things and then paid $5000 into the tithing fund to be drawn as I had need for it. I paid $200 into the Emigration fund and left the rest in the hands of Brigham Young."

Many interesting details of his journey south are related, but we must omit these and return to his activities in the new region he had been called to help colonize. He had previously surveyed St. George, been made bishop of the ward, and on his return immediately began supervising the building of the old historic town hall in St. George. However, Erastus Snow was still interested in promoting the lumber business in Pine Valley. Accordingly in June, 1863, we find Robert moving two of his families to Pine Valley, where he soon became the leading mill man in that thickly timbered region.

In 1866, the great Tabernacle organ was being built in Salt Lake City, and some clear, clean lumber was needed for the pipes. To Robert Gardner was assigned the duty of furnishing this particular lumber. He and his son, William, began searching the forest for a tree that would serve the purpose. Finally one was found at the mouth of what is called Middle Fork, in Pine Valley. The tree was cut down, sawed into lumber and hauled by ox team to Salt Lake, a distance of approximately three hundred miles. The stump of that tree is now being preserved as a landmark of this early pioneer achievement. The story of this accomplishment, has become a tradition among the Gardner family and the residents of Pine Valley.

Recently the writer of this article obtained the following signed statement from the Historian's office in Salt Lake, from a Mr. Spencer, •who was inquiring as to the origin of the timber put into the Tabernacle Organ:

Mr. D. S. Spencer Salt Lake City, Utah

Historian's Office Sept. 24, 1927

Dear Mr. Spencer:

Referring to Pine Valley, Washington County, Utah, known for the fine quality of timber supplied therefrom, I may state that the first sawmill was built there as early as 1856.

Much of the wood for the great organ for the Salt Lake Tabernacle, built by Joseph Ridges in 1866 and 1867, was obtained from the hills of Pine Valley, and was hauled by wagons with ox teams a distance of about 325 miles. Especially was this wood used for the larger pipes because it was clear from knots, straight of grain and without pitch or gum.

Yours very truly, Andrew Jenson, Assistant Church Historian.

In line with this incident, and supporting the main thesis, is the following from Vol. 13 of Liahona, pp. 786 ff.

"The story of the building of the original tabernacle organ is an epic of the West. In perhaps no other country, could such mountains of difficulty pile up like Pelion upon Ossia to harass and thwart so noble an ambition, as that of Joseph Ridges.

"The old organ was made of home-made glue, boiled in great pots just outside the Tabernacle; the leather bellows were of home tanned hides; smooth pine was hauled from St. George (Pine Valley) across the desert to Salt Lake, 400 (sic) miles; spring wire fluffs, leather and sheet ivory for the keys and other things that the mountains could not produce, were brought from Boston by wagon train, and the magic work went on, dominated by the iron wills of those men."

This item is from a rather lengthy article by Guy La Coste taken from Goodwin's Weekly and reproduced in the Liahona, June 6, 1916, under the caption, "The Great Tabernacle Organ." The reference to the lumber hauled across the desert from St. George to Salt Lake, clearly has reference to the lumber hauled from Pine Valley by Robert Gardner.

The next important job for Robert Gardner was to go to Mount Trumbull, Arizona, a distance of seventy miles from St. George, and get out lumber for the St. George Temple.

The call for this job is thus related by this loyal and devoted pioneer. "One day I was down at the Temple and George A. Smith drove up in his carriage and called me. * * * He said, 'You cannot realize how the President is annoyed over this lumber question, and how anxious he is to get this temple completed. He feels he is getting old, and is liable to drop off at any time, and he has keys which he wants to give in the Temple. They can be given only in a Temple. Bishop Hunter is also very old, and is anxious to do work in the Temple for his dead before he passes away. My own anxiety is great on that subject, and I have been thinking, ever since the lumber business has stopped, where can I put my hand on a man who will not be stopped by a trifle, but will get out lumber no matter what it will cost, that the Temple may be finished without delay, and I cannot get my mind on anyone except you.'

"I replied: 'Brother Smith, if I were to study my own feelings, I would go on a Mission to China, rather than to go out there, but I have nothing to say. If you want me to go there, I will go and do the best I can." So he said he would talk to President Young about it.

A little later President Young definitely requested Robert Gardner to undertake the work, and the task was accomplished without further delay. This reflects the character of the man who never refused any duty imposed upon him by the authorities, whom he respected as his file leaders. The generalship of Brigham Young led to great achievements in Utah: but the men behind the scenes are often overlooked. Robert Gardner, I am sure, is one of these.

References

1 Robert Gardner did not keep a daily journal, but from time to time recorded significant incidents and events in his eventful career. In 1884, he elaborated these, filled in the lacuna, and produced a very interesting memoir. Quotations in this article are either from the original notes or the Memoir.