Klos Guitars

The art of making indestructible instruments

By M. Shane Richin

Klos guitars, Utah’s only large-scale guitar manufacturing facility, is internationally distributed, but reflects the rugged adventure found from the mountains to the deserts of our Utah landscape.

For those who want to marry the adventure to the art within themselves, there are really two instruments that stand out as mascots for life out in the world — the guitar and the ukulele. If you pull out a ukulele around a campfire and start singing Smash Mouth’s All Star, you’re likely to get a round of off-key social bonding. If you’re couch surfing across the nation and you pull out a guitar in the apartment of some new friends, someone will want to show you their rendition of Wonderwall or Stairway to Heaven. These sorts of memories are branded into our minds, and stories are banked for later withdrawal in our sunset years.

If a traveler has an instrument, it is likely to be a guitar or ukulele, but it’s also likely to be in rough shape as a consequence of the traveling lifestyle.

Even if you can afford to travel first class on an airplane, the baggage handlers probably don’t hold the same reverence for your instrument that you do.

The folks at Klos aren’t just making another guitar. They are making a guitar that can tag along with the world explorer. Ian Klosowiak who, along with his brother Adam Klosowiak, founded Klos, put it this way: “We wanted our guitars to be a piece of gear. Your wood guitar is a piece of art that you want to protect. We want you to throw our guitar in the trunk with your other adventure gear and not worry if it can handle the trip.” Ian is soft spoken, but you can tell he knows the lifestyle his guitars are meant for firsthand. His experience with adventure has clearly been drawn upon when designing the patented features of the guitar, but it also spawned another local Utah business from the two brothers: www.skillboardusa.com. Skill Board is a core strengthening balance board for extreme sport training.

In the promotional videos for their guitars and ukuleles, the brothers drop cinder blocks on their instruments and drive over them with a car. What makes them so durable is carbon fiber construction. Ian noticed that the mountain biking world had embraced

carbon fiber years ago, but the only guitars utilizing the strong, lightweight material were $3,000 plus. That wouldn’t do. They needed to be more affordable. Klos guitars range in price from a little over $600 to around $1500.

Ian went to BYU for mechanical engineering, and he built his first carbon fiber guitar there. This set fate into motion. When he took it with him to travel around Europe, he got a lot of compliments on his workmanship. For a student looking forward to the next phase of his life, where he would soon need to carve his own space out of the business landscape, this experience and feedback were inspiring.

Could he sell a recipe that was one part guitar hobby, one part adventure traveler, and two parts engineer? He knew he could make a professional level instrument that was very light, which helps when traveling, and he didn’t have to sacrifice sound quality for weight and strength. A big reason there isn’t a compromise is that the strength of the material itself meant the soundboard (the top of the guitar body) could be thin and didn’t need to be supported with the X bracing used in wooden guitars, freeing up the material to resonate better.

Back at BYU, Ian entered into a business competition in which he did well. When his brother Adam came to visit on a ski trip, they decided to enter a similar competition at Princeton University where Adam was studying electrical engineering. They won $20,000 which they used as seed money to start Klos guitars. They opened up shop in Provo, Utah, and Ian and Adam now have twenty employees building guitars for them. They choose their staff by finding musicians who know what they want in their own guitars, and then educate them in the industrial arts required to fabricate tools of creativity that they would want to play themselves. Ian tells me this approach has “produced great results”, and players all over the world would agree with him.

John W. Williams — Moab’s Wild West Doctor

By Rachel Fixsen

In 1896, Moab was a small town of 400 or 500 people, mostly ranchers, farmers, and miners, with no doctor. Grand County Commissioners at the time created a new position of County Health Officer for a salary of $150 a year, which was accepted by a man named John W. Williams, later known locally as “Doc” Williams.

Williams served the community for more than 20 years, continuing to give medical care to his friends even after his retirement in 1919. One of his first patients in the area, a sick infant, went on to become an English teacher to Williams’ own children. But his legacy is much broader than medicine alone. Williams was a cowboy, a boatsman, a rancher, a farmer, a community activist, and a promoter of Arches National Park as a beautiful natural tourist attraction.

Stories about Williams are preserved in a personal history written by his son, Mitch Williams, and archived by the Moab Museum, as well as in the living memories of his grandson, John L. Williams, who resides in Moab and owns Navtec Expeditions, a local tour company.

John L. Williams has a favorite story about his grandfather — one that highlights the horsemanship and adventurous spirit that defined him as much as his medical skill.

“The Robbers’ Roost gang, Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, they came into Moab one day, and one of their buddies had a bullet in him.” John L. Williams recounted the story as he had heard it repeated throughout his life. Doc Williams spent the day removing the bullet and treating the wounded man. Afterward the gang left town, and the doctor went home where he noticed that his favorite mare was missing.

“He knew those guys had stolen her because he knew how they were, and he knew they were holed up in Robbers’ Roost on the other side of the Green River,” said John L. Williams. Doc Williams, according to family lore, wasted no time, but saddled up another of his horses and started the arduous ride over rugged canyon country toward the outlaws’ hideout.

The route from Moab to Robbers’ Roost area now follows paved roads nearly all the way, circling the cliffs and canyons of Canyonlands National Park, with bridge crossings over the Green and Colorado rivers. Doc Williams, however, rode horseback through the canyon country, down Mineral Bottom, and forded the Green River.

“There were no roads out there in those days, just a few cow trails here and there,” said John L. Williams. “You definitely had to know where you were going, and he did, because he rode all over this country.” Doc Williams was used to taking rough routes on horseback to reach his patients, who sometimes farmed, ranched, or mined

in remote places. He carried his medical supplies in leather saddlebags specially designed for the purpose.

When Doc Williams reached Robbers’ Roost, the bandits were circled around a campfire. The doctor went straight to the horse corral, retrieved his mare, and rode back home again. No one said a word.

Doc Williams kept a cattle ranch that was best reached by boat, and raised feed for his livestock. He was active in local politics. He ran a drugstore, and later a general store, and was a key agent in persuading President Hoover to establish Arches as a national monument, as well as in promoting the area to tourists interested in experiencing the natural wonders of Moab. According to his grandson, he regularly spent days hiking in the Arches area throughout his 80s.

John L. Williams was only nine years old when his grandfather died, and so his direct memories of the local legend give a different view of the rough-riding, riverrunning, outlaw-facing community pillar. “I used to go to the post office with him every day because it was hard for him to read the letters on the post office box,” John L. Williams recalled. At the time, post offices boxes were secured with a coded lock, and owners had to enter the lettered code to retrieve the mail. “I’d open the post office box for him. I thought that was pretty big stuff,” said John L. Williams. Doc Williams passed away shortly after his 103rd birthday in 1953. A few years earlier, in an article acknowledging his 100th birthday, a local paper asked Doc Williams what it was that contributed to his longevity. He said he wasn’t sure, but advised that, “The main thing is to live to make friends and to grant their requests if you can — especially if they ask you to have a drink.”

Granny Smith: Ogden’s Pioneer Super Doctor

Ogden doctor delivered more than 1500 babies

By Maria Milligan

In 1873, Brigham Young issued a call that would give Utah a unique place in the history of women in medicine: “The time has come,” he said, “for women to come forth as doctors in these valleys of the mountains.”

Many Utah women answered this call, leaving their homes to study medicine on the East Coast. For others, however, Young’s declaration may have seemed a bit slow. After all, by 1873, Mary Heathman Smith had been practicing medicine in

Huntsville for almost 10 years.

Mary trained in a maternity hospital and with local doctors in England before joining

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and moving to Utah. Her skills were invaluable in the secluded Ogden Valley where she settled with her husband and nine living children. For thirty years, she served as the valley’s doctor, midwife, nurse, and sometimes surgeon.

Mary’s son, William G. Smith said, “She brought about 1500 children into this valley. She was called Grandma Smith by everybody that knew her. She did all kinds of nursing for the sick men, women, and children.”

Granddaughter Della Smith Greenwell described Mary’s midwifery this way. “She would go to the home every day for ten days on a maternity case to bathe the mother and baby. The fee was $3.00 and many, many times she wasn’t paid, or would take a fee in eggs, chickens, or maybe a ham.”

Grandma Smith approached the level of legendary folk hero in the stories told by Ogden Valley residents, many of whom she had ushered into the world. She once encountered a bear as she walked up

Ogden Canyon, escaping unscathed after engaging in some pleasant conversation with the beast.

Granddaughter Della said her grandmother was “known to use grandfather’s straight blade razor to amputate a finger or other small jobs of surgery.” When her husband John was mauled by a bear and came home clutching a chunk of his thigh, Grandma Smith sewed him together with thread from her sewing kit. Granddaughter Agnes Hislop Snooks said, “The weather was never too cold or the snow too deep for Grandma to go to help anyone in sickness or trouble.”

Despite her larger than life persona, the common thread in all of the memories of Mary Heathman Smith is her happy disposition. Her son William said of her, “She was always cheerful. She would bring a smile and sunshine into the sick room.” And according to granddaughter Della, “Mary Heathman Smith was loved by all who knew her.”

On her deathbed, Mary had three requests of future Church president David O. McKay (whom she’d delivered). First, she wanted the church bells to ring her out, per English tradition. Second, according to William, “She wanted a bouquet of ripe wheat placed on her casket, symbolizing that wheat had lived its time, but by planting it in the ground, it would rise again.” Third, she asked to be buried in the same grave as her husband. All three requests were granted.

In 1937, the Daughters of the Valley organization erected a monument in Huntsville dedicated to Mary Heathman Smith and her legacy. The brass plate reads in part, “For 30 years, in storm and sunshine, during the bleakest winter and darkest night, with little or no remuneration, she attended to the people of Ogden Valley with a faithfulness unexcelled.”

Riverbend Bridges

Tacos & Beer!

By Deann Armes

There are two things a city should never be lacking and that’s good tacos and beer. Although Ogden has some great taco carts and breweries, options are a little more sparse outside the non-historic district.

Ogden’s new Riverbend development project, currently in construction along Ogden River between 18th and 20th streets west of Washington Boulevard, recently became home to Northern Utah’s newest brewery, Ogden River Brewing (ORB), which opened in October last year. Now, Wimpy and Fritz are anticipating a move into the space next door.

Wimpy and Fritz started slinging Southern California-style tacos in Ogden, where owners Lane Montoya and Brian Zinsmann hail from, in 2018 at Farmers Market Ogden after Montoya couldn’t find a taco on Historic 25th Street. Starving, he walked up and down the farmers market unable to find anything he really wanted. Soon after, he and Brian, longtime friends who met years ago working for Gastronomy Inc.’s restaurants — Cafe Pierpont, Market Street Grill, Oyster Bar — in Salt Lake, were talking about

starting a taco booth at the farmers market over beers in the backyard. Since that first taco was sold at the farmers market, Wimpy and Fritz took off. Almost overnight, they were selling out at community events and from the taco truck traversing town. They were filling a void, not only for quick, street-style tacos on 25th Street during the market, but Montoya and Zinsmann were behind the grill all over the city, at every Farmers Market Ogden, Ogden Twilight Concerts, Harvest Moon Celebrations, alleged bar rooftop dance parties ... anywhere the people were, making friends of strangers and serving up fresh new flavors in their authentic California surf-skateboard style.

When the community responds so enthusiastically to something you’re doing, you lean into it. People loved their tacos. “That’s why we went the way we did,” said Zinsmann.

Before the Riverbend development, Zinsmann and Montoya had been offered locations for a fixed restaurant space, but they say nothing “felt right.” Then developer Bryan Wrigley of Lotus Development, who had recently become a good friend, approached them about the location on the river next to Ogden River Brewing, and they knew immediately it was perfect. It was a prime spot with affordable rent and a brand new building, along with Wrigley’s community-minded vision that matches their own. “It was like affordable housing on the river. He cares,” Zinsmann said.

“Everything that is in this restaurant is mine and Brian’s,” Montoya said. From the kitchen details to the 500 square foot patio, the new Wimpy and Fritz space was created alongside the architects who welcomed input from the business owners.

This summer, hopefully by August, Wimpy and Fritz will be dishing up their Al Pastor, Carne Asada, Smoked Carnitas, vegan Jacked Up tacos, signature margaritas, palomas, special brews (in collaboration with ORB) and more every day on the southside of Ogden River.

“You can have taco Tuesday all you want,” Montoya said. “We have tacos every day.”

Beer every day is also the new reality for residents in the new Riverbend development. New townhouses are under construction directly west from ORB, and Wimpy and Fritz along with Dirty Bird and Sweet Talk coming later this year. ORB is within walking distance for people, a great benefit of the location.

Now people can have a beer without having to worry about getting home, said ORB owner/brewmaster Pat Winslow.

Winslow, a retired train conductor of 42 years, was sought out by Wrigley who loved the idea of a brewery in the Riverbend development, and the two became partners. Winslow had planned to utilize an old warehouse that sits on

the property where Becker Brewing Malting Company once stood as Utah’s longest continuously operating brewing company. It was perfect for his brewery vision, for which he secured the old Becker Brewing label.

But when building permits and code requirements ultimately deemed it impossible, the nearby empty field south of the river on Park Avenue in the nearby Riverbend development was a great second option.

Since opening in October last year, Winslow has seen his long-held dream unfold after years of perfecting the art of craft brew at his home. The “best beer in Ogden,” as people often refer to it, was made possible with a Kickstarter campaign that raised well over its fundraising goal.

People wanted more good beer in Ogden, and they wanted Winslow to do it. Now he’s running around ORB daily, talking to people, asking for feedback on the beer and food, and giving away hugs. And he doesn’t mind the long hours. “I love people,” he said. “It’s not a job if you like it.”

The ORB Beer Store is being built next door, due sometime this summer, where cold cans of Winslow’s array of beers can be purchased — staples like Hazy IPA, Scottish ales, Aviator (wheat beer), Pale Ale, Coffee Milk Stout, and with special brews on rotation like Lemon-Basil Gose, German and New Zealand pilsners. An American light lager is upcoming.

Winslow is highly anticipating the launch of his reproduced version of the Becker’s Best and Becker’s Mellow lines. Based on conversations with railroad workers who drank the historic beer, old journals and documents in the archives at University of Utah, and knowing Becker Brewing did its own malting using regional grains, he is working to recreate the old brew sans a recipe. He’d like to put a water wheel in the river to generate electricity but the idea hasn’t garnered city support. Until then, it is hoped that better stewardship and enjoyment of Ogden River, and more diversity to the craft beer and food community of Ogden, will be a lasting outcome. Lane Montoya plans to make sure of it. “We’re always going to try to do for the community,” he said. “It’s just how it is.”