Ogden's Hinckley Airport isn't the Area's Original Airport

 

An aerial view of the Ogden Airport in 2006.             Photo from Wikipedia Commons   

MOST people would believe that the current Ogden Airport, in Roy/Riverdale is the area’s original airport.

But that is not the case. There was an earlier airport, located approximately where today’s Ogden Regional Hospital is.

Ogden dedicated that original airport on July 1, 1928.

“Ogden is entertaining one of the largest crowds of visitors in its history,” the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper reported on Jul 1, 1928. “The occasion is celebrating marking the dedication of the municipal airport. Streets were lined this morning by throngs viewing the parade in which the history of transportation was depicted.”

  This original airport had three runways, all gravel, but was located on a hillside above Ogden City, and near Weber Canyon, where winds kept fog away most of the time.

But within a decade, the airport location was not deemed large enough for the future and plans were made for a new airport. Ther War Department (today’s Department of Defense) approved $795,000 for a new Ogden airport in the fall of 1940. This airport was to be located in what was then known as the Fairmont District and Ogden City already had secured half of the 655 acres needed, according to the Salt Lake Telegram of October 23, 1940.

  The original airport also suffered a significant fire on October 26, 1941, that damaged several shops and two airplanes. Notwithstanding, the Army Air Force sometimes utilized the gravel runways during part of World War II.

The new airport was dedicated on October 3, 1943 and featured a concert by the Union Pacific Band and a Hill Field Band, the Telegram of October 2, 1943 stated.

Today the airport is a regional airport, named the Ogden-Hinckley Airport, in honor of Robert H. Hinckley, a man who helped train thousands of pilots during World War II and who helped develop aviation infrastructure across the nation. He was also a member of the Civil Aeronautics Authority.

 

                                  Robert H. Hinckley,  photo from Wikipedia Commons

Layton's Gentile Street is not Unique -- There's a Gentile Valley Road in Southeast Idaho

 

                                                     Gentile Street sign in Layton, Utah.

For those familiar with Layton, Utah, the City’s most unusual road name is Gentile Street. Like most people -- even most historians-- they believe it was so named because some non-Mormons (“Gentiles”) lived on that street when it was only a west Layton road. 

However, I’ve come to believe it was the waystation for travelers on the connecting Bluff Road emigration trail, where its name came from, because that is where the only non-Mormons in the early community were, as they operated the station. (The early residents who lived on west Gentile Street were actually LDS Church members, but simply inactive, or called “Jack Mormons” back in the day.)

                         Gentile Valley Road sign in Thatcher, Idaho, near the Bear River.

Notwithstanding the name’s origin, it is not a unique feature, as over the weekend I found another “Gentile” street, this one in southeast Idaho. This road is near the Bear River, in Thatcher, Idaho (west of Niter and southwest of Grace.) Where did this “Gentile Valley” road name come from? Grace, Idaho, and today’s Gem Valley, was settled by non-Mormons in 1865 and after Brigham Young sent church members to settle there in the 1870s, tensions grew. The Bear River became a boundary of sorts then. If you were Mormon, you were supposed to live on the east side of the Bear River; and non-Mormons the west side. In those days, the Grace valley was called the "Gentile Valley." It was not renamed Gem Valley until the early 20^th Century, when religious tensions finally eased.

And, then there’s nearby Soda Springs, about 11 miles away and northeast of Grace. But, where is the actual Soda Spring? I mean, the Soda water springs? There's a Hooper Springs, north of town, but no Soda. Is it the geyser in town? No. Soda Springs, a spring, is now located under Alexander reservoir, which backs up the Bear River. Also, "Soda Springs" was not that water source's original name either. "Beer Springs" was what trappers first called it. Mormon settlers obviously changed the name later.

 

 

1948: When a West Davis Highway in northern Utah was first proposed

MANY may erroneously believe that a West Davis Highway corridor was first proposed by Utah Governor Mike Leavitt back in 1996, almost exactly 21 years before the Utah Department of Transportation announced their specific corridor for such a major highway.

However, “Davis urges wider road, Inter-regional highway” was a Dec. 3, 1948 headline in the Davis County Clipper newspaper.

Thus, some 48 years earlier than Gov. Leavitt was when this regional highway was first proposed.

That Davis Clipper story stated that such a road should cross Farmington Bay, before “skirting Davis County towns to the west.”

In northern Davis County, the story said the road would follow the old Mormon Pioneer trail corridor – the Bluff Road (essentially where UDOT’s current plan is to build the four-lane highway).

“Purpose of this highway will be to rid the incorporated towns of Davis County of nuisance traffic, such as through traffic,” the 1948 story stated. 

At the time, it was stated that the road would tie into Salt Lake City’s Seventh West Street. On the north end, it would connect with Ogden’s 24^th Street viaduct.

It was noted that the road would add three to four miles to the overall distance between Salt Lake and Ogden with the looping westward. Yet, it was believed that could be a bargain in future years when development slows the speed limits on Highway 91, then the main corridor through Davis County. (I-15 didn’t come along until the mid-1960s.)

Purchasing the necessary right-of-way as soon as possible was stressed as the key to making the highway affordable.

Of course, the road never happened and was off the radar for nearly another half century.

The Clipper story also mentioned that a “scenic highway” Should be built from Farmington to Bountiful, along the mountainside.
UDOT did another study on a possible "West Davis Highway" in the early 1960s, but no other action was taken.
-It was on July 16, 1996 when Gov. Leavitt announced his “Legacy Project” – the Western Transportation Corridor – at a press conference in West Haven.

The Deseret News of July 17, 1996 reported:

“This proposed highway would eventually stretch more than 130 miles, from North Ogden to Nephi, spanning five counties. ‘We have not determined the exact route for most of this,’ Gov. Leavitt said, though he specifically said it would run in the vicinity of 5600 South in Salt Lake County. It would definitely parallel I-15 from Farmington to Centerville and could run either side of Lake Mountain in Utah County. The map the Utah Department of Transportation presented at the conferences had no specific roadway identified - only a wide corridor,” the 1996 article concluded.

-It was July 6, 2017 when UDOT announced the specific route for its 19-mile section of West Davis Highway after many years of debate with the cities and counties it passes through.

The Deseret News of July 6, 2017 reported:

“The route from Farmington to West Point would connect with I-15 and Legacy Parkway at Glovers Lane on the south end, and at state Route 37, or 1800 North, at approximately 4000 West on the north end.”

From Syracuse northward, it would follow the Bluff Road corridor, a section that West Point and Clinton have preserved very well from development over the last two decades. 

1898: When 75 percent of Park City was destroyed by a 'Fiery furnace'

                                Park City's Main Street.

IT was likely the largest city fire ever in Utah.

"Destroyed!; (Park) City practically wiped out; a raging conflagration; scene of ruin and despair," was a Deseret News headline on June 20, 1898.

A fire on Sunday, June 19, 1898, just after 4 a.m., all but destroyed the prosperous mining town. There were no lives lost, but many narrow escapes and many animals killed.

"Park City, Utah's proud and prosperous mining camp, has practically been wiped out of existence, being visited yesterday by the most disastrous conflagration in the history of Utah," the Deseret News reported. "It may be that the city will be rebuilt and rise again from the ruins that now cover the canyon where it once stood, but it will be years before it can fully recover - if recovery is at all possible under the circumstances - from the terrible visitation. The loss, it is conservatively estimated, will aggregate more than a million dollars. The actual insurance will not reach much more than a tenth of that amount."

The cause of the fire, also described as a “fiery furnace,” was never determined.

The speculation was that it began in the kitchen of the American Hotel. However, the proprietor, Harry Freeman believed that an oil lamp had been dropped in a room or simply that a candle had been left unattended.

“Park City laid in ashes yesterday. Great cap suffers a loss of over half a million dollars. Insurance will not be much over one hundred thousand …” was a June 20, 1898 headline in the Salt Lake Herald.

This newspaper story cited the historic town’s bad luck – first the economic downturn in 1893; then the main Park city bank failed; next a reduction in the wages of miner’s and millmen; and now the giant fire.

The story referred to the fire as “demon flame” and stated that “the hope for the future is small.”

The four existing fire hoses had little effect on the blaze. Buildings were soon dynamited, but all this did was slow the fire, not stop it.

                         Walking Park City's Main Street.

Firemen came from Coalville, Salt Lake and Ogden – mostly by train. But they did not arrive until midmorning when it was too late to do much but watch. It was not until noon that the fire was contained.

In the end, at least 120 businesses and 140 homes were wiped out – or some 75 percent of the town. At least 500 people were homeless.

A January 7, 1996 story in the Deseret News by Twila Van Leer stated that the disastrous fire made national headlines and even superseded the Spanish-American war as the top story in some U.S. newspapers.

What happened after the fire? The majority of the residents remained and rebuilt. (There had been a much smaller downtown Park City Fire in 1890.)

Salt Lake City gave $2,500 to Park City’s rebuilding. The City of Mount Pleasant gave $102.40 and many Utahns donated or helped in the rebuilding effort.

 Thirty-four miners were killed in a 1902 explosion at a Park City mine as another tragedy unfolded there.

Ultimately, Park City’s mining prospects diminished greatly and the town suffered a big downturn. However, thanks to skiing (2 area resorts) and the annual Sundance Film Festival, the town reinvented itself as a tourist mecca by the 1980s and 1990s.

Park City was also famed world-wide during the 2002 Winter Olympics.

-Although Park City, like Moab, is often pegged as a “Gentile” or largely a non-Mormon town, its name originated from an LDS Church Apostle, Parley P. Pratt. Elder Pratt built a toll road through Parley’s Canyon. Settlers at the top of the road called it “Parley’s Park City.” However, by the early 20^th Century the name was shortened to simply “Park City.”

1894 in Utah: When bicyclists outraced horses over 50 miles – Plus, a mini S.L. Temple Square tale

IT was an unusual race: man vs. beast and over an artificial track the human was the victor, with some 600 people watching.

“Ponies beaten by bikes. An exciting fifty-mile race for blood. Exhibition of endurance. The wheelmen covered the distance in 2:45 1-5 and won the race by a lap and a half – The dangerous freaks of a bolting mare – Ogden wild over the bicycle races.”

That was the headline in the Salt Lake Tribune of August 27, 1894.

Bert Austin of Farmington and Charles Parr of Mill Creek were the horse riders, while D.E. Brockbank and Jack Prince and “Shock” were the two human cyclists (or “wheelmen” in that day’s vernacular).

Since the horses had to remain on the outside of the track, located somewhere in Ogden, they were given a 3 ½ lap lead to make it even.

Public bets were made on the outcome of the race, though it was said to be poorly advertised.

The bikes rolled rather smoothly over the gravel track, while the horses threw up gravel, even into the spectator area. Even a brief rainstorm didn’t deter the racers or the spectators.

After some 32 miles of the race, the horses were faltering and some spectators were hissing and catcalling at them.

Cries of “foul” were also frequent when the horse riders would “spank” their animals, trying to gain more speed. The cries only stopped when the hitting did.

One of the horses would also sometimes take a diversion off the track and into the weeds, only to return with some lost time. The rider was described as “just was well of been a monkey on her back” of the horse for all it cooperated at times.

At the 45-mile mark, the cyclists had taken the lead and though the horses gained back some of the distance, they were beaten.

-MINI TEMPLE REPLICA? Jump ahead some 27 years and the Salt Lake Telegram of Dec. 13, 1921 sported an intriguing little news item: “Will decide upon acceptance of land” was the headline.

A gift of six acres of ground were proposed to be donated to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the Harry Culver Company of Los Angeles. The land was on Grand View Boulevard in Ocean Heights – just outside the city limits of Venice, California (a city that merged with Los Angeles in 1926).

If accepted by the First Presidency of the Church, the site was proposed to include a “$500,000 temple to resemble Salt Lake Temple Square …”

Church members were said to be eager to build homes nearby and that a golf course could also be constructed nearby. The story even claimed that C.W. Nibley (Presiding Bishop of the LDS Church) contemplated building a home in the area at a later date.

Yet, the gift of land was apparently not accepted and the mini Temple Square idea never happened.

                        Illustration in the Salt Lake Herald of President Snow's ride.

-Yet another unusual LDS Story: “President Snow compared automobiles with ox teams” was a May 16, 1900 headline in the Salt Lake Herald newspaper.

President Lorenzo Snow had beaten Joseph F. Smith in an earlier 15-mile automobile race down by Cove Fort, according to the story.

Now he had ridden another horseless carriage in Salt Lake City. “’Oh, my, it is as wonderful as it is glorious,’” the Herald quoted President Snow as saying after his latest motorized ride. Though he had to shake the dust off his clothes after the ride, he seemed to have an affection for such “novelty.”

Later. President Snow said in the story, “I was thinking of getting a bicycle, but I guess the automobile is what I want, after all. It is quite different from driving an oxcart. That is the way I saw Salt Lake City first. But fifty years makes a great difference in most everything. In 1849 when we came here I drove one of the ox teams over the same roads, but we made on an average of 100 miles a week, while I believe that carriage would have no difficulty in covering about thirty-five miles an hour on good roads.”

President Snow also said that he has heard that there will be no stables or horses in “The City of Zion in Jackson County,” something he previously could not understand. Yet, now the use of automobiles might explain that.

He furthermore said that not having to carry oats in the bottom of a buggy, to feed horses, is also not something he would miss.

Historical facts and trivia for Lagoon Amusement Park

LAGOON is one of Utah’s most popular seasonal attractions. Here is some historical trivia and facts about the Amusement Park:

-Lagoon was originally located about 1.7 miles west of its current site, just to the west of Clark Lane.

-The Park was originally built as a way to attract more passenger traffic to the Bamberger Railroad.

-Lagoon wasn’t “Lagoon” at first. When it was located westward, by the Great Salt Lake, from 1886-1896, it was known as “Lake Park.” The Lagoon name came after it moved eastward, near a lake.

-Approximately 53,000 guests visited the park in its first season in 1886. Admission in those days was 50 cents. Swimming, dancing, boating, a merry-go-round pulled by a horse, target shooting, roller skating and bowling were all included for that price.

-Lagoon moved eastward because the Great Salt Lake was receding. Bathers had to walk about a half-mile to swim in the lake during the 1895 season.

-Lagoon is the world’s 27th oldest operating amusement park in the same location, according to the National Amusement Park Historical Association (napha.org). It was the first amusement park west of the Mississippi River and is also the nation's largest family-owned amusement park.

-Lagoon’s first thrill ride was “Shoot the Chutes,” a forerunner of today’s log flume rides.

-The first known fatality at Lagoon was Henry John Barnes, 50, of Farmington, who drowned in about 3 feet of water at Lagoon's Lake on August 3, 1907.

-“The Lagoon Road” mentioned in the Park’s early history was not a highway at all. It was the nickname of the Bamberger rail line to Lagoon.

-The first LDS Stake Lagoon Day was probably held on held June 8, 1905, for the Salt Lake Stake.

-An “Old Folk’s Day” was a popular annual event at the park. One such event was held there on June 25, 1907. Any resident of Davis County over age 70 was invited for free to be Lagoon’s guests at the event. Pot roast beef, boiled ham, mutton, all kinds of cake and lemonade comprised the menu at the Old Folks’ Day.

-Horse racing, complete with legal betting, operated at Lagoon for two seasons, until the Utah State Legislature outlawed such horse racing in 1913.

 -Lagoon also operated its own saloon from opening day in 1886, until the end of the 1915 season, when it went alcohol free.

-Lagoon’s “water fit to drink” swimming pool arrived in 1921, complete with a cement bottom. This million-gallon pool would remain for five and a half decades, until it closed for good at the end of the 1987 season.

- Lagoon also had a "criminal" aspect during the 1920s, when the nation's alcohol prohibition was in force. During the off-season at Lagoon, some youths would stash kegs of booze in various portions of the park. For example, in the late fall of 1925, 31 kegs of liquor were found stashed behind the picture gallery.

-In 1932, Lagoon offered free swimming lessons to all comers in a special "Learn to Swim" campaign that July.

-Lagoon was closed for the 1943, 1944 and 1945 seasons because of World War II and gasoline rationing.

-In the 1950s, Lagoon championed civil rights and was one of the first Utah businesses to break the color barrier and allow Blacks to swim and dance at the Park.

-A fire of unknown origin damaged Lagoon on November 14, 1953. The front (east end) of the wooden roller coaster was wiped out. The Fun House and the Dancing Pavillion were reduced to rubble. Also destroyed were the Tunnel of Horrors, the Shooting Gallery, cafe, taproom, several storehouses and small concession booths. The historic Merry-Go-Round was saved by a constant flow of water sprayed on it. Volunteer firemen from the city battled the blaze for more than six hours.

-Lagoon’s Pioneer Village opened in 1976. Much of it had been a part of a Sons of Utah Pioneers’ museum in Salt Lake City.

-In the 1986 season, Lagoon hired 750 teenagers that year and the pay was $3.25 an hour, plus a bonus at the end of the season for employees who remained.

-Lagoon hosted its last concert in 1989, with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

-Lagoon-A-Beach premiered in 1989.

-The “Fun House” at Lagoon closed for good after the 1990 season, because of liability concerns.

-“Frightmares at Lagoon first began in the fall of 1995.

-The park sold 41,000 season passports in 2006, up dramatically from the 300 it sold 26 years earlier in 1980, when the park began offering them.

-Lagoon’s three oldest existing rides are: 1. Carousel ("Merry-go-Round), 1906); 2. Wooden Roller Coaster; 3. Tilt-A-Whirl, 1954.

Back when visiting the ‘4 Corners’ was a perilous trip; and other historical tidbits

VISITING the famed Four Corners, the only place where four States of America intersect, today is a convenient trip over paved roads, with ample signage. However, as recent as 1957, such a trip was a rugged and even hazardous adventure.

“Obscure, perilous dirt route trap for intrepid tourists” was a Dec. 22, 1957 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune.

While there was already a cement marker at the spot where the four states meet, traveling there was the problem. The Tribune story stated most maps didn’t even show that there was a road there back then.

“The last eight miles is the worst,” the Tribune story stated. “They consist of a dirt-on-top-of-boulder stretch with rugged stones as big as 10-gallon hats to punctuate the ride.”

The story also stated the road is narrow and a bumpy washboard for vehicles. Also, the only sign along the road is eight miles away that stated, “Four Corners—Eight miles.”

The Tribune reported that the road was so bad that vehicles could easily get bogged down or lost.

The story ended by proclaiming that a gross lack of signage and a proper road is why most residents of the Four Corner states have never been to the historic marker.

       Being in 4 states at once is what many youth seek at the Four Corners Monument.

Just less than five years later, the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Sept. 17, 1962 stated that a new highway to the Four Corners was open and that a new monument there had been dedicated. The Governors of the four states even attended the dedication ceremony.

Notwithstanding, that didn’t solve all visitation problems to the Four Corners.

“At Four Corners. Needed: Visitor Center, Park” was a July 6, 1972 the title of an editorial in the Provo Daily Herald.

“Four Corners ‘Incredible Disgrace’ – Lawmakers” was a May 19, 1982 headline in the Herald, a decade later. At that time, there was no water, toilets or cleanliness at the geographical site.

The situation eventually improved at Four Corners and although it still remains in a remote area today, there is plenty of signage and reasonable facilities for visitors.

Other historical tidbits:

                Ensign Peak from the south.                                   Photograph by Ray Boren.

-Ensign Peak, located north of downtown Salt Lake City was the first mountain peak that the pioneers climbed. It also has a lengthy legacy. For example, in a speech on July 26, 1919, Richard W. Young, President of Ensign Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints referred to the peak as a symbol of patriotism.

                                            The Monument on Ensign Peak today.

In a July 27 Salt Lake Tribune article that year, Young said, “This peak has stood for years as proof of the patriotism of the people of Utah. For the last fifty years people have looked at this peak as an altar of patriotism.”

-“Wolf Creek” in Ogden Valley is more than the name of a development below Powder Mountain. Its name comes from nearby Wolf Creek Canyon. And that physical feature’s title is indeed based on the former wolves in the area.

In the early years of settlers, there was a large wolf pack and it killed many sheep and cattle. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Nov. 21, 1954, they were gradually killed off, all except one. This older wolf rarely came within shooting range and was elusive for a long time.

Then, John W. Grow and a friend were traveling up the canyon in a bobsled and noticed the wolf stalking them from a long distance behind. Grow slipped behind an abandoned cabin and when the wolf came within range, shot and killed the last of its kind in the Valley.

-Chinatown is a slice of red rock, reminiscent of Southern Utah, but located northeast of Devil’s Slide, above Weber Canyon. The first road to the local attraction was built in 1931 by the Lions Club of Ogden, in cooperation with the Morgan County Commissioners and local landowners. The Standard-Examiner of Nov. 3, 1931 reported this work.

Chinatown had already gained some attention, because of the Lincoln Highway improvements made in Weber Canyon. The Garland Times newspaper in Tremonton referred to Chinatown as “a fascinating curiosity shop of Mother Nature, covering about 20 square miles. It has been called a miniature Bryce, with its shades of pink, red, yellow, purple, gray, brown and white rock.”

Japanese Teapot, Big Elephant, Alligator Rock, Twin Elephants, 11 Apostles, Seal rock, Yellow Dike and Red Ridge were just some of the original names of Chinatown formations.

However, because of eventual problems with unruly visitors -- a lack of respect for landowners and their stock. Plus access costs -- the Standard-Examiner of Aug. 12, 1956 featured one of the last promotional stories on Chinatown, written by Arlene Irwin.

“Pagodas, totem poles and pillars. No exotic food in Chinatown but plenty of colorful cliffs” was the headline of that story. Back then in the mid-1950s, Chinatown was still accessible to the public and jeeps, horses and hikers were the common modes of transportation there.

“Civic clubs a generation ago tried to get public support for an automobile road which would reach Chinatown Canyon, but cost and other difficulties kept the drive from bearing fruit,” the Standard story stated.