A 1929 account of hiking across the Grand Canyon

                           The east end of today's Tonto Trail. It was the main trail in 1929.

By Lynn Arave

THE Parowan Times of Sept. 11, 1929 contained an account of three young ladies who hiked rim-to-rim across the Grand Canyon that summer.
The account is from Blanche Decker of Parowan under the headline of: "Parowan girl writes of hike across the Grand Canyon."
The three girls left the North Rim and hiked down to Cottonwood and then a side trip to Ribbon Falls. She said "Alter" was another name for Ribbon Falls.
"A clear silver stream shoots out of the hillside and falls in sprays and ribbons upon a massive alter formed of solid gray rock and covered with corrugated moss," she wrote.
She then noted she lost the sole of her shoe and had to get by many miles to Phantom Ranch. The girls apparently had to walk in the Bright Angel Creek stream, as there was no trail for part of the way.
"Through jungles and cougar lairs, over plateaus and through box canyons we walked, until suddenly, as an apparition appears, we beheld a clean green and white ranch house, reposing in a grove of aspens. It was 'Phantom Ranch' and we welcomed it for we were tired," Decker wrote.
The girls spent the night in a white cabin and didn't not sleep well, as there was stifling hear overnight. A Southern Cowboy there, "Bud," repaired her shoe.
They left in the early morning, rising at 5 a.m. They crossed the suspension bridge across the Colorado River.

                         Part way across the Tonto Trail, a desert experience.

"Crossing the Tonto Trail was the most difficult part of our entire hike," she wrote. "It is a barren plateau; the trail is rocky and the heat is stifling that we fell upon the sand exhausted and gasping for breath. It was like trying to breath in a fiery furnace. Once we became so thirsty that we drank water from a stagnant pool and off the backs of wiggling tadpoles, and we were grateful for that," Decker wrote.
Finally, they saw a sign that stated Indian Gardens was six miles. (This leads one to believe that the trail back then was just the bottom part of the North Kaibab and after reaching the Tonto Plateau, it jutted west, over the the Bright Angel Trail, whereas today the Bright Angel  is built to the river bottom.)

                                                     Indian Gardens.


The girls spent the night at Indian Garden. They took a bath in the creek there, slept a while and then were called to dinner. There were buildings at Indian Garden then and the girls helped with dishes; played with some tame antelope nearby and ate apples from a tree, watching the sunset.
They were woken at 3 a.m., given breakfast and hit the trail.

"The trail was very steep. In some places it rose almost straight up. While he truly enjoyed the climb (being rested now) we were glad when, as we drew near the top we heard the blast of an engine whistle and the chugging and puffing of the train as it approached El Tovar," she wrote.
 People on the South Rim were very curious about their hike.
"Sometimes were felt victims of newspaper scandal but it was fun at that," Decker wrote.
The girls got an airplane right across the Grand Canyon to the north and landed at an airport ("Fredonia"?) and got a bus ride back through the Kaibab Forest to the North Rim Lodge.
"Men even lost money over our adventure," she wrote. "They gambled on us and got surprised. Of course, people exaggerate the difficulty of the hike you know ... I am quite happy now that I have seen Grand Canyon from every angle and I know it's Grand," she concluded.

                       Half way up the Bright Angel Trail from Indian Gardens.

The earliest of Hikes up Notch Peak

By Lynn Arave

NOTCH Peak has been a landmark around the Delta area and the west desert there for centuries.
However, when was it first climbed?
The earliest account available is from April 19, 1930, when four men -- Blaine Cropper, Ellis Bennett, Lester Cropper and Wallace Nilson -- scaled its summit and left their names behind on a weathered piece of paper inside a stone monument on the summit.
These names were rediscovered more than eight years later on Aug. 20, 1938, when J H Belt of Salt Lake City climbed to the top of Notch Peak.
Another peak bagger, name, Louis Schoenberger from May 25, 1930, was also written on the aged paper.
As reported in the Millard County Chronicle of Aug. 25, 1938, Belt was stunned by the beauty of the area.
"On top I found a stupendous sight. Peak after peak arises in majesty across a vista of many miles," he told the newspaper.
Belt said he could clearly see Mount Nebo, Timpangogos Peak and even some Nevada peaks from atop Notch Peak.

                            Just below the summit of Notch Peak.

                                                           The Notch Peak Summit.


-HERE are highlights from an account of climbing Notch Peak, by Lynn Arave, from the Deseret News, Aug. 24, 1997.)

Notch Peak is a premier test for those with acrophobia; it's

the state's ultimate drop-off. 

Only cliffs in Yosemite National Park can rival this one, 

which is a dream spot for hang-gliders.

 Look over its northwest edge and it's a 3,000-foot drop, with 

another 2,000 feet of more gradual slope to Tule Valley.

 
Located 50 miles southwest of Delta, it's a five-mile, one-way hike through a narrow canyon. There is a 3,225 elevation gain to reach the 9,655-foot peak of this distinctively shaped mountain.

You can also enjoy refreshing solitude in this remote hike.

David G. rhapsodizes: "It's not heaven, but you can see it from here."

Carl B. takes in the view then decides to "sit back, close my eyes and imagine Lake Bonneville filled to the brim."

Notch Peak, the summit of Sawtooth Mountain, had its own "mailbox," one of those familiar general-issue tin versions embedded in an impressive rock cairn -- at least years ago it did.

According to a notebook inscription found therein, the mailbox was first placed there by the Wasatch Mountain Club in 1968. So shiny it looks nearly new, it is often stuffed with notes left by hikers - Scout troops, people in pairs and small groups - who reached the peak.

Notch seems to give just about everyone a tingle of acrophobia.

"Wow! Dang," Erick, Lisa and Sue succinctly exclaim.

"It gives me the heebie jeebies," notes an unknown scribe.

Sheer, steep, lofty, abrupt - adjectives don't do this escarpment justice. John Hart, in his book "Hiking the Great Basin," writes that a Notch Peak climb will refine your use of the word "cliff." It is, he says, "the ultimate drop-off."

Perhaps only El Capitan in Yosemite is a worthy rival of Notch Peak, in terms of sheer cliff-ness.

A hike to the top begins at the mouth of Sawtooth Canyon, on the mountain's southeast side. A shot-up sign meant to direct motorists to nearby Miller Canyon (the placard on the main unpaved road heading north says " 'er Canyon") sends adventurers west; at a Y intersection, the road on the right heads to Miller, while the one on the left bumps toward Sawtooth.

 Finally hikers head up a ridge toward the peak. Before they get there, though, the mountain suddenly breaks open and YIKES! A massive cleft opens up, a yaw that certainly contributes to the notch visible from scores of miles away. The mountain's limestone foundations swirl in a sequence of sedimentary layers.

From the peak itself, Notch, at 9,655 feet above sea level, drops 5,053 vertical feet on its west side to the bleak but beautiful sagebrush-and-alkali Tule Valley below.

That, as Fergus points out, is nigh on a mile.

Then there's the view from the top: a panorama of desert valleys and distant ranges. On a clear day there are more sights to behold than you may have time to drink in.

"Scenic overdose," two Provo hikers scribbled in a mailbox note.

When Rainbow Bridge was discovered and preserved

                     Rainbow Bridge as seen from the top of Navajo Mountain.
                                                        Photos by Ravell Call

By Lynn Arave
RAINBOW Bridge, a sacred site to the Navajos, is so remote that it wasn't even discovered until Aug. 14, 1909 by government surveyor William B. Douglas -- and he required the help on an Indian Guide to find it.
And, initially a Native American could not be found who had actually seen the Bridge. It required an extensive search all one winter to find an experienced guide, according to the Salt Lake Herald Newspaper of June 3, 1910.
Douglas had tried to failed to reach the Bridge, 309 feet high and 278 feet across,  a year earlier in 1908.
It was less than a year later in the late spring of 1910 that Rainbow Bridge was made a National Monument by Presidential declaration.
A wagon road was not completed into the Navajo Mountain area until 1925, so discovering the Bridge was a real adventure in 1908-1910.
Even today the area is isolated. Rainbow Bridge is located 12 miles northwest of Navajo Mountain, a 10,000-plus-foot-high peak that dominates the landscape. One has to drive into Arizona and then back into Utah to reach the Navajo Mountain Community.
"Hole in the Rock Shaped Liked a Rainbow" was a Navajo name for the sacred arch, believed to be of two beings, male and female, frozen in place. From it comes rainbows, clouds and moisture for the reservation.

Rainbow Bridge was a focal point of debate over the proposed construction of a dam to create Lake Powell in the 1950s. It was argued the backup of water would damage the arch. Initially, some special backwater dams were proposed to protect the arch, but then it was determined they would only damage the feature more than backed up Colorado River water would.
So, the Glen Canyon Dam was built as planned and in June of 1963, waters rose underneath Rainbow Bridge. This also made the Bridge all to accessible by boat, vs. a long, long day hike otherwise. Many insensitive visitors traveled under the arch and even climbed it, despite it Native American sacredness.
Likewise, Navajo Mountain is no longer quite as sacred today, since cell towers sit a top the peak.
-There is also another arch in the area, Talking Rock, in a nearby tributary of Rainbow Canyon, at Echo Canyon, also a sacred Navajo site.

                                         Navajo Mountain from the south.

OTHER SOURCE: "Navajo Places: History, Legend and Landscape," by Laurence D. Linford.

The "President's Forest" that never happened

                    Point Imperial on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

BACK in 1922, there was a proposal to create "The President's Forest."
Designed and backed by Utah Senator Reed Smoot, this designation  never happened.
It was supposed to be the east half of the Kaibab National Forest, some 500,000 acres of forest going to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, according to the Beaver County News of March 10, 1922.
The designation would have made it game sanctuary -- no hunting and no commercial or private development.
Back in 1922, it was also thought that Cedar Breaks would become a part of Zion National Park, instead of its own National Monument.
Also, Bryce Canyon was incorrectly believed to more likely become a state park, than a National Park.

When an observatory was proposed for Mount Nebo

                                  Ravell Call rests just below the South Peak of Mount Nebo.
                                                                                                                     Photo by Ray Boren

By Lynn Arave

BACK in 1920, serious consideration was given to put an observatory atop Mount Nebo as a "Yankee Memorial," to honor the soldiers, sailors and marines of all U.S. wars.
According to the Salt Lake Telegram of March 25, 1920, the Utah Memorial Committee considered this proposal.
Both a searchlight to help guide airplanes (in that pre-radar era) and even a radio station transmitter were considered to be placed there.
"Mt. Nebo is the highest mountain centrally situated in the state and its summit can be seen from three transcontinental railways -- two of which skirt its base -- and three transcontinental auto routes. It stands nearly 8,000 feet above the surrounding valleys," George B. Hobbs of Nephi told the Utah Memorial Committee.
Hobbs believed the U.S. Government would assist in the costs for such a strategic development.
-However, like many such proposals along the Wasatch Mountains in the 1920s, it never happened.
Hiking and scenic-wise, Mount Timpanogos to the south became a favored landmark. Timp was climbed far more often and eventually received a metal shelter on its summit, though a mountain war memorial never came to be on any peak in the area.

Why Zion National Park trails are paved

By Lynn Arave

EVER wonder why many of the trails in Zion National Park are paved?
It isn't just because of erosion, like in many other National Parks, nor is it a recent development.
According to the Iron County Newspaper of June 22, 1928 under the headline, "Highway and trails to be oiled," a different reason is mentioned:
"Dust blowing off the roads and trails covers the nearby plants, shrubs and trees with a coating of gray dust, which entirely destroys its freshness and beauty, and, in time may seriously injure the vegetation," the article quoted Park Superintendent E.T. Scoyen.
So, applying oil to the trails in 1928 was an experiment. Special equipment, designed by the National Park Service's Engineering division, was used in this project.
Decades later, cement and asphalt were used to cover key portions of trails.
Yes, paved trails increase the speed of hikers and help prevent erosion, but the 1928 experiment worked.

                            The West Rim Trail beyond Scout Lookout.

Motor Migrants were a big problem in 1927 Weber County

                    -From a post card in D. Boyd Crawford's collection.



"MOTOR MIGRANTS latest problem on public hands: Weber County gets share" was a July 10, 1927 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.
Even before the Great Depression struck, Weber County, Utah, had a significant amount of migrant people in cars, begging for gas and food and seeking places to camp.
A Riverdale storeowner reported in that story that up to 20 automobiles containing families had camped at night in farming areas near there in the past 6 weeks. Once these people earned enough money, or were handed enough funds, they moved on.
These so-called "Tramp Tourists" were all over the nation in that era.
Murray K. Jacobs of Riverdale reported that he talked to one Tramp Tourist, a mother of five children, who told him she'd been on the road for four years without a home.
These vagrants often begged for gas at rural service stations. In larger cities, gasoline theft was becoming an increasing criminal activity.
Some youth tourist tramps were also encountered, whose goal was to beg or buy a gallon of gas a day and let that take them that much further down the highway.

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

1916: When Ogden, Utah had big plans for its own zoo

              An elephant at Salt Lake's Hogle Zoo in the late 1980s.


TODAY about the only zoos in Utah are in Salt Lake City and Logan.
The largest zoo of all and by far is Salt Lake's Hogle Zoo.
Logan boasts a much more moderate-sized Willow Park Zoo on its west side.
However, Ogden City had plans and hopes for its own zoo back in the late 1910s.
According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Oct. 12, 1916, Weber County Commissioners had hoped to have a small zoo going by 1919 in Glenwood Park.
Unlike Salt Lake, the Ogden zoo would have had more domesticated wild animals housed there, "to the extent they will not be a danger to have about," the story stated.
Bears, guinea pigs, rabbits, pigeons and other birds would have begun the initial collection of animals.
As far as can be determined, this original Ogden zoo plan was never implemented.
--Ogden DID HAVE a small zoo in the 1950s inside Lorin Farr Park. There were at the least some monkeys there, but that was gone by the 1960s and since then Ogden has lacked any kind of a zoo.


-

North Ogden Divide Road in 1914

      The view below North Ogden Divide. The road is on the north side of the canyon.


THE North Ogden, Utah Divide Road has been around for more than a century.
In a Sept. 11, 1914 report in the Ogden Standard-Examiner, Weber County Commissioners traveled by automobile over the North Ogden Divide, also called "North Ogden Canyon Road" in those days.
Their report was a "fairly good" road, though "pretty steep," with a "most pleasing" high point.
Even today this road, about seven miles south of the main route through Ogden Canyon (Utah Highway 39), is a shortcut to Eden and Liberty in Ogden Valley,.

1914: The first skiing in the Ogden area?

                                   The mouth of Taylor Canyon.

WHEN did the first skiing in the Ogden Mountains begin?
Long before Snow Basin came along in 1940, winter recreation was was at least underway to some extent by 1914.
According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Jan. 17, 1914, a local minister, Rev. F.G. Brainerd and  a group climbed to Malan's Heights (today's Malan's Peak and Malan's Basin). Then, they used skis to slide down "with the wind,"
Rev. Brainerd said Ogden's mountains are even more "majestic and beautifully inspiring in winter than in summer."
He did regular snowshoe trips east of Ogden in the winter.
Tobaggan rides were reported to be popular pastimes in the eastern U.S., but in the west, few as yet, "realize the joy in store for those who will get out in the hills" in the winter season.
The Standard story concluded: "Our winter scenes, in canyon and mountain top, and the possibilities of our winter sports, should be one of the advertised features of Ogden."

                  Some antique, wooden skis of yesteryear.


-Just over five years later, a headline in the Standard-Examiner was: "They slide on snow banks in sight of Ogden and have a delightful time."
This story reported on May 27, 1919, that several groups of people had climbed to the top of "Observatory Peak" (today's Mount Ogden) that weekend.
There was still significant snow at high elevation that spring. The group went up and down the mountain saddle via the Malan's Heights trail. However, one of the two groups, were Japanese and they slid down quickly much of the distance on some sort of "rubber pads" on the snow.
The other party, presumably white in race, slid down the snow without such a pad and got very wet in the process. Members of that party were: R.F. Baker, Grace Jennings, Clifford Huss, Lucile Davis, George Bauman, Marjorie Turner and Ada Childs.

                          Looking toward Malan's Basin along the trail from Malan's Peak.

In the late 1920s, there was a ski jump near the mouth of Ogden Canyon. By 1937, Taylor Canyon's mouth featured a ski jump and later an ice skating rink.

Back when the road to Huntsville went through a duck pond

                     Pineview Dam dominates the west side of Ogden Valley today.

BACK in 1885, access to Huntsville, Utah, in Ogden Valley was a real nightmare.
According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of July 21, 1885, "The approach to Huntsville is through a duck pond, three or four feet deep, which is a terror to pedestrians, and it should be looked after."
The story reported that the road in Ogden Canyon was suitable, but once a traveler emerges into Ogden Valley and heads toward Eden, there are also two very bad places in the road, besides the duck pond. One is caused by a stream that creates "a very bad mud hole" and the other by a risky bridge across the North Fork of the Ogden River, "which will, if not fixed, cause a serious accident."

(Above photograph by Whitney Arave.)

A 1932 LDS Church Directory reveals some surprising historical tidbits

By Lynn Arave

LOOKING at a directory of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from June of 1932 reveals a few surprising historical tidbits.

HOSPITALS:
For example, the LDS Church owned 5 hospitals in that era:
1. Cottonwood Stake Maternity Hospital, Murray, Utah.
2. Thomas D. Dee Memorial Hospital, Ogden, Utah. 
3. The Idaho Falls LDS Hospital, Idaho Falls, Idaho.
4. Dr. W.H. Groves LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah.
5. LDS Children's Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Cottonwood and Idaho Falls hospitals are an obscure part of LDS Church history, as is that the LDS Hospital was originally named after a specific doctor.

SCHOOLS:
Of course the LDS Church had Brigham Young University, LDS Business College and Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) back then.
But it also owned Weber College in Ogden and Dixie College in St. George back then.
In addition, there two other former properties, mostly obscure in today's knowledge: 
Gila Junior College in Thatcher, Arizona and the Juarez Stake Academy in Mexico.

The not so great Great Salt Lake

            

                        The dry docks at Antelope Island State Park.

THE Great Salt Lake isn't what it used to be.
In the mid-1980s, the GSL was a monster, out of control and threatening to flood the Salt Lake International Airport and I-80.
Now some 3 decades later, the lake is far smaller and the opposite is true -- what will low lake levels do to human health and wildlife?
Scientists of the late 19th Century really believed the Great Salt Lake was shrinking and would one day vanish. Several cycles over the next century proved they were wrong, or so it seemed.
With more and more lake inflow being diverted for irrigation and a historic drought in progress, those scientists might be more right than not.

                                       Antelope Island Boat Docks.

The lake's elevation as of this writing, on Oct. 13, 2015, is 4,192.6 feet above sea level. That's just 1.3 feet above its all-time measured low of 4,191.3 feet in 1963.
The GSL's all-time high mark was 4,211.6 feet in both 1986 and 1987, when the ballyhooed lake pumps were operating on its western shores.
The "average" elevation has always been considered to be 4,200 feet above sea level. However, now the reality is that average may no longer be valid. Sometime more like 4,194 feet above sea level might be more accurate for the 21st Century.

 One could walk to Fremont Island now, as the lake level is now almost 1.5 feet lower than what it needs to be for a huge natural sandbar, off the Antelope Island Causeway, to be above water.

What does a low lake mean?

-The deepest spot, more like a hole in the Great Salt Lake, is located just northwest of Fremont Island and south of the Lucin Cutoff railroad causeway. This spot is 34 feet deep when the lake is at that "normal" 4,200-foot elevation. Yet, now that deepest spot is just 15 feet.

-Antelope Island and Fremont Island in particular are no longer truly islands and are connected to land. Peninsula would be a more accurate term now -- Antelope Peninsula and the Fremont Peninsula.
A road or solid causeway to Fremont Island, assuming one had the money and state/environmental permission, would be far easier and cheaper to create now.

-The GSL can produce much more blowing dust now. From possible toxic chemicals to rumors of "pickled" sewage in the lakebed from before sewage treatment plans are possibilities.

                    The almost dry Farmington Bay from Frary Peak ridge.

-The dreaded "Lake effect" of winter snow storms is likely tuned down now. This effect could have less than half the punch it did 30 years ago.

-Less bird habitat is now available with less lake water and less inflow.

-The Great Salt Lake pumps are really relics now and have no need.

-The manmade causeway to Antelope Island and the Lucin Cutoff causeway will face far less erosion in the future.

-Boating on the GSL is more questionable now. Some marinas may be high and dry. Since the deepest lake spot is now just 15 feet, the average depth for boats may be closer to less than 10 feet and some too shallow for boats spots may exist here and there.

                Desolate salt flats around the Great Salt Lake are no mirages these days.

 Any upside to a lower GSL?

-Now might be a good time to explore the feasibility of another "Willard Bay" -- a diked off fresh water reservoir on the lake's former eastern shore. Perhaps one at Farnington Bay and another at the Salt Lake County end of the lake's footprint, would be possible ways to store excess runoff in the spring (assuming there is enough of that). 

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

1916: When a monument/arch was proposed for the mouth of Ogden Canyon

BACK a century ago, a monument, even an arch was proposed for the mouth of Ogden Canyon, as a tribute to the Pioneers.
The Ogden Standard-Examiner of Sept. 7, 1916 explored the possibility.
The idea was to have an inscribed arch at the  canyon's mouth, complete with a surrounding park. This was a desire to have somewhat similar to Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.
Of course the Ogden Canyon arch never happened, but Washington Boulevard did eventually gain an arch/sign  at about 19th Street, where the Ogden River crosses under the highway.
Today, a water pipeline crosses and dangles across the mouth of Ogden Canyon -- and that aging pipe is being replaced in the fall of 2015.
There is a plaque on the Rainbow Gardens property, near the mouth of the Canyon, commemorating the old toll road in Ogden Canyon but that's it.

The Oaks of Ogden Canyon began in 1903, not 1907

                            The Oaks restaurant sign today.

THE Oaks is a delightful little restaurant in Ogden Canyon, Utah. It WAS definitely the OLDEST operating business in Ogden Canyon for many decades. Then, it closed for about a year.
Now, in late spring of 2020, it is open again.
It has new managers (if not new owners too); a streamlined menu and the same seating -- including tables right by the river.

-However, The Oak's own history sells itself short and contains some shortcomings.
The Oaks is stated as having begun in 1907 in a history that's on the restaurant's own menus and also on the restaurant's walls.
Yet, "The Oak's Summer Resort, A pleasant retreat in Ogden Canyon discovered by City officials today" was a June 10, 1903 headline in the Ogden Standard Examiner.
That means the place started AT LEAST four years earlier.
A group of Ogden leaders on a retreat found themselves "seated beneath the shady trees at 'The Oaks,' as beautiful, clean and neat a spot as can be found anywhere in the canyon, conducted by Potter Bros.  of Ogden, Ginger ale, lemonade and soda water,with an occasional stick in it, can be procured here at the usual prices," according to the Standard story.
The City leaders also noticed how well the grounds were kept at The Oaks, at a feast there "on short notice" and also discovered "At this resort, no one under the influence of liquor can be served."
The Ogden City leaders noted in the story that "the greatest trouble in the canyon is from the outing parties that take with them more liquor than the parties can well navigate with."

         The Ogden River is just a step away from some of the tables at The Oaks today.

-In the July 31, 1903 Standard-Examiner was a report of some Ogden sisters who picnicked at The Oaks.
-On Aug. 6, 1903, the first outing of the Ogden Automobile Club was a drive to The Oaks and a banquet there, according to the Standard-Examiner. There were tables and meals served in 1903 at The Oaks..
-The Standard-Examiner of Sept. 5, 1905 stated that a boxer, Mike Schreck, was getting in shape for a big fight and was training at The Oaks.
-The Standard of Sept. 12, 1905 reported that it was the Canyon Resort Company that operated The Oaks and the business was making plans for a new restaurant and cottages. Plans also included a new system of roads through the place and a trail up the mountainside.  

                                 This view of a craggy mountain is visible at The Oaks.

-"Big time at The Oaks. Celebration at Ogden Canyon a huge success. Great crowd gathered at the popular resort and they had the time of their lives" was an Aug. 20, 1907 Standard headline. (So, it may be that The Oaks hit is stride in popularity in 1907, though).  "Valley Day" was some sort of Ogden Valley celebration and that was what was being celebrated at The Oaks. Residents from Eden, Liberty and Huntsville attended.
(The Standard of Aug. 5, 1904 had also reported "Valley Day" being celebrate at The Oaks that year too.) 
-A Japanese official visited Ogden in the summer of 1908 and had a special reception and dinner at The Oaks, according to the Standard-Examiner of Aug. 13, 1908.
-"Lightning hits The Oaks Resort" was a Sept. 1, 1909 headline in the Standard-Examiner. A resort guest, Miss Bertha Parkinson, was struck by lightning at about 5 p.m. on Aug. 31 as a storm rolled by. The efforts of a Dr. Woolley and others are credited in saving her, as she was believed to have taken the full force of the bolt and was seemingly dead for a time.
-The June 26, 1910 Standard-Examiner stated that The Oaks had improved its camping grounds, erected some new cottages and was still famous for the chicken and trout dinners served in its cafe.
-The Oak's own history states that the original Oaks was about a mile from its current location and built by C.S. Potter. It doesn't say if that was east or west, though. It was in 1933 that The Oaks moved to its current location -- higher ground -- to avoid frequent flooding from the Ogden River.
The Oaks was purchased in 1981 by Keith and Belinda Rounkles. They renovated the place into a full service eatery, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
-In 1994, the Rounkles purchased 120 surrounding acres to ensure that the area remains the same, private and secluded retreat, except for the busy highway nearby.

1919: The year of the Christmas tree famine in Ogden

                                         Malan's Basin in 2015.

HIGH prices for Christmas trees and general scarcity of them was the hallmark of the 1919 holiday season in the Ogden, Utah area.
The Ogden Standard-Examiner newspaper on Dec. 19, 1919 reported that both a scarcity of pine trees around the city, as well as heavy snows in the mountains during October had made it almost impossible to secure the trees for the holiday season.
The owners of the Malan Height property (Malan's Basin and Malan's Peak) also stated they were placing guards on their property to prevent the loss of trees. The Malan's resort had not been operating for many years, but there were hopes to revive it and the property was also be used by ranchers.

                  Pine trees along the Taylor Canyon trail to Malan's Peak/Basin.

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

Ogden Canyon: From echoes to a 'Z' to snakes

                          Ogden Canyon is most rugged at its west end.

OGDEN Canyon has undoubtedly changed a lot over the decades. A wide road was built through the Canyon and at one time there was a trolley line in the Canyon. However, as recent as a century ago, there used to be a perfect echo location in a spot above the Canyon; and in another location, there was the letter “Z” plainly visible.

ECHO: This ideal acoustic location was in a small side canyon, high above and near the original Hermitage Inn. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of July 10, 1911, John Leavitt of Plain City and some friends stumbled across the site.

“Those in the party say that the echoes heard from the voice of a person standing at one point in the narrow canyon are almost supernatural,” the Standard reported.

The men apparently experimented there and found the exact spot where even a whisper “was made to sound as if a cave of winds had been unloosed.”

The men also suspected that a small cave, nearby, that went about 10 feet into the mountainside, as well as a 20-foot-long rock jutting out of the hillside, were probably responsible for the acoustic effect.

            Today's Alaskan Inn, near the site of the original Hermitage, now gone.

THE GIANT LETTER Z: According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of April 19, 1925, this letter was visible in rock up Wheeler Canyon. A century ago, it was best viewed about 100 yards south of the hotel in that area and by looking northward. A U.S. Geologic Survey in the area in 1871 also reported seeing the giant Z formation.

SNAKE EXTERMINATION SOCIETY: The Standard-Examiner of July 27, 1893 reported that a group of young women from Ogden had organized a snake extermination society, tired of being plagued by the reptiles in beautiful Ogden Canyon.

Before Pineview Dam there was the Wheeler Dam

                       Pineview Dam.          Photo by Whitney Arave

IN 1898, the first major dam east of Ogden was the Wheeler Canyon Dam. Located west of today’s Pineview Dam, was some 300 feet long and about 40 feet deep.

According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of June 30, 1898, the Pioneer Power Company built the dam of masonry and concrete.

Work on this dam had started in 1897.

The Standard-Examiner of Sept. 8, 1905 reported than an engineer had proposed that a new dam be built to the east of Wheeler Dam, near the Shanghai River Bridge. That was amazingly close to where Pine View Dam was eventually constructed decades later.

After that, the South Fork of the Ogden River was surveyed and even bull dozed somewhat for a possible dam site that never happened, despite several decades of trying.

According to the Standard-Examiner of Sept. 5, 1910, another dam was proposed to be built in Coldwater Canyon. 

    All that's left of the Coldwater Canyon water system today is a small shack and some old piping.

However, that never happened and a 10-inch water that had been installed in Coldwater Canyon in 1909 was used for many years to supplement the Ogden City water supply.

                                         The replica lime kiln near Coldwater Canyon today.

-The lime kiln in Coldwater Canyon was reported operating again, according to the July 20, 1924 Standard-Examiner. After a three-decade lapse, the kiln was working again and even a road was built to the site.

(Today, the lime kiln is commemorated along the Coldwater Canyon trail as a pioneer industry, complete with a rebuilding of a kiln.)

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

1922: When Antelope Island was in the running for a Utah State Prison

                              The north shore of Antelope Island.

“State prison may be moved. Committee named to consider Antelope Island proposition” was a Sept. 28, 1922 headline in the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner.

In 2015 there was a lot of controversy about relocating the Utah State Prison from Draper. Eventually the green light was given to move the Prison to west of the Salt Lake Airport – despite protests from Salt Lake City leaders.

Back in 1922, the State Prison was still in its original location – where Sugar House Park is today, 2100 South and about 1700 East. However, an expanding Sugar House residential neighborhood was not deemed as be compatible with a prison.

                   Sugar House Park looking west across its lake.

Antelope Island, an undeveloped island except for one ranch, was considered a possible prison site. Of course, this move never took place. Decades later, the  prison moved to Draper, then in the wide open spaces.

Still, if Antelope Island had been chosen as a prison site back then, it is a surety that Antelope Island State Park would not exist and that some kind of permanent road – likely to the southern tip of Antelope Island – would have been constructed from the S.L. side.

In the 1950s, Fremont Island was also talked about as a future state prison site and that didn’t happen either, likely because of its isolation and high road building costs.

-There was a big fire on Antelope Island in early September of 1917. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Sept. 5 that year, lightning started a big blaze on the dry isle and it could be seen from both S.L. and Ogden. Back in that era, Antelope Island support not only a large herd of buffalo, but had 400 head of U.S. Army horses stationed there for training purposes, as well as some 1000 head of cattle.

-“Antelope Island’s coyotes wiped out” was a Feb. 3, 1924 Ogden Standard-Examiner headline. Because of the island’s importance as a cattle range, poison and some hunters was used starting in 1921 and by 1924  had wiped out all the coyotes living on the island. Now sheep could be safely ranged there too.

-“Fish driven into Great Salt Lake was an Aug. 14, 1911 headline in the Standard-Examiner. It was reported that carp were introduced into Mud Lake, north of an adjacent to Bear Lake, a few years earlier. The carp multiplied exceedingly. However, the electric power company had drained Mud Lake in the early summer of 1911 and that forced all the carp into the Bear River. The carp were reportedly rolling down the Bear River toward Utah and were eventually expected to reach the Great Salt Lake, where they would die in its briny waters.

The same report stated that Bear Lake had known bottom and that 1,000 feet of cable had been used over the lake and still found no bottom below. That myth was prevalent in the early 20^th Century, but Bear Lake was eventually proven to be no more than 209 feet deep.

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

Baseball fever was high in 1912 Ogden

OGDEN, Utah had lots of baseball fans in 1912.

According to the Aug. 9 Ogden Standard-Examiner newspaper that year, “Young ladies will tag you” was a large headline.

Aug. 10 that year was declared as national “Tag Day” and Ogden was no exception to that. A bunch of prominent young women fanned out in the city that day and these “diamond missionaries” would “tag” baseball fans they met as they promoted the upcoming baseball game between Ogden and Butte, Montana.

Pre-game hype included an auto parade from the Train Depot and down Washington Avenue. There was also a band and plenty of the young women “taggers” too.