A slew of encounters with bears around 1900 in Utah

                       A stuffed bear at the Prairie Scooner restaurant in Ogden.

UTAH residents had an unusually high number of encounters with bears around the turn of the 19^th Century.

Here are some of the tales:

-“Bear killed at Bountiful. Melon patch lured a grizzly too near a Sunday-School” was an Aug. 31, 1897 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune. A 400-pound grizzly took a Sunday morning stroll to a melon patch just as an East Bountiful Sunday School let out. Dick McLean grabbed a Winchester and downed the bear with one bullet. Simon Bamberger gave McLean $25 for the bear’s hide, while McLean dined on bear steaks.

The Logan Herald of Sept. 16, 1897 carried the headline, “Killing a bear.” Thomas Clegg killed a big brown bear in Provo Canyon, near a mill he operates. The bear was almost 600 pounds and Clegg expected to earn $50 from the animal’s hide.

 -“If you kill a bear in Weber County, you will get five dollars” was a headline in the Aug. 24, 1897 Salt Lake Tribune.

-“How bruin was killed” was an Oct. 14, 1897 headline in the Ogden Standard. Davis and Weber Counties Canal Company workers were on their way from Morgan up East Canyon, when they noticed a large black bear comfortably resting up a tree. Being without arms, some of the men watch the animal, while the others went in search of a rifle. The bear growled and snorted at his watchers.

“It took three well directed shots to dislodge him from the top of the tree … A couple of more shots laid him out,” the story stated. The bear weighed about 500 pounds and it took 4 men to drag him from the creek, where he had fallen.

The Salt Lake Tribune of June 12, 1903 had the headline, “Black bear killed. Herder slays beast short distance from Mt. Pleasant.” N.C. Peterson killed a large black bear while herding sheep. Six other bears have been seen in the area.

“Bear steaks in order. Gabriel Johnson brings bruin’s carcass to town after exciting hunt” was an Oct. 25, 1904 headline in the Deseret Evening News. A bear was killed in Parley’s Canyon. Johnson only had 5 bullets. He shot the bear twice with little effect and then the bruin came after him. Running away, Johnson fired two more, missing the beast. Finally, after a half-mile run and with just one shot left, he turned and fired, finally bringing the bear down. However, the noise brought other bears into sight and Johnson departed quickly. He returned the next day with a wagon to pick up the bear and sell it to a local butcher for $50.

“Adventure with bears. Miner on Gold Mountain chased by two ferocious beasts” was a March 21, 1898 headline in the Salt Lake Herald. William Morrison encounter two bears while leaving a mine near Richfield. “The grizzled terrors looked at him  and he looked at them; then they humped up, grunted and started for him,” the story stated. Morrison raced to a cabin and nearby woodchoppers chased the bears away.

-"Killed a Monster Bear” was an Oct. 17, 1904 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner. Frank Adams of Hooper killed a 900-pound grizzly

 “in a desperate encounter” in northeastern Weber County. The man only had a .22 rifle.

“With a nerve and accuracy which is astonishing under the circumstances, he began firing as rapidly as possible … The little missiles seemed to have no effect … Thirteen shots were fired while the bear was approaching, the last striking under the eye and penetrating the brain; but none too soon, for the brute literally fell at the feet of the brave hunter,” The Standard reported.

‘Know Your Utah’ sought to teach residents history in the mid-20th Century

“KNOW Your Utah” was a big campaign in most Utah newspapers starting in 1947, the 100^th anniversary of the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley. The annual campaign continued into the mid-1950s.

Sponsored by the Sons of Utah Pioneers, the event released brainteasers and obscure historical facts to the public. For example, the Vernal Express newspaper of Jan. 2, 1847 and the Salt Lake Telegram of Jan. 10, 1949 listed:

-Part of Utah’s farmland lies in the Columbia River drainage system: some 2,400 acres, or about four square miles in the extreme northwest corner of the State.

-The original eight counties of the Provisional State of Deseret were: Davis, Iron, Salt Lake, Sanpete, Tooele, Weber, Utah and Uintah.

-The first company of Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley included 143 men, three women and two children. For the remainder of 1847, another 1,700 pioneers arrived.

-If ancient Lake Bonneville were restored to its original depth, some 100 Utah communities, or about 90 percent of the State’s population would be under water. Temple Square would be submerged by 850 feet.

-Utah, in 1947, ranked sixth among the States in the production of turkeys.

                      Miles Goodyear Cabin in decades past.

-The oldest cabin Utah resides in Ogden, the Miles Goodyear Cabin in Tabernacle Park, build in 1844 or 1845.

                      The Miles Goodyear Cabin today.

-Utah’s population was 1,631 by end of 1847; was 40,000 by 1865; and was well over 600,000 in 1947.

-The Tabernacle on Temple Square was originally built without a balcony. Completed in 1867, the balcony was added in 1870.

-In 1878, the town of Silver Reef, 17 miles north of St. George, was one of the larger towns in Utah territory., with several thousand residents. The mining town is now deserted and only one building remains.

-In 1945, for the first time, ever, Utah led the nation in the production of gold, with 28 percent of the U.S. total. Also, in 1945 Utah produced more iron than all other western states combined.

-Life Magazine on Nov. 25, 1946 named the former Geneva Steelworks in Utah County “perhaps the world’s finest heavy industrial plant.”

-There was a thriving slave trade in Native American women and children by the Spanish and Mexicans in Utah Territory. Slave traders followed part of Escalante’s original trail and either stole or bought slaves Eventually Ute Chief Walker helped block the trail and set up a toll on slavery. Eventually, Brigham Young went to considerable effort to stamp out such slave trading. (-From the Springville Herald, Jan. 16, 1947.)

-“Sugarhouse was founded on April 23, 1854 and named by its residents for a sugar mill erected there in 1852 by early settlers. Machinery for the mill was purchased in Liverpool, England for $12,500 and shipped to its destination by water as far as Council Bluffs, Iowa, then overland by 52 ox teams, in a 4-month trip to Salt Lake City. As a commercial enterprise, the sugar mill was regarded as a failure, with only black syrup or molasses being produced. Later it was converted into a paper mill, supplying early Salt Lake valley needs.” (From the Salt Lake Telegram on Jan. 8, 1949.)

Anderson Tower: A short-lived tourist attraction in Salt Lake City

MENTION the Anderson Tower and few Salt Lake City residents will have any idea what you are talking about. That’s because this lofty granite landmark has been gone for near a century (so almost no person alive will recall having ever viewed it) and it only existed for 48 total years anyway.

Today, all that remains of the tower is a monument, near its original location, at about 303 “C” Street.

This tower was built by Robert R. Anderson of Salt Lake City in 1886 of granite, from the same Little Cottonwood Canyon area where the outside building materials for the Salt Lake Temple came from.

(Some rumors maintained that the tower was built or at least commissioned by Brigham Young, but he died in 1877 and was not involved with it.)

The 3-story tower was either 56 feet or 63 feet high (depending on what source you believe).  It was about 25 feet in diameter and was said to be 312 feet higher than the intersection of Main Street and South Temple Street.

Anderson pattered his tower after similar structures he had seen in Scotland. The tower had an observation area on the third story, as well as a telescope.

When the tower first opened, he charged admission to go up to the top. The interest just wasn’t great enough and the tower soon closed and was somewhat neglected.

In May of 1908, Anderson tried to revive interest in the tower. So, he offered free admission to it. The Inter-Mountain Republican newspaper stated on May 18, 1908 that some 3,000 people visited the tower in a single day, after its re-opening.

The Deseret Evening News of May 16 1908 stated that the tower was a landmark, now open again. It proclaimed it was “one of the show places of the city.”

At least one newspaper ad for the tower contained totally sensationalized details. An advertisement in the Desert Evening News of Aug. 6, 1907 stated: “Anderson Tower was erected in early days for protection against the Indians.”

The tower remained open all day Sundays and from 2-5 p.m. weekdays for some time, but again interest in it wore off. Plus, vandalism was a continuing problem.

“Tower Heights” was a related nearby residential development in 1908, with homes costing more than $10,000 envisioned there.

Finally, the tower site was sold to Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake Telegram of October 15, 1930 stated that $7,200 purchased the property. The agreement was that it would be utilized as a city park and that nothing there would ever obstruct the view of City Creek Canyon and Memory Grove below. The tower was torn down about two years later, in 1932.

Today, that agreement is still honored. Just a granite monument, made from a piece of the tower remains.

A steep stairway to the west leads down into Memory Grove and technically the tower property is an eastward extension of the park.

(-Other references used, the Salt Lake Tribune of May 10, 1908; the Salt Lake Tribune of March 17, 1908; the Salt Lake Herald of May 17, 1908; the Utah Division of State History listing for Anderson Tower.)

A look at Salt Lake City’s 4 different public libraries and more …

 “S.L. outgrows 1905 Library” was a Jan. 10, 1947 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper.

The story stated that the library building, designed to serve a population of 35,0000, was now outdated with a then, in 1947, population of 180,000.

Located at 15 South State Street, this library was overcrowded and strained by 1947. The facility also had some fire safety concerns.

The story stated that the American Library Association had declared Salt Lake’s library as one of the poorest in the west.

“The library needs money,” the story stated.

The total circulation of books in 1946 was almost 800,000, an increase of more than 40,000 over the previous year.

The bad news that it would still be 17 more years until a new library, the third version, opened at 500 South and 200 East.

After a $400,000 renovation, the former library building became the Hansen Planetarium from 1965 until 2003. (Then, the Planetarium had a new facility at 110 S. 400 West).

Salt Lake City outgrew its third library by the end of the 20^th Century. In 2003, an $84 million new library facility opened at 210 E. 400 South.

Note that Salt Lake City’s first library was located in the Salt Lake City and County Building. It operated there for only six years, from 1898 to 1904.

-“Destroy landmark of pioneer days” was a July 23, 1913 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner newspaper.

A chain gang of vandals had destroyed an old adobe wall in City Creek Canyon, that was part of a pioneer mill built in 1847. George Crisman constructed the mill (to grind wheat) and wall with the encouragement of Brigham Young.

-The first private roller skating rink ever built in Utah opened in Mill Creek Canyon, at Oakwood” in 1906.

According to the Salt Lake Telegram of July 12, 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin F. Holmes were building the outdoor rink, that was 60 feet by 60 feet.

“It is for the use of the young people that visit it,” Mr. Holmes stated in the story.

At that time, in the early 20^th Century, there was a roller skating craze in the nation. Even Saltair resort, on the southern shores of the Great Salt Lake, was also planning to create its own roller skating rink.

-Mill Creek Canyon was a big draw in 1937. According to the Salt Lake Telegram of Jan. 21, 1938, with 176,420 visitors during 1937.

Big Cottonwood was the Salt Lake County leader with 217,247 visitors in 1937. Little Cottonwood Canyon only had 13,610 patrons.

The beginnings of Salt Lake’s Liberty Park – on Independence Day; Plus, small S.L. private cemeteries

LIBERTY Park is one of the gems of Salt Lake City. It is also the oldest park in Utah, opening in 1882.

Located between 900 and 1300 South and 500 East and 700 East, this 80-acre paradise is Salt Lake City’s second largest park, ranking only behind Sugarhouse Park (110 acres).

“Liberty Park” was a headline in the Salt Lake Herald newspaper of June 29, 1881 and also one of the first known printed references to the park.

The Herald stated that the area was formerly the Mill Farm. Salt Lake City purchased the land for $21,009.

A committee appointed by the Salt Lake City Council to study the park and its development had discussed what to name the facility and Liberty Park is what was decided. The fact that a program was planned for July 4, 1881 – Independence Day -- at the new park site also likely helped decide its name.

A year later, in 1882, the park had picnic and other facilities and offered a slice of nature at the southeast end of downtown.

-Heber C. Kimball, prominent Mormon pioneer and early LDS Church leader, is not buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Like Brigham Young, his burial site resides elsewhere downtown.

“The Kimball Cemetery” was a June 21, 1890 headline in the Deseret Weekly newspaper. On the July anniversary of the birthday of Heber C. Kimball, family and friends met at the small cemetery to pay their respects.

This Kimball Cemetery is located at the rear of the original Kimball family homestead, near the head of Main Street. Under a perpetual grant, the Salt Lake City Council allowed cemetery to be located there.

Originally, it was enclosed by a picket fence. In 1890, the Deseret Weekly story stated that an ornamental fence now enclosed the sacred ground.

The story stated that the only large monument remaining at the time was that monolith for President Kimball – in the center, the others having been removed. The ground had been recently leveled on all sides and lawn planted.

The Kimball family was renovating the Cemetery back then. Some of the inscriptions of various graves had already crumbled to dust.

Today, the Kimball Cemetery is located just northeast of the Kimball Condominiums, 180 North Main Street. A small, narrow entrance heading off the sidewalk, north of the Kimball, leads back to the Cemetery. Thirty-three total Kimball family members are buried there, along with 13 Whitneys and 10 others.

                                 Brigham Young's "grave."

-Like Heber C. Kimball, Brigham Young is not buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. President Young is buried in a separate small cemetery at 140 E. First Avenue. Eliza R. Snow, former LDS Church Relief Society President is also buried there.

There is also a pioneer monument on the site.

However, the actual grave location there of President Young – despite the monument -- isn’t publicly known. This has been kept secret to help insure that he one disturbs his final resting spot.

When Salt Lake’s ‘Avenues’ were the ‘Dry Bench’

    Looking southward, down City Creek Canyon, with the Utah State Capitol in the background.

BEFORE there was “The Avenues” in Salt Lake City, the same area was originally known at the “Dry Bench,” lacking year-round streams.

In fact, the Salt Lake City Cemetery, 200 “N” Street, is located where it is because of the lack of water there and unlikely flooding potential.

      The Salt Lake City Cemetery's pioneer section and Orrin Porter Rockwell's monument.

The early residents on the “Dry Bench” faced a struggle in securing a steady supply of water.

The Salt Lake Herald newspaper of April 1, 1885 carried the headline, “The Dry Benchers again cry for help.”

Downtown Salt Lake City was served by a piped water system in 1877. But the “Dry Bench” had to have water hauled from City Creek. A diversion of City Creek to the area had been made in 1884, but only reached Sixth Avenue or below.

It was not until 1910 that a higher water diversion on City Creek was made, high enough to reach the rest of the Avenues.

-“Utilize the Canyons” was an august 19, 1884 headline in the Salt Lake Herald. The story noted how residents often went far away from the area for recreation. They thus ignored the opportunities in Red Butte, Emigration, Parley’s, or any of the other canyons above the Salt Lake area.

“…In the course of a few years the cool and pretty canyon gorges opening on this valley, would be filled with cottages and the latter filled with merry healthy people during July and August.”

-

Back when the 'girls' started the first collegiate basketball in Utah and even beat the boys

      An illustration of the University of Utah girls Basketball team from the Salt Lake Tribune of April 18, 1897.


WHAT are the beginnings of college and prep basketball in Utah? They aren't likely what you might think ...  But the University of Utah Women's Basketball team has a legendary heritage, though it be both obscure and intermittent.
Utah collegiate "girls" not only started hoop play in the Beehive State, in the late 1800s, but likely played some of the first public hoops -- if not the first-ever such games -- in the entire western United States.
"University Basketball-ball. Girls defeat the boys in the first open game" was a May 16, 1897 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune.
The story reported that in the premiere game played on the new outdoor field at the University of Utah, the girls squad beat a boys team by a score of 8-6.
The girls started timidly in the game, but soon took command, according to the story. The field was reported to be too dusty and soft "for pleasurable playing," though it has now been improved. The new playing field was on the north side of the campus and shaded by large willow trees in the afternoon.
The first report on "girls" basketball in the Deseret News was likely printed on Jan. 19, 1900, when the Lowell school girls team soundly defeated the Salt Lake High School girls team (forerunner to West High School), 16-2.
Apparently, boys didn't think basketball was a manly enough sport in the early years.
For example, back when BYU was Brigham Young Academy (before 1903), only women played hoops there. A photograph in the "Mormon Encyclopedia" on page 1410 shows the women's team that won the Brigham Young championship in 1900. The coach was a man and there were 7 female players, all clad in long dresses.
The girls of early basketball in Utah all played wearing very long and baggy dresses. An illustration in the April 18, 1897 Salt Lake Tribune also shows the University of Utah girls team wearing similar long dresses. That story referred to "basketball-ball" as a "mild rival of football" and stated that Utah State College in Logan, as well as Rowland Hall, the Mutual Improvement League (LDS Church sponsored team) and the YWCA had all organized girls hoops teams. 

               A Salt Lake Tribune newspaper drawing from June 4, 1897, of a U. of U. girls basketball game.


Several months later, in a June 4, 1897 S.L. Tribune report on "Basketball-ball," the drawings of girls players at the U. of U showed more streamlined dresses (yet still very loose fitting) that only went to the knees.
That report also claimed that a public game by University of Utah and league teams was the "first contest of the kind ever played west of Chicago."
The U. of U. young ladies team won that game, 8-3, over the Mutual Improvement League. Jean Hyde, captain and center of the U. team, led all scorers with 4 points. There was also some controversy in the game when Miss Hafen of the Mutual team tried to talk to one of the umpires about so many uncalled fouls for the opposing team. (The game featured two umpires and a referee) She was warned that to do so again would result in a foul. (Strangely, the drawing of the referee also showed him carrying a long stick.) Coach of the U. of U. team was Elmer Qualtrough.

                                               Miss Lucile Hewett
                                                     Illustration from the Salt Lake Herald

A Salt Lake Herald newspaper story of May 17, 1897, credited Miss Lucile Hewitt as being the U. of U student who petitioned the Athletic Association at the school to let her girls team play, with co-educational being a key concept in the early years of basketball teams.
That same story mentioned that one player had sustained a broken nose during basketball play, though the story characterized the game as  "exercise, simple and pure, vigorous and real."
Privacy of girls basketball was also a key early concern, at least for prep play.
"Basket-ball maidens. The elusive sphere chased behind closed doors" was a Nov. 6, 1897 headline in a S.L. Tribune report. The story stated that the front doors of the market, where the Salt Lake High junior girls practiced, was locked, so that no males would see them play. And, a sign on the door stated "No spectators allowed," so that "their gyrations should not be observed by callous males." (The girls team did have a male coach, though.)
-Three other observations about these early games: 1. Note the low scores; 2. Notice that games were played mostly in the spring, with most early playing fields being outdoors; 3. The 5 positions for players included: center, left field, right field, right guard and left guard.

        A Layton, Utah women's basketball team in 1912, sponsored by an LDS Church Ward.

-Sadly, the competitive basketball play of girls didn't last long in the early years of the 20th Century, partially because boys play soon became very popular and pushed them aside. It was also likely that in that past era, some felt it inappropriate for girls to be playing so competitively. However, many decades later, with the advent of Title IX in the late 1970s, girls basketball teams in both high school and colleges eventually returned in force.

(-By Lynn Arave and originally published in the Deseret News.)

The scoop on Salt Lake County's missing mountain

      One of the paintings of the former mountain that hangs in the Utah State Capitol Building.

Salt Lake County has a missing mountain.
This mountain that isn't there has been gone for almost a century now.
Here's the scoop on where this mountain vanished ...

The Kennecott open pit copper mine, southwest of Salt Lake City, is Utah's most impressive man-made feature. It's only one of two unnatural things on the planet that can be spotted by orbiting astronauts (The Great Wall of China is the other). At 2.5 miles across and almost a mile deep, you could stack two Sears Towers on top of each other and still not reach the top of the mine.

However, most people probably don't realize that there's a "missing mountain" at Bingham Canyon — not the mountain of earth removed from below ground but a large mound that once soared skyward.

"It was a mountain," Philip F. Notarianni, director for the Utah State Historical Society and lifelong resident of Magna, told the Deseret News in 2003.

Indeed, two large paintings in the Utah Governor's Board Room at the Capitol depicts clearly how the earliest Bingham Canyon mining, located about 17 miles southwest of downtown Salt Lake City, looked. In the early 1900s, the reverse of what we see now was true — a road spiraled upward as the process slowly mined the mountain away before the "pit" came to be.

       An aerial view of the hole in place of the mountain, from Kennecott's museum collection.

According to Lila Abersold, visual arts coordinator for the Utah Travel Council, "Harry" H.L.J. Culmer made these two paintings of Bingham Canyon, probably some time between 1910-20, though no exact date has even been recorded.

They were among the earliest of paintings in the Utah State Capitol and capture Culmer's fascination with the mining industry.

"They are important paintings," Abersold said. "They offer a very early view of Bingham Canyon."

With more than 16 million tons of copper mined there — more than any other mine in history — a mountain is long gone and a gigantic hole is now there.

In Bingham Canyon's early days (1863-1900), all mining was done underground as tunnels were dug into the mountain. Miners were also then looking for gold, silver or lead, because the 40 pounds of copper per ton of ore wasn't a profitable process then.

By the late 1890s, all the easy mining had been done, and new considerations for the area were made.

Engineers Daniel Jackling and Robert Gemmell surveyed Bingham Canyon and proposed that copper ore could profitably be mined from the surface, using railroad cars and steam shovels. Their first report showed that the cost of producing one pound of refined copper would be six cents. With the selling price of copper at 14 to 18 cents a pound, their report looked impressive on paper.

There were skeptics, but by August 1906, steam shovels mounted on railroad tracks began digging into the mountain.

Less than three years later, the Utah Copper Company had 11 steam shovels, 21 locomotives, 145 dump cars and 16 miles of railroad tracks on the mountain. After buying out the Boston Consolidated Mining Company, which owned a portion of the mountain, mining really took off.

                                           The inside of the mountain is a deep hole today.

The "hill," as it was called, got smaller and smaller, and in 1912, there were 5,000 mine workers.

A major improvement came in the 1920s, when electricity replaced steam to power the shovels and locomotives. Shovels were also mounted on caterpillar tractors, giving workers more freedom to move about.

In fact, the Deseret News in December of 1922 reported that "a mountain once more begins to move" as mining activity increased dramatically at Bingham Canyon. "A whole mountain of copper is actually being moved away," the News reported.

It was in the 1930s that the "hill" was gone and mining work started to dig a pit. In 1936, Kennecott Copper Corporation bought out the Utah Copper Company.

(Written by Lynn Arave and originally published in the Deseret News.)

                                      How the missing mountain area looks now.

'

1942: Utah’s first ever regular traffic jams were in Weber County, not S.L.; More WW2 tales

          The infamous "Death Curve" in Roy at 1900 West and Riverdale Road.

UTAH'S first ever regular traffic jams didn’t take place in the state’s most populous county, Salt Lake,  but in Weber County instead.

“Utah traffic peak reported on U.S. Highway 91. Safety Council notes heaviest travel in Weber County in study for tire conservation and car pooling,” a Sept. 18, 1942 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram stated.

It was the effects of World War II and all the federal defense installations in Weber County and north Davis County that fueled this road traffic.

“The northern part of U.S. Highway 91 in Utah, particularly in Weber County, is carrying the ‘heaviest traffic in the state’ and the ‘’heaviest traffic any Utah road ever has been called upon to bear,’” the story reported.

Traffic increases on Highway 91 in Riverdale were reported to be up as much as 245 percent over the previous year.

                              1900 West sign in south Roy.

                           1900 West (northbound) in Roy today.

In that era, there was no I-15. Highway 91 was essentially Main Street in Layton, State Street in Clearfield, 1900 West in Sunset and Roy and then Riverdale Road into Ogden. And, the infamous “Death Curve” was where Riverdale Road ended on the west and a sharp turn was required to turn south into Roy onto 1900 West Street.

                          Hill Air Force Base, top.

-More WW2 Utah effects: “Girls! Here’s chance to meet daring Army fliers; Serve your country and earn money, too” was a Nov. 3, 1942 headline in the Telegram.

“Hill Field,” the Ogden Air Depot (and now Hill Air Force Base), was seeking 30 young women to serve as receptionists for incoming planes. “They will meet all planes landing at the field, direct the pilots to parking areas, or park the planes themselves by means of tow tugs,” the story stated.

Other job duties would be arranging pilot accommodations and pay would be $1,200 a year (approximately $17,600 in today’s dollar values).

These job openings were part of a trend caused by World War II – many more women were needed to join the workforce.

-Davis and Weber County were well-known homes to many Utah military and civilian government personnel involved in the World War II efforts. However, surprisingly so was Morgan County. “Como Springs summer homes for war workers” was a Nov. 20, 1942 headline in the Morgan County newspaper. With home availability in Ogden expected to be up to 1,000 short, 56 summer homes at Morgan’s Como Spring resort were rebuilt to house government employees.

-World famous comedians Lou Costello and Bud Abbott of “Abbott and Costello” came to Salt Lake City in July of 1942 to promote war bonds.

“A pair of funny men came to Salt Lake City Wednesday on serious business,” the Salt Lake Telegram of July 22, 1942 reported. Several hundred fans welcomed the celebrity pair at the train station and then they were taken to Hotel Utah in a covered wagon.

Later, they entertained a crowd of thousands, performing on a platform at 200 South Main Street.

Then, they went to Provo, Bingham Canyon, Magna, Fort Douglas, Hill Field and the Ogden Arsenal – all between 11:30 a.m. and early evening, before heading to Idaho.

                   Highway 89 in Layton at Oak Hills Drive.

-Even before America’s involvement in World War II, the U.S. Army had requested that some key roads entering the Wasatch Front be improved and widened. Among these were Highway 30, from Echo through Weber Canyon to Uintah; the “Mountain Road,” from Weber Canyon to Farmington; the roads accessing Hill Field; and even sections of narrow highway in Parley’s Canyon. The Park Record newspaper of Oct. 24, 1940 reported these projects, scheduled to start in the spring of 1941.

                     Highway 193 connects Hill AFB with U.S. Highway 89.

When City Creek Canyon was heralded as a resort; Plus, mosquitoes in Utah’s early decades

                            On the western lip of City Creek Canyon, looking south.

CITY Creek Canyon is one of the natural gems of Salt Lake City. And, “City Creek as a resort” was an August 12, 1883 headline in the Salt Lake Herald.

The story stated that Big Cottonwood Canyon had been the camping resort of choice to date, though it is a long day trip to access it from downtown.

“But City Creek is right at your door; a man can attend to business up to 5 or 6 o’clock and ride or drive up the pleasant canyon six or seven miles in three-quarters of an hour, and remain overnight at a place where blankets are essential to comfort, where the fly doth not buzz and the mosquito settles down with the mantles or night; and the next morning he enjoys a pleasant ride down the cool canyon, where the birds are singing, the green boughs waiving, the waters murmuring and everything is quiet and calculated to assist the proper digestion of bacon, ham and beans.”

                   Looking down into the south end of City Creek Canyon.

“It is a very cheap luxury,” the story also stated, and one of the best ways for bracing against the withering heat of summer.

-Mosquitoes didn’t earn much, if any, press in Salt Lake City’s earliest decades. That may be because the pesky insects were only considered a small nuisance among the ruggedness of pioneer life.

One of the first references of mosquitoes was in the Deseret News on August 9, 1871 under the headline of “How mosquitoes bite.”

Surprisingly, the story states that after mosquitoes suck a person’s blood, they release poison into the wound.

“If he (a mosquito) were as big as a kitten, and his poison as strong in proportion, a ‘bite’ from him would kill us,” the story stated.

(Today we know mosquitoes do suck a human’s blood, but release not poison, but an anti-coagulant

into a wound – and the possibility of them transferring disease, like the West Nile Virus, is a significant danger.)

The Salt Lake Tribune of June 16, 1873 humorously stated, “Mosquito shooting is a favorite pastime in the lower wards” of Salt Lake City.

Indeed, the July 8, 1875 Tribune reported on an outdoor outing to Ogden by Masons at a beautiful grove. It stated, “after reaching the grove, divided time between dancing, croquet, partaking of bounteous lunch and fighting the festive mosquito.”

Next, the Deseret News of August 15, 1877 printed a story, “The Mosquito of the Yellowstone.” The entire story emphasized how bad that the future Yellowstone National Park was infested with the peskiest flying insects ever.

“Anyone who has ever been bitten by a Yellowstone mosquito will not need to be told how he feels … Seriously, the soldiers station in that country find life almost unendurable at this season of the year.”

-In another historical tidbit, a severe summer storm on July 28, 1904 knocked out power during some of the prime evening hours in downtown Salt Lake City. The Deseret Evening News of July 31, 1897 reported that at 5:45 p.m. the power went out. All street cars stopped and electric lights were out and a concert in the Salt Lake Tabernacle was half-way in progress and had to be halted. Then a downpour struck and pedestrians ran for shelter. The outage lasted by 20 minutes in some locations, but far longer in others.

                                              Ogden Canyon in the 1920s.
-Ogden Canyon was the site of a huge explosion on July 30, 1897 at an old powder mill. The Deseret Evening News of July 31, 1897 had the headline, “A terrific explosion.”

There was one victim, William Bowlder, who was described as a “charred and blistered mass of flesh.” The roof of the building was blown 100 feet away and Bowdler was hurled 15 feet from the site. The structure was a total loss.

-Finally, the same Deseret Evening News of 1897 also reported that a young man in Weber County was bitten by a rattlesnake and was slowly recovering. Said to be a “snake charmer” of sorts, who experimented with snakes, the bite was accidental. The bite happened in the community of “Coal Patch,” east of Pleasant View. The man, named Johns, was said to not want to handle snakes anymore.