When Sir Edmund Hillary of Mount Everest fame hiked the High Uintas -- twice

               South Kings Peak, with Kings Peak rising in the center background.

 THERE'S a legend about Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the first two men to conquer Mt. Everest in 1953, that he also climbed Kings Peak.

This is actually a true story, but it happened in the summer of 1978 when Sears and Kellwood (an outdoor equipment manufacturer), was testing camping gear in the Yellowstone drainage of the High Uintas.

Hillary, age 59 then, was said to have had little trouble hiking Kings Peak and the Uintas.

No stranger to Utah, Hillary had also floated the Green River during 1969, as part of the centennial commemoration of John Wesley Powell's 1869 original exploration of the area. (Source: http://www.hupc.org)

                                   Kings Peak on its southern side.

And, Sir Hillary had first visited the High Uintas in July of 1962, when he and his family enjoyed a 4-day camping trip in the Granddaddy Basin area.

"New Zealand mountain climber and family thrilled with pack trip into High Uintas areas" was a July 19, 1962 headline in the Uinta Basin Standard newspaper.

Duchesne District Ranger Larry Colton served as a guide for the Hillarys, as the family hiked and fished.

According to the newspaper, Hillary's wife, Lady Louise, and their three children -- Peter, 7, Sarah, 5, and Belinda, 3. -- ventured into the primitive area of the High Uintas.

Sir Hillary was under contract with the U.S. Forest Service to make a report on campgrounds in the western U.S. that year.

            Mirror Lake, with Bald Mountain rising in the background.

The family began at Mirror Lake, backpacked into the Granddaddy Basin area and then returned to Mirror Lake. They did a lot of hiking, but not any serious peaks. Sir Hillary said this trip was for finding "smiling" and not "fierce" peaks, according to the newspaper account.

The only negative to the trip were all the mosquitoes that they encountered, but that they got used to them.

Another Utah newspaper, the Vernal Express, reported that on that 1962 trip, Sir Hillary declared it "absolutely wonderful."

                      The High Uintas, northwest of Mirror Lake.

-A version of this story was also published in the Deseret News on Sept. 22, 2018.

Logan LDS Temple: Is a Historical Restoration in the works?

THE Logan Temple was the second temple in Utah built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was dedicated on May 17, 1884. (The St. George Temple had been dedicated just seven years earlier, in 1877.)
The Ogden and Provo temples were opened in 1972-1973, in hopes of postponing remodeling and expansion of both the Logan and Manti temples. That worked for a few years, but usage of the Logan Temple had surged by the mid-1970s.
Initially, Church leaders considered building a new temple in Preston, Idaho. However, at about 27 miles distant from Logan, a temple there was considered too far away from the Cache County base of temple patrons. A remodel was the only option.

According to information from Fred Baker, head of the LDS Church's building program, from 1965-1991, the Logan Temple remodel presented a special challenge -- temple patrons doing endowment work had to travel from room-to-room to complete the process and each room was a step or two higher than the previous room. In fact, endowment patrons started on level one in the temple and ended up on the third level to complete the endowment. That equaled great symbolism in ascending, but complicated any interior remodeling.
The Logan Temple was a historic pioneer temple and like the Salt Lake Temple, had many, many unique paintings and hand-crafted work throughout the building.
Church leaders decided to gut the Logan Temple and redo it to accommodate the video presentation of the endowment. That proved to be an inspired decision.

Baker said the Logan Temple's main structural beam was found to be cracked in two when extensive remodeling work began in 1976. It was surmised that a past earthquake (possibly from the March 27, 1975 Pocatello Valley Idaho quake that was near the Utah-Idaho border and equaled 6.3 in strength).
Thus, if the temple had simply been renovated, the roof could have eventually collapsed ...
Brother Baker said the Church had remodeled all 13 existing temples during his tenure and only the Logan Temple patrons were upset -- they felt their historic temple was being wrecked. (And, when the remodel ended up removing the entire inside and the roof, with the sky showing above, it was indeed an extensive process.)
(Church Architect Emil Fetzer had looked at saving the solemn assembly room in  particular, but decided just propping that section up would make a mishmash of the rest of the temple -- totally redoing the inside was the only way to go.)
Baker said he felt he needed bodyguards when he went to Logan as Church members there were so upset at gutting the temple. He said there were notes placed on his car and also posters about Logan against the remodel process.
The Logan Temple was rededicated on March 13, 1979. All the pioneer era paintings were gone and the Temple inside looked more like the Ogden Temple than the Salt Lake Temple.
The Church did save two of the large paintings and put them in storage. Others were painting on walls and could not be salvaged.
The good news was that using the endowment film meant the temple could handle significantly more patrons and complete much more vicarious work for the dead than before.
-There is a strong rumor in Logan that a complete or partial restoration of the pioneer aspects of the Logan Temple are being considered now, though there is nothing definite and no timeline yet.
That would likely please many Church members in the Cache Valley. Although the outside of the Logan Temple is historic, the inside of the Temple is far too modern to match its pioneer legacy.
Would the Logan Temple's legendary original "Gold" sealing room -- and more -- return during a possible restoration? Time will tell.

-Note 1: Why the Manti Temple was NOT remodeled with a complete tear out process, like the Logan Temple had. This was because the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and the Relief Society visited the First Presidency and asked that the Manti Temple only be renovated. Their request was granted and the pioneer aspects of the Manti Temple still remain today as it still lacks a temple endowment film. Obviously too, the Manti Temple's main supports were in better shape than Logan's and had NOT been damaged by an earthquake.

-Note 2: The Author co-wrote the official Ogden Temple history for the Church in 2014 and much of the above information on the Logan Temple was also obtained during that process.

How well do you know the Golden Spike story? Chinese Arch and the 1942 'undriving' of the Spike are lesser known gems

THE Golden Spike National Historic Site is in the middle of nowhere, at 32 miles west of Brigham City. 

                  The official countdown clock in the visitor's Center.

In 2019 (May 10), it will be the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike here -- and the countdown is already on.
How well do you know the Golden Spike story?

                    The famous engines that meet for the Golden Spike.

It is well documented, but instead of spending the usual 30 minutes at this site, as in past visits, I took an hour and even drove one of the dirt roads nearby.
Here's what I found ...

-I was surprised to realize that there was an "undriving" of the Golden Spike ceremony held on Sept. 9, 1942 there was a ceremonial undriving of the spike held. Since the Lucin Cutoff had opened in 1904 (a direct railroad route across the Great Salt Lake form Ogden, instead of heading northwest around the lake), the train tracks around Golden Spike were on minimal importance to transportation. Hence, the "undriving" and then all the steel rails were removed in the area and used for the American efforts in World War II.  

                  The Chinese Arch, as viewed from the west side.

-The oldest natural relic in the Golden Spike area is the Chinese Arch. Composed of 300 million year old rock, this formation is believed to have been formed thousands of years ago by the wave action of being under Lake Bonneville.

                           An eastern view of the Chinese Arch.

 This arch is but a few hundred yards away from the original railroad line leading to the Golden Spike. It is presumably named in honor of the many Chinese workers who made the national railroad connection possible.
It is accessible by a one-way, narrow dirt road ("East Grade Auto Tour"), that's fine for passenger cars and well worth the extra drive. 

This road is best accessed on the way FROM Golden Spike and then it merges with the main paved road a mile for so further east.

-I also took the 20 minutes to watch the historic movie on the Golden Spike's history at the visitor center and it is excellent, putting the railroad's biggest-ever event in context with American history. 

Why does Utah have a 'Hurricane' town?

UTAH doesn’t ever get hit by any real hurricanes, as it is too far inland. All it ever receives are occasional rain storms from hurricane aftermaths. However, Utah does have its own town named Hurricane – in the southwest section of the state.

According to: www.utahsdixie.com ---

“Visitors traveling through Hurricane might wonder why a town in southern Utah shares its name with a tropical cyclone – a type of storm that never has and never will make “landfall” in the inland desert. The curious name dates back to the early 1860s, when a whirlwind blew off the top of a buggy carrying a group of surveyors led by Mormon leader Erastus Snow. “Well, that was a Hurricane,” exclaimed Snow. “We’ll name this the Hurricane Hill.” The nearby fault, mesa, and, later on, the town, took the same moniker. How residents say the name might catch many off guard. Locals pronounce it “Her-ah-kun,” which is the British pronunciation.”

That pronunciation is likely because many of the area’s early residents had immigrated from England.
However, checking with some present day immigrants from Britain to American, they all pronounce hurricane like the standard, "hurra-cane." So, British pronunciation has apparently changed over time.

The book, “Utah Place Names,” by John W. Van Cott, states basically the same name origin for Hurricane as does Dixie.com.

Van Cott just adds that Snow was the LDS Church leader in charge of its “Dixie” mission to grow cotton.

(The Paiute Indians, first known inhabitants of the Hurricane area, used to call place, “Timpoweap,” meaning “Rock Canyon.” )

Mantua, Utah -- A town that could have been underwater

                              Kayaking on today's Mantua Reservoir.

MANTUA, Utah is a small town east of Brigham City in Utah's Box Elder County. It was originally known as Flaxville and Little Valley. That is, before LDS Church President Lorenzo Snow visited it and said the peaceful little valley reminded him of his birthplace in Mantua, Ohio. Then, the new name stuck.
It is also somewhat surprising that Mantua even exists today. That's because in 1914 there was a proposal to put a reservoir in the valley and displace all 300 residents of the community.
According to the Ogden Daily Standard newspaper of April 16, 1912, a "Big reservoir in Box Elder Canyon" was planned.
The story stated: "The (Salt Lake) Tribune says that if plans now being fostered by Salt Lake and Utah capitalists are carried out, another irrigation project will be started in Utah which will involve and expenditure of more than a million dollars, and which has an one of its incidentals the wiping out the entire village of Mantua in Box Elder County."
Arthur J. Chadfield, a Salt Lake engineer, was one of the chief proponents of the plan, which would also take away some choice farmland east of Brigham City. On the other hand, it would be one of the west's largest reservoirs and could irrigate 10,000 acres around the greater valley below the Wasatch Mountains.
It was also estimated that it would have cost $600,000 just to buy out the Mantua residents and gain title to the land.
Of course, this project never happened. But in 1915, a large reservoir was proposed to the south of Mantua and a year later work began on that project.
However, a May 10, 1920 headline in the Ogden Standard Examiner stated, "Brigham City threatened by flood from reservoir which may give way at any moment."
This other reservoir was six miles south of Mantua, just off the dirt road today that leads to Willard Basin. This reservoir was built by Chadfield at a cost of only $65,000 and covered 90 acres.
Fortunately, this dam didn't break and the reservoir was drained and abandoned some years later.
Then, in 1962, today's Mantua reservoir was completed. This project didn't displace most of the residents of the town, though it did mean a loss of farmland.

                         Today's Mantua Reservoir.

The Scoop on Wheeler Canyon, off Ogden Canyon

    The mouth of Wheeler Canyon, at the far east end of Ogden Canyon.  Photo by Whitney Arave.

WHEELER CANYON is the first canyon below Pineview Dam. It is southwest of the Dam itself.
Today Wheeler Canyon is best known as a mountain bicycle trail. However, use of the canyon dates back to 1866. Levi Wheeler, an Ogden area pioneer, located a sawmill on the stream in Wheeler Canyon that year and he is the origin of its name.
The sawmill materials had been hauled across the plains  to Utah. Calvin Wheeler, son of Levi, told the Ogden Daily Standard Newspaper of Sept. 20, 1919 about the origin of the canyon's name. He also said that when he lived near the canyon in the 1860s, he recalled traveling some 16 miles from Huntsville to kill 16 elk for food, to get through the winter.
-Also, a century ago, the area in Ogden Canyon near Wheeler Canyon's mouth was called "Pine View" and hence the name of the today's dam there.
-A Boy Scout troop of 24 boys, led by Scoutmaster Charles E. Fisk, hiked up Wheeler Canyon in the fall of 1922. They then climbed to the top of Mount Ogden -- with no trail to follow. Then, the descended down the left-hand fork of Taylor Canyon -- again with no trail to follow. Despite encountering cliffs and two inches of snow, there were no mishaps.
The Scouts reported seeing lots of blue grouse and willow grouse and even the tracks of a wolf. They returned to Ogden City after a 13-hour hike that covered some 25 miles. (-From Ogden Daily Standard, Oct. 23, 1922.)

-In the 1920s and up until the construction of Pineview Dam, there used to be the "Power Dam" at the head of Wheeler Canyon. This dam was built in 1897 and was some 40 feet deep and 300 feet long.
Ogden City got most of its drinking water from the artesian wells in Ogden Valley and also from Coldwater Canyon -- before Pineview Dam came along, in 1937.

What are the Names of the Mountain Peaks and Canyons in North Davis County?

                                                                       Above, Whitney Arave photographs and lettering.

THE Wasatch Mountains, east of Layton City, are majestic landmarks most people probably take for granted each day. However, what are the names of the mountain peaks and canyons viewed regularly?

Surprisingly, the majority of the mountain peaks lack official names. Some long-time residents have opted to nickname a few of the nameless peaks. Even some of the smaller canyons are not even titled.

(Officially naming geographical features is often a complicated and lengthy process.)

And, those features that have names, there is usually a story to tell about their titles.

Of course, residents of the City’s east side have a much different view of the mountains than those on the west end.

From Weber Canyon to Farmington Canyon is the width of the main mountainous panorama that most Layton residents enjoy.

                                      Thurston Peak

-Kingpin of those mountains is Thurston Peak, at 9,706 feet above sea level.

However, this loftiest of peaks in those two counties wasn't even officially named until 1993 -- it was previously listed as a benchmark on maps, "Francis VABM" previously on all older maps.

There's now a permanent monument of Utah granite has been erected on the peak with a brass plaque, encased in concrete, that reads:

"Named in honor of Thomas Jefferson Thurston, a Centerville resident who viewed the virgin valley of Morgan from the summit of the mountain in 1852 and recognized its potential for colonization. Realizing its disadvantage was its inaccessibility, in 1855 Thurston influenced others to assist him to carve a passible wagon road through Weber Canyon. He was among the first to settle in Morgan Valley and is acknowledged for bringing about its colonization."

It took a five-month-long effort by the Morgan Historical Society to name the peak in 1993.

The fact was it is named for Thomas J. Thurston is very fitting, because that man and his family had lived in both Davis and Morgan counties as one of their earliest settlers.

It was a June 10, 1992 article, headlined, "Either way you look Francis is Tallest," in the Deseret News, that drew attention to the prominent peak as having no official name and created the spark for it to finally be named.

The view of the top of "North Francis Peak" in 1991, before the peak was named or had a monument on its lofty summit -- it was just a pile of rocks and some posts.

Thurston Peak is also the tallest Wasatch range peak between Willard Peak on the Weber-Box Elder county line and Big Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake County.

                          Francis Peak, complete with two radar domes.

-The other prominent part of the north Davis County section of the Wasatch Mountains is Francis Peak, adorned by two geodesic domes.

Francis Peak was named Francis in honor of Esther Charlotte Emily Wiesbroddt Francis, an early pioneer woman who settled in Morgan in 1863. Her expert knowledge of mathematics, particularly calculus, drew many to seek her help. She assisted early surveyors and, among other things, helped organize Morgan City into blocks, lots and streets.

It was customary in early settlements of the West to name a landmark after a person in recognition of services rendered or contributions made. Sometimes a first name was used. In the case of Francis, her last name probably sounded like a better name for the most prominent mountain peak in the area than her first name.

Brigham Young himself is reported to have honored Francis by naming the mountain after her.

Francis Peak was once Davis County's craggiest mountain summit. However, some 22,000 cubic yards of material and 32 feet of the peak's height were removed to level the site for the radar domes.

While most maps list Francis Peak's elevation at 9,547 feet, that was its original height and doesn't account for the loss in height during the $2 million construction in 1958-59.

The natural height is now 9,515 feet, making it the fifth-highest peak in the county. The facility's base adds 55 feet and the radar domes chip in another 60 feet for a total of 115 feet in artificial height - making the peak, some could argue, 9,630 feet above sea level.

The FAA originally wanted to locate the radar site above Salt Lake City, near Alta or Snowbird. But the National Guard was already using a temporary facility at Francis Peak, so that became the joint location.

Workers at the peak's construction site had to wear thick, long boots and carry sticks or pistols: Although snake experts said the reptiles can't live that high, someone forgot to tell the rattlers.

There were numerous nests of rattlesnakes uncovered in the building process, despite the site's almost 2-mile-high elevation.

In the late 1970s, a tramway was proposed as a quicker and more convenient access up Shepard Canyon to Francis Peak than traveling up Farmington Canyon. However, the FAA's approval for the site got caught in environmental red tape and never became a reality.

                                   "Layton Peak," center.

-For some unclear reason, only two of the 10 highest peaks in Davis County have names - at least official monikers approved by the Utah Geographic Names Committee.

-“Layton Peak” (unofficial name) is the first peak to the left, or north of Thurston Peak and is 9,571 feet above sea level. This peak is also tied with another unnamed one to the north as the second-tallest summit in Davis

County.

“Layton Peak” is 0.7 of a mile north of Thurston

Peak and lines up with Antelope Drive. Like most tall

peaks in Davis County, the “Layton” summit also

straddles the Davis County-Morgan County line.

The “Layton” Peak rises approximately one vertical mile away the valley floor.

Over time, popular usage of such geographical nicknames often become the standard, official titles of unnamed features.

-“Ed’s Peak,” an unofficial title, was named after Ed Ford, who lived in a hollow down below in Kaysville, east of the City Cemetery.

-Note that “Bair” is the correct spelling of the canyon and creek. John Bair was the namesake of the two natural features, but his name has been misspelled “:Baer” and even “Bear” at times, (See the Deseret News of Dec. 29, 1995 for a full explanation.)

-In addition, there are three small lakes — Smith Creek Lakes — hidden on the east slope of the Wasatch Mountains east of Layton and Kaysville. (A jeep trail , the right fork just past Bair Canyon, leads to these secluded bodies of water.

NOTE: By Lynn Arave and previously published in "Layton Today," by Layton City and the Davis County Clipper.

SOURCES: Deseret News Archives, USGS Maps

1892: When Davis County could have lost 2 miles

NORTH Salt Lake City could have been a lot smaller than it is today. That's because in 1892 there was a push at the State's territorial legislature to move the Salt Lake-Davis County line about two miles further north.
This proposed action was because a new stockyards, about 400 acres in size, had just opened at the extreme south end of Davis County and Salt Lake City was envious to have that asset within its own boundaries.
"Keep Davis County intact" was a January 10, 1892 headline in the Salt Lake Herald newspaper. This article noted that such a move would injury Davis County and that it was already by far the smallest county in Utah.
Fortunately, no such boundary change ever took place.
The City of North Salt Lake didn't originate until 1946 and so during the proposal in 1892, all the land there was still unincorporated Davis County property.

1886: The first-ever reference to a community called 'Layton'?

LAYTON, Utah is Davis County’s premier city. It is common history that Layton is an outgrowth of Kaysville City. Layton separated from Kaysville in 1902-1907 and became its own official town in 1920.

But when was the “Layton” name first used?

-It is very likely that name came along in the mid-1880s. In fact, the very first newspaper reference to Layton being its own community, separate from mother Kaysville City, was published on May 7, 1886 in the Ogden Herald newspaper.

“The town of Layton is building up rapidly,” the Herald stated. “There is good demand for everything a farmer raises.”

-Another key reference to Layton, perhaps the first occasion in the Deseret News was on May 4, 1887, where a report on an artesian well was sent “from Layton, Davis County.”

(This water report was also significant, because it noted the very first time that Weber River water was used in Kaysville and Layton.)

-A third, separate reference to Layton was on June 10, 1887, in the Salt Lake Herald newspaper, where people from both Kaysville and Layton boarded a special train to take residents age 70 and over, to an Old Folks’ Day in Ogden.

-A fourth reference to Layton as a distinct area was published in the Ogden Daily Standard of July 26, 1890.

“A wreck on the Utah Central” was the headline and the story stated: “The passenger train which left here (Ogden) at 6 o’clock last evening, ran into a freight at Layton, one mile north of Kaysville.”

-How did the Layton name come about?

It was very likely because Christopher Layton, an early area pioneer, was also the first LDS Church Bishop in what was becoming its own, separate area. Since Kaysville was named after William Kay, an early settler and church leader there, hence the Layton name.

Yet newspaper references or not, the actual Layton took longer to fully create.

The Deseret News on Sept. 29, 1890 still referred to the Kaysville First Ward and the Kaysville Second Ward as the only two ecclesiastic districts in the area.

According to the Davis County Clipper newspaper of May 6, 1892,

members of the Kaysville Second Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints actually resided in what most recognized as Layton

territory and not Kaysville. Hence, some church members circulated a

petition in 1892, asking church leaders to rename the ward to what it really

was – the Layton Ward.

This was one of the first signs that Layton residents wanted their own

community, separate from Kaysville.

"We do not live in Kaysville City, nor

Kaysville precinct, and why it is called the 2nd Ward of Kaysville we cannot

understand," the newspaper report stated.

Just less than 4 months later, the Ward name change did take place.

“The members of second ward of Kaysville last Sunday decided to change the name to Layton Ward so as to conform

with the precinct and post office and hereafter it will be known by that name.” (-Davis County Clipper, Aug. 31, 1892.)

Before Layton had fully gained its independence from Kaysville, or had become an incorporated community, its identity was obscure.

“There are some people in the large surrounding cities that do not know there is a place as Layton, formerly known as Kays Creek, in Utah,” a story in the January 23, 1892 Ogden Standard newspaper reported.

“They do not know what a fine country we have here for agriculture and stock raising. The town is situated about fifteen miles south of Ogden, with seven hundred inhabitants, also three mercantile stores, a post office, two blacksmith shops, one meat market, a large steam roller mill, a saloon and two railroads running through the center,” the story stated.

The History of Utah's 'Little Sahara'

                                            Youth playing in sand at Little Sahara.

THE Little Sahara is an ATV and sand lovers paradise in central Utah. But when did the recreation area begin?
According to the Garfield County News of March 4, 1976, the Little Sahara Recreation Area was dedicated on April 17 of that year.
The Bureau of Land Management created the 60,000-acre site. located 35 miles north of Delta. An estimated 100,000 people were already visiting the area before it was designated as an official recreation area.
Sagebrush flats and juniper covered hills, plus sand dunes dominate the area.
Sand lovers can thank ancient Lake Bonneville for its origin, as the prehistoric lake's southern shore was a dumping site for sand. Winds then pushed the sand some 150 miles for the original sandbar location to where Little Sahara is today. 

A Brief History of access to Snow Canyon

               Kids playing in a water puddle in Snow Canyon's magnificent rock formations.

SNOW Canyon, north of St. George, didn't even have road access until the early 1940s.
The Washington County News of July 23, 1942 stated that the road to Snow Canyon wasn't open until the summer of 1942. Likely, the outbreak of World War II delayed plans to oil all the road to the newly found scenic attraction.
Snow Canyon was made a Utah State Park in 1958. In an area filled with National Parks, like Zion, Bryce and Grand Staircase-Escalante, it would likely be a national park in any other state ...
Snow Canyon is not named for frozen water, but for two early settlers and leaders, Lorenzo and Erastus Snow.
It features 16 miles of trails, offers a campground -- open year round and some volcanic rock features. Rock climbing, biking and horseback riding are also popular in the Park.

-The volcanic cinder cones in the greater area could have been destroyed in the 1940s ...
"Scenic enthusiasts don't want their mountain cut down" was a March 29, 1941 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper.
State road workers had been ready to take away the cinder cones shovel by shovel full, to help with roadbase in the area.
However, residents protested taking the volcanic material away and argued they were tourist attractions of their own.

From Dead Animals to Uranium seekers -- A History of Dead Horse Point and the Shafer Trail

Dead Horse Point is ablaze with sunlight, as viewed from the west.  Photo by Liz Arave Hafen


DEAD Horse Point became a tourist attraction in the Moab area, starting in the late 1930s. However, getting a suitable, paved road to the destination required more than three decades.
"When an old cowpoke a generation ago named it Dead Horse Point, little did he think that someday the horseless carriage would drive to its rim and discharge breathless occupants to be astounded by its majestic scenery," a May 12, 1938 story in the Times Independent newspaper stated.
"All scenery is beneath the feet ..." the story stated. "Dead Horse Point is Moab Utah's newest attraction ..."
The first good auto road (unpaved) and some 20 miles long to Dead Horse Point was completed in the spring of 1938.
"From its rim miles become inches thick strata of sandstone (and) appear as just one thin layer in the panorama. Snow capped ranges ride the skyline in the purple distance. It is more colorful than the Grand Canyon," the Times story concluded.
That was one of the first media reports of Dead Horse Point.
Dead Horse Point is a steep mesa, some 400 yards wide, with a 2,000-foot drop down its vertical cliff walls.
-Some 15 years later, in 1953, another Times Independent story (originally from the New York Times) was not excited about access to Dead Horse Point. "The so-called road to Death Horse Point" was the headline of a July 18, 1953 report.
"Thanks to the needs of uranium mining companies and oil exploration outfits, a hair-rising eighteen mile stretch of so-called highway has been bulldozed in Dead Horse Point," the story stated.
It said locals claim the view there is equal to any other on the Colorado.
"Summer tourists who don't mind leaving pavement behind -- and having theirs hearts pound at overtime speed from the altitude -- will find the new road from Moab to the Dead Horse lookout a relatively easy route into wilderness of spectacular grandeur," the story continued.
Likely this "new road" was the Shafer trail, a jeep path that winds its way up to Canyonlands from the river level. (See the Shafer Trail report at the bottom of this report...)
Dead Horse Point became a Utah State Park in 1959 (Times Independent article of Dec. 17, 1959) and an actual shelter was constructed atop the lookout mesa in the summer of 1962 (Times Indep. report of March 22, 1962).
"Road to Dead Horse Point much improved" was a Feb. 25, 1965 headline in the Iron County Record newspaper. By that year, 15 miles of the 22 miles to the lookout were paved in a $60,000 project.
Previously, the road was considered very dusty. It was then attracting some 52,000 visitors a year.
From 1965 to the early 1970s, an extra mile or so of the highwway was paved each year. By 1971, only one unpaved mile remained.
Today, a wide paved highway leads to Dead Horse and features no thrills for those afraid of heights -- until the overlook point is reached.

-HOW did the place receive its grisly title?
There are 2 versions, according to "Utah Place Names," a book by John W. Van Cott.
1. Rustlers abandoned their stock there in the late 19th Century to avoid a posse and the animals died there, from lack of water.
2. The more plausible tale is that in 1894, Arthur Taylor, a Moab stockman was herding cattle in the area. He came across a number of dead horses, who had apparently perished from lack of water. They could see the Colorado River below, but could not reach the water. Their demise gave rise to the name.

                        The Shafer Trail is not for the faint of heart traveler.

-SHAFER TRAIL ORIGINATION: This is an exciting unpaved path below Dead Horse Point. The Times Independent of Sept. 18, 1952 had a report on its construction. Three tons of dynamite had been used to create the trail so far and it was only 2/3ds complete.
The Shafer name originated from the Shafer Trail Road Group, composed of oil and uranium men, who invested in labor and machinery to better access the area.
"This is one of the finest examples that could be found of a need causing men to tackle the 'impossible,'" the story concluded.
The Times Indep. of Dec. 4, 1952 reported on the first jeep that traveled the entire new Shafer Trail, going from Dead Horse Point to the Valley below.
Just below Dead Horse Point, the jeep required a blast of dynamite and a bulldozer to clear some 1,000 tons of boulders that were blocking a narrow point -- directly below the mesa's lookout point.
Nick Murphy, Jack Turner, Rud Merz, Dick and Bob Mohler and Lawrence Migllaccia were among the brave jeep occupants.
Nate Knight and Norm Hettman were working on the trail further down and used their equipment and skill to clear the path.
Later, the men scoured the cliffs with geiger counters in search of uranium, which is why the trail even exists today.

                           The steep switchbacks of the extreme west side of the Shafer Trail.

BELOW is a June 25, 1998 story from the Deseret News by Lynn Arave and Ray Boren, about the Shafer trail:


-At the end of her latest jaunt to southeastern Utah, Meladye Shively was ready to head back to Denver in her well-traveled (245,000 miles and counting) white Nissan pickup. Having explored Canyonlands' Island in the Sky for the first time, she'd decided to drop off the peninsular mesa toward the Colorado River gorge via the Shafer Trail.

"I'd never even heard of it before," she admitted during a break at a river viewpoint, "but I didn't want to go home the boring way."The precipitous, unpaved Shafer Trail is anything but boring.

As seen from Dead Horse Point State Park nearby, the Colorado and its tributaries have carved an awesome landscape reminiscent of territory a little farther south along the same great drainage - the Grand Canyon.

A major difference, however, is that here a few roads link the plateau above with the river below. The handiest among these is the Shafer - a gully-crossing, side-winding route that is, at times, a cliffhanger.

Literally.

In the 1880s, Frank and J.H. Shafer began improving the trail - once used by Indians and 19th century outlaws - to move cattle to and from summer rangelands. At the head of a canyon they would work the cows up a steep but traversable slope.

"There were spots on it that were maybe 3 feet wide," said John Simmons, an interpretive ranger at Canyonlands National Park. "Ranchers tell stories that if cattle got scared and backed up on the switchback," they could lose a few of the animals when they tumbled over the edge.

Uranium prospectors and oil companies widened the route in the 1950s, during the Moab area's mining boom years. Much of it was included within Canyonlands' northeastern boundaries when the park was established in 1964. "We do grade it periodically" today, Simmons said.

The Potash Road and the Shafer Trail - unpaved for 18 miles between the Moab Salt Co.'s evaporative ponds and Canyonlands National Park's Island in the Sky district - attract four-wheel-drive enthusiasts, mountain bikers and adventurous tourists. The trek makes a good half-day trip.

"When it's dry, we say it's a high-clearance two-wheel-drive road," Simmons said. In other words, four-wheel-drive is a good idea, though two-wheel-drive trucks and sport utility vehicles can manage it. Family cars and vans have been seen on parts of the trail, but that might not be a wise option. Motor homes and those towing trailers should not use the Shafer Trail.

People should also take into account, as Simmons put it, "their level of comfort with heights." The drop-off exposures along the rim and on the switchbacks can be, well, nerve-racking. In some places, he said, it's better to be a driver - with some sense of control - than a passenger.

The Shafer can be approached from either side: at the end of U-279, 16 miles from that riverside highway's junction with U.S. 191 near Moab, or from Island in the Sky, via the turnoff to the White Rim Trail, just beyond the new fee station.

The elevation of Island in the Sky's east rim is about 5,900 feet above sea level. From Red Sea Flat, the Shafer Trail drops a thousand feet in about the first half mile, thanks to a half-dozen dizzying switchbacks. The road levels off near Canyonlands' White Rim (which hosts a renowned 100-mile jeep-and-bike trail of its own) and in the Shafer Basin.

At this point, back-road explorers find themselves 1,600 feet below Dead Horse Point, a blocky rusty-red butte towering overhead much of the way, and just above the Goose Neck, a notable Colorado River meander visible from the state park's viewpoints.

Although the road is passable in most weather, it's always best to keep an eye on the sky. Even a light rain will turn washes into raging streams of colored water. If a flash flood threatens, get to safety as soon as possible.

Cliffs along the trail can also be a hazard. A Moab man was killed in a 500-foot fall in 1967 when he stopped to take photographs along the trail and slipped.

The landscape and geology can take your breath away. The fractured buttes - variously buff or brown or lavender or maroon - look as if they were hand-made by giants for purposes only giants would understand.

The visible formations include the relatively young Navajo and Kayenta sandstones ("only" 175 million to 180 million years old) and, nearer the carving Colorado, the Moenkopi, Cutler and Rico layers (laid down 230 million to 275 million years ago). These rocks were once windblown sands, ancient streambeds and lakebeds and primordial coastal seas and tidal basins.

Shively, who travels the country for business - she's a computer software writer - and for pleasure, was entranced by the view a few hundred feet directly above the Colorado River. A tour van out of Moab stopped nearby and disgorged a flock of sightseers, most speaking French.

She envied the guide's chosen field, visiting such splendor every day. If only she had such a job . . . .

"Then," Shively said, "when we'd stop at places like this, I'd say, `Look, we're in my office.' "

Grouse Creek, or 'Rabbit Creek'? The rabbit invasion of 1887 in N.W. Utah and more ...

GROUSE Creek remains one of Utah’s most isolated communities. It is still an approximate 35-mile drive on an unpaved/gravel road to reach the extreme northwest Utah town from the south. From the north, it is more like a 41-mile drive on unpaved roads.

Historically, Grouse Creek, Box Elder County, received its name from the stream of water by the same name – and it was titled for the plentiful sage grouse in the area when the first settlers arrived in 1876 (or 1875 by some other accounts).

(The small community was originally called “Cooksville” for a brief time, after Benjamin F. Cooke (often misspelled "Cook"), who dug the first well there.)

Was the “Grouse Creek” name truly applicable? No, not if look at the community about 11 or so years after the first settlers arrived.

“A big rabbit trap” was a Feb. 23, 1887 headline in the Deseret News. This story explained that there was a crisis of rabbits, rabbits everywhere in the area and something had to be done before it became “Rabbit Creek” and not “Grouse Creek.”

Thus, this newspaper story stated that settlers constructed a huge wooden trap (more like a large wooden corral) and herded hundreds of rabbits into it. Then, without firing a shot, some 800 rabbits were beaten to death with clubs.

Settlers also liked that this wooden trap could be taken apart and moved elsewhere.

While this type of mass killing seems inhumane by 21^st Century standards, for 19^th Century pioneers it was about their crops and stock having enough food, to ensure the residents’ survival.
(Note that there is a "Rabbit Springs," located five miles southeast of Grouse Creek.)

The rabbit infestation is a sharp contrast to the very first newspaper description of Grouse Creek, in the Deseret News of Jan. 31, 1877. That report stated there were some 20 settlers living there at the time, all law-abiding farmers, but with no LDS Church bishop or official leader.

This D. News account also noted that plenty of gray wolves, mountain lions and wildcats were roaming the Grouse Creek area.

The story also emphasized how the Grouse Creek area was a perfect place for raising horses, cattle and sheep. However, an official government survey was needed to allow such herd raising.

A Deseret News story on July 11, 1877 stressed how Grouse Creek had plenty of room for more settlers.

Grouse Creek even received a post office in April of 1877, with Benjamin Cooke as postmaster. However, by September of the same year, that post office was closed, presumably to a lack of business (Deseret News Sept. 11, 1877).

The Deseret News of Aug. 22, 1877 reported that Samuel H. Kimball (son of Heber C. Kimball) was called as the first LDS Bishop in Grouse Creek (with counselors B. Cooke, Henry Merrill and W.C. Thomas).

By late winter of 1878, the Deseret News of Feb. 1, 1878 stated that there was stock, some 8,000 in number, roaming the 37,000 acres in Grouse Creek Valley.

“There are no rocks in the valley,” the story stated, explaining that 40 families now resided there. One farmer had already harvested some 250 bushels of barley. There seemed to be no shortage of water in the area and one schoolhouse was already in use there.

However, the Deseret News of Aug. 20, 1878 stated that the water supply was a “failure” that summer and settlers were having to haul it long distances to their farms.

Grouse Creek residents received a financial boost in 1881, when railroad work for the area became available (Deseret News July 27, 1881).

The Salt Lake Herald on Jan. 30, 1891 called Grouse Creek a “small, but industrious place.”

So, ended the first 15 or so years of the community’s beginnings.