Confrontations with ‘monster’ rattlesnakes in early Utah

                           A snake warning sign, just off the road, north of Boise, Id.

RATTLESNAKES are a critical part of Utah’s natural environment and killing such a snake is illegal today. However, it wasn’t always so.
In Layton's first century, the action was almost always to kill any rattlesnakes spotted.
For example, the Weekly Reflex newspaper of Aug. 3, 1922 stated, "Last week Claude Coleman killed a monster rattlesnake on his father's farm on the mountain road (today's Highway 89). The reptile was six feet long and had sixteen rattles and button. This is the largest rattlesnake killed in this region for years," the story stated.

-“Salt Lake kills giant rattlesnake near city” was an Aug. 28, 1903 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper.

The story stated that S.C. Reed of Salt Lake was driving a horse and buggy up Mill Creek Canyon when he noticed a snake stretched across the road. It was a rattler, 3.5 feet long and as big around as the forearm of a large man. It “made a number of vicious attempts to strike him,” after he stopped to look at it.

So, Reed took a stick and kept hitting it until it was dead.

”The ‘rattler’ was evidently an ancient member of its tribe , for it had nine rattles and a button. These Reed secured and will keep as a trophy of the most desperate encounter he ever had with a snake,” the Telegram story concluded.

-“Gun more harmful than rattlesnake” was a May 30, 1910 headline in the Telegram. While a companion was attempting to shoot a rattlesnake in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Dennis Ausherman was accidentally shot below his knee.

-“A rattler attacks a cyclist” was a Sept. 7, 1895 headline in the Deseret Weekly newspaper. Si Murdaugh was riding his “wheel” (bicycle) somewhere in Salt Lake when he saw a “monster rattler” in front of him. He tried to run over it, but the snake caught in his rear tire spokes. The rattle was then able to strike the man, who fainted and tumbled off his bike. A companion came to  Murdaugh’s aid and found the snake had caught his fangs in a leather belt and not actually bitten his friend. The snake was killed and found to be six feet in length, with 16 rattles.

- The Herald on June 24, 1900 had the headline, “Little boy’s narrow escape from a big rattlesnake.” Lawrence Swan, a little boy, was stepping out the back door of a home on Fourth Street, above Eagle Gate, when he fell backward to avoid stepping on a large coiled rattlesnake on the doorstep. The 3-foot snake was killed.

-“The Champion rattlesnake story” was an Aug. 29, 1890 headline in the Salt Lake Times newspaper. A Union Pacific Railroad employee killed a monster rattlesnake, near Milford, with nothing more than clods of earth. The man claimed the snake was 10 feet long and had an incredible 96 rattles.

-A June 27, 1902 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram was “Fights big rattler.” While walking toward Fort Douglas, Mrs. R.H. McKaig and her maid almost stepped on a coiled rattlesnake in the middle of the road. “The maid, Louise Westover, was paralyzed with fear, but her mistress picked up several large stones and gave battle to the rattler, which was making for a sagebrush. One of the missiles broke the snake’s back. Mrs. McKaig will have the snake’s skin tanned,” the story stated.

“Brigham hunter bitten by rattler” was an Aug. 28, 1920 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram. Lorenza Bott of Brigham City was bitten on the leg by a rattlesnake while hunting in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. He sucked out most of the poison and is out of danger.

                            A water snake, not a rattlesnake, by the Ogden River.

-“He killed the snake,” was a July 19, 1900 headline in the Ogden Herald newspaper. Seymour Clark and Will Swan were bicycling up Ogden Canyon, when Clark had to stop to fix flat tire. While repairing it, he saw a rattlesnake and “stoned the creature to death.”

The Ogden Standard of June 20, 1927 carried the headline, “Kill rattler at Cache roadside.” Glen Putnam, a railway employee killed a large rattler in Blacksmith Fork Canyon, when a wheel of their automobile crushed the reptile.

-JUMP forward to more modern times and there were at least 2 times during Northern Utah construction projects where rattlesnakes became a major problem:
-First, during the late 1950s construction of the Francis Peak radar station, above Farmington, where workers ran into nests to rattlers -- despite the nearly 9,500-foot elevation.
-Second, during the mid-1960s construction of the Interstate through Weber Canyon (today's I-84), where construction truck drivers had to be on alert and could not open their windows, lest a rattlesnake in their debris being hauled would crawl over their cab and slide into an open window. Rattlers would get caught up in rock and dirt being hauled away, or moved. Weird, but old-time truckers swear by such tales.

1856: When Salt Lake City was reported to have been sunk by an earthquake

                     Elementary students wading in the Great Salt Lake.


THE Deseret News of May 21, 1856 reported that some eastern U.S. newspapers had reported than a quake had destroyed Great Salt Lake City (Salt Lake's original name).
These erroneous reports apparently stated that Salt Lake had been sunk by a big earthquake and the few survivors were floating around in the Great Salt Lake on boxes or boards. And, a famine followed for all the survivors.
The quake myth was highlighted in a report from Iron County, assuming that the quake was not real. The report ended with "Hoping that you are safely beyond the reach of the 'Earthquake."

1907: When Davis County farmers had too much water

A rain storm in 2015 left deep puddles of water in Layton City, near Hill Field Road and Main Street.


"Farmers in Davis face hard problem. Heavy rains have saturated lands with too much water. Draining is of no avail" was a March 13, 1907 headline in the Inter-Mountain Republican newspaper.
The story reported that many Bountiful residents had moved to the north of Davis County for the open spaces and larger farmland available. However, recent wet seasons have caused them to wonder if they made a mistake in moving.
At one point, this was one of the driest areas in Davis County, but now saturated soil is making farming delayed and difficult.
This wet soil first became apparent in the spring of 1904. Where it used to require a 40-foot drill downward to access water, now it is on the surface in the spring season.

-The wet seasons also helped grass grow tall and wild near the mouth of Weber Canyon and caused some large grass fires on July 23, 1907, according to the Ogden Daily Standard of that date. Some wheat fields were destroyed and it took an army of 200 men fighting the fires to preserve some threatened homes.

When there were "Heaps of ruins in Davis County'

"Heaps of ruins in Davis County" was an Oct. 23, 1906 headline in the Salt Lake Republican newspaper. "Storm does tremendous damage in all the towns and county districts," the headline continued.
The story described it as the most devastating wind ever to strike Davis County. In Kaysville, many homes were unroofed and every single business on the town's main street suffered damage. Many fences were flattened and numerous barns were leveled. Numerous large trees were also uprooted.
The wind storm keep many people imprisoned and unable to go outside, given the trees falling over and the flying debris.
"The Kaysville Co-Op roof was ripped off and their warehouse roof collapsed," the story reported.
H.J. Sheffield's Store housed Bell telephone operators on its second floor. Two women phone operators, Ida Smith and Cora Phillips were trapped overnight in their office as the roof caved in, windows shattered and they were afraid to leave until morning in the darkness. Neither woman was injured, but they "were thoroughly chilled and frightened," the newspaper stated.
Jed Session's barber shop was completed uplifted and thrown 30 feet away from its base.
At least 1,000 tons of hay were carried away and a shortage of animal feed was expected.
All Sunday church meetings were cancelled and not held, for safety reasons. The new Clearfield school under construction was unroofed.
The new First National Bank Building in Layton was almost completely demolished and its roof rested on the cashier's desk. The Layton Canning Company warehouse was totally leveled. Lagoon's new dancing pavilion was completely wrecked, as was the Church meeting house in west Bountiful.

Road to Francis Peak completed in 1938; The 1940 proposal to run the road all the way to Parley's Canyon

                                                A sign at the top of Farmington Canyon.

THE 5-mile dirt road from the top of Farmington Canyon to Francis Peak was NOT built in the late 1950s when the Francis Peak radar station was constructed. It was built more than 20 years earlier by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and was completed in 1938.
According to the Davis County Clipper of Sept. 2, 1938, men of the CCC Company No. 940 constructed the five mile road in a two year project. It started as 12-feet wide and the U.S. Forest Service widened it to 22 feet.

                                  The junction at the top of Farmington Canyon.


"It will open up the scenic beauty around Francis Peak," the Clipper story stated.
The initial purpose of the road was to support erosion control. That's because the Farmington area suffered devastating floods in the 1920s, from overgrazing and also sudden cloud bursts.

                         An upper section of the road through Farmington Canyon.

                                              The northern radar dome atop Francis Peak.

-That same year, the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper heralded the completion of the entire mountain road, with the headline, "Farmington and Bountiful connected by scenic loop" was an Aug. 31, 1938 headline in the Telegram. This 17 mile stretch was also constructed by the CCC. (The side road north of Francis Peak was a connecting route.)
The road, today's "Skyline Drive," was begun in 1933 by the CCC for erosion control and access. The steepest portion of the road is through Farmington Canyon and that section is 7.5 miles long.
In order to avoid drilling through rock, the Canyon road included two bridges.
The Bountiful Peak Campground and Picnic Area is about one mile south of the top of Farmington Canyon. That facility was dedicated on Aug. 22, 1941, according to the Clipper of Oct. 15, 1941.

                          Note the switchbacks up the north side of Farmington Canyon.

-It didn't happen, but in 1940, plans were proposed to connect the Davis County mountain road with Emigration Canyon. The Salt Lake Telegram of March 27, 1940, reported the proposal by the U.S. Forest Service. Likely, the United State's entrance into World War II at the end of 1941 doomed that ambitious plan.
However, that tentative road was surveyed as 29 miles long and run along the edge of City Creek and end at Little Mountain in Emigration Canyon. (Originally, the road was to go all the way to Parley's Canyon.)

                             A view from Layton City toward Francis Peak.

How about 'Dern' Air Force Base, instead of Hill AFB? Plus, Utah's version of Kitty Hawk flying

                        Hill Air Force Base, as seen from the Layton foothills.

WHAT IF?

It could have been that Hill Air Force Base (celebrating its 80^th anniversary in 2020) had a different name.

The original Utah proposal was to name the base "Dern Field," after Utah's sixth governor, George Henry Dern (who served from 1925-1933).

Dern was later the U.S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Roosevelt from 1933 until his death, in 1936.

According to the Davis County Clipper of Jan. 24, 1990, it was U.S. Representative J.W. (James William) Robinson, a Democrat from Utah, who made the suggestion to name the air base after Dern.

This honor wasn’t just to honor the late Governor/Secretary Dern for his high political offices. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Feb. 4, 1940, Dern had “made an inspection” in 1935 of the potential air base land in northern Utah and “became very sympathetic towards its potential possibilities.”

“Secretary Dern’s efforts were responsible in a large measure for renewed interest in this project,” The Standard-Examiner further reported.

This led to the War Department securing options on 4,135 acres of land in the area where the Ogden Chamber of Commerce was promoting as ideal for a future air base and ordnance depot site.

Although most Utahns likely agreed it was a good idea to honor Dern with the base name, it apparently did not square with current Army Air Force policy. 

According to the 1990 Clipper story, Army General H.H. Arnold responded to Robinson's naming proposal that the base "would probably be named after an army flier who performed distinguished flying service in Utah, or whose death occurred in that vicinity."

Notwithstanding, the Hill Top Times newspaper of Jan. 1, 1946 stated, “War Department General Order No. 9 names site OAD ‘Hill Field’ in honor of Major Ployer P. Hill.”

(“Hill Field” was the base’s original name and it was retitled, “Hill Air Force Base” on Feb. 5, 1948.)

Major Ployer "Pete" Hill was killed while piloting the experimental Boeing B-17 ("Model 299") bomber at Wright Field, Ohio on Oct. 30, 1935.

However, Ployer Hill had no ties to Utah and Wright Field was more than 1,600 miles from today's Hill Air Force Base.
(Strangely, the crash was caused because the crew forgot to remove the pins from the flaps on the plane before takeoff. This "why?" mystery has led to a lot of speculation, including if the crew had been drinking before takeoff? ... But almost 9 decades later, there's no way to ever solve this mystery.)

The fact that the sandy area where today's Hill Air Force Base is actually located on a "Hill,” elevated from much of the surrounding area, has made the title more appropriate over the decades.

Yes, there is no indication of displeasure with the base’s name, or any known move to rename it. In fact, during its early years, Hill Field paid tribute to the daring test pilot on the anniversary of his death. “Field recalls tragic death of Major Hill. Army Base pays tribute to officer who died seven years ago,” was an Oct. 29, 1942, headline in the Standard-Examiner.

In addition, the base’s naming finally had its late arriving Utah connection in the 1960s. The Standard-Examiner of Nov. 7, 1965 reported that Major Hill’s only son, also named Ployer P. Hill, served a tour at Hill AFB as a major, from 1964-1966, prior to a combat mission in Vietnam.

(The younger Major Hill died on Jan. 21, 2008 at the age of 83 in Florida.)

Yes, “Dern Air Force Base” doesn’t sound right after more than 80 years. It could have been, but the Hill name is both appropriate and deserving today.

-MORE HISTORY: The famous Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903 had a big effect on one Utah resident -- even some eight years later.

"Ogden aviator comes to grief" was an Oct. 19, 1911 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper.

"Fired by the accounts of the glider experiments of the Wright Brothers in North Carolina, Ray Irwin, 14 years old, constructed a biplane glider with a wingspan of 26 feet ..." the Telegram reported.

The young man, with the help of others, took off from the sandridge and glided some 300 feet and across the Weber River until it plunged to the earth and crashed in the sagebrush. Irwin escaped with minor injuries.

The Salt Lake Herald Republican newspaper of Oct. 19, 1911 hailed Irwin as "Ogden's first aviator." That newspaper said Irwin sprained his left leg on impact and that crash broke the framework of his glider. He apparently had some 300 spectators of his short flight.

(-Originally published on September 19, 2020 in the Deseret News.)

1900: When you could walk to Antelope Island; Plus, when a sandbar helped build a causeway

YOU could walk to Antelope Island in the year 1990, thanks to a low level of the Great Salt Lake. Yes, lakeside resorts were struggling in mud to keep patrons happy, but access to the former "Church Island" was easier.
"To Island by land. Trip can be made practically dry shod. Road of Salt and Sand" was a Sept. 24, 1900 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune.
"Great Salt Lake has been known as the 'Dead Sea of America.' If it is not dead, it certainly gives every evidence being in the throes of dissolution," the Tribune stated.
The four-mile stretch from the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake to Antelope Island was a glistening stretch of sand that year. And, some sand had been used to create a small bar to reach the isle, without a boat.
The Tribune reported that most were using horses and wagons to cross the lakebed to the Island. One man said it required just 35 minutes to cross from the former Jeremy Salt Works to reach Antelope.

                                                 The eastern bay of Antelope Island.

Further north, there were more uneven and muddy conditions and even some small pools of stagnant water.
The receding lake also does not create a pretty scene, the Tribune reported.
"The space left dry by the receding waters is anything but inviting in its appearance. Here and there are decaying hulks of rowboats and sailboats, several of which were once in use at Garfield beach years ago and there is also a vast quantity of other wreckage," the Tribune story stated.
The Tribune also mentioned a special tree, now a landmark, from which hunters surprised and killed a "ferocious buffalo," a few years ago who roamed the Island. 
Little amounts of wheat had been raised on Antelope Island in 1900, because of the dry climate. However, the isle had apparently had some successful farming performed on it in previous years.

                The causeway as viewed from the northeast tip of Antelope Island to the mainland.

-JUMP FORWARD almost seventy years and the newly opened official causeway road  from Syracuse to Antelope Island was in use. And, surprisingly, it was sand from the natural sandbar that runs to Fremont Island that helped construct that original causeway. (It washed out multiple times from the 1970s and into the mid-1980s.)

The sandbar (left side of photograph) from Fremont Island (foreground) to the causeway road. Antelope Island is in the distance on the right side of the picture.

"Gravel for the roadbed was obtained through a trade between the county and state," the Davis County Clipper of April 28, 1967 reported. "The State brought out 200 loads of gravel to the sire in return for an equal amount of salted sand scooped from a sandbar which leads to Fremont Island and connects to the new road."
At the time, in 1967, the road was still a dirt one and was not paved until the early 1970s.

                The sandbar to Fremont Island, as seen from the Antelope Island Causeway.

-THAT SAME SANDBAR to Fremont Island has also been a boating hazard at times. The Clipper of Jan. 22, 1987 reported that four men were stranded for 14 hours in the Great Salt Lake after running aground on the sandbar.
The men were headed to the privately owned Fremont Island to hunt sheep when they became stranded, just west of Howard Slough. They were spotted by helicopter and another boat was launched to rescue them. Whether the men had permission to hunt on the private island was unknown.

History of the Deseret Mill in Kaysville

                                The Kaysville Plant in 1905.            S.L. Republican newspaper picture.

                             Today's Deseret Mill and Pasta Plant in west Kaysville.

THE Deseret Mill and Pasta in west Kaysville, Utah has roots going back to 1894. The family is a prominent landmark along I-15.
"Kaysville leads the entire west by erecting grain storage tanks" was a Sept. 13, 1905 headline in the Salt Lake Republican newspaper. The report claimed they were the first such flour mills to be built west of Omaha. These original tanks -- four in total --were 30 feet tall and some 17.5 feet in diameter. They were owned by the Kaysville Milling Company. It was likely an outgrowth of the Kaysville Canning Company.
The first mention of that company was on Oct. 28, 1894, also in the Salt Lake Republican.
This all happened in the same area where today's Deseret Mill is, near 61 South and 600 West. That location was strategic because of Holmes Creek nearby, which was the mill's original power.

                                The Kayville Mill as it looked in 1907.                   A Deseret News picture.


By 1907, the Deseret News of Dec. 14 reported that the mill employed 200 people.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bought the mill in 1942, as its newly created welfare program ramped up. According to the Davis County Clipper of July 23, 1948, the Church enlarged the facility that year. It was then called the Deseret Mills and Elevator Plant and the storage capacity was enlarged from 78,000 bushels to 158,000 bushels.

                             The Mill is a prominent landmark along I-15 in Kaysville, Utah.

                     Today's modern Deseret Mill as it appears from I-15.


Most of the food produced in 1948 went to Germany and Holland, following aid after World War II.
In 1982, the Deseret Mill was automated by the Church.
Expansion continued in 2015 with the addition of the pasta mill operation.

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