When Lagoon held a 'Bathing Girls' Revue'; Plus more history

BACK in 1918, Lagoon resort hauled in plenty of white sand to Farmington, to create its own

version of "Walkiki Beach.” To highlight the second year of the sands, it again held a “Beauty Parade.”

The Salt Lake Tribune of July 15, 1919, described it this way, “Walkiki Beach will be the scene of brilliant affair on the occasion of the second annual Bathing Girls’ Revue next Friday. Sixty beautiful maids – forms divine – suits superb – will vie for first honors on the white sand beach, while swimming races, high diving and fancy diving contests will augment the interest of the occasion.”

A few years later, Lagoon even hauled in more white sand to expand its beach, promoting its fresh water setting in favor of Saltair’s briny and muddy beach.

                                Malan's Peak.

MORE HISTORY: Weber State College used to set fire to Malan’s Basin, to create a “Flaming Block W” each fall on the mountainside during its annual hike up the Wasatch Mountains.

“College seeks locations for fires on peak” was a Sept. 5, 1939 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

“Locations for a huge ‘flaming W’ on Malan’s heights and a campfire program in Malan’s basin for the annual Weber College moonlight hike were being sought today by school and student body officials …” the story stated.

                                                        Malan's Basin today.

The hike that year was planned for Sept. 25, the evening of the opening day of school.

(That same newspaper reported that the very first ever issue of the college’s new newspaper, The Signpost, was due out on Sept. 18.)

Two years prior, the Standard-Examiner of Sept. 15, 1937, reported that “Novel features planned for the hike included lectures on moonlight and snakes by the faculty members and a song and yell fest around a flaming block ‘W’ in Malan’s basin,” that story stated.

The Flaming W hike was discontinued during World War II. It was restarted in 1988 as a much longer annual hike to the highest peak in the area, Mount Ogden, which overlooks Malan’s Basin.

(Because of forest fire danger, no fires were held in the modern event, though in the fall of 1977, having a fire on Malan’s Peak was discussed by college fraternities, but never happened.)

-Bears were commonly killed in the early 20^th Century around Ogden and most of the country. “Five bears killed” was a Nov. 2, 1909 headline in the Ogden Standard. “Bill” Wilson, Jr., one of the managers of the Hermitage in Ogden Canyon, killed four black bears, south of the Shanghai Bridge, a day prior. Richard Wilson of Huntsville also killed a fifth bear in the same area shortly thereafter.

                              A more rustic campfire area in Coldwater Canyon today.

-Coldwater Canyon, a side canyon about a mile up Ogden Canyon, used to contain picnic tables and even “water hydrants,” according to the Standard-Examiner of April 10, 1941. Coldwater was also a prime source of drinking water for Ogden City, prior to Pineview Reservoir.

                                         The western side of Fremont Island.

-“The new look at progressive Weber County” was the title of a full-page advertisement in the Standard-Examiner of March 28, 1965. This ad, by the Weber County Commission, featured a wish list of future plans. Included were the development of Fremont Island and Malan’s Basin, two things which never happened.

-Finally, the Ogden Junction newspaper of June 20, 1874 reported on “That earthquake,” perhaps the first quake in the Ogden area. “We have the testimony of several trustworthy ladies and gentlemen that mother earth did tremble and quake about two minutes past midnight on Wednesday night or Thursday morning, whichever your please,” the story stated.