1948: When a West Davis Highway in northern Utah was first proposed

MANY may erroneously believe that a West Davis Highway corridor was first proposed by Utah Governor Mike Leavitt back in 1996, almost exactly 21 years before the Utah Department of Transportation announced their specific corridor for such a major highway.

However, “Davis urges wider road, Inter-regional highway” was a Dec. 3, 1948 headline in the Davis County Clipper newspaper.

Thus, some 48 years earlier than Gov. Leavitt was when this regional highway was first proposed.

That Davis Clipper story stated that such a road should cross Farmington Bay, before “skirting Davis County towns to the west.”

In northern Davis County, the story said the road would follow the old Mormon Pioneer trail corridor – the Bluff Road (essentially where UDOT’s current plan is to build the four-lane highway).

“Purpose of this highway will be to rid the incorporated towns of Davis County of nuisance traffic, such as through traffic,” the 1948 story stated. 

At the time, it was stated that the road would tie into Salt Lake City’s Seventh West Street. On the north end, it would connect with Ogden’s 24^th Street viaduct.

It was noted that the road would add three to four miles to the overall distance between Salt Lake and Ogden with the looping westward. Yet, it was believed that could be a bargain in future years when development slows the speed limits on Highway 91, then the main corridor through Davis County. (I-15 didn’t come along until the mid-1960s.)

Purchasing the necessary right-of-way as soon as possible was stressed as the key to making the highway affordable.

Of course, the road never happened and was off the radar for nearly another half century.

The Clipper story also mentioned that a “scenic highway” Should be built from Farmington to Bountiful, along the mountainside.
UDOT did another study on a possible "West Davis Highway" in the early 1960s, but no other action was taken.
-It was on July 16, 1996 when Gov. Leavitt announced his “Legacy Project” – the Western Transportation Corridor – at a press conference in West Haven.

The Deseret News of July 17, 1996 reported:

“This proposed highway would eventually stretch more than 130 miles, from North Ogden to Nephi, spanning five counties. ‘We have not determined the exact route for most of this,’ Gov. Leavitt said, though he specifically said it would run in the vicinity of 5600 South in Salt Lake County. It would definitely parallel I-15 from Farmington to Centerville and could run either side of Lake Mountain in Utah County. The map the Utah Department of Transportation presented at the conferences had no specific roadway identified - only a wide corridor,” the 1996 article concluded.

-It was July 6, 2017 when UDOT announced the specific route for its 19-mile section of West Davis Highway after many years of debate with the cities and counties it passes through.

The Deseret News of July 6, 2017 reported:

“The route from Farmington to West Point would connect with I-15 and Legacy Parkway at Glovers Lane on the south end, and at state Route 37, or 1800 North, at approximately 4000 West on the north end.”

From Syracuse northward, it would follow the Bluff Road corridor, a section that West Point and Clinton have preserved very well from development over the last two decades. 

1898: When 75 percent of Park City was destroyed by a 'Fiery furnace'

                                Park City's Main Street.

IT was likely the largest city fire ever in Utah.

"Destroyed!; (Park) City practically wiped out; a raging conflagration; scene of ruin and despair," was a Deseret News headline on June 20, 1898.

A fire on Sunday, June 19, 1898, just after 4 a.m., all but destroyed the prosperous mining town. There were no lives lost, but many narrow escapes and many animals killed.

"Park City, Utah's proud and prosperous mining camp, has practically been wiped out of existence, being visited yesterday by the most disastrous conflagration in the history of Utah," the Deseret News reported. "It may be that the city will be rebuilt and rise again from the ruins that now cover the canyon where it once stood, but it will be years before it can fully recover - if recovery is at all possible under the circumstances - from the terrible visitation. The loss, it is conservatively estimated, will aggregate more than a million dollars. The actual insurance will not reach much more than a tenth of that amount."

The cause of the fire, also described as a “fiery furnace,” was never determined.

The speculation was that it began in the kitchen of the American Hotel. However, the proprietor, Harry Freeman believed that an oil lamp had been dropped in a room or simply that a candle had been left unattended.

“Park City laid in ashes yesterday. Great cap suffers a loss of over half a million dollars. Insurance will not be much over one hundred thousand …” was a June 20, 1898 headline in the Salt Lake Herald.

This newspaper story cited the historic town’s bad luck – first the economic downturn in 1893; then the main Park city bank failed; next a reduction in the wages of miner’s and millmen; and now the giant fire.

The story referred to the fire as “demon flame” and stated that “the hope for the future is small.”

The four existing fire hoses had little effect on the blaze. Buildings were soon dynamited, but all this did was slow the fire, not stop it.

                         Walking Park City's Main Street.

Firemen came from Coalville, Salt Lake and Ogden – mostly by train. But they did not arrive until midmorning when it was too late to do much but watch. It was not until noon that the fire was contained.

In the end, at least 120 businesses and 140 homes were wiped out – or some 75 percent of the town. At least 500 people were homeless.

A January 7, 1996 story in the Deseret News by Twila Van Leer stated that the disastrous fire made national headlines and even superseded the Spanish-American war as the top story in some U.S. newspapers.

What happened after the fire? The majority of the residents remained and rebuilt. (There had been a much smaller downtown Park City Fire in 1890.)

Salt Lake City gave $2,500 to Park City’s rebuilding. The City of Mount Pleasant gave $102.40 and many Utahns donated or helped in the rebuilding effort.

 Thirty-four miners were killed in a 1902 explosion at a Park City mine as another tragedy unfolded there.

Ultimately, Park City’s mining prospects diminished greatly and the town suffered a big downturn. However, thanks to skiing (2 area resorts) and the annual Sundance Film Festival, the town reinvented itself as a tourist mecca by the 1980s and 1990s.

Park City was also famed world-wide during the 2002 Winter Olympics.

-Although Park City, like Moab, is often pegged as a “Gentile” or largely a non-Mormon town, its name originated from an LDS Church Apostle, Parley P. Pratt. Elder Pratt built a toll road through Parley’s Canyon. Settlers at the top of the road called it “Parley’s Park City.” However, by the early 20^th Century the name was shortened to simply “Park City.”

1894 in Utah: When bicyclists outraced horses over 50 miles – Plus, a mini S.L. Temple Square tale

IT was an unusual race: man vs. beast and over an artificial track the human was the victor, with some 600 people watching.

“Ponies beaten by bikes. An exciting fifty-mile race for blood. Exhibition of endurance. The wheelmen covered the distance in 2:45 1-5 and won the race by a lap and a half – The dangerous freaks of a bolting mare – Ogden wild over the bicycle races.”

That was the headline in the Salt Lake Tribune of August 27, 1894.

Bert Austin of Farmington and Charles Parr of Mill Creek were the horse riders, while D.E. Brockbank and Jack Prince and “Shock” were the two human cyclists (or “wheelmen” in that day’s vernacular).

Since the horses had to remain on the outside of the track, located somewhere in Ogden, they were given a 3 ½ lap lead to make it even.

Public bets were made on the outcome of the race, though it was said to be poorly advertised.

The bikes rolled rather smoothly over the gravel track, while the horses threw up gravel, even into the spectator area. Even a brief rainstorm didn’t deter the racers or the spectators.

After some 32 miles of the race, the horses were faltering and some spectators were hissing and catcalling at them.

Cries of “foul” were also frequent when the horse riders would “spank” their animals, trying to gain more speed. The cries only stopped when the hitting did.

One of the horses would also sometimes take a diversion off the track and into the weeds, only to return with some lost time. The rider was described as “just was well of been a monkey on her back” of the horse for all it cooperated at times.

At the 45-mile mark, the cyclists had taken the lead and though the horses gained back some of the distance, they were beaten.

-MINI TEMPLE REPLICA? Jump ahead some 27 years and the Salt Lake Telegram of Dec. 13, 1921 sported an intriguing little news item: “Will decide upon acceptance of land” was the headline.

A gift of six acres of ground were proposed to be donated to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the Harry Culver Company of Los Angeles. The land was on Grand View Boulevard in Ocean Heights – just outside the city limits of Venice, California (a city that merged with Los Angeles in 1926).

If accepted by the First Presidency of the Church, the site was proposed to include a “$500,000 temple to resemble Salt Lake Temple Square …”

Church members were said to be eager to build homes nearby and that a golf course could also be constructed nearby. The story even claimed that C.W. Nibley (Presiding Bishop of the LDS Church) contemplated building a home in the area at a later date.

Yet, the gift of land was apparently not accepted and the mini Temple Square idea never happened.

                        Illustration in the Salt Lake Herald of President Snow's ride.

-Yet another unusual LDS Story: “President Snow compared automobiles with ox teams” was a May 16, 1900 headline in the Salt Lake Herald newspaper.

President Lorenzo Snow had beaten Joseph F. Smith in an earlier 15-mile automobile race down by Cove Fort, according to the story.

Now he had ridden another horseless carriage in Salt Lake City. “’Oh, my, it is as wonderful as it is glorious,’” the Herald quoted President Snow as saying after his latest motorized ride. Though he had to shake the dust off his clothes after the ride, he seemed to have an affection for such “novelty.”

Later. President Snow said in the story, “I was thinking of getting a bicycle, but I guess the automobile is what I want, after all. It is quite different from driving an oxcart. That is the way I saw Salt Lake City first. But fifty years makes a great difference in most everything. In 1849 when we came here I drove one of the ox teams over the same roads, but we made on an average of 100 miles a week, while I believe that carriage would have no difficulty in covering about thirty-five miles an hour on good roads.”

President Snow also said that he has heard that there will be no stables or horses in “The City of Zion in Jackson County,” something he previously could not understand. Yet, now the use of automobiles might explain that.

He furthermore said that not having to carry oats in the bottom of a buggy, to feed horses, is also not something he would miss.

Historical facts and trivia for Lagoon Amusement Park

LAGOON is one of Utah’s most popular seasonal attractions. Here is some historical trivia and facts about the Amusement Park:

-Lagoon was originally located about 1.7 miles west of its current site, just to the west of Clark Lane.

-The Park was originally built as a way to attract more passenger traffic to the Bamberger Railroad.

-Lagoon wasn’t “Lagoon” at first. When it was located westward, by the Great Salt Lake, from 1886-1896, it was known as “Lake Park.” The Lagoon name came after it moved eastward, near a lake.

-Approximately 53,000 guests visited the park in its first season in 1886. Admission in those days was 50 cents. Swimming, dancing, boating, a merry-go-round pulled by a horse, target shooting, roller skating and bowling were all included for that price.

-Lagoon moved eastward because the Great Salt Lake was receding. Bathers had to walk about a half-mile to swim in the lake during the 1895 season.

-Lagoon is the world’s 27th oldest operating amusement park in the same location, according to the National Amusement Park Historical Association (napha.org). It was the first amusement park west of the Mississippi River and is also the nation's largest family-owned amusement park.

-Lagoon’s first thrill ride was “Shoot the Chutes,” a forerunner of today’s log flume rides.

-The first known fatality at Lagoon was Henry John Barnes, 50, of Farmington, who drowned in about 3 feet of water at Lagoon's Lake on August 3, 1907.

-“The Lagoon Road” mentioned in the Park’s early history was not a highway at all. It was the nickname of the Bamberger rail line to Lagoon.

-The first LDS Stake Lagoon Day was probably held on held June 8, 1905, for the Salt Lake Stake.

-An “Old Folk’s Day” was a popular annual event at the park. One such event was held there on June 25, 1907. Any resident of Davis County over age 70 was invited for free to be Lagoon’s guests at the event. Pot roast beef, boiled ham, mutton, all kinds of cake and lemonade comprised the menu at the Old Folks’ Day.

-Horse racing, complete with legal betting, operated at Lagoon for two seasons, until the Utah State Legislature outlawed such horse racing in 1913.

 -Lagoon also operated its own saloon from opening day in 1886, until the end of the 1915 season, when it went alcohol free.

-Lagoon’s “water fit to drink” swimming pool arrived in 1921, complete with a cement bottom. This million-gallon pool would remain for five and a half decades, until it closed for good at the end of the 1987 season.

- Lagoon also had a "criminal" aspect during the 1920s, when the nation's alcohol prohibition was in force. During the off-season at Lagoon, some youths would stash kegs of booze in various portions of the park. For example, in the late fall of 1925, 31 kegs of liquor were found stashed behind the picture gallery.

-In 1932, Lagoon offered free swimming lessons to all comers in a special "Learn to Swim" campaign that July.

-Lagoon was closed for the 1943, 1944 and 1945 seasons because of World War II and gasoline rationing.

-In the 1950s, Lagoon championed civil rights and was one of the first Utah businesses to break the color barrier and allow Blacks to swim and dance at the Park.

-A fire of unknown origin damaged Lagoon on November 14, 1953. The front (east end) of the wooden roller coaster was wiped out. The Fun House and the Dancing Pavillion were reduced to rubble. Also destroyed were the Tunnel of Horrors, the Shooting Gallery, cafe, taproom, several storehouses and small concession booths. The historic Merry-Go-Round was saved by a constant flow of water sprayed on it. Volunteer firemen from the city battled the blaze for more than six hours.

-Lagoon’s Pioneer Village opened in 1976. Much of it had been a part of a Sons of Utah Pioneers’ museum in Salt Lake City.

-In the 1986 season, Lagoon hired 750 teenagers that year and the pay was $3.25 an hour, plus a bonus at the end of the season for employees who remained.

-Lagoon hosted its last concert in 1989, with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

-Lagoon-A-Beach premiered in 1989.

-The “Fun House” at Lagoon closed for good after the 1990 season, because of liability concerns.

-“Frightmares at Lagoon first began in the fall of 1995.

-The park sold 41,000 season passports in 2006, up dramatically from the 300 it sold 26 years earlier in 1980, when the park began offering them.

-Lagoon’s three oldest existing rides are: 1. Carousel ("Merry-go-Round), 1906); 2. Wooden Roller Coaster; 3. Tilt-A-Whirl, 1954.

Back when visiting the ‘4 Corners’ was a perilous trip; and other historical tidbits

VISITING the famed Four Corners, the only place where four States of America intersect, today is a convenient trip over paved roads, with ample signage. However, as recent as 1957, such a trip was a rugged and even hazardous adventure.

“Obscure, perilous dirt route trap for intrepid tourists” was a Dec. 22, 1957 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune.

While there was already a cement marker at the spot where the four states meet, traveling there was the problem. The Tribune story stated most maps didn’t even show that there was a road there back then.

“The last eight miles is the worst,” the Tribune story stated. “They consist of a dirt-on-top-of-boulder stretch with rugged stones as big as 10-gallon hats to punctuate the ride.”

The story also stated the road is narrow and a bumpy washboard for vehicles. Also, the only sign along the road is eight miles away that stated, “Four Corners—Eight miles.”

The Tribune reported that the road was so bad that vehicles could easily get bogged down or lost.

The story ended by proclaiming that a gross lack of signage and a proper road is why most residents of the Four Corner states have never been to the historic marker.

       Being in 4 states at once is what many youth seek at the Four Corners Monument.

Just less than five years later, the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Sept. 17, 1962 stated that a new highway to the Four Corners was open and that a new monument there had been dedicated. The Governors of the four states even attended the dedication ceremony.

Notwithstanding, that didn’t solve all visitation problems to the Four Corners.

“At Four Corners. Needed: Visitor Center, Park” was a July 6, 1972 the title of an editorial in the Provo Daily Herald.

“Four Corners ‘Incredible Disgrace’ – Lawmakers” was a May 19, 1982 headline in the Herald, a decade later. At that time, there was no water, toilets or cleanliness at the geographical site.

The situation eventually improved at Four Corners and although it still remains in a remote area today, there is plenty of signage and reasonable facilities for visitors.

Other historical tidbits:

                Ensign Peak from the south.                                   Photograph by Ray Boren.

-Ensign Peak, located north of downtown Salt Lake City was the first mountain peak that the pioneers climbed. It also has a lengthy legacy. For example, in a speech on July 26, 1919, Richard W. Young, President of Ensign Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints referred to the peak as a symbol of patriotism.

                                            The Monument on Ensign Peak today.

In a July 27 Salt Lake Tribune article that year, Young said, “This peak has stood for years as proof of the patriotism of the people of Utah. For the last fifty years people have looked at this peak as an altar of patriotism.”

-“Wolf Creek” in Ogden Valley is more than the name of a development below Powder Mountain. Its name comes from nearby Wolf Creek Canyon. And that physical feature’s title is indeed based on the former wolves in the area.

In the early years of settlers, there was a large wolf pack and it killed many sheep and cattle. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Nov. 21, 1954, they were gradually killed off, all except one. This older wolf rarely came within shooting range and was elusive for a long time.

Then, John W. Grow and a friend were traveling up the canyon in a bobsled and noticed the wolf stalking them from a long distance behind. Grow slipped behind an abandoned cabin and when the wolf came within range, shot and killed the last of its kind in the Valley.

-Chinatown is a slice of red rock, reminiscent of Southern Utah, but located northeast of Devil’s Slide, above Weber Canyon. The first road to the local attraction was built in 1931 by the Lions Club of Ogden, in cooperation with the Morgan County Commissioners and local landowners. The Standard-Examiner of Nov. 3, 1931 reported this work.

Chinatown had already gained some attention, because of the Lincoln Highway improvements made in Weber Canyon. The Garland Times newspaper in Tremonton referred to Chinatown as “a fascinating curiosity shop of Mother Nature, covering about 20 square miles. It has been called a miniature Bryce, with its shades of pink, red, yellow, purple, gray, brown and white rock.”

Japanese Teapot, Big Elephant, Alligator Rock, Twin Elephants, 11 Apostles, Seal rock, Yellow Dike and Red Ridge were just some of the original names of Chinatown formations.

However, because of eventual problems with unruly visitors -- a lack of respect for landowners and their stock. Plus access costs -- the Standard-Examiner of Aug. 12, 1956 featured one of the last promotional stories on Chinatown, written by Arlene Irwin.

“Pagodas, totem poles and pillars. No exotic food in Chinatown but plenty of colorful cliffs” was the headline of that story. Back then in the mid-1950s, Chinatown was still accessible to the public and jeeps, horses and hikers were the common modes of transportation there.

“Civic clubs a generation ago tried to get public support for an automobile road which would reach Chinatown Canyon, but cost and other difficulties kept the drive from bearing fruit,” the Standard story stated.

Willard Basin: Rugged and remote oasis, amid Willard and Ben Lomond peaks

WILLARD Peak and Willard Basin comprise some of highest and most rugged territory in Box Elder County. Willard Basin, approximately 8,600 feet in elevation and on the backside of both Willard and Ben Lomond Peaks, is a remote oasis and has been the site of some unusual events over the decades.

For example, the Ogden Standard-Examiner of July 22, 1948 chronicled that Willard Basin was the site of a Jim Bridger Festival for some years each summer.

The 12-mile road from Mantua into the Basin was widened and improved before the event.

“Those making the trip will be especially fortunate in that there are hundreds of acres of wild flowers in bloom at present, with hundreds of varieties to see,” the Standard story stated.

To lessen traffic problems along the mountainous road to the Basin, those going up had to be there by 11:30 a.m. Festival day. The rest of the day was reserved for return traffic on the road.

The Festival included games, races, a log sawing contest, games and talks on geology and botany.

The Standard-Examiner of June 24, 1956 includes the legend that Bridger himself visited the Basin on the way to Willard Peak to prove that the Great Salt Lake was an arm of the ocean, since it was so salty. Bridger supposedly carved his name on a tree in the Basin, though no one has ever been able to locate it.

-The Standard-Examiner of Sept. 27, 1970 reported that a lofty wedding was also held in the Basin. Rodney L. George and Connie K. Eldredge tied the knot there, with 18 people in attendance – and all overdressed for a serene mountainous setting.

                                Inside Willard Basin.

-According to the Standard-Examiner of Feb. 2, 1941, the original road into the Basin was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1936 to 1940. Fire control, maintaining livestock fences and erosion control were the main reasons for the road being built.

(Many mountain roads in the west were built by the CCC.)

                            The lake inside Willard Basin.

In fact, an early fall snowstorm on October 18, 1938 trapped 15 CCC workers in Willard Basin. Bulldozers had to slowly chew their way to rescue the men, the Standard-Examiner of that date stated.

              Willard Peak resembles a knob-like feature from Ben Lomond Peak.

-Willard Peak, elevation 9,763 feet, is the highest peak in Weber County (taller than 9,712-foot Ben Lomond Peak), as it straddles the Box Elder-Weber county line. Paragliders have also from time-to-time leaped from Willard Peak or Ben Lomond Peak during various celebrations.

For example, the town of Willard’s July 4^th celebration of 1975 included paragliders jumping off Willard Peak and landing in town.

-On Saturday, Sept. 29, 1923, the schools in Box Elder County sponsored a hike to Willard Peak, the Box Elder County News of Sept. 25 that year reported.

                            The top of Willard Peak.

-“500 Trek to Willard Peak” was a July 18, 1939 headline in the Standard-Examiner. Residents from Ogden to Brigham City hiked to the top of Willard Peak that day. Government trucks provided transportation up to Willard Basin, so that the hike was only several miles long.

-Who was the first non-Native American to hike Ben Lomond Peak, the most distinctive peak in Weber County? It may have been Mountain Man Osborne Russell in 1840. The Standard-Examiner of Feb. 15, 1976 reported that Russell’s diary stated that he climbed a peak on the northeast shore of the Great Salt Lake. Some believe that summit was Ben Lomond.

“I was upwards of 6,000 feet above the level of the lake; below me was a dark abyss silent as the night of death,” Russell’s journal stated.

He climbed Ben Lomond in February to hunt mountain sheep and bagged three. He also camped on the mountain and had an encounter with a wolverine.

-The winter of 1948-1949 was one of the harshest known winters in Utah. And, on May 17, 1949, heavy rains produced a flashflood in the Ben Lomond Peak area. This caused 10 to 20-foot deep gullies in fields and orchards some 5,000-feet below, along Highway 89.

              The face of Ben Lomond Peak in winter.                 Photo by Lynn Merrill.

-Ben Lomond Peak is often believed to resemble a smiling face during certain winter periods. The Standard-Examiner of May 3, 1956 also claims the face of the peak “grows a beard” too occasionally.

The story said: “The top of the peak resembles a Boy Scout’s hat. Two crevasses look like eyes. Later in the spring when melting continues, the Boy Scout sprouts a beard of melting snow and ice going down the front of the mountain.”

                                    Ben Lomond Peak, as seen from Taylor Canyon.

1906: When Salt Lake City renamed more than 100 streets

                                Salt Lake City, as seen from the University of Utah. 

SALT Lake City made some sweeping changes in street names back in 1906, to avoid confusion and foster consistency.

“There are nearly 100 duplicatines (sic) or repetitions of names of different streets in this city,” the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper of June 24, 1905 reported. “This is a reproach for a city of this size and would be in any of less than five times the population of Salt Lake.”

The story also mentioned that the Salt Lake City fire chief believes he cannot provide adequate fire protection given the name duplications and hence confusion over location.

Mail carriers and merchants have also complained about the repetition of names, the Telegram story stated.

It noted that there were three different “A” streets at the time; three Garfield Avenues; a pair of Central Avenues; two Curtis Streets; two Davis Streets; four Lincoln Avenues; two Grand Avenues; two Garfield Avenues; and two Glen Street; three Park Avenues; three Poplar Streets; two Union Avenues; and five Washington Streets, to list a sampling of the problem.

More than 18 months later, in November of 1906, the Salt Lake City Council was ready to vote on street name changes. According to the Telegram of Nov. 16, 1906, Salt Lake City Engineer Kelsey had reviewed the street names of the entire City.

“All streets less than 132 feet wide and running east and west are called avenues,” the Telegram reported. “All duplicate names of streets are abolished.”

 Here’s a sampling of some of the sweeping name changes:

Logan Avenue was renamed Fourth Avenue.

Fort Douglas Avenue was retitled Third Avenue.

Military Avenue became Second Avenue.

West Street switched to Virginia Street.

Young Street was renamed Harrison Avenue.

Market Street became Postoffice Place.

Commercial Avenue was retitled Orpheum Avenue.

Grape Street became Almond Street.

Strawberry Street was now Wall Street.

Lynn Street switch to Sixth West.

May Street was renamed Eleventh North.

Kimball Street was retitled Third North Street.

Twelfth South and California Street became one in California Avenue.

Jordon Avenue became Eleventh West Street.

More history:

-Baseball was not yet a common or household word back in the Utah of the year 1872. A Deseret News story of June 5 that year simply referred to “a game similar to cricket.” This referenced a fatal accident that happened in Tooele on May 28 of that year when Thomas E. Tanner, 13, was killed when a fellow played accidentally struck him in the head with a bat.

The story also noted that this was one of six recent deaths in Tooele, include three by scarlet fever and two by other diseases.

       The causeway leading from the northeast edge of Antelope Island, to the mainland.

-“Stay away from Antelope Island” was a July 5, 1968 headline in the Davis County Clipper. Although there was a dirt road causeway to the Great Salt Lake Isle in place – and 2,000 acres of leased state land there – State Officials were urging the public to stay away, because there were not adequate facilities there yet.

-The Clipper of Nov. 8 that year noted that a control gate had been added at the entrance to the causeway to help deter vandalism on the Island. The gate was only to be open during daylight hours. Facilities at Bridger Bay Beach were then being constructed.

-The Clipper of Jan. 10, 1969 reported that the official grand opening of Antelope Island to the public would be Jan. 15 of that year. Water had to still be hauled to the Isle then, as no planned wells had yet been dug.

-For more than 25 years, until the mid-1990s, the causeway to Antelope Island had a stormy history, with numerous washouts and rebuilding down at higher elevations.

When the Zion Tunnel was proposed as a separate National Monument; Plus, more historical tidbits

THE Zion Mt. Carmel Canyon Tunnel was an engineering marvel for its age and was the longest non-urban tunnel in the nation when it opened at 1.1 miles.

In fact, the tunnel was proposed to be its own separate national monument. According to the Salt Lake Telegram of Dec. 30, 1929, Utah Governor George H. Dern suggested the tunnel have national monument status, though the official designation never occurred.

Governor Dern also wanted the road around and through the tunnel also renamed the Stephen T. Mather Highway, in honor of the former director of the nation’s national parks. That name designation also didn’t happen.

Although some listings on the Web put the tunnel’s construction cost as low as $503,000, that was only the cost of tunnel itself and not including the connecting roadways. The Telegram of July 4, 1930 stated the total cost of the tunnel project was $1.5 million (or more than 22.5 million in today’s dollar values).

According to the Iron County Record newspaper of Oct. 26, 1929, survey crews spent two years climbing the mountain and evaluating the best tunnel route.

When the tunnel opened on July 4, 1930, it shortened the distance from Zion to Bryce National Park by some 62 miles, from 149 miles to 88 miles. It also gave the area a better year-round route, from east to west.

At least three workers were injured during the tunnel’s construction. The Telegram of Nov. 8, 1928 reported that a premature dynamite explosion seriously injured one worker. The Washington County News of Jan. 1, 1928 stated that minor injuries happened when one worker was struck by an ice block and when another man fell 10 feet off a ledge.

-The Ogden Standard Examiner of July 21, 1927 stated that the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway and tunnel were also part of a sweeping plan to secure national park land and enhance access to them.

“Utah gives up its Bryce land,” was the Standard headline. Utah gave up ownership to 20 acres it owned at Bryce and the Union Pacific Railroad also deeded over its land holdings there, to help create Bryce as a national park.

The story also stated the Utah Governor Dern said that a Bryce name change was highly objectionable, given the current title’s fixation. Some wanted the Bryce renamed Utah National Park, because technically the area is not a canyon.

MORE HISTORY:

-How much does Mount Timpanogos weigh? “B.Y.U. graduate student fixes weight of Timpanogos at sixty billion tons” was a June 25, 1935 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram.

            Bighorn sheep just below Timpanogos Peak.                               Photo by Ray Boren

Harrison J. Merrill made the calculation as part of his thesis for a master’s degree at the school. Merrill used two pendulums, the law of gravitation and numerous mathematical formulas to make his approximation of the mountain’s total weight. BYU physics and mathematics professors all agreed with his findings.

-Mount Timpanogos was often climbed from the east side by thousands of hikers. However, it wasn’t until 1910 that the mountain was first climbed from the southwest. The Salt Lake Tribune of Aug. 7, 1910 stated that the husband-wife team of C.F. Knott and E.B. Yoams of Salt Lake City were the first climbers from the direction in the summer of 1910.

-“Coed falls 360 feet, lives” was a May 9, 1919 headline in the Salt Lake Herald Republican newspaper. Franc Jennings, a student at the University of Utah, “crashed over an ice-capped precipice in Dry Canyon, narrowly missed being dashed to death by trees at the bottom, but suffered only minor bruises,” the newspaper stated.

The story, written by Uarda McCarty, also said that Jennings was on Black Mountain when the accident occurred. A crest of snow caved in and she tumbled down into Dry Canyon. She was rendered unconscious by the fall and lay at the bottom of the canyon for 30 minutes before her companions could reach her. An eventual X-ray exam was suggested for her legs to ensure no bones were broken.

When Salt Lake City was ‘said to be lost’: Plus, more history

                                Salt Lake City today.

THE great San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906 caused extensive damage and hundreds of deaths in California. However, what is not commonly known about the estimate 7.9 magnitude quake are the many wild rumors that circulated after the natural disaster.

For example, the Inter-Mountain Republican newspaper of April 22, 1906 published a story with the headline, “Salt Lake City said to be lost. Robeson P. White tells Y.M.C.A. experiences in San Francisco. Wild rumors circulated. Story that Zion was buried under lake sample of reports making bad worse.”

White, a construction superintendent, was in S.F. staying at a hotel when the early morning quake struck.

He assisted many injured people and later moved out of the fire zone, caught a ferry and returned to Salt Lake.

With outside communications wiped out, rumors spread. White heard “a story in San Francisco to the effect that the Salt Lake Valley had been lowered and inundated by the lake drowning every inhabitant of the city, and another to the effect that Los Angeles had been wiped off the map.”

MORE HISTORY:

-The Salt Lake Mining Review of Jan. 15, 1903 carried an extensive story about “The old Spanish mine in the Grand Canyon.”

                                      The North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The tale revolved around an old prospector, Jake Smith, from Missouri, who wandered around the North Rim area of the Grand Canyon, south of the Arizona-Utah line. He fell of a cliff, broke a leg and was saved from starvation and nursed back to health by and old Indian, named Rabbit Tail.”

In short, Smith later saves the Indian’s wife from a mountain lion and is promised if he returns in one year he will be led to an ancient gold mine in the area.

Smith returns a year later, with a cousin, Mike Smith. The two are blindfolded at one point by the Indian, but area taken to on a precarious trail to a narrow mine full of chunks of gold. They are allowed to take out what they could carry and are blindfolded again. The two return to Salt Lake City and sell their gold, but are later unable to ever find the mine.

-“Lagoon bear killed” was a May 14, 1901 headline in the Deseret Evening News. “Nero,” a huge cinnamon bear that Lagoon in Farmington kept for two years as a visitor attraction, had to be shot.

The bear became “irrepressible” and kept escaping into other enclosures. He at one point got into a poultry area and devoured many hares and pigeons. His last act was to remove all the braces from his latest cage, while gnawing on the woodwork.

-“You’re lucky it wasn’t a moose or cow, Sid” was an Oct. 24, 1941 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper. Two Salt Lake deer hunters, Sid Hemstreet and M.C. Sant, were leaving their hunting area, about 35 miles west of Richfield, empty-handed.

They were coming down the mountain on a narrow road with cliffs. “Just as we turned a corner, a large doe came floating out of the air and lit squarely on top of the hood of the car,” Hemstreet told the Telegram.

He stopped and jumped out of the car just as the deer rolled off and down a cliff in the canyon. He figures the doe was chased or frightened above by another hunter and leaped over the edge.

The two men remained and did bag two deer before returning home with some $50 damage to the hood of the vehicle.

1870: The First UFO Sighting in the west?

THE Territorial Enterprise newspaper (Virginia City, Nevada) reported to the Deseret News of Jan. 19, 1870, that on December 29, area residents saw three bright lights in the sky, "presenting the appearance of large stars." And, after several minutes, the three lights merged into one body. It then moved off in a northwesterly direction and was out of sight in several minutes. This sighting followed an earthquake that shook the city.
  (Back in the 1850s, this area was part of Utah territory, but Nevada's boundaries took hold in 1861.)
  This could have been the first UFO sighting in the western United States.

1860: When S.L. celebrated Pioneer Day in Big Cottonwood Canyon; Plus, more history

PARADES, races, food and fireworks are commons ways that Utahns celebrate Pioneer Day today. The early pioneers sometimes had parades too, but sometimes they just wanted to escape the summer heat in the mountains.

“The excursion to the head waters of Big Cottonwood” was an Aug. 1, 1860 headline in the Deseret News and told of more than 1,100 Salt Lake residents who traveled to the upper reaches of the canyon for the holiday, 13 years after the pioneers entered the valley.

A “Committee of Arrangements” lessened the confusion and overcrowding in the canyon by assigning who camped where. There was also a “Martial Band,” in front of the main procession of wagons and horses, that played “Happy Land” and “Du Dah.”

As President Young’s party arrived at the center of the camp on July 23, Captain Pitt’s Nauvoo Brass Band played “God Save the King” and the “Star Spangled Banner.”

One of President Heber C. Kimball’s wagons had a slight mishap, but that just meant a half-hour delay for his group.

A group of emigrants headed to California had also heard of the camping excursion and when they arrived unannounced, they were welcomed heartily and assigned  a place to enjoy the festivities too.

During the day, there was a lot of fishing going on, as well as plans being made for the holiday. Before dusk, Joseph A. Young climbed the highest tree on the grounds and placed a U.S. flag there. However, a sudden thunderstorm struck and drenching rain sent everyone scurrying to their wagons or tents.

At 6 a.m. on July 24, a salute of three guns were fired in honor the First Presidency of the Church, with music playing in between.

At 9 a.m., there were four bands playing, with each one stationed evenly through the campgrounds. Then, a 13-gun salute was fired to represent each year spent in the S.L. Valley.

Starting at 10 a.m., there were amusements and food and three different boweries. Sporting games included running, leaping and stone throwing.

At 6 p.m., a 12-gun salute was fired in honor of the Church’s 12 Apostles. At 10 p.m., one of the bands played “Home Sweet Home.”

At the break of day on July 25, the Martial Band awakened the camp. Breakfast was cooked and by 9 a.m., all the group was headed back to Salt Lake City.

In descending the mountains, one of President Young’s carriages rolled over twice and landed in the creek, but the result was only “very slight injury and inconvenience.”

-Jump forward to 1931 and the Salt Lake Telegram of July 25 that year told how “Pioneers retrace travel of days in a few minutes.” Ten Salt Lake senior citizens on July 24 were carried across the airport in a covered wagon, led by six oxen and then boarded an airplane. The plane flew over Little Mountain and Emigration Canyon and covered in nine minutes what took ox and wagon teams in the vanguard pioneer group of 1847 several days to traverse, some 84 years prior.

None of the group had ever flown before, but not one showed any ill effects from the trip.

“It beats the ox team and I’m ready to go any time again,” Robert Sweeten, age 91, a blind man, said to the Telegram.

MORE HISTORY:

                          The summit of Mt. Ogden today.

-“The ‘Herald’ on High” was a Sept. 25, 1882 headline in the Ogden Herald. Some employees of the newspaper climbed Mount Ogden, the highest point to the east of Ogden City and found what a group from the newspaper had left on the peak on July 5, 1881 still there.

Besides a letter and blank pages placed under a rock, the group found nailed to a flagstaff, a copy of the Ogden Herald printed on linen and still readable.

“Now let anybody arise and deny that the Ogden Herald has the HIGHEST circulation of any paper in the territory,” the story concluded.

                                  The high tech apparatus on Mt. Ogden's summit today.

-“Mountain climbing fad” was an Oct. 2, 1911 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune. The story stated how Ogden City had this recent fascination with hiking mountains and from Ogden Canyon to Malan’s Heights, there were hundreds of people who had went on mountain climbs the past four months, since early June.