When Peach Day was held in Farmington

The north end of Farmington City, as viewed from the top of Farmington Canyon.  --Photo by Roger Arave.

  PEACH Days is Brigham City’s premier annual celebration and dates back to 1904. This year’s celebration is set for Sept. 9-12. However, strangely, the event hasn’t always been held in Brigham City.

“Annual Peach Day to be held at Lagoon Sept. 12^th” was an Aug. 24, 1923 headline in the Standard-Examiner.

So, the 19^th annual Peach Day was actually held in Farmington that year, some 43 miles away from Brigham City.

Why was the event held at Lagoon?

The story stated that the State Board of Health wanted to call off Peach Day entirely in 1923 for health reasons. There was a lot of sickness in the town.

“While the health condition is rapidly improving in Brigham, the drinking water made pure and the sanitary conditions of the city brought to an almost perfect condition, it is possible that the visitors may be somewhat endangered by coming in contact with sickness in visiting with relatives here, at their homes,” the story stated.

“So rather than bring thousands of people here, it was decided to take Peach Day to where there is no contagion, and where the mingling of thousands of people together can have no serious results,” the story continued.

Peaches were shipped by rail, in a refrigerator car, from Brigham City to Lagoon. The railroad also featured special rates for passengers.

Peach Day returned to Brigham City the following year, in 1924 and every year thereafter, later expanding to a multiple day event.

More historical tidbits:

--‘”Crazy people shipped from Farmington: Sheriff Abbott takes peculiar methods to rid Davis County of unwelcome citizens,” was an April 4, 1902 Standard headline.

According to the story, the Farmington Sheriff had put a mentally unstable family on a train to Ogden.

“As a result of his misdirected efforts, Ogden City is burdened with a man and wife, both demented, and their three children,” the story stated.

Police Chief Browning of Ogden initially refused to have anything to do with the family. So, the railroad conductors took the family from the depot and left them at the corner of Lincoln and 25^th Street. The mother soon became violent several times in the area and her actions attracted a crowd. Finally, a few hours later the two police leaders communicated and found a solution to what to do with the family, through the story doesn’t mention what that was.

-“Wolves attack sheep and driven off only after two men use their rifles” was a Feb. 14, 1918 Standard headline.

A marauding band of wolves in the area just north of South Fork Canyon, east of Huntsville, produced heavy losses of sheep in the area that winter.

John Coffin and Louis Allen of Huntsville had to shoot several wolves and move in on the rest, before they were driven away. The men said the pack showed little fear of them. The bounty for Utah wolves in 1918 was $50.

The story stated this was the first time the northern part of Utah had suffered a wolf problem recently. Most of the recent wolf problem had been centered in southern Utah.

-A huge cloudburst on Aug. 6, 1912 in Bair Canyon, east of Fruit Heights, cut a 20-foot-deep gorge in sections of the canyon.

 (-Originally published on-line on Sept. 3, 2015 in the Ogden Standard-Examiner, by Lynn Arave.)

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

1920: When Brigham City was threatened by a ‘Devil’ and saved by a miracle

                                             The historic Brigham City Tabernacle.

“Brigham City threatened by flood from reservoir which may give way at any moment” was a May 10, 1920 headline in the Standard-Examiner.

However, this long story didn’t say exactly where this dam was, or even what its name was. That’s when it can be very helpful to often rely on more than one source of information.

A personal history account on Familysearch.org, written by the dam’s builder, A.K. Chatfield, revealed that the reservoir’s name was the “Devils Gate Dam” at Devil’s Gate Valley in the mountains south of Mantua (not to be confused with Weber Canyon’s separate Devil’s Gate). This history also corrects the Standard’s misspelling of Chatfield’s name, from “Chadfield,” though some of its year dates cited are obviously incorrect.

The Familyseach.org history refers to the winter of 1918 as when the “catastrophe” happened, although it has to be the winter of 1919-1920 based on both the Standard article and weather records.

                The area just southwest of Devil's Gate, Box Elder County.         Photo by Liz Hazen

Back to the flood tale details: Heavy spring storms had caved in a 300-foot long tunnel that was used to operate the gates of the 20-foot-deep dam. (A scarcity of metal piping during World War I had meant such pipes were not available when the dam was created.)

Due to storms and snowmelt, the dam’s water level had raised three feet in 24 hours and was now within three inches from the top of the 90-foot-high earthen dam, built on 90 acres a few years earlier at a cost of about $65,000. The dam drained into Box Elder Creek and was just below a portion of today’s dirt road to Willard Basin.

An army of 50 men were working at the dam to try and release some of the water along an old roadway. But, their efforts had little effect.

“Should the water break loose from the dam the residents of North Brigham City would be in danger of being completely washed out …” the Standard story stated.

                    The rugged road to Willard Basin, south of Devil's Gate.

According to Chatfield’s history, he “ultimately attested and expressed a petition to the Almighty to provide any and all means necessary to avoid the impending catastrophe.”

Soon after, the water level was dropping quickly for no apparent reason. Later, Chatfield heard a bathtub-like draining sound and it was soon discovered that all the water –1,600-acre feet – had drained underground in automobile size holes.

Chatfield maintained that none of the reservoir’s water was ever found above the surface and that this was simply a divine miracle of intervention.

In a May 10, 1922 article in the Box Elder News, Chatfield referred to the dam as unfinished. He tried to calm public fears refilling the dam would create, but apparently it was never refilled or finished.

Additional source: familysearch.org/photos/stories/8126990

In other historical notes:

-“Will the City be submerged?” was a March 24, 1899 headline in the Standard.

Fears in Weber County were running high that spring that a rapid snowmelt from the heavy winter would flood fields particularly in Marriott, Slaterville and Plain City and also impede travel, as had previously happened in 1866.

History didn’t quite repeat itself and there wasn’t as much flooding in 1899, as in 1866. Still, 1899 was the worst recorded winter in the 19^th Century for the Top of Utah.

-“A cemetery on the bench land” was a July 26, 1917 headline in the Standard. This editorial advocated that Ogden City should establish a new cemetery on the “bench land to the north of Ogden Canyon.” It stated that the gravel made for perfect drainage. Of course, this never happened.

(-Originally published in the Ogden Standard-Examiner by Lynn Arave on-line and in print on March 19-20, 2015.) 

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net  

When the Brigham City Fire Department took a holiday …

“Firemen gone: Fire breaks out” was a June 27, 1912 headline in the Box Elder News.

“A big train load of firemen and their friends had hardly got beyond the city limits this morning bound for Lagoon, when a telephone call came for the department station that Andrew Holst’s barn in the First Ward was on fire,” the story stated.

The few firemen and a number of citizens responded as best they could to the Brigham City blaze, but the barn, a new wagon, two pigs and more were destroyed by the blaze.

Children playing with matches had started the fire.

-In other historical tidbits:

                  The Wasatch Mountains on the south end of Ogden.

-“Citizens indignant over fires destroying mountain beauty” was an Oct. 11, 1922 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

During the past few weeks that fall, several fires in the mountains, east of Ogden, had occurred. All were believed to be the result of campfires not properly extinguished by campers.

The Ogden Chamber was offering a $25 reward ($352 in today’s dollars) for the arrest and conviction of anyone starting those fires.

“Fires such as are burning in ‘Jump-Off’ Canyon in the mountain range north and east of the city hall will prevent that section from being reforested for at least 25 years to come,” the story stated.

Indeed, that fire in Jump-Off Canyon prompted an anonymous resident, “A. Wasatcher,” to write a long editorial in the Standard on Oct. 29, 1922, as “A plea to save ‘Jumpoff’  for hikers.”

The writer not only expressed concern about the fires, but also regarding the encroachment of the automobile on forested area.

“Why not reserve one place for just plain pedestrians, people who like to exercise their legs as well as their feet,” they wrote.

                                      Malan's Peak today.

-And, there were more than fires and autos in the Wasatch Mountains east of Ogden during the 1920s.

“Still found as deputies trail miners” was a June 22, 1922 Standard headline.  Authorities arrested one man and were searching for another who had a large still and stash of alcohol in a box canyon that branched off Ogden Canyon.

Four deputy sheriffs had to stage an all-night vigil to catch the still being operated.

-Finally, Harry Anderson, an Ogden resident actually wanted motorized development east of the city. In a March 13, 1924 Standard story, he asked the Ogden Lions Club to support creating an auto road from 29^th Street up Waterfall Canyon and a separate railway to Mount Ogden.

Anderson, a local advertising man, said he believed cottages and a hotel were feasible in Malan’s Basin, as they had been decades before. “Malan Heights,” a tourist’s delight was his vision.

(-Originally published on-line and in print in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on March 12-13, 2015, by Lynn Arave.)

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net  

The Roots of ‘Peach Days,’ ‘Tomato Days’

                         The Brigham City LDS Temple.


“PEACH Days,” the premier annual celebration by Brigham City, is set for Sept. 3-6 this year (2014).The first Peach Days event was held in 1904,to celebrate "an abundance of the best peaches in Utah."“Peach Day crowds at Brigham” was a Sept. 20, 1911 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner. By then, the event had hit its stride, when some 400 people boarded the Oregon Short Line Train at Ogden to travel to Brigham City for the festivities. In all, some 1,500 people were riding the rails from the south to Box Elder County’s largest city.Events held for the two-day event back in 1911 (Wednesday-Thursday timeline) included: a parade, balloon ascension, a baseball game, wrestling match, musical concert, moving pictures exhibition, dancing and horticultural judging.A highlight of the festivities were free peaches and other fruit – available in abundance – to visitors at the city park and various stores in town.By 1912, Peach Days had welcomed the automobile age and many Weber County visitors traveled north by car. However, there were also at least five traffic accidents reported en route to Peach Days, between Brigham City and Ogden.According to the Standard of Sept. 18, 1913, at least 10,000 people attended Peach Days.“A delegation of Commercial Club members met the first train at the station and escorted the visitors to the city park,” the Standard reported of the celebration 101 years ago. “Huge piles of luscious peaches, with a score of pretty girls to serve them, awaited the visitors.”300 barrels of free peaches were given out that year. Besides baseball games in 1913, there were also various horse races. Festivities ended with a dance.

-Switching to another historical celebration:Hooper City’s annual Farm Bureau Day/Tomato Days, dates back to 1926.About 2,000 people were reported to have attended the premiere event, 88 years ago.George Parker headed the committee to organize the first celebration, which included a lecture on feeding beef and dairy cattle, chariot races and other pulling and riding competitions.A free melon bust was also featured and “Visit Hooper on Labor Day” was the slogan organizers wanted the public to remember. Team pulling contests and horseshoe pitching competitions highlighted events at Hooper on Sept. 5, 1927, in its second annual celebrationCecil Newey, Robert Purdy and John Wilson, some of Utah’s best horseshoe pitchers, gave a demonstration of their skill at the event.Horse races, foot races, a tug-of-war, dance and various agricultural judging were other events held.(“Tomato Days” this year is Saturday, Aug. 30 and Monday, Sept. 1, with a rodeo, farmers market, 5K run/walk, parade, craft fair and more.)

-Also, earlier in 1926, the Hooper Farm Bureau had staged a very unusual “Mock Wedding Party Feature,” according to a headline in the Standard of Feb. 26 that year.A mock marriage between “Joshua Farmer” (played by Mrs. Dale Russell) and “Madelda Farm Bureau” (portrayed by Les Stoddard) was the highlight of the banquet/dance, attended by 75 couples.John Belnap impersonated a minister, with a wedding march after the “ceremony.”James K. Widdison was the toastmaster of the evening and old time dances followed the banquet.

                The center of Hooper today, looking north along 5900 West.

(-Originally published by Lynn Arave on August 29, 2014 in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.)

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net