Before Pineview Dam there was the Wheeler Dam

                       Pineview Dam.          Photo by Whitney Arave

IN 1898, the first major dam east of Ogden was the Wheeler Canyon Dam. Located west of today’s Pineview Dam, was some 300 feet long and about 40 feet deep.

According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of June 30, 1898, the Pioneer Power Company built the dam of masonry and concrete.

Work on this dam had started in 1897.

The Standard-Examiner of Sept. 8, 1905 reported than an engineer had proposed that a new dam be built to the east of Wheeler Dam, near the Shanghai River Bridge. That was amazingly close to where Pine View Dam was eventually constructed decades later.

After that, the South Fork of the Ogden River was surveyed and even bull dozed somewhat for a possible dam site that never happened, despite several decades of trying.

According to the Standard-Examiner of Sept. 5, 1910, another dam was proposed to be built in Coldwater Canyon. 

    All that's left of the Coldwater Canyon water system today is a small shack and some old piping.

However, that never happened and a 10-inch water that had been installed in Coldwater Canyon in 1909 was used for many years to supplement the Ogden City water supply.

                                         The replica lime kiln near Coldwater Canyon today.

-The lime kiln in Coldwater Canyon was reported operating again, according to the July 20, 1924 Standard-Examiner. After a three-decade lapse, the kiln was working again and even a road was built to the site.

(Today, the lime kiln is commemorated along the Coldwater Canyon trail as a pioneer industry, complete with a rebuilding of a kiln.)

-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

Name repetition confusion abounds in Utah’s outdoors -- Don’t get lost in a ‘Dry Canyon’

    The north end of “Dry Canyon,” along Highway 89, between Brigham City and Logan, headed down to “Dry Lake.” (“Sardine Canyon” is the popular nickname for this entire area.) Forty-six Utah canyons are named Dry Canyon, making it the most overused place name in the entire State.

By Lynn Arave

IT is rather surprising how many place names are duplicated in the State of Utah. Unique names are a rarity.

You would think that Weber County settlers would NOT have named two canyons “Cold Water Canyon,” but they did – even though they are only about six air miles apart.

In Salt Lake County it is even worse. There are three different “Twin Peaks” in 20 miles of the Wasatch Mountains, stretching from above the University of Utah to just south of Snowbird. (And, state-wide there are another 12 other Twin Peaks to be found.)

However, Carbon County is the granddaddy of duplicates with six different “Bear” Canyons.

And, if you ever become lost in Utah’s outdoors, hope it is NOT in a “Dry Canyon.” There are some 46 canyons in the Beehive State sharing that title and so rescuers could easily become confused.

The nation’s second driest state has a fleet of Dry Canyons. Tooele County alone contains five different Dry Canyons. Kane and Duchesne counties have four each. Of Utah’s 29 counties, only five lack a Dry Canyon.

There are also Dry Canyons northeast of Brigham City; by the North Ogden Divide; in Ogden Canyon; east of the town of Uintah; and one in Morgan County too.

"Dry" is also one the more popular geographical monikers Utah overall. There are some 250 “Dry” names, counting canyons, hollows, forks, creeks, lakes and washes.

The second most popular name is “Cottonwood,” with 40 different versions. Grand and San Juan counties each boast four different Cottonwood Canyons.

“Pole” is the third most popular title with 38 variations and Utah County has four Pole Canyons.

Plus, to round out the 10 most common Utah canyon  place names, there are 30 separate Rock Canyons; 30 Spring Canyons; 29 Water Canyons; 29 Trail Canyons; 26 Bear Canyon; 22 Long Canyons and 20 Horse Canyons.

Big, Black, Box Elder, Broad, Bull, Coal, Corral, Cow, Coyote, Deep, Fish, Flat, Maple, Mill, Pine, Red and Sawmill are all monikers in 10 or more Utah canyons.

Besides Canyons, there are at least two dozen different “Narrows" in Utah, including the world-famous Zion Narrows.

In addition, there are 16 different Black Mountains to hike in Utah; 14 Little Mountains and 11 different Bald Mountains.

 Mud Springs boasts 50 versions; Willow Springs, 40;  Cottonwood Springs, 26; Rock Springs, 26; and Cold Springs, 21, comprise other heavily used Utah monikers.

The Little Valley name is the most used valley term, with 29 versions – including a Little Valley that’s above South Farmington. Birch Creek has 32 renditions; Willow Creek 26; and Cottonwood Creek 24 total.

There are more than two dozen Spring Hollows and Dry Forks in Utah; plus more Left-Hand this and Right-Hand that places than anyone would want to total.

Lake names too may not be unique. There are 15 Blue Lakes; 15 Dry Lakes; 13 Mud Lakes; seven Big Lakes and four separate Bear Lakes in the Beehive State.

The High Uintas contains many duplicate names too. For example, there are at least two Lost Lakes, a pair of Wall Lakes, several Island Lakes and two Lilly Lakes there.

          Noah’s Ark in southern Utah is one of the State’s more unusual of place names.

-To be fair, Utah does contain some unique and colorful place names too. Among them are:

Accident Canyon, Ant Peak, Baboon Seep, Bellyache Canyon, Beer Bottle Spring, Blubber Creek, Brew Canyon, Convulsion Canyon, Dead Ox Peak, Girl Hollow, Hang Dog Creek, Horsethief Canyon, Keg Spring, Noah’s Ark, No Man's Mountain, No Man's Canyon , Shoofly Hill, Skull Crack Canyon, Sunday Canyon and Weed Basin.

Finally, Hell Canyon, Morgan County, is not an unusual title, but it does connect directly with Paradise Canyon.

SOURCE: United State Geological Survey database.

(-Published in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on July 13, 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 Garner Cave was first explored by Boy Scouts

                      Coldwater Canyon, as viewed from the northwest in North Ogden.

“BOYS explore huge cavern. Scouts of Troop 20 visit little known cave near Ogden Canyon” was an August 22, 1922 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

This was the first public look into what would eventually become known as “Garner Cave” in North Ogden.

Charles E. Fisk, scoutmaster of the troop, knew of the cave before and his troop’s visit there launched it into popularity. The troop used “electric searchlights” and candles to see inside the dark, natural treasure.

The story also stated that the scouts not only encountered numerous nests of hornets in the canyon, but also killed 10 rattlesnakes there.

“Ogden Cavern explored for long distance” was an Aug. 27, 1922 headline in the Standard.
 (This 1922 story also stated incorrectly that the Coldwater Canyon of North Ogden was also known as Garner Canyon. Coldwater and Garner are actually separate canyons, with One Horse Canyon found in between the two.)
 That “that cave will become one of the popular attractions of Ogden” was highlighted in the story.

A few weeks later, Boy Scout Troop 5, from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, also visited the cave.

Sadly, vandalism has since destroyed all the formations on the inside of the cave, but visits are still made to this cave today.

Scoutmaster Fisk took his troop on many local adventures. In the Oct.23, 1922 Standard, it was reported: “Endurance hike made by scouts” of Troop No. 20. Two dozen boys hiked from the mouth of Wheeler Canyon to Mount Ogden and down into Ogden, a distance of 25 miles during a 13-hour hike.

Some of the scout’s trek was reported to be off trail and over steep ledges.

“Great numbers of blue grouse and willow grouse were seen and the track of a timber wolf was seen in various places,” the story stated.

The boys encountered two inches of snow on the north slope of the mountain and also hiked through a small snowstorm that “gave the boys great glee.”

-The Standard of Sept. 17, 1953 also mentioned a separate cavern, Eagle Cave, east of 22^nd Street.

“Several youngsters have been killed or seriously injured in recent years trying to reach the cave,” the report stated.

Attempts to use dynamite to close the dangerous cave had failed, so scouts mobilized and created stairs to the cave’s entrance to at least make it safer.

(-Originally published in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on-line and in print on January 8-9, 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