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.

The mystery of Utah’s ‘Mountain of Christ’: Monte Cristo

                         Monte Cristo Peak, center, 9,148 feet above sea level.

MANY decades before a viable seasonal highway (U-39) traversed its heights, the Monte Cristo Mountains, about 40 miles northwest of Ogden, generated mystery and fascination.

Hundreds of miners had passed below, to the northwest when the La Plata mines were in their 1890s heyday, but even the height of Monte Cristo was unknown in the early 20^th Century.

“A grand trip to ‘Old Monte,’ Near but unknown solitude and grandeur in the Monte Christo (sic) Mountains” was an August 26, 1908 headline in the Logan Republican newspaper.

“It is distinctly a region of scenery and scenery on a scale of grandeur obtainable in very few places,” the story stated, dubbing it Utah’s “Garden of the Gods.”

“You may drive all day and meet no one, see no signs of habitation, unless it be a lone sheep herder’s tent,” the story stated, saying sheep men call the area “Old Monte” and that its greatest charm is solitude and being cut off from the world of humanity.

The Ogden Standard-Examiner of Aug. 11, 1910 also reported on the mystery of Monte Cristo. It stated that a party of Ogdenites were going to travel there to ascertain the height of the tallest peak there, Monte Cristo. Rumors had for several decades since the La Plata mining boon below, believed the summit to be between 11,000 and 13,000 feet above sea level.

                           The Monte Cristo Mountains as seen from Snowbasin.

The Monte Cristo mountains are where four Utah counties – Weber, Rich, Cache and Morgan all intersect and where the nearest towns are Huntsville or Woodruff, both about 22 bird-flying miles in any straight direction.

The Salt Lake Tribune of Aug. 18, 1910 reported on the group’s findings: “The height of the mountain which many in the party had been led to believe was inaccessible and one of the highest in the state, was found to be 8,950 feet above sea level.”

(Modern measurements have upped that elevation to 9,148 feet above sea level.)

                                   Monte Cristo and Utah Highway 39 in late May.

-Who gave the mountains and tallest peak their religious name, Monte Cristo, is also a mystery for the ages. According to the book, “Utah Place Names,” by John W. Van Cott, there are three different claims for the name’s origin:

1. Miners returning from California though the range resembled the Monte Cristo Mountains of California; 2. The name could have been given by early French-Canadian trappers; and 3. One of the early road builders in the area carried a copy of the book, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” which he read to his co-workers at night around the campfire.

However, since the 1908 Logan Republican story spotlighted to remoteness of the area – and no road was mentioned, but the name Monte was there – that leaves only credence for the first two origins.

(Note: “Monte Cristo” also means “Mountain of Christ” in Spanish.)

MORE HISTORY ITEMS:

-The Salt Lake Herald of July 11, 1909 outlined the report of one of the first known automobile trip to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This Woolley Automobiling Party went from Salt Lake City to Kanab/Fredonia and required 39 hours and 20 minutes of driving the 430 total miles before looking down at Bright Angel Creek from the Rim.

-The Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management Area was the first federally funded waterfowl management area in the United States, according to the Davis County Clipper of Nov. 26, 1976.

This area is located west of Hooper and is located on the delta of the Weber River, near where it dumps into the Great Salt Lake. Development there began in 1937 and includes 16,700 acres. The Hoard Slough portion to the south was developed 21 years later in 1958.

The Mystery of the Granite Record Facility

THE Granite Mountain Records Facility in Little Cottonwood Canyon contains what is very likely the world's most extensive collection of family records.

Operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these vaults are encased in the mountain, located about 20 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

When these vaults, about one mile up the canyon, first opened in 1963, the public was invited for tours. However, by the end of the 20^th Century, they were off limits to all but vault workers. The media were also never invited there, likely after the 1970s.

“LDS buys quarry tract as records repository” was a Sept. 29, 1959 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune. The story stated that the Utah Granite Company and Temple Granite Quarries Corporation had sold the land needed for the records vault to the Church. Exact details of the transaction were never made public.

“Church cuts vaults in Granite quarry” was a Jan. 12, 1961 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune. The story reported that some 80 years after the Latter-day Saint Church first began chipping and hauling away granite blocks for its future Salt Lake Temple, the Church was back in the same canyon doing other work with the dominant stone there.

Work had started on the project in the summer of 1960.

The Centennial Development Company of Juab County had the contract to do the excavation in the canyon. The company first drilled a 700-foot exploration tunnel, to be followed by larger tunnels.

President Henry D. Moyle, Second Counselor in the Church’s First Presidency, told Malin Foster of the Tribune that the vaults are being built at the safest known place from disasters in the area for storing records. The rock vaults were also considered an ideal location for the storage of records based on temperatures and humidity.

“Drills deepen sanctuary for Church records” was a May 29, 1961 headline in the Tribune. Staff writer Don LeFevre reported that a crew of 14 men were cutting through granite to create large caverns.

“Their environment is a dark, damp and cool one as they labor on the construction of the vault which will one day house millions of dollars worth of valuable microfilm and documents,” LeFevre wrote.

To that date, the drilling was through some 1,800 linear feet of rock and completed channels measure 27 feet wide and 16 feet high. A total of six portals had been drilled into the mountain, on the north side of the canyon, above Utah Highway 210.

(The canyon road leads to Snowbird and Alta ski resorts. The Church has a historical trail just inside the mouth of the canyon and on the opposite, south side, that commemorates the granite quarry when the S.L. Temple blocks originated from.)

“Crews work in LDS ‘cave’ project” was a Jan. 27, 1962 Tribune headline. By early 1962, crews were done drilling and were pouring cement and deciding the best type of flooring, walls and ceiling for this “cave.” Trenches in the floor had also already been made for future plumbing and electrical lines.

This story also stated that the First Presidency itself chose the site for this granite vault records repository.

“Impregnable storage vaults safeguard LDS genealogical records” was an Oct. 6, 1963 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner. This Associated Press story stated that the vaults were originally called “The Little Cottonwood Project,” had cost more than $1.5 million, had been more than three years in the making and was slated for completion in about one year.

There were three 600-foot-long storage vaults, lined with 18 inches of cement and corrugated steel. Three large heavy bank-like vault doors covered the entrances. The three main passages were also intersected by three others, more than 400 feet long and all interconnected.

“LDS grants look-see of tunnels” was a Dec. 2, 1963 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune. Church leaders first toured the new granite vaults. Then selected civic and business leaders had their turn on day number two; and finally on the third day, the general public got to come and take a look on a guided tour. They were titled "Church Records Vault" when they opened. (Their current title is "Granite Mountain Records Facility.")

The Tribune story stated the inside of the vaults were painted in pastel colors and boasted self-contained power, water and ventilation.

The story also said that the vaults were “buried beneath 600 feet of solid granite.

There have been no public updates by the Church on these record vaults. Presumably, they have been updated and likely contain not only original microfilm records, but likely the cutting edge in records storage, including CDs and other high-tech equipment.

-Similarly, the U. S. Air Force had began work on its own Cheyenne Mountain Complex in 1957, inside a granite mountain in Colorado, near Colorado Springs. That much larger vault was not completed finished until 1967, cost more than $142 million and sits underneath an estimated 2,000 feet of granite.

-The Salt Lake Tribune of Aug. 23, 1967 reported that landowners in Little Cottonwood Canyon had dropped a plan to build a housing subdivision at the mouth of the canyon, in favor of constructing a private facility for microfilm and other storage inside the mountain itself. Located just up the canyon from the Church’s granite vaults, they were designed to be similar to those man-made caverns. Today, they are called Perpetual Storage, Inc., located at 6279 Little Cottonwood Road.

-The accompanying illustrations above are some of the images from a mid-1960s brochure, published by the LDS Church on the Vaults.

When a wall of water swept through Manti

                                            Manti Creek.

UTAH was plagued by some summer cloudbursts and flooding in the early 20th Century. Mostly caused by overgrazing, the most infamous of such floods struck Willard and Farmington in the early 1920s. However, a summer flood in 1899 -- several decades earlier -- devastated Manti, Utah.

                                      The mouth of Manti Canyon.

"A wall of water. The City of Manti swept by a cloudburst. Streets turned into a raging river. Thousands of dollars of damage done -- No lives are lost" was a July 14, 1899 headline in the Times-News of Nephi, Utah.  The flood, with overgrazing by sheep as a contributing factor -- roared out of Manti Canyon, on the City's east side and made the town look like the bed of a river.

                        Sheep were common livestock Utah, but led to overgrazing.

"At about 6:45 (p.m.) some men came riding down from the canyon, shouting that a flood was coming, but the people were loth to believe the report," the newspaper stated. "In an incredible short time after the warning a wall of water about eight or ten feet high came rushing down the creek carrying with it an immense quantity of logs, stumps and other debris."
Some logs jammed under a bridge, forming a dam and directing much of the water into town. Cellars were filled with mud and crops were damaged. It was estimated that up to $60,000 damage was done to the town. A mass meeting of residents was called to start a cleanup effort.

 The Manti Temple was not damaged by the 1899 flood, being located on a hill in town.

-"One less bear to prey on herds that graze in Manti Canyon" was a July 23, 1907 headline in the Salt Lake Herald Republican newspaper. Nephi Ottosen killed a 500-pound bear in a hunting expedition to go after the bruin who was responsible for killing livestock. He shot the bear from 15 feet away as it approached him.
A few months earlier, a large grizzly bear had been killed with poison honey in Manti Canyon. Ranchers had reported that five or six cows a week were killed in the spring of 1907 and that the first bear killed didn't stop the damage.
"Bear tracks in the mountains are almost as common as those made by the cattle," the newspaper reported.

NOTE that the early 20th Century was the time for the last of Utah's grizzly bears to be wiped out. Besides the Manti bears, the last bear in the Mount Nebo area and the infamous Old Ephraim of Logan Canyon were all killed in the early 1920s.

Timp Cave history dates back to about 1890 and includes claims, crime and accidents

TIMPANOGOS Cave is a fascinating natural feature in American Fork Canyon. (Technically, it began as three caves -- Timpanogos, Middle and Hansens Cave, yet to the public it was always a single connected cave) and its first newspaper mention was in 1916.

According to the Salt Lake Mining Review of March 30, 1916, Hansens Cave had indescribable beauty, though its access then was very difficult, because of steep cliffs and ledges to scale.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/297437822/?terms=hansens%2Bcave

The legend is that in about 1890 Martin Hansen was chasing a fugitive mountain lion, who took refuge in the cave. Hansen then reportedly lost interest in the animal, as the cave’s beauties became the dominant mystery.

“Cave officially named ‘Timpanogos Cave,” a headline in the American Fork Citizen of Oct. 29, 1921 stated. The Commercial Club of American Fork was involved in creating the initial lighting inside the cave the U.S. Forest Service assigned Dana Parkinson as its forester. Parkinson helped create the first rough trail to the cave.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/71280072/?terms=Cave%2Bofficially%2Bnamed%2B%27Timpanogos%2BCave

“Middle Cave” was discovered on Oct. 15, 1921 by Heber Hansen of American Fork. According to the American Fork Citizen of Nov. 19, 1921, Hansen was on the opposite side of American Fork Canyon looking south with field glasses when he noticed the new cave in between Hansen and Timpanogos caves. Later, Hansen climbed up and actually inspected the new cave opening.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/71280743/?terms=hansens%2Bcave

                                                      The opening to Timpanogos Cave.

“Timpanogos Cave opened to the public” was a May 27, 1922 headline in the American Fork Citizen. The story stated that electric lights were now installed inside, but that not more than 30 people at a time could safely tour the cave. Tickets for a tour were on sale on site, or from American Fork businesses. Tours were directed by the Wasatch Mountain Club.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/71159688/?terms=Timpanogos%2BCave%2Band%2Belectric%2Blights

The Deseret News of July 7, 1922 reported that more than 3,000 had visited the cave in just over  one month and some were out of state visitors.

Vandalism and theft at the cave did happen. “Man arrested at Timpanogos Cave” was a July 15, 1922 headline in the American Fork Citizen. A man from Michigan broke off a crystal inside the cave.

(There were also other damages done inside the caves during the early 20^th Century.)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/71161123/?terms=Man%2Barrested%2Band%2BCave

The A.F. Citizen of Oct. 21, 1922 reported that the cave had been declared a national monument. Various improvements, including a caretaker’s home in the area, were planned.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/71164287/?terms=timpanogos%2Bcave

Popularity of the cave was so great after its first season, that it was declared open all winter, 1922-23, for anyone wishing to brave the hardships of the snowy season and visit there, according to the Salt Lake Telegram of Nov. 2, 1922.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/288436625/?terms=timpanogos%2Bcave

“Timpanogos Cave, weird and fantastic revealed in new glamor by electricity,” was an April 29, 1923 headline on a long feature story in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/27066183/?terms=timpanogos%2Bcave

There was an on-going controversy of ownership in the Cave’s early years. The Utah Milling and Mining Company claimed it owned mineral rights to the cave. However, “Timpanogos Cave case again ‘settled’” was a June 10, 1927 headline in the Salt Lake Mining Review. The story stated the U.S. Government declared the cave public property and that all mining claims were invalid.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/297490407

There was also at least one mishap in the cave. “3 released after being locked in icy Timpanogos Cave” was a Sept. 8, 1930 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram. Three visitors, all men, and their guide were accidentally locked inside the cave for four hours by another guide, who thought everyone had left for the day.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/288751523/?terms=3%2Breleased%2Bafter%2Bbeing%2Blocked

 The current modern trail to the cave entrance was built in 1941, according to an Oct. 27, 1977 story in the American Fork Citizen. That path was first paved in 1955.

Falling rock has been a continual hazard on the trail. The story stated that two deaths on the trail by falling rock had been recorded to date, an older man and a young girl. Another woman lost sight in one eye from a rock someone had thrown from above.

The three separate caves were all connected by manmade tunnels during the early history of public visits there.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/286011637/?terms=cave%2Bentrance

Lynn Arave worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 40 years. He is a retired Deseret News reporter/editor, from 1979-2011. His email is lra503777@gmail.com. His Mystery of Utah History blog is at http://mysteryofutahhistory.blogspot.com.

A pair of never built roads in Bryce Canyon National Park: One in the bottom and the other a loop road

BRYCE Canyon National Park had somewhat of a lackluster beginning, being in the shadows of the more highly esteemed sister park, Zion. From almost changing Bryce's name away from "Canyon" (since geologically it is NOT a canyon); to it almost became only a Utah State Park; to being administratively under Zion Park until 1956; Bryce has had some major "what ifs?"
And, here are two others to add to that list -- 1. In 1931 there was a failed proposal to create a loop road from Highway 89 through Red Canyon to Bryce and then back to Highway 89 at Long Valley Junction; 2. In 1951 there was a strong move to build a road on the floor of Bryce Canyon itself.
"Government plans new road to Bryce Canyon" was a March 28, 1931 headline in the Iron County Record newspaper of Cedar City.
This tentative road reached Rainbow Point (where the Bryce park highway ends southward today) and then would head due west to Highway 89 at the Long Valley Junction of U-14.
"The entire road would be about 27 miles long, with five miles being private lands and most of the balance in the Powell and Dixie national forests," the story stated.

                      Today's end of the road southward in Bryce Canyon.

The story also stated, "The new road would make it possible to visit Bryce via the present route through Red Canyon and then return over an entirely different route, eliminating all retracing. Most of the route would be at 8,000 ft. elevation and would add much to the pleasantness of the trip in hot summer months."

                   The parking lot turnaround at the end of 18 miles of road in Bryce Canyon.

Why didn't this road ever get built? Constructing the loop highway was contingent upon the State of Utah being able to cooperate and create five miles of road through the private lands. This apparently didn't happen, likely because of property acquisition issues. 
Yes, the more recent proposal in 1951 was to build a paved road below the rim.

The rugged terrain looking west from today's south end of the road in Bryce Canyon. But if a 1930s proposal had happened, Bryce Canyon National Park would have had a loop road and a highway would have descended below in this picture and connected with Long Valley Junction.

"Civic clubs will support move for road on floor of Bryce Canyon": was an August 30, 1951 headline in the Richfield Reaper newspaper of Utah.
Bryce Canyon put Panguitch, Utah on the national map, as the entrance, the last town before the now popular national park. So, the Associated Civics Clubs of Southern and Eastern Utah, along with the Panguitch Lions Club, held a meeting in town to discuss the idea of a road at the bottom of Bryce.
"The Club agreed to support a suggestion by State Representative John Johnson of Tropic to the effect that a road can be built on the floor of Bryce Canyon so that visitors can view the real scenic attractions of the area," the Richfield newspaper story stated.
It continued, "The main beauty of Bryce Canyon cannot be seen from the rim of the canyon."

                                                 Hikers on the Navajo Trail in Bryce.

                                    Imagine a paved road through the middle of this?

So, there you have it. Of course, the road was never built, but it leaves little to the imagination to envision a road going through the bottom of Bryce. Many, many natural features would have had to have been demolished to make room for such a road. Hiking would also not be a big activity as it is today in Bryce with such a road. Why hike, when you can drive down?

-In 1920, Bryce was just picking up steam with tourists. "Volunteers repair Bryce Canyon road" was a May 6 headline that year in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper. A "road day club" had just been formed in Panguitch, with up to 47 men volunteering their time to smooth out the dirt road from Panguitch through Red Canyon and onto Bryce so that automobiles had better access.

                                                        The iconic tunnel in Red Rock Canyon.

-Initially, for more than a decade, the road to Bryce Canyon ended at the northwest rim of the amphitheater, probably near today's Sunrise Point. Walking or horse travel was the only way further south.
However, the Salt Lake Tribune of Dec. 6, 1929, reported that the National Park Service had allocated $13,700 to survey and begin to construct a road eight or more miles long southward along the rim of Bryce in the summer of 1930.
This road was "to afford visitors opportunity to view the canyon from many vantage points, instead of the one point now reached by the main highway," the Tribune story stated.
(At the time time, the Park Service allocated $280,000 to improve roads along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, particularly from the Bright Angel Camp to Point Imperial and Cape Royal.)

                       There are some small cliffs along the Navajo Trail in Bryce.

-Finally, while Zion has been host to a lot more accidents than Zion, given its sheer cliffs and towering rocks, Bryce Canyon has also not been immune to accident from falls.
Some examples:
1. "Fall from Bryce Canyon cliff seriously injures Cedar girl" was a June 23, 1932 headline in the Beaver County News. The girl slipped off a cliff near Point Supreme and suffered three breaks in her pelvis bone and a broken arm. It took rescuers several hours to reach her.
2. "Girl has close call in Utah park accident" was a July 13, 1946 headline in the Logan Herald-Journal. The 14-year-old-girl from Buffalo, N.Y. slipped off a sandstone cliff in Bryce and went down 100 feet "before she clutched the edge of a projecting chunk of sandstone -- one of the many spires which have made the canyon famous," the story reported. She was rescued with ropes by a park ranger. The girl's physician father treated her many cuts and bruises, but nothing was broken.
3. The Ogden Standard-Examiner of April 22, 1954, reported that a 61-year-old woman tourist from Illinois died in a fall at the park on April 21 that year. She stepped over a log barrier at the Far View Scenic Point, lost her balance and plunged 90 feet to her death down a cliff. She died instantly.
4. A man died in cliff fall in Bryce in September of 2003.

  -Another milestone in Bryce National Park happened in November of 1936 when it began staying open in winter, to Inspiration Point. Years later, that led to snowmobiling and cross country skiing there.

-Originally published in the Deseret News on June 24, 2020.

A pair of antique advertisements: One from Ogden in 1959; And one from Parowan in 1933

HERE are 2 classic ads from past decades in Utah:

A KLO radio ad from the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Oct. 2, 1959.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An ad in the Parowan, Utah Times newspaper of July 21, 1933.

Game sanctuaries dominated Utah in the 1920s

      The Wasatch Mountains, east of Ogden, were once a game sanctuary.

THE Roaring ’20s had more prohibition in place than just with alcohol — there were many game sanctuaries designated across the nation, including in Utah, prohibiting hunting and firearms.

Weber County was the first in Utah with its Mount Ogden Game Sanctuary in 1920. This 180-square-mile wildlife preserve stretched from Willard Peak to Weber Canyon and from the foothills east to Ogden Valley. It featured no hunting or gun-toting allowed. Signs were posted and penalties were up to $200 for violations, according to various reports in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

“Bird Sanctuary is created in East Mill Creek” was a June 5, 1920, headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper. Although just 16 city blocks in size, no hunting or firearms were allowed there.

The city of Murray followed with its own game sanctuary between 900 East and 1300 East and between 45th South and 49th South. This sanctuary not only protected birds, but small animals and even fish, according to the Telegram of July 13, 1920.

The Telegram of June 30, 1921, reported plans for a 49,000-acre game preserve in Big Cottonwood and Mill Creek canyons. Deer and elk herds were to be added to the area. This preserve still allowed an annual deer hunt and continued as a reserve into the early 1940s.

By August of 1922, Salt Lake County declared a huge bird sanctuary, stretching from Ensign Peak on the north, across the foothills to 7500 South.

A year later, in July of 1923, Mount Timpanogos was designated as a game preserve too, with no firearms allowed. In 1931, the St. George area also considered a preserve for the Pine Valley Mountains.

Cache County established a 10,000-acre preserve for deer and elk in the summer of 1933, according to the Telegram of June 8 that year. The mountain boundaries stretched from the Logan River south to the Blacksmith Fork, as a precursor to the much smaller Hardware Ranch of today.

Some of these sanctuaries, like Weber County’s, were gone by the late 1920s. Others faded away by the late 1930s. Not only were the vast areas hard to patrol, but they let the populations of some of the more undesirable animals spike out of control. For example, in the Mount Ogden Game Sanctuary, coyotes prospered and they not only attacked henhouses more in the valley below, but rabies fears worsened too.

Mountain lions were also on the rise and attacked more cattle and sheep, even though dogs were used to keep chasing them further eastward in Weber County. Deer populations were also rising and more deer were causing problems along the foothills of Weber County each winter.

Davis, Box Elder and Morgan counties likely had a huge increase in hunters during the 1920s, since much of Weber County was off limits. Deer hunting still happened each year in most of Utah, despite the fact it was outlawed in the Mount Ogden Sanctuary. For example, in 1926, Utah deer hunting season was from Oct. 20-30.

This same time period — the mid-1920s — was also when the grizzly bear was pretty much wiped out along the Wasatch Front. The legendary "Old Ephraim" in Logan Canyon was killed by a sheepherder in 1923 and the last grizzly in the Mount Nebo area was taken out in the 1920s.

In the end, regular annual hunting seasons for deer and other animals were established as the rule of the land, instead of having vast game preserves.

The exceptions were the establishment of bird refuges along the shores of the Great Salt Lake and other water sources, with limited annual hunting seasons for ducks and other waterfowl. For example, the Bear River Bay was declared a bird sanctuary in June 1925.

-NOTE: This was previously published in the Deseret News on Oct. 29, 2018.

The new normal: A high and dry Spiral Jetty -- But still worth a visit

The Spiral Jetty, with Great Salt Lake water sitting hundreds of yards away, to the west.

THE new normal for the Spiral Jetty, in a northeast corner of the Great Salt Lake at Rozel Point, is a piece of rock art that's high and dry.

The GSL is not so "great" anymore and its shore was sitting some 600 yards away from the Spiral Jetty in August of 2018.
So, why would someone drive 50 minutes, one-way on a washboardy gravel road from the Golden Spike Historic Site to visit a waterless relic?
The peace, quiet and solitude here is deafening and yet appealing. 

                     The Spiral Jetty from above the parking lot.

Other than some pesky flies zipping around, this desert place seems lifeless of animals. But with just myself and my son, Taylor, there during our 90-minute visit, we weren't disappointed.

                    The center of the Jetty, high and dry in the summer of 2018.

During my only other visit there in about 2003, the lake's water lapped partially around the Jetty. Your shoes did get a little wet walking on top of it.
When Robert Smithson of New Jersey directed the creation of the Jetty in April of 1970, the GSL level was 4,195.15 feet above sea level. During my visit, it was down to 4,192.3 -- almost 3 feet lower. That may not seem like much, but in a shallow lake, it represent a significant amount.
During out visit, it was hard to believe that in 1986, the lake reached an all-time high of 4,211,85 feet. That likely means that the top of the Jetty itself was covered by about 15 feet of salty water.

                                    Bushes now growth in the sand atop the Jetty itself.

A surprising find was that there were several bushes now growing atop the Jetty itself. Without the thick salt water present to prevent growth, there will likely be more such bushes appearing future years. Sandy soil is also accumulating atop to Jetty, partially obscuring its unique blackness on the salt flat.
Also, just a dozen yards west of the Jetty there is a thick salty plain, leftover from the receding lake.
Obviously in the spring, or following a storm, the Jetty could be temporarily wet.

                                              The salty plain, west of the Jetty.

And, in the bushes below the parking lot above the Jetty is a 100-foot-tall wooden pole sitting among the rocks. If some storm decades ago heaved the pole up to its present location, it must have been quite the violent act of nature.

                              The old pole, near the Spiral Jetty.

Smithson paid thousands of dollars to have more than 6,000 tons of black basalt rock -- very common in the area -- moved and cemented to create the Jetty. It is a counterclockwise coil, some 1,500 feet long and about 15 feet wide. (Some of the rocks are secured at the bottom by concrete, which will likely lengthen its lifespan.)
Smithson, after about 5 days of work, had his artwork redone in another several days. He apparently loved this remote area and chose it in particular for his unusual creation.
A $9,000 art grant financed some of his hired work. (That's more than $59,000 in 2019 dollar values.)
This isn't the typical type of artwork, as in a museum. This is a hands-on/foots on, giant piece of art that is best appreciated by interacting with it. If you've driven that bumpy road to reach the Jetty, the final touch is to walk the 100 yards down a rock slope to experience the Jetty up close and personal by walking atop it.
(If you can't physically do that, you can still savor it from the nearby parking lot.)

                                The new monument, near the Jetty.

In 2014, an Eagle Scout project, added a nice monument on the hillside, east of the parking lot.

                                       The plaque on the monument.


To reach the Spiral Jetty, take the I-15 exit at Brigham City to Corinne and the Golden Spike National Historic Site and head west. The Jetty is some 50 miles from Brigham City.
Be prepared that just past the Golden Spike headquarters the road turns to gravel. Although the road is now well-signed, it is very washboardy in places and for the last 1.5 miles (near a large corral), the road is dominated by terrible such ruts and requires a passenger car to slow down to 10 mph at times to not shake apart. Also, be sure to slow down for the several cattleguards along the route. Trucks are the best vehicle for this bumpy road and they can also likely travel at the fastest speed too.

                   Note the many "washboardy type ruts in the road to the Jetty.

Also, respect the privately owned grazing land and do not trespass there on either side of the road.
Although a sign along the road states it is 15.7 miles to the Jetty on the gravel road, it seems more like 19 long, long miles. The road ends at the parking lot above the Jetty.
The nearest gas station in the area is in Corinne. The only water and restrooms are at the Golden Spike Headquarters -- and only when the site is open.
Note too, that cell phone coverage is also unreliable in the area, west of Corinne. Anyone experiencing an emergency in the Jetty area would have to scale to tallest  hill in the area and hope to receive a signal ...

Why does Utah have a 'Hurricane' town?

                                        -Wikipedia Commons photograph, by Ben P.L.

UTAH doesn’t ever get hit by any real hurricanes, as it is too far inland. All it ever receives are occasional rain storms from hurricane aftermaths. However, Utah does have its own town named Hurricane – in the southwest section of the state.

According to: www.utahsdixie.com ---

“Visitors traveling through Hurricane might wonder why a town in southern Utah shares its name with a tropical cyclone – a type of storm that never has and never will make “landfall” in the inland desert. The curious name dates back to the early 1860s, when a whirlwind blew off the top of a buggy carrying a group of surveyors led by Mormon leader Erastus Snow. “Well, that was a Hurricane,” exclaimed Snow. “We’ll name this the Hurricane Hill.” The nearby fault, mesa, and, later on, the town, took the same moniker. How residents say the name might catch many off guard. Locals pronounce it “Her-ah-kun,” which is the British pronunciation.”

That pronunciation is likely because many of the area’s early residents had immigrated from England.
However, checking with some present day immigrants from Britain to American, they all pronounce hurricane like the standard, "hurra-cane." So, British pronunciation has apparently changed over time.

The book, “Utah Place Names,” by John W. Van Cott, states basically the same name origin for Hurricane as does Dixie.com.

Van Cott just adds that Snow was the LDS Church leader in charge of its “Dixie” mission to grow cotton.

(The Paiute Indians, first known inhabitants of the Hurricane area, used to call place, “Timpoweap,” meaning “Rock Canyon.” )