1914: The first skiing in the Ogden area?

                                   The mouth of Taylor Canyon.

WHEN did the first skiing in the Ogden Mountains begin?
Long before Snow Basin came along in 1940, winter recreation was was at least underway to some extent by 1914.
According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Jan. 17, 1914, a local minister, Rev. F.G. Brainerd and  a group climbed to Malan's Heights (today's Malan's Peak and Malan's Basin). Then, they used skis to slide down "with the wind,"
Rev. Brainerd said Ogden's mountains are even more "majestic and beautifully inspiring in winter than in summer."
He did regular snowshoe trips east of Ogden in the winter.
Tobaggan rides were reported to be popular pastimes in the eastern U.S., but in the west, few as yet, "realize the joy in store for those who will get out in the hills" in the winter season.
The Standard story concluded: "Our winter scenes, in canyon and mountain top, and the possibilities of our winter sports, should be one of the advertised features of Ogden."

                  Some antique, wooden skis of yesteryear.


-Just over five years later, a headline in the Standard-Examiner was: "They slide on snow banks in sight of Ogden and have a delightful time."
This story reported on May 27, 1919, that several groups of people had climbed to the top of "Observatory Peak" (today's Mount Ogden) that weekend.
There was still significant snow at high elevation that spring. The group went up and down the mountain saddle via the Malan's Heights trail. However, one of the two groups, were Japanese and they slid down quickly much of the distance on some sort of "rubber pads" on the snow.
The other party, presumably white in race, slid down the snow without such a pad and got very wet in the process. Members of that party were: R.F. Baker, Grace Jennings, Clifford Huss, Lucile Davis, George Bauman, Marjorie Turner and Ada Childs.

                          Looking toward Malan's Basin along the trail from Malan's Peak.

In the late 1920s, there was a ski jump near the mouth of Ogden Canyon. By 1937, Taylor Canyon's mouth featured a ski jump and later an ice skating rink.

1917: When a motorcycle ride to Malan’s Basin made headlines

                                           The mouth of Taylor Canyon in 2015.

                   Some rugged outcroppings on the Taylor Canyon trail.

"MOTORCYCLE driven from Ogden to Malan’s Heights” was a large headline in the Sept. 18, 1917 Standard-Examiner.

With World War I still raging, five young men from Ogden – L. Keller, Ronald Halstrom, James Rawson, Ed Lewis and Wright Corey – combined their might to get the machine up Taylor Canyon and eventually into Malan’s Basin, where a resort had existed 12 years prior.

                                       Malan's Peak.

         

The route up had so deteriorated in just over a decade that while Keller rode the motorcycle, his four friends had to physically lift the bike over rocks and some impassible places in Taylor Canyon.

“Several spills were unavoidable,” the report stated. The bike was driven down into lower gear, braking most of the way.

                                  Malan's Basin in 2015.

This was likely the first time a motorized vehicle had traversed Taylor Canyon, up to Malan’s Peak and into Malan’s Basin.

More historical tidbits:

-“Young people climb mountain” Was a July 21, 1915 headline in the Standard.

Seven “young folk” – one young man and six young women, including Iva Bailey, Theresa Chadwick and Earl Chadwick from Weber County, plus three New York young ladies and a Salt Lake young woman made the hike to Ben Lomond Peak.

They hiked up North Ogden Canyon, then followed the mountain saddle to Ben Lomond and returned by way of Liberty.

                   Ben Lomond Peak, center, as seen from Malan's Peak.

The group reported snow on the peak up to 10 feet deep, so snow must have persisted on local summits far longer that they do in the 21^st Century. They also found the register book and flag pole left there two years earlier in good condition.

-“Trip of Ben Lomond Club” was a Sept. 30, 1924 headline in the Box Elder News. The stable men of the 116^th Calvary took horses from the south side of Mantua to Ben Lomond Peak.

The group periodically nailed signs with arrows on them to help future travelers to the peak. They also reported deep gullies and fallen trees to negotiate through – especially near Willard Canyon, where a severe flood in August of 1923 had obliterated the trail.

Yet, every member of the company reached the Ben Lomond summit. Its 41 horses had been tied one quarter mile below the peak. The new group voted and adopted its bylaws while resting on the summit before its return.

-“Sunday sales City problem” was a Sept. 7, 1927 headline in the Standard-Examiner. It was then reported that some small stores in Ogden City, on north Washington Avenue, were using their soft drink licenses as a subterfuge for keeping their stores open on Sunday to sell all their other merchandise too.

City ordinances back then did allow soft drinks to be sold on Sunday, but not other merchandise. Ogden Mayor George E. Browning asked the police to investigate this illegal practice, as this business is “unfair to larger merchants whose stores are closed on Sunday.”

 (-Originally published on-line and in print on July 9-10, 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

A campground proposal for Ogden's Taylor Canyon and more …

       Taylor Canyon, left, is just north of Malan's Peak, center. Waterfall Canyon is on the right side..

A major campground and loop road were proposed for Ogden’s Taylor Canyon back in 1936.

“Road proposed toward Taylor camping site” was a May 1 headline in the Standard-Examiner that year.

At that time, some thousands of acres in Taylor Canyon were owned by the Union Pacific Railroad. Creating a road to the mouth of the canyon and developing public camping sites was a proposal by the Utah Motorists Association.

In addition, a one-way, four-mile long road along the mountainside was proposed too, toward Waterfall Canyon.

Plus, a previous proposal by F.A. Huish of Ogden was also mentioned as a possible sidelight. This involved building a concrete dam at the brink of the waterfall in Waterfall Canyon, so that the falls would be more spectacular and seen by more of the general population of the area.

(Relocating this waterfall had already been tried in 1922 with a metal pipeline as a way to move the falls to the northwest and make it more visible. However, after six months the piping was reported destroyed by vandals.)

                     Some Ogdenites enjoying Waterfall Canyon in the 1920s.

This ambitious campground/road/waterfall enhancement was all so that it “would give Ogden a scenic attraction,” according to the story.

The Association believed just $50,000 would be needed to do much of the project and that some of the construction could qualify as a federal work project.

Unlike Waterfall Canyon (or even the South Fork area east of Huntsville), there’s no year-round stream in Taylor Canyon. Also that canyon is quite narrow and so the campground proposal there seems somewhat illogical in hindsight. In any event, none of it ever happened.

However, Huish had tried unsuccessfully earlier to have special artwork sale in 1936 to try and finance a diversion flume at the top of Waterfall Canyon.

According to the Standard of July 31, 1944, he was still pushing to have a diversion of the falls in Waterfall Canyon that year too.

It is worth noting too that at least one of those reports about Huish reported that the initial rerouting of the waterfall wasn’t destroyed by vandals, but by a “flood.”

                       The bottom of the  Ogden Waterfall in a typical spring.

-In a related historical note, back when Mount Ogden Park was first considered, Huish proposed the name of “Waterfall Park” as  its moniker.

In the Standard of July 28, 1944, “Residents show interest in mountain project” was the headline for that prospective park story.

-In a final historical note, “Ogden lady breaks her nose” was a June 23, 1911 headline in the Standard.

On a slow news day, this was a four-paragraph-long report of how an unnamed woman broke her nose in a single automobile crash, south of Brigham City.

The driver, traveling “at a high rate of speed,” had lost control of the vehicle after his hat blew off, and the car crashed into a tree. The woman’s child suffered minor bruises in the impact, as both mother and child were thrown to the front of the auto.

 (-Originally published on-line and in print in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Jan. 1-2, 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