1913: When Utah deer hunting was almost always open season

                       The Monte Cristo area has always been a prime place for deer hunting.

   THE general (rifle) deer hunting season Utah is almost always mid-October. However, hunting deer wasn’t always as structured as it is today. Back in 1913, hunting deer was more a matter of opportunity than a set season.

The Standard-Examiner of Dec. 13 that year reported “Deer to the west of Ogden.”  George Folkman was with a group of four other hunters near the Great Salt Lake, searching for geese and ducks when they came across a deer, west of Plain City.

“The party made a desperate effort to get close enough to the deer to shoot him with their shotguns, but they failed in their attempts,” the Standard story stated. They gave up after a four-hour chase and ended their hunt with five geese and some ducks, but no venison.

More historical tidbits:

-The Mount Ogden Game Sanctuary was established in 1920 to protect wildlife. From Weber Canyon on the south to the North Ogden Divide on the north and east in that section of the Wasatch Mountains to Ogden Valley, no hunting was then permitted there. At the 1919 deer hunt, some 60 deer were shot in that area. Deer were, in 1920, believed to be the most abundant big game in the Sanctuary, according to the Standard-Examiner of May 2, 1920. This wildlife sanctuary only lasted through the 1920s before it was discontinued.

-B.M. Fox of Ogden returned from his ranch in Viola, Wyoming in February of 1916 with an unusual deer hunting story, according to the Standard of Feb. 4 that year. Snow was so deep – 12 feet –in the La Barge Mountains of Wyoming that snow slides occurred frequently. While Fox and others were watching a deer herd of 29 head, a sudden snow slide, 100 yards wide, tore through the herd and buried 22. Hunters managed to dig in the edge of the snow mass and take seven of the deer, but the rest were lost. That winter was also reported as a tough one for livestock.

-Deer hunting is an annual fall adventure for thousands in Utah. However, 1945 was one of the most tragic deer hunts ever. “Deer hunter toll mounts of 8 as S.L. man dies” was an Oct. 24, 1945 Salt Lake Telegram headline.

From gun accidents, to a fatal heart attack to falling off a cliff, this was a disastrous deer hunting week. Bert Denning of Salt Lake was the latest fatality. His body was found by a search party in the rugged Davis Canyon of South Davis County. He was believed to have fallen off a 90-foot cliff, near a waterfall, in the evening darkness.

-“Many hurt in Ogden blast” was a May 6, 1923 Standard headline. A large Boy Scout bonfire, soaked with gasoline, exploded and injured 14 people as hundreds of persons looked on. Located at the corner of City Hall Park, near the police station, the explosion shattered jail windows. The bonfire marked the end of International Boys Week in Ogden. Flying timbers and glass caused most of the injuries.

-Underground seepage in the Plain City School partially submerged the building’s basement heating plant with water, according to the Standard of Aug. 15, 1916. A three-inch drain pipe was being installed and extended two blocks away to drain off the water. Six men were reported to be working on this job for the past 10 days to solve the problem before the beginning of school. 

Back when ‘farm days’ postponed school

THERE have been “snows days” of unexpected school recesses in recent years, but how about “farm days"  in olden times?”
“Schools of city may not be opened until October 15, to allow youngsters to work,” was a June 27, 1917 headline in the Standard-Examiner.
An acute labor shortage in Utah some 97 years ago meant that the Davis County School Board had decided to postpone school by at least 10 days for grades seven through twelve.
Soon after that decision, Weber County and Ogden City schools also made similar decisions, referred to as “an expression of community prudence.”
School normally began at the end of September each year.
In a move akin to today’s “Potato Harvest” recess in Southern Idaho, this 1917 decision was so that teenagers could assist in the harvesting of fruits, grains, sugar beets and tomatoes that season.
​(These were the true "field days" for students in olden times.)
The decision was reached after a conference with the canners and sugar company representatives of the area.
Davis County had already been given 150 men from the National Guard to help with their crops, but more manpower was needed.
Davis County farmers had also said that if some Ogden boys had not been sent to assist with thinning their sugar beet crop already in early summer, they would have faced a disaster.
However, the recess was not a “free pass” to miss school. Besides the expectation to do farm work, plans were made by the school board to hold school six days a week until the lost time was made up. Some of these extra Saturday school days were in the winter season, leaving good weather Saturdays in spring still available.
In other historical notes:
- “Deer hunters’ chances good” was an Oct. 17, 1926 headline in the Standard.
For that era, the hunt opened Oct. 20 and closed Oct. 20. The basic rules of the hunt were: no boys under age 16 allowed to hunt; each hunter was allowed one buck with horns at least six inches long; all hunters to be wear a red hat, or red covering; a license for male hunters cost $2 and for female hunters, $1.
Hunting was also prohibited in the game sanctuary, from Weber Canyon to North Ogden Canyon and from east Ogden to the city wells in Ogden Valley. (This “no hunting” area existed only in the 1920s.)
-“Daylight motion pictures at the Orpheum a success,” was an Oct. 2, 1911 headline in the Standard.
This didn’t mean matinees – it meant a new machine projected the moving pictures on a dark background, instead of a white one – to be easier on the eyes.
Motion pictures were shown five nights a week, Saturday through Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. (Thursday and Friday nights were vaudeville nights.) Admission was 5 cents to 10 cents a show.

(-Originally published on Oct. 9-10, 2014 by Lynn Arave 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  

The Utah flashfloods of 1923 and More History ...

                           The sign inside Willard Basin.

“CLOUDBURST Death Toll Mounts, Mangled bodies found in debris; Scouts victims” was an Aug. 14, 1923 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

Ninety-one years ago this month, floods struck Willard, Farmington and Centerville, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage and eight people were killed.

There were two fatalities below Willard Canyon and six in or around Farmington Canyon.

Crops in the wide area were ruined and the main highway was blocked by up to six feet of mud in Willard and Farmington.

                      Looking downward into lower Farmington Canyon.       Photo by Taylor Arave.

                              

Flood crests in Farmington Canyon were observed to be 75-100 feet high and 200 feet across. Patrons at Lagoon had to be rescued from trees, or roofs, where they had fled from the rising waters.

Willard lost all electrical power and communications and most of Farmington too.

A.L. Glasmann, editor of the Standard rushed to Willard after hearing of the disaster and worked throughout the night helping people.

“The district is a picture of desolation,” Glasmann stated.

The Standard also set up a relief fund and helped raised thousands of dollars for flood victims.

Much of the devastation resulted from overgrazing in the Wasatch Mountains. In the 1930s, government programs created reservoirs, terraces and flood basins above Willard and from Farmington to Centerville in the mountains to help prevent future such disasters.

By the way:

-Maelstrom  in the Lake,” was an April 16, 1903 headline in the Standard. Back then as the Lucin Cutoff was being built, fanciful stories of a bottomless sinkhole and whirlpool in the Great Salt Lake abounded.

  The Great Salt Lake at the north end of Fremont Island, where the Lucin Cutoff spans the water.

J.H. White, stockman and part-owner of Antelope Island called such stories “fairy tales” and laughed at them. Some such tall tales were told by Southern Pacific officials, who bet a solid road bed could not constructed for trains over such a sink hole. However, less that 18 months later, by September of 1904, trains started using the shortcut.  

-“Is Salt Lake destined to disappear?” was a Sept. 9, 1899 headline in the Standard. Claims of crop irrigation depleting the water from the streams that used to recharge the lake was cited as the cause, that would leave the inland sea at the sun’s mercy.

                Salt Flats at the east side of Fremont Island, when the lake is low.

Proof that the lake was vanishing was the fact that its length had decreased by 10 miles, from 80 to 70 miles in the past decade.

Yet, 115 years later, the Great Salt Lake is still there.

-“Would make part of Great Salt Lake fresh reservoir” was a Jan. 11, 1925 Standard headline. A possible dam was suggested on the east side of the lake from Saltair to Promontory Point. Inflowing river water would then make the briny waters fresh over time.

Almost four decades later, Willard Bay came along to the north of that original idea of creating fresh water on the lake’s eastern edge.

-More history:  Zion National Park was headed for a record tourist season 87 years ago. An Aug. 28, 1927 headline in the Standard stated, “Zion Park and Bryce Canyon are overrun with tourists.”

Californians in particular were visiting Utah’s two National Parks in record-setting numbers.

Deer hunting the Kaibab Forest, north of the Grand Canyon was also a big controversy in that era, with locals believing they had the right to five deer a year from that area.

(-Originally published on Aug. 15, 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