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

1924: When the Great Salt Lake was ‘drying’ up for good

              The Great Salt Lake has much more shoreline and marshes these day.

JUST over nine decades ago, some geologists believed the Great Salt Lake was drying up for good, not then understanding its natural cycles.

“America’s famous ‘Dead Sea’ soon to be dry land” was a Feb. 3, 1924 Standard-Examiner headline.

“Why the water in Great Salt Lake is rapidly vanishing and how one of the richest mineral deposits on earth will be laid bare when this immense ‘sink’ is empty,” was the sub headline with this national news story.

“Within a century the Great Salt Lake, in Utah, will have dried up,” the story predicted. It likened the GSL’s demise to that of its predecessor, Lake Bonneville. The Great Salt Lake had dropped 10 feet in depth from 1900-1915, until some exceptional wet years had recently gained most of that loss back.

“Were it to disappear, Salt Lake City would lose its principal attraction,” the story surmised. Also, a lack of buoyant bathing would be lamented by area resorts.

It stated that what would be left with the lake gone would be an immense sink, which would be worthless for agriculture, given its salty soil.

The story also noted the many similarities between the Dead Sea/Palestine and the Great Salt Lake/Salt Lake Valley.

(Some ninety-one years later in 2015, the lake is still there, though it is in another of its lowest ever cycles.)

More historical tidbits:

-“Syracuse Junction: North end of Davis County transformed by push to its people” was a May 7, 1907 Standard headline.

Although Syracuse would not even have a town board until 1935, it was steadily developing in its early years.

“No spot in Utah has developed more genuine push within its history than this district. Fifteen years ago the traveler was stared at by nothing but sage brush and burning sand for the entire distance between Layton and Ogden,” the story stated. “Today this same spot furnishes the canneries of the state with a product superior to any other in the inter-mountain region, and farms, supplied with everything the agriculturist could desire, dot the landscape.”

The Stewart Investment Company was dividing and developing the land there and the Weber River waters now diverted there for irrigation, had caused the desert to bloom.

 -“Selling the Fair Grounds” was a Dec. 19, 1913 Standard headline. William Glasmann, Standard publisher and former Ogden Mayor, responded to proposals to sell the Ogden fair grounds. He said the people of Ogden would later regret such a move.

“Fairs are not intended as profit makers,” Glasmann stated. “But improvers of products and breeds … Fairs pay indirectly, not directly.”

He also stated that if the Salt Lake Fair, which receives a $20,000 budget, can’t come close to making a profit, why should the Ogden Fair expect otherwise.

(More than a century later of fairs, their often lack of profits and gate receipts are still a controversy …)

 -Originally published on-line and in print on Aug. 27-28, 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

What might have been – A Great Salt Lake resort at Promontory Point

                              Promontory Point as viewed from Fremont Island.

THE early 20^th Century featured numerous beach-side resorts around the Great Salt Lake, including the Saltair, Lakeside and Syracuse resorts. However, Ogden never had its own such resort.

“A resort on the lake” was a Nov. 17, 1923 headline in the Standard-Examiner. “Ogden has no lake resort. A few years ago the Southern Pacific Company made a preliminary survey, with the object of establishing a resort at Promontory Point, but met with no encouragement from this end,” the story stated.

“The most attractive beach on the entire shore line of the lake is on Promontory Point, where the rocky point enters the lake and a sandy floor makes for ideal conditions for bathing,” the story continued.

“While waiting for this resort to materialize, Ogden should have a boulevard from the city to the lake shore near Little Mountain, so that among the attractions would be an automobile drive to the Great Salt Lake,” the story concluded.

(As early as April 4, 1912, a Standard editorial had urged, “Ogden should have a lake resort” at Promontory Point.)

Of course this resort never happened, but it was proposed and studied. (And, there was a temporary lake resort, or sorts, for the Ogden area, used in 1905, after the completion of the Lucin Cutoff, also near Promonotory Point.)

Compass Minerals (formerly Great Salt Lake Minerals) has dominated the Little Mountain area (straight west of Ogden’s 12^th Street and near the Lucin Cutoff railroad line) for more than four decades, yet there could have been a popular recreational predecessor in the area.

-Little Mountain was in the news a lot in 1923. “Alpine Club visits famous spot on Little Mountain; Flag hoisted at place where Lieut. Fremont and Kit Carson stood 80 years ago to view lake,” was a Sept. 9, 1923 headline in the Standard.

The Alpine Club erected a mound of stone on the historic site of the lake’s first recorded government exploration in 1843 and hosted what was believed to be the first flag seen there in eight decades. A box containing a record book that listed the names of those at the 80^th anniversary gathering was also placed there. There was also a proposal for an auto road to the top of Little Mountain.

More historical tidbits:

-Taylor Canyon is famous today as the access to Malan’s Peak and Malan’s Basin. It was also at one time proposed to be an established campground. However, in the summer of 1925 it was also the site of a musical production in what was described as a natural amphitheater at the mouth of the canyon.

Weber College and the Ogden Tabernacle Choir apparently presented an outdoor performance of Joseph Haydn’s “The Creation” there, according to an announcement in the Standard on March 15, 1925. The audience was to be seated in their cars and in a limited number of seats provided, with natural acoustic properties carrying the music for long distances in the area.

-The telephone was a big part of the Ogden area by 1925, according to a Standard story on Feb. 22 of that year. The Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Company switchboard was handling some 60,000 local calls a day in Ogden then. Another 600 to 700 long distance calls were also being handled back then.

Ogden, with an estimated population of 40,000 then, was believed to have about 7,000 telephones, with 130 persons employed at Mountain States.

 (-Originally published on Aug. 2-21, 2015 on-line and in print 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

1911: A landmark hike by Ogdenites through Yellowstone

                                                                A Yellowstone hot pool.

DURING Yellowstone National Park’s early years and four years before the first automobile traversed the area, a group of 40 Ogden residents hiked an estimated 160 miles through the park in the summer of 1911.

“Ogden hikers arrive home” was an Aug. 14, 1911 headline in the Standard-Examiner.

This landmark hike spanned 12 days and was organized by Rev. F. V. Fisher of Ogden. Their trek began just east of today’s West Yellowstone at what was then called “Yellowstone Station.” The party walked to Old Faithful, to Yellowstone Lake, to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and to Mammoth. Then, they returned southwest to their starting point.

The Standard story reported that this was believed to be the largest group to ever hike across Yellowstone to date and it included the largest number of women to ever attempt such a hike there too.

                                    Artist's Point in Yellowstone.

“The unusually large number of walkers attracted attention all along the 160-mile route and soon became known to every party of tourists passing through the park,” the Standard reported.

The Ogden group covered as much as 26 miles in a single day and often hiked at 4 miles per hour for 4-5 hours at a time, with little rest.

There were four Ogden ministers in the group and so Sunday featured plenty of campfire sermons. No member of the party was injured, but a bear did attack a man in a nearby camp. The group also had to maintain vigil at night to prevent bear attacks.

                          The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

The Ogden hikers also saw a tourist from Michigan slip and slide almost 300 feet down a slope in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, before he stopped himself a thousand feet above the chasm. He had to hang on for an hour until a rope rescue arrived. Another tourist was spotted falling backwards into a hot pool. He was badly scalded and transported to a hospital in Salt Lake City.

-Despite the grizzly bear danger in Yellowstone, the Ogden area had its own bruins to deal with. “Killed a grizzly: Third one this year,” was an Aug. 23, 1910 Salt Lake Tribune headline. A Kaysville man had to kill another grizzly near the mouth of Bair Canyon, with so many of his sheep disappearing.

-“Bear streaks are on Ogden bills of fare: Big grizzly, a Cinnamon and two cubs brought to market” was an Oct. 20, 1908 Tribune headline. A 900-pound bear was killed near Huntsville and others too, to provide many bear steaks in Weber County that fall.

-The Oct. 2, 1887 Standard reported the narrow escape of Edward Bartlett, a sheepherder from North Ogden, from a grizzly bear in the North Fork of the Ogden River area. Bartlett quickly climbed a tree and the bear grabbed his shoe. Fortunately, the sole of the shoe separated and the bear left.

-“Bear disappearing from this state” was a Nov. 20, 1914 Standard headline. Forty-nine bears – including 19 in Cache County -- had been reported killed in Utah that year. Cries were being made to halt bear killings, before they were all wiped out.

-Finally, a Feb. 14, 1914 Standard story reported that L.R. Chace, a veteran trapper, was attacked by a bear in the Ogden area. The animal sunk his teeth into Chace’s thigh, but before doing more damage, the bear choked and let go. Apparently, the bear had gotten a big taste of the plug of chewing tobacco in the man’s pocket and that made him very sick.

 (-Originally published on-line and in print by Lynn Arave in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Aug. 13-14, 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

Ogden’s old summer swimming holes

                      In modern times, the Ogden River at South Fork is a popular water area.

  MORE than a century ago, in 1918, the most popular place to swim and cool off in the summer was Jones’ Grove, at the back of Lorin Farr Park.

“Believe me your swimming pool in Ogden River is a pleasure and a joy after completing the dusty trip across the desert from California,” William E. Smith, a tourist, wrote in a letter to the editor in the Aug. 16, 1918 Standard-Examiner.

Smith’s letter continued: “It felt like the first oasis after a long trek and the whole family wallowed in it for an hour or more. Ogden knows how to extend the good hand of welcome to its vagabond auto visitors, and will be known all along the road for this practical hospitality.”

Smith’s only suggestion was that Ogden City add showers to its bath houses there. Later, in the spring of 1919, that feat was accomplished with a contract of $810.

However, not all was picture perfect for Jones’ Grove. “Hoodlums among women at swimming pool” was a June 28, 1919 Standard headline.”The complaints state that large boys have been using profanity in the vicinity of the pools and making threats to keep tourists away from the water,” the story stated.

The Ogden Publicity Bureau was already providing complimentary bathing suits for tourists in the auto camping park. Now, the police were instructed to rid the park of such hoodlums.

The Standard of July 22, 1919 reported that Ogden City had constructed a $4,650 children’s swimming pool on the grounds of Washington Park, which adjoined the playground of South Washington School.

So popular was this pool, that firm hours of use were immediately established: boys could swim from 1-4 p.m.; girls from 4-7 p.m.; and adults from 7-10 p.m.

-“’Ol swimmin’ hole made by youngsters near Ogden River Bridge always full” was a July 23, 1922 Standard headline.

Despite some artificial, cement pools in Weber County, some kids – especially those on the north side of town -- preferred the closer, open waters. They created a dam and made a 5-foot-deep water hole. There was a shallow are for young kids.

However, swimming attire was limited. The Standard story reported most swam in underwear and that one kid had improvised a swimming suit out of a gunny sack.

“At most any time a visitor my see a water circus. The kids have diving and swimming contests and stunt work and then divide off for a wild splash battle which lasts until one side gives up and the defeated members crawl to the banks to recuperate. The kids of the north end wouldn’t trade their pool for the best of the artificial kind. They made it themselves and are proud of it,” The Standard reported.

-Five years later, there was a problem with swimming in the Weber River. “Nude bathers given lecture. Sheriff’s Office makes roundups at old swimmin’ hole,” the Standard of July 11, 1927 reported.

“Small boys who caper in the waters of an old swimming pool in the Weber River, near the viaduct, but scorn to be handicapped by suits, were given attention today by the Sheriff’s Department,” the story stated.

Motorists over the viaduct had been complaining of the nudity. The boys were given a stiff lecture and promised to wear swimming attire in the future.

-There were also occasional accidents in the swimming river holes. A 17-year-old boy from Idaho drowned in the Weber River, near west 28^th Street, on Aug. 10, 1919, in 10 feet of water. There were an estimated nearly 100 deaths in this “Caving Bank” portion of the Weber River, from 1879-1919, because of a strong undercurrent. Three or four deaths happened some summers there.

A Standard editorial asked for lowering the depth of the water there.

 (-Originally published on-line and in print in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Aug. 6-7, 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

Summer outings to Lagoon began in mass as early as 1908

LAGOON has been a focal point for summer outings for some 107 years. There are few large businesses or LDS Church Stakes in the Top of Utah who don’t have a day of their own at the theme park.

According to the Standard-Examiner of July 30, 1908, this all may have started on Aug. 6 that year when the Mutual Improvement Association and the Sunday Schools of the Weber Stake had the first official stake outing to Lagoon. These groups were also the first to travel to Lagoon in mass over the completed Bamberger railroad.

A baseball game between the two groups was a highlight of the summer excursion.

Many may think of “Stake Lagoon Days” as a modern invention, but they essentially date back more than a century. The Ogden Stake Sunday School outing at Lagoon in 1914 attracted some 2,000 people.

Just over a decade later, these “stake outings” had multiplied and expanded. The Aug. 20, 1925 Standard reported that horseshoe, dancing contests, as well as swimming and running races dominated the activities at Lagoon that year.

By the 1930s, many LDS Church returned missionary groups staged annual outings at Lagoon. For example, the Standard on July 27, 1934 stated that missionaries who served in the British Isles, as well as those who emigrated here from there, met at Lagoon. There was “an English soccer football game,” swimming, a luncheon and a program.

“Old folks” also got in the act as by the early 20^th Century, there were annual “Old Folks Days” at Lagoon. From train transportation to food and events, these gatherings were totally free to senior citizens back then.

One of the first “Old Folks Days” at Lagoon for Weber County was on June 19, 1914 and attracted more than 1,000 seniors. They also had wore colored badges too – if you were age 70-79, you had a red badge; 80-89 a blue colored badge; and if you were 90, or more you wore a yellow badge at Lagoon.

Special heritage days were also held at Lagoon too. In 1926, there was an “All-German Outing” at Lagoon in July.

It was also in these “roaring 20s” that Lagoon really hit its stride. It had its lake fully stocked with fish for fishermen; bright lights above its outdoor pool kept swimmers going after dark (and 1,000 tons of beach sand were hauled in for Lagoon’s beach); there were bicycle races geared for children; and there were large fireworks displays at Lagoon both on the Fourth of July and July 24^th.

 More historical tidbits:

                               Mirror Lake and Bald Mountain.

-We probably take access to Mirror Lake and the High Uintas for granted these days, but it wasn’t until late summer in 1957 (58 years ago) when the “Mirror Lake Highway” (U-150) was fully paved from Kamas to Mirror Lake.

According to the Park Record newspaper on Aug. 29, 1957, the final 10 miles of highway to Mirror Lake were paved, with a 2 ½ inch thick layer.

Kamas Valley residents were excited over the future tourists who would now travel on a smooth road through their community to the Uintas.

A rough, dirt path, originally known as the “Provo River Road,” was completed to Mirror Lake in 1925, but it wasn’t improved until the 1950s and then paved. The road is now Utah’s highest elevation paved highway, topping out at 10,715 feet above sea level.

-Swimming was a popular pastime on the Great Salt Lake in the late 19^th Century. However, rowing races on the briny waters had their era too. Back in 1888, the Standard-Examiner on Aug. 28 reported that many eastern states amateur rowing clubs converged on the lake for races. Teams from as far away as Chicago and Delaware took their oars to the lake.

(-Originally published on-line and in print on July 30-31, 2015, by Lynn Arave in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.)

-UPDATE on Stake Lagoon Days:  “We discontinued the official (Stake Lagoon Day) program in 2016 but Stakes are still able to schedule a day individually if they choose to,” Lagoon Spokesman Adam Leishman stated in 2018.

-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 Ogden's Berthana opened in 1915

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


“Opening of the Berthana is a brilliant social success” was the May 27, 1915 headline in the Standard-Examiner of the building’s debut.
The story stated that the facility, located on 24th Street, between Grant and Hudson avenues,. has “given the younger generation an environment of wonderful attractiveness.”
It was also explained that the building’s title was a composite name, in honor of Mrs. Bertha Eccles and Mrs. Anna T. Dee.
The ballroom at the Berthana was 120 feet long and 80 feet wide. Many dances took place there over the decades, where undoubtedly many young people met their spouses to be.
The facility also originally included a men’s smoking room.
The Thomas D. Dee Company and the David Eccles Estate made the building’s construction possible. Utah Governor William Spry spoke at the Berthana’s opening night gala and said “It stands as one of the marks of the ‘Ogden spirit.’” After that speech, the better part of some 600 guests eagerly tried out the dance floor.
“It is impossible to describe all the wonderful features embodied in the building and the care with which it has been constructed,” the Standard report stated.
The Standard also listed alphabetically, all 600 or so of the invited guests to the grand opening.
​(After more than 40 years of being empty, the Berthana building – now over 100 years old -- has recently been remodeled for some $750,000 and today houses a variety of businesses.)
In other historical tidbits:
-West Weber hosted a large July 24th Pioneer Day celebration back in 1880. A marching brass band got things going, followed by speeches, singing, games, horse and foot races.
Some 70 pounds of candy nuts were given to children, while 60 gallons of homemade beer and 80 gallons of lemonade were available for free too.
There were no drunks, fights or quarrels at the festivities, according to the Standard report from July 31, 1880.
-The town of Hooper also had a big Pioneer Day celebration on July 24, 1883. As reported in the Standard on July 27th that year, T.S. Johnson delivered an impressive speech on the history of the pioneers and the LDS Church, recounting some of the miracles that occurred in traveling to the territory.
Strangely, four children illustrated the evils and the high cost of having a chewing tobacco habit during the program. Games, foot and horse racing followed, with an evening dance.
Charles Parker was the “Marshall of the Day, with John Flinders as Chaplain. James Beus, Sam Ridout, Eli Spaulding and George Fowers were on the Committee of Arrangements for the event.

(-Originally published on-line and in print on July 23-24, 2015, in the Ogden Standard-Examiner, by Lynn Arave.)

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