1922: When Antelope Island was in the running for a Utah State Prison

                              The north shore of Antelope Island.

“State prison may be moved. Committee named to consider Antelope Island proposition” was a Sept. 28, 1922 headline in the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner.

In 2015 there was a lot of controversy about relocating the Utah State Prison from Draper. Eventually the green light was given to move the Prison to west of the Salt Lake Airport – despite protests from Salt Lake City leaders.

Back in 1922, the State Prison was still in its original location – where Sugar House Park is today, 2100 South and about 1700 East. However, an expanding Sugar House residential neighborhood was not deemed as be compatible with a prison.

                   Sugar House Park looking west across its lake.

Antelope Island, an undeveloped island except for one ranch, was considered a possible prison site. Of course, this move never took place. Decades later, the  prison moved to Draper, then in the wide open spaces.

Still, if Antelope Island had been chosen as a prison site back then, it is a surety that Antelope Island State Park would not exist and that some kind of permanent road – likely to the southern tip of Antelope Island – would have been constructed from the S.L. side.

In the 1950s, Fremont Island was also talked about as a future state prison site and that didn’t happen either, likely because of its isolation and high road building costs.

-There was a big fire on Antelope Island in early September of 1917. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Sept. 5 that year, lightning started a big blaze on the dry isle and it could be seen from both S.L. and Ogden. Back in that era, Antelope Island support not only a large herd of buffalo, but had 400 head of U.S. Army horses stationed there for training purposes, as well as some 1000 head of cattle.

-“Antelope Island’s coyotes wiped out” was a Feb. 3, 1924 Ogden Standard-Examiner headline. Because of the island’s importance as a cattle range, poison and some hunters was used starting in 1921 and by 1924  had wiped out all the coyotes living on the island. Now sheep could be safely ranged there too.

-“Fish driven into Great Salt Lake was an Aug. 14, 1911 headline in the Standard-Examiner. It was reported that carp were introduced into Mud Lake, north of an adjacent to Bear Lake, a few years earlier. The carp multiplied exceedingly. However, the electric power company had drained Mud Lake in the early summer of 1911 and that forced all the carp into the Bear River. The carp were reportedly rolling down the Bear River toward Utah and were eventually expected to reach the Great Salt Lake, where they would die in its briny waters.

The same report stated that Bear Lake had known bottom and that 1,000 feet of cable had been used over the lake and still found no bottom below. That myth was prevalent in the early 20^th Century, but Bear Lake was eventually proven to be no more than 209 feet deep.

-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

Baseball fever was high in 1912 Ogden

                            -Photograph from Wikipedia Commons.

OGDEN, Utah had lots of baseball fans in 1912.

According to the Aug. 9 Ogden Standard-Examiner newspaper that year, “Young ladies will tag you” was a large headline.

Aug. 10 that year was declared as national “Tag Day” and Ogden was no exception to that. A bunch of prominent young women fanned out in the city that day and these “diamond missionaries” would “tag” baseball fans they met as they promoted the upcoming baseball game between Ogden and Butte, Montana.

Pre-game hype included an auto parade from the Train Depot and down Washington Avenue. There was also a band and plenty of the young women “taggers” too.

Ogden Street Names that didn’t last ….

OGDEN, Utah had a big thrust to name more of its streets in 1918, to avoid confusion and assist travelers. However, some street names of a century ago didn’t survive.

According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of March 27, 1918, here are some of those forgotten street titles:

-Riverdale Avenue.

-Uintah Dugway

-Hooper State Road.

-Potato Row.

-Hot Springs Road

-Lincoln Highway.

Wilson Lane and Little Mountain Road were two names that did survive the times.

-“KNEW NOT THE SPEED LIMIT” was an April 30, 1912 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

Guess what the speed limit on Washington Avenue (today’s Boulevard) was in 1912? It was a whopping 6 to 10 miles an hour. A motorcyclist received a $7 speeding ticket for racing around at 15 miles an hour back then.

Ogden’s ‘Power Place’ never got juiced up ….

                           Rainbow Gardens, center, as viewed along the Indian Trail.

By Lynn Arave

THE year 1890 was an ambitious time in Ogden City. A Methodist University, dubbed “Utah University” was being built on the present location of Ogden High School. (This “University” was never finished and was gone in four years.) Also, a large resort and housing development named “Power Place” simply never materialized, despite extensive plans.

This Power Place, planned to be 580 acres, was to be located near the mouth of Ogden Canyon (where today’s Rainbow Gardens is). With an electric power plant operating at the Canyon’s mouth in 1890, hence the name of the development.

Power Avenue Junction, Farr View, Short Street, Bow Avenue, Factory Street, Lake Street and Graham Avenue were some of the street names in Power Place, according to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of April 18, 1890.

                                   A historical marker near the mouth of Ogden Canyon.

However, a nation-wide financial panic in 1893 scuttled the plans. In 1905-1906, a single Victorian building was constructed at the mouth of Ogden Canyon – the Ogden Canyon Sanitarium, with a hotel, dining room and mineral baths. Trolley and wagons offered transportation to this resort, but a fire in 1927 destroyed it completely.

A.V. Smith bought the land in 1928 and rebuilt the resort in bricks to create El Monte Springs. Wrestling matches, swimming, private mineral baths, boating, marathon ballroom dancing and even motorcycle hill climbs were all offered at this resort for almost four years.

The 1929 Great Depressing effect had closed El Monte by 1932. It sat dormant until the early 1940s when Ogden’s Cowboy Mayor, Harman W. Peery purchased it and renamed it Riverside Gardens. It offered mineral baths, swimming and dancing.

      

                        The Rainbow Gardens sign in the early 1950s.

In 1946, Peery’s son-in-law, Robert W. King  took over operations, with his wife, Rosanne Peery King, and renamed it Rainbow Gardens. A bowling alley was added in 1961. By the 1970s, swimming pools were not popular enough and the Kings opened the Rainbow Gardens Gift Shop where the former dancing hall and indoor swimming pool were. In the spring of 1976, the Greenery Restaurant began in the former lobby to the old swimming pool. The bowling alley later closed and a souvenir/gift shop took its place.

                                          Fred J. Kiesel

-The hot springs at the mouth of Ogden Canyon was the main attraction to why resort development centered there. It was a miner who claimed the hot springs and surrounding land first. Fred J. Kiesel, Ogden businessman and eventually Ogden’s first non-Mormon mayor, along with two over investors, purchased the spring and land in the 1870s and offered free mineral baths.

        The hot springs, private and inaccessible now, are located just off the highway.

According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Feb. 27, 1883, Bethesda Spring was the original name of these hot springs, named after a pool of water in Jerusalem, as mentioned in St. John. The claim was that the Ogden hot springs could improve health, with their minerals and soothing temperature.

The water’s minerals were analyzed and its temperature was as high as 140 degrees.

-The Ogden Herald newspaper of Aug. 27, 1879, mentioned the first known reference to a “Bathing party” at these hot springs, with a group of gentlemen and ladies participating. Swimming lessons were also given.

-NOTES: These hot springs at the mouth of Ogden Canyon are not publicly accessible today. They have caused a lot of vandalism and crime and the owners of Rainbow Gardens have posted them off limits -- no trespassing.
-Also, today, the original El Monte name for the mouth of Ogden Canyon resort lives on as the title for the golf course, located to the northwest.

1924: A proposal for a Ben Lomond Peak Day

                                                        Ben Lomond Peak

THERE'S little argument that Ben Lomond Peak is the Ogden area’s most majestic mountain. Back in 1924, there was a suggestion to have a “Ben Lomond” day each year, though that never came to be.

“Once a year there should be a formal acknowledgement of the scenic wonder of Ben Lomond,” the Ogden Standard-Examiner stated on Dec. 15, 1923. “There should be a salute to the first rays of light which play upon the topmost rocks and jagged edges of this mountain.”

The story also stated: “The people of Ogden can get more than one lesson by studying the great mountain which enfolds Ogden. There is inspiration every day in the grandeur of the cliffs and the peaks built by a Master Hand.”

More historical tidbits:

-“Queer-shaped cloud caused much comment” was a June 17, 1908 Standard headline. A “remarkable appearing white cloud” was “long, narrow and perfectly white and rolled through the atmosphere like a huge serpent in contortions” and floated westward over the Great Salt Lake that morning. Some believed the cloud was moisture laden and could burst and cause flooding. Others “watched the strange spectacle in the belief that a cyclone was headed in the direction of Ogden.” However, soon the strange cloud seemed to just melt away.

-There was a “Dangerous practice” going on in Ogden Canyon back in 1887. According to a Standard Story of Oct. 23 that year, workmen engaged in lime kilns and lime burning often rolled boulders and used explosives in the canyon.

Residents of Huntsville and Eden were the most affected, since they most often traversed the Canyon. Evan Evans of Huntsville was going down the canyon when a boulder smashed into the side of his wagon, demolishing the wheel.

-“Beanville is City of Past” was a July 21, 1905 Standard headline. A large group of teenagers had created a mushroom city in Ogden Valley with their large camping group. Long before established campgrounds, the youth from Ogden and Salt Lake spent a week there, with bonfires, talks, music and activities. The story didn’t specify who organized the event, but “Beanville” was the temporary community’s actual name.

-One of the first restaurants in Ogden Valley was the “Valley Restaurant” in Hunstville. According to the Standard of Aug. 3, 1908, Carl Johnson owned the eatery and offered mountain trout, spring chicken and even overnight rooms.

-La Plata was the most famous late 19^th Century mining boom town in the Ogden area. However, there were many other mines. One was the far lesser known Camp Rich/Blue Bird Mine, between Wheeler Canyon and Mt. Ogden. According to the March 20, 1896 Standard, its location remained a secret for several years, but produced gold, silver and platinum. The miners were plagued by snow slides in Wheeler Canyon, but persisted on their nine gold claims.

-Speaking of snow slides. Seventeen Logan Temple construction workers in Logan were caught in a giant avalanche Canyon during early March of 1880. Miraculously, only two men were killed, according to the Logan Leader newspaper of March 5 that year.

Skull Crack vs. Causey Reservoir -- the tame name took hold

                         The South Fork of the Ogden River, just below Causey Reservoir.

OGDEN City was becoming desperate for more reliable water sources in 1920 and Skull Crack Canyon (part of today’s Causey Reservoir) was considered the best location for a dam.

“Skull Crack Canyon in South Fork Canyon is the most feasible place in which Ogden must look for its future water supply,” Mayor Frank Francis said in the Standard-Examiner of June 26, 1920.

A tour of the area that month convinced the Mayor that Skull Crack was the premier location. However, Mayor Francis did not receive the support needed for a dam and so Ogden simply had to drill more and deeper wells in its Artesian Well Park (located under the west end of Pineview Dam today), until Pineview Reservoir came along in 1937. Causey Reservoir, a part of Skull Crack Canyon, was not built until the 1960s, completed in 1966.

Skull Crack received its unusual name for a 19^th Century hunter who was said to have hit his unruly mule over the head with his gun barrel, cracking the animal’s skull. However, Thomas Causey had built a sawmill in the Skull Crack area in pioneer times and it was his name that was chosen to eventually title the reservoir.

The same 1920 Standard story also reported that the Weber LDS Stake had selected a site in the meadows of South Fork for an upcoming “Fathers and Sons” outing. Young men participating in this would take the train to Huntsville and then hike up to the camp site.

More historical tidbits:

-Back in the automobile’s early days, 1911, an attempted hold up resulted in a wild chase – car vs. horse, in a stretch of country, between Lagoon and Ogden. According to a July 19 Standard story that year, a car driven by a Miss Guernsey of Ogden was accosted by a band of highwaymen on horseback. She refused to stop the vehicle, put it in high gear, drew up the glass windshield and outraced the robbers. They even fired 10 shots at the car. Miss Guernsey’s father was in the vehicle and he returned fire. No one was hit by any of the gunfire and a Davis County Sheriff eventually arrested several suspects.

-Some of the first known long-distance daily commuters along the Wasatch Front lived in Salt Lake City, but took a train to Ogden. “Work in Ogden, reside in S.L.” was an Oct. 17, 1920 Standard headline. More than 50 men from S.L. commuted to work in Ogden each weekday, spending more than two hours on the train. Most were employed by the Ogden Arsenal. Many men hoped to find homes in the Ogden area to lessen their work travel time.

-Finally, travel time from Salt Lake City to Bear Lake today is possible in just over two hours. However, in 1880, it was a full three-day trek. Because of rugged canyon travel and poor roads, it was no easy trip, according to the Logan Leader of Nov. 12, 1880.

1891: A Second La Plata

             Ogden Valley with the Monte Cristo and La Plata area in the far background.

By Lynn Arave

MINING fever was at its height in the Ogden area during 1891. Not only had La Plata, northeast of Huntsville, gained regional attention, but rumors of other claims were rampant.

“A second La Plata” was an Oct. 20, 1891 headline in the Standard-Examiner.

This second claim was in the mountains northeast of Brigham City, south of Devil’s Gate (not to be confused with the Weber Canyon formation with the same name).

Mose Jensen of Brigham City made what appeared to be a rich strike of silver. “Prospectors are now out searching the mountains in every direction, north, east and south of Brigham,” the story stated.

History proved this second La Plata claim was way overblown, but it was typical of the mining frenzy of the early 1890s in the Ogden area.

Although La Plata was just over the border in Cache County, it had the best access from Weber County – and it was wrongly initially believed to be in Weber County. According to the Standard of Aug. 16, 1891, a  sheepherder, “Mr. Johnson” (first name unknown), in July of 1891 noticed an unusual rock after his horse accidentally chipped off a piece of mineral along an old sheep trail and thus started the La Plata boom. Originally called Sundown, a few more small pockets of silver ore were soon discovered there. The sheepherder’s interest in La Plata was soon bought out for $600 by J. Ney, owner of the 8,000 sheep in the area and Johnson’s employer. After Johnson had showed Ney the rock, he recognized its value and filed claims.

“Mines are being opened in every direction from the city,” the Standard reported.

La Plata (meaning silver in Spanish) was soon dotted with tents and wagons. Three log cabins went up in less than five days. Eventually, 60 buildings sprang up at La Plata – stores, saloons, post office, hotel and more. Three different springs supplied water to the area and miners were paid $3 a day for work there.

The Standard of Nov. 26, 1891 reported that despite winter, La Plata was still a busy place and some miners and even their families were well stocked and planning to spend all winter there.

A total of 1,500 people were believed to have lived and worked in La Plata during its heyday. Three summer seasons produced about $3 million, mostly in silver.

By the summer of 1893, mines were closing fast in La Plata, the small veins having been worked out. Come 1894, no one was left in La Plata and it became a ghost town.

-Mines were also scattered all over the mountains on Ogden’s east side. For example, the Standard of Feb. 9, 1881 reported that Strong’s Canyon was home to the Star Mine, some 164 feet deep, for gold and silver. The miners also had a water wheel built there.

The Little Quick mine was found at the same time in Waterfall Canyon. This gold mine was made at least 50 feet deep in solid rock and required no timber for support.

-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