Farmington narrowly missed having an Insane Asylum in 1880

                           Looking down a section of Shephard Canyon, lower left.
                                                                                                                Photo by Roger Arave.

FARMINGTON, Utah is the capital of Davis County, but it narrowly missed becoming the home to the territory's insane Asylum back in 1880.
According to the Deseret News of June 30, 1880, there had been some strong consideration given to locating the asylum near the mouth of Shepherd's Canyon in Farmington.
The story states that there was a desirable property available at Shepherd's for a reasonable cost. It was also within a mile of the Utah Central Railroad line.
A government vote actually passed to locate the asylum in Farmington. However, many Salt Lake City residents protested the location and so the vote was reconsidered.
In the end, the  Insane Asylum was located in Provo.

Cedar Breaks -- The 'Circle of Painted Cliffs'

                    Cedar Breaks is similar to the larger Bryce Canyon.

CEDAR BREAKS was originally called "Circle of Painted Cliffs" by the local Paiute Indians.
However, like Cedar City, Cedar Breaks is technically misnamed. Early pioneers mistook the Utah Juniper trees for Cedar trees. AND, by the time the error was apparent years later, the two names were firmly affixed. It was common in the 19th Century to call badlands "breaks."
The first settlers in the mountainous area around Cedar Breaks  arrived in 1868. They mainly stayed in the Brian Head area in the summer, with herds of cattle pasturing there. Since most of the these settlers were from Ireland, the area was for a time called "Little Ireland."
"Building Hotel at 'Breaks'" was an Oct. 12, 1921 headline in the Parowan Times newspaper.

Isaac Lemmon and his son, Thomas, erected a hotel, of sorts, at Cedar Breaks that summer and early fall, with financing from the Adams family. With a rough automobile road accessible as early as 1919, they were hoping for many tourists in the summer of 1922.
This became known as "Minnie's Mansion" and offered accommodations, food and even dancing. It was on the north end of the monument, near what was known as Ollerton Flat.
Still, it was only a seasonal operation, given the heavy winter snows in the area. It closed in less than 5 years, due to a lack of profit. Little trace of the hotel and its few other buildings remain today.
The Utah Parks Company, owned by Union Pacific Railroad, built its own lodge on the south rim of Cedar Breaks in 1924. Small tour buses took passengers to the area. It was marketed as part of a loop with Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The lodge seated 120 guests and chicken dinners were the house specialty.
It wasn't until 1933 that Cedar Breaks became a national monument. Sitting at an elevation of 10,300 feet, the area has heavy winter snows.

                The visitor center at Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Soon after, in 1937, some 27 men from the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) built a visitor center and ranger cabin at Cedar Breaks. This kept Cedar Breaks going well for about a decade.
However, after World War II, railroad travel diminished with increased automobile usage. The Utah Parks Company in 1970 donated the lodge to the National Park Service. They, with no public input or fanfare, tore the lodge and hotel down in 1972. The neaby cabins were sold and hauled away.
Only the small visitor center remained.
The only bright spot to their demolition was that public awareness was now high in Southern Utah for saving historic structures and so the lodges at Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon did not suffer the same fate.

-Note that the town of Brian Head, to the north, is at 9,800 feet above sea level, the highest elevation city in Utah -- and second in the nation (behind Leadville, Colorado, at 10,200 feet.) The adjacent Brian Head Ski Resort opened in 1964.

-Brian Head Peak, the highest in Iron County at 11,307 feet, is the landmark for the area. A dirt road, passable in mid to late summer, leads to the peak, actually more of a plateau.
Brian Head was either named for an early government surveyor, Brian; or for William Jennings Bryan, a Secretary of State for the U.S.
According to the Parowan Times newspaper of June 5, 1929, there was originally a flag pole and cairn of rocks atop Brian Head Peak in the early 1900s. However, it was gone by 1929.
There is a sign and small building at the top of Brian Head Peak today. The structure was built by the CCC in 1935.

-The road from the north, U-143, out of Parowan, is the steepest paved state road in Utah. It tops out at 10,567 feet above sea level and has a 13 percent grade.

-A disastrous forest fire in 2017 ravaged the area.

'Great Bear Story: Bruin run down to Death by an Engine

                                     Modern railroad tracks.


IT was bear vs. train in early January of 1893.

According to the Ogden Standard Newspaper of January 4, 1893, a train running from the Golden Spike area of Promontory to Ogden, Utah was operated by Engineer Alexander and "struck something with terrible force but cleared the tracks without going into the ditch. The night air was filled with heartrending screams of pain but as it was quite dark and the cab had become suddenly filled with dust and gravel, nothing could be seen by the engineer or his fireman. The locomotive was backed up as near as possible to the place where the accident occurred. The cries had ceased and a careful search failed to disclose the whereabouts of the injured creature. As nothing more could be done the run in to Ogden was made without accident."
The story reported that on the return trip the Engineer "was surprised to see hanging up at the Blue Creek section house a magnificent silver tip bear.
Workers had found the massive bear lying near the track. The account stated it weighed some 1,500 pounds.
"The hide is being cured and will be used by Alexander as a rug to remind him of his narrow escape," the story stated.
This was also likely the same bear that attacked cattle in the Clear Creek mountains in the past two years.

The 2 former 'Temples of Health' -- Salt Lake and Ogden's Deseret Gymnasiums

                               The Former Deseret Gymnasium in Ogden, 550 25th Street.


ONE of the most exciting developments in Salt Lake City during the early 20th Century was the opening of the Deseret Gymnasium in 1910.
This "Temple of Health," as some referred to it, existed for some 87 years. (It also served many non-LDS Church members in the area.)
AND, not to be outdone, Ogden residents lobbied for their own Deseret Gymnasium and it opened in 1925 (decades even before Ogden had its own spiritual temple).
Salt Lake's Deseret Gymnasium opened its doors on Sept. 20, 1910. Located where the LDS Church Office Building now stands on North Temple Street, the Gym was just east of the Salt Lake Temple. It was part of the old downtown LDS University and used by students and the public.
Its official grand opening featured an orchestra and the facility cost $250,000 (or $6.14 million in 2017 dollar values).
Centerpiece of the Gym was its 30 by 60-foot swimming pool. 
Indeed, the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper stated on Sept. 17, 1910 that an early opening of just the swimming pool proved to be a chaotic and unpredictable affair.
"A mob of more than a thousand attacked the Deseret gymnasium at the rear of the Latter-day Saints' University this morning and for a time it looked as though the doors would be battered down and the building would be taken by a storm," the Telegram reported.
The Gym had advertised that any boy age 7 and up would be admitted free that morning and hence the mob.
"An average of 100 boys and hour were admitted to the pool," the story stated and some 1,500 boys got a free swim that day. The pool was 4.5 to 8.5 feet deep.
Men and women had separate hours of pool usage during the gym's early decades.
The original Gym also contained 6 bowling alleys, a basketball court and much more.
In April of 1911, the Deseret Gymnasium also had athletes put on exhibitions for General Conference visitors, with calisthenics, folk dancing and games (Salt Lake Tribune April 5, 1911).
The Salt Lake Tribune of March 9, 1911 also stated that indoor baseball games had been held inside the Deseret Gym.
In early 1960s, the Salt Lake Deseret Gym was aging and too small. A new, larger Gym was built to the northwest and opened in 1965. It featured a much larger swimming pool and even an indoor track above its main basketball court.
There was also a popular barber shop in the building and many a departing missionary had their hair cut there in the 1960s and early 1970s, before the MTC came along in Provo.
The Salt Lake Deseret Gymnasium closed in 1997 to make way for the new Conference Center, a block north of Temple Square.
-Ogden's Deseret Gymnasium, 550 25th Street, closed in the early 1990s and was sold in 1993 to Total Fitness. 

-Today, such gymnasiums are probably not needed, at least ones operated by the LDS Church, since many private gym/fitness and swimming facilities now exist.

One of the first drownings in the Great Salt Lake

            Davis County 4th graders play in the Great Salt Lake at Antelope Island.


YES, you can drown in the briny, buoyant waters of the Great Salt Lake.
Although the GSL's waters are 3 to 5 times saltier than the ocean and you can't sink -- but "float like the cork" there, you can drown in the water.
Inhaling the water can choke and gag you and the briny water can fill your lungs and stop your breathing.
One of the FIRST, if not the first recorded drownings in the Great Salt Lake happened on Sunday, August 6, 1882.
According to the Ogden Herald newspaper of Aug. 7, 1882, J.D. Farmer, a well-known Salt Lake City businessman, drowned near the Black Rock resort, on the lake's south end. Although his body could not be initially found, his clothing was discovered in one of the bath houses. He could not be located when the day's final train was ready to return to Salt Lake City. People searched for his body, but it was not found until more than four years later.
The Salt Lake Herald newspaper of Oct. 13, 1886 reported than his body was finally found about eight miles west of Garfield, along the shoreline there. The skeleton's size apparently matched Farmer's height.
The Great Salt Lake has an average depth of 14 feet and pockets of it can be about 36 feet deep, depending on lake elevation. 

                     A youth floats like at cork in the Great Salt Lake.

-Although no one can be certain if the first drowning in the Great Salt Lake wasn't the Salt Lake grave robber, John Baptiste, whom Brigham Young exiled to Fremont Island in the spring of 1862. This since he was never found after an escape from the isle, the Salt Lake Herald Newspaper of Nov. 14, 1895 published an account of the robber where "fact and fiction mixed." 
This report was originally published in the Chicago Chronicle newspaper and was simply, "a wild, weird story." It states that Baptiste was exiled on "Church Island" (Antelope Island), when the fact is the location was Fremont Island.
This Chicago story, a forerunner of fake news, spins Church Island as haunted and avoided because Baptiste has turned into a wild man, hairy, old and dangerous. It even acts like the Great Salt Lake is extremely dangerous with many boats sunk and people drowned.
A work of fiction in the 1890s, it would make for a dismal TV movie plot today.

When Kaysville, Utah almost became Freedom, Utah

ANOTHER "What If?" ...

Kaysville, Utah was named for William Kay, first LDS Church Bishop and pioneer settler in the area. However, the town was almost given a totally different name.

The Kaysville Ward was organized in January of 1851 by President Brigham Young, with Kay as bishop. The town was then known as “Kay’s Settlement.”

However, when Bishop Kay left the area there was a desire by some settlers there to change the community’s name to “Freedom.”
The Deseret News of Nov. 21, 1860 even referred to the town by its Freedom title\, so the alternate name did gain some traction and recognition.
The official name proposal was taken to President Young, who bluntly asked, “When did Kay’s Ward get its freedom?” The idea was turned down and Pres. Young suggested the Kaysville name instead.

(-From the Salt Lake Tribune, May 28, 1916; Also in “Utah Place Names,”: by John W. Van Cott.)

                  Sanpete County contains the small town of Freedom, Utah, so named in 1877.

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Early Southern Utah: From the Four Corners to Monument Valley to Zion Canyon to the Pine Valley Mountains

By Lynn Arave

FOUR Corners is a popular tourist destination today, but just over a century ago it was still an emerging novelty, yet a very remote spot to visit.

As the junction where the four corners of four states – Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona – meet, this place is unique in America.

                                   In 4 states at the same time!

“A Geographical Novelty” was a Feb. 28, 1902 headline in the Coalville Times Newspaper. This article stated that even world-wide, there was not a similar place where four counties met at such a junction.

The Salt Lake Herald Newspaper on Aug. 13, 1902 stated that the Four Corners was located in the midst of desert. Grass for stock was sparse in the area. A Herald article on Sept. 11, 1902 also explained how many Navajos were starving in the Four Corners region, with food shortages.

              Even today, it is barren land around the Four Corners.

The Logan Republican Newspaper of June 8, 1904 said the first shaft type monument had recently been erected at the Four Corners. However, access to the remote place was still difficult, with Mancos, Colorado, some 100 miles distant, being the nearest railroad town to the Four Corners.

                                    Monument Valley

-Still another remote area in southeastern Utah of old was Monument Valley. First referred to in its early days as “Monumental Valley,” (Salt Lake Herald Newspaper of Nov. 1, 1908), it was later referenced as “Monumental Park” too.

The Salt Lake Tribune of Sept. 5, 1915 stated that it required a week of travel from Salt Lake City at that time to even reach the remote location. It was two years later before the first talk of making a regular road to reach the place happened.

-The Henry Mountains further north are another mysterious Utah place. It is often stated that these mountains were among the last to be named ranges in the entire United States.

The first newspaper reference to the Henry Mountains appeared in the Salt Lake Herald of June 18, 1875.

The Henry Mountains were also among the last places to be mapped too. The Richfield Reaper Newspaper of Dec. 30, 1937 stated that the first geological maps of the Henry Mountains were made in 1937.

-Some features in Zion National Park DON’T have the same names they originally had. Back when the place was sometimes referred to as “Little Zion,” a few titles were different.

                The big curve in Zion Canyon, near the former "Raspberry Bend."

For example, a story in the Ephraim Herald Newspaper of Nov. 22, 1919 included an early map of Zion Canyon.

The sharp curve in the canyon just past Weeping Rock was originally called “Raspberry Bend.”

Also, Native American “cliff dwellings” were listed on that map in the Weeping Rock area. These are not marked on maps today. “Mummy Cave” was also nearby and according to the newspaper article was where petrified mummies of early cliff dwellers here were found – several hundred feet above the valley floor. 

In addition, what is called the Great White Throne today had an alternate name in the early 20^th Century --  “El Gobernador.”

Plus, today’s “Grotto” area was originally named “Wylie Camp,” a rustic hotel, established in 1917.

              Looking north to St. George and the Pine Valley Mountains.

-The Pine Valley Mountains, north of St. George, are the highest elevations in southwestern Utah. A May 3, 1935 article in the Parowan Times Newspaper stated that the original name for the mountains as “Kaib-a-harur” – meaning “Mountain Standing Still.”

By 1935 there were already elaborate trails in these mountains, which assisted hiking and horseback trips, as well as hunters.

The Washington County Newspaper of June 17, 1926 stated that from “Signal Point,” the highest place in the Pine Valley Mountains at 10,300 feet, “one may from the same spot and with the aid of field glasses, witness people living in snowbound valleys to the north; see men hauling wood on bob-sleds; watch boys skating and observe gangs of men cutting and hauling natural ice 2- inches in thickness. Without moving a step but simply by turning the telescope of the south, one may see children in summer frocks, ladies picking roses from lawns and all classes of gardening in full summer sway.”

That was obviously referring to the elevation difference between Cedar City (5,850 feet above sea level) and St. George (elevation 2,800 feet).

                                       Vermillion Castle.

-“Vermillion Castle,” northeast of Parowan was so named in May of 1935. According to the Parowan Times Newspaper of May 17, 1935, Simon A. Matheson won a $5 prize for calling the forest campground there “Vermillion” in a Parowan Chamber of Commerce contest. He cited the “castle-like cliffs” as the inspiration for the title.

Previously, the area had been called “Five Mile.”

The road to Vermillion was first oiled in the late 1930s. Heavy rains washed out the road as recently as August 8, 1963.