We all live downstream of history and upstream of the future.
Summer 2003
| In This Issue - Drought, Weather and Water | Features | News |
|
DRY: Real Estate Promoters, Earless Cows, and Other Phenomena of a Desert State 15,000 Years of Weather Extremes: An Archaeological Perspective Hot Summers, Cool Waters: A Photo Essay
|
Random Acts of Thinking: A Vision of History Saving History Every Day: Behind the Scenes A History Treasure Hunt Miss Mary, Gobs of Paint, and the Blossoming of History in Salina Book Marks: Rockwell Conversations The Grafton Heritage Partnership Project Preservation Puzzler |
Coming: Combined Research Center The Latest in Utah History New and Improved: Heritage Tourism Toolkit Protecting Utah's Archaeology Lecture at the Rio Grande New Museum in Murray Battalion to Air this Summer Got Lincoln? |
DRY: Real Estate Promoters, Earless Cows,
and Other Phenomena of a Desert State
 |
| Bones in Skull Valley. Photo by Charles Kelley, USHS |
In 1912, when Carlton Culmsee's parents came to look at land for sale in the Escalante Desert of Iron County, the desert had enjoyed a rare wet spring. "Grasses flourished". Wild horses frolicked on the benches, deer roamed the hills, pools sparkled in low places."
Salesmen kept up the illusion by carefully avoiding the word "desert." Instead, they located the property in the "Escalante Valley."
Entranced, the couple actually bought two townsites. Over the years, they valiantly worked at farming and tried to attract more people to their towns. But the generous rains had only been the "wet" of a wet-dry cycle. In the arid West, the "dry" must come around eventually, and it did. Eventually, the towns and farms dwindled away.
Actually, a Paiute legend tells a similar story--minus the real estate promoters--about this area. The story tells of people who migrated eastward from a place of "endless waters" to the "red mountains." (Nothing is new under the sun; Californians are still moving to Utah.) At first they prospered as farmers and hunters. But then the climate turned dry. Their god Shinob told the struggling people to "take council from the animals"; thus, the group quit farming and became nomadic hunters and gatherers.
Wet-dry cycles are a fact of life in Utah, though we have done our best to work around that fact. Weather data show that there's no such thing as a "normal" year of rainfall--only years that are wetter than the average and years that are dryer than average. Usually, the wet peaks come around every 11 to 13 years--with dry troughs in between.
What meager precipitation Utah gets comes in peaks and valleys, but basically, Utah is at present a desert. In fact, the climate during the last 30 years has been dryer than that of the first part of the 20th century. When Grandpa says that in his day they had real winters, he's right.
What creates the peaks and valleys? Scientists say that seventeen global cycles (El Nino is one) contribute to drought, and that sunspots may influence these cycles. When three or four of these cycles come together, they create a mild drought. Ten or more create a severe drought. Right now, six of those cycles are at play.
The most severe drought on record hit Utah between 1895 and 1907--a much longer dry spell than normal. During those years, the "once-rich meadows on [Boulder Mountain] turned to dust beds. Herds of sheep were bedding by the streams and dying along the banks. The cattle lingered around the mud holes. Those in a weakened condition would flounder in the mud and die."
The second worst drought, from 1931-41, hit northern Utah especially. This Depression-era dry cycle decimated grazing grounds, and cattle and sheep came off the summer range thin and weak. During the winter, some Duchesne County farmers harvested tumbleweeds to feed their cows.
A federal emergency relief program paid livestock growers to kill their weak cows. Ranchers had to show a pair of ears to prove the slaughter and to receive payment. Not surprisingly, local lore tells of earless cattle running wild on the range after that. Another story tells of a farmer who kept and milked a modest herd of earless cows--until the county livestock inspector caught him.
That was then. What about now? In March, reservoirs in the state held less than 50 percent of capacity. During 2002 the Virgin River flowed at 43 percent of its average annual flow. As of March 12, the snowpack around the state ranged from 48 to 86 percent of average. Soil moisture ranged from 11 to 66 percent of average.
Though more rain fell this spring, most of the state is in the fifth year of drought, and ranchers and farmers probably feel it more than anybody. Montell Seely, a rancher in Castle Dale, says, "Last year was really tough. And we're headed into a year that's a duplicate."
The irrigation association in Seely's area has measured water flows for more than 70 years. According to those records, less water flowed last year than during the major droughts of 1934 and 1977. Last year, Seely only got 60 percent of his usual hay crop; meantime, the price of hay doubled, and many farmers had to go into debt to feed their livestock.
Still, Seely says that "it's is going to be all right." He has learned to get through the wet/dry cycles. As a boy during the Depression, he learned from a mother who was a "genius of frugality," and he still lives frugally even during the good years.
Frugality is one strategy for living in a land where dry years will always come along. In recent times, Wasatch Front residents have cut water use by 10 percent. Many have planted drought-tolerant landscapes. In the future, as the population grows, no doubt we will need to expand on these and other strategies--because we know from past experience that drought will always come.
-- Kristen Rogers, Currents editor
Sources: Carlton Culmsee, "Last Free Land Rush," UHQ 49:1. Utah Climate Center: Climate.usu.edu. Utah Snow Survey: ut.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/ A History of Duchesne County, by John D. Barton. A History of Garfield County, by Linda K. Newell and Vivian L. Talbot. Conversations with Randy Julander, Snow Survey; Don Jensen, Utah Climate Center; Ken Short, Division of Water Resources; Montell Seely.
15,000 Years of Weather Extremes:
An Archaeological Perspective
 |
White Canyon petroglyphs, beneath Kachina Bridge, Natural Bridges National Monument. These petroglyphs date from the same general time that severe drought hit the Southwest. The Pueblo (Anasazi) people who made them abandoned Utah by 1300 A.D. USHS; Utah Writers Project photo (1930s) |
Drought. The word means a period of prolonged or extreme dryness, but the images that come to mind are not just of aridity, but also of its parching effects on living things. Extended families with all their possessions bundled atop a rattletrap truck fleeing dust-clouded 1930s Oklahoma. Dried fish carcasses littering a mud-cracked desiccated lakebed. Pot-bellied, malnourished children wasting away under a fly-infested rag tent in a Biafran refugee camp.
Nearly all areas of the earth have at one time faced drastic aridity. Human cultures have even been completely eradicated when the climate turned dry, wreaking havoc with traditional lifeways. No wonder many cultures, especially those from arid regions, have stories and myths about droughts, or they have ceremonies and rituals to ward off dry periods.
Drought is relative, though. The recent drought in Florida did not turn the region into another Mojave Desert; it simply represented a significant decline from the usual amount of moisture?a decline to which the flora and fauna (and cultures!) of the region were not well adapted.
A region might also have a prolonged period of above-normal moisture, such as Utah experienced in the mid-1980s, when the Great Salt Lake rose to levels that threatened highways, homes, and even the airport.
Obviously, weather and the moisture it brings vary from year to year, sometimes wildly. On a larger scale, long-term climate can also change. We need only to look to the past to learn that extreme changes in climate have always occurred--and will continue to occur in the future.
In our own region, only 15,000 years ago Lake Bonneville, more than 1,000 feet deep and covering nearly 20,000 square miles, filled most of western Utah.
On other hand, the Fremont and Anasazi Indian cultures that farmed and flourished in the region for hundreds of years were devastated when a drought some 700 years ago decimated their crops and forced abandonment of huge areas.
When the meteorologists on the evening news mention records and averages for temperature, precipitation, and snowfall, remember that these numbers are based on only 100 or so years of record-keeping. Knowing that climate has varied greatly over many thousands of years in this area, resulting in deep lakes and parched deserts, will help us keep in mind that those extremes will happen again. We humans, along with other living inhabitants of the area, will have to deal with conditions drastically different than those we are accustomed to. Perhaps, like the Fremont and Anasazi, we will be forced to abandon the Intermountain West. At least we will have to drastically change the ways we live.
As an archaeologist, I know that a major climate--and culture--change will happen. I just can't tell you when.
-- Kevin T. Jones, Utah State Archaeologist
HOT SUMMERS, COOL WATERS
A photo essay
Most years we take water use for granted. This year, water conservation is on the minds of many Utahns as we remember other drought years and shrinking lakes and reservoirs, watering restrictions, and fires. We have all enjoyed using water for recreation in the summers?and hopefully, with rainfall and conservation, this will always be possible.
Think of all the ways we have used water to beat the heat, especially before air conditioning. Remember how good it felt to run through sprinklers --to get wet while washing the car--to have a water fight with the neighbor kids--to feel that shock of cold water when jumping into a pool or lake--or to appreciate the gentle, calming sounds of a flowing creek or waves against a shore. Hot summers and cool waters just go together.
 |
Situated on the edge of the Great Salt Lake west of Farmington, the popular Lake Park Resort experienced a short life (1886-95) due to a receding lake. Simon Bamberger, an investor in the resort, later moved some of the buildings and boats to his new Lagoon Resort. |
 |
In 1896 Bamberger purchased some swampy pastureland in Farmington with the idea of creating another lake resort called Lagoon. The original small pond eventually expanded to cover more than eight acres, making boating and swimming the main attractions in the early years of Lagoon. This 1907 photo shows boaters on Lagoon Lake in long dresses and wide-brimmed hats, long-sleeved shirts and ties. Can you imagine going to Lagoon dressed like that today? |
 |
The "lagoon" emphasis changes from a pond to a swimming pool. The swimmers in this July 4, 1931, photo are having fun and cooling off in the "largest filtered fresh water pool in the West." Lagoon used the pitch "Swim in Water Fit to Drink" to bring in thousands and make the pool a primary attraction. |
 |
Summer tourists visit the Great Salt Lake to float in the notoriously "impossible-to-sink-in" salty water. These young women are testing their buoyancy at Saltair in 1947. |
 |
Boat rides were offered at Salt Lake City's Liberty Park for summer entertainment. The children appear to be enjoying their boat ride on a beautiful day in May 1939. |
 |
These women take a moment to refresh by wading in a river on a hot summer day in 1902. |
 |
Boating on Lake Powell became very popular in the 1960s; n.d. |
 |
For the more adventuresome types, Utah offers river excursions like this one photographed in Glen Canyon. River runners began taking tourists down the Colorado River in the 1930s and '40s; n.d. |
 |
This couple takes advantage of the warm sun and breezes for good sailing on the Great Salt Lake; n.d. |
 |
A fisherman in May 1912. |
 |
Salt Lake City's Calder Park was a popular recreational site as shown in this 1902 photo of three ladies (three generations?) walking alongside the lake. Many Salt Lake City residents came by streetcar to spend a day in the park. The park later became Wandamere Park and then Nibley Golf Course after Charles Nibley |
Random Acts of Thinking:
A VISION OF HISTORY
Since assuming the directorship of the Utah Division of State History/Utah State Historical Society, I have been asked often, "What is your vision?" My answer: "An eye to the past and an eye to the future while firmly planted in the present."
As the Division of State History, we are charged in statute as the "authority for state history." What an awesome task! What an incredibly energizing task!
My vision is that history will engage people's minds, hearts, and all senses--that people will get in tune with the state's intriguing past to perhaps better understand the present and look to the future.
The Utah State Historical Society will be the resource for history, providing through many sources and experiences an interdisciplinary look at the past. Our staff deals professionally and sensitively with the state's archaeology, historic buildings, research and resource materials, and the dynamic history of this vast area known as Utah.
ARCHAEOLOGY Division archaeologists allow students to probe the mysteries of ancient cultures by conducting group excavations at Mushroom Springs on Antelope Island. Here, under the watchful eye of a professional archaeologist, children can touch objects such as projectile points and remnants of animal bones, allowing a culture to come alive. One twelve-year old student admitted that "Archaeology is cool, but I want to be a doctor."
Still, the experience permitted students and parents alike to see the importance of an archaeological site and how the "pieces" of that site are really "historic documents" that archaeologists use to understand the past?thus, the need to protect those sites.
The Division also maintains databases of the state's priceless historical and archaeological resources.
PRESERVATION In like manner, our historic preservation program views buildings and sites as documents of history. By helping to identify, preserve, and revitalize irreplaceable sites, buildings, and neighborhoods, we directly show that the link of past to present really does affect the future. Preservation professionals help communities and other entities discover their own resources and decide how to keep and use them most effectively.
Historic buildings open a vista of understanding on how people lived and what they value. For example, traveling down Utah Highway 89 through Sanpete County (a future National Heritage Area), one may discover Parstuga Houses (or "Pair Houses"), built by early Scandinavian immigrants. These houses remain a strong reminder of the cultural and ethnic diversity that was so much a part of Utah's settlement.
In addition to homes, the Utah landscape is dotted with barns, mining structures, commercial blocks, and government buildings that hold mysteries just waiting to be discovered. As you travel, stop and explore!
LIBRARY AND COLLECTIONS The vision of the Historical Society as a place of discovery is embodied in our incredible library and research center, which holds many of the state's history treasures in public trust. We have one of the finest research libraries in the Intermountain Region. For more that 100 years we have collected and maintained books, pamphlets, manuscripts, periodicals, newspapers and clippings, yearbooks, telephone and city directories, architectural drawings, maps, and photographs. Here, through historical records, the public can probe into lives, towns, and events.
More than 700,000 historic photographs just beckon to be viewed. These images, along with our artifact collection, trigger the memory, act as mediators of the past with the present, and offer a window to the past.
This vision of the Society gets only better because of a new State Archives complex that will be built to the south of the historic Rio Grande Depot next year. This will allow "one-stop shopping" for research into Utah's archives and the USHS library.
HISTORY The embodiment of all of this lies in the Utah Historical Quarterly. Many articles capture the imagination of readers through the use of oral history. In the telling of stories perhaps we can all remember similar times and places in our own lives. As with historical objects, historical writing can trigger the collective memory, allowing us to relate to the past.
Our staff historians also visit communities and work with those who want to "do" history. Whether they are students working on Utah History Fair projects, serious scholars probing into a topic, or individuals wanting more on their community, historians can guide and provide helpful clues for unlocking the past.
My vision is inclusive, but tempered by public interest. This new, expanded and revised Currents offers a vehicle to gain public input. Let us know of your vision for the Division of State History/Utah State Historical Society. After all, history is about people!
-- Philip F. Notarianni, director of the Utah State Historical Society
Saving History Every Day:
Behind the Scenes
Archaeologist Jim Dykman has a passion for his job--even though few people have jobs more stressful. Take Eureka, for example.
 |
| Jim Dykman mulls over a Section 106 project. |
"The EPA came in and told a small town it's contaminated with mill tailings--and that they would have to dig up the landscape to get rid of the tailings," he says. "Our job has been to remind the EPA that this isn't just a ramshackle little town. We consider it a world-class heritage site. Eureka is Utah's last large living mining town."
Convincing the EPA and the state Division of Environmental Quality of the importance of Eureka's heritage was a struggle. But the battle paid off. The cleanup will be done in a way that will not destroy the town's heritage.
Dykman is part of a team at the Division of State History that provides people an opportunity to protect historical and prehistoric resources--people who don't always want to protect the resources.
Federal and state law requires planners and developers to take history and prehistory into account. When archaeological or historical sites on public land lie in the path of development, the law requires protection or mitigation. Dykman's job is to help people understand and obey the law.
Make that a lot of people. More than 3,000 cases come to the Division of State History each year. Dykman works with archaeological and industrial sites, and Barbara Murphy does the same for historic buildings. Janice Reed-Campbell assists both.
In best-case scenarios, developers win as the Division assists them to comply with the law efficiently. Utahns and all Americans win, too, as the states' priceless sites are studied and/or preserved.
"Unfortunately, developers often ignore us or try to get around the law," Dykman says. "Many people don't see the importance of prehistoric resources. If it's not a Mesa Verde, for instance, they don't see the worth. But these smaller sites represent the everyday life of people. They contain priceless information."
The Division of State History has been commenting on projects since 1974 (Dykman himself has been at it for 25 years). "We're here for the long run," he says.
And that's good. Ongoing development, from oil wells to roads to nuclear waste repositories, will continue to threaten the state's archaeological and historic resources. As it does, the Division of State History will keep working to protect the irreplaceable legacy of the past.
Jim Dykman recently won the Salt Lake Community College's Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award. Teaming with anthropology associate professor John Fritz, he has created field studies at Dugout Ranch in southern Utah and online anthropology courses, and he also teaches the humanities course "Sacred Texts and Mythologies."
 |
A family trip, 1911 style. |
It's summer. Vacation time. But this year many of us will not be traveling far. If you are taking a local or in-state vacation, a great opportunity lies before you! You have the chance to get up close and personal with the place you call home.
Wherever you are and wherever you go, you can make summer travel season an adventure in discovering the past. And Utah has so much to discover. The more you discover, the more you will understand and feel a part of this place.
Almost everybody knows about the pioneers, along with a few more history facts. But dig deeper. Make your travels a treasure hunt.
>Before your trip, visit the Utah State Historical Society library and find historical photos of the area you're going to visit. Make some photocopies and bring them along. Look for the same scene today and compare the changes.
>Be a detective. Look for clues to the way people lived here 50, 100, or 1,000 years ago. You might find clues in the landscape, in structures and implements, in museums, in conversations.
>Visit cemeteries?in fact, make it a point to find out-of-the-way cemeteries. You might even try to learn the stories behind the headstones.
>Look for historical markers. And actually stop. Instead of just reading the text and hurrying on, get out of the car. Close your eyes and imagine the event the marker tells about. Hear the sounds, smell the smells, see the sights.
>Talk to local people. Ask them about their experiences in the place.
>Take detours off the main highway. See what you can discover.
? Visit the little museums. Most towns have one. Perhaps instead of rushing through all the exhibits, spend a little extra time with something that especially intrigues you.
>Stay in historical inns or bed and breakfast establishments. Eat in local cafes with a bit of history to them. Visit local pubs or gathering places. Join in at local events. Look for handmade heritage products or other items made locally.
Resources:
Utah.com. See the heritage and culture section under "Things to Do."
The Utah Guide, by Utah Historical Quarterly editor Allan Kent Powell. Newly updated, it offers good travel info, including little-known but great historical places to visit.
The USHS Monuments and Markers and Cemeteries databases, which give info on almost all the markers and cemeteries in the state.
The centennial county histories, published by USHS and each county. Available in libraries.
News and Notes
Coming: Combined Research Center
When the Division of State Archives moves out of its building on Capitol Hill (scheduled to be demolished), it will move into a new building just south of the Rio Grande Depot. The building will store many of the archives' documents and also collections of the Division of State History/Utah State Historical Society.
USHS and Archives will operate a joint research room in the south wing of the depot. This room will provide better services for researchers, giving convenient access to the collections of both agencies.
During its 2003 session the state legislature allocated $7 million for the new Archives building and Depot remodeling. Construction will begin summer 2003 and be completed by summer 2004.
The Latest in Utah History
The Annual Meeting of the Utah State Historical Society always offers a surprise or two or three--little-known stories, new insights, and intriguing interpretations of the past. You can find this year's surprises along with just plain satisfying history fare at the Salt Lake Library on September 11 and 12.
A lecture and awards presentation will be held Thursday, September 11, at 7 p.m. in the library's main auditorium.
Friday, September 12, scholars will present research between 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
We invite the public to attend the Thursday lecture and any or all of Friday's sessions. For a complete schedule of presentations, available after August 1, check our website at history.utah.gov. Questions? Call Kent Powell at (801) 533-3520
New and Improved: Heritage Tourism Toolkit
Communities interested in preserving, enhancing, and using local heritage will find helpful information in the USHS Heritage Tourism Toolkit. This recently updated web site provides resources, examples, and contacts to help communities manage their heritage resources effectively.
The site includes tools for funding, promotion, partnerships, resource protection, resource development and management, and education and interpretation. history.utah.gov/httoolkit
Protecting Utah's Archaeology
Danger and Jukebox caves, in the desert near Wendover, are extremely important archaeological sites in Utah. To help protect these sites from vandalism, the Antiquities Section of the Division of State History, in cooperation with the Utah Statewide Archaeological Society, Salt Lake/ Davis Chapter, has organized a Site Stewardship Program for the caves.
Under this program, members of the USAS SL/Davis Chapter visit and monitor the caves regularly. The chapter received a grant from the Utah State Historical Society to support this program.
Last February, 21 volunteers, Ron Rood and Kevin Jones from the Antiquities Section, and Karen Kreiger from Utah State Parks met in Wendover for Site Stewardship training, both in the classroom and onsite. Site stewards then made plans to visit both caves on a regular basis throughout the year.
Danger Cave is a Utah State Park, but due to lack of funding it was never developed. Unfortunately, vandalism is an ongoing problem, and the site stewards are an important part of efforts to discourage vandals.
The Antiquities Section plans to expand the Site Stewardship Program to include more sites for monitoring. Those interested in becoming site stewards need not be USAS members. Contact Marty Thomas at (801) 292-7859 for more information about becoming a site steward.
Lecture at the Rio Grande
On the 60th anniversary of World War II's "Operation Tidal Wave"?a raid on the Ploesti oil fields?Mervin Brewer will speak on the Utah connection to the event. Two pilots from Utah, Walt Stewart and Hugh Roper, took part in the mission. Brewer will speak on August 1 at noon at the Rio Grande Depot, 300 Rio Grande St., Salt Lake City.
New Museum in Murray
Murray City's new museum is now open to the public in the south end of Murray City Hall, 5025 S. State Street. The exhibit contrasts the area's early agricultural history with the development of smelters and how these influenced the city through 1950. The museum is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. and Tuesday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. You can arrange for tours at other times by phoning (801) 264-2589.
Battalion to Air this Summer
KUED's new documentary on the Mormon Battalion tells the little-known story of the 500 battalion members who marched nearly 2,000 miles to the Pacific Coast, pioneered new routes, created settlements, and participated in the discovery of gold in California. The film will air in July.
Got Lincoln?
The Papers of Abraham Lincoln project seeks to identify, transcribe, and annotate all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln. If you are aware of Lincoln documents in unexpected places, please contact survey@papersofabrahamlincoln.org or phone (217) 785-9130.
CORRECTION!
The article about the Helper Museum in the Spring issue of Currents incorrectly identified museum volunteer Ronald Jewkes as Ollie Sillitoe. It also stated that Guy Adams was deputy sheriff of Kenilworth; he was in fact a deputy in the Carbon County Sheriff's Office. Our sincere apologies to Mr. Jewkes, Mr. Adams, Mr. Sillitoe, and the community of Helper!
Miss Mary, Gobs of Paint, and the Blossoming of History in Salina
 |
Vacation Bible School children in front of the Salina church. white-haired Miss Mary stands on the back row. Courtesy of Virginia Dickert. |
When Virginia Dickert got the idea of buying Salina's old Presbyterian church and making it into a museum, she set out to collect donations. She raised $28,000, more than half the asking price. But her friend ReNonne Robins turned away. "I didn't think it would ever fly," ReNonne says. "She didn't get a red cent out of me."
Eighty-something Virginia Dickert pursues history with a passion. Born in Salina, she fell in love with a boy who came to town with the Civilian Conservation Corps. He became an Air Force pilot, and the couple lived all over the world before returning to her hometown. Once here, Virginia jumped into Salina's history with both feet.
But ReNonne doesn't care that much about the past. Instead, she says, she likes to make history.
As it turns out, there could not be a better combination than these two. If the museum is going to "fly"--and it is taking off, along with other historical projects?this dynamic duo will have played a large part.
 |
The church has been in town since 1884, when the Presbyterians built it as part of their efforts to educate and convert Mormon children.
Made of local limestone, the building is simple and graceful. However, when the city bought it in 1999, the windows, floors, benches, and doors had suffered from dry rot. Much of the mortar had broken out. Endless coats and "gobs" of paint covered the walls and woodwork, and one of the owners had planted a huge woodstove in the middle of the chapel.
ReNonne Robins saw all this when she finally visited the building. It still looked like an impossible project, but she made a few fundraising suggestions. An incorrigible volunteer, she offered to do a quilt raffle--and earned $2,000. Museum board chair Todd Peterson, knowing a go-getter when he saw one, insisted that she join the board.
Since then, ReNonne has spent countless hours scraping, puttying, painting, stripping coats of paint from the original hardware, acting as project manager, drumming up volunteer support, and more. Last fall she got 200 flower bulbs donated and asked the high school's Future Farmers of America to plant them. "So that if the church seemed empty during the winter, when spring came people would know we are still here."
She now chairs the museum board.
Another woman has been involved with the church restoration--at least, metaphorically. Miss Mary, or Mary E. McCullum, taught Salina children for 30 years, until the 1940s.
An early photo of her shows a woman with a serious sweet face behind a pair of rimless spectacles. As a kindergarten and Vacation Bible School teacher at the church, Miss Mary influenced hundreds of children. The story goes that Mormon children on their way to the LDS Sunday School would sneak over to the Presbyterian Sunday School instead.
Miss Mary also traveled to Clarion and Topaz to teach the Japanese children living there during World War II--although some prejudiced townspeople criticized her for it. She had a beautiful singing voice and sang at all the town funerals.
The entire community loved her. The museum board decided to honor her by establishing "Miss Mary's Historical Museum."
After it finishes restoring the church.
ReNonne wonders if Miss Mary had a hand in bringing David Jabusch to Salina to help finish the job. Jabusch, a retired U of U communications professor, had seen a picture of the church in the Utah Heritage Foundation newsletter and thought, "What a beautiful building!" He and his wife went to take a firsthand look?and offered to help with the windows.
They meant it. Several times they have driven the 2 ? hours from Salt Lake to Salina to scrape and sand. They took the old shutters home to refinish them and brought them back. And last March they showed up to help repoint, or replace, the missing mortar.
The Traditional Building Skills Institute from Snow College had brought its stone restoration class to Salina. Master stonemason Keith MacKay spent two days teaching students to repoint the mortar.
Grants, including two CLG grants from the Utah State Historical Society, have helped put on a roof, buy flooring, pay contractors, and more. Residents and former residents of the town have stepped in to help with money and donations.
But the church is still a masterpiece in progress--or, to put it another way, it still has a long way to go. As USHS architect Don Hartley told the museum board, "You're at the place where it seems like you haven't done anything. But don't forget that you have done a lot!"
As ReNonne says, "On a project like this, one day you're looking for a stick of dynamite--and the next day you're excited about it again.
More History Blooming in Salina
 |
One morning last January I woke up with the realization that the CCC buildings in Salina were going to fall down if we didn't save them," says David Jabusch. "They're precious and rare. You can count on your fingers the CCC barracks left in Utah, and Salina has three of them." Jabusch hurried down to the Utah State Historical Society and talked to Don Hartley, who helped him get a USHS grant to begin restoring the buildings.
The CCC barracks are significant in that they were also used as part of the World War II German POW camp in Salina. At that camp in 194? a guard went berserk and began firing into the Germans' tents. The barracks also served as Forest Service buildings.
Jabusch wants to restore and interpret the buildings. He thinks tourists will come to see them, and he even envisions a Depression Days festival in Salina someday.
CCC Photos and Videotaped Histories
At a CCC reunion picnic one July, Forest Service archaeologist Bob Leonard videotaped the former CCC "boys" talking about their memories of Salina and their work in Franklin Roosevelt's Depression-era program. Virginia Dickert has copies of these tapes, and she has also collected many CCC photos, which she has allowed USHS to reproduce. She has collected lots of other Salina photos too, and her house has become a sort of informal community archive. "When people found out I was interested in history, they started bringing me things," she says.
1930s Film
Serendipity brought a charming old film to light a few years ago. Made during the Depression by the Works Progress Administration, Salina on Parade opens a curtain on the town's past, showing people (like firemen, schoolchildren, CCC workers, and owners and employees of all kinds of business), streetscapes, and vehicles. Getting this rare old film copyrighted and copied was a complicated task. It was also dangerous, since the original film was extremely combustible. But Virginia got the copies made, and now she sells them to the public to help support Salina's many historical projects.
Blackhawk Arena
The area's new Blackhawk Arena, which draws big crowds to its events, has a history timeline painted all along a huge wall. It's just one more way that the town's history fans are helping to make history a part of life in Salina.
 |
Orrin Porter Rockwell |
Brian Lamb, the host of C-SPAN's Booknotes, tells what happened when he read Miracle at Philadelphia, Catherine Drinker Bowen's classic work on the creation of the Constitution. "Her book lit a fire under me. Midway through, I was hooked enough to want to know more." I'm sure we have all had similar experiences with books at one time or another--and hopefully, it happens often.
Since Currents editor Kristen Rogers asked me to write about books I love that are "somehow relevant to Utah history," I have thought a lot about this effect that a good book has on me. I decided to choose books that light a fire under me and make me want to know--and read--more. Some will be new books, some will have been in print for a time, and possibly others will be out of print.
For most of my life I have enjoyed history, one of my favorite areas being the history of Utah, Mormons, and the West. One integral part of history is biography. In fact, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "There is properly no history, only biography." Thomas Carlyle wrote, "History is the essence of innumerable biographies."
One of the biographies about a Utahn that I have enjoyed the most is Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder, by the late Harold Schindler (University of Utah Press, paperback, $19.95). Rockwell was "one of the old West's most intriguing and mythic figures [who] stirs strong emotion even today." The Los Angeles Times calls the book "one of the best biographies of its kind." Re-reading Rockwell reminded me just how much I loved the book the first time through, more than 20 years ago.
Hal Schindler, as a writer and a personal friend, showed me that history does not have to be dull. He writes with color and verve, painting vivid scenes for the eager reader. For example, he writes, "Standing there in Lehi's main street, the six gamblers, resplendent in pink leggings and Texas hats, drew admiring glances from the townspeople, who later described them as ?fine-lookin' men." Schindler keeps the reader wanting more by combining solid history, mined from countless sources found during his comprehensive research, with his superior storytelling.
Not only do I find the subject of his book endlessly fascinating and relish Schindler's writing in Rockwell but I also admire the book itself as a piece of art. The hardback edition, now out of print, is a handsome volume: quality cloth binding; attractive decorative dust jacket and endsheets; engaging illustrations by artist Dale Bryner appearing throughout the text, which is done in an inviting typeface; and finally, genuine footnotes (not endnotes--a point absolutely insisted upon by the author). The current paperback edition retains as much of the original charm as possible.
I can't think of a better book on Utah history with which to begin this column than Orrin Porter Rockwell; it's well worth your time, even if you have already read it.
--Curt Bench, owner of Benchmark Books, Salt Lake City
CONVERSATIONS
Join the history conversation; you'll receive a free one-year subscription to Currents for writing in.
When your ancestors first came to Utah, what was life like for them? Why did they come? Where did they live? How did they support themselves? What experiences did they have?
To find answers to these questions, you might have to dig deep into the family memory, looking at letters, diaries, and photographs or talking to older relatives.
You might need to simply talk to your parents, if they were the first Utahns. Or you yourself might be the first one to arrive here.
On the other hand, your ancestors may have lived here for centuries before the Mormon pioneers put down roots here in 1847. In that case, you might want to dig for the earliest family memories you can find?for instance, what was life like when your ancestors came in contact with Anglos?
How did your ancestors' experience differ from or resemble that of others?
We invite you to write a paragraph or two about your family's first Utahns. Send your mini-essay to us at Currents, Utah State Historical Society, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, UT 84101; or fax (801) 533-3503; or e-mail krogers@utah.gov.
We will print responses in this newsletter as space allows and will post all of the responses on our web site.
Grafton Heritage Partnership Project
In 1982 I had a seasonal job in Zion National Park, and everything seemed all bright and new. Southern Utah was a new frontier to me, who had never been to Utah before, and here I was living life on the edge, in what I described to my parents in Minnesota as "no man's land."
During that summer I visited the Grafton ghost town for the first time. With its abandoned buildings and windswept cemetery, Grafton was a curiously mysterious place that happened to be surrounded by nature's incredible beauty.
Little did I know back then that Southern Utah would become my home for the next 21 years. Grafton has remained near and dear to my heart, and as a member of the Grafton Heritage Partnership Project (GHPP) for the past six years, I have been able to give something back to this place. The GHPP is a grassroots nonprofit organization, formed in 1997 through a partnership with private landowners, federal and state agencies, and historic preservation organizations?people who, like myself, have a fondness for this historic treasure.
We have accomplished much in the past six years--most notably, raising $1.3 million dollars to purchase 220 acres of the Stout Ranch. The GHPP also stabilized and restored the picturesque adobe church/schoolhouse. Private landowners have used their own funds to restore some of the few remaining buildings in the town.
 |
The Russell House in Grafton |
Today, we are planning and raising funds to restore the Russell Home. Alonzo Russell built this two-story adobe structure in around 1862. As a blacksmith, Alonzo repaired broken wagon parts, sharpened plows, shod horses, and supplied the town with eating utensils and farm tools.
Now his house sits next to the church/schoolhouse in an advanced state of disrepair.
In years past, vandals removed the structural supports from the front porch and used them for firewood, causing total collapse of the porch and the upper story adobe wall. Bulging walls, rotted floorboards, a missing stairwell, and sagging roof trusses show the urgency of rehabilitating what once was home to a pioneer family.
But help is on the way! Once again, our many partners come to the rescue of this grand place we call Grafton.* In 2001 grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and USHS provided funds for architectural drawings to help guide rehabilitation efforts on the Russell Home. Another Certified Local Government grant from USHS will help put a new roof on the house.
The staff at the Division of State History/Utah State Historical Society, in particular historical architect Don Hartley, remain steadfast in providing invaluable technical advice at a moment's call.
In September, the GHPP will sponsor an adobe-making workshop conducted by the Traditional Building Skills Institute--another USHS partner--at Grafton. Using the town's original adobe quarry, participants will learn the basic principles of adobe making and construction and use these skills to repair the Russell Home.
Much remains to be done. We need more funds, and lots of hard work lies ahead. The GHPP realizes that the longevity of any project is grounded in the continued commitment of its partners. The success of the GHPP is a direct result of those who give freely of their vision, passion for historic preservation, time, and financial assistance. This united effort resembles that of the early pioneer settlers who occupied Grafton. They knew their survival was dependent on not only their own hard work but also on their neighbors.
While many think of Grafton as a "ghost town," the GHPP has breathed life back into something that was slowly returning to the earth. For me, Grafton still retains a great deal of mystery. The buildings are still abandoned, the cemetery is still windswept, and nature's beauty abounds. But something has also changed. I have become a part of its history. I have joined with others to share my own personal vision, to share my interests, to accomplish something that is good--something that is gratifying in itself. For all this, I am truly grateful.
-- Jack Burns, project coordinator for the GHPP and assistant chief of resource management and research at Zion National Park.
If you would like more information on the Grafton project, go to graftonheritage.org. If you are interested in the adobe-making/restoration workshop, see the Traditional Building Skills Website at snow.edu/tbsi. If you want information on preserving a building in your own community, see history.utah.gov.
*Organizations such as the George and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, the Dr. Ezekiel R. and Edna Wattis Dumke Foundation, and the Katherine W. and Ezekiel R. Dumke Jr. Foundation provided funds to assist with purchase of the Stout Ranch. The Simmons Family Foundation, the Gordon Wood family, and many individual donors have also given generously.
 |
Identify the historic structure in this photograph and win a membership to the Utah State Historical Society for yourself or to give as a gift. Send your response (one guess per contestant) to Preservation Puzzler, Utah State Historical Society, 300 S. Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84101. Responses must be postmarked by July 15. A drawing will be held of the winners to determine who receives the gift certificate.
Answer to previous Puzzler
The historic structure shown in the Spring 2003 Preservation Puzzler is the Cedar City Union Pacific Railroad Depot. The building was completed in June 1923 in time for a visit from President and Mrs. Warren G. Harding. One contestant, Esther W. Hankins, who was a child in Cedar City at the time, recalls the event:
The citizens of Cedar City, under great duress, laid the rails so President Harding could visit Cedar City and the parks. I was there to see the first president who had ever visited Southern Utah. Most of the citizens were there, and my parents took my older sister and myself to hear him speak from the back car on the train?. As the train pulled out, I remember a young man with an outstanding voice started singing "May the Lord be with you ?til we meet again," and the entire group joined in. Approximately three weeks later, President Harding died in California.
The following contestants correctly identified the building: Margaret Amy, Mayfield; Margery Bitter and James Parry, Salt Lake City; M. Lee Taylor, Springville; Romayne Phipps, Tooele; Rodney Palmer, Castro Valley, California; Bruce Mackay, San Clemente, California; and Esther Hankins, Charlotte, North Carolina. Ms. Phipps was selected in the drawing to receive the $15 gift certificate.