Category Archives: early 20th century

The Brigham Young Monument (Pioneer Monument)

Published May 4, 2022 / by Seth Noon / Leave a Comment

Write-up by: Seth Noon

Placed By: It was originally unveiled in Chicago at the 1893 World’s Fair, created by Cyrus Edwin Dallin and commissioned by Wilford Woodruff. Shortly after that, it was moved to Salt Lake City, still unfinished, under the orders of Wilford Woodruff.

The GPS coordinates of the Brigham Young Monument.

40°46’10.4″N 111°53’27.9″W

40.769560, -111.891090

Historical Marker text (1)

A photo of the monument from July, 1938, containing a list of names of the original pioneers (1)

The Names of the Pioneers Who Arrived in this Valley, July 24, 1847,

* Signifies Those Now Living. The Unmarked Ones Are All Deceased

Column One: Brigham Young • Clara Decker Young • Heber C. Kimball • Ellen S. Kimball • * Wilford Woodruff • George A. Smith • Amasa M. Lyman • Ezra T. Benson • Erastus Snow • Shadrach Roundy • Albert P. Rockwood • John Pack • Albert Carrington • Orrin P. Rockwell • William Clayton • Thomas Bullock • John S. Fowler • Jacob Burnham • * Joseph Egbert • John M. Freeman • Marcus B. Thorp • * George Wardle • Thomas Grover • Barnabus L. Adams

Column Two: Roswell Stevens • Sterling Driggs • * George W. Brown • Jesse c. Little • Phineas H. Young • John W. Green • Thomas Tanner • Addison Everett • Truman O. Angell • Lorenzo D. Young • Harriet Page Young • * Isaac Perry Decker • * Lorenzo Sobieski • Young • John Holman • Edmund Ellsworth • Alvarus Hanks • George R. Grant • Millen Atwood • Samuel Fox • Tunis Rappleyee • Eli H. Pierce • William Dykes • Jacob Weiler * Steven H. Goddard • Burr Frost

Column Three: Tarelton Lewis • Henry G. Sherwood • Zebedee Coltrin • Sylvester H. Earl • John Dixon • Samuel H. Marble • George Scholes • William Henrie • William A. Empey • * Charles Shumway • * Andrew Shumway • Thomas Woolsey • Chauncey Loveland • James Craig • William Wordsworth • * William P. Vance • Simeon Howd • Seeley Owen • James Case • Artemas Johnson • * William C.A. Smoot • * Benjamin Dewey • William Carter • Franklin G. Losee • Datus Ensign

Column Four: Franklin B. Stewart • Monroe Frink • Eric Clines • * Ozro Eastman • Seth Taft * Horace T. Thornton • Horace K. Whitney • Orson K. Whitney • * Stephen Kelsey • John S. Eldredge • Charles D. Barnum • Alma L. Williams • Rufus Allen • Robert T. Thomas • James W. Stewart • Elijah Newman • * Levi N. Kendall • Francis Boggs • David Grant • Howard Egan • William A. King • * Thomas B. Cloward • Hosea Cushing • Robert Byard • George Billings

Column Five: Edson Whipple • Philo Johnson • Appleton M. Harmon • Carlos Murray • Nathaniel T. Brown • Jackson R. Redden • Francis M. Pomeroy • * Aaron F. Farr • Nathaniel Fairbanks • John S. Higbee • John Wheeler • Soloman Chamberlain • * Conrad Kleinman • Jospeh Rooker • Perry Fitzgerald • John H. Tippetts • James Davenport • * Henson Walker • Benjamin Rolfe • Norton Jacob • * Charles A. Harper • Stephen Markham • * George Woodward • Lewis Barney • George Mills

Column Six: Andrew Gibbons • Joseph Hancock • * John W. Norton • Hans C. Hanson • Levi Jackman • * Lyman Curtis • John Brown • David Powers • Matthew Ivory • Jospeh Matthews • * John S. Gleason • Gilberd Summe • Charles Burke • Alexander P. Chessley • Rodney Badger • * Norman Taylor • Briant Stringam • Orson Pratt • Willart Richards • Joseph S. Scofield • Luke Johnson {Colored Servants: * Green Flake • Hark Lay • Oscar Crosby}

Historical Marker Transcript Text (2)

Photo of one of the plaques on the monument, signifying its dedication of the monument to Brigham Young and the original Pioneers. Taken 1940, March 16th. (1)

Extended Research

The Brigham Young Monument that is in downtown Salt Lake City has a fascinating and mildly dramatic past, filled with petty propaganda and annoyed citizens. The statue is 10 feet tall and was cut in stone but cast in bronze. It was originally designed to be cut with stone, with a 35-foot wide, 25-foot-tall base, but due to a combination of size and location, the 35-foot base was shortened significantly. It used to stand at the center of the intersection formed by Main Street and South Temple but was moved 82 feet north onto Temple Square in 1993. While the monument is often associated with Salt Lake City because it is of Brigham Young, and currently resides in Salt Lake City, the statue was actually completed in and originated from Chicago.

Cyrus Edward Dallin sculpted the now famous marble bust of Brigham Young and unveiled it in Chicago at the 1893 world’s fair. The LDS church had commissioned Dallin previously to create a statue of the angel Moroni (a Book of Mormon prophet) which now stands atop the Salt Lake City Temple. Dallin also sculpted busts of the first presidents of the LDS church, including Wilford Woodruff, who commissioned Dallin to design and sculpt a statue of Brigham Young. However due to a lack of funds, the statue remained unfinished. When the LDS church sought to complete the monument by ignoring Dallin’s initial vision, Dallin wrote to the church, saying “while I am most heartily in sympathy with your wishes and desires, I cannot allow these changes in my design. To put the single figure of President Young upon a large unadorned pedestal, as you design, would be manifestly inappropriate and would not only hurt me, but might seriously endanger the final completion” (3). The LDS church ignored Dallin’s opinions and even stopped paying him what they owed. Dallin wrote the church another letter in response to the Salt Lake City unveiling, explaining that “since the unveiling of the Brigham Young Statue in July 1897, (against my protestation) the monthly payments due me have ceased (in fact before then) and I wish to call your attention to the fact that you have broken your contract with me. It is now six months since I received the last word from you…. I am a poor man and am dependent on my work for my livelihood” (3). Dallin returned to Salt Lake City, and through his own effort, and after some threats, the church paid him to continue to work on the monument’s base.

Unveiling of the Brigham Young Monument in Salt Lake City (2)

The statue’s base was officially completed in 1900, three years after being unveiled in Salt Lake City, and seven years after being unveiled in Chicago. Dallin was still not satisfied with his work due to the changes that were forced upon it despite his contract. He made one last attempt to influence the design of the monument but was once again rebuffed. The monument was temporarily located on the Southeast corner of Temple Square. In 1900 the monument was moved to the center of the intersection of South Temple and Main Street. This was done so that it was in a more open and public area, with lots of traffic so that it could be viewed without obstruction.

Below is an image depicting where the monument was moved to and stayed for 93 years. Some people, however, lobbied for its relocation as time progressed. Its location was originally not of concern or controversy because traffic mostly consisted of people, carriages, wagons and people on horseback. They did not foresee how technology would advance, and as the 20^th century progressed, the car became more popular and common. The intersection began to service thousands of cars daily, and became an obstacle to drivers, especially those trying to make a left turn. As the growth of the city persisted, and cars became more prevalent, accidents rose and led to more strife aimed towards the monument. However, many different groups had different opinions and ideas as to how to remedy the situation.

In 1929, the Salt Lake City Rotary Club requested the monument’s removal from the intersection; Governor George H. Dern wanted to move it to Capitol Hill and surround it with flowers. The Brigham Young Family Association and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers each had different ideas, and so both met separately to discuss the monument. The Brigham Young Family Association voted to “vigorously oppose” the relocation, and Daughters of Utah Pioneers “unanimously protested” the relocation. Eventually the debate was settled when “George P. Parker, state attorney general . . . concluded that the site had been dedicated for the monument and it could not be legally moved without a majority vote of the people” (3). The debate rested until 1951, when Salt Lake City’s Traffic Commission made the mistake of trying to move the monument, which was met with an even more intense opposition.

The mayor of Salt Lake City at the time, Earl J. Glade, said the monument was “a large part of the trademark” of the city, and that if “you take away that monument out of the intersection, and you take away a large part of Salt Lake City.” (3) The president of the American Pioneer Trails Association, Howard R. Driggs, said “It’s absurd—plain ridiculous, to think of moving the Brigham Young Monument.” (3) The president of the National Sons of Utah Pioneers, Fred E. Curtis, said “We feel they already have destroyed too much of pioneer history in this city and state”. (3) The Church also made its opinion known through the LDS-owned Deseret News, which had said in an editorial about the monument’s relocation, “one of the most shocking notions that has ever been born of an excess of zeal is the shortsighted proposal which has been informally launched by some of the members of Salt Lake City’s Advisory Traffic Commission.” (3) The Traffic Commission reversed course, and they didn’t dare to try and move it again. In 1955, there was a compromise, and 14 feet was shaved off the base of the statue and paved around it. This made traffic better and did not anger the LDS church or historical societies like the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.

In 1973, the Environmental Protection Agency mandated that Salt Lake City reduce pollution and congestion in downtown. Among the plans for improving congestion and pollution was one to renovate main street and make it more friendly to pedestrians. Renovating and expanding the base around the monument was a part of this effort. The monument had seen its base get significantly increased. And under this new effort by the city, fountains were installed on the east and west sides of the monument, extending out completely as to not allow through traffic, going north and south. These additions were complete by 1975 but were short lived. This in theory would reduce traffic in the region, but it did not, as more businesses moved into the newly revitalized main street.

Brigham Young Statue with added fountains (5)

Because the statue became more accessible, another controversy over the statue began. The wide base with fountains attracted people, and people noticed that there was a plaque on the pedestal that listed the names of the original pioneers. Three of the names however, were labeled as “colored servants.” This sparked a small debate over the language, with some like Salt Lake City Commissioner Stephen M. Harmsen, calling it “an embarrassment to our city” in a city council meeting in April of 1975. Others like Bertha Udell, argued that changing the language would be an attempt at trying to rewrite/hide the true history of the pioneers. The monument serves to preserve history and help us remember it, and while it was intended to remember Brigham Young and the Pioneers, it also preserves the way in which these men were seen and labeled. They were not seen as pioneers and instead called servants. Hark Lay was one of the three enslaved men listed above. He was freed after being taken to California and changed his name to Hark Wales, yet the monument remembered him by his former enslaver’s last name instead of his own. The same was true for Oscar Smith who was included on the monument as Oscar Crosby, the surname of his enslaver. Green Flake was the third enslaved man listed on the monument. Flake continued to use his enslaver’s last name after Brigham Young freed him in 1852. The monument preserved more than just Brigham Young’s legacy, it also preserved the racism that was present in Utah in the 19^th century.

In 1978, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce proposed relocating the Monument from its spot at the intersection to the front of the temple, along Main Street, with a park being built around it. Some citizens supported the move, citing traffic and pollution as concerns. Others were in favor of the move, simply because the statue had Brigham’s hand pointing to Zions bank and his back towards the Temple. A jingle of unknown origin emerged amongst the locals: “There stands Brigham High on his perch, With his hand to the bank and his back to the church.” (3) There were also many citizens who opposed it because moving the statue would involve destroying the $130,000 base that had been constructed only 3 years prior. The debate raged on, with the church itself largely conflicted: some wanted the statue to be in front of the temple, and some members of the church did not want the view of the temple to be obstructed and suggested that it be moved somewhere else within Temple Square. Historical Societies like the Brigham Young Family Association opposed the move, because they were not consulted. Some citizens favored the idea of moving the statue to a prestigious location like Capitol Hill, so they could save face, and not appear to just be moving the monument because it was in the way. The matter of the statue’s location became ever more public with citizens proposing ideas on how to remedy the controversy. News reporters asked citizens what they thought: “One man suggested mounting the monument on wheels so it could be moved about without a fuss. Another suggested relocating it to the corner of the intersection and making Brigham’s arms moveable so he could direct traffic”. (3) The City ended up voting to not move the statue as it did not want to “sacrifice” the monument for the sake of easing traffic. In 1980, the city was able to quietly remove the fountains and massive base they had added in 1975, and in 1992, Salt Lake City elected Deedee Corradini as Mayor and she initiated change.

Picture of former mayor, Deedee Corradini (6)

Deedee Corradini was by most accounts a very competent mayor: she balanced the city’s budget, helped plan the Ball Park stadium downtown, as well became a champion of Trax and the 2002 Olympics. She was presented with an Olympic flag, the first female mayor to receive that honor, and she was also the first female elected mayor of Salt Lake City. When she took office, she began to quietly plan the movement of the Brigham Young Monument. Corradini and the LDS church began talks on where to move the monument in late 1992. The Brigham Young Family Association were eventually brought into the talks as well, ensuring all three major parties had input on the relocation of the monument. They used common sense, and moved the statue 82 feet north, so that it was no longer in the street, and instead along the sidewalk. Former Mayor Ted Wilson who was involved in the 1978 debate over the monument said “I think [moving the statue eighty-two feet north] was a brilliant solution.”(3) Carl Kates, a Deseret News editorial writer, said this after the monument had been taken down to be refurnished and then relocated: “No public protest ensued; indeed, almost nobody cared.” (3)

The Brigham Young Monument appears to be a relatively normal statue, but its history is anything but normal. It is gloriously abstract, from its construction to its endless and needlessly heated debates about its location in the middle of two prominent streets in downtown Salt Lake City. The statue may look like a statue to most, but to a very influential and important few it was coveted and treated as almost sacred as evident by the actions of several governors, mayors, LDS presidents, and groups like the Brigham Young Family Association. Its present location is a compromise of the desires of all the parties involved. The monument was moved onto Temple Square, pleasing the church; it was out of the street, pleasing the city; and it was still in the center of downtown, pleasing the Brigham Young Family Association. Just as the statue commemorates and reifies stories of enslaved and free pioneers, its stillness hides the tensions of its movement. The most accurate yet brief statement about the monument is that it took 93 years to move it 82 feet and out of a street.

For Further Reference

Photos and images

(1) Content pulled from the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriot Digital Library

(2) Content pulled from the Brigham young University Scholars Archive

(3) Hunter, J. Michael. “The Monument to Brigham Young and the Pioneers: One Hundred Years of Controversy.” Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 68, Number 4, (2000).

(4) Painting by the Deseret Book Company

(5) picture provided is a Plastichrome by Colorpicture, postcard

(6) Photo by Lindsay Aikman/Michael Priest Photography

(7) Photo taken by Rick Egan, of AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune.

Primary Sources

Parry, Joseph Hyrum. The “Mormon” Metropolis. an Illustrated Guide to Salt Lake City and Its Environs, Containing Illustrations and Descriptions of Principal Places of Interest to Tourists. Also Interesting Information and Historical Data with Regard to Utah and Its People. Salt Lake City: J.H. Parry & Co., 1887.

“Round-up: 1897-07-09: Brigham Young Monument.” Utah Digital Newspapers. Accessed February 2, 2022. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=9335395.

Secondary Sources

Hunter, J. Michael. “The Monument to Brigham Young and the Pioneers: One Hundred Years of Controversy.” Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 68, Number 4, (2000).

Donner-Reed Memorial Museum and Early Bldgs.

Published May 4, 2022 / by Alex Mower / Leave a Comment

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Write-Up by Alex Mower

Placed By: Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association (Now overseen by the Sons of Utah Pioneers)

GPS Coordinates: (40.6019445, -112.4738719)

Historical Marker Text:

This property was within the walls of the Willow Creek Fort, (Grantsville), which was built shortly after the first white settlers arrived. The main building was erected in 1852. J. Reuben Clark II purchased the property in later years and restored the building. The site was eventually donated to Grantsville City for use as a museum. The log cabin and blacksmith shop were placed here in later years.

This museum is named for the Donner-Reed Party. In 1846 they stopped at nearby Twenty Wells to let their animals rest and gain strength before continuing their ill fated trip. While crossing the Salt Desert they lost many wagons and other belongings on the mud flats east of Pilot Mountain. The hardships suffered in Utah delayed their journey. Winter overtook them in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, resulting in their well known catastrophe. Some of the articles left by the Donner-Reed Party are displayed in the museum, along with other pioneer and Indian relics.

This monument contains cornerstones and markers from early Grantsville buildings. Refurbishment of the area began July 1975 and was completed July 1976. Funds were from Utah American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and Grantsville City Corporation.

Extended Research:

The highly publicized story of the ill-fated Donner-Reed Party is one of America’s truly great cautionary tales. Having left the midwest en route to California in the spring of 1846 for greater economic opportunity, the group of pioneers officially set out on the dangerous journey many other Americans would attempt both before and after them.^[1] Taking direction from Lansford Hastings’ The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California, a guide written more based on theory than experience, the group set off for the west, utilizing a “shortcut” through Utah and the Salt Desert. After delays forced them to winter high atop the Sierra Nevada mountains, the group was compelled to resort to cannibalism to survive.

While no one in the group participated in cannibalism while they traveled across Utah, many of the delays the party incurred were the direct result of the group’s decision to blaze the “shortcut” through the Salt Lake Valley and forge their way through the muddy trenches of the Salt Desert.^[2] Over ten days in 1846, the Donner-Reed Party created and navigated a road through Emigration Canyon that Mormon pioneers traveled through and enhanced the next year when they entered the valley for the first time.^[3] After navigating the canyons, the group endured more delays in the Salt Desert, setting them even further behind on their journey west. On the salt flats, the Donner-Reed Party left behind material goods like wagon parts, animal equipment, and gun fragments. These artifacts now reside at the Donner-Reed Memorial Museum.

The building housing the artifacts has served many different purposes over the years. Known locally as the “Old Adobe Schoolhouse ” it was, unsurprisingly, originally built as a school. It was later adapted to function as a meetinghouse for religious services before eventually serving as the town’s city hall and jail from 1894 to 1917.^[4] The building was then sold by Emma Burmester to J. Reuben Clark, Jr. in 1941, who gifted the building for use for meetings by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.^[5] In 1969 the building came under the ownership of Grantsville City. It then began its life as a museum, and the home of many pioneer artifacts, including but not limited to those of the famed Donner-Reed Party.^[6] The building has become a landmark for the community, and was added to the National Register as a Utah Historic Site in 1995.

Inside the museum, patrons can view a wide array of Donner-Reed and other pioneer relics. From guns to wagon remnants, artifacts in the museum tell a story of cost and loss for the Donner-Reed Party as they traveled across the salt flats, and it was possibly the most costly leg of the journey before the group would make it to the Sierra Nevada mountains, as the group experienced many delays in the Salt Desert. Not only was the desert larger than they had anticipated, it also proved more difficult to traverse than expected. On the Salt Desert, with water and grass all but impossible to acquire, the group was forced to abandon several wagons and lost an estimated 36 oxen.^[7] Because of the Salt Desert’s “mud that never dries,” the Donner’s “Pioneer Palace Car” embedded itself and its wheels deep in the desert floor, and was left behind; it was one of many wagons that would reach the same demise in the desert.^[8]

The delays in both the Salt Lake Valley as well as the Salt Desert would contribute directly to the group’s late arrival to the Sierra Nevada mountain passes, which would ultimately lead to so many of their unfortunate and untimely deaths. The artifacts found in the museum help to ground one of the nation’s most hazardous tales to its connection to the state of Utah, and highlights the role played by the environment of the state in the tale of the Donner-Reed Party.

For Further Reference:

Primary Sources:

Hastings, Lansford Warren, Newberry Library, and Adam Matthew Digital. The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California : Containing Scenes and Incidents of a Party of Oregon Emigrants; a Description of Oregon : Scenes and Incidents of a Party of California Emigrants; and a Description of California; with a Description of the Different Routes to Those Countries; and All Necessary Information Relative to the Equipment, Supplies, and the Method of Traveling. Selected Americana from Sabin’s Dictionary of Books Relating to America. Unit 170 ; Fiches 14,252-14,253. 1845.

Secondary Sources:

Hardesty, Donald L. The Archaeology Of The Donner Party. Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in History and Humanities. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1997.

Hawkins, Bruce R., and Madsen, David B. Excavation of the Donner-Reed Wagons : Historic Archaeology along the Hastings Cutoff. Paper ed. 1999.

Johnson, Kristin. 1996. Unfortunate Emigrants. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press.

McGill, Sara Ann. Donner Party. 2009.

National Register of Historic Places Registration: Grantsville School and Meetinghouse https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/95001432_text

Stookey, Walter M., 1869. Fatal Decision : The Tragic Story of the Donner Party. Utah: Desert Book Company, 1950, 1950.

Spedden, Rush. The Donner Trail across the Salt Lake Valley. 2008.

All photos taken by Alex Mower

^[1] McGill, Sara Ann. Donner Party. 2009.

^[2] Hardesty, Donald. The Archaeology Of The Donner Party. Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in History and Humanities. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1997. P. 10

^[3] Spedden, Rush. The Donner Trail across the Salt Lake Valley. 2008.

^[4] National Register of Historic Places Registration: Grantsville School and Meetinghouse https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/95001432_text

^[5] National Register of Historic Places Registration: Grantsville School and Meetinghouse https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/95001432_text

^[6] National Register of Historic Places Registration: Grantsville School and Meetinghouse https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/95001432_text

^[7] Hawkins, Bruce R., and Madsen, David B. Excavation of the Donner-Reed Wagons : Historic Archaeology along the Hastings Cutoff. Paper ed. 1999. And Johnson, Kristin. 1996. Unfortunate Emigrants. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. P. 143

^[8] Stookey, Walter M., 1869. Fatal Decision : The Tragic Story of the Donner Party. Utah: Desert Book Company, 1950, 1950. P. 99 And Donald L Hardesty. The Archaeology Of The Donner Party. Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in History and Humanities. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1997. P. 5

Park City Egyptian Theater

Published May 3, 2022 / by Jesse Labastida / 1 Comment on Park City Egyptian Theater

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write-up by Jesus Labastida Munguia

Placed by: Park City Centennial Commission

GPS Coordinates: 40.6425°N 111.495°

Historical Marker Text (1):

PARK CITY

1884

The Egyptian Theater

In the early 1900’s Park City’s social and entertainment needs were served by a number of flourishing theaters and social halls. When the Dewey Theater, originally on this site, collapsed under a heavy snow load, John Rugar replaced it with the Egyptian Theater built in 1926. It was designed to seat 400 and to accommodate both movies and vaudeville. It became the first “sound movie” theater in Park City.

After being remodeled in 1963, the building opened as the Silver Wheel Theater and old fashioned “meller dramas” were performed for the next fifteen years. In 1978 the building’s architectural integrity was threatened by an attempt to change its facade to a western motif. Preservation of its distinctive Egyptian features was achieved, however, when the building became the home of Park City Performances in 1981.

The Egyptian Revival Style represents a unique period architecture which peaked in America around 1930. Egyptian theaters are rare, and this is one of only two remaining in Utah. Originally the interior contained replicas of Egyptian artifacts. This is a masonry structure with a false front shield its hip roof. Tiles at the base of the ticket booth and pilasters in obelisk shape reinforce the Egyptian Motif.

Presented by the Park City Centennial Commission, 1984

Extended Research:

The Egyptian Theater is an iconic fixture of Utah’s Park City community, standing prominently on Main Street. Its edifice is a beautiful representation of its Egyptian Revival architecture. The history of the Egyptian Theater is just as colorful as its outside design. The site where it is located has had a longstanding reputation for being the place in Park City where members of the community could congregate to enjoy entertainment provided through local theater and arts.[1]

The history of the Egyptian theater traces its roots all the way to “the Big Fire of 1898.” The fire tore through Park City’s now historical Main Street creating a site that two businessmen, David Keith and James Ivers, found suitable to construct the Dewey Theatre– the very first iteration of the Egyptian Theater. The Dewey Theater was known for showcasing the best professional fighters and travelling theatrical troupes of the time. The old Dewey Theater even boasted a barbershop, a candy store, and a state-of-the-art floor that could be raised and lowered to suit the needs of the theater. Sadly, the reign of the famous Dewey Theater would come to an end in 1916 after a heavy snowpack that accumulated on the roof caused it to cave-in. Fortunately, the collapse took place after closing time and no one was injured.[2]

In 1926, a new theater was constructed at the old Dewey Site under a $50,000 contract.[3] The theater was designed in the style of Ancient Egyptian architecture and motifs, heavily influenced by a craze in Egyptology following the discovery of King Tutt’s tomb. The Egyptian theater offered picture shows as well as theatre performances for enjoyment. The erection of the theatre was heavily dependent on the growing demand for entertainment in Park City. John Ruger spearheaded the development project and maintained ownership until 1948 when he sold the theater to Russ Dodderman. Shortly after several changes in management, owners renamed the playhouse the Lu Ann Theater for a period thereafter.[4]

City Officials in Front of the Silver Wheel Theater.

Much like the rest of the nation in the 20th century, Utah saw developments of movie theaters across the state. Many theaters of the early 20th century utilized the previous playhouse and opera house buildings and revamped the theater’s edifice with attention grabbing design motifs ranging from Spanish Colonial revival to Neoclassical architecture. This sudden possibility of movie-going ushered in a new era of connection to Main Street. The Egyptian Theater in Park City is one of two remaining Egyptian Revival theaters in the state, the other is the Peery’s Egyptian Theatre in Ogden, Utah. The attention-grabbing Egyptian architecture seen at the Egyptian Theaters are reflective of the novel craze of movie-going that took place across the United States; it is loud, exciting, and demands the attention of all who walk by it.[5]

By 1959, Art Durrant purchased the playhouse and ran it for a little more than three years before he became burnt out from managing the theater. He subsequently sold the property to a theater management company named Silver Wheel Enterprises. Silver Wheel Enterprises decided to change the name of the location once more to the Silver Wheel Theater for its opening in 1963. The Silver Wheel Egyptian theater would go through many similar changes in management and changes in entertainment, eventually becoming home to the Park City Performances (PCP), a local community theatre organization.[6]

In the twenty first century the Egyptian Theater is a historical testament to Park City’s love for entertainment. The theater today is used for community performances and film viewing, as it is one of Sundance Film Festival’s most desirable venues, where highly praised filmmakers are invited to showcase their films.

For Further Reference:

Primary Sources:

City Officials in Front of the Silver Wheel Theater (Egyptian Theater), Park City, Utah (2 Views). Photograph. Accessed May 2, 2022.

“Dewey Theater Changes Hands.” Salt Lake Tribune. February 20, 1910.

“Egyptian-American Theaters Change Hands.” Park Record. March 11, 1948.

“New Silver Wheel Enterprises Buys Lu Ann Theater in Park.” Summit County Bee and Park Record. March 4, 1963.

“New Theatre Will Be On Dewey Site.” Park Record, July 2, 1926.

“Silver Mill, Theater Group near Agreement on Egyptian.” Park Record. September 22, 1983.

Secondary Sources:

“About Us.” Park City Shows. Egyptian Theatre, December 11, 2021.

Carter, Thomas, and Peter L. Goss. “Egyptian Revival 1920-1930.” In Utah’s Historic Architecture, 1847-1940: A Guide, 135–35. Salt Lake City, UT, Utah: Center for Architectural Studies, Graduate sic School of Architecture, University of Utah, & Utah State Historical Society, 1991.

Roper, Roger. “Going to the Movies: A Photo Essay of Theaters.” Utah Historical Quarterly 67, no. 2 (1999): 111–22.

[1] Carter, Thomas, and Peter L. Goss. “Egyptian Revival 1920-1930. In Utah’s

Historic Architecture, 1847-1940: A Guide, 135–35. Salt Lake City, UT, Utah: Center for

Architectural Studies, Graduate sic School of Architecture, University of Utah, & Utah

State Historical Society, 1991.

[2] “New Silver Wheel Enterprises Buys Lu Ann Theater in Park.” Summit County Bee and Park Record. March 4, 1963.

[3] “New Theatre Will Be On Dewey Site.” Park Record, July 2, 1926.

[4] “New Theatre Will Be On Dewey Site.” Park Record, July 2, 1926.

[5] Roper, Roger. “Going to the Movies: A Photo Essay of Theaters.” Utah Historical Quarterly 67, no. 2 (1999): 111–22.

[6] “Silver Mill, Theater Group near Agreement on Egyptian.” Park Record. September 22, 1983.

USS Harder Memorial

Published May 3, 2022 / by Rylan Suzzi / Leave a Comment

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Write-up by Rylan A. Suzzi

Placed by: Utah Chapter of United States Submarine Veterans

GPS Coordinates: 40.44188775552948, -111.93219578198409

Historical Marker Text (1)

HARDER MEMORIAL

The USS Harder crew under the superb leadership of Commander Samuel D Dealey USN set a war record for submarines by sinking five Japanese destroyers in five days and was credited with sinking 78,000 tons of Japanese shipping before being lost in 1944.

May all the lost Submariners have eternal peace knowing the sacrifice they made helped defeat the evil forces who tried to enslave the world.

May this hallowed place reflect the bond the living share with those who have given all for the price of freedom and peace.

This memorial was erected by Utah Submarine Veterans in 1997. We appreciate the donations from former crew members and others.

USS HARDER SS-257

ON ETERNAL PATROL

NAME	RATE	NAME	RATE	NAME	RATE
ALTHERR, C.R.	MOMM2	HATFIELD, H.D.	ELEC	MORGAN, A.B.	EM2
BABER, R.O.	MOMM2	HOOD, E.V.	TM1	MOSS, R.B.	S1
BEUTELSPACHER, W.F.	SC3	HUTCHERSON, V.W.	CMOMM	MURRAY, M.H.	TM2
BLUM, R.A.	MOMM3	JAMES, D.R.	LTJG	OGILVIE, T.D.	S1
BOURG, S.	GM3	JONES, R.E.	MOMM3	OPISSO, L.A.	MOMM2
BROSTROM, W.A.	SM1	KECKLER, R.W.	CEM	PAQUET, F., JR.	GM1
BUCKNER, T.W.	LTJG	KELLOG, J.H.	EM2	PECK, E.R.	S1
BULL, C.A.	RM2	LAKEY, G.W.	S1	PICK, R.S.	S1
CASH, V.J.	MOMM1	LANE, J.M.	EM3	PRATT, R.E.	S1
CHENARD, R.R.	F1	LAWSON, H.W.	MOMM3	PRZYBILLA, R.P.	EM2
CLARK, W.L.	RT2	LEVIN, G.B.	RT2	ROGERS, M.M.	S1
CONLEY, J.C.	MOMM1	LILLEY, S.B.	S1	ROGERS, M.M.	TM3
CRASK, H.F.	S1	LO CASCIO, A.	PHM1	ROOSEVELT, R.B.	ENS
CROMWELL, J.E.	STM2	LOGAN, S.M.	LT	SAMPSON, P.T.	ENS
DAHLHEIMER, D.B.	MOMM2	LONAS, J.P.	CMOMM	SCHEIBELHUT, F.X.	MOMM2
DALLESSANDRO, V.L.	TM1	LYNN, H.A. JR.	TM3	SCHWARTZ M.	MOMM3
DEALEY, S.D.	CDR	MAJURI, F.P.	EM1	SIMON, D.J.	RM3
DEVOE, E.W.	F1	MANNING, R.E.	EM2	SLOGGETT, V.L.	LTJG
DIAMOND, W.V.	RM1	MCGREVY, F.B.	EM2	SMITH, A.	TM2

EDGAR, J.M.	FC2	MCWILLIAMS, G.K.	BKR3	SNIPES, J.W., JR.	MOMM1
FINNEY, C.E.	MACH	MEDLEY, B.R.	RM2	SNYDER, W.N.	TM3
FISHER, G.R. JR.	MOMM3	MILLER, C.	CTM	SOMMERSCHIELD, L.H.	COX
GIFFORD, R.L.	TM3	MILLS, R.R.	EM3	SPICE, N.	MOMM3
GLUECKERT, J.L.	MOMM2	MOFFETT, C.A. JR.	MOMM2	SWAGERTY, J.T.	MOMM3
GULLY, D.J.	Y1	MOORE, O.J.	SM2	WHITE, L.	TM3
HALOUPEK, W.O.	ENS	MOORE, R.	CK2	YOUNG, B.	SC2
				ZANDER, W.G.	MOMM2

LOST IN WORLD WAR II

24 AUGUST 1944

U.S. SUBMARINE VETERANS WORLD WAR II

TO HONOR AND PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF THOSE SUBMARINERS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES DURING WORLD WAR II

U.S.S. SEALION	U.S.S. POMPANO	U.S.S. HARDER
U.S.S. S-36	U.S.S. CISCO	U.S.S. SEAWOLF
U.S.S. S-26	U.S.S. S-44	U.S.S. DARTER
U.S.S. SHARK I	U.S.S. DORADO	U.S.S. SHARK II
U.S.S. PERCH	U.S.S. WAHOO	U.S.S. TANG
U.S.S. S-27	U.S.S. CORVINA	U.S.S. ESCOLAR
U.S.S. S-39	U.S.S. SCULPIN	U.S.S. ALBACORE
U.S.S. GRUNION	U.S.S. SCORPION	U.S.S. GROWLER
U.S.S. ARGONAUT	U.S.S. GRAYBACK	U.S.S. SCAMP
U.S.S. AMBERJACK	U.S.S. TROUT	U.S.S. SWORDFISH
U.S.S. GRAMPUS	U.S.S. TULLIBEE	U.S.S. BARBEL
U.S.S. TRITON	U.S.S. GRUDGEON	U.S.S. KETE
U.S.S. PICKEREL	U.S.S. HERRING	U.S.S. TRIGGER
U.S.S. GRENADIER	U.S.S. GOLET	U.S.S. SNOOK
U.S.S. RUNNER	U.S.S. S-26	U.S.S. LAGARTO
U.S.S. R-12	U.S.S. ROBALO	U.S.S. BONEFISH
U.S.S. GRAYLING	U.S.S. FLIER	U.S.S. BULLHEAD

TORPEDO MK.XIV MOD. 3A

Explosive In Head 600 lbs.

Weight Complete 3185 lb.

Size 21” Dia. X 20’6” long.

Low Speed 9000 Yds. at 36 M.P.H.

High Speed 4500 Yds. at 55 M.P.H.

Extended Research:

*USS Harder* Courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org.

Construction on the USS Harder began on December 1^st, 1941, six days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan forced the United States into the Second World War. The USS Harder was a gato-class, the first mass-produced submarine by the United States, a diesel-electric submarine, one of the first gato class submarines to be constructed. She was launched on August 19, 1942, and later commissioned on December 2, 1942 when she began active duty.^[1] Under the command of Samuel D. Dealey, the Harder sailed from Groton, Connecticut to Pearl Harbor, where she began active combat patrols. From Pearl Harbor, she began her first patrol off the coast of Japan, striking the Japanese Sagara Maru. She returned to Midway Island on July 7, 1943 to refit and receive new orders.

The Harder began her second war patrol on August 24, 1943, launching from Pearl Harbor with orders to patrol off the coast of Honshu, Japan. On September 9, Harder sank the Koyo Maru, followed by the Yoko Maru two days later. On September 13, she was spotted by Japanese planes and forced to submerge. After evading Japanese search planes, Harder surfaced on September 19 and sank the Kachinas Maru. On September 23, she sank the Kowa Maru and Daishin Maru off the coast of Nagoya Bay. Having spent all her torpedoes, Harder returned to Midway Island on September 28 but was able to destroy two more Japanese boats with her main deck cannon. She made port at Midway Island on October 4.^[2]

On October 30, the Harder joined the USS Snook (SS-279) and USS Pargo (SS-264) to create a “wolfpack.”^[3] While patrolling the Mariana Islands in the North-western Pacific Ocean on November 12, the Harder sank two Japanese anti-submarine ships. Changing course to Saipan, Harder encountered three Japanese warships, the Udo Maru, the Hokko Maru, and the Nikko Maru, and was able to sink them all with help from Snook and Pargo. With all her torpedoes spent yet again, Harder returned to Pearl Harbor on November 30.^[4]

Crew members of the *USS Harder* with the ship’s pennant. USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.

On her fourth war patrol, the Harder left Pearl Harbor on March 16, 1944, along with the USS Seahorse (SS-304). With orders to serve as a lifeguard ship, Harder sailed to Woleai, a small coral atoll in the eastern Carolina islands in the Pacific Ocean, where she rescued an injured pilot who had been shot down. Continuing her patrol, the Harder encountered Japanese search planes on April 13. The Japanese Destroyer Ikazuchi moved to intercept the Harder, but Commander Dealey chose to engage the vessel instead of submerging. The Harder fired four torpedoes, sinking the Ikazuchi. Four days later, Harder encountered a Japanese merchant escort and, firing four torpedoes, sank the Matsue Maru. She then returned to the Fremantle Submarine Base in Western Australia.

The Harder received orders to patrol Tawi-Tawi, an island in the Philippine Sea, where the Japanese fleet had been last spotted. The Harder left Fremantle with the USS Redfin (SS-272) on May 26. Harder encountered three Japanese tanker ships and two destroyers in the Sibutu Passage, a deep underwater channel that separated Borneo and Tawi-Tawi, on June 6. The Harder surfaced and fired three torpedoes at the two warships, with two hitting the Minazuki and sinking it. The other destroyer was undamaged and Harder submerged due to depth charges. The very next morning, Japanese search planes spotted the Harder, and a destroyer engaged her. Commander Dealey yet again decided to attack the destroyer head-on, firing three torpedoes at the Hayanami. Two of the torpedoes hit their mark, and the Hayanami sank. Harder then left the Sibutu Passage and rescued six Australian Coastwatchers off of northern Borneo. On June 9, Harder returned to the Sibutu Passage and encountered two more Japanese destroyers. She sent four torpedoes at the two ships, destroying the Tanikaze and crippling the second ship. The next day, Harder encountered a Japanese task force of three battleships and four cruisers. Commander Dealey commanded the crew to turn the Harder so that she was to the front of the lead cruiser, fired three torpedoes, and immediately submerged. The crew reported a massive explosion just as the Harder passed underneath the lead destroyer. Harder was only 24 meters below the destroyer when her torpedoes hit the destroyer. The Harder then performed reconnaissance on the Japanese fleet at Tawi-Tawi, reporting intelligence to Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commander of the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy. This intel was crucial in Admiral Spruance’s Battle of the Philippine Sea. Harder’s aggressive attack strategy also led Japanese Admiral Soemu Toyoda to believe Tawi-Tawi was surrounded by American submarines.^[5] The Harder’s radioman, Calvin Bull, was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions during Harder’s fifth war patrol.^[6]

“Sub Is Given Up for Lost”. *The Wilkes-Barre Record*. 1945. p. 3.

After returning to Fremantle on July 3, Harder began her sixth and final war patrol on August 5, 1944. She received orders to patrol the South China Sea and formed a “wolfpack” with the USS Hake (SS-256), Haddo (SS-255), Ray (SS-271), Guitarro (SS-363), and Raton (SS-270) on August 21. They then attacked Palawan Bay, Mindoro, destroying four Japanese ships. The next day, Harder and Haddo sailed to Bataan and patrolled Dasol Bay. There, they encountered three Japanese ships, the Matsuwa, Hiburi, and Asakazi. Harder sank Matsuwa and Hiburi, but Asakazi was only injured by Haddo, which by then had expended all of her torpedoes. Joined by Hake, Harder followed Asakazi to Dasol Bay, where they encountered a Japanese minesweeper, the Phra Ruang, escort ship CD-22, and destroyer PB-102. Hake and Harder worked to escape the Japanese ships, but at 07:28 on August 24, Hake’s radioman reported 15 explosions in the distance. Afternoon, Hake surfaced and examined the area, but there was no sign of the Harder or any of her crew. The United States Navy declared the Harder lost on January 2, 1945.^[7]

The USS Harder earned the nickname “Hit ‘Em Harder” for her aggressive combat style. She received six battle stars and earned the Presidential Unit Citation. Commander Dealey was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously^[8]. Information about the Harder, and any American service vessel, can be found on the Naval History and Heritage Command website.

Torpedoman’s Mate, Third Class Walker Neal Snyder was the only casualty aboard the USS Harder from Utah. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 21, 1925. He was originally declared Missing in Action on August 24, 1944, but was later declared Killed in Action.^[9] Along with the USS Harder memorial in Bluffdale, Utah, PO3 Snyder is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery.^[10] He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Presidential Unit Citation. He was the only surviving son of Guy Mckinley Synder, born in 1896, who was born in Richfield, Utah, and lived until July 12, 1980.^[11] His mother, Kathryn Marie Synder, was born on January 11, 1902, and died on February 19, 1933.^[12]

Walker Neal Snyder is also listed in the “Killed in Action, Died of Wounds, or Lost Lives as a Result of Operational Movements in Warzones” in the Combat Connected Naval Casualties by States: Volume II under the subsection Nevada, although Walker Neal Snyder was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Combat Connected Naval Casualties by States: Volume II was commissioned by the United States Naval Department of Information in 1946.^[13]

[1] “Sub Is Given Up for Lost”. The Wilkes-Barre Record. 1945. p. 3.

[2] Harder I (SS-257). Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/harder-i.html.

[3] The term “wolfpack” when used in terms of naval combat, refers to a coordinated attack group or squadron. Coined by the German Kriesgmarine.

[4] Harder I (SS-257). Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/harder-i.html.

[5] PacificWrecks.com. “Pacific Wrecks.” Pacific Wrecks – World War II Pacific War and Korean War. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://pacificwrecks.com/subs/SS-257.html.

[6] “Nebraskan Awarded Bronze Star Medal”. Beatrice Daily Sun. 1945-03-26. p. 8

[7] “Sub Is Given Up for Lost”. The Wilkes-Barre Record. 1945. p. 3.

[8] “Navy Man’s Family Will Receive Medal”. Eau Claire Leader. 1945-08-28. p. 2.

[9] “Walker Neal Snyder.” On eternal patrol – walker Neal Snyder. Accessed April 7, 2022. https://www.oneternalpatrol.com/snyder-w-n.htm.

[10]“Walker Neal Snyder.” Walker Neal Snyder : Petty Officer Third Class from Utah, World War II Casualty. Accessed April 7, 2022. https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=117196.

[11] Snyder, William Orson. “Guy McKinley Snyder.” geni_family_tree, October 23, 2017. https://www.geni.com/people/Guy-Snyder/6000000054258198986.

[12] Snyder, William Orson. “Kathryn Marie Snyder.” geni_family_tree, October 23, 2017. https://www.geni.com/people/Kathryn-Snyder/6000000054258675878.

[13] Combat Connected Naval Casualties, World War II, by States. 2. Vol. 2. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1946.

Further References

Primary sources

“Sub Is Given Up for Lost.” The Wilkes-Barre Record. January 3, 1945. p. 3

“Nebraskan Awarded Bronze Star Medal”. Beatrice Daily Sun. March 26, 1945. p. 8.

“Navy Man’s Family Will Receive Medal”. Eau Claire Leader. August 8, 1945. P. 2.

Combat Connected Naval Casualties, World War II, by States. 2. Vol. 2. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1946.

Secondary sources

Harder I (SS-257). Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/harder-i.html.

PacificWrecks.com. “Pacific Wrecks.” Pacific Wrecks – World War II Pacific War and Korean

War. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://pacificwrecks.com/subs/SS-257.html.

“Walker Neal Snyder.” Walker Neal Snyder : Petty Officer Third Class from Utah, World War II Casualty. Accessed April 7, 2022. https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=117196.

News, Deseret. “Utah Submarine Veterans Dedicate Memorial Today.” Deseret News, Deseret News, 27 Sept. 1997, https://www.deseret.com/1997/9/27/19336391/utah-submarine-veterans-dedicate-memorial-today.

“Samuel Dealey, USS Harder (SS-257).” The National Medal of Honor Museum, 21 Aug. 2020, https://mohmuseum.org/samdealey/.

“Sub Is Given Up For Lost.” The Wilkes-Barre Record, 3 Jan. 1945, pp. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15307934/sub-is-given-up-for-lost/

Memory Park World War I Marker

Published May 3, 2022 / by Andrew Slack / Leave a Comment

Leave a reply

Write-up by Andrew Slack

Placed by: The Salt Lake Chapter of the Service Star Legion

GPS Coordinates: Lat 40.77763, Long -111.8844

Historical Marker Text (Main Face):

1914-1918/ In Grateful Remembrance of the Heroic Sons of Utah Who Gave Their Lives in the World War/ This Monument Erected A.D. 1932

Face 1:

Leo Earl Able, Roni C. Ahlquist, Vincenzo Albi, Guy B. Alexander, C. E. Allen Jr, Orin H. Allen, James Anaquist, Alexander Anderson, Clarence Anderson, Clyde V. Anderson, Darrel A. Anderson, Edward C. Anderson, George E. Anderson, George Erastus Anderson, Junius N. Anderson, Otto A. Anderson, W.W. Anderson, George N. Ansley, Clarence M. Argyle, Horace R. Argyle, James Earl Armistead, Winston Arnett, Wallace W. Asher, Earl Ashton, James B. Austin, Lear E. Austin, Roy Irl Austin, Spot Austin, S. A. Axelson, Charles A. Bacon, James C. Bagan, Burl H. Baker, Herman Baker, John L. Banner, Joel C. Barlow, John W. Barnes, Ben Barnett, Charles H. Barrett, Edward H. Barrus, Cliff Barton, Arthur T. Bates, Joshua H. Bates, James C. Bawden, Clinton G. Beasley, Kemper J. Beasley, L. C. Beauman, Otto Beebe, Leroy E. Benson, William Bentler, A. L. Bergman, George N. Bernardis, Edward T. Berry, Christian H. Best, Ralph Biddell, Elmer S. Bishop, WM. H. Blackburn, Allen Murl Blain, John Blundell, Rufus G. Bolten, Fred Booth, John David Boyd, Ralph R. Braby, Ross J. Bracken, George A. Brand, Clarence J. Brandley, Ira Claton Brandt, Alexander L. Brewer, James Roy Brighton, Earl P. Brown, Eugene A. Brown, Harold Brown, John H. Brown, Logan H. Bryant, George E. Bunker, Hubert H. Burns, Harold H. Burrows, Hubert G. Bush, Ralph W. Bush, Emil W. Butler, Meldon Byerco, Arthur L. Cahoon, Joseph A. Cain, Victor Caldart, Alton Calder, Elmer C. Calhoun, Harold Cameron, Fred J. Cannon, George W. Carlile, Alvin P. Carlson, Curney F. Carlson, Charles T. Carroll, Maurice R. Carter, Stefano Casgiano, Albert Casera, Russell Chambers, George Chandler, Elwin F. Chapman, Ralph E. Chapman, Anthony Chiaromonte, James E. Chipman, Erbie Christensen, Royal Christenson, F. B. Christiansen, Roger H. Clapp, John F. Clark, William Russell Clark, Earl L. Cobb.

Face 2:

William E. Colby, Virgil Cole, Ray C. Coleman, Vernell W. Coleman, Albert Comina, Umberto Conedero, George B. Cook, James L Corbitt, George Cottam, Eugene Cottis, Clive N. Coupe, Archie E. Cowen, Robert W. Cowdrey, Harold A. Cox, Jose Coz, Abraham J. Crawford, Edward J. Crawford, Elmer J. Criddle, James W. Crosland, Edward J. Crossman, Earl F. Crow, Raymond F. Crow, James Cuff, Milton R. Cummings, Adolphus B. Curtis, Carter Curtis, George Curtis, Leroy Curtis, James Dacoles, Edwin Dahlquist, Jesse Daly, Joseph L. Damron, Fred O. Dancan, C. P. Danielson, John G. Darley, Fletcher G. Darrold, George F. Darrow, Gifford Davidson, Russell W. Davies, Bryce E. Davis, Frank D. Davis, Norman S. Davis, David Day, George R. Day, Jesse Dayley, David L. Dean, Fletcher G. De Ford, Charles Densley, Mike Descisco, Peter Detomasi, Roy Dewitt, Jared Dickson, Thomas W. Dimond, James M. Dodds, John Doles, Joseph R. Don, John T. Donnohue, Ora J. Douglas, Lionel C. Dover, George Drand, Austin Draper, Jabbez M. Draper, John R. Draper, Oliver Drysdale, Claud L. Duff, Arthur Duffin, Fred J. Duncan, George D. Dundas, Robert E. Durrant, George E. Earl, Fred Edler, Frank W. Edwards, John Thomas Egan, Abel J. Ekins, John A. Ekman, Ernest H. Ellerman, James Elliott, Walter B. Elliott, Mervin A. Elwood, Carl O. Engemann, Emmet Erickson, Harry D. Estes, Kenneth Evans, Lawrence Evans, Chris W. M. Evensen, George G. Falter, Leonard G. Farley, George E. Farnow, Partick J. Farrell, Nathon Faux, Harold M. Ferguson, E. Finteilakis, Charles L. Fiske, Ed. H. Fitzgerald, John T Forscen, Claude Ray Foster, Herbert E. Fowers, William E. Fowlers, James W. Foy.

Face 3:

Anders J. Fredson, Bert W. Freeman, Frank S. Fuller, William O. Funk, Jarald M. Furgason, John A. Furphy, George M. Gaisford Jr, Melvin Galbraith, Verne Gardner, Wayne Gardner, C. Elwood Garvin, Louis Garzia, Thurman Gates, Basilios Gerogopulos, George Gidney, Eldridge S. Giffin, Elmo Arthur Gillen, John W. Gillespie, Morris S. Ginsburg, Herman Glassmier, Willian T. Gleason, Herbert F. Gledhill, Albert W. Goddard, George W. Goins, T. E. Gourgiotis, Willard C. Gowans, N. Ray Gowers, James M. Graham, Fred J. Grant, Edwin M. Gray, Wallace Gray, Amasa L. Green, Armistead A. Green Jr, Arthur R. Green, Carl E. Green, Lawrence Green, Clayton B. Griswold, Stephen Groesbeck, Richard N. Grunow, H. N. Gudmunson, Richard M. Hackett, Norman J. Haeckel, Jacob Hafen, James A. Hagan, J. H. Hague, Lloyd Burt Haigh, Howard Hales Jr, Henry Hall, Ralph Hall, Fred W. Halser, Alfred C. Halseybrook, Harry J. Halton Jr, John W. Hansard, Milton G. Hansen, Hans Hanson, Paul O. Hanson, Earl S. Harper, F. S. Harrison, Marion J. Hatch, Golden Hatfield, Leon Haws, Carmen F. Hayes, Geofrey B. Hayes, James J. Hayes, Manford W. Hayes, Ruben L. Hayes, James J. Hayward, Lester R. Helland, Orion Helm, Geo. A. Hendrickson, Jacob Henschell, Alton Hlatt, Lavon R. Hickman, Robt. F. Hilderbrandt, Stanford Hinckley, Harold V. Hobson, Thadeous Hodges, Amos Hoeft, Henry Hofele, John Arthur Hogan, John M. Hogan, Doak Holler, Emil John Hollow, Phelps R. Holman, Raymond M. Holmes, Fred Parry Holton, Cicil J. Horton, Ira Houtz, Samuel E. Howard, James E. Howell, Seymore O. Howell, William H. Huffman, Harry D. Humphries, Basil A. Hunsaker, Thomas Hunt, Daniel W. Hurst, Russell A. Ingersoll, Wm. Wallace Ipson, Eugene B. Isgreen, Frank A. Issakson, Arthur Ivie, David Ivie, Ray Ivie, Wilbur G. Jackson, Wilbur I. Jackson, William L. Jacobs.

Face 4:

William G. Jackos, Arthur Janney, Alma L. Jensen, Irving W. Jensen, Leo M. Jensen, Leroy Jensen, Ruben M. Jensen, Waldemar Jensen, D. E. Jesperson, Richard I. Jewkes, Edmond Johannesen, Arnold Johnson, Clarence L. Johnson, Ernest F. Johnson, Raymond Johnson, Wilbert Johnson, Guy Johnston, Charles C. Jones, Bert M. Jones, David L. Jones, Henry M. Jones, John E. Jones, Joseph Jones, Joseph L. Jones, Joy V. Jones, Marvin L. Jones, Hans Hilbert Jorgerson, Guy J. Jurgensen, William Kallas, Demetrios Karvarites, Daniel L. Keate, George H. Keifer, Harry Keith, Michael J. Kelly, V. A. Kelly, Earnest Kendall, Joseph Kenner, George Kerr, Peter L. Keyes, Scott R. Kimball, Worthy Kinear, Thomas Kirkland, Homer W, Kizer, Moroni Kleinman, Alexian E. Koshaba, Henry R. Kramer, Edward A. Kupfer, Bakran Kurkjian, Vahran Kurkjian, Sims Kwan, Wesley L. Lackyard, Henry J. Lafever, Bazel G. Lake, Joseph B. Lambert, George G. Lambourne, Arthur F. Langshaw, Isaac H. Langston, Jesse L. Larrabee, Cleveland S. Larsen, Lars L. Larsen, Lawrence E. Larsen, Orvill Harry Larsen, George T. Larson, Hubert H. Layton, William Layton, Ernest A. Lee, John H. Lee, William H. Lees, Carl P. Leishman, William Leitz, Frank Leland, Cirilo Leones, Herbert C. Leslie, Harold E. Lewis, James Fallis Lewis, George Kenley Liddell, Gustavus R. Lilya, Daniel J. Limb, Roy Link, Edward L. Lister, Alfred P. Liston, George Lloyd, Dan A. Lockhart, William Lofthouse, Albert W. Long, Charles R. Longson, George Lord, Wayne G. Loveless, Frank Luckini, George Luedeke, Fred Lungrin, Francis W. Lyman, Grant H. Lyman, Merl Gowans Lyman, Walter S. McCann, William J. McCombb, Seth McConkie, Harold McConnell, Charles S. McDonald, Monroe McDonald, Douglas R. McEwen, Ernest McFarlane, Calvin P. McGovern, O. K. McGraw, William Arthur Grown.

Face 5:

Orestes K. McGun, Roy McKay, Alvin McKean, Angus R. McKellar, Harold J. McKinnon, Robert C. McLaughlin, P.P. McManamon, Melvin V. McMillan, David L. McNeil, Elias Mabarah, Fred Mabutt, William R. Mace, Ray Van Cott Madsen, Paul Maeser, Jack Major, C. J. W. Malmstrom, Harry F. Malone, Lawrence E. Manning, Harold Manwaring, Joe R. Maranjo, Leland R. March, David A. Margetts, Jackson Martin, William Martin, Joseph M. Martinez, William C. Marvin, C. J. Mason, William H. Mather, Mat Mattson, Wm. Henry Maturin, Frank Alma Maughan, Frank Thomas Maze, Frank W. Medell, Joseph H. Merrill, Alf Meyer, Daniel R. Michelsen, Cleo Mileni, Glenn Miles, Maurice K. Miles, Jacob B. Millar, Bert R. Miller, Byron G. Miller, Clarence E. Miller, Frank Miller, Glen S. Miller, W. E. Millerberg, Charles Mills, Charles J. Mitchell, Corbet Mitchell, Louis Monas, Francis L. Monk, Walter A. Monson, Ross Moore, Lester Earl Moreton, Adrian L. Morin, James F. Morris, Rexford W. Morris, Claude W. Morse, Arthur L. Mower, Joseph C. Muir, Russell Muir, John Mulder, James H. Murphy, Francis W. Naylor, Russell Neargarder, Boyd A. Neilson, George N. Neilson, Charles E. Nelson, Clarence K. Nelson, Gorge J. Nelson, George R. Nelson, George W. Nelson, Louis O. Nelson, Oscar E. Nelson, Roy P. Nelson, William A. Netcher, Alfred Nichols, Arthur S. Nielson, Harry D. Nones, FritzL. Oberg, Joseph G. Okey, Raymond Oldham, Rutilio Olguin, H. K. Olmstead, Andrew M. Olsen, Charles F. Olsen, Hyrum Olsen, Leander Olsen, Albert F. Olsen, Jabe A. Openshaw, Oran A. Openshaw, John H. Osborne, W. E. Osborne, Frank R. Ostler, Thomas W. Ostler, Carl L. Ostlund, Carl J. Ostlund, Dewey H. Ottosen, G. Pallioutahakis, C. D. Papademetrin, Harvey A. Parker, Lawrence E. Parker, Arthur Regan Parkes, George Parkinson, J. A. Parnell, Eugene Pasley, John Henry Poulson.

Face 6:

Melvin C. Patten, Delos LeRoy Peay, Hyrum A. Perry, Ralph Perry, Edward M. Peters, George J. Peters, Alvin G. Peterson, Arthur L. Peterson, Edward C. Peterson, Frank E. Peterson, John O. Peterson, Kimball C. Peterson, Leonard H. Peterson, Levi F. Peterson, Paul D. Peterson, Peter C. Peterson, Ray D. Peterson, Vern A. Peterson, Dell Phillips, Peter D. Pitts, Wm. Raymond Platt, Rayley Postlethwaite, Frank B. Potampa, Dan Potovitch, Joseph Powell, Thomas J. Powell, Alvin L. Prater, Claytor P. Preston, William Price Jr, Arthur L. Pritchard, Merlin Proctor, Reuben V. Radmall, Albert L. Ralph, Cleon J. Reber, Frank Redo, Jerry V. Reece, David M. Reed, Joseph D. Reed, Oreal D. Reeder, Ornamon Remington, Edward J. Rice, William H. Richards, L. F. Richardson, Earl E. Ridd, Brutus L. Rideout, Elmo Ridges, Joseph Riggs, Harold L. Ritchie, William A. Robbins, Arthur O. Roberts, John W. Roberts, Alex G. Robertson, Joseph Robertson, Joseph Robinson, Lynn S. Robison, Peter J. Rolley, Grant M. Romney, William L. Rook, Ernest Rudy Rosell, Gus Ross, Egino Rosson, Louis H. Rowe, Thor Y. Rowley, Orvill W. Ruby, Abraham Ruesch, Sterling Russell, Albert S. Sadler, Frank G. Sainsbury, Frank Salvatore, Elmer John Sandberg, Martin Sanders, William R. Sands, Angel SanTarelli, Wilford N. Sargent, Eugene N. Saunders, William A. Schade, Fred F. Schmmalz, Albert F. Schneider, Lesliie C. Schrider, Vernon L. Scott, William A. Seier, James L. Shaffer, James Shaw, Scott M. Sheets, John W. Sherman, George B. Shotliff, George M. Silver, Kwan Sims, Neils Skeen, R. W. Slater, Ardie Smith, Gilbert L. Smith, Harry E. Smith, Henry Smith, Lehi Larsen Smith, William Smith, Elmer S. Snyder, Ernest W. Sorenson, Grover P. Sorenson, Hyrum M. Sorenson, Joseph H. Sorenson, Raymond D. Sorenson, Sydney A. Sorenson, Walter J. Sorenson.

Face 7:

Gustave Spitzbaurdt, James K. Sprunt, Russell K. Sprunt, Edwin E. Squires, William Squires, Glen Stallings, Constant Steelant, William Steglish, George W. Stevenson, Alphonso Stewart, Charles J. Stewart, Edward Stewart, Ned Stewart, Forrest Stewart, Francis N. Stringham, Ernest E. Strong, Arthur F. Sullivan, Osborne Sutton, Robert Swan, William M. Swan, Alfred Swens, Horace R. Tanner, August C. Targetta, Joseph Taylor, Lynn Taylor, Robert B. Taylor, Carson Terry, Hadley Howard Teter, Arthur P. Thomas, Frank W. Thomas, Guy Thomas, Heber H. Thomas, P. Alonzo Thomas, Stanley W. Thomas, Benjamin Thompson, William O. Thompson, George Tomaka, Ransford Torgerson, Vernon W. Tozer, Thomas W. Tower, Thomas Traggastis, Herman Trew, Harold A. C. Trotman, Charles L. Tucker, Percy D. Tucker, Parley C. Turner, Roland V. Twelves, Jack E. Tyler, Gordon Van Alystine, William Van Dusen, Alber V. Van Pelt, Harlow H. Vincent, Don C. Wade, Martin E. Wagner, Ren Wagstaff, William Wainwright, Wm. H. Walkington, J. Blaine Wall, James John Wallas, Partick J. Walsh, Frederick W. Walson, Edward H. Walters, Wilford R. Wanberg, William Wanio, William C. Wanner, Keith Warby, B. E. Watkins, Devers Watkins, Ernest B. Watkins, Ellis L. Weeter, Harley Weir, James C. Wells, Wilford Wells, Richard Werner, Russell J. West, George H. Western, John H. Weston, M. Wheelwright, Ira B. Whitaker, Charles L. White, Fred T. Whitehouse, W. A. Whiteley, Fred T. Whitesides, Mason D. Whitmore, Clifford A. Williams, Ray O. Williams, Joseph C. Willmore, Joseph S. Wilkes, Herbert Wilson, James H. Wilson, James W. Wilson, Orson P. Wilson, Elmer Winters, Alden M. Witbeck, John E. Witbeck, George Woodard, W. W. Woodland, Joseph R. Woolley, N. F. Woolley, Nelden F. Worley, Anton Woytak, Jack P. Wright, A. H. Wunderlich, James G. Yardley, George L. Young, John P. Young.

Extended Research:

World War I saw the highest level of foreign troop deployment in American history. Due to the extreme number of casualties and the difficult nature of transporting the dead back to the United States for burial, many servicemembers were buried overseas. The American Battle Monuments Commission was formed and tasked with creating US cemeteries overseas. In the US, the Service Star Legion created the National Memorial Grove in Baltimore to honor those who were lost and buried overseas. These events inspired similar monuments to US servicemembers who died in the war throughout the nation. Utah’s memorial to those lost was initially proposed by the local chapter of The Service Star Legion in 1920, and City Creek Canyon was selected as the anticipated site. The Service Star Legion was made up of mothers of servicemembers across the country who displayed flags with stars that indicated how many sons they had fighting in the war. A Gold Star Mother referred to a mother who displayed a gold star on her flag, indicating that she had lost a son in the war. [1]

Original Marker

By 1924, the mothers of Utahns killed in the war had organized into the Gold Star Mothers of Salt Lake, and proposed a monument that included a bronze tablet adorned with the names of Utahns who died during the war. Their efforts in lobbying the state legislature and garnering public support were vital in this effort. Anne Payne Howard was named the treasurer of the committee that oversaw the development of the monument, and was instrumental in securing funding for the project.[2] She repeatedly called on local citizens to donate to the monument fund, and purchased numerous advertisements in local newspapers to drum up support. Due to the efforts of Anne Payne Howard and the Gold Star Mothers of Salt Lake, the original monument was dedicated on Friday, June 27, 1924 by then-Mayor C. Clarence Nelson. The dedication ceremony drew hundreds of visitors, including then-Governor Charles R. Mabey, Disabled American Veterans president James McFarland, and Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant Samuel Woodfill. This version of the monument was designed by Salt Lake City architect Walter J. Cooper, and according to sources at the time, featured the names of 728 Utahns.[3] Later sources cite 665 names, and the discrepancy is not explained anywhere. It is possible the original news announcement had incorrect information.

Current Marker

In 1932, Anne Payne Howard served as the chairman of Memory Grove Park, and announced that a new monument for those lost in World War I would replace the original. The new monument included a pergola made of the same Vermont marble that was used in the Lincoln Memorial, and an octahedral marker in the center. The construction of the monument cost $13,500.[4] On Memorial Day of 1932, a ceremony was held to honor the veterans of World War I. During the ceremony, the efforts of the Gold Star Mothers and Anne Payne Howard over the past decade were realized with a new monument engraved with the names of 665 Utahns, cementing their sacrifice so they may be honored.

For Further Reference:

Primary Sources

Miller, Selma. “Soldier Dead Honored with Bronze Plate.” Salt Lake Tribune. June 27 1924.

Link: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s66t4pvn/18919876

“War Memorial Work Planned Soon.” Salt Lake Tribune. February 16 1932.

Link: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6q82n1v/15818753

Secondary Sources

Kiser, Benjamin, Holly George, Kaleigh McLaughlin, Valerie Jacobson, and Christina Epperson. “Utah’s World War I Monuments.” Pamphlet by Utah State Division of History.

Love, William G. “A History of Memory Grove.” Utah Historical Quarterly 76 no. 2 (2008): 148-167.

Powell, Alan Kent. Utah and the Great War: The Beehive State and the World War I Experience. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. 2016.

[1] Allan Kent Powell, Utah and the Great War: The Beehive State and the World War I Experience (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2016), 397.

[2] Benjamin Kiser et al, “Utah’s World War I Monuments,” Pamphlet by Utah State Division of History.

[3] Selma Miller, “Soldier Dead Honored with Bronze Plate,” Salt Lake Telegram, June 27 1924, https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s66t4pvn/18919876.

[4] “War Memorial Work Planned Soon,” Salt Lake Telegram, February 16 1932, https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6q82n1v/15818753.

Benson Grist Mill

Published May 3, 2022 / by Dean Church / Leave a Comment

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Write-up by Dean Church

Placed by: The Benson Grist Mill Restoration Volunteer Committee

GPS Coordinates: N 40° 39.033 W 112° 17.834

Historical Marker Text:

BENSON GRIST MILL In 1850 L.D.S. Church Apostle, Ezra Taft Benson, was authorized by President Brigham Young to develop a mill site at Twin Springs Creek to serve Mormon communities in Tooele County. In 1851 a sawmill commenced operating and in 1854 the Lee brothers, skilled pioneer artisans, were hired to build the mill. The mill’s large mortised timbers were hauled by team and wagon from the nearby Oquirrh Mountains.

In 1855 the millsite community became known as “Richville” and served as the County Seat until 1861, when Tooele City was designated.

In 1860 the “E.T. Benson Flour Mill” had one male employee and one run of millstones which produced 1,200 barrels of flour, 72,000 pounds of bran and 56,000 pounds of corn meal, together valued at $17,000. In the same year, Brigham Young acquired the mill, when E.T. Benson moved to Cache Valley.

By 1862, the mill was referred to as “Young and Rowberry’s,” Bishop John Rowberry being an early resident of the Milltown (Richville) area. The mill that year reportedly processed 200 bushels of wheat per day under a 250 horsepower capacity.

In 1922, J. Reuben Clark, Jr. (A U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and later an apostle in the Mormon church) purchased the mill. Earlier it’s original wooden waterwheel and millstones had been replaced by a metal turbine and imported free-standing “grain breakers.” After finally ceasing flour-milling operations in 1938, the mill was used several years for grinding animal feed.

A volunteer committee was organized in 1983 to acquire and restore the historic mill, which was donated by Terracor Corp. to Tooele County.

Photo Credit: J. Willard Marriott Digital Library (accessed on 3.2.22)

Extended Research:

Apostle Ezra Taft Benson, the original founder of the mill, was one of the first to arrive in Utah alongside Brigham Young’s pioneer company in 1847. After arriving in Utah, he was shortly sent back to Missouri where he helped prepare more Latter-day Saints for the trip to Utah.[1] He stayed in Missouri for two years until he eventually made his permanent move to the Salt Lake Valley in 1849. Ezra Benson would then help settle what we now call the Tooele Valley.

Cyrus Tolman is also important in this early history of the Benson Mill, as according to local history Tolman brought a load of straw and shingle timbers to Brigham Young to show the natural resources located in Tooele Valley.[2] This helped convince Brigham Young to sign off on milling and timber rights to Ezra Benson, Anson Call, Josiah Call, and Judson Tolman. In return these men promised to help develop roads to the new facilities. Due to the rich supply of timber, and grain grown by early settlers, milling operations were quickly attracted to the Tooele Valley

Benson hired brothers Cyrus and Judson Tolman, along with millwright Phineas Wright to find locations for mills and to begin construction. New Settlers to the area built their first homes around Benson’s sawmill in an area they called Settlement Canyon. These shelters were quickly abandoned, as a “Fort” was created due to hostilities with nearby Native Americans.[3]

Latter-day Saint carpenter Thomas Lee and his brothers constructed the Benson gristmill in 1854. John Rowberry supervised construction and then maintained the mill for the owners, a group of people that included Rowberry, Ezra Benson, Benjamin Crosland, and other church leaders.[4]

Settlers relied heavily on the Benson Mill in its early years, with reports describing workers there grinding as many as 6,000 bushels of wheat, 1,000 bushes of corn, and 228,000 pounds of flour.[5] To the right is an ad in the Deseret News written in 1857 advertising the Benson Gristmill. It mentions short notice grinding at any time of the year.[6]

Ownership of the Mill has changed several times throughout the decades. In 1860, Ezra Benson sold off his two-thirds share to Brigham Young. Young’s brother Lorenzo was interested in the mill and constructed an adobe home across from it. A conflicting story reports that Ezra Benson acquired sole ownership of the mill in 1866. It is thought that this was done in order to protect the ownership of the mill in behalf of the LDS church, as around this time the Church was being investigated by the federal government for polygamy.[7]

J. Reuben Clark Jr., an apostle in the LDS church, then purchased the Gristmill in 1922. Alterations were made to the mill including exchanging its original wooden waterwheel for a metal turbine, and its millstones were replaced with “imported free-standing ‘grain breakers’”. It ran all the way until the 1940’s, being used for grinding animal feed. Terracor, a land development company, then acquired the Gristmill. For roughly 40 years the mill sat abandoned until Terracor donated the building to Tooele County.

The Benson Grist Mill Restoration Volunteer Committee created by Jack Smith, and consisting of members Wayne Shields, Boyd and Ouida Blanthorn, Ray Court, Bob and Marilyn Shields, Douglas Smith and Maxine Grimm, worked hard to return the Gristmill to its current condition. Today, the mill is used as a setting for field trips, weddings, reunions, and other social gatherings. “The site, complete with covered picnic tables, has become a virtual village as well as a roadside park. It hosts a replica miller’s house, historic cabins, a granary, a large barn and all manner of other buildings, plus several wagons.”[8]

[1] Ezra Benson, “Ezra Taft Benson, 1811-1869,” Autobiography of Ezra T. Benson (1811-1869), accessed April 8, 2022, http://boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ETBenson.html

[2] Ouida Nuhn Blanthorn, A History of Tooele County (Salt Lake City, UT: Utah State Historical Society, 1998), 70-72.

[3] Ouida Nuhn Blanthorn, A History of Tooele County (Salt Lake City, UT: Utah State Historical Society, 1998), 70.

[4] Ouida Nuhn Blanthorn, A History of Tooele County (Salt Lake City, UT: Utah State Historical Society, 1998), 73.

[5] Ouida Nuhn Blanthorn, A History of Tooele County (Salt Lake City, UT: Utah State Historical Society, 1998), 226-227.

[6] “Grinding, Grinding,” Deseret News, 11 March 1857, 7.

[7] Ouida Nuhn Blanthorn, A History of Tooele County (Salt Lake City, UT: Utah State Historical Society, 1998), 73-74.

[8] Ray Boren, “The Benson Grist Mill Is a Rugged Monument to a Dynamic Pioneer Past,” Deseret News, 17 May 2012.

For Further Reference:

Primary Sources:

Benson, Ezra. “Ezra Taft Benson, 1811-1869.” Autobiography of Ezra T. Benson (1811-1869). Accessed April 8, 2022. http://boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ETBenson.html

“Grinding, Grinding,” Deseret News, 11 March 1857, 7.

Secondary Sources:

Blanthorn, Ouida Nuhn. A History of Tooele County. Salt Lake City, UT, Utah: Utah State Historical Society, 1998.

Boren, Ray. “The Benson Grist Mill is a Rugged Monument to a Dynamic Pioneer Past.” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 17, 2012.

Fire Station No. 8

Published May 3, 2022 / by Jordyn Gasper / Leave a Comment

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Write-up by Jordyn Gasper

Placed by: Division of State History, N- 582

GPS Coordinates: N 40° 45.829 W 111° 51.228

Historical Marker Text:

Fire Station No. 8, the second oldest visually intact fire station in Salt Lake City, is historically significant in documenting the expansion and development of the firefighting service in Salt Lake City. It was constructed in 1930 to serve the “outlying” east bench area, one of the fastest growing residential areas at the time. The building’s residential appearance reflects the careful attention given to ensure compatibility with surrounding houses.

Extended Research

The Salt Lake City Fire Department has been active for over 100 years. Prior to 1883, the department was operated by volunteer firemen only. This changed when the “Salt Lake City Council established a full-time, paid fire department, after a particularly damaging fire occurred in downtown Salt Lake City on June 21, 1883.”[1] The fire ripped through downtown Salt Lake City and created an explosion which caused nearly $100,000 in damages.[2] This massively devastating fire destroyed many city buildings and truly exposed the limited resources that Salt Lake had to help combat the fire.[3] The volunteer firemen attempted to put out the blaze, but it was obvious that there was not enough manpower to help the situation. After this extreme disaster, the Salt Lake Fire Department was created. The stations within the department had specific architectural styles to match their intended purposes for the time being. For example, the first station of the department, Fire Station no. 1, had a very particular architectural style that reflected its time period. This photo is from 1911 and shows how the station is very large.[4] It was a bigger structure because it was the only operating station at its time. The photo reveals smaller, circular garage openings to fit horse drawn fire engines. At this time, there were no motorized vehicles being used within the department, so the station did not need to expand its openings to fit larger equipment.

*Fire Station No. 1 in 1911 courtesy of Salt Lake City Fire Department Photographs, accessed March 2, 2022, https://archives.utah.gov/digital/23526.htm.*

As the population of the area grew, so did the number of stations within the department. In 1930, Fire Station no. 8 was constructed “to serve the east bench area” in Salt Lake City.[5] This station is historically significant because its architectural style and development reflected the expansion of the city and the fire department.[6] The architectural style of Fire Station no. 8 matches the looks of the surrounding homes within the area during the early twentieth century. Architect Albert White is praised for his work on the station because its appearance “reflects the careful attention that was given to the scale, setback and design of the building to ensure that it would be compatible with the surrounding houses in this prime residential neighborhood.”[7] The station was constructed to coexist with its surroundings and not stand out.

The design of Fire Station No. 8 is referred to as an English Cottage style building. This was the style of the majority of Salt Lake residential homes during the early twentieth century.[8] One important note about the English Cottage style was that although they appeared “deceptively small from the street, often they actually extended deep into the lot.”[9]

As seen in the photo above, the fire station extends very deep into its lot. This was because the station needed to fit multiple fire engines and other fire equipment inside the building. Not only was the English Cottage style appealing to the eye, it was also very convenient for the purpose of a Fire Station.

However, as the city was expanding and new equipment advanced, the station could no longer function efficiently. Fire Station No. 8 was only operational until the year 1980 “because the doorways could not handle large modern firetrucks.”[10] This photo shows the crew in front of the station before it shut down.[11]

*Fire Station No. 8 1980 courtesy of Salt Lake City Fire Department-Station 8, Classified Photograph Collection, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah.*

After the Salt Lake County Fire Department stopped using Fire Station No. 8, private investors purchased the building. These buyers transformed the station into a restaurant in the early 1980s called the Market Street Broiler.[12] In May of 2014, different investors bought the building and transformed it into a new restaurant called the Porcupine Pub and Grille.[13] As of 2022, Fire Station no. 8 serves as a Mexican restaurant called the Rio Grande.

[1] “Salt Lake City Fire Department Photographs, 1885-1901,” Salt Lake City Fire Department Photographs, accessed March 2, 2022, https://archives.utah.gov/digital/23526.htm.

[2] “The Big Blaze,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, (Salt Lake City, UT), June 22, 1883, https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60017g2/10548379.

[3] Jeffrey D. Nichols, “1883 Blaze Spurred Creation of Salt Lake City’s Professional Fire Department,” History to Go, April 29, 2016, https://historytogo.utah.gov/1883-blaze/.

[4] Salt Lake City Fire Department- Station 1, Classified Photograph Collection, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[5] Heather L. King, “Porcupine Pub Renovates Historic Utah Fire Station No. 8,” Utah Stories, https://utahstories.com/2016/11/porcupine-pub-renovates-historic-utah-fire-station-no-8/.

[6] National Register of Historic Places, Fire Station no. 8, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, National Register #83004423.

[7] National Register of Historic Places, Fire Station no. 8, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, National Register #83004423.

[8] Thomas Carter and Peter L. Goss, Utah’s Historic Architecture, 1847-1940: A Guide. (Salt Lake City, UT: Center for Architectural Studies, Graduate School of Architecture, University of Utah, & Utah State Historical Society, 1991), 137.

[9] Thomas Carter and Peter L. Goss, Utah’s Historic Architecture, 1847-1940: A Guide. (Salt Lake City, UT: Center for Architectural Studies, Graduate School of Architecture, University of Utah, & Utah State Historical Society, 1991), 34.

[10] “Firestation No. 8 (Salt Lake City),” Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation, April 26, 2021), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestation.

[11] Salt Lake City Fire Department-Station 8, Classified Photograph Collection, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[12] Heather L. King, “Porcupine Pub Renovates Historic Utah Fire Station No. 8,” Utah Stories, https://utahstories.com/2016/11/porcupine-pub-renovates-historic-utah-fire-station-no-8/.

[13] Heather L. King, “Porcupine Pub Renovates Historic Utah Fire Station No. 8,” Utah Stories, https://utahstories.com/2016/11/porcupine-pub-renovates-historic-utah-fire-station-no-8/.

For Further Reference:

Primary Sources:

Salt Lake City Fire Department-Station 1, Classified Photograph Collection, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Salt Lake City Fire Department-Station 8, Classified Photograph Collection, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“The Big Blaze.” Salt Lake Herald-Republican. (Salt Lake City, UT). June 22, 1883. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60017g2/10548379.

Secondary Sources:

Carter, Thomas, and Peter L. Goss. Utah’s Historic Architecture, 1847-1940: A Guide. (Salt Lake City, UT: Center for Architectural Studies, Graduate School of Architecture, University of Utah, & Utah State Historical Society, 1991).

“Firestation No. 8 (Salt Lake City).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, April 26, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestation_No._8_(Salt_Lake_City).

King, Heather L. “Porcupine Pub Renovates Historic Utah Fire Station No. 8.” Utah Stories, November 25, 2016. https://utahstories.com/2016/11/porcupine-pub-renovates-historic-utah-fire-station-no-8/.

National Register of Historic Places. Fire Station no. 8. Salt Lake City. Salt Lake County. Utah. National Register #83004423.

“Salt Lake City Fire Department Photographs, 1885-1901.” Salt Lake City Fire Department Photographs. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://archives.utah.gov/digital/23526.htm.

Nichols, Jeffrey D. “1883 Blaze Spurred Creation of Salt Lake City’s Professional Fire Department.” History to Go, April 29, 2016. https://historytogo.utah.gov/1883-blaze/.

Sugar House Monument

Published May 3, 2022 / by Jordan Nelson / Leave a Comment

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Write-up by Jordan Nelson

Placed by: Anderson & Young Architects, Sugarhouse Business Men’s League

GPS Coordinates: 40° 43′ 31″ N, 111° 51′ 36″ W

Historical Marker Text (1):

To the founders of a pioneer industry As a tribute
to the heroic efforts of Brigham Young, John Taylor, Philip De La Mare, Elias Morris,
Abraham O. Smoot and other who here laid the foundation of the beet sugar
industry in the west, from which event this immediate industrial and business center
derives its name, this monument is erected A.D. 1930

Historical Marker Text (2):

Erected in recognition of the first effort made to manufacture Beet sugar in western America. With dauntless perseverance through severe hardships the machinery was brought from Liverpool, ENG. to this place, where in 1853 the sugar mill was constructed.
may the spirit of this courageous venture
continue to characterize this community.

The Old Sugar House
Home of one of the earliest efforts toward the creation of local industry in Utah.
At these crossroads in 1853-55, a structure was erected which stood for many years as a symbol
of pioneer enterprise and courage. Its site was approximately two hundred feet east of this spot.
After the sugar project was abandoned the old mill served many other useful purposes. Its life ended in 1928.

Extended Research:

After establishing settlements in the late 1840s within the Salt Lake valley, Brigham Young was well aware that importing resources for his fledgling state was a strain on the Church’s economic reserves. Shipping sugar was especially a burden on the economics of the region, accountants within church leadership calculated that if all sugar needs were imported from outside sources it would cost $240,000 a year.¹ In order to meet this demand the territory needed a reliable source of sugar from crops that could grow in the eastern Great Basin. Brigham Young corresponded with John Taylor, a church leader serving a mission in France in late 1850. Taylor contacted various engineers there who were well acquainted with the process of extracting sugar from beets. John Taylor on Brigham Young’s order established the Deseret Manufacturing Company and purchased more than a thousand pounds of French beet seeds along with the machinery to process the beets into sugar from Liverpool. It seemed that this new industry for Brigham’s kingdom was on its way to success. All of those involved would not see the troubles that lay ahead for them.¹

At almost every part of the journey from France, the company encountered problem after problem. The problems ranged from: paying surprise shipping fees in New Orleans, buying sturdier wagons to carry the machinery to Salt Lake, the cattle getting loose or dying on the trail, and finally an early winter which halted the progress of the heaviest and most crucial parts of the machine.¹ The machinery was still stuck in the mountains by the end of February 1853 with Brigham Young writing to Samuel Richards, a prominent church leader on a mission in England, that some mail carriers had left parcels that they couldn’t carry in the boilers so that they would be protected through the rest of the severe winter.²

While waiting to retrieve the parts, the Deseret Manufacturing Company established a site in Provo to experiment in refining the beet crop. Multiple failures influenced Brigham Young to relieve John Taylor as head of the DMC. The machinery was retrieved from the mountain pass after winter ended and moved to its eventual spot, current day Sugar House. But even with the move and the machine assembled the attempts to create sugar from beet juice only produced “an inedible molasses.”³ These failed attempts were due to the workers’ “complete lack of knowledge” about the sugar distillation process or even the proper construction of the building.⁴ The failure had reflected other setbacks in early Mormon industry but the sugar beet loss cost the Church over $100,000 in total. While this was a great setback the industrial drive of the Mormons continued on into the 1890’s when sugar from sugar beets was finally successful in Lehi. This was in part because sugar manufacturing from beets succeeded in California in 1879, which allowed for the knowhow to then trickle throughout the United States.⁵

The Sugar House Monument was first suggested by Millard Malin, a sculptor, to the Sugar House Business Men’s League in 1928. During this time the city was in a period of beautification and Malin suggested that a monument in Sugar House plaza would be a good way to memorialize “early Utah industry.”⁶ This idea was also reflected by LDS Church leaders at the time, who viewed the failures of the Sugar House mill as only a step to the eventual establishment of the sugar industry in Utah.⁷

¹ Leonard Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1958), 116-120.

² Young, Brigham. Letter to Samuel W Richards. 27 February 1853. L. Tom Perry Special Collections.

³ Woodger, Mary Jane, “Bitter Sweet: John Taylor’s Introduction of the Sugar Beet Industry in Deseret” Utah Historical Quarterly 69:3, 2001.

⁴ Matthew C Godfrey. Religion, Politics, and Sugar: The Mormon Church, the Federal Government, and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907 to 1921. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2007.

⁵ Mary Jane Woodger, “Bitter Sweet,” 262.

⁶ United States Department of the Interior & National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet. OMB No. 1024-0018. July 11, 2003.

⁷ Mary Jane Woodger, “Bitter Sweet,” 263.

For Further Reference:

Primary Sources

Young, Brigham. Letter to Samuel W Richards. 27 February 1853. L. Tom Perry Special Collections.

Secondary Sources

Leonard Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints 1830–1900, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1958), 116-120.

Woodger, Mary Jane, “Bitter Sweet: John Taylor’s Introduction of the Sugar Beet Industry in Deseret” Utah Historical Quarterly 69:3, 2001.

United States Department of the Interior & National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet. OMB No. 1024-0018. July 11, 2003.

Matthew C Godfrey. Religion, Politics, and Sugar: The Mormon Church, the Federal Government, and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907 to 1921. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2007.

Historic Photo Source: https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=444014&facet_format_t=%22image%2Fjpeg%22&q=sugar+house&facet_setname_s=dha_%2A

Iosepa Settlement Cemetery

Published May 2, 2022 / by Cooper Bolton / Leave a Comment

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Write-up and photos by Cooper Bolton

Placed by: Iosepa Historical Society

GPS Coordinates: 40°32’31.5″N 112°44’00.7″W

Historical Marker Text (1):

This hallowed place was dedicated on August 28, 1890 by President Wilford Woodruff for all the nations in the isles of the seas, the Polynesian pioneers, their descendants and the faithful church leaders who left their home in the mid 1800’s and migrated to this gathering place in Zion to be married in the holy temple for time and eternity.

For 28 years (1889 – 1917) Iosepa was their home. In spite of the climate, isolation, loneliness, sickness, hardship, and death, their faith and courage never faltered. They overcame the cold winter, the summer heat, enjoyed the new life of spring and the bounteous harvest of the fall.

Their native songs and dances filled this beautiful valley, which they made “bloom as a rose” with love and aloha. A few remained in Utah, some on this consecrated spot, while the rest returned home to their beloved isles of the sea. The seeds of our Polynesian pioneers bore fruit in Hawaii – the Laie Temple, Brigham Young University – Hawaii, and the Polynesian Cultural Center. Holy temples stand firm in New Zealand, Western Samoa, Tonga, and Tahiti as monuments to the testimonies of the faithful Polynesian pioneers. We close this memory with their song of love:

Iosepa kuu home aloha

Iosepa kuahiwi ika nani

Iosepa ka home no ka’oi

Iosepa my home of love

Iosepa with it’s beautiful mountains

Iosepa my best home

DONORS

THE FIRST PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS PRESIDENT EZRA TAFT BENSON • GORDON B. HINCKLEY • THOMAS S. MONSON • PRINCESS ABIGAIL KEKAULIKE KAWANANAKOA • POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER LAIE, HAWAII – BOARD OF DIRECTORS & EMPLOYEES • IOSEPA HISTORICAL SOCIETY LAIE, HAWAII • IOSEPA HISTORICAL ASSN, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH • AL HARRINGTON FAMILY & FOUNDATION • RIVERTON 6TH WARD A.P.Y.M. + Y.W. 1988-89 • SKULL VALLEY RANCH CO. & EMPLOYEES • ZIONS SECURITIES CORP., LAIE, HAWAII • SALT LAKE MONUMENT CO. – MIKE ELLERBECK + FAMILY • MONTEREY SCULPTURE CENTER – CHARLES L. FISCHER • SCULPTOR–DR. JAN G. FISHER • HISTORIAN – DR. DENNIS ATKINS • ELDON P. & RUTH J. MORRELL • NORMAN & NANCY SWALLIE & CHILDREN RALPH & BETTY A. MAUGHAN & FAMILY • BERNICE W. THOMAS • IRMA W. MACDONALD MALU & CUMA S. HOOPIIAINA • JOSIAH, GEORGE, WILLIAM & CAROLINE HUBBELL & OHANA • ANDREW, FLORENCE, LOTTIE + JOHN KAMAUOHA & OHANA • EDWIN LEROY & TUSIPEPA KAMAUOHA & CHILDREN • LEROY PUKAHI + MALEKA MAHIAI + CHILDREN • LU & SCULLY ROGERS • GEORGE, WILLARD, BARBARA & CLIFFORD KEKAUOHA OHANA • WILLIAM AH QUIN & MABEL POEPOE & CHLN. • ANNIE KANAHELE TAUA & CHLN. • MARGARET K. LOPES VANAMAN + CHLN. • ELWOOD K. ALAPA & CECELIA HO’A • DESCENDANTS OF CLARENCE H. ALAPA, EDITH L. ALAPA, TUIA (OUR MOTHER) OHANA OF KUAHUA & KAAU A. FRANK & LA VINH MOELLER • CRAIG PETERSON • MARIE, MATILDA & STAN ALAPA OHANA • RALPH AND EMMA MAKAIAU & CHILDREN • LUCY PUKAHI AND WALTER TASHIRO & CHILDREN • MAGGIE BROAD & WILLIAM WALLACE OHANA • JOHN NAUAHI • LARRY AU + W. M. J. HART • CHARLES & HANNAH HALLIWELL & OHANA • WILLIAM J. AND PATRICIA CLARK • REP. LEE & BERNICE ALLEN

National Register

Utah Historic Site

IOSEPA SETTLEMENT CEMETERY

The Iosepa Community developed after Polynesian converts to the Mormon faith were employed as laborers by the Iosepa Agriculture and Stock Company in 1889. After numerous hardships, including bouts with leprosy, the colony attained a degree of financial independence and its population reached 228. In 1915 when the L.D.S. Church began to build the Hawaiian Temple, the need for “gathering” subsided. The Iosepa project was allowed to end and most of the settlers and their children returned to the Islands by 1917.

Division of State History N-38

Historical Marker Text (2):

ADMINISTRATION

HARVEY H. CLUFF 1889-1890 & 1893-1900

WILLIAM KING 1890-1892

THOMAS A. WADDOUPS 1901-1917

ORIGINAL SETTLERS

HARVEY H. CLUFF • FREDERICK A. MITCHELL • ELIHUE BARELL • FRANK W. MARCHANT • FRANCIS M. LYMAN, JR. • JOHN W. KAULAINAMOKU • KAPUKINI KAULAINAMOKU • JOHN MAKAULA • MARIA MAKAULA • KAPELA • CHARLES NAAU • JANE NAAU • EMILY S. NAAU • HAIKI • MOKE KALIMA • OLIVA ALAPA • JOSEPH KEKUKU • MILIAMA KEKUKU • HATTIE KEKUKU • IVY KEKUKU • VIOLA KEKUKU • EDWIN KEKUKU • PETER KEALAKAIHOUNA • PELEKANE KEALAKAIHOUNA • KAHAIANA KEALAKAIHOUNA • PETEROPIO KEALAKAIHOUNA • PIIPIILANI SOLAMONA • MOSES SOLAMONA • MAKAOPIOPIO • WILLIAM COLES • JOHN MAHUALII • ELIZABETH MAHUNALII • KALAWAI • KAPAINUI • JOHN K. N. MAHOE • HANAH MAHOE • LUCY MAHOE • DAVID MOKUILIMA • HOOKAIA MOKUILIMA • MARY MOKUILIMA • DAVID MOKUILIMA JR. • JOHN MAKAKAO • LUCY E. MAKAKAO • JOSEPH KEKUKU • WILLIAM K. HALEMANY • ELLEN HALEMANU • JAMES HALEMANU • JONATHAN NAPELA • MOCHAHO NAPELA • H. NAPELA • GEORGE KAMAKANIAU • V. MAHUNALII • KEALOHANIO KAMAKANIAU • GEORGE W. NIAU • HARVEY ALAPA • N. POMARIKAI

Here lie the honored Polynesian pioneers who have sealed their testimonies in the dust, that God lives, Jesus is the Christ, all the presidents of the church are prophets of God, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.

There are 79 graves in the cemetery. Only the names listed below are recorded. The rest are unknown, honored souls.

HARVEY O. ALAPA • MARY KAHOOHIG ALAPA • JOE ANTONE DRUMONDA • WILLIAM S. FREESTONE • PETER N. GEORGE • DORA KAILIAHI HALEMANU • EDWIN IOBA HALEMANY • EMMA PURCELL HALEMANU • GEORGE DELAWARE HALEMANU • MARIAH IHUNA HALEMANU • MATILDA KAMEHAILILANI HALEMANU • WILLIAM NIEWALANI HALEMANU • LEVI HANAKAEA • NAPAPALE HALEKAEU • CLARA KALIMAHII MAHOE HOOPIIAINA • CONNIE HOOPIIAINA • JOHN HOOPIIAINA • DAVID HALEAKALA HUBBELL • ELIZABETH KAAHU HAILI HUBBELL • JULIA KAAHU KAWAHINEKAWAI HUBBELL • EDWARD APUA IMAIKALANI • HARVEY K. IMAIKALANI • MARY POMAIKAI IMAIKALANI • JOSEPH K. O. KAIHIWAI • MARJORIE LAIE KAILIKEA • JOHN K. KAINI • KAPAINUI KALAVAO • JOHN KAMAUOHA • JOHN W. KAULEINAMOKU • EMILY KEALAKAIHOUNA • KEALAULA KEALOHA PAUOLA • HOSEA NAHINU OPIO KEKAUOHA JR. • MAKAOPIOPIO • JOHN. H. MAKAULA • MARIA K. MAKAULA • MOSES NAKUAAU • NAPAPALE • CECELIA NAWAHINI • ISAAC KEAHI NAWAHINI • MARTHA KAHOKUWAHILANI NAWAHINI • LEHI PAAHAO • BESSIE PETERS • ANNIE HULIA PUKAHI • SAMUEL KAUIHOU PUKAH • MARIA PAKAIAH MAKAIAU • KALEHUA MAKANOE • KEEPA MAKEHAU

PROJECT COORDINATOR – EDWIN L. KAMAUOHA

BUILT BY WILLING HANDS AND LOVING HEARTS

Historical Marker Text (3):

IOSEPA

HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

TIME CAPSULE

OPEN 28 AUGUST 1990

OPEN 28 AUGUST 2015

OPEN 28 AUGUST 2040

OPEN 28 AUGUST 2065

OPEN 28 AUGUST 2090

OPEN 28 AUGUST 2115

Historical Marker Text (4):

This lonely fire hydrant serves as a landmarker for the townsite of Iosepa, Utah, located on the desert floor between Cedar Mountain & the Stansbury Range in Skull Valley. Iosepa was named after Joseph F. Smith, 6th. President of the L.D.S. church. About 50 Hawaiians left Salt Lake City via Garfield by train, then by 20 wagons, to Grantsville, spent the night, arriving in Iosepa August 28, 1889.

The public square consisted of 16.9 acres, with 4 center streets, 132 ft. wide on four sides of the town park. A row of trees were planted in the center of each street. All the other streets were 66 feet wide and the blocks were divided into 4 lots, each containing ¾ acres.

All the streets had Hawaiian names. The original purchase consisted of 1,920 acres, of which 200 were under cultivation, the next two years accumulated to 5,273 acres. The water came from five streams collected in an open ditch put into a concrete conduit that furnished culinary water to each home. A fire hydrant and irrigation ditch went with each lot. The cemetery, about ½ acre, is located a mile northeast of the settlement. Iosepa won the state prize in 1911 for the best kept town and most progressive city in the state of Utah.

Only the Hoopiiaina family and J. Palikapee Nawahine remained in Utah. The rest returned home to Hawaii to settle and help build the Laie temple (1917-1919). Iosepa returned to dust, leaving a heritage of the faithful Polynesian pioneers, and closed a chapter in the great western American history.

IOSEPA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

EDWIN L. KAMAUOHA OHANA

PLAQUE & MARKER DONATED BY REX & PHYLLIS CROSLAND MAY 28, 1990

HOOPIIAINA OHANA

MALU, CUMA, WILFORD, CLIFFORD, CORY

Extended Research:

The Iosepa settlement was established by and for the Polynesian (mainly Hawaiian) members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which wished to live in Utah. It was founded with the arrival of 56 settlers to the site on August 28, 1889 and was abandoned by 1917.¹ The town was settled out of a desire to relocate Polynesians in Salt Lake City to somewhere outside of the city. This was spurred on growing animosity towards Polynesians which was largely the result of controversy over Polynesian applications for American citizenship as well as fears over a rumored leprosy outbreak among native Hawaiians.²

Iosepa residents pickup up goods at Timpie Station
Photo Credit: Utah State Historical Society (accessed on 3.2.22)

The colony was originally settled as a joint stock company incorporated as the Iosepa Agriculture and Stock Company, being owned by the L.D.S. Church. Harvey H. Cluff was the president of the corporation and manager of the company, while a person by the name of I. W. Kauleinamoku was the leader of the Polynesian Mormons. The land was dedicated by then L.D.S. Church President Wilford Woodruff on August 28, 1890, exactly one year after colonization, as a “gathering place for the natives of the islands of the sea.” Contrary to the story told on the marker, Iosepa was not self-sustaining and relied heavily on the L.D.S. Church to cover expenses, likely due to its isolation (The closest settlement to Iosepa, Milton, was about 40 miles away. After 1906, Timpie Station, a station at which trains stopped only if signaled to do so, was established, but it was still roughly 15 miles north of Iosepa). Furthermore, the colony saw a number of crop failures due to the climate of the region. This, combined with the scorching heat of summer, the freezing cold of winter, and disease took a massive toll on the settlers.³

Iosepa residents in front of one of the original homes
Photo Credit: Utah State Historical Society (accessed on 3.2.22)

Despite these setbacks, life in Iosepa was reportedly pleasant. The L.D.S. Church was incredibly important to the colony and as such, the residents followed a schedule of annual holidays, including their own version of Pioneer Day, celebrated on August 28, and Church leaders visited the colony often. The diversity of cultures in the settlers could be seen especially in their festivities. Settlers prepared traditional Hawaiian food which was eaten alongside Euro-American food and eventually, the practices of the colony became unique in Utah while differing greatly from their Polynesian origins.

The people of Iosepa also made the education of all residents a priority, eventually hiring a teacher from outside the town. Additionally, the town was designed to provide enough space for everyone as well as to make freshwater available in every home.⁴ This can be seen in the townsite plat that was filed at the Tooele County Courthouse on July 31, 1908 based on the original townsite survey conducted by Frederick A. Mitchell and Francis M. Lyman.⁵

The historical marker within the Iosepa cemetery was dedicated on August 28, 1989, 100 years after the town’s founding, by then L.D.S. Church President Gordon B. Hinckley. All that remains of the settlement is the cemetery and a fire hydrant. The settlement reached a peak population of 228 in 1915 but was gradually depopulated as the L.D.S. Church began to build the Laie Temple in Hawaii and most of Iosepa’s residents chose to return to Oahu to assist in the Temple’s construction.⁶

[1] Dennis H. Atkins, “A History of Iosepa, the Utah Polynesian Colony,” 1958

[2] Matthew Kester, “Race, Religion, and Citizenship in Mormon Country: Native Hawaiians in Salt Lake City, 1869-1889,” Western Historical Quarterly 40, no. 1 (2009), 52; Matthew Kester, Remembering Iosepa: History, Place, and Religion in the American West (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).

[3] David L. Schirer, “Iosepa,” Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994

[4] Dennis H. Atkins, “A History of Iosepa, the Utah Polynesian Colony,” 1958

[5] “Big Event for Iosepa Colony,” Deseret Evening News, September 1, 1908, 5.

[6] Scott Lloyd, “Iosepa Memorial Honors Utah’s Hawaiian Settlers,” Deseret News, August 29, 1989; Dennis H. Atkins, “A History of Iosepa, the Utah Polynesian Colony,” 1958

For Further Reference:

Primary Sources:

Diary of Harvey H. Cluff. Digital scan of original manuscript. 1889. Digital Collections, Special Collection Miscellaneous 3. BYU Library. https://cdm15999.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15999coll24/id/30510

Secondary Sources:

Atkin, Dennis H. “A History of Iosepa, the Utah Polynesian Colony,” 1958. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5488&context=etd.

“Big Event for Iosepa Colony.” Deseret Evening News. September 1, 1908. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045555/1908-09-01/ed-1/seq-5/.

“Iosepa Memorial Honors Utah’s Hawaiian Settlers.” Deseret News. August 29, 1989. https://www.deseret.com/1989/8/29/18821578/iosepa-memorial-honors-utah-s-hawaiian-settlers.

Kester, Matthew. “Race, Religion, and Citizenship in Mormon Country: Native Hawaiians in Salt Lake City, 1869-1889.” Western Historical Quarterly 40, no. 1 (2009): 51–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40505603.

Kester, Matthew. Remembering Iosepa : History, Place, and Religion in the American West. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. https://utah-primoprod.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/dtufc4/UUU_ALMA51536031950002001

Schirer, David L. “Iosepa.” In Utah History Encyclopedia, edited by Allen Kent Powell. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/i/IOSEPA.shtml.

Bonneville Salt Flats & Speedway

Published April 23, 2022 / by John Henderson / Leave a Comment

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Write-up by: John W. Henderson, Jr.

Placed by: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, June 1972

GPS Coordinates: 40.77953, -113.83226

Photo 1 by John Henderson, January 29, 2022.

Historical Marker Text:

Photo 2 by John Henderson, January 29, 2022.

WELCOME TO THE BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS

And Utah’s Famed Measured Mile – Site of World Land-Speed Record Runs

Utah’s famed measured mile is located approximately seven miles beyond this marker, well in front of the mountains you see on the horizon. The elevation along the course is approximately 4,218 feet above sea level. *** The total length of the course that includes the measured mile varies from year to year, but for recent runs it has been laid out in a path 80 feet wide and approximately ten miles long, with a black reference stripe down the middle. Due to the curvature of the earth, it is impossible to see from one end of the course to the other. *** Timing of world land-speed record runs is under the jurisdiction of the United States Automobile Club. World land-speed record times represent an electronically-timed average of two runs over the measured mile, within a one hour time period – one run in each direction. *** The first world land-speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats was set on September 3, 1935, by Sir Malcolm Campbell. His speed was 301.13 miles per hour. *** Craig Breedlove holds the honor of being the first man to go faster than 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour. His record of 600.601 miles per hour, set on November 15, 1965, was finally broken on October 23, 1970, by Gary Gabelich. *** Gabelich’s new record is 622.407 miles per hour. Both Gabelich’s rocket engine ‘Blue Flame’ and Breedlove’s jet-powered ‘Spirit of America’ were equipped with specially designed inflatable tires, pre-tested to speeds in excess of 800 miles per hour.

Photo 3: “Bonneville Salt Flats P.10,” Shipler Commercial Photographers, 1914.

Photo 4: “Craig Breedlove’s ‘Spirit of America’, Shipler Commercial Photographers, 1964.

Extended Research:

Known for hosting land-speed record attempts, the Bonneville Salt Flats are a geological and geographical wonder. Located near the shared border of Nevada and Utah in Tooele County, Utah and spanning 30,000 acres, this salt pan is a remnant of the ancient Lake Bonneville, which existed 32,000 to 14,000 years ago and was originally part of a larger body of water that existed during the geological Gelasian Stage of the Pleistocene Epoch, also known as the “Last Ice Age”.[1] Lake Bonneville covered an area of approximately 2,300 square miles and included the area now known as the Great Salt Lake and Great Salt Lake Desert.[2]

Euro-American explorers conducted reconnaissance of the area encompassing the Bonneville Salt Flat as early as 1833. Ordered by Captain Benjamin L.E. Bonneville, Pacific Coast explorer Joseph R. Walker may have encountered some of what remained of Lake Bonneville during his journey to California.[3] The Bartleson-Bidwell company, captained by John Bartleson and carrying the first white woman and child through Utah, would skirt the western edge of the desert on their way to California in 1841.[4] However, the first recorded crossing of the Great Salt Lake Desert region came 20 years later in 1845, when Captain John C. Fremont, accompanied by scouts Walker and Kit Carson, surveyed the area.[5]

Still, the Bonneville Salt Flats itself remained virtually untouched due to being too harsh an environment for early settlers and wagon trains passing thru to California. But western industrial development and modernization soon entered Tooele County: first, the permanent establishment of the telegraph in 1861; telephone services in 1905; and the first permanent crossing of the Bonneville Salt Flats by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1910.[6] These developments gave rise to increased mining operations and travel through the county in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The Bonneville Salt Flats may be known best for one reason: speed. In 1907, Bill Rishel began promoting the flats as a place for racers to drive their automobiles, following others’ attempts to set land-speed records in Paris, France and Daytona Beach, Florida. Although many initially refused the idea of racing on the flats, news of Utahn Ab Jenkins’ race against a locomotive train in 1925 and 24-hour endurance race in 1932 eventually spread, and in 1935, drivers from England arrived to break Jenkins’ records. In July 1935, John Cobb broke over 64 records on the flats, including Jenkins’ endurance record. In September 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell, who had previously set the world land-speed record at Daytona Beach, broke his old record on the flats with a new land-speed record of 301.1202 miles per hour.[7] The race was on (so to speak) and the flats have seen racers come to be the new driver to best. The impacts of natural climate (i.e., wind, excess rain) and human events (i.e., commercial industries, interstate transportation) have been grounds for scientific and government concern. Increased temperatures, evaporation, and manmade boundaries have permanently affected the natural ecosystem and depleted the salt in and around the Bonneville Salt Flats, despite continued restoration efforts.[8] Several federal and local organizations, including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, have joined forces to restore and preserve the flats.

Photo 5 by John Henderson, January 29, 2022.

[1] C. Claiborne Ray, “The Great Salt Flats,” New York Times (New York City, NY), November 30, 2004; Brenda B. Bowen, et al., “Temporal dynamics of flooding, evaporation, and desiccation cycles and observations of salt crust area change at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, Geomorphology 299 (2017): 1; “GSA Geologic Time Scale,” Geological Society of America, updated August 2018.

[2] Ouida Blanthorn, Utah Centennial County History Series: A History of Tooele County (Salt Lake City: Tooele County Commission, Utah State Historical Society, 1998), 5.

[3] Blanthorn, A History of Tooele County, 48.

[4] Dean L. May, Utah: A People’s History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987), 50.

[5] Blanthorn, A History of Tooele County, 13.

[6] “The Bonneville Salt Flats,” Utah.com, accessed February 24, 2022.

[7] Jessie Embry and Ron Shook, “‘These Bloomin’ Salt Beds’: Racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats,” Utah Historical Quarterly 65, no. 4 (1997): 357.

[8] Bowen, “Temporal dynamics,” 10.

For Further Reference:

Primary Sources

“GSA Geologic Time Scale.” Geological Society of America. Updated August 2018.

Secondary Sources

Blanthorn, Ouida. Utah Centennial County History Series: A History of Tooele County. Salt Lake City: Tooele County Commission, Utah State Historical Society, 1998.

“The Bonneville Salt Flats.” Utah.com. Accessed February 24, 2022.

Bowen, Brenda B., Evan L. Kipnis, and Logan W. Raming. “Temporal dynamics of flooding, evaporation, and desiccation cycles and observations of salt crust area change at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.” Geomorphology 299 (2017). Accessed February 24, 2022.

Carpenter, Glenn A. “The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Role in Resource Management of the Bonneville Salt Flats.” In Great Salt Lake: An Overview of Change, edited by J. Wallace Gwynn, 498-507. Salt Lake City: Salt Lake Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, 2002.

Embry, Jessie, and Ron Shook. “‘These Bloomin’ Salt Beds’: Racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats.” Utah Historical Quarterly 65, no. 4 (1997): 355-71.

Ray, Claiborne C. “The Great Salt Flats.” New York Times (New York City, NY), November 30, 2004.

Utah Historical Markers

Making Utah History one Marker at a Time

Category Archives: early 20th century

The Brigham Young Monument (Pioneer Monument)

Donner-Reed Memorial Museum and Early Bldgs.

Park City Egyptian Theater

USS Harder Memorial

Memory Park World War I Marker

Benson Grist Mill

Fire Station No. 8

Sugar House Monument

Iosepa Settlement Cemetery

Bonneville Salt Flats & Speedway