A History of the Latter-Day Settlement of Star Valley, Wyoming

Transcription

1 Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive All Theses and Dissertations 1962 A History of the Latter-Day Settlement of Star Valley, Wyoming Ray McCord Hall Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: Part of the History Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Hall, Ray McCord, "A History of the Latter-Day Settlement of Star Valley, Wyoming" (1962). All Theses and Dissertations This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact scholarsarchive@byu.edu.

2 o 0 h447 A laimer latmer HISTORY OP OF THE LATTERDAY LAIVER LAIVERDAY SAINT SAIMT settlement OF OP STAR VALLEY VALIXY WYOMING A thesis submitted to the college of religious instruction brigham young university provo prove p ubah utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of science by ray SI hall july 1962

3 axxxowledgments there are many people who have contributed to this work and I1 gratefully acknowledge ae their assistance roat moat most rost of them will of necessity go unmentioned who have contributed information but the help of all those loaned documents i or given encouragement Is sincerely appreciated of invaluable assistance has been the lection collection eol coi of data entitled star valley and its ita communities which was com- plied piled by the university of wyoming extension class education 603i school and community Relat relations lons ln in august and september igi of the class elass was composed of a group of star valley residents and was taught by dr clarence D jayne special thanks go to dr russell russeli R richy richs committee chairman who has given freely of his time and counsel to dr merlin J shaw who has likewise been most helpful to jay Lir hepworth of redburg Rex rexburg idaho who loaned the author much material and has displayed unusual interest in this project to maud burton who has written much to preserve the pioneer history of star valley and to my wife La lafond fonds Ponds fondi without whose editorial assistance this work might well have never been accomplished lii 111 ili

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS GOHTEKTS LIST OP chapter page OF illustrations vii vil 11 I1 introduction i14troduction 1 background purpose method of procedure 11 II rahly VALLEY 6 THE EARLY EAHLY the ehe general area the valley proper the coming of the white man the valley is named III 111 REASONS HEASOMS por FOR TOR THE settlement 19 the church expands antipolygamy anti other reasons reafons aeons legislation IV SMLMNT QT tee OF THE HE UPPER VALLEY 26 selection of the valley townsl te chosen afton townsite A discouraging outlook fairview grover the call for colonists colonials afton Is settled osmond smoot V THE colonization OT OF THE LOWER LOWEB VALLEY freedom etna thayne bedford nerville turnerville turnervllle turnermille Tur tun iv

5 chapter page communit is s f other communities community follow suit sult 9uj4 v progress in education the unique problem of freedom the high school difficulties ficulties faculties transportation dir dlf dif the church assumes a supporting role XI agricultural GROWTH 125 A fertile land dobbin has his day irrigation XII prom mow mou FROM HERITAGE MI ṮAGE TO DESTINY 132 SELECTED references 136 vi

6 ll lise 11ST LIST OP OF illustrations figure 1 location of sbar star valley page 9 2 western wyoming showing lander cutoff star valley 42 4 A typical pioneer cabin an early mercantile establishment in the valley the star valley stake tabernacle the day of the dedication the first burton creamery 0 it 77 8 the half 11 way house on the crow creek creole road first public meeting house eouse flouse public buildings in afton at the turn of centy the century 119 resl 11 the anson call V real Beai reaide residence Reside dence noea neep a temporary high school 122 vil vii

7 pter CHAPTER FTER I1 introduction Bach background the church of jesus christ of latter day saints has from its inception been a church on the move moves sometimes because it was forced to its and at other times to expedite growth shortly after the organization of this church 1830 in new york state its prophetleader leader joseph smith smithy moved with many of his followers to ohio the concept of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints that zion is and was in missouri impelled joseph smith to have his ever increasing flock go to missouri various factors caused a general persecution of the mormons cormons there howeverq keeping them on the move from one location to another eventually they were forced completely out of missouri and located at nauvoo illinois TIlinols here they built a thriving metropolis under the inspired leadership of their prophet nauvoo flourished for a time but persecution followed the saints there toos toop and on june mobsters took the life of joseph smith political sympathy was not with this abused church and mob violence continued even after the death of their illiam lwilliam awilliam lw E berrett the restore stome d church lebl l9bl 10th ed rev salt lake city 2 deseret news press 19bll PP restored loth

8 2 prophet brigham young and the others of the twelve apostles took over the reins of leadership and determined to lead the saints to a land M so remote that there will not need be any difficulty with the people and ourselves nw unreasonable pressure forced the mormons cormons to begin their exodus in the dead of winterp winters and extreme hardship and privation attended the move of these outcasts across the plains the vanguard cormons company of the mormons Mor pioneers mons in a real sense arrived in salt lake valley july it was here that they began anew to establish their culture brigham young was eager to expand the mountain domain dormain maln nain periodically he sent colonizing parties into the numerous neighboring and distant valleys 2 he assured the people that the saints could live any place that the indian could live and thus the intermountain west began to become a virtual mormon empire even the presence of an opposing army failed to b thwart the growth of this zealous people their 21 zion blossomed as a rose the public announcement of plural ra marriage as a religious tenet in august of 1852 nas 182 was wms the cause of more troublous cormons times for the mormons Mormons federal legislation and political pressure caused a great deal of trouble for this church that taught polygamy the passage of the edmunds act of 1882 salt lare lake am carter E grants the kieado kingdom kinado of god restored preses preset pros 197 I1 I1 10arter m city 1m deseret news pres 0 a P 333 and 2nd ed abennett berrett op cit 285 cito p 28

9 brought severe pressure upon the church to abandon the prac- 3 tice 1 cormons but the mormons Mormons firmly believing that they were doing the will of god havens of refuge refused to bow to the will of men and sought mexico and canada supplied the needed protection for those polygamists polyganists who were willing to go so far from their leaders and loved ones others retreated to hish highs isolated mountain valleys purpose oae one of the most remote of these retreats was star valley wyoming and the purpose of this study is to give a general description of its settlements of the difficulties of the early pioneers and of the courage and resourcefulness with which they met their problems it is to record permanently the significant events in the history of the valley to give a general account curate accurate eurate ac insofar as possible of the settlement of star valley by the latter day saints justification for the writers choice of subject is relatively simple to mormonst mormone Mor mons monst the history of their ancestors their moves and motives ivess their hones homes and familiess their weaknesses and strengths their failures and successes is important the history of star valley has hitherto been a relatively unexplored field and it is the writers hope that this paper will be the means heritage mans of preserving some of the richness riehn of its ab 1b B H roberts oomprehensito comprehensive history histaj acre sepet diews liews deseret press igo we 1930 salt lake city utah stay of t he church the church VI vis vip 43

10 4 method of procedure the author has ilias endeavored to discover and consult every available source of accurate information pertaining to his subject he has interviewed many re aidants present and former forner si dent s of star valley and has attempted to substantiate their contributions by the written record wherever possible he has consulted wyoming utahs and idaho history books church history books biographies of church leaders ji journals official stake and ward records county records newspaper files personal diaries and historical documents he has written many letters to persons who he had reason to believe aright ndght tright have pertinent information ebore and some few of thosebore thosobore fruit having accumulated numerous file cards filled with notes and quotations the process of organization and elimination was begun autt and despite great care on the part of the author lor kor kon to avoid such repetition of effort he still found it necessary to recheck cheek some sources and seek out additional information on many subjects once the chapter headings were decided upon and it was determined what information pertained to each it remained only to write the history in as readable and interesting a manner as possible examusted the author does not clain to have ex1m exhausted all sources of information on star valley nor to have verified beyond doubt all of the material herein included he is aware of the existence of some souse sonie souie allegedly good food historical mterlal nmterial but to this

11 5 he was denied access it was frequently deemed inadvisable to include the names of those who ere were tche the first to accomplish a given task because ol 01 of conflicting claims and insufficient evidence hence the tho history ia is in some places less specific than the author had intendeds ede eds he has nevertheless made a sincere effort to discover as much information from as many sources as possible to evaluate it objectively and to present it logically

12 CHAPTER CHAPTEIR II 11 THE TBE EARLY VALLEY the general area the area which comprises the present state of wyoming Wy orning includes territory which has been under the dominion of spain france and britain the eastern part of the state that iss ist Is all that lay east of the continental divide came under the jurisdiction of the united states when this nation purchased the louisiana territory from prance in 1803 A sizable section of what Is now albany and carbon counties came to be a part of the united states territory through the annexation of texas in 1845 gat and the area which lies west wat ust of the continental divide and north of forty two degrees north latitude was acquired by the united states in iba 6 when the oreon on oregon question was settled at the close of the mexican war in the southwestern part of the state was ceded to the united states in 1868 wyoming with her present boundaries was TOS made a separate territory statehood was ms granted in the early explorers migrants ir exr1orers and western iramlgrants irmigrants immigrants who crossed wyoming en route farther west did so with little affection for the territory washington irving after having journeyed wyq wyoming jijg jiji gilr 192b p 1 frankiin frankiln lfranklin bfranklin lf campbell smith laramie larame Wy wyoming orning the early ilai cms ams services8 laramie y relap reltp lous ious print ing company in 6

13 7 across the southern portion of wyoming had this to say it was ms a region almost as vast and trackless as the able of asia has not inaptly been termed spreads forth into un- ocean this region uhlch which measureable steppes the areat great american nican desert it Amne 1 dulating and treeless plains and desolate sandys wearisome to the vne ane eye from their extent and monotony it Is a land where no man permanently abides uelch resembles one of the im racett racest raceai andy wastes which apparently defies civilization and the habitation of civilized man like the wastes of the ocean or the deserts of arabia and like them to be subject to the depredations of the marauder here may spring up new and mongrel raees races like new formations in geology the amalgamation of the debris abrasions1 tabrasions of former 1 1 raceal and abrasions savage tribes civilized and the remains of broken and almost extinguished racett racest the descendants of wandering hunters and trappers of fugitives from the spanish and american frontiers adventurers and desperados desperadoes of every class and country yearly ejected from the bosom of society into the wilderness11 wilderness of the valle vaile valiej ya 1ley proper e it Is unfortunate that irving did not have the pleasure of visiting star valley where his apt pen den mlht oen mi maht zht have had a more pleasant tale to tell david lavender in his discussion of the lander cutoff off has written at the western edge of ring Wyom wyoming the cutoff out oft dropped into a timber bordered grassy bottomed mountain valley that looked like heaven after the bleak wastes of southern wyoming wyon1ng 2 the valley lying about six thousand feet above sea level Is about fifty miles ralles aniles long fron fromn fro north to south and from five to ten miles in width and la is enclosed by the caribou and lebid l1bid bid p 2 cdavid 2david lavender the ba bg b1 divide divido garden city hew dew york doubleday and company inc no 1973 p 20l

14 8 salt river mountain ranges many of these lofty peaks soar to above feet the salt river winds its way through the entire length of the valley being fed by numerous canyon creeks and springs until it beeoms beooiws a major tributary of the south fork of the snake river in reality two valleys combine to form star valley the upper valley is separated from the lower by a shorty canyon nevertheless they are generally considered one shorts narrow natives proclaim clain the climate to be ideal but less hardy people sing praises only to the pleasantly cool summers by most standards the winters are long and cold A snowfall of two and one half to three feet is not uncommon and the mercury often dips to forty degrees decrees below zero A low of fifty five degrees below zero has been recorded by vy the united states weather station 1 in recent years the tourist trade has contributed an appreciable amount to the economy norry of the valley swift moun tain streams abound in trout and big game same gamb is plentiful many wealthy sportsmen from all over the united states return annually for the deer and elk hunts guiding these out of state hunters has become a profitable profession lon profess 2 lreported lre ire karvin earvin larvin lanvin iieporth eepworth pepworth by Vmanvin official united states weather recorder grover wyoming sletter from ruth J bradley chief historical divi- wyoming state archives and historical department sion cheyenne wyoming may

15 9 V V f tclrvle li acom ncom pig Iloeaticm location of star valley

16 10 the coming cominfi of the white man outdoors just as it is the outdoorsmen outdoorsnien outdoorsman men nien nten and nature lovers who best appreciate star valley today so was it the hardiest handiest most daring of the race who first discovered it pur pun in 1809 the missouri fur fun company sent a company of men west into the vicinity of three forks forrs montana these men andrew henry nry john Re hoback jacob reznor resi Ress and edward robinson rauding became re discouraged because of marauding indians and turned southwestward to the north fork of the snake river here flare liere they spent the winter of at 11 henrys henny fart 9 henrya s fort near the present site of st anthony idaho henny henry journeyed on to oregon and regarding gandin degardin the other three philip ashton rollins comments forts fortfs at this fort font abandonment in the spring of 1811 and reznor reanor reenor lad imd had iad I gone eastward on a divergences 1route broute roube 1 robinsons Bo hoback chich fhich which shich save for a quite possible single divergence1 was probably identical with the course along in reverse direction orians marching astoriano astorians Ast henrys forta fort2 alone which they later were to guide the westward from the aricara aricaya village though village tot 0 that same sarae year while on their way east to st louis this trio met neil meil 1 nelp wilson price hunt with his astorians3 hunt invited them theim thein to turn back and re engage in a trapping enterprise ithe entry in the journal of robert stuart on thursday september lsl2 indicates that reznor hoback robinson and miller who epe were wene then members of this party had been on the south fork of the snake river the previous year the description referred to in stuarts ito ite 2philip pphilip ashton rollins bollins the T pi roberte robertt robent stuartsa narratives new hew w and sons p 102 avery york tork edward journal corresponds with the locality near alpine wyoming in the northern kiern klenn end of present day star valley trail 4 discovery ac beg oeg on pvery of the oregon eberstadt bilson 3wilson uilson price hunt was conducting an exploring and trapping expedition for the wealthy john jacob astor of new hew tew Triew york hence the mae bae appellation astoriano astorians Astorians 1

17 11 and they accepted his offer it is interesting to note however that hunt had originally planned to take his party up the missouri river but when he had heard the stories from hoback and his associates of the trouble they had had while on the Mis missouris massouris mls souris he determined to let these three guide him back by the same sanne route over which they had just come it entire tt is probable therefore that the entire hunt party traversed through the northern end of star valley in the latter part of hoback Tf reznor and robinson aloar alonrr with joseph wi th miller inlier a member of hunt Is party separated from the aln main maln group at henrys fort port to do some trapping robent stuart who also was a member of hunts astori robert hobert hobent ans was commissioned in 1812 to take a message back to the company owners in new york fol his course of travel was to foll- 01 ow the route they had used the previous year stuarts journey brought him into contact with the four trappers who port had beep been left at henrys fort they joined his company atid aftd acid the entire group apparently had little trouble till they entered what is now known as the bear lake valley in southeastern idaho indians here they were threatened by a band of crow immediately they turned from their planned course and went northnortheast northeast they entered star valley a short distance south of the present site of the cornunity corsnunifcy corm conn of smoot wyoming 2 their route from here led them then therin therle thenie down the thle length of the salt river to where it joins the snake river thus they rollins op eity city ollins elty p bid0 bide p ilg 116 cit eit elt bida 146 ll 6

18 ull nil traversed the full fulif 12 nii length of star valley in 1812 it was on the snake river near the present site of alpine that they were overtaken by the band of crows although they were not m- olested personally the indians took all their thein horses and left them afoot in that rugged area 1 just how long it was waa after stuart and his party had their unpleasant experience before other white men were traversing and working in star valley is difficult to determine some twenty eight years later however we find alonzo PF brown of new hew later known as the lander cutoff now hampshire who crossed the route cut in off 1840 told old oid t of coming upon the burning remnants of an immigrant train where the all members of the train except trail entered star valley a four rour year old girl were dead the stock had been driven off the childs a legs were broken and apparently she had been left for dead brownts brownta brownia party dressed her wounds and took her to oregon todayaa a peaceful aspen grove marks the sight 2a of the massacred inasmuch as this party chose lys however unfortunately to use this route chances are that others prior to lalo had 9 done the same there is considerable evl evidence denoe to indicate that after many travelers used this trail velma linford discussing the fact that all the immigrants did not follow the same route says venna 2verna averna its a sowa SoMAunities oongnunities somaunities of a class YE- school S verna bruce and rosella crook unsmooth trs a privately printed work compiled as an outcome ieschool and community relations taught by clarence D jayne university of wyoming extension division iggi 1951 it 125 p 12 llbid lloid ebido ibido p j 133 nsmooth star valley and

19 jacif springs at pacific ic river lver1and band through star R 13 later known as the lander cutoff rlver alve mountains to salt ate att the base of south pass a trail cut off left the old route pass- biver ing along the base of the wind river sbar valley to greys lake and fort hall 1 ISTS As an outcome of the mormon war in many of the oregon immigrants desired to detour around the mormon strongholds and as a result the trail through the valley was improved that bhat lavender points out thatt thats bhatt the lander cutoff off was the popular route lying north of the old oregon trail this shorter but rougher road was built durins avoidchance avoldd 3chance schance utah migrants during the mormon wart want so that li immigrants could with the angry saints in northern conflict W J ghent in his the road to oregon bears out lavenderts Lavend levenderts erts statement about the popularity of this route the honey lake wagon road was better known as the for the efficient and energetic colonel lander road frederick vv lander at first its chief engineer and afterwards its superintendents it was opened in time for the immigration of l p andd lander in his report for that says that nine thousand immigrants had already made year it4 ita use of it A italics mrine mine later in his discussion ghent throws light on another colorado ivelma lvelma avelma linford wyomingt frontier state denver W yomi nixt the old west bublis publishing ing company kompany p 138 2actually ax 2xdually there was no shooting war but grossly ex- aggerated reports that the mormons united states government had reached washington buchanan and secretary seen Seerstany stary 0of jol army almy argy to I utah although there was 1 waa no violence cormons were plotting ol against the and president war jox john nm floyd had dispatched an westward travelers feared there might be at any time for a full account the reader is referred to B H roberts comprehensive history of the church salt lake city utah deseret news press r 1930 V Y tactually 3lavender clavender op cito p 208 prehensive histo aw 4w e road R d tot g oregon on 4w J ghent the T publishing company ubi p f abany apany ublishin new hew york new tudor

20 14 subject of interests while it Is popularly believed that the trail through star valley was used by people who sought to cormons avoid the mormons Mor mons it is somewhat ironic to learn that mormons cormons helped build the trail says ghent cormons though projected partly to give the immigrants a passage remote from the mormons Mormons the ending of the trouble between the government and the church early in enabled lander to draw upon president young for large num nura nuna bers of workmen and the road was constructed mainly by mormon labor 1 P for the use of this trail specially especially in the sumer surmer suger months i when immigrants were most numerous allowed thousands of people to see this beautiful spot see fig undoubtedly many of these travelers found this valley an excellent resting place feed for their animals as abundant and game and fish were was bountiful the immigrants found also in star valley a badly needed source of salt on the west side of the valley was a natural formation of salt that merely had to be hacked loose and used enterprising merchants as well as immigrants nade made good use of this natural commodity 1860s herdsmen from bear lake valley settled in the 1860 must also have been at home in star valley early in its history the bear lakers were quick to recognize that the neighboring valley was a jood ra r7 pasture for their livestock bessie bood beachler observes bea before 18b6 l8s6 from bear lake and it was used as a summer many cattle were driven into the valley sunner sunnen sumner range the son lloid llbid libid bibid

21 I1 xloofs AA I sha seh 1 W SEA ae Ae A mv 7 1 I1 0 aga ata 1 I1 I IZ 5 I1 fig 2 western wyoming showing lander cutoff I1

22 16 of william budge of the bear lake stake was in charge of the herd and the valley served as rich pasture land for cattle thousands of cattle1 cattler 1 thus vie see that many years prior to the actual settlement of the valley it had been traversed by hundreds according to ghent 2 thousands of white people the valley is named early history refers to star valley as the salt river valley probably this resulted from the fact that early immigrants and trappers associated the river with the natural vein of salt located in the valley just west of the river some people hearing the name assumed that the river water was salty but it asl isl of coursey a clear water mountain stream salt springs rs ater stream fed by many streams and springs and has no source in a mineral or others inspired by the beauty ol 01 of this mountain oasis favored the spot with the name paradise valley arthur jerome dickson quotes the following from his fathers daily diary on Gross Cross lacross his journey from lagross lpgross lpcross gnoss oross Lp wisconsin to virginia city 9 idaho the group used the lander cutoff august and reads the entry is dated at last through the timber we caught a glimpse of a beautiful green valley watered by a clear mountain stream As we drew out into the open and consulted our guide book we were not surprised to learn that we were in paradise nadise Oa history n besle besie lbegisie beachler beaohler beaghler Bea ben chier ohler star valley vaileyl ghent chent 2ghent valle valke citey cites some incidents in star valley vaike and its communities p 2 ohent op cite p 138

23 surroun the full the beauties of our surround ines 17 valley we followed the stream in its downward course tefee twee or four miles and crossed near where a small before iniluding including had not dried yetl up yeti betl ings smail creek flowed in from the west here we camped for the nights along the creek I1 with noticed that the ground was wag encrusted ene elntch istook ra apparently in the pure a white substance which I1 at first mistook tasting it 1I found it to be salt alkali alkall for ackall state this was a welcome discovery and I1 gathered a heap- rig milk pan full to replenish our depleted stock I1 also ing found the creek to be quite salty although the larger stream bore no trace of it above here wyoming we e were still in but were gradually approaching the idaho line laid over a day in paradise valley so scarce here as along the main trails brought in an antelope and lon got some br ouaht valle vaile valie enjoying to game was not one of the men sage chickens our last fresh meat which we had purchased from the mountain men mien on the sweetwater had given out some days nl there were plenty of fish in the stream and wild fruits along the banks including a few serviceberries that wm italics mine ghent describing the lander trail with obvious reference to star valley speaks of green valley this trail ascended the sweetwater to near its head crossed the range by a gap considerably higher than south pass entered the green valley crossed the river at the mouth of its east fork pork and then thien which it reached in the vicinity of port hall from it followed the freron oregon ca c3 oreron trail 2 thlen struck across to the snake prom there it was in 1830 that thav thaw mosos moses TI Tha Ii thatcher tchor an apostle aposl le of the mormon church visited lsited the saints in the area and declared v A that the name should be changed chanced from fron the salt river valley to 4 star valley bebause because it is a star among valleys M 113 from then on the upper valley was called star valley but the lower Cleve cleveland cieve arthun larthur anthun aarthur jerome Dr drekson arekson dfekson bovere wagon landt landi Tthe ine arthur ha clark company 1929f P 40t ed coveredd ai 1i io ix da x H po jagon dayss 2ghent op citti 22 p 138 3beachler cit eit elt beachler op ci t c p 2

24 18 valley continued to be known aa as the lower salt river valley until improved roads and transportation made the two more united d probably 1892 when the church organized the star valley stake and included both areas

25 CHAPTER CHAPTEH III 111 ili REASONS FOR THE TIM tie tle settlement the church expands under the capable and inspired leadership of brigham youngs the church of jesus christ of latter day saints had begun to extend its mountain empire almost from the moment the first colonists had arrived in salt lake valley indeed the colonization of the great basin was not left to chance leaders were called to that work by the authorities of the church they were carefully selected men to whom the founding of set- ellerm tllerm tlements tie ants was as much rauch nuch nueh a call as if they had been the mission field to preach the gospel beell called into lnt ant in accordance itch ilch with ifch this systematic and well organized plan pian of growth and expansion the valleys of the tmountain west began to fill up with mormon pioneers william E berrett points out within twenty years of the founding of salt sait lake city nearly every present settlement of importance in the great basin was begun although this did not hold true for star valley the church authorities must t11 ling aing iing rust bave have known something of its potential as early as when mormon kormon laborers stract helped construct the lander cutoff which passed through upper errett ijberrett Ij lb lberrett Berrett cit pip op 02 19

26 20 star valley 1 A few years later president william budge of the bear lake stake summered thousands of church cattle in the valley grasslands 2 the bear lake people also mee trips to valley33 the old salt works in the southwest end of the valleys vailey it therefore seems safe to assume that the church leaders were not unaware of the tlle valleyts vailey valleys ts possibilities it must have been con- ridered sidered too remote lor for ror cor organized settlement at that early date anti antl polygamy rollgam gam eam Roll legislation antipolygamy gaw legiglafci on if its remoteness discouraged earlier conquest it is ironic to observe that that same quality is what actually attra attracted ebed eted the first settlers soe some years later the anti bigamy law of 1862 outlawed the practice of polygamy in the nation but little was done about enforcing the iqjos law until the latter part of the 18701s at that time such men as united states district strict arshall marshall Tpred fred rred T dubois whose jurisdiction was in idaho exerted much pressure sure sune to encourage prosecution of mormon poly3amists4 poly amists4 because of this pressure some of the bear lake saints decided to leave the homes and farms they had hewn from the wilderness and seek an area less accessible to the law star valley was an ideal retreat for two reasons it hent op cit p 139 beachler op cites p2 pa 3adelbert adeibert ladelbert adelbert wilde et al MIA 11mia star valley Wyorning wyorning wyoming MS 1915 in author p 4 lghent 2beachler 0 tta tt historical pageant of possession of this J 4james H hawley ed history of idaho chicagos Chi cagot cagos clark lgb Ts dark hark harr bjames histor clarr publishing company 1920t I1 198 S

27 21 was indeed less accessible cera and it was in the territory of wyoming beyond the jurisdiction of the avowed mormon baters hafcera haters hab beds teda in june of 1879 polygamists from st charles bear lake county idaho came to the valley eager for the degree of safety proffered by thomas moonlight the territorial governor of wyoming who welcomed the mormons 11 armons his cormons to ints inis territory sayings they are good colonizers leave them alone 1 ole jensen an l early resident of the valley recorded in nis als his ais diary concerning the attitude of the state officials I1 will here state that the wyoming government was favorables favorableo bies and settle and invited the latter day saints to come here the utah officers who had harassed the cormons mormons had offered their services to the govern- or polygamists ment of byomin wyoming to prosecute the mormons cormons Mor came to this place to inquire after the polygamists but the governor refused sayings inov tnov jo thank you if we lah bah wish iah to prosecute the mormons cormons Mor we have officers of our own 12 and a few of them thus religious refugees were some of the first to come to star valley with the idea of making it a home t he in 1885 the idaho territorial legislature gave even greater impetus to the settle settie ment of the wyoming valley when they passed section of the revised statutes of idaho election law commonly called the idaho test oath1 oatha it reads aa as olio follows VIS f0110 you do solemnly swear or affirm that you are a male over twenty tenty one years citizen of the united states cour you have actually resided in this territory for four oun that four coun months lthomaa lthomas bthomas moonlight governor of wyoming the national 1thomas encyclopedia encyilopedia cyd dla of american and companyp nys Compa 190 natiorial I1 american oan bioara ography new york james T white B ioarath7 igo 9 XII 2ole oie aole jense diary jensen ndiary WS MS in possession of molly smith afton wyoming no page numbers given

28 22 last past and in this county thirty days that you are not a bigamist or a polygamist that you are not a member of any order sect organization or association which teaches advises counsels or encourages its ambers members devotees or any other person to commit commie bhe the trie brie crl crime crine of bl garly or any other crime defined by law lav as a duty rising or resulting from membership in such order organization or association or which practices bigamy or polygamy or me bigar or polygamy celestial marriage as a doctrinal rite of such organization that you do not either publicly or privately other nanner adv I1ise se ilse any person to commit comrait the erime crime other crime defined L01ned by law otherwise or in any manner whatever teach advise counsel or encourage orime of bigamy polygamy or any either as a religious duty or that you regard the constitution of the united theunited states and the laws thereof and of this territory as interpreted by the courts as the supreme laws of the land the teachings of any order organization or association to the contrary notwithstanding previously so help you god 1 and that you have not voted according to james H hawle7 hawley there were mormons cormons in idaho in only a fraction of them then were living in polygamy nonetheless the test oath deprived them thena thenn of their governmental rights and gave cause for district U S marshall dubois and his liis lils deputies to openly and severely harass the idaho a ts polygamists polygamiats in 1884 the railroad was completed to montpelier this made the officers job easier and the polygamists polygarlaists position even more precarious at this time more raore nore none raone naone bear lake families joined their neighbors who imd had previously established homes in star valley even there the mr mar shalis shalls snails marshalls marchalls spurred on by the tho fact that their salaries were boosted by bounty like bonuses for each arrest tried to lure them into idaho and occasionally invaded them in their wyoming homes hones hories horles mountains33 driving them into temporary exile in the nearby mountainsh lldaho 11daho thawley 2hawley 2tlawley revised statutes 1885 sec see op 22 cito cita 1I 198 seo 571 3lnterview 31nterview with albert kennington december 28p 1961

29 23 in utah as well as idaho polygamists were forced to f iee law entorcement enforcement officers offieera acers cena flee slee pri son cens to avoid prison they would hide by day and transact their tbeir business by night this was known as going n derground fled to canada and mexico underground 11 soon weary of such living many 11 others i needed advice 1vqn publicly by moses thatcher in loan lotan utah to seek refuge in star valleya vailey valleba 2 tunderground iii 111 lii given other reasons despite the fact that harsh laws and an even Inar harsher hansher tdaho idaho interpretation of the law drove many nany people from their honses homes houses and the nucleus of the valleyfs vailey valleys population came from the bear lake settlements this author does not wish to imply that star valley wassettled ental waa settled only because of moren morer moven governmental pressures along with the polyamlats p0179amists came oame many who did not practice i plural marriage merville nerville such communities as bedford and turnerville tumerville sumerville Tur tun were made up of monogamist mormons cormons mornons chiefly ehlefl f of germanswiss oerman swiss extraction who found there an envlronmnt environwnfc similar to their homeland names mames manles manies such as gleiner hoixier 1leiner fluckirjer i iluckifer neuenschwander Neuen meuenschwander and rickenbaugh Ricken richenbaush are still common to tnis this area3 aread 3 anis area other early colonists were alsoa aiso attracted rather than driven to the valley many ifan iftn y young men bachelors chiefly vilie villec ville1 3 lberret errettt op cit t p 287 P 2lenore alenore S fluck1ger plucklger fluckiger ban vaili valli vailey valleyy a nd star tan 3tbid and it historyy aristor itsa communities of uniti ea p 7 bedford and turner 75

30 24 latter day saints were seeking hone steads home sheadss as pointed out by leora rich 1 such advertisements aa as the following influenced many to seek their fortune in the mountains bearing the caption the salt river valley and dated depte september 3epte mberj 1880 leader deader 1860 the following article appeared in the logan leader and also in the avenir news hew deseret evenir eveningq new a of september of the ex- the accounts of this valley given by members ploring party consisting of president william millam EB preston apostle moses thatcher and others who lately visited ites 9 are quite glowing globing wide by twenty one long resembles cache valley the valley is about four to six miles and in general contour strongly one of the party remarked re-marked that alao aiso constructed the same architect who planned cache valley also salt river biver valley im on the former formen tt is quite as well watered on the east it and that the latter was an provenient improvement timber is abundant and convenient cut prairies a wild currants soosehep gooseber her bep side and better on the west at side than cache valley and thousands of tons of hay may be out on the open prairie the resi- ries and strawberries abound the two latter fruits being of excellent quality the present population consists of seven families whom the brethren organized sed by one of their number a high priest to preside pro dents say there has been frost every month this year yet it does not appear to be much colder there than here for sawe may be said of cache valley this year the same setting apart stock wintered much better in salt river valley last winter than they did in this and on the whole there seems to be but little difference in the climate cila clia citalete sate kete of the two valleys with abundant sater water soil grass and timber and an extremely fertile salt river valley orf eps many inducements to settlers settie offers offepa era rss and will no doubt be teaming with an industrious and prosperous population within the next few years on the east side of the valley vailey and near the bank of a stream that much resembles the logan dogan locan river a townsite situated upon apon a level 2pon gravelly bench was fixed upon for a settlements mo no doubt the article gave much more glowing account of ileona Pair of molly smith afton wyoming p 1 leora rich fair history of fairview view MS in possession P p the degeret evmi edmi ingels ingews salt lake city september deseret evening news 5455 quoted from tie tia bla tla tb6 loean 9 logan leader s september 1880

31 252 conditions than they actually ere were wene but it certainly must have had a strong influence in drawing energetic young men to the valley with regard to I1 the V above news caption J L hepworth 0 o records in his journal jenseni jr the first to arrive were james jensen nelson neison single boys aged twntyone twenty and lians an article in the logan leader about star atar inspired InsDired by 3tar valley and encouraged by an implement company bicy ficy c7 to get their equipment into a new men outfitted themselves with a new shurttlar wagon nev territory the two young nagon and loaded it with machinery and headed lor for fon lon star valley 1 ai 7i ca ind more will be told of these young men in a later chapter tt is sufficient here to say that they were representa represents it tive five of the wanny anany young men raen filled with the spirit of adventure and colonization who made their contribution in the star of all valleys na n22 aj L hepworth history of grover MS 1961 in 1j possession of the author redburg rexburgf idaho Rexburs buds p 1 2beachler op elt citt eitt 2 P t aitt p 2

32 CHAPTER CHAPTEH IV TV settlement OF THE UPPER UPPBR VALLEY selection of the valley vai when moses That thatcherp thafcoher thatchers cherp accompanied by william preston B presiding bishop of the church visited the upper salt river valley in the fall of 1877 both men were highly pleased with its appearance tt Is interesting to note that an indian it andian john called tndian mindian Is reported re7oorted to have acted as a 7ulde fop for these tro tio two men on this occasion the indians used the area as sumen hunting and camp a sumer summer sunner sunnen grounds groundy and thatcher and preston found campgrounds a large number of shoshone indian wickiups wiokiups wicki built ups of willows 1 however they did note nott see any indians indiana the star star valley stake record1 records kept by the LDS 1 church settler sattler contains an account of the settlement of the valley and tells that these two men man came into the valley by way of settiants wnts emnts ehnts the bear lake settles when they arrived they found neither trapper nor explorer 2 only a year after they left this valley that had made nade rva de a favorable impression uponthemt the church such settlerm settlers nt began actively to sponsor its settlement 1star lsfcar istar astar valley stake record oif oils LLS s 1863 on file at the church historians office salt lake city utah no page ironologically numbers are given but it Is arranged chronologically cl by year 21bid bid

33 27 in august of 1878 moses thatcher and william B preston azain visited the salt river valley this time brigham youngf youngg jt jr and his lre ireife kate were with them they stopped wife wire polint their teams on the west bank of the salt river at a pot point about five miles northwest of the present site of afton wyoming these four held services Bri and briham brigham imm youngs Iam jr who was an q apostle in the mormon non church dedicated the valley by prayer as a gathering place for the saints the T e company had arrived in the valley in the morningm of the day on which they held aich their dedicatory meeting which was ms august they had bad bsd come into the valley from nom bear lake by way of crow creek and mediately ini immediately meet neet ang zng way stu ins after the meeting they left by ay of stump ap np creek creole to soda springs idaho they believed the valley to have been totally uninhabited but as will be discussed later in this chapter at least two to oabins oabina babins had already been constructed by trappers at a meeting n held may l879j at the endowment house in salt lake city charles C rich of the bear lake settlement olonia r a xprienced oloniz and moses thatcher were appointed to supervise the settling etling of star valley by the saints who sel seuptling might wish to locate there this of course made star valley part of the bear lake stake 2 the first people to seek permanent houses in the valley came into the upper valley and after they had examined it they then moved on into the lower valley in june 1879 ltbld v bid d 1879

34 28 auburn in august of 1879 a small colony established themselves on the west mest side of the upper valley near stump creek greek they entered the valley from stump creek greek canyon cenyon which had a better road bed but which was not conveniently reached from bear lake settle settie or the utah settlements settlementa 1 nonetheless these early colonists circuit were from bear lake and had evidently taken a circuitous oua route into star valley 2 in tn this colony were james and sam sibbets Robinso and families jacob grover harmon lehmberg david robinson nj ben and money welch and some eay away3 trappers who soon moved awayaa they settled at a point about one neles nales aies pne and one half miles maies meles south of where inhere the village of auburn now stands on the west side of the salt river they all settled close together cand dand three families spent the winter of in cabins built in the fall of 1879 joseph welch son of ben and money welch makes a statement to the effect that his father trapped in star valley for several years prior to settling there in other testimonies give us to understand that august lehmberg also was a trapper tn in this area during the s 5 joseph welch lmaud amaud maud call burton pioneering star valley MS written for the daughters of the utah pioneers afton wyoming february inn possession of this author stap sbar 2ttstar star valley stake record burton 3burfcon aburton op elte eite cite elt p 2 4testimony testimony westimony Wes smoot wyoming of joseph welch as given riven given to janice reeves chloteal griffith and vilate ander- son it T 5torean dorean lorean gardner story of auburn TT history ll star vaney hey an d it Communitie a a p val12z and its com conmunitiest 62

35 29 states that hi a his father and august lehmberg built a rock house as well as a log cabin during their trapping period and it was in or near these that the first mormon settlers spent the winter of that winter was more severe than these early pioneers had expected and as a consequence they suffered a great deal many of their cattle died and to save themselves from perishing they had to snowshoe the fiftyf efty miles to montpelier and carry what food they could back with them on their backs 2 in a few other families oame casie canis oasis oane into the valley among these was charles 0 cazier he started to build a house where the community of grover now is but soon moved across the river and located with the few other families near auburn afton townsite chosen that same fall elders charles C rich moses thatcher and william B prestonp prestone as well as president william budae budge budqe george osmond and others visited the valley and held rwe nee rve mee nwe tings meetings the with th saints there on this occasion september charles drake cazier was set apart to preside over the branch of the church then organized elder thatcher then advised the settlers to locate on swift creek the present site of afton and directed cazier gassier cassler to have a townsite surveyed there lan ian interview with joseph welch by janice reeves smoot wyoming summer sumner oitp 2burton aburton op cit olts oits oita p 2

36 30 to contain thirty blocks of ten aeres acres a each on that occasion elder thatcher remarked that the elevated bench at the mouth of swift creek canyon would be a beautiful loea location for a temple it was on this visit also that elder eldor eider elded thatcher Thatecher fecher named valleyl valleal vailey the valley star valley and president wll Wil william liari budge of bear lake stake a native of scotland suggested afton as the stake roarin name of the townsite n because the boarin roaring tumbling stream gushing out of the mountains as the very antithesis of was the placid stream strean he remembered of sweet afton famah famei raine farne naine fama1 ramai 2 soon siera after casmiera cassiera cazlerls cai Cas appointment to preside over the affairs of the churchy church meetings were comnenced commenced renced fenced in private l8808l houses and they were continued during the winter of some of the saints who lived at a distance made their way nay war to the place of worship on snowshoes about nine families spent the winter in the valley in the area now included laded in the auburn ward west of the salt river evidently the people fttted were better fitted eted for thisi ghisi winter for no mention is made of excessive hardships A di gcowragin disc ouragja outlook & in the sdrin adrin spring of 1881 a number of other families arrived in star valley with the intention of making homes there tberef9 but they left again soon afterwards apparently discouraged by star valley stake record 1113tar allie ballie hyde afton1 star valbe valie val3e 1 val ey ritts ritto clarissa men Mer merritt ita its and ibs lbs comnunitles and cqaimunities p 43 estella gardner

37 the reports given them by the families then living there 31 not only did those families that came caine carne for settlement in 1881 leave 9 but some sow sou of those that had bad spent the previous winter there left also t oo they believed that it was too 00 cold for fop raising grain and did not feel inclined to take the advice of cazier cassier who agreeable to the counsel given the settlers the previous year by elder thatcher suggested that the present site of afton be chosen as the place of settlements elder cazier people discouraged because of the lack of support of the they would not consent to move to the specified location on the east side of the salt river was honorably released by elder charles C rich from the presidency of the branch of the church in star valley vailey he then removed to bennington bear bean lake county idaho where he resided until 1885 luq l8q 2 when he returned to try again imberg who had settled with this group in august lehmberg le 1880 and ben welch and sons were the only settlers who remained and had it not been for these two families upper star valley would have been left without inhabitants for two winters nawly narmly harmly and was june 1883 before 1882 it moroni hunt who had lived in the lower valley and john wilkes built two log cabins on the east side of the river about one mile west of the present site of afton G KM hunt caine came calne a little later and built a third cabin nearby these three men spent the winter of there and were thus the tile tlle stan star valley stake record 1881 bibid sibid 2tbid

38 32 first settlers in the district now included in the aftonffards wards wands they did not remain permanently however one star valley winter was enough maud call burton explains wy the winter of was very veny severe came the animals were very weak grans when spring the first shoots of green grass brans weakened them instead of giving strength one day the remaining horses drank a mixture of clay and then olay whitewash prepared to put on the cabins to better their appear anee all the animals died but one horse this was the spring of 1884 the snow anex anew was gone no more skiing what next john wilkes rode the remaining horae his home town in bear lake vailey valley helpi felpi for their re- friends came to their rescue settled S sources were all exhausted horse to ste sto charles for help heip and fitted up teams beams beans bearns mas ras and settlei were returned to bear dear dean bean lake thus ended this colony 1 wagons with which the settlers and so during the winter of l881j there were again no settlers on the east side of the river resolutely Resolute lyp lyt however the lelmbergs lehmbergs Lehm Lelm leim and welchs hung on and remained in their cabins on the present site of auburn pbell in 1884 grant campbell oam Gam joined them having come to the valley via stump creek canyon he remained with them during the ensuing winter following which he moved seven miles to the south and settled on orow crow creeks pair view fair fairview the spring and summer of found several families moving into various locations around the valley and settling george campbell marriott wells welis sry 3r0 weils fred brown sr and james jamea dinsdale joined grant gnant campbell on crow creek in the area where fairview now stands 2 lburton bunton op citi p 2 burton star valley stake record 188 2tvstar 1885

39 33 grover tonteioned menti As previously mentionedo two young men james jensen jr and hans nelsoni leison telson havingread nelsont havingread nead the glowing plowing account in the logan leader came to fco tco 1885 tto star valley in july 188 J L hepworth records when they arrived at the mouth of crow creek and looked over the valley they fell in love with the tall grass graas waving in the july wind that was july there were only a few scattered homes in the valley then for two days on the south side of swift creek just north west of the present oresent site of afton up toward smoot to explore the valley seeking a suitable place to settle they camped the first day they rode july 24 they turned north toward the narrows cled around along the east foot hills the soil was soft and rich reaching to their horses ankles stretching around were acres of sage brush weeds they were also impressed presseds pressede in harrows and cir here bunch grass and dock they later sald saida saidf with cool mountain streams and the canyons filled with good 21f they staked out their claims at the mouth of two canyons grover and jensen 1 timber so on july 24 later that same hearp yearji yearp in octobers john phillips phillipa C and his Ms family arrived in star valley and settled near these two young youns men also the brother of james jensen c m 01 jonsen jr joseph jensen came and settled with his brother this was the beginning of the settie settlement of the community later called grover 2 the call for colonists coionista niata this high mountain valley was slow to fill fili up after the church leaders dedicated it for settlement settie settlerent mant one would wonder if charles charles charies lea C tent rich and moses thatcher did not bave have some misgivings about their job of supervising its settlernsnt settie cent inasmuch as many of those people who had coe come there between laco l8co 18c0 and lit hepworth 117epworth hepnorth citi on 00 p o 1 21bid 0 ibid cit 0 0

40 A had left apparently discouraged moses thatcher still loses convinced that the project ma good one was a tood hood wrote virote the following article which appeared in the deseret evening news hews of may A number of people having made rade to facilities of star veiley velley valley es in relation formerly known as salt river hiver nade inquiries inauirl valley in wyoming the following is submitted for the consideration of all interested the valley lies forty miles northeast from fror is easily accessable accessible able in bear lake county aror montpelier about twentyfive miles long from three to five wide well watered grow having stump creeky greeks orow crow main salt river the soil ia otow creek and afton as feeders to the is excellent much of it producing blue grass and the cost for conducting water from the streams onto the land would be much less than elsewhere in our mountains the mils hills mlis which are extensive on the gracing timber is abundant of easy west afford excellent grazing access and good quality pish and game in the season thereof abound the valley and surroundings present the most lively scenery in the mountains altitude about six thousand feet winters correspondingly cold but not windyi the valley being well protected by surrounding hills and mountains salt river flows into the snake river hiver after passing through another valley of equal extent as the one named and probably in every way as desirable communication by good wagon road at slight cost coat can be had in that direction winter and summer with the snake river settle star valley was visited and dedicated ments rnenfcso dedieatedto to the set tiement tlement tiemens of the saints in 1878 by elder brigham young jr moses thatcher and william preston B and was subsequently visited by elders charles C rich rioh thatcher That char and preston in 1881 when a number of families located thare there milles at the time the name was changed to star valley by a vote of those present no more desirable location for happy and prosperous homes can be found in these thege rnountaiys mountains than in that lovely valley it is open for settlement 1 of the church the foregoing letter published in the official organ churchy seemed to direct the attention of many home horse horne hoise seekers to star valley and the year 1885 witnessed the actual settle settie settlement of anent both valleys star valley proper and lower star ldes ideserete senet enet evening news ldeseret mews may p 275

41 35 valley anong among those ong who arrived in the valley in 1885 were a number of brethren and their families who anti antl fled from utah because of the antipolygamy crusade which whie whle was going on at that in tine rm 1 still another article which miht liht well have been written by a present day chamber of conn Corn commercemerce appeared in the deseret evening eveninx news of july 29x and must have encouraged other people seeking fertile virgin soil to pack their goods and head for star valley the author of the article who remains anonymous says some wyoming valley prom a gentleman just of partio partlo particulars ulars said to be feet lower loner ioner than bear lare late lake lark t and best watered valleys to be round region there are five large mountain streams reamis the valley from various directions it is one of the foundf in this mountainous entering any one of which is large enough to irrigate the whole of it and the land is to situated so favorably for being irrigated that our informant declares that two men with teams could make a ditch in one week weer and bring out water sufficient to irrigate thousands of acres the land slopes beautifully from the east and west down to the river which is near the center of the valley and the soil is of 0 a ilght light gravelly nature of a reddish appearance well adapted for the raising of lucern in fact for almost any kind of crops raised throughout northern utah juste down from the north we learn a very interesting valley located in forty miles milea northeast of montpeller montpelier which bears the title of star valley we learn bear bear bean lake ahen when our informant was there the present month he saw rye growing fully six feet in height and beets turnips cabbage beans and other garden products that were not at all injured by the frost clearly that the locality is much more favorable for the cultivation of these things than bear lake and other of nej rej proving our higher hirsher vailey valleys which are inhabited along the east side of the valley a chain of very high and steep mountains extend and jutting out from theses but disconnected from them may be seen a series of hills pyramidal in shape and separate from one another like a t he iggi linterview linterview with thomas PF burton ogden utahs march

42 row of sentinels overlooking the valley f 36 of these are extensive forests easy access orests of pine timber between and back and of in fact a wagon can be driven right into it uhe valley there are low rolling on the west side of the hills furnishing an excellent range indeed the whole of sumer grazing the surrounding country is well adapted for suger and horses might night winter there thore thene as it is the natural wintering place for deer and elko eiko but the snow falls falla fails falis rather too deep to make it safe to depend upon stock getting betting their own living during the whole year tilis tlils valley the whole of the west side of this is covered aopearanee of t aare nere aere with a fine bunch grass and presents the appearance 9 one vast imeadow brush growing upon it A considerable quantity of fine omeadow it is easily broken up there being no blue grass is also found in the vicinity of the streams ae which makes excellent hay this valley is capable of sustaining more inhabitants than bear lake valley in fact there are ample facilities forf making twelve settlements one townsite townsifce townsits bown situated at the mouth of what isi knol known as swift creek was laid off by apostle moses thatcher som sow sme years ago and given the name of afton there are at present only six families in the valley but many people from bear lake and other valleys in the north expect to go there to settle right away would recommend the locality to the con sider aider we and conalderation sidetat of a large class in this region who are desirous of following as offering about the best agricultural life beat facilities of any place we know of for new settlers its isolation ia is the only thing that has prevented it being fully occupied twelve miles farther down the river than this valley loer is another and smaller one known as the lower loep salt river valley where there are a few inhabitants and where our anfor informant informnt nt found new potatoes hoe hom hoa raised being served r inform up on the ith of july access to the valley may be had from several directions by way of snake river valley or soda springs or iler liar iier up montpelier Montpe canyons or by a canyon which opens into bear this lake valley a short distance south of montpelier latter is probably the best aa as eli eil well as the shortest way lay for any one to take who is going coing there from this region afton is settled despite the fact that the author of the foregoing article may have been a little too extravagant and optimistic t qe in his evaluation of the valleys ts valley vailey potential the tide oide tlde olde of eacret deseret eaeret evening news 1885 mews july p 449

43 37 colonists soon started harvey dixon and his family arrived on the scene aqu aq7sust august bust accompanied by henry tartin martin lartin earmon harmon hary hany harr who soon afterward brought in his family they located on the present site of afton on their arrival on swift creek they found the cabins which had been built and abandoned two years previously by the hunts and john wilkes these they immediately put to rood good use other settlers who came to the valley in were wene arolet arotet areolet lucious hale jr arthur benjamin clark dark hark clarr and family george sant and family charles green john hurd and family orson hyde eggleston john cornelius stevens and others 1 in the meantime imae irae lmae charles D cazier was called by president william budge of the bear lake stake to return to star valley to preside over the saints there carrying with him hira hirn hina letters of instruction to thl thiss thib effect he arrived in 0october 1885 soon after his arrival he called a meeting of the saints who wino had bad located in different parts of the valley at which tmeeting rriceting he was accepted by unanimous vote of all present as their presiding ore december elder this neeting imetingr geeting was held on sunday in tn the fall of 1885 by the settlers themselves lewisite of afton was surveyed the townsite the surveying was done by using carpent a common carpenterts erts carpenters square and a rope 2 star valley stake record yde 4 2 llyde op cit p 42

44 38 afton arton by 1891 art aft on had a pioneer meeting house two small stores a furniture and hardware store 9 and a number of frame houses osmond rson samuel henderson Hende raon came to star valley in 1885 and also settled at afton but only remained there during the winter of rew few 86 next fall he moved a fe miles south to the 1885 the present site of osmond and established a home on dry creek anent here he took up land and became the first permanent perin settler in the c cornmunity conn community cornmunity now known as 0 smend amend amond osmond so named in honor of george osmond the first stake stare president in star valley other families came in the next year or two and settled near the homestead of henderson names such as nephi hill steve kender floyd ployd and dave keger charlie viegel john stump and others are closely linked with the development of this farming community 2 smoot in the south end of star valley and adjacent to the jut trail lander cutoff wut which went through the valley william ity lly itt afton ward records WS 188 Ws 1885 on file at the church historlants historian office sait salt lake city utah no page numbers are given but it is arranged chronologically by year its and ibs 2yerettle merettie leavitt lbs communities commniuni ties mondt history of osmondt osmondo Os mondi ll 11 pp ap star vai valley

45 39 parsons settled in and began farming fart ning 1 the next two years witnessed several families settling the area these settlers called this vicinity cottonwood Cottonood parsons was made bishop of the cottonwood Cottoni ward ood when it was organized in 1889 later however its name was changed to belview and still later it was waa changed to smoot snoot in honor of reed smoot an apostle in the mormon churchy2 0 duce 9.9 lbruce op cit pp ap lbid 2ibid bibid

46 CIAPTER CHAPTER I V TIM tie tle THE colonization OF THE LOWṞ T STAR VALLEY freedom preedom upper star valley was settled more quickly than the lower part but the latter can lay claim alaim alaia to having the first permanent settlers there the star valley stake recordn records reads hunt and john wilkes after looking the upper valley over located in the lower valley til tii theyy some of the then returned to bear lake valley and got their wives men the first settlers in salt river biver valley were william heap then of st charles bear lake county idaho john S rolph and his sons and john hill and moroni hunt with their families who arrived on the present site of freedom they went to work imiediately immediately and put up in may 187 imediately four log cabins on the south side of tin cup creek thus named from the simple fact that a company of mining prospectors had lost a tin cup while camping on the stream birne previous the first location was in idaho about a mile northwest of the present townsite of freedom preedom and some time these first settlers came by way of montpelier over the mountains to star valley and had to make the first road down crow creek for a distance of about fifteen milesa miles1 an account by maud burton of this little colony in the winter of certainly shows the extreme hardships and trials that plagued these hardy pioneers it was a hazardous undertaking in the spring of 189 when some young 1879 restless sons of utah pioneers heard of the isolated valley niche in the mountains and decided to make it their home honse william williann heap coni conlpany including john S rolph mii prank cross moroni hunts gash honie A company john mil star valley stake record tt tar 40

47 and children return retunno 41 this was a trip of seventy five miles and with little or no roads for was wab cor about one half the distance they brought eight wagons with themy trip returning required over three weeks esom some travelled only a mile or two and their last camp was in sight the montpelier creek had to be forded corded f six times in a distance of six miles often furrows and the days they still corded twenty often furrows had to be plowed on the side hills for the upper wheels 9 keep them from tipping over with their loads of household furnishings and supplies of food they arrived safely however back to their cabins and the little colony now numbered twenty seven souls the winter of wa serious for these inexperienced settlers to in the fall it was imperative that they secure supplies from outside the valley for their needs during duping the winter months accordingly they secured provisions from montpelier and on their way home were overtaken by a heavy snow stom stoa compelling them to cache most of their provisions in beaver canyon about midway between the valley and montpelier and it was with great diffi- their way back baek to their cabins with a culty they made small portion of the supplies the snow being too deep for the teams their plight was serious teama to make their way through throngh it the only alternative was to make mke skits skils or snow shoes and carry the cached supplies home on their backs otherwise they faced starvation and horses died from starvation due to the early snows 1 hardships says ooid and starvation many of their cattle vernessa wright speaking of the same colony and their almost all of the livestock perished of eold coid cold while the colonists themselves t1aem from cold and isolation selves suffered extremely their supplies were all snowed in at what Is now known as beaver canyon between montpelier and afton peiler pelier peilen canyon were made by albert rolph and john hill also made so trips on snowshoes to montpelier Hont and beaver trips were on snowshoes to caribou where a gold mine was in illiam operation albert rolph jay rolph and Vi william heap are credited with making four trips to beaver canyon and on to montpelier Hontpeiler peller for flour these courageous hardy men covered a distance of seventy six to one hundred and fifty miles and brought seventy five to one hundred pounds of flour and other provisions in each trip f or the cattle that survived the winter were driven to the creek bottoms to feed on the willows the snow was said to be eight feet beet deep on the level one burton op 02 cito cite po 1 4

48 42 IV e Y it are 111 aye 14 daf vat rat 4 rs I1 vii lii vil to os fig 3 star valley

49 43 in february of 1880 sarah ann fieap fleap fco tco tto a wartha rolph A the mother t of sarah ann baby boy mrs martha heap childbirth1 attended at the childbirth 1 fleak gave birth to according to the account of elizabeth arnold stone speaking of this first colony to settle in preedom freedom n they lived for five weeks on beaver meat and muskrats1 for 2 1 indeed their lives were fraught with vicissitudes but the small colony remained intact and flourished after their first winter among this group were p sonie aonie sorm polygamists polygatidets and inasmuch as they then were living in idaho the idaho marshalla began to seek them out however safety was near at hand for these people who had hlad merely rn to cross the nearby border into wyoming to be beyond their graspo subject in regard to this subjects velma inf unf ord linford says t they explored the valley and settled on the border of idaho and wyoming Wy the preedom omingo town was named freedom 1 because a fugitive fuchtive citive could move across the border of either state and gain his freedom cree free dori dorl doni 3 ebna etna E ana As discussed in the preceding chapter star valley began to fill up rapidly after attracted many hardy souls who were the lower salt river valley not afraid to be long distances away from their former homes homkes and friends such iver lvernessa ivennessa lver vernessa verneasa wright preedom 11171reedom 31ar 3tar atar allej Vllez lej iez vllej almjnd and almand almend its gommunitieaj p 109 communities eilzabeth 2elizabeth aelizabeth its elizabeth arnold stone uinta county counts ivs r 4 history 1 tq y glendale california the arthur il clark 11 A znl an zal p 2le ale 3linford glinford anford op aitu citu eit elt p 138 v avs place in dark company

50 IA vellat levellsells elis families as the lovells lovellat Lov dov eils morgans V lef moors noors 141 tei bakers Wolfley wolfleyss wols woisleys and raaf radfords Rad oeds had traveled the length of the salt river and settled some seven miles north of freedom near the river where it empties into the snake river this was in 1888 As early as george heap an early trapper had built his cabin where 1 these early pioneers settled also in the same year as heap had built his cabin there had been a cabin erected in the vicin ity iby by men ho had been in the nearby hills cutting ties the who 2 lehti one d colony created by the abovementioned mehti mentioned pioneers was named etna 0 at the suggestion of carl cookk one of af the early pioneers 3 mame thayne make many of the communities in the loer lower loen lowen ioen iowen valley had their beginnings concurrently unlike tiie tlle the handy thattook hardy souls that took up land in etna others chose not to go the full length of the valley and settled fifteen miles south in the south end of the loer lower valley in what was known as glencoe now pow thayne ms the name glencoe was given siven by two tio famili ess the tro scottish families ncfarlanea McFar mcfarlanes lanes ianes and the baxters in demor memoryy of their native land in 1891 however when a united states government post 1 n office aa established was it was discovered that there was already a grencoe ghencoe 10lenaoe GH wyoming hence a new narm nam naa had to be selected theretofore mail delivery had been somewhat haphazard but henry thayne had volunteered his hia hla home as a point of distribution tiesi tiess bies llda lida bles p 79 eilda elida hilda C white etna star vailey valleyy andd its comuni ibid amsl P 83 jmsl

51 4 45 consequently when the official post off tee office lee was established on may it was called thayne the church still designated lencoe the community as the glencoe G ward and did not change it on the church records until the early 1900s 1900a 1 the first permanent settlers on this townsite sito were hyrum vail and his family along with the tine mcfarlane mcparlane and baxter families who took up land and built homes in by 1889 there were fourteen families there 2 bedford bedford situated in the southeast section of lower star valley first came to the attention of homesteaders in 1888 tile tlle the latter day saint church had several herds of tithing cattle and many of them were brought to the area that is now bedford to graze3 william B preston who was at that time grazed presiding bishop of the church came eam to the valley to see aee how the cattle were thriving he liled 111ted ailed 1 the location so well that town he named it bedford in memory of his old hoinetown hometown in bedford virginia iwediately thereafter brought several of his he irmnediately relatives into this virgin virrrin area and had them homestead the 3 iethel lethel vallej and its communitiesa p 128 ethel miller thayne star vailey valley 21bid p 127 teaches 3the athe the church of jesus christ of latter day saints principle as one of its principles that numbers should annually pay tithing or 10 per cent 0of their annual increase this was often paid in kind instead of cash large herds sp hence the church owned

52 46 land this land known as the preston estate comprised about a thousand acres consisting of the area included in the present townslfce townsiteo 1 prior to bishop prestons activities however a dr ormsby of logan in the spring of 1888 had a cabin built near the present site of bedford the following year vear tear ben ramsell brought in a herd of cattle and a band of horses for dr ormsby ramsell richard richand hinck and henry Culloch r mcculloch Ta who were steading herding cattle and john B thatcher jr began honnesteading home hone jo homesteading sotre soire some botre tracts of land in the area rasell ransell nasell naseli ramsell Ra piuck hired john fluckiger Pluckigen from cabi logan utah to come ne up and build him a log cabinn fluckiger Plucklaer toos toot homestead liked the area and homesteaded homeateadeded homesteader a tract of land 2 soon thereafter such groups as the neuenschwanders heuenschwanders Neuenschwan ders heiners rickenbachs Ricken all coerts cwerts cmverts to the church from fron germany and switzerland settled there turnerville turnermille Tur southeast of the community of bedford william A turner settled in the year 1890 he had come there from west jordan utah in the month of september and had bad brought a years supply of food with him not mot taiowing knowing tal mal the condition of anowslides snowalidea in the nearby mountains he built his Ms cabin in the center of a small valley the next springs springe however he ae chose a site for a home at the mouth of willow creek other families mostly turners and merritts merritta area3 moved into the nearby aread nerville this settlement later became known as turnerville turnermille Tur fluckiger pluckiger Pluck iger cit ait pi 74 bid 3ibidp 77 iuckiger igen P P 19 op 21bld 31bid

53 CHAPTER VI pioneering the early years that the people spent in the valley were fraught with hardships and called for ingenuity and perseverance on the part of both men and women they were filled with interesting experiences typical of the average family the hard winter perhaps several factors made the winter of a hard one for those early settlers glowing newspaper accounts of the valley and of the reasonably mild winter climate no doubt misled some aroma sioma sloma people 1 the winter of was very mild and left a false impression accounts accounto unta tons lono iono beachler points out in her it was this mild winter that later caused the settlers great distress not mot more than a foot of snow fell and cattle and horses found plenty of forage in the open fields the pioneers thought they had come to a region with a very mild climate many new settlers had arrivedto enter homesteads and although the fields were walat waist high with wild hay the people did not think it necessary to cut out and preserve it for winter feeding the early snows of the winter of caught gaught these pioneer folk foils roik completely unprepared unpreparody the snow fell to a depth of from three and a half to four feet on the level valley bottom bottor it is said sald that it ra snowed and melted again and again until all together eighteen feet of snow fell that winter2 winters winter 2 ithe deseret evening news hews july eachler beachler op oo 00 cit cite p 8 47

54 48 suffice it to say that hardships set in imediately immediately for many of the saints with the onslaught of this winter cattle began to suffer and die mrs burton telling of the ivirs starving cattle eattle eattie says previous to this winters coming too much to having an open winter the people trusted the summer had bad been less productive than those preceding it the snow fell to depths people emptied the hay from their bed a great depth ticks and even took the straw from under their carpets to save their last cow some drove their animals to the mountain ridges many of these lived others tried to do this with their animals but had left it until the animals were too weak they then took sacks climbed the mountain slopes and ridges pulled the dried grass filled the sacks and rolled them down to their starving animals this way ben and morris hale saved their mothers herts hents last cow after thus feeding the cow they milked her in a in bottle which they carried in their pockets taking it home to their baby sister louie many others likewise saved one or two of their choicest cows 1 great losses were sustained by these people with their cattle but losing cows was not the only concern for these hard pressed pioneers maud burton says lany 14iany of the families faredlittle fared little better than tihan did the animals nals nais food pood supplies were scarce of luxuries there were none ja she khe continues conditions became critical towards spring organized and appointed lu hale haie liale to take charge the men out to open the road to montpelier tramping and shovelling of snow so that the this meant much wallowing underfed teams could be they alone could do velling and started saved for that part of the work still many of the teams became ex hausted when within fourteen miles of montpelier the men toop were nearing the end of their strength and it seemed they could not make it through but a happy surprise a crew from Vont montpelier meiler Delier meilen had 0 awaited them been working from their end of the road and the two crews net in snow slide canyon canyons much to the relief of all the next morning j2 aeck aecumutated mulated a sleigh box full of accumulated mail was enroute to the burton 2lbid 21bid op oii alty city lburton aitp 21 aita p 24

55 valley 49 while the other teams loaded up with merchandise and various supplies these supplies gave needed items for the people until after the spring breakup of mountain roads roada which was always a serious period to pass through 1 the indian scare seare of 189 star valley settlers had practically no indian dlf dicfi1 diffi- culties tion mention Mien is made of indians trading vith with tith the early ji merchant mirchants2 indian jijf 1 jiffodt is said to have been a guide for early area3 explorers in the area and john coolie and jack meeks were aread to two indians who 4 myrtle myrtie jensen ho were liked by all the people recalls that as a youngster she often saw banda of indiana indians savy bands camped at tit tut the mouth of grover canyon i or timidity about their being there 5 but she recalls no fear relationships with the indians were indeed of an unusually peaceful nature on one occasion however word came that redskins 4 from the jackson hole area were on the karpath warpath and headed for the valley bessie beachler recounts soon the bewildered settlers were gathering food soodi rood beddings dings dingi and any valuables they possessed and headina adint kne some sow went clothing were heading for the safest place they to knew afton artons some to thayne and some sone went into the timber south of bedford where hane hare they camped for to two or three nights cows goa coa cos calves pigs and chickens were turned loose streaks of dust could be seen all over the valley as these people rushed with their few belongings atop a jag of hay hayracks kind of vehicle available toward safety harracks 11ayracks Hay in any were wore nvere racks the most prominent in the caravan since the farmers were in the midst of the august haying season libid bibid bid p 26 i96o i960 interview Int 21nterview ervien thomas burton ogden utah march earch intervien with manch 22 treachler 3eeachler 3reachler op aits jaidt jbidt cits p 6 4lbid p j tnterview interview with J L hepworth rexburg Rex redburg idaho march

56 men ehli ehll chil tomen lomen and children dreng dreno horses hayracks harracksracks was ms born on august 7ai 7i scare scane heminert and hay huddled together while the stouthearted with their single shot rifles should the indians appear stood guard 0 and planned what they would do on this wild ride was one pioneer woman wife of john W moser of bedford who could not go on she and john f to stop at the homestead of john miles and fred hale at grover with the assistance of her husband were nere forced she gave birth to a baby girl lina moser started life with her parents not knowing when irhen brhen might suddenly be scalped she scalded she or all of them and this establishes the date of the indian scarei1 re joseph welch recalls calla many in the upper valley banded together in the stone ehe the men were very frightened and auburn school house would have shot at anything ben eich alch vye1ch aleh had not been so eager to go but lie he lle ile inally f anally finally decided he had better take his family to the school house for protection they were just getting into the wagon when over the hills at the narrows came a long line of warriors ben knew he could never make it to the school house and he knew it would be useless to try to hold them back by himself so he left his gun in the wagon and veny much sur- tinga in hopes that some of his indian friends frienda might be with rith the groups he was very prised when he got closer and discovered that old man walked to meet ting them tinea m lith nert nent explained hemment hemmert Herm fro froma 500 thayne was waa leading the indians mr hemmert hemn Hemssert dian to him that the indians didnt want any trouble with the people from star valley eem hexnmert realizing how nervous the people must be and that one gun shot might set off a massacred massacrep creg ereg volunteered to guide the indians indiana through the valley 2had ahad the indians indiana expressed Dressed distaste in very crude terms for the people of jackson hole but expressed high regard for those in star valley they were wre lre from an idaho tribe which was accustomed to meeting a tribe from the wind river area in an annual powwow of some kind near jackson it seems that on this lbeachler a it p beachler ap 2p opy cit 6 wyoming coming IN 2tnterview interview byb janice reeves with joseph welch ummer ummen 19 a summer afton

57 51 particular occasion whites from jackson had taken it upon themselves to inform the indians that they were violating US gamb game garm laws some kind of unpleasant incident ensued and evidently an arrl arel indian was killed althou7 althour h although reports vary considerably happen whatever happened edp edg those at jackson seemed to feel that it war ranted indian ire iacimediafcely notified idaho palls palis for they imnediately immediately falls people who telephoned montpelier from froin whence a messenger was dispatched to warn the people of star valley they were greatly relieved of course when no attack materialized but as a precautionary measure a troop of federal soldiers were sent to the valley from salt lake city molly smiths an old resident of fainview fairview alls ails alis ree recalls nec tirthese groes soldiers were iaegroes ifegroes imm ine and they spent ten ton days camped in the center of fairview 2 homess irst one of the first arst demands that was made upon udon the pioneer was to provide shelter in the form of a ion lor log cabini babini this called for considerable industry as well as the skill necessary to construct the building maud C bur burton bunton bun ton speaking of the typical pioneer cabin says the spaces between the logs were chinked with split poles and thendaubed over with mud or clay to seal the cracks these cabins were low dirt roofed one or two room structures until time and material were available for whitewashing washing they were brown color outside and inside 1 beachler op 22 cit pp ap nterview snith interview with molly smith june smnith afton wyoming jurie jurle 10 lop iop

58 52 loors f some sotn botne had romfh roufhh board floors rouf say nothing of a rag carpet als alm to but if a ceiling of unbleached boors which was aisnost almost a luxury muslin could be secured they were tt super deluxe t they were rere frost proof in winter but when spring thaws melted bere the tall snow caps shone overhead it rained in the cabin whtie awakening the micel while the sun chipmunks and weasels that had made their lodges in the soft dirt roof these found runways or dropped from the ceiling to share the limited food supply these cabins were built on the homesteads previously staked out by the settlers i president george 0 osmond who was the first stake president in star valley star valley in 1892 monds president osmonds osmondo Os moved troved groved from bloomington in bear lake to writing about life in an early log cabins daughter in law tells the conditions under which amelia one of his wives lived that first winter in star valley was probably the hardest of his pres osmonds osmondo Osmonds life there were very ros fow few res houses in the valley and none vacant that were livable rew good so he moved amelia and her three young sons into a one room cabin with a dirt roof it was wis mis mts in the north east part of town near 3wif 3iffc swift creek in this one room were beds chairs table and cook stove and a stand for dishes and soma some somo room beginning of springs springe then with melting malting snows and spring rains the water came through the roof and the tho mud raud maud ruud with it to keep the beds from being soaked she used pans and kettles kettlea kettler and even the umbrella was put bo to use to keep a few dry places in the room roonu roona there was one advantage however a left to work in it served fairly well until the the cracks in the bare wood f loor through floor let the water run on smiler they moved from the mud roofed room to a smaller it did have a shingled roof and did not built of logs smailer room leak the new home was very snail and crowded the logs of the walls were far apart with much chinking between the wind would ouid blow through the house and the snow amelia amlia amella ameila stuffed rags in the cracks but the wind blew them out would drift over the beds keep warma one day the it was impossible to they also had bed bugs in the room tho village blacksmith came ronk work rork in the cow cor to the familys 3 aid he said he could do his Ms the president could move into the blacksmith shop roof did not leak and it was a large room familys coi shed and the and although lburton burton bunton citp op 22 cit cipp p go 9

59 53 the floor was just dirt and it had housed horses it was warm when there was a fire amelia was not ungrateful but she was meticulously clean and no matter how much she scrubbed the board walls or dug the dirt rifon flior floor and carried it outside selled of horses 1 snsmelled it still tii it is quite apparent that living conditions were crude and hard with the equipnsent equipment that was available to these pioneers it is amazing that they built and lived as well as did they dide dido clothing the enterprising soul that survived acquired a multitude of talents clothing was at a premium in those days pioneers learned to tan the hides of elk and deer and from them make shirts 9 gloves moccasins and other items of wearing apparel including soy sorlne some rne high top lae boots in which to wallow in the snow while making trails to the mountain slopes one of the early pioneers speaking of the scarcity of shoes says not here shoes suitable in size cereo wereo for meny nany many of the families skina from the hock joint of many a deer the skins and elk and from the dead cattle have been worn by those pioneer men woi wox women aien 4ien and childrens children2 2 children she continues as she recalls these makeshift shoes this is the way it was done and the upper part rapt rept Csisto to they would cut around the leg above and below the joint carefully removing the bone and not splitting the hide leave sufficient length of hide above and below making a tube which is turned inside out toes the lower part is tried to fit the foot and ta arranged for lacing icaic7 t3 fit the ankle this may be llucy luey lucy call osmond george osmond A Biography biographel in possession of the author salt lake city utah MS 2burton aburton op 02 cit p ibid abid lbid 5 31bid

60 SM e 1 1 k padr A AWL J ioi r s r M iv fig ag 4 A atypical pioneer cabin al 0 1 v 4

61 55 some of the women could weave cloth or carpet many could spin and all could knit family socks and mittens noth moth ing ina lna was wasted when sheep died of starvation or other causes causer the wool was picked from the dead sheep and woven into linsey for elo cio clothing 1 pioneer women woman no doubt the toils tolls tolis of the men on this new frontier were hardy but certainly they had some pleasant moments as the summer months offered beauty in being in the outdoors in the mountains and generally enjoying their work in the pleasant summer alimate of the valley often however the wives of these men len ien raud yn had a harder lot than their husbands again maud call burton is quoted as she these pioneering ventures sug sumarided arized ahe sunimariaed the role of women in the star valley women were all heroineso braving the mountain wilds depending entirely onher ocher spouse to provide a living from natures ts store house she could make an attractive home of dugout or freighting or otherwise from home she often cut the wood she abe bhe hena hera henself elt eit she flours bad milk and some servi banquets on sundays she ahe proudly tied a clean apron about her waist donned a crisp sunbonnet or homemade made hat and rode with the family walke waike in in a heavy wagon to church if it was too far to walk winter she could go on skils for miles heroin out cabin if her mate was logging to keep the home fires burning harnessed alsed assed the team and hauled the water rode the pony to hunt the cows and then milked them she knew all the flourishes of scrubbing brush bruah and washboard and took pride in her freshly scrubbed fioorand floorand jetblack hetblack polished stove she acted bravely when bands of indians indiana skulked near or when howling coyotes awakened the children from their sleep ahe assured them of safety which she did not feel herself could provide a good meal from only wild meat and flour if necessary but if she had ceber ries she could serve a banquet dried serviceber she could make 1hyde chyde op Q QP cit 45 P p 4

62 family clothes including moccasins for her feet soap from quaking aspen ashes and refuse ratts fates dates rata reta and her fan11ys she made made nade tallow candles for winter nights took her children and went H berrying fruit to dry and add to the winter store fats in summer time she siv siw gathering wild she exchanged milk with neighbors and made cheese to store for winter churning butter and raising poultry were just forms of nladies cladies adles n they knew laiew recreation for all the ladies ladles weara weary ladew how to make wear7 traveller welcome to their tiny homes which often meant making a bed on the floor which they themselves thema occupied 566 elves elvea but they didnt even know how to powder their lipsticks beau1 beaul beauc nose or use lipstick lipstiek strange they ever caught a beau mrs burton speaking of her mother alice J call a says she was an active public spirited woman and a dressmaker in case ease of deaths she made the burial clothes and trimmed the caskets which were made by her husband and miny years she was an ex continued doing this for many winy cellent cellena teamster and one year taking two or three of the smaller children she drove the team to salt lake city olty attended october conference secured a load of supplies for winter and drove home a three weeks trip but a successful one with great responsibility and much work she made more costumes for dramas parades and pageants than any other won woman in the valley she could plow and harrow sow and harvest barvest as well as many other farm jobs she also possibly more than any other woman did more for the betterment and uplift of the higher ideals ideala and finer things of 1 ilfe life in the drann drana drama she regularly took part for yearse many years2 other women played an important and charitable role as midwives or caring for those in physical physioal distress constance stephens eggleston wife of orson Eggles eggleston BH tono served the community of afton and vicinity for over fifteen years in this period she delivered over four hundred babies bables 3 mrs also elsie fluckiger roberts served the people in this capacity especially in the lower valley4 valleys 4 babies3 urt lburton urfcon 2ibld con op 0p altop P 9 bid pap 12 3 ibid p 10 cwhite 4white op 22 cit citop p 81 citow

63 577 the chief occupation of women in the early days izabeth according to elizabeth slizabeth ellzabeth Bl cranney was housekeeping and it was 0.0 cuil time tine tinne a full job with drawing vater vatar drabin wiater viater watan from fyon iton itom a well viell weli weil vieli washing on the board or with a hand washer in those days children wore ockinga st clothes underwear with long sleeves and legs long stockings 1 bloomers and plenty of petticoats n not nob 1 hot only was there the difficult task of washlng washling washing but the constant demand to prepare stable meals offered a challenge to these intrepid women such a meal as the following gives evidence of the type of diet these women set beaore before ope their hungry children and hardy men n dinner consisted of elk and deer meat plum pudding made from frol the tallow of the elk wild strawberries currants gooseberries berries and service bep berries rles ries 2 of course such auch a bill of fare was not too boo uncommon in the summer but the winter strictons months offered many re restrictions the enterprising housewifes housewives however preserved substantial amounts of food by drying dr7ing it during the summer surroer months if and when suar sugar suad was available she preserved it by ya y1 canning Hovi however this was a rare treaty recreation and culture the life of the pioneer was by no neans all work hard- shl shipo and drudgery 3 P gheen has aptly stated operation in practice as well as in those early days of this community the people i& ia those were days of cooperation theory were united we were all learning from fron a common cause bamon ramon kamon ljbidoo log bid aright p 82 op cit p 109 loge s 31fyde hyde op cit cidot citot p 42

64 namely to try and establish homes 8 hones and develop the country together we danced together we worshipped true we had some trials and adversities but tout bout pleasurable 1 ind 58 all in all life was waa munity each little corn community had its share of people talented in music and often a band or orchestra was organized sed which made nade dancing available and enjoyable william blanchard came to afton in he lie ile fle was a gifted violinist and contributed much to the entertainment and culture of the community 2 lenore S3 fluckiger Pluck comments menzes mentes there always seemed to be musicians in the group and they made up their own orchestra for their dances sometimes it was the faithful old fiddler and sometimes there were other instruments but everyone took time out to have a good time and be neighborly in the ahi dancing young and olav oldv oid bob and bobsled tii all pecord mhi story of afton we find recordedt edt stand was the saturday night standby bye byo men wen and women came from all parts of the valley by wagon sled snow shoes bound for a mrry time timie timke light of a tallow dip or a few tallow candles candies candiea in the dim until kero- sento which accot balance all sene became available if no fiddler was present happened only occasionally they would sing and clap accompanied by a jews harp and harmonica for the and swing on the corner they danced lively quadrilles and reels and they could really aswing mswing awing step and stomp n didnft in these earlier years the people from a distance didnt bli itll itil morning they brought their lunch and stayed go home bll all night and attended the church service sunday afternoon A4 returning home the community of auburn built a new meeting house in 1889 with regard to dances we find recorded necor it tt this new meeting and was the dance neighborlt3 history melting house dede dedo had a good hardwood floor danee center of star valley for many years woment iwhite lwhite white 2hyde uyda chyde op cit 02 p 80 uydf op oa cit pl P 45 3pluckiger 3fluckiger op cit p 78 chyde 4hyde op a cit p 2 s 52

65 59 9 the hall was usually so crowded dance tickets were numbered and just a third of the numbers called fop for each for dance so there would be room cor con for the dancers round dances were allowed in one evening austin hyde poss bishop H hyde aa 1a chorded for the dances 1 only three called the square dances ervon foss joe walton and seth putnam all played the violin ed hanen played the cornet two violins and the cornet made up the orchestra when a piano was purchased F putnam HN fair the community of pairview fairview fainview made a significant contribution to the entertainment of the people of the valley they had the first brass band and it was enjoyed by all the people in the valley known as the free silver band it added spirit to many of the festive occasions and was especially remembered for its participation in parades the band always traveled by wagon that was in the early years always appropriately decorated and pulled by prancing horses t2 ta As a public service they often stopped in the front of the homes hones of elderly people and played numbers upon request 3 this bandwas bandzas organized by thomas flood hood over the years mazany many of the people of fairview took part in this band another important phase of the cultural life of these saints was drama many productions were presented over the years the afton and pairview palrvlew fairview Pair mair wards had particularly active dramatic companies minny dewey maughn wrote in a letter I1 have to laugh when I1 think of it all and the good times we had we must have bave been much like little children lburton cltf burton op claf ile lle c1top po 11 vilate vilate turner valley and its tta et at ais als ala al9 ita communities p 98 fairview star history of palrvlew1 abid

66 60 hungry for amusement of any rind kind mind ir we always had an appreciative audience tickets were paid in eggs butter chickens eto missionary families hay and etc milles fa ho no cash eash at all the season usually lasted from around christyms all widows and older members were admitted free chriatmaa Chris chrls atmas tyms until near spring and our plays playa pia were produced over ten days to two weeks 1 t 0 maud burton says gays the drama dransa dranda was the choicest of our winter entertainments st and usually two or more were presented each year after the drama a dance was usually held blocks of wood and benches were moved back near the wall the music that played for the drama would start a lively tune and the dance would be under way 1 2 occasionally a drama would be presented to raise money for some worthy cause tn the star valley independent s in ay igo december y 1906 we read the following advertisement that is of interest concerning drama in the valleys vailey THE TIM OPERETTA elenor ELEHOR ELEITOR will be presented at the afton opera house on friday 11ou so igo by vocal music pupils both private and class claas who are being instructed by miss margaret call A december good3time stime is promised tickets for adults children this notice also indicates that the settlers concerned themselves with the fine arts sufficiently to be taking music lessons mrs burton continuing on the subject of recreation and entertainment sars says y other popular amusements were lrich irich op cit aitos eitos p 5 burbon 4urton burton citi elti eita burton op citfji eitw p 11 3the 3rhe irhe star valley vailey independent afton december 7ai 7i 1906

67 61 quilting bees candy pulls rag sewing meets 9 with now and then a birthday party or a surprise for good measure then to round out the sports calendar they held shooting matches and horse races and would sonietimes sobie times ttl f just visit ati tti sonvtimes other recreation came in the form of picnics Dieni cs bonfires ming and swimming swin at the warm sulfur springs north of auburn22 auburne water the first pioneers to enter the valley settled near streams or springs so they were able to have the necessary water for culinary use as well as for livestock when suitable locations near a spring or stream were no longer available the settlers dug wells and lifted the water with a rope and bucket As soon as it was possible however water lines were made and water was made available to all J L hepworth gives an idea of what was representative of the building of a water line speaking of the first grover water supply he says each man living on center street was assessed in addition to bringing from the canyon birdeye logs from eight to twelve inches in diarrieter diameter the logs were in eight foot lengths and were placed in a homemade hoase honse honye made roade while a two inch hole was bored thru therm thern them vice themm A trimmer was attached which would trimathe trlmathe the ends so it would fit to the joints were sealed with white lead and a steel band clamped around the joints jointe andersens andersons Ander sonts sonta where wl3ere a public watering gether gather reached J august andersonts trough was built some time the line at first tine later the line was extended lburt aburt burton op pp ap citf p 11 cief it 4.4 2gardner egardner op cita cite elte citv eitt p 63

68 626 this water line served the people for twelve or down to the main road where another water trough was maintained fourteen yearswiter 1 this was typical of each cox comaunity rmunitys community water supply the flow through these small sirull smail bored out cut timbers was slow and often very inadequate in tn spots the wood rotted cotted away rather rapidly and added problems to the amny they already had yets T overallf overalls they found this better than hauling water wator from the springs or pulling it from an open we 11 well weil the rise of the merchant when W W burbon burton bon left utah because of the havoc that was being brought down on the heads of men who practiced polyg11 poleg amy he left business establishments behind to be run by other members of his family evers evero however How after he came to star valley it was not long before he was back in business thomas F burton burton son of W W burton recalls that when he was a boy of sixteen his father brought to the valley several wagon loads of implements and other lter iter itemslis ris zis throug thronghout to initiate the business that was to thrive throughout the years thomas likes to f or rehearse for fon his hearers how they sold roods goods out of a wagon at first then later in a log building used as a store it was actually more of a trading post inasmuch as most of the customers exchanged goods for the burtons bartons Bur wares mr burton burtton states that the only customers they had that could and did pay for goods in cash were the indians and immigrants that lhepworth lh hepworth op cito citi elti p 6

69 came through on the lander cutoff orf orr 1 63 allie hyde mentioning the first merchandising says p afton arton the first general store in aft on was operated by W burton in the year 1886 meat cut off goods were exchanged for butters W hay or grain or whatever the settlers wished to exchange the store first moved into a tent and in the suler of 1889 a two room log structure was completed sumler sumer the new store building thomas thorns F burton served as the in first clerk indian trade together with people com- ingtrom ingstrom from other towns burtons made burton business thrived other merchandising establishments followed the burton store the kingston and kurd hurd store played an important role in the development of the valley speciall this store speciallzed specialised specialized Zed in handling at least in the early period such commodities as settlers3 cream and butter from the local settlers 3 with the rise of the merchant an interesting freighting business also arose which will be treated in a later chapter the The roie noie role nole of the craftsman to support a thriving settlement it was necessary to have various men skilled in different fields of labor the average settler was expected to build his own cabin and pos sibly he could create certain other items of furnishings and the like but even then when style and refinement were desired it fell the lot of the artisan in his respective fields fielde maud call burton speaking of her father says linterview interview with thomas FP linterview hyde op cit eit 2 0p ditoh elt ditop p 44 burton bunton ton ogden utah march 3interview december interview with albert JB kennington afton wyoming

70 7 ff aw 5w a ia 3 i af 4f lf I1 tana tanwc 7 T minora minor& v i IS e A fig 5san an early mercantile establishment in the valley v K ois tis oia y S y ati twi ewi tti ta i il fsr pst ast fst i 1 1 A I- I l

71 64 anson call VO the builders located at afton in 1887 bringing gina in one wagon loaded with household equipment winter supplies carpenter tools and some hardware items for building a cabin in one end of the cabin was his work bench he built a turning lathe with which he made household articles to trade for milk meat etc he turned legs for tables and made various articles for the settlers in the summer of he built a two room frame houselp housely it was very distinctive in contrast with the log cabins lumbar lumber dumbar now was available and he took many contracts for the building of fram fraro structures in the fall of 1888 his brother joseoh josedh joseah call IT moved to star valley and the following year 1889 they went into the building business together few log cabins were now built shingle roofs now replaced the dirt type and many log houses were covered with rustic landscape pall help of their sons built most changing the appearance of the entire they were now known as call cali cail brothers and with the moat of the frame houses and barns in both valleys for several years prom of various furniture items they began importing furniture from the making and establishing the first furniture store in star liley valley ulley veiley niley another craftsman who enhanced the living conditions filliam in the valley was william If blanchard he came in 1888 As 9.9 so previously mentioned shoes were particularly scarce and hard to come by this man was skilled and lt he made shoes and boots of elk and deer hide also he was the first to repair shoes and harnesses uel samuel Sarri henderson monds already mentioned as one of osmonds osmondfs osmondo Os earliest settlers settlersp was also a fine carpenter and craftsman he not only built furniture and helped with the first osmond church house housep but he freely taught others his traded the necessity of getting lumber into the hands of the settlers was taken care of by such men as harvey mxon dixon sam urton op cil oil cit p 14 dyde dydo lyde hyde eyde hydo lburton 2 2 op 45 OR ps leavitt op cit p cit olt 9 p 4

72 6 65 cazier caelen cabler thomas yeaman willia mson yeamans crit williamson archibald gardner brigham gardner eland poster and others tn the year 1889 in archibald gardner brought a sorely needed flour mill into the valley and set it up on the banks of swift creek 2 of coursed coursep there are others who made substantial contributions to the building of the several communities but these are the names most moat frequently associated with this period building the tabernacle perg after its first permanent pen nent settlers manent came in 1885 afton soon became the largest town in star valley and the center for religious and civic activities in afton in the afton ward chapel stake conferences were held which was totally inadequate for the occasion president george osmond the stake president of the star valley stake from its organization in 1892 had longed to have a stake tabernacle built in afton to accommodate the saints in the valley the early years had been hard years the newspaper accounts that had told of the virtues of this land had failed to point out the hardships economic stability was slow in coming to these settlers lucy call osmond recalls financial problems were still difficult ten or more hours a day for and 4000 they could get the work mountains to herd sheep that paid cash wages men worked if a month if many of the men den went to the nn that was about the only work the price of butterfat was ltlyde hyde op citi cit p 44 bafton 2afton dard dand aard record 1889 afton

73 66 low but butt the people did get cash for it and that Is what they needed in order to survive summer frosts were another discouraging drawback to got a the financial development of the country nice garden full of promise and a frost would come coma eoma and out every living thing except the weeds to the ground i 1 f or we would get the wherewithal for building churches did not come easy nnonds o yet president osmonds osmondo Cs Os ands reat desire was to build a stake tabernacle he felt that the people should worsnip worship together they were always anxious for the church officials to visit them and speak to them but they badly needed a place to meet for such occasions2 oceasions2 occasions 2 go and so undaunted by lack of time and means the people of the valley united and started construction on the tabernacle in afton in president o43 osmond was seventy years old at the time tle he tie called a special meeting of the saints in the valley and made the declaration to the people that if they would pay ray their at tithing xay honest and even though it donate liberally of their time and money that the frosts would retard and was a great sacrifice the alim climate rate would improve also that they would secure better markets for their produce and they would be better off financiallyally nancially and they would gain in health and happi- f nanciaily ness A call applin A V was appointed as chairman of the building comit tee committee no doubt because of his skill as a builder as well as his devotion to the church5 Church churchy in 5 august of 1904 the cornerstone was laid by charles W penrose the building that 10smond osmond op eit cite elte ette etts elt p 15 21bid ibid s 3hyde chyde 46 op cq aq cit p 4 bosmond kosmond op citpp p 15 stan 5star astar star valley stake record 1909

74 s nit MIT nim 67 t y r 1 x 31 ski aks ssassffisi 1 3ks 3KS fig 6 the tho star valley valloy atako or the dodication dodlcation dedication Dodl Dodi tho the day of stako taborcio taboicio rf j S 1 as fs u av 2v r y l& IV la& ff s

75 68 followed was middle english in design with a tower ascending one hundred and forty feet it ii was ma built of sandstone which was hauled from poison creek just west of fairview 1 much of the labor on the building was donated money for the building was collected through the priesthood groups still other funds came in from such sources as the proceeds from the knitting and handwork that was done by the women and sold in montpeller montpelier and other places2 2 A pipe orp organ pumped by hand was bought and placed in the building five years was required to build this imposing ini ins building it was dedicated august f by president joseph F smitn the president of the church the stake presi presl fresi dent george osmond dj Osmon was exceedingly pleased to see it built and have the opportunity to conduct several meetings in it with the growth of the valley and the church this beautiful edifice was found to be inadequate and a large addition was made on the north side of it A historical note found on the back of the program for the dedication services that took place at 1030 am sunday september f as follows this beautiful building as we have sacrifice and industry of two peoples gether gather the faith those of forty years ago and today today who claim membership in both groups it3 ita hav it today ties to is there are many here the old stake tabernacle as we call it now was commenced in 1904 stake records show that on july hyde op cit lg p 2ibid luid 111yde po 46 21bid citt aitt p 1 30smondo osmond 0 ap qp cit 15

76 69 anson V call was appointed a chairman of the building committee for the new structure at 5005 pm august 21j 1904 the cornerstone was laid by elder charles W penrose and the completed structure was dedicated to the lord as a house of service by the president of the church joseph PF smith august the stake at that time tine had been organized sed but seventeen ppyenteen years to the day and had a popu lation of approximately persons today we have bave approximately kloo georbe george osmond was president of the stake with wm W burton and anson call cail cali V as counselors wm mma kennington H was stake clerk this older structure constructed of sand stone is beautiful in architecture its tower ascending 140 iko ivo feet it served as a gathering place for the saints of star valley for thirty two for to years gardner served as president with arthur PF twenty seven of which clarence burton and albert barrus as counselors it now becomes a part of another structure and promises many more years of useful usefua u1 service lee iee this new building waa old the rock used in its construe constructiontion was designed to tie up well with the was obtained from the same rock quarry where forty years ago men with teams and wagons journeyed to and from and beautiful material 1 transporting this durable program of the dedication services of the star Ir valley stake afton north ward building 1030 AM sunday september

77 ohapter CHAPTER VII vil FTER VI1I1 OTHER enterprises PIONEER ENTERPRISE3 merchants and craftsmen have been discussed in the previous chapter because of the prominent role they played in the lives of all the early pioneer families many other industries process business enterprises and professignal profesaipnal professional inaugurated at about the same time ignal however were services the sait salt works worle wort e As a previously mentioned one industry was thriving in the valley for some time prior to the coming of the first settlers in A mr stump was carving out lumps of salt from the natural vein of this substance that is found cound J found in the tiv southw western section of the valley and hauling it to various areas some say as far away as oregon and washington i 1 there is evidence that mr stump stllwo set up a distillation apparatus and mede made pure salt from the salt springs west of the present site of auburn lorean gardner says of the matters mattert mattens one of the earliest industries in auburn was boiling salt water from the salt spring west of town the water was put in a large kettle and was boiled bailed until all the this salt was water evaporated leaving pure white salt peddled over to0 creyts orey1 greyts latee lakee first i1rst to boil boll boli salt lakke mr stump was the lburton burton op cit p 2 2gardner egardner op cinct j 220 cit cifct olt p 66 i 70

78 71 this enterprise was carried on for many years but just how long it has been difficult to ascertain it is certain however that it played an important role in advertising star its valley as well as adding to it growth and prosperity the tie camp J L hepworth mentions in his journal finst whit caw cam here and cut out ties up jensers jensen jenders Jen serb Is can yon they hauled them to the river by ox team they loaded the ties teles beles on a raft and floated them down salt river to snake river and from there to idaho hey the first men from idaho who came used is still seen in leroy lenroy white men we know of that came to grover were lennoy christens chriatensents the trail meadows I1 they the reference that mr hepworth makes to this logging activity leads one to search for more evidence that these men were actually there and just what their business was exo yxo mr first hepworth hepworfch states that when the rinat finst settlers came to grover in 1885 they found evidence of the activities of the tie camp in both jensen and grover canyons in fact there was a cabin in one of the canyons and the chips from the chopping of tress trees tresa were still reasonably fresh oid not over a year or two oldo oide 2 it is interesting to note in maud raud call burtons account igi igl written in the following Pol poilowing entrys entres coo and carter contractors for railroad ties entered this valley by way of the lander trail creele creole creek canyon 9 traily through stump crossed over the mountains to lower star valley and went on down to snake river about a naie a half from where salt river paver raver empties into it cut and their employees cub nale and here they out timbers for ties for the utah 1 1 hepworth op cit p 21nterview interview with J lo L epworth 10 hepworth ilepworth Il june

79 northern railroad floated bloated the logs down the fth tch river to a boom boon at big bend where the 10 logs were 3 and counted they worked there in 10sl are taken out it is highly possible that these contractors mentioned by mrs burton also worked in the upper valley and that they were the same group who had before worked in the grover area the likelihood that this logging concern hired some sonic sonie of the early pioneers in is borne out by the fact that jacob grover orover worked for a tie camp in grover grower canyon prior to the f or 72 they loated f settie settlemnt settlement nuent nsent of grover As a matter of fact he was killed while working there 2 it tt will be remembered that grover grower had come to star valley in 1879 with the first group that settled what is now auburn lumber the nearby canyons provided ample timber for the establishment of sawmills lishment not only was there timber in abundance but water was available as a source of power north of arton afton and just east of the present connunity coctiunity of grover the first sawmill was constructed by crit williamson on 9 and helon poster this was a steam tean sawraill stean sawmill yeaman yerman thomas thorns yeamans the year was during the winter of harvey dixon and sam cazier gazier gazler had constructed a crude up and down saw and with this they had supplied a few boards for cabin floors 4 lwilde elide alwilde 50 wilde op cit p Hepwor 21nterview interview with J L hepworth tho june 10 ios igl igi 191 lof burton aburton op QP cit elt eit 0-13 bibid

80 archibald gardner 73 often referred to aa as the mill builder11 builders came to star valley in the journal of mr mno hepworth records archibald gardner came with a steam mill and located hollos iti Ill A house was built there to at the mouth of 04 mill ollow house the workmen it was there for a year or two and was moved to smoote in 1895 the mill was brought back to grover and set up in the lot east of albert jensen was operated by brig and oro merritt hepworth ts ozro gardner and rob and george in 1891 ednund edmund and joseph hepworth with edward M for their saw mill of 1889 by ox teams blocks22 blocks traded their shingle mill to the gardner brothers which I1 came to the valley in the fall the mill probably was brought across it was an old type mii mill nil with screw head it the plains also mr gardner constructed a grist mill which provided some flour for the destitute saints faints lints during the severe winter of the industr dairy industry many of the first families that came to the valley brought cows with them but many of them died however evert as time went on these frugal settlers found it necessary nry to o- 3 Howevera btain one or more lore nore eore eone cows to take care of their bo household needs the products that could be produced from the milk offered a change and a treat in these settlerst settie settle bill of fare when a family had more milk than they could handle at first it was fed to calves or pigs4 piga4 pigal in the late eighties and early nineties a libid ibi d hepworth 9 bibid 2ttepworth op cit elta 3burton aburton op cit p ci 4 elt0 p 41ntervieiv interview with wallace wailace 1 gardnery wardner oard Gard uard neny nens afton wyoming december

81 74 market was created by several enterprising individuals to buy butter and cheese from these pioneers modlties could be exchangeded for groceries also these two commodities dittes cerles ceries and wearing apparel farl fari or implements to carry on their fariins farmim farmie fargins ins activities market narket As an outcome of these markets manket let their milk sit overnight in flat shallow pans nans sp housewives began to st tchen skim the cream from fron the top and churn it into butter they also made cheese velma linford deac deb describes drye eribes the process as follows butter was churned in barrel churns and molded in a wooden butter mold these utensils ila were crude and homemade but effective likewise use was made of the homely devices for cheese making the vats water was makings galvanized laundry tubs tuba were a typical one being one tub within a larger one in the larger vessel and milk in the smaller smailer sn aller eiler miler A fire was built under the vat to heat the milk double boiler fashion some cheese makers told when the cheese was done by the feel and smell of the curd cund molded rnold cheeses were ed in hoops and cheese cloth were pressed in a heavy wooden contrivance which screwed down a cover upon the cheese pressing the whey out the cheese was next covered with melted butter in lieu of wax and placed on shelves to dry11 der tt was soon found it however wevers that manufacture of butter and cheese on a larger scale seale was more practical many of the old residents of the valley can recall when cream crean was sold by 2 the inch housewives stored it in half gallon crocks the collected cream was then taken to a central location and churned into butter or turned into cheese such men as tommy enterprises a wild and motfat A R 11offat worked hard on these enterprise r mr veil Ivell velma improvement Improve ment veina linford dinford erat star velna nent sra eras XL october gog gob istar valley and swiss cheese lt 609 gog the 21nterview with albert E kennington afton wyoming interview decemberember 1961 Dee 28

82 75 moffat hauled these products out of the valley to various rain- mining towns aimy almy evanston kemmerer rock springs and others also the burton store and the store of kingston and hurd encouraged trade by taking butter and cheese then shipping it out of the valley 2 while cream collections were ivere being made other men established dairies such men iron as dee raney of arton afton antonj thomson of groverp grovexs grovels and lindholm of freedom rented cows from anyone they could and milked them made cheese or butter then paid the rent on the cows with the coimnodlty cormiodity produced they sold the rest to merchants and freighters recordeds recorders edt eds 3 the hepworth journal has since there was no sale for whole milko skimmed sklmnsed skimmd off the milk in a sha aha now how pan cream was tonify tonimy tormrq wild paid 25 an inch for cream cream crean was taken to the tomsen ranch banch where it was churned into butter they used a large wooden churn run by water power later people bought for churns of their own to make butter for selling sold to the kingston and hurd store cash and half store pay from 1892 to 1897 pet bans fet and rans hans nelson it was they would get half james jensen sr and james jensen jr maintained a dairy in bradshaw canyon they milked their own cows and some they rented they built a special buildingwhere they cared on shares for the cheese each day the cheese had to be greased and turned until it was cured the rent for the cows was paid in cheese freighters3 heese was hauled to utah and sold4 solda the echeese shallow bessle bessie albessie beasle merritt star valley and its I 21bid ibid ibad ibld p 20 4the dairy indestr industry J of star valley athe ts goxnmunltlea corimunit P nterview interview with J L hepworth crover grover wyoming june lo hepwortho op 012 oll oil aitoj p 8 aiton cit

83 r of course mr Mbbr hepworth 76 tells of conditions in grover but they were typical of the rest of the valley lucy osmond informs us that her father was concerned about establishing a good market and a creamery out some sonae president osmond would lay awake nights trying to work plan pian nian whereby the people could get got rian money for a livelihood successful thriving of the community bot the needed that was the great need for the he thought if he it could be hauled could get an outside market for cheese to a shipping station in fair or saleable salvable condition this was his dream or pian plany he confided in his counselors and they thought it could be worked out wa w4 W W bunton burton was in the general merchandising business and favored such a project he would furnish half of the price and president osmond and one dee doe raney then in the cattle business and they financed a creamery needed funds there were many did get a creamery far fron would furnish the other half of the any difficulties and handicaps but they anery and a market for cheese they were too from the market to handle eggs or butter good country in which to raise hay and so ginning was humble these isolated people 1 project says sog soj it was waa a though the be itihas since proven a great boon to the burton account mentioning the development of this the project developed beyond highest hopes and again stepped up lon ion to attention ud sales and it did more than this it brought the ability luxurious grass and invigorating climate2 climates 2 fact that star valley was a dairy possi bility of the first magnitude with its abundance of plentiful supply of pure spring water with this beginning in 1900 the creamery business rapidly expanded soon creameries were built and put into operation in several of the communities coop A op creamery known as the union creamery was erected west of afton3 afteon3 10smond osmond nond op c ib 12 2burton aburton opo s osnond Osmond cit 22 po 3merritt fmerritt op cit p 20 bunton cit onp p J 14

84 yfy f yr j 77 y if fig pig 7 the T ehe first burtton creamery & i esy msp map wsy IR A faife takee iaife 1 B tl

85 78 the thatcher brothers built a creamery ore one ameny at thayne on what was waa called the muddy spring now called orear Crear orean creamery burtons burtonp spring niery 1 the crea meries burkons soon expanded their enterprise and built creameries at smoots auburn and PYe pwe fye preedom freedom smooth edom A man by the name of jensen fair built creamerles creameries mertes at grover thayne pair fairview view and etna large herds of dairy cows soon became the mainstay malnatay the economy of this rgrowing crowing district in after the initial start wm the ere creamery business farmers found it easy to marret market their milk with the creameries near at hand to handle handie and process it the role played by those inen imen crea that hauled the milk to the creameries probably remains unsung just to give a glance at the obstacles that often faced raced these men S P gheen reminisces those enjoyed ene good were wene the good old days plenty of snow but we cre cneamery oreamery dreamery industry tryp tryg though at etna ood health and the creamery that time it was only in its infancy in ebna still car ried on and not a few times when the milk sleigh would reach my place from further don kinei they ouid would down the linei I have one or both of the horses about t give outs and I1 loften lorten creamery33 put in an extra horse to get the product to the creamery new heir neil nell and competitive organizations came carne earne to star valley and often bought out the original owners of the creariai kraft foods bouc bour bought out the burtons bartons Bur and the jensen concerns meny aery nery were bought out by mutual creamery Crea company still later the bal bairynen dairymen of the valley organized the star valley Dal dairymen association with carl robinson as fieldman As an outcome of this thia association the star valley swiss cheese company was libid bibid ibid 2ibm 2bidp P 20 3white cwhite op cite cit9 cita cito p po so 80

86 79 organized zed sed and swiss as well as other cheese began to be made in huge quantities 1 it was during these years of growth in the dairy industry that star valley was given ig iven the name of olf little switzerland of america 11 indeed the climate and mountainous terrain is much like switzerland and conducive to making cheese and butter 92 sheet sheep and cattle not only dairy cows and the creamery business took the time of these industrious people but other forms of raising livestock livestocks stocko the deseret news hewa newa for july says speaking of star valleyt vailey vallent ttsheep tesheep and cattle interests here are immense and the people deonie are becoming quite prosperous through these industries0 industries tt 0 to show the extent of the cattle and sheep industry in the valley the deseret news newn for june says some sheep are feeding here at present the people of star valley own about head of cattle eattle oattie and about the same number of sheep people in want ofhomes will make no mistake in locating in star valley and salt river valley thrown open4 opena over lljooo acres of good land will be A woolen mill sheep were brought into the valley by many of the early saints but it was difficult to find a market for the merritt op cit p 21 id 3peseret news salt lake city 2ibid bibid 3 mewa newa ap deseret 4lbid june ibid cityp july 2p2 1900

87 80 wool sheared from these ant animals mala maia hyde tells of an attempt to establish a woolen mills alile allie alite because they had no easy way to market their wool and since they had by 1896 quite a number of sheept sheepy was made to establish a woolen factory archibald Arabi baid gardner solicited financial rinan dinan elal clai heip helpand helfand personally directed the erection of the flumesp blumes raoesp races penstock and buildings edmund buckley of Frank Prfrankiln anklin frankiin liny idaho was induced to furnish the machinery and with the help of his son john buckley the mill began to operate it 0 was located up swift creek an attempt canyon at the brow of the first small knoll a little south of the present road and the busi- the venture was not a succena succeaa ness was success however waa abandoned after two or three years several articles made in this factory are still owned by some of this the older pioneers 1 the first newspaper in 1901 anil vaterlaus established a printing office and started the first newspaper a weekly called the star valley pioneer er two years later it was purchased by conrad vaterlaus who changed the name to the star yalleyindependenti ballez xallez tn42pendent by which it is still known today boday 1962 the independent was lestan leston sold to henry billings in 1908 he hired 0 eggleston H Egg as an typesetter and published the paper until 1913 when it was purchased byr john ayers in the next three years a succession of short term publishers owned the paper 9 and then clyde settle purchased it and set up the first linotype in 1921 roland and truman trman call bought the office and members of the call family have retained the ownership through the years yeara yearb 2 it tt was gratifying to the people to have their 4 V 0 own newspaper and although the news newa of world shaking national and y hyde op cito bldg aidt 21bidp p 47 cite p 44 bidt

88 81 international events did not constitute the headlines the advertisements so public nott noticeso noti ceso and personal columns were of the utmost interests typical are the following menst denstt and oats per ewt silo 1.10 ul10 llo lio the front page story of the september ember ooi ood Septenber edition is interesting from the standpoint of history as well as illustrating the journalistic style robbery in arton afton acton omitted in these one of the boldest robberies ever con corc bitted parts was perpetrated during the night of dinst insfc when the afton postoffice Postoffice was broken into by burglars it seems the whole affair was well planned and fully as well executed mr arthur roberts who is the ti postmaster here keeps the PO in his store on mainstreet Main lne ke he ia Is away on a vacation to the national park leaving his daughter miss katie in charge of the office thursday morning aroet L ockinga boys stockings knit for 10 to 15 cents pair when you furnish your own yarn 1nomen 12 to 20 cents flour f eggs butter hay corrected weekly eek17 high patent per ewt market report per pound centa a women and girls ii bale hale male baie our deputy sheriff and city marshal also went away down into utah leaving jos call in charge about 2 olock AM a bugy buggy was heard driving into the yeard of mr roberta robertn ts place of business and the robbers immediately affected an entrance by the rear door once inside they seemed to take their time as there was they selected the best beat no one to hurt nor make afraid jewelry from the cases eases cabes underwear from the shelves etc whtie wintle while another busied himself drilling a hole preparatory to blowing open the safe the door of the safe was completely wrecked and all the contents including casha easha notes checks deeds insurance policies stamps blank moneyorders registered mone7orders oo1 orders letters in fact everything whether of use to the robbers of not was taken an innocent looking sack of flour was left standing showing it had been used to deafen the report of the blast the money till under the counter was broken into and some sonie sonye elk teeth therein were extracted compie completed per dozen per ton after the looting was tedo the robbers opened the front doors walking 12 3 Istar vailey valley istar vallez pioneer art arf arton afton Aff con wyoming december as 5s 1902

89 82 out to their buggy and leaving the doors wide open parties at the reese beese hotelheard heard a buggy drive out of town about 3 oclock at a terrific pace this Is all the clue so far obtainable of the perpetrators total amount of the stolen property will foot up to about 100 loo the 1500 dollars with the exception of the safe and money drawer no other damage was done no attempt was made to organize a posse the constable living a rile mile mlle n out of town was not notified until 1000 robbers may be in klondike by afton atton for ought anybody knows 1 hy this time AM the or still in too choice to omit Is this bit of humor published on june our beloved rnayor nmyor neyor dignified in his new position in the city government with his head high in the air was seen strutting homewards As he arrived at the edge of a ditch he gave a great and mighty spring aprin lot and beholds beholdl the grass being damp his feet slipped and his mayorship landed on his back in iii ttl the ditch we wont undertake to state that he was completely immersed but we will say that the water which ran down the inside of his hs collar came out of the bottom of his pants2 2.2 men yen of medicine the unselfish service of the mdwives nidwives midwives and volunteer ractical ractical tactical nurses laas practical P discusfj lias already been discussed theirs was an important role for many nany years a doctor in afton from 1869 on because even though there was vas afton was many miles of poor roads away from most of the settlers physician speaking spearing of the early physicianssl clarissa merritt states the first medical doctor arthur V stoughton located in the valley in about 1889 and was welcomed by the or dr G W west came to the valley in 1903 and peopleo peopled 1903and 11bid ibid september i 2the athe the star valley vailey independent tp june 1908 j2enden 12

90 63 83 has since that time lived in afton igi but during the last few years has given up hla his hia medical practice for some forty five years he served the people being always the true country doctor braving he is still living all kinds of weather going by horseback sleigh wagon and even on foot there are few homes in the whole valley who havent bene benefitted notified finans administrations it was fitted by this man waa not uncommon for him to spend the night sitting by the bedside of some sick patient and many by his hia hla devoted wife in their ownhome1 horo viany were cared oared caned for dr proctor L C who wh0 came c to afton arton acton in 190 igo A f t n 1905s was the first permanent dentist firty and he practiced for nearly fifty years in 1913 the church authorities of bhe the star valley stake invoked the aid of the presiding bishopric of the church to help start a hospital an old building was subsequently re modeled and used as a hospital 14erritt mrs merritt ennitt remarksp sp however that facilities were poor especially heating heatinp and it didnt last long 112 tt was 1931 before an attempt aftemdt it was nade to bestab lish another hospital 3 merritt op cit 22 p 60 2tbid ibid p 61 3this athis was a hospital above the post office building small and inconvenient but better than nothing in neap nevp new modern hospital was completed it by the latter day saint church tn 1944 a tt is owned and operated

91 CHAPTER VIII POIXLORE FOLKLORE aa As is universally true ttq tta the star valley vailey area has its own favorite legends st traditions st and tall tales whenever minisee a few of the old timers get together to reminisce the youngsters gather around eagerly and listen wide eyed it would be difficult to determine just how big the biggest bear ever shot in the area might have been it would be likewise difficult to tell how many inches and pounds nanyn many of the note worthy worthly bruins have grown in the last fifty years since their demise some without doubt would have taxed the prowess of self seif selc paul bunyan himself hin but then who was paul bunyan compared with any home grown star vallian11 11 the whitne ganz whitn2zganp the saga of hugh whitney western badman ia is one of the favorite of all the tales of the olden days not only in star valley but throughout western wyoming and southern idaho req neq aber the way many people reiaember rera rem rein ember hugh whitney is reminiscent of robin hoods i but others recall only cold fear at the mention of his name tt was hughts hights uncle charlie mannings y MAnn ingo it who is said to have started the whitney brothers hugh and charlie on their life of crime but it waa the personality and daring of hugh that made the trio famous laterp latera 9 hugh traveled 64 84

92 858 chiefly alonee alinee keville they centered their activities in cokeville Co wyoming south of star valley y but one of their favorite hideouts was in the valley strangely enough there are still many citizens who would gladly claim hugh as a native son it is difficult even impossible to distinguish fact from fantasy where hugh whitney is concerned there are some facts however around which the legend was built hugh and charlie whitney came keville to cokevill ookeville Oo Cokevilla while boys in their teens they worked for pete olson and frank prank mau at different times both were handy with their pistols pistole but hugh was a crack shot bert pope who also worked for mr mau in the early 1900s 1900tst told how he then only a teenage boyhimself age boy himself would often hear hugh riding back to the ranch after dark at a high gallops night after night he would hear three quick shots ring out next morning hugh would walk out along the fence line and examine one or another of the fence posts usually that post bore three new bullet holes 1 bedford of star valley also recallst recallist henry redford recall I1 worked with hugh whitney on one of the big ranches keville around cokeville cokovilleo Co he was the fastest gunman I1 have ever seen one of his favorite sports was seeing how many times he could hit a can that was wag wab thrown up in the air he could hit it rive five lve or six aix alx times before it hit the grounds linterview linterview vieg with arden pope cokeville Co wyomingo Wyomingo june lo stanice sjanice msp summer 1958 miss reeves has long been interested in these tsen men 2janice reeves the whitney brothers MS suer of 198 inasmuch as she grew up near their old hideout after in- terviewing several men who were acquainted with the whitneys whitneyt Whit she the manuscript is in possession of wrote this article this writer isen inen

93 866 fifteen some sorm years later hugh with a fifteen hundred dollar price on his head rode out of gokeville cokeville Go Co to the west As he be crosseda creased cressed prosseda sedaa bridges qin gin an enterprising man min unidentified aa as far aa as this author ia is concerned stepped stopped out from under the bridge and ordered whitney to put up his hands tt was dusk it almost hughs dark hugh hand canse cause came up and with it his pistols whirling captor he shot three fingers and the gun from his would be captors hand lim lm sorry w said the always courteous ous bandit oua 1 I donat donft like bloodshed but dont make the mistake of drawing on hugh whitney whittney a second time there are newspaper accounts ae counts that he was a killer but most old timera timers refuse to believe it oid timens he was never brought to trial and nothing was ever proved against him it was illing charlie manning who did the killing 1 11 huh euh was no murderer i past with a gun yes but he gentle gentie 1 1 be was a gentleman nan is a typical cormnent conanont corm ont ent if tf he was a gentleman it was by his own standards he may have been a high principled bandit his but he and hla hia cohorts were bandits nonetheless they robbed trains on several occasions keville they twice robbed saloons in cokeville Co and keville on september they robbed the state bank of cokeville Co tt was to star valley 1I that it hat they fled to hide ho xo doubt there were several reasons that none of the many posses organized sed were neys whitneyt successful in catching the whitneys Whit if hugh had bad bsd never shot to kill no one doubted his ability to lo linterview linterviem with arden pope gokeville Go cokeville Co wyoming june

94 87 hit his mark if he should change his mind mo no one was eager to bach back him into a corner comer it is said that it was with relief that one posse of star valley men disbanded after searching for the whitneyt whitneys Whit neys in the grays river area returning to their camp weary and wary they found their food supplies gone and a note signed by hugh whitney in which he expressed regret that he had bad been forced to take their food and the conviction that it would be easler easier for them to get more than for f him centrating fear pear was not the only thing that kept people from con rating their efforts on capturing hugh whitney many people seem to have felt a strange sympathy for this affable young man nian gone bad the best remembered tales are like that of hugh whitney masked and formidables asking a forlorn old lady on a train if she had really turned over all her money said that that twenty was all she had in the world worldo worldon when she he returned it with a second twenty keville jean stoner of cokeville Co was in the bank waiting to deposit the days receipts from the bear river mercantile company when the cokeville Co bank was robbed she recalled that she was lined up against the wall at gun point while all the depositors were wore wone wene forced to turn over their money to her hugh said won1 wont wona take money from a pretty lady mam iti matam 1 people also recall the story of hugh sticking up a owners salooni salconi taking the cash and then demanding the owner 3 diamond ring at this request peques tp the man began blubbering sentimental knew mrs ithis athis this incident was recalled by the authors wife who stoner personally

95 88 phrases about the ring being a gift from his mother whereupon hugh returned the ringn ning rinan down through the years the victim remains the villain of the story ji having resorted to deceit to keep hugh whitney from stealing a valuable ring many a sheepherder in the star stan valley country could boast that hugh whitney had bad been his dinner guest it la Is said that he would ride up help himaelf himself to a feed of grain for his horsey horsep and then invite himself to dinner according to tradition he was never heard to threaten anyone or ask that the sheepherder aheepherder not tell that he had bad been there after the meal he be would give his thanks and be on his way thomas thomaa thomes burton recalls that as a young man he lived with his family in the south end of star valley sorted cabin often used by the whitney gang nearby was a de any sign of activity at the cabin was a signal for the burton family to keep their distance although the whitneyt whitneys Whit never did them harms they feared them still mr burton observes there was no thought of reporting their whereabouts 1 trouble troubie espe cially bially hugh whenever it got too hot for them they would ride to star valley and hide outo auto charley stoner would come with them known in the valley and some them meals rula crook remembers hugh and his companions as something of celebrities in the valleys vailey the whitneys whitneyt Whit never forget were always in and out of sometimes manning and they became well of the girls went out with some people invited them into their homes hombs for ins on people til tii ill lil they raade a deep impression ini orget arget the day when I1 came out of my home and looked 1960 linter linterview interview with thomas burton ogden utah march 22

96 Q down the street toward my fatherty fatherts heris store in smoot and saw a real gun fight in progress on the porch of the store behind pack saddles were the whitney brothers brothensp and d on the other side of the street was charley stoner they were I1 was so frightened that I1 firing away at each other ran and hid in the cellar and would not was stopped other and decided to fight it out hurt family 1 family Y any riot come out until it apparently they tiney just got mad at each but luckily no one was many times these men would have zraeals rafals with witri our ernest reeves says that the favorite game of star robber nobber valley youngsters was not cops inn robbersn robbens nobben robberson in the usual sense but hugh and charlie versus the law he says however that HS person when the gang appeared in per son rl the people would stay close to home and the children would run and hide naughty children were always threatened that if they were not good the whitneys whitneyt Whit would get them 2 soon after the bank robbery of 1911 the whitneys whitneyt Whit disappeared nugh iruh was reported to have been killed in a train holdup between pocatello idaho and keville ond cokeville Co but it proved to be his uncle charlie manning whitneyt whitneys Whit many were the theories as to what happened to the neys there was speculation that they had gone to south america to continue their life of violence those who knew know them personally however verp verj preferred to believe otherwise men like bert pope for examples maintained that hugh and charlie were born cattlemen and would have established somewhere as ranchers not until june of was the mystery cleared away reeves beeves 2ib op cit aibid 232 gie gle

97 at that time charles whitney alias frank taylor of vailey valley go 90 county tanay tanap montana Mon wrote to the governor of wyoming voluntarily giving himself up he had for forty fonty ronty rorty years been a respected montana rancher his brother hugh rugh had been ranching in british columbia and had recently passed away the letter was accompanied by numerous character references and was in part f ollowa as follows most honored sir I1 wish to state that I1 charile charlie Sso whittney whitney on my own volition and motivated by the dictates of my conscience wish in all humility to announce that I1 wish to answer to charges which have for over forty years been pending by the state of wyoming against me my brother hugh died last fall on oct and hisa passing was a hard blow to me and since he is gone I1 find myself devoid of an incentive to continue this life of shame any longer I1 have resided in valley county montana since the fall of 1912 and I1 have an unimpeachable record here as an honest and reputable citizen but that does not exonerate me fromthe incurred against the society and the state of wyoming I1 from the follies of my youth and the debt I1 birt sold birthright my bright keville forf a few dollars that I1 took from the Co cokeville cokevllle bank back in september 1911 for my brothers sake and my love and loyalty to him society does not endorse such actions aa as I1 took to save seve my brother from the serious predicament that he was in time it t seemed to me the right thing to do 1 but at that charlie was subsequently pardoned by the governor of wyoming hugh whitneys life is ended but his legend lives on matt warner and tom moca meca mooa mccarty tt is unlikely that butch cassidy hinn hirn himself seif seir it ever spent much time in star valley although early settlers say he hid lkennerer fwcoming kemmerer jo joming yomins7 gazette gette june

98 out there a few times 91 matt warner and tom mccarty mcgarty two of his henchmen were well known there however warner and mccarty were with cassidy y during suren of 1889 and held the surer summer up the bank at telluride colorado they made good their escape with 1000 they lay low for a few days and then according to charles oharles charies kelly they spent a short time tiro in lander wyoming whence they were forced to flee a posse using bloodhounds mr kelly continues a star valley was then and still Is an isolated section surrounded by mountains and well off main routes of travel in the long deep deop valley of the salt river fugitives from the law whether polygamlsts polygamists cattle rustlers or bank robbers felt perfectly safe it Is not known whether any of the butch Cassi cassidy dyo tom mccarty mccanty viously vinously but as their winter hideout loot amounting to about ever seen beaore before one invincible three matt earner warner three11 had been in star vailey valdey valley val3ey vailey pre either by accident or design they chose it arriving probably in late august early winter snows soon closed all passes and outlaws were marooned until spring and settlers in relating their thein experiences of that winter gof 90f goy neither matt warner nor tora tonn toma mccarty mentions butch cassidy evidence indicates toates loates butch butah dutch dutah separated from the other two at wind river that tom and matt still had their share of the telluride snail snall 1500 each a small smell smeil fortune in those hungry days in star valley they told the settlers they were cattlemen had just sold their ranch and were looking for a new location then twentyfive matt was near fifty willard Wll land lard a story no one questioned years old and tom somewhere they gave their names as tom smith ssdlteh 3mith amith and matt purchasing anton afton the two outlaws prepared for the long winter by buying several fat cattle and a large stock of groceries in one end of the cabin matt fixed up a small bar and began the wall back serving drinks to all his of this bar with green backs a log cabin on the outskirts of arton MB friends according to old timers in afton was papered among them a f10000 bill bili all stories seem to agree that the denomination of that bill was floooo and that it was pasted on the wall because the robbers were afraid to spend it or present it to any bank for bills of smaller denomination with more inore inone cash in their pockets than tinan star valley had it Is not strange that tom and matt

99 92 soon became the most moat popular men mn in afton to the homes of all their neighbors rumel rummel mrs morgan yorgan and were invited nearby lived the family liy lly consisting of mr rumel his wife ror formell formerly meri rosa oldtp oid mongan a daughter osa rumel fourteen years old and her half sister sadie morgan in a short ti rno rne nno matt arking enking sparking was rosa sd and he must have made quick progress because they were tarried married in montpelier idaho on september Septerliber niber 4i ai ir mr kelly later indicates that tom married sally morgan inhabitants of afton agree in essence with his account bessie beachler however says that the cabin was the first saloon halling who in star valley and the outlaws lived with lars hailing owned a ranch slightly north of arton afton one day just for sport warner shot the hat off lars head then he told him to pick it up and throw it as high as he could into the air As it fell hecarty yccarty yecarty and warner riddled it to pieces with bullets it was winter and halling hailing had no hat so the two culprits rode to the store in afton but there were not felt hats in stock the merchant dug up a summer straw habo hato however and this they took hoime home holme hoine to lars who finished the winter out in straw mrs beachler observes that these fellows follows had plenty of cash and that slated they assisted gny mr milles ny poor families during the hard winter of they took clothes and provisions to many who probably would have died without their help heip 2 kelly concludes the account of their sojourn in the wild jj 36s chaples charles rharles lcharles icharles kelly A histqry history of butch casal hiatwj 1 onpany p 12 cassidy and his hia la l0 bunch new york the devin 4adair a company 2beachler op a it A beachler alt cit ait 02 eis els 10 pp ap

100 93 f valley as follows ollows allows in the spring two officers arrived with a warrant for tom ran them out of the valley with a tom and matt rifle but it became evident star valley was no longer a P safe place and headed for jackson hole eoles so the two men put their wives in a buckboard Yontanas montanas where the balance soon spent in high jinks jinka when they found themselves almost broke again tom 100 each and sent them back to with the excuse that they had to go to t6 ta british columbia to look ifter after some send for the iris later eele still deep in snow camping out however was too uncomfortable at that time of year ao so the four headed for butte of their telluride loot was and matt gave their wives star valley iris sorne gold mines and would rene other renegade eades gadesa lorean gardner recalls that soon after the abovementioned badmen had bad bed hed spent the winter there thene two other fugitives from justice came to auburn they were caught in a snowstorm and forced to spend the winter inasmuch as george davis had plenty of hay and fed their horses and they were davis allowed the use of an empty cabin in the vicinity y they did not seem to mind they called themselves al heiner and george cas cassidy Caasidy heiner played cards with the local citizenry while cassidy caaaidy seemed to prefer just visiting it is reported that neither of them tchern participated in the dances nor did they drink they were well liked by the people of auburn who were much mueh surprised when in the spring of the year seven officers came in for these men nien nen heiner was at the sawmill watching the men saw logs when the officers found him and he be surrendered without a struggle the settlers were amazed to find that even when he was handcuffed and without a gun one officer keily kelly liy op cit p 3 11Y ait 35

101 94 consent would not consent to stay alone with him two remained while the thie five lve thle other five went down to fco tco tto the george davis home to get cassidy it was cas cassidy gas sidy who was reputed to be able to drive nails nalls nalis with itch ilch ifch his bullets mrsa mr a gardners account of his Us arrest ia is as follows he officers walked in and said that they had come to arrest cassidy Gassidy have you a warrant asked cassidy 1 I1 dont need a warrant to arrest yout answered caverly cassidy drew his gun and took a small nick out of caverlys Ga ear caverly gaverly baverly attempted to shoot twice tines tinyes snapped both times by this tinie tinse time on the head and knocked him down but his gun caverly bime an officer hit cassidy he was hit several times and then shot in the forehead but it was not a deep wounde wounds they took cassidy cassady to harrisons honri Horri hanri store and some of the in his lila llis left lert the store townspeople bandaged his head he ibe had big gashes rt head besides the bullet wound around As they lort loft the outlaws shook hands with the people wre lre gre taking them out through crow creek greek canyon cassidy kept taking his h1s hs hands out of the handcuffs band curfs he had small smail while the officers were he and smil hands adjusting the bandages on his head and big wrists he said 1 I was waiting for a chance to get got one of their guns and then I1 was going to build up the cutest little smoke you ever saw 11 but his cl chance earned never cammed camei buried treasure whether As the outlaw era passed away rumors whether hep initiated by wishful thinking or not sprang up that some of these men had buried loot in the valley the stump creek area has been the scene of many a futile search and some sosie have said that there is treasure in the vicinity of smoote as well the smoot deposits are said to have been hidden by ira iiamigrant gandner lgardner egardner lg ardner andner op cit eit elt cites pp ap

102 who were being troubled by indians indiana but it too remains 95 undiscovered 1 breathesa the cpr ppr spring inn that thet breathe t swift creek rushing and roaring down its steep canyon bed baffled many of the first comers to afton with its ita strange behavior for eighteen or twenty minutes the stream would be quite high and then for a like period the water flow would calm down considerably this carious curious phenomenon puzzled the settlers and led the more raore mope naope superstitious into wild speculation some thought it was a stream bewitched and for a long time it was surrounded with mystery its gasping choking roaring noise was ao so eerie by night that most moat people preferred to stay away during the hours of darkness archibald gardner at the mouth of the canyon who operated a saw and flour observed that his mill race flour mill visibly fluctuated he used to be heard to murmur this water must come from a spring that breathes nw 2 his son clarence later discovered the intermittent spring which is swift creeks source soureep and the mystery for all practical purposes solved33 was solvedt march daterview interview with betsy erickson salt sait lake city utah hyde oe cited citec p 566 bitts citts hbid abid t sprine and early summer this 0 natural phenomenon can be observed only be watching closely the rise and fall of the flow ibid mrs hyde explains seven miles east of afton in iswifc creek canyon is the geyser a spring that breathes during the high water season in spring measuring it

103 96 ghosts of gadianton Gadianton in spite of a scientific explanation of af the phenomenon of the creek an air of mystery continued to shroud the gardner mill the noises of the creek were just as terrorizing as before and strange things occurred between dusk and dawn it is said that frequently the mill workers would find their axes far removed from the spot they had bad bsd left them sosnetlmes sanevimeq hanging in precarious positions log chains would come up 9 missing and were often rediscovered beneath piles of logs it Dossible sibie imdossible possible would have been impossible to nos tio tyo move and replace during a singie swingle single night other piles of logs some SOHB sone of them huge would be found strewn halter skelter like saatch zaatch natch sticks or sawed into pieces of curious shape the theory perpetuated by some native imagination was that the ghosts of the gadianton dadianton Gadi anton robbers who inhabited this land centuries am ago were still engaged in works of darkness 1 against the water marks on the rocks As july fades into august and this month surges toward autumn the sporadic action of the spring is visibly apparent then it flows for eighteen or twenty minutes and then ceases entirely for a like period pexlod As the water vanishes into the crevices and beneath the stones of the springe nats nals gaping orifice which yawns from the face of a sheer perpendic4lar perpendicular cliff loud sucking sound of rushing air for certain siphon theory what makes the spring start and stoy atcy at the most logical reason seelk seeml pei iod cliffy it is attended by a mo no one knows seell to lie in the a sub- probably this surface water comes from terranean cistern fed by underground springs springii springli ii small ones spring sprine the only other similar springs in the world are two lthese alandt one in new Ze zealand these people the other in yugoslavia being members well acquainted with the The book of M mormon inhabitant-s account of a terrorist organization known as the gadlanton gadianton Gadi anton robbers Pobbers In of the mormon faith were a sacred record of the ancient inhabitants of america therein is contained an

104 97 temple tempie bench the outlaws lamis lavis came and went having found well weli wishers in only a relatively few the needs of the people the noisy creek continued to serve and most were grateful for its generous supply of life sustaining water only the most super stit stitlous stibious stitious ious gave nili credence to the shost ghost stories of the old mill and the treasure hunters were chiefly young ested in watching the moon than digging young lovers more interw intern diggings the tradition which perhaps gives better insight into the people of the valley than all these la hloh bloh is that of temple bench A prominent point east of afton has been designated by that title since a day early in the valleys vailey history when moses mosea thatcher Is said to have remarked pielt plell pleil what a beautiful spot for a templet many strue structiontion believed that the place was actually dedicated for the construction of a temple at some future date others claim it was prophesied that a temple would be built there although the written record does not substantiate either of these be liefs llefs it prophe sled sied kiefs they are indicative of the fondest hopes dreams and traditions of the majority of star valleys vailey rest resl dents residents that they might remain closely actively associated with the work of the church of jesus christ clx of day saints that la is latter the reason most of their ancestors came to the valley in the first place lit 111 star valley stake record

105 CHAPTER IX transportat tramsportatioh transportal TRANSPORTAT ION lon AND I1 comwmntoat commumigatioh lon TON ion the isolation of star valley imposed a problem for the settlers inasmuch a as heavy winter snows restricted travel even more than distance did certainly the first arrivals in the valley found access to this secluded spot a real problem with which to struggle gie it will be recalled that the group that settled in preedom freedom in 1879 was three weeks literally crawling over the mountains from bear lake a distance of only sixty miles the severity venity ae of the winters with intense cold and deep snow made the settlers fearfully aware of their thein confinements tf perchance if they found themselves without sufficient foods then they had to ski aki or snowshoe out to montpelier and carry supplies back to their waiting families on their backs As settlers moved noved into the valley it was apparent that getting passengers sengers and freight into and out of the area would be hard and somtetimes sometimes hazardous the route pelier pout to montpelier ontpelier via crow creek was the most practical the bur burton bunton bun ton account telling of freighting merchandise and supplies into the valley in says each these trips required about three weeks bachi eachi the work was tearns waa hard on the bearns fcearas though h loading necessit necessia was of necessityv leht llht its C am 0m ommuni jalley lesther iesther M crook transportation star valley vailey and I1t s uni i 3 8 ommundtie a 9 p 38 98

106 99 due to poor roads 111 it was not unconmon uncomon uncommon une in these early days for wagons to tip over on steep rnountain riountain sides or for men and rain teams to be caught in rainstorma brainstorms to get out of the rnnud imxd 0 2 renud and have a battle struggling mali mall mail 1 1 esther crook vesy obsen obber observes up vest to the year 1888 there was no communication mall mali maii th or passenger service to the tho valley service 3 prior to this time cornmuni cations canions communications or maii mail mall mali were carried by any willing persons who were for one reason or another going into or out of the valley orten often ben the mall mail mali maii came in only in the spring and went out in the call cail falla smer of 1888 the summer 1688 marled a change in the mall mail maii time fall4 mali system however for at this tir the settlers hired A lu hale and john tolman to haul the mall mail maii mell meli between afton and montpelier montpeller later that summer the government established a semiweekly mall route between these two points an account of ben meid meld nield states finst contract was let to A lu hale of afton and john tolman of fairview it called for twice a week mall mail maii mali delivery so the drivers had forty eight hours houra to make assuming this mali maii mail mall contract was a big the first trip one way undertakings since it was known the snow would be froin from froim hen the big four to eight feet deep at the higher hl her elevations question faced by drivers was what kind of sleigh be most rost fost s1eirh would m practical for the snow road first used was a the iggi j bunton burzon lburton barton op old 010 p i 11 21nterview 012 cit po 14 interview with thomas PF burton ogden utah march manch crook qtcltp 0tjtp 38 bibid 4ibid j p 39

107 100 toboggan sleigh with a box about eight feet long two or three feet wide mounted on two high sleigh runners this toboggan was drawn by one horse sleigh the mail contractors got of the contract quite well which broke trail for the first two years sot throuch throughh the but dut the year of 1890 k known to all of the pioneers of the valley as the winter vv 1390 was the snow was three to four feet deep in the this valley and much deeper at the higher levels carriers had too big of a job to handle closed for about three months tion webs viebs kiebs t he and the hard so the mail maii mali tha road was there was no transporta transports in and out of the valley except by snowshoes and that was the last winterford the toboggan on the mail contract later vehicles used were weris sere werts for summer and a covered sleigh with a stove for eom comfort rot in the winter 1 werte a buckboard the crook account of this early period on th the crow creek greek road points out cult the first few years of this service proved very diffi biffi sometlms sometiroes the fth tch mail was carried on foot or horseback instead of the desired way in wagons or sleighs in this setup stations and camping places were necessary where carried the mail could feed their her horses seas scan the men who sess cook their own meals and have a place to sleep also where other travelers could stay overnight if necessary in the first winters of mail carrying the snow became so deep in the part of the canyon nearing montpetier montpelier that the saali MSLU was hauled in sleighs to a camp imown known irown as hair half way and from there taken on by men on skis the men would leave 1 camp at six olock in 11 the morning and travel to montpelier with the outgoing mail nail mall mali rest robt nost nest an hour houn or so and return to half eair 1111alf wa twenty four hours travel they carried the tine mail on their I1 backs in waterproof sacks and many times blizzards caused uli went through choup though thouph sometimes two or three weeks late2 latea hain way with the ingoing mail this trip required then to lose their way but storm or not the wil preihtinp frei&htin& evidently lir rr hale who had the government mail co- eon ntract hauled passengers as well as the mail maii mali he lie lle ile handled only lea ieast a little freight at least at first prominent however in 19 he diews emaminer examiner 1962 the niner montpelier idaho june crook acrook op OR cibor ciber cit p 39

108 101 the freight frelgoht bustness business were the meld brothers and A R moffat who handled the exporting of dairy datry dalry products 1 commenting on these early men who linked the saints in tn this valley with the outside world mrs burton says erts was difficult and dangerous theirs was a comon lot all and spring seasons of the year their dit difflcul fleui teul in the pall pail pali during the rain that the mall mail nali nail carrieres carrier1a carrierts erta eria task likewise that of the freighter in the ties were fall wore multiplied often fell the roads were war wan wen deep with vith mud on the lower levels while the divide which there were three to cross the snow was too deep to get a wagon wavon wacon through it lt it similar in the spring was with the added adjed danger of snowslldes snowslides slides amany eany had narrow escapes no human lives were lost but many horses fared not so well 2 mr yx J J edwards of freedom wyoming makes this statement with regard to the difficulties and hardships en dured by the freighters he having experienced them in the early days of star valley they handled their freight with horses and wagon the roads were not like they are today sometimes tims in the spring they were soft and muddy and it would take as much as eight days to mate make makk a trip from star valley vailey to montpelier montpeller and back sometimes Somo bimes we would get stuck in the mud and it tt would take from six to eight horses to pull a load and at times we would have to unload and pack it out and in the spring we would have to transfer from sleighs to wagon twice in the snow would get so deep that you could hardly one trip get through it- i have seen it driftt arif the snow we would get throu 07 snqw snaw as much nu&h ah jlc i have to shovel eight or ten feet deep to get through and I1 have seen snow slides when it piled the snow as twentyfive rive feet deep and one hundred yards long one day when we were going down a slide filled my sleigh box full of snow in the winter time the freighters would world travel mostly in bunches hunches in order to keep the road open3 opena dessle dessie albessie merritt oei opi opl cit olt p 19 2bunton c1tx burton opa cite p 23 3tntervjejj interview with J L hepworth june he had obtained this information as a result of an interview with mr yr J J edwards