Show Echoes from the dUSt The cold wintry evening starts over je Robert who to now William blare the trail for all who are now living here enjoying comfortable homes and Snyder came to the basin with cattle about a year before he moved his family They settled on Ashley Creek on the place where David Timothy liv- The snow of winter came and shed its white blessings over the valley and Major Critchlow and his wife of Whiterocks came to visit the Snyders that She was the only white lady they saw all Spring came with its long sunshiny days and in a baby boy brightened the little log cabin of and This was the first white child born here and was named Robert Summer passed and winter came still they were the only women During the coming summer and autumn of there was a number of families moved among them were and William and John Fair- and Joseph and Alma Lewis Al S. P. Jimmy Perry Pat Robert Pardon John Mason and On June Robert H. Snyder was killed by lightning in his leaving Snyder with two children to pioneer the She spent the coming winter in Salt Lake return- ing to Ashley in the Two years her little boy Ashley He was one of the first to be buried in the Rock Point In the fall of Snyder mar- ried William They made their home Being public they did much for our valley and are outstanding our died last and William Gibson landed here from Kamas the last day of November 1877 just as the sun was go- ing They located on the place where they now They brought 35 head of cattle and enough provisions to do them for a year or The winter was very they lived in a house without doors or Two years Gibson went out after While he was the Indian troubles began just over the line in being went to the old Ashley town where the rest of the settlers had When Gibson he moved their sawed log house which they had built on their ranch during the sawing the logs with a to Old Ashley where they lived for a then returned to the They sold their house in Ashley Town to the county for a It was used for this purpose four or five The county then moved it to Hatch which is now where it was used for many years as a county Being it is still a neat-looking house of John and east of the Uintah railroad In the first Fourth of July celebration was There were only five women Robert Chell George W. Hislop and Alfred They first had dances and church in day It stood just south of the old David Timothy Here the first Sunday School was organized on Washington's February with Alf Johnson as Once a the mail came in from Green River by way of horseback or The Gibsons and Dodds had stores on their the Gibsons moved their store to Old Ashley Lycurgas Johnson also had a store Doe started the first saloon with five gallons of The evening he opened he treated the along with the got They took turns about tending the but forgot to collect for The next morning the whiskey was all Doe begged enough money to leave the The next saloon was Charley He sold the better It W. B. lived in Ashley ward until his was the first school teacher in Powell went to Heber City in 1878 for a load of flour for Thomas The flour was divided among the settlers during the hard winter of In the years 1879 and Indian troubles began with the Meeker massacre where Uie agent and some of his help were her Josephine and Price were taken U.S. troops were were River was set apart bj Governor Brigham Young in 1851 as an Indian r for the Uintah and Uncompahgre Utes and confirmed by Congress under President Brigham Young made the request that Uie Utes be gathered from their scattered camping grounds and proper- ly supervised in this naturally isolated The government established military posts at Ouray and Fort An Indian agency at Whiterocks and soldiers' quarters were held at these points at intervals until 1912 nie Indians have now decreased in number to less than a thousand in the entire A large part of the land reserved for them has been sold because their number has decreased until about 68 acres of land under canal is all that is needed of about acres originally allotted to them Ashley Ward is located in the nor- thern part of Ashley Valley with an elevation of 5 feet The climate is ideal with moderate winters and warm sunshiny It is about five miles long and two miles wide with an area of about most of which is under The soil next to the foothills is The land is irrigated from the Rock Point which is the oldest and best water right in the The agricultural products are fruit and garden pro- turkey and beef industries are carried on ex- wood and water are Roads are The people are prosperous and public There are about fifty families with access to the mail An electric sawmill is owned and operated by Fred which has a capacity of ten thousand feet per We have electric light and The history of a community should not be merely interesting to but should lead to a fuller appreciation of the struggles and ideals of those hardy pioneers who laid the foundation for our present day In searching for early one is impressed with the far sightedness and energy of those first settlers with their unity and community As we look back over the great Uintah basin with resources sufficient to main- tain a half million let us not forget the pioneers and especially the ones who are still living among Mary who is 90 years old on the of is probably the oldest one in the We also have living in our ward Jennie and William David Kar- ren and the Winn all of whom are old |