Show Elijah Freeman A Pioneer of 47 is one I Of the Few Remaining Remaining- I I Elijah Freeman a pioneer r of 47 IS one o of the few fe rem individuals I i who was as present on that mem memorable memorable day in m May 1869 when Gov Governor Leland Stanford of California drove the golden spike into the spot where here the tracks of the Union Umon Pacific Paci fic and the Central Pacific met at Promontory Utah thus lurking linking byan by byan byan an unbroken stretch of rail the Atlantic Wind ind Pacific Oceans I Mr Freeman who h hest lives lies est it at 1217 Indiana avenue a Salt Like and isnow IS ISnow isnow now eighty six sic 1 years old remembers I detail detail- of that tremendous event with clarity and vividness There I been eight hundred people there he said laid A whole hole I up wagon load lond of us went up from Ogden I accompanied my step father Loren toI Farr who hid been contractor together to- to to I gether with Ith Chauncey West and Ezra I T Benson for grading on the Cen Cen- CenI hat hal Pacific for the miles west of I Ogden O den John Henry Smith was with our party too I The The 11 different from fromI I Atha Covered Co Wn Wagon on Davs Days event e SnIt Salt Lake I is planning for July 24 25 26 s ld Mr Ir Freeman It took place right out in m the middle of the sage sagebrush sagebrush sagebrush brush All types of people were ere there Besides Mr Ir Stanford a number of I other prominent men were ere present including railroad officials and Gren- Gren Grenville Grenville ville ville I M Dodge chief engineer of th the Union Umon Pacific There were ere Indiana settlers from all parts of Utah some Iome of the men who hid worked on the western estern section of the road and the civil war ar soldiers who ho h hid id laid I down don do n the eastern cistern rails A prayer was as offered and Governor Stanford I spoke After the spike had been driven the two engines one on each section o of the tracks track steamed up to toone toone toone one mother and touched together while the cro crowd d cheered and yelled Mr l Freeman an interesting sidelight of the celebration A man mannut put nut a n five dollar gold piece on the track he said and waited alted for the wheel of the engine to rollover roll over It Then he picked it up and broke it m in half and gm gave e one part of it to a friend keeping the other as a souvenir sou I venir for himself I have a piece of the tie into which the golden spike was no driven i i Elijah Norman Freeman is the only son of the father for whom horn he was named and his mother Mary n and was born m in tree H county Illinois on May 20 1845 When heas he was as not quite two t years o of a age e his f went to Swiftwater ater with Ith the Bishop Miller company to winter with the Indi ns It was as i l regIOn where here there was in Win abundance of ame came pame and feed for the horses While there the ill cill for volunteers for or the Mormon l went out and the theelder theelder theelder elder Freeman responded to it He marched west est with the men but was as asI assent I sent back from the thc Mexican border borner to care for the sick and dieda died a few weeks later of fever e eer er at Socorro New I Mexico l near the Rio Grande Glande River Tragedy also visited the Illinois camp and his younger brother Oscat who ho was as to have been teamster died of scurvy So o Elijah and his mother came west est with Ith his grandfather Erastus Elastus Bingham Mrs Irs Freeman driving the wagon agon a part of the way ay across the plains The They arrn arrived ed in m the valley alley on September I 19 in m the Daniel Damel Spencer company I When I began to remember things we e were ere living down n in m the old fort where Pioneer Park is now located My earliest memory isn't a very plea plen pleasant want one however hoever ho ever I guess Iwas I was wal about three or four One day when I Mother was as going to wash ash a big pot potI I of boiling water was suspended on t irack rack over a bonfire I was playing m in inthe inthe the yard with Mahonn Mahonri Snow Erastus Elastus Snows Snow's boy Heas He was as chasing me and andas andI andI I was as running from him just as hard hardas hardas hardas as I could go I hadon had on an old fash toned sunbonnet which came way ay out over my face so I couldn't see very much and I dont don't suppose I was wal look looking looking m ing where Iwas I was as going anY anyway anYay ay I Iwas Iwas was as probably booking around to see how ho close M l honri was as when I sturn stumbled stumbled bled and fell my head mg ing a against one of the poles of the rack The boiling water ater went ent allover all over my back and my hands went ent into the I fire Brigham H II Bingham m my uncle i somehow or other me out by the heels Mother stripped me and put spring tar allover all 0 over er me I Iwas Iwas was as pretty badly burned and still bear the ce rs Another early memory concerns molasses The first we wc ever had was made from corn stalks which hid been cut up in m small pieces and bOil bOil- bOiled boiled boil boiled ed Later on we e had some that was made from table beets Was It good Well maybe people wouldn't think so but we e thought It was as nice The childhood of Freeman was as in m spirit ever changing circum circum- circumstances circumstances stances Bingham Shortly after Mary fling Bing ham Freeman came to the valley she he married Willard Snow who ho died at sea a few years later while to Denmark on a mission Elijah wa was six Sl at this time and he then went ent to live on the farm of his grandfather Bingham Mr Bingham had first taken talen up a quarter section on the south side o of Ogden River near O Og- Og Ogden Og Ogden den Bridge but when hen the town was washid washid s hid out spread ead over on his land Jand so 10 then he moved to the north and west wes t Bingham and took tool up land he called Bmg Bin Binham g ham s Fort rort It is the present site of o othe f the town called Lynn In 1855 l h 0 Snow Sno married Loren Farr widely y known n a as the first mayor of Ogden and Elijah moved mo with his mother m in into into I Ito to town ton tow to n I spent the earlier part of m life farming the old m mm in said sud I lilt vas It t vas ivas hard as much of the land Jand w e tried to till was arid and and not very ver y ey productive For man many v years our ou r crops were ere small Wheat grass grew w m in the grain gram and chocked it out We W e had continual trouble with Ith insects 1 Ive I've e spent days cutting big worms off oil ff potato and tomato vines with sheep shee p shears and it seemed is is though we vv e were always ays fighting grasshoppers I Ican Ican can I remember even when I was ver ery y young ti ailing a lon long stick with a ang tied to it along the ground l t to 0 chase the grasshoppers into a pile pileo of o straw shaw or a ditch so we e could burr burn n them When I gre grew older my jo jowas Job b was as to handle the cradle to cut the th e and to mo mow I farmed until I entered a cabinet shop in m Ogden n when hen I was as twenty h five When he refused to do it rt I I I ing that since the kettles were ere to Ie turned heas he was as satisfied the old chief was as and determined detel mined to pun punIsh punish punish Ish his Indians he put a butchers butcher s knife in one o of their eal eats eais s and tWisted twiste d It until he was satisfied the fello fellow was as punished I i Mi Mt FI Freeman eeman has spent h twenty henty enty seven years yeal s in the mission field two tw o 0 of which were spent in m England Englan d j jhen I i when hen he was as a young man while the th e 1 h twenty henty enty fi five fie e were ere passed passe d ed m in Arizona Anzona He lived in Ba Basalt alt Idah Idaho o dot oi Ol h twenty henty enty three years ears and has mad made e his home in m Salt Lake Lale foi fot the last las t three years I His Ills first wife was as Annie M l Poul Poulsen Poulsen Poulsen sen whom he married in m 1872 and an I Iwho who died the following oHo mg year Ili Ills s second wife who ho is still living IS t s Mary Ellen Farley Freemin n se seventy seventysix enty SIX years of age Six of hi his Iren childre n ate ale living They are Elijah Nor Nor- Normn Nor Nor-mm n m mm Mrs l Louise Ada Reader Oscar Osca r F Loren Erastus and Mrs Irs Wallen Wan I IJ J Elijah Freeman A Pioneer of 47 is one on Of th Few Few Remaining Continued from page 3 While I was working corking in m the fields one day dIlY he interposed I saw one I horde of grasshoppers gl come It aas as about three thice o'clock in m the afternoon and Iwas I 1 was working alone The wheat t he was cut and the oats still standing A noise atti attracted acted my attention whIch sounded a high wind a md but as it was not the season of the year ye for wind and I feel fed a strong breeze I looked around to see what was the matter Gradually the sky darkened and even the sun was ass covered and v Isa I Isa sa saw what the trouble was as Thousands of grasshoppers were acre ere sweeping down upon Ulon the fields They lighted allaround all allaround allaround around me and began their work Before I left the field at sundown sundon n there t a leaf on a tree tice or a I I I Kernel of or corn on a stalk It as nothing but a n barren waste I went wen back hack to the cabin and they were j smudging ln in the orchards and fighting fight fighting I ing mJ the insects the best they could every crop was rum ruin ruined but practically ed Innumerable stories stones centering around the group of tin tm horn gamblers and desperados who ho follo followed ed the railroad construe tion camps in m those days das have ha been bandied about the west for a good many years ears and Mr l Freeman has a afew afew few tales of his hIli hi own to tell on that tha account T Two Tao 0 of U us myself and John Gay Ga were acre ere taking i a load of feed to a con con- constructIon construction camp on Grouse Groue Creek Creeh out west of Promontory The Country was as full of drunkards and gamblers gambler A lot of men had been laid off and an they were out to get something they could from th the men who were acre stIll sti working A mm n named Gre Grey an engineer for the General Pacific s driving Bishop Chauncey West's We ts t's t team out to the camp carrying with nth wit him a payroll roll rollof of Every fel- fel fellow low 10 for miles around seemed to have hav gotten otten wind of the fact that the pay pay- payroll payroll pay payroll roll was as going out and there were plenty of them willing to make any an sort of a play for it Weere We were ere just ahead of the West team Before we e w had gone very far Gre Grey realized that hl his team team and person were marked and he didn't have much chance of getting through q So he asked Gay GlY Gi and myself to take the money mone We were vere young oung and pretty foolhardy I Iguess guess any am anyway a a ay s we e took it and agreed to get it Jt through It was aas as in greenbacks greenback and I Istuk I stuck stuk rt It i down don under m nj m wagon gon sent seat sea la then wh when n I tad J id a chance thrust it into un tint t tt side of a bag of feed That hat night about bout six we ac c stopped at Blue Water camp which was as down downin in a little gulley Is I ass wis stopping over overto overto to fill a bucket when I looked up and as if they hid had come from out of space 51 six or seven men were acre ere stand stand- standing ing mg on the top of the ridge looking down n at me It was as just dust dusk They came do down don n and surrounded Gay and an myself and began besan to ask questIons They wanted to know if rf our team be- be belonged belonged longed to Bishop West and when e ac w told them it didn't they asked who wh we ac e were and where weere we were ere going They quizzed us as to where e we wel were e planning on camping that thit m night ht and an when we were moving on We Ve didn't give Ive them any satisfaction but mere merely merely ly said that wed we'd go on a bit further fUl ther and then camp somewhere along the road Finally they left us We acre el e worried all allright rIght so we didn't go o on at all but pulled our oura ou a wagon on back bach off the road roid about a half mile nule and not daring to make a n fire or a light took turn turns guarding the th lor money Tt T t it snowed sno and the next neat d day y when we started out outI I again the load road was aas as slippery and we Ve w fought mud and slush for foi hours houis It was twelve o'clock that night before we arrived at Grouse Creek We sure were ere glad to hand over that money On another occasion I had some other trouble with the rough fellows fellow who aho ho came into the country with the construction of the railroad Mr Mi Freeman began a again am Wed We'd lost a I lot of stock in m the Promontory Point country and a l bunch of us went to get them But when we arrived arrived out there a mm man from the Blu Biu Bluetown town camp met us and advised us us to Ito o go back He told us that the camps were break mg up the men were being paid off and some of them were a bad lot drunk all of the time and killing ruthlessly The of the party de declied deci ruled clied ed the country was as too dangerous and turned back ck bick They told me I Iw Iwas Iwas w was c crazy but bui I took a roll of blankets and I Isome some grub and started out by mys myself lf Just af a as Iwas I r was leaving nil he continued I found a man lying along the side of the tracks who'd been shot all to pieces He was aas as covered cov cov- covered covered ered with blood I suppose I as aas crazy but I was determined to find them Everyone hid had also warned me of a big mule that was roaming the country with the horses He lie was Vas dangerous and hed he'd hUl hurt hult t any number of men After looking for several days I sighted a herd of horses on a plateau a little distance away from fromme fromme fromme me and as I was wis making toward them this big mule rushed from the pack and stal started ted for me rue I stopped and waited knowing mg my horse was qUIck enough to side step any at- at attack attack at attack tack The mule came straight for forme forme forme me and then when he got a few yards away avay he turned around and started kicking back at me I drew my PIS- PIS PIStol pistol pis pistol tol and shot him in m the leg It was only a fish wound but it stopped hIm and he a went ent ent tearing off The horses horse on the plateau weren't erent mme mine however so I started out again asam asamI T I went up to the mouth of Bear Beir River not far from Corinne and there on onan onan onan an Island in m the lake lahe I discovered my horses When I arrived cd back home WIth them e everyone admitted they had never expected to see me again agam We never ne had much wIth the Indians although they bothered us some When I was arts a little boy boyas boyI I was as at my Uncle Ed Eds s when two Indians came up and started talking to us Uncle was v-as hoeing in m the gar garden garden garden den His w wife e called out to him to tell hun him breal breakfast st was as rc d ready reidy and when he went in m the house the In- In IndIans Indians In Indians follo followed ed him and sat do down don n to the table We We- gave this the In Indians Indians Indians Und and often invited them td eat with us But these Indians came m in uninvited and that made Uncle Ed so mad that he reached for one of them and knocked him flat The braves got ot out but when hen they left they took some pot pots and pans off n a shelf outside the cabin As CAs soon as uncle discovered they were gone he went cent ent to the Indian camp and told the chief about it The clue chief was an interesting old character er cr with vertu Ith a full frill grey beard about three or four m inches hes long He took Uncle Id Ed through the camp and asked him to pick out the Indians who had stolen the kettles When he got them before he he Ire made them first fust go out and get set the stolen good goods and |