i E THAT WAS SALT LAKE LAKE- I Woman 85 Helped to Build Utah I I Hiked From Neb Nebraska in Winter S S S f y j 1 5 S. S w e S tt r e S S ARTIST DEPICTED PIONEER AND MOTHER ABOARD SHIP Mrs Elizabeth Mincer Felt Four weeks to cross ocean I Editors Editor's sole ole This ml U II the eighteenth In a series of oC relating Incidents and experience In arl arly halt bait Lake City da days as aa recalled b by plon pioneers era ot of that period S By r CLARENCE D. D WILLIAMS Valiant Is the word far for dignified Mrs Elizabeth Mineer Mincer Felt who will observe her sixth eighty-sixth birthday birthday birthday birth birth- day May 1 She's gone through the trials and hardships that make story book plots plou She's cut her niche In the hail hall of history drama and whatever whatever whatever what what- ever else it t takes to build nations She did her bit when her parents parents parents par par- answered the call to help build new frontiers Mrs Felt far from being ing frail and sickly is glad I have had so many experiences especIally especially espe espe- daily with the Ute Indians Th This pioneer sat on the sofa in her apartment she apartment she keeps house for herself herself and and revealed she is the only one living who walked across the plains to Salt Lake from Winter Quarters Neb in 1861 She was 6 years old Half the journey she was barefoot Mrs Felt told how the pioneers walked because the wagons were loaded with supplies and carried earned mothers with young babies how they made the wagon train circle at night and placed the oxen inthe inthe in inthe the ring for protection Three Months' Months Trek At times we had to travel at night to avoid the Indians and soldiers soldiers soldiers sol sol- sol sol- diers who were hostile to the Mormons she said Ive been a plodder all my life but Ive I've always liked what it had to offer affer It took three and a half months to make that journey I remember remember remember ber our company of 80 wagons arrived in Salt Lake valley September September Sep Sop 17 1861 We made camp where the city and county building building build build- ing mg is Her memory is sharp She has fine hearing and she doesn't wear glasses Our family left a beautiful home in Landskrona Landskron Sweden my birthplace to came come to this then desolate country It took four weeks to cross eross th the ocean in a rickety sailing vessel Indians were my greatest fear One lady in a company four miles ahead of ours boasted she wasn't afraid of them She started out alone alene and they never did see her again Mrs Felts Felt's white hair had a net over it She wore a late style red dress Her home was neat and clean She was eager to tell about my dear friend Maude Adams Mrs Felt was in early-day early dramatics in Salt Lake Maude Adams was 3 years of age when I took care of her while her mother Mrs Asenath A. A Adams Kiskadden performed inthe inthe in inthe the old Salt Lake theater she said I had parts on the stage stagg when I was 15 I made costumes for the early-day early plays as well as many clothes for Salt Lakes Lake's elite When we first came here we lived In a two-room two adobe house where the David Keith building is I remember when we could have purchased 10 by 20 rods on Main street right where the tte building is for My parents were later sent to help settle Mt Pleasant We lived in a fort for protection against the Indians Chiefs Black Hawk and were the biggest warriors Continuing she related the story of the Thistle valley massacre in 1865 the day her family was comIng coming corning com corn ing to Salt Lake Prior to that she was once confronted by an Indian chief who came caine to her house and took all the bread Recalls Massacre A family that had failed to heed the danger warning went to ta settle in Thistle valley eight miles from Mt Pleasant she said Our minute men went to see how they were getting along and found the family scalped and their bodies mutilated by the Another experience modest Mrs Felt will never forget she said is when she arrived In Paris France August 2 1914 the day Germany declared warI warI warI war I went to meet my son Lamont Lamont La La- mont who was completing a achurch achurch achurch church mission she asserted I had to go ga to London I thought I would never see my boy Her mother was Mrs Ingar Jensen Jensen Jensen Jen Jen- sen Mincer Mineer and her father was Andrew Andrew Andrew An An- Ani i drew Mincer Mineer a musician who organized organized or or- the first dance orchestra in Salt Lake In 1868 I have lived continuously In Salt Lake for the last 70 years she related President Heber J. J Grant and I have been friends allour all allour allour our lives Mrs Felt has two dau daughters Mrs Etta Felt Toronto and Mrs Irma Felt r Bitner and two sons sous Joseph H H. and C. C Lamont Lament Felt She has 24 gran grandchildren children and 22 great