OCR Text |
Show THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 22 Volume V, Issue VIII February 1, 2002 Modes of Travel and Communication Note: This information was taken from “Remember My Valley” by LaVerna Newey. Some Valley people in early days never got far from home. The story goes that Teddy Fuller, first white child born in Eden, was riding a horse, driving cows over the Cache Valley Divide. James L. Shaw from Liberty was with him, and as they neared the top and the panorama of Weber County and Cache Valley stretched before them, Teddy exclaimed, “Gosh, I didn’t know the world was so big.” A massive mudslide in Ogden Canyon in the spring of 1975 gave us a four-day idea of what it would be like to be isolated from outside contacts. Now we have neighbors on both sides of us, whereas in the early days of Ogden Valley, neighbors were few and far between. I asked Mr. David E. Chard, age 92 in 1974, how they had communicated. His reply was, “We could yell, and if the weather and the wind was right, our voices might carry a mile away. Otherwise there was no way to let your neighbors know you needed help except by direct contact. If someone died and we needed to let relatives in North Ogden know, we sent someone over the mountain on horseback.” Those who didn’t have a horse went by “shanks pony,” which meant their own two feet. Francis Clarke Sr. wrote in his day-by-day diary that he returned from his mission December 8, 1895. He arrived in Ogden by train at 2:00 a.m. in the morning and his son wasn’t there to meet him, so he walked from Ogden to Eden on the cool moonlit, and frosty night. Ellen Worden Wilbur who died in 1898 told her children that at one time she worked in the woolen mills in Ogden and often walked through the canyon to Eden. William Chard, owner of the main Liberty store for many years, used to take his load of Valley butter and veg- etables to Ogden to trade for supplies. He said in an interview years ago with Myrle Shupe of the Standard Examiner; “It was a tiresome ride from the little community down through the canyon to Ogden, and most of the trips were boring. Once in a while there would be some excitement, like the time a lightning and thunderstorm struck in the dead of winter. The lightning was so close Mr. Chard remembered vividly the smell of sulphur in the air. The mules stopped dead in President McKay and others travel down Ogden Canyon to attend Conference in Ogden. their tracks and refused to move until things quieted down a bit. “In 1916 the mules were traded off for a Buick touring car. Mr. Chard had the back cut down to make it into a truck and then hired Jesse Wilbur to make a pair of seats that could be bolted to each side of the truck bed. From then on the Chard truck was the chief mode of travel for ward members who had to attend church meetings or stake Licensed Contractor Delbert Morris P.O. BOX 507 EDEN, UT 84310 conferences in Ogden. It was always crowded to capacity and didn’t cost them a cent.” The late John Fuller of Eden said, “I used to court my wife on horseback. I would go get her, help her up on the horse behind me, and away we’d go to the dance or wherever we were going. Finally I got a buggy, and it was a lot easier to court her then.” David and Agnes Burnett recalled to their children that about 1895 when they were courting, the snow and drifts were so bad, David had to unhitch the Tel: 745-1709 Cell: 791-7420 Grading Dirt Hauling Snow Removal Landscaping Rock Work Backhoe Service Tear out & Replace Driveways horses from the sleigh and take his sweetheart the four miles to her home from a Mutual Improvement meeting by horseback. Another time this same Eden couple had the experience of a frightened horse tipping over the buggy on the way to Huntsville to a dance. The pretty little Agnes fell to the side and handsome David hung to the horse’s bridle so the horse wouldn’t drag them, and after righting themselves they continued on. Twice other times the wheel came off and dumped them. Before the advent of the automobile, the mode of travel through Ogden Canyon was usually be fringe-topped surrey, if a person could afford the fringe. Most often it was a plain buckboard wagon in the summer, or long low sleigh in the winter. With a team and wagon it took two hours to go to Ogden and two hours to come back. There was little time left for shopping. Going down, the wagon was usually filled with grain or lumber to trade for the necessary produce or merchandise. Fortunate ones with relatives in Ogden stayed overnight and came home the next day. In the wintertime horsehide fur coats were worn by the men with mittens of the same material. The women and children, when it was necessary for them to go, were bundled in piles of straw in the bottom of the vehicle and covered with quilts or fur lap-robes. Rocks or pressing irons were heated in the oven, then wrapped in cloth, and placed at their feet. According to David E. Chard, Edward Shaw of Liberty was the first man in their town to own an automobile. This was about 1912. It had two seats and no top. Soon after he got the marvelous contraption, he came to see the Chards. They all had a ride to the bottom of their hill, and then they walked back. “People thought he was crazy to support an automobile,” said Mr. Chard. Jessie Wilbur had the first automobile in Eden. Lars Nelson, first mayor of Huntsville, was the first one in Huntsville to own such a novelty. His granddaughter Ethel N. Wangsgard, thought it was a great privilege to toot the horn. Harold A. Newey was one of the first boys in Huntsville to own his own Model T. Ford. Many a time there would be four couples crowded in that Model as they went to a dance in Eden. Those Model T Fords sported a running board, leather flaps with isinglass peepholes for windows, and a handcranked starter which when it sputtered to a start, the cranker leaped out of its path and practically bolted into the driver’s seat and the car chugged on. Distinctive and yet similar of our early day native pioneers was a statement made by John Fuller in 1953: “I have come from ox team to airplane in my 86 years. I had my first airplane ride about 30 years ago when the Wright Brothers came to Ogden to demonstrate their plane.” The comical true story is told by older members of Huntsville about two bachelors who heard a strange noise overhead. Upon looking up in the sky they saw their first airplane. One remarked to the other, “How would you like to be up there in that thing?” The other in a droll voice emphatically replied, “I’d a lot rather be up there in one of those things than up there without one!” PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST Now Servicing Ogden Valley Properties Let me help you rent your condo or home. Since 1977 HOMES APARTMENTS CONDOS PLEXES 200 2 NT AVA HOUS I ILA BLE NG EVE Jeff Clifford Associate Broker Real Estate Sales Property Management 895 WALL AVENUE, OGDEN |