| Show Echoes from the he dust Robert and Mary J J. J Snyder early pioneers of Ashley Valley Compiled by Iva C C. C Gray The parents of Robert Rober Snyder Samuel and Maria Marii Snyder came across the plains plain to Salt Lake Valley In 1848 After Arter the Snyder family landed in Salt Lake Valley Mr Snyder bought from Parley P. P Pratt Prat part of the narrow valley known as Parleys Parley's Park which is north of the present site of Park City His llis son-in-law son Jesse Johnstun who had joined the Mormon Battalion sent home gold from California with which Mr Snyder bought the material anc and equipment to build the first sawmill in Utah This sawmill was located in Parleys Parley's Park THE Tm LITTLE village that thai grew up around the Snyder ranch was named Snyderville Mr Snyder had more than one wife wiCe and many children Soon there were great herds of c cattle sheep and horses and large fields of hay that spread across the canyon Hundreds of loads of logs were hauled from the mill to Salt Lake valley and sold Later Mr Snyder acquired considerable property in Salt Sail Lake City where his children attended school in the winter but they were usually at Snyderville in the summertime Here in this beautiful valley surrounded by snowcapped mountains young Robert Snyder spent his boyhood There was always plenty of ol work vork to be done and many to accomplish the necessary jobs Roberts Robert's law in Jesse Johnstun came to Snyderville from California in 1851 and ran the sawmill which he enjoyed doing very much In the spring of 1860 Robert still a young lad was in the sawmill and went through a sad and shocking experience Jesse was inspecting the large saw from underneath Robert never knew how it happened but the huge saw began turning Jesse was pinned beneath its massive teeth which tore through his skull so quickly there was nothing Robert could do but help remove the mangled body SAMUEL SAMUEL- had many men working for him One was Jake Workman who fell in love with Roberts Robert's niece Maria Iaria the oldest daughter of Jesse and Betsy Ann Johnstun In December of 1864 they were married a month before Marias Maria's birthday Jake did dida a lot of trapping in the winter and was away from home much of the time so Robert helped Maria Iaria with her chores In the early spring a heavy snowstorm had piled new snow 3 J or 4 feet feel deep Instead of waiting wailing for Robert Hobert to help with the chores Maria dressed in a heavy havy coat pants cap and waist-high waist rubber boots and w went ent out in the deep snow She had to climb a ladder to the roof the shed to throw hay down to feed the cattle She had almost reached the top of the ladder when the weight of the heavy clothing plus pilL a strong gust of wind tipped her backward into the snowbank The heavy clothes kept her from getting out of the deep snow Instead of calling for help she began to laugh at her funny predicament Thus her Uncle Robert Hobert found her a few moments after he came to help her do the chores AS SOON AS ore was discovered in the mountains south of Snyderville a busy mir mining ng camp called Park City sprang up almost alm t overnight Soon railroads rushed in their lines Jines to reach the rich region All this confusion soon changed the modes of living and many people not interested in mining moved away from Snyderville Robert Snyder had then acquired a considerable herd of cattle so he and his nephew Alma Johnstun decided to drive their cattle out to Ashley Valley where they had heard there was excellent grazing land Joe Workman helped drive the two herds of cattle out in 1875 and stayed with them in inthe inthe inthe the Valley that winter Robert and Alma went back to Snyderville to move their families famili s out to Ashley Valley On September 16 1876 just years to the day after party had passed this way Robert Hobert Snyder brought rought his wife Mary and young daughter Ida to Ashley Valley They settled along Ashley Creek on land later known as the David Timothy homestead A young lady Jady Clara Crouch came along with the Snyder family MARY MAny J J. J SNYDER the first white hite woman to enter our valley must have paused as diethe did die the first white while man Escalante to U gaze Upon the scene before them When entering the Valley these two although years apart and coming from different directions must have witnessed about the same sight of oC a desert valley surrounded by hills However besides the same desert plants the winding creek with cottonwood trees growing along Its banks and the theold theold theold old Indian Trail there had been some improvements made from 1873 to 1876 Several single men had come cometo cometo cometo to the Valley most of them from Whiterocks with cattle and the desire to make a home Several lo log cabins had been built here from the cottonwood trees and there were small fenced in cultivated areas around them These cabins were located around the first one built by Pardon Dodds He Ile had also built a trading post which attracted the Indians as asell aswell aswell well ell as the first settlers Mary Snyder the first pioneer mother of our valley had left a comfortable home and now before her was the challenge to make the first family home for her posterity She and Clara Crouch spent that first winter in the valley with only one female visitor a Mrs Critchlow who was wife of the Indian Agent in Whiterocks In Inthe Inthe Inthe the spring of 1877 on May Mary Snyder gave birth to a baby boy and they named him Robert Hobert Ashley Snyder LATER LATE It IN the summer the Snyder family were taking a aday aday aday day off from the ranch work to togo togo togo go on a picnic They had gone only a short distance when they saw two wagons coming through the Gap at the west The Snyders were so thrilled with the prospect of new settlers settlers settlers set set- coming to the valley they decided to postpone the picnic to see who was coming It happened the two wagons held two families the Fairchilds and the and their belongings to begin a new home here These two families became good neighbors and great friends to the Snyders Dy Bythe the spring of 1878 the Snyders Snyder's ranch showed great improvement and their cattle on the mountain were proving to be a good investment In October o of 1877 the Gibson family had come to make their planned long home in Ashley Valley and they became go good d friends with the Snyders They visited often with each other and the two men became very interested in discussing their raising cattle-raising projects One day about the middle of June in 1878 Mr Gibson was at Robert Hobert Snyders Snyder's home and the two men were in the yard discussing the problem of feed for cattle on Taylor Mountain Clouds had been gathering for a time in the west accompanied by thunder and ald lightning and showing signs of rain so Mr I Gibson soon started for his home He Ill had gone only a short distance when a boy came running to tell him that Mr Snyder while yet in the dooryard had been killed by lightning MANY MAIL was left with two little children chil ren to pioneer her desert home alone She spent the next winter in Salt Lake City but returned to Ashley Valley in the spring Just two years later her little littleboy littleboy littleboy boy Ashley died and was buried beside his father in the Hock Rock Point Cemetery In the fall of 1881 Mary Iary snyder married William They made their home in in Ashley Valley and were both outstanding characters of our early arly history The daughter Ida lived with her mother and went vent by the name of Ida She died in 1928 and is buried in inthe inthe the he Rock Hock Point Cemetery Mr l reece died February 1928 at athe atthe atthe the he age of 74 and is also buried in n the Rock Hock Point Cemetery Mary Jacob Snyder died Led February 1 1 1933 Many l friends and neighbors attended her ier funeral in the First Ward chapel Bishop Pontha Calder r presided at the service and II ti H. Walter alter Woolley and Wallace Calder were the speakers A double quartet consisting of Mrs H. H M. M Lundell Vera Witbeck May Calder Meda Walker Joseph Horrocks William U. U Wallis and George Davis sang Come Come Ye Saints accompanied by Mrs Carl Davis George Davis sang the tenor solos Tho Deepening Trials and Oh My Father ather She was buried in the Rock Hock Point Cemetery under the direction of the Witbeck Funeral Home with Fuller Remington Hemington dedicating the grave e All surviving members of her family including 2 y sons 2 daught daughters rs 13 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren great were present at her funeral The art an oj of pleating pleasing con con- silts in being heing pleated pleased Wi t Jit |
