Show Echoes from the dust History of Ashley Valley settlement WILLIAM GIBSON GillSON Compiled Complied by Iva C Gray William Gibson was born In Scotland April 25 1845 He came to America when he was six years old with his parents Robert Hobert and Eliza Gibson They came to America in 1852 on the sailing salling vessel Gull In Air and were three months on the water They landed at New Orleans and then took a boat to St. St Louis where they lived for Cor five years Here Billy received his early education and worked In a glass Cae factory tory at the age of oC 12 In 1858 the family Camily moved to Council Bluffs Iowa then on to Florence where the father and mother separated From there therein in 1860 Billy and his mother went on to Salt Lake by ox team That fall Call at age 15 he hauled rock for the Salt Lake Temple Between 1860 and 1877 Bill crossed the plains seven times driving oxen through cold heat hunger thirst storm and Indian In In- Indian dian raids In later years he forgot most of the discomforts except the blisters that formed broke and bled because his socks wore out and his bare feet had to go into his boots After staying in Salt Lake four years Bill moved to Kamas where he met and married Mary Lambert There two of their children James and Mary w were re born When the Blackhawk Indian War broke out Bill joined the Utah M Militia litia and served as captain He was a man who walked tall among the early colonizers who bent the west to their wills in the His most distinctive physical feature was his deep blue eyes with like cat-like pupils WHILE HE liE was hunting logs to build a fort a grizzly bear stepped from behind a bush and raised on his hind legs 11 feet away Being afraid to run he stood and looked the bear in the eyes for a few seconds The bear rolled his eyes to the left then back to Bill without moving his head He did this this this' two or three times then turned and walked away Bill said this power of the human eye over It e bear was his only weapon of defiance p A few Indians called renegades at this time would steal several horses run them through the Uinta Mountains across Green and White Rivers into the Book Cliff Mountains Mountain and on to southern Colorado Soon after a large herd of horses had been stolen from Kamas farmers Bill with seven other men started out in pur pur- suit Among the stolen horses was Bills Bill's only team one of which he found dead on the trail shot through the heart He swore if he found an Indian on his other horse he would kill him Two days later 12 miles north of Ashley Valley near Brush Creek they caught up with three Indians Indian and the stolen animals Bill was riding ahead spotted one Indian astride his other horse and raced after him Bill said He lie should have outrun me as the horse he was riding was better than the one I Iwas Iwas Iwas was on but I gained on him with every jump As he bolted past the herd his horse tried to run into the band and this slowed him up I was within 10 feet Cret of oC him when he plunged into Brush Creek I drew my pistol leveled it at him him and could have killed him but hesitated to shoot himin himin him himin in the back lie He turned around at that second looked down the gun barrel and rolled off ore into the wa water ter as though he had been shot I IGNORED the renegade and kept on going The horse was worth more to me than a dead Indian I caught the horse with the Indians Indian's Indians Indian's Indians Indian's In In- dian's saddle and buffalo robe on it and rounded up the other stolen horses by the time the theother theother theother other men came up While looking for Cor the Indian we found Cound tracks which showed he had crawled out of oC the water and perhaps had escaped by riding double with another Indian Bill had lost his hat and torn most of oC his clothes in the chase lIe Heading ding homeward Bill rode his horse up onto a ridge at the mouth of what is now flOW Draw and gazed out over Ashley Valley It was love at first sight The sea of oC sagebrush as high as a mans man's head meant fertile soil Springs poured their liquid wealth out into the ground not far from Crom the base pf of the ledge Then and there he decided to bring his family and homestead the spot On October 18 1877 Bill Dill and his family set out on the 18 mile trip east of oC Salt Lake City to the chosen place eq the north edge of Ashley Valley The Valley was new and grubbing sagebrush a difficult task but buthe buthe buthe he gradually added more land to his homestead until he had a thriving ranch of 1840 acres His Ilis cattle wore the W. W WG 1 brand brand- and so did all the social and political developments of oC the valley He lie never walked away from Crom a fight If the cold stare from Crom his weird blue eyes didn't chill Chilian an adversary his fists did nUT HUT HILL made friends both Indian and white more easily than enemies In 1879 an Indian war party camped on Bills Bill's ranch on its return from Crom the Meeker Mecker Massacre in Colorado where they had butchered an Indian Agent and nine of his employees kidnapped the Agents Agent's wife and daughter and ambushed a troop of soldiers dispatched to the Agency Bills Bill's wife wiCe Mary had learned to dish helpings of food onto each Indians Indian's Indians Indian's Indians Indian's In In- dian's plate herself when sharing food with them rather than passing the platters around If you passed anything at the table to an Indian he assumed it was all his a bowlful of potatoes or a huge beef roast it didn't matter hed he'd eat cat it all As one of the most prominent figures In Eastern astern Utah Bill Bit was elected in November 1895 to the first Utah Legislature at atthe atthe atthe the age of oC 50 On his way home after one of oC the sessions in Salt Lake which involved taking the train to Price and the stagecoach north from there over the mountains to Vernal Bill arrived in Price on a Saturday afternoon to find the stage had left and the next one would not leave until Monday Rather Hather than wait he walked the miles to Vernal In 1925 Bill deserted the saddle and bought a new automobile but refused to learn how to drive it it So Mary then 73 years old took to the wheel Bill built a garage with doors front and back IN case Mary cant can't stop slop the car he explained It will pop open the rear doors roll across the lawn and stop when it hits the walnut tree In 1932 Bill looked back on a arich arich arich rich and vigorous life surrounded by material success and the laughter of great grandchildren But he was tired and ready to rest For 10 years his gra grave ve had been waiting upon the ridge He lie died December 11 1932 at the age of oC 87 87 and Mary followed him to the ridge three years later to rest by his side Inthe Inthe in inthe the cement vault as Bill had planned it Twenty seven years later Bills Bill's family were forced to break faith with him His Ills grave and those of oC seven of oC his family buried nearby had to be moved to make way for a dam across Draw One end of the dam an initial phase of oC the Central Utah Project approved by Congress with the Upper Colorado River JUver Project was to tobe tobe tobe be tied into the point on the ridge where the tiny cemetery was located So Bill took one more last trip from the ridge four miles north of Vernal to the City Cemetery on a low plateau a mile and a half south of town Bill may approve the move necessitated by the development development development develop develop- ment of the valley he loved Or he may strenuously object I like to imagine that he is able to see the blue waters of the lake and the many advantages it affords his descendants and friends that his remains remain will rest in peace in the grave at the thelow thelow thelow low plateau as well as on his beloved ridge because of another service he gave mankind t- t f MR i f e rd w. w a a u b 1 s' s s. s ii aM a.M. w rP i 1 a r e 0 ti a t w W K WW vr COMBINING TALENTS in a new enterprise are Shaklee distributors right and Linda Cantrell Al AI and Kaye Pearson Wayne and Bonnie Williams The shop is located at West and Main Open house January 29 will feature many demonstrations |