Show q I Uintah pioneer reaches 84 years February 2 Ground Hog Day Jay LeRoy f E. E Carroll will reach the year of his birth No fanfare fanfare fanfare fan fan- fare please he plans to observe it quietly From a school class of 22 he is one of the four still stilt living The following is the story of Mr Carrolls Carroll's life as recorded in his rus own words I was born l February 2 1893 on the homestead my father filed on in 1884 and I still have havethe havethe havethe the original deed to that part of the farm 1 I own today I started school in Millward in 1899 In 1901 I went to Arizona with my family and attended school there I had a Mexican boy pal who taught me rte to count to and many common Mexican words We came home in 1902 and my father died in 1904 when I was 11 years old We rented our farm to neighbors neigh neigh- bors hors until I was 14 and I told Mother we only get half of the crop and I know I can raise that much and she agreed to let me try My two brothers 12 and 10 were eager to help I l would get getup getup getup up at daybreak and harness the horses and work in the field until just time enough to get to school My brother w would uld have my pony saddled and the pony never stopped running till I got gotto gotto gotto to the hitching rail I would run home and get on the field as soon as possible after school and work until dark IN 1910 I told my mother Im neither doing a good job farming nor a good job in school I would like to stay out of school this winter and work then go to the Utah Agricultural College next fall She agreed and Ray McKee and I got jobs hauling gilsonite from Bonanza to Dragon with our teams We had one camp a tent on White WhiteRiver WhiteRiver WhiteRiver River and a wagon box bedroom in Dragon We would go from White River to Bonanza and load our wagons with sacks that weighed to pounds and back to White River one day then to Dragon stay overnight unload and back to White River It was quite a job for me I was 17 years old and weighed Ibs lbs Our bishop a cousin of my mothers mother's and some other well meaning men advised against my going to the Agricultural College because of the teaching of evolution They said I would l Idse e m my arid quit the church When I g t there I found Dr John A. A Widtsoe president and one of my instructors instructors instructors in in- was F. F S. S Harris who became president of BYU I left home in September 1922 with Moroni Gerber in a covered wagon He lie was taking students out to BYU We were six days going to Pleasant Grove My travel fee was per day food and passage I took look my own bed I never came home until spring then I went by way of Mack Colorado on the train up over Baxter Daxter Pass on the Turkey Trail to Dragon From there on the stage to Vernal My brothers had the crop in and in the fall we rented the farm to my uncle and Mother and we four boys and Shirley Daniels took our team and wagon and all went to Logan We rented a large house and Mother took roomers and boarders for the next two years Then we moved back to Vernal The other boys went to school in Vernal and I went alone to Logan ON FEBRUARY UY 5 5 1915 my third brother Orval was accidentally accidentally accidentally ac ac- ac- ac killed I came home and my mother persuaded me meto meto meto to stay I have always regretted that I never went back to finish school In 1916 B B. B 0 O. Colton organized the Maeser l Water Company I voted for the construction of the Maeser pipeline The pipe was ordered I 1 I. I with three others hauled the first four loads of pipe We dug the trench with pick and shovel and used teams to backfill the scrapers wherever possible In 1917 the water was turned in inand inand inand and Walter McCoy Lester Bingham and I had the first f n o o LeRoy LoRoy Carr Carroll ll observed his birth date data on Ground GroundHog GroundHog GroundHog Hog Day Doy three bathrooms on the system I was active in Farm Bureau work and dairying The County ordered purebred cattle and Philly and I were appointed to purchase the stock We went to Provo Salt Lake City Ogden Logan and Buhl Duhl Idaho We bought 32 head heifers and one aged cow and a 13 year old bull We shipped by train to a livestock siding 50 miles west of Price Here Charley Weist met me with a chuck wagon and a saddle horse We drove them miles to Vernal and never lost an a animal imal The old bull had long horns and when we met a wagon or car the old fellow regularly stopped still and raised his head They in invariably invariably In in- variably gave him the right of way FROM TIllS THIS STOCK the cattle in every corner of the basin was improved This stock also started H 4 Club work Clubs Clubs- were organized everywhere I was one of the first club leaders in the County and I later received and still have a certificate from the State with 8 seals signifying 8 years of 4 H work completed I also participated in the organization of the first and my dairy clubs won a number of prizes there I was one of the charter members in inthe inthe inthe the wool pool and I had one of the first loads of hogs shipped from Uintah County In 1916 Otella Markh Markham m came to Vernal to visit her cousin Aurilla McKee 1 a daughter of William McKee 1 We became acquainted and in September 1919 we were married before I left teft for lor my mission to Hawaii On account of World War I there had been no missionaries sent there to replace some who had been laboring for 6 years I was wag the first to go after the War The steamships were all used as soldier transports so there were no cabins I waited for lor three weeks for a vacancy When one came it was in the lower deck in a compartment with army anny cots There were 60 of us In one compartment I came home in 1921 on the same ship but it had been overhauled and we had cabins then |