Vernal Express | 1953-02-12 | Page 9 | Pioneers of Uintah County Section

pioneers of uintah county wilbur will carllon carlton britt he was bom in council bluffs iowa the of sept se P t 1849 a son on of leroy and rhoda britt he married melissa graves groves and they had two little girls girl S when suddenly death took h his Is wife leaving him heart broken it was then that he decided otake ota ort horace greenys Gre elya elys advice go west my boy go west and so he did to make him a new home while in the black hills of south dakota they befriended a lck sick miner and he gave them a map of a gold kineon mite on carter creek where the carter creek dugway la is now early in the ning of 1876 will and his vr brother other findley decided to come west and hunt for that gold mine in the evening before they left they met a young man by the name of peter dillman who wanted to accompany them the three came to green river city w wyoming oming then over the moun tarn rafn to carter creek arriving in may 1876 where they prospect el until sept when they came into the ashley valley they i spent the winter with aaen C captain p dodds in whiterocks lt the spring of 1877 they all came bock back to ashley along with captain dodds built cabins and prepared to make their homes in the fall of 1879 W C britt was returning from heber with his wife and small son and miss minnie jasperson mrs john N davis a girl sixten years of age who was coming to help the britts britt they camped on the uintah river and before coming on to the valley the next day the they saw some wagons loaded with household goods and people who wore were leaving the ashley valley because the meeker massacre had occurred and they were afraid thel the Irid indians ians would get on the warpath karpath and kill all the settler but mr britt was a very courageous man and came on to his home and lived that hard winter of 1879 at old ashley town on nov 2 1882 his two daughters lillian mrs ward P white and gertrude age six and nine came from hillsdale iowa and joined their father in the annals of the histron of the ashley valley pioneers W C britt stands out as a first had the first store was the first post master and the first school teacher the first to have shin ties on his house and the first justice of the peace