OCR Text |
Show POINEER HISTORY TO BERIMED Local Chapter of Daughters of Pioneers Compile Data on Early Set llomcut of St. George. The following lii.-tory of St. George was written under the direction of the local chapter r' the Daughters of Utah rs.wer'. by Mrs. Hizel Bradshaw. to bs preserved in the record- of i state organization. All of t!"?i clati contained in the nislory w;;-i received from authentic ricoril ! and from reminiscence-: of pio- .,ce-: j ( Cor. : in-ted on page 4) i HISTORY (Contained from page 1) (Tiy Ilazo! Brad haw) V.'hirn nova; of outbreak of ; Civil war roasli l.'iah, I'r.sa- ! .-tit. I!rii;liaiii Vouiif, wil Ii hi i 11 ital loio ia.litodlo .-a.1 that eoMun v.'ollM hi: so hia.il I i" i ' : : '1 a ml :.' i ' 1 liil r I I son ; v.oiiM I,- ;i Ij bay v. hat l.hey I I.j fi it laat till! l..:Ot,I..- nil 111 h I V : to ra i taoi 1' o wa I oa ml . Ac- n'lli 11;; !y (I a rii ', th o I :: ;i I "C :'t.-:i.:.- of I. a i ; i !. T ia :: ': l.a!: : City ia li. . V r 1 ,i; 1, a ; .11 wa ; l.. . : . a .. i to ao . onlh 'av -'-""V I t am ; .-,v . ' f.s t:,, ' ! ' , . ii 1 ;i 1 i ; , ' i ii . . - i . i , - . i i . i n:(!v ci : . i . . I 1 . . i I ' ' v ' ; ! , ,' ,': ' 'II,-, v' '; ! V 1 1 1 ! : . ! i . .1 ami loa : .. 1-; ail l,. .1 la- rail all'! a i i. i. . i a i . ).: . .'a,, ;..!,, r. A ! v p. ,.,! s.-:. s.-:. I ia ll,.. ..aii.'V on Xuvi aiiiol-: aiiiol-: ",, Ii :. ' .:. I.. . a I..M to harry a ii a i a of f is!,; a William ...anli',; ;i a il 1 t ;h. i t Tiio ai p-a'.: p-a'.: fa m i 1 ia i IicIiik ill that ; oap. Tho ia:ii:i company ar-i ar-i .v. .1 oa I a : a an h, r f ,t, being '! by Aiaisllo llrasliis. Snow; i a ..n 1 'ra! t h a v i n it iiono on up i a e ia . r lo via it t ha set llr-rmala llr-rmala there. Ily December Mnl, . .. I of l'ia people., hail arrived : aal baaileil In the eastern part of Ihe valley. Iniinvii now as i he oal adobe yard. A furrow .. .i i plowed to ftuiilo the wa-t wa-t aai of the sprin.u; found meau-o meau-o nam; H'.roiiKh the valley; and tic tents and waironboxes were lined up on eilher side. The ci!y waa growing in population for already a son had been burn in the family of John I'yne, and llrother Edward L. Tarry boaaled of the arrival of the first daughter. George M. Cannon, fain of Angus M. Cannon Can-non waa born on Christmas day, IS and Georanna Snow, daughter of Erastus - Snow was born on June 3rd, 1962. both being named after the settle- i ment. On December 4th a meeting was called by Elder Erastus Snow to bo held in his tent. The first business was to choose L teachers and organize a school . , for the children. Angus M. Cannon, James G. Bleak and John Oakley were selected as the committee in charge of the education and Jazeb 'Woodward . ,iiul Orpha Everett were the o.i'it teachers. The first classes , held in any tent or wag-i wag-i iox that was available. A few i. ninths after their arrival a vl low school house was built on a lot in the townsite, by weaving water willows lightly through upright poles, then top- f ping it with some good cotton-wood cotton-wood limbs. As the weather grew colder it was thickly plastered plas-tered and made quite comfortable. comfort-able. Orpha Everett had the honor of being the first teach- or in this new structure. Other j teachers were Mrs. Keate, Ha-, Ha-, ten Church, Samuel Miles and 'j Mary Everett. J On the first Christmas eve in the valley the saints all ga-, ga-, thi-ed in the large tent owned by Asa Calkins, where a grand sociable was held. John Olphin and his brother Colinger fur nished the music. The first couple that led on the floor was Angus Cannon and Ann v" 'Whipple. A census was taken on January 2nd. 1S62 which showed a population of 37S males and 370 females. Every pioneer remembers the 'big rain" which occured soon after their arrival. For forty I clays it rained almost contin- ually until the clay campground was in a terrible condition, and the Hio Virgin and the Santa Clara creek were raging torrents. tor-rents. Such experiences at this taught them that shelter was highly necessary even in a warm country, so a survey of the townsite was begun on January 15, 1S62, the work be-x be-x ing done by Israel Ivins, and the citizens began moving onto their permanent lots on Janu-nry Janu-nry 2 3rd. Homes began being errected at once. Brother Erastus Snow building his first one of logs that had been used in a house at Tonaquin.t at the lower end df the valley by earlier settlers. Some of these early homes were made of sod, some of willows plastered over, while some were merely dugouts roofed over. Kefore long however, they began be-gan making adobes out of the clay of the old camp grounds, and using them for the walls i of homes. Rocks were so abundant abun-dant that the black volcanic roek wa i u - ..-I far fo aial'. tea. I and the p d sa -A v;e for of the wall.-. Coed timV-r " :'.,a:el ia the 'o, rro a a. I ; a a aaa ; a-tail. a-tail. ', aj lea, va.-, . i. 1 1' . a 1 nna:!).;r o:' haa : -, i, :t tie- .-. - ! 1'. a:', (J o. a - ,V,.I. .: .: , : ... an.aoo j;,,,.., .. ),;.., ! II. (':.- :.oo i ..,,. o : .1 ,a-h 22. :, '1 .'. ;al ',''.. 1 . : i'a . : . ::. i , : -e a. ! (1 : i . .. . . 1: 1 i i :'i a. a a '. i . . . 1 a v o ' a.; . ! (.'.; oa a 1 , I ; t ' : a f , . r 1 . a : ' a ' ; .;.( a. : ! !: -. ft. 1: ha':. , iaao ta 1,.. ia. .pa':' a taaooa- of 1 here ai the aaiee bio- ':. 'i'hia. ', as iiri't' of villa'.':a ea'.a-1 ea'.a-1 : i :1 o ar m 11 "h the .a ia a a a l!a first srhooihoase. vilH a lara'e chimney oeeupying 0110 end. Wiiulow pains of isina;-a'.a isina;-a'.a a let in the liaht but ea-eluded ea-eluded the cold. Tallow candle--.!;iO'il in wooden frame.: fur-nisl-.ed the light for parties, but : 11 dancing was executed on the dirt floor. Many good socials were held during those early days. Win. 11. Foster played the violin and was- leader of the first string band, and the Zolinger Brothers, Broth-ers, Cal Cragun, Josh Alphin, George Smith and Charles Smith being members. Alex Mc-Intire Mc-Intire was the caller. The Barlow hand was the first martial band, Alex Fuller-ton Fuller-ton being the fifer. The bass drum used had done duty in Salt Lake City during the time of Johnson's army and the flute is still pressed into service on each patriotic holiday. As money was almost unknown, un-known, dance tickets were paid in produce, one half gallon of molasses, squash, etc. being carried car-ried along to pay for the fiddlers fid-dlers and callers. On June 1st, IS 63 on the 62nd anniversary of the birth of President Young and just eighteen months after the arrival ar-rival into the valley, the .south east cornerstone of the St. George stake tabernacle was laid; it being put in place by Orson Pratt, Amasa M. Lyman and Erastus Snow of the Council Coun-cil of the Twelve Apostles, assisted as-sisted by the high council of the St. George stake, bishops of the four wards of the city, and Edward L. Parry, chief mason of the structure. Myles Romney was superintendent of construction. construc-tion. That same year, 1S63, a small adobe room was built one half block east of the tabernacle ta-bernacle by John Pymm as a new post office to replace the one being conducted in a tent by Orson Pratt, Jr. This was the first post office building erected as such in the state of Utah. This first social hall begun in 1962 was completed in 1S65 and then social and religious life took on a more genteel appearance. ap-pearance. Dramas, operas and other forms of amusements were increased and religious gatherings were more comfortable. comfort-able. John M. Macfarlane was called call-ed by President Young from Cedar City to come to St. George Geo-rge to render sweet music and teach the same to the people living here. Among those early day entertainers were Wm. Henry Branch, director of amusements; am-usements; Artimisha Seegmill-er, Seegmill-er, Horatio Pickett, Myles P. Romney, Mary R. Lund, Mary Alice Thompson, Kante Granger. Gran-ger. Joseph Orton, Robert Lund. Caddie Ivins, Anthony Ivins. Wm. Nelson, Charles L. Walker. Later a larger opera and dancing house was built on second north street. A gardener's garden-er's club house was completed in 1S67. Besides these buildings, privately owned business houses hou-ses were established. Johnson's Drug store and printing office was located on the intersection of Main and DiagonaT streets, where he printed the first newspaper, news-paper, "The Rio Virgin Times." One sheet was called "The Cactus" and printed by M. San Giovane. Joseph Orton. James Keate ind Aaron Nelson were shoe makers. Lorenzo Clark J. W. Crosby established a tannery tan-nery at the foot of the red hill north west of w-here the Standard Stan-dard Oil Tanks now stand, where native hides were turned turn-ed into leather for making Onaan rer-at market. tr-:-r raii! Keh-c-y were also established. a,;i 1'. a on .'.. .-.'. T '. ra a-,a, a-,a, a, . :. j .:i L IN- :a: lo-. Cy.-ai IlN-i-.-. a . ! ia-. 0 . : .1 Co y, i: o -aai N ' y 1 .a.a (',-.. .M i.a '-.!.. I a'i N,: a I.'.:! . Nov, J. '.'.'. J ' rial .' : . it 1. a a.o . , '..': a l'a-1. 1. . 1 v. o-; a; aa.o.a ,1 j:l ;; . cr a rJ. It waa ia. NJ v.'a.a l-'r. ak Wooley avt his dea.a at lae herala of the Indian., vMl r,:a:aa;g ta CaiNo-iiia vita goods. Other freighters v.via. David II. Caiinoa, Fraak Foster, Fos-ter, Nahosesi Sijow, Pa:i Nil'?-.-Itavilo Fuller, Scion Foster a.iN Ji sc Cro..by. The new settlers soon found that they had come into an Indian In-dian country and the natives were not always peaceable. Besides Be-sides killing sonic of the freiht-ers freiht-ers as they came from California, Cali-fornia, Indian troubles broke out to the east in 1S65-C6 with, the Navajos. James Whitmore and Robert MeTntire lived at Pipe springs out east of St. George where the men were establishing herds of sheep and cattle. Late in '65 word came that the Indians had killed these two men. Fifty volunteers went from here with David H. Cannon as captain, cap-tain, and thirty-five w-ent from up the river settlements under the leadership of James An-drus. An-drus. D. D. McArthur was adjutant ad-jutant general. The first night was spent at Canaan ranch. The snow here was so deep that the cavalry had to take turns breaking trails so the mess wagons could get through, and even their stirrups dragged across the snow as they rode along. The second night was spent at Short Creek and the third at Pipe Springs, some going through to Moccasin. Captain Andrus found a lost Indian and brought him to camp where he was held until he told of the killing. He took them about five miles out and found Whitmore's body on January 10, 1S66. The Indians who stole the sheep were followed fol-lowed to Buckskin mountains and as the men reached Kanab wash they found the Indians wearing the clothes of the murdered mur-dered men. To the north in Pine Valley mountains the Indians were troublesome and stole many of the .settlers' horses. While Captain Cap-tain Andrus was following them up Hurricane Hill on Indian shot an arrow so deep into the head of his horse between the ears that pinchers had to be used to pull it out. Later, however, how-ever, a treaty of peace was signed with the Indian chief-tans chief-tans and future trouble was avoided. The city grew to such an extent ex-tent that President Young decided de-cided to erect a temple here. The site was selected and it was dedicated November 9, IS 71 and plows and scrapers were put into action that afternoon. after-noon. The record stone was placed at the south east corner of the building on March 31, 1S73. The foudation of the entire en-tire basement story is of black lava rock and extends ten feet below the ground level. It is twelve feet wide at the bottom, gradually deminishing in width to three feet, S inches at the basement sills. The building measures 142 feet long by 9 6 feet wide and SO feet high to the top of the parapet. It is built of stone plastered inside and outside. The tower, 31 feet square is in the center of the east end, and the vane which is of solid gold stands 175 feet above the ground. The total cost was $500,000. The general conference of the church was held here in April 1S77 with President Young in attendance and the dedi?.Nory prayer was offered by him on April 6, 1S77, this being the first temple completed in Utah. I Wilford Woodruff was placed j in charge on April S, 1S77. and was succeeded by John D. F. McAllister. Almost immediately after the arrival the leaders sought out the best location for irrigation canals. The one from the Rio Virgin was taken out on the north side of the couth eai fr, '.:.- City of at. G. as;. A tunr.c'- wa.-: cat te.roe.g'.i a t'.'.X south 01 i.h.ak rioae c.:'. a wocN-ii tUiaie ; aa: (.v;r the '..-.v places that the v.-at-.r N:t be kept at ' the aiaho-t lc-v.1 possible. T:-e fa. rats were located in the v,..:her:i art 1 i aa valvy a:::! ' a ... ;rv. The cava in the river Nv.s a ar.st so-ae rf tsaabN ! v. a -, ia- i:s. bra -'1 a::,! una. r.t.d r i i.v the "river v'--.Id c b vN.vs-;h ;'.:; ,1 : 1 a:a! rsNv- I Idea the lacn baa) 10 scve.u sa ! a .1 ra: t la; a v :--.-d. T'e. y de- v vd a; laal ; a ii .. da a, so ilavo '-.. 'at lee ; t; p into tae jr-artam by tha t-eaehe-oas ri-j ri-j v ". Ta..y van' no v.- convince 1 t'at 110 esai v.-aubl hold on a quirk sand iotinclai iaa., so c.f'ov years of sti'ugg'e, a location was found farther up t'aa r.vcr where a cctr.ont darn could be made on a solid rock t'yaa.da-tian t'yaa.da-tian if the course of the river cm'.a he rh-oigal. A great cut v.aa made, a cNee. built, and then the liver turned into the new chanel and the problem of darning was over. Besides, many more acres were brought under cultivation. The cotton industry pros-pored in spite of droughts and crickets to such an extent that a factory was built in 1S66 to care for the raw product. The first cotton ever raised in this southern country was grown by Samuel Knight at Santa Clara in 1S55. A few years later it was raised at Washington and also at Heberville or Price City at it was later called. With the arrival of the settlers- at St. George and their interest in the new industry, the church saw fit to move the machinery from their cotton factory near Salt Lake City down to the new factory erected at Washington. Wash-ington. Before this time all seeds were removed by hand except those taken care of at the cotton gin established at the north west entrance of the city by Samuel L. Adams about 1S65. A.. R. Whitehead was the first superintendant and Mr. Davison the machinest.. He first taught Amanda Pace, (Soren-son) (Soren-son) and two other girls how to tend the machinery and they in turn taught others. Cotton bat,ts, carpet warp, blankets, ginghtms, etc., were made in abundance. In ' -1869 Joseph Birch was sent east for machinery ma-chinery for a woolen department depart-ment and on its arrival an upper up-per story was added to the factory and yarn and different varities of woolen cloth made. This business a flourished to quite an extent and furnished fabrics for all local people for a period of thirty-five years, but with the quicker and cheaper cheap-er transportation from the east, as well asi their increased use of machinery and shoddy in their materials, the factory here found that it could not compete with their lower prices pri-ces and so was brought to a close in 1901. Though the industry for which the (tall to Dixie had been made, was a thing of the past the settlement was so thoroughly established that it turned its attention to other industries and continued to grow and prosper. |