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Show Manti & Sanpete County were once called 'Little Denmark9 By QUIG NIELSEN Do you know where "Little Denmark," "Little Wales," "Apple Crib" and "Squaretown" were in Utah? It's possible that Utah settlements had more unusual names, some real and some ethnic, than most neighboring states. Manti and Sanpete County were once called "Little Denmark." So was Brigham City and also Hyrum in Cache Valley. Mantua, just east of Brigham City, was referred to as "Little Copenhagen." It seemed the influx in-flux of people from Denmark came in bunches to these communities. Many of the early settlers in the Sanpete area were referred to as "Little Sweden," "Little Norway" and 'Little Denmark" because of their Scandinavian settlers. ' ' Little Berlin ' ' was affixed to many of the settlements that contained a goodly number of German immigrants, among them, Providence in Cache Valley. Wellsville was once called "Little Wales." "Little Switzerland" was tacked on to settlements such as Midway, whose people came from the country. Plymouth in Box Elder County was once known as "Squaretown." Many of the towns and settlements in Utah, southern Idaho and northern Arizona were named for early pioneers and Mormon leaders. For example, southern Idaho's Preston, once called Worm Creek, was named for W.B. Preston, St. Charles for Charles C. Rich and Franklin for Franklin D. Richards. In Arizona, Snowflake was named for Erastus Snow and W.F. Flake and Heber for Heber C. Kimball. Fairview got its name because of its fair view of the Logan Temple and Clifton from a rocky cliff that stands out above the village. Has any little community had more names than Amalga in Cache Valley? It was first known as "Apple Crib," then "Quinney Siding," and "Little Klondike." Klon-dike." Its final name, Amalga, came from The Amalgamated Amal-gamated Sugar Company plant. Source: Papanikolas, "The Peoples of Utah" ; Interview Inter-view with Jay R. Bingham. (Quig Nielsen is an information officer for the Museum Mu-seum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City.) |