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Show L 4 I Smoot Dairy history discussed i'JL J- - - .. my . Sitss - - fry ni C - ':' ' T.''-,,J ... -K-'JT -v5? ? 5. By VES HARRISON In order to lay the groundwork for his presentation of "The History of Smoot Dairy," at the November meeting, Stanley Smoot began with highlights of his great-grandfather Abraham Owen Smoot's life. When Abraham Smoot was 9 year of age he was so ill that his burial clothes had been prepared for him, but the boy said, "I want to live." He lived, and at the age of 20 he met two Mormon missionaries in Louisville, Ky., and in 1836 he and Wilford Woodruff walked into Kirtland, Ohio, and there met Joseph Smith for the first time. one of the big barns, and an inferno started. Edgar had just invested his life's savings to bring 32 head of Jersey cattle from the Isle of Jersey, and all of those cattle, including a prize bull, were in those bams, in stanchions. stan-chions. They had no chance to get out, and from 150 to 175 burned to death. Thirteen bams were totally destroyed. This tragedy, as tragedies so often do, brought out the best in the folks of Centerville. Neighbors and friends brought trucks, tractors, backhoes and masonry and carpentry carpen-try skills in a great effort that lasted for 84 consecutive days, with the exception of Sundays, and resulted in the rebuilding of the dairy to a condition that was superior than before the fire. Edgar said at that time, "We must make a gift back to the community com-munity and to the citizens of Centerville. ' The dairy enjoyed success from 1963 to 1976 when they moved the cattle to Idaho. Edgar died in 1979. Stan read excerpts ex-cerpts from a newspaper article appearing ap-pearing in 1980--' ' A Father ' s Dream Becomes a Reality. " The article ar-ticle told about the fire, the unselfish help rendered by the people peo-ple of Centerville, Edgar's desire that the Smoots do something to repay the citizens for their help, and, finally, the gift to the city of 10 acres of Smoot land for a park. Stan paid tribute to the citizens of Centerville for their spirit from the very beginning, and as another example ex-ample he mentioned the fire at Pineae Nursery, and how the people rallied round to help them. Interesting comments were made by several people following the formal presentation. Vem Goudy added to the praise of our community's com-munity's citizenship by telling of the cooperation by so many during the floods of recent years. Howard Brown paid tribute to the Smoot Dairy for unselfishly donating do-nating ice cream, punch and milk to schools, civic clubs and wards for various functions through the years. Ves Harrison did likewise for the Smoots' sponsoring of Little League baseball, and treating the boys to ice cream and punch on many occasions. Esther Rock wood told how Edgar and Dora Smoot were deeply involved in selling war bonds. Those attending were invited to come to the front and examine some of the Smoot Dairy trophies displayed by the historical society, and the several interesting books of family and dairy history, which Stan brought with him. There will be no meetings in December, but on Jan. 2 the annual election of officers meeting will be held. A fine presentation will also be given by Clara Goudy on the history of silkworm raising and silk making in the community and state. Located on the west side of Main Street in Centerville, Smoot Dairy Company had one of the best herds of pureblood Jersey milk cows in the United States. For 32 years, Smoot Dairy milk was served on United Airlines planes. Abraham and his group, which contained four apostles because they were being sent there to settle and to build Utah County, nevertheless never-theless continued into Provo. Subsequently, Abraham became the president of the stake and mayor of Provo. He also built the Brigham Young Academy. There are now in excess of 2,000 of his posterity, among whom was Reed Smoot, apostle and senator. Stan's dad, Edgar, and his father, who lived in Farmington, raised dairy cattle and also ran the race track at Lagoon in the 1920's until Utah outlawed Pari-Mutual betting. Stan showed photos of their old cattle barns and a milk truck of that period. In 1936, when Stan was 6 years old, the family moved from Bountiful Boun-tiful to Centerville. Through an accident involving one of their trucks, they became acquainted with William L. Rigby. They purchased pur-chased four acres from him, and established es-tablished the Smoot Dairy in Centerville, where Edgar developed some of the greatest pureblood Jersey livestock in America. One tragedy was instrumental in fostering the growth of Smoot Dairy. A United Airlines plane crashed on the mountainside above Centerville in 1942 in which there were no survivors. UAL needed a base of operations to which they could bring the dead down from the crash site and Smoots let them use the dairy. The tragic accident happened in the winter, and many horses were rounded up in Centerville Center-ville to carry out the dead in the deep snow. Because of that experience a relationship rela-tionship was formed which resulted in United Airlines serving Smoot Dairy milk on their planes for 32 years. Father Edgar taught Stan the value of work, waking him at 4:30 every morning for years to get up to milk up to 43 cows. Stan expressed the wish that he now owned the dairy so he could provide work experience ex-perience for his 19 grandsons. Disaster struck in February 1963 when a strong east wind tipped a power pole bearing two large transformers, causing an arc that set fire to the tip of the pole. The pole finally fell onto the oiled roof of Abraham never enjoyed good health, yet he crossed the plains five times, having first come to Utah in 1851. All but the original trip were at the behest of Brigham Young, who called him to go back East and bring in dairy cattle and farm machinery. During one trip Abraham had in his covered wagon five baby calves. Since that time the Smoots have always milked cows. Today, somewhere, dairy cows are being milked by members of the Smoot posterity. Abraham became the mayor of Salt Lake City, and after nine years in this office, and never enjoying the best of health, he was called into Brigham Young's office and told, "I am going to call you on a mission. mis-sion. You can go to Provo (where the church was having great difficulties) or Texas, or hell. They are all on a par. " In fact, a faction in Provo had petitioned to have the county partitioned parti-tioned and made into two counties, one for the Latter-day Saints, and one for the non-Mormons. At the interview with Brigham Young, Abraham said, "I would rather go to hell than to Provo!" because he knew of the trouble the people there were having. Brigham is reported to have replied, "Abraham, if you don't go to Provo, that's where you will go!" Abraham did go to Provo. He was given 16 men, wagons and necessary supplies. At the Point of the Mountain they were met by an apostate mob who had heard they were coming, and the mob gave them until 6 o'clock the next morning morn-ing to head back to Salt Lake City. |