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Show THE BEAVER PRESS, JUNE 18, 1992-PAG- 4 E 1856 c Price Cents Twenty-fiv- e mem 56 BEAVER, UTAH, FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1956 Vol. 51, No. 29 Beaver Valley, First Spurned As 'barren Desert Is Rich In History, Culture, Resources To many hundreds of people Beaver is "home," so called; tnose living here at the present time, as well as those who! have mo ed away, The mountains, homes, schools, churches and businesses' ho. (I charm lor its many citizens. The settling of our community is a story of many hardships, disappointments, and in some cases failures. Yet there were also many smiles and much happiness for those pioneers as they lived in their small adobe or log homes. Let us turn the pages back and bring to life those who cleared the sagebrush, made the fields, turned the water and laid the foundation upon which our fair city stands today. Beaver is located on the wes. side of the Tushar range of thei CENTENNIAL SPEAKER in the Wasatch mountains, . .l1 uuuiwestern pan ox uie siaie. Its altitude is 5,970 feet, and its seasons are somewhat variable, owing to the late and early l hmmifi mfMf rw, ml 1 linniii frosts. June 10th is usually conMiss Claudia ROYALTY JENTENNIAL Stapley (center), Beaver Centennial Queen, sidered the last date of the late and attendants Rhonda McQuarrie, left, and Gay Cartwright. The ladies will appear frosts, and Sept. 10th as the first of the early frosts, so the growt all Centennial events. (Photo by Kerksick) ing season is short. settled Beaver was February 6,' 1856, by a group of families who came from Parowan for that purpose. They built the firit log cabin on the south bank of the Beaver river at a point near where the Arrowhead Highway No. 91 crosses that stream. The town was so named, with the river upon whose banks it rests, from the beaver dams found along the streams. Beaver Valley was a cold and unpl a ant place, and in spite of Hon. Abe Murdock, Beaver its plenteous supply of water native who served eight years as f.rst viewed by the pioneers in the National House of Repsettling Southern Utah as a barresentatives and six years in ren, forbidding desert. The surthe United States Senate, will face was covered with sagebrush and much of the soil was be the speaker at the Centenalkali. However, as time passed nial program, Tuesday, July the people in Parowan began to 24th. Mr. Murdock is now see the advantages of Beaver a member of the National Valley and its native grasses, its abundance of timber and good Labor Relations Board, with grazing land, and so the desire offices in Washington, D .C. EARLY PHOTO OF MAIN STREET, taken from the Court House on Center Street. to possess this place grew with the passing of I'V j H j At A i iXitl-jjmj- v-- once-rejecte- d time. Accordingly in the early part of January, 1856, a public mass meeting was called at Parowan to consider colonizing the Beaver Valley. A consultation was held with Hon. George A. Smith, a representative of the Terri- torial Legislature, who advised the selection of a few capable men and their families to act as colonizers in Beaver in preparation for a permanent colony. As a result, the following men were chosen with the un-- i derstanding that they would become permanent settlers: SIMEON F. HOWD. Captain; ! WILSON G. NOWERS, JAMES P. ANDERSON, EDWARD W. THOMPSON. ROSS R. ROGERS, H. S. ALEXANDER, JOHN M. DAVIS, CHAILES CARTER, JOHN HENDERSON, CHARLES CARTER, JAMES DUKE, JOHN KNOWLES, JOSEPH GOFF, JAMES LOW, BENSON LEWIS, and others. Those iiifn and their families proceeded without delay and )( ft Parowan on February 5. They made the journey in part oi: two days, the distance being about 35 miles. There had been ... ..i mey (V oiHiiuieu on ie.i , ! I N FOUNDER'S DAY in the early 1900s, when Murdock Acade my students celebrated downtown with parades and programs. page 1 |