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Show HERALD DAILY B2 Istory Page The Sunday, December 9, 2007 GOT HISTORY? The Daily Herald is looking for interesting stories about local history for this weekly page. Make suggestions or submit material by to Executive Editor Randy Wright, rwrightheraldextra.com. Or mail to the Daily Herald. P.O. Box 717. Provo, UT 846030717. No phone calls please. Homesteaders, railroad workers called Mill Fork home Robert Carter and Delila G. Williams wrote later remembered that plenty and compiled an interesting of water to irrigate their crops booklet they named The Call fter the crimson flowed from Water Hollow to of Spanish Fork Canyoa" the north and Mill Fork to the glow faded from the last embers in They chose as one of their sub- south of their homestead. AlfalSamuel S. Jones's jects a man named Edson Wilfa and wheat once flourished liam Elliott. He and his wife, charcoal kilns in where willows and sagebrush now grow. The family raised .Spanish Fork Can Mary Ellen Atwood Elliott, big potatoes on the flat lands yon, many of the woodcutters lived in Mill Fork for nearly and charcoal burners left Mill two decades. The last three of along the river. The Elliott their eight children were born barn stood in a verdant alfalfa Fork. With their leaving, the fire in the village's figurative field across which highway 50 there. While living in the canyon, boiler may have gone out, but and 6 now sprawls. there was enough steam left to Elliott worked as a section The old road, then merely last the dwindling community foreman for the Denver & a wagon trail, rambled along for several decades. After the Rio Grande Western He also near the railroad tracks that kilns closed, a number of those took up land as a homesteader bisected the canyoa The large who stayed in the canyon beand ran 40 to 60 head of cattle water tower, built by the Denin the canyon. The family ver & Rio Grande Western gan homesteading land. The fate of the little community .Railroad in 1888 to fill the raised its own pork, turkeys, now rested in the calloused boilers of steam engines, once chickens, ducks and geese. hands of these homesteaders The boys brought home pine squatted beside the rails. In order to fill this tank, and the remaining railroad hens and cottontail rabbits railroad laborers constructed workers. they shot in the main canyon and its various side canyons. a small reservoir about a mile Hoping to perpetuate the stories of some of the One of Edson and Mary Ellen's up Mill Fork Canyon. Gravof the canyon, Alien sons, James "Qzzie" Elliott, , ity siphoned water from the D. B. A early-residen- n - r Vj ;" x pond and delivered it through a small pipe to the water tower below. Another Elliott son, Elmer Ray, spent 12 years at Mill Fork while he was growing up. Ray recalled nights he and his brother were drafted into service on the railroad in order to help their father prevent train accidents. One inky evening a pouring rain unleashed a mudslide that swept down the mountainside and buried a section of railroad track. Afraid that the engineer of the next train might not notice the obstruction and run headlong into the mass of mud and rocks, Edson took his two sons to the site of the slippage to warn the train of the imminent danger. The diligent father positioned one boy on the slide with a lantern. He sent his other son with his coal oil rail- - .. After the kilns closed, a number of those who stayed in the canyon began homesteading land. The fate of the little community now rested in the calloused hands of these homesteaders and the remaining railroad workers. other well and became lifelong road lamp along the track in one direction, and he, with his friends. The boys learned how lamp in hand, took the opposite to work by helping out on the course. By swinging their lanranches, and during their leisure hours they had plenty of terns as a warning sign, they prevented the train from plow- room to roam in quest of hunting, fishing and other amuseing into the slide: Many times incidents similar ment and excitement. to this occurred in the pouring ; Occasionally ,,life at Mill Fork becamej1ittle too excitrain, and all three received ing. Ray FJllotth)de his horse drenchings. Despite the external discomfort; Ray enjoyed through the canyW)he night an internal feeling of satisfacgathering stray cattle when a mountain lion sprang on his tion when he helped prevent steed's neck, ripping a vicious accidents. The boy reaped his external reward later when he wound with its sharp claws. The boy's mount bolted, returned to the comfort of a throwing the big cat off. In the cozy home and changed into excitement, Ray dropped the dry clothing. In many ways, Mill Fork reins and grabbed the saddle : horn. was a pleasant place to grow By so doing, he managed to up. The neighbors, who were spread out up and down Continued on next page the canyon, all knew each Intro Flight Joy Flight '40" '8(T f (Mho (Ihowfcght) fight) First 5 Hours Solo Flight Pacaage (Plane 'Inatuctor) Package (Ptarartntfuctor) 595" '1995" O Diamond FU0HT of CEHTBH IptnUi Fort, LC giselle (shown) available in 8 colors (Hotdayt Spatial Priu) Ff -- Price) (Hoidayi Sped Gift CertWcifea for any amount yon dttln IMS -- 3 'asm' giselle 350 W. Center St. Provo www.modernshoe.corn 375-27- 1 1 Mon - Sat 1 0AM - 6PM Choosing a health plan can be complicated. Here's just a few ways SelectHealth makes it easier. 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