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Show j Down Memory Lane 1 BY JOHN J. CREEDON' , HORSE AND BUGGY DAYS 1 With the peculiar layout of Bing- ham Canyon and its many neighbor- 1 ing communities, it was natural that the transportation of people and i goods would be a major business. In the early days when Bingham was young, few of the residents had their own means of transportation, so the livery and taxi service be- 1 came a necessity and blossomed into j one of the most thriving businestes. The people of the Bingham district dis-trict was spread out from Lead Mine to Bingham and then on to I Upper Bingham or Copperfield, I Telegraph and upper U. S. Mine in the one canyon and to Highland i Boy and the Boston Con on the Carr Fork side. One of the most familiar livery services in my boyhood was the one j operated by George Black, who I operated Black's Cannonball Ex- press. He was a colorful character A and talked to his horses continually i while driving. His favorite horse I was Bessie and old timers can recall his favorite saying when talking to J Bessie. j The Canyon was dotted by livery stables that furnished rigs and sad- At knrui fnr equally well, Henry Berlin, Rex Holden and Joe Carlston come to mind. Then there was Peggy Mc-Cee Mc-Cee and Peg Leg Pratt, both nicknamed nick-named because of having a leg missing. These men got around fine and made their living by their skill, despite their handicap. Of all these men, 1 believe the standouts were Dave Wherritt and Joe Hamilton. Dave's span of years extended from the "Nineties" to the time of his death a few years ago. Dave was intrusted with many special spe-cial jobs jobs that required his special skill and knowledge of horses and roads. Dave was sort of a landmark for so many years that it seemed he was here always. He was a hard worker and as honest as they come. . Joe Hamilton was a marvel handling hand-ling teams and unloading heavy goods. Joe had only one hand and it was amazing to see him handle several spans of horses. He would wrap the reins around his stump and make his way up and down the narrow canyon. To remember him unloading heavy beer kegs with his one hand, stands out clear as if it were yesterday.. It was a long ride from the D fie RG depot to Upper Bingham or Highland Boy in a rig over bumpy rutted roads in bad weather, but that was the way it was done some fifty years ago. School children were transported from Upper Bingham and Highland Boy in open sleds in the winter time. Tnere would be two long benches facing each other and the bottom of the sled would be covered cover-ed with straw and heavy robes would be used to cover the knees of the students to keep them warm. Much of the ore shipped out of the Canyon was hauled by horse drawn wagons or sleds, depending on the time of year. It required great skill to guide these heavy vehicles ve-hicles along the narrow streets. Rough locks were used to augment aug-ment the braking of these heavy wagons. This consisted of a large chain wrapped around one of the rear wheels or runners to slow the pace of the heavily loaded wagons. Runaways were unf requent, but when there was a runaway, it created cre-ated great excitement and heavy damage, often killing or injuring the horses so badly they had to be destroyed. those living in the outlying com munities. Bingham Bing-ham Coal Co., operated by George Geo-rge Chandler, was the largest one. Star Livery near No. 2 Fire Hall and Harry Hteele's near Mr. Creedon Butcher Hill were ' among the others Besides the stables that rented rigs and horses, there were many smaller stables that housed horses and wagons for the various busf-', busf-', ness establishments. The teamsters, or "skinners" as (hey were celled were a colorful i outfit. Many of them were hard e drinkers and all of them were hard f workers and possessed a skill that is ell but forgotten today. i Some of these men I recall were ' " Smiler Shelley, who hid his face in a heavy black beard. We used to i needle him, by yelling, "Come on out from behind that bush, Smiler, I we see you." Smiler would crack I his whip in our direction and go his way. Billy Cloud, who could handle the reins and the cues words J ' ' . i -t - -'St |