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Show Tin VWMIIVIK Mi. NUMBER 24 BRIGHAM CITY, UTAH, WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE 13, 1951 '1951 Centennial Welcome Edition of the Box Elder Mews and Journal Brigham City, Utah, Box Elder County Only A Desert , Box Elder County flourished Under The PioneersT Hands Once jked ,er in county, little different Elder Box section of clarity and then blow a For the first two years, 1851 this economic utopia was suc- City, and who later became moun- ind 1852, of life in Box Elder cessful, but it, too, must have president of the L. D. S. church Amer-tain air to your nostrils, you ;ounty, the major threat besides developed too many black mar- himself. of It must stop. You must gaze a mo- where the next cottontail was kets and GPS regulations for 1851, purple than any breeze of crisp, aromatic the Great n and as most x ment at Gods world. Except for Bear Elder, Willow and a few Inspirational perhaps, but a ,er creeks, the only quantity beautiful sunset isnt edible. In an oxen visible that water 185H the flora of the great area uldn't atomize with a healthy an the north end of the Great eeze, was the Great Salt Lake. Salt Lake consisted principally once of a low irregular shrub of the was, genus Artemisia, better known d is, so laden with salt that as sagebrush. In some spots, where the clear ocean fish is dead 15 minutes in it. Hardy water of a spring seeped to the ier being placed surface there was a heav n Brldger, who in the autumn 1824 floated onto the lake growth of grass, but for the tun Bear river and first tasted greatest part there was only willows on the would no doubt attest to the sagebrush, elessness of the water body streams, and, of course, a sparse h the comment: "Taint good growth of Box Elder trees. The early explorers of (Box E) nuthin, less ya need a dose der county would stay here nr salts. longer than necessary on their Natives of Box Elder county, travels for they felt the fish the most part, give the lake were too small and the bear too e cold shoulder they would a cowardly to give them a shot. ibo cousin. But often at sun (Indeed, the early Mormon pior.vn, after a hard day behind had a great trust in their neers e beet harvester, or cultiva-i- God when they pegged the first the peach orchards, the logs together to make a home he will stop them in their near the mouth of Box Elder acks as surely as Brigham in March 1851. canyon mng would ifhe walked up trust was not forsaken. (hind them, tapped them on That Those pioneers saw the fere shoulder and said god eve-- n tility of the earth beneath the brother. dusty sagebrush: they visioned When the celestial ' artists the flow of the Bear river onto ear the wall of the western cultivated fields; in the fervor y, as the sun sinks below the of their religious conviction they red felt the encouraging hand of inzon, with a myriad Of les; dob the mountains into their Lord on their shoulders. Desert, ,ks now. riv-Bo- -- g (oming from for soup, was a it faded Into history books afband of 500 Indians who had ter an involvement in a law (ived from the buffalo that suit. roamed the area. As Mormons, a small number With a bit more diplomacy of the settlers (3 or 4 percent) than General Custer, the settlers lived in polygamy, but long beadherred to Brigham Youngs fore the tum of the century it advice to feed the Indians and was abolished and outlawed by not fight them and the . threat the church. Perhaps the most significant they offered never materialized into a last stand or even a event to occur in Box Elder battle a Hollywood producer county was the driving of the would consider worthy of film- golden spike on May 10, 1869. ing. This was true only for the The mighty blows that sunk the settlers, for further north two spike into the rail log, banded great Indian battles 6aw the the United States of America to blood of many Indian braves gether with rails of steel. and travelers soak Into the deLeland Stanford, president of sert sand. the Central Pacific railroad and Brigham City had a try at later governor of California, had Brigham Youngs United Order the momentous task of driving in the early days and found it the final spike. But, as legend has it, Stan satisfactory enough to keep as the economic order for 13 years. ford swung at the spike, missed Under the United Order there and swung again and missed was no private profit from labor. again (there Is no record of how All production went to a com- badly injured was iF. IL. mon 6tore house and was tunthe honored gentleman who held the spike). Finally neled out from there. It operated between 30 and after some unceremonious ham 40 Industrial branches, and the mering the spike was in. s Obviously, Brigham City re community was about and ceived its handle from the growing manufacturing that percentage Mormon leader Brigham Young. of all the various necessities Responsible for the naming was and luxuries used in the lives (Lorenzo Snow, a Box Elder pio neer who was in charge of sur of the people living here. Zealous historians record that veying and laying out Brigham ' Van-denber- five-sixth- All was not sublime In Box Elder county In the years behind us. We,, too, had our cursed city, the wickedest city in Utah," a swashbuckling, wh1ske lighting1, roaring city that had little resemblance to any other part of Zion," as the religious folk affectionately referred to Utah territory. Corinne was the last town built on the railroad and it rose to fame as the center of freighting into the northern teritory leading into Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. When more railroads replaced n wagon trains Corinne, as a town, melted into oblivion. Now it is much like any other small community In this area, progressive, God fearing and a recognizable part of Zion Now 20,000 citizens of the county look back at a hundred years of history and 6tand amazed at the wisdom of their forefathers; offer thanks for their industriousness and their willingness to work to fulfill a dream; and for laying the foundation for , their present ' prosperity, their fertile irrigated and dry farms, acres of fruit trees, their homes, churches and schools. trans-continent- two-gu- In 1851, 100 Years Ago, Mormon Pioneers Optimistically Settled Box Elder County Artist Marie Thorne Jeppsen depicts a scene that took place here 100 years ago. Under orders of Brigham Young, president of the L. D. S. ehurch, a small group of settlers moved in to make Box Elder County their home. Faced with problems that ranged from fighting Indians to foundation for the battling the elements for their crops, they laid the . their now progeny. by enjoyed living happy prosperous |