OCR Text |
Show Memories Are Pictures In The Mind 33 - WESTVAUEYVIEW Thursday, Jan. 28, 1982 Norway To Magna, John Johnson Recalls It All by LaRee Pehrson- - Memories are photographs taken by the mind, and the mental album of John H. Johnson, Magna, is filled to the brim with pictures that span two continents as well as almost a century in time. He was born in southern Norway, in the town of Moss, to Edward and Anna Johansen. His father was a sea captain on a ship that plied its trade between Moss and Oslo . . . towns that were six Norwegian miles (one and an eighth miles) was faced with changes not only in his family status, but in his geographical location as well. For in 1904 his new moved the family to Canada . . .only to die there one year later, forcing the group to return to Fairview. Settling in a house of her own, d Anna and her brood faced some hard times. step-fath- twice-widowe- Belle Carlson he broke a tug on the harness of the horse and buggy, and had to use a harness strap to get there in time for the wedding. They set up housekeeping in the area north of the Arthur Mill which was known as Sonnes Gove No. 4 were on the hill by Dead Mans Cave. At age 21 John did two things. He sought U. S. citizenship, and he got married. After taking his case through four courts he found to his chagrin that he was already a citizen by virtue of his mother having married an American. And on the way to Springville to marry Ida (originally the James Bertoch ranch). Later they moved to a house on Mercur Street, and from there to Rag Town which was directly across the road and north of Webster school. They ended up in Garfield where they spent most of their life together before coming to Magna in 1954. And together they had two children, Ida Hunt and Edward Johnson. Their progeny numbers nine grandchildren and thirteen greatgrandchildren. Ida Belle died in apart. But his father remains a nebulous part of Johns life, for he died when the boy was four years old, on Jan. 24, 1892 . . the same day that Utah became a state. When his father died, however, the United States and Utah were only words spoken by the Mormon missionaries who visited his home. But a year later Anna Johansen, with John and Charles, was boarding a ship to cross the North Sea to Glasgow, Scotland, where they were to meet the missionary who would accompany them across the Atlantic. . five-year-o- In second-clas- 1955. During his working career, John held a variety of jobs at Utah Copper before his retirement in 1960, including putting in the facny iron grills that graced the Utah Copper Club. While workmen from Magna walked up the old workmens trail west of Webster school, the crews from Garfield went to work on the morning shift by train. The afternoon shift was hauled to work by the shift wagon, using four head of horses, piloted by W. A. Bohne, who then picked up the day shift for the return trip home. When he took the graveyard shift to work, Bohne picked up the afternoon shift. The graveyard shift went back to Garfield by train. Although neither of his parents lived to be very old, John thinks that hard work and moderation has been the key to his longevity. He three-year-o- ld s quarters that were not too comfortable, John still has a vivid picture of the homesick, sea sick little boy he once was. Three weeks later on June 13, 1897 they landed at Ellis Island, which was known then as Castle Garden, and he recalls pressing his f ' John small face against the bars that separated them from the new world as someone gave him a piece of cake. When the family was processed Anna went before the authorities who questioned her about her belief in polygamy and the other facets of the Mormon Church. They also inquired as to how she intended to support herself when she arrived at her destination. In addition the family got a new name when Johansen was changed to Johnson. They came to the valley by train, stopping first in Salt Lake. From there they went to Fairview to live with his grandmothers sister in a whole new world, the likes of which they had never seen, and without knowing one word of the English language. His mother married again on Oct. 4, 1898, and once more Jonn five-year-o- and Ida Johnson in 1915. We were so poor, John that sometimes all remembers, we had to eat was white flour mixed into a thick paste, but somehow we kept body and soul together by picking up odd jobs. The work was not altogether the responsibility of Anna, because the knowledge that it was a joint effort weighed heavily on young John. So he was eight years old when he got his first job which paid five cents a day. He walked a mile to and from the farm where he rode the derrick horse for the hay fork, and he had to furnish his own dinner in the bargain. But at the end of each day he went home with a nickel pressed in his hot little hand, which went into the family coffers. At 14 he got a better job in a creamery, and he mused that had he had enough money to go to agricultural college he might have stayed in that business because it was one he liked and felt comfortable in. As he grew older he worked in a saw mill oiling the rachets that moved the logs along the belt to the saw. Three years later he got a job at the reservoir shoring up the dam which had broken. And after the job was done John stayed on with the construction crew, earning $2.75 a day, with 75 cents going for board and 25 cents spent for a meal. It was then he heard of the work being done on the copper concentrators near Pleasant Green (Magna), so on January 8, 1912, he hired on at the Magna Mill making $2.50 a day with a pay day once a month. For a time John boarded with W. A. Bohne, a who had a house and a livery stable in Pleasant Green. Later he lived in one of the four hotels at Garfield which offered a home away from home for single men who worked at the mills. T stayed in the old No. 1 Hotel across the street from the library that was run by a man named Thomas who was also sheriff, John says. The No. 3 Hotel was across the railroad tracks on the south end of town, and No. 2 and An old Shift Wagon from the Magna Mill of 1908. The horse drawn wagons carried the mill workers up and down the hill from the Mag- na Smelter buildings. has never drank much, and quit smoking a pipe in 1936. In addition he has never been one to eat a lot of sugar. According to his daughter he is also because he washes his hands often and he even refused to blow out the candles on his 90th birthday cake because it spread germs. In the nine decades he has lived, John has seen many changes. He has seen Magna change and grow while the town of Garfield died. And his life has spanned the era from the horse and buggy to the space age. But there are two pictures in Johns mental album that still stand out more vividly than the rest . . . and they both have to do with statues. One is the time he witnessed the unveiling of the Brigham Young monument in 1897 on his way to Fairview, and the other is his first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty when he entered New York harbor. I can still feel the thrill that went through me when I saw that lady with the lamp, he said. For it was then that this country became my country. I never had any desire to go he addback to Norway, ed, Because I found everything I ever wanted right here at the foot of the Oquirrhs! super-sanitar- rimico: Viimvjv 9W x FOODS tdiC&tbMA 06UUt SOUTH 8 I.T1I1 EAST 21.1 SOUTH 8 MrJ EAST .ITrd SOtITH 8 2.Trd EAST 37.TS SOUTH 9ili EAST 2029 EAST 70h SOUTH 4700 SOUTH 8 264 h WEST PRICKS KKFF.C.TTVK J VS. 28 20 LaChov SALE! CHOW MEIN 30 STORE HOURS: 9:00 A.M. TO 10:00 P.M. soz. (IIOW WEIS closed Sundays NOODLES can 10 OZ. bottle SOY SAUCE Chicken of the Sc a TUNA 3 - 1 oq 12 07. . . IN r rvC OV f07rvo nil. OK nmi Jumbo AVOCADOS! step-brothe- r, Sno White CAULIFLOWER BONELESS TOP SIRLOIN STEAK! I Large Sunkist ! Tj LQRANGES.Ojhs.lJ LEAN GROUND BEEF! Jhirrnack SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER 12 0.. CEI.WKSIIWIINMI CKI.W K COMM H tNKK K.E. V Sll MINWI K.E. . COMM FROZEN FOODS Linden Farm Vmiohn MMWl II riONKU i iinm o mM m t NIL, $949 2 Rus-etl- es 2 l!. IKS. HASH BROWNS Welche's 6 0.. GRAPE JUICE Swanson 8 0.. CHICKKN or TT'RKFA PIES! 85' 69 c 2.89 289 |