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Show 2 - THE CITIZEN - THURSDAY, DEC. 37. 1973 North Cache Chronicles by A. J. Simmonds . For those of us And Three Months of Poor Sledding: North Cache Winters who remem- d ber the cold, the fence posts, and the ubiquitous horses and sleighs of winter 1948-4the first snowflakes of falls first storm always draw an apprehensive sigh and a silent prayer. Downstate,' Cache Valley winters are a standing joke; but while we shiver with more cold, records show that our winters are historically milder than those of Salt Lake drift-covere- 9, Valley. From 1824 until the late 1830s, the American trappers who roamed the Rocky Mountains in search of fur wintered in Cache Valley because they found it had less snow than surrounding areas. The grass, which grew as high as a horses belly in the summer, remained exposed; and animals could be grazed on the Valley floor and the foothills all winter. In the whole history of the American fur trade, there was only one winter, that of 1825-2when fur men were forced to leave the Valley because of winter snow. In that year the drifts compelled Bill Sublette to take his trappers to two camps: one near Corinne and the other on the present site 6, of Ogden. The trappers undoubtedly got their information from the Indians, for until the late 1860s or early 1870s, bands of Sho-shoand Bannock from the area around Fort Hall, Idaho, went into winter quarters in Cache. One such camp was near Paradise; Indian John (a later Mormon convert and resident of the Logan Second Ward) kept winter camp in Cornish and Trenton until at least 1866. The most famous winter camp, of course, was at Battle Creek north of Preston where, in January 1863, Chiefs Sagwich, Bear Hunter, and Lemhi were ambushed in camp by the US Battle of Army at the Bear River. ni so-calle- d In 1849 Captain Howard Stansbury of the US Army Corps of Topographical Engineers led an exploratory survey of the Great Salt Lake and northern Utah. In discussing Cache Valley, Captain Stansbury wrote: At the time the reconnois-sanc- e was made, all the information that could be obtained from the oldest mountain-men, induced both Colonel Porter (of Fort Hall) and myself to believe that it was one of the most eligible spots in the whole country for wintering stock. It had been a rendezvous for the American Fur Company for many years, and stock had been wintered there by them with great advantage. The snow was seldom deep, and the cattle not only retained their flesh, but grew fat during the winter. deep, and fewer than half the animals saw spring. there to melt. The early settlers also learned about the Valleys open The hard winters have come winters. Though from the first in some in no pattern with no predictof days settlement 1856, cut as winter ability. After 1855-5the piowild hay was fodder for animals, it was only a neers were helped by a span of sometime thing. Until 1885 very relatively mild winters a ser-- 6, Stansbury was so impressed with the Valley, that all the stock from Fort Hall was driven little alfalfa was planted in ies cruelly broken in 1873-7- 4 by worst winter in the probably of Thousands Valley history. animals died on the open range, and the settlers huddled for months in their inadequate cabins. Charles W. Fox of Franklin noted the winter in his This is the hardest diary: winter we have experienced But as the American Fur since settling Franklin it Began to snnwe on the 27th day of Company found out in 1825-2- 6 and as Captain Stansbury November 1873 and the ground discovered in 1849-5-0 and as was not bare till April 24. of CACHE CITIZEN readers the learned in 1948-4Cache winters can occasionally be surA few years later, the range cattle prising. industry in the Valley was wiped out by another severe winter. Overgrazing had In 1855, after a drought in Salt depleted the range and the Lake Valley, Brigham Young underfed animals did not surestablished Elk Horn Ranch in vive 1887-8It was the lessons y Ward and of present-dathat winter which made College all ordered the church herds alfalfa- - and hay-stacand derricks so much a part of the Cache landscape. When winter from Salt Lake driven to Cache 1916-1- 7 came in hard, Cache had Valley for the winter. About changed. With the hard winter 2500 cattle and horses were in the 1920s and the next in wintered in the Valley. 'That 1932-3the spirit suffered more season, again, the snows fell than the body. to Cache Valley for the winter of 1849-5As the good Captain learned, Cache winters can be tricky. He wrote in his report to the Secretary of War: Cache Valley. In the winter months stock was turned loose to graze in the uninhabited part of the Valley and on the foothills where the winds swept the snow away from the mountain ridges and exposed the dried grasses. 0. The season, however, proved unusually severe; the snow fell in the valley to a depth unprecedented; and more than one-ha- lf of the herd, in which were included some of my own animals, perished in consequence. What the Indians and trappers initially discovered, what Stansbury initially reported was that because of the Wells-vill- e Mountains and our distance from Great Salt Lake, Cache Valley gets less snow than Salt Lake Valley. i 9, 8. We ks average 10 degrees colder, but we get less snow. The concentration of population has meant in Ogden and a heat build-u- p Salt Lake City which melts the snow faster than in Cache, but as a usual thing there is more 3, Southeast Smithfield Fourth Ward Smithfield Flying World fakes-duri- ng. War II, mock air fields in England were attacked more often than real ones. . by Margaret llansen Weekend guests at the home of Evelyn and Jay Gubler were SMITHFIELD Recent Oremites.Bill Gubler, Jana Lee visi- tors of the- Ray Winn family Moody and Kim Moody. were Shirley and Vincent Larson and their children John and. Hie LDS Primary AssociaAnn of Denver. tion, headed by Mary Etta John Winn, formerly a memParkinson, . held their annual ber of Smithfield 3jd LDS Ward, Christmas party on December 7 has been assigned to serve a at the Union building on the church mission in central Cali- campus of Utah State Univer? fornia,' headquarters at sity. Arrangements were made been town in by Ila Erickson. This group of land., John has visiting with .former school- women and their partners were mates Nolan Johnson and Rich delighted by a great dinner, Toolson. We wish him a followed by a program equally successful, enjoyable mission. pleasing. Christmas songs were Before entering the missionsung by a sextette, consisting of ary home in Salt Lake City, Karen Bates, Judy Markley, John was feted at a breakfast at Sally Johnson, Linda Johnson, the Hotel Utah. His entire Norma Bennett, and Linda - Lind. They were accompanied at the piano by Ellen Geary. family was present, including Shirley and Vincent Larson; Linda and Dennis Graves and their children Brenda and Kirk; Jeanne and Jerry Layne and John Winn departed recently by air for Oakland. Several family members bade him farewell at the airport. morning. the company suggested the energy crisis had been one consideration in the A spokesman for decision, but perhaps more important was the lease, which was up. No decision has yet been Otoon 752-30- 39 For Special Parties made as to whether or not Pitchers will be getting a new sign, but if they do it will be, the spokesman said, a smaller one. The old sign will be scrapped IM We Cater For Parties We Will Open On Tuesday Night Pitchers Drop the Sign The large electric sign which once spanned the sky above Pitchers Service in Smithfield is no more. A part of the city skyline for twenty years, it was taken down by a crew Thursday imo emioi cat MIAMI 563-50- 47 . last-minu- te UVI...MI...QUIT MAIVS CAFE Cynthia, Denise and Douglas; Lila and Ray. Winn and their children Nataiie, Roxanne and Kelley; and Myman Winn and Anne Winn. SMITHFIELD AREA CHILDREN met with Santa Claus last gift consultations. whether you ir ifiififfifiiiffffffrfrfrrrrrrrfffff( their children Lori, Deanna, Satuniay for offers you 9:00 a.m. -- 11:30 p.m. Saturday 12:00 - 9:30 132 . HOURS p.m. Sunday North Main, Smithfiold |