Show The Herald Journal Cache Sunday September 4 AJ 1988-P- age 5 LookiNq Back SiMMONds The mountain maples : : I remember one of Alaitair Cooke’s episodes on the BBC production of “America” where he discussed the fall colors of the trees in New England Part of his discussion was an involved explanation of the freezing of the ground that cut off moisture to the trees ana caused the leaves to change from green to their autumn reds and golds and yellows At the time I thought “How interesting” and promptly filed that bit of information away with all the other little bits of information that I find interesting but will never again use Until this year It is early September and the maples are already changing color I think Alastair Cooke knew of what he spoke The season has been so dry that the color has started on the mountains In the lower reaches of the canyons on the east side and on the foothills above Dayton and Clifton the maples are showing the reds and golds that we have come to associate with early October Today the maples provide a seasonal backdrop to the life that is lived in the valley but there was a time when the maples provided a resource of considerable importance to the pioneer settlers of Cache Their 'presence was noted by the mountain men Both Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson Bay Company and Warren Angus Ferris of the American Fur Company commented in their diaries on the presence of maples in northern Utah But it remained for Orson Pratt with the first pioneer company into the Salt Lake Valley to spot them as a possible resource On July 26 1847 he noted in his diary that the mountains around the newly settled Salt Lake City were dotted with “sugar maple ash oak fir and pine” Pratt from his experience in the East saw the maples as a source of sugar It was as a source of sugar that the maples were used In the early spring of 1859 a man by the name of Fisher tried to walk into Cache Valley over late spring snow drifts in order to be at Maughan’s Fort in time for the sugaring season — when the nights were freezing ana the days warm and the sap began to flow Merlin RHovey recorded the story in his early history of Cache County in 1924: were covered with heavy growth of maples On over the storm was so severe that the little old man froze his feet and they were in a terrible condition The settlers gave him what assistance they could but it was soon evident that he would lose his feet He lived with the Gardners One foot came off at the ankle and another leg at the knee He suffered untold misery for nearly two months when he died and was buried not far from the cabins” Other early Cache diaries and accounts show that maples were used in local manufacturing George Barber of Smithfield records making harrow teeth out of maple logged in Smithfield Canyon In Clarkston and Trenton the legs for the benches in the first schoolhouses were made of mountain maple and in Smithfield maple was burned for charcoal in kilns built at the mouth of the canyons Sain Probably the greatest use was for firewood Until there was no coal burned in Cache Valley All heating and cooking was done over wood stoves and there is no comparison in the heat value between the hard maples and the soft pine fir and quaking aspen The pioneer use of maple for fuel continued in some areas of the valley well into the 20th century As late ' as 1903 1 can find record of wagons from Trenton going into High Creek Canyon to be filled with winter wood that had been logged The destruction of the trees must have been enormous amounting in some areas to g almost And the lower slopes of the mountains surrounding the valley have been cleared for dry farm fields The valley must have presented a very different appearance 120 years ago with maple forests extending down to the flats on all sides But Fisher’s attempt to tap the valley’s maples for sugar was certainly not the last The Riggs Family of WeusviUe and Mount Sterling are known to have tapped maples for sugar until at least 1919 And since so many of the early settlers of the valley were from New England Ohm and Pennsylvania where sugaring was a way of life every spring it is likely that others also harvested maple syrup from the trees that are today so dry they are turning color without the benefit of the frosts 1873 clear-cuttin- “In January 1859 a party was equipped to go to for Brigham City supplies When they arrived at Brigham City a terrific storm came and they had great difficulty in getting back to Cache Valley with their loads They were accompanied back by a little old man by the name of Fisher Fisher was' a sugar maker and he desired to come early so he would be in the valley at the proper time for tapping the maple trees for their sap as ne expected to make a good deal of maple sugar during the season “All the foothills where we now raise dry farm ill-fat- ed Soviet citizens endure long lines to view paintings Bv Gerald Nadler building the new spur of the - ! MOSCOW (UPI) Eleven years ago Soviet authorities locked up painter Hya Glazunov’s masterpiece “Mystery of the 20th Century" Now Raisa Gorbachev is a fan and tens of f thousands line up for hours to see it “Is that so long to wait to see such a - picture? Five hours is not long” said Claudia Efimova 49 at a Glazunov show held in a blaze of publicity rarely j any Soviet artist r accorded Glazunov-5however is no ordinary ' painter At times he has been the bad boy of Soviet art barred from showing his work At others he has been a g portraitist of people like e“ the late Indian leader Indira Gandhi and actress Gina Lollobrigida His standing has risen and fallen with official view of Russian nationalism the E - When it was in favor so was Glazunov — he painted Leonid Brezhnev’s 70th ‘birthday portrait When nationalism was played down or he trod too hard on Official toes Glazunov’s work was TranSiberian railroad “Mystery” was banned because it showed expelled dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn as a political prisoner The apocalyptic canvas also snowed Christ behind barbed wire — a taboo subject in the officially atheistic Soviet Union at least under Brezhnev’s Communist orthodoxy of 1977 But now the Soviet Union is officially celebrating the 1000th anniversary of Christianity in Russia and newspapers openly praise Solzhenitsyn’s early writing as “classics” And suddenly Glazunov the Russian religious nationalist is very much in vogue Yegor K Ligachev No 2 man in the ruling politburo and the voice of Communist conservatives publicly praised his new exhibit The first lady of the crucified Christ symt Mother Russia The canvas is crowd with some 300 figures of Russian history from Rasputin to Dostoyevsky and Czarevich Aleksei the slain heir to Not all are flattering “Glazunov is a real 20th century phenomenon — a hack and a person who bends easily with the times” one person wrote in brusque Russian terms that lose much in English translation "It is not history it is politics” said the Russian throne “I could not tear my eyes from it” one viewer said "Its effect was so another earthshaking” “Drawing a pile of faces isn’t quite “Such an exhibit was worth building history” said a third this whole palace for” a former builder Reflecting Mikhail Gorbachev’s resaid forms the exhibit boasts it is and its proceeds are going to “It should be hung for a year so Admission is steep — 2 rubles charity not look a and take everyone can come for a limited time” Claudia Efimova ($320) Reproductions of tne two works said “It is not just a picture It is the are available in color for 10 rubles ($16) and in black and white for 15 rubles history of our country” Visitors buy small brochures to iden- ($240) "It is not art he has produced a tify each of the canvas’s 300 historical one observer said product” the gallery figures Classical music fills Cen“100 and hall where "Mystery” Glazunov is on ham) every Wednesday Soviet Union Raisa Gorbachev wrote a turies” icons like to give autographs and meet fans giant hang fan note to Glazunov in 1981 An Never far from controversy he has autographed picture of Raisa reportedly Consigned to a mere corner are repeatedly denied accusations he is a adorns his mantle depictions of 70 years of communist member of the extreme Russian naSovetskaya Rossia newspaper said rule Glazunov’s next giant collage he tionalist Pamyat organiza15000 people a day streamed into the says will be called "Seventy Years of tion He a foreign journalist even says Youth Palace to view Glazunov’s Soviet Power” banned labeled him a Stalinist d j In 1977 authorities closed a showing masterpiece and another equally huge "Thank you for the truth about "If you want to hear something of his masterpiece the high work "100 Centuries of Russia” de- - Russia” one viewer wrote in the 20th dieted to the millcnium celebration of comment book "Russia bows to you” stupid ask a foreigner what he thinks of the wide "Mystery said another "All Who treasure Russia about Russia” Glazunov told ‘‘Century” In deep disfavor cultural Russian Christianity Kultura newspaper SB JSW A -HUlt u LYMii M rj globe-trottin- anti-Semit- ic 10-fo- ot 20-fo- ot Sov-etska- Jrtff |