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Show Volume XVII Issue XIII The Ogden Valley news Page 9 December 15, 2009 Memories of Huntsville and Its People By Donald D. McKay Note: This is the fifth in a multi-series of articles that are from the above-titled compilation, which is being reprinted by permission of the McKay family. The information was initially printed in 1960. Pioneering in the valley in 1860 made it necessary to start everything that was required in the simplest way imaginable. This was true of the postal service as well as everything else. I think Lars Peterson was the first postmaster here. This man was born in Denmark on February 27, 1837. He came to Ogden in 1865 and was employed by my grandfather for a while as a cloth weaver. He came to Huntsville in 1866 and among other things, made baskets out of willows. In the early days there was a building situated about where the Allen store is now. The gable end of it paralleled the street. The roof, both on the east and west side, sloped down at two angles. I do not remember who built or lived in it, but I do remember Lars Peterson had a small room in the west end. In those days the mail came up once a week. Some years later it came twice a week. Henry Shelton was the mail carrier. He came about the time school was out. That was in the days of the Rock School House. On mail days every kid made for the post office as soon as they got out of school. The space in front of the little window through which the mail was handed out was small, and there was always a battle to see who got inside to the window first. Then Lars would lose his patience at the noise thereby engendered, and the commotion would die down for a spell. The names on the weekly papers and the letter were read aloud and the recipients had to shout, “here,” and the articles were passed out. When the mail began to come twice a week there was a repetition of this scene. The postmaster was also the official weatherman after the U.S. Government established work in this state. He kept every accurate account of the temperature and precipitation for a good many years. When he retired he gave me his copies of the weather records covering many years. In his youth he had been with the Danish Army. He took part in the war with Germany when Prince Bismark took Schleswig-Holstein from the Danish and added it to Prussia and Germany. He described the battle he was in, the manner of living in those days, and his opinion of the German Army and people of that time. We had many conversations that interested me. In later years he got a pension from Denmark for this service. So did Dennis Rasmussen and Christian Christiansen. The amount was not large, but it helped them out. I was a Notary at that time and helped them fill out the documents that had to go back to their native country, and of course the signature had to be notarized also. This I always did for them, and that always afforded an opportunity for a nice chat with each of them. When Huntsville was young, Soren L. Peterson had a grocery store down Main Street, west of Percy Smith’s. Later he ran the store in the building opposite the old church. His son Adam ran a store there, as did his younger sons Joseph and Alma. J.C. Wangsgard had a store in a large frame building on the southeast corner of the lot where the new church now is. Carol Renstrom ran the post office in that building too. Later Mr. Wangsgard built a big brick building a little south of the wood butcher shop. The top floor of his building was a dance hall, and in the ground floor he operated another store. Lars Hanson had a store down in the west end of town, directly north and across the street from Mrs. Rowe’s home. The Mollerups had a store in that place after Lars left. He was the man who started the stock yards in Ogden, and also the meat packing plant now operated by Swift’s. There were two or three blacksmith shops operating here for years. There were also a doctor, a drug store, a candy store and other businesses here. The origin of names common around here has always interested me. It is easy to grasp why a canyon on the south of town should be called Hawkins Creek, for James Hawkins had owned the property. That was true also of the canyon called Baldy Watts, also Bennetts. Geertson on the north of the valley was named after a townsman, and Wheeler Canyon, down by the dam, also. Wheeler Fork up Beaver was named after the same people, and Fawcett and Cooly were both named after men who resided here. But why a pond should be called “Dry Bread”, and a ridge “Straight Hair”, a spring “Porcupine”, a creek “Skunk Creek”, a canyon “Scare Canyon” and a meadow “White Britches” and a canyon “Browns Hole” is a mystery that is not explainable. Perhaps a story might suggest an The Ogden Valley News is looking for Ogden Valley and Ogden Canyon historical biographies, stories, and photos to use in its publication. Please mail, email, or call Shanna at 745-2688 or Jeannie at 745-2879 if you have material you wish to share. explanation. Let us take Shanghai Flat in Ogden Canyon. In the beginning, the road down Ogden Canyon was made to follow the north side of the canyon to this point, because the going was easy and smooth, but at the west end of the flat the river had swirled from the south side of the canyon diagonally across to the north wall and gouged into the base of the hill as far as the ledge on that side would allow it to go. That left a long strip of smooth ground on the south side where no construction would be required. A bridge to connect the two strips of smooth flat ground on opposite sides of the river was the sensible thing to build. Such a one had been built, but high water that spring before had washed it out. The road was closed for some time. That did not suit anyone. When the stream had subsided, it was decided to build a new bridge, high enough this time to avoid being washed out. Instead of laying the stringers straight across from bank to bank, the new bridge began back some distance from the edge of the stream and the cross beams rested on timbers of varying lengths, set perpendicularly. The floor of the bridge, as a consequence, sloped rather abruptly up on both sides to give the necessary elevation in the middle, so the long section on top was considered to be well out of any flood waters. In general appearance and proportions its shape was such as to give a gangling appearance. When it was completed, one of the men remarked that it looked exactly like a shanghei rooster. Any old enough to remember that lanky, bony breed of fowl, common around here when I was youngster, need not be told, therefore, what the general appearance of the bridge was. In 1881 or 1882, the safety of this structure was generally considered to be unsafe. The county wanted to build a dugway on the north side of the canyon from Shanghei Flat down to Black Point, thus not only eliminating the bridge at the Flat but also the one down at Black Point. But money was scarce. Finally the county agreed to pay $1.60 to work on this dugway per day, provided half the time would be donated by the laborer. This did not seem to be a very popular arrangement, for only a small amount of work was accomplished under this plan. Finally, Selectmen L. W. Shurtliff, Robert McQuarrie, and F.A. Hammond, decided the best thing to do would be to let the job out on a contract of ten rods per contract, at $8.00 per lenial yard for a sixteen foot highway. Evan Evans, Moffit Brothers, Mons Peterson and Jack Yeamons completed a few small stretches, but this did not help much for most of the work washed out the following spring. In the end, Monds Peterson took the contract to complete the job. He employed A. B. and John Bachman, Soren and Antone Nielsen, John A. 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