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Show Volume XVII Issue XXII The Ogden Valley news Page May 1, 2010 Memories of Huntsville and Its People Note: This is the fourteenth in a multi-series of articles that is from the above titled compilation. It is being reprinted by permission of the McKay family. The information was initially printed in 1960. Somewhere about 1911 or 1912, the Huntsville Improvement Club was enlarged to include the whole valley, and the name changed to the Ogden Valley Commercial Club. The officers in the new organization were D.D. McKay, President; H.B. Stallings, Eden, Vice President; R.L. Orth, Huntsville, Secretary; and J.M. Wilbur, Eden, Assistant Secretary. Additional directors consisted of the following: D.C. Walker, Eden; S.V. Grown, Huntsville, Peter Johansen, Huntsville, Jesper Jespersen, Huntsville; Joseph Backman, Eden; R.B. Thompson, Eden; J.C. Wangsgard and P.H. Olsen, both of Huntsville. About this time, President W.H. Taft sent a large group of people to Europe to investigate agricultural and business conditions in general in that part of the world. The group was divided into sections and each section was to study such matters as agriculture, banking, and so on. When they returned each group made a detailed report to the President, which was printed and the volume was larger than a Sears catalog. Someone in Washington sent me a copy of this book. I was deeply interested in that section, especially, that dealt with agricultural matters. The report dealt in great detail on producing and marketing farm products, especially in the Scandinavian counties. The co-ops, their form, the expenses incident to operation and selling, the personnel used, and the method of financing were explained in detail. This method had been in operation at that time (1912) for about fifty years. Customers for these products were mainly in the British Isles and, there again, they were handled by co-ops, but the kind this time were organizations that disposed of the products to the final consumer. These co-ops had been doing about forty-eight per cent of the merchandising in England and about the same percentage in Scotland and Wales for half a century by then, and reports indicate that the same is true today. On the marketing side, where all kinds of groceries and other articles of merchandise as well as agricultural products were handled by these co-ops, the form of organization differed from the kind used in the sale of farm produce only. In this case, the customer put up about Four Hundred dollars, which gave him membership in the co-op and brought him four per cent annually on his capital stock. He bought his merchandise from the co-op at the regular market price and a record was kept of the total amount of his annual purchases and his share of the annual dividends was determined by this sum. Big families got big dividends, and smaller families lesser sums, depending on their purchases. All of this, of course, was proof that if we expected to get better prices for our products we must extend our organization to cover a larger area and include all the farmers we could get to join us. The big question, of course, was “Could this de done?” So the Ogden Valley Commercial Club called a meeting to convene in the County Courthouse on July 31, 1915. W.P. Thomas, the New County Agent, and Dr. R.J. Evans, the leader of the Farm Demonstration Work in the State, were invited to attend and talk at the meeting. John Halls and D.C. Walker favored the proposal to organize a county farm organization. Whereupon Thomas Fowles of Hooper moved that a committee, to include the chair, be appointed to prepare a form of organization to be reported upon at the meeting to be held in the County Court House at 2:00 o’clock p.m. on August 21, 1915. The motion carried, and the chair appointed R.T. Rheese of Pleasant View, J.L. Robson of Plain City, and Thomas Fowles of Hooper to draw up articles of association. J.C. Wangsgard then moved that Joseph Chez be commended for getting the State Legislature to pass the bill empowering the employment of a County Agent and the County Commissioners for joining in the hiring of W. Preston Thomas. On August 21, 1915, the committee reported on a Constitution and By-Laws for the County Farm Bureau, and they were adopted. The following officers were elected: D.D. McKay, President and J.R. Beus as Vice President. The President was then empowered to appoint Directors until the locals could be organized. Then the Chair appointed the following committees: Local Organization and Membership: W.P. Thomas, Albert Green, and J.L. Robson; Dairying – Thomas Powell, Thomas Fowles, John Felt; Farm Insurance and Schools – W.N. Patterson, J.R. Beus, R.T. Rheese, T.R. Jones; Sugar Beets – W.C. Hunter, J.F. Barton, J.M Wheeler; County Fair – W. H. Lowder, David Hancock, David Chard; Telephone Rates – M.P. Brown, John Bailey, H.B. Stallings. And that is the way the Weber County Farm Bureau began its long and useful life. In conformity with the decision of the meeting of August 21, all the towns began to organize their local groups. By November 23, ten locals had been brought into being. In Pleasant View, O.H. Hickenlooper was made President; in North Ogden, John Bailey, in Kanesville, T.R. Jones; in Marriott, W.Z. Terry; in Farr West, J.D. Brown; in Harrisville, W.H. Lowder, in Plain City, J.L. Robson; in Eden, H.B. Stallings; in Wilson Lane, F.W. Stratford. By the latter part of December, 1916, twenty-one locals had been organized and the membership stood at three hundred fifty. This was due to the work of the Membership Committee under the direction of its Chairman, W. Preston Thomas. The officers and directors for 1917 were D.D. McKay, President; J.R. Beus, Vice President; M.K. Jacobs, Secretary; H.G. Stallings, Eden; David Cook, Liberty; C.A. Growberg, Far West; J.L. Robson, Plain City; T.E. Powell, Marriot; F.W. Stratford, Wilson Lane; B.S. Jacobs, Riverdale; M.P. Brown, Roy; T.R. Jones, Kanesville; Charles P. Beus, Clinton; Ben Chadwick, Slaterville; Charles S. Smith, Burch Creek; F.J. Hunter, Taylor; J.P. Gibson, West Weber; Paul F. Barrow, West Warren; C.A. Fernelius, South Weber; Andrew Agren, Harrisville; John Felt, Huntsville; A.W. Marriott, Warren; John Bailey, North Ogden. By this time, the membership, B.S. Jacobs, Chairman of the Committee reported, had increased from three hundred fifty in 1916 to Nine Hundred Four for 1917. This membership comprised seventy per cent of the farmers Celeste C. Canning PLLC Attorney at Law 2590 Washington Boulevard, Suite 200 Ogden, Utah 84401 Local: (801) 7 1-10 2 Office: (801) 612- 2 Email: ccanninglaw@aol.com Meeting the Legal Needs of Small Business and Their Owners FREE Initial Thirty Minute Consultation. Appointments in Ogden Valley upon request. of Weber County and controlled more than eighty per cent of the agricultural products of the county. Huntsville had the distinction, the reports indicated, of having the largest number of members (85), but Riverdale had the largest per cent of any local in the county. There were thirteen active committees with a membership on one hundred thirty-seven people working on them as members. J.L. Robson, Chairman of the Drainage Investigations, reported that in 1916 two drainage districts, comprising four thousand acres, had been planned. This had been investigated by Government and private drainage engineers and the project for this year (1917) was to get the two districts organized. It was estimated by officials of the Bureau that the work of the County Bureau had earned the sixteen hundred farmers and stock growers the sum of $371,990, more than they would have got without Bureau’s efforts. During December of that year, the first Women’s organization was effected. It was called the Women’s Farm Bureau, and Barbara Ellen Barnes of West Weber was elected President; Mrs. J.T. Ritter, Vice President, and Mrs. Joseph Ririe, Secretary-Treasurer. The committeewomen elected were Mrs. J.M Wilbur, Conservation; Miss Ivy Beus, Poultry; Mrs. Emily Dabb, Gardening; Mrs. Ed Ritter, Clothing Remodeling; Mrs. J.W. Jensen, Girls’ Clubs. Local Presidents were Mrs. J.T. Ritter, Riverdale; Mrs. William Parker, Clinton; Mrs. J.W. Jensen, Roy; Mrs. A.M. Bates, Kanesville; Mrs. Charles Kingston, Taylor; Mrs. J.G. Widdison, Hooper; Mrs. E. Penman, West Weber; Mrs. H.B. Thompson, Warren; Mrs. Edith Tucker, West Warren; Mrs. J.F. Bingham, Marriott; Mrs. Wilson Cragun, Pleasant View; Mrs. Pearl Chadwick, North Ogden; Mrs. Emma G. Bingham, Wilson; Mrs. Jabe Peek, South Weber and Uintah; Mrs. William Kerr, Plain City; Mrs. John Dabb, Harrisville; Mrs. J.R. Ekins, Slatterville; Mrs. C.F. Larkin, Farr West; Mrs. David Cook, Liberty; Mrs. W.M. Wilber, Eden; Mrs. Peter Johansen, Huntsville. It was reported that the Round-up which the Bureau held at Ogden in January, department work had been carried on, and twenty-seven hundred had attended. It was also reported that the eight hundred mile trip by motor car through Northern Utah and Southern Idaho had been a pleasant, interesting, and informative excursion for the one hundred fifty-two members who made it. The membership in 1918 equaled that of the year before, it was reported by Chairman Murray K. Jacobs, in spite of the fact that quite a group of complaining members had been got rid of. The number of committees and their membership were the same as last year but the scope of the work had been greatly enlarged by the program outlined by W. Preston Thomas. The Women’s Section had become very active, too, with the help of Miss Edna Ladwig, Home Demonstration Agent. Three Hundred Forty-Seven boys from Weber County were now in the service. An Honor Roll was being kept by the Bureau of every man, as far as possible, for future use. May we digress here for a moment and turn to World War I. No one wants to recall those terrifying days, I suppose. There is one thing we must do, however. One of the greatest things men can do is serve their fellow men. There are various degrees of value, though, and various kinds of services. But when men offer their lives in the service, they render to their fellows service of the highest kind. Not all who entered the services faced danger because they HISTORICAL cont. on page 10 Historical Photo “Echoes of the Past” hunting party, Page 163. Photo courtesy of Blaine Gardner. Kenyon Tew, Ph.D. Child, Adolescent & Family Therapy Dr. Tew has over 25 years of therapeutic experience working with children, adults, and families. His experience includes treating anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, Aspergers, A.D.D. and school related problems. OLD TOWN EDEN (801) 334-2431 Jeffrey D. Shepherd DMD, MSD Specialist in Orthodontics SHEPHERDORTHODONTICS Fast Treatment Times • Children and Adults • Flexible Payment Options Call to schedule your complimentary exam today! 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