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Show Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Wednesday, February 9, 2005 A5 Sanpete Messenger - Sanpete Messenger/Gunnison Valley Edition Brothers: Timely artisans Off the Wasatch Watchmaking extends through generations By Kathy Lin Eggleston By Roger Baker Staff writer No services Strangers traveling through Utah on I-70 may feel some discomfort traveling east out of Salina and reading a sign about no services for over a hundred miles. On the other hand, those of us who live off the Wasatch may find some comfort in the fact that we have some elbow room on the open road, that we can be alone for over a hundred miles. The car radio reception isn’t even that great on the deserted interstate and for an hour or so, depending on our speed, we can think a bit and enjoy an unlimited view. I’ve often wondered how many other places allow for an expanse this long without services. And I wonder if people outside of Utah or even those in Utah confined to the Wasatch Front know about our secret. We have room here off the Wasatch. As it turns out, people thousands of miles off the Wasatch know. Some of them even live in places just as solitary. I have it on good authority that even the people in places as remote as Saudi Arabia know about lonely stretches of highway in Utah. I learned about this from Margaret Tueller, a student in my advanced writing class at BYU. “Thanks to the Art in Embassies Program, American diplomatic residences worldwide are filled with the original artworks of U.S. citizens,” she said. “It is like a global museum that provides the international audience a glimpse at the quality, capacity, and diversity of American art and cultures through the accomplishments of some of the most important American citizens—the artists.” And, in this case, the glance is from Utah. A particular work, entitled “Cisco No Service,” hangs in the American Embassy in Riyadh. Even the Saudi Royal Family has seen it. The 3-foot by 5-foot oil depicts an old abandoned gas station with empty fields of wheat behind it. “Although the scene of the gas station and the fields generate a feeling of expanse and exposure, it is framed by the tight, precise details of a surveyor map,” Tueller said. As my student studied the map, she discovered that the location of this landscape was the small ghost town of Cisco, Utah. While U.S.-Saudi relations were being strengthened in the next room, she stood in awe of the depiction of a gas station that was only three hours away from where she attends school. I don’t know if the Saudis know any more about what is off the Wasatch in Utah than the Don Stinson painting. They probably don’t know that this place between exits 202 and 212 was once a watering stop for the railroad’s steam engines in the 1880s. It was an agricultural community, too, where over 100,000 sheep were shorn before shipping to world markets. Then came oil and gas and for a while the place boomed with a hotel and restaurants and a gas station—services, for sure. Gas and oil production in Cisco were once the highest in Utah. The short boom ended about the time I-70 bypassed the place. Now it is probably only familiar to travelers exploring the Book Cliffs north of town. There are no services, and visitors and employees of the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia know it. And about all most of us know about the place is a shot-up exit sign on I-70 and a second sign that tells us that there are no services. If we want to see it we can slow down and take a 10-mile detour or at least look at some pictures on the web at http://www.ghosttowns.com/ states/ut/cisco.html. We can also look at some of Don Stinsom’s art at http://donstinson.com/paintings1/index.htm, but we’ll have to travel to Riyadh to see “Cisco No Service.” It might be worth the trip. ROGER HUFFMAN FLOORS 50 S. State, Ftn. Green 445-3225 1-800-391-4723 “Yourlocalfloorist!” Carpet, Vinyl & Laminate • Sales and Installation Utah Mini Pivots, Inc. Zimmatic & Greenfield Pivot School coming to this area Feb. 10, 2005, 10 am to 3 pm. Lunch provided. Register by calling 435-528-3098 MANTI—The Peterson family’s expertise in the jewelry trade reaches back to Denmark, where Christian Peterson apprenticed for the required seven years before being acknowledged as a watchmaker and jewelry craftsman. Christian married Anna Christina Lassen on March 31, 1885 in Denmark, and they sailed to America the same day. They settled in Nephi, where Alma was born and Christian worked as a watchmaker and jeweler and became store manager. When Alma was three, the family moved to Manti so Christian could work for Provstgaard Jewelers. Christian began to train Alma at the age of 10 in the watch making craft, and father and son worked side-by-side as Alma grew up. By the time Alma was a student at Manti High School, he had built an oak cabinet for a grandfather clock and constructed the clock’s mechanical unit. Alma took over the family jewelry and watch repair business when his father died in 1919. In 1922, Alma and his brother Clarence purchased Provstgaard Jewelers and worked together until 1924. Alma married Mary Rust in 1923 and continued the family tradition by training their four sons. Ray, Kay, and Bart joined their father in Karat Kounty Jewelers while Reed became an upholsterer. “When Dad taught Kay and I the trade,” Bart Peterson said, “he told us that he didn’t want us to have to make a living at it, but that it was nice to fall back on.” “It is how I earned my spending money,” Kay Peterson said. He worked as a Manti Postmaster from 1962-1990. “When I was between 14 and 18 years old, I would clean the big clocks for 75 cents each,” Kay said. “My dad would collect $1.50 for the work, so we both made out.” Working three hours after school, Kay would release the springs of a mantel clock and clean them in solvent. He then cleaned the bearings with a oneinch paint brush and then oiled the pivots and springs and put them back. During the Great Depression, Alma traded a pig, chickens and other commodities for the jewelry or work. “Sometimes it got pretty interesting around here, but we never went without food to eat,” said Kay. “Karat Kounty Jewelers earned the well deserved reputation of being the business where one could purchase quality merchandise and where excellent repair work was done at a fair price,” Bart’s wife, May Peterson, said. “I was buying my father out, but I wanted to get married,” Kay said. The business would not support another family, so Kay worked at Schubauch Jewelers in Ogden until his father was ready to retire. “Dad was meticulous. He was a good repairman and was always around to help,” Kay said. When the sewing factory, which made parachutes and army shirts, went broke, making a liv- PHOTO COURTESY OF PETERSON STUDIOS (Above) Bart Peterson in “Aged with Time” an award-winning photograph taken by his son, Dave Peterson. This print was accepted for national exhibition and hangs in Bart’s home. The plaque from Dave thanks his dad for all his patience, love and sacrifice. (Below) Bart Peterson works repairing watches and clocks from his shop in his home. ing in Sanpete County became harder for Kay. In 1962, he sold the family business to his brother Ray and took the postmaster position. Ray ran the business until 1964 when the building at 55 N. Main St. was sold to Glen Allred. After World War II, Bart returned to Manti and worked with his dad. In a few years, however, he went to work in the office of the Manti LDS Temple, followed by several years at Manti City Bank. He later worked as the city recorder and the office manager for Cox Construction Co. A severe heart attack in 1971 changed the direction of Bart’s life, and when he was able, he returned to watch and jewelry repair work “It took some time before the old learning returned,” May said. “Once again he learned from his father and honed his skills.” Bart still works from the shop in his home. It is filled with clocks and watches, history and memories. When a customer needs a new watch crystal, Bart goes to his father’s crystal cabinets containing narrow trays filled with crystals of every imaginable size. Unfortunately, watch making and repair is becoming a thing of the past. “When Timex watches came in,” Bart said, “it cost six dollars to clean them and KATHY LIN EGGLESTON / MESSENGER PHOTO Kay Peterson used the skills he learned from his father to make this open mechanism chime clock on display in his home. Timex could stamp them out new for 10. Now, people buy a watch for a few dollars and throw it away when it quits working.” “When my father is gone there will be no more watch repair work done here in the valley,” said Dave Peterson, Bart’s son. In 1986, Dave and his wife Karma decided to make their home in the Sanpete Valley. Dave, an award-winning artisan in his own right, opened Peterson Studios, Fine Portrait and Wedding Photography. In April 1989, Bart turned over the Karat Kounty Jeweler name to Dave, and Dave brought the family business back to Main Street. “I believe in dealing hon(See “Artisans” on A6) 7R TXLW VPRNLQJ YLVLW XWDKTXLWQHW FRP |