Show reminiscences of OUR COUNTY CONTINUED by JOSIAH F GIBBS ARTICLE VII deseret x 4 frost bitten koom boom i cafter the building of the utah southern southern the oasis division became more thickly populated A ward or Z A was affected with john etyler styler as bishop and J C hawley as first counselor A part of eastern nevada include ing osceola and other mining samps along and near the nevada utah boundary became tributary to deser et mining activity at drum moun tain increased to near boom proper eions the discovery of the sensa tignall tio nall rich lead silver fish springs mine 90 miles distant during sev eral years kept hyrum S cahoon and a small number of freight teams busy hauling ore from mine to oasis sta tion sheep in sanpete and sevier val leys and is tar far north as payson had increased to over crowding of the lo 10 can winter ranges simultaneously the owners discovered that western millard county deserts were an al most region and w thin a short time tens of thousands of sheep were passing through deseret to the vast winter ranges and during six months in each year the owners and herders were periodical visitors sur plus grain and hay bro t extra good prices everybody had cash and des eret had its first and last wild and woolly boom S cloon defiance of liw L iw A large whiskey and billiard sa ion was erected by a local man who evidently soon tiring of his first ex peri ence as saloon keeper sold out to a conscienceless dealer in booze from the north intoxicants were dispels ed every day and night in the week and to everybody who had the price including minors semi open gamb ling mith cards and billiards were permitted 0 which minors were wel corned coined and all when sufficiently were mercilessly merci lesly robbed of their pay checks and cash U V the mill lid county blide attracted by the prosperity so suddenly dropped into the lap of des eret and vie vic anity a newspaper man from salt lake city arrived during the spring of 1891 with a small print ing plant which largely added to the budding dignity of the nondescript town chaides goddard the owner and editor of the blade was in ev ery respect capable and energetic but soon discovered that transients cared little for local news and were total failures as prospective subscribers also mr goddard discovered that the settlers were not responsive to the exceptional value ot of a local per as a means of advertising the aa most unrivalled farming resources of the vast deseret delta A halt half doz en or so local business advertise ments added but little to the income of the blade so mr goddard wisely decided to retire from the un prom promising icing field and remove the en tire printing plant the story of how three citizens de aided to purchase the blade plant and save the paper from premature death how two of them safely re dented and left the writer holding the bag tor for elusive snipe might re fleet too severely on the less than horse sense of mr goddard s sue cessor cessor therefore will be passed it to say dropping the thaid person which has now become too cumbersome that I 1 believed it would require but little time and attention to keep the blade going until such time da as someone with even less sense than myself could be persuaded to take the infant and nourish it until it might become self supporting could I 1 have foreseen the never ending re suits of that blunder of my life I 1 would have borrowed a sledge hammer from my old friend samuel W western the village black smith and junked the old army press its belongings but as the future chuld not be penetrated the situation wag accepted lest the im lin piled plied regret in the last two sentences be misinterpreted it is well to re mark that it refers exclusively to the tact fact that the division of time and work precluded the possibility ot of sue cess in either line ot of endeavor mr goddard a printer sprinter was in ever y respect a first class all round type sticker and press man but under the less exacting new owner it was soon discovered that the printer was spending too much time at the sa loon after surveying the fields the miss es mary kelly and belle hunt were induced to learn the art of printing exceptionally gifted patient and loy al those charming girls soon relieved the blade from entire dependence on the itinerant printer just in pro portion to the advancing skill of the girls the printer spent more time at the saloon and was rarely present during a full shift except on press days he was tired fired went to fill more and secured sufficient aid from the innocence abroad citizens to establish the millard county ress about the first act of the progress was to hop onto the blade which jolted its editor from his dream of finding a purchaser of the blade with less sense than him gelt self he had the blade bear by the tall and couldn coulden t let go it was a case of run or tight fight george crane of kanosh a hum orous and fluent writer was secured as correspondent the well educated wife of a and rancher of black rock and right in the sheep grazing section furnished news items from that locality the daughter of an english earl had miraculously be come a resident of meadow and cheerfully to a call tor for news a mr clay of baker snake valley an exceptionally clever and racy writer furnished mining news from osceola and the desert sheep camps fillmore holden scipio and oak city correspondents furnish ed weekly news and chris overson than whom there was never produced a finer type of manhood became cor respondent and subscription agent at leamington leavington Lea dear chris christ in ad to hustling tor for the blade insisted on paying cash tor for bis his own personal subscription with the ex caption of the meadow correspond ent who transferred her allegiance to th progress the blade staff was loyal to the end news space was enlarged and when the task of type setting and press work became too large for the girls a male printer from salt lake was added to the blade force and its editor as between side duties and newspaper work had both hands full day and night lehman s cave snake valley had been discovered and must be visited and its marvelous beauty written up for blade readers A serial gen esis and geology ap feared weekly the indian version of the gunnison Gunn lson massacre was escurex from indian career then began a red hot tight fight to the finish on the deseret aloon and on nearly every thing else in sight that failed to reach upward to the editor editors s suddenly ar aused standard of civic and moral questions from a subscription list of about 15 within a year advanced to upward of it proved that in those days a fighting newspaper could live where others perished right on the saloon the law defiant attitude of the sa loon keeper became so open and so notorious that in lieu of cu tlona the blade was compelled to assume the championship of law and public decency As in those days of intensive bootlegging patrons ol 01 the saloon and gambling declined to squeal and therefore the law en forcing agencies were powerless one morning the blade carried a scathing attack on a certain res ident of deseret reciting in detail the numerous offenses tenses ot of which that resident was guilty the blade was friday evening evenings s mary and belle next morning had barely begun distributing type the editor was preparing copy tor for the next isue when from the open door emerged the following pertinent ques tion what in hell do yon mean by your attack on me in your measly pa per the verbal attack was so sudden and furious and the questioner so much larger and even more ferocious than tl e editor that he was compell ed to spar tor for time mary and belle ceased throwing in type their faces were deathly white but not from fright of tha the bullying saloon keeper opening the desk drawer the editor po bitely asked his guest to be seated his program was hurriedly arranged to the great surprise ot of the blade family the intruder sat continued on back page reminiscences CONTINUED down and the following dl oll took place editor your name was not men cloned yes but everyone in town knows tor for whom your dirty screed was intended handing his visitor a copy of the offending blade the editor diplomatically asked him to read the article and one by one point out any and all misstatements and if it unjustified the blade in its next isue would gladly them and make amends the saloonkeeper saw the trap and made an effort to escape by returning the blade and declining to read the offending truth well then the editor responded I 1 will read the read the charges and you indicate the errors v the first second and third charges were read and after each charge the question Is or Is not this true was put to the victim who was wisely silent then came a stinging paragraph his face was ailace with passion and with clenched fists the visitor sprang to his feet and shouted it a 8 all a pack of damned lies stop the dirty sheet and it if you ever men tion me again the editor was also on his feet the bluffer was bluffed not so fast stopping your paper is easy but keep this in mind either conduct your joint within tl the e law or you 11 get a weekly skinning thru the blade his departure was doubtless made happier by a distinct giggle from somewhere near the ca cases ses the tight fight was not however won it remained tor for justice lee R cropper to add his legal influence in the final knock out the statements in any signed ar tide are the statements of the writer thereof and not in any manner the statements of this paper |