Show STRUGGLES OF PIONEERS IN IDEAL ZIA WEBER VALLEY NOW MORGAN VIVIDLY WRITTEN by A F PHILIPS it was in the year 1855 the tha place the weber valley the first human being to utilize the beautiful meadows in the thel valley was ben symon an indian who had gotten permission from brigham young to use the valley borange to range his cattle he was considered well to do as the country was covered with his cattle and horsek hors esAt 1 kt that time most of the valley valle was covered with a thick growth of sage brush but in the lower part and along the streams that flowed through it were found some beautiful meadows the weber river entering fro M the east and east canyon creek entering from th the south were we rethe afi only streams worthy of mention these continued their course down the valley to what is now known as devils gate canyon where they found an outlet from rom the valley along canyon creek was a heavy growth of mountain willows and the river banks abounded in beautiful cottonwood trees these gave to the valley a pretty appearance and nothing was lack lacking ing but the hand of the farmer to give the valley the beauty that comes as a result sult of civilization hemmed in by mountains it was an ideal place to locate and in the spring of 1855 jedediah M grant and thomas thurston Thud ston left salt lake for the purpose of founding a settlement at some point in the weber valley they selected the location near the present city of morgan and at once began preparing pre parin the ground for planting crops thomas thurston hurston was the first white man to settle in the lower part of the valley in the year 1855 he procured a grant of the lower part of the valley from jedediah M grant commencing at the red blu in the center of the valley and run ning as tar far down as line creek I 1 this time the upper part of the valley vailey was unclaimed no one having settled there the ninth legislature which convened in salt lake on december 9 1861 created the county of morgan soon af after ter the thurston settlement another company came and settled at what was later known as mountain green this colony consisted of three families by the nam ot of harvey higbee and mclean mclean built a sawmill in the new colony and thus the settlers were enabled to procure lumber tor for their buildings this was the first lumber brodu produced ced in the valley in september of 0 1860 another company entered the valley consisting of william hemming T R G welch J T richards and a man named barrett they settled with their fan families diles at a point known al that time as a mt joy now noth north morgan after this settlement was founded mr barrett built a saw sawmill and fumi furnished shed lumber to settlers in that portion of the valley this ibis same tall fall another company consisting of richard fry charles budd joseph griffith charles and daniel bull with their families settled about three f fourths burths of a mile southwest of where the county court house now stands but this settlement was of short duration on account of oe the heavy snows in tho the mountains and threatening high waters in the spring it was not until the spring of 1862 tha the colony moved to the south of what was waa known as monday town hollow which hollow bears the same name today the monday town hollow colony named their new settle ment morgan after jedediah morgan grant this colony prospered as well as could be expected considering si the many adverse circumstances which are incident to a new rugged country with but few facilities to do it in this settlement a man named opened a store it being bein the opening ol of commerce in tha valley this s store was purchased hied later by willian eddington about this thi time richard norwood came to the valley and in the year 1861 charles turner settled in the morgan colony this spirit ol of colonization began to grow more and more people began to I 1 lock into the valley morgan also was not behind in her rapid growth but people kept settling month after donth until the limited space in the mouth of the little monday town hollow would no longer furnish ample room for the people to live comfortably some could have moved making a colony to themselves but it was thought I 1 hou ht best to have the people kep keep together as much as possible consequently it was decided to amov to a large rial flat east of the canyon creek about three quarters of a mile from where the settlement then was the south portion of this tract in question was owned by fredrick dant dan and sons the northern portion was vas owned by william hawkens hawath us and from these men a townsite was procured it was in 1862 that the settlers began to move to the townsite the first to move was ebenezer crouch frederick dark and robert hogg these three families built homes on the new site which was the com Imen men cement of what Is today the beautiful little morgan city A surveyor jesse fox by name surveyed survey pd and laid out the town site as it now stands these lots were laid out our in 13 by 18 rods and contained one acre and seventy tour four rods of land each the lots were individually purchased from dark and hawkins at a price of 25 to 35 each up to this time there had been no grain raised worthy of note and the people were dependent on some of the lower valleys lor for their flour etc during the f first year of the new settlement the settlers endured a food scarcity caused by high water destroying the roads leading leadin thru devils gate canyon the flour supply finally became exhausted and people were reduced to extreme I 1 want some of the families were fortunate enough to have hava a little wheat which they would eat af after ter having boiled it and in this way satisfied their hunger until the month of august when the first outlet was made for other valleys at this time the people were compelled to make a move and consequently ten teams each having havin from one to two yoke of oxen made an attempt to cross the mountains in search of 0 hour flour these teams were hitched to carts and followed hardscrabble canyon then down hog back ridge to the heber C kimball flour mills where a supply was procured in crossing the mountains the team were compelled to cross over tei fe feet et of snow they had ps as much flour as it was poss possible ible to bring over the step steep p mountains t and with difficulty arrived home As early as aa 1861 an irrigation canal had been commenced by richard fry the bull brothers and richard norwood this canal had its head where the river bridge now nov stand and continued down to the bull and fry farms during the earliest carlies t settlement ol 01 the valley the people met in worship at what was known as the line creek colony ind and continued doing so until 1863 at which time brigham young and heber C kimball with a brass band visited the people and held conference with them at this conference which lasted tor for two days there was a beautiful display of vegetables small fruit and grain ons one of the features of this conference was singing that good old song hard times come again no more accompanied by the brass band it was about this time that daniel williams a resident of mt joy began burning lime and thus furnished building material so useful to the people and nice homes began to ap year pear in different parts ot of the county in the spring of 1864 the people undertook to construct another canal A committee consisting ot of richard pry fry charles turner and geo simmons acted under the direction ot of bishop T J thurston the work was to bi be e done by pick and shovel I 1 about the only as these tools were continued on page 4 facility at that time the ditch was to commence near warm springs spring and follow down the valley as far fai as lime creek later milton work continued for three years and aid was done at times under very difficult circumstances the me people were obliged to get their flour and grain cl chiefly adf ly from other valleys until 1864 when geo W taggart and hinman brothers built a mill about one and a half miles south of the town the old richville mill about this date thurston of line creek resigned from the bishopric and the morgan people then met in their worshiping assem assemblies hes at at a a settlement settlement known at littleton and which at one time was the county seat willard wallard G smith became bishop and served until 1865 on february 26 1865 the people of morgan were organized into an ecclesiastical district with richard fry as president and robert hogg and chas turner as his bis assistants their first meetings were held in richard frys house then in robert hog hoggs ds md and afterwards in john agers house house this same spring charles turner began aegan making brick which marked a new epoch in developing the town rom this time in the rude but comfortable for table old log house began to be a thing of the past and the beautiful f ua new brick house began to take its place the first brick house was built by geo W simmons and most of the brick for this house were hauled from a settlement called porterville this same year 1865 ell Whit tear organized a choir in morgan consisting with others the following members ell Whit tear director alfred gunn benjamin gunn willlam william hemming ebenezer crouch harry dean joseph littlefield john I 1 toomer charles charle bull danie dania bull I 1 elizabeth crouch emma hemming jessie hogg J betsy tucker and mrs daniel bull this was the first morgan choir it was in the year 1865 that the first school was opened in morgan by elizabeth crouch at her residence dence the next year the people undertook to build a new school house but it was under very adverse circumstances cum uni stances that such a work was commenced it took a determined effort but little by little the material was procured and the school house erected the first teacher of this new school was alexander rose the next year 1866 nels harvey built a saw mill on the townsite te prom from this mill considerable lumber for the early growth of morgan was procured the first death in morgan wa was the wife of charles turner V elizabeth 11 crouch was the next death 1 in n 1 86 7 1868 1863 the grasshoppers grasshopper s v visited Is the weber valley and stripped it of vegetation the coming of the union pacific railroad enabled the people of morgan to obtain work especially those with teams and they graded the road from carlisle cut to williams point morgan city was granted a charter of incorporation by the legislature ot of 1868 1863 A number of amendments have been added at various times morgan county is strictly an agricultural ri county its principal industry is the growing of peas and continued on page 4 |