Show C S N r C S N r af 0 mw A a ca r r oel ew sy 5 i eck by SIRS WILLIAM CHADWICK DEVILS SLIDE AND THE CEMENT PLANT the little valley on lost creek is divided from the main valley of the weber by a high mountain ridge at the east end of the gorge which penetrates the bear river mountains is a remarkable rock formation called the devils slide two parallel upturned reefs of limestone twenty feet apart the edges project forty feet above the mountain side A description of devils slide is given by the utah state road commission as follows devils slide is a good illustration of erosion in rocks that have been strongly folded it has been developed by erosion of a layer of shale between two much more durble durable layers of limestone that form the sides of the slide the rocks were formed in a jurassic sea about million years ago long after they were laid down this region was subjected to strong compressive forces which folded and uplifted the rock layers since then the folding weber river has cut down and exposed these beds about 1909 the shrivers Sh erected a building at the foot of the devils slide for the purpose of initiating new members into their circle at that time jack hopkin was sheriff and he and two deputies were assigned to guard the building and keep all outsiders from approaching the building A train from the east and one from the west brought in the new candidates and they were put through certain ceremonies before they became members A platform was built in the slide and e each ach person was compelled to undergo blindfolded many experiences perien ces before they reached the building As far as is known the building was only used once it is no longer there having been torn down a few years later just beyond is the town of devils slide and the cement plant operated by the union portland cement co the factory is located in a section where the materials for cement manufacture are practically inexhaustible the entire mountain range on which it is located is rich in material for cement in making aking in 1905 a large deposit of rock from which portland cement could be manufactured was located by aman moore and in 1906 the union portland cement company was incorporated corp orated to manufacture cement and this property was secured the officers of the company were C W nibley president joseph M S browning and reed smoot vice presidents james pingree secretary and treasurer the plant was put into operation in 1907 and has been operating ever since the capacity of the plant was 2400 barrels per day and this has bas not been increased since the ground was owned partly by the federal government and the balance by john and heber beesley the supervision of the building of the plant and the village of devils slide was under 0 B gilson and the superintendent super was edward dutcher in 1910 there was a serious accident at the quarry caused by a premature explosion in which some fourteen men lost their lives it was the policy of the management to ta give employment t to 0 as many local people and to buy all their supplies in the state that could be produced here or handled by utah dealers the ground on which the town of devils slide was built was fprmer formerly ly owned by william and alex robison sons of ephraim robison high up on the mountain side just east of the cement plant is a round opening in the rock which is called the devils looking glass jesse C little tells us that when the first company of pioneers stopped where the town of henefer no now v is his father and others of the company came down the weber river to this po point 1 int and viewed this strange rock formation about twelve miles up lost creek north east of devils slide in chinatown this is said to be a fascinating curiosity shop of mother nature covering about 31 of a square mile it has been called a miniature bryce with its shades of pink red yellow purple gray brown and white rock intermingled with the green pine and often decked with snow banks way into the summer EARLY CIVIL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY the name of morgan was given to the county in honor of jedediah morgan grant because he helped the first settlers the pioneers were thorough americans and had respect for law and order and could not long remain without some form 0 of f civil administration very early they took steps to form a county government by act of territorial legislature approved jan 1862 morgan county was organized out of a part of davis county the legislature appointed charles S peterson probate judge of the county and he proceeded to organize the county court on february 13 1862 by appointing ira N spalding philemon C merrill and joseph bradt as selectmen and james bond county clerk af after ter being duly qualified the court met at the office of the probate judge at weber city on feb 17 1862 at 9 a in for the purpose of completing the organization of the county the court appointed the following officers john D parker assessor and collector alvin M stoddard surveyor thomas S johnson sheriff isaac bowman treasurer school commissioner P ca merrill and james bond john D parker and thomas R G welch inspectors of common schools thus weber city now peterson became the county seat of morgan county at the march term 1863 the county court ordered the business of the county to be done there until further action in the matter the following june term of court decided that it should remain the county seat but later developments brought a change march 18 1865 willard G smith succeeded judge peterson as probate judge the selectmen or commissioners this year were P ca C merrill jonathan hemmingway and john robinson there being no Terri territorial territory torl al statute locating the county seat the power to do so seems to have been exercised by the county court previous to 1866 in section 19 of the laws of af utah approved by the legislative assembly of the territory jan 10 1866 the boundaries of the county are defined md and the county seat was located at littleton the following is a copy of the section AU all that portion 0 f the territory bounded south and east by summit county west vest by salt lake davis and weber counties and north by continued one page 4 HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY continued from page 1 weber county and a acine line running from a point in the eastern boundary of weber county nearest the most eastern head waters of ogden river along the summit of the high lands or ranges passing around the head waters of or lost creek easterly to the point where the northern boundary of summit county crosses bear river is hereby made and named morgan county with county seat at littleton morgan city was incorporated in 1868 it is interesting to note that morgan was the only incorporated city between omaha and ogden when the railroad came through in 1869 and the county seat was removed from littleton to morgan by an act approved by the legislature feb 19 1868 the boundary lines between lU morgan organ davis and weber counties were not satisfactorily settled until july 15 1878 when the surveyors of the respective counties met and after due consideration made the following report we have examined into the matter of the aforesaid counties and kave have decided that the line between abr and morgan counties crosses the wagon road in weber canyon at what is generally known as the devils chair and that the northeast corner of davis county is at the center of the weber river immediately opposite to said point the county was represented in the territorial legislature as follows charles S peterson two sessions 1864 to 1866 philemon C merrill men ill four sessions 1866 to 1870 williard G smith seven sessions 1870 to 1878 samuel francis four sessions 1878 to 1884 as representative and in 1886 he represented lU morgan organ summit wasatch and uintah as senator while james R stuart was representative for II morgan organ county during the same time daniel heiner was a representative in the first state legislature 1896 continued next week |