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Show IflDflD Years Agn Today Free-flowing firewater and shooting in the streets by Bettina Moench Dooley "There is too much promiscuous pro-miscuous shooting in the streets at night," grumbled the Park Record newspaper on May 24, 1884. "The policemen police-men should be put to work at once so that these disturbers of the peace may be dealt with as they deserve." Little wonder that there was commotion on Main Street. One hundred years ago, the dirt road was lined with dozens of saloons that tempted weary miners with strong whiskey that loosened their tongues and the grip on their wallets. An entire month's earnings could be lost in a bad bet at the poker tables or the pocketing of one eight ball, and, dizzy from drink, the men often found it easier to settle up by pulling a gun or picking a fight. In fact, so renowned was Park City for its free-flowing firewater that the high officials of the Utah Territory ordered that the town would no longer be the distribution point for government supplies sup-plies furnished to the Indians living on the Uintah and Ouray reservations. Instead, the temperance town of Provo would now benefit from the Indian patronage because, as Utah's Commissioner Com-missioner Price noted, "The TnHian tenmstprc uhn rnmf in Society Hall. There it was decided that City Recorder B.A. Bowman would be paid $75 a month; Marshall and Street Commissioner J.T. Kescil would recieve $125 a month; City Attorney and Assessor W.I. Snyder would pocket $75 a month, plus $75 extra for making assessments; assess-ments; and each of the two new policemen would recieve $80 each a month. The new officials, called the Common Council of Park City, resolved that all proposed pro-posed ordinances would be read three times: twice at one meeting and once again at the next meeting. Unless, of course, all aldermen were nnpspnt at thp first mpptinu Council. After updating readers on government news, the Park Record offered some startling start-ling information. It seems a Dr. Blendman had managed to take a photograph of the moon's surface, and after enlarging the image to 51 ' z feet on a "sun microscope," he discovered features that he was sure would rock the world. An enthusiastic Rec-Record Rec-Record gushed that "Those level plains formerly held to be oceans of water proved to be verdant fields, and what formerly was considered mountains turned out as deserts of sand and oceans of water." in there (Park City) from the Uintah reservation in particular parti-cular have found it altogether too easy a thing to obtain plenty of whiskey." The Record was not alone in its disgust for the raucous air that settled on the town as daylight dimmed. Peaceful men worried for the safety of their wives and children, and looked toward the city's new government officials to take action. But before Mayor Hayt could clamp down on Main Street violence, he first had to organize proceedings for the two-week-old government. govern-ment. The first meeting of . the mayor and six aldermen was held behind closed doors I - " - o and unanimously approved the proposed ordinance, in which case it would be read all three times and passed then and there. After unanimously agreeing on that procedure, an ordinance ordi-nance entitled "An Ordinance Ordi-nance Concerning the Charter" Char-ter" was read thrice and passed. To take care of the many pressing problems facing the city, the Council agreed to meet on the first and third Mondays of every month. The group requested that the new city attorney survey the needs of the town, propose ordinances, and present them for consideration at the next meeting of the Common But the most incredible discovery, said the Record, was that "Towns and inhabitants inhabi-tants of all kinds were plainly discernible, as well as signs of industry and traffic! The learned professor's study and obesrvation of old Luna will be repeated every full moon, when the sky is clear, and we venture to predict that the time is not far off when we shall know more of the Man in the Moon than as being an agent in English politics." No doubt after reading about this amazing scientific revelation, Parkites would long after gaze at the moon and wonder what kind of life they lived. |