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Show 1 , ' ' I i '': - : ... ... -. .', . j"- ' ,s :.'!-..r:' ? ' '; r , A ! ;' - " " ii r-f ' . - ' - ' ' ' fu mW a o a n n r ! - r?r .. ; . .... . .. r ,i; . I 1 - i . .. s 'Ji!.-', ... ' ..... 3 .,. -"; ' '"L-'-'- - -J-- v.,- VUlMUtll? i is , . : - . , , ' " ' ' , V",v J, - ." -5 .-1 " - ; 1 w- -' . - , , v 4.ii i - , "- vi- ,r , - ,-.. , , 4 . . 4. J This is the way the old UP&L power plant near Battlecreek looked with its Greek ar- Sam Hilton looks ove remains of the beautiful power plant that sat where Kiwanis Park is chitecture. now. Sam Hilton recalls turn-of-the-century electricity ( by GARY BEST Can you remember when candy bars were a dime? Better yet, how about as nickle, and a buffalo nickle at that? Sam Hilton can. On March 3 Sam will celebrate his 91st birthday. bir-thday. ' He was born before the turn of the century in Tropic, Utah. The year, a 1895. Sam was only five years old 1 when his mother passed away. A Shortly after his sixth birthday he J traveled by horse and buggy with 1 his father to Marrysville. There he not only saw his first steam engine . train, but also rode on it all the way 'A to Salt Lake City to attend the LDS Churchs General Conference. While ! in the big city Sam's grandfather I gave him a pear and a banana - strange new fruits for a country boy of only six from Tropic. On his ninth birthday his family y went on a vacation to Cedar Breaks where they were snowed in for three days before they were able to dig out from the spring storm. In 1906, when Sam was 11, the family moved to the Provo Bench area, now Orem. Not long after that they relocated in Pleasant Grove and bought a Model T Ford truck. Mr. Hilton, Senior, and Sam used the truck to haul potatoes and raspberries to market in Salt Lake City. With some of the money they earned, his brother purchased a horse from an indian for $9, which the boys rode constantly. In high school, Sam studied electricity which would later serve as a background for a lifelong vocation. At age 16 Sam remembers attending school at the University of Utah. He lived with Judge John F. McLaine and South Temple where he worked nights for his room and board. For j ust a dime, Sam could buy a glass of milk and a large bowl of soup for supper. After college he spent six months in Nogalas, Calif, in the National Guard. Sam says it took six horses to pull each gun and cason in the gunnary u nit he was in. For a time Sam lived in the rough and up coming mining town of Fri sco, Utah, where he ran the flotation plant until the mine caved in. This brought an end to the Frisco Mine, and Sams employment. He served as a non-commissioned officer during WW I in bolh england and France. After the war he hired on with a Mr. Homer for a dollar a day planting trees, weeding, and digging ditches. In 1919 Sam went to work for Utah Power and Light and worked for a time at the Ohmestead Plant in the mouth of Provo Canyon. After that Sam transferred to the Soda Springs Plant in Idaho, but when the opportunity op-portunity afforded itself to manage the Battlecreek plant in Pleasant Grove, Sam jumped at the chance to move "back home." Sam says when the plant was built around 1907 it required the use of 20 horses and two steam engines to move the transformers and generator up battlecreek to the plant location. Two hundred feet of track would be laid into place, then they would pull the equipment up to the top of the track, disassemble all of the track below, and start over. For a time, water was also brought over from Grove Creek to h help provide enough water to generate the power needs. Water was piped from Battlecreek and Grove Creek to a small reservoir at the top of O mountain by means of a - wooden pipe. From here it was taken down the south face of the G mountain to the power plant in a high pressure steel penstock pipe. This pipe was 18 inch thick at the top of the mountain, however by the time it reached the bottom it was 12 inch thick in order to withstand the 850 pounds per square inch pressure at the nozzle. Sam was the chief operator of the Battlecreek plant until 1957 when the decision was made to dismantle the plant. A decision Sam says he thinks was a mistake. Sam worked six more years as superintendent of the Weber Plant. In 1963 he retired and moved back to Pleasant Grove, where for $375 he purchased the house he used to live in when he m anaged the Battlecreek plant. For an additional cost of $2,500.00 Sam had the house moved to its present location on 1400 East, about one half mile west of its original location. During his life Sam has been commander of the American Legion Post, President of the Lions Club, and a m ember of the Pleasant Grove Chamber of Commerce. He filled two stake missions for the LDS Church and served as president of the 44th Quorum of Sev enties for a time. Sam also served as scout master and obtained the rank of Eagle Scout, and all six of his sons are Eagle Scouts. Two and a half years ago Sam was awarded the Silver Beaver Award, scoutings highest honor. Next time you use Kiwanis Park, where Pleasant Groves Power Plant used to be, take a look around. Lots of Pleasant Groves early history abounds here. |