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Show 0t Todd To Be Honored On 88th I Anniversary fit K!yton Home; as Writer, Publisher, Engineer , Nov 30, the family Today. A M. Toc)d, a 'd frf n the Uintah Basin : riiid 1Q05 who now lives in ince u-il'l honor him on his hW'hdav Although he is V1 active' physically as he S K'ot afew years ago, this man 1 as a j t contnbution development of the Ba-w Ba-w T- fl keen mind and never ;i . a day that he does not VThis newspaper and keep teU informed of the many blSs of a changing world. 1 following story of A. M. life was submitted by Ifrfter Alice Todd, the ton postmistress and was by Arnold Gates, hus-f hus-f Tnf Mr. Todd's granddaugh- Georgia Phillips Gates. The ,er'rd is grateful to Miss Suffer this contribution and ,ik other interesting stor-fpioneersof stor-fpioneersof the Basin es-Kcially es-Kcially of those who are still f . with us. LIFE OF A. M. TODD ' Our age, regrettably, knows ... ew of the numbered band 1 ft men and women who have L the United States spring ;ram the days of the pioneer aeon and the raw and bustling antler mining camp into an Ira of atomic and supersonic ex-"iriment. ex-"iriment. With a keen aware- VWtne historic, A. M. Todd. VI of Myton, Utah, has always haa Yj , lively interest in the progress and change about him. Though : the years have finally quieted his active participation, he still ' follows the events of the day with avid attention. His memory mem-ory is sharp and clear and nothing noth-ing warms him to a long reminiscence remin-iscence like a comfortable lawn i chair and a soothing Utah sun. 1 Then, with practically no '' prompting, he will tell of the , hectic days of his youth. ' ' His path wandered iar from Oakdale, Illinois, where he was born on November 30. 1862 in the fury and confusion of the , Civil War. When his father, the f Reverend Andrew Todd, a pres- ' byterian minister and a cousin i of Mary Todd Lincoln, went ' off to serve in the Union forces, his son acquired an early self- ; , reliance and a physical sturdi-r.ess sturdi-r.ess that was to take him ; through many a long hazard. ; In 1871 the Rev. Todd moved his family to Evans, Colorado. i Id those raw frontier years young Todd listened, absorbed and learned with a keen readi- "jkss that always marked his jrojress. At eighteen he was ( ! ; a printer in Leadville during its rsyday as a silver boom-town. " 1 3-t the little paper was not ( sough for the young man and ; ae moved on to the Denver- Tribune, where he worked un-r un-r the inspired leadership of Eothacher and Eugene Field. While in Denver, young Todd "et the young lady who was I io be Mrs. Todd. On a bright I ar.d good day in 1885, Amanda Biebush came up from St. Louis to visit her sister, who was thP ! wife of Mr. Todd's brother in a romantic and almost whirl wind courtship they were mar ried and moved to Evans Colo Here were born Amy. who died in infancy, and Myra, now Mrs George E. Philipps, of Sunnyl side. Long Island. N. Y. While managing the Evans paper, Mr. Todd took an interest in-terest in telegraphy, and with nis usual efficiency, soon handled han-dled the key with skill. He was offered a good position with the Union Pacific as stationmaster at Sunset, Colo., and accepted It was about this time that Mrs Todd returned to her family home in St. Louis, where their third daughter, Alice, now postmistress post-mistress at Myton, was born A fourth child, Fred, who also lives in Myton, was born a few-years few-years later. With the beginning of the Panama Canal construction, Mr. Todd took the government test and was accepted to go down to the Isthmas as an engineer. Only the reports of yellow fever made him change his mind about taking tak-ing his family and he decided on another course of action. With the opening of the Uintah Uin-tah Indian reservation to settlers set-tlers in 1905, Mr. Todd brought out his family as one of the first in the Basin, and settled in Myton. My-ton. With untiring energy he. rode horseback and buckboard in the extensive surveying that was needed. Among many of the canals that he surveyed are the Mt. Home, South Myton Bench, the Colorado Park and many others. At one time Mr. Todd was engineer for the Dry Gulch Irrigation Co. Out of those long toiling years of the opening of the Basin, he vividly recalls instances where the quiet voice turned away the fury of lynch mobs. He can remember re-member the buckboards. the old stage coaches and the suddeness of western storms. Instances of Indian disturbances flash back to him and he knows how it was to wait with that breath-arresting breath-arresting expectancy while signal sig-nal fires flashed on distant hills. In 1915 he and C. B. Cook and others started the Myton Free Press and he was an active member of its staff until about 1925, when the paper was discontinued. dis-continued. In newspaper work and engineering, en-gineering, Mr. Todd's whole life seemed to be one of public service. ser-vice. In a quiet and unassuming way he, with that remnant band of men and women of his time, helped stake a course that his children and grandchildren find easier to follow. |