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Show I fhu. I Opening Of Reservation In 1905 Brings fltmpire-Builders To A Wild Eastern Utah " I Men, Women Still Living Who Have Seen History In The Making v Hesert doesn't just bloom : becomes more than a geo- 11 hical dot on the globe only frap the human element en- 'be"tn the never-ending strug- nature. ! rr.,tern Utah is a place where j Stimental and philosophical f f"ment of this type strikes : fto many old-timers. Cough the years they have ! T water mean irrigation, ' ,h in turn has meant more : hjc mo-e cattle, sheep, and !,c They now see an even : ;! arer Picture of a brighter fu-i fu-i ! fe promised by a speeded-up ! Siamation program and oil U is already being pumped . of the ground. Oil is an ;ffV" proposition, of course, hit a lot of people are convinced t flows in abundance beneath I L desert sands. And no one l'oWS when the next of many Possible natural resources will ake its appearance But the same landscape was 3inted a drab grey in 1905 ihen the reservation was op-ened op-ened to settlement. Then the en-I en-I ,jre area was desert, and desert doesn't support life in' a manner man-ner to which one prefers to become be-come acustomed. The pioneering instinct flows i deeply in the veins of men, like p. S. Stanley, whose early days in the Basin are narrated on ! page 3. What he went through1 at the turn of the century has been repeated time after time. This instinct, which has always driven mankind to peep beyond the horizon, brought pioneers into in-to Utah by the thousands years : ago, and into the Uintah Basin as soon as it was opened to settlement set-tlement in 1905. Many of these pioneers are still living. Some show evidence of the ordeal they have experienced; exper-ienced; others you would swear are much young-er then they really are. All can be proud of what they have accomplished. Few sections of the country can boast as many octogenarians (people 80 years or older) as the Uintah Basin. Within the Roosevelt vicinity alone, we have " gathered information on 16 as the subject of this article. Others we have probably missed. The 16 to be included in this article are Mrs. Samantha Dean, r-LG,is Emert, 82; Charley Elliott, El-liott, 82; Mrs. Mary Orser. 86; Mjrs. Sarah Summarell. 82; Geo. Abplanalp. 87; Quirino Trujillo, 80; Ren Gardner, 86; Arnold Keef all of Roosevelt; A. M. Todd, 87. and Mrs. John Davis, 89. both of Myton; W. H. Stone. 80, and John Angus 87, of Ioka; George Searle, 85, of Vernal, who lived in Roosevelt until last summer; Levison Hancock, 91. Bluebell; Mrs. E. L. Wim-mer, Wim-mer, past 80, Neola; and Mrs. Mary Freston. 83. Roosevelt. V 4 r The eldest of 'this group is Mr. I Hancock, who, after a long and profitable life I working in cot-Jton cot-Jton mills, punching punch-ing cattle, minting min-ting and running ;a store, is 91. 3orn in Spanish ( ork, June 4, , 858, h e came i o Ashlev Val ley in 1902, where he settled his family in the Mill ward. When the reservation was opened, he moved to Roosevelt; and his , house Bnd the tent thrown' up 'by the Harmston families were the only homes in Roosevelt during the winter of 1905-06. Mr. Hancock built near Hancock Han-cock cove, a landmark which bears his name. j These men and women pioneered pio-neered in most phases of early Uintah Basin life. The trades they chose to follow were those useful to a pioneer pattern of life. True, few were college graduates or members of the so-called upper crust, but individuals indi-viduals of that type, 40 or 50 years ago, would have been out of step with the times. What was needed then were men and women, wo-men, who, enduring hardships, could doggedly slug it out with an unsympathetic environment. Mrs. Dean, Mrs. Orser, Mrs. Summarell, Mrs. Davis. Mrs. Freston, and Mrs. Wimmer did their part as housewives, while their husbands were engaged in making a living and helping their respective communities get ahead. Mrs. Orserj was one of the early school teachers. he taught the first j year in a small log house. A fire place was the only source o f heat; benches and desks were made of slabs! and poles put to- -! I gether by the parents. In 1902 she became superintendent of the Uintah county schools, and during her term the county eighth grades were organized at a unit. This was the first step in the centralization central-ization of schools in the county. I f . ir Mrs. Dean was born in Kansas, Dec. 18, 1865, living there for about 35 years. After a few years in Colorado, she and her husband S e 1 d o n Perry Dean, moved to Vernal in the fall et 1904. The next stop was Duchesne in 1905, where Mr. Dean ran a store and butcher shop. There, for over two years, the couple then moved mov-ed to Indian Bench and Ft. Duchesne. Du-chesne. In 1945 Mr. Dean sold the last of his possessions on Indian Bench and moved, with his wife, to Roosevelt. Mrs. Freston's family moved to the Roosevelt area in 1907. She has five sons and daughters living, plus 12 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren. Mrs. Freyon was born Sept. 12, 1866, in Mt. Pleasant, and in 1884 was married to Samuel H. Freston. Mrs. Summar-!ell, Summar-!ell, one of the first settlers of the Uintah Basin, Ba-sin, was born in Springville, Ala. April 20. 1867 Before leaving the South she was married to James M. Summarell. Sum-marell. They i moved first t o Texas, but being i 1 I- . is f. f converts tp the Mormon church, had to leave because of religious relig-ious persecution. They moved to the Uintah Basin when the reservation res-ervation was thrown open to settlers. I f ried, she has 3 grandchildren, 15 1 great - grandchildren, and two . great-great-grandchildren Mrs. Wimmer arrived in the Basin 27 years ago. Until her husband's death in 1931, they I had a home in Neola, where she and her daughters still live. All have been active in Ichurch work. Mr. Todd, as a young man, worked for a time for the Denver Tribune, and later started the Myton Free Press, in partnership part-nership with C. ;B. Cook. Also a capable engineer, engine-er, he made the surveys for Mt. Home and So. Originally an Oregonian, Mrs. javis was born pet. 5, 1 8 6 0. ihe spent her i : a r 1 y years in ! A i s s o u ri and Cansas. arriving n Utah in 1915. She has lived in Vhiterocks, Du-jhesne, Du-jhesne, and now esides in Myton. My-ton. Twice mar t I Mrs. wimmer, now has 87 grandchildren. Most of the men were active in community activities. Arnold Reef and Mr. Todd were early newspaper men, The former put out the first edition of the Roosevelt Roos-evelt Standard, formerly the Uintah Standard, in 1914, and ran the paper until its sale in 1920. When he first started, his type was set in Myton. He did his printing on an1 old Washington Washing-ton handpress, using paper wadding wad-ding to make the forms hold. (A picture of Mr. Reef standing in front of the Standard plant is shown on page 8.) - .. I v .' h 5 - - I- I Myton Bench. Born in Oakdale, 111., Nov. 30, 1862, he came to Utah at the opening of the Ute Indian reservation in 1905, settling set-tling in Myton, where he still resides. Mr. Stone, a ,1J1L jack-of-all-trades was always interested in-terested in community com-munity activities. activi-ties. He taught school in Vernal shortly after his marriage, and during the early days in Ashley , valley was af-filiated af-filiated with a dramatic c o m-! pany, performing with Cal Duke Ada Rich (mother of Larraine Day) Al Kone, Tom Holdaway and his wife, Effie Stone Emert, and others. While in Vernal he lelped build the Uintah Stake tabernacle, the first high school nd power plant. For a time he carried mail in Ashley valley, and later became president of Dry Gulch Irrigation Co. It was often said in those days that if there was a job, Stone had it. After moving to Ioka, he remodeled re-modeled many homes there, and helped build the Ioka ward chapel. cha-pel. A son of English immigrants, immi-grants, he was born in Cedar Fort, Nov. 17, 1869 and has lived in Utah almost all his life. Mr. Angus', was the firsi' LDS family tcj settle in Ioka I There he super I vised the build ' ing of the Ioka Ward house. He' has been a lead er in church ac ( tivities for man years. Before , moving to Ioka ' ae helped con. - struct two local schools, the church, roads, and the irrigation system in Jensen. Throughout nis life he has kept himself busy farming and milling. Born Sept. 14, 1862, in Spanish Fork, he pioneered pi-oneered to Ioka in Oct. 1906. Mr. Trujillo, born at Chima-yo, Chima-yo, N. M., June 1, 1869. entered Utah in 1 8 9 6, driving the first sheep wagon into in-to the Basin. While passing through Gusher on his journey, the g i 1 s o n i te mine there exploded ex-ploded killing about three men New residing with his son, Kenneth, in Roosevelt, Roos-evelt, he herded sheep until retirement re-tirement about five years ago. I When Sheriff John T. Pope, of Uintah county, resigned in 1893 George Searle took over the job and held it for a year. He was in Meeker, Colo., one day wlien Butch Cassidy passed through return- Bom at Midway, Mid-way, Nov. 22, 1862, Mr. Abp-lanalp Abp-lanalp grew up in an immigrant Swiss family. He was a great baseball playing play-ing catcher on the Midway team. He moved to Vernal in 1889, where he freighted with ing from the Telluride bank robbery Mr. Searle says he wasn't sheriff then and didn't figure it his duty du-ty to escort Butch to jail. Born Sept. 16, 1885, Mr. Searle punched cattle on a large scale in his younger days, working for several large outfits. When the reservation was opened in 1905, he was handling the beef contract for Ft. Duchesne. When the soldiers moved out, several years later, he moved to Roosevelt, Roos-evelt, buying a farm at Hancock Han-cock Cove. He moved to Roosevelt Roos-evelt in 1943. a team and wagon to Price. His family was one of the first in the city to get a shingle roof. He moved to Roosevelt 32 years ago, and on Jan. 11, 1950, will celebrate the 61st anniversary of his marriage to Amanda Wardle. Like many others, Mr. Elliott El-liott came to the Basin in 1905, when the reservation reser-vation was opened op-ened to settlers. He arrived i n Vernal, July 27, in a mule-drawn covered wagon. Drawing a poor homestead, h e and his brother i .40 ' ft. - v. ' . m ' r '.. 'f s -x secured jobs that fall logging at the government sawmill in Uintah Uin-tah canyon. In the spring he leased an Indian place south of Whiterocks, where he farmed for two years and worked work-ed on the Indian Bench canal. In 1908 he entered the Indian service as a farmer and ditch rider, and four years later, when the soldiers left Ft. Duchesne, he resigned his job and bought a farm in Bennett, where he is now living, Another lifetime life-time cow puncher punch-er is Mr. Gardner, Gard-ner, who, born in P a y s o n in 1863, has lived in Utah all his life. He moved t o Hayden 32 years ago, and last summer moved to Roosevelt. Roos-evelt. The father fath-er of six boys and six girls,, his wife died in Independence, Mo., in 1905. Gus Emert, now 82, is another an-other jack-of-all trades: a bookkeeper, book-keeper, merchandiser, mer-chandiser, cow-puncher, cow-puncher, b e e-kiediper; e-kiediper; and from 1922-30 manager of the Uintah Power & Light Co. He has known Geo. Searle since 1887, when the two met in Rangely, Colo. His busy fiddle, for many years, was an old stand-by at square dances. |