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Show UTAH 100 Years Ago By Shirley Chatwin Tabiona, Utah 1853 Just six years had passed since Utah's sturdy pioneers pio-neers moved into the Great Basin. Ba-sin. In these six years they had made the desert bloom. In place of sagebrush and cedars, green fields met their gaze. Their ambition lay in their desire for economic independence. indepen-dence. Numerous achievements had been made. Coal and iron were discovered in Southern Utah. Schools, newspapers, libraries, li-braries, the old tabernacle and many other buildings were erected. The social hall was opened on New Year's day, 1853. Despite winter barriers, mail was being delivered monthly. The ground for the Salt Lake temple was broken in Feb. 1853. The corner stone was layed on .April 6th of the same year. Sawmills and gristmills were Utah's first industrial plants. The first gristmill was owned by Judge George Wilkin's grandfather. grand-father. It was the Chase gristmill. grist-mill. Woolen, pottery, stockings and sugar beet factories soon followed'. It was not easy to accomplish all these things. Heavy snows, high water, hostile Indians, plagues and all manner of obstacles ob-stacles were placed before the people to grapple with. Despite all the hardships they were determined de-termined to win. The Walker war started that summer, adding more tro'uble. In addition to the deaths of both whites and Indians, hundreds of cattle and horses were stolen. The war interrupted the colonizing col-onizing in central and southern Utah. A great deal of time was spent building forts around communities. com-munities. Private losses estimated estimat-ed at two hundred thousand dollars. The war cost the territory terri-tory about seventy thousand dollars. dol-lars. During this same year Governor Gover-nor Young sent out a militia of men to arrest any Mexican parties par-ties trading guns and ammunition ammuni-tion to Indians for women and children. The Mexicans were arrested ar-rested at Manti. After their release, re-lease, they set about stirring up the savages against the whites. These degraded tribes, faced with poverty, had been only too willing to trade off their children. chil-dren. The Territorial Capitol building build-ing was begun in 1853 at Fillmore. Fill-more. Steps were taken during the year in the matter of transportation trans-portation and communication. In this short period of time their transformation of the desert des-ert was little short of a miracle. Their almost incredible story of prosperity and achievements to the world is unequaled. |