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Show Farmi2igtoi9s name reflects rick soil? city history notes X By GARY R. BLODGETT f. FARMINGTON When the Mormon Pioneers settled in a rich ; farming valley 16 miles north of Jr. Salt Lake City and 21 miles south of Ogden, it was appropriate to name the community Farmington. Snuggled against the Wasatch r- Mountain Range renamed from the Indian reference of the "Valley of the Wasatch," and just a few miles from the east shore of the Great Salt Lake, Farmington has boomed into a city offering much more than farming. According to a book, "My Farmington," written by Margaret Steed Hess, Farmington was first inhabited by Spanish Priests, a few t fur traders, and of course native Indians. But the first Mormon settler is believed to be Hector Caleb Haight and his family, Julia, and two sons Horton and William, who settled there in the fall of 1847 and herded lifestock in the foothills around the area. Although trappers built the first house in Farmington, a one-room adobe west of 200 West and about one-half block south of State Street, the Haight family built a two-story adobe on the corner of y 200 North and Main. It later was used as a hotel to house guests ; .. moving into Farmington and wait-ing wait-ing for their homes to be built and ',' for those early Pioneers passing J through the area. The following year, several more I families moved into Farmington to settle with their families and within a few years the tiny hamlet had grown into a sizeable farming com- j.', munity. The winter of 1847 was a harsh winter on the Haight Family, who suffered through the cold and snow with little food. There was no hay . for the cattle and much livestock ,7, was lost, accoring to recorded documents. As new families moved in, logs were hauled from Weber Canyon and a small log and adobe school was built near what is now 400 North Main. Harvey Green was the first teacher. Just as the early settlers were getting a foothold on a new life, a severe drought and hordes of grasshoppers gras-shoppers plagued the community. Townspeople battled the millions of grasshoppers with spades, shovels and drags forcing the pests into water to drown or into piles of straw where they were burned. Although there was little serious trouble from the native Indians, it was decided to do what their neighbors neigh-bors to the south (Bountiful) had done and built a wall around the community. But this town wall, made of mud, encompassed only about 1 50 acres leaving many of the early pioneer homes outside the wall. The wall was started in 1854 and took one year to complete. com-plete. Soon, there were stores, mills, blacksmith shops, etc., springing up in the community. The first flour mill the old Heidelberg was erected in 1855 by Willard Richards. The first newspaper in town was the "Argosy," edited by Vernon Felt and John S. White. In 1911, Mr. White bought out the Argosy and Mr. White started the Weekly Reflex in nearby Kaysville. Farmington was designated by the Territorial Legislature as the county seat for Davis County, thus a courthouse was built in the mid- J y - r , y r ri 1 "Number please?" That was the very familiar voice of Gladys Robinson, who spent nearly 50 years as the switchboard operator at the Davis County Courthouse in Farmington. sirs -4 ; "-i'r-- ' I f t , . . , - t w- I - s - ' 5- ' 1 jU J. 1 Mills, such as this early flour mill near a canyon stream east of Farmington, were built as early as the mid-1 850s. This structure, known now as the Heidelberg, was built by Willard Richards in 1855. die of the city. It was 35x45 feet, two stories high. It was built for $6,000 but since some of the money was donated by the townspeople, it was allowed to be used as a church and community center. The first county jail, a tiny six-man six-man facility, was constructed under a large tree on the west side of the parking lot, next to the courthouse. court-house. It was used until about 25 years ago with food cooked by a local restaurant. The first Relief Society, a women's organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Latter-day Saints, was officially assembled assem-bled in the local ward chapel with Sarah Smith Holmes a local resi-dent resi-dent and former wife of LDS Prophet Joseph Smith was named first Relief Society President. Presi-dent. The first bank in Farmington was the Davis County Bank which opened for business in 1892. Ama-sa Ama-sa L. Clark, bank president, was the city's first mayor. He was installed in-stalled in 1908, the first year electric elec-tric lights were installed throughout through-out the city. f C&iyview Drive WW c't,tt,n () Burke Lane enctt Rod Fanmneioo ll I "-SX 1 mFarmingtoiifUtati I T,, j jssjj k MUD WALL j T V L L - int, L" v "dl'n WALL -t r - -- " i1 1 i Bllioqd ( An "L-shaped" mud wall was built around the interior of Farmington to protect the early settlers from the Indians. It was 2.6 miles long and encompassed about 150 acres. The "modern-day" streets give the proximity of the early-day civilian fortress. |