This marker honors the first settlers of Providence, who camped near here early in May 1859, and those who followed in the years 1860,1861,1862. Included in the groups who pioneered this section are the following families: Alder, Bowen, Busenbark, Baer, Campbell, Clifford, Clark, Cranney, Dee, Durfey, Fuhriman, Flemming, Fife, Gates, Gassman, Greenback, Hafter, Hansen, Harmon, Hoth, Hug, Hall, Kresie, Lau, Low, Lane, Loosle, Maddison, Sperry, Sueifel, Theurer, Traber, VanLouevan, Williams, Wright, Zollinger.
This historic marker was erected June 7, 1947 by the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association and is #110 in the series, their markers were later adopted by the Sons of Utah Pioneers. It is located at the Providence Church at 10 South Main Street in Providence, Utah
Construction of this building began under the direction of Bishop William Budge in 1869, ten years after the settlement of Providence. It was completed in 1873 at a cost of $12,800 and replaced a 32 x 16 foot hewn log structure erected in 1860. Reddish colored limestone, quarried near Dry Pole Canyon on the mountainside directly to the east, was used by head mason James Henry Brown in the 30 inch thick, 20 foot high walls. Known as “The Hall” and then as “The Church,” the meeting house had an excellent plank dance floor, a stage and proscenium at the east end of the hall, and a pump organ. It was a community center for dances and plays as well as religious services. In about 1877, a two-story rock vestry was added on the east. Other major additions and alterations were made in 1926, 1948, and 1968; however, the Old Rock Church of Providence is one of the best remaining examples of early Utah pioneer meeting houses.
Major Irrigation Canals Constructed in Cache Valley
Before canals existed in Cache County, the agriculture was limited to dry farms and grazing. To pioneer settlements, water was not only the source of wealth, but of human existence. Construction of the Logan and Hyde Park canal (9) was started in 1860. Work on four more Logan River canals (8,10, 11, and 12) began in 1864. The highest canal (7) was begun in 1881.
Tools for canal construction included shovels, picks, spades, wooden plows, and go-devils. Go-devil ditchers were constructed of two large logs fastened together in the shape of an A, like a snow plow. Loaded with men and pulled with several yoke of oxen or teams of horses, this machine pushed the loose dirt to the sides to make the bank for the canal. It was estimated that up to 32 teams of horses were simultaneously working in the valley at one time. Blasting was used in the last Logan River canal (7) to provide channeling in rocky areas along the canyon walls. Concrete reinforcement was also required.
For the early canals, proper grade for water flow was established with homemade devices consisting of a horizontal 16 to 20 foot board with a vertical plumb bob hanging from a vertical frame in the middle and a vertical stake at each end. One stake was longer than the other so as to determine the amount of fall required to assure the water could flow downhill. On one canal the plumb bob level was accidentally reversed so the water was expected to run uphill and the project had to be resurveyed.
When cash was unavailable, canal workers were paid with deeds for acreages to be irrigated. Food and tents were provided as workers lived on the job. Bank loans could not always be repaid and one project went bankrupt and remained idle for seven years. Completed canals were often breached and maintenance was a continuing activity. Despite numerous difficulties, using homemade devices and working in close cooperation, the pioneers brought some 50,000 irrigated acres into production by 1880 and more than 90,000 acres by 1900. This represented 1,255 farms in 1880 and 2,506 in 1900. By 1900 there were 118 separate cooperative canal systems in the valley. Most of these early cooperatives never incorporated and in 1956 remained mutual companies managed by and belonging to the farmers they served.
This historic marker is #184 of the historic markers erected by the Sons of Utah Pioneers, it was erected in 2014 and is in Canyon Entrance Park in Logan, Utah.
Thirty feet east of this spot was built, in the winter of 1865-1866, under the leadership of Benget P. Woolfenstein, the first community center of the Logan Fifth Ward. Consisting of but one room, 16 by 20 feet. It served, nevertheless, as church building, amusement hall, and school house. William G. Cole being the first teacher.
At that early date, eager for religious, social, and educational growth, the ward united upon the project. Even boys of school age helped men with teams get the logs from Green Canyon. Others laid them into the building that rose. A humble symbol of the cooperative spirit of the Mormon Pioneer. – To commemorate that enterprise this monument was erected by the Scout Explorers, Troop 105, of the Logan Fifth Ward. John Q. Adams and Dan A. Swenson ward committee, Henry K. Aebischer troop leader. The Original key, affixed to a stone from the foundation of the old house, has been made part of this marker.
This historic marker was erected in 1935 by the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association and is #63 in the series, their markers were later adopted by the Sons of Utah Pioneers. It is located at 480 North 400 East in Logan, Utah.
This barn displays horizontal siding, which is less common than vertical. Some people believe that it creates a more weather-tight barn. Little is known about the barn except that it was supposed to have housed U.S. Cavalry horses at one time.
