There is little evidence today that Fort Sanford once existed. A land survey indicates it stood approximately 1.5 miles to the south of this marker.
The Fort was built in 1866 to protect the settlers in Circleville and Panguitch during the Black Hawk Indian War and to prevent the Indians from stealing livestock. Fort Sanford also served as a supply depot for cavalry troops.
Fort Sanford was designed, built, and named by Major Silas Sanford Smith and his troops. It was constructed entirely of cedar (juniper) pickets that stood eight feet above the ground. A deep ditch at the base of the wall encompassed the entire Fort. The dimensions were 363 feet by 363 feet, or approximately three acres with “block houses.”
Within just three months of completion, President Brigham Young directed the evacuation of smaller towns for great protection. Most Panguitch residents moved to Parowan; Circleville settlers went to Beaver. With the evacuation of these two communities, the need for the Fort also ended. Eventually farmers would salvage the poles of the stockade to build houses, outbuildings and fences.
In 1905 William H. Smart, Uintah Stake President, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, supervised the colonization of reservation homesteaders. Ephraim Lambert was appointed bishop. Dry Gulch Irrigation Co., organized, R.S. Collett, President. In 1906 townsite, in center of Uintah Basin, platted by Edgar F. Harmston, Ward E. Pack, and J.C. Holmes; Roosevelt Mercantile built, Joseph Hardy, Manager. School began 1907, N.C. Cable, teacher. First flour mill built by C.C. Larsen.
Just west of this monument is the former town-site of Clear Lake. This town was not sponsored by the Mormon Church; instead, it was created by the coming of the railroad. Both the railway grade and tracks were laid at this site in the Spring of 1880. It was then the name “Clear Lake” was first used on a railway siding, then a station, and later the small town of Clear Lake.
Before Clear Lake siding was established, there was an Indian trail running west from East Milliard, past a swampy area and a big spring known as Clear Lake, to the Deep Creek Mountains near the Nevada stateline.
As early as 1871, there was some ranching or farming activity along the lower Beaver River south-west of Pot Mountain. Before dams were constructed and water diverted for farming upstream, water from spring runoff would flow past this area and into the West Desert.
The siding was built here because the railway line crossed a wagon road running west from Fillmore and East Millard, to the West Desert ranching communities of Garrison and Gandy. This was where anyone wanting to board a train for Salt Lake City, or Milford and the Frisco mines in the south, would come.
Few records exist for those early years, but Clear Lake siding soon had activity so a station or depot of some kind was constructed for people using the trains. Also, it appears someone likely created an inn or boarding house with a corral and barn for animals. The first people to set this up was the Crockwell family (a father and grown son and their wives). On March 28, 1881, the first post office (Called Clair Lake) was opened with Mrs. Millie Crockwell as postmaster. On May 18, 1881, the name was changed to Clear Lake to correct the error. On April 5, 1883, the post office was closed for unknown reasons.
In about 1890 or a little later, the Charles J. (father) & Charles W. (son) Aldrach families moved from Kansas to Utah. By 1893, they along with about 100 Quakers, began work on the Swan Lake Reservoir project west of Clear Lake. Sometime later, the Swan Lake dam burst, ending that attempt at settlement. In the same time period, the Aldraches bought out some of the settlers in the Clear Lake area and created the Clear Lake Land & Irrigation Company. They were the first to develop land around Clear Lake which seems to have been coupled originally with the Swan Lake project.
In November 1893, the C. L. L. & I. Co. was sold to the Trust Company of America with Timothy B. Sweet, president. On October 25, 1894, the Clear Lake post office was reopened with C. J. Aldrach as postmaster. The Aldrach families stayed in Clear Lake for several years, but C. J. and his wife died sometime before 1904 and are buried next to the road at the base of Pot Mountain. An 8 foot (2 1/2 meter) high metal cross marks their gravesite.
Throughout the years, people were coming and going from Clear Lake. Emory John arrived for the first time in 1893. He was a Quaker from Illinois and was likely involved in the Swan Lake project. Sometime after he left, but returned with a younger brother, Barclay John, in 1897. They helped build a canal from the lake to the townsite of Clear Lake. Virgil Kelly was hired to supervise that project. This new water helped create a farm & ranch at Clear Lake town. Their main crop was alfalfa. In 1898, Emory and Barclay’s parents, Hugh & Laura John, arrived and bought land west of Pot Mountain but they didn’t stay long.
In 1905, Sweet hired Hyrum Bond of Meadow to come work on the Ranch in Clear Lake. Emory John was the Ranch foreman until 1908, then Hyrum Bond took the job until 1912. In 1912, Timothy B. Sweet sold the Ranch to J. C. Gafford, another man from Kansas. Gafford brought a man named Snyder and his family to manage the place and tried hard to promote Clear Lake as a wonderful place to live and farm. In 1920, Gafford sold out to Dan H. Livingston, a Mormon from Salt Lake City. He owned property all over Utah but beginning in about 1930, the Great Depression took hold and by 1932, banks took possession of his property and it went into receivership. Livingston was gone by 1932. Some farming continued at the Ranch while it was in receivership, but the town of Clear Lake began to die.
Fore many years, the State of Utah wanted all the water in the Lake to be part of a wildlife refuge, so they took the water the town of Clear Lake depended on for farming (drinking water was always brought in by the railroad). In the end, the Bonds turned over their holdings to the John family in 1937; the Johns took the State to court. The Johns won in court but Clear Lake town lost its water — and died. In the 1937 time period, all the homes and school were hailed away to Fillmore, Deseret, Sutherland or Delta. Barclay John and his family moved to Salt Lake City in 1937, but Emory stayed until the early 1940’s. Hyrum Bond and his family had moved to Meadow in 1935. Floyd Hardy became section foreman for the railway in 1947; then he and his wife Donetta lived in the section foreman’s house until 1952. They were the last people to live in Clear Lake. The railway depot was taken to Delta in 1952, made into apartments, then torn down in October 1991.
The Clear Lake Hotel
Soon after Clear Lake siding was established in the spring of 1880, the Crockwells had some kind of boarding house. In the early or mid-1890’s, Aldraches built a hotel west of the Clear Lake Station. Over the years, the known hotel owners were the Aldraches, George & Laura Marley, Margaret A. Dorrity, Carl Gordon, Jack Watson, and finally, Hyrum & Lovita Bond.
The Bonds bought the Clear Lake Store & Hotel in 1909 while he was foreman at the Ranch. In 1912, the Bond family moved across the street from the Ranch into the store & hotel, which included the post office. Hyrum Bond was postmaster from 1909 until 1935. Other members of the Bond family lived there through 1937. The Clear Lake Post Office closed forever on December 31, 1937. The last official postmaster was Hyrum’s son, LeRoy (Roy) Bond.
Clear Lake School
The Clear Lake School was built on 1900 and school was taught until 1930-’31. Only one teacher taught 1st through 8th grades in the 2-room building. However, during the 1921-’22, 1923-’24 and the 1927-’28 school years, there were not enough students to fund the school, so there were no classes taught in those years. During those tomes, families with children had to move to another town or send their children to live with relatives in towns with schools. For this reason, few of the kids who grew up in Clear Lake ever went to high school. For the most part, it was the many children of the John & Bond families who sustained funding for the school over the years.
This is D.U.P. historic marker #577, located at about 16000 South Highway 257 between Delta, Utah and Milford, Utah.
Soon after the first white families settled at Box Elder, they built a temporary fort to protect themselves from Shoshone Indian attacks.
The Davis Fort was named after their leader, William Davis and consisted of a row of simple log cabins.
The people moved out of the fort in the spring of 1852.
This historic marker is located at 403 W 700 N in Brigham City, Utah and is #1 in the Brigham City Historic Tour and #200 of the S.U.P. historic markers.
This cabin was used as a family home from 1876 to 1956. It was the home of George and Hannah Wheeler and their ten children.
George Walton Wheeler headed west in 1854 with his father, Levi, bringing the first steam engine and sawmill west of the Missouri River. George was ten years old.
Hannah was born December 18, 1846, in Gloucester, England, daughter of George and Harriet Harding Humphries. The family came west with the Willie Handcard Company in 1856. Walking alongside the handcart were six children, ages eighteen, fourteen, twelve, nine, six and one. Hannah Humphries and George Walton Wheeler were married in 1862.
Logs were cut at the Wheeler Sawmill where they were floated miles down the Cub River. There the logs were taken from the river and hauled to the homestead. When Hannah and George moved into their little home in 1876, there was only enough flooring to go under the bed. A fresh water spring was near the cabin. A granary and a barn were also built. George Walton Wheeler made each building with full dovetail corners. Each square nail was made in his own blacksmith shop. From the cabin’s location, all of Cache Valley can be seen.
In honor of the noble men and women who pioneered “Poverty Flat”, later named Lewiston, for its first bishop William H. Lewis. First settlers arrived July 8, 1870.
Education was a priority to early pioneers. In 1857 Layton settlers built Adams School. The log structure was 20 x 32 feet, with a thatched roof, dirt floor, and a brick fireplace. The teacher was paid in produce, bacon, or flour.
School buildings were frequently used for church and community events. Transportation to school was often difficult. Most children walked, but a few had access to a horse, buggy, or wagon. Settlers built a stable to accommodate the animals during the day. Outhouses were built next to the stable, one for boys and one for girls. Lunches, which usually consisted mostly of jam/molasses or tomato sandwiches, were carried to school in buckets. Each day buckets of fresh water were brought into the school and served with a large ladle. The teacher traditionally rang a hand bell to mark the beginning or ending of school, recess and lunch. The playground consisted of a ball diamond and some bleachers.
In 1890 the Public School Act was passed in the Territory of Deseret. It marked the beginning of graded schools. On October 12, 1902, Layton Elementary was built. It included all grades up to and including the 7th grade. The site selected was 339 West Gentile Street. The land was owned by the Episcopal Church which had previously housed St. Jude’s School. The city purchased it for $600.00. However, proposed construction bids exceeded the budget, so the school was built using day labor.
Other early one-room schools in Layton were:
Tramain Log School (built in 1860)
Dawson Hollow School (built in 1875)
Log School (built in 1880)
Five Points School (built in 1881)
St. Jude’s School (built in 1888)
West Gentile School (built in 1892)
Doman Frame School (built in 1892)
William Nalder School (built in 1897)
Stephen Nalder School (built in 1897)
Kershaw School (built in 1897)
Sand Knolls School (built in 1898)
After completion of Layton Elementary, all one-room schools closed, leaving Layton Elementary the only school in Layton until 1942. On September 24, 1984, the school building was demolished and a new Layton Elementary was constructed.
DUP Marker # 564, located at 369 West Gentile Street in Layton, Utah – for other DUP Markers visit this page. (it is #564 on the plaque on site, but so is “Pioneer Women” in Price, Utah – this one is listed as #566 in the D.U.P.’s book.)
In commemoration of the founders of this community who made their first homes in the banks of the Bear River in the winter of 1866, to the residents of the Old Fort and all other pioneers who resided in Bear River City and came to Utah prior to May 10, 1969
This monument is affectionately dedicated by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Bear River Camp July 24, 1947
This monument is located at Bear River City Park at 4549 West 5900 North in Bear River City, Utah
Archibald C. Shields and his brother Robert C. Shields, developed the first brick making business in Pine Canyon, Tooele, Utah in about 1865. They made the bricks on their farm and fired them in kilns constructed for that purpose.
This kiln measures 30-feet high and 12-feet in diameter with a dome-shaped top and resembles a very tall beehive.
Other kilns were built in Pine Canyon, some for the making of bricks and others were used to process charcoal. This is the only remaining pioneer charcoal kiln that has survived.
In 1869 bricks from these kilns were hauled to Stockton, Utah, south of Tooele, for the construction of a smelter. The smelter was needed to process the gold, silver, iron ore and other metals from the mines in Stockton, Ophir, and Mercer, Utah. Additional bricks were fired and were sold to pioneers living throughout Tooele Valley. They were able to build a number of homes, some of which are still standing.
The Daughters of Utah Pioneers commemorate two fine pioneers— great entrepreneurs who provided jobs for their community. They produced bricks and charcoal that were needed by the smelters, and who in turn, hired men to work so they could provide for their families.
This is D.U.P. historic marker #586, erected in 2018 by the Helen Gillespie Shields DUP Camp at 1631 Pine Canyon Road (private property) in Tooele, Utah
Built in 1935, the Scipio Town Hall is one of over 230 public works buildings constructed in Utah under various New Deal programs during the Depression years of the 1930’s and 40’s. The types of buildings constructed included schools, county courthouses, libraries, National Guard Armories and a variety of others. The Scipio Town Hall was intended for use both as a town hall and as a meeting place for all civic and political functions in the community. Two Scipio men Will and Lew Critchley were the brick and stone masons on the building. Several years after construction, probably in the late 1940’s, the brick vestibule on the front was added. This building is a good example of the stylized classicism associated with the PWA Moderne architectural style in Utah. The building was renovated in 1986 with funds raised principally by the Round Valley Camp of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers to be used as a museum for the D.U.P. and as a Senior Citizens Center.
Located at approximately 49 North State Street in Scipio, Utah and added to the National Register of Historic Places (#88002999) on December 22, 1988.
Built in 1935, the Scipio Town Hall is part of the Public Works Buildings Thematic Resource nomination and is significant because it helps document the impact of New Deal programs in Utah, which was one of the states that the Great Depression of the 1930s most severely affected. In 1933 Utah had an unemployment rate of 36 percent, the fourth highest in the country, and for the period 1932-1940 Utah’s unemployment rate averaged 25 percent. Because the depression hit Utah so hard, federal programs were extensive in the state. Overall, per capita federal spending in Utah during the 1930s was 9th among the 48 states, and the percentage of workers on federal work projects was far above the national average. Building programs were of great importance. During the 1930s virtually every public building constructed in Utah, including county courthouses, city halls, fire stations, national guard armories, public school buildings, and a variety of others, were built under federal programs by one of several agencies, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the National Youth Administration (NYA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), or the Public Works Administration (PWA), and almost without exception none of the buildings would have been built when they were without the assistance of the federal government.
The Scipio Town Hall is one 233 public works buildings identified in Utah that were built during the 1930s and early 1940s. Only 130 of those 233 buildings are known to remain today and retain their historic integrity. Twenty-two city halls were built; this is one of 17 that remain. In Millard County 10 buildings were constructed, of which only 6 remain.
The Scipio Town Hall was constructed as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project and was intended for use both as a town hall and as a meeting place for all civic and political functions in the community. Two Scipio men, Will and Lew Critchley, were the brick and stone masons on the building. Several years after the building was constructed, the town board decided to add a sloping floor and put in some theatre seats so the townsfolk could enjoy a movie every Friday and Saturday night. Also at that time the brick vestibule on the front was added. The town board continued to hold their meetings in the basement of the building for a number of years after that. The building was vacant for several years until being renovated as a senior citizen center in 1985-86.
