In 1855 this valley was discovered by Isaac Riddle an Indian Missionary, while searching for a lost cow. The first sawmill south of the rim of the Great Basin was built on this site in 1855-1856 by Robert Richey, Jehu Blackburn and Isaac Riddle.
The first homes in the valley were erected around the mill. Pine Valley became the source of much of the lumber used in early towns of souther Utah and Nevada.
First Presiding Elder, Johnson and Black Hawk War Veteran
This monument pays tribute to Francis Marion Ewell and the sturdy pioneers who settled here.
Mr. Ewell was born November 3, 1835, the son of William Fletcher and Mary Bland Ewell. William was a member of the famous Mormon Battalion, which helped secure the southwest territory from Mexico in 1846-47. This made it possible for the L.D.S. Church to settle under the U.S. Constitution in the “everlasting hills”.
In 1882 Francis Ewell built a two-story house directly west of here. The original well is still in use north of the house. From 1882-1889 the upper floor, called the “Ewell Hall”, was used for all the church, school, political and recreation meetings. It was at Ewell Hall where the town name Spring Glen was chosen. Spring Glen was called Ewell from 1910 to 1925 in honor of F.M. Ewell. Helper was part of Spring Glen until 1891. There, too, the plans of the townsite and Spring Glen Canal Company were first made. The Ewell’s oldest daughter, Sarah Ewell Pratt, wife of Helper’s Founder Teancom Pratt, was the first school teacher in the Ewell home.
Mr. Ewell’s wife, Frances Mary Weech, sold the farm in 1906 to Baptista Clerico. The Ewell home was destroyed by fire in 1920.
Six miles west of here, on June 10, 1864, General Forrest won his greatest victory, crushing superior Union forces of General Sturgis and driving them back to Memphis.
Mounted on a boulder at about 100 North Main in Payson is a plaque explaining that the John Boylston Fairbanks home was located here and was relocated to the Pioneer Trail State Park in Salt Lake City.
In May and June 1846 the services of the Mormon people–enroute to the west–were officially tendered to the United States government then at war with Mexico. President James K. Polk authorized Colonel Stephen W. Kearney, commander of the army of the west, to enlist the hundred Mormon volunteers and march to California. Captain James Allen who was detailed to make the enlistment arrived at the Mormon camps June 26. After three weeks recruiting with the aid of Brigham Young and other officials of the Mormon Church, the Mormon Battalion was mustered into the United States service at Council Bluffs, Iowa, July 16. The march was via Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, thence to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the Battalion arrived in two divisions in October. Here Lieutenant-Colonel P. St. George Cook was given command. The Battalion left Santa Fe October 19 and marched southward down the Real Del Norte to 32 degrees. 41 north latitude: thence south and westward to near the headwaters of the San Padro, north and westward to Tucson and so to the Pacific. The march of over 2,000 miles ended at San Diego, January 29, 1847. The Battalion served in garrison duty in San Diego, San Luis Rey and Los Angeles, and in outpost duty Cajon Pass until the term of enlistment ended July 16, 1847. Eighty-one members of the Battalion re-enlisted for six months additional service and were known as the Mormon Volunteers”(sic)
ACHIEVEMENTS
“Headquarters Mormon Battalion Mission of San Diego January 30, 1847” “Order No. 1” “History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry***Through a wilderness, where nothing but savages and wild beasts are found, where, for want of water, there is no living creature***We have dug deep wells, which the future traveler will enjoy.*** Venturing into trackless tablelands where water was not found for several marches.***Worked our way over mountains and hewed a path through a chasm of living rock***To bring these first wagons to the Pacific***the garrison***of Tucson, gave us no pause, we drove them out with their artillery, but our intercourse with the citizens was unmarked by a single act of injustice. Thus, marching half naked and half fed, and living upon wild animals, we have discovered and made a road of great value to our country.***By order Lieut-Colonel P. St. George Cook, P. C. Merrill, Adjutant” Seven members of the Battalion participated in the discovery of gold in California, January 24, 1848 Detachments of the Battalion that had been invalided to Pueblo on Arkansas-numbering one hundred fifty men- joined Brigham Young’s original pioneer company in Salt Lake Valley five days after the entrance of the pioneers, and participated in founding the commonwealth of Utah. By their justice to the conquered, by their courage and endurance, and by their patriotic devotion, the members of the Mormon Battalion brought lasting honor to their people to the State of Utah and to the nation. Plaque B: (North, size same)
In Tribute to The Utah Pioneers – The founders of Utah, stalwart empire builders, led by Brigham Young, entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake as its first permanent settlers July 24, 1847. This was then Mexican Territory. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, the area was ceded to the United States.
As the first organized government in the Rocky Mountain Region, the provisional State of Deseret was created March 5, 1849, to function under its Constitution until the Congress of the United States shall otherwise provide. The Territory of Utah was established September 9, 1850. Brigham Young, who had been elected governor of Deseret, was appointed governor of the Territory of Utah by Millard Fillmore, the President of the United States.
Utah became the 45th State in the Union January 4, 1896.
With loyalty to high principles and unwavering trust in God, the “Mormon” Pioneers established this commonwealth framing its government according to the orderliness of their lives, thus gaining for themselves and their posterity the inspiring freedom assured to all citizens of our Republic.
Birthplace of Pioneer Pilot Russell L. Maughan
Russell L. Maughn was born in this house on March 28, 1893. The house was built by his father and later remodeled.
Maughan served as a fighter pilot in France in World War I, coming within an ace of being and ace. In World War II he served as a Colonel in the English Air Force in Britain. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He died on April 21, 1958 and is buried in the Logan City Cemetery.
Peter Maughan, his grandfather, crossed the plains in a covered wagon with the Mormon exodus, and later founded the first settlement in Cache Valley, Maughan’s Fort, now Wellsville.
Grandfather required months to trek across a third of the country. Grandson crossed the nation in the light of a single day.
First Dawn to Dusk Flight Across America
Colonel Russell L. Maughan of Logan, Utah made the first daylight flight across the continent on June 23, 1924. Flying solo in a Curtis PW-8 pursuit aircraft, Maughan, then a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Service, left Mitchell Field, New York, at dawn and arrived at Crissy Field, San Francisco, at 9:40 p.m., P.S.T, one minute before official dusk.
Winging his way to destiny, Maughan flew from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean in 21 hours 48 minutes and 30 seconds, averaging approximately 150 miles per hour. His actual in-flight time was 18 hours and 20 minutes.
Having made two previous attempts, which were aborted because of engine failures, Maughan’s successful flight illuminated the imagination of people everywhere. Hailed as a world hero he set both pattern and precedent for generations to follow.
His flight of fancy and faith had become a reality. And in a few short years others have broken the sound barrier, flown to the moon, and orbited the earth in a fantastic sequence of adventures of the human spirit.
But in 1924 the dawn to dusk flight across America was a “Maughanumental” achievement.
Swiss immigrant, Christian Berger and his family, came to Utah in the John Ross Mormon Pioneer Company in 1860. Berger homesteaded 160 acres west of State Stret between Poplar Street and 48th South. After living two years in a dugout, the family built an adobe home south of 4800 South State Street. Only 20 families lived in South Cottonwood, now known as Murray. As more Scandinavians arrived, “Bergertown,” was created, and a cluster of small, unpainted, two-room frame houses were built, all without running water. With the abundance of water from the Jordan River and Big and Little Cottonwood Creeks, early residents engaged in agriculture. Bergertown became a smelting town in 1869. Utah Southern Railroad came in 1871, hiring Scandinavians to lay track. The railroad contributed to their community, which became the smelting center of the West. Businesses sprang up on State Street. Bergertown became an immigrant enclave. The Franklyn and Germania Smelters increased until 1950 then faded into history, no longer contributing to the pollution problem.
In 1883, Bishop Joseph Rawlins of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, South Cottonwood Ward, allowed the Scandinavians to hold services in their native language. The “unofficial” Scandinavian Ward met in homes until 1893, when they built a 20-food by 35-foot wood meetinghouse on the west side of the tracks, for the Murray 2nd Ward. In 1906, Stake President Frank Y. Taylor promised the Saints that if they would donate liberally in the spirit of love towards a new meetinghouse, the Lord would bless them. Bishop Jacob Erekson oversaw the building of the downsized, T-shaped, Gothic-style chapel in 1907. The dedication was held in 1911.
The Original ward was divided in 1959; Bishop Shirtliff presided over the 2nd Ward and Bishop Ted J. May presided over the new 15th Ward. They shared the building. The building was later abandoned and used for storage. The Alano Club, a non-profit, non-denominational support agency for the recovering alcoholics, sought to buy the building in 1977. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints halted any commercial sale, realizing that: “This (AA) would be a savior of souls.” Alano removed the dropped ceiling of acoustical panels, revealing an original high, historic-coved ceiling. In 2000, Alano restored the ceiling to its historic architectural integrity. Today, the building is well used and maintained.
Built in 1909, the Murray LDS Second Ward Meetinghouse is significant for its use as a religious and social venue for Murray residents between the railroad tracks and Jordan River.
From the historic marker on the building:
In 1906, Stake President Frank Y. Taylor promised the Saints that if they would donate liberally in the spirit of love towards a new meetinghouse, the Lord would bless them. Bishop Jacob Erekson oversaw the building of the downsized, T-shaped, Gothic-style chapel in 1907. The dedication was held in 1911.
The Original ward was divided in 1959; Bishop Shirtliff presided over the 2nd Ward and Bishop Ted J. May presided over the new 15th Ward. They shared the building. The building was later abandoned and used for storage. The Alano Club, a non-profit, non-denominational support agency for the recovering alcoholics, sought to buy the building in 1977. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints halted any commercial sale, realizing that: “This (AA) would be a savior of souls.” Alano removed the dropped ceiling of acoustical panels, revealing an original high, historic-coved ceiling. In 2000, Alano restored the ceiling to its historic architectural integrity. Today, the building is well used and maintained.
