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 southern Utah and Nevada.
The historic Pine Valley Chapel in Pine Valley, Utah is the oldest continuously used chapel in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is a gorgeous building. Ebenezer Bryce had the job of building it and is said to have said that he didn’t know how to build a church, but he knew how to build a ship so he build it as an upside-down ship.
They have about 125 members in the branch with about 60 visitors every week who come to experience church in such a classic old building and 400-600 visitors on Memorial Day weekend’s Sunday so they hold services outside on the lawn. Tours are free and open.
The pews and other woodwork and some cement work was painted to look like oak wood, the painter even hid his name is the grain in some of the pews.
The text below is from the nomination form (#71000859) from when the Pine Valley Chapel and Tithing Office were added to the National Historic Register on April 16, 1971:
Pine Valley was first allotted to John D. Lee a range land on which to run his livestock. However, the valley itself was discovered by Isaac Riddle who followed the trail of a straying cow from the Mormon Indian Mission at Fort Harmony, west over the mountain. He located both good range land, but even more significantly for the southern Utah settlement, excellent timber, both pine and aspen. Riddle and two partners, John Blackham and Robert Richey, purchased machinery for a saw mill and began operation in Pine Valley that fall. With expansion of the southern settlements, Washington, St. George and Santa Clara, especially, the demand for lumber increased. More families moved into Pine Valley. Some limited farming was done before 1864; however, this economic feature was secondary to livestock. Pine Valley also furnished lumber for the mines in both Pioche, Nevada and Silver Reef, Utah. Robert Gardner, one of the early expert lumber men, was asked by Joseph Ridges, organ builder, to select choice pine logs to be sent north to Salt Lake City for the Tabernacle organ’s “pipes.”
By 1868 the people of Pine Valley needed and decided to build their chapel. Ebenezer Bryce designed and supervised the construction.
Later a steam engine was brought in to supply power for the saw mills Today there is some lumbering, but the ruggedness of the lava terrain and the indiscriminate cutting of timber earlier have reduced this economic aspect of the area. It now serves as a summer home area and for recreational activities.
The general setting for the chapel has been landscaped to compliment the overall picture. Visitors are welcome at the site. The chapel is still used by the Pine Valley summer branch of the L.D.S. Church.
The tithing office also is in good repair, and sits nearby as a reminder of the close alliance between religion and the Mormon barter economy. The “Lord’s share” was given in kind and kept therein, to be meted out to the needy and for worthy projects as the Bishop so directed.
The lovely Pine Valley Chapel was designed and built in 1868 by Ebenezer Bryce, for whom the now famous Bryce’s Canyon was named. Being a ship builder from Australia, Bryce employed his earlier skills in building the church. The wood frame walls were assembled on the ground and raised into position, then joined with wooden pegs and rawhide. The frame stands independently, with the walls and petitions “hung” on the basic structure. Since Bryce built the chapel like a ship, he is reported to have claimed: “If the floods come, it will float. And if the winds blow, it may roll over but it will never crash.” The chapel was modeled after churches in New England in honor of Erastus Snow, the Apostle leading the southern colonies, and Brigham Young, church president.
Special timbers were cut from the ponderosa pine in nearby canyons to make the church. The same quality timbers had been hauled all the way to Salt Lake City to be hollowed out for pipes in the famous Mormon Tabernacle.
The church is two stories, with a gabled attic which contains a small “prayer room” over the stage or stand area. Below the main chapel is a basement, which originally consisted of only 2 large rooms, but has since been petitioned into smaller classrooms. The main chapel is a large room with a small stage and speaker’s area.
The structure’s over-all dimensions are 32′ 3″ by 52′ 4″, excluding the steps, which have a pair of double stair landings half way up. The original wooden stairs have been replaced with cement.
Fortunately, however, most of the structure remains as it was originally The restoration in progress at present is careful and minimal. This architectural jewel sits in a lovely mountain valley in Utah, now in continuous use for more than 100 years.
Sitting to the east of the chapel is a small tithing office, built of soft red brick in the 1880’s. The structure is only one story, 16′ by 27′. A “warehouse” door opens on the side. It has a gabled roof and unornamented cornices and eves. The flooring is 5″ pine board. Some refinishing has occurred, but the structure is original and its exterior modified very little. With the chapel, it represents very well the early Mormon Church situation.
Originally (1830) the economic order of the Mormon Church was the “law of Tithing” or ten percent of a person’s income, for the Lord, The administrator of these funds was the Presiding Bishop of the Church. Next a “Law of Consecration” was initiated in Missouri during the mid and late 1830’s, wherein everyone was asked to consecrate all his goods to the Lord. The Bishop in the area was responsible for the property and in turn returned a stewardship of property to each man and family. To this stewardship he received a permanent title, the surplus was retained by the Church to be given as needed to the worthy poor and to young adults whose family could not provide them an inheritance. Its success was limited.
Later the law of tithing was reinstituted. Such was the practice in Nauvoo and in early Utah. However, another kind of communal economic program was inaugurated, called the United Order. Its practices included a kind of cooperative stock holding in various kinds of production. Some “Orders” even had communal kitchens, etc.
However, the law of Tithing has persisted, a lesser law to devout Mormons, but a necessary “schoolmaster” to train the Saints for the higher law. Thus throughout Mormondom and especially in Utah, the tithing office was built, usually near the church, to which tithing in kind — hay, grain, potatoes, vegetables, etc. was brought and receipts issued.
Yet, further functions were served by these “storehouses.” The poor and needy were supplied from them, credit could be obtained by putting tithing in one place (Salt Lake City), and with a scrip issued, reclaim one’s needs in St. George or Pine Valley or where one happened to be going. This system had active use well into the twentieth century. Now only a few buildings remain to remind us of this barter economy which has given way to checking accounts and welfare squares.
These are some pictures from exploring around the Revenue Mine in Pine Grove Canyon in the Wah Wah Mountains.
The Pine Grove Mining District was organized in 1873, this mine produced gold, silver and lead. The buildings in the photos housed the miners for the Revenue Mine in this little visited canyon.
I was very impressed with the lush green valley, the springs running water all over, the old buildings and mines dotting the area.
Although there were ranches in the area in the 1870s, Milford did not come into being until the arrival of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad in 1880.
Milford is located in a broad valley a few miles east of the geographical center of Beaver County. Originally, Milford was nothing more than a few shacks built on the hills near mines under excavation. Many of the miners who first came to Milford left within a few years after trying their fortune, but others came to stay. Arvin Stoddard was the first settler of the area, claiming 160 acres of land in 1880, building the first house in the area, and planting the first trees. During this same time, prospectors were searching the hills to the west and southwest for lead, silver, and gold. A Welsh smelterman, John D. Williams, came to Milford in 1880. He eventually built a smelter on land adjoining the Stoddard claim. Some contemporaries described Milford as a “perfect mudhole,” or the “perfection of desolation.”
Cattle-raising was also important in Milford’s development. In the early 1870s three brothers settled at Pine Grove in Pine Valley west of Milford and established a cattle ranch. Within a few years several cattle companies had stock grazing in the land surrounding Milford. B.F. Saunders of Salt Lake City owned Utah’s largest cattle herd–the Pike Springs Ranch–and he made Milford his shipping point. Cattle grazing was possible on nearby public domain land year round. Meadow grass covered the Beaver and Milford valleys from Hay Springs to Black Rock and supported as many as 20,000 head of cattle and 5,000 head of horses.(*)
