Tag Archives: South Jordan

1938 School Bus / Train Accident

11 Wednesday Apr 2018

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2018-01-09 13.59.09

1938 School Bus / Train Accident Memorial

 

Bus Passengers:

Deceased:

  • Rela Marie Beckstead
  • Neal Wilson Densley
  • Robert Hansen Egbert
  • William H. Glazier
  • George Albert Hunt
  • Lois Anna Johnson
  • Byard Larson
  • Rosa Larson
  • Naomi Lewis
  • Helen Lloyd
  • Lois Rae Miller
  • Virginia Nelson
  • Roland Blaine Page
  • Louis Duane Parkinson
  • Allen Ole Petersen
  • Kenneth C. Peterson
  • Harold W. Sandstrom
  • Farrold H. Silcox (Driver)
  • Carol Vincent Stephensen
  • Viola Sundquist
  • Naomi Webb
  • Wilbert Webb
  • Dean Lee Roy Winward
  • Helen Young

Survivors:

  • Mack Bateman
  • Chloe Beckstead
  • Manuel Beckstead
  • Marjorie Beckstead
  • Doug Brown
  • Laraine Freeman
  • Oneva Green
  • Marjorie Groves
  • Louise Hardman
  • Glen Kump
  • Manford Osborne
  • Ida Smith
  • Mabel Smith
  • Ann Webb
  • Russell Webb

2018-01-09 13.58.59

Tragedy Strikes Small Farming Cummunities

December 1, 1938 dawned as a snowy, foggy, eerily quiet day.  While a school bus headed through the dense winter storm toward Jordan High School, a loaded Denver and Rio Grande freight train rolled north toward Salt Lake City.  Near the railroad crossing at 10200 South and 400 West, the driver stopped the bus.   He opened the door to look beyond the thick fog but did not see the 80+ car “Flying Ute” train approaching at over 50 miles per hour.  At 8:43 a.m., the wet rubber tires of the bus strained up the gentle grade and pulled slowly forward across the tracks.  Upon seeing the bus, the train crew immediately applied the brakes, but the collision was inevitable.  The tragedy killed 23 children and the bus driver.  The 15 survivors faced a lifetime of serious physical injuries and emotional scars.  The devastation felt by all residents of the South Salt Lake Valley is impossible to describe in words alone.  At the time, Jordan High was the only high school serving the present day boundaries from the Cottonwood Canyons to 8400 west, and Point of the Mountain to 6400 South.  The impact and tragic loss left no family untouched.  Every South Jordan home had lost a son, daughter, niece, nephew, cousin or friend.

Tragedy Draws National Attention

This bus/train accident sent the community and the nation into mourning while various religious, charitable and governmental organizations rallied to support the area.  Local and national media coverage brought an outpouring of sympathy for the victims and their families.  Business and governmental investigations combed through massive amounts of data to determine what practical improvements could be made to avoid similar catastrophes.  Countless generations have benefited from railroad crossing laws and mechanical crossing arms.  Often taken for granted is a mandatory requirement for bus drivers to not only stop at railroad crossings, but also to open their door and driver side window to look and listen for oncoming trains.  Resulting from a disaster in this small Utah town, these national regulations are still in place today, making the loves of many school children much safer.

 

Naomi Lewis, age 17, penned this poem the night before she died in the bus/train wreck.
Earth’s Angels.
 I like to think that the wind
Is Angles in the trees,
Stanley noble Angels
that no one ever sees.
When the world is peaceful
and people are living right,
They rustle the branches gently
throughout the entire night.
But when the world is wicked
Then sorrow bursts from the trees,
and it sounds like the wailing,
woeful hum
of hostile atrocious bees.
Buy in my imagining
It’s angels sorrowing in the tree.
At night they call a council
Of angels on the earth,
Each angel chooses a mortal
to guide to his preordained worth.
So I like to think that wind
Is angels in the trees
Stanley noble angels
That no-one ever, ever sees.
This monument is located in the Cemetery in South Jordan.
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South Jordan Cemetery

11 Wednesday Apr 2018

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2018-01-09 14.00.47

Henry Beckstead selected land immediately west of the first meetinghouse in South Jordan for use as a “burying ground.”  The land was donated by James Oliver, an early settler in South Jordan, and is the site of the South Jordan cemetery at 1055 West 10750 South.

Two month old John A. Bills, son of William A. Bills, died on September 9, 1863, and Mr Beckstead selected the burial site the same day.  The Bills family held the funeral September 10, 1863, making the burial of John A. the first in the town cemetery of South Jordan.

Henry Byram Beckstead became the first sexton of the South Jordan Cemetery and served for sixty-seven years, until his death in 1930.  Wallace Beckstead, Pete Winward, Tom Sheppick, Alma Holt and Alden Winters served successively as sextons.

People originally used large, white, wooden markers on the graves.  The names and other data were painted in black.  Moroni Olivery made the wooden grave markers in his cabinet shop.  Berha Holt grew gladiolas and Harriet Christiansen arranged sprays for funeral services.

The rural South Jordan Cemetery was five acres in size.  It was the only Cemetery south of the West Jordan Cemetery and west of the Jordan River at the time it was designed.  The South Jordan Ward maintained the cemetery until ownership was turned over to the City on October 1, 1945.  In 1960, Royal Beckstead sold two and a half acres of land to the City to extend the cemetery northward.

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South Jordan Veteran’s Memorial

11 Wednesday Apr 2018

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2018-01-09 14.00.53

South Jordan Veteran’s Memorial

Our lives are filled with symbolism. This monument, dedicated to those who served their country, is symbolic of sacrifice.  May those who come here find peace, courage, and hope.

The circular form represents life and existence, the eternal qualities that surround and are a part of all mankind.  “Honor, Pride and Pain” are defined by artist L’Dean Trueblood in her sculpture of two soldiers.  In the service and sacrifice of war, it is that noble part of the soldier’s character that we honor.

The two soldiers stand as silent sentinels to those buried here.  Whether under a blue sky with a warm, gentle summer breeze or the cold, damp, blustery darkness of a stormy winter night, the soldiers  stand, unyielding to the elements until the day when these graves will be empty and Another will stand guard over all humanity.  As if on an alter and as a statement of sacrifice, the dead are listed around the soldiers’ feet.  Each soldier who gave his or her life in battle has a star in front of their name.

Below the names lies a reflecting pool, not of water, but polished black granite.  The maps represent places where battles were fought and courage conquered fear.  A circular field of earth tones surrounds the monument.  Reds represent Mother Earth and the fact that we, the living, walk in freedom on the blood and sacrifice of many.

Polished black represents the area of the dead, where dignity should reside.  The four white benches stand for the area of living – a place where mortality may return to find solace, comfort, or pay homage and respect for those who have sacrificed for us.

– Written by Joey Clegg –

Monument dedicated by Elder Boyd K. Packer, May 4, 2002

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This monument is located in the Cemetery in South Jordan.

Parks in South Jordan

10 Thursday Aug 2017

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2017-07-03 20.01.05

A list of parks in South Jordan, Utah.

Beckstead Park – 10760 S Beckstead Lane
Ascot Downs Park – 4150 W 10200 S
Bolton Park – 4525 W 10040 S
Callendar Square Park Park – 4515 Harvest Moon Drive
City Park – 11000 S Redwood Road
Country Crossing Park – 4288 W Harvest Moon Drive
District Detention Basin Park – 3600 W 11800 S
Dunsinane Park – 9550 S Dunsinane Drive
East Riverfront Park – 10991 S Riverfront Parkway
Fishing Ponds – 11200 S Riverfront Parkway
Gateway Park
Glenmoor Baseball Diamond – 4500 W Skye Drive
Heritage Park – 10800 S Redwood Road
High Pointe Park – 10960 S Oceano Dune Court
Hillside Park – 4400 W Open Hill Road
Ivory Crossing Park – 11300 S 3200 W
Jordan Ridge Park – 9500 S 2500 W
Kilmuir Park – 4660 W 9500 S
Lucas Dell Park – 3542 W 11355 S
Midas Creek Park – 2780 W 11670 S
Mulligan’s Golf & Games – 692 W South Jordan Parkway
Mystic Springs Wetland Educational Area
Oquirrh Shadows Park & Splash Pad – 4000 W South Jordan Parkway
Prospector Park – 10200 S 2200 W
Rushton Meadows – 10450 S Harvest Pointe Dr.
Samuel E. Holt Farmstead Park – 1250 W Holt Farm Road
Skye Park – 4800 W Skye Drive
South Ridge Park – 4300 W 9945 S
Stonehaven Park – 9970 S 4075 W
Sunrise Mountain Park – 11259 S Topview Drive
Sunstone Park – 5280 W 11800 S
Triangle Park – 4300 W Skyle Drive
West Riverfront park – 11050 S Riverfront Parkway
Yorkshire Park – 4180 W Skye Drive
Welcome Park – 9400 S Redwood Road

Pioneer Crossing Bridge and the Moesser – Rushton Granary

03 Monday Oct 2016

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2014-07-26-18-04-34

Pioneer Crossing Bridge

Erected 2013 – This bridge commemorates the area where the first pioneers crossed the Jordan River to settle the West side of the Salt lake Valley.  In November 1848, the family of Joseph and Susannah Harker were the first “over Jordan” and built a log home near 3300 South and 1400 West.

On January 9, 1849, the families of Thomas MacKay, John Bennion, Samuel Bennion, Thomas Tarbet, William Blackhurt, William Farrer, John Robinson and James Taylor crossed the Jordan River on the ice and built dugouts and cabins in this area.

Other settlers followed these first pioneer, resulting in many prosperous communities West of the Jordan River.  Pioneer Crossing Bridge honors these first families and all others who have sought a brighter future by making their home on the Salt Lake Valley’s West side.

2014-07-26-18-04-31

 

Moesser – Rushton Granary

Erected c1878 in Hunter, Preserved 2014 – As pioneers and homesteaders moved West across the Salt Lake Valley they prospered in developing farming communities.  Harvested lumber from Bingham, Harker and Coon Canyons in the Oquirrh Mountains was used by settlers to build area homes, barns and granaries.

Pioneer Joseph Hyrum Moesser constructed this granary near his adobe brick house in c1878 at approximately 4450 South 5400 West in Hunter.  Newly wed Alma E Rushton acquired this granary and surrounding farm in 1917.  Merging it into the Rushton homestead across the street.  This historic granary was in use for over 100 years of agricultural production and is perhaps the oldest building in West Valley City today.  It commemorates all those that seek to build and shape their community into a better place.

2014-07-26-18-03-05