08 Tuesday Sep 2026
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John R. Baxter House
This Queen Anne style house with its decorative gable shingles, turned porch posts, and spindles was built for John R. Baxter in 1903. Baxter, a teacher, farmer, and prosperous merchant, also served as mayor of Spring City from 1894 to 1895. Danish mason Jens Peter Carlson was responsible for the fine brick and stone masonry. The house remained in the Baxter family until 1979.
12 West 300 North in the Spring City Historic District in Spring City, Utah
14 Friday Aug 2026
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Draper Historic Park
Located at 12625 South 900 East in Draper, Utah
“Blacksmith” by Dennis Smith
In memory and honor of the early settlers of Draper.
“First Settlers of Draper” by Jason Millward
Ebenezer Brown
1801-1878
Phebe Draper Palmer Brown
1797-1879
They arrived in 1849 after serving as members of the Mormon Battalion, this part was part of their original homestead and site of the Draper Fort.
“Absalom Wamsley Smith” by Layne Brady
June 22, 1819 – May 12, 1904
Peter Anthon Nielsen
“Keep good company or none”
EARLY DRAPER GATHERING PLACES
The Old White Meetinghouse
In 1852, on the north wall of Draper Fort, a one-room adobe school building was erected to serve as a gathering place for the early settlement.
In 1860 a second public structure was built. This second structure was called the Vestry. The Vestry was located toward the northeast corner, inside Draper Fort. The Vestry was used as a school, a meetinghouse, and a community center. In 1863 a main hall was added to the Vestry, and from that time, the building was known as “The Old White Meetinghouse.” The building materials – lumber, mortar, bricks, paint, granite blocks-were all local. The walls of the meetinghouse were made with “Mormon adobes,” which were bricks made from local clay. The paint was a mixture of slacked lime, water, and salt. Only materials such as nails, hinges, and glass windows were purchased.
This “Old White Meetinghouse” was the place where John Rocky Park, an early Draper educator, taught his famous village school. Dr. Park later became the first president of the University of Deseret, the precursor to the University of Utah. For more than twenty years, the meetinghouse served the people of Draper in all public and spiritual gatherings.
In January 1940, the Ebenezer Brown Camp of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers erected a monument on the original site of this building. The granite block in the monument was the south step of the old church.
The First Ward Church
In 1853 Draper’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints settlers formed a branch. Three years later, the growing community was organized into the Draper Ward. Isaac Mitton Stewart was sustained as the first Bishop of Draper in October 1856 and continued in that calling until his death March 15, 1890. For years, Draper’s spiritual needs were amply served by the Old White Meetinghouse. However, as Draper’s population increased, so did its needs. A new meetinghouse was commenced in the spring of 1892 by Bishop William Coleman Allen, second Bishop of Draper (May 11, 1890 until August 21, 1898). Bishop Allen initiated the beginning of the brick work at the time of his release as bishop. The church members excavated the basement using wagons, plows, and scrapers pulled by teams of horses. The granite rocks for the foundation were quarried into rectangular shapes, loaded in wagons, and hauled to the building site near the small Old White Meetinghouse. Other church members molded bricks. Coal was needed to fire the bricks and was delivered by railroad cars. Masons, carpenters, skilled- and unskilled-labor of all sorts were needed to accomplish the task. The needed help was always present.
The First Ward Church was completed at a cost of $13,000 and dedicated on May 24, 1903, under the administration of Bishop Willard Boulter Enniss. This was an event in the history of Draper that had been anticipated for a generation. The fully furnished chapel, including a pipe organ, was on the main floor; the classrooms and a kitchen were in the basement.
The church was abandoned June 14, 1953, after part of the roof blew off in a windstorm and was razed with difficulty in 1954.
The Draper Roundhouse or Amusement Hall
The Roundhouse was a social gathering place for the people of Draper. Many people will remember socials, dances, basketball games, and weddings that were held in this building. For years, it was also used as a theater. This building was started in the spring of 1913 and almost completed in 1916. Presenting a show was necessary to raise sufficient funds to complete its construction. The amusement hall (or “roundhouse,” as it was known locally) was built east of the Draper Ward meetinghouse. A young architect by the name of Bjorling from Murray, Utah, designed the building. The Salt Lake Tabernacle was a model for the plan which had an oval layout and hipped roof design. The building was demolished in 1961 after the city deemed it was insufficient for the needs of the town. Contributed by Draper Historic Preservation Commission – 2019
William Draper, Jr.
DRAPERVILLE FORT
1854-1864
On the present site of Draper Historic Park, with some expansion to the north and south, stood Draperville Fort. Fort Street was named for this historic enclosure.
According to the Eleventh General Epistle of the Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dated 10 April 1854, Brigham Young addressed the Saints as follows: “… from hence forth, let one and all go forth with one accord and build their forts, wall in their cities and villages, herd and guard their cattle and other property, and keep their guns and ammunition in good order and convenience, ready for instant use.” Beginning in late 1854, the fort was erected as protection for pioneers who had been homesteading in the area since 1849. Skirmishes erupted from Sanpete to Salt Lake Counties between warriors of Timpanogos Ute Chief Walkara and settlers. Walkara had become upset by Mormon efforts to stifle Indian slave trading and by the increased intrusion of settlers into traditional Native American hunting grounds.
Ebenezer Brown and his family were the first settlers to arrive in “South Willow Creek” in 1849. Ebenezer’s homestead was 160 acres. Because of the Indians’ threat and Brigham Young’s directive, Ebenezer donated 5 acres of his property to build a fort where members of the community could gather together and feel safe. The walls that surrounded the fort were made of adobe brick and clay and took two years to build. The fort measured 126.5 yards east to west and 192.5 yards north to south. The walls were 8 feet high and 1 foot wide with lookout slots every 14 feet. All the homes faced the center of the fort.
The first house built was Ebenezer’s. Running west along the south wall were three other small homes. Perry Fitzgerald’s two-story home was built on the east wall; to the west was the LDS Church tithing office and granary and the Relief Society Hall. Ebenezer’s son, Norman Brown, built an adobe brick house. This house also served as the first schoolhouse. The entrance to the fort was a road through a wide opening in the northwest corner of the fort and in front of Lauritz Smith’s blacksmith shop. A garden area, in the southwest end of the fort, included a small orchard of apple and peach trees. The garden was planted by William Terry with seeds he carried across the plains from Rhode Island. John Fitzgerald’s home was built on the northeast corner of the fort. John’s mother, Ann, had a candy store attached to the home.
By the year 1855, the population of the community had grown to 222 people. Until then, church, school, and public meetings were held in homes. More space was needed, so in 1860, the vestry was built across from the Norman Brown home. In 1863 the main hall was added to the vestry, and from that time, the building was known as “The Old White Meetinghouse.”
The people of the community never lacked for entertainment. A large dance pavilion was built near the west gate. In 1859, the 80-foot by 100-foot bowery was built cast of the White Meetinghouse. The pavilion was a large, open building in the middle of the fort near the east side. It was made of poles and had a thatched roof of willows for shade and was used during the warm summer months for large gatherings, such as church conferences, concerts, and performances. Most families in the community had their own homes, cows, sheep and other livestock outside of the fort. Hostilities had increased between the Native Americans and the settlers, whose homes were raided and livestock stolen, so the people lived in their homes during the day and returned to the safety of the fort at night. The temporary homes were very small, with room for only sleeping. They were built of wood and logs, with dirt floors and slanted thatched roofs of sod and willows. Some were no larger than a wagon box.
The fort was never attacked. Brigham Young signed a peace treaty with Chief Walkara in 1854, and Indian difficulties ceased in the late 1850s. The settlers began moving back into their homesteads, and the fort walls were gradually dismantled. The Old White Meetinghouse and some of the original homes remained, and in 1892 the Draper First Ward Church was built on the property.
The fort served the pioneer settlers well and provided sanctuary and security, uniting them during insecure times.
“Draper was first known as South Willow Creek then Draperville from 1854 to 1877, when it was shortened to Draper.
Perry Fitzgerald
Perry Fitzgerald, pioneer, farmer, and rancher was born December 22, 1815 in Redstone, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Perry moved to Vermillion, Illinois when he was about 20 years old and began farming. While there, he married and began his family. In 1842, Perry was converted to Mormonism. He moved to Nauvoo, Illinois and in 1846, he received his patriarchal blessing from John Smith, was ordained an Elder and received his endowments in the Nauvoo Temple.
In 1847, Perry was selected by Brigham Young to be a member of the first company of pioneers to head west. He was assigned to be a scout and was responsible for two wagons. Perry entered the Salt Lake Valley July 22, 1847 and assisted Brigham Young in raising the first flag over Ensign Peak. Perry met his family coming across the plains as he accompanied Brigham back to Winter Quarters. Perry arrived back in the Valley in 1848.
He lived a short time in Salt Lake City and Millcreek before finally settling in South Willow Creek, now known as Draper, in the fall of 1851. Perry built a cabin near the bank of the main creek and secured the rights to farm around what is now 12400 So. and about 1300 East. Perry was ordained a High Priest in 1856. He and his second wife started the second Sunday School in Utah in the Draper Ward. Perry was active in protecting the settlers from the Indians and was a First Lieutenant in the Willow Creek Militia.. Perry was a kind, gentle man who believed in never going into debt. He never was required to give his note since his word was his bond. Perry loved fine horses and always drove an excellent team. He died in Draper on Oct. 4, 1889 at the age of 74. “A worthy man gone to rest.”
Enniss Memorial
JOHN and ELISABETH ENNISS joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints along with hundreds of other members of the United Brethren in Herefordshire, England in the early 1840s. Their conversion sparked a natural desire to emigrate to Utah. With toddler Augusta Comfort Enniss, and a new baby, Susannah, John and Elisabeth sailed from their native land in 1849. During the trek the family endured several tragedies. They buried baby Susannah in New Orleans and Elisabeth’s parents and uncle in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Here, the family also lost their possessions when their Winter Quarters cabin burned to the ground.
Finally arriving in 1851, the Enniss family settled in Draper as one of the settlement’s original 20 families. They became an important part of Draper’s early history. John was a successful farmer, a school trustee, and he helped lead the effort to irrigate Draper. Elisabeth was a selfless community healer who cared for many people in her home. The Enniss family loved to entertain and hosted many community celebrations for their pioneer neighbors.
Into their new home John and Elisabeth welcomed a growing family; two sons, John Heber and Willard Boulter, and two daughters who died young, Edith and Mary. Soon after, and in response to Church counsel, John married JANE OAKEY, a brave survivor of the Willie Handcart Company tragedy. Jane and John’s first child, George Ralph, died in infancy. A beautiful daughter, ROZILLA JANE, was born a few years later. Sadly, Jane died at a tragically young age soon after Rozilla’s birth. John’s aged mother, HANNAH PARK ENNISS, who had made the courageous trek to Utah in 1855, lovingly cared for young Rozilla after Jane’s death. In time, Rozilla married Joseph Daniel Wadley of Pleasant Grove, Utah. Rozilla was a talented musician and proud mother of nine children.
AUGUSTA grew up in Draper’s foothills and eventually married “Doc” Ruel Mills Rogers and raised twelve children. Though small in stature, Augusta was large in spirit. Her faith gave her the strength to face life’s many hardships. JOHN HEBER married Annie Garfield and had several children, with another on the way when he was killed at age 28 over a dispute involving water rights.
WILLARD BOULTER (W.B.) ENNISS was a native pioneer, born in Draper in 1857. W.B. married HANNAH MARY EMILY WADLEY in 1882. Ingrained with a sense of civic duty, W.B. became a true community builder. He helped dig the canals and ditches that brought water to town and was instrumental in incorporating Draper Irrigation Company. In time he also helped influence some of Utah’s early irrigation laws. He also served as Justice of the Peace. An education advocate, W.B. taught school for a time and later served as a school trustee for 16 years. In this role he helped bring three school houses to Draper.
W.B. Enniss served as Draper’s third Bishop for 12 years and was known as “Bishop” for the rest of his life. While Bishop, W.B. also served a mission to his parent’s native land of England. In his absence, wife Emily single-handedly cared for 10 children, several animals and farms. Both before his mission, and after his return, Emily anchored this growing family as W.B. met his community and church duties. In 1915 W.B. was elected to the Utah State Legislature, where he served two terms and was recognized as a leader among his peers. W.B. also helped bring electricity to Draper, and he spent time and money to provide the town with a recreational park.
Emily passed away in 1924. W.B. later married ANNIE HUFF, a woman forty years his junior. W.B. and Annie had four children and adopted Leonard, a child from her first marriage, making W.B. a father of 17 children. Annie was W.B.’s secretary, a poet, great reader, genealogist and talented writer who later proofread for the University of Utah.
The descendants of the Enniss family respectfully pay tribute to their sacrifices and honor the contributions they made to Draper’s proud history.
Old Meeting House – Draper Fort
The north wall of the Old Meeting House stood near this monument. Here (1861-1869) Dr. John R. Park began his career as an educator in Utah. This school produced many of the state’s leaders and left an indelible love for education in Draper. The granite block in this monument was the south step of the old church. This spot was within the enclosure of the old adobe fort 184 yds. x 113 yds. The wall was 14 Ft. high and 3 Ft. thick.
05 Wednesday Aug 2026
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Dixie Academy
Dixie Academy was constructed to provide advanced courses of study. The St. George Stake Academy officially began in 1888 and moved into this building in 1911. A four year program was recognized as two years of Senior High and two years of College. The college program grew into the institution known as Dixie Jr. College and eventually Dixie College.
86 South Main Street in St George, Utah.
This monument was erected in 1936 by the students of Dixie Junior College in honor of its founders and the builders of Dixie as typified in the lives of Anthony W. Ivins and Edward H. Snow.
~ Forever Dixie ~
St. George Town Square is central to the story of education in Utah’s Dixie – a nickname, a term of endearment and identity – so named because Washington County was considered ideal for growing cotton and other warm- weather crops. Town Square was anchored by the Dixie Academy Building on the SE corner and Woodward School which opened its doors on the NW corner in 1901. After their arrival in 1861, St. George pioneers were still in temporary quarters on the Encampment Mall where their first school was held in a tent. Within two years, there were four neighborhood schools, later replaced by Woodward School, a two-story stone building for grades 1-10. In time, Woodward became a junior high school drawing students in grades 7-10 from nearby feeder schools. Before Dixie Academy was permanently established and graduated its first class in 1911, high school students attended St. George Stake Academy in the basement of the St. George Tabernacle. Later the academy became a 2-year college but also retained its high school standing for those in grades 11-12. To address the needs of students, additional buildings, since razed, were constructed. In 1933, Dixie Junior College became a state school and in 1963 moved to the 700 East campus, to become Dixie State College in 2000, then Dixie State University in 2012. The Dixie Academy building was also known as Dixie Normal College and housed Dixie High School until 1966.
The 2024 monument restoration was a “service above self” project of the Rotary Club of St. George and the City of St. George with funds generously donated by alumni and friends of Dixie College.
04 Tuesday Aug 2026
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Camp Floyd
Camp Floyd was established in 1858 by order of President James Buchanan. During its three years of operation, Camp Floyd was the site of the largest assembled troop concentration in the United States prior to the Civil War. No buildings remain in this area from the encampment, but the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Related:
Camp Floyd Cemetery
The Camp Floyd Cemetery was established in 1858 and abandoned three years later as the troops stationed at Camp Floyd returned to fight in the Civil War. The actual number, location and identities of soldiers buried in the cemetery is not known with certainty as the Army did not keep burial records during this period and all surface evidence of grave locations was destroyed.
Efforts to commemorate the cemetery included a monument dedicated by the War Department in 1913 and 84 granite markers placed by the American Legion in 1960. Army records have since revealed that almost half of the names on the markers were of individuals who died someplace other than Camp Floyd or were never with Johnston’s Army.
The following list of possible burials has been reconstructed from army records that record the names of soldiers who died at Camp Floyd. No list of civilians could be found. Ground penetrating radar done in 2009 revealed 33 burials and one double burial. The radar may not have detected all possible burials. New headstones were placed in 2011 to reflect the locations of the known burials. These headstones read “Unknown” in order to reflect that the identity of the burial is not known.
Camp Floyd /Stagecoach Inn State Park would like to thank the Veterans Administration, Curtis Allen, Ephriam Dickson with the Fort Douglas Museum, Andrew Murphy, Tyler Bartholomew and Troop 1460.
These soldiers died before Camp Floyd was finished but may have been buried in the cemetery:
01 Saturday Aug 2026
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Atkinville
William Atkin and Rachel Thompson were both raised in Rutlandshire, England. They joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, married, and sailed from Liverpool, England, in February of 1855 on the ship Siddons. Three months later they arrived in the port of Philadelphia. On June 9, 1859, they joined the trek to the Salt Lake Valley with the George Rowley Handcart Company, reaching Salt Lake City in November 1859. Nine years later they answered a call to move to an area eight miles south of St. George, Utah, which became known as Atkinville. Their 160 acres of uninhabited, fertile land was located on the east bank of the Virgin River. They cleared the land and built three large limestone homes, corrals, a granary, and chicken coops for their growing family while cultivating the surrounding soil.
Atkinville is remembered as a sanctuary for Wilford Woodruff who served as an apostle and later President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Atkinville was the headquarters of the Church for a time. Wilford Woodruff became very close to the Atkin family and enjoyed hunting and fishing on their property.
William Atkin passed away May 22, 1900; his wife, Rachel, followed him in death on June 8, 1903. A major flood destroyed Atkinville in 1906. A three-quarter replica of the limestone home is in This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. Atkinville has been renamed SunRiver St. George.
This is Daughters of Utah Pioneers historic Marker #591 (see other D.U.P. Markers here) erected by the Atkinville Camp in 2021 at Atkinville Wash Park at 1211 West Copeland Drive in Saint George, Utah
31 Friday Jul 2026
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Oliver John Harmon House
The Oliver John Harmon House is architecturally significant as one of the best examples of the Queen Anne style in Price. The Queen Anne style was popular throughout Utah from 1885 to 1905. Though over 20 Queen Anne and Victorian Eclectic (1885-1910) style houses remain in Price, less than half retain their architectural integrity and the majority of these eligible houses are of masonry. The Harmon House is a very late example of the Queen Anne style and remains as perhaps the best example. The original segmental hip roof above the short, second floor-level windows, above the north bay window, is also a very uncommon architectural feature both locally and state-wide.
Located at 211 South 200 East in Price, Utah and added to the National Register of Historic Places (#92001058) on August 18, 1992.
Price, located about 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City and named for Bishop William Price of Goshen, who explored the area in 1869, was originally settled in 1877 by a few pioneers and converts to the Mormon or IDS Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Additional Mormon settlers arrived in 1879 from the Spanish Fork area. From 1881 through 1883, the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad constructed a rail line though Price Canyon. The community grew from railroad workers, additional Mormon settlers, and later, from immigrants, many non-Mormon, who came to the recently created Carbon County to mine coal. With the railhead in place, Price became the transportation and economic center for the communities of the area, as well as the adjoining counties.
Oliver John Harmon was the third child of Levi Nehemiah and Eunice Chidster Harmon. He was born 16 March 1859 in Parley’s Park, Salt Lake County, Utah. About 1863 his family relocated to help colonize southern Utah, settling in the town of Washington, five miles northeast of St. George. He attended school in St. George and Beaver, Utah.
In 1879 Oliver apprenticed to an English cabinet maker, Joseph Judd, and served for three years. On 4 May 1881 he married Almira (Allie) Terry in the St. George LDS Temple. They built a small house in Washington and remained there until the completion of his apprenticeship. In 1883 they moved to Provo so Oliver could further study carpentry and cabinet making. Because of his ability, he was quickly given supervisory responsibilities. While in Provo, he reportedly built at least one house. [The location and status of this house are unknown.] About 1886 he left Provo for Castle Valley (Emery County) in southeastern Utah.
Oliver became a successful businessman, as well as a master carpenter and cabinet maker. He helped operate two successful co-op mercantile stores, one in Huntington (1890) and the second in Price. The 1903-1904 Utah State Gazetteer lists O.J. Harmon as the manager of the Huntington Co-operative Mercantile Institute. At the time, Huntington, located about 22 miles from Price, had a population of 950. He built a 2-story brick house in Huntington which is no longer extant.
The 1912-1913 Gazetteer shows Oliver in Price as a partner with Levi N. Harmon in “Harmon Bros, general merchandise.” By this time, Price, with a population of over 2,000, had become a center of commercial activity in this coal-mining region of Carbon County. The 1924-1925 Gazetteer reveals a change in business activity: “O.J. Harmon & Sons” is first listed with Oliver J., Melvin T. f Wilford G., John H., and Joseph W. Harmon, but the type of business is not listed. However, there is also a listing for “Price Casket & Cabinet Works (O.J. Harmon & Sons).” Perhaps this enterprise was formed in response to the nearly 200 deaths in the nearby Castle Gate Mine explosion in 1924. The 1924 Sanborn fire insurance map shows a small (approximately 27 by 30 feet), one story carpentry shop located behind the Harmon house, facing north onto G Street (now 200 South Street). [This carpentry shop is no longer extant.] This enterprise continued for several years, with the 1927-1928 Gazetteer also listing O.J. Harmon & Sons as undertakers.
On 3 March 1908, Oliver had purchased two building lots along the west side of block 52 (facing 6th Street, now known as 200 East) from Alexander and Hazel MacLean for $1200. (It appears that the southern lot was later sold as the 1924 Sanborn map shows a house built on this second lot. The eastern portion of the original lot has also been subdivided and houses built c. 1950.) The c. 1910 photograph indicates Harmon built the 1-1/2-story wood frame house and the additions within a relatively short period of time. He lived in the house with his family of eight children until his death on 19 December 1937. There have been several subsequent owners. The house continued to function as a single family residence, but has also housed a dance studio, two apartments and currently, professional offices. Michael Harrison is the current owner, having purchased the house in February 1988.
The Harmon House in Price has remained relatively unaltered from the historic period and exhibits Oliver’s skill as a carpenter. Residential examples of the Queen Anne style are characterized by their asymmetrical facades, irregular plans, and varied silhouettes resulting from dormers and gables. The Victorian Eclectic style, actually an amalgamation of elements from several Victorian and late Picturesque styles, was popular in Utah from 1885 through 1910. Since the styles and their characteristics overlap, the Harmon House has been compared to examples of both styles identified in the partial reconnaissance survey of Price. The Harmon House remains perhaps the best preserved example in this comparison.
The north bay window and segmental hip roof with floor-height windows on the second level is a curious, documented historic feature. It appears to have been modeled on a similar, perhaps original, two story bay window on the c. 1890 Bryner House, located at about 90 South 100 East in Price. [The Bryner House is potentially eligible for the National Register.] These are currently the only known historic examples of multi-story bay windows with segmental, hip roofs attached to a gable end of a house. The addition of this rare and locally unique feature to the Harmon House was perhaps an attempt to incorporate some of the respectability of the more substantial Bryner House. Rather than affecting integrity, this change actually increases the local architectural significance of the Oliver John Harmon House.
07 Tuesday Jul 2026
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Utah Southern Railroad
On September 27, 1872, the first train chugged into Lehi to a cheering crowd and lively band. For the first time, many saw a steam locomotive with its shrieking whistle and blunderbuss smokestack. Days later, a train carrying 1,300 people to Salt Lake City could not make the steep grade at the Point of the Mountain, and passengers had to get out and push.
225 East State Street in Lehi, Utah
Utah Southern Railroad Depot
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act into law on 1 July 1862 while the country was embroiled in civil war. The transcontinental railroad, built by the Central and Union Pacific Railroads, linked their roads at Promontory Summit in Utah in 1869. The Mormon Church-owned Utah Central Rail Road Company started construction southward from Ogden one week after the driving of the “Golden Spike.” A year later Utah Central organizers incorporated the Utah Southern Railroad. A symbolic spike was driven by Brigham Young on 1 May 1871. The first train chugged into Lehi City on 27 September 1872.
The effect of the Utah Southern on Lehi was dramatic. For almost a year the town served as the terminus for the line. Teamsters and bullwackers transported goods to and from points south as well as timber and ore from the rich mines in American Fork Canyon and the Tintic District. Many local men found employment in the freighting and forwarding business. Dozens of saloons, boarding houses, and shops sprang up along State Street.
From 1872-73 the American Fork Railroad operated a narrow-gauge branch feeder line on the Utah Southern grade between American Fork and Lehi. In 1881 the Utah Central, Utah Southern, and Utah Southern Extension railroads were consolidated into the Utah Central Railway. In 1889 the line became part of Union Pacific’s Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway Company. In 1897 the organization was renamed the Oregon Short Line Railroad. In 1902 it became part of the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad. Since 1921 the line has remained part of the Union Pacific system.
This Utah Southern Railroad Depot, the oldest restored railroad building in Utah, and the only surviving depot of the Mormon railroad empire of the 1870s and 1880s, was restored in 2000 by the Lehi Historical Preservation Commission, a political sub- division of Lehi City Corporation. This station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Frank H. Eastmond Park
Frank Hinsley Eastmond (1892-1961)
Clarissa Taylor Fastmond (1895-1961)
With wife Clarisse Tayler of Provo, Frank Hindley Eastmond upgraded and refurbished Saratoga Springs Resort and Farms in the 1930s Saratoga now featured day-and-night warm-water Suming regional ballroom dancing, and baseball. The competition was keen and crowds from Bebi American Fork. Pleasant Grove, and Lindon came along to cheer for their home teams.
Patrons from Sak Lake to Santaquin enjoyed Saratoga’s Saturday-night dances under a bright moon casting a silver path across Utah Lake By day the sun made a picture-perfect image of M Timpanogos on the lake. Saratoga became a popular place for parties. family reunions, company pientes and camping trips.
Franks efforts at Saratoga profited from his similar developments of Geneva Resort (near Geneva Steel Plant and Park Ro-Shea Resort (near Springville). He was also deeply involved in successful mining operations, as well as motel, outdoor theaters, and food services or sites from St George to Salt Lake. He taught wood, meta. and electric shop at Irving Jr. High School in the Sal Bake District for thirty years where countless young men responded to his special way of teaching As a modern business pioneer he was on the cutting edge of the technology of his day, inventing a new kind of sand filtration for swimming pools and an innovative chlorination system.
The most important part of his rich and colorful legacy was his and Clarissa’s family of five children: The property on which this park and the Utah Southern Railroad Depot were built was once wned by Frank and Clarissa Eastmond. It was donated to Lehi City Corporation by Jefferson and Alberta Lastmond
30 Tuesday Jun 2026
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Justus Wellington Seeley II House
Justus Wellington Seeley II, the original owner of this house, was one of the pioneers of Castle Dale and one of the town’s most prominent citizens. He initiated and encouraged many local improvements and was held in high regard by residents throughout the county. His importance was such that on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday in 1910 and again upon his death twenty-one years later, his picture and accompanying article occupied the top center of the Emery County Progress, the “Official Newspaper of Emery County”.
The Justus Wellington Seeley II House is located at 15 East 100 South in Castle Dale, Utah and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#79002493) on November 15, 1979.
The Seeley house is a very plain example of T-plan one and a half story residence common in the early settlement of Utah. While other areas of the state were much more conscious of Eastern fashion by the 1880’s, the seventy of the Seeley house exterior reflects the late settlement of southeastern Utah.
Justus Wellington Seeley II, known as Wellington or “Wink”, first came to Castle Valley in 1877 at the age of 27, herding 375 head of cattle to their winter grazing grounds. That same year his older brother, Orange, received a call from President Brigham Young of the LDS Church to colonize the eastern side of the Wasatch Range. Seeley liked the country he had seen while herding so was willing to join his brother in settling the land. He decided to homestead, but had to locate and settle the land in order to claim it. In 1879 he started across the mountains from Sanpete to Emery County with his children, his pregnant wife, and Mrs. Mary Wilcox, a mid- wife. The inclusion of Mrs. Wilcox proved fortunate as his wife gave birth to a baby daughter, his third child, in Cottonwood Canyon on the way over. After a brief rest they continued their journey to the Emery County homestead.
Wellington Seeley and his family settled on land where the Seeleys had already visited. In the winter of 1875-1876, Orange Seeley had come with a group of herders to pasture their flocks and herds on the east side of the Wasatch Mountains. Orange built the first dwelling in the county, a dugput measuring 20 feet by 30 feet, on what is now the Seeley farm. Another group of herders (possibly including Wink himself) wintered dn thedugout in 1877-1878. The area’s population grew, and by the winter of 1878-1879 there were 137 residents in Castle Valley, including several families. The Wellington Seeleys joined this group in 1879 and settled on land familiar to them, establishing their farm at the site of the dugout. Seeley homesteaded 160 acres between the present towns of.Orangeville and Castle Dale, and filed for his patent in 1886 after several years of improving the land. By 1898 he was cultivating 210 acres and owned 4,500 head of sheep, about 10 percent of the entire sheep holdings in Emery County.
Other settlers experienced similar growth and as the towns of Castle Dale and Orangeville grew, the populace became concerned about communications with other parts of the region. Early in 1879 the citizens petitioned the Federal Government for a post office in their area due to the recent initiation of an overland mail route from Salina, Utah, to Ouray, Colorado, over the Gunnison Trail. The only Castle Valley settlement already on the route was Wilsonville, several miles to the south. On June 1, 1879, the Castle Dale settlers were officially granted a post office which also gave the town its name. The original settlement had been called Castle Vale; the U.S. Post Office, for unknown reasons, gave it its present nomenclature. However, the Castle Dale post office was located eight miles from the trail so the postmaster had to go to Wilsonville, the nearest point, to collect the mail. For the first six months the mail wasn’t even separated; after that Castle Dale got its own mail pouch and finally the mail was dropped off at both points. The men of Castle Dale volunteered to assist their newly appointed postmaster by taking turns to carry the mail from Wilsonville. “For about one year the brethren continued their gratis mail service and during the winter season of 1879-1880 were often exposed to severe storms; once or twice the parties carrying the mail matter came near losing their lives on the road.” This group of mail carriers undoubtedly included Wellington Seeley.
As was common in Mormom pioneer settlements, the establishment of LDS Church organizations was also of utmost importance. On March 3, 1879, the Castle Dale precinct was officially created, but due to sparse settlement and the difficulty of communicating over such a wide area, the people still paid their taxes to Sanpete County that year. By 1880 matters were sufficiently settled so that the tithes were paid locally.
In August of 1880 the first local elections were held, and Wink won a seat as County Commissioner on the People’s ticket. He was re-elected in 1882 and 1885 and served all three terms at half pay as money was scarce at the time. In 1890 he joined the Republican Party, remaining active in that organization for many years. During World War I he served as mayor of Castle Dale.
In addition to his civic accomplishments, Wellington Seeley worked hard to bring basic amenities of life to the fledgling community of Castle Dale. With his brother, Orange, he built the first burr mill in town, known as the Eagle Mills. Later he bought out Orange and in 1899 converted it to a roller mill for the more efficient processing of flour.
He also added a big boiler to the equipment and established an electric light plant in connection. His electric light system was inaugurated on January 4, 1904, the first electrification on the eastern side of the Wasatch Front. He also installed the first telephone in Castle Dale to corrmunicate between his brick house and the mill.
In 1889 Seeley attended the formative meetings of the Emery Stake Board of Education and proposed that the Academy be located at Castle Dale. He drew up the original plans for the building and was a long-time member of the committee charged with finding a suitable site. For many years he served as a member of the Emery Stake Board of Education.
In all of his positions, both civil and religious, he tried to acquaint Castle Valley with the advances taking part throughout the state and the region in communication, modernization, education and all other areas of concern. Partly through his efforts Castle Dale became the county seat. He was widely known throughout the area, and even had a town named in his honor. His sister, Sarah, had married Jefferson Tidwell who was called by the IDS Church to settle land in what is now south central Carbon County. When the settlers were deciding on a name for their town, Sarah suggested that it be called after her brother. His reknown was such that they approved the idea, and Wellington, Carbon County, is now a growing community of 1300 souls.
In addition to making community improvements, Seeley also provided for the comfort of his family. In 1878 he built the first lumber house in the area on his farm, not far from the old dugout. Eight years later he built the first red brick house in Castle Dale. The townsite was platted in 1889 and he bought several lots. He built this house the same year and it has remained in the family ever since. His first wife, Anna Reynolds- Seeley, bore her three youngest children in this house before she was thrown from a carriage and killed on November 18, 1895. Seeley married again to Mary Jorgensen of Mount Pleasant to \tan he deeded this house in 1918. She bore him four more children and gave this house to her youngest daughter, Dora, in 1939. Dora Seeley Otterstrom still resides in the house. Ihe Justus Wellington Seeley house is still in excellent condition. Its eight-inch- thick walls are made of adobes and faced with red brick, a common pioneer building technique. The bricks were shipped from upstate and hauled in wagons from the railroad terminal at Price. Family tradition holds that the bricks came from Morgan. 7 Brick of the same color and appearance was made there to build the original railroad depot and the extra bricks were sold throughout the state. The dark red color of this brick is unique for that period in Castle Valley. All interior partitions are also adobe, resulting in a very sturdy, durable structure.
Wink worked on the building himself, but the chief mason was the first Bishop of Castle Dale, Henning Olsen. BishopiOlsen was widely reknowned as a builder; in his first major construction effort he helped to build the Fort at Ephraim. He later built the IDS Meetinghouses at Ferron, Huntington, and Lawrence and directed the construction of several homes in Castle Valley. He and Wink were friends, and Wink served as his second counselor for several years.
Two major factors contribute to the excellent preservation of this house. The first is Wellington Seeley’s innovative nature. Because of his early acceptance of “new-fangled” inventions, later renovations proved unnecessary. For example, this was the second house in Castle Dale to be wired for electricity (after the house of his younger brother, William Seeley). The second factor has been the continuing family ownership of the house, a tradition ^ich will be perpetuated.
30 Tuesday Jun 2026
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Huntington Roller Mill and Miller’s House
The significance of the Huntington Flour Mill comes from its continual operation since 1896. It has always been an integral part of the community and entire surrounding area, providing flour and feed for generations fo farmers and townspeople from all over Carbon and Emery counties.
The Huntington Roller Mill and Manufacturing Company was organized in 1893 and officially incorporated on January 7, 1895, with officers and directors gleaned from Huntington’s leading citizenry. Three and seven-eights acres of land was deeded to the company by George A. and Olive M. Humble on April 24, 1893, and another five aco?es by Charles and Ann Pulsipher on January 24, 1895. According to J. Albert Jones’ history of Huntington, “The mill was built on a site about a quarter of a mile west of the northwest corner of the townsite at the foot of a small hill . . . The two former bishop’s (sic) Bishop Elias Cox and Bishop (sic) Charles Pulsipher set up their sawmill between the roller mill and the hill and presumably sawed the lumber used in construction of the flour mill, as well as sawing lumber for the corrmunity . . . The logs for sawing were hauled from the Canyon with teams and wagons. “
The Huntington Roller Mill and Miller’s House is located at 595 West 400 North in Huntington, Utah and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#79002495) on September 27, 1979.
The main carpenters to work on the mill were: Oliver J. Harmon, William Hunter, William Marshall, Peter Johnson, James P. Johnson, Charles Jensen and George W. Hales. Some of these men were also shareholders in the corporation.
The mill was first powered by a steam engine from the nearby sawmill, but that proved unsatisfactory. A flume and penstock were then built from the town ditch a few yards to the south to divert the water to a wheelhouse on the south side of the mill. Inside the wheelhouse was a Pelton metal undershot wheel which was used to generate power when water flowed through the flume. The wheel, 8 feet in diameter, was set 6 feet into the ground to increase the force of the water flowing under it. In the fall, when most of the grinding was done, the ditch would become clogged with leaves, diminishing the water power. In the winter it froze up, halting work for the season.
The company then tried using a larger, rope-driven steam engine, but were forced to return to water power. When miller Olaf William Sandberg arrived in 1917, he realized that the only solution was to install electricity. As his son, Willard Sandberg, describes it: ” . . .he went to Utah Power and Light. And I think he had to pay $2,500 to have them put a line up there; it was about two blocks. And he had to sign a guarantee of so much power usage a year. He had to buy the wiring, and he had to buy the transformers . . . ” After that he could mill all fall and winter. The Pelton wheel was buried where it stood.
Up until 1925 when the mill was officially sold to Olof Sandberg, it was run by a corporation known as the Huntington Roller Mill and Manufacturing Company. Its first president was Christopher Wilcock, who seemed well-suited to the job as he had previously been half-owner of a shingle mill. He was one of the prime organizers of the company, and actively encourage others to join. The corporation then hired several millers to run the mill. First they lured Ludrick Miller from Sanpete County, them Lewis Marshall, Lewis W. Johnson and Isaac Black,
But the mill was not a very profitable venture under their direction. Olof William Sandberg took over as miller in 1917. He had worked in a series of mills since age 14 and, according to the Sandberg family history:
This venture, from the beginning was the hardest of all that the couple had to face. They paid $5,000 for the mill plus another $3,000 for a lawsuit brought about because of a mortgage which was not known to have existed at the time of the purchase. Besides this, Olof found that it was a corporation that owned the mill and he had to pay off each sotckholder to become sole owner of the mill, Olof paid off the stockholders. Along with the disappoint- ment and strain of the legal trouble, they found the water power for running the mill was worthless and the machinery was badly in need of repair . . . Before they took over the mill, people used to come to get flour in a bread pan for a batch of bread.
A lot of flour was lost during the milling process because it squeezed out of the joints of the flour spouts. These were held together with nails, which worked loose with the vibration of grinding. Sandberg replaced them with screws, installed electric power, built on an addition at the rear of the mill and set about upgrading its operation.
It didn’t (sic) take long for Olof to find out that he had settled in the poorest milling wheat district that he had ever been in. He called it a “two crop” wheat because it was planted in the spring and only part would come up. Then after more irrigation some more of it would come up, making the harvest wheat of inferior quality. He had two carloads of hard wheat hauled into the mill where he gave it to the farmers for seed wheat to be planted in the fall, This wheat came up free of weeds and the harvest yield was a good quality of wheat. During the harvest season, the mill was running all day and far into the night. It wasn’t long until the mill had built up such a good reputation throughout the area that Olof had almost more work than he could handle and many times during the harvest season, wagons were lined up from the mill to Geary’s corner waiting to be taken care of by the mill.
These wagons came from all over Carbon and Emery counties, the area traditionally served by the mill. In January of 1895, Spring Glen pioneer Teancum Pratt mentions going to mill graham wheat at the HuntLngton roller mill.H Non-Mormon :inmigrants also began to require the mill’s services. A son of Italian immigrants describes how in the early 1900’s his family took a wagon and team to the Huntington Mill twice a year, spending up to fice days for each trip. They got flour for bread and took the bran and “shorts” as feed for their pigs. 12 The people from out of town had to camp out by the mill while their grain was ground until Olof William Sandberg started the system of “exchange work.’ Willard, Olof’s son explains:
For every bushel of wheat, in return the farmer would get 30 pounds of flour, 14 pounds of bran. What was left over in my dad’s day, that was what profit he made on it. I didn’t do it in my day, in my time. They brought their wheat in there on deposit and they came and got what they wanted. Cash, flour, feed, or anything they wanted. Feed was on a cash basis and flour, I did do a little exchange on that but I gave them 28 pounds of flour on a bushel of wheat. When I first started it was 36, then it went to thirty, and finally to 28, They never said anything about it either, when I dropped( it. Well, I told them this way. I had these ingredients I had put in it, cost money, and I shipped in wheat to improve the quality, so I never had any trouble in that respect.
Willard Sandberg, who was deeded the mill by his father in 1953, became a miller because of the Depression, He learned something of the business as a young boy, helping to sack flour and sew the sacks in his father’s mill. After high school he left Huntington and eventually wound up in New York, where he worked in a bank for eight years. Then the Depression hit. “The bank I was working at had 7,500 employees and let 2,500 go at one crack … My father needed somebody to help, so I started in the mill and I kind of modernized it a little bit , . « Instead of making one straight grade type of flour, I made three grades. And I put in an electric sewer for the bags.” In order to make three grades of flour he needed hard wheat in addition to the soft wheat his father introduced. So Willard Sandberg introduced hard wheat to Emery County in the middle 30 ( s and got the farmers to raise it, However, the locally grown wheat couldn’t meet the demand for flour, so wheat was shipped in from northern Utah and Idaho, Truckers would haul wheat to the mill and haul coal from Carbon County back home. Willard Sandberg also coined the name, “Castle Valley’s Best” for the flour, added a pellet mill in 1961 to produce livestock feed, and started enriching the flour as decreed by law in 1942 or 1944. He started a regular weekly delivery service to retail stores in Carbon and Emery counties, one in Sevier County, and went once a month to Fruita and Moab. The once-weekly trip through Emery County used to dispose of 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of flour. Now the demand for flour has dropped off sharply, except in Carbon County. “Carbon County, I believe, bakes as much now as they did years ago. The Italians and Greeks . . . They wouldn’t take this Wonder bread, take a bite of it and wonder what you got in your mouth.”
The mill is continuing to diversify under the new miller, L. Jay Powell, who has been running it for about seven years. He and his younger son work together at the mill and will have title to it on January 1, 1982. They plan to:ocontinue operating and improving it into the foreseeable future.
Not only has the mill expanded its products over the years, it has also expanded its connections with the rest of the world. Willard Sandberg served two terms as president of District 12 of the Association of Operating Millers, which is comprised of the entire state of Utah. TSis is an American-based international association which holds annual meetings in various cities around the U.S.A. (last May they met in Salt Lake City). Millers come from as far away as the Middle East, South America, Asia, and Europe. They discuss common problems, and manufacturers of milling equipment display their wares. The international nature of the organization is essential, as all interior milling machinery is now made outside U.S.A., primarily in Germany, Switerzerland, Italy, France and England.
The Huntington Flour Mill is becoming something of a rarity in this country. As Willard Sandberg explains, “In 1920 there was (sic) around 10,000 flour mills in the United States . . . There’s less than 250 now . . , Small ones are gone and the big ones have gotten larger. The largest mill in the country is in Buffalo. It makes enough flour in 24 hours for a loaf of bread for everbpdy in the United States.” As a small working mill with a fascinating past and a viable future, the Huntington Flour Mill should be preserved.
Directly to the north of the Huntington Roller mill is the Miller’s home. It was built around 1910 as a residence for the miller, and has always been sold with the mill. The house and land were sold separately from the mill parcel for the first time in 1974; however, the current miller, L. Jay Powell, bought it. (He is presently buying the mill as well.) Jay’s oldest son, Kimball Powell, lives in the house with his family and up until December 1, 1978, he also worked in the mill. One can therefore sya that the miller’s home has always been and continues to be associated with the mill.
30 Tuesday Jun 2026
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Johnson Ranch House
The Johnson Ranch House is a single-cell random-rubble sandstone house located near Hastings Road along the east bank of the Green River 21 miles northwest of Crescent Junction, Grand County, Utah. The house, constructed circa 1906, is the best preserved example of vernacular random-rubble sandstone and cottonwood log single-cell construction remaining in Southeastern Utah. The Johnson Ranch House is one of only a handful of rock dwellings constructed in Southeastern Utah, all of which were built during the development of the region between 1871 and 1915. The Johnson Ranch House is a rare example of this type of isolated dwelling and the only known example that retains most of its original integrity. The house is a significant local architectural resource.
The area surrounding the Johnson Ranch House is an approximately 100-acre gently sloping alluvial plain formed by the local intermittent Rock Creek and Green River below the 700-foothigh sandstone and shale Book Cliffs. The Johnson Ranch, an approximately one-acre fenced site located on the lowest tier of land above the Green River floodplain. In the floodplain are large cottonwood trees, tamarisk, greasewood and other smaller river vegetation. The site has some remaining artifacts of its century-old occupation, although many have been removed by artifact hunters.
The Johnson Ranch House is located along the Green River in Grand County, Utah and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#100002636) on June 28, 2018.
The Johnson Ranch House, a single-cell random-rubble sandstone and log house located in a remote area of Grand County, Utah, has local significance under Criterion A and C in the context of exploration and economic development in Southeastern Utah during the first decades of the twentieth century. The Johnson Ranch House is a remarkably enduring monument to a period of intense development that changed the people and the land of Southeastern Utah.
Constructed of local sandstone and logs circa 1906 and abandoned before 1916, this house is significant under Criterion A in the area of Social History for its association with the dramatic transformation of the American West between 1870 and 1915, and mostly particularly after the passage of the 1902 National Reclamation Act. The National Reclamation Act allowed the Secretary of the Interior to designate power and irrigation projects and to establish a reclamation fund from the sale of public lands to finance projects in the arid Western United States. The legislation ushered in a period of intense land speculation based on the idea that reclamation projects would be quickly developed and new areas would shortly open to agriculture. The Johnson Ranch House was built during the height of the post-1902 Green River speculative boom and was directly related to both agriculture and a large-scale dam project. Although there is no specific historical documentation of its construction, the Johnson Ranch House was probably built in 1905-06 by members of the Charles Peter Johnson family with the intent to receive a Desert Lands Patent with Green River water and to also serve as a mercantile post for workers on the Coal Creek Buell Dam project several miles up-river. The built traces of that defining but ephemeral boom period have almost all disappeared, making the Johnson Ranch House an even more exceptional and significant local architectural resource.
The Johnson Ranch House is also significant under Criterion C for its unique vernacular randomrubble sandstone and log roof construction. The house is the best preserved and only known remaining late nineteenth- and early-twentieth century vernacular random-rubble sandstone and cottonwood log single-cell structure with integrity in Southeastern Utah. The Johnson Ranch House is also one of only a handful of rock dwellings constructed in the Tavaputs Plateau and along the Green River, all of which were built during the Euro-American settlement and development of the Green River between 1871 and 1915. The Johnson Ranch House retains almost all of its original form, roof and structural system and is a unique and significant local architectural resource.
Social History in Southeastern Utah
The Johnson Ranch House is significant under Criterion A in the area of Social History for its association with the agricultural development of the arid, high desert Book Cliffs region surrounding the Green River. The house is associated with the patterns of development in the Intermountain Region of the American Southwest, including the post-Civil War cattle grazing boom, railroad development, the Homestead and Desert Lands Act, and most importantly, the Reclamation Act of 1902. The Johnson Ranch House was built during the height of the speculative boom caused by the Reclamation Act and was directly related to both agricultural development and large scale dam projects.
The story of this small house begins with the Green River, one of the major features of the Intermountain Region of the Rocky Mountains flowing through Southeastern Utah. The Green River, which gathers runoff from as far north as the Wind River Mountain Range in Northern Wyoming, combines with the Colorado River fifty miles south of the Johnson Ranch House and is one of only a handful of dependable year-round water sources in the region. Although it flows continuously, the Green River was largely uncontrollable, with large annual variations in depth and flow, and traveling through soaring canyons unsuitable for agriculture.
After President Theodore Roosevelt signed the National Reclamation Act in 1902 and set in motion the dramatic transformation of the American West in order to “reclaim” land for productive agricultural use. The Act allowed the Secretary of the Interior to designate power and irrigation projects and to establish a reclamation fund from the sale of public lands to finance the projects and ushered in a period of intense land speculation based on the idea that reclamation projects would be quickly developed and new areas would shortly open to agriculture. Because of its large capacity and soaring canyons, the Green River attracted much speculation and spawned many power and irrigation dam schemes. However, due to its geography, the Green River remains largely the same as it was before any people lived along its banks.
The Green River Buell Dam Site at Coal Creek
Civic leaders and speculators made plans for ever larger dam projects, including a 1904 plan for a 160 foot-high power generating dam and irrigation canal system across the Green River at Coal Creek, 25 miles above the D&RGW Railroad junction and 11.2 miles above the Johnson Ranch House. The plans were put forward by a group of Utah developers including O.S. Buell and engineer William B. Searle, incorporated under the name the Grand Canyon Dam Company. Work began in 1905 to build a road to the Buell dam site, a difficult prospect due to the sheer walls of Gray Canyon which rose just past the Johnson Ranch House. Seasonal construction efforts continued at the dam site for several years, until the 1913 untimely appendicitis death of William B. Searle in New York City as he searched for additional funding for the dam project. The Johnson Ranch House was likely constructed with a dual purpose of as a way station and mercantile operation supplying dam site construction operations homesteading and a location with access to the Green River. Two years after the dam project ended, there are no further records of habitation at the Johnson Ranch, further tying the two ventures together.
Unfortunately the unpredictable water flows, difficult geography and intemperate agricultural climate shortly laid waste to the imaginative plans of all of the developers and opportunity seekers who came to develop the Green River. The 1907 dam created above Green River to irrigate the east side of the Green River washed out in its first year and was maintained for only a few years when it was again washed out by exceptional flooding. The existing small irrigation schemes were not large enough to support the approximately 50,000 planted fruit trees and almost 20,000 died due to lack of available irrigation water. The fruit trees which survived suffered serious frost damage almost every year between 1909 and 1913. The Green River agricultural boom ended before 1915, when it became apparent fruit growing would never be viable in the area and none of the large irrigation schemes had been approved or funded.
Johnson Ranch House History
The Johnson Ranch House was probably constructed in 1905-06, by members of the Charles Peter Johnson family to serve as a way station and mercantile post for workers on the Coal Creek Buell Dam project several miles up-river. The ranch house is located 14 miles above the nearest town and 11 miles below the Buell Dam site at Coal Creek, a mid-point for freight and horse travel along the Green River to the dam site. The Johnson Ranch House may have also been constructed to secure a Desert Lands Patent application for land and water rights from the Green River, although the Power Site easement in 1909 removed the opportunity for land patents along the Green River and no patents were ever approved for the site.
Green River explorers, surveyors, and local government entities identify the single-cell stone house as the Johnson Ranch House in contemporary newspaper accounts, maps and diaries. When Ed F. Harmston, civil engineer and founder of Roosevelt, Utah, surveyed the Green River in the summer of 1913 to determine if a railroad could be completed between the Roosevelt, Utah in the Uintah Basin and Green River, Utah, he outlined his visit to the Johnson Ranch House in a trip chronicle published October 17, 1913 in the Vernal Express Newspaper:
Johnson’s ranch 14 miles above Elgin, at this point we leave our horses and are provided with a team and white top spring wagon to complete our journey with; here we are able to buy water melons (sic), raised by irrigation from a gasoline pumping plant, and fresh eggs for our table.
The Harmston diary account matches the memories of long-time resident on the west side of the Green River above Green River, Utah, Dudley Swasey, who identified the owner of the house as “A Jackson Hole, Wyoming guy who bought horses lived there. He had gear hanging behind cabin, but he didn’t build the cabin”.19 The 1922 Utah Power & Light Survey of the Green River survey map specifically identifies the Johnson Ranch House at mile 174.2 and Elgin at mile 184.6 as they surveyed the River from its origin to the rail junction at Green River. H.J. Stoner, a member of the exploration and survey team outlines their visit to the Johnson Ranch House on September 13, 1922.
Although Johnson family records don’t indicate who lived in and operated the ranch, it is likely that it was run by Peter Johnson, in conjunction with Lawrence and Oscar Johnson, all sons of Charles Peter Johnson. Peter Johnson owned property in nearby Elgin, Utah and had his tax notices delivered to the Johnson Ranch, as well as Shoshone, Idaho where Charles Peter Johnson and two other sons were located in the 1910 census. Oscar Johnson was single at the time, and what were likely his 1913 initials were located in a recent archaeological survey of the area.
With the end of construction on the Coal Creek Buell Dam Site in 1913, the economic reason for the Johnson Ranch House disappeared and the house had already been abandoned when Government Land Office surveyor George Kirkpatrick traveled up the Green River in 1916 and commented on the irrigation ditches. In 1922, when Utah Power and Light and the U.S. Geological Survey traveled from Green River, Wyoming to Green River, Utah surveying possible dam sites, the Johnson Ranch was also deserted, according to H.J. Stoner’s diary entry for September 13, 1922.24 The Johnson Ranch location is identified by name and location on the Utah Power & Light Green River Profile and Cross-Sections Split Mountain Damsite to D&RGRR (Elgin) Map published December 26, 1922.
After the Johnson family left the house, it was utilized by federal land employees and sheep herders with range permits in the area. The house was identified on an undated U.S. Grazing Service map created between 1939 and 1946 and it was specifically requested to be leased, lived in and improved by sheepherder Florenz Aubert in 1939. The lease application was never formally approved, but the land surrounding the Johnson Ranch House continued to be used for accessing the Green River and cattle and sheep grazing. The Bureau of Land Management application history notes that Dahl Aubert, grandson to Florenz Aubert, still ran cattle in the same area in 2001. The Johnson Ranch House has remained largely empty ever since 1915, but the arid climate, lack of water and development have allowed the house to remain largely unchanged since that time, an enduring testament to a brief moment in Green River history.
Charles Peter Johnson History
Charles Peter Johnson was born July 4, 1846 in Bornholm, Denmark and immigrated to the United States in 1868 after joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in his native Denmark. Charles Peter married Annie Christoffersen, another Danish LDS immigrant who had arrived in the United States in 1858, and then on November 21, 1870 in Salt Lake City, Utah. After their wedding, Charles and Annie moved to the Utah Scandinavian enclave of Spring City, Utah and lived there until 1882 when called by LDS Church authorities to move to Price, Carbon County, Utah to create an LDS colony. During his time in Spring City and Price, Johnson was a store owner, blacksmith, house builder, farmer, cattle and sheep rancher, and saw mill operator. He and Annie had eleven children in Spring City and Price, nine of which survived to adulthood. In March of 1900, Johnson sold his property in Price, purchased 100 acres from prominent local Green River farmer J.T. Farrer for $10 per acre and homesteaded an additional 80 acre parcel along the Green River. By 1906, Charles Peter Johnson owned 368 acres on the west side of the Green River, near Elgin and the D&RGW Railroad junction.
Charles Peter Johnson and his sons were a key component in the agricultural boom which occurred in Green River and Elgin. In early March of 1906 Charles Peter Johnson was elected president of the Canal Company and also as superintendent of the canal and dam. Just one week later, he sold his 368 acres for $100 per acre to eastern land speculators who incorporated the Green River Land and Livestock Company and began to widely market home and farm sites.31 After the sale, Charles Peter Johnson and his grown sons looked at purchasing a general store and 400 acres of land in nearby Ferron, Emery County, Utah. According to local newspaper accounts, the Johnson family intended to engage in the mercantile and cattle and dairy business. Charles Peter Johnson paid a deposit on the property, but soon defaulted, causing the property owner to sue the Johnson family. Additionally, heavy snowfall and spring runoff caused the Green River Canal Company irrigation reservoir and canals to wash out again later that spring of 1906, harming local farmers. Charles Peter Johnson and two sons, Louis and Niels, moved to Shoshone, Lincoln County, Idaho and purchased and homesteaded property and began farming and cattle ranching operations, which they would continue until the recession following World War I, when the family scattered and moved back to various places in Utah. Charles Peter Johnson passed away April 30, 1930 in Provo, Utah.
Architecture
The Johnson Ranch House is a single-cell random-rubble sandstone house located near Hastings Road along the east bank of the Green River 21 miles northwest of Crescent Junction, Grand County, Utah. The house is the only known standing and best preserved early 20th century singlecell stone dwelling remaining in Southeastern Utah. The Johnson Ranch House is also one of only a handful of rock dwellings constructed in the Tavaputs Plateau and along the Green River, all of which were built during the Euro-American development of the Green River between 1871 and 1915. The house retains almost all of its original form, roof and structural system and is a unique and significant local architectural resource.
Prehistoric stone construction was common in the Book Cliffs region of Southeastern Utah prior to Euro-American settlement in the mid-nineteenth century. Archaic, Fremont and early Ute culture sandstone and wood-roofed granaries, houses, pits and cists dotted the landscape throughout Southeastern Utah. Early Euro-American settlers would have been exposed to the stone and small-log construction methods of Native American people, ruins of which still remain. Stone construction was much more difficult and time consuming than wood construction, however the high-desert climate of the region, with its low precipitation, extreme temperature variations, lack of available timber stands and large amounts of available sandstone rubble made the construction technique one of the most viable construction methods for longterm shelter in this remote area until to the introduction of the automobile. The small amount of available water required ranches and farms to be widely distributed and the soaring cliffs and rough terrain limited road access to individual ranches located in canyons throughout the Book Cliffs. Surveys and 1930s Colorado River litigation documents identified only five ranches along Green River in the Desolation and Gray Canyon area.
The Johnson Ranch House is unique and significant due to its excellent physical integrity. The house is the only known example of random-rubble sandstone and log single-cell construction with integrity remaining in the region. There are ruins of five similar single-cell houses located in Southeastern Utah, none of which have structural integrity or roof structures. The area’s public land ownership, limited road accessibility and remoteness have contributed to its preservation. Although it was abandoned by its dedicated inhabitants prior to 1916, the structure was maintained both by the Bureau of Land Management and its predecessor U.S. Grazing Service for grazing enforcement and land management. The Johnson Ranch House was also maintained by sheep-grazing permittee Florenz Aubert and his descendants who used it between the 1930s and the 2000s, using it for sheep shearing and summer range access. The Johnson Ranch House is currently accessed by a rough dirt road which allows river-runners access to short day trips down the Green River, but no other features. Historically the site would have been the last automobile access point for horseback forays into the extensive summer grazing areas up the 700-foot high bluffs east of the Green River. Geography and lack of paved road past the Johnson Ranch House have allowed it to be maintained and also to avoid both vandalism and development.
Two related but larger random-rubble sandstone structures are located at the Buell dam site fourteen miles above the Johnson Ranch House. One structure is a large stone building with two doors and two windows on the front façade, probably used as a bunkhouse. The other structure is a dugout with no windows and a single door located on the gable end. Both structures feature similar large-block coursed-rubble corners with random-rubble infill, soft mortar and large cottonwood log beams. However, these were commercial structures for Buell Dam project employees or storage rather than single family habitation and neither structure has identical construction characteristics to the Johnson Ranch House.
Ruins of only five known documented late-19th and early 20th century random-rubble single-cell structures have been located in other remote canyons of Southeastern Utah. None of these structures have integrity and two are rubble piles with no standing walls. These are located at Nine Mile Canyon and Price Canyon west of the Green River, Saleratus Canyon east of the Green River in the Book Cliffs, Starr Ranch in the Henry Mountains, the Stone Cabin in Arches National Park southeast of Moab, Utah. There are also two coursed-ashlar sandstone cabins located at Florence Creek related to the McPherson family and at Rock Creek related to the Seamount family and a coursed-ashlar magma ranch house at the Starr Ranch near Escalante. These three structures are larger, multiple-bay structures with good wall integrity due to their cut stone façades but no remaining roofs. Although there have been archaeological surveys through parts of this enormous and largely uninhabited area, it is possible that there are other vernacular stone structures which have not been identified.
Summary
The Johnson Ranch House has local significance under Criterion A and C in the context exploration and economic development in Southeastern Utah during the first decades of the twentieth century. Constructed of local sandstone and logs circa 1906 and abandoned before 1916, this house is significant under Criterion A in the area of Social History for its association with the dramatic transformation of the American West between 1870 and 1915, and most particularly after the passage of the 1902 National Reclamation Act. The Johnson Ranch House was built during the height of the post-1902 Green River speculative boom and was directly related to both agriculture and a large scale dam project. The built traces of that defining but ephemeral boom period have almost all disappeared, making the Johnson Ranch House an even more exceptional and significant local architectural resource. The Johnson Ranch House is also significant under Criterion C for its exceptionally unique single-cell random-rubble sandstone and log roof construction. The house is the best preserved and only known remaining late nineteenth- and early-twentieth century vernacular single-cell random-rubble sandstone and cottonwood log with integrity remaining in Southeastern Utah. The Johnson Ranch House is also one of only a handful of rock dwellings constructed in Southeastern Utah, all of which were built during the development of the Green River between 1871 and 1915. The Johnson Ranch House retains almost all of its original form, roof and structural system and is a unique and significant local architectural resource.