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Show OMB No. 1024-0018, NPS Form United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. 8 Page 2 Lemmon, Leander, House, Huntington, Emery County, UT still primary occupations in the region, although they have waxed and waned with the economy over the past few decades. The opening of the Utah Power and Light power plant in 1974, along with other mining and energy exploration endeavors has helped stabilized the economy somewhat. Leander Lemmon and the Settlement of Huntington By the time Leander Lemmon settled along Huntington Creek he had led a busy and adventurous life in the Utah Territory. Leander was born on November 10, 1839, in Illinois near the Mormon settlement of Nauvoo. He, along with his parents, Washington and Tamer Lemmon, and eleven siblings journeyed to Utah in 1852 and settled in Mill Creek, southeast of Salt Lake City. As a young man, Leander was involved in what became known as the "Utah War."4 As precaution against an impending takeover by the federal army, Brigham Young sent a band of men that included Leander Lemmon to guard Echo Canyon, the route which the army would be traveling, and to harass and obstruct the army's advance. Because of the vigilance of the men sent out by Brigham Young, the army was impeded and many of their supplies lost, although no one was killed. Apparently, Leander was not the type to stay in one place for very long. In 1860 he went with a company of people to help settle the Cache Valley, which is approximately seventy miles north of Salt Lake City. The Cache Valley would eventually become some of the most productive farm and dairy land in state. Lemmon only stayed here for a couple of years. In the summer of 1862 he made a visit to his home in Mill Creek and while there joined Lot Smith's company to help guard the mail route on the plains (one of the few occasions Utah was involved in the Civil War). Upon his return from guard duty, instead of returning to the green farmland of Cache Valley, Leander settled on a ranch in the barren Skull Valley thirty miles west of the Salt Lake Valley. He remained there for several years; however, in 1867 he volunteered to fight during the Blackhawk War in central Utah. The war, named for the Ute Indian chief Blackhawk, resulted from several skirmishes between Ute tribal members and Mormon settlers in various communities in the central part of the territory, most particularly in Sanpete Valley where Leander served. 5 Following his service he returned to Skull Valley to continue ranching. It was here that he became acquainted with the other stockmen who would eventually accompany him to Castle Valley. In 1874, Lemmon, and James McHadden, traveled to Castle Valley in east-central Utah to find suitable grazing land for their livestock. After exploring the canyons, rivers and creeks in the area the men decided to set up their ranch on the Huntington River at the mouth of the canyon. In early 1875, after returning to Skull Valley, Lemmon and McHadden formed a livestock company, Lemmon as vice president and McHadden as president 4 In 1857 word arrived in Salt Lake City that a federal army detachment was being sent to assess and control supposed antigovernment practices and uprisings by the Latter-day Saint population in the area. Fearing that martial law would be imposed and their way of life infringed upon (based upon several similar experiences in Missouri and Illinois) Brigham Young ordered the evacuation of Salt Lake City and much of the valley and moved the residents south into Utah County for temporary encampment. Besides the men he sent on patrol, he had several men remain in the city to torch buildings should the army invade. 5 "Death of Leander Lemmon," Deseret Evening News, 12 October 1907, p.3. |
