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Show Form No 10-300a \Hsv, 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM CONTI NU ATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER FOR NFS USE ONiY DATE STORED 8 PAGE 5 established, creating a chain of closely linked villages instead of one overgrown town. The next year brought three more communities into existence in the valley of the north, making a total of ten village settlements in just two years. All of these communities used the fort style settlement thus rejecting the homestead method of western pioneering so common in all other western territories. This unique form of western settlement also helped the town life so deeply ingrained in the Utah way of life. Logan's Rise to Prominence Logan's birth came in June when two groups of settlers built their homes in the fort style along present day Center Street for about two blocks. The next year another block was added to the nascent, but burgeoning community. Most of the houses in this vernal village were built of logs with dirt floors and dirt roofs. Despite this terrestrial beginning, Logan became the most prominent town in the valley because of two reasons. First, it was about equal distance from the outlying communities which automatically gave it the cardinal position in the valley. Second, because it was settled on the banks of the Logan River, it gave the community the greatest source of water supply of any place in the valley. The chart below shows Logan's tremendous growth compared to the other communities of the valley. Population of Cache Valley Communities in Various Years^ Wellsville Logan Smithfield Hyrum 1870 885 1,757 744 708 1880 1,193 3,396 1,177 1,234 1890 1,045 4,620 1,386 1,423 1900 908 5,451 1,494 1,652 Though settled in 1859, Logan and all other communities in Cache Valley were not incorporated for several years after settlement so the Mormon Church's ecclesiastical leaders fulfilled this political void while maintaining the religious leadership of the communities at the same time. William B. Preston was chosen to be the Bishop of Logan in 1859 by Mormon Church Apostles Orson Hyde and Ezra T. Benson. By 1864 the threat of the Indians had been minimized by the United States Army which had defeated the Shoshoni Indians in a battle the year before. So that year the 6 U.S. Bureau of the Census, 9th,10th,llth and 12th Census of the United States. |
