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Show The Promised Land 145 Mary Jane would never forget the impression she gained on this first visit to the home of her husband's older brothers in South Cottonwood. Back at her home in Salt Lake, food was being rationed and people were in actual want, but these hardy farmers were riding out the hard times with little to worry about. Here for the first time Aunt Jane heard the story of the promise to John Tanner that none of his children should prophet's ever beg bread." Jane had married even better than she thought. The next day she and Myron headed for Payson loaded with vegetables to see them through the summer until they could grow a garden of their own. John Joshua and Nathan may have settled on marginal land and a modest living, but little Cottonwood Can yon, only a few miles from their homes, was destined for the rest of the century to be one of the most exciting areas in the valley. This worked hard to eke out canyon contained considerable timber which was in great demand; it was blessed with superior building stone, usually spoken of as granite which would later be used in the construction of the Salt Lake Temple; and it was to become famous for its mineral wealth." In 1851 the first sawmill in the canyon was set up at what is known as Tanner's Flat." It has not been possible to learn what part John Joshua ·or Nathan played in this enterprise, but now their past experience in the lumber business it is safe to that guess they were involved. The community which sprang up at the site of the mill was known as Tannerville which suggests the important role of the Tanners. In his Historical Guide to Utah Ghost knowing Towns, Stephen L. Carr has this entry: Seven miles up the canyon [Little Cottonwood] is a favorite picnic ground called Tanner's Flat. In the 1850's a small lumber and town named Tannerville stood on the flat. A man named Tanner ran one of the several boarding houses in town.> Other log and frame buildings included dwellings, saloons and livery stables. In the early 1870's it also became a smelting and ore shipping center. The little town was destroyed by fire and never rebuilt. Nothing logging remains." Little Cottonwood Canyon for more than half a century was buzzing with activity. Near the mouth of the canyon was the famous quarry where the stone for the Salt Lake Temple was quarried, and |
