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Show CHAPTER 17: Roads, Bridges and Ferry S e r v i c e - - - - - - - - - 287 the south side of the river. Near the Weber River it tied into the old Indian trail . coming out of Farmington. F;gur~ 354. A lillie Sw~tU" Ho~. Access to the Mountain Road and Weber Canyon. A third south-bound route out of South Weber used to go off of South Weber Drive just west of the present-day gravel pit maintained by Parson's Sand and Gravel Company. (At that time there was no gravel pit.) The road traveled across the area which is now the pit and then turned southward into the path which is presently the access road off of Utah Highway 89 into Little Sweden, the Carl Fernelius fann. At the Fernelius farm it turned eastward again to about where the Herman Westbroek home stands and then continued southward to the place on presentday Highway 89 where John Combe resides. At that point it connected with and became "the old Mountain Road". The section of Highway 89 presently established between the Combe Home and the Weber River was not in existence at that time. (As explained above, the old Indian trail wended its way along the foothills and up Weber Canyon.) There has always been only one east-west r\IU!e through South Weber. That highway is known liS S0uth Weber Road or South Weber Drive (Utah 1I,.::h\\3Y 60). [n the early days going east, South \Vd~r Road did not tie into Highway 89 in the same \vay it docs today . As previously indicated, there \Vas n~) Highway 89 or Mountain Road at that point. ll\slt>~d South Weber Road made a slight bend at the ~ra\"d pit area and then turned eastward again near 11rt'sent-day Zito's Cafe. From there it went up Ih " 'll ::h the land on which today sits the Weber Basin Jill, \,' ,' rps Center and continued up We.ber Canyon on As South Weber Road continued eastward on the south side of the river up Weber Canyon, it became known as the "Canyon Road." At Devil's Slide on the Canyon Road there was a bridge (Strawberry Bridge) which crossed the river. Once the road crossed the river, it continued eastward to Peterson, Morgan, Coalville, and other locations. West to Riverdale. Going westward out of South Weber and Riverdale, Utah Highway 60 joined Highway 91, but not as it does today. At one time South Weber Road entered Highway 91 near "death curve" in Roy. South Weber Road also had direct access to the old Riverdale Road, which fed directly into the old Riverdale Bridge. With a little effort, one can still locate part of the old bridge abutment that was once used to support the bridge where it crossed the Weber River near the old Allowheat Mill. There was also a road that went eastward out of Sunset that went up over the Sandhill and fed into South Weber Drive near Myrl Pippin's home. It left Highway 91 about where the Sunset Bank now stands and went eastward past the Smith Market, which was once on the east side of Highway 91 at that point. This was the old shortcut to Weber Canyon for folks living in the western part of Davis and Weber counties. When the first attempt at construction of the DavisIWeber Canal began with heavy materials such as concrete, this is the route that was used. That path also provided access to the dry land farms in the area. And when the Weber River dam at East Canyon was built this was the route taken by men such as Erastus Fisher, 'the secretary of that project who lived in West Point. In the 1920's and 30's Mr. Henry Bybee used to ride his horse from West Point over this road to teach school children at South Weber Middle School. And when Joe Ray became the bus driver for the school children living in South Weber, that was the westbound route he used. But it wasn't just people in vehicles who used the road. When Cecil Kap was playing basketball for Davis High School the activity bus used to let him out in Sunset and he had to walk that same five miles to get to his home in South Weber. SOUTH WEBER HISTORY |
