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BITS AND PEIECES1 For the 1972 Contest the time period was extended to 1900, and by this time, life in Sanpete had made many changes from the frozen dugouts on the south side of Temple Hill during that severe winter of 1849. By 1900 the settlers wer living in comfortable homes throughout the county, and most of the towns now located here had been incorporated. Coal had been dis- covered in Wales and mining operations had begun in 1859. In 1851 all "free white male inhabitants of the age of 18 years" were permitted to vote in Manti's first city election, and by 1852 Sanpete County had been organized with a full set of officers. The county had known good and bad times. Grasshoppers and floods continued their devastation after the threat from hostile Indians was over. Even so, Sanpete became know as the Granary of Utah and by 1900 had shipped wheat as far as England. In 1864 Sanpete flour sold in Salt Lake City fo $21.25 per 100 lbs. The Manti Temple was completed and Sanpete Stake Academy was begun in 1888 and Wasatch Academy in 1891. The first school was organized by Jesse W. Fox in Manti in 1850 and later several Presbyterian and Methodist Mission Schools were organ- ized. The Railroad had extended through Sanpete into Sevier County, and telegraph lines brought messages to the valley. Irrigation Companies had been formed throughout the county. Newspapers were being published in Manti, Ephraim and Mt. Pleasant. Polygamy had been ruled unlawful and settlers had endured much hardship under the Edmunds-Tucker Act. A Scandanavian Reunion was held in Ephraim 4 September 1890 and Utah was admitted to the Union of States in 1896. This then, is a brief look at Sanpete up to 1900, the period covered in this year's Volume 4. 1Lever, W. H. HISTORY OF SANPETE AND EMERY COUNTIES, Press of the Tribune Job Printing Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1898. |
