Corinne - The Gentile Capital of Utah

Trail town

'xHMr*-n^S'fl Trail Town A City Charter Although a city government of the popular style had served Corinne fairly well during its first year of existence, the absence of an official charter and a legally constituted election process had led to abuses and charges of irresponsible administration. The whole matter came to a head in February 1870 when leading citizens representing the Chamber of Commerce Association called on Constable Patterson to request his resignation which "would be cheerfully accepted and no questions asked" because his supervision of the office had proved unsatisfactory. The same delegation then asked Justice of the Peace S. G. Sewell to vacate his office for, as the Utah Reporter explained, the two officials had been chiefly responsible for the bad management of city affairs that was standing in the way of "the brilliant future awaiting us. . . . Corinne is no longer a harum-scarum western town. . . . " Sewell answered the charges by presenting an itemized statement of his handling of the money provided for building a jail and employing special police, an accounting the Reporter called inaccurate, hinting that more serious derelictions would shortly be published. As for Pat­terson, before he could be removed, he became involved in a public fight with a Mr. Wright, to the disgrace of himself and his fellow townsmen.' 31 The dismayed citizens circulated a petition on February 14, 1870, asking the territorial legislature, then in session, to grant the city a charter. According to a member of the petitioning committee, Orson Hyde Elliott, writing his reminiscences later, the legislature rejected the request until he secretly traveled to Salt Lake City, made a personal appeal, and within one hour saw the passage of a bill incorporating Corinne. But personal memories tend to build the esteem of the author as he looks back in time at his own tremendous exploits. The Utah Reporter merely noted that Elliott had been appointed by the citizens to present the petition and had gone to Salt Lake for that purpose.2 The charter, approved February 18, 1870, granted all of section 36 and about half of section 31 of township 10, and all of section 1 and about three-fourths of section 6 of township 9, of ranges three and two west, to the new Corinne City.3 This was a larger area than the original city plat recorded by J. E. House in Douglas County, Ne­braska, on May 24, 1869, but even that vision had encompassed sufficient land for a magnificent metropolis. The Central Pacific Rail­road divided the town into roughly northern and southern areas, al­though the business section lay almost completely south of the tracks while the northern section came to be the staging grounds for freighters readying their trains for the trip to Montana. From North Front Street just above the railroad line, the town was planned for ten blocks begin­ning with Washington Street and extending to Nevada Street. South of the tracks, Montana Street became the main thoroughfare with adjoining Colorado Street offering sites for overflow business. The city extended thirteen blocks to the south, ending with Canal Street. All the streets led from the west to the banks of Bear River. It must have been somewhat galling to the Corinnethians to note that their charter was signed by George A. Smith, president of the territorial council but also a Mormon church counselor to Brigham Young, and by Orson Pratt, speaker of the Utah Territorial House of Representa­tives and the leading philosopher and expounder of Mormonism.4 The act of incorporation, in eighteen sections, granted powers somewhat typical for most western towns. Provision was made for a mayor and ten councilors, five of whom were to be elected for one-year terms and five for two-year terms, with annual elections for five coun­cilors thereafter. Elections were established for on or before the first Monday in April of each year, with the first election to include as 32 Corinne voters all those who had been residents of the town for at least six months prior to election day. There were to be two justices of the peace, and a recorder, treasurer, assessor and collector, marshal and supervisor of streets, or as many of the latter officials as the citizens should desire. The city council had the necessary powers to levy and collect taxes upon all taxable property, real and personal, within the city limits. Appeals from city courts were to be heard by the probate court of Box Elder County.5 And, finally, neither the mayor, members of the council, nor the justices of the peace were to receive salaries, with the justices being allowed to collect only such fees as the mayor and council prescribed. The Utah Reporter was especially pleased that there were to be police justices who could punish such offenses as disturbing the peace and other breaches of good order with appropri­ate fines that would also provide a considerable revenue for public improvements.0 Proceeding under authority of the new charter, a municipal elec­tion was held on March 3, 1870, during which several political parties appeared under such names as up towners, down towners, north siders, Malshites, and Munrorers, the latter two designations deriving from the two principal candidates for mayor. W. H. Munro, for the Citizen's ticket, received 110 votes, while Julius Malsh received 112 votes on the People's ticket. But when several individuals filed sworn statements that they had not been entitled to vote, with the contest then ending in a tie, the election judges decided to have the two candi­dates draw lots. Munro was the winner and took office with the fol­lowing councilors: J. W. McNutt, S. L. Tibbals, John H. Gerrish, Samuel Howe, and F. Hurlbut for two-year terms; Hiram House, J. W. Guthrie, John Kupfer, J. W. Graham, and A. J. Fitzgerald for one-year terms; and T. J. Black and C. Bernard as justices of the peace. With one or two exceptions, the new officials were among the founders of the town and all were businessmen and property owners. A month later Julius Malsh was installed as a councilor to replace A. J. Fitzgerald who had resigned.7 Municipal Government The mayor and council met to organize several standing com­mittees and to adopt rules of procedure both of which remained in Trail Town 33 Montana Street, Corinne. Andrew J. Russell photograph, courtesy of the Oakland Museum. effect with only minor changes throughout the decade of the 1870s. The committees, composed of three members each, were: Finance and Claims, Ordinances, Licenses, Police, Streets and Public Improve­ments, and Credentials. The council agreed to meet on the first Mon­day in April, June, August, October, and December; adopted a fine of $1.00 for every absence; allowed a temporary replacement for any member absent from the city for twenty days; and ordered that no member could speak more than twice on a given subject. The recorder was to be the tax assessor, and the town marshal was also going to serve as the supervisor of streets and the collector of taxes, a significance not unobserved by all property owners. The Utah Reporter was named the official paper, expected to publish the actions of the council without expense to the city. But Dennis J. Toohy, editor, made up for this altruism by being named city attorney, a posi­tion that did return small amounts such as $5.00 per day to prepare 34 Corinne the ordinances passed by the council. Toohy reported his own selec­tion "as the most fitting which could have been made. . . ." Apparently, city revenues did not provide for any grand perqui­sites of office as the council first met in the office of Dr. O. D. Cass and, then, at the hay scales where the marshal was told to furnish the necessary seats and lights. The marshal must have been busy else­where; the next minutes recorded, "There being no lights or seats on motion the Reading of the minutes and all business was dispensed with . . . ." The recorder was instructed to purchase twelve chairs at $3.50 each and one table at $12.00 for the council, and the marshal was further ordered to compel the attendance of every member at the next meeting, a maneuver that evidently was not successful because, again, there was not a quorum present. At its working sessions in 1870 the council did undertake the passage of some necessary ordinances that revealed the needs and aspirations of the young town. Regulations were adopted to license dogs and to prevent swine from running at large, the latter problem being a continuing irritant throughout the town's early history. At its second meeting the council passed, on first reading, an ordinance "abolishing polygamy within the City Limits" but did not again bring up the subject, apparently deciding that Corinne must first put its own house in order before attacking the despised Mormon practice.9 The very next ordinance proposed to restrain "Gaming and Houses of 111 Fame" failed on first vote but finally was passed on April 4, 1870. The regulation must not have been very effective because the council adopted another provision on August 18 to sup­press disorderly houses. In another reference to the same problem, a resolution was adopted ordering the justice of the peace to remit one-half of a fine "imposed by him against certain women found guilty of violating an ordinance of the city." Also, there were ordinances devoted to public health, licenses for circuses and other exhibitions, to prohibit swimming and bathing in Bear River within the city limits, instructing the marshal to inspect the flues and chimneys of all houses for possible fire hazards, to allow Councilman John Kupfer to "dis­charge Fire Arms on his own premises," to permit S. J. Lees to main­tain a tent standing on the corner of Fourth and Montana streets, and to prohibit individuals from carrying concealed weapons or discharg­ing firearms in the streets.10 Trail Town 35 Recognizing the need for a "Calaboose or City Jail," because, as the Utah Reporter phrased it, "we are a young and impetuous town, and need the discipline of law to check and control us," the town fathers ordered a building twenty-two feet square to be erected at the rear of the city hall. The cost reached a total of $260.33, for which orders were given to draw warrants to pay the bill. But, apparently, the jail was hauled away by the creditors, because the Reporter in­quired, "Mr. Winschell broke a jail all to pieces, loaded it up and car­ried it off, without a dissenting voice. How is this?" Later in July a Mr. Schultz refused to accept city warrants in pay for feeding the city prisoners. To solve the problem, the council advertised that prisoners could be hired out to citizens if the townspeople involved would feed those under sentence.11 Things were almost as bad as earlier in the year when the editor of the Reporter had complained, "The saloons in town are infested by loafers to such an extent that citizens are compelled to forego the genial pleasures of the decanter."lz As in many frontier settlements of the West, the town marshal had an unenviable job - attempting to enforce restrictive laws against a very independent clientele and for a salary that often did not exist. In June 1870 the council revoked the $100 per month salary of Marshal J. M. Langsdorf with the understanding that the members would decide later how much less the stipend would be. Thereupon, the marshal asked for and was granted a six weeks leave of absence while N. Kanady was appointed deputy marshal to keep the peace. A month later the council decreed that the marshal would be granted 5 percent of all the unpaid taxes he could collect. Evidently this did not supplement his income enough because in October he resigned, having been charged with the embezzlement of $227.25 of public money for which the city attorney was asked to start criminal pro­ceedings. In reply, ex-Marshal Langsdorf presented the council with a bill for unpaid salary amounting to $436.30, which request, after due consideration, was tabled. After a brief search the town fathers then chose J. Q. Harnish as marshal from a list of six applicants, a number surprisingly high in light of the dubious probability of regular pay." The obvious lack of revenue was not due to a deficiency in the law allowing the city to levy one-half of one percent per annum on assessed value. As the Reporter explained, the tax on a lot worth one 36 Corinne thousand dollars would return only five dollars and with three thou­sand improved lots available for taxation, there should be sufficient income from an assessment that was "too light for complaint." 14 Nevertheless, there were appeals from the Central Pacific Railroad whose assessment was reduced to an amount computed at $4,000 per mile of track, $1,000 for buildings, and $3,500 for personal property. Individuals such as Alexander Toponce requested and received a cor­rection in the levy, and the business firms of Tolan & Campbell and F. P. Winschell gained approval for a reduction of quarterly licenses for breweries from $15.00 to $7.50. From this time on, the council minutes reflect a continuous stream of such requests from supposedly hard-pressed businessmen. The town leaders were constantly extend­ing deadlines for tax payments, making October 15, 1870, the due date instead of August 1, and then moving the time forward to No­vember 1 without any penalty being charged.15 Revenues, nevertheless, seemed to be adequate, and in February 1872, the council suspended the collection of all license fees for the first quarter of the year.16 In fact, times seemed to be so prosperous that the mayor was granted a salary of $100 a month,17 and the fines against dance houses were suspended for the month of August, a very busy period when many end-of-the-road freighters were in town seek­ing entertainment.1S The Corinne Reporter, in a panegyric on July 12, 1872, praised the city's volunteer officials whose administration had been so honest and frugal that for the period from March 10, 1870, to June 10, 1871, only $4,506.16 had been expended to deliver neces­sary services to the citizens and to inaugurate a general prosperity.10 In addition to a balance already on hand, total receipts had reached $4,335.59 with the largest amount, $2,491.21 coming from a city tax and grade tax for the main thoroughfare in town, with lesser amounts of $868.38 in mercantile licenses, $685.00 from the police courts, $176.00 for taxes on dogs, and $95.00 for shows and exhibitions. Expenditures included major amounts for building another jail, main­taining the police force, and improving the streets, for a total sum of $4,506.16, leaving a balance of $224.32 in the treasury.20 Prosperity soon disappeared, and by November 1871 the Reporter was complaining that $500 worth of unpaid fines had accumulated on the records of the city courts.21 By year's end matters became so desperate that the collector was ordered to make persistent efforts to Trail Town 37 collect overdue taxes, and a "Retrenchment Committee" was assigned to determine what expenses could be curtailed and to examine the possibility of dispensing with the services of the city marshal. The committee finally recommended that the marshal's salary be reduced to $50 per month but that he be allowed certain fees on all arrests made, a provision that probably ensured an excellent law-and-order program for the town. Also, the two justices of the peace were ordered to make detailed reports once a month on their income from fines assessed. In these straitened circumstances, the council rented an old paint shop for $25 per month, used the front room as a council cham­ber and police court, and assigned the back room to the town's Board of Trade. Even the city recorder had troubles when he fell "with an ink bottle in his hand, [and] blotted and rendered sightless" pages 61 through 74 of the record book.22 In the city election held in March 1871 the one-year councilmen were all reelected, but because of a double vote in the contest for jus­tice of the peace the council had to declare a new election which resulted in the selection of O. H. Elliott for the position.23 The tax­payers, in the August countywide election for other officers, named Alex Toponce as supervisor, T. J. Black and G. A. Bruce as justices of the peace, and John B. Nelson and John Q. Harnish as constables, "All good men, and the stuff out of which faithful servants of the people are made . . . ." 24 The hot issue in the next election on March 1872 centered around the choice for justices of the peace. Evidently there were citizen com­plaints about exorbitant fees being assessed by the justices, because the Reporter warned against candidates who "intend to rob and swindle the poor," such ingrates being "perjurer[s] and rogue[s]." T. J. Black and Allen Hardenbrook were finally chosen to fill the sensi­tive positions as justices of the peace; five new councilors were chosen; and a new mayor, J. W. Graham, was selected.25 A few disgruntled taxpayers, resentful over taxes levied against them, circulated a petition to ask the territorial legislature to repeal the city charter and substitute another form of government. Editor Toohy was almost beside himself with anger as he described these dis­contented spirits who did not like the way the city revenue was being apportioned. He suggested a more reasonable approach to these men: to ask to see the financial records which were open to public scrutiny 38 Corinne and not "sealed up from the people as they are in Mormon cities." But then, abandoning his temperate advice, he launched into sarcasm: By the Alcoholic Telegraph. The Charter Repealed! Salt Lake City, Feb. 16. The Charter of Corinne City was repealed today, by unanimous vote in the Endowment House, and a pen­sion of four dollars a month for life, granted to each of the peti­tioners, the money to be paid out of the Boxelder tithing funds. A bishop will be appointed next week, and the book of Mormon, bound in calf, presented to the first man engaging in polygamy on Bear river. Brigham Young, not being at liberty to go up and see his new subjects, that duty will be assigned to the presiding elder at Copenhagen [present Mantua, Utah].20 Three days later the editor continued the attack, explaining that when the petition was presented to the legislature, "there was no man to be found in Salt Lake City capable of interpreting the villainous jargon on the paper," and, therefore, "a motion to lay it under the table for two years, was passed, to give the signers a chance to study the 'Doc­trine and Covenants.' " Toohy finally concluded that the repeal had been repealed and that the anticharterite agent had been arrested as a lunatic. The dissidents and status quoers alike received some satisfaction when the legislature amended the charters of Corinne, Logan, Provo, and Ogden, granting more extensive powers to the municipalities and defining more specifically their taxing jurisdiction.27 The latter powers seemed quite necessary for Corinne where the council meetings were flooded with protests about high tax assessments while at the same time the city government could barely pay its bills. The financial report for the period June 10, 1871, to February 1, 1872, listed receipts of $2,825.47 and expenditures of $2,724.44, with unpaid bills amounting to $116.72 above the balance of $101.03. The city fathers also faced such dilemmas as that of V. Cordelia who was still asking that his bill of $65.00 be paid for entertaining Gov. J. Wil­son Shaffer back in 187028 and of the jury that refused to bring in a verdict until its per diem was assured. To meet these pressing needs the council began punitive measures: Action would be taken against all individuals who had not paid their poll taxes;29 an ordinance was passed that the property of delinquent taxpayers would be seized and sold at public auction; and, in November 1872, the city attorney was instructed to begin suit to collect delinquent taxes. Also, a new list of Trail Town 39 license regulations was adopted for quarterly fees: wholesale liquor and tobacco dealers, $25.00; billiard tables, first table, $10.00, second table, $7.50, and $5.00 for all others; banking houses, $25.00; brew­eries, $10.00; job wagons, $5.00; ice cream and soda fountains, $10.00; livery stables, $2.50 per horse; auctioneer, $10.00; and China wash houses, $5.00.30 A stiff $50.00 fine was to be levied against any­one traveling over the northside bridge at a faster gait than a walk, an implicit warning to all who approached the rickety structure.31 A few special ordinances were passed by the city council during 1872, one establishing the Lake View Cemetery and another setting up an additional Standing Committee on Schools.32 John M. Johnston was granted permission to erect a gas works when he discovered a source of good illuminating gas while drilling an artesian well,33 and some citizens proposed a petition for an ordinance "prohibiting cat serenades" at night.34 An indication of the struggle between Christian morals and devilishly pleasant profits occurred when, on April 1, 1872, the blacksmiths of the city petitioned for and were granted an ordi­nance prohibiting blacksmith shops from being kept open on Sunday. But by August 19 the blacksmiths were back requesting the repeal of their own ordinance, an action approved on September 2.35 The Corinne Reporter rationalized the behavior of its Sabbath-breaking mechanics by explaining that those "who delight in paying respect to the Sabbath, require no Mormon style of enforcement." 36 Law and Order The obvious bustle of activity and good times, emphasized by the action of the blacksmiths, meant a greater number of freighters and travelers thronging the streets of Corinne in 1872, with an attendant rise in law enforcement problems.37 The city marshal contracted an illness that would not allow him to perform his duties properly, and after some pressure from the council he offered his resignation.38 A former Civil War officer with a reputation as a gunfighter, Daniel D. Ryan, who had been hired in April as a $60-a-month town night watchman to reinforce the meager police force, was installed as tempo­rary marshal and then given the full-time assignment.39 Marshal Ryan then began a rather long career as the chief law enforcer of the town, living up to the romantic tradition of the fearless lawman. Before he 40 Corinne assumed the position, the Reporter had often noted drunks and dis­orderlies around town who were not being arrested, but soon the editor could write that Marshal Ryan had corralled a number of drunken loungers, that he had "a knack of filling the calaboose" with night-brawlers, and that he "seems bound to keep the streets clean and preserve order throughout the city. He is the right man for the right job." 40 On November 11, 1872, the Reporter described an incident that reinforced the editor's opinion about the competence of the town marshal: On last Saturday night, about one o'clock, Paschal, in com­pany with three of his companions, entered the Diamond Q billiard hall and proposed three cheers for Greeley, and was answered by some outside party that Greeley was "played out," which caused some hard words, and a free fight ensued; during which, Marshal Ryan was called in to make peace and arrest the guilty parties. He (Ryan), in attempting to arrest Paschal, was shot through the left hand with a ball from a navy revolver in the hands of Paschal. Some say it was accidental, while others are equally confident that it was intentional. The Marshal then fired at Paschal, who was on his knees, the ball taking effect in his right breast, making a fearful wound. After the shooting, Paschal walked down to the Osceola Saloon, soon after entering the house, he fell on the floor, and was picked up by his com­panions and carried to the Diamond R warehouse, where he now lies in critical condition.41 Under the ministration of the mayor, Dr. J. W. Graham, Paschal eventually recovered. Ryan was forced into a six-month retirement as a result of the duel, and Taylor Shipley was appointed marshal on December 23, 1872, concluding one of the shortest terms in the position by resigning on December 30, 1872. The office was not a sinecure by any means.42 There were so many brawls and gunfights during the crowded summer and fall days of 1872 that the Reporter could even make light of some of them: In an animated political discussion last evening, one of the parties got worked up to such a pitch that he undertook to demonstrate his position by a resort to what he considered final arbitration; viz. the presentation of six death-dealing chambers, Trail Town 41 ingeniously arranged to revolve and deal in their turn; but the dealer came to grief as the opposite party intimated he had seen those things before and seen the dealer, and went for him a few better by slapping him in the face. Steady, gentlemen, keep cool!43 Toohy even reproved two distinguished visitors, Jay Cooke and Horace Greeley, who hired a turnout and then proceeded to drive at breakneck speed up and down Montana Street until the marshal had to remind them they were not on the Bowery.44 To replace Taylor Shipley, the one-week marshal, the council, on January 6, 1873, appointed Eugene Moore to the position as chief law enforcer for the town.45 He proved to be rather officious in the performance of his duties. . . . four leading citizens [of Corinne] were engaged in a friendly game at cards with a stranger, who suddenly gave utterance to the most ungentlemanly remarks, reflecting upon the honor of the party. The gentlemen felt both grieved and indignant, and simultaneously directed a fusilade at the person of the offensive stranger, which they interred the moment their excitement was over, with every mark of delicacy and respect. The Corinne Reporter's only comments on the homicide reflected criticism of the "conduct of the law officers who have thrust themselves into what was purely a private affair amongst gentlemen" and con­demned the "arrest of four of our leading citizens. . . . So far as the crime is concerned we don't think the matter worth referring to." No further action seems to have been taken against the four townsmen.46 Apparently, the wrong people were being arrested, as the town newspaper continually noted occurrences of lawlessness such as three different fistfights in one night and a gang of "swindlers, three card monte scoundrels, and pickpockets" who plied their "hellish calling" on the trains between Corinne and Ogden. The Reporter called for the help of "Chief Justice Lynch" to give these latter ruffians a taste of rope.47 Appalled at the disturbances, an appropriate number of forty-five citizens finally petitioned the council to retain the still-convalescing Dan Ryan as city marshal, and a month later he was added to the police force.18 But Eugene Moore continued as marshal. Dissatisfaction with Moore's performance now mounted: Justice of the Peace T. J. Black complained that the marshal would not serve 42 Corinne warrants in certain cases, and finally, in another petition, the leading citizens asked the council to declare the office of marshal vacant and to assign Officer Ryan to perform the duties and thus save the city $900 a year. The council failed to act, so the citizens then petitioned the council to compensate Dan Ryan for the medical bills he had accumu­lated as a result of his gunfight with Paschal. The town fathers re­sponded with a grant of salary of $75 a month from January 1, 1873, to May 12, 1873. Eugene Moore finally resigned on November 17, 1873, explaining that there was nothing for him to do. A week later the doughty Ryan was reinstalled as marshal, much to the relief of the citizens. To aid him in his arduous task, a committee from the council was instructed to meet with the Malad Precinct constables residing in Corinne to ascertain if they would assist Ryan in making arrests.49 The council itself did not seem as energetic or responsible as the earlier ones had been. The election of March 1873 retained most of the original members, but the 1874 campaign returned almost an entirely new slate of officials including a new mayor, H. E. Hurlbut. There were a number of resignations during these two years, includ­ing the new Mayor Hurlbut.50 The Reporter rather acidly commented that although no members had resigned or died there were two vacan­cies on the council, which prompted Julius Malsh to say that there were "more than two vacancies in the heads of his colleagues." 51 Quorums were present for only two of the eight meetings of the coun­cil from December 29, 1873, to February 16, 1874.52 The revenue problems seemed as serious as ever, the marshal being instructed to seize the property of delinquent taxpayers and sell it at public auction. The office of city attorney was abolished, and when a committee reported that a city-owned building could be re­modeled for use as a hospital at a cost of $100, the council recom­mended that "no action be taken till the occasion requires." Further evidence of a slight deterioration in civic affairs came with council orders that the Western Union telegraph office and three other build­ings be declared nuisances and that they be abated and removed, the latter within seven days.53 Freighting and Stagecoaching By 1874 this apparent decline in the interest of city officials in their government and perhaps even in the prospects of continued Trail Town 43 The freighting wagons of Mormon merchants Kimball and Lawrence near the head of Echo Canyon. Utah State Historical Society collections. prosperity for Corinne reflected fluctuations in the trade that con­stituted the basis for the very existence of the Gentile station on the Central Pacific Railroad. During these five years, from the dull busi­ness summer of 1869 to 1874, the town witnessed a significant growth in the freight-transfer operations that dispatched great wagon trains along the Montana trail to customers in the mining camps and the flourishing towns of eastern Idaho and western Montana. The de­velopment of city government, just described, was a necessary process to bring order and organization to Corinne but was only adjunct and supportive to the all-consuming task of providing the facilities to outfit and to load the merchant caravans and crowded stagecoaches that used the town as a point of departure. When the fall of 1869 ushered in the long-awaited freighting boom and the year 1870 saw the solid establishment of trade to the north, an activity model was formed that stamped the life of the town and its people with a pattern determined by the ebb and flow of goods and passengers to Montana. In early March the bullwhackers and teamsters would begin to arrive with their oxen, mules, and wagons assembled north of the tracks and their campfires at night resembling an army in bivouac. The merchants would begin to burn their lamps late at night trying to fill the orders for harnesses, food supplies, 44 Corinne wagons, and the other paraphernalia needed on the trail. As soon as the roads had dried enough, usually in April, the big freight wagons would load at the warehouses near the depot and then head for the Malad Divide. May and June were busy months as freight began to pile up in the buildings and sometimes along the tracks under the stars, awaiting the latecomers. The trip to Montana and return might take as long as three months or as little as five weeks, depending on whether you were whacking bulls or skinning mules. Most teamsters counted on two loads to the north during the freighting season, while a few of the more efficient and more adventurous might get in three or, occasionally, four trips. The logistics of travel, therefore, made July a dull busi­ness month for Corinne shopkeepers who were always happy when the more "lovely" days of August and September came. The forward­ing agents and commission merchants, however, began to worry about the freight in their bulging warehouses, kept constant watch over weather conditions, and hoped they could encourage the professional freighters to attempt one more trip before the snows of winter closed the Pleasant Valley Divide at Monida Pass. A few might attempt a late journey only to find their wagons embedded in snowdrifts and faced with the back-breaking task of sledding their goods to market. Some of the merchants might travel to Montana to arrange for orders for the next spring; others would go east to purchase new sup­plies or visit in their old home states; but most would settle down in Corinne to enjoy a busy social calendar with ice-skating parties, formal dances, and perhaps an occasional visit to the opera house to hear a distinguished visitor from the East discourse on the Mormon problem. Although a number of Mormon farmers in northern Utah often left their grasshopper-ravaged fields to try to make an honest dollar in carrying trade to the north, the largest share of goods was transported by the professional freighting outfits using trains of wagons that could carry up to 100,000 pounds or more. Return cargoes were usually made up of rich ores on their way to Swansea, Wales, or an eastern smelter in the United States. Sometimes buffalo hides or furs were loaded. But the main profits were made on the manufactured articles and luxury goods carried to Montana from the railroad. By the spring of 1870 Corinne was already beginning to accept the name of the "Bullwagon Metropolis" as the ox teams began to Trail Town 45 gather on the prairie north of town awaiting the freight being assem­bled by such concerns as Creighton and Munro and the giant Dia­mond R Company, recently moved from Montana.54 The northern merchants anticipated much better times now that they could tele­graph New York City to place an order and start their teams for the railroad on the same day.5' The number of Missouri River steam­boats docking at Fort Benton decreased from forty-two registered in 1869 to only eight in 1870, so sure was nearly everyone that Corinne was the place to go for supplies. By May the Corinne Reporter could proudly report that 180 freight cars had disgorged their cargoes at Corinne and that 2,176,820 pounds of freight had been sent to Mon­tana. 50 Wagonmasters like Hugh Kirkendall, Thomas M. Monroe for the Diamond R, Garrison & Wyatt, and Henry Schodde left in mid- April on their first trips, and the Reporter could exult, on July 7, that the Diamond R had shipped out 100,000 pounds of freight. "It wasn't much of a day for freight either, in fact it is considered quite out of season," the newspaper asserted. "With this showing in the dullest month of the season, what may we expect when the fall busi­ness sets in, in August and September?" 57 An unusually mild fall led some of the outfits to try another journey in mid-December, and, by the end of the year, Corinnethians were sure that a firm basis had been established for a prosperous and enduring community at the Central Pacific station on Bear River. During 1871 Hugh Kirkendall's Montana Fast Freight and Ex­press Line merged with the Diamond R Overland Express to offer eight-day service from the railroad to Helena and Deer Lodge, a stupendous achievement, according to the Reporter which explained that the light freight wagons, each drawn by six mules, would change relays every few miles and would run day and night. It was a good year for Corinne, the local paper explaining, in May, "The man who used to talk of dull times has left this part of the country in disgust. . . ." 58 Some delays were experienced in getting groceries and other sup­plies to Helena and the other Montana towns. One wagonmaster found that his bullwhackers had settled down to some heavy drinking in Corinne and refused to budge until he put a barrel of whiskey in one of the wagons and thus managed to get the men out of town. The train moved rather slowly and uncertainly until the barrel was drained.'" Too often, runaway teams disturbed the peace of Corinne, 46 Corinne and the local editor advised, "Tie up your animals when you get thirsty." °° The freighting season for 1872 started in mid-April with hun­dreds of wagons gathered around the warehouses and on the plain above the tracks, awaiting loads the town optimists thought would exceed the previous year's totals of tonnage by at least another thou­sand tons.01 A revival of trade by way of the Missouri River, where twelve steamboats left Saint Louis for Fort Benton, did not seem to diminish the bullish activity at "the dirty little burg on the banks of the Bear," as the Salt Lake Herald liked to call it. By June about a million pounds of freight were stacked up in the warehouses and out in the fields waiting for more teamsters to load up.02 The streets of the town were thronged with muleskinners and bullwhackers whose rough lan­guage dismayed the permanent residents, one citizen commenting that "the bull vocabulary would be a very interesting work to peruse under a state of delirium tremens. . . ." °3 The autumn of 1872 turned out to be as mild as the previous fall and winter had been severe, and trains left for Montana up until December. The year 1873 started out with even brighter prospects for Corinne as a freight-transfer point for shipments to the north. As many as 800 wagons were on the road at one time, carrying close to 5,000 tons of goods to Montana and returning with 500 tons of rich silver ore. A horse disease, the epizootic, threatened the trade for awhile but subsided by late summer. Of much greater concern to Corinnethians was the building of a narrow-gauge railway, the Utah and Northern, by Mormon promoters, into Cache Valley. Its extension to Logan in 1873 shifted some of the trade of Corinne to the terminus but did not seriously affect business at the Bear River location. A more important threat was the plan of the railroad's builders to extend the line to Franklin, Idaho, at the north end of Cache Valley which would immediately cut off Corinne trade to the north. So many observers thought, at least, and as the spring of 1874 approached, Mormon leaders were confident that they would soon capture the Montana traffic. The Corinne Reporter, truly a freighter's newspaper, lost its editor, Dennis J. Toohy, in July 1873 when he perceived a loss of busi­ness and sold out to Horace Myers.04 But for the years from late 1869 to the summer of 1874, Corinne had lived up to the expectations of its founders in gaining control of the northern trade. Trail Town 47 In similar fashion, the town also became the terminus for pas­senger traffic between the railroad and the northern territories. Wells Fargo, after buying out the Ben Holladay interests in November 1866, had continued stage operations from Salt Lake City to western Mon­tana until the approach of the transcontinental railroad convinced the company the time had come to get out of the transportation business.65 In August 1869, therefore, Wells Fargo sold its interests to J. T. Gilmer and Munroe Salisbury of Salt Lake City who ran their Gilmer & Salis­bury Overland Stage and Express Line to the north until the Utah and Northern Railroad penetrated the Montana area in the 1880s.06 The stage business was important to Corinne. The hotels, restau­rants, and shops catered to the passengers who alighted from the rail­road cars and awaited passage aboard a Concord coach for the three-day ride to Helena or Butte. The stages traveled day and night and often delivered their fares in a rather battered condition because of the bad roads. Travel in winter was even worse, and, of course, the jour­ney was usually extended to five or six days or canceled during blizzard conditions. At such times travelers were forced into longer stopovers at Corinne, to the profit of the businessmen of the town. Furthermore, Stagecoach in front of a commercial photography shop, probably in Montana. Photograph courtesy of the Montana Historical Society. 48 Corinne there was such a demand for reservations that passengers were often forced to telegraph at least three days ahead to get accommodations, and the Helena Herald thought "the whole world . . . [was] coming to Montana to dwell." 6T An additional advantage for Corinne in hav­ing the stage terminus was that the government mail contracts for the northern towns were granted to Gilmer & Salisbury. And if the Corinne newspaper was oriented toward news concerning freight movements, it was equally interested in stagecoach affairs and daily listed the arrivals and departures of passengers. Merchants and Storekeepers The care of travelers and the transfer of freighting goods from railroad cars to wagons dictated the types of business that came to dominate the mercantile interests of the town. Very early, some observers insisted that many of the first merchants of Corinne were Gentile wholesale and retail businessmen who had been forced out of Salt Lake City by the Mormon cooperative movement and the estab­lishment of the Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution. J. H. Beadle wrote that after the "decree" went into effect in 1868-69, "Gentile stores were empty. It was amusing and provoking to take a walk along Main Street that winter, and see the melancholy Jews standing in the doors of their stores looking in vain for customers." He was convinced that by July 1869 there were only one hundred fifty Gentiles left in the Mormon capital and that the more enterprising of those had begun to look around for another place to settle, which, he said, was Corinne, where he moved in April.08 However, one careful study has concluded that only 5 percent of the Corinne merchants from 1869 to 1877 had lived in Salt Lake City before 1869, and many of these stayed only a short time at the railroad town. F. Auerbach and Brother, the Walker Brothers, the Hurlbut Brothers, J. W. McNutt, and O. D. Kuhn were among the first merchants to settle at Corinne, but only the latter two were still there in 1878.°" Of all the mercantile establishments, the most significant were the forwarding and commission firms that handled the dispatch of goods to the north. Four important ones existed during the first decade of the town's history. Creighton and Munro operated their firm from April 1869 to 1871 when they dissolved their partnership, with Creigh- Trail Town 49 ton founding the California and Montana Transportation Company and Munro starting the Far West Freighting Company. The Creigh-ton and Munro firm was one of the largest in town, often holding as much as a million pounds of goods in its warehouse at one time. Later, in 1874, Creighton moved his firm to Franklin, Idaho, where he did not meet with as much success.70 The Diamond R or E. G. Maclay Freighting Company was the second firm to be established at Corinne. The company, which had already demonstrated its hold on Montana freight transportation, became the dominant force in shipping from the railroad to the north, often sending out as much as one hundred and fifty tons of goods a week. On November 10, 1872, Maclay closed his warehouses in Corinne, moved his offices to Montana, and formed a new concern, E. G. Maclay and Company. By May 1873 he had established an office at Logan where he expected to gain even greater advantage, but Maclay was not able to compete successfully with freighters still traversing the shorter distance from Corinne to Montana. He was again active in Utah transportation during 1877-78 but on a lesser scale.71 The third commission and forwarding merchant was Fred J. Kiesel, who had a long and interesting career as a businessman in Utah. Born in Germany in 1841, he came to the United States, settled in Tennessee and later in Missouri, served in the Confederate Army at Shiloh, and came to Utah in 1863.72 The following year he opened a store in his own name in Wellsville, Cache County, for the firm of Gilbert & Sons who "were under a cloud with the Church authorities." Compelled to sell out to the Mormon cooperative store after a year and a half, he opened another store for Gilbert & Sons at Ogden but again was forced out by what he termed Mormon intolerance. Finally, he started a store at Montpelier, Idaho, in the Bear Lake region but "was driven out again . . [as] during my absence from there the young man whom I left in charge was killed." Kiesel later explained this incident: It was the despotism of Brigham Young that drove nearly all the Gentile firms out of the Territory or broke them up in busi­ness. That was the case until 1871, when the mining commenced, and of course it was the salvation of all of us out here . . . it was only by pursuing a conservative course that I got along at all. 50 Corinne I had to keep very dark, so that I often doubted whether I was on American soil . . . [Brigham Young told the Bear Lake Mormons] to let me severely alone, that I was their enemy - an enemy of this people. That was the reason my clerk got killed. They said the Indians did it, but it was inside a settlement. I would have trusted myself with the Indians in those days quicker than with the Mormons . . . . the Mormons just took occasion to sit down on us whenever we were in their way, in the matter of contracts or anything of that kind. . . .73 Later, he opened other stores in the mining camps of Ophir and Bing­ham, sold out in 1873, and then moved to Corinne where he operated the Fred J. Kiesel Company from 1873 to 1878 in partnership with Gumpert Goldberg. His competitor, Creighton, warned Kiesel that he was building his own coffin to locate at Corinne, but the Kiesel Com­pany had good success during the four years to 1878 as Corinne's lead­ing forwarding house. In 1878 he moved his business to Ogden where he built a large grocery store.74 In 1875 a man named Hardenbrook, a long-time resident of Corinne who had operated a livery stable since 1871, joined forces with John McCormick of Helena, Montana, to organize the com­mission house of McCormick & Hardenbrook. The company had a very successful first year and continued in business until forced out in 1878 when the Utah and Northern was extended into Idaho.75 There were a few lesser lights engaged in the forwarding trade, and, in fact, almost any merchant in Corinne was somewhat involved. J. W. Guthrie, banker and commission merchant; Goldberg, grocer and produce merchant; the Kennady Fast Freight and Express Com­pany; Sisson and Wallace; and a few smaller companies like those of the Kuhn Brothers, J. D. Farmer, Ransohoff and Company, and Louis Regel, all contributed to the trading activities from Corinne to the north.70 Supplementing the forwarding agents, retail and wholesale store owners, who did not have to travel to the East to buy merchandise like the commission merchants, supplied limited articles from their own stock for shipment to Montana or other areas. For example, in June 1871 David Auerbach visited Corinne to buy goods for his store at Ophir, located south of Great Salt Lake.77 A typical store was that of A. Kuhn and Brothers, whose stock was described by a journalist from Trail Town 51 the Corinne Reporter as including a wide variety of dry goods, cloth­ing, trunks and valises, and hats for both ladies and gentlemen. He concluded that "the firm . . . will not only compete with other mer­chants of this country, but for style, quality and price of goods, they will compete with any firm outside of New York." The fine clothing and delicate fabrics available in the stores of Corinne help explain, as described later, the unrelenting effort made by Mormon families to trade farm products for these quality goods not available to them in their own cooperative stores. Throughout the first decade of Corinne's history, approximately forty-five such retail and wholesale houses were in operation for various periods of time.79 Of vital importance to the freighting companies loading out of Corinne were the blacksmith shops, wagon agents, and animal dealers. Apparently, there were never enough blacksmiths to satisfy teamster needs during the busy season, and the anvils rang seven days a week in Corinne. Wagon dealers sold Studebaker, Schuttler, Bain, and LaBelle wagons, names as familiar in the 1870s as Ford and Chevrolet are today. Several hundred freighting wagons were sold each year, one of the reasons being that after the trip to Montana they were disposed of there for use in the mines. A few companies manufactured wagons on a made-to-order basis. And the mules, horses, and oxen needed to pull or push the wagons furnished a prosperous business for dealers like Alexander Toponce and others who, evidently, did not need to adver­tise and so have left a rather meager history of their trade. Off and on there were about thirty-two companies engaged in the above businesses.80 To feed, house, and offer recreation for the teamsters, freighters, stagecoach drivers, tourists, and others who called Corinne home dur­ing the traveling season, the town offered chop houses, restaurants associated with the local hotels, and home-cooked meals in the various boarding houses. The regular price of meals was 50 cents. Meal tickets could be purchased for $5.00 a week, or, if a customer were brave enough, he might be able to cadge a free lunch from one of the saloons. The first hotel was the Uintah House, a two-story adobe structure that soon deteriorated and was abandoned. It was replaced by the Metro­politan in 1870 as the leading hostelry of the town. Then came the Central where the most formal affairs were held. Other well-known establishments were the Silver Star, International, Bear River House, 52 Corinne Corinne House, Masonic House, Closser's House, Montgomery House, and the Western Hotel. Most were frame and adobe buildings of one or two stories. Finally, but not last by any means in the estimation of the hard-drinking teamsters, were some forty liquor dispensing establishments that provided necessary end-of-the-trail beverages. Any temperance movements in Corinne appeared rather weak, sporadic, and usually church-sponsored, based on a voluntary control exercised by the saloonkeepers. Corinne had its own breweries where the local product, made with Bear River water, achieved a certain renown. A composite directory of saloons, hotels, restaurants, and other places of recreation from 1869 to 1878 would include: fifteen saloons, sixteen liquor stores, thirteen restaurants or eating places, fifteen hotels or rooming houses, and four amusement parlors.81 A survey of Corinne business houses would not be complete with­out a description of the banks that handled the financial accounts of local firms and arranged for exchange credit with banks in Montana, San Francisco, New York City, other American cities, and even such institutions as the Alliance Bank in London and the firm of D. La Touch in Dublin, Ireland. Corinne hoped to become the commercial center of the Intermountain West, and its first bank, that of Wilson and Morton, was soon bought by Hussey, Dohler and Company of Salt Lake City, a financial house strong enough to withstand a run on its accounts during the disastrous financial panic of 1873. Warren Hussey eventually took over the firm but closed his Corinne branch in 1874. The quarters were immediately transformed into the ap­propriately named Bank Saloon. The Bank of Corinne, a financial house of some lesser importance, was founded in 1871 by Dr. O. D. Cass, with W. T. Field as cashier, and continued operation until early 1875 when it closed its doors. Left with no banking facilities at all, the businessmen of the town agreed to back J. W. Guthrie, soon to become the long-time mayor, in organizing J. W. Guthrie and Com­pany which continued operations from 1875 to 1910 when it was bought by S. N. Cole who moved the firm to Tremonton, Utah. By 1885 Guthrie had housed his business in a substantial brick building and had begun to buy out a number of other businessmen who fore­saw little chance of rejuvenating the dying town. A careful inventory of all Corinne businesses that advertised in the local or other Utah newspapers during the years 1869 to 1878 shows 258 companies active for all or part of that time.82 Trail Town 53 Banker J. W. Guthrie built one of Corinne's most substantial brick buildings. Utah State Historical Society collections. Although the life of Corinne was bound up in the freight-transfer business, a few enterprising men tried to make the city an industrial center as well. One of them, Hiram House, outshone all others with his entrepreneurial skills. One day in October 1874 a reporter for the Corinne Daily Mail took a "short stroll by the Bear" and discovered, in the "Pittsburgh" of the town north of the tracks, a carpenter shop with equipment for boring artesian wells; a corn and feed mill on Bear River that was also capable of grinding twelve tons of salt a day plus all the malt used by the town breweries; a saw and planing mill with a boom across Bear River to secure the logs floating down the river; the "magnificent" waterworks of the city composed of a main, a 28,000 gallon capacity tank, and a system of pipes leading to every doorstep in Corinne; two ice-houses with a capacity of 1,512 tons of ice which was sold as far as Franklin, Idaho, on the north and Salt Lake City on the south; and extensive orchards of many varieties of fruit, all the property of H. House, Esq. The land of House, especially the water­works, brought pride and joy to all Corinnethians and engendered 54 Co nnne envy in Salt Lakers who had no workable municipal system. House installed five hydrants throughout the city to provide a stream of water capable of reaching a height of one hundred and twenty feet or to the top of any building. Corinne had the reputation of being one of the safest cities in the territory and never suffered a major fire after the installation of the House waterworks.83 Next in importance to the people of Corinne, after the water sys­tem, was the ice business. The Corinne Reporter bragged one day, "Hiram House has shipped fifty tons of ice to Zion within the short space of three days, and has still enough on hand to convert the Milky Way into a solid mass of ice cream." S4 There were less adventurous industrialists who, nevertheless, sup­plied Corinne with flouring mills, brick kilns, slaughterhouses, glove factories, harness manufacturing plants, and cigar factories.85 To encourage mining enterprise, local businessmen organized the Corinne Mining District, elected officers, and published by-laws early in 1870 to take advantage of the supposed mineral wealth in the nearby moun­tains. 80 Minor industries, if they can be called that, consisted of caring for the needs of Texas cowboys on their way to Montana with herds of up to 3,000 cattle87 and providing sustenance and recreation for the many soldiers whose units used Corinne as a staging area on their way to and from the various army posts of the Intermountain area.ss City Improvements The industrial growth of Corinne, the development of trade for the north, and the improvements residents were making on their homes and businesses, all came into question when title to the lots in the townsite was challenged by the Central Pacific Railroad. The original sale of lots in the spring of 1869 was apparently carried on in rather haphazard fashion with little regard being paid to whether or not the lots were situated on railroad lands granted under the Pacific Railroad Act or on alternate sections of government land that would become open to homesteading and the award of patents of ownership.89 The United States attorney general, in 1871, found that the railroad com­pany had acquired ownership of its grant in 1867, which meant that title to lots on that portion of the city was now in doubt.00 By the spring of 1872 the Corinne Reporter was advising resi­dents of the town that all real estate titles were in question. Each Trail Town 55 supposed owner of a lot was notified to appear before the probate court with proof of ownership. The uncontested claims would be set­tled first, after which the more litigious contests would be pursued.91 The probate judge issued a certificate in August 1872 awarding ownership of the townsite to the City of Corinne. The mayor inquired in October 1872 if the commissioner of the United States Land Office had made a decision to support the city's claim as granted by the court. Mayor J. W. Graham wanted to know if he could issue deeds to the lots prior to the issuance of the patent because "the citizens are continually pressing me. . . ." By January 28, 1874, Graham was still trying to get an answer, and for some time thereafter uncertainty clouded the land titles in Corinne.92 Four years later, in November 1878, the attorneys for the city were appealing a decision by the Salt Lake Regional Land Office which had awarded the Central Pacific Railroad 295.17 acres of prop­erty within the corporate limits of the town on the basis that the rail­road had sold the property to Charles Crocker and Silas W. Sanderson on October 1, 1870. The city officials argued that Corinne had already sold lots worth $25,000 in the contested section in March 1869 and that improvements worth $50,000 had since been made on the prop­erty. The appeal to the commissioner remonstrated against an attempt by leading citizen Hiram House to file on the land. Finally, in June 1883, Mayor J. W. Guthrie was still forced to apply for an additional townsite entry of 119.69 acres to get ownership of land improvements on which was situated the city hall, the jail, the opera house being used for school purposes, three churches, a hotel, a bank, three stores, a drug store, and twenty-two residences - the total being valued at $87,000.93 Thus, throughout its early history, the town and its citizens were never certain of legal ownership of the land within the corporate limits, a deficiency certainly not conducive to a feeling of permanence or security. Despite the problem of land tenure, of occasional lapses in law and order, and of a seasonal business dominated by weather and road conditions, the people of Corinne were optimistic, confident of the future, and determined to transform their city from a rough frontier settlement into a progressive and modern metropolis. To help effect this change a Chamber of Commerce Association was formed in February 1870 to "draw the line between good and bad men, between 56 Corinne respectable and other classes of society." Working with the city coun­cil, the members of the association very early had an ordinance passed prohibiting the erection of any more tents or canvas-roofed houses in the central portion of town; tried to deal with a transient population which included a few " 'women' who practice polygamy on a free plan"; established a committee to improve a new freighting road to Malad on the north with the posting of finger boards, the erection of flags along the route, and other changes at an expense not to exceed one hundred dollars whenever there happened to be some money in the treasury; and demanded that the nuisance of an "accumulation of filth near the River Bank and Several dead animals lodged in the old Railroad Siding" be removed.94 Because of the heavy traffic through the town, a major concern was the upkeep of the main thoroughfares, particularly Montana Street which was graded and surfaced with gravel in 1870 at a cost of $1,560.12, only $868.50 of which consisted of tax money collected from the owners of businesses along the street.95 The Reporter thought that "Eight thousand [dollars] would have been cheap considering what we had to go through last Winter." 90 Later on, the town fathers allowed residents to work out their poll tax assessments by improving a section of the town roads. There were demands that other streets be improved also.97 Street lighting was usually provided by lamps placed on the balconies of business structures and sometimes along the streets leading from the railroad depot to the main hotel.0S In grading Montana Street and the other roads, evidently compe­tent surveys were not made because there were constant complaints about the "serpentine beauty" of the meandering thoroughfares and the "stagnant and pestiferous" pools of water in the low areas of the gutters.99 Sanitary conditions were not improved by the practice of allowing the contaminated water from the hotels and bathhouses to flow into the Montana Street gutters.100 The editor of the Corinne Reporter finally exploded in an unaccustomed burst of derogation of his favorite town: If that slough of green water, filled with all kinds of rotten, putrefied and stinking matter, just north of Montana on Sixth street, is permitted to remain, the sexton will have employment enough to keep him busy. If ever a town needed a vigilance committee to clean its streets, this is the place. Look at the slimy Trail Town 57 ditches, maggoty carcasses of dead animals and other evidences of taste wherever you turn. . . . If anybody thinks this is a "fancy sketch" let him hold his nose tight and then take a walk on our principal street. . . . Members of the common council are par­ticularly recommended to make the filthy expedition. For good honest dirt and nastiness we stand ahead of the world today.101 During the summer requests came for sprinkling wagons to settle the thick dust on the streets. Teamsters and herders were in the habit of driving their large herds of cattle and horses directly through town to take them to water at Bear River. As a result, the newspaper explained, housewives could not hang out their clothes to dry and painters could not work on houses because clouds of alkali dust poured in through doors and windows making the homes almost uninhabit­able. In the next issue of the Reporter, a letter appeared from one outraged stock owner expostulating that "If any person don't like the dust he ought to move to where it rains all the time"; and another pointed out that it should be recognized that the freighters' stock was important to the business that was keeping the town alive. One dis­gruntled teamster advised the Reporter to write its editorials against fast driving and the practice of men and boys setting dogs on stock. The newspaper controversy soon disappeared because, as the editor observed, "Better have business and dust, than solitude and clear air." 102 Pedestrian walkways were also matters of concern, the newspaper in early 1870 noting that "Saw-Dust side and cross walks are all the rage now days. . . . " To enlist support for the building of sidewalks, the editor encouraged a competition between the uptowners and the downtowners, offering a prize to the group that built the first plank walk to the depot on Fourth Street. The downtowners won, and soon there was a walk constructed for Fifth Street as well. The board affairs did not hold up. Within a year the paper was complaining about the dilapidated sidewalks and the habit of replacing worn-out boards with new ones but not nailing them down. The city council finally approved a contract to construct sidewalk crossings of the streets, two boards wide, and Captain Howe was paid to build three thousand feet of sidewalks. But there were never enough. The Reporter often com­plained that "the supply of mud in this vicinity far exceeds the de­mand" and that "we haven't seen a lady out of doors since Christ- 58 Corinne mas." A final hazard was the freight house practice of stacking surplus goods on the front walks, forcing the citizens of the town who wished to "promenade for pleasure [to] take the back streets." 103 In late 1874 the Reporter was calling for yet another walk.104 Of even more importance to the community, in a day of frame and canvas buildings, was an efficient fire department and an ade­quate supply of available water. The Hiram House waterworks en­sured access to water, and the owner offered to sell fire hydrants to the city for $ 110 each. They were installed, but there is no evidence that he was ever paid for them.105 The Mormon Deseret News could poke fun at House who, when he drilled one well, brought forth only illuminating gas which caused the editor to exclaim that all House had done was to demonstrate the precise location of Hell.100 But the Corinnethians could overlook such attempts at wit, especially when a fire broke out in the Chinese quarter of the city on September 24, 1871, and the nearby hydrants were found to be in full working order. The flames were extinguished, the major portion of the town was saved, and the citizens immediately improved their fire department by organizing the "Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company of Corinne" with forty-four prominent townsmen as members.107 The city council granted $200 to help purchase the proper equipment and passed ordi­nances forbidding the erection of dangerous buildings by the Chinese inhabitants and requiring that all stove-pipe flues be replaced with brick chimneys within a thirty-day period.10S The short memories of the citizens soon resulted in a deterioration of the fire equipment and a disappearance of the high resolve of the char-blackened days of September 1871. Another fire a year later revealed that the engines, hooks, and ladders were out of repair, but the House fire hydrants again saved the day.109 After two years of municipal existence, the city fathers decided to attempt to improve the cemetery whose graphic description by the Reporter could well be used to depict some melancholy burial grounds today: "A dreary place; repulsive in appearance; low mounds, sunken and ragged, of white, dry, hot sand; head-stones listed and leaning . . . hogs, cattle and mules rooting and tramping . . . an occasional fence, some warped, twisted and unpainted, others spectral in white and gloomy in black. . . . Not a flower, tree or shrub." 110 The council passed an ordinance establishing a forty-acre cemetery and thereafter, Trail Town 59 over the years, made continuing efforts to fence, plant and keep the grounds in proper appearance.111 Perhaps concern over a decent place of burial meant that Corinne had reached a stage of maturity after five years of struggle, of hopes and fears, and of commercial and industrial growth, for its ever-optimistic citizenry. Throughout the period from 1869 to 1874 Corinnethians had participated in forming and energizing a city gov­ernment; in establishing law and order; in constructing a revenue and taxing system; in expanding the ever-important freighting and stage-coaching business to the north; in developing commercial and bank­ing institutions and a nascent industry; and in providing rather humble but promising improvements for their bustling town. These years had not meant growth in isolation as a freight-transfer point and way sta­tion on the Central Pacific Railroad but had thrown Corinne and its supporters into sharp conflict with Mormon neighbors from Cache Valley to Salt Lake City and especially with the inhabitants of the Box Elder County seat at Brigham City. National interest was focused on Corinne as the important Gentile town of the territory, with hopes that it would serve as a catalyst to help eradicate the last of the "twin relics of barbarism" from the social fabric of the United States and to aid in the destruction of the Mormon theocracy that controlled Utah. Most Corinnethians relished the fight and tended to follow the lead of their bellicose newspapers in denouncing the sins of Mormondom and the business competition so assiduously furthered by Brigham Young and his followers. Corinne was not to win in the ensuing struggle, but the town drew attention to itself far beyond the importance that should have accrued to a small Burg on the Bear. 60 Corinne NOTES FOR CHAPTER 2 i Utah Reporter, 12, 17, 19, 22 February; 7 April 1870. 2 Orson Hyde Elliott, "Reminiscences," p. 514, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; Utah Reporter, 15 February 1870. 3 Box Elder County Recorder's Office, Brigham City; see also, Jesse Harold Jameson, "Corinne: A Study of a Freight Transfer Point in the Montana Trade, 1869 to 1878" (M.A. thesis, University of Utah, 1951), pp. 12, 51. 4 Utah Territory, Acts, Resolutions, and Memorials of the Legislative Assembly from 1851 to 1870 Inclusive (Salt Lake City, 1870), pp. 128-31; "An Act Incor­porating Corinne City, February 18, 1870," original charter in Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City. 5 "Act Incorporating Corinne." o Utah Reporter, 26 February 1870. 7 Utah Reporter, 5, 10 March 1870; Council Chamber Corinne City Minute Book, 10 March 1870; 1, 26 April 1870, Utah State Archives. s Corinne City Minute Book, 11, 14, 17 March; 7 April 1870; Utah Reporter, 28 April 1870. 9 Corinne City Minute Book, 14 March; 26, 29 April; 27 June; 19 May; 14 March; 6 June; 1 August; 17 March 1870. ™ Ibid., 26, 31 March; 4 April; 18 August; 6 May; 7 April; 6, 27 June; 7 June; 19 May; 14 March 1870. " Ibid., 26 March 1870; Utah Reporter, 3 March 1870; Corinne City Minute Book, 4 April, 6 June, 18 July 1870. i2 Utah Reporter, 26 February 1870. 13 Corinne City Minute Book, 6 June, 18 July, 12 October, 1 November 1870. 14 Utah Reporter, 26 February 1870. 15 Corinne City Minute Book, 16 June; 1 August; 16 June; 5 September; 3, 17 October 1870. 16 Utah Reporter, 8 February 1871. 17 Corinne Reporter, 25 April 1871. 1S Corinne City Minute Book, 24 July 1871. 19 Corinne Reporter, 12 July 1871. 20 Corinne City Minute Book, 11 July 1871. 21 Corinne Reporter, 2 November 1871. 22 Corinne City Minute Book, 13, 20, 6 December 1871; 9 March 1872. 23 Ibid., 6, 28 March 1871; Corinne Reporter, 3 March, 3 April 1871. 24 Corinne Reporter, 12 August 1871. 25 Corinne Reporter, 4 March 1872; Corinne City Minute Book, 7 March 1872. 20 Corinne Reporter, 16 February 1872. 27 Corinne Reporter, 19, 23 February 1872. 28 Corinne City Minute Book, 22 January, 19 February, 7 May 1872. 29 Corinne Reporter, 3 February, 12 September 1872. 30 Corinne City Minute Book, 30 September, 18 November, 1 May 1872. 31 Corinne Reporter, 8 February 1872. 32 Corinne Reporter, 2 April 1872. 33 Corinne City Minute Book, 22 January 1872. 34 Corinne Reporter, 12 July 1872. 35 Corinne City Minute Book, 1 April, 20 May, 19 August, 2 September 1872. Trail Town 61 36 Corinne Reporter, 3 September 1873. 37 See Corinne Reporter for October through December 1873. 38 Corinne City Minute Book, 2 January; 3, 10 June 1872. 39 Ibid.; Corinne Reporter, 2 April 1872; [Dale L. Morgan, ed.], Utah, A Guide to the State (New York: Hastings House, 1941), p. 362. 40 Corinne Reporter, 22 August; 19, 23 September; 3 October 1872. 44 Corinne Reporter, 11 November 1872, 15 May 1873. 42 Corinne City Minute Book, 23, 30 December 1872. 43 Corinne Reporter, 27 July 1872. 44 Corinne Reporter, 19 March 1872. 40 Corinne City Minute Book, 6 January 1873. 40 Corinne Reporter, 8 January 1873. 17 Corinne Reporter, 10 March, 8 May 1873. 45 Corinne City Minute Book, 9 April 1873; Corinne Reporter, 15 May 1873. 49 Corinne City Minute Book, 14 July; 11 August; 3, 17 November 1873; Salt Lake Herald, 22 November 1873; Corinne City Minute Book, 26 November 1873. so Corinne City Minute Book, 5 March 1873; 12, 16 March, 23 February, 9 No­vember 1874. 51 Corinne Reporter, 3 May 1873. 52 Corinne City Minute Book, 24 December 1873, 2 February 1874. 53 Ibid., 11 August, 9 December, 12 May 1874; 14, 7 April 1873. r'4 Montanan, 31 October 1872. •"'•"' Helena Herald, 4 March 1870. r'6 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," p. 87. 57 Corinne Reporter, 8 July 1870. r,s Corinne Reporter, 20 May, 15 July, 6 December 1871. 09 Henry P. Walker, The Wagonmasters: High Plains Freighting from the Earliest Days of the Santa Fe Trail to 1880 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), p. 225. 60 Corinne Reporter, 5 May 1871. G1 Corinne Reporter, 14 March 1872. 02 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," p. 92. 63 Salt Lake Tribune, 9 September 1872. 04 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 95, 96-97. 00 W. Turrentine Jackson, "A New Look at Wells Fargo, Stagecoaches and the Pony Express," California Historical Society Quarterly 39 (1960) :301, 306. 00 Alvin F. Harlow, Old Waybills: The Romance of the Express Companies (New York: Appleton-Century, 1934), p. 266. <-- Helena Herald, 10 June 1875. 08 John Hanson Beadle, The Undeveloped West; or, Five Years in the Terri­tories (Philadelphia, 1870), pp. 116-20. G9 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. viii, 64-65. 70 Ibid., pp. 113-15. 74 Ibid., pp. 115-19. 72 Ibid., pp. 119-21. 71 John Hanson Beadle, Life in Utah; or, The Mysteries and Crimes of Mor-monism (Philadelphia, 1870), p. 538; "Fred J. Kiesel," Biographical Sketches, Utah, pp. 52-55, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. 71 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 121-23. 7"'Ibid., pp. 123-25. r«Ibid.,pp. 125-27. 77 Corinne Journal, 17 June 1871. 62 Corinne 78 Corinne Daily Mail, 22 May 1875. 79 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 129-31. 89 Ibid., pp. 131-35. 84 Ibid., pp. 135-43. s2 Ibid., pp. 143-48, 292-306. S3 Corinne Daily Mail, 7 October 1874; Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 148-56; Corinne Reporter, 20 February 1871. 84 Corinne Reporter, 17 August 1872. 80 Corinne Daily Mail, 12, 17 November 1874; Corinne Reporter, 31 March, 4 June 1870; 30 March 1872. 86 Corinne Reporter, 31 March, 2 April 1870; William Clayton Letter Books, vol. 4, p. 673, Bancroft Library. 87 Helena Herald, 19 June 1873 ; Charles A. Beehrer to H. Elling, 26 May 1874, Lewis Brachman Collection, Helena. s s Letter to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, in Fort Ellis Post Letters, Book 9, 1 January to 8 November 1873, Old Military Records, National Archives, Washington, D.C. 89 H. D. Moon to Willis Drummond, 15 November 1871, Old Townsites, Docket 1 (150-56), box 28, National Archives. 90 Corinne Reporter, 24, 27 May 1871. 94 Corinne Reporter, 16 March, 29 June, 9 July, 23 August 1872. 92 J. W. Graham to Willis Drummond, 28 October 1872, and J. W. Graham to Commissioner, General Land Office, 28 January 1874, Old Townsites, Docket 1. 93 Johnson & Onderdonk to Register and Receiver, United States Land Office, November 1878; Jno B. Neil, Register, and Moses M. Brue, Receiver, to Commis­sioner, General Land Office, 5 December 1878; J. W. Guthrie to U.S. Land Office, June 1883, in Old Townsites, Docket 1. 94 Utah Reporter, 22 February; 21 March; 7, 23, 29 April, 14 May 1870. '•''• Utah Reporter, 26 February 1870; Corinne City Minute Book, 21 November, 30 December 1870. 9« Utah Reporter, 23 November 1870. 97 Corinne Reporter, 14 October 1871, 19 August 1872. 98 Utah Reporter, 30 June 1870. 99 Utah Reporter, 22 October 1870; Corinne Journal, 11 May 1871. 109 Corinne Reporter, 2 April 1872. 491 Corinne Reporter, 5 May 1873. 192 Corinne Reporter, 13, 24, 25, 31 July 1872. 103 Corinne Reporter, 3, 22, 24, 26 February; 26 March; 21 April; 17 August 19 August 1871; 3 January, 18 February, 26 December 1872; 17 January, ril 1873. 104 Corinne Daily Mail, 10 November 1874. 105 Corinne City Minute Book, 28 November 1870; Jameson, "Corinne: A ,"p-151. 10(i Deseret News, 17 December 1873. 197 Corinne Reporter, 25, 26 September 1871. 108 Corinne City Minute Book, 25 September 1871. 109 Corinne Reporter, 9 October 1872. 140 Corinne Reporter, 6 May 1871. 111 Corinne City Minute Book, 10 June 1871. 1870; 16 Ap Study Trail Town 63 64 Corinne