Corinne - The Gentile Capital of Utah

By land and by sea

*By Land and by Sea Paddlewheel Steamboat The completion of the Utah Central Railroad from Ogden to Salt Lake City on January 10, 1870, gave the Mormon people control of the commerce from the new mines south of Great Salt Lake. To the citizens of Corinne this was an intolerable situation that would add to the prosperity of Ogden and confine the Gentile town to trade with Idaho and Montana. As the Corinnethians gazed at the great salt sea just south of the town, they could visualize a way of outsmarting their Mormon rivals and of capturing the mineral traffic of the Stockton and Tintic regions by utilizing a line of steamers from Lake Point, on the south shore, to their safe harbor at the mouth of Bear River. Gen. Patrick E. Connor and other mine operators had already demonstrated the feasibility of transporting cargo across the lake by carrying ties, telegraph poles, and other goods to the builders of the Central Pacific Railroad. Connor had constructed the schooners Pioneer and Kate Connor in 1868, the latter a vessel of ninety tons. Two other schooners operating on the lake by 1870 were the Pluri-bustah or Fillerbuster, or just Buster for short, and the Stockton boat, the Viola. The Kate Connor made its first appearance at Corinne on November 4, 1869, coming from the Black Rock mill laden with lumber, grain, and railroad ties. A week later the Buster anchored near the town and unloaded a cargo of silver ore from the Stockton 155 Ferry across the Bear River near Corinne. Andrew J. Russell photograph, courtesy of the Oakland Musuem. mines and lath from the Black Rock mill. In describing these landings the Utah Reporter expatiated on the navigability of Bear River, de­claring that soundings during the period of lowest water had shown depths of fifteen feet or more and within ten feet of the shore near the town. Furthermore, the editor explained, the mines of Stockton and Rush Valley and the lumber and grazing regions south and west of the lake were all available to the merchants and industrialists of Corinne. However, he thought that during the summer of 1870 the principal boating activity would be excursion parties to sightsee around the lake among its islands and at "Zion," all part of "the wonder of the Dead Sea of America." ' 156 Corinne In addition to the Kate Connor and her sister craft, at least one yacht was added to the Gentile fleet on Great Salt Lake when Samuel Coleman of Corinne launched the Queen of Corinne by May 1870. The boat had a seventeen-foot keel and seven-foot beam, seats and oars for eight oarsmen, and a full set of sails. The Reporter announced that two or three crews would begin training at once to prepare for a match race as soon as another yacht could be completed.2 Marine transportation seemed to be engaging the interest of many Corinnethians. While the Buster, Viola, and Pioneer were used during the summer of 1870 to transport ores to Corinne and to carry other cargo wherever a dollar could be made, the Kate Connor was converted from a schooner to a steamer at Corinne and by June 17 was ready for regular freighting and passenger trips between Corinne and Lake Point, the round trip for travelers being five dollars.3 The editor of the Reporter made an inspection of the craft as it lay at anchor at the Arizona Street wharf and declared it to be in fine order. During a first run everything went well, although later the Reporter found it necessary to reassure patrons about the safety of the craft because of a small mishap on her maiden voyage.4 Newspaper advertisements announced that the boat could be chartered by the day, week, or month for excursions on "the Dead Sea of the West" and that moon­light trips were being planned.5 Early boosters of Corinne had written of taking light draft ships within a mile of the Salt Lake Temple or even, with a little dredging, by way of the Jordan River and Utah Lake to as far south as Provo.11 In August 1870 the owners of the Kate Connor decided to investigate the possibility of navigating the Jordan River as far as the Jordan Bridge, but the boat ran into fences hidden under the high water and finally went aground. The captain came away convinced that it would not be possible to carry excursionists to "the immaculate city of the Saints." " The summer's nautical activity did, however, encourage plans already being formulated at Corinne to enter the shipping busi­ness on Great Salt Lake. Throughout 1870 the Utah Reporter mounted a barrage of sta­tistics and enthusiastic reports of the tremendous commercial possi­bilities for Corinne if only a large steamboat could be built to ferry passengers around the lake and to return cargoes of ore from Lake By Land and by Sea 157 Point. The editor explained that minerals from the south could be transported by lake 50 percent cheaper than by the Utah Central Railroad and that within three months a substantial ship of 150 tons could be built for $20,000. The craft would be able to make a round trip to Lake Point in thirty hours and would surely pay for itself in one year. Although the mines at Stockton and Ophir were only twenty miles from the landing at Lake Point, another thirty miles of wagon travel was necessary to get the loads to Salt Lake City and connection with the Utah Central. Also, the editor noted that the Omaha Repub­lican was receiving constant inquiries from all over the nation about excursion parties on the Pacific railroad. A tour of the great inland salt sea would add spice to such overland journeys and bring cash into the pockets of those Corinnethians who were willing to buy stock in a steam navigation company that would run tours over the briny deep.8 To investigate the practicality of a steamship line to Lake Point, the leading citizens of Corinne chose a committee composed of E. P. Johnson, Sam L. Tibbals, and Samuel Howe to gather the factual information necessary for a decision. The three men traveled by way of Salt Lake City, approved a landing at Jeter Clinton's ranch near Lake Point, and secured options on the property. They judged that transportation of ore by wagon to Salt Lake City was impracticable and estimated that a ship placed on the lake by the next spring should be able to make the seventy-mile trip to Corinne in eight hours. The fact-finding team visited Stockton, Ophir, and Tooele and thought the Tintic District also could be included as a source of ore shipments. They concluded that a steamboat of sufficient size and power should be constructed at once. Such an investment would pay off, they believed, and Corinne would then become "at once the grand Center and Metropolious [sic] of the Rocky Mountain Territories." 9 Leading citizen Wells Spicer must be given credit for bringing to fruition the plans for constructing a steamboat. Through a series of letters he alterted the people of the town to the type of craft that should be built, the probable cost of $14,000, and the estimated monthly profit of $3,300 to be realized once the ship was in the water. An initial meeting of prospective stockholders for the new venture was held on December 12, 1870, and by January 14, 1871, the Corinne Steam Navigation Company had been organized with the following residents of Corinne as officers and directors: E. Conway, president; 158 Corinne J. W. Graham, vice-president; Nat Stein, treasurer; and board mem­bers N. S. Ransohoff, E. P. Johnson, W. N. Ellis, Dennis J. Toohy, Sam Howe, and R. Martin. The firm arranged with Fox Diefendorf, an Evanston coal operator, to build a ship to "inaugurate the com­merce of the magnificent inland waters of Utah." 10 The agreement with Diefendorf called for construction to be completed by the end of March 1871 for a price of $40,000 plus a bonus of $6,000 for the builders, a total much in excess of the figure estimated by Spicer.11 Work was soon underway on the City of Corinne, as the craft was to be christened, and twelve additional ships carpenters were hired. When the ten carloads of machinery worth $36,000 arrived from Saint Louis, the boilers, wheel shafts, and other marine devices were The Bear River at Corinne, looking south. Andrew J. Russell photograph, courtesy of the Oakland Museum. ^"-#r#Ci ^ By Land and by Sea 159 put on public exhibition for the wondering gaze of the people of the town. The editor of the Reporter made a personal inspection of the craft being built and found the "great leviathan" and "chief triumph of the mountains" to be "a marvel of naval architecture." 12 David Auerbach, a former resident of Corinne, came from his home at Ophir City to buy supplies from the wholesale houses in the railroad town and expressed hope that the three dollars a ton in freight charges he had to pay for transportation from Salt Lake City could be lowered by the more direct and cheaper route across the lake. The Journal called for the construction of a commodious hotel to care for the increased tourist excursions that would result from the lake travel, and the Salt Lake Tribune rejoiced that the steamship line would offer rtiff com­petition to the Utah Central inasmuch as rumor had it that the ven­ture was being backed, although indirectly, by the Central Pacific Railroad.13 To prepare the necessary landing facilities at Lake Point, Diefen­dorf and Jeter Clinton located the site for a wharf to be built on the Clinton farm, and "Admiral" Diefendorf then dispatched a crew of seven men with barges and scows to take the construction materials across the lake. The Reporter was pleased with this first exhibition of successful navigation by freighting vessels which, incidentally, saved Diefendorf a thousand dollars in shipping charges. The Salt Lake Herald later told the story of this unlucky expedition that drifted around on the salty water without provisions for five days before being rescued.14 When the new steamship was ready for launching in May 1871 the Salt Lake Herald described for its readers the marvelous vessel. The City of Corinne is a staunch built craft, well adapted for freighting across the lake and for excursions. . . . She is 138 feet from stern to stern, and 28 feet beam; with two high pressure engines of 125 horsepower, the engines and boilers being of the best quality and . . . kind . . . in regular use on the Mississippi River. She is strongly built of Oregon fir; her timbers eight inches apart, planked with three inch Oregon fir . . . from 40 to 60 feet in length. . . . The cabins on the quarter deck are handsomely furnished, and capable of seating, for dinner between sixty and seventy persons. Eight comfortable state rooms flank the cabins . . There are ample arrangements for cooking a superb dinner. . . . A well supplied bar is on board; and there is room . .. 160 Corinne for cotillion or quadrills . . . the City of Corinne is excellently adapted for enjoyment by parties of pleasure seekers.15 All-out preparations were made to celebrate the launching of the pride of Corinne. The $6,000 bonus to the builders was collected from citizens who had promised various amounts in return for a pledge that the owners would "snub her at no landing on the northern shore of the lake but that of Corinne." A grand ball was scheduled for the opera house, a supper was arranged for invited guests, and a special train was scheduled to take sightseers from Salt Lake City to Bear River for the sum of three dollars round trip. In addition, there were to be horse races, a baseball game, speeches, and other kinds of pleasant entertainment. To help celebrate, the ladies of Corinne presented Admiral Diefendorf with a set of colors for the steamer. Everything was in readiness for the launch, "if the City of Corinne does not stick," a prophetic allusion to the ceremony by the Salt Lake Tribune.16 On May 23 a crowd of almost three thousand gathered on the banks of Bear River, half having come from Salt Lake City on the special train of twelve cars. The momentous event was covered by all the chief newspapers of northern Utah, but the splendiferous prose of the Corinne Reporter probably best expressed the exultation and pride of Corinne: At two o'clock the command was given to let the "City of Corinne" go into the element which is henceforth her home . . . the fastenings were hewn away and the graceful ship glided down the ways . . . after moving about twenty feet the vessel stopped still. This was owing to the sinking of the ways near the water's edge . . . .17 The disappointed crowd went to look at the city and watch the baseball game. After the Salt Lakers had left for home the perspiring workmen finally freed the craft, and the Reporter continued its account: At ten minutes after six the bell of the Presbyterian Church rang out in wild, mad glee, for someone "told the sexton and the sexton tolled the bell," to tell the people that the "city of Corinne" was in the river, the strongest and the handsomest craft that ever sailed on sea or lake.is The Journal concluded a narration of the events by saying the day was crowned as no other day in the history of Utah except that By Land and by Sea 161 of May 10, 1869. As an aftermath, two days later the Corinne Re­porter received an ode of 216 lines to the steamboat from an excited and enthusiastic reader. The editor wondered how the "bale of syl­lables ever got through the door of the Post Office" and consigned it to his woodshed.19 With the celebration completed, Capt. Sam Howe took a short journey down the river with fifty guests aboard and then prepared for the trial run to Lake Point.2" The City of Corinne left on June 12, 1871, loaded with lumber, some merchandise, and wire for the West­ern Union telegraph line to Ophir. The Salt Lake Herald described the trip: Left Corinne, June 12, at 6 A.M.; Captain Sam Howe Com­mander. Weather fair. Boat drawing four feet three inches by The steamer Kate Connor on the Bear River. Andrew J. Russell photograph, courtesy of the Oakland Museum. 162 Corinne the head; four feet seven and a half inches by the stern. At 8/2 A.M. landed to remove obstruction from the pump which had prevented a sufficient supply of water to the boilers. Lost two hours time. At 12 M. were at the mouth of Blue Creek; 12:45 open bay. Five feet and a half water over the bar, the depth increasing gradually to nine feet until well to the sound of Promontory Point, when it had increased to "Mark Twain." At 3:15 P.M. standing in to pass to west of Church Island. Took sounding again and failed to get bottom with four fathoms line. Doubled our line and found bottom at sixty feet. At 4:35 P.M. pass head of Church Island and stood in for south shore. Made the wharf at 7:15 P.M., in eleven hours and a quarter running Many of the townsmen arose to bid their fair boat Godspeed for the initial voyage, Toohy being among the earlybirds. He returned to his office to write fulsomely of the splendid craft and the flag at its mast that let the world of Mormondom know that Corinne was its home port. The Reporter also published a new map of the town showing the City of Corinne berthed in the river at the foot of Arizona Street.22 The return trip was made in eleven hours running time with a cargo of 1,150 sacks of ore weighing forty-five tons and fifteen pas­sengers. One note of disappointment marred the eventful voyage when Diefendorf noted that the distance by river from Corinne to the lake was thirty-five miles when it was supposed to have been no more than fifteen. A schedule was posted for regular triweekly trips, leaving Corinne on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Passenger fares were listed as $5.50 to Salt Lake City via steamer and stagecoach or $10.00 round trip. Diefendorf applied for and was granted the mail contract between Corinne and Lake Point, and Corinne exempted the steam­ship line from taxation for the first year.23 Everything exuded pros­perity as the City of Corinne began its regular trips. As part of the grand design to win the trade of the southern mines away from the Utah Central Railroad, Diefendorf and his fellow promoters had also made arrangements to bring in from Sacramento a steam wagon invented by Oliver Hyde to transport the ores of Stock­ton and Ophir from the pits to the landing at Lake Point. This novel engine weighed eleven tons, was moved by a twenty horsepower engine, traveled on wheels "shod with India rubber," and was capable of pulling forty tons of material.24 Hyde first demonstrated his ma- By Land and by Sea 163 chine in Salt Lake City to the "retrogressive inhabitants of that place," as recorded by the Corinne Reporter,"7' and then allowed all the citi­zens of Corinne who wished to have a free ride. Editor Toohy was amazed at the facility with which the engineer could turn the monster. The vehicle was transported by the City of Corinne to Lake Point where it soon demonstrated the ability to draw twenty or more tons of ore from Stockton to the landing on each trip.2" During June and July the steamer kept to its triweekly schedule, carrying lumber and other bulk goods as well as liquor and general merchandise for the merchants of Stockton and Ophir. But business soon dwindled to a single trip weekly by late July, and by mid-August the regularly scheduled trips ended, leaving the City of Corinne sway­ing at anchor while she waited for any kind of cargo. The Kate Connor had offered competition for the lake trade of which, evi­dently, there was insufficient for even one boat.2' Toohy manfully addressed himself to the task of trying to sustain interest in the economic possibilities of the pride of Corinne, issuing a stream of editorials that proved, at least to Toohy, that although it cost almost $10.00 a ton to haul ore by wagon from Lake Point to Salt Lake City and another charge via the Utah Central to Ogden and the Pacific railroad, the fee from Lake Point by way of the steamer to Corinne was only $5.00, or possibly as low as $2.50 per ton.28 Such articles aroused the Salt Lake Herald to defend Salt Lake City interests and attack the contemptible style of its rival news sheet in trying to increase the importance of Corinne at the expense of the Mormon metropolis. The Herald insisted that more freight was being received each week by way of the Utah Central than was received in an entire shipping season five years before.2'1 In fact, during 1872 the branch railroad had gross earnings of $420,000 with a net profit of $210,000. The train carried coal to Salt Lake City and ore to Ogden, the latter averaging 100 tons a day for months at a time. Toohy seemed to be blowing into the wind as he attempted to emphasize the bright pros­pects of the City of Corinne. According to the Denver News, in twenty-seven different issues of the Corinne newspaper, 467 items had appeared concerning the new steamboat on Great Salt Lake.3" The owners tried to boost passenger ticket sales by announcing reduced fares for grand excursions. The Reporter urged Corinnethians to travel via steamer on their visits to Salt Lake City for the Fourth 164 Corinne of July celebration and excoriated those inconsiderate enough to travel via the Utah Central when they could enjoy a fun-filled frolic of three days instead of a "dusty trip in the church cars." Toohy rejoiced when the Central Pacific Railroad issued tickets with coupons attached that allowed through passengers on the transcontinental line to take a salubrious ride on the great inland sea.31 As the gloomy days of late July brought fewer and fewer trips, the desperate investors in the City of Corinne took the unprecedented and humiliating step of inviting the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, to take a complimentary pleasure cruise on the Great Salt Lake. Within a few days Fox Diefendorf received a very formal reply from the prophet: At present my engagements are such that I cannot accept your kind offer before I return from my present trip and, when I get home my business is so pressing that I doubt whether I could avail myself of your liberality; indeed I do not know when I shall be able to take an outing upon our own little Steamboat.32 From that patronizing refusal until the end of the season, the company began taking excursions of school children for short trips and accepting any kind of passenger outing. Excursions were advertised for "a whole day on the southern shore, to visit the caves and grottoes near Lake Point, enjoy surf bathing, and hunting. . ."33 The New York Tribune correspondent summed up the reasons why the steamer was lying at anchor in Bear River: Another boat was needed so that one could depart from each end of the lake every day, and a railroad would have to be constructed to connect Lake Point with Salt Lake City.34 The Smelting Works The deteriorating prospects of salt water transportation also tended to depress a companion industry that had hoped to profit from refining the ores brought across the lake and from the Montana mines. Early in March 1871 Dennis Toohy had editorialized at length on the prospects of constructing a smelter at Corinne, pointing out by a circuitous and obfuscated line of reasoning that a $75,000 fifty-ton capacity smelter could produce twenty-five tons of bullion a day for a profit of $6,850, or $205,500 for every thirty-day run. He admitted his calculations appeared rather extravagant but argued that the By Land and by Sea 165 Swansea, Wales, reduction works returned to its owners a profit of $15,000 a day on a hundred tons of ore shipped across the continent and the Atlantic Ocean from the Emma Mine in Little Cottonwood Canyon outside of Salt Lake City. Fuel for the furnace might be a problem, but Toohy was convinced that the canyons of the Wasatch could produce enough charcoal to do the job. The announcement, therefore, that George W. Goff and Gen. Joseph J. Heffernan of Chicago were inspecting possible smelter sites led to great speculation and anticipation on the part of Corinnethians that their town might be chosen. When the two entrepreneurs announced Corinne to be their selection, Toohy joyfully republished two lines from Nat Stein's poem about Corinne: "Smoke of Smelting Works and foundries on the air arising, thick, And in mills and manufactries whiz of wheels and hammers' click." 30 The George W. Goff Company laid the foundation for its smelter, the Alger Reduction Works, at Arizona and Second Street in April 1871. The furnace did not start in operation until September 13, 1871, although countless false starts were publicized by newspapers as far away as Deer Lodge, Montana. Toohy was almost overcome by emotion as he wrote, "Sublime is the fiery spire of the Alger furnace in the night time, and many look in wonder at the spectacle." 3G Char­coal brought in by wagon from Cache and Malad valleys proved to be insufficient, and coke was imported from outside the area. Although ore was processed all through the winter of 1871-72, George Goff was apparently not satisfied with the results and sold the works to Henry Sanger who planned to move the refinery to Sandy, Utah. Instead, Sanger soon sold out to Belshaw and Company who remodeled the smelter which by December 1872 was yielding four and a half tons of bullion every twenty-four hours. The company operated the furnace from this time until later in 1873 when it was apparently shut down for good.37 The editor of the Daily Mail occasionally expressed hope that the owners of the now defunct works would reopen the smelter, but nothing came of the appeal. The Belshaw Works were placed on the delinquent tax list in October 1874, and the only other reference to the empty quarters came in 1875 when the Salt Lake Tribune commiserated with one H. Glassner in the loss of two of his horses who had died as a result of being stabled over the poisonous wastes.38 166 Corinne The failure of the smelter and the disappearance, at least from the news, of Hyde's land steamer emphasized the declining fortunes of the City of Corinne. After the disappointing first year, Fox Diefen­dorf sold the vessel in April 1872 to H. S. Jacobs of Salt Lake City who planned to use it to service Jacob's smelter and, when possible, to take excursion parties around the inland sea.39 The latter came to be the main source of revenue, and a port at Lake Side near Kaysville, Utah, was developed as a departure point. During the summer of 1872 a number of sightseeing trips were chartered. Most of the news­papers, including the Deseret News, wrote glowing accounts of these salt-air refreshers now that the steamer was no longer a property of the citizens of Corinne. The Utah Central carried tourists to Kaysville where they boarded farm wagons pulled by horses, which were "prin­cipally mules." From the water's edge the party was then conveyed by raft to the boat.40 The Salt Lake Herald described one of these excur­sions of about one hundred people who spent a day sailing on the lake, dancing to the music of the Tenth Ward brass and string band, and partaking of a sumptuous meal after which the guests gave the cap­tain three hearty cheers. Occasionally, outings from Corinne were organized, one particularly noteworthy voyage being a trip sponsored by the Corinne Reporter for one hundred newspaper editors from Iowa, but mostly the steamer had become the possession of the people of Salt Lake City.41 Through 1872 the Reporter attempted to revive interest in the commercial possibilities of the City of Corinne, writing that the ship would yet be a royal investment. Responding to editorials urging them to bestir themselves, a dozen Corinne merchants visited the mining camps south of the lake to advertise their stores and merchandise and to point out the faster service their steamboat could deliver. The Utah Mining Journal answered these optimistic attempts with one word, perhaps." There were a few merchandising trips between Corinne and Lake Point in 1872, but the returns were disheartening. The excursions were not successful either, and the Mining Journal blasted the Mormons, by whom the cruises were "illy patronized," for "their unmitigated selfishness." 42 The Corinne newspapers kept up a brave front during the years 1873 to 1875, trying to reclaim the City of Corinne as their own and encouraging prospective customers to patronize the vessel. In April By Land and by Sea 167 1875 the ship was purchased by John W. Young, son of the prophet. By June 1875 the Daily Mail was wistfully writing that a gentleman recently arrived from Salt Lake City had informed the editor that the steamer would arrive in Corinne sometime during the next week, a forlorn hope. The final blow came when Gen. James A. Garfield was taken for a ride on the vessel and on the return trip a lady passenger proposed that the steamer be rechristened the General Garfield in honor of their distinguished guest. The deed was soon done, and henceforth there was not even the name to remind Utahns that the The General Garfield docked at the south end of the Great Salt Lake. Utah State Historical Society collections. 168 Corinne ship was once the pride and joy of Corinne.43 The Salt Lake Tribune expressed the poignancy of Corinnethians: "There is also the steam­boat, which silently rocks in the storm, on the other side of Great Salt Lake, never once points its bow towards the city, whose name it used to bear, and whose money it represents." The General Garfield con­tinued to be used as a pleasure craft, gave its name to a beach and a town at the south end of Great Salt Lake, and eventually burned while anchored there.44 The Utah Northern Railroad The frustrating end to Corinne's high hopes of becoming a sea­port was paralleled by the town's long struggle to maintain its position as a freight transfer point for the Montana trade in the face of com­petition from a narrow-gauge railroad Mormon promoters envisioned to run from Ogden to Soda Springs, Idaho, and possibly on to Mon­tana. As early as December 1869 Grenville M. Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific, was reporting to Congress the results of a pre­liminary survey for a branch railroad to run by way of Blacksmith Fork Pass from Bear River to Cache Valley.45 Over a year later, Mor­mon correspondent A. Milton Musser was reporting that a party of engineers was at Evanston, Wyoming, preparing to survey a route from that place through Bear Lake Valley to Soda Springs and thence to Montana. The Ogden Junction explained that a wagon road would also be opened to follow the same route which would make Evanston and not Corinne the point of departure for goods and passengers to the north. The editor prophesied that the change would mark the end of the Burg on the Bear whose loss of the Montana trade would forever shatter its "dry goods boxes" existence. In support of this contention, Brigham Young wrote D. P. Kimball advising him to give whatever help he could to Charles M. Elleard of Far West Freighting Company who was planning to move his business from Corinne to Evanston to save one hundred miles of railroading, the distance between the two towns. The rumors of a Mormon-built railroad from Evanston into Idaho elicited a sarcastic editorial from the Corinne Reporter about the healing powers of the waters of Soda Springs, an argument being used to advance the fortunes of the proposed line: "As to the chances of Soda Springs ever becoming another Saratoga, there is far less probability in the case than of seeing the Bear Lake Monster succeed to the presidency of the church." 40 By Land and by Sea 169 To the Mormon leaders who had already built the Utah Central from Ogden to Salt Lake City, these Evanston reports gave encourage­ment to plans already being proposed by such Cache Valley business­men as Bishop William B. Preston of Logan to extend the church-owned line from Ogden north through the Cache settlements to Soda Springs. Union Pacific aspirations to capture the Montana trade away from the Central Pacific via Corinne coincided with Mormon desires. Brigham Young encouraged the efforts of Preston and others, partly because he and some other church officials had recently purchased real estate in the famous Beer Springs area and looked forward to expand­ing Mormon occupation there as a prelude to the development of a health resort. Under his father's direction, John W. Young, flush with success and almost fifty thousand dollars' profit from the building of the Utah Central, now concluded an agreement with Joseph Richard­son of Bridgeport, Connecticut, to furnish rails and rolling stock for the proposed Utah Northern Railroad. The Mormon farmers of Cache Valley agreed to build the roadbed and lay the rails. Brigham Young wrote the Mormon bishops in Cache Valley on August 8, 1871, informing them that John W. Young would shortly be visiting them to obtain support for the UNRR. Brigham Young added that as their president and prophet he very much favored the project.47 Bishop Preston's concern about foreign capitalists controlling the road was met with Brigham's reassurance that Joseph Richardson and his col­leagues did not seek exclusive control of the proposed road but were as one with the Mormon leaders in wanting it built as rapidly as pos­sible to give service to the northern settlements and to reach Soda Springs. Seventeen of the Cache Valley leaders agreed to direct work on the road, and the Utah Northern Railroad Company was organized on August 23, 1871, to run to Soda Springs, 125 miles away.48 Brig­ham Young was no idle bystander, as witness his note to D. McKenzie of August 28, 1871, advising McKenzie that he would be hired as engineer on the second locomotive of the UNRR as soon as he fur­nished the proper credentials.49 Although the line was to start at Ogden, the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific, construction was to start at Brig­ham City to give Cache Valley residents rail service as soon as possible. The Central Pacific would serve as a carrier to Brigham City until the Ogden section of the road could be built. John W. Young met with / 70 Corinne the people of Ogden in early September to get their agreement to con­struct the road between their city and Willard. The Ogden Junction reported that attendance at the meeting was rather small, an early indication that the residents of Weber County, already on a trans­continental line and having just completed building the Utah Central, were not that concerned with their neighbors in Cache County. The Deseret News, nevertheless, reported a unanimous resolve to construct their section of the three-foot, narrow-gauge road which John W. Young assured them would save over 40 percent in costs and operating expenses as compared to a standard, broad-gauge line.50 On August 26, 1871, a ground-breaking ceremony was held at Brigham City with John W. Young digging the first shovelful of earth and Lorenzo Snow offering the dedicatory prayer. The hostile Salt Lake Tribune deprecated the prayer: "This may sanctify the job, but we are ready to bet that it will require no less cash and no fewer blows to complete it. We will take ours plain, having had some experience in the praying business." 51 But the Deseret News reported hundreds of men and teams awaiting the signal to start the work, and Brigham Young wrote a friend that the people were enthusiastic in their deter­mination to build the line.52 The first reaction of the Corinne Reporter was quite favorable, the editor extending a welcome to the Utah Northern. But two weeks later Toohy changed his tune, perhaps realizing that his energetic Mormon neighbors might not stop at Soda Springs but push their little railroad on to Montana, thus putting the Corinne Reporter and the whole town of Corinne out of business because the transfer of freight from railroad cars to wagons would no longer be necessary for the transport of goods to Montana. Toohy, therefore, started what soon became a running attack of seven years by Corinne newspaper editors who ridiculed and reviled the builders and operators of the Utah Northern. When the Utah Northern Railroad shall have been com­pleted, we hear that all the freights and passengers to Montana, Northern Oregon, British America and Alaska, are to be switched off at Ogden, and taken on the narrow-gauge, via Soda Springs, to any given point on the globe, and no questions asked. . . . There will be no more use of the Central Pacific, and the towns along that line, being deprived of their business and resources, will have to retire, perhaps. . . . and there is some talk of the lake overflowing this valley to an indefinite depth.53 By Land and by Sea 171 The apprehension and uncertainties presented by the Utah Northern, from this time on, came to haunt the citizens of Corinne and to inhibit the development of the town. By November 1871 several miles of road had been completed north of Brigham City. The optimistic promoters expected that Cache Valley would be in sight by the first of the next year, and non-Mormon newsmen began to take notice of the new mountain railroad. The Idaho Statesman was certain that the Utah Northern was in reality a branch road of the Union Pacific to the north designed to capture the Central Pacific business from Corinne to Montana.54 The New York Tribune warned the nation that Brigham Young's power was being strengthened as a result of the money he was making out of building his branch railroads. The Montanian rejoiced at the prospect of an early railroad connection with the "outer world." The Ogden Junc­tion was also convinced that the narrow-gauge line would be a very profitable road, although it would incidentally destroy one or two little railway towns that could "easily be spared." 55 One of these rail­way towns girded up its loins, summoned its will, and agreed with a Nebraska newspaper that the road would not affect Corinne. The Mormon farmers of Cache, meanwhile, paying little attention to out­side comment, hitched their teams to plows and scrapers and worked out their portion of the construction.5" Despite optimistic hopes that the new rail line would reach Logan by July 1872, planting and harvest time kept the farmers busy at home much of the year. The road was completed to Hampton's Bear River crossing by June 13. A regular schedule was announced for the twenty-five mile stretch between there and Willard, and one passenger wrote, "The little iron pony fairly threw gravel as it whizzed up the road toward the terminus. . . ." 57 Brigham Young thought the rail­road a success, although he wrote privately to Joseph Richardson of New York City of his reservations that the contract between the east­ern financier and John W. Young discriminated against the latter and that the senior Young would have opposed the agreement had he known its provisions.58 The hard-working crews were still trying to complete the roadbed across the divide to Cache Valley when the year ended. The company's surveyor, James H. Martineau, had recom­mended a route through the Bear River Narrows as more protected and easier of construction; but the impatient promoters wanted a con- / 72 Corinne nection with Logan, the county seat.59 Later, as the storms of winter kept piling snow on the exposed tracks on the divide, many residents of Cache Valley regretted the decision. The people of Corinne watched with some apprehension as the tracks of the Utah Northern advanced northward along the foot of the Wasatch range, and editor Toohy expressed the hostility many felt toward this threat to their very existence as a freight transfer point. Toohy thought the plan to build the road was all "bosh." The Utah Northern was a "gymnasium for grasshoppers," an "iron plaything," a "farcical burlesque" composed of "toy vehicles, half velocipede and half wheelbarrow" and designed "to monopolize the trade in skunk hides and carrots from the vast region of Cache Valley and Soda Springs." When the schedule was announced to Hampton's, the editor wrote: The traveler who takes a train on the Utah Northern narrow gauge at Brigham Station, may reach Hampton's in an hour or two, but arriving at the point of the mountain he'll find no coach or wagon awaiting to bear him onward, for long before that place is reached, the stage has passed on its more direct line several miles westward. . . . We would like to see the officers of the Utah Northern throw out a hint to the green tourist that there is no stage line in any way connected with the road, . . . only from the Central Pacific Railroad at Corinne do the stages and freighting for Montana depart every day.60 As the year progressed, Toohy added to his derisive comments: The Utah Northern was a "horse railway . . . [of] teapot power"; its boilers were "heated by wrapping mustard plasters around them"; and two new handcarts were added as rolling stock for "that feeble concern." Finally, in November 1872, Toohy revealed his real concern by writ­ing that the Young family was determined to cut off Corinne's freight and passenger trade to Montana.''1 The Mormon newspapers gave as good as they received. The Salt Lake Herald wrote, "Some small-souled, carping, jealous beings have been venting their spleen against the Utah Northern, . . . but while they snarl and spit out filthy venom, the line is being built. . . ."°2 The Deseret News came closer to the point by announcing that when the rails reached Franklin the Montana trade would go by the railroad instead of through Corinne. In reply to editorials from the Reporter that all work on the railway had ceased, the News said, "These reports By Land and by Sea 173 indicate a spasmodic effort on the part of the Corinnites to retain a little longer the trade of Montana at their town." The church-owned newspaper also reported that the citizens of Weber County had finally chosen Lorin Farr to supervise the construction of the section of track between Ogden and Willard, a portion that had been held up while scarce rails had been delivered to the more important Cache Valley line.63 With construction well underway between Ogden and Franklin the Mormon promoters of the Utah Northern looked for financial assistance from the people of western Montana to help push the road to Helena and a connection with the Northern Pacific Railroad. The story of Montana efforts to get a north-south railroad is interesting and significant but has relevance here only as it conditioned the plans and efforts of Corinne to head off the threat of a Mormon-dominated by-pass railroad through Soda Springs. The Helena Herald, dis­couraged with the slow progress of the Northern Pacific, probably took the lead in trying to stir up enthusiasm among Montanans to vote a subsidy to help in the construction of the Utah Northern. These efforts were unsuccessful, but the maneuvering and politicking of the various groups in Montana aroused a lot of speculation by Corinne residents about the possibility of building their own broad-gauge road from the Central Pacific along the Montana trail to the mining towns of the north.64 The Utah, Idaho, and Montana Railroad The people of Montana petitioned the Congress in February 1871 for aid in the construction of a railroad from Ogden to the northern territory, a project that naturally aroused the interest of Corinnethians who wished to make their town the terminus.05 R. Hering of the famous Ferdinand V. Hayden exploring expedition described the route the proposed railroad could take over Raynold's Pass and into Madi­son Valley.66 As early as November 1871 the businessmen of Corinne had become apprehensive enough about the Utah Northern and Brig­ham Young's intention of cutting off their trade and, supposedly, revenging himself against them to consider the construction of a broad-gauge road that would make the town the most important station between Omaha and Sacramento. The Corinne Reporter attacked the 174 Corinne concept of a narrow-gauge line whose merits were "purely imagina­tive" and insisted that a broad-gauge road should be built at once with Corinne as the terminus.67 This request indicated that by March 1872 there was a movement underway to project a branch road from the Gentile town to Montana. In a series of urgent meetings held between March 28 and April 13 1872, the citizens of Corinne successfully pledged the money neces­sary to organize the Utah, Idaho, and Montana Railroad Company to build a broad-gauge road to Montana. In the initial meeting a $17,000 subscription was raised in ten minutes. The Reporter began to call on all residents to "subscribe for a spike in the new road, if you can do no more"; and by April 12, N. S. Ransohoff and Alex Toponce had purchased the last two shares of stock. In an enthusiastic meeting 323 people cast ballots to elect a board of directors of nine members who in turn elected Patrick E. Connor and O. J. Hollister as president and secretary of the new company. Editor Toohy, a director, prophesied that the new railroad would become an important link in the network of lines connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but had to confess that the Board of Trade had driven the railroad company out of the board's meeting hall.68 O. J. Hollister left at once for Washington, D.C., to lobby for legislation giving a right-of-way for Corinne's thoroughfare to the north.09 Because of the Credit Mobilier scandal and public opposition there was little expectation of a grant of lands, but there seemed to be no problem in getting the right-of-way. Bills were introduced into the House and Senate on April 24, and six days later the legislation was approved. Hollister received much credit for the unprecedented speed with which the Congress had moved, but the fact that the UI&M was a Gentile road helped considerably also. The people of Corinne were certain that with such auspicious beginnings the work of building the line would be started immediately.70 Daily editorials or news briefs from the Reporter proved Toohy's determination to remind the pro­moters every few days of their pledge to complete the 450-mile road to Helena.71 The Helena Herald was ecstatic. The news of the passage of the right-of-way act had created a sensation throughout Montana. Preparations were made for a survey of the first section of road with the expectation that the initial fifty miles would be completed by October. The Reporter capped its accounts with a long column By Land and by Sea 175 describing the ground-breaking ceremony during which Connor, spade in hand, announced, "I now pronounce the construction of this road a success," certainly a premature conclusion. Toohy expressed the senti­ments of the populace, "Our city is clothed in garments of joy. . . ." His newspaper was filled with reports of building lots rising in value from $1,500 to $4,000 in one week and of store rents going up 100 percent as a result of the tremendous news.72 Indications of the approach of actual construction activity began to appear in outside newspapers. The Helena Herald, for example, reported two thousand Chinese at work on the UI&M. Editor Toohy had the pleasure of seeing the books and office stationery of the firm; mules, wagons, and harness for the survey party were purchased; and, finally, a carload of tents for the engineers arrived at Corinne.73 The Utah Mining Journal watched these comings and goings and remarked of the new railroad that it might be built some day. The two survey crews advancing from each end of the line completed their work on August 30, 1872, followed by rumors that contracts would be let very soon for the construction of the roadbed. By this time two miles of grading had actually been accomplished.74 Parallel developments, however, were not so optimistic. O. J. Hollister and another member of the board of directors, Fox Diefen­dorf, traveled to San Francisco to try to raise capital for construction of the road, and a party of financiers from the Bay Area made an observation trip from Corinne to Helena to examine the potential of the line. As Toohy put it, "They are said to represent the material which is so potent in great enterprises - cash. . . " 7' Of even more significance, a petition was circulated among the town's citizens asking for an election to decide whether the city should subscribe for 1,000 shares of $100 each in the UI&M company, the 8 percent, thirty-year bonds to be delivered to the railroad when the first twenty miles of road north of Corinne had been completed. The special election, to be called at the request of the UI&M, was apparently never held.76 The flurry of excitement about the UI&M and the continued work on the Utah Northern led to much agitation from the people of western Montana for a rail connection from the south. The Mon­tanans were determined to have some control over the line. They did not want to be committed to Corinne as a point of departure, nor did they wish "to see the great Montana tail irrevocably tied to so small a 776 Corinne kite or made dependent upon the destinies of Corinne." 77 The Mon­tana Gazette was also somewhat envious that the Bear River town had been able to procure a charter that the whole territory of Montana had been unable to obtain. Corinne's hope of financial help from Mon­tana met with defeat as factions east and west of the Continental Divide in the northern territory failed to agree on subsidies for either the Corinne railroad or the Mormon Utah Northern.7" The Helena Herald probably echoed the sentiments of most Mon-tanans in late 1872 by declaring little hope for the Utah, Idaho, and Montana Railroad if the line had to be built by money from that northern territory. The editor resigned himself to expectations that the Utah Northern would be the one to penetrate into his territory, but he wished it were under the control of non-Mormons. The Utah Saints were also optimistic about their railroad because there was a vast hinterland of support in Cache Valley and up to Soda Springs while the Corinne line would have to depend upon through traffic for its support over the wastelands of eastern Idaho.711 As Dennis Toohy con­tinued his sarcastic jibes at the "sorghum line over the way," John W. Young was quoted as grumbling because, although he doubted that the Corinne road would ever be built, "it is raising h 1 with the bonds of the Utah Northern in the New York market. . . ." Toohy kept up his hopes with the firm belief that the Central Pacific would not allow the Union Pacific and Utah Northern "Mormon pole to knock the persimmons off" the lucrative trade to Montana.80 As the New Year's bells rang in 1873, the Utah, Idaho, and Montana Railroad seemed as cold and dead as the windswept ice on Bear River. Toohy produced labored editorials beseeching the people of Montana for financial help to revive the expiring railroad and con­demning its flourishing narrow-gauge rival as worthless compared to a broad-gauge road. Storekeeper L. Hoffman of Corinne stopped adver­tising his "narrow gauge ready made clothing for 70 cents on the dollar" and changed his advertisement to read, "Having now enough carrots and first class pumpkins to do me and my family this winter, I shall endeavor to quit selling narrow-gauge clothing and furnish you a good article of tip-top broad gauge at greatly reduced prices." S1 But to Corinnethians and Montanans alike that was a bad joke. Samuel T. Hauser traveled from Montana to San Francisco in June 1873, desperately seeking financial help to build a railroad con- By Land and by Sea 177 necting with the Central Pacific and Union Pacific roads. His friend, A. B. Knight, met him at Corinne on his return from the coast and wrote that Hauser was rather gloomy about the prospects of any aid from California.82 At the same time, Dennis Toohy reflected this dis­couragement as he heard what he thought was a "cry of despair" coming from the chilly north as Montanans bemoaned their isolated situation . He seemed to be speaking as much for himself. The Salt Lake Tribune was quite pointed as the Utah Northern reached Logan: "Corinne, if she would be anything in the future, must . . . either emigrate to Logan or build a railroad to Montana." S3 With the Utah, Idaho, and Montana Railroad a failure, the people of Corinne adopted the next best plan and sought a connection with the Utah Northern. Corinne Branch of UNRR Before the excitement of the projected railroad to Montana had obliterated from their minds any thought of a union with the narrow-gauge line, Corinne's leaders had contemplated such a move as early as January 1872. The Board of Trade appropriated money for a pre­liminary survey of a branch line to run the three and a half miles to North String, located just north of Brigham City. A committee was also appointed to meet with John W. Young concerning a branch from Corinne, but the assignment was soon forgotten in the rush to promote the broad-gauge line to Montana. Not until November 1872 did a dejected Corinnethian delegation, having eaten sufficiently of humble pie, travel to Logan to seek a meeting with Moses Thatcher, secretary of the Utah Northern.8' Receiving some encouragement from this visit, the Corinne depu­tation called a mass meeting of interested residents of the town to determine whether there was sufficient support for a branch road. Dennis Toohy had a very difficult time trying to swallow his bitterness against the Mormons while advising his readers to consider the branch line. He described the two points of view he observed among his townsmen: The opponents of priestly interference in the temporal concerns of Utah wish for no connection, either by rail or revelation, with the spawn of Lucifer; but the passive in feeling, who are certainly 178 Corinne Utah and Northern Railroad trestle at Eagle Rock with roundhouse and shops in view. Utah State Historical Society collections. more numerous, see a brighter light in the sheen of the almighty dollar than can be dimmed by any religious scum, and these of course, according to their natural rights, think differently. He ended his tortured editorial by advising that all shades of opinion should be represented at the meeting.s5 When a large crowd gathered at the opera house on December 2 to discuss a proposed connection with the Utah Northern, the local glee club rendered "We Are Riding on a Rail" and "Carmichael on the Dump," after which a night of confusion ensued. Committees were appointed and disbanded, chairmen were deposed and new ones appointed, an adjournment was voted and then disregarded, and finally the meeting ended in frustration.86 The townspeople seemed as perplexed as Toohy about which course to pursue. The Mining Journal attacked the Jack Mormons of Corinne and their "flunkeyism" and concluded that although the "little Gentile queen up at the north" refused to do obeisance to the Mormon promoters of the narrow gauge, the town did hint that the Utah Northern officials could visit Corinne to discuss matters of mutual interest.87 But it was a committee of Corinnethians who traveled to Logan and escorted John W. Young, Moses Thatcher, Judge Samuel Smith of Brigham City, M. W. Mer­rill, and several other dignitaries of the narrow-gauge line into the By Land and by Sea 179 Gentile stronghold on December 14 for the first delicate face-to-face meeting of two parties bound by a possibility of mutual financial advantage and little else.88 After a day of sightseeing, dinner at the Metropolitan Hotel, and alternate speeches, the ice seemed about to melt as good feelings re­placed the animosity of the previous years. A second meeting resulted in definite proposals that were presented to and approved by the people of Corinne in a public meeting. A joint high commission was to report final arrangements, and the Salt Lake Herald applauded, "Let us have peace and railroads." On December 19 John W. Young and his colleagues again met in Corinne to conclude the "Treaty of Corinne," while editor Toohy announced, "We welcome the Utah Northern to our city and wish its firm rails a heavy train of suc­cesses." sn The terms exacted by the railroad officials were humiliat-ingly to the point: Corinne would have to pay a subsidy of $5,000, grant a right-of-way, contribute grounds for a depot, and agree to no taxes for at least two years. In return, the Utah Northern officials made promises that almost guaranteed the end of Corinne as a ship­ping depot for Montana: To run their regular passenger and freight trains . . . to and from Corinne until their road shall have been completed to Ogden, if ever, and as much longer thereafter as it shall pay them to do s o . . .. Not to move their present junction with the Central Pacific until they do move it to Ogden, if ever.90 In addition to the financial help from Corinne, the Utah Northern also received $4,500 in an appropriation from the Box Elder County Court to aid in the construction of the branch line.111 This amount came from tax funds Corinnethians had also helped to pay. Surely John W., at least in this instance, was proving to be as adept at finances as was his prophet father. Surveys for the branch line were soon underway. The grading for the five-mile stretch was finished in April, but the necessity of con­structing a bridge at Bear River delayed until June 10, 1873, the com­pletion of the work. The chief stockholder in the Utah Northern, Joseph Richardson, visited Corinne in April to give his approval for the extension and predicted that within a few years the town would reach a population of a hundred thousand. As the citizens of Corinne 180 Corinne prepared for the celebration of their miniscule joining of the rails, they, nevertheless, responded affirmatively to the great prophecy of the imaginative financier from the east. At exactly 4:00 P.M. on June 10 the last spike was driven, an engine and several cars crossed the river and ran up to the depot, the local militia saluted the event with "an hour's cannonading," appropriate remarks were made by several civic figures, and "all then directed their attention and energies towards a half dozen kegs of beer which were thoughtfully prepared for the occasion." "2 The only harsh note was the news that the largest freight­ing company at Corinne, the Diamond R, would soon be moving its headquarters to Logan which the Utah Northern had reached earlier in the year. But Corinnethians were pleased that from this time on passengers and freight bound for the Utah Northern line would come via the Central Pacific from Ogden to Corinne instead of to the old junction near Brigham City.93 The new rail connection between Gentile Corinne and Mormon Logan inaugurated a feeling of detente wholly unexpected just a few months before. On June 20, without any warning, about four hundred school children arrived in Corinne from Logan to visit the strange and exotic town beyond the Bear. Cool beverages were offered them, the mayor made a hasty speech of welcome, and the Reporter applauded this first excursion ever from the Mormon settlements to Corinne. A week later a party of Corinnethians reciprocated the visit by traveling to Logan where "they were very agreeably surprised, and almost over­whelmed with the extreme kindness and attention shown them by the honorable people of that place." The reception included conveyances to take them from the depot to the city hall, ice cold lemonade, the inevitable speeches, and an invitation to attend the Mormon con­ference then in session. Not to be outdone, the citizens of Corinne invited the Loganites to join them in their celebration of the Fourth of July at the Gentile headquarters and made grand preparations to receive the Mormon brethren and sisters in hospitable style.94 The drama of the lamb and the lion was being played out with at least temporary success on the grassy banks of the Bear. When the Utah Northern reached Logan in early February 1873 the railroad's backers looked forward to uninterrupted service to Cache Valley and immediate profits but reckoned without considering what winter storms could do to the tracks.95 Surveyor Martineau's predic- By Land and by Sea 181 tions of disaster on the Mendon Divide were borne out in the winters of 1873 and 1874 when trains were stopped for weeks at a time. There was plenty of good sleighing from Cache Valley to the Central Pacific as passengers and mail were transported over the snowdrifts around the blockade. In March 1873 over three hundred men were employed shoveling snow off the tracks from the Logan end while a similar force started from Brigham City.96 A year later another contingent of two hundred workers broke through the snow blockade after seven days of exertion. Despite the idyllic treaty of peace resulting from the com­pletion of the Corinne branch of the Utah Northern, editor Toohy of the Reporter could not refrain from caustic asides concerning the failure of the narrow-gauge "waffle irons" to plow through the snow­banks. 97 The train on the Utah Northern railroad due at Logan on the 13th was snowed in, and abandoned near Mendon in the afternoon. The smoke stack was covered in fifteen minutes after the storm began, but several women went out with brooms to clear the track, and it was thought when our informant left Logan that the train would be dug out by the first of March. By order of the Board of Directors, the engineers will hold an open um­brella over the engine, when snow or heavy dew falls on the line.9a The snow blockades continued to offer amusement and ridicule to the Corinne newspapers until the railroad finally, in 1878, rerouted the track through the more sheltered Bear River narrows. Although the Weber County Mormons had begun work on their connecting line to Brigham City in November 1872, priority had been given to the extension of the Utah Northern to Logan and beyond to Franklin, Idaho. Mormon leaders, including Brigham Young, then revived interest in completing the Ogden line on which construction was renewed in September 1873 under the direction of Bishop Lorin Farr.99 The Ogden Junction suggested to the people of the community that here was a way of paying off their debt to the emigration fund of the church or of catching up on their back tithing. The editor entreated, "All hands to the road, and 'pop her quickly through.' " 10° The Box Elder County Court appropriated $6,500 to help complete the road from Ogden to Brigham City and as far as Worm Creek, five miles north of Franklin, Idaho.1"1 At 4:40 P.M. on February 5, 1874, about five hundred people assembled opposite the schoolhouse in Willard to listen to a brass band, 182 Corinne cheers, and train whistles and to watch Mormon dignitaries drive a silver spike manufactured in the Brigham City Cooperative Black­smith Shop.102 Within a few days regular trains were running directly from Ogden into Cache Valley without the necessity of taking the Central Pacific on to Corinne and then back, a detour of about ten miles.103 The Ogden Junction listed all the postal towns from Ogden to Franklin, significantly omitting any reference to Corinne. For the next year and a half trains continued to run on the narrow-gauge track between Corinne and the main line near Brigham City, but on Jan­uary 1, 1876, the Utah Northern officials exercised their option under the agreement with Corinne to discontinue service to the town. Mon-tanans did not appreciate this change which forced passengers going east to travel through Ogden without stopping at Corinne and travelers from San Francisco also to go by way of Ogden. What was worse, from the point of view of Corinnethians, they also had to go to Ogden in order to entrain for the north.104 The precarious treaty of amity and friendship between Gentile and Mormon engendered by the Corinne branch road faltered to a complete stop. A new newspaper, the Corinne Daily Mail, picked up the hatchet thrown down by the defunct Corinne Reporter and began to cut away at the Mormons and their narrow-gauge railroad. In derisive comment, the new editor wrote: It is not true that engineers on the Utah Northern Railroad use a lighted candle to heat the water in their locomotive boilers, nor is there any foundation for the story that a Corinne man got up and whipped a U.N.R. engineer for running a whole train of cars over him while he was quietly snoozing on the track.105 The industry of the Weber County Saints in completing their seg­ment of the Utah Northern was matched by their fellow members in Cache Valley who were spurred on by a sermon of Brigham Young to continue the line to Idaho by completing the grading: "I thought I would ask the brethren, inasmuch as they wish to travel north, occa­sionally, to do themselves and the rest of us the kindness to get a ride upon a pretty good track." 10° Sandwiching grading and track-laying in between farm chores, the Mormons of Cache County pushed the road to Smithfield by November 17, 1873, and to Franklin by the spring of 1874. Passenger and freight services from Ogden along the eighty-five mile stretch to Franklin began May 4.107 By Land and by Sea 183 The steady advance of the narrow-gauge rails to the north under­standably excited the people of Montana and discouraged the resi­dents of Corinne. In January 1873 a loyal Corinnethian wrote the Helena Herald that Montanans should not be confused by Corinne's action in cooperating with Utah Northern officials in building their branch line. That did not mean the abandonment of the project to build a broad-gauge road to Montana. In response to such assertions, the Herald opined that Corinne was truly disturbed about a possible loss of its forwarding business to Idaho and Montana.108 The editor was correct, because from this time on businessmen and newspaper writers alike argued, presented statistics, and strove valiantly to stop the shift of trade from their wagon metropolis to the Utah Northern at Franklin. The Corinne Reporter insisted by devious reasoning that a wagon depot at Franklin shortened the distance to Montana by only twenty-five miles, when the actual difference was fifty miles; that the road from Franklin through Marsh Valley was soggy and poor, which was true; and that freighters and stagecoaches would prefer to end their long journey from Montana in the hospitable and freer climate of an "American" Gentile city like Corinne, which was also probably true. A friendly correspondent pointed out to the Helena Herald another disadvantage of shipping by Utah Northern cars - it would require a second transfer of goods from broad-gauge, ten-ton cars to narrow-gauge, four-ton cars in addition to the customary reloading from the large cars to wagons.109 Supporters of the narrow-gauge were certain that because of the saving of fifty miles of travel, the avoidance of having to cross the Malad Divide, and the reduction in freight costs by a quarter of a cent a pound, freight for Montana would travel by the new route through Franklin. The Ogden Junction crowed, "The beginning of the end of 'the burg on the Bear' is inaugurated." l ln The Deseret News reported almost incessantly the plans of Joseph Richardson and the Mormon promoters to have the Utah Northern built twenty-five miles beyond Franklin to Carpenter's Station on the Montana trail by the spring of 1875, a project that would surely eliminate Corinne as a rival. By this time it was common knowledge that the Gentile portion of the Utah Northern management had abandoned plans to build by way of Soda Springs and intended to take the more direct route via the already well-traveled Montana trail.111 Judge Cornelius Hedges of 184 Corinne Helena, traveling through Corinne in April 1874, wrote that he found the people there "in a state of settled despair over the future of their city." 112 By the summer of 1874 business conditions in Corinne were being observed through the dark curtain of dust on the wagon road north. Bad roads in Marsh Valley, the Saintly control of social life in Franklin, and, above all, the financial panic of 1873 postponed for four years the demise of Corinne as a freight transfer point on the Central Pacific. Portland, Dalles, and Salt Lake Railroad The nationwide depression of the 1870s also killed the prospects for another railroad that might have helped Corinne overcome the threat of the Utah Northern. The Union Pacific in 1867 had partially surveyed a route through the Snake River Valley and along the Columbia River to the Pacific Coast, but it remained for Col. H. I. Chapman of Portland, Oregon, to organize the Portland, Dalles, and Salt Lake Railroad in 1872 and then to attempt to get territorial and federal aid for his projected road. Corinne had only peripheral interest in these plans until January 1874 when the moribund state of the Utah, Idaho, and Montana Railroad and the surging life of the Utah Northern suddenly sharpened the interest of Corinnethians in Chap­man's plans. The colonel also recognized the possibility of joint enter­prise with Corinne, and for a share in the almost defunct Utah, Idaho, and Montana line and the support of the town's leaders he promised to make Corinne the terminus for his railroad which would follow the Montana trail north to Fort Hall before turning west along the Snake River to Oregon.113 When further efforts failed to obtain financial aid from the fed­eral government and eastern centers, Colonel Chapman reorganized his firm in 1876; renamed it the Portland, Salt Lake, and South Pass Railroad; and planned to sell stock in the company at $100 a share. To arouse dormant interest in would-be investors, Chapman began construction from Corinne in September 1876 and simultaneously started a publicity campaign to raise money. The flagging interests of the people of Corinne were once more aroused to the possibility of having their own broad-gauge railroad to the north.114 When an engi­neering party started out to survey a line from the town to Malad City, along the route already surveyed once before for the Utah, Idaho, and By Land and by Sea 185 Montana Railroad, a correspondent relayed the exhilarating news to Salt Lake. The writer enlarged upon the prospects for the broad-gauge line that would diverge at Fort Hall with the Chapman road to the west and Corinne's Utah, Idaho, and Montana Railroad to the north. He concluded, "The people have discovered that the Mormon narrow gauge is hardly as good as a respectable bull train, and the Government has discovered that the Enoch road cannot be relied on to transport the mails." "•"' Press reports from Colonel Chapman's headquarters in Corinne provided the news that the community was becoming the liveliest town in Utah and that its future and almost certain control of all freight destined for Montana and the Pacific Northwest would signal an end to Fort Benton, Kelton, and Winne-mucca as outlets for the northwest trade.116 For once the efforts of the indefatigable Colonel Chapman seemed justified. The survey was completed to Snake River, four miles of grading were finished by November 1876, and Hiram House had provided 200,000 feet of lumber for ties. That was the extent of progress of the new railroad as bad weather and the lack of funds stopped the work within sight of Corinne. Two years later the pro­moters of the road were still trying to get congressional approval of a bill granting aid to the road. The effort came too late, because by 1878 the Union Pacific was vigorously extending the Utah Northern into the Snake River Valley. With financial resources available to con­tinue construction into Montana, Jay Gould's railroad was now help­ing to make the grass grow in the streets of Corinne while the Port­land, Salt Lake, and South Pass Railroad joined the Utah, Idaho, and Montana Railroad in the graveyard of other visionary railways that had haunted the feverish imaginations of frontier Americans from sea to shining sea.117 With high hopes, much grit, and the expenditure of considerable sweat and tears the Gentile citizens of Corinne had labored to expand the transportation system that gave life to the town. The exciting and imaginative attempt to build a fleet of steamboats on Great Salt Lake had failed as more efficient rail lines captured the ore trade from the mining districts south of the lake. Following immediately behind this disappointment came the threat of the Mormon-built Utah Northern Railroad to steal away the vital trade from Montana that sustained Corinne. When it proved impossible to meet the challenge of the 186 Corinne narrow-gauge road by constructing the Corinne-dominated Utah, Idaho, and Montana Railroad, the citizens of the town had only one precarious recourse - to obtain a branch line as part of the Utah Northern. This Mormon connection proved to be only a temporary solution that dissolved as soon as the Ogden-Brigham City link was completed by the Mormon farmers of the area. For the remaining years of the 1870s Corinnethians clung to the faint hope that an Oregon railroad might make the town its terminus, a chimera that vanished as the Utah Northern continued to crawl towards Montana. But the people of the Gentile town on Bear River were ever ebullient despite these economic disappointments and fashioned for themselves a very satisfying social life that provided cultural attainments as well as recreational and dramatic activities. Not everything was geared to business and mundane pursuits. The heart as well as the head required nurture and care. By Land and by Sea 187 NOTES FOR CHAPTER 6 1 Jesse H. Jameson, "Corinne: A Study of a Freight Transfer Point in the Montana Trade, 1869 to 1878" (M.A. thesis, University of Utah, 1951), pp. 161-66; Utah Reporter, 4, 13 November; 17 May 1870. 2 Utah Reporter, 29 March, 10 May 1870. 3 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 166-68. 4 Utah Reporter, 17, 19 June; 26 July 1870. 5 Salt Lake Herald, 29 June 1870; Utah Reporter, 17 July 1870. "Montana Post, 19 March 1869; Salt Lake Telegraph, 21 April 1869. 7 Utah Reporter, 8 August 1870. 8 Utah Reporter, 21, 23 April; 2 December 1870. 9 Report of Committee Investigating Feasibility of Navigating Great Salt Lake, 1870, photocopy of MS, in author's possession. 4° Utah Reporter, 18, 19, 23, 29 November 1870; 14 January 1871. 14 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 173-74. 42 Ibid., p. 174; New York World, 30 April 1871; Utah Reporter, 13 March 1871. 13 Corinne Reporter, 14 April 1871; Corinne Journal, 7 May 1871; Salt Lake Tribune, 12 May 1871. 44 Salt Lake Herald, 16 March 1871; Corinne Reporter, 16 May 1871; Salt Lake Herald, 26 May 1871; Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 175-76. 15 Salt Lake Herald, 19 May 1871. 4° Ibid.; Salt Lake Tribune, 19, 22 May 1871; Corinne Journal, 18, 19, 23 May 1871; Corinne Reporter, 22 May 1871. 17 Salt Lake Tribune, 24 May 1871; Corinne Journal, 23 May 1871; Ogden Junction, 24 May 1871; Deseret News, 31 May 1871; Corinne Reporter, 24 May 1871. l s Corinne Reporter, 24 May 1871. 19 Corinne Journal, 24 May 1871; Corinne Reporter, 26 May 1871. -° Corinne Reporter, 5 June 1871. -4 Salt Lake Herald, 14 June 1871; Corinne Reporter, 17 June 1871. '-- Corinne Reporter, 27 May 1871. =:« Deseret News, 20 June 1871; Corinne Journal, 13, 15, 21, 24 June 1871; Corinne Reporter, 24 June 1871; Council Chamber Corinne City Minute Book, 20 June 1871, Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City. 24 Corinne Reporter, 31 May 1871. -•" Ibid., Salt Lake Tribune, 1 June 1871; Salt Lake Herald, 17 June 1871. -° Corinne Journal, 20 June 1871; Corinne Reporter, 24 June, 5 August 1871. -7 Corinne Reporter, 24 June 1871; Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 179-80. 28 Corinne Reporter, 28 May, 18 July 1871. -'•> Salt Lake Herald, 15 June 1871. 30 Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1958), p. 275; Corinne Reporter, 1 July 1871. 34 Corinne Reporter, 27, 30 June; 1 July 1871. •''- B. S. Fitch to Brigham Young, 10 July 1871; Brigham Young to B. S. Fitch, 23 July 1871, Brigham Young Letter Books, microfilm, reel 38, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City. 33 Corinne Reporter, 4, 12 August 1871. :!1 New York Tribune, 19 September 1871. 188 Corinne 35 Corinne Reporter, 14 March; 6, 22, 24 April; 28 May 1871; Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 156-58. 36 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," p. 158; Corinne Journal, 4 June 1871; Corinne Reporter, 19 September 1871. 37 Corinne Reporter, 29 May 1871; Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 158-60; Corinne Reporter, 29 March; 6, 11 December 1872. 38 Corinne Mail, 11, 23 December 1874; 1 April 1875; Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 160-61. 39 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," p. 181; Corinne Reporter, 16 February, 15 April 1872. 49 Deseret News, 22 May 1872; Utah Mining Journal, 26 June, 15 July 1872; Salt Lake Tribune, 13, 14, 20 May 1872; Salt Lake Herald, 19 May 1872. •HSalt Lake Herald, 22 May 1872; Corinne Reporter, 29 May, 18 June 1872. 42 Corinne Reporter, 29 March; 16 April; 22, 24 August 1872; Utah Mining Journal, 15 July, 23 August 1872. 43 Corinne Reporter, 23 January, 15 April, 30 June, 8 July 1873; Salt Lake Herald, 22 June 1873; Corinne Mail, 23 December 1874; 8, 16, 27, 30 March; 1, 24, 26, 28 April; 2 June 1875 ; Salt Lake Herald, 5 June 1875. 44 Deseret News, 19 May 1875; Salt Lake Herald, 29 May 1875, 21 July 1878; Salt Lake Tribune, 11 May 1876, 16 July 1878; Bernice Gibbs Anderson, "The City of Corinne," in Box Elder Lore of the Nineteenth Century (Brigham City: Box Elder Chapter, Sons of Utah Pioneers, 1951), p. 118. 45 U.S., Congress, House, Report, Chief Engineer of Union Pacific Railroad, HouseEx.Doc.no. 132, 41st Cong., 2d sess., 1870. 46 Salt Lake Herald, 1 February 1871; Ogden Junction, 28 January 1871; Brig­ham Young to D. P. Kimball, 26 July 1871, BY Letter Book's, reel 18; Corinne Reporter, 14 August 1871. 47 Merrill D. Beal, Intermountain Railroads: Standard and Narrow Gauge (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1962), pp. 3-7; Robert G. Athearn, "Railroad to a Far-off Country: The Utah and Northern," Montana Western History 18 (Octo­ber 1968): 3-23; Brigham Young to Bishops in Cache County, 8 August 1871, BY Letter Books, reel 19. 48 Beal, Intermountain Railroads, p. 7; Clarence A. Reeder, Jr., "The History of Utah's Railroads, 1869-1883" (Ph.D. diss., University of Utah, 1970), pp. 215-19. 49 Brigham Young to D. McKenzie, 28 August 1871, BY Letter Books, reel 19. 50 Ogden Junction, 20 September 1871; Deseret News, 2 September 1871. 51 Beal, Intermountain Railroads, p. 13; Reeder, "The History of Utah's Rail­roads," p. 221; Salt Lake Tribune, 28 August 1871. 52 Deseret News, 6 September 1871; Brigham Young to Orson Hyde, 30 August 1871, BY Letter Books, reel 19. 53 Corinne Reporter, 25 August, 6 September 1871. 54 Deseret News, 27 September, 8 November 1871; Salt Lake Herald, 17 Sep­tember 1871; Idaho Statesman, 23 September 1871. 55 New York Tribune, 19 September 1871; Salt Lake Tribune, 29 September 1871; Ogden Junction, 9 September 1871. so Corinne Reporter, 15 November 1871; Beal, Intermountain Railroads, p. 15. -'Salt Lake Herald, 30 March 1872; Deseret News, 10 January, 29 May, 26 June, 24 July, 7 August 1872; Reeder, "The History of Utah's Railroads," pp. 227-28. 58 Brigham Young to Edward Young, 24 April 1872; to Joseph Richardson, 2 August 1872; to George P. Nebeker, 15 August 1872, BY Letter Books, reels 19, 20. 59 Reeder, "The History of Utah's Railroads," p. 228; Beal, Intermountain Railroads, p. 13. Ii0 Corinne Reporter, 21 March, 31 May, 13 June, 8 July 1872. 01 Corinne Reporter, 19, 20 August; 12 September; 11 November 1872. 02 Salt Lake Herald, 2 June 1872. By Land and by Sea 189 e3 Deseret News, 20, 30 October; 6 November 1872. 64 Athearn, "Railroad to a Far-off Country," pp. 2-23, contains an excellent discussion of Montana efforts to promote a north-south railway; Helena Herald, 11 April, 24 October 1872; Deseret News, 13 November 1872; Corinne Reporter, 27 March 1872. 05 U.S., Congress, House, Memorial of the Executive Board of Trustees of the Montana Central Railroad Company, pp. 1-2, House Misc. Doc. no. 73, Serial no. 1463, 41st Cong., 3d sess., 1871. 00 U.S., Congress, House, United States Geological Survey of the Territories, Embracing Portions of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah . . 1872, p. 92, House Misc.Doc.no. 112, Serial no. 1573, 42d Cong., 3d sess., 1873. Corinne Reporter, 15 November 1871; 21 January, 8 February, 27 March 1872. 68 Corinne Reporter, 28, 29 March; 2, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 April; 1 June 1872. 99 Salt Lake Herald, 16 April 1872. 70 Corinne Reporter, 1, 10, 29, 30 May; 1, 3 June 1872. 74 Corinne Reporter, 29 May; 4, 16 June 1872. 72 Helena Herald, 6 June 1872; Corinne Reporter, 3, 31 May; 4, 14, 17 June 1872. 73 Helena Herald, 20 June 1872; Corinne Reporter, 29, 30 July 1872; Utah Mining Journal, 15 August 1872. 74 Utah Mining Journal, 1 August 1872; Corinne Reporter, 7, 19, 31 August 1872; Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," p. 190. 75 Utah Mining Journal, 31 July 1872; Corinne Reporter, 8 July 1872. -o Corinne City Minute Book, 30 July 1872. 77 Corinne Reporter, 13, 23 May; 10 June, 21 October 1872. 78 Corinne Reporter, 10 June 1872; Athearn, "Railroad to a Far-off Country," pp. 2-24. 79 Helena Herald, 12 September 1872; Salt Lake City, 28 November 1872. s o Corinne Reporter, 8 August, 11 November 1872; Utah Mining Journal, 26 August 1872. s l Utah Mining Journal, 2, 23 January; 18 June 1873. 82 Helena Herald, 5 June 1873; A. B. Knight to Old Boy, 3 July 1873, Charles Bovey Collection, Virginia City, Montana. 1,3 Corinne Reporter, 18 June 1873; Salt Lake Tribune, 10 May 1873. S4 Corinne Reporter, 31 January; 6 February; 5, 27 March 1872; Orson Hyde Elliott, "Reminiscences," pp. 524-25, LDS Archives; Idaho Statesman, 6 February 1872; Salt Lake Herald, 30 November 1872. 85 Corinne Reporter, 2 December 1872. so Corinne Reporter, 3 December 1872; Salt Lake Tribune, 5 December 1872. S7 Utah Mining Journal, 4 December 1872. s s Corinne Reporter, 10, 14 December 1872. 89 Corinne Reporter, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20 December 1872; Salt Lake Herald, 17 December 1872; Utah Mining Journal, 18 December 1872; Salt Lake Tribune, 21 December 1872. 90 Ogden Junction, 25 January 1873; Reeder, "The History of Utah's Rail­road," p. 231; Corinne City Minute Book, 17, 23, 24 December 1870. 94 Box Elder County Records, 11 February 1873, 261; 2 June 1873, 253 Utah State Archives. 92 Reeder, "The History of Utah's Railroads," pp. 231-32; Corinne Reporter, 16 April, 11 June 1873. 93 Deseret News, 11 June, 1 October 1873. 94 Corinne Reporter, 20, 28, 30 June 1873. 95 Deseret News, 5 February 1873. 190 Corinne o« Deseret News, 12, 19 February; 5 March 1872; 19 March 1873; Utah Min­ing Journal, 18 February 1873; Corinne Reporter, 13 March 1873. 97 Deseret News, 17, 24 December 1873; 1 April 1874; Salt Lake Herald, 14 December 1873; Ogden Junction, 13 December 1873; 27 February, 12 March 1874; Corinne Reporter, 17 February 1874. 98 Corinne Reporter, 14 February 1874. "Reeder, "The History of Utah's Railroads," pp. 232-33; Deseret News, 22 October 1873; Brigham Young to F. A. Mitchell, 29 October 1873, BY Letter Books, reel 20. IOO Ogden Junction, 29 October 1873; Deseret News, 22 October 1873. 494 Box Elder County Court Records, 2 September 1873, 256; 29 December 1873,263. 102 Ogden Junction, 6 February 1874. 493 Deseret News, 6 May 1874. 404 Ogden Junction, 11 February 1874; Deseret News, 5 Tanuary 1876; Helena Herald, 20 January 1876. 495 Corinne Mail, 23, 30 October 1874. 490 Sermon of Brigham Young, 28 June 1873, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool, 1854-86), 16:63-64. 497 Reeder, "The History of Utah's Railroads," pp. 233-34. 498 Helena Herald, 2, 23 January 1873. 409 Corinne Reporter, 31 January, 23 June 1873; Helena Herald, 20 February 1873. 440 Helena Herald, 10 July 1873; Ogden Junction, 31 May 1873. 144 Deseret News, 22, 29 April 1874. 142 Helena Herald, 14 May 1874. 143 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," pp. 191-92. 444 Ibid., p. 192. 115 Salt Lake Tribune, 6 September, 5 November 1876; Salt Lake Herald, 17 September 1876. 140 Jameson, "Corinne: A Study," p. 193. 147 Ibid., pp. 193-95. By Land and by Sea 191 SB VIA THE SALT LAKE STEAMER CITY I CORINNE From CORHTNE.TJtah, I /%r\ii SALT LAKE CITT. H B. Crocker it Vu., Steam Book and Job Printers. 42 and 44 J Street. Sacramento. Advertising poster, 1871. Courtesy of Western Americana, Marriott Library, University of Utah. 192 Corinne