A History of Beaver County

The world outside comes to Beaver, 1870 - 1900-1

C H A P T E R 5 T. THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 he last three decades of the nineteenth century brought great change to Utah and especially Beaver County. Many of these changes developed in part because of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on 10 May 1869, more than 300 miles north of Beaver at Promontory Summit. The railroad greatly stimulated Utah's infant mining industry, which expanded into Beaver County during the 1870s. Just over a decade after the Union Pacific and Central Pacific linked the Pacific and Atlantic coasts by rail, the railroad reached Beaver County. In preparation for the economic challenges to the Mormon Kingdom that Brigham Young anticipated would come with the rail­road, a cooperative movement was launched that grew into the United Order Movement, both of which took root in Beaver County. With the establishment of the Beaver Co-operative Commercial and Manufacturing Institution and the Beaver Woolen Mills, Beaver became an important commercial center in southern Utah. In the western part of the county, Milford became the principal shipping 101 102 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY and freighting point for southern Utah from 1880 until well into the twentieth century. During the 1870s two federal institutions greatly impacted the county. Beaver was the location for the Second Judicial District for the Territory of Utah from 1870 until 1896. The establishment of Fort Cameron near the mouth of Beaver Canyon in 1873 marked a decade of the United States Army presence in southern Utah-the only time during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that federal troops were stationed on permanent assignment south of Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City. In retrospect, Beaver County prospered during these three decades. Substantial homes, schools, and public buildings were erected; new reservoirs and irrigation canals were built; more farm land was developed; cattle and sheep herds multiplied; and mines at Frisco, Newhouse, and other locations constituted a mining boom equaled only by a few other locations in Utah. Statehood for Utah in 1896 brought changes to county government and an outpouring of patriotism and optimism that carried Beaver County well into the twentieth century. Second Judicial Court The Second Judicial Court for Utah Territory was established in Beaver by proclamation of territorial governor J. Wilson Shaffer on 15 July 1870. Before this time, the Mormon settlers had dealt with many of their legal conflicts in the bishop's court and high council tribunals. The Second Judicial Court had been established on 8 November 1869 by a proclamation from Shaffer's predecessor, Charles Durkee. The first court session was held in St. George on 21 December 1869 and the next in Parowan on 2 September 1870. Judge C. M. Hawley was assigned to the bench, N.P. Wood. The first court session held in Beaver was in December 1870 and sessions were held in Beaver until Utah was granted statehood in 1896. The court's venue included Beaver, Iron, Washington, Kane, Garfield and Piute Counties. Local supporters of the court argued that Millard, and Sevier counties should be added to the second district as a way to save both time and expense for those who otherwise had to travel to the first district court which held forth in Provo and Ogden. The pro- THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 103 posed expansion of the Second Judicial District was calculated to lengthen the court term and keep the judges in Beaver. Otherwise, "under existing circumstances the court is dismissed for the term and the judge off for Salt Lake all in a hurry. It seems to some people as though, the eagerness of our judges in the past to get to Salt Lake has caused some cases to be rushed through hurriedly not giving them that consideration and time that they demanded in justice to the defendant or the government."1 Those who served as Second District judges were: C. M. Hawley, 1869-1874; Jacob S. Boreman, 1874-1880; Stephen P. Twiss, 1881-1885; Jacob S. Boreman, 1886-1889; Thomas J. Anderson, 1889-September 1892; James A. Minor, September 1892-February 1893; and George W Bartch, 1893-1896. Without identifying those who were sympathetic or antagonistic towards Beaver citizens, John Franklin Tolton found that "Some of the Judges were an honor to their profession, others should have worn sack cloth rather than the ermine of judicial authority with which they were clothed."2 Fort Cameron On 7 March 1873 the United States Army established a military camp at Beaver City. After the Mountains Meadows Massacre, it was generally believed that a federal presence in the area was needed. The fort was located at the mouth of Beaver Canyon just two miles east of Beaver City. Federal intervention in Beaver County during the territorial time period was marked by an imperialistic fervor. Clearly, territorial autonomy seemed to threaten the security of the United States for many, and seemed to justify extraordinary efforts to put down the efforts of the Mormon church. Because of that, one important theme of the story of Beaver County's relationship with the federal govern­ment is persecution and intervention. As a result of confrontations with the Indians, the House Committee on Territories conducted an investigation of whether additional military forces were needed in the area in 1867. Nonetheless, it was not until 1872 that Secretary of War William W Belknap received letters from the Associate Justice of the Utah Supreme Court, Cyrus M. Hawley and territorial governor George L. 104 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY • • . Fort Cameron near the mouth of Beaver Canyon. (Utah State Historical Society) Wood stating that "annual Indian raids upon the settlements," a few miles south of Beaver, made Beaver a suitable location for a military installation. The idea had significant local support; in fact, Utah's inhabitants believed that yet another Indian war was imminent. Already attacks had commenced in central and southern Utah. In 1872, Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano solicited Brigham Young's assistance in quelling the tide of conflict. A second consideration that in Hawley's mind justified the installation was the fact that the perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre had not yet been brought to justice. In fact, according to Hawley, it was unlikely that they ever would, consider­ing the current political condition where anyone who testified against their fellow Saints might be punished. A "military force established in that [the second] district, say at the city of Beaver, of at least five companies," would facilitate those efforts.3 As a result of this testimony, Secretary of War Belknap suggested that the govern­ment appropriate $120,000 for the construction of a military base near Beaver.4 After the appropriation had been given, during mid- 1872, Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan, a civil war veteran, THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 105 appointed Colonel John D. Wilkins to lead a command of four com­panies (181 men) to open the post. When they arrived at Beaver after having traveled 200 miles from Salt Lake City, they camped just a mile north of town. From that van­tage point, Wilkins conducted reconnaissance of the area, searching for the most advantageous site for a military base. Wilkins found a site on the north side of the Beaver River near both Beaver Canyon and town. Initially, the base was called the "Post of Beaver," but later Fort Cameron in honor of Colonel James Cameron, a hero of the Civil War who was killed in the Battle of Bull Run. Twenty-one and one-half acres of timber land was added to the post as a reserve in 1879.5 On 7 September 1873, 250 troops arrived in Utah under the command of Major John D. Wilkins. The setting was a lovely ten-acre plot of ground in the foothills a mile from the mouth of Beaver Canyon. Large cottonwood trees bordered the fort on every side. Fourteen buildings facing toward the central parade ground were constructed of black igneous rock, quarried in nearby canyons. To the north was the hospital, a two-story structure with a veranda run­ning around both the lower and upper floors. To the west of the hos­pital were two smaller buildings-the adjutant's office and the Commander's Storehouse. Other buildings included a bakery and two long rectangular one-story barracks. Five large two-story build­ings served as the officers' residences, four for two families each, one for a single family and the residence of the commanding officer. Laundry, storage, and an armory structures were also located near the square.6 The fort was unique in appearance because of the black, basaltic lava stone used to build it. Quarried in a nearby canyon, the rock was hauled by local settlers who also furnished the bulk of the labor. All types of workers, stonemasons, carpenters, and artisans found work on the project that provided them with badly needed cash. The inte­rior was rough plastered except for the two-story, twelve-bed hospi­tal, which was more carefully finished with plaster of paris. As was typical of western forts, the walls stretched 700 feet in one direction and 620 feet in the other. A parade ground located in the center of a series of rooms that ran the length of both sides was the 106 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY - - - - ~ ~ * ^ . ~i«-~~>^ The officers quarters section of Fort Cameron after it became Murdock Academy. (Utah State Historical Society) scene of public activity. Both the east and west walls were built into barracks for the troops, the officers rooms were located on the south, and the hospital to the north, as were the commissary and the base offices.7 A network of aqueducts brought water into the fort. The parade grounds were landscaped with trees and grass. All in all, the cost of the construction and furnishing of the fort was $120,000. The fort brought revenue to Beaver City in other ways. Fifteen women were employed as laundresses, a blacksmith and carpenter were hired for $160 month income. Local boardinghouses and hotels benefitted from the officials who came to town on fort business. Soon auxiliary businesses began operation like a brewery established in an old carding mill nearby.8 Because Beaver County was relatively self-sufficient, the post was able to purchase needed supplies locally. Gardens grown by the sol­diers themselves located outside the fort provided a number of veg­etables, including potatoes, turnips, cabbage, lettuce, beans, and peas. But beyond that they purchased what they needed from local mer­chants. According to one report, the army rented milk cows from farmers in Beaver City.9 What supplies they could not purchase THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 107 The parade ground at Fort Cameron used for recreational activities by Murdock Academy. (Utah State Historical Society) locally they shipped to the nearest railroad terminus in Juab County. Again, locals benefitted from this as well. Joshua C. Hall was paid $1.50 per 100 pounds for supplies he freighted from the station to the fort.10 Typically, in western territories, being chosen for the site of a mil­itary installation was seen as good news. Threatened by attack from Native Americans, it was a distinct advantage to have the presence of the federal government in western land. Nevertheless, as was true for Mormons throughout the territory, the residents of Beaver County looked at the establishment of a United States military installation nearby with suspicion. With the exception of Camp Floyd, which was the result of the 1857 episode, each of the Utah installations was related to the threat posed by the Native Americans. Conflicts during the Walker War of the 1850s and the Black Hawk War of the 1860s seemed to justify military forts in the territory. After the fort was built, there was little for the soldiers to do. The contrast between the religiously homogeneous locals and the men housed in the fort led to occasional conflicts. "Some of the officers 108 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY were honorable men," wrote Louisa Barnes Pratt, but "the soldiers with few exceptions were intolerable drinkers of ardent spirits. It was terrifying [to the women] to hear them on the streets at night."11 Some of the soldiers had wives and families, and the group developed a lively cultural and social life to help pass the time. Occasionally, they organized musical shows and plays, for a period the Fort Cameron Band, and supported a parochial school. Population at the fort ranged from a high point of 203 enlisted men and twelve officers in 1873 to eighty-seven enlisted men and seven officers in 1882. After the Utah Southern railroad reached Milford in 1880, Beaver County's isolation ended. Two years later the army decided to shut Fort Cameron down. On 1 May 1883, Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln ordered it abandoned and the troops removed to Fort Douglas.12 The Fort Cameron buildings and property were sold on 30 May 1883 to Philo T. Farnsworth and John R. Murdock who subsequently donated half of the property for the Beaver Branch of Brigham Young Academy which later became Murdock Academy. The military hos­pital became office and classroom space, the enlisted men's barracks became dormitories, and the commissary a bookstore. Mining Although most of the Mormons settlers who came to Beaver County were farmers, discoveries of rich veins of minerals in moun­tains surrounding the valley made Beaver one of the most important mining centers in the West. Gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, bismuth, sulphur, as well as marble, granite, sandstone, potash, and other rocks used as building materials attracted those willing to extract the riches of the earth. Towns sprang up around the locations of these resources across the base of mountain ranges bordering Beaver Valley. Many of these boom towns were vacated as the mines became exhausted and fortunes turned, but others survived the mining era and became rural villages with redefined identities. Local mining activity, recent finds and profits were carefully noted in the Beaver County Blade and other local newspapers as well as the Union Vedette. Beaver's mining activ­ity put the county on the map, so to speak, and drew the attention of entrepreneurs from Salt Lake City and throughout the nation. THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 109 • ~" i, ,<GM .„... - i Miners in Beaver County. (Utah State Historical Society) Several mining districts were created during the 1870s in Beaver County. These included the South Star District (1870); Beaver Lake District (1871); North Star District (1871); Lincoln District (1871); and the San Francisco (1871); Pruess District (1872); Rocky Mining District (1872); and Bradshaw District (1875). The San Francisco District is situated in the center of the county about 225 miles south-southwest of Salt Lake City and 98 miles northeast of Pioche, 110 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Nevada.13 Although the district was organized on 12 August 1871, the most significant discovery was not made until 1876, a year after the discovery of the Horn Silver Mine and the settlement of Frisco. When the Star District organized on 8 July 1870, Shauntie became the main settlement. Rapidly growing in the 1870s, it was the hub of freighting and smelting activites until the railroad came to Milford in 1880. Mines like the Mammouth, Red Warrior, Moscow, and St. Mary's brought sudden wealth and a population of transient workers into the area. Shenandoah, another South Star town, report­edly had 300 inhabitants in 1875. Both towns housed mine workers, served as supply stations, and provided needed services. Shauntie had a telegraph office, and Shenandoah was the main distributing post office in Beaver County. Both towns were real communities with families and various social activities. Every Saturday night everyone in town went to the school house for a dance and a dinner. "They had square dances and then they had Virginia reels, and all of that stuff," one Shauntie old timer, Florence Barnes, remembered.14 Children would go to school, on pic­nics, and enjoy the freedom afforded by life in an isolated environ­ment. Although Shauntie had surface water, water shortages plagued the two towns, and water often had to be shipped in from other loca­tions. Because so many of the buildings were frame construction, fire was another perpetual problem. In June 1875 much of Shauntie burned, causing $40,000 in damage. When the smelters were out of operation, many of the mine workers were unemployed. Reduction of ores produced in Beaver's mines was always a problem. Isaac Grundy's primitive lead furnace was succeeded by a series of smelters with charcoal kilns that worked well enough until the railroads made shipment of ores outside of the county more profitable. Shauntie had two smelters in 1873. The Riverside Smelter fed power off the Beaver River, about seven miles north of Milford. Up and running for only a few months, this smelter processed copper ores from the Beaver Lake and Rocky Mining districts. Arvin Stoddard leased property in Milford to be used by the Harrington and Hickory Consolidated Mining Company to build a $45,000 mill. This mill processed ore from the Hickory Mine in 1873 and 1874. By 1878 it was completely shut down. Two years later a larger smelter THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 111 This headframe stands over a mine shaft at Newhouse. (Utah State Historical Society) was built in Shauntie. The Troy Furnace was built six miles southwest of Milford to handle ore from the Mammouth Mine until 1880, when it burned down. Elephant Canyon was the dividing line between the South and North Star districts after November 1871. By 1875 mining in the Milford area had dwindled. 112 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The H o r n Silver Mine was first prospected by Samuel Hawkes and James Ryan, two men working the Grampian Mine, a source of galena ore. Finding a good source of anglesite ore, they developed the mine to the 500 foot level. Fearing the failure of the mine to produce, they sold the claim to A.G. Campbell, Mathew Cullen, Dennis Ryan, and A. Byram on 17 February 1876 for $25,000. The new mine revi­talized Milford and created a new town, Frisco, almost overnight. Besides selling the ore, these three erected a smelting works and developed t h e ore in t h e mine. Eventually they sold the mine to investors in the New York a n d Salt Lake Company for $5 million. This new company sank the mine to the 800 foot level, resulting in a good profit from production until 1884, when the mine caved in. William A. Hooper described the property in 1879 as follows: The quantity of ore extracted up to February 1, 1879, is given as 22,712 tons. During February about 90 tons daily were raised, making a total of 25,00 tons of ore. The extraction of this 90 tons was barely enough to keep the mine in good shape and prevent the breasts of ore from crowding too much upon the timbers. The pre­sent expense of mining is low. We have as the cost of taking out 90 tons daily: Labor $144.00 Timbering 90 tons $ 73.00 Superintendence $ 6.00 Supplies and expenses $ 50.00 Total $273.80 Cost per ton $ 3.05 The Grampian Mine was located on the hill beyond the Horn Silver Mine in the dolonite. Originally a vein of ocherous ore assaying about $50 silver a n d some gold was located near the surface and t r a i l e d down eighty feet varying from one to eight feet of ore. Although the total cuttings have amounted to 515 feet, less t h a n 200 tons have actually been shipped. Several large ledges of pyrite and copyrite ore were located in the n o r t h e r n part of the San Francisco District, resulting in a very high grade silver ore in claims called the "Comet," "Cactus," a n d the "Copper Chief." THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 113 . • • The mill at Newhouse. (Utah State Historical Society) The Cactus Mine, for one, was owned by the South Utah Mines and Smelter Company. Located in Copper Gulch about 2.5 miles northeast of Newhouse, the main body of ore is sited about 6,450 feet above sea level or 200 feet above Newhouse itself. First identified in 1870, the mine is one of the earliest in the district. Regardless, suc­cessive companies have failed to make the mine a success. A small smelting plant built in 1892 was also unsuccessful and produced little ore. The Williams Smelter, built after the discovery of the Horn Silver Mine, utilized a special construction to improve safety, be more envi­ronmentally responsible, and catch the fumes and particles before they escaped into the air up the chimney. Also at Frisco a variety of smelting techniques was experimented with, but scarcity of water, the difficulty of getting sufficient charcoal, and other complications lim­ited their success. The Moscow Mine was one of several mines in the South Star District. Owned by Matt Cumming, this mine was first started on 114 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY the west side of the mountain just west of Milford. Mine operators hauled ore from the Moscow Mine to Milford on the Frisco switch with teams and horses. The ore ran high in silver and lead. Water was brought to the mine with a pipe line laid by Harry and Gil Martin. A small gasoline engine pumped water up the hill some thousand feet. Most of the miners who worked at the Moscow Mine lived in Shauntie five miles away. As was true of most mines, miners with families chose to keep a house in town where their family would live and their children could go to school. Joe Smith remembered that the Harrington Hickory Mine had a number of places for miners to live-boarding houses and a few timber houses. After the mines were closed down, the houses were relocated closer to Milford. Milford In some ways the settlement of Milford was a spill over from Beaver. However, like Minersville, Milford was a town that originated because of the rich mineral resources of surrounding mountains and was truly a mining town with a difference. The townsite was located on the route used by miners to reach the San Francisco Mountains and at a crossing of the Beaver River where a stamp mill was located. Therefore the name Milford emerged by combining the two words "mill" and "ford." Milford was first settled by Arvin Stoddard and his family in 1880. Later that year Stoddard, who was himself a surveyor, surveyed the townsite.15 From the first Milford was not an agricul­tural community but a supply station, serving freighters and feeding off the mines, although crops were planted as early as 1859. Therefore trade boomed here, and by 1890 Milford had an impressive Main Street lined with saloons, mercantiles, hotels, and a variety of service businesses like blacksmith shops and livery stables. Alton Smith counted five saloons in Milford at the turn of the century-the Atkins Bar, Milford Saloon, Crescent Bar, Oxford Saloon, Long Tom Martin Saloon, and the East Side Saloon. Besides serving the miners liquor and a meal, gambling, dancing, and eventually vaudeville were added entertainments offered by the saloons.16 When Milford became the railroad terminus for the Southern Utah, it became a major loading place for Southern Utah cattle. THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 LL5 During the 1880s and 1890s, the area around Milford had excellent grazing conditions. Most settlements south of Utah County were anxious to be con­nected to outside markets by the railroad. Being chosen as a railroad terminus was a sure-fire promise of success. Beaver County's flour­ishing mining industry proved to be a sufficient draw to the Utah Southern. In January 1879 it announced that an extension line would be built to Frisco, the home of the Horn Silver Mine. Mine owners would pay a quarter of the construction costs. Frisco's citizens petitioned the county court for a local jail in the late 1870s. Selectman James Low met with several men from Frisco to determine what they could contribute to the construction. At the same time, the Union Pacific with its interests in the Utah Central railroad was constructing a line through Milford. By the fall of 1879, rail lines had been laid as far south as Deseret in Millard County. By the beginning of 1880, the road bed was graded within ten miles of Milford before the Utah Southern extension had been built through Frisco. Electric power went from Beaver to Milford to Frisco in 1908, a year when Frisco was the largest town in Beaver County.17 Rather than locate the railroad station in the original plat, swamp land to the east of the original survey was drained and a second series of streets was laid out on a diagonal to the original grid. Saturday, 15 May 1880, was an important day for Milford. When the first engine roared into town, it signaled future prosperity and business. Governor Eli Murray and other dignitaries traveled to Milford to mark the event, staying the night in the Stoddard Hotel. Soon new businesses, hotels, stores, feed yards, and other facilities were built. Consolidated Implement Company was one of the first new businesses to supply freighters and miners throughout southern Utah. As was true of other new enterprises, it was located along the west side of the tracks on the road to Beaver to the south. Visitors to Milford reacted in different ways to either the town's promise or stark reality. One predicted Milford would become a "sec­ond Cheyenne,"18 another characterized it as the "perfection of deso­lation." 19 Yet another described it as little more than "a frog pond surrounded by five saloons."20 Regardless, this town near the geo­graphical center of Beaver County fed off all the major economic 116 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY industries of the region-the freighting of agricultural products, the railroad center for the transportation of cattle and sheep to markets, and the site of a mining mill and smelter. The valley had already been identified by stock raisers from Beaver as fine grass land for grazing. Some estimates suggest that as many as 20,000 cattle ranged in the area between the 1870s and 1880s.21 Frequently settlers built their homesteads on land with read­ily available water rather than in town.22 In 1873 a Scotch-Canadian Company called the Harrington- Hickory Consolidated Mining Company erected the Milford Stamp Mill (also known as the A.G. Campbell Mill) for $45,000. The mill processed the ore of the Hickory Mine between 1873-74, producing between $9,000 to $12,000 in bar bullion. The company was in busi­ness for only five months. Besides mining, cattlemen worked out of Milford. During the early 1870s, three stock raisers from Pioche, Nevada, known as the "Dodd Brothers," settled at Pine Grove in southeast Pine Valley west of Milford. There they established a cattle ranch with 2,500 head of cattle. Over the years various owners ran cattle and sheep on the ranch, eventually shipping stock to market from the rail station located in Milford. When Milford became the county's main railroad terminal, it became critical to the stock raising industry. The owner of one of the largest cattle herds, B.F. Saunders of Salt Lake City, grazed his sheep and cattle on the Pike Springs Ranch located in southern Utah and northern Arizona. He shipped his stock out of Milford. The land around Milford was perfect for grazing cattle-native grasses, white sage, and other native plants grew abundantly. Both the Beaver and the Milford valley floors were covered with a blanket of meadow grass from Hay Springs to Black Rock. It was estimated that it could sustain at least 20,000 head of cattle and 5,000 horses. Because of the number of timber structures in town, fire was a perpetual problem. The number of stables, barns, and blacksmith shops spoke to Milford's importance as a freighting center as well. A number of hotels and boarding houses, saloons, and restaurants ser­viced the transient population feeding off the railroad. A few Chinese workers were employed by the Atkins Hotel, including a cook called THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 117 Two travelers pose for this picture with a railroad trestle in the background. (Utah State Historical Society) only "Monday."23 The Williams Hotel was built in 1881 by John D. Williams. A barber shop was located on Main Street in the McKeon Building on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Main Street. The bar­ber, Phil Arwin, had a big bath tub in a back room. On Saturdays miners lined up outside to get a shave for 25 cents, a "shingle" hair cut for 35 cents, and a bath with plenty of water and soap for another quarter.24 After the railroad came to Milford, interest in continuing the line farther south faded away. Milford, therefore, became even more sig­nificant as a freighting and trade center. Bullion from Nevada smelters, healthy mining in the Star and San Francisco districts, and new supply businesses that stocked implements, wagons, buggies, and other products serviced the freighting industry. Cattle and sheep shipped through Milford required stock yards and feed stores. Saloons, boarding houses, and restaurants provided respite for cowboys traveling through. By 1882 there were as many as 118 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY seven stables with feed yards, four saloons, five blacksmith shops, two groceries, a drug store, Chinese restaurant, meat market, and a grain-ery. Because of the lack of water, farming was less important to Milford's growth, but many farmed some acreage and, coupled with other businesses, were able to make a living. South of the Forgie Hotel a brothel operated during the peak years of the mining boom. A woman known as "Nigger Mag" ran a similar business down the wash from the mineral springs to the northeast of Milford. The area, later known as "Nigger Mag Wash," provided hot baths, massages, and a swimming pool at the springs. Frisco After the accidental discovery of silver and lead ores in Beaver County in 1875, Frisco was settled at the southern tip of the San Fransisco Mountains. Two prospectors, James Ryan and Samuel Hawkes, working a small claim nearby, passed by a limestone ledge on the way to their site from their camp. One day they chipped some of the limestone away and found silver-bearing galena. They sank a twenty-five foot shaft through what appeared to be solid ore. They sold the find the next year for $25,000, thinking they had made a good investment. The Horn Silver Mine, as the new owners called it, proved to be enormously rich and soon yielded silver valued at $100 per ton. In 1879 banker Jay Cooke and other Salt Lake money interests bought out the Horn Silver mine for $5 million. They induced the Utah Southern Railroad to build a line to Milford and then to Frisco to transport ore to distant markets. In 1879, the United States Annual Mining Review and Stock Ledger called the Horn Mine "unquestion­ably the richest silver mine in the world now being worked."25 Frisco quickly sprang up around this mine and miners, mer­chants, and interested bystanders came by the hundreds. Soon other mines were discovered-the Carbonate, Rattler, Golden Reef, and Grampion. Each mine had its own smelter, and five beehive shaped charcoal ovens were built to serve the smelters using local woods like cedar, dwarf pine, mountain mahogony and sagebrush. According to one historical account, the "story of the Horn Silver Mine, one of the great producers in Utah and American mining his- THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 119 tory, reads like pulp fiction: Two prospectors casually discover a rich ore body, a bankrupt financier promotes the venture, the boomtown of Frisco becomes one of the wildest mining camps in the West with a murder or two every evening, a tough lawman who shoots on sight begins to clean up the town, after producing millions the huge mine collapses, and Frisco becomes another ghost town."26 The Carbonate Mine, located 1.75 miles northwest of Frisco, is found at an elevation of 6,750 feet and consists of a group of eleven claims and fractions. The site was first discovered in 1878 and sold the next year for $10,000. The mine produced concentrates with an average assay of 43.63 percent of lead and 94.09 ounces of silver to the ton. As well, the tailings contained a significant amount of min­erals. Within years Frisco had twenty-three saloons, false fronts stores, boarding houses and restaurants, enough to service a population that reached as high as 6,500 between 1880-85. According to one histo­rian, "Frisco became as wild and tumultous a town as any in the Great Basin, . . . and the wildest camp in Utah. Twenty one saloons had so many killings the undertakers wagon made daily rounds."27 It was so wild that Marshal Pearson from Pioche, Nevada came to town to clean up the criminal element-promising to shoot on sight any­one breaking the law.28 Water, supplies, and food were shipped in from Wah Wah Springs to the west, from Black Rock and Salt Lake City. Houses, shops, schools, and churches attested to the presence of a substantial population. Articles in the local paper, The Frisco Times, speak to the growing diversification of the local population and the colorful nature of local politics. Fred Hewitt, a mining engineer traveled from California to Frisco, first by railroad and then by stage where he worked first for the Champian Silver Mining Company and later for the Horn Silver Mining Company. He wrote to his wife several letters which described the journey to Frisco, work inside a Frisco mine, life in the 19th century mining camps, and a strike staged by miners at the Horn Silver Mine when their wages were reduced. The first letter, dated 1 February 1880, describes the railroad trip to the end of construction in Juab County and the stage coach ride on to Frisco. 120 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The stage left at 1 P.M. I wrapped my feet up as well as I could and put the shall around my shoulders and after riding about half an hour found my feet so comfortably warm that I congratulated myself on the nice arrangements. Jerkey stopped, driver looks in and sees my fellow passenger on front seat. I was on the back. "You will have to take the back seat sir. I must put a bag of corn on the front." So my companion with some grumbly takes the back seat. Of course this somewhat disarranges our things. Then the driver gets in to handle the bag of corn and walks on our legs in so doing. The corn laid on the seat and the driver back in his place we start again, somewhat colder than before. We are evidently going to have a cold night. The breath freezes to our whiskers. Pretty soon the bag of corn comes off the seat on to our legs and it takes con­siderable exertion to get it back again. It keeps coming off until some time in the night the driver takes it away. Not very long after the advent of the corn, another stoppage, "gentlemen you will have to get out and help me over the railroad crossing. So the pins come out of my blanket the wraps are laid aside and out we get. The dri­vers tries to cross the track which is here in an unfinished. . . . Nothing particular happened only the usual stage bumping. First it bucks you up a foot or so, then a quick jerk sideways another from the other direction, then a twisting jerk that seems to go all around you, then a few minutes of ordinary jolting and then we are bucked up again and the side jerks and twists are repeated. We became colder and colder until it seemed as if I could not bear it much longer. The stage stops we think we will get out at station and warm, but no, no stoppage here only taking on another passenger. This at half past two in the morning. On we go again until about 4 o'clock we hear the drivers hallo to the next sta­tion. We are to have breakfast here but the people are not up, and so we stamp about in the snow for some time until the door is opened. The table is set, there is a bed in the room from which the man and his wife have just risen she is buttoning or hooking some­thing as we enter, a child is in the bed. A good wood fire is soon going in the stove but it takes us a long time to thaw out. After about an hour breakfast is ready such as it is. I could hardly eat any, but the warmth and the coffee was worth the 50 cents it cost. After that we did not get so cold and did not stop again until we arrived at Frisco about 9:30. THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 121 February 7, 1880 After reaching the [Belcher] mine somewhat behind time, as the mining time is half an hour ahead of town time, I found that I was expected. I was taken into a back room of the office. A flannel shirt was handed to me and a pair of flannel pants fastened with a string round the waist. The whole outfit like a Coney Island bathing suit. I was requested to strip, when I inquired how much I was told everything. After dressing as requested, they made a par­cel of my money and took care of it, they gave me socks and opened a long box filled with shoes from which I fitted myself. Then I went out to the shaft house the costume being very airy for winter, and was put in charge of the pump man. Visitors to mines do not generally go down the pump shaft but go in the large cage down the regular hoisting compartment. My object being more to examine the engineering arrangements I went down the pump shaft. There was a little cage if it may be so called, a little shelf or bracket guided only on the back on which we stood. It was about 16" wide one way, just large enough for the two of us to stand on with feet close together and standing up straight. . . . The word was given and we went 900 ft on that, slowly and stopping at different stations to examine pumps, balance bobs etc. At the 900 ft station we got off and walked down an incline of 31 degrees to the 1600 ft station. Walking down stairs, it was all steps for 700 ft is pretty fatiguing work. It was very warm down this incline, the perspira­tion pouring off of me. A regular Turkish bath arrangement. At this point we drank ice water and rested going to a point where cold air came through for this purpose.Then we took a large car and were lowered down to the 2400 ft station that being the lowest part of the pumps. The mine is 3000 ft deep but we did not go to the bottom. . . . The water that came up from the pumps was too hot to be able to bear the hand in, and in some of the drifts it felt like being in an oven. . . . February 11, 1880 About the mine is a collection of shanties mostly belonging to the Co. I think. One or two you could almost call houses. The Co's boarding house and the shanty over the mine shaft. . . . I have had a 9 x 12 shanty allotted to me. It is furnished with a bedstead of pine wood made by the carpenter, a very rough table and sundry boxes, one of which I use for a seat. Like all such shanties this one 122 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY is full of cracks. There is a fire place at one end made of rocks and mud and so far I have been supplied with fire wood. I had to buy blankets at the store-also bed tick which I filled with hay at Co's stables, also wash basin and tin cup. I moved over here Monday morning, and started a fire in the afternoon, and kept it up all evening . . . Last night I had to move my bed to get out of the snow. Mud and gravel also blows in. July 20, 1880 The new superintendent of H.S. Mg. Co. A Mr. Hill made an attempt to cut down the miners wages, resulting in a strike yester­day. The men last evening went in force and compelled them to stop the smelters and declared that no other work should go on and Mr. Hill backed down and sent word for them to go to work at the old wages. The miners are getting slightly higher wages than in some other places $3.50 per day, but it ruins the health of every man that works in this mine, and I think that a man that once gets "leaded" will never be the same again.29 Also i m p o r t a n t to t h e m i n i n g economy in t h e area, thirty-six beehive charcoal kilns supplied the furnaces of the San Francisco dis­trict with fuel. Eight groups, each under separate management, were found within six to eighteen miles of Frisco. The kilns were con­structed of granite float extracted nearby and lime mortar. Varying in size from sixteen to twenty-six feet in diameter, they generally were as high as t h e y were wide a n d had walls from twelve to fourteen inches t h i c k at t h e t o p . Two openings, each closed by sheet iron doors, provided access to the kilns. One at ground level was four by six feet, and the side door located two-thirds of the way to the apex was three by four feet. A series of vent holes in rows eighteen inches apart, three by four inches in diameter, was found near the ground. Wood b u r n e d in the kilns was usually pinon pine cut for $1.25 the cord, transported to the site o n wagons or sledges for between $1.50 to $2.50 per cord. Operators fired the kilns from the center at the b o t t om and drew the fire to the top through a small space above the door. Further reg­ulation of the fire was accomplished through the vent holes. The fire was maintained for three to seven days, then cooled for three to six THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 123 days. The charcoal produced through this method was shipped to the smelters in racks at a cost of from 3 cents to 5.5 cents per bushel.30 W.S. Godbe managed the Frisco Smelting Company and its five distinctive beehive charcoal kilns, w i t h Benjamin Y. H a m p t o n as superintendent and M. Atkins as agent.31 In 1879 the company reor­ganized as the Frisco Mining and Smelting Company with a capital stock of $2,000,000 in 80,000 shares, property including the smelting plant at Frisco, t h e Carbonate mines, the Cave Mine in the Bradshaw District, and an iron flux mine in the Rocky District.32 The United States Tenth Census described the smelter in 1880 as a "complete one" which consisted of a Blake rock-breaker, a N u m b e r 5 Baker blower, two horizontal boilers, one 40-horsepower horizontal engine, numerous pumps, a shaft furnace and flue-dust chamber, a reverber-taory flue-dust slagging furnace, and five charcoal kilns on the site.33 Originally, the fuel for the smelting process was produced in pits. But in Frisco cone shaped ovens produced a higher grade of charcoal. Each kiln cost between $500 to $1,000 to build, according to one author.34 First designed by Michigan engineer, J.C. Cameron in 1868, an article in the Utah Mining Gazette described his plan as conform­ing to t h e shape of a " p a r a b o l i c dome, w i t h a base of twenty to twenty-four feet in diameter and altitude of nineteen to twenty-two feet," for a cost of about $700.35 The 1880 United States Census Mining C o m p e n d i um detailed the kilns of the Frisco Mining and Smelting Company: The kilns are made of granite float found in the neighborhood and a lime mortar. They are of various sizes, from 16 to 26 feet in diameter. It is the rule in this section to make the height of the kiln equal to the diameter. The thickness varies from 18 to 30 inches at the base and from 12 to 18 inches at the summit. There are two openings, closed by sheet iron doors, one at the ground level, 4 by 6 feet, and the other in the side two-thirds of the distance to the apex, 3 by 4 feet. There are also three rows of vent holes, 3 by 4 inches, near the ground. The lower row is at the surface of the ground. The rows above are 18 inches apart, having vent holes 3 feet apart in each row. The kilns cost from $500 to $1,000 each, and last a very long time if used regularly. The 16-foot kiln holds about 15 cords of wood and the 26-foot kiln 45 cords. Sometimes 124 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY the wood is piled radially, but generally very closely in cord-wood fashion. The wood is all pinon pine, and is cut at all seasons by Mormons at $1.25 per cord. It is brought from 1 to 4 miles by sledges or wagons to kilns for from $1.50 to $2.50 per cord. The kilns are fired in the center at the bottom (though sometimes at the top), and the fire is drawn to the top by leaving a small unsealed space around the upper door. This is then closed entirely, and the fire is regulated by the vent holes. The duration of burn­ing is from three to seven days, and of cooling from three to six days. Charring, which includes packing the wood in the kiln and drawing the coal, is usually done by contract, and costs from 2 3/4 to 3 1/2 cents per bushel. About 50 bushels are produced per cord charred. The coal is bought by weight, 17 pounds making a bushel. It is shipped to the smelters in racks, at a cost of from 3 to 5 1/2 cents per bushel for hauling, depending on the distance. The price received is 18 cents per bushel. Kiln hands were paid from $2 to $2.75. The labor required averages one man per kiln per twenty-four hours.36 Census data give some i n d i c a t i o n of h ow many men were employed in charcoal production. Again the Tenth Census suggests that there were twenty-one coal b u r n e r s , seven stonemasons, one brickmason, two wood contractors, and five wood choppers. Fourteen of t h em were single men who lived in boarding houses. Production was most active during the period between 1879 and 1884. After the railroad came through the county, coke replaced char­coal as a cheaper and more efficient fuel. The Frisco Mining and Smelting Company no longer appeared in the Utah Gazetteer and in 1900 the Horn Silver Mine was the only producer in the area. In 1885 the H o r n Silver Mine caved in. Frisco and Milford both suffered dramatically because of it-many miners left town alto­gether, the mills and charcoal kilns laid dormant. After only ten years, the mines had produced $54 million, and although a new shaft was drilled farther down to 900 feet, only a few of their families stayed on. Ten years later vacant buildings stood as a silent reminder of what had been lost. The Horn Silver Mine was important to the economy of Beaver County. When a fire destroyed most of the mine works on 5 April THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 125 Mine buildings at Newhouse. (Utah State Historical Society) 1894, John Franklin Tolton wrote in his diary, "This is a hard blow to Southern Utah and Beaver County in particular, and will be keenly felt as it was a means of circulating a great deal of money in this and other communities."37 Newhouse A second silver mining town settled in the 1870s centered on the interests of the Cactus mine. For the next thirty years, attempts were made by a series of investors to operate the mine, but lack of capital always plagued these efforts. In 1900 Samuel Newhouse, already suc­cessful in mining in Bingham Canyon, purchased the property. Originally called "Tent Town," because everyone lived in either tents or in covered wagons, Newhouse soon had permanent buildings and took on the look of a company town. Stone, brick, stucco structures, a restaurant, library, livery stable, hospital, several stores, and even a company owned and operated hotel rounded out the town. An opera house, dance hall, and the "Cactus Club" provided locals with enter­tainment opportunities. The Utah Southern Extension Railroad depot welcomed newcomers and processed imports and exports. 126 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY In an article published in The Salt Lake Mining Review, Leroy A. Palmer gave a brief description of Newhouse. "It contains forty-two attractive three and four-room cottages with cement finish, thirty two-room houses, two boarding houses, opera house, store and club house." Palmer went on to describe the Cactus Club which any employee could join for an initiation fee of 50 cents and monthly dues of 25 cents. "The club house has a reading room, card room, bil­liard room and bar. The reading room is supplied with the leading general and technical magazines and dailies from the principal cities of the country. Out of its profits the club has built the opera house and one of the boarding houses. It gives a free dance every week, a Christmas entertainment for the children, and in many other ways makes life more attractive in this out-of-the-way spot."38 Newhouse's boom period lasted only five years before the Cactus Mine gave out after producing $3.5 million. As miners left town and businesses relocated, a number of buildings were simply moved to Milford. The Newhouse Mine, located in the Preuss District, yielded between 1905 and 1912, 25,341,183 pounds of copper, 9,959 ounces of gold, and 224,911 ounces of silver.39 Star District Yet another mining district, the Star District, was twelve miles square and positioned a few miles southwest of Milford. Here mines are at an altitude between 5,000 and 6,000 feet above sea level in rises above the Beaver River Bottoms. Shauntie, Shenandoah City, Elephant City, and South Camp were temporary mining camps located in the area. Rather than organized efforts by large mining companies, most of the prospecting here was done by individual miners who met with minor success. Nevertheless, at one time Shauntie had forty houses, and in 1873 a two-stack smelter was built. Most of the structures burned down at different times. In the Beaver Lake Mountains, the Beaver Lake District's most productive mine was owned by the Majestic Mining Company located in the southern part of the mountains at an elevation of 6,150 feet. First organized as early as August 1871, the mine was little THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 127 noticed at a time when silver, gold, and lead were bigger draws. Copper was the most important mineral located in these mountains. Sulphurdale Yet another type of mining town was Sulphurdale, concentrating on the extraction of a single mineral-sulphur. U.S. Deputy Surveyor Charles Dickart first located a large ore body in 1870. Nevertheless, it was not until 1883 when a thermal processing plant was built to extract sulphur that a company town arose at the site. Continuous production of 1,000 tons of sulphur per year began in 1890 and con­tinued for the next fifteen years by open pit stripping. With the help of a team of horses and scrapers, the miners pared away the overbur­den and ore which was less than 15 percent sulphur. Only the highest grades were worked. The town included between twenty-five and thirty homes, a schoolhouse, company store, and offices and a large stone processing plant. All miners, teamsters, and company workers lived in town with their families. Twice a week freighters hauled between twenty and twenty-four tons of sulphur the thirty miles in five-wagon trains to the Union Pacific loading docks at Black Rock to the northwest. For a period after 1918, the town was known locally as Morrissey for the mine organizer.40 Plans to extend the Utah Southern Railroad farther south began again in the spring of 1890. Because of that, Milford filled up again with transient workers, this time men prepared to work on grading the road bed and laying railroad ties. Large tents served as temporary quarters for those unable to find lodging at local hotels or boarding houses. This time organized under the name the "Utah and Pacific Railroad Company," the railroad stimulated yet another economic boom. Milford's population rose from 150 people in 1890 to 279 in 1900. Protestant Churches As was true throughout the state, religious denominations other than Mormonism established churches in Beaver County. In addition to religious services, they often held school classes to provide an alter­nate to the LDS dominated school systems. In 1873, for instance, Reverend Clark Smith helped establish the Methodist Episcopal 128 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY church and school in Beaver City. The school was an act of faith, and, as Reverend Smith recalled, he waited anxiously for any students to arrive. "On the first day of September 1873 I opened day school Towards noon of the first day Mrs. E.W. Tompson brought three of her children and wished them entered as pupils. These three consti­tuted the school for several days when Mr. C.C. Woodhouse brought a few more. At the end of the first month there were eight names on the roll."41 Reverend Smith was followed by Reverends George Janes in 1875 and Reverend Erastus Smith in 1879. Services were originally held in a small lumber building across the street to the east of the county court house. Originally, the building had been used for worship ser­vices by the Josephite church. The next year, the group purchased property north of the current location of the Public Library. The school continued until 1891. The Methodist Episcopal church ran a school in the front part of their church and organized a church choir with Alice Woodhouse-Lindsay as their first organist. Classes were taught in the school until 1891 with a series of principals: Reverends Brock, Coplin, J.B. Gehr, D.J. Frew, J.D. Gillian, E.C. Graff and M.O. Billings. When public school began at the turn of the century, the school was only open part of the time. Although the church property was sold, Reverend Karl L. Anderson served in Beaver between 1908 and 1912 and preached in the Richard Smith home which had been bought by the church. This two-story black stone house was located across the street from the Mormon East Ward Building. Politics The decade after the Utah War was one of increased tension in which the Mormon church continued to dominate politics, especially at the local level, through the People's Party. Church leaders in Beaver County dominated all local elections and controlled the nominating and electoral procedures during these years. Indeed, most candidates were part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy as well as community lead­ers. When selecting nominees for public office, the Mormon settlers of Beaver County voted for those they knew as church leaders. This changed somewhat with the increased number of non-Mormons who came to the county with the mining industry and with the THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 129^ building of the railroad. When in 1880 t h e Liberal Party was orga­nized by n o n - M o r m o n s to challenge the People's Party, meetings were held in Frisco and Minersville. The Liberal Party experienced surges in popularity before state­hood. In 1880 the party decided to adopt a new political strategy- rather than insulting their opponents they would address issues. The Deseret News could not resist commenting. One of the most striking characteristics of the so-called "Liberals" of this Territory, apart from their extreme illiberality, is their remarkable inconsistency. In illustration of this we quote two or three paragraphs from the resolutions of the Beaver County "Liberal" Convention. They occur apart, but we place them together to show how much harmony there is between them: "Whereas the party which has held power in this Territory since its first settlement have denied all exercise of political rights to American citizens who do not worship God according to their peculiar forms and mode of religious faith, . . . Be it resolved, that this convention of the Liberals of Beaver County believe that the cause of progress and enlightenment will be best subserved, and the moral and material interests of the community best promoted, by our candidates for county and precinct office being exclusively chosen from that class of the community who have no connection with the dominant Church, . . . Resolved, that we wage war upon no class of the community, and disavow that we have any wrongs to avenge; but insist upon the right of the majority to choose and elect men to office whom they regard most fit for public position.42 The Southern Utonian was unabashedly supportive of the People's Party and in fact, published a warning in February 1890 that there were "Liberal hosts" about, trying to gain support, supposedly finding temporary work so they could vote in local elections.43 In the 1870s the county divided into election precincts which included: Beaver (with 301 votes); Minersville (99), Grampion (91), Milford (50), Adamsville (46), Greenville (41), and Star (35). Remembering that women could not vote gives a picture of the rela­tive n u m b e r of registered voting members of the county.44 The scarcity of n o n - M o r m o n candidates caused many of the non- Mormon population to cry for change: 130 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The non-Mormon population of Beaver County pays no small or mean portion of the taxes, yet no Gentile has ever been elected to a county office. We ought to have had the one Selectman, who is to be elected next Monday, but no effort has been made to elect him. As individuals, the Times has nothing to say against the present officers of Beaver County. We believe them to be honorable, upright gentlemen, who administered the affairs of the county, honestly, fairly, and impartially, yet we do most emphatically object to their being elected by an ecclesiastical instead of a politi­cal party. We most decidedly object to any church exerting such control over politics, believing as we do, that it is contrary to the spirit and institutions of our Republic.45 Both parties organized local members with countywide conven­tions advertised and reported on in the newspapers. Stake president lohn R. Murdock discussed People's Party politics in stake conference in July 1889, reminding the M o r m o n congregation to attend their conventions to i n s u r e t h a t American principles would prevail.46 People's Party meetings were held at the LDS meetinghouse in Beaver to elect delegates to attend district and county conventions.47 Frequently political races became quite heated in Beaver County. Because of the large non-Mormon populations in the mining towns, t h e Liberty Party (composed p r i m a r i l y of n o n - m e m b e r s of the Mormon church) made a significant effort to put good strong can­didates in local races. The 1880 election typified the disputes over numbers of registered voters, fair election procedures, and political issues. Throughout the county, over 1,100 votes were cast. But of that, apparently, 145 votes were cast by non-registered voters in Frisco. After a subsequent review, t h e e n t i r e vote from Frisco, Milford, Minersville, a n d Adamsville was cast out. The key political issues were the location of the telegraph office, land use policy, and which p a r t y should be in power.48 That same year the Liberal Party nomi­n a t e d Allen G. Campbell to r u n for delegate to Congress against i n c u m b e n t George Q. C a n n o n . Campbell had made millions in Beaver C o u n t y t h r o u g h investments in the H o r n Silver Mine. Although he lived p a r t of t h e year in Salt Lake City, he spent the majority of his time in Beaver County. Periodically, Campbell had THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 131_ run for selectmen of Milford.49 Cannon was running for his fifth term and was a LDS apostle.50 The election was covered by papers as far away as New York City. Claims of improprieties were thrown at b o t h sides. "The clamors of indignation and murmurs of revenge began when they arrived at the brand new town of Milford. Here ambition had o'er leaped itself and the 'Liberals,' probably in the majority even in a fair election, resorted to 'stuffin', by means of the swearing in process."51 The Deseret News (the Mormon newspaper) maintained that the People's Party had one election judge for every two of the Liberal Party, h i n t i n g again at problems with election procedures. While there was generally u n i t y w i t h i n the People's Party in Beaver, it was not always t h e case outside the county. When the Beaver and Iron C o u n t y central committees could not agree o n a candidate for the territorial legislature, representatives of the People's Party from outside the area used b o t h committees to compromise in selecting Silas S. Smith of Paragonah as t h e representative from Beaver and Iron counties.52 Effective p a r t y management and campaigning did not have nearly the impact of t h e Edmunds Act on causing change in local politics. The Edmunds Act of 1882 disenfranchised anyone who was practicing plural marriage. The Frisco Times jubilantly saluted this change in affairs. "Gentiles are rejoicing with The Tribune over the fact that God and the Governor will r u n Zion for awhile. They can beat the old Mormon revelators out of their boots."53 The federal gov­ernment sent out non-resident officials to preside over the territory during this period. Eventually, on 10 lune 1891 the People's Party met to officially disband. Members were encouraged to join either of the two main national political parties. John Franklin Tolton described the end of the People's Party and the creation of the Democratic Party in several 1891 diary entries. May 20th/91 Much agitation is being waged by politicians to dis­band the old Liberal and People's parties and adopt one or the other of the two national parties. This move seems to be growing here and in other counties north. This together with the diphther­ial scare has created a great agitation. 132 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY lune 5th Attended a rousing meeting at Fields Hall. The object of said meeting being to organize a Democratic Club. Resolutions were adopted last Tuesday evening by the County Central Committee of the People's Party, recommending the disbanding of said party which was the initiative for the present step. June 18th In the first Democratic primary held under the new order of things, that is, division on the National Party lines, I was tonight nominated for the position of School Trustee for Beaver School District. From present indications it would seem that the people who are afflicted with political itch in any manner are almost unanimously Democrats. No move has yet been made by the Republicans to organize, and encouraging and flattering reports come from the lower settlements that the masses of people are there Democratic as well as in Beaver.54 At t h e Beaver Stake Conference a t t e n d e d by Apostle Amasa M. Lyman on 20 June 1891, h e was surprised at the " . . . political craze as had apparently struck us," a n d inquired why so many Beaver County residents had become Democrats. Lyman went on to explain that LDS church " . . . authorities desired us to divide about equally on National Party lines in order that we could receive favors from which ever party was in power. Said that those who had not already declared themselves Democrats and could conscientiously do so, should ally themselves with the Republicans." Apostle George Q. Cannon, who was also in attendance at the conference, was somewhat disturbed by Lyman's remarks a n d sought to r e s t r a i n his c o m p a n i o n with the admonition, "Bro. Lyman, don't go too far."55 The excitement continued right u p until the election on 2 August 1891. Tolton recorded: Aug. 2nd The election tomorrow promises to be quite lively as there are several tickets in the field. The Republicans are not well organized, and the name of P.T. Farnsworth having been placed upon their ticket without the proper authority, will weaken their cause. Aug. 4th Reports from various precincts show an overwhelming Democratic majority. The entire county ticket is conceded by large THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 133_ majorities. Returns also show that the Liberals have carried Salt Lake City which has caused considerable excitement here.56 In 1898 John R. Murdock was elected to the Utah House of Representatives as a Republican, even though, according to his biog­rapher, "the county had always been Democratic."57 Within only a couple of decades, however, the county became overwhelmingly Republican.58 Beaver County participated in statewide party conven­tions, sending seven delegates to the Republican conventions and eleven to the Democratic statewide convention.59 During the last half of the nineteenth century, the most persis­tent political issue was that of statehood. During these decades Utah territory went through six aborted efforts at statehood. Non- Mormons resisted the effort, believing that once the territory became a state, government would fall back into the hands of the church. Numerous petitions circulated in Beaver County during these decades against statehood, signed primarily by the inhabitants of the mining towns.60 One message sent from the San Francisco Mining District, 28 June 1876, revealed the lines that had been drawn on the issue. "Whether James G. Blaine is the nominee or not, he has many warm friends in this district who wish him success. I can safely say that about two thirds of the miners of Beaver County are Blaine men, for they consider him a staunch friend to the Gentile cause and true to the Union."61 It is interesting that the political battles that waged in Beaver County were best reported in Salt Lake City newspapers. The Deseret News bias was toward the People's Party, or the Mormon church viewpoint, and the Salt Lake Daily Tribune leaned toward the Liberal Party, or the non-Mormon political interests. Interestingly, Beaver County was one of the strongest centers of the Liberal Party, particularly Milford and the mining towns. The John D. Lee Trial In November 1874 federal marshals under the direction of William Stokes left Beaver and crossed the mountains to Panguitch to arrest John D. Lee for his involvement in the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre. In her biography of John D. Lee, historian Juanita Brooks describes the actions of Stokes and his men: 134 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY They camped for the night out of town, and early in the morning of November 7, 1874, dashed into the village, galloping at full speed up through the main street. At once people hurried out to discover the cause of the excitement, and when the posse turned and stopped in the center of town, they were immediately surrounded by curious questioners. . . . The crowd became so large that the officer began to fear for the safety of his men, so he resorted to the strategy of asking each citizen his name, writing it down, and ordering the man to assist in finding and arresting John D. Lee. Each man was ordered to go home, get his gun, and return in five minutes. This had the desired effect, for the men dispersed and not one came back to carry out the order.62 Stokes found out where Caroline, one of John D. Lee's wives, lived, and with a stroke of luck was able to locate Lee who was in hid­ing behind a pig pen. Threatened with being shot if he did not sur­render, Lee gave himself up. Brooks continued her description of the dramatic event: Together they walked to the house. There some of the women and children were crying with fear, others talking at once with excitement. Lee quieted them, telling them it was time that he was brought to a fair trial. It would be much better to face up to it and be a free man again. By this time the neighbors had gathered around until half the village was in the yard. Lee's sons took him aside and told him that if he didn't want to go to Beaver to say so and they would arrange it so that he wouldn't have to. But there were six well-armed men in the posse, and any attempt to break would mean death to too many people. When Stokes asked where they could get breakfast in the village, Lee apologized for his lack of hospitality and ordered his wives to feed the men. He also furnished the team and wagon to take them back to Beaver, with his son-in-law, Henry Darrow, to drive it.63 The t r i p to Beaver t o o k two days and when the p a r t y arrived about noon of the second day, "The whole town was thunderstruck that they had been able to take Lee alive."64 Lee was incarcerated at Fort Cameron from 10 November 1874 until 23 July 1875. He was a THE WORLD OUTSIDE COMES TO BEAVER 1870-1900 135_ model prisoner, giving his guards no trouble and making friends with soldiers and officers and being permitted to spend some time out of doors each day. If Lee caused no trouble, the same could not be said of his wife Emma. According to one account, after she visited him at Fort Cameron, one of the soldiers asked, "Who is that handsome woman?" A companion answered "Oh, that is one of John D. Lee's whores." Emma did not hesitate to defend her honor. "In a flash he was struck across the face with the buggy whip, as Emma turned fiercely upon him. Surprised, he ducked to miss the next blow, and then turned and ran outside before the third."65 Lee's first arraignment was on 6 April 1875. Because of difficul­ties securing evidence, the trial did not begin until 12 July 1875. The first trial was held in a saloon located at 98 North Main-the current location of Lee's Clothing Store. The second trial was held in the upper room of the Beaver Co-op, the scene of community-wide dances, celebrations, and school graduations. Judge Boreman presided. On 21 July Lee pled not guilty and a jury was empaneled to hear evidence presented by both sides. The jury was made up of eight Mormons-who voted for acquittal-and four non-Mormons- who voted for a conviction. At a second trial an all-Mormon jury found Lee guilty on 20 September 1876. He was sentenced to be executed on 26 January 1877 by firing squad. Lee had been writing his autobiography while in prison. Waiting for an appeal to the Supreme Court, which was denied, he wrote what was in his heart, still believing God and his church could save him. He wrote: Camp Cameron 13 March 1877 Morning clear, still and pleasant. The guard, George Tracy, informs me that Col. Nelson and ludge Howard have gone. Since my confinement here, I have reflected much over my sentence, and as the time of my execution is drawing near, I feel composed and as calm as the summer morning. I hope to meet my fate with manly courage. I declare my innocence. I have done nothing designedly wrong in that unfortunate and lamentable affair with which I have been implicated. I used my utmost endeavors to save them from their sad fate. I freely would have given worlds, were 136 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY they at my command, to have averted the evil. I wept and mourned over them before and after, but words will not help them, now it is done. Death to me has no terror. It is but a struggle, and all is over. I much regret to part with my loved ones here, espe­cially under that odium of disgrace that will follow my name. That I cannot help . . . I have been treacherously betrayed and sacrificed in the most cowardly manner by those who should have been my friends, and whose will I have diligently striven to make my plea­sure for the last thirty years at least. In return for my faithfulness and fidelity to him and his cause, he has sacrificed me in a most shameful and cruel way. I leave them in the hands of the Lord to deal with them according to the merits of their crimes, in the final restitution of all things.66 Before he was shot, he sat o n the edge of his coffin, posing for pic­tures for each of his wives. He stood and spoke in a clear, strong voice of his lack of fear of death and faith that those who had wronged him would eventually pay for their dishonesty. He said, "Center my heart, boys. Don't mangle my body!" When the shots were fired, he fell back quietly and was brought to his family in Panguitch, Utah, for burial. His grave was marked with a simple marker which said, "Know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free."67 Anti-Polygamy Crusade The federal government was particularly forceful in its efforts in the anti-polygamy crusade of the 1870s-80s. Partly because of Beaver County's n o n - M o r m o n population, and its location on the trans­p o r t a t i o n route, Beaver City was chosen as the site for the Second Judicial Court for Utah Territory. Beaver, Iron, Washington, Kane, Garfield, and Piute counties were all included in the Second District between 1870 and 1896. In some ways local businesses benefitted from the n u m b e r of people who came i n t o town to a t t e n d court cases, b u t the prosecution of violators of anti-polygamy laws in the Second Judicial Court brought additional responsibilities to local M o r m o n leaders. J. M. Tanner, in his b i o g r a p h y of John Riggs Murdock, reveals: Men and their wives were brought to Beaver, where many of them were strangers. These had no opportunities to provide themselves