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In this Wyoming Centennial year we compiled this history with the help of shared journals and remembrances of the people who are in it. In the true sense of the word, it is not a documented history but only a compilation of memories.

Sometimes the weather and terrain are hostile to the efforts of humans but everyone who came here left his mark, yet the mountains, sagebrush, plains, forests, creeks and rivers change only as they will. People learned to live with nature. Or they moved.

Cedar Mountain still stands, scarred in a place or two by roads that it tries to obliterate with every rainstorm, essentially the same.

Phil Pico continues to hold its majestic head over the valley be1ow.

The creeks change their minds at will and steadfastly refuse, despite man's valiant efforts, to run uphill.

Our oiled roads now take the place of dusty trails and allow the wandering people to move through the valley with a minimum of discomfort. The main road which at one time was the only way to go can be seen in spots still where Henry’s Fork meandered from one side of its bed to the other.

Barbed wire fences now enclose once open range and are used to separate ranches and the cattle on them. This area is still an agricultural area with cattle and sheep grazing side by side. May it always remain the peaceful valley it was when Phil Mass, the first settler, came here.

We have borrowed material from Flaming Gorge Country, Progressive Men of Wyoming, Don Baxter's Thesis on schools, Where the Old West Stayed Young, Bridger Country and Mont A. and Arch Pulham's compilation called The Wyoming Woodticks.

We are truly grateful to everyone who contributed in any way to this journal.

Norma Gamble

Francie Anderson

PHIL MASS

We really don't know too much about Philip Mass, the first settler in the Henry's Fork Valley. Gleanings from books like Progressive Men of Wyoming. Flaming Gorge Country and Bridqer Country have yielded the following information.

Philip Mass was born in Chihuahua, Mexico about 1839. He went to Fort Bridger with the army as a scout. He aided in the removal of the army stock to Henry's Fork and apparently fell in love with this beautiful valley. In 1859 he made his headquarters on Henry's Fork at Montoya Meadows about two miles north of the present McKinnon, Wyoming, and entered into the stock business. This was all open range at that time and there were few if any fences along the whole length of it. He made his start by trading cattle with the emigrant trains.

In 1860 for three months in the summer he was a rider for the Pony Express traveling 100 miles in ten hours time. He was a master of horseflesh and loved a good horse race. His racehorse "Sorrel Johnny" was known for miles around. There must have been a racetrack on his place for my mother-in-law, Roena Anderson, told of a Fourth of July celebration when she first came out here at the place that had belonged to Mr. Mass. She told of the people coming in buggies and wagons, racing the horses and of some of the horses going home without their passengers. People caught rides home with neighbors, retrieved their recalcitrant teams and went back the next morning to get their buggies.

Phil Mass and Irene Beauveaux, a Shoshoni girl, were married in 1862. They raised nine children: Marguerite (Mrs. Robert Fosdick), Rosalie (Mrs. A.H. Harvey), James (shot and killed at 23), Lucy (Mrs. F.A. Peterson), Emma (Mrs. W.A. Perry), John, Edward (of the Big Horn Basin), Philip, and Jessie. They developed a beautiful home on Henry's Fork where they were held in the highest esteem. All of their children received excellent educations at the parental home as their father employed the best of tutors and instructors. William Pearson was the first of them. This caused a neighbor, William Sommers, to say, "If Phil Mass did not spend so much to keep teachers to educate his children and keep them out of trouble he'd be better off than old Lige Driskell."

When Phil got into trouble with the law from Evanston at one time he was asked his nationality. When he said, "Mexican", he was asked when he was naturalized. "Never. I was living on Henry's Fork when it was Mexico so the U. S. received us along that river with the Mexican Cession."

Phil Pico was the name Phil Mass gave to the mountain south of McKinnon where his stock grazed in the winter. Phil Mass Mountain, a large flat-topped butte to the north was his summer range. Phil Mass Mountain is now known as Cedar Mountain.

Both Phil and Irene Mass are buried in the Burntfork Cemetery.

WILLIAM PEARSON

William Pearson was born in England in 1839. At this age of seven, he came to the United States with his mother’s brother, Edmund Taylor.

He came to Wyoming in the 1860's as a tutor for Phil Mass in Burntfork. He taught their nine children, four boys and five girls, for several years. One year he taught the children from the Almanac. He taught them the basic subjects and all of the girls ended up writing just like he did. He taught the Mass children until about 1884 when he taught at the first school in Burntfork.

In 1884 he married Mary Lucinda Thomas in Evanston, Wyoming. Family members say that she came to Wyoming from Indiana as a "mail-order bride". She was born to John Albert Thomas and wife in 1859 and was educated in the Muncie, Indiana area. She taught school around the Marion or South Bend area before coming west. When she came to Wyoming she had with her only a suitcase and a sewing machine. She reportedly taught Mrs. Mass and the girls how to sew. They all became excellent seamstresses.

To this marriage were born five children. They also adopted a boy so the number of children raised was six. They are: Voorhees Pearson, 1885; Adaline Pearson Eames, 1887; Dora Pearson Pallesen, 1889; Bertha Pearson Beckstead, 1896; Winnie Pearson Offield, 1899; and Carey Pearson, 1900.

Besides teaching school, William was the Justice of the Peace for quite some time in the Burntfork area. While serving in this capacity he married at least two of his children, Vorhees to Lillian Stoll of Burntfork and Dora to NeiIs Pallesen, who also was a teacher in the area. The marriages cost $2.50 at that time. Winnie, in an interview in 1983, could remember having court in their home. She also remembered Pete Wall as a lawyer at this time.

The Pearson family lived on what we now call the White Place, which Doug Jarvie now owns, on Henry’s Fork just west of the Anderson ranch. Winnie remembered having the barn, a corral for the cows, a corral for the hay, and two stables, besides the house. She remembered how the creek flooded and how they lost a saddle and found it further down the creek sometime later.

When Phil Mass died in the fall of 1914, Winnie said she remembers her father saying, "I wonder who the next one will be?" It was he. She remembered, "Vorhees and Papa went to Linwood to see Dr. Tinker. Papa was out of his head for about a day. On Christmas day he said he wanted to fix up a will, so he got Clark Logan and three or four others and drew up the will. Then he went back and his mind wasn’t clear any more." William died on January 16, 1915.

Mary Lucinda worked in Linwood at the boarding house that Keith Smith owned. He paid her 25-35 cents a meal for his hired men. She also fixed supper for the dances they held there. She died at the age of 75 on May 31, 1934, in Green River, Wyoming.

GEORGE "DUTCHY" STOLL

George Stoll was born In Germany in 1836, a son of John and Elizabeth Lohr Stoll. His mother died when he was but eight years old and George very soon thereafter crossed the Atlantic with his uncle, George Lohr, with whom he made his home for about four years in New York City. When he was about fourteen years old the resolute and adventurous spirit of the lad induced him to take the voyage to California sailing with Captain Madigan on the good ship John Baring, and arriving at San Francisco In 1851 after a voyage of nine months. He at once went to the mines where he successfully labored for fully eleven years. In 1862 he went to the Nevada mines where he stayed until he enlisted in the First Nevada Cavalry In General Connor's command. He was in service at Ft. Churchill, Salt Lake City and Ft. Douglas during the time of the military operations brought on by the actions of the Mormons. In the spring of 1864 the troops came north, crossing the mountains near Burntfork and taking up their quarters at Ft. Bridger, where they acted as escorts and guards for the U. S. mail carriers until 1866, when they returned to Ft. Douglas and were mustered out. Mr. Stoll then engaged in the brewing business at Bridger, conducting this until he took up his place on Burntfork.

He married Mary Ann Smith, daughter of William and Mary Grimshaw Smith, in Salt Lake City in 1866. While this couple lived near Ft. Bridger their three oldest children were born in the same house in three different states. George Jr. was born Apr. 20, 1867 when Ft. Bridger was in Utah territory. William was born April 13, 1868, after that land east of the Wasatch Range was surveyed into Dakota Territory. Lizzie Stoll was born in 1871 in the same house but in the territory of Wyoming, this territory having been established July 25, 1868.

When the family moved to Burntfork, family members say that they lived in a dugout near the creek with four small children the first winter. A home was built and both of these intrepid people set to work providing a decent living and civilized society for their children. Philip Mass was the only resident here at the time. Schools were of prime importance to these early settlers. (More on these schools can be found elsewhere in this collection.)

By 1879 more people had moved in and the I.O.O.F lodge at Bridger was transferred to Burntfork. Mr. Stoll was an active participant in these meetings and was instrumental in getting the new ("Old Hall") built in 1887 after their meetinghouse burned. Some names listed as members are:

Driskell, Van Deusen, Logan, Widdop, Son, Large, Pearson, Stillwell, and Stewart. In 1883 D.D.G.M. George Stoll reported, "Everything is running in good shape. Although the members of our lodge are scattered considerable and have to come from three to twenty-five miles, we have a good attendance and never lack for members at our regular meetings. This lodge disbanded in 1895 because membership had dwindled so badly.

George ran his cattle and served as a deputy sheriff in the furtherance of law and order for a number of years.

Mary Ann Stoll presided over her home with true womanly courtesy and was a very capable midwife and nurse. She was of inestimable value when confronting illness or accidents. I don’t know where she found the time for she had eleven children and lived under quite stringent conditions. One of their children died In infancy; a son, Daniel, was killed by a deer at the age of six; and their youngest son, Robert, died In China at the age of 30 while serving with the U. S. Army during World War I.

Their other children still have ties to this country. They were: George (Lillian McDougall), Will (Ide Sadlier), Lizzie (Fletcher Kirkendall), Mollie (Tom Welch), John (Betty Finch), Alice (H. E. McMillin), Edith (Ed Bremm), and Lillie (Voorhees Pearson).

George and Lily Stoll stayed at Burntfork all their lives raising their children Earl, Fred, Alta and Louis here and helping to elevate the standard of living for the whole area. He was a rancher and she was a teacher and they provided their children with good education's and exemplary examples of honesty and diligence.

Earl married Debra Johnson and they lived away from here. Fred married Emily Vaughan, they raised Elsie (Gilbert Lee), Jennie (George Sadlier), Phyllis (Howard Braden), Merle (Harold Hermansen), Jacqueline (Robert S. Merchant), and Don (Judith Elmer) in Green River and Burntfork. Louis never married.

Alta and Earl Gamble stayed in Burntfork on the old B. Gamble Place where they raised three sons. Bob who married a school teacher, Norma Buckles, and they had one daughter, Karen, who married Don Lewis of Green River and who has given them three lovely grandsons; Kim, Rob, and Con. Bill was killed in a car accident near Hudson in 1955 when he was about 30 years old, and Gene who married Peggy Brady, daughter of Sim and Hortense Triplett Brady, and had five children: Ann, Billy, Joe, Laura, and Mary Sue.

The original Stoll Place has been divided into three pieces now belonging to Alta Stoll Gamble, Glen and Julie Iorg and Donald Stoll, son of Fred and Emily Vaughan Stoll, who lives in the George and Mary Ann Stoll home near the road at Burntfork. He still hays the meadow and runs a few cows as did his great grandfather, grandfather and Uncle Louis before him.

The Stoll Ranch has been honored to be named as a Centennial Ranch at the Wyoming State Fair in 1990 as it is one of a very few in the state to have been in existence and continuously run by the same family for 100 years. Our very sincere congratulations go to them!

The following narrative is believed to have been written by Alta Gamble

My grandfather, George Stoll, Sr., was born in Bingham, Germany and as a boy came to New York and joined his uncle who was a barber in New York City. He worked as an apprentice barber with his uncle for some time and also went to school after finishing his apprenticeship. He worked other places and finally became associated with the army. In 1857 when President Buchanan received word that trouble had erupted in Utah, he sent two armies out to Utah to put down the trouble. But encountering many difficulties, they only got as far as Fort Bridger and found it in a very deteriorated condition. They sent word back to the President about their difficulties, but he had already sent another army commanded by Colonel Johnston with which my grandfather came West as scout. They brought orders that they should all winter in Fort Bridger. They arrived there in October of 1857. In the early spring of 1858 they went on into Salt Lake and soon put down the trouble. But the armies were stationed there for about two years while they built Fort Floyd Crittenden.

While there, my grandfather met Mary Ann Smith. Her family had come West with a trek heading for the gold fields of California, but winter overtook them and they were forced to winter in Utah. In the early sixties two armies under the leadership of Colonel Johnston left Salt Lake for California, leaving one army behind on guard duty. They were stationed at Ft. Crittenden and in 1862 the two armies returned to Salt Lake finding Ft. Crittenden in shambles. They came on into Salt Lake and established a fort built of adobe houses and cement basements with tents stretched over them. This fort built up to what is now Fort Douglas. Stationing an army there to keep down trouble. Col. Johnston brought his men back to Fort Bridger where they re-built Ft. Bridger. My grandfather was still with them. Ft. Bridger then became the army headquarters. After they were established there, my grandfather went back and married Mary Ann Smith, whom he had met before, and brought her back to Ft. Bridger as a bride. They made their home in Ft. Bridger where my grandfather ran a brewery until 1867 when he and my grandmother and three small children moved to Burntfork. They were the first white family to settle in Burntfork. My father was one of the three small children with his two sisters Lizzie and Mollie.

My grandfather took up ranching and cattle raising, staying and raising his family in the Burntfork area. Before long my grandfather built a log cabin for a schoolhouse and, with the help of others, established a school. My grandfather was the first teacher.

I remember my father, George Stoll, Jr., saying his first schoolmates and playmates were Indian children which he thought a lot of. Within three or four years other white families moved in. Those outstanding in my memory being some of the first after my grandfather were the Widdops, the Ansons, Vandusens, and others. I don’t recall the names.

Next they established a post office, my grandfather being the postmaster. This post office served all the surrounding country, which at that time was all known as Burntfork. This was the oldest post office in Sweetwater County and was the only post office in the area clear down to Linwood, Utah. In later years they established a horse back mail route which went down Henry’s Fork, which derived its name from one of the first mail carriers named Mr. Henry, who drowned in Henry’s Fork. My grandfather was postmaster for many, many years. Then as other families moved in they built the Odd Fellows Lodge, a two story building the upstairs being used for offices and down stairs was used as an entertainment center for dancing, programs or for whatever community gathering it was needed. It stood until just a few years ago when it was torn down.

I might say Burntfork derived its name from a large burn upstream from the now Burntfork. It was supposed it burned at the time there were trappers camped up there as quite a number of trappers came through this country trapping furs.

Then a man by the name of Sam Smith built a store building and started the first real store in Burntfork. My grandfather carried a few small items in connection with the post office. But later Mr. Smith's store was burned down. Then Mr. Smith went out to make arrangements to start a new business but never came back. His horse came home and the men got a searching party together but never found him. Years later his body was found buried on Cottonwood by a sheepherder—Cottonwood being between Burntfork and Mt. View.

My father grew to manhood in Burntfork where he assisted his father in ranching and cattle raising as did his brother Will. He also worked for the Carter Cattle Company as they ran many cattle in this part of the country, which was all open range then. They rounded up in spring for branding and in the fall for shipping. The cattle wintered out in those years.

In the later eighties, my mother came from Iowa to teach school, first in Evanston, Wyoming, then in Fort Bridger, then to Burntfork. In October of 1890 my mother and father were married in Evanston, Wyoming. They came back and went into ranching and stock raising for themselves. My mother went on teaching. She taught for several years.

Several general stores were started at different times, one of the first by two men, Gilroy and Shurtleff. In early 1900, my father started a butcher shop in Rock Springs which he ran for some time. My mother stayed on the ranch with us kids and ran the ranch. Then in 1908, my mother and father went into the store business, which they ran in the old Odd Fellows building which my father had bought at the time. My mother took the post office as my grandfather had grown elderly and did not wish to be postmaster any longer. One of the mail carriers was Art Hallett who was a friend and neighbor of my family. My family ran the store and post office for several years.

In 1913 my father took the contract to build the first telephone line between Mt. View and Linwood, Utah, which went through Lonetree, Burntfork, Manila and on to Linwood, Utah. Upon completion my brother, Earl, ran the switchboard in Mt. View and took care of the new telephone line until he went into the army in World War I.

My mother and father went out of the store business but my mother ran the post office until about 1921 when Nels Hilrick took it over. After that there were several postmasters.

We established our first Episcopal Church in Burntfork in 1921. Louis T. Hardin being our first minister. He and his wife, Norma, and two children lived some time or several years. We first held church in my mother's home. Then the church bought the old Odd Fellows building and had their living quarters in the back and church in front. He also ran a little store. Then Ray Stoll, Louis Stoll, and John McCarty went to the timber and got out logs and the community got together and built a rectory for the Hardins which was used by the minister who came later. It still stands at Burntfork. The post office building that my grandfather had his post office in is still standing back of the old home at Burntfork.

ANSON FAMILY

John Baker Anson was born in England on May 5, 1836 and came to America with an emigrant group. He was a member of the Fourth Handcart Company, which left Iowa City on July 15, 1856. He arrived at Fort Bridger on Nov. 2, 1856 where he remained with his sister, Jane. While in Bridger he met Uncle Jack Robertson, the mountain man, and Uncle Jack’s son-in-law, Robert Hereford.

In 1859 John and his sister homesteaded a piece of property near the confluence of Burntfork and Henry's Fork. He lived here from 1859-1863 and, in the latter year married Mary Ann Webster who was also born in England. At that time they left Burntfork and moved to Montana where two of his children were born: Thomas W., 1864 and Hannah, 1866.

In the fall of 1868 Robert Hereford persuaded Anson to return to Fort Bridger to assist in operating a trading post on the Green River. When the Union Pacific Railroad was completed this trading post was no longer needed so Anson worked for Judge William Carter. At Fort Bridger, Utah Territory, his third child George William Anson was born. In 1871 the Anson family moved to Kaysville, Utah where the remaining four children were born. John Arthur, 1872; Mark Albion, 1876; Caroline, 1880; and Mary Zelima, 1886.

Most of the Anson family returned to Burntfork and Ft. Bridger. Some of John and Mary Ann’s children attended school in Burntfork, riding horseback to get there. They went to dances 30-35 miles away. Going on horseback with their "dress-up" clothes in a flour sack tied behind the saddle, they would dance until dawn and ride the many miles back home again.

Their home life was a typical pioneer life with no running water except the creek or a spring nearby. Heat was furnished by a wood stove, usually pot-bellied, and large enough to heat the whole house. Cooking was done on an old wood cook stove. Refrigeration was a challenge.

The Anson children played an important role in this area's history. The oldest son, Tom, worked for the Carter Cattle Company in 1882 until 1885 when he became a range rider for Col. William "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Hannah married H.J.B. Taylor who played a prominent part in Mountain View history. Will married Nora Marston of Kaysville. Their daughter married Vernon Call and they live in Star Valley where they own an airplane factory and other businesses. John Arthur married Tena Hayward of Robertson, a sister of Bessie Harvey’s father. Mark married Sarah Vincent whose family owned the White place. Mark later lived in Manila where he became Daggett County Assessor and later Sheriff. He was known all over the valley and loved by all who knew him. Carolyn helped with family responsibilities as Mary Ann died when Carolyn was about twelve. She later married Jesse Vincent. Mary Zelima married Asa Rounds, a lumberman and also an accomplished violinist. They lived in Mountain View and Lyman during the winters and in the mountains in the summer.

Thomas Anson, father of John B. Anson, was the first person buried In the Burntfork Cemetery. When he died the women of the valley had to bury him as the men were away. Some say they were on the roundup and others say they were fighting a forest fire. At any rate, the women buried him the wrong way.

John B. Anson died at Fort Bridger in 1907 and is buried In the Burntfork Cemetery near the old ranch. His wife is also buried there.

WIDDOPS OF BURNTFORK

The Widdop family followed closely on the heels of the George Stoll, Sr. family. James Widdop and his family came to Burntfork in 1879. They raised cattle and at least six children, some of whom were born here. James also had a gold mine on Phil Pico up Burntfork.

Water and the lack of it have caused many problems for the people in this area forever. James was probably the only one who gave his life for it, however. He was shot and killed by Willard Blodgett when he and his son. Tom, tried to "adjust" the flow in their common ditch. Tom was shot in the arm at the same time. Since both the Widdops were armed at the time, the jury called this self-defense. Feelings ran high and Mr. Blodgett soon left the country too.

If we haven’t the wrong information, this occurred after 1891 for James Widdop is listed as a member of the Bridger I.O.O.F. organization of that year. According to his son. George H. Widdop, James did the carpenter work when the Burntfork Hall was built in 1879 for the I.O.O.F.

Tom Widdop rode for Lige Driscoll who had settled near the mouth of Henry's Fork probably about 1868. When Tom married Myrtle Burnham of Ogden, they settled at Muskrat Springs on Burntfork and raised cattle. (This is the Wade Stephens property today.)

In 1889 a post office was started at Burntfork and George Stoll, Jr. was the first postmaster. Mark Manley had the contract to bring the mail from Bridger. Tom Widdop was the second mail carrier. In good weather, Tom carried the mail in a mountain buckboard but in bad weather, he went horseback sometimes with a packhorse.

By all accounts Tom was a friendly person who got along with his neighbors and joined in the activities of the day.

According to "Flaming Gorge Country", Tom recalled the time when Butch Cassidy spent three rainy days at his folks ranch on Burntfork. Butch was called a Robin Hood of his day for he was a very likeable person who only seemed to rob folks he thought had more than enough. He was careful to make friends with folks who were scattered some and lived in out of the way places. He never knew when he might need a bit of assistance from them at one time or another. Trading spent horses for rested ones, or catching a good meal and a safe bed for a time was necessary to his way of life.

In 1899 Tom Widdop went into the sheep business and was soon running five thousand head. He immediately gained the animosity of his former pals. He was careful not to intrude on cattle range, only bringing his herds to the ranch to feed them hay in the winter.

Tom and Myrtle left the country at some later time to go to the Ogden area where, it is thought, he went into the mining industry.

Other children of the James Widdop family maintain ties to this corner of Wyoming. At least two of the boys, George and James, Jr., lived in Green River at one time. George married and stayed in Green River where he raised two boys, Jack and Ralph. Jim worked at the Phelps Meat Market before he married Beulah Taylor, daughter of H. J. B. Taylor, a prominent Mountain View resident. Their son Charles lives in Fort Bridger now and their daughter, Mary Hysell, lives in Mountain View. Bill married a Mountain View woman and lived between there and Urie. He is the father of Leila Widdop Gregory postmistress and storekeeper of Lonetree.

James Widdop, Sr. also had two girls Emma and Elizabeth but we don’t know anything about them yet.

ZEBULON EDWARDS

Zebulon (Zeb) Edwards was born in 1861 in Millville, Utah to Esaias and Belinda Miles Edwards. The town of Millville derived it name from Esaias’ grist and sawmill which he owned and operated with his sons, Ike, Dave, Zeb, and his son-in-law. Francis Joseph Sadlier. The old grist mill wheels are preserved in a monument behind the Mormon Tabernacle in Logan, Utah.

As a young boy Zeb accompanied his cousin, John Spears,a noted hunter and trapper, into the Utah-Wyoming territory. While visiting their trap lines near Sheep Creek Cave they once met Major John Wesley Powell. Zeb became an expert in both hunting and trapping because of his early experiences with his cousin.

While managing Birch Springs Ranch in Manila with his older brother, he was asked by Mrs. Cleophas (Ella Colton) O’Dowd to help take her and part of her family to the train so she could relocate in California. When Mr. O’Dowd heard she had left him and the two boys behind, he stopped by the Birch Springs Ranch to see which way they had taken to the railroad. Someone told him it was Green River so he didn’t catch up with them as they had gone to Carter to catch the train.

George Solomon, Zeb Edwards, and Garibaldi B. Gamble became partners in Connor Basin. While they were living there, Zeb was hired by the government to supply wild meat for Judge J. Carter and the soldiers building roads on the mountain and in the canyons. Zeb would kill the meat, dress it out, and hang it each day in the trees just ahead of the road building crew. Zeb and "B" soon sold their shares to George Solomon and bought property on Burntfork. Zeb also bought a place from John Proe on Birch Creek. He also took up more adjoining land. The dugout that Mr. Proe had lived in was still on the ranch when we moved back to it in 1931.

In 1890 Zeb helped Ellsworth Daggett and Adolph Jessen lay out the Manila town and county. He also worked on the canal from Connor Basin to the Birch Springs Ranch.

Zeb was one of the first white men to visit Spirit Lake, which is just 13 miles up the mountain from his ranch. He owned a sawmill east of his place on Phil Pico. Carl Youngberg hauled lumber from this mill to build the first LDS chapel in Lyman, Wyoming.

Zeb’s older brothers, Ike and Dave Edwards, and their widowed sister, Emma Jane Sadlier, followed Zeb to this country to make their homes here. Ike and Dave never married but Emma Jane Sadlier has many descendants from her seven children. Her brothers built a large house for her and she lived here a good long time. Her children include: Don Sadlier, who married a woman named Wyman, and lived here for several years. He was shot in the knee in a hunting accident and lost his leg. He died following surgery for appendicitis and his family moved to Vernal. George Sadlier was the father of Claude, Pearl, Clara, and George Jr. We all knew Claude and Alice and their boys, LaRay and Ellis. Ray is Daggett County Commissioner at the present time. He and his wife Pauline Hymas Sadlier raised their four children, Kurt, Karma, Robin and Troy here. Ellis and Kay Harvey Sadlier live in Robertson, Wyoming on her fathers place there. They raised Vickie and Bob.

Emma's daughters were Ine who married a man named Allen and later, Lee Russell. Ide married Will Stoll and lived at Burntfork where she raised her family. Eva and Etna we couldn't find anything about. Ce1ia married Yank Meyers and they lived near her mother. Her children include Florence who married John Briggs. Josephine who married Dewey Lamb, (parents of Bert, Jimmy, Keith, Grace, Fern, Nedra and Betty) and later George Peterson. Celia’s son, Les, was the father of Dee Meyers.

Zeb and his brothers built many houses, barns, and other buildings for themselves and neighbors as they had learned carpentry from their father.

Zeb was married the first time in 1897 in Green River, Wyoming to Edith Ellen Davis. She left him in 1901 for a roving gambler of Pocatello. Idaho. They had no children.

After his divorce he married Catherine Rebecca Hill, daughter of Benjamin and Florence Smith Welch Hill. The witnesses at this wedding on Birch Creek were George Bullock and William Stoll with J. P. Edward Tolton presiding.

When ranchers marketed their cattle they had to trail them to Green River for the Omaha market or Carter for western markets. Most of the traveling was done by wagon or horseback.

Vernal, Utah was the county seat for the Utah area of this valley before Daggett County was formed in 1918. A quotation from the Vernal Express in 1909 stated that Mr. and Mrs. Zeb Edwards were in Vernal on business and called Zebulon the "Daniel Boone of the West."

This couple had four daughters: Avis Olive, Florence Isabelle, Beatrice Eudora, and Myrtle Bessie. When the oldest daughter was ready for school it was felt that country travel would be a hardship on her as she had contracted infantile paralysis and had a lame left leg. Zeb leased his Birch Creek Ranch and bought a bit of ground in the Sacramento Valley to be nearer medical help and schools for his girls. He grew fruit and English walnuts but the whole family suffered with malaria for several years because of the mosquitoes on the Feather River.

From there they moved to Trent, Oregon, and were well away from the mosquitoes but the extreme dampness was hard on Zeb as he contracted rheumatism there. A higher, drier climate was called for so he bought a place in Midvale, Idaho. Zeb traveled too much from Idaho to Birch Creek so the family was moved to Vernal which was much closer. He left the Idaho ranch to his brother-in-law, Leo Hill.

Two months after the family moved to Vernal. Zeb became ill and died in 1924.

Descendants of Zeb and Kate Edwards who live in this country include two of their daughters Beatrice (Mrs. Larence Beck) and Myrtle (Mrs. Alton Beck) and some of their families. Avis (Mrs. Fred Weeks) has always lived in Vernal and Florence (Mrs. Dick Ellsworth) has most of her family living in the Salt Lake City Area.

Beatrice and Myrtle married brothers and raised their children here.

Beatrice’s unmarried son, Milton, lives with her at the mouth of Birch Creek Canyon. Larry & Lorraine and Ronnie & Ruth and their families live in Green River. Mae and Myron Benson and their family live in Newton, Utah.

Myrtle’s son, Duane and his family live on the other half of the Birch Creek property. Joyce (Mrs. Calvin Briggs son of Eli and Mary Briggs) lives in Washington and Jeannie (Mrs. Eliot Emery) lives in Logan with her family.

Duane is the present bishop of McKinnon Ward and is retired from Northwest Pipeline. He and Patricia Reynolds Beck have eight children who were all raised here. Carol and Clyde Slaugh and their family and Doug & Venetia and their children both have homes here. Sally & Frank Porenta and Julie & Dave Shillcox live in Green River with their families. Penny & Clay Muir and children live in Manila. Steve and Carol Anderson Beck and their girls live in Texas. Darla is living in Ontario, California and Zebulon Edward Beck has just graduated from Manila High School and is preparing for a mission to Peru.

Florence's son, George, is the only one of her nine children to live in this area. George and Juanita Robinson Ellsworth live in Manila where he runs a garage and is a master mechanic. Their four children Rick, Robert, Christa, and Glen all grew up in Manila and some are still there.

JOURNAL OF FLORENCE SMITH WELCH HILL

I was born in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois, in 1845, the daughter of Hugh and Rebecca Norvell Smith of Wilson and Sumner Counties, Tennessee.

My father was a religious man and always taught us children to do what was right. He was a widower with five children when mother married him. They had eleven more so there were sixteen children in our family. We were.unable to get much schooling on account of the deep snows and the wolves being so dangerous. My larger brothers went ahead of us to break the trail, and with their guns, guard us from attack by these wolves to and from school daily.

My father was a wealthy man, but nevertheless, we children had to work. The fall was always a busy time preparing for winter. We killed no less than thirty-five hogs, and at least one beef for our winter use. We always fried down about fifteen gallons of sausage, some of which we put in jar, and some was put in cornhusks to smoke with the rest of the meat.

My father, Hugh Smith, having lived near Nauvoo, Ill., knew the Prophet Joseph Smith and often joined him in his meetings.

My mother had about 300 laying hens, 150 turkeys, 200 to 300 ducks and geese. The geese were picked every six weeks. It took down from five geese to make a pound. Mother received at least $80.00 for the down each time these geese were picked.

The woods were always full of wild fruit and nuts. When father was not using all the teams. Mother would take the wagons with double sideboards and a few of the children to gather nuts. The wagon when we returned was always filled as full as we could trample them down with fine hazelnuts. When we reached home we put them out to dry, turning them occasionally until they were thoroughly dried. Then we would store them away for the winter and make another trip to gather hickory nuts, chestnuts, and black walnuts. We also picked wild fruit. Bushels of grapes were used for making jelly and juice. There was a plentiful supply of hops, which we were glad for as we used them for making yeast and many other things. The percoon roots, Indian arrow buds, and the various herbs we found in the woods were used in the making of our medicine.

We had a large orchard and often had "apple bees". Everyone around was invited. The younger ones would peel the apples while the older people cooked and bottled them for our use in the winter. This was one of the greatest times of the year. We also did the same with our peaches, then, in turn, we would all go to each of the neighbors until all had their fruit up for the winter. We all had the chance to visit with each other. We canned about 55 gallons of both peach and apple butter. We also had six large maple trees from which we made all our own sugar. Father would go ahead to tap the trees, then we children would follow along with the buckets and a wagon load of barrels. After filling all the barrels with sap we would take it home and boil it down into sugar. We made about 33 gallons of maple syrup and almost 2000 pounds of sugar. Mother then made cubes of sugar for the use of her company at afternoon tea.

We never raised less than 100 acres of corn. We had corn husking bees in the fall which we would all attend. There were no threshers in those days. Father had a large barn with a double floor where he threshed his grain with the aid of eight horses. We had a small windmill that was used to clean the wheat, after which we piled it in a bin. The oats were threshed in the same slow manner.

There were large quantities of popcorn and peanuts raised. We children would have great sport sitting around the fireplace in winter playing "hull gull" while the older people visited with each other, popping corn or roasting peanuts.

Father raised all our own flax and cotton. We could all pick cotton well. I could pick 100 pounds of cotton a day at that time.

We had a homemade cotton gin to separate the cotton from the seed. We carded and spun all our own cotton and wool and made our own yarn. I kept four of the quilts I had handmade myself. Each of us children could knit a sock in a day. We were paid one dollar a pair for the wool socks and

seventy-five cents for a cotton pair.

One of my sisters and I could spin sixteen "cuts" in a day. There were eighty threads in a "cut". These were woven on a loom into cloth and we made all the cloth that was needed for the family use. The flax grew in stalks. In order to separate the outside of the stalk from the flax, we had to scutch it. A scutcher is a tool similar to a wool card or board full of nails with three sharp ends to pull the flax over. Then we spun, wove and bleached. We always had a supply of fine linen for our own use. The men folks always had a fine linen shirt for dress.

The winters were always hard. We had deep snows and long cold spells. One winter the mailman took the mail and passengers over a "staken rider^" fence for three weeks before he could tell where the fence was. Nevertheless we had great fun sleigh riding during these deep snows.

I was always called "Tommy" because of my love for out door life, especially horseback riding. When I was sixteen years old I rode in the Fair at New Berlin, Illinois, and won a horse, saddle and sash. Was I proud!

I was well acquainted with Abraham Lincoln and talked with him many times. When he was assassinated all our doors in Springfield were draped in black cloth. His oldest son, Bob was a good friend of mine.

When I was twenty-one years old, I met William Adderson Welch. We were married in June of 1866 in Sangamon County and it was there that my first child, Thomas Adderson Welch, was born, May 25, 1867. We lived in Platte County three years, divorced, and I moved to Girard, Kansas, where my brother, James, and later my parents lived.

We had many terrible cyclones in the state of Kansas. I recall one in particular that left people homeless. It

blew one man up into a tree, killing him; another man was blown into a creek, members of families were lost, barns blown over and crops destroyed. Whenever we saw a dark cloud grow in the northwest, we would run for cyclone shelters or cellars.

I met and married a widower, Benjamin Hill, formerly of Kingston, New York. His wife and baby daughter are buried in Girard, Kansas. He had three sons: Joseph age 10, David age 5. and Leo age 3. With Thomas, 9 years old, we had a family of sons. We were married 19 April 1876 in Girard. We had a son in 1880 whom we named Fredrick Benjamin but we called him Fred.

My husband, Benjamin, was born in Kingston, Ulster Co., New York to James and Catherine Short Hill, in 1833. When he was a young man, he sailed as assistant sea captain around the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. On one of his voyages to South America he saw a snake nearly as large around as he was. He was in the gold rush of 1849 in California. After traveling all through the Wyoming and Utah territories, he liked it so much, he decided he would like to make his home hereabouts.

In 1881, when Fred was a year old, we signed up with 33 other covered wagons headed for the Northwest. We suffered many hardships along the way. For our cooking fires we had to burn the buffalo chips we found on the prairie. Many times water had to be rationed. Some of the animals died along the way. It was a long trek from Girard, Kansas to Green River, Wyoming. When the wagons finally arrived in Green River, we, along with a few other families decided to make this our home.

We bought a place near the riverbank. It was in Green River that our daughter, Catherine Rebecca, was born in 1884. She and her five brothers attended the Green River schools.

We signed contracts to haul freight from Green River to Old Ashley on White River about 1888. Old Ashley was just below where Vernal, Utah now stands. When we started freighting, my husband drove a four-horse team and I drove a two-horse team with bedding, food, hay and some supplies and freight. I always had my little boy, Fred, with me. One day I would go in the lead and the next my husband would, because there were roads to make and trees to cut out of the way. There was fallen timber in the trails and it was a very rough road over Taylor Mountain. We met many Indians and outlaws who were friendly to us.

When we freighted to White River we became acquainted with Chellus Hall. I also met an old friend. Bob Lincoln, on one of our trips. We were at that time among the few white people who had to be protected or guarded by the soldiers.

In hauling freight we often went up Birch Creek, Carter Dugway, and over the Young Springs Dugway. We decided we would like to own property on Birch Creek so we bought a small place, which is now known as the Zimmer Meadow. We lived here a few years when our son, Fred, developed tuberculosis from some unknown source. Fred was nearly eighteen years old when he died on 12 Jan. 1898. He had been an excellent student and artist. We had planned for Catherine to go to Kansas to stay with my brothers family to study and become a teacher but, when we lost our son, it seemed too much for us to have Kate leave us.

We became very good friends to people in the neighborhood; Stolls, Edwards, Gambles and Sadliers.

Kate would help her father cutting and sawing wood for the stoves and helping with the necessary chores on the place. Her father was not at all well as he had returned from Kansas, having undergone surgery for cancer of the eye and had had one eye removed. He was in very poor health most of the time.

After Zebulon's wife, Edith, ran off with another man, he divorced her in July 1903. He worked hard ranching and with his sawmill. He would stop by and visit once in a while and began courting our daughter. They were married in 1904 in Zebulon's house on Birch Creek, which was to be their future home. They did a lot of traveling on snowshoes in the early days because it was impossible to get around any other way. Very little visiting was done in the winters.

As Benjamin’s health continued to fail, Zeb suggested we sell our place and move into a cabin he had near their house. I loved living near my loved ones. I was the mid wife for three of their children; Avis, Beatrice and Myrtle. Florence was born in Green River.

Benjamin passed away after much suffering in 1908 at the Birch Creek Ranch. He was buried in the Burntfork Cemetery. I spent many lonely years traveling from one of my loved ones to another.

After Zeb died. I made my home with Kate and her family. I spent many wonderful months with the, teaching skills I knew and could gladly pass on. While I was living in Vernal, I filed on a homestead that was available at that time up above Birch Creek over here. In my will I gave the Homestead to Kate, as she lived with me all the time I was proving up on the place. Eighty acres that Zeb owned on Phil Pico, Kate gave to her brother, Tom Welch, and he gave it to his son, Willie.

(Florence Isabelle Hill had a stroke, after which she was bedfast for some time before she passed on. She died on the homestead she had lived on for six years. She died four days before her 90th birthday in 1935. She too is buried in the Burntfork Cemetery.)

Presented by Granddaughter

Beatrice Edwards Beck

GARIBALDI "B" GAMBLE

Garibaldi Gamble was born in 1860 in Millville, Cache County, Utah. He apparently came to this area as a young man with Zeb and Ike Edwards. In 1882, when he was 22, he entered into partnership with Zeb Edwards and George Solomon in Connor Basin. He married Anna Rolfe and his two oldest daughters, Ethel and Ruby, were born there. He sold his interest to George Solomon so he could homestead on Burntfork just a mile or so north of the Utah line east of Burntfork Creek. He built a schoolhouse on his ranch and was a teacher there. His son. Earl, started in that school which was at the corner of the old Gamble ranch and has since been torn down.

Garibaldi, or "B" as he was known, ranched on the Gamble place raising Hereford cattle. He was a fine family man and had five children, four of whom reached adulthood. He retired from ranching in 1928 and bought a home in Green River where he lived the rest of his life. He died at the home of his son Earl while visiting in Burntfork on March 10. 1934.

The children of "B" and Anna attended the school at Burntfork. They rode horseback to and from school carrying their lunches.

Ethel was the eldest of the children. She was raised on the Gamble ranch. She married Dave Logan and they purchased the Clark Logan ranch where they lived for some time. They moved into Green River where Dave worked for Sweetwater County Road and they lived there the rest of their 1ives.

Ruby was the second child. When she was a young girl, she, Ethel and Earl rode horseback from the Gamble ranch to the Burntfork School. At that time there was a small shed and hitching post for the horses at the school. One day after arriving at the hitching post, Ruby was kicked by one of the horses and died several days later.

Earl. the only son, spent his entire life in Burntfork except for the time he spent in the army in World War I where he saw action in France. When he returned, he married Alta Stoll, daughter of George and Lillian McDougal Stoll. Earl and Alta helped on the Gamble ranch and Earl drove a truck hauling supplies. When his father retired and moved to Green River, Earl and Alta took over the Gamble ranch, which is still owned by family members.

Lila, the fourth child was also raised on the Gamble ranch and she married Grover Logan, a brother to Dave Logan.

Madge, the youngest daughter married George Stevens, a brother of Austin Stevens who was a rancher in McKinnon. They lived in Burntfork a short time and then in Manila. Madge is still alive, living with a daughter in Rawlins. She is now 94 years old.

Earl's two sons, Bob and Gene, and his mother, Alta, are the only members of the Gamble family still living in Burntfork. Bob owns part of the Tom Welch ranch and Gene owns the original Gamble homestead.

ELIJAH DRISCOLL

Elijah, or as he was better known, Lige Driscoll, also came to this area from Fort Bridger. When the term of his enlistment ended, he built a trading post on Ham's Fork and did a brisk business, swapping cattle with the emigrants. He settled near the mouth of Henry's Fork probably about 1868. By the mid-eighties his herds were so extensive that he shipped cattle to eastern markets by the trainload. He was about the first person to ship cattle on the train from Carter. He originated the "Wagon Wheel" brand which he used on the left side of the animal.

According to "Flaming Gorge Country" by the Dunhams, Lige asked his half brother Neil to come to Burntfork where Lige set Neil up in the mercantile business. Fire burned the building nearly catching the clerk and manager, Sam Smith, who was sleeping there. Sam disappeared mysteriously soon after this while on a trip to Ft. Bridger and his body was discovered about nine years later.

The Driscoll family history is interwoven in Burntfork history as one of the Driscolls settled on land near the Burntfork Cemetery. Not too much is known about their life on that piece of land except that there is a water right and ditch known as the Anson-Driscoll ditch out of Burntfork.

It is known that Lige married Cora Finch, a Shoshoni widow of a French-Canadian trapper named Finch. Lige is known to have adopted her young son, George Finch. When George grew up he married Martha Hereford and raised a big family. They had a total of 16 children, 13 of whom grew to adulthood. (Betty married John Stoll, son of George and Mary Ann Stoll; Minnie married Eddie Mass, son of Phil Mass; Elijah - called Bud unless you wanted him to poke you in the nose - who married a school teacher from New York and moved there with his family after living here for a short time; Clara; Nona married Dick Nicholson; Ella; Alonzo who died in France during World War I; George; Pearl married a man named Graham; Alice married Tom Jarvie of Manila and Brown's Park; Edgar never married; Stanley was a musician of note; and Nora.) Of other, closer descendants of Lige and Cora Driscoll we have no knowledge.

Neil married Ginny or Jenny Hereford. We are led to believe that Neil’s son. Charley, taught at the George Hereford ranch at one time. Neil left this country and died on an Indian reservation.

Charley was said to have had the first sawmill on Phil Pico and on Henry's Fork. C.A. Driscoll and E. H. Driscoll are listed as members of the Bridger I.O.O.F. organization in 1885-6. E. H. Driscoll was a trustee of the Burntfork School in the early 1900’s.

There are lots of stories of Lige Driscoll having known Butch Cassidy. Maybe he did. He is supposed to have won money from Butch and Harvey Logan during a poker game, somewhere, sometime. So, maybe he didn’t. You choose.

Lige Driscoll retired to Green River where he died at the age of eighty-three. Some sources spell the name Driscoll and others spell it Driskell. We do believe this is the same name, however.

TOM AND MOLLIE WELCH

Thomas Adderson Welch, son of William Adderson and Florence Isabelle Smith Welch, was born in 1867 in Jacksonville, Illinois. He lived with his mother when his parents divorced when he was three years old. He and his mother moved to Girard, Kansas to live near her brother and he was nine before she remarried. She married Benjamin Hill, a widower with three sons of his own. They had another son before they decided to take their five sons and move West. Tom was 13 in 1880 when the family joined a wagon train headed for the Northwest. They left the train when they got to Green River, Wyoming and settled down there. They added their only daughter, Kate, when they lived in Green River. (She became the wife of Zebulon Edwards.)

We can only imagine the responsibilities he must have shouldered being a part of a real pioneer wagon train. We do know he learned to drive a team. He was employed as a stable boy for a stage line in Lander when he was hired to drive the leg between Big Sandy and South Pass in 1881. He was then all of fourteen years old but was entrusted with both passengers and freight and was able to perform the job without incident. He was thus employed for a few years.

Tom came to this area from Lander about 1888. His parents freighted from Green River to Vernal but Tom put down roots when he homesteaded a place on Henry's Fork at the bottom of the now Anderson ranch and started raising cattle.

Remember, this was all unclaimed open range at the time. There were no meadows to irrigate or fences to fix so one had time to work with cattle, keep the range sheep-free, and court his girl. Tom married Mary Ann (called Mollie) Stoll, daughter of George and Mary Ann Stoll, early settlers in the region. They raised their three children here.

Tom prospered. His herd of cattle grew and, in 1904, he sold his place on Henry's Fork to Mackey Land and Livestock Co. and bought property on Burntfork where sheep were not as likely to be found. He really felt that sheep were only good for eating or wearing and had a cattleman's true antipathy for the raising of them.

Tom and Mollie acquired a lot of property on Burntfork and owned many cows. Tom became a well-known businessman in Green River when he and Dr. Hawk built and operated the Tomahawk Hotel there. Maybe he Just wanted a place to stay when he went to town but it was a successful venture for a number of years. Hard times came and this property didn't pay for itself so he got out of the hotel business.

The Welch children were; Ethel who married Bill Kunz, William (called Willie) who married Vivian Stevens Powelson (a sister of Austin Stevens), had a son named Tom, divorced and married Lillian Vaughan. John Fred (called Freddie) who married Alice Memovich and later, Beth Murphy. Freddie had two boys and two girls. Willie’s son, Tom, spent much of his time with his grandparents, Tom and Mollie.

They bought a house in Green River and Mollie moved in there in the winter so her children could go to school. Young Tom lived with them and attended Green River schools. Tom joined her in there in the early 1940's after he sold the ranch to the John Briggs family. (Bob and Norma Gamble bought the Wyman Bench part of Tom's property from Mr. Briggs and continue to live in the home the Welch's occupied there.)

Tom is said to have been a good friend of Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. He refused to ever say much about the things he knew of them. He did insist that Butch visited him in Green River long after he was supposed to have been killed in South America.

Boy, do I wish he'd kept a journal of his activities as they happened? You bet! He put a lot of living into his near century on earth. The bits and pieces we've gathered only touch the surface of what must have been a life rich in the lore of the West. We really regret not taping or, indeed, even listening to old-timers when they get started telling stories. Tom wouldn't visit much with folks who hadn't been there but he enjoyed reminiscing with his many friends who HAD been there.

Tom was over 70 when he retired to their house in Green River where Mollie died at 83 in 1956. Tom lived there another seven years before he followed her in 1963 at the age of 96 years. Tom and Mollie are both buried in the Green River Cemetery.

EDNA STOLL STITELER

I am Edna Stoll Stiteler, the only surviving child of William and Ida Sadlier Stoll, who were married in 1897. They became parents of nine children over a period of 16 years. In the early part of this century an epidemic of whooping cough spread around the community. Many children contracted it and some died. Ida and William lost three children with whooping cough, Ruth, Edgar and Pearl.. There was not a doctor within 50 miles and even though Pearl was taken to Salt Lake City for medical care, she did not live. In a little over a year, another son was born but only lived a few days. A year after the baby boy died, I was born. In the next five years two more boys, Stanley and Kenneth, were born. The five surviving children, Ray, Lester, Edna, Stanley and Kenneth grew to adulthood. I believe my parents showed great strength and courage in coping with such tragedy.

We lived in a house on a small ranch near the site of the original Stoll property. We were acquiring more ranch land and raising cattle. For some time during those years my father ran a butcher shop in Rock Springs. He also shipped horses by rail trading them for mules, etc. He also served as a deputy sheriff and water commissioner for many years, continuing even after I was married.

After both their parents had died, William and his brother, George, divided the original Stoll property. My father borrowed money to pay off the other heirs, as I assume his brother did also. The winters were very hard, especially on the cattle. Many ranchers had only hides to sell by spring. As times became harder, much money was borrowed and then the depression hit. A lot of ranches went under, including my father's. His ranch was sold to satisfy debts. It broke all our hearts a little, my father's most of all. I am sure it led to his death at the age of 72.

I remember, when I was a very young child, the men formed a posse to go into the mountains to search for a desperado who had hidden out in a cabin. Word came back that one man had been killed. None of the wives and mothers were sure who the victim was until the posse returned. They had gotten the outlaw. What a relief to the waiting women!

Many years later, after I was married and had two small children, my husband and I came out to the valley in order to prove up on a grazing claim I had filed on before our marriage. We lived in a tent on Cedar Mountain near Sheldon Reservoir while we were building a rude cabin and fencing the land. My brother, Lester, had all the equipment that we needed such as bed rolls, camping equipment, a rifle and a shotgun. One day while we were visiting my parents at their ranch, my father was gathering a posse to go after some horse thieves who had taken horses from the Ross Reed ranch. The posse was going to Cedar Mountain and we said, jokingly, "Why don't you go by our tent? They may be holed up there." We returned to our camp the next day and the first thing we noticed was that the ties on the tent had been cut. It was a real mess! The bedrolls and guns were gone and a suitcase had been opened and dumped out. We called the sheriff in Green River. The thieves were captured near Granger a week or so later. We were called and retrieved all our things. You can bet we locked our door when we moved into the cabin.

Our family all left the country soon after the ranch was sold. I had married Lester Stiteler and lived in Denver where my mother came to live out her life with us. She spent some time each year with one or the other of the boys. She died at the age of 85, but not before she had to endure the deaths of two more of her children, Lester and Kenneth. We had five daughters, the youngest of whom died at the age of 13. Three of our girls live in Denver and one in New Jersey. We have eleven grandchildren.

Ray served in the Navy during World War I and later became a skilled carpenter. He married Pearl Harvey when he was 48 years old. They lived in Denver and Salt Lake City where he died in 1966. He and Pearl had no children.

Lester married Margaret Gamble and they had two children. Lester died in Montana at the age of 41.

Stanley served in the Army during World War II. He worked at a variety of jobs in Wyoming, Montana and Calif. He married twice but had no children. He died in the V.A. hospital in Spokane in 1979.

Kenneth married Grace Switzer and they produced five children. Kenneth was crushed under a car at the age of forty-five.

I have come home (YES, HOME) as often as possible. Everything has changed so much since I grew up here. I still have lots of family living here. Perhaps you don't know it but I am related by blood or marriage to most everyone in the valley. The Sadliers, Gambles, Stolls, Becks and Lambs, to name a few. We have traveled a lot; to Europe, Spain, Israel, Colombia and Hawaii but there is still no place like home.

THOMAS WELCH FAMILY NARRATIVE

This is a very brief piece about the Welch family, beginning with Thomas A. and Molly Welch.

Thomas A. and Molly Welch owned and lived on a ranch in Burntfork for many years. They were one of the first settlers in that country. Molly was a Stoll and perhaps will be discussed with that family. They raised three children, William L., Ethel, and John F., had several grand children and great grandchildren.

Son, Willie, married Vivian Stevens Powelson, and they had one son, Tom. They lived on what was called the "Lower Place" part of the ranch and Willie operated a dairy, which was destroyed by fire. They were divorced and Willie married Lillian Vaughan. They lived on what was called the "Gillis Place" with daughter, Fay. Tom was with them some summers, but lived with his grandparents in Green River and attended school there. Tom spent some summer time with his Dad at Blacks Fork at what they called the "Cow Camp".

John F. Welch sold the ranch to the John Briggs family.

Tom A., Molly, and Willie are buried in Green River, Wyoming.

Thomas Welch and Edith Katzmyer were married in Green River, Wyoming in 1942. Tom and Edith had their wedding dance in the old schoolhouse at Burnt Fork with the Sonny Larson orchestra playing the music. They lived in Green River until the beginning of World War II. At that time Tom enlisted in the Marine Corps and served until the end of the war.

Edith lived with her parents. Harry and Florence, on the ranch in Daggett County (near the Sweetwater border) while Tom served overseas. It was while there that Tom and Edith’s daughter, Judy, was born. Upon discharge from the Marine Corps, Tom, Edith and Judy lived in a duplex behind what was, at that time, the McKinnon Store, owned by Glen and Doris Walker. While living there, Tom drove school bus and worked for the Alvin Elmer Lumber Company. They moved from there to Logan, Utah, where Tom attended Utah State University. Their son Bob, was born while living in Logan.

During the Korean War Tom served with the United States Air Force in the United States, Alaska, and Aleutian Islands. For a few months, of that time, Edith, Judy and Bob stayed with Harry and Florence Katzmyer while Judy attended the McKinnon School. She was privileged to have Norma Gamble for a teacher.

Their contact in recent years to the McKinnon area was with Edith's parents, although they and their children, Judy and Bob, lived in Manila, Utah for 11 years. They moved to Salt Lake City in 1964 where Edith now resides. Tom is buried in Salt Lake City.

by Edith Welch (Mrs. Thomas W. Welch)

CLYDE AND ELINORE STEWART

Clyde Stewart homesteaded in the Burntfork area in the early 1900's. In 1909 Elinore Rupert, a widow with a small daughter, left her work in Denver to become a housekeeper for Clyde Stewart. Shortly after arriving at Burntfork, she filed a claim for 160 acres adjoining Clyde Stewart's land. She married Clyde Stewart six weeks after she arrived here and, as the children arrived, his ranchhouse expanded onto her property. Jerrine Rupert was the small daughter who arrived with her mother.

To quote Jerrine as to her recollections about the ranch, she said, "What was it like? No running water, no toilets or closets, no factory furniture except a stove and no rugs unless you made them yourself. No doctor for 50 miles, no hospital for 65 miles, no cars, no telephones, no medical insurance, no Social Security, no credit cards, and no life insurance".

"The snow got too deep even for a long legged woman like me. You'd look out over those badlands, as barren as the side of that refrigerator over there and wonder why anybody'd live there. But then you'd smell the sage and pine, see the magnificent sunsets, and feel the gentle rain in the valley and the cool, clear nights that were so bracing."

"My own children don't believe me when I tell them how we made our own lard and soap and most of our clothes. I birthed lambs, calves, and colts, ran a plow, mowed hay, milked fourteen cows twice a day -by hand- put up the separator to get the cream and then I'd go out and sell it."

Elinore died in 1933 of a blood clot to the brain after gall bladder surgery. However, before her death she wrote letters to amuse a former employer who was housebound in Denver. The ex-employer got the letters published in the "Atlantic Monthly". Later they were collected into books. These books were "Letters of a Woman Homesteader" and "Letters on an Elk Hunt". "Heartland" was a movie made from "Letters of a Woman Homesteader".

Elinore and Clyde had several children. Clyde Jr. who now lives in Selah, Washington, Calvin and Robert. Robert lived in New Jersey where he owned a construction company. He and Calvin are now deceased.

After the death of her mother, Jerrine stayed on the ranch caring for her father. She left in 1940 to marry Frank Wire of Philadelphia. She remained in Philadelphia the rest of her life.

In 1945 Clyde Stewart sold the ranch and went to live with a son in Montana. Two years later he was dead at 80. He is buried in the Burntfork Cemetery beside his wife, Elinore. His first wife, Cynthia, is also buried there, as is his son, James (Jamie), whose death was portrayed in "Heartland".

LETTER FROM JERRINE

The following is a letter written to Edna Stoll Stiteler from Jerrine Rupert Wire when she was about 80 years old. Jerrine was the daughter of Elinore Stewart who was the author of "Letters of a Woman Homesteader" from which the movie "Heartland" was made.

Dear Edna and Lester,

This is a beautiful green and gold day of spring. My fingers itch to work in my yard among the violets and azaleas and dogwood and Iris. Many birds have built nests in our trees. Squirrels scamper about fighting with each other and with my big yellow cat, perhaps discussing the problems of raising big families of mischievous, unheeding squirrel babies! All of the many sounds of mowers and motors and trains and planes make a sort of symphony interrupted by the brash staccato of helicopters and motorcycles and shouting children and noisy dogs. It is, to my mind, music of the purest form, it is life blessed by God’s great love and sunshine. My life slips quietly by and I am not worried by this but deeply thankful that these pleasures are mine to enjoy in old age. I have been blessed all of my 1ife.

Your visit was such a pleasure! My son says he should buy a muzzle to put on me because I talk too much. Buy it he might but put it on me, he never will!

Looking around my "collection" of past thoughts, I found the piece I spoke to you about [MICK] . When you have time read it, don't bother to return it. I just wanted you to know how I saw the neighbors of Burntfork and why I feel angry at the portraits some others paint.

Since seeing you, my Cuban friend, Fidel and his pretty Dominican wife, Myra, visited me, then took me out to dinner. Myra’s mother also came down. We went to a Chinese restaurant. A Cuban, two Dominicans and a French-German trying to make sense out of a Chinese menu! We had a good time anyhow. They tell me that if their baby is a girl they are going to call her Jerrine Hernandez and they invited me to the christening sometime in October. Wow! How the name grows! Cal's daughter, Bud’s daughter and Fidel’s. There are also four Jerrines in the Philadelphia phone book.

I hope your convention went well and that you are rested from your journeys. Anne and Bob are busy in Belgium today, I guess.

Love to you always for the now and for the then days.

‘Bye,

Jerrine

"MICK"

"My Wild Irish Rose", the sweet haunting melody floats to my ears and memory swiftly flies back across the years. in fancy I see again the rough two-storied building built of rough-hewn logs hauled from the near by mountains. It is night and cold as all nights are in this high country. The yard around the building Is filled with saddle horses and teams hitched to light wagons and buggies. From the building pours the sound of music, gay and loud and beautiful to the ears of the listeners. Warm yellow light from the kerosene lanterns in the "hall" cut bright slices in the darkness. Inside the families of the ranchers in the remote valley are dressed in their very prettiest and are happily dancing, awkwardly, with much stomping and scraping and whirling. Dancing to old tunes almost forgotten now.

The fiddlers are neighbors who just "picked up" music and who play only a limited number of tunes they all know. The good smell of strong coffee and good cakes, of soap and water and perfume, of tobacco and liquor, and of children, and sagebrush and pine. The great stoves at each end of the hall roar merrily. Little children sleep on quilts and coats on the floor and benches back of the stoves. Older children scamper about or try to learn to dance.

Suddenly there comes the sharp sound of a man banging a stick on the floor of the dance hall. A laugh and knowing look passes quickly along the faces of the crowd. Everyone knows Mick, the lovely Irishman, the village drunk, a bachelor, a very fine smith and mechanic. His frail looking body is in reality a steel wire capable of enduring roughest, hardest labor and bitter cold. His beautiful blue eyes gaze over the crowd as his fogged wits collect themselves. Suddenly he stands proud and tall and poised and waiting. The fiddlers begin his song and from him comes the purest tenor voice singing lovingly, sweetly, "My Wild Irish Rose". The haunting melody lifts the souls of all who hear it from the dull days, the loneliness the disappointments, the ugliness of today’s chores. Their minds soar with the rising notes and trip happily to the lilt of this simple song. They share again the love expressed by the young lover of long ago.

Mick’s weaknesses and faults are gone and he who was never to know real love, stands strong and filled with love and beloved. No one ever broke the spell he cast upon all of us.

by Jerrine Rupert Wire

"TINKER LYLE"

Charles Stewart Lyle was born in Ohio in 1864. He grew up in Iowa and after traveling through Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, he finally settled at Burntfork in 1904.

He lived on what became known as the Kelly Place on Henry's Fork just north of the Anderson ranch. The big barn there is said to have been used by teamsters hauling freight over the Carter Dugway and was a stop over between Fort Bridger and Fort Duchesne. The road from Lonetree went down Henry's Fork and past the Lyle place at one time. The creek’s penchant for moving from one side of its bed to the other has almost entirely obliterated this road.

According to a niece, Charley Lyle was not a cowboy in a cowboy environment. He was a master at fixing things. He earned part of his living by visiting the neighbors to repair clocks, mend kettles, sharpen knives, fix running gear on wagons, mowers, and rakes. He was sometimes called "Tinker Lyle" for his love of tinkering with machinery of all kinds. What could he have done with computers?

Charles married Pearl Aldridge, sister of Herb and Ed Aldridge early day settlers. He left his wife to raise three young children; Richard, 16; Edna, 10; and Elma, 9; when he died in 1926 of tick fever. I don’t know how they managed or what happened to them after this. He and Pearl are buried in the Burntfork Cemetery.

THE PERKINS FAMILY

Roy E. Perkins and. Bessie Louise Nelson, born in southwestern Minnesota were united in marriage July 20, 1904 in Chalice, Idaho. From there, they purchased a team of horses, a spring wagon and camping gear. They started traveling in an easterly direction, entering the north entrance of Yellowstone Park. In-route through the Park to the south exit, the bears had robbed of groceries, leaving them in a famished state when they arrived at Dubois, Wyoming. In quest of land for Homesteading to establish a ranch, they proceeded south, crossing the Wind River nine times as there were no bridges; only two track trail-like roads. They received mail and some money at Lander, Wyoming. They inquired concerning homestead land but this area was mainly the Shoshone Indian Reservation. However they were informed of a homestead opening to be held in 1906 in the Riverton, Wyoming area. They proceeded on to Rock Springs where they decided, to stay for the winter. They rented a house built of sandstone blocks in the No. 6 mine area for $3.00 per month. Mr. Perkins continued his search by traveling horseback in the Farson-Evanston area and was led to purchase a small ranch known as the Piper Ranch at Farson. On April 12, 1905 their first son Alfred D. was born. In the spring they moved to the Farson ranch, acquired some cattle and. produced hay for sale. The source, of irrigation water was from the Big Sandy which common to most Wyoming streams was insufficient for maximum hay production. Then too, livestock grazing rights, on the surrounding public domain had already been appropriated by the large livestock interests. Operations of this ranch continued through 1908. During the interim, Clarence N., Dec. 10, 1906, and. Roy B. Jr., Oct. 8, 1908, were born in Rock Springs.

Being informed by Earl Wright that there was homestead land available in the Burntfork area, the Perkins family moved in the spring of 1909 and occupied a small house for a short time on Birch Creek near the present highway crossing.. This place is where John and Delva Hickey McCarthy later lived. The story was that James Mass had been murdered here by an apparent enemy. Since the Burntfork and Lone Tree area were isolated from the railroad towns, they were somewhat removed from identity and authority of the law, resulting in a haven for individual horse thieves or hired killers, to avoid being detected, resulting in some murders in the area. Lawlessness in Wyoming abated, likely the result of the conviction and execution of Tom Horn, a hired killer in 1898.

The Perkins family rented the Zimmer ranch for three years. It was located a few miles up Birch Creek, across the Wyoming border in Daggett County, Utah. They acquired a considerable herd of cattle and Mr. Perkins took the cattle for summer grazing in the Black's Fork area. It was there on the Zimmer ranch that Ruth Bessie was born with Mrs. Don Sadlier as midwife to Mrs. Perkins. Don Sadlier was our nearest neighbor and had lost a leg from an accidental gunshot. While we were there he had appendicitis for which Doctor Tinker of Manila, Utah performed an operation, which was unsuccessful. Also living there was Yankee Meyers whose son, John was pitcher for special event baseball games.

In the interim, Mr. Perkins had purchased underdeveloped land near the Widdop ranch on Spring Creek and in the spring of 1912 moved on this land, having sold the main herd of his cattle before leaving the Zimmer ranch. The buyer of the cattle paid for them with cash including stacks of gold coins. These gold double eagle coins fascinated son, Alfred, seven, who never forgot and that is probably why he has his present collection.

The only evidence of habitation of this land were juniper (cedar) posts, probably set thirty years prior by a homesteader who was advised to leave the country as a result of conflict with the Widdop family. Apparently he’d enlarged their ditch for irrigation water, permissible by law but possibly against the wishes of the Widdops as they thwarted his attempt to obtain water by physically breaking his ditch. In the encounter, while the Widdops were in the process of breaking his ditch, Bill Widdop was shot and Tom Widdop, the son, was wounded. The Widdops were armed, allowing him to claim self-defense. Their ranch was sold to Clark Logan, a single man, and years later sold to David and Ethel Logan.

Mr. Perkins acquired additional land by purchase and a desert claim which was all in a virgin state, requiring clearing of sagebrush and rock plus building of a two and one half mile ditch from Burntfork Creek for a source of irrigation water.

There were the forbidding open spaces of that part of Wyoming to subjugate and permit a family to live. It was a challenge to overcome the many adverse characteristics of undeveloped rocky, arid soil, limited in fertility and a short growing season due to a 7000 foot elevation.

During the winter, Mr. Perkins had built a cabin on Spring Creek to be occupied by the family in the spring of 1912. This was a start but a stupendous task faced the family, i.e. the building of corrals, fences and most important constructing a two and half mile irrigation ditch through rough terrain, followed by removing of sagebrush and rocks from land to be irrigated. Draft horses were expensive and in short supply and rather small (1000 to 1200 pounds) to supply the power needs. There were willing workers available for hire at $l.00 to $1.50 per day, board included. The work of Dave Gillis, Ed Aldridge and Arthur Hallett contributed much to accomplishing the tasks. A Mr. Swink contracted to plow and clear several acres while the ditch was being constructed. He lived in the McKinnon area, his wife was blind and they had several children. While Mr. Swink was in Green River, he obtained a large number of muslin cement sacks and had Mrs. Perkins sew clothing for the children.

Truman Horton, the fourth son was born November 25, 1912 in a one room setting in front of the Stoll house which is south of the highway crossing the Burntfork Creek. Mrs. Perkins had moved from the Spring Creek cabin to be near Grandma Stoll who served as midwife for his birth. She was one of the earliest settlers (1870's) and a fine medical practitioner. She was also midwife for Florence E. born January 1914 in the same location. Two years later Lois M. was born in the cabin on Spring Creek.

The road from Burntfork post office to Lone Tree traversed through land intended for cultivation. The county would not relocate the road, further adding to the burdens of developing the ranch. About two miles of the road required considerable grading along the hill-slopes and the bridging of Spring Creek and a wash. The present highway remains in the same location.

There was free for all open public domain for grazing of livestock but it was over grazed and range losses from straying of cattle amounted to as much as ten percent. Gradually the Perkins ranch accumulated a herd of about two hundred cattle and produced about two hundred tons of hay for winter-feed. The ranch had only flood water rights in the Burntfork Creek, which means it was entitled only to stream flow in excess of prior water rights. A cycle of low precipitation, especially light snow fall in the Uinta mountains resulted in low flows of the streams with below normal hay production resulting in about thirty percent winter loss of cattle during the winter of 1918-19 from starvation.

In the early 1920's the downstream of Birch Creek became polluted with typhoid bacteria resulting in the death of Alvin Hanks and Bessie Heiner with serious illness to other members of the Heiner family as a result of drinking water directly from this stream. Alvin Hanks was the husband of the present Lucille Luke and Bessie Heiner was a delightful young lady anticipating her first year of teaching.

Mr. Perkins was a man of unusual abilities which was recognized by the community as he was frequently visited for his advice pertaining to legal matters. He was justice of the peace, state water commissioner and school board member for many years. During his young years, his father, a District Judge, conveyed to him an understanding of law and legal procedures. He had the ability to read, understand and explain to others legal matters and encourage compromise rather than litigation. He recalled his father advising his clients not to resort to court action if at all possible to avoid it. Therefore he was well accepted as Justice of the Peace for the Burntfork community. He possessed, a couple of volumes of Wyoming State Statues and frequently neighbors in conflict would contact him for advice. He understood legal terms and would read and explain the Wyoming law as it applied to the problem. He prepared legal document, affidavits, filing of complaints, mortgages, notes etc. all as a community service. He held, at one time, a six-man jury trial, involving a conflict between two brothers, both friends of his. Violent occurrences were rare, but one late night, a man was taken to the Perkins house to file assault and battery charges resulting from a quarrel with a relative who hit him with his rifle. He was a gruesome sight with a large scalp wound and blood over his face and clothing. He performed marriages, one a double marriage of two sisters, viz, Lila Gamble to Grover Logan and Madge Gamble to Mr. Stevens. The marriage was performed at the Perkins home.

One of the trustworthy neighbors, Ed Aldridge, a single man decided to get married. Apparently his brother Herbert Aldridge, who had acquired his wife through correspondence, arranged for a woman to marry Ed, since he could not read nor write. Ed arranged to have the ceremony at the Perkins home to be performed by Mr. Perkins early in the afternoon. Everything was in order, hour after hour passed. Finally Ed came walking alone. He was dumbfounded and related that the woman had left during the night. We were sorry for him.

Mr. Perkins was prevailed upon by the community to assume the duties of water commissioner because the people felt that he was the only knowledgeable individual in the community as to state laws concerning water control of the streams. Due to droughts, the water flow in the streams was insufficient for irrigation of all the lands normally irrigated. Priority for the available water supply had to be adjusted by acreage and date of water right filing, resulting in many cases, of no water for the later rights. The Perkins ranch had only a so called flood right, i.e. the flow of Burntfork stream during the summer months were calculated only sufficient for the early water rights. Mr. Perkins had authority, similar to a sheriff, to make arrests for water violations. The matter of irrigation water control came as a surprise to many of the ranchers because in past years they had the liberty to take water from the streams at will. There is nothing that will provoke the ire of a rancher more than loosing his water supply because it results in crop loss. Mr. Perkins was very patient in explaining the necessity of his actions according to Wyoming law, by showing the record of an individual's water right in relation to the earlier rights. However, there were those who would not accept regulation. He did not tell his family of any troubles but they were informed that a rancher ran him from his ditch with a shovel. The next day, with the aid of a young man who grabbed the violent rancher, Mr. Perkins arrested the offender and took him directly to court in Evanston, Wyoming. Another time, Mr. Perkins was threatened that he would be killed if he set foot on this man's place. The next morning at 3:00 a.m., Mr. Perkins walked into this individual's house, arrested him and took him to court. This proved that Mr. Perkins would not be bluffed. He had no further trouble while serving as water commissioner.

The water shed for the Perkins ranch was in the Uinta Mountains of Utah. There was no interstate adjudication of water rights. Those irrigating land in Utah were not controlled, likewise a ditch originating, to irrigate Wyoming land, but heading in Utah was not subject to control because the water use situation was very complex involving several states with streams crossing state lines.

The Burntfork community was not entirely isolated from communication since there was a daily mail route that originated in Mountain View and came to Lone Tree and Burntfork, a distance of thirty-two miles.

The mail and occasionally passengers was transported with a team of horses pulling a light wagon, each starting in the morning from their terminal location and meeting halfway to exchange mail, other contents and perhaps passengers before returning to their starting place. Later after World War I, a motor vehicle was used through.the summer months. The Perkins family looked forward to mail, i.e. letters from relatives, a weekly newspaper from Kansas City, Missouri and a perennial Saturday Evening Post so enjoyably read by Mr. Perkins and the front cover cartoon by Norman Rockwell, an amusement to all members of the family.

The telephone line consisted of two steel wires supported by insulators attached to light wooden poles about every three hundred feet. The interior of most of the poles had been stripped by strikes of lightening. This was a party line, each identified by a series of rings, shorts and longs, originating with a crank on the phone instrument. Everyone knew the news of the community by listening to various phone conversations. The line did not serve well for long distance, at best only about forty miles.

In 1926, Mr. Perkins was awarded a four-year contract for the rural mail route from Burntfork to Mountain View and purchased a 1926 Chevrolet Coupe fitted with box similar to a small pickup, be used through the summer months. The motor vehicles at that time were subject to frequent mechanical troubles, especially steep hills caused axles and differential gears to fall. Mr. Perkins enjoyed the diversion from the ranch as the family members could do the ranch work.

During the winter months, getting the mail through was more of a problem as the route had to be traversed using teams of horses, each starting in the morning from Burntfork and Mountain View, to meet half way and return to their origin, a distance of thirty-two miles each day. The carriages, normally light,.spring wagons, were not readily being manufactured. Mr. Perkins resorted to the use of the rear gear, i.e. the back two wheels of a regular wagon fitted with a box and a tongue with hitching gear for a team of horses. The high wheels permitted less craft, i.e. pulling easier than regular light wagon. The remark was made that it reminded him of the ancient gladiators of ancient Rome. Two teams of horses were required at each end of the route, alternating them each day since the horses could not endure the thirty-two mile trip day in and day out. The operations continued smoothly as extra horses were kept to replace those afflicted with lameness or sore shoulders. The carts were durable but occasionally a steel tire would break due to cristilation as a result of the hammering over rocks and frozen ruts.

There was some resentment on the part of existing settlers when the Perkins family moved into the Burntfork area because of fencing of a part of the outside range used by the settler's livestock, especially milk cows that supplied their milk needs. Then there was the matter of barbed wire fencing which Mr. Perkins introduced. Existing fences were of the buck and pole type or the worm type built entirely of poles, requiring no nails. The bucks required mortising of two pieces of log or pole materials to form acute angles, which were nailed together at the mortised area. The bucks were stood upright at a distance of fourteen to sixteen feet apart to which three or four poles were nailed.

The barbed wire fences required less labor as there was a good supply of juniper (cedar) trees growing in the foothills from which posts could be chopped and set in the ground about two feet and spaced a rod (16 ½ feet) apart to support four or five barbed wires. Horses were vulnerable as they were prone to run into these fences resulting in injuries. Special precaution was taken in certain areas where range horses traveled to water and from one area to another, by flagging with rags, tree bows or placing stays between fence spans. Then there were no noticeable injuries to range horses. Soon other settlers started using barbed wire for fencing and the resentment of original settlers abated.

Generally neighbors and people living within the perimeter of the community appeared to be honest, but due to large losses of cattle, sometimes up to ten percent, it was surmised that some were stolen or butchered by the outside fringe of settlers.

Declining precipitation through the 1920's and more demand for the stream flows resulted in a yearly shorter irrigation water supply which decreased hay production needed for wintering of cattle. In 1929, the Perkins cattle herd were sold, to be replaced by sheep through the 1930’s.

The ranching venture was beset with hard work, uncertainties and disappointments but the primary purpose of the Perkins parents was to raise their family of seven children to be good citizens and make a worthy contribution to society. In doing so they emphasized the importance of a good education. In order to accomplish this it was necessary for the family to go to a town where further educational facilities were available. Ruth and Florence attended the Mountain View, Wyoming High School where Ruth graduated. Alfred and Roy went to Evanston High school where they both graduated. There now were several of the children ready to go to college resulting in Mrs. Perkins moving the family to Laramie, Wyoming. There were four of the children received Bachelor Degrees plus Masters or Masters Equivalent.

Truman remained on the ranch with his father, a difficult period in the 1930's with wool at ten cents per pound and lambs at four and one half cents. More land and range were required as the herd increased, but with perseverance, the outlook was promising. Through the W.P.A. the Hoops Lake Reservoir was built and all the shares possible were acquired for the Perkins ranch but the family help to rehabilitate the fields, which had not been irrigated for many years, had left. World War II was brewing and Truman was of the prime age to be drafted. It was more than Mr. Perkins could for see continuing, resulting in the exchange of the ranch for a fifteen-unit apartment property in Ogden, Utah in 1939.

Our fate was common to the pioneers of the west, a worthy experience was gained by all members of the family. We learned to work and manage our future destiny. Our parents have passed on but all members of the Perkins family are living and can give a good accounting for their place in society.

By Ruth (Perkins) Sandberg. 1983.

This following related by Alfred:

While my father and I were gathering cattle in the area, we stopped to visit Herbert Aldridge, his wife and baby girl. They insisted we have dinner with them, a very nice meal. They appeared to be very comfortable, but soon thereafter Mrs. Aldridge gave birth to a boy and sadly she passed away as a result of the childbirth.

OLD SCHOOLS

The first school in this country was at the George Stoll Sr. place. This school was a log cabin built by Mr. Stoll and was west of Orson Behunin's house. It was situated on a little island on Burntfork Creek just north of where the present bridge crosses. George Stoll Sr. was the first teacher and the Stoll children were the only white children as the rest were Indians. As Mr. Stoll came to this country in 1867, this school was established at some time after that.

As the white population infiltrated, another schoolhouse was built. This school was about a quarter mile east of the present building (now gone) at Burntfork and it too, was on the north side of the road, east of the Welch Spring. Judge Hereford was the second schoolteacher. He and Mr. Stoll alternated as teachers until 1888 when Lillian MacDougal came to Burntfork to teach. She married George Stoll Jr. in 1890 and taught until about 1892.

Sometime during the a-fore-mentioned period, Phil Mass, who came to this country in 1862 and settled on Henry's Fork, hired a tutor for his four boys and five girls. The tutor was William Pearson.

The third school was on Birch Creek somewhere on the Lloyd Anderson ranch. At that time Charles Vincent owned the place. People are in doubt as to who the teacher was in that school but it was believed to have been William Pearson. Willie Welch talked of attending this school in his early years when his family still lived on Henry's Fork. He spoke of riding his horse across Henry's Fork several times to reach the school at a time when his saddle and gear on his horse weighed more than he did.

The fourth school in this country was in Utah on the B. Gamble ranch with Mr. Gamble as the teacher. A Mrs. Katterson was the next teacher. This building was at the corner of the old B. Gamble ranch house and has since been torn down. Earl Gamble started school there around 1897. H. E. MacMillin was a teacher there at one time.

The fifth school was built at the site of Mel Behunin's cabin about 1900. This was used until 1924 when the building burned down. Among the teachers at that school were, H. E. MacMillin, Molly Listrom, Grace Hathaway, Miss Muir, who was a sister of Walter Muir, Monroe Ashton, Mary Graham, Amaza Davidson, Pat Murphy, Delilah Decker and Ruth Hardin who was the teacher when the building burned.

Many children attended this school. The children who probably rode farthest were the Sadlier children, Claude, Clara and Pearl, who rode horseback from the Ike place above the old Gamble ranch. The Lamb children, Archie and Dewey, rode from the Beck place to Burntfork and Willie Welch rode from Henry's Fork. Geraldine Fish rode from the Fish place, Mae and Kim Bullock from the Herman Olsen place and the Gardiner children walked to school from a place under the hill from Earl Hank's present home.

All of the students walked or rode horseback and many of them carried their lunch in a five-pound lard bucket. The subjects taught were reading, writing from copybooks, physiology, spelling, history and geography. Spelling matches were held every other Friday and ciphering matches on the alternate Fridays.

After this building burned, school was held in the "Old Hall" until the new building was completed in 1925. Carpenters on the building were Gus Youngberg, August Gustavson and Mr. Oaks who boarded at the George Stoll Jr. ranch. The lumber was hauled from Carter by Earl Gamble.

Lucille Hanks Luke was the first teacher in the new building. Some of the other teachers there were Etta Katzmyer, Jessie Chipp, Anna Angelovic, Ruth Perkins, May Branson, Glen Walker, June Landis, Norma Buckles Gamble, Lyda Husman, Mrs. Ruble and Mrs. Liggett. That school was consolidated with McKinnon in the late forties.

According to a history of schools compiled by the McKinnon High School history class of 1931, the first school in McKinnon was on the lower end of the Smith place. In checking further I found that this was on the J. J. Swink place. Swinks lived at what is now the Tex Dorman place north of the McKinnon Store. The schoolhouse was west of the Swink house and east of Eli Slagowski's home. Corabelle Smith was the first teacher. This first school dates back sometime prior to 1914.

There was a school at what is now the Bob Briggs place. Adell Meyers was one of the teachers there. One was below Bob Briggs place and Erma Collett Slade taught there. Another school was at what is now Dale Briggs home. This was the Logan home then. Sadie Chandler Lazzell taught there as did her sister, Guzzie Chandler.

Another school was the old red schoolhouse which was built around 1916. This was at the site of the present L.D.S. church. There were apparently two schools being conducted at the same time in the McKinnon area. One was down on Henry's Fork near the Briggs place and the other in the red schoolhouse. Minutes of 1919 show that there was a consideration of consolidation of these two schools.

Teachers in 1919 at the red schoolhouse were John A.Vance and T. S. Anderson. In 1920 teachers were John Vance and Mrs. Levar Anderson. Mrs. Cliff Anderson taught there in 1921 as did Etta Katzmeyer. Leonard Christenson taught as did Lowell Merrill and Mrs. Clarence Hickey.

In 1925 the school board met with Gus Youngberg to draw up plans for the new school. Apparently this school was completed in 1926. That building was used until 1971 and served as a church, dance hall, basketball court, and general-purpose building until the present church was built.

Early teachers were: Veloy Terry, Mae Terry, Rowena Anderson, Val Anderson, Evelyn Daniels, Bessie Heiner, Opal Walker, Louella Blackner and Lucille Luke.

It is interesting to note that Erma Collett Slade who taught in the Henry's Fork area in the 1920’s had a daughter Anna Collett Smith who taught at McKinnon in the 1940’s.

McKinnon School District #14 was consolidated with Green River in about 1957. For many years McKinnon had had a two-year high school which was discontinued about this time. Since then grades one through eight have been maintained. At one time four teachers were employed in this district as the student enrollment was 89 students.

Some of the students who went to school with Jim Slagowski were: Carrie Pearson, Fred and Bill Swink, Charlie and Ruby Richardson, Ivan and Marion Bingham, Lucille, Lovina and Eva Smith, Monte Swift, and Lela and Vivian Slagowski.

NEILS PALLESEN

It was at Coon Hollow School that one of the most outstanding teachers of the region began his career.

Neils Pallesen came from Denmark to the United States in 1889 and attended Nebraska State Teacher’s College. He taught at Coon Hollow in 1905 where he met and married one of his students, Dora Pearson.

They moved to Manila after Mr. Pallesen taught at Lonetree for a year or so. He taught at the State Line School. He retired from teaching to become a rancher, storekeeper and postmaster in the Old Hall in Manila, was one of the first Daggett County Commissioners, and served as clerk of the school board in Manila until his death in 1941. Mr. Pallesen was an astute businessman.

Neils and Dora raised eight children: William "Billy", Wilbur, Mildred, Delbert, Bonnie, Doral, Allen, and Forrest.

Few men have given more devoted support to the cause of public education than did Neils Pallesen.

ELI AND SUSIE MAE SLAGOWSKI

Eli Ephriam Slagowski was born in 1880 in St. George, Utah, the second son of Xcenerius Franciscus and Rosina Rindlesbaucher Slagowski. He went to school up to the eighth grade, which is equivalent to a high school education now. He was very talented in arithmetic and he loved to read books. I can remember seeing him up most of the night trying to finish reading a book or novel by the light of a coal oil light.

Uncle Ben, Eli's older brother, came to Manila, Utah in 1898 to teach school. The rest of the family came to the Bridger Valley in about 1900. Doyle said Dad told him that he walked and drove a bunch of sheep from Beaver to Manila. The Merchants were already living in Manila. That's where Eli and Susie Mae Merchant were married in 1901.

In the early part of his marriage he built a cabin up at Coon Hollow so the children could attend school. At that time Jim, Lela, Vivian and Della were in school. We went to several small schools that were held in log houses up and down Henry's Fork. We would ride horseback to and from school carrying our lunches and books and we had many good times during our school days.

Dad took over the homestead of 160 acres that Uncle Ben had filed on Henry's Fork. We were raised there as a family. Dad built a two-room cabin on the creek bottom with a bunkhouse for the boys to sleep in. He had a new home started up to the square when the flood of 1918 hit. It filled the old house with mud and floated the new house away. He and the family went to the mountains with wagons, horses, and cows to get the logs out to build another house. He built up on a hill this time.

We always had a good garden, potato patch, milk cows, and chickens. He would take the wagon to Vernal every fall for apples, melons and honey. At one time he had sixty Hereford cattle and he traded them for sheep which was a terrible mistake. He would work for the sheep men hauling corn from Green River with a wagon and two teams. It took two days to go in and two days to come back. He also worked at a sawmill on Phil Pico when Jim was little. He worked for Keith Smith in the summer at Linwood as a ranch foreman to put up the hay. He was boss on the McKinnon Canal when they built the Beaver Meadows Reservoir. He was also ditch rider on the canal for two years. He was very ill in the summer of 1927 when he had typhoid fever from drinking from a polluted stream.

My parents belonged to the LDS church but we couldn't always attend even after more saints moved into the area and organized the ward here. Mother was bedfast for several years before she died in 1929 and my father had quite a struggle with the many pressures of raising nine children, having a sick wife and without adequate means. Four of us were still home when mother died. I was sixteen, Floyd was thirteen, Eugene was ten and Leo was only seven. My father was always there at night with the house warm and clean when we got home from school, which I appreciated very much.

Of the three girls and six boys, which they raised on Henry's Fork, only three stayed in the immediate area. I married Orson Behunin and we finally owned the old Will Stoll ranch on Burntfork. Doyle married Fon Potter and they raised their family at Washam near Manila. Della married Ronnie Harris and they acquired my father's place and lived there and raised their children on the old homestead. This property still belongs to Della and Ronnie’s children. The other children were James, Lela, Vivian, Floyd, Eugene and Leo.

My father died of cancer of the kidneys in 1942. He is buried beside my mother in a graveyard in McKinnon, Wyoming not far from my home.

by Christena Slagowski Behunin

ANDERSONS

John A. and Lucinda Sanderson Anderson had a successful profitable life in the small town of Fairview, Utah where they raised sheep. They had built and lived in a beautiful, five bedroom, modern brick home where Cindy raised her children with room for other family members for various lengths of time. John A. was a successful sheep man ranging his herds from Sanpete County to the West Desert. Cliff, as the oldest son, was a great help to his father spending months away from home with the herders or being Mother's right hand man when his father was with the sheep.

When the Homestead Act of 1915 opened land opportunities John sent Cliff and his half brother, Hy, to Evanston to file on this "free" property as he needed more, better sheep range. They went to Evanston, filed from a plat in the land office and returned to Fairview without ever seeing this country. Cliff extracted a promise from his father that if he came here, he'd not move his mother out of her lovely home .

In the summer of 1916 Cliff and Hy came out to "prove -up" on their adjoining homesteads. Cliff was chagrined to find that his land description didn't include the land his spring was on but the water was his. He spent that summer with the Charles Terry family earning the materials to build his two room cabin and getting to know the people of the area. He talked of baseball games with the boys from Burntfork and chivarees and dances he attended. He spent that winter on the West Desert with the sheep getting back to Fairview right after Christmas. When an epidemic of some kind closed the schools for a couple of weeks in February, he and his sweetheart, Roena Day, decided not to wait until summer to be married. They traveled to Manti with her mother and were married in the Manti temple Feb. 7, 1917. When school reopened, Roena went back to the classroom and Cliff went back to the desert.

In June of that year they loaded their belongings into a wagon, hitched up a good looking team and, pulling a small buggy and leading Cliff's saddle horse, they headed for Wyoming. It took them over a week to make the trip but they were young, in love, and really planned to stay in Wyoming only long enough to gain title to their land, sell it and move on. It seems strange that they who didn't start out to stay last all their lives while some who planned to sink roots here weren't able to.

Cliff was not pleased when his father uprooted his mother, sold his holdings and home in Fairvlew to buy the Beach Place from Joe Duncan and move the family here. He recognized the potential for the area but was well aware of the monumental difficulties to be overcome before water could be channeled to the land.

John A. believed that the life giving water was in the mountains and could be used to irrigate their fields, when they got some. He was a small man physically but the work he could do and the dreams he could dream were prodigious.

Both set to work with their neighbors, teams and scrapers and the Beaver Meadow Reservoir and the Interstate Canal came into existence. This was only possible because of the cooperation, dedication, determination and sweat of every man in the community. Cliff and John A. were both right. Water could be obtained and it was truly a gargantuan task.

John A. and Cindy were 55 and 48 years old when they came to this area in 1920. They moved here with Eva, Lyle, Les, Von, Jessie and Bob. Buena, the oldest daughter, married Squires Tillotsen that year.

Cindy had problems having twelve children and her hearing loss became more pronounced with each pregnancy. By the time they moved here she was completely deaf but was so adept at reading lips that you forgot she couldn't hear as she was able to follow most conversations with ease. Crowds were harder for her but she kept up with the whole world as it came to her door. It wasn't easy for her to come from relative affluence to a lonely waterless plain and leave four small graves in Fairvlew. Taking care of Von who had cerebral palsy and providing meals, clothes and beds for the rest of her family under primitive conditions would have had most of us bemoaning our fate, wringing our hands and quitting. But not this tiny, great lady. I didn't get to know her but a few years before her death but I truly appreciate the example she showed me of true grit and a genuine enjoyment of her family. She loved babies and children and their noise, of course, did not bother her. Her grandson, Chester, swore that she could TOO hear. When he, Von, Les, and Bob tried to tell jokes in Von's store, Grandma would come to the door and tell them that kind of talk wasn't necessary. She was always ready to feed, clothe or bed down anyone down on his luck.

Cliff and Roena started their family soon after coming here. They had four boys; Chester, Kent, Allen, and Morris, and one girl, Beverley before they lost their second son, Kent, at 7 years at Primary Children's Hospital of heart trouble. They welcomed two more boys, Keith and Lloyd, and their tag-a-long daughter, Cherri, ten years after Lloyd.

Roena taught school off and on for many years and, when teachers would fail to show up in the fall or be let go in the middle of the year, she was able to take over. She spoke of teaching unexpectedly when Allen was a baby and riding a horse up to Grandma's to nurse him at noon. When she wasn't teaching, she was on the school board or otherwise involved. She was instrumental in instituting hot lunches and a two-year high school so the kids needn’t leave home quite as young as they had had to do. Her music was the very air she breathed but education's for her children were as necessary as eating.

Many were the dances attended but not to dance! She played for most of the dances with whomever else was available; Fred Stoll, Archie Lamb, the Terry children, the Heiner children. (I'm sorry, I don't know who else.) Archie Lamb talked to me once of playing with her and had only one fault to find; she HAD to have the music before her. He played by ear but she was never able to memorize music, although able to play anything put before her. She spoke of playing in the old hall at Burntfork when she and the piano would slowly work their way to the middle of the room and the men would band together to push them back against the wall. I can almost see her sliding across the floor, still playing? Her short gnarled fingers had truly mastered the ivories.

All of their boys saw military service in World War II or the Korean conflict but returned safely to continue their educations and find jobs in their diverse fields. Chester in wild life management with the Game and Fish, Allen to design dams and water projects for the Bureau of Reclamation, Keith to design and work with airplanes at Boeing and the FFA and Morris and Lloyd to stay in the country and work with horses and ranching. Bev became a top-notch secretary and Cherri a compassionate registered nurse.

After losing money on cattle his first year out here, John A., Hy, and Cliff went back to what they really knew - sheep. In a cattle era on traditional cattle range they prospered. The browse the old ewes found here opened some minds to the fact that sheep and cows prefer different kinds of feed and that the two could be run simultaneously. (Lloyd’s only problem with having both was that he had to go to twice as many meetings.) They took turns herding their band of sheep on land purchased or homesteaded on Phil Pico and grazing rights controlled by the BLM. Hy sold out after a few years and went back to Utah but John, his son. Lyle, Cliff and his boys provided most of their early work force.

John built a nice two story home, which didn’t compare with the brick home in Fairview because of the lack of amenities available to them, but was great for its time and place. Unfortunately this home burned in 1941 leaving them homeless at ages 75 and 70 but grateful for their lives and the lives of their boys, Von and Les. It should have been enough to make one bitter but they persevered, moved another cabin in, added on, and went back to life as it was handed to them. (Granddaughter Kay and David Potter still live in this "new" house)

Grandpa's potato patch and garden was a pleasure as well as a necessity. He was a fine family man always feeding the youngest child from his plate at meals. I know he taught Jamie to chew on her fingers as a baby by sticking her fingers in her mouth, into the sugar bowl, and back into her mouth. Not, perhaps, sanitary but a satisfying experience for young and old alike.

John A. and Cindy continued to live in Coon Hollow and run their sheep with the help of their daughter, Jessie, and her husband, Crystal Youngberg, until 1959 when John died after an illness of only 10 days at age 94. Eighteen months later Cindy followed him at 88. They are buried in Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Cliff worked hard tending sheep, irrigating, fencing and improving their lot. Roena gave piano lessons, raised a garden, sewed all her own and most of her children's clothes and kept her family clean and fed. They were both active in church and community activities. Cliff flew to Washington to help secure the RTA loan so telephone service could be expanded and improved. He was president of Union Telephone Co. for many years, was on the BLM advisory board,. County Fair Board, and both were school board members at different times. Roena was recognized statewide by receiving the 1955 Quealy Award from the state Homemaker's Organization.

In 1946 they purchased the Heiner property. They were both close to fifty years old when they undertook this huge debt and most of their kids were gone from home. They did it! They never quit. for ten years later they bought the Ringdahl sheep outfit with their sons, Morris and Lloyd, and assumed an even bigger debt. Morris left in 1960 to work on the dam and later for Mt. Fuel. Cliff and Lloyd ran the sheep outfit successfully until 1966 when they sold it to Ray Cook and Lloyd bought his father's shares in the outfit.

Cliff and Roena retired to Green River. Trips to Hawaii to visit Keith, a People to People tour of South America, Stockgrowers and Telephone conventions and Fair Board duties kept them both young. They retired, but not to rest. Cliff joined the Lion's Club and was on the advisory board for construction of the new County Courthouse. Roena belonged to a Homemaker's Club and Reading Club as well as their continued participation in Church activities.

Cliff died in 1974 at the age of 80 after a long battle with cancer. Roena lost her hearing and had problems with her sight before she died in 1989 just days before her 94th birthday. They are buried in Green River Cemetery.

We salute these four people and appreciate their hard

work. We WILL remember them.

COON HOLLOW

There are many stories of how Coon Hollow got its name but no one really knows for sure. When my father, John A. Anderson, bought the Beach place there was a little log cabin between two willow trees and we were told that it was where a Negro had lived who was hunting for gold.

It was said that Sam Smith named it this because' there were so many prairie dogs or ground squirrels in the Hollow that he called them coons and he called the place Coon Hollow. He camped at the spring on the Beach place before William Beach took it up as a homestead.

Another story is that William Beach had a Negro working for him by the name of Turner. He was said to have hunted for the loot from a Union Pacific train robbery in about 1898. Some think $85.000 in gold coins was hauled off in U.P. buckets and brought out here. A bucket was found at Doud’s hole, but others have searched at Beaver Creek, Long's Park and even around Carter Dugway. No one knows whether he found it or not as he later disappeared.

However it got its name. Coon Hollow it was for quite a number of years.

William Beach homesteaded in Coon Hollow in 1897. The only water available to him was seeps and a canyon spring. Joe Duncan bought this place in 1913 and was one of the first sheep men in this area. The Duncans were the objects of quite a bit of harassment at the hands of the cattlemen. Some of his sheep were shot in the corral and a sheep wagon was burned.

When my father, John A. Anderson, bought the Beach place from Joe Duncan in 1920 there were but twelve acres under cultivation for that was all the water there was. He worked very hard helping build the Beaver Meadows Reservoir and on the Interstate Canal which we still use to water our fields.

At one time the main traveled road went through our place and travelers would camp overnight at the spring. Crystal's father has told us of camping there many times as he traveled to Manila or was hauling lumber. The road then went on up the canyon through the east groves and down around Cedar Point to the Dallas and Fouman places where there was a store and post office.

Cliff and Roena had taken up a homestead and