MT. PLEASANT ELEMENTARY CIRCA 1952)

 

1922 FOURTH GRADE ~~~MINA HASLER TEACHER

 

(the following is just as it is written on the back of the photograph)

Front Row L to R: 1. Afton Zabriskie 2.????3. Madsen, 4. Anderson, 5. Lovell, 6. Tidwell, 7. Jensen, 8. Seely, 9. Maiben, 10. Christensen, 11. Myberg, 12. Christensen, 13. Myberg, 14. Anderson, 15. Seely, 16. Boyden, 17. Gunderson, 18. Haylee Ivie, 19. Abraham Burton, 20. Douglas Gunderson, 21. Hugh Barton, 22. Rhoda Jorgensen, 23. Vivian Pritchett, 24. Katie Erickson, 25. Anna Olsen, 26. Romero, 27. Montell Winkler, 28. Margaret Thompson, 29. Vera Poulsen, 30. Traunturine, 31. Hazel Poulsen, 32. Draper, 33. Alpha Madsen, 34. Leora Draper, 35. Eula Seely, 36. MelbaAldrich, 37. Christal Rosenlof, 38. Joseph Larsen, 39. Raymond Naef, 40. Cyril Fowles, 41. Merril Zabriski, 42. Mina Hasler, 43. Anderson, 44. Lawrence Johansen, 45. Hicks, 46. Virgil Bramstead.

FAMILY GATHERING WITH FRIENDS

 

Ida Carlson, Granny Great (MaryNielsen), Emma Zabriskie, Holly Anderson, Hans Lund's children, Gibbs Monson's two girls, 

Second Row: Mrs. Gibs Monson, Ella Lund, Medora Lund, Ella Waldermar - children?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MOUNTAIN STATES TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY ~~~ RESEARCHED BY TUDY BARENTSEN STANDLEE ~~~ (from our archives)

 

HAMILTON ELEMENTARY 4th Grade ~~~ Mina Hasler Teacher,

 

(the following is just as it is written on the back of the photograph)

Front Row L to R: 1. Afton Zabriskie 2.????3. Madsen, 4. Anderson, 5. Lovell, 6. Tidwell, 7. Jensen, 8. Seely, 9. Maiben, 10. Christensen, 11. Myberg, 12. Christensen, 13. Myberg, 14. Anderson, 15. Seely, 16. Boyden, 17. Gunderson, 18. Haylee Ivie, 19. Abraham Burton, 20. Douglas Gunderson, 21. Hugh Barton, 22. Rhoda Jorgensen, 23. Vivian Pritchett, 24. Katie Erickson, 25. Anna Olsen, 26. Romero, 27. Montell Winkler, 28. Margaret Thompson, 29. Vera Poulsen, 30. Trauntvine, 31. Hazel Poulsen, 32. Draper, 33. Alpha Madsen, 34. Leora Draper, 35. Eula Seely, 36. MelbaAldrich, 37. Christal Rosenlof, 38. Joseph Larsen, 39. Raymond Naef, 40. Cyril Fowles, 41. Merril Zabriski, 42. Mina Hasler, 43. Anderson, 44. Lawrence Johansen, 45. Hicks, 46. Virgil Bramstead.

LEVI FRANKLIN PRITCHETT and wife SARAH ELLEN THOMPSON HOME (Newly Painted)

 

HOME OF LEVI FRANKLIN PRITCHETT and WIFE SARAH ELLEN THOMPSON (From our archives)

 

 

 

HOME OF SOREN JACOBSEN and WIFE MAREN JENSEN ~~~ Researched and compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

 

CHILDREN GROUP WITH NAMES (circa 1885)

 

 

PHOTOS FROM THE PAST

 

Niels Christensen and wife Karen Johansdatter Home ~~~ Researched, compiled and Edited by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

 

TWIN SISTERS HONORED ON EIGHTY SECOND ANNIVERSARY

 

GROUP CELEBRATION ~~~ From Our Archives

 

 

GROUP AT A CELEBRATION (titled on the back)

Names on the back, but not in order: John Nicholson, Knute Thurklesen, Peter Fredericksen, Peter Monson, Oscar Barton, Joseph Johansen, Geo Larsen, Joseph Wise, Dolph Bennett, Mason Larson, Elijah McClenahan, Thomas Ivie, John Stansfield, Ellertsen, Ellisher Brandon, PeterA. Larsen, Charles Averett, James D. Meyrick, Edward Zabriskie

It is my guess that this was a re-enactment with white men dressed as Indians. The names listed were some of the first settlers to Mt. Pleasant. Also of interest is the posters in the background advertising "Ten Nights in a Bar Room".

ASPEN GRAFFITTI ~~ James L. Jacobs

 

The white trunks of aspen trees growing along roadsides in the mountains east of Sanpete Valley are covered with names and other graffiti carved by knives of former visitors. People who traveled or worked there seemed to have had an irresistible urge to establish their status by leaving their names displayed on these stately and attractive trees for future visitors to see.

When trees were properly carved, the knife cuts were formed into black scars that remained in vivid contrast to the snow-white bark for the lifetime of the tree. If cuts were too shallow, the tree healed them up so no scar was left. Some inexperienced carvers had cut channels clear through the bark down to the wood, and these caused such large scars that the carvings were almost illegible. But most carvings were made properly by competent and experienced carvers so the carvings became permanent and attractive.

In the early 1900’s all travel was by horseback or horse drawn vehicles, which was slow enough to give travelers ample time to observe and reflect on the great collection of carvings they found on the trees. There was also time to add one’s own name while the horses were resting or while they were stopped for lunch.

The names of entire families, father, mother and children, were often left on trees as evidence that they had been in the mountains. A family trip to visit a sheep herding father or to fish in the mountain streams made it possible for them to record their names on the biggest tree they could find. In areas most frequented by people, tree trunks were so covered with carvings that there was scarcely any bare surface left within reach.

Carvings varied as widely as the people who made them. Most names were formed of large block letters, but there were many styles, kinds and sizes of name carving. Some names were made in beautiful script instead of the usual printed letters. Lon Larsen was one who used uniform, flowing longhand made with real artistic quality.

Another who left his name in fine script was Orange A. Olsen, a Forest Service officer who has a ranger station named for him in Joe’s Valley on the Manti Forest. Most carvers were content to leave only their names or initials, but some added their addresses and the dates the carvings were made. The oldest I recall was dated 1890, while other dates showed continuous carvings from then right up to the time I herded sheep, from 1922 to 1927. Many indulged their artistic talents by carving a wide variety of pictures which included everything from horseshoes to teepees, houses, snakes and human hands.

There were more pictures of people than anything else, especially voluptuous ladies and virile men, and many likenesses of horses, bears, and various other animals.  Many sentiments were expressed in messages left for future visitors to see. Some of these read, “All sheepherders are crazy,” “Hate these blatting woollies,” “Lonesome Joe,” “Killed a bear.” In one area there were many short poetic verses, most of which were somewhat ribald in character. Some carvers thought it smart to counterfeit the names of well-known celebrities, so when one found “Daniel Boone,” “Tom Mix,” or “Woodrow Wilson,” it was understood these had been faked and were not authentic signatures.

During the years I herded sheep I was fascinated with the carvings, most of which had been made by sheepherders. In the long summer days, sheep shaded up from mid-morning until late afternoon, leaving the herders free for many hours in the middle of the day. So what could occupy their time better than tree carving! Andrew Tidwell was the most prolific carver of all the sheepherders on the north end of the mountain. He sometimes carved his full name in large letters, but at other times he shortened it to “A. Tid.” But in most places only his initials were found, on hundreds of trees along roads and trails and back in the boondocks where only sheepmen and hunters usually go. No one filled up a tree trunk like he did. He would ride his horse up to a tall tree, stand up in the saddle and carve “AT” as high on the tree as he could reach, then place another initial under that one and repeat it all the way down to the ground. I counted 28 “AT” initials in a column on one tree, and there were many more like it.

 The regular camping places where sheep camps were located year after year where known by well established names, many of which were carved on trees at the camps. “Little Bear,” “Beer Spring,” “The Jumpoff,” were some of the names. But “Honeymoon Camp” was my favorite. It was so named because a sheepherder once took his bride there right after they were married. It was an ideal place to spend a honeymoon and get a sheepherder’s salary at the same time. But there was a problem. The bunk on which the honeymooners slept was made of aspen poles with rawhide strips crisscrossing each other for a mattress. The groom had slept alone all his life, and it was difficult for him to get any rest cuddled in the arms of his affectionate bride. After several restless nights, the groom solved the problem. While the bride was not looking, he tightened the leather strip running down the center of the bunk. This raised a slight ridge down the middle with depressions on each side. Thereafter when the bride fell asleep, the cuddling was ended as she slipped of the ridge onto her side of the bed, and the groom slept soundly on his side, happily remote from her cuddling arms.

To relieve their loneliness, herders would often ride to the neighboring camps to visit and have dinner together. On Sundays two or three herders would catch a mess of trout and have a joint fish fry at one of the camps. It was customary for all to leave their names at all camps. I once wrote down the names on the trees at Harve Spring Camp. These were: Lynn Averett, Wenzel Brewer, Dan Christensen, James Jacobs, Loftin Johnson, Lon Larsen, Hans Lund, Howe Lund, Ray Lund, Bruce Madsen, Chet Mills, Liandro Serrano, Andrew Tidwell, Kenneth Tidwell, Aurel Winkler, Montel Winkler, Owen Winkler, Irl Wilson, Peter Woolsey and Shirley Zabriskie.

Not all aspen graffiti were manmade; bears also left their marks. It was rumored that a bear would claim his home territory by reaching high on a tree and marked the bark with his claws to show that this area was owned by a large bear. I doubted this, but I did see hundreds of trees deeply marked by the claws of bears that had climbed them. There were then very many bears in the mountains. A marauding bear ran amuck in the sheep I was herding one night and killed or mortally wounded 42 sheep on their bed ground. We  used bear grease rendered from bear fat to keep our shoes oiled. Sam Pierce was employed as a bear hunter and killed more than 100 bears in 1916 on the Manti Forest area.

Most carvers left their names on many trees, but two men told me they had each carved their names only once. One was Ernest Winkler, whose name I found near Commissary Spring where he had carved it as a boy. The other was James Larsen, whose one carving was in a grove of trees on top of the mountain. He carved this while his sheep were marooned in deep snow from a severe early fall storm, and he was waiting for help to rescue them. A team of horses dragged a fir tree through the snow to make a trail the sheep could follow off the mountain, strung out in single file.

Recently I found a forgotten carving of my own name on a tree near Silver Creek. With it was the date, “Sept. 9, 1924,” and the comment, “114 fish.” I remembered carving this on my way home to attend school after herding sheep since early May. Another herder and I had gone fishing before I left the herd. The legal limit was then thirty fish per day with two day’s limit allowed in possession. I was bringing home, packed in grass in a gunny sack tied behind my saddle, my sixty fish and those the other herder was sending home. So the “144 fish” were six fish short of the 120 we were entitled to.

The tree carvings gave a taste of history to visitors at a time when the leisurely pace of horse travel made it possible to see and admire them. Now that motor vehicles whisk people through groves of trees so rapidly, they do not take time to observe and add to the carvings as they did sixty years ago. And many people contend the carvings destroy the beauty of the picturesque aspen trees. So the day of the popularity of aspen graffiti is past.

FIRST WARD RELIEF SOCIETY

 

HOME OF SOREN JACOBSEN AND HIS FIRST WIFE MAREN JENSEN ~~~ Researched, compiled and updated by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

 

Hamilton School 4th Grade ~~~Mina Hasler Teacher

 

If you double click the photograph to enlarge it, you can see numbers written on each individual.

(the following is written on the back of the photo.)

Front Row L to R: 1. Afton Zabriskie 2.????3. Madsen, 4. Anderson, 5. Lovell, 6. Tidwell, 7. Jensen, 8. Seely, 9. Maiben, 10. Christensen, 11. Myberg, 12. Christensen, 13. Myberg, 14. Anderson, 15. Seely, 16. Boyden, 17. Gunderson, 18. Haylee Ivie, 19. Abraham Burton, 20. Douglas Gunderson, 21. Hugh Barton, 22. Rhoda Jorgensen, 23. Vivian Pritchett, 24. Katie Erickson, 25. Anna Olsen, 26. Romero, 27. Montell Winkler, 28. Margaret Thompson, 29. Vera Poulsen, 30. Traunturine, 31. Hazel Poulsen, 32. Draper, 33. Alpha Madsen, 34. Leora Draper, 35. Eula Seely, 36. MelbaAldrich, 37. Christal Rosenlof, 38. Joseph Larsen, 39. Raymond Naef, 40. Cyril Fowles, 41. Merril Zabriski, 42. Mina Hasler, 43. Anderson, 44. Lawrence Johansen, 45. Hicks, 46. Virgil Bramstead.

Comment from Lee Christensen:: If you haven't dated Mina Hasler's 4th grade class you might check this computation: Margaret Thompson is there. She was a long time teacher at Wasatch , a local girl, and graduated from there 1917. Going back 12 years is 1905 plus grade 4 is 1909. I'll pull up the 1910 census and see how many of these students are there as age 11. This is about as advanced in math as I get. CL Stewart the principal and upper level math teacher ,North Sanpete ,would be disappointed at what little I've carried into my declining years. lee

Short sample confirms my math. Margaret is there age 11, as is Douglas Gunderson age 11, Katie Erickson age 11 Cyril Fowels and Rhoda Jorgensen both lee age 11..

News Items 1937-39

 

How Did Mt. Pleasant Celebrate It's 50th Anniversary? (from our Archives, now 2024)

 

MT. PLEASANT PIONEER MONUMENT

Did You Ever Wonder
How Mt. Pleasant Celebrated Its First 50 Years? Well, for starters, they sent out a letter to each household with the following statement in the first paragraph, “The labor of opening up a new country amid the vicissitudes of pioneer life surely draws upon the admiration of everyone who appreciates integrity. The pioneers made habitable for us this uninviting land and laid the foundation for all the comforts that we enjoy; and that too, under conditions of extreme poverty and constant fear of attack from the Indians. These facts place us who enjoy the fruits of their labor, under a debt of gratitude to which all will acknowledge by taking a part in the erection of a suitable monument to their honor.”
The monument to which reference was made is the very one that stands in front of the Mt. Pleasant Carnegie Library today. The names inscribed on the base of the monument are the original heads of families who settled here in 1859. The money raised to erect the monument came from the families of those original pioneers. Each family was assessed $35.00 to have their pioneer ancestor included on the monument. That $35.00 sum in the year 1909 would be the equivalent of today’s $850.00, according to Consumer Price Index of 2009.
The names that follow are the names found on the base of the monument:

RIGHT PLATE:

Wm. Seely
Neils P. Madsen
Rasmus Frandsen
M. C. Christensen
Nathan Staker
Jens C. Jensen
John Tidwell
Henry Wilcox
Peter Mogensen
John Carter
Orange Seely
George Coates
George Farnsworth
Jens Larsen
Peter Hansen
Svend Larsen
Rudolphus R. Bennett
Christian Brotherson
Daniel Page

Back Plate
Niels Widergreen Anderson
Andrew Madsen
Mads Madsen
Neils Madsen
Christian Madsen
John Meyrick
Jens Jorgensen
Jens Jensen
Peter Johansen
Neils Johansen
Justus Seely
James K. McClenahan
John Waldemar
Christian Hansen
Henry Ericksen
Andrew P. Oman
C.P. Anderson
Christian Jensen
James Harvey Tidwell
Martin Aldrich

Left Plate
Jefferson Tidwell
Paul Dehlin
Mortin Rasmussen
Hans C.H. Beck
Peter M. Peel
Erick Gunderson
Alma Zabriskie
Soren Jacob Hansen
John F. Fechser
Andrew P. Jensen
Wm. Morrison
Hans Y. Simpson
George Frandsen
Peter J. Jensen
Jacob Christensen
Frederick P. Neilson
John L. Ivie
Christian Neilson Christensen
Isaac Allred
Andrew Johansen


And the endeavor itself took only a short time to complete. The proposal letter was sent out March 1st of 1909. The monument was in place and unveiled on July 5th, 1909, less than 6 months later. One can only imagine how long a similar endeavor would take today, not to mention the money that would need to be raised.

And what about the celebration itself? Who was there, who spoke at the unveiling of the statue? Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Latter Day Saint Church, dedicated the monument. President Smith delivered an eloquent and impressive Dedication speech and prayer. President Smith began by saying “ it was rather out of his line to attempt to address on any subject except church work ; that to this discourse he would have to deal principally with the Church or he would not talk of the pioneers of Utah, but he did not wish any nonmember to take offense to his remarks or think that he considered no one else worthy of mention as he estimated all men by the lives they lived and their value as loyal, useful citizens”.
A three-day celebration on the 5th 6th and 7th of July was held, according to the book of Mt.Pleasant, authored by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf. The following are excerpts from her book. The celebration was the greatest in the history of the town. People in the hundreds came from far and near. A non-resident described it as “ an unsurpassed success, without any unpleasant incident to mar the pleasure of the occasion under skies bright and blue – with stirring strains of music from martial and military bands, with salutes from canon and cracker; with eloquent oration and sweet singing, pleasing the large audiences; and to those inclined towards athletics, sports were provided daily”.

The monument was unveiled by Mrs. Sarah Borg, the second girl born in Mt. Pleasant. When the veil released by her from its fastenings, the flag with which the monument was covered, fluttered slowly to the ground, and amid the cheer of the vast crowd gathered, the beautiful shaft was revealed in all its splendor and glory; a splendid fitting tribute destined to stand throughout the years to come, to the work, trials and achievement of the Pioneers. A silent but emphatic testimonial of the great appreciation of the present generation for the mission so successfully performed by the brave men and women who settled Mt. Pleasant fifty years ago. (one hundred and fifty years ago in 2009).

This year, we the citizens of Mt. Pleasant have the opportunity to celebrate the founding of Mt. Pleasant with our own style and appreciation for those original brave pioneer families. On March 28th we hold our annual Pioneer Day, which is held at that time because it is significant to the fact that those original pioneers came north from Manti, Ephraim, and Spring City in March of 1859 to once again try a new settlement, having been driven south a few years before by hostile Indians. Because they recognized there was good ground here to raise crops, and good prospects to raise their families. We honor those families for their faith, courage, and perseverance. We indeed owe them a great amount of gratitude whether we are a descendant or a newcomer, we reap the many abundant rewards of their unselfish labors.

Mt. Pleasant Children (and names) Taken From Alice Hafen Collection