Hans Brotherson/Pete Nielsen Home

The retouch work was done by David R. Gunderson of Ogden, Utah. He has worked his magic on several of our photos.   This home was located where the Wasatch Academy soccer field now stands on 300 West 100 South.  Pete and Mary Nielsen lived there as well as Hans Brothersen.  I am not sure who was there first. 

July 24, 1914 Winning Parade Entry

TWENTY FOURTH OF JULY by Talula Nelson

The twenty fourth of July was always a gala day in the early history of Mt. Pleasant.


At sunrise, the flag was raised on the historic liberty pole.  It was worth rising early to see the men thread the rope through the pulleys and see the flag ascend smoothly and surely to the top of the high pole.  We would recall how a lumberman, Niels Rolfson, had brought this long straight tree down from the mountains.  What a piece of engineering to guide it safely down the steep slopes and deep canyons! At times it would have to be raised by hand almost perpendicularly to make the quick u-turns and miss the trees that lined the road.  The team of horses had to be held at tight rein to ensure the slow movement.  When it finally arrived at the  corner of State and Main it was  raised by block and tackle and secured in its upright position by pegs and props.  An iron band was placed around it to fasten the pegs.  Pulley were then fastened to the  top and bottom to raise the flag.


At ten o'clock in the morning the grand parade would begin.  The streets had been lined for hours with people waiting for the wonderful display of floats, beautiful girls and horses.  Someone would shout, "Here they come," and we would all rush to the edge of the sidewalk, and sure enough, Uncle Sam, tall and stately in his red, white, and blue could be seen prancing down the street.  For years Elija McClelaham led the parade with a high stove-pipe hat, which added to his height.  His long legs were made to look longer  in the red and  white striped pants.  The blue coat with large brass buttons was crowned with a silk star-studded hat of blue, with white stars and a red and white striped brim.  He carried a cane, which added to his hig-stepping, as he kept time with the drum or band which followed.


The beautiful Goddess of Liberty, her special white float drawn by six white horses, well-groomed and decorated with white pompoms, came into view.  The float, a hayrack done in white bunting, carried a beautiful young lady dressed in white with a crown of gold, and her two lovely attendants.  The majestic title, Miss Liberty, completed the breath taking pageant.

The 13 original states were represented by 13 lovely ladies all dressed in white carrying a torch to signify our beginning as a nation.  Their float was appropriately decorated and drawn by a team of grey horses which were decorated with torches to match.


Miss Mt. Pleasant brought many "oos and aws" as her lovely float, drawn by four horses, made its way into view.  She was attended by several lovely girls with banners across their shoulders.  All were proud to represent their beautiful city.


Miss Sanpete brought a good laugh as she came riding on a donkey decorated in carrots.  Carrots were all over, hanging on the bridle and saddle.  Her crown was carrots, and a great corsage of carrots completed her dress.


Following Miss Sanpete came the other 28 counties, represented by 28 young ladies, all riding horses, their county banners across their shoulders.


Utah's best crop, a hayraack loaded with primary children, was exciting for the childdren and parents alike.  Scenes from the bible were displayed by other church organizations.  The Gleaners were well portrayed by three women bent over among sheaves of corn and wheat.  Jacob's well and Moses in the bullrushes was cause for much hand-clapping as the wagons bearing these precious messages moved on.


Indians added a great deal of color as their waagons came along.  Their bright shawls and black braids could be seen among them and willows near a three-pole wikiup.


The Gold Dust Twins clowned along beside the parade.  Old Dutch Cleanser came in her red and yellow dress, stepping the full width of her wide skirt and carrying her stick to fight dirt.


Following came a long line of covered wagons drawn by oxen.  Their wagons were loaded with children poking their heads out from under the cover; Mother and Dad were seated in the spring seat, a small child between them.  Outside were boxes of chickens fastened to their wagon.  Others led a cow, and small pigs could be seen in their boxes.  Calves and colts ran to and fro beside their mothers.

Azel Peel always had a team of cows trained to pull his wagon,  Charley Peterson ("Shoemaker" as he was called to distinguish him from others by the same name) hitched a cow and horse together, much to the delight of the viewers.


Indians would attack in mock battle.  They would come out of nowhere, shouting, yelling and riding wild into  the covered wagons.


Nephi Gunderson, dressed as an Indian with war paint and feathers, rushed up to a wagon where his fiance, Marie Hansen, was riding; grabbed her; at least tried to get her.  He found a nineteen year old girl quite a handful.  She cooperated and rode off with the Indians among much laughing and screaming by the crowds.


After the parade a meeting was held in the chapel.  This was a very special meeting, where so many stories of Pioneer experiences were told.  "Come, Come Ye Saints" and "the Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning" were sung by the audience.  "Utah, We Love Thee" was always a special solo.  The band played the "Star Spangled Banner", and we all stood while they played.  Then the closing prayer was offered.


The park where the old fort stood came alive after the program.  Here many brought picnic lunches, and a pleasant hour was spent visiting.  Finally, the Bishop came with a bag of coins, and the time had come for the races.  What fun! Foot races, sack races, tugs of war, and climbing the greased pole!  A young pig was greased and turned loose for anyone who cared to chase him.  The one who caught and held on to him earned the pig.  The park became a ball ground for the men while the women and children retired to the social hall for a children's dance.  Later in the evening, after the chores were done and the children put to bed, the married folks went to the social hall, where they danced and ate till the wee hours of the morning.


Occasionally, the twenty-fourth was celebrated in the mountains.  This was a day long to be remembered.  After the flag-raising and gun powder was set off in Wilson's Blacksmith Shop, the wagons started to roll toward the mountains to Derfee's Meadows.  There, on this beautiful smooth meadow the wagons formed a circle similar to the pioneers as they crossed the plains.  After the horses were taken into the trees, fed , and taken  care of, fires were started in the hole prepared for Dutch ovens.  The mothers were well prepared with spring chickens, young carrots, green peas and new potatoes, which were soon stewing under the watchful care of the men folk.  Sourdough biscuits were baked, and the picnic was ready.  Gooseberry and rhubarb pies were in abundance.  Many preferred another scone dripping with fresh butter and honey.  Good food, coupled with fresh mountain air made enormous appetites.


Balls and nipkats made their appearance in the circle made by the wagons.  Horseshoe games challenged the men.  A fiddle played and some danced on the rough terrain.  When the ladies got tired of sitting on the wagon tongues, they took hikes through the beautiful forest.  They gathered wild flowers and berries.  Reference was made that on just such a celebration, Brigham Young was informed of Johnson's Army was approaching.  All too soon the sun was sinking, the daylight turning to twilight.  Wagons started the long drive back to town. No headlights were needed as the faithful teams followed the rock road home.  After chores, the dance hall was filled, and the tired people danced till morning.


Yes, the Twenty-Fourth of July was a special day in the early history of Mt. Pleasant.  Much time and effort were put into making it a day fit to honor the pioneers, who made this land choice above all others.

Mt. Pleasant Flood - July 24, 1946 taken by Alice Hafen

The Settlement (from Nickles From a Sheep's Back by Pearle M. Olsen)

The Mt. Pleasant Fort was similar to the one above, which is Cove Fort.
Mt. Pleasant pioneers did not cut the rocks, they left them whole.

About four months after Mt Pleasant's very beginning (March 1859) it was reported that there were eight hundred inhabitants who were industrious and enterprising.  Already they had 1200 acres planted and crops looke promising.  The foundation for a fort wall had been laid and was 26 rods square, built of stone - - - four feet thick at the base.  The wall, when finished, was to be twelve feet high and two feet wide at the top.

A grist mill and a new saw mill had been erected.  A bowerey, 40 by 60 feet, built of upright cedar posts was covered with large, fresh green boughs and willows.  It was located in the southwest corner of the fort, and became the center of community activities.

Settlers celebrated July holidays that first summer with salutes, and drums beating at daybreak.  After a meeting consisting of singing and prayers, spirited speeches and instrumental music, a meal was served to everyone - - - and dancing began.

People still lived in their wagons and dugouts.  On the 11th of August they began harvesting limited crops consisting of native grasses called wild hay.  Their only means of cutting the grass was with homemade scythes and they raked it with pitchforks someone made from native wood and whatever iron could be obtained.  The simple method was time consuming.  They accomplished the hauling of the hay by using oxen, sometimes pairing one ox and one cow.

After they had harvested the wild hay it was time to harvest the grain crop.  It was also scythed - - - then cradled and raked into bundles - bound and hauled to the yards.  There it was threshed by trampling of oxen - - -or flailed by men with willows and flails.  To separate grain from chaff required a light wind or breeze.  Piled on a canvas and tossed into the air the grain fell into another canvas as the chaff blew away.  The process was repeated several times to thoroughly clean the grain.  Wilhemina ( the author's grandmother) took an active part in the harvesting of crops, as did other girls and women who helped with the raking, binding and gleaning.

Settlers drove oxteams to Manti to gather salertus that was in plentiful supply south of town.  That which was to be used for bread making was carefully gathered with spoons, and the less desirable saleratus that could be used for washing of clothes was scooped up with shovels.

THE FIRST HOUSES

When their harvesting was finished that first year, the settlers began to build houses in the fort and prepare for winter.  Roadways and alleys were marked off and nearly two hundred houses were erected - - - many of them using the rear wall of the fort for the rear wall of the house.  A slant roof and adobe walls were characteristic, but a few were made of logs.  Most houses had one door, two windows, and sod roofs, with dirt floors in all of them.  There were some houses along the alleys and a few of them were built both inside and outside of the fort.  Some men were brave enough to risk Indian attack on their families and decided to live outside the fort.

The fort wall was spaced with portholes every sixteen feet that were seven feet from the ground.  A flat roofed house in the corner provided a platform upon which guards could stand for a good view of possible Indian trouble.  Wide wooden gates centered the north and south walls, and narrower wooden gates were in the east and west walls. 

A huge fireplace in each house was used for night light, also for heat and  cooking.  Pitch pine and cedar wood made excellent fuel.  Matches were unknown so it was important to keep fires burning constantly, banking them well at bedtime.  If a fire died out, live coals were obtained from a neighbor by carrying them in a bucket, shovel or pan.

Interesting Article: "Wrecking Ball Blues"

http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2010/07/21/wrecking-ball-blues /

Victorian Cherries

Bobby Lambert and Barbara Peel

Mt. Pleasant Girls and Northern Utah Canneries ~ Mina Simpson Bjelke

Canning in the 1930's (compliments of http://www.media.utah.ed/.)

The 20th century produced dramatic changes and opportunities for women. The events leading up to statehood brought to an official end at least the practice of polygamy, and the state constitution restored women's right to vote and guaranteed other equal rights. Laws passed in 1911 and 1913 set maximum hours and minimum wages for working women. Technology dramatically altered women's lives, especially in urban areas. Electric service, indoor plumbing, central heating, and the small power motor revolutionized homemaking. The growth of commercial laundries and expanding factory production of clothing, processed foods, and other household items relieved women of many tasks and created hundreds of jobs for them outside the home. Manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, banking, and services grew rapidly in the early 20th century. The success of many of these ventures depended on women. (taken from Utah History To Go ~~~ Miriam B. Murphy History Blazer, November 1995 During these years Ogden, for example, became a center for the canning industry, and by 1914 Utah ranked fifth among the states in canning. World War I stimulated growth of this industry as 22 Ogden canneries secured government contracts. This industry relied on female workers; many were young and unmarried, but the seasonal nature of canning also attracted married women. The Utah Manufacturers Association (UMA) called canning "light work that could be done as well by women and children as by men." Tomatoes topped the list of canned items. Jets of hot steam followed by a cold spray loosened the skins, enabling women and girls to peel 14 to 16 bushels a day.


Young Women From Mt. Pleasant Participated In the Canning Industry


"I had the opportunity to take Mary and go to Clearfield to work in the cannery.  I left Wilma with Aunt Emma.  We made quite good wages, enough to pay the tuition and buy the books and get Mary the much needed clothes that high school required.  There was money left to pay the taxes and buy a few tons of coal.......I didn't buy myself any clothes, although it was a great temptation when I would go to Ogden to work with the girls while they did their shopping.  I was well-schooled that money can go only so far and this 'canning season' only lasted two or three months of each year.  I was happy when we were ready to go home from Clearfield.  The manager of the Woods Cross Canning Company came to me and thanked me for the interest I had taken in the girls and he asked me to come back the next year as campus matron.  I gladly accepted this position.  It meant a bigger check and nicer work.  The management liked me and the way I handled the girls.  They also told me to bring Don and that they would give him employment.  This helped make it possible for Don to go to high school when the canning season was over."


"The next year I got enough girls for both the Clearfield and Layton factories.  A man from the office came and took us on the train.  Printed rules were tacked in all  theapartments, but oh, how these rules had been bent and broken in the past. So I decided we  would live by the rules or take the consequences.  A week later when  I was making my final round of the apartments for the night, I discovered two of my girls were missing.  They had gone out through a back window.  I got in contact with the Ogden police.  They soon spotted them at the White City dance hall in Ogden.  They got back by midnight.  I was waiting for them, and when I told them to pack their clothes as I was taking them home on the5:00 o'clock train, they wept and pleaded.  But I tolt them thy were  only two out of almost one hundred girls there, and I intended to have discipline, and that no girl was going to be harmed while under my care if I would help it.  We reached Mount Pleasant at 1:00 o'clock p.m..  I phoned their mothers from the depot.  The train that took me back was due in twenty minutes.  How lucky I was because there stood Wilma.  She was staying with Aunt Emma who lived just a block away.  She had run to the depot when  the train whistled to see who got off the train.  I made the most of that twenty minutes.  I gathered my baby girl in my armsand wept because I had to leave her again.  It was a long trip back.  I reached Clearfield at midnight.  I didn't have any more girls try that trick for a number of years.  It had a good effect on all the girls."


"Discipline was fine and they accomplished so much work in a short time.  Often when I walked down to the plant I would hear the girls singing in harmony the songs of that day.  'The Utah Trail' and 'Springtime in the Rockies'.  The sweet harmony of so many voices almost drowned the grinding and clanging of the machinery noises.  It seemed they could work better and faster when they sang.  The community thought as much as I did of my singing Sanpete girls.  Some of them are grandmothers now.  But when I meet them they never fail to speak of the good times we had and how grateful they were that I had guarded them so closely when they were in my care.  I will never forget one year when I took a large group of girls to Clearfield.  The company sent me $250 to buy the railroad fares for the girls.  We were to leave the same day as Colonel Lindberg was to be in Salt Lake.  When I went to buy the tickets, out station agent suggested that I buy a construction ticket to Clearfield; this would entitle us to a special train from Salt Lake to Clearfield and save the girls walking to the Bamberger and waiting there, and also save on expenses for the canning company.  So that was what I did.  We were all delighted.  When we reached Salt Lake a man boarded the train to tell Mrs. Bjelke that her special train was all made up and waiting in Salt Lake.  When we arrived in Salt Lake there was no special train there for us.  The girls stayed in a group while I went in to the station master's office.  I  asked when my train would be ready.  Well, he was as confused as the other railroad men."


"It seems the president of the canning company, a Mr. Stringham, had just arrived with ten girls he was bringing from Heber.  When he learned the waiting special was for the canning company girls, he and the ten girls boarded the train and the special pulled out.  He thought the railroad company was very nice to furnish him a special train."


"Well there I was with about eighty girls waiting at the depot.  The girls were disgusted.  The city officials learned of the predicament and sent five plainclothes men to the depot to help me take care of the girls.  When they handed me their cards, I thanked them and said I really didn't need any help.  Then the hotel managers started to come, telling how many girls they could take.  I told them that we were going to stay in the depot until a train took us and our luggage to our destination.  Then the railroad president from Denver called me on the phone and told me to take my girls to the best hotels at their expense.  I told him no, that the girls were staying with me.  So another special train was made up at 12:00 o'clock midnight and oh, were those railroad men grumpy.  They didn't want to take any of our bedding.  I said, "Oh yes, they would take our bedding.  Getting to our apartments wouldn't help if we couldn't get some sleep."  So they took it along.  We reached the apartments about 1:30 a.m..  the police in Salt Lake said I must be a superwoman to take care of so many girls.  I told them that Iguess I wasn't so super, but the girls were a super variety.  They wanted the jobs so they could go to high school, and some of the older ones wanted to earn college money.  They were grateful to me that I made it possible for them to work and earn this money.  They looked at us with admiration."


"The many years (eight) I worked as matron for the Woods Cross Company were very pleasant and profitable for all of us."


"I took a large group of girls to Provo bench to pick strawberries three different years.  The girls didn't stand the heat too well and living conditions weren't very good, so we didn't go back" 


The above is taken from the book: "Utah Pioneers of the Second Generation by James William Pyper" pages 20-23.

Mina Simpson Bjelke in her later years.

Elmer Fillis Graveside Program ~ July 2010

HOPE CONTEST WON BY ROBERT PEEL

1953 Pentathalon Crown Goes to Frank Lee Pritchett

Comment from Lee R. Christensen ~~~
Kathy: A great story. I've always considered this event the number one athletic activity of my Jr hi school years. It allowed marginal (would be) athletes to compete - but seldom beat - the real athletes. As I remember, there was a computed co efficient for each competitor based on age, weight and height. That times your event performance score gave you a score for that event. The five events (?) shot put, broad jump, 40 - 50 yd dash, hi jump and the 1 - 2 minute basket ball shoot.
Seymour Jensen, coach and principal , North Sanpete Jr High was the early promoter and coach for this event. This event also led to a 3 day Jr Hi group trip to the big, big, city or Salt Lake. For many of us it was our first trip to Salt Lake City. Billy Hansen, Lynn Sheppard and Duane Schovil were three that I remember as SLC competitors , 35 - 37 . My congratulations to Peter for making the cut 1953. lee 

Meet Chas Hathaway and His Sweet Family ~ A Descendant of William S. Seely

Chas Hathaway has been a viewer of our blog for a while.  He has left a few comments now and then.  It wasn't until a year ago, that we found out he was an amazing musician, lived right here in Mt. Pleasant and was a descendant of William S. Seely.
 We have downloaded some of his piano selections  to play as background music for our blog.  Be sure and visit this website: chas.willowrise.com/                             

   I am a direct descendent of William Stewart Seely, through his daughter Emily Seely Coates, and then through Emily's daughter Lillie Claudina Coates, and Lillie's daughter Grace Chloe Lake. When Grace Chloe Lake met William Ezra Curtis, they married, lived in Castle Dale for a while (where they had my grandpa, Merrill William Curtis) and eventually moved the family to Provo. After my Grandpa married my Grandma, Leola Jex Freshwater, they moved to Salt Lake, where the family has hovered ever since.


It wasn't until we were in the process of buying a house in Mt. Pleasant that I discovered that I even had ancestors in Mt. Pleasant. I was doing some family history, and discovered William Stewart Seely. I just about fell out of my chair when I found that he was the first bishop and mayor in Mt. Pleasant.


I once heard a lecture that talked about how we have biological inclinations toward the locations and climates where our ancestors lived. I didn't give the idea much thought at the time, but I've come to wonder since. I loved growing up in the Salt Lake Valley, but Mt. Pleasant feels more like home now than Salt Lake Valley, even though we've only been here about 2 ½ years. I love it here!


My parents (Doug and Debe Hathaway) moved to Fairview about six years ago, while I was dating my wife-to-be. When I married Jenni, we lived in South Salt Lake so I could go to school at the Community College and U of U.


I've been playing the piano since 1994, when as a teenager I decided that I really wanted to write music. I had taken about a year of piano lessons in 1988, as a nine-year-old, but had gotten bored with practicing after a year. When I was 14, I picked up my old piano books and began re-teaching myself to play. But I quickly discovered that playing by ear (listening to music and learning to play it by picking out the notes) was both more fun and more effective for me. Eventually I put the books away and focused entirely on playing music by ear.


Within a year or two, I found that playing by ear provided a natural transition into writing original music. Soon I was writing as much original music as I was learning to play other's music. Since that time, which was about 1996, my greatest focus has been writing original music.


I have a sister who is an amazing artist, a brother who is a computer wiz, another brother who creates original musical instruments – especially flutes, and a sister who is an awesome photographer and web-designer, and we all overlap in our skills to some degree. So a few years ago my whole family got together and decided to start a family business to provide a way for us to market and sell our skills. We decided to call the company Willowrise. Since then, we've all accomplished a lot with what we do. I publish music CD's, my sister is a full-time professional artist (just Google Maria Hathaway's name) and now lives in Spring City, my brother is a full-time programmer and computer consultant, and my other sister does professional photography – especially Irish Dance photography, since she's also an Irish Dancer (Google Shelly Hathaway to see her stuff).


As of a couple weeks ago, I've now published my first book, Giraffe Tracks, which is a personal memoir of my full-time mission in South Africa only a few years after the end of Apartheid.


When I follow the lives of my ancestors, and see all of their creative ambitions, I can't help feel that it's the legacy they have left that fills me and my family with such a desire to create more beauty and joy in the world. They were pioneers, builders, blacksmiths, home-builders, and missionaries. That creative, spiritually motivating spirit has carried on through every generation since, and we continue to try to fill the world with joy, life, and the Spirit of God.


- Chas