Historical, Fascinating and Unusual Pictures ~~~~ Submitted by Larry Staker

 Subject: Historical, Fascinating and Unusual Pictures

Shoes worn by Allied spies during World War II to steer the adversaries in the opposite direction   

  

Ottoman supply train still lays where it was ambushed by Lawrence of Arabia on the Hejaz   railway during World War I.  

   

Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I wore these armored gloves from 1508 until his death in 1519. (Now we know where Star Wars got some of their designs)  

   

 

The Cau Vang, outside the city of Da Nang in Vietnam is held up by two giant stone hands.  

   

This amazing 16th Century ring unfolds into an astronomical sphere  

   

 

This 500-year-old boxwood miniature from the 16th century was created in the Netherlands  

   

This small ornate ax was made in Germany during the late 1500s.  

   

Carbonized bread from Pompeii that still has the baker's stamp on it, 79 AD.  

   

 

18th century carved door in Germany with incredible workmanship  

   

 

A   futuristic-looking 1938 Dymaxion, designed by American inventor Buckminster Fuller  

   

The library inside of the Waldsassen Abbey in Bavaria holds thousands of volumes bound in white pigskin.  

   

'Cow shoes' used by moonshiners in the Prohibition days to disguise their footprints, 1924  

   

Designed and built in the late 1800's, this steamer trunk coverts into a stand-up dresser  

so the traveler doesn't have to unpack.  

   

The 1936 Stout Scarab is one of the first minivans.  

   

Marketed as a toy for kids, U-238 Atomic Energy Labs came with three  

different types of live uranium ore and a Geiger counter.  

   

The ornate Elephant Tower of the Carlsberg Brewery in Kopenhagen, 1901.  

  

A triple-decker bus roaming the streets of Berlin, Germany.  

   

Extreme tree pruning crew from the late 1800s.  

   

17 year-old Juliane Koepcke was sucked out of an airplane in 1971 after it was struck by a bolt of lightning. She fell 2 miles to the ground, strapped to her seat   and survived after she endured 10 days in the Amazon Jungle.  

   

90-year-old Grandma in the Czech Republic passes time by artistically painting houses.  

   

Mildred Burke, a pioneer of women's pro-wrestling who began  

wrestling men at carnivals in 1935 She would go on to wrestle over 200 men, losing to only 1.   

 

One of the most iconic photographs ever taken/ Bob Hope, John Wayne,  

Ronald Reagan, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra (circa 1975)  

   

The ornate Klementinum Library in Prague.  

   

Hope you enjoyed these history photos......  

   

Don't wait for people to be friendly, show them how.

~Henry James~

 

The White House Decorated For The Holiday Season

 

Absolutely Beautiful Photos ~~~ Submitted by Larry Staker

 

A WIDOWED FATHER'S CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS by James Monsen in 1938

 

 

Two Barton Homes Researched and Compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

 

Mary Lavern Gardner

 

Mary LaVern Gardner

6/9/1939 ~ 12/10/2021

Mary LaVern Gardner was welcomed home by her Heavenly Father and many loved ones on Dec. 10, 2021. Born June 9, 1939, in Fairview, Utah, to Erven Joseph and Anna Melba Peterson Brothersen, LaVern was the oldest of five children. She had built-in best friends for life when Elaine and Deanna joined the family. She also had two younger brothers John and David.

As the eldest child LaVern was taught from the beginning that girls could do anything boys could do. From driving a team of horses under the blazing sun to feeding livestock in the cold of winter and riding horses to town with her sisters, her memories cultivated on the family farm made her appreciate the value of hard work. She also learned more feminine tasks like cooking and sewing from her mother who was a talented seamstress. Throughout her life she passed these skills on to many others who had a desire to learn how to sew.

LaVern met her eternal companion Junior Gardner at a community dance in Mt. Pleasant. Shortly after she graduated from North Sanpete High School in 1957, the pair were married in the Manti Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After living in Birdseye for a short time and starting their family there, Junior and LaVern moved to Mt. Pleasant and a few years later built a home on a ranch of their own not far from where LaVern was raised. Their children Fred and Kathy were raised on the ranch and it went on to be a favorite place for their four grandchildren to be as well. A highlight of their time as grandparents was having their grandsons live next door.

On their family farm, LaVern not only helped with day-to-day livestock tasks, she was also the head mechanic who could change oil and tune up a tractor, baler or swather. Many times when they didn’t have the money for something she wanted, she just got out her tools and made it herself. LaVern also enjoyed playing the piano and taking pictures.
LaVern was a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. Throughout her life she was involved in many callings but humanitarian aid was especially dear to her and with the help of friends she was able to use her talents to serve people across the globe.
In her later years she put her talents to use helping making horse show and rodeo queen attire for her two granddaughters. She also enjoyed having company and visiting with family near and far.

LaVern was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, her parents and many other loved ones. She is survived by devoted children Fred (Ann) Gardner, Mesquite, Nev.; Kathy (Jay) Nelson, Fairview; Four grandchildren: Randy Gardner, Mesquite, Nev.; Rick (Stacey) Gardner, Eagle Mountain; Stevie (Logan) Ipsen, New Plymouth, Idaho; and Ashlee (Taylon) Earl, Fairview; and 10 great grandchildren; Sister, Deanna Hansen, Mt. Pleasant; Elaine Mayo, Provo; Brother, John (Terri) Brothersen, Mt. Pleasant; and David Brothersen, Mt. Pleasant, as well as many nieces, nephews and friends.
Funeral Services were held Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021 at 11:00 a.m .

 

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Christmas Devotional 2021

 

Hotel Utah Documentary

 

David and Kathryn Gunderson Christmas Letter

  David and Kathryn passed away this past year.  We have fond memories of them
and the historical knowledge they shared. 
 

Why miss an opportunity to Celebrate the Joys of Life.

Century Utah Women Spun Yarn and Also Dug Ditches

 

19th-Century Utah Women Spun Yarn and Also Dug Ditches

W. Paul Reeve
History Blazer, January 1995

In 1870, 13.3 percent of American women over age ten were working outside of the home. By the end of the nineteenth century, largely due to expanding businesses, this figure climbed to nearly 20 percent of American women. Over the same period Utah’s female work force grew from 4 percent to 13.5 percent but remained well below the national average. Regardless, these numbers do not come close to suggesting the significant and integral role Utah women played in taming the harsh western frontier and in building the Beehive State.

Utah’s pioneer women not only oversaw domestic chores but also shared in farm and field work. Missions and church assignments frequently took Mormon husbands and fathers away from home, leaving women to manage the household and farm. In Deseret, Millard County, Christina Oleson Warnick described her dizzying list of tasks that included digging irrigation ditches, plowing, planting and fertilizing the land, shearing the sheep, cutting hay for the cows, and spinning yarn and weaving cloth. Other women’s workloads were similar; some supplemented the family income with sewing, laundering, or other home-based employment. Understandably, in Utah’s urban areas the percentage of women working outside the home was higher than for the territory as a whole. Jobs held by Salt Lake City female workers in 1870 included shoe shop keeper, nurse, and hotel steward, but the large majority worked as domestic servants.

Utah women also engaged in a variety of other activities and organizations, including lecture societies, woman suffrage, the temperance movement, and a plethora of women’s auxiliaries and clubs. In 1875 the Catholic Sisters of the Holy Cross opened St. Mary’s Academy of Utah and that same year began a small hospital for sick and injured miners. Similarly, Mormon women opened the Deseret Hospital in 1882; it was almost entirely managed and staffed by female directors and doctors. In addition, LDS Relief Society women energetically became involved in a number of enterprises designed to help care for the state’s poor. They not only donated money, food, and materials but managed business operations such as silk raising and grain storage.

As the nineteenth century wore on, employment opportunities for women expanded. In 1872 two Utah women, Phoebe W. Couzins and Georgie Snow, were admitted to the Utah Bar; others traveled east and earned medical degrees. One Provo woman worked as a miner in 1900, and many women became telegraph operators, school teachers, nurses, and milliners. Still, by the turn of the century most Utah women remained primarily occupied as homemakers. Regardless of their title, however, it seems clear that Utah women were active in charity groups and other avocations that provided opportunities to develop their skills and participate in civic campaigns for change. In general Utah’s women embodied a spirited force that shaped nineteenth-century Utah.

For additional information see Michael Vinson, “From Housework to Office Clerk: Utah’s Working Women, 1870–1900,” Utah Historical Quarterly 53 (fall 1985): 326–35.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING WITH HILDA

 

My Favorite Christmas Story

Christmas Shopping With Hilda ~ From Hilda's Scrapbook

Awake I have worried, fussed, fumed and planned. 

Asleep, I have sought over sea and land. 

Wherever I went, when I told them the price, 

Clerks would smile, show sympathy and try to be nice. 

I have been at the Wasatch, The Progress, and Squires 

I have looked at all things a human admires. 

At Gunderson's, at Biddle's and over at Pete's, too, 

I asked to see their goods, both old and new. 

I went to Penney's and then to the Sanpete. 

I am quite sure I visited all places on Main Street. 

I roamed North and South, and up and down, 

Almost decided to go to some other town. 

At last discouraged and in despair, 

I searched mail order catalogs from everywhere. 

But whenever I saw an article I thought would do, 

I found that aft' their price, there was Uncle Sam's postage too. 

I have seen radios, automobiles, blankets and mitts, 

But darned if I could find anything for only two bits. 

Today I decided on this present plain and queer. 

Here is wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

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

I've added a few more pictures and  Hilda's Main Street Tour

 

(A fun walking tour of Main Street found amongst Hilda's Memorabilia)

Next stop is Mt. Pleasant City. As I step from the train, the first sign that meets my eye is "ROOMS 5 BLOCKS EAST 1 BLOCK NORTH". I am next attracted by a road sign that reads: "Fairview - 6 1/2 miles, Thistle - 37 1/2 miles, Provo - 57 miles, Price - 95 miles, Spring City - 5 miles, Ephraim - 15 1/2 miles, Manti- 23 miles, Gunnison - 38 miles. After sizing up the conveyances, I decided to walk up one side of the street and down the other. Between third and fourth west is a red BLACK SMITH SHOP sign with a sign PEERLESS, on the west side and LUCKY STRIKE TOBACCO on the east side. Nearly a block east we notice a blue sign advertising FIRESTONE on the west side of the building, with the sign BENT HANSEN AND COMPANY LUMBER in front. We pass the building painted yellow and two sign boards advertising DODGE BROTHERS and LUCKY STRIKE. As we pass the brick house surrounded by pines we see the sign SWEET CHOCOLATE. In front of the building is a painted sign SANPETE COUNTY COOP GENERAL MERCHANDISE. Next is the Mt. Pleasant Bank Building. On the front is painted 19BANK01. On the front of the LAMONT BUILDING upstairs are the following signs: A. SUNDWALL, M.D., and P.L. HOLMAN, SURGEON AND PHYSICIAN. In the east window, the sign reads W.D. TUELER, DENTIST. In the lower window is MRS. LAMONT MILLINERY and JAMES SQUIRE JEWELRY. Next we come to the GUNDERSON BLOCK. Next is the JAMES F. JENSEN building plainly labeled. Then we pass the CLEANING AND PRESSING and the MAYTAG SHOP. Next a frame building with a lot of CIRCUS posters; then the GOOD YEAR TIRES SERVICE STATION. On the corner of Main and 1st west is the MT. PLEASANT POST OFFICE and SEELY HINCKLEY GARAGE. and next is a BARBER SHOP. And now for a hot dog at REDI-QUICK LUNCH. Now the PYRAMID building, on the west side is the sign UTAH MEAT AND PRODUCE. The next building is the EQUITABLE building occupied by PROGRESS MERCANTILE CO. In the window upstairs is I.O.O.F. HALL. Now we are at SKAGGS', SAFEWAY. The WASATCH BLOCK comes next, L. A. PHILLIPS, DENTIST is located on the second floor, and J.C. PENNEY occupies the ground floor.

More than likely you have not observed the sign POST OFFICE and HENRY GEORGE CIGAR on the side of the building. The NORTH SANPETE BANK BUILDING which is built of stone with larger glass windows now greets the view. The next building we se is occupied by JOHANSEN BROTHERS and the MOUNTAIN STATES TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY upstairs. Now the next building we see is built of stone with large glass windows now greets the view. The building has a sign: PALACE PHARMACY near the top and is occupied by SLIM'S BARBER SHOP. The next building is labeled at the top LUNDBERG BLOCK. In the front on the ground floor is the sign, big enough for near-sighted people to see CONSOLIDATED WAGON AND MACHINE. Over the door is the sign JOHN DEER PLOWS.

My, we are hungry again and here we are at the CITY LUNCH ROOM. On the second floor is the sign, beginning to age DR. A. LUNDBERG, DENTIST. on the ground floor is the RECREATION HALL. Last year the CONSOLIDATED FURNITURE COMPANY built a fine new building, putting the name F. C. JENSEN on a marble plate in front. Over the sidewalk, facing west, is the sign FURNITURE, and facing east, HARDWARE. We won't forget the RED FRONT SHOE SHOP just east and in the old BANK BUILDING is the OPTICAL SHOP and CONFECTIONARY. At the intersection of Main and State is the Doughboy erected by the Service Star Legion in 1926. On the southwest corner of the next block is the sign, MADSEN AND LONGSDORF, and in the front window is the sign, S.D. LONGSDORF. On first east we come to the BISHOP'S STOREHOUSE. Opposite is the PUBLIC SCHOOL, ERECTED IN THE YEAR OF THE LORD 1896. We now turn west and on the opposite side of the street from the one we have just traveled. The next building is the CARNEGIE LIBRARY. Next we know, although it is not labeled is the Pioneer Monument which was erected on the fiftieth anniversary of the coming of the pioneers in the year 1859.

Going west we pass JOHNSTON DRUG STORE. Two sign boards, advertising PEET GREENALDI SOAP and VELVET CIGARET are set in a distance from the street. A lumber building where cream and eggs are handled is labeled ELECTRIC SUPPLIES. It must be strictly up to date, according to the sign. The next sign west is BJELKE SHOE HOSPITAL. On the red brick building next, appears the sign ERICKSEN MEAT AND SUPPLY. And on an upstairs window reads L.P. NELSON AGENC Y, NOTARY PUBLIC. Across the alley is another cream station.

And now we are almost dead but are not ready for MERZ MONUMENT, although it is near Decoration Day. The beautiful MOBILE OIL HUB service station comes next. After passing a home with a hedge fence, there is a lumber building with the sign COMMERCIAL PRINTING and in the window is WATCH MAKING AND JEWELRY.

The train now whistles and we only notice the GUNDERSON CANDY SHOP, and on third west a house with the sign ROOMS FOR RENT. Just as we arrive at the station, we notice N.P. NIELSEN SERVICE, and R.R. CROSSING. On the depot stands out boldly, AMERICAN RAILWAY and WESTERN UNIION TELEGRAPH AND CABLE OFFICE. We now leave Mt. Pleasant at the elevation of 5857 feet and board the train for Denver, which is 719 mile away.

(Some of you no doubt will remember things differently as to the signs along Mt. Pleasant's Main Street. Different generations remember different things. some may argue that the railroad station was never American Railway, but always the Denver Rio Grande. We have retyped the original document for easier reading purposes. Also, in some cases the penciled in writing was very difficult to read. The original is at the Relic Home in Hilda's Scrapbook.)