The History of Emigration Canyon

by Carlstrom, Jeffrey; Furse, Cynthia; Bennett, Robert F.

• ISBN13: 9780874215656
• ISBN10: 087421565X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Utah State Univ Pr

Summary

This comprehensive and well-illustrated history of one of the more significant historical areas in Utah offers a case study of the development of a scenic, rural area near a major western metropolis. Emigration Canyon was the original route, opened by the Donner party, through the Wasatch Mountains into Salt Lake Valley. It subsequently was the route for pioneer settlers, overland wagon trains, freight and mail lines, and the pony express, and it remained an important transportation corridor even after the development of alternative roads. Subsequently, the canyon provided stone, timber, and grazing resources for the developing city below it; began to be homesteaded; provided a route for one of the Wasatch Range's more interesting narrow gauge railroads; and became a resort community. Its history since the Great Depression has been one of gradual development as a Salt Lake City suburb. Because of its location in the mountains, it has attracted local city dwellers as visitors or residents, and because of its strategic position above the city, it has continued to

Table of Contents

FOREWORD, BY ROBERT F. BENNETT	ix
PREFACE	xi
PROLOGUE	1	(2)
NATURAL HISTORY	3	(12)
NATIVE AMERICANS, TRAPPERS, AND MAPPERS:
EARLY HISTORY PRIOR TO 1845	15	(8)
People have lived in the Salt Lake Valley for more than ten thousand years. But in the absence of written history or archeological evidence, we can only assume that Emigration Canyon was known to these people as a hunting ground or as access through the mountains. Native Americans living here in historical times also traveled in and through the canyon, recognizing its power as a sacred place. One small Ute band is said to have resided here before the whites arrived and to have named this canyon Iee-Ne-Ia-Weak.
The mountain men of the 1820's and 1830's were the first Euro-Americans to arrive in the vicinity. They knew the valley of the Great Salt Lake and the canyons of the Wasatch Range from their own exploration and their communication with native bands. They drew the first maps of the area, some showing vague trails through these mountains.
FIRST EMIGRATION: THE DONNER-REED PARTY, 1846	23	(4)
The first emigrants in Emigration Canyon were the Donner-Reed party who passed through in 1846. The Hastings Cutoff was tested as a shortcut to California, bringing the first wagons through the canyon. The trail through Emigration Canyon, perhaps used for centuries by foot and on horseback, was widened to a wagon road. But the cost was high.
PIONEERS: 1847-1869	27	(16)
The Mormon pioneers followed the wagon road into Emigration Canyon, establishing and christening this final mountain road as the gateway to their new home in the Rockies. Until the Golden Spike ended the pioneer era in the West, a constant stream of emigrants, scouts, and teamsters traveled this last leg of the road to Zion in the well-oiled machine that was the Mormon migration to Utah.
WAGON ROAD: 1849-1869	43	(12)
During the Pioneer Era, Salt Lake City grew to become the crossroads of the West. As more and more roads were built through the Wasatch Mountains, Emigration Canyon continued to see use as a major thoroughfare connecting the Mormon colony to the United States. A thread of communication and travel was established and improved across Utah to California and Oregon, as wagon trains, mail carriers, the Pony Express, and the telegraph passed through Emigration Canyon.
BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS OF SALT LAKE CITY:
ROCK AND TIMBER, 1847-1860	55	(8)
Water flowed out of the mountains toward the new Mormon settlement, but other useful material would have to be pulled out by hand. Timber, limestone, and sandstone were all hauled out of Emigration Canyon, bringing seasonal workers who established busy camps and created roads to their work. The timber in the upper reaches of the canyon was claimed by John Killian, who built a toll road above Last Camp. He built a ranch in the canyon for his family, living there until his death in 1858. The Killians were Emigration Canyon's first residents.
WAGENER BREWERY: 1865-1914	63	(10)
Amidst the confusion of organizing the desert Zion, the saloon and brewery scene added entertainment for some and challenges for others. The Wagener Brewery was built at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, outside the city limits, a short jaunt from Camp Douglas, and near a source of crystal clear spring water. It provided both saloon and family entertainment, as well as supplying freight carts of ale to much of the West until the brewery burned down in 1914.
THE EMIGRATION CANYON RAILROAD: 1907-1917	73	(14)
At the turn of the century, anyone who was anyone seemed to own a railroad or at least a railroad car. LeGrand Young, prominent attorney for the Union Pacific and nephew of Brigham Young, built a narrow-gauge electric railroad up the canyon to rock quarries in Pinecrest. If measured by nostalgia, the expansion of Emigration Canyon, and the development of Pinecrest into a mountain resort, the railroad was a success. If measured in profit, it was not.
SHEEP: 1870-1970	87	(8)
Emigration Canyon was the kindest road through the mountains for tens of thousands of sheep, which were herded through the canyon twice a year on their way to and from seasonal pasturage. The herds gutted the canyon vegetation and fouled the creek, but residents remember the inconvenience with some fondness for days gone by.
HOMESTEADERS: 1869-1909	95	(14)
When the Golden Spike completed the transcontinental railroad and connected our country's East and West, the Mormon Trail in Emigration Canyon saw much less use. The Union Pacific Railroad was given land in the canyon as a reward for a job well done. Farmers and ranchers moved into the canyon, "squatting" on land while building their "homesteads," but not bothering to record their claims formally for twenty years . Emigration Canyon became home to families raising crops and animals and building brush fences against the thousands of sheep that were trailed along the road. Thanks to the homesteaders, Emigration Canyon became a place to live.
SUMMER CABINS: 1909-1930	109	(18)
The Emigration Canyon Railroad, established to haul sandstone from the quarries in the upper canyon, also provided the first convenient roadway in the canyon. Land was subdivided into small lots suitable for tents or cabins, and Emigration Canyon became a summertime mountain resort community. The Pinecrest Inn and the Dance Hall at Kelvin Grove brought visitors to the canyon for dining and dancing.
PINECREST INN: 1913-1949	127	(14)
The upscale hotel built in the style of a Swiss chalet took prime advantage of the cool mountain air, the gorgeous views, and the canyon atmosphere to attract hoards of young and young at heart romantics to dance, dine, and vacation. For over four decades, it served as hotel, nun's retreat, polio training center, LDS Girls' camp, and hotel again, only to be dismantled and carried away.
YEAR-ROUND COMMUNITY: 1930-1950	141	(24)
During the Great Depression, people began to move into Emigration Canyon full time. Electricity, telephone, natural gas, and a paved road eased the transition from a summertime community. Ashley's opened and Ruth's Diner moved to the canyon, where visitors could also find ice skating, donkey rides, and a ski hill at Little Mountain.
RUTH'S DINER: 1949-PRESENT	165	(8)
An old trolley car turned diner by feisty Ruth Evans became a canyon landmark that holds its name, if not if reputation, for a raw mix of personality even today.
LEAVE US ALONE: 1950-1980	173	(24)
For many years, Emigration Canyon remained a rural enclave virtually ignored by the city and county alike. Full of homemade structures and do-it-yourself septic systems, the canyon drew a variety of residents, who mostly welcomed the many inconveniences in favor of getting away from it all. The canyon population was self-limiting, as mortgages were hard to come by in this "depressed area."
CAMP KOSTOPU LOS: 1971-PRESENT	197	(12)
Among the first camps for handicapped children in the United States, Camp Kostopulos was built on the dream of a penniless Greek immigrant by dreamers with strong arms and little money, strong wills and a backhoe or two, strong ideas and a whole community behind them.
PAINS OF PROGRESS: 1980-PRESENT	209	(42)
The transition from a rural outskirt of Salt Lake City to some of the most expensive and upscale subdivisions on the Wasatch Front has not been easy. Neighborhood disputes over land, water, access, and traffic have been desperate struggles for and against development. The human dramas and intrigues are now very much a part of canyon character.
EPILOGUE	235	(2)
GLOSSARY	237	(14)
APPENDICES
Emigration Canyon Timeline	251	(3)
The Old Days in Emigration Canyon, as told by G. Ephraim Cederlof	254	(5)
Early Homesteaders	259	(1)
Citizen Organizations	260	(1)
NOTES	261	(26)
INDEX	287