Oral History Program Curtis J. Paskett Interviewed by Jeff London 18 May 1971 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Curtis J. Paskett Interviewed by Jeff London 18 May 1971 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Paskett, Curtis, an oral history by Jeff London, 18 May 1971, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Curtis Paskett. The interview was conducted on May 18, 1971, by Jeff London. Paskett discusses his life and some history of Utah. NOTE: Mr. Paskett is a resident of Henefer, Summit County, Utah. He is 93 years of age and spends all of his time in bed. He has been blind for nearly fifty years. Mr. Paskett made a point during the course of the interview about how no one kept any records, and life just went on day by day as natural occurrences. It seems that we haven't changed much as far as keeping records are concerned. JL: When were you born? CP: I was born in Henefer town in 1878. As a kid I was sent to the district schools for a time. We had a Professor Whitley. The teacher was Marjorie Allston, whom I am sure you cannot remember. She's dead and buried. I guess they buried her. JL: What boyhood experiences did you have? Any? CP: When I was a kid I used to have a little pony and I used to round up about 30 head of cows every night. My dad had a bunch and Almy Nephi Bond had a bunch of them. I was the cowboy. What we had had to be milked every morning and night by father, mother, and myself. I also had about eight sisters my age. We used to milk those damn cows at least twice a day. JL: Did you ever have any Indian experiences? 1 CP: Nope. The only experience I had with Indians is that they would come here and ask for a loaf of bread. Mother would feed them. Indian Charley was the name. The Indians were pretty good neighbors if they were left alone and not abused. JL: Do you remember any stories of Indians? CP: No, no. I don't know of any Indian stories of any consequence. They all lived over here in the Orange Canyon country. JL: Did you ever go into any of their villages? CP: Oh, I may have done. I don't know whether I did or not. No, we never shied around the Indians. They had their quarters all to themselves and they were respected. Indian Charley and his squaws would come down to the home and beg for bread and something to eat. Mother used to bake extra loaves and hand them a loaf or two. JL: How did you make your living in the early times? CP: In the early days? Hell, I don't know. My dad was living and he was the man of the hour. He had a bunch of heifers. We milked cows. In the early days father and mother, and I guess I had two sisters at that time—Jessie and Vinnie—would have to get out and milk those cows, and I had the job of taking them to pasture over here in the mountains and see them across the railroad and upon the hillside. I used to go up to Nephi Bond's and get his bunch and put them all together and pasture them at Baldy Rock or Fire Canyon. It was good grazing in the early days. I don't know what it is now. JL: Was it covered with sagebrush like it is now? CP: Not so bad. The sage was there but there was room for grass to grow. 2 JL: When did you get started in the sheep business? CP: Gosh, father got started in the sheep business, and I don't know when he got started. He got a little herd of sheep and we kept them around and wintered them and finally we got a big enough bunch to take out on the desert and I don't know who his herders were. Charles Stephens, I think, was one of them. You don't know him. JL: How many sheep did he finally run? CP: Oh, around 2,000 or 1,500. That was when he got built up. I don't know what he started with. I guess the sheep are all gone out of there now. JL: Do you remember anything about the construction of the Tabernacle in Coalville? CP: Not that I remember, no, anything that would be of news or anything. JL: Do you remember any of the older people in Croydon? CP: The older people in Croydon? I ought to remember them, hadn't I? About all I can remember are the Blackwells, there was Mrs. Blackwell and Joe Blackwell, I believe his name was Joe. Then there was a boy about my age. What was his name? Walt, no. Then there was Charles- Charlie Blackwell. I think that boy my age was Walt. Walt Blackwell. JL: Do you remember anything of the Thackerays? CP: The Thackerays. I ought to remember them, didn't I? About all I can remember of the Thackerays—well, there was Mark and Royal—-but I never associated with them only to go over there and gather cows when they got in the wrong pasture. There was Blanch and Wara. I wonder if they are living. 3 JL: No. CP: Long gone, have they? JL: Do you remember anything of the Hopkins? CP: The Hopkins? No. JL: The Londons? CP: Well, I used to know AIf London. He was our blacksmith over there at that time. We used to take the shoe horses over there and he would shoe them up for us. As for any other blacksmith work, he would do it. He was a good blacksmith and a good neighbor—AIf London. But he's dead and gone, I guess. JL: That was my grandfather. CP: Your what? JL: He was my grandfather. CP: He was your grandfather? Alfred London? You're a London, then, are you? JL: I’m Ted’s son. Alfred’s grandson. CP: Alfred's grandson? Hell, is it that long ago? JL: Yes. Do you remember anything of the Wildes? CP: No, I don't know much about the Wildes. Was there an Alfred Wilde. I don't know. I think there was a George Wilde. That's so damn far back in history and we never made any record or anything about it. It was just everyday occurrence and one day followed another and that's all there was to it. I ought to know a lot about those people too. My dad used to take us over there when we were little ones and he used to associate with the Thackerays and the Hopkins and Joe Blackwell. That was his family. JL: What were your means of travel in those days? How would you get over to Croydon? 4 CP: Well, it was two horses, generally, and a buggy. We traveled over with a horse and buggy. JL: How long would it take you to go over and back? CP: Oh, we would go over there in an hour and then stay around and visit and then come back. It wouldn't take long to go over to the Blackwells and they would entertain us and then sometimes we would go to the Hopkins and the Hopkins would entertain us. Wasn't there a Jim Hopkin? He's dead by now. They’re the ones my father associated with. Ted London and Alf London used to shew our horses. JL: DO you remember anything about the railroad? Cutting pines for the ties, etc? CP: Nope. I don't remember anything about that. What they did or anything. JL: Do you remember anything about them after they came through? CP: Well, only that we associated with them and shipped our sheep and cattle and such like. We traded with them. The railroad wasn't much of a—well, it was a wonderful thing to have it in—that part of it. But it was something that is everyday life with you and you don't bother to remember anything about it. At least, I didn't and I guess I was the same like a lot of others. They took the railroad as a natural consequence, which it was. It came as a result of us living here. JL: You’ve told me a lot. CP: I didn't think I had told you anything. JL: Can you remember any of the early occurrences in Henefer itself? CP: Anything in Henefer? I don't know. I grew up here when Henefer was here. JL: Were you born in Henefer? 5 CP: Do you know where Frank Ball lives? It was in that brick house. It was my dad's first investment and I was born in a little log cabin in the south-east corner of that block—right on the back street. That's where I was born. JL: Do you remember anything about polygamy? CP: Polygamy? No. No, we never bothered our heads about polygamy. I don't know who they are now—the polygamists. JL: Do you remember anything of the Josephites? CP: Nope. They were all good people just like we Mormons. But they didn't see as we see. I don't know how they came to be organized that way—how they broke loose and left the Mormons. Hell, I haven't thought about Josephities in sixty years. JL: Do you remember anything about Brigham Young? CP: No, no. I don't remember ever seeing him and I guess I saw him a time or two. JL: Do you remember any of the other early church leaders? CP: No, I don't even know who they were. I remember Wilford Woodruff's name and that's about the size of Wilford Woodruff. They are all past history and forgotten. You bring up their names and that's all I remember of them. Lorenzo Snow. Wilford Woodruff. Let's see, Wilford Woodruff. I think...no, I can't remember anything...I just remember them being officials but that's about all. JL: Do you remember any happenings in Echo Canyon? 6 CP: Echo Canyon? No, as far as the roadway. The roadway was built when I was a kid. Echo Canyon. I used to drive a herd of sheep up and down it every summer, up Yellow Creek and over on to the head of Chalk Creek and Weber and we used to summer them in that area and over around West Fork. You don't know where the West Fork is, do you? Over to Hayden's. I used to herd sheep in there—in that country at one time. I guess it looks the same now as it did then. Still covered with bluebell. They still grow, do they? We used to go down on Humpy Mountain. There's quite a big hill down in that country as I remember. JL: Do you remember anything of the first sawmills in Echo Canyon? CP: The first saw mills? Nope. JL: Do you ever remember going up there and getting lumber? CP: Oh, I guess we used to go up and get lumber. But it's all forgotten, hell. That's how far back? I'm ninety—ninety-three. I would be in— it would be seventy years ago, wouldn't it? I would be in my 20's. The sawmill was there then. And I guess it's the same now. I don't suppose it's changed much. Are you here to get me talking? JL: Yes. CP: Well, if I would have known this was all coming up I would have tried to remember more things but we just went and did things and passed it by and forgot it. I never figured -on a history coming up. I used to ride that range over there—me and my little pony—round up 20 head of cows or more. My dad milked around twelve or fifteen and Nephi Bond had a bunch and I had the job. Take them over and put them in Orange Canyon or Morgan's or Baldy Rock. They stuck around and fed and I was able to find them and bring them home. Not many cows that were out overnight. 7