Chapter 12 EARLY DAY MEANS OF TRAVEL In order to throw some light on this subject, it is necessary to revert back to the oft-repeated story of the team and wagon which dates back to the time the first immigrants settled in America and Heavens only knows how long before that. We do know, however, that the ancient Nephites had their horses hitched to some sort of vehicle. This was the only means our Pioneers had of getting around until perplexities that overtook them in living in advancing times and changes to a more modern economy posed a challenge to the skill and ingenuity of man to contrive something better. A majority of Pioneer families by 1870 had, beside a wagon, such farm implements as a plow, mowing machine, and one or two owned reapers. A threshing machine in the settlement at that time could have been considered a cooperative concern, as generally a number of families were involved in its ownership. However, that may have been the reaper and separater proved to be assets in the community as they eliminated much strenuous labor of cutting grain by hand with a cradle and separating it from the straw with the thresher, which previously required the labor of several hands with flails. Other equipment necessary to aid farming continued to become available as time passed and by the middle of the 1870's the spring wagon came into use on farms of several Pioneer families. This vehicle, constructed for general purposes was very much lighter than the regular farm wagon but limited to carrying only light loads such as hauling a few sacks of grain to the flour mill or few bags of potatoes to market in Ogden City. Because of its light weight and equipped as it was with thin, flexible springs, added to its riding comfort and made it suitable in taking cane of off-the-f'arm business and taking trips covering several miles, such as to Salt Lake City, which some made frequently. The first light vehicle of distinction to be used expressly for pleasure and enjoyment in riding, was a carriage purchased by old gentleman Edwin W. Smout about 1890. Designed as such because of its resemblence to what was known as a carriage in which the royalty of some foreign countries used in driving out sightseeing through the countryside, tending business of state, or in which perhaps, they appeared on special occasions in parades. Closely following, but not as costly as the carriage, was an open, two seated comfortable riding vehicle known as the surrey. Fringe hanging low around the top that fluttered in the breeze while traveling, gave the surrey some degree of attraction, but it still lacked the fashionable aspects displayed by the carriage. The surrey seemed to be popular in some localities but not so in Slaterville. The one horse buggy with and without a top, that came out about the same time, proved to be far more popular than the surrey and A. B. Cowan's horse & buggy about 1918 -144- after the beginning of the century or until replaced by the automoblile. The modern automobile, a luxury possessed by nearly every family and in fact, about the only means of ground conveyance in this age, has been developed to its present stage of perfection from the horseless carriage, which according to report of the Automobile Dealer's Association, had its inception about 1896, which means the many changes that took place in transforming the horseless carriage with the buggy-type body, low, solid rubber-tired wheels not not much larger than those of a bicycle, and motivated by power developed by a two-cylinder engine, required three quarters of a century of man's applied inventive genius and technological skill to perfect the automobile as we have it today. Advent of the decade designated the "Gay Ninties," a revival of styles and fashions which often precede changes in the life of a community, marked the beginning of an era of industrial development locally, and in immediate vicinity of Weber County, a large percentage of which was of vital importance to Slaterville. Back of Steering Wheel: Myrna Bartholomew Holley Back Seat: _. Standing by door: Irene Bartholomew Jones Sitting on running board: Mary Green Parker -145- William Chadwick