When the railroad was being built in 1868, Richard Fry andT.R.G. Welch had the contract for the first mile, from Carryle Cut to the William's point. This work was done with pick and shovel. Richard Fry was mayor of Morgan City, treasurer of Morgan County and served as city councilman for several terms. He was a successful and thrifty business man and served for eighteen years as superintendent and manager of Z.C.M.I. at Morgan. Later, he engaged in the mercantile business for himself. When Thomas Jefferson Thurston served as Bishop in Morgan he chose Richard Fry as his first counselor. Richard later served as a bishop in Morgan. At the organization of the Morgan Stake he was chosen as first counselor to Willard G. Smith, president ofthe stake. He held this position until 15 April 1893, when he was called as stake president. He performed the duties of this high and responsible calling the remaining years of his life. President Fry's last public duty was to attend the general conference ofthe Church held in Salt Lake City in April 1900. On his return home from that conference, he became ill with a severe cold which later turned into pneumonia. He died on his sixty-ninth birthday, April 15, 1900. Henry B. Fry, the son of Richard and Ann, wrote as follows about this sad event: Those were dark days when Father passed away. No one could fill his place. Morher was rex) ill to attend the funeral, Mary Ann near death's dcxir with typhoid, Susan sick and in Idaho and I just one more year to spend at college but without much chance to return. I shall never forget it. I did somedeep thinking. I recall that Mother was brought into the room on rhe arm ofone ofthe family to take a last glance at her lifetime companion and husband as he lay in the casket. How tired and drawn was her race, how sad and hea\y her eyes, how weak and frail the sickness had made her. She fondled his hair and face and then in sheer weakness turned away with these words, 'And this is the end of it all.' A kiss, a sigh and she went away. Andrewjenson, assistant Church historian had this to say about Richard Fry: "Brother Fry was one who ever played the part of a man; one who, though content to follow, possessed the ability to lead; one, whose wise management reared two families in love and harmony, and won for him a host of friends. He passed away in the hope of a glorious resurrection, and his name will ever be mentioned among those of the good and the righteous." Sources: Sketch ofthe Lives of Richard, Ann and Susan Fry; History ofthe Fry Family, written in the spring of 1935 by Henry B. Fry, son ofRichardFry;A Brief Sketch ofthe Life of Richard Fry; Unpublished family histories in the possession of Camtlle Fry Wilde, a great granddaughter of Richard; Journal History, July 27, I860, April 19, 1888, December 7, 1886, April 15, 1900; Frank Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men ofUtah(Sah Lake City: Western Epics, 1961), Fine Arts Study Group, Mountains Conquered (Morgan: