Oral History Program Sterling Ben Wood Interviewed by Karen Hines 28 February 1971 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Sterling Ben Wood Interviewed by Karen Hines 28 February 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. 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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 Kelley Evans, 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. 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It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Wood, Sterling Ben, an oral history by Karen Hines, 28 February 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 Sterling Ben Wood. The interview was conducted on February 28, 1971, by Karen Hines, in Huntsville, Utah. Wood discusses his life and the experiences he’s had as well as some history about Utah. KH: When you were young, how often did the people from Huntsville travel down to Ogden? And for what reasons, was it just to buy store goods? SW: Yes, when I was young they had a street car that ran up here three times a day and a this apparently maintained enough business to keep it in operation. Then when I went to school, I rode on this street car. And when I left high school, this was the last year that the street car ran. If remember correctly it was, it was 1931, I believe, or 1932. This was the last year that they ran the street car. But prior to that time, within the recollection of my memory, there was always a street car here. We had stock yards here and they loaded sheep and cattle out of here in much the same manner as they do at the Ogden Stock Yards only on a smaller scale. And it brought the mail and took and picked up milk. This car brought the mail and picked up milk. It delivered bread to the grocery stores and sometimes groceries and things like that. KH: Where was the station that the street car went to? SW: Well it was over here, it stopped over here where this main store is. And then it came a block further south where the chapel is now there was a building on the corner, the post office. And they delivered the mail there. They changed the trolley and went back and stopped at the store again. This store, oh I suppose, was what you would call the depot. KH: Did um, were there very many, were most of the people, did they have cattle besides their farm to sell? 1 SW: Well, they all raised um, they all raised a few cattle to sell and then the surrounding area, of course, is sheep country, see it's high. And the surrounding area was sheep country and they generally raised a lot of sheep here. So they would ship them, they would ship them out in the fall and back in the spring, they would ship out wool with them. And there was some people that raised cattle, beef cattle, here, see there were quite a few people that raised beef cattle in the area. KH: Did um, whose that one man who owns a lot of horses, Hinckley? SW: Uh huh. KH: Was he up here then? SW: No. That uh, at that time, a year later Staples owned that place. Probably formerly, Browning’s owned it they had a huge cattle operation up here and they have had for years. And so, I wouldn’t know, um Hinckley’s' are fairly recent. He's only been up here a short while. KH: I was just wondering, because I'd heard of him having those little ponies. SW: Welch ponies. KH: That he raises, yeah. SW: So there was a street car here and but not everyone rode it to town. For instance, right down here in this last house you can see over here to the south, in the bottoms, was a fellow here, well you can't see it right over there but you can see it right, can you see those pine trees over there? KH: Uh huh. SW: The house is right there. An old gentleman named Pete Peterson lived there and uh up until the time that he was 80, 82 or 3 years old, I think he'd been to Ogden twice. 2 KH: Oh, is that all? SW: Uh huh, the last time that I knew about was when they built the dam, and this would be about 1935 or 6 in there. And the postmaster took him to town, took him through the dam, and then put, took him to town. The last time he had been there was when they had horse drawn, even before then they had horse drawn street cars. The last time, and then he had come and then he’d made this trip to town and, uh, I think that was one of two trips that he’d made in about, I don’t know, 80 years or something like that. KH: Did the people ever make it down to Salt Lake, or other, you know, cities around? SW: Not very often, no, because they had no business there. KH: Uh huh. SW: My grandfather used to make trips down there, he had a team, uh he sold milk and butter and eggs and fish. That he, he had quite a thriving business, and he would pack them in ice in a buggy, in a team with a buck- board and then he would drive clear to Salt Lake and he would send them there and then he would come back. And he made a lot of money doing this. This was before the street cars. KH: Did people travel over, like, you know that place where Paradise, where you go over to Paradise, and the Divide, did they ever travel that? SW: Yes, of course, people knew more people then than they do now, see, because they made it their business to find out. They were connected so much, you know, they uh the roads were poor and so when they did get together why they made it a point to know each other. See, they knew the people in Liberty knew lots of people over in Avon, Paradise, see and vice versa, see because um now they don't. But um, they have too many other 3 interests, but then your interest was your neighbor. And when you had a get together, everyone came. And so consequently, you knew everyone. KH: What about other religious groups, were there very many up here that you knew of besides Mormon? SW: No, I don't recall any that I can, that is any organized group. Now we’ve had lots of people up here who were not Mormons, you know, hundreds of them that lived up here that weren't Mormons. But there was no religious establishment up here that I can remember. KH: How long has the Monastery been up here? SW: Probably too long, let’s say, I think I was away when it uh, they purchased the land. But I think it was sometimes after the war. KH: Oh, I see. SW: It would have been about that, no it wasn't it was before, just before the war. I think, I know I was away. I was in California at the time. KH: What about the fanners that had cattle, how did they get them down to Ogden? Did they just drive them down, or did they? SW: You mean prior to the street car? KH: Uh huh. SW: Yes, They just drove them down the canyon. KH: Down the canyon. SW: When the street car came, then they could, then they brought, then they had the stock yards right down here where the State Road Shed is now. That was stock yards in there and they could come and unload them on cattle cars, see and take them down to the stock yards. 4 KH: Oh, did they get very good prices for them? SW: Well, I think so, um, you know, of course nothing like they do now, but then we didn't have the problem of inflation. KH: What kind of education was available? Like, what schools did you go to? SW: Up here? KH: Uh huh, was there the elementary and junior high? SW: Yes, no, there was an elementary school and um, then those, those that cared to go further used to go down to the Weber Academy. And um, at that time, it was called the Weber Academy. You could get advanced education. And then before the county had a high school, the kids that wanted to go to high school had to go to Ogden. Some of them did, Ogden High School. KH: The new, the one's that's built now or SW: No, this was KH: The one that was on twenty-fifth? SW: See, Weber County High School was built in 1927 and it would be prior to that time why the county had no high school. So the kids that wanted to further their education, if they wanted to complete high school they had to go to Ogden to do it, see, because we didn't have a high school. And when I, of course, when I went to school up here, the school was not owned by the Weber County School Board, It was owned by the town. And the town ran the school. They hired the teachers, and um we went to the let's see, the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, grade, tenth grade, I think, they had the tenth grade up here. KH: Where were the teachers from, were the teachers from around here? 5 SW: No, the people came in to teach, you know, they came looking for these jobs, and they hired them, most usually they stayed in town. And they boarded with some people here, see. After, they became part of the school system, of course, then the teachers were sent up here. But even after that, they still boarded, lots of them boarded with the people up here. KH: Is that what- SW: They became part of the community literally, though see, and some of them stayed. KH: They just stayed here? All the time? SW: Stayed here, married people here, and lived here, KH: Zina Beckstead, now her house, was a boarding house, wasn't it? SW: At one time, it was a hotel, yes. KH: A hotel? I didn't know that. SW: One time it was run by a lady named Mrs. Sprig. And um, she used to serve meals there, and people like Al Jolson, they had a Vice President of the United States, I can't remember which one, that came up and she was an excellent cook. And they rode up on the street car, and then she would feed them and they would go back. Course, she had a good business even back before eating out was a fad, you know. People would come a long ways to eat there because the food was good. KH: What about the resort they used to have in the canyon? I've heard there was hotels there and everything. SW: There was a hotel, uh huh. It was up on the side of the hill. It was a big one. KH: Was it a popular place? 6 SW: Yes. Uh hum, it burned down twice, I think, the last time they never rebuilt it. But it was. It was run the last time by a man named Billy Wilson and it was a huge place. It was a huge log building, and they had, they did a thriving business up there. KH: Like it was, like hot, Lava Hot Springs? A place like that? SW: Yes, it was right down where the Hermitage is now where the bar is and the dance hall. It was across the river and down below it a little ways and it was up on the side of the hill there and you could see it. You can go up there now, and the foundation is still up there, a part of it. KH: What about the people that lived up here in Huntsville, how many, like did they generally have large families? SW: Yes. For the most part they did. KH: Did the men have any outside jobs, besides what they did up here? SW: Usually none, no. KH: This was their main thing? SW: Prior to the war, prior to the war probably um, of the people made their living right here, see? Maybe even more than that. Now since the war maybe um oh maybe 1% make their living here. KH: What about land fights, was there any land fights that you can remember? SW: Not that I'm familiar with. There were lots of, there were lots of problems with water. A lot of trouble over water, yes. Lots of fights and lots of bitter feelings generated because, well mostly because of a lack of water, see. It's very arid, you know we live in a semi- tropical area, er semi-arid area. It's a mountain-desert region and in the summer it was quite dry. And the irrigation system was laid out by the people who established the torn. It was 7 effective, you know, when you deal with people sometimes some guys would keep the water longer than they should and then others they'd get the turns mixed up and there was lots of trouble, lots of fights. Some law suits about water, mostly. But I don't recall any problems, oh I'm sure there was small ones, you know, small problems but nothing that I can remember. KH: Were most of the, was the water taken from Ogden River? SW: Yes. KH: Is that where it was from? SW: The South Fork and the Ogden, uh huh. But I, I don't um, Ogden, you see for years Ogden hasn't changed perceptibly, only within the last five years, really, I don't think there was a new building constructed in downtown Ogden toward several decades, up until the time when the, I think, Commercial Security Bank on the corner of 25th street was the first major construction outside of the city hall, there outside of the City and County Building. But that was the first business constructed in Utah, the hotel was built in 1927, Ben Lomond, and I remember when that was being built. I used to go down with my father when he'd pick up meat down at the packing house. He ran a butcher shop and a grocery store and he'd go down for his supplies, you know, and I used to ride down with him. That was my first recollection of Ogden. Was riding down with him and that would be, I was a small boy, that was probably back in 1922. When we first had an automobile, I think dad was one of the first people to have a car up here and we used to haul what canned goods mere available. You couldn't buy many things, you could buy some things in cans but not a great deal like you can now, see. Coffee, you didn't, soap, you didn't, oh, butter you didn't. You didn't have butter and um, only homemade butter, but urn there were so many 8 things that you bought loose and put in sacks. Soap is one item, that seems odd, but you used to cut soap off of a block and sell it by the pound. KH: Did um, how was Huntsville always governed, did they have a Mayor? SW: Yes, I don't know as whether it was a corporate city, a corporate city it's always, as long as I can remember it's had a mayor, yes. And I think the city has always been independent, like when vie owned the school and they formed the Weber County School Board, the Huntsville school, was the only school that was turned over to them that was paid for. It was the only school turned over to them that had grass around the play lot. And it was the only school turned over to them that had an area of sufficient size for the kids to play in. It was in excellent condition when they turned it over. It was a good school. But the first free school in the state was up here. This was the first free public school. KH: That's interesting. SW: Was established here, uh huh. KH: Is that the school building that is there now? SW: It was built over there. A Mrs. Hammond, they have a plaque out there in the square. She was the first teacher, first school teacher. She taught school here. This was the first thing they did when they came up here, was to start a school. KH: What about when you went to your friend’s house, did you ride your horse to get around. SW: No, when we were kids, you see, all kids didn't own horses then. Horses were a means of transportation and they were treated as such. They weren't something to be bandied around and, um, a kid that had access to a horse was quite lucky. Now I had access to two or three over there that my dad used in his business, so I was quite fortunate. But lots of kids didn't. But most kids had access to a horse, but when we would go just play around 9 the town, why we had to walk. That's the only way to get there. But when we went over here to the South Bench to see some friends, then we rode over there, see. But we used to ride up to see the sheepherders, go up there and stay with them and I imagine when they looked back I can imagine how glad they were to see us kids. KH: What about families, did roost families have buggies then that they hooked up to the horses? SW: Yes. They had wagons of some sort. There weren't too many cars, there weren't any ears up here at all. But most people did have buggies and wagons that they came to the store in. Most everyone had a buggy, yes. And some of them drove to town, but not very many of them, because it was a long ride, you know. And after the street car came then there wasn't really much point in it, they could ride down on the street car fairly, I don't remember what the fare was, but it certainly wasn't very much money. KH: Did uh, why did they take the street car out? SW: Well, I think-- KH: Just because of the cars? SW: Because of buses, it was easier to a, the main business that they had then was, let's see this was in '32, and I think that the main traffic then was school kids. Haul the kids down to high school. The high school was built then. And uh, I think probably they lost, like the milk contract to trucks, see, and the mail, they probably lost that to they probably brought that up now, hauled it in cars When the car came along, see it made, it didn't make it feasible to run it. KH: Old Liberty and Men, did they ever come here to meet like for church and things like that or did they have their own system all the time, too? 10 SW: Yes. Eden, in fact, is older than Huntsville. And um there was a Ward up in up the north lane here, and it was called Middleton. We used to call it Stringtown and they had a ward building built up above, let's see it was about two miles from the highway up here, straight east up there. And they met there for years. And we used to call it Stringtown and lots of, they used to bring the kids down to school from there and they used to ride in what we called a Dummy. A Dummy was a covered wagon, it was pulled by one horse, in the winter two, they put a tongue on and put a team to it and have on bob sleds. And it was a round, covered wagon that had a stove in it. And those kids um, rode, I don’t know why we called it the Dummy, I guess we called the kids in it dummies, I don't know. I never knew it by any other name but it was a conveyance to bring the kids from Middleton up to the mouth and they went as far east as the mouth of South Fork Canyon and then they would pick up all those kids that lived along there and over in the south lane, too. They would go over there and pick those kids up and um bring them down to school. They hauled them down in it and home in it. And they did that until, um, oh quite recently, it was quite recent when they discontinued that, actually it was in years it wasn't too long ago. That was quite a thing, it caught on fire a couple of times, you know, in winter. We used to have bitter cold winters and lots of snow, I guess, he built the fire too much and from bouncing around, hitting a rock or something, tip it up on its side and all the coals spill out and start the wagon on fire. But the kids, I don't know if they were worse off than they are now when they ride the school bus. KH: What about Snow Basin, was that a ski resort, you know? 11 SW: They used to just go there to get lumber, to get wood to burn. That's mostly what they did over there. They'd run sheep up there in the summer and cattle, but uh, there was nothing over there. That's a fairly recent development over there. KH: Did people ever ski around here before then? SW: Not ranch uh-uh. There was a ski hill right where the church ranch is, you see that big broad, you see that uh where the plowed part goes up as far as the furthest on the hill. Well that used to be called Hodson. And you could, you could get on a sleigh up there and ride down and you could come clear down here and wind up just below my place here with the speed you got especially on the crust you could come right down over the ledge and jump the river, you'd be going so fast. But the snow used to fall then it and then we used to have a January thaw, then it would freeze solid and you could ride on top of it, see. And um, even then there were not many skiers. Two or three of the guys skied but not very many. Well, skis are expensive, and you couldn’t buy them, you know, they cost lots of money, you know, and not many people could afford them. And the problem with skiing is you had to walk up to ride down, you see, as long as this was a requirement, why there weren't too many ski enthusiasts. Now, when you can ride up and ride down why everyone wants to do it. But that was Hodson and that was probably the best known hill and received the most play. And like I say, on the right conditions, you could start right at the top of that hill and ride down here and cross First River here. And um, this used to be good to come this far, you know, so you can tell how fast you were going to make that journey. You could make two or three of those a day but by the time that you walk back up there and um why you were all in, you know. 12 KH: Are there any things here in Huntsville that are from the time when they used to have like the rendezvouses? SW: Not that I know of. KH: We were studying about the fur trappers, you know, how they had rendezvous here in Ogden Hole. SW: Yes they did. KH: I was just wondering if there was anything left from them. SW: Probably twenty years before the town was settled, that they used to be here. Ashley and Ogden, those fellows came in late 1830's or early '40's. As a city, the town was founded in 1860. KH: And who were the Hunts? Were they the first one's that moved here? SW: Hunts, and my grandfather and his brother and his mother. They were three and Hunt and I don't remember. LaVerna Newey could tell you. Do you know her? KH: Uh huh, I know her. SW: She's compiled a history, you know. She is compiling a history of Huntsville and of Eden, digging up all this stuff. It should be very interesting. KH: That's real good. SW: You know, as far as the general happenings. KH: Thank you very much. (Mr. Wood went on to tell of an experience he had at the Egyptian Theatre.) SW: Tom Nix picture and, um, in this brand new theatre, see. And I went, of course, shows then began in the afternoon and this was unheard of. I'd never heard of this a show starting in the afternoon in the middle of the day. The ticket was probably a dime or 13 something, so I went in. And um, low and behold when the shows over they, why they turn around and play it over, see, and this was up here when they, the show was played once why the lights came on and you left, you had to leave. And I remember, as a little boy even remember today, I thought I got way down in my seat and I thought well now if I hide here why they won't see me and maybe I can see this show again. And so as the show progressed for the second time and nobody bothered me, I became braver and then I sat up and low and behold, they played it again. And I thought well, I'm going to stay and see it again. Well, along about eleven o' clock, you see, my aunt had contacted ray mother up here and told her that I had left and wasn't back. And of course, they were frantic, and um she'd remembered that I'd talked to one of the kids there and told them I was going to see "Tom Nix", and so they remembered. And um, he was a cowboy star, this Tom Nix, you know, and so they put two and two together and went over there in the Egyptian and this is where they found me. But I was still there. I don't know what I would have done if I would have gone out in the darkness. I had stayed there all day, I'd never, you see, I'd never had this experience before of being able to go to a show and then having it repeat and then come back and repeat again, see. And I remember my feeling, after the first show I thought well if I get down real low why they won't see me. I thought they came and ran every one out, see, before they started the second show. That was my initiation into the Egyptian Theatre. I've always had a fond spot for that place in my heart because of this experience. But I must have been very young. I wouldn't have any idea, maybe seven, seven years old, six or seven maybe. I was too small to be running around the town, you know, but I remember this. And I, about that theatre. 14