Stately Porterville Church Reflects Skill of Pioneers By ROBIN TIBBETS PORTERVILLE - Green with stands of virgin timber, its length split by the grace¬ful shining arcs of a murmuring river, the narrow valley nestled snugly against the heels of the Wasatch Front Range. Two men, each wearing the rough pioneer garb of the 1850s, rested on the mountain peaks that towered above the Valley of the Great Salt Lake and gaz¬ed upon the scene below. What must have passed through the minds of Chauncy Warriner Porter and his broth¬er, Sanford Porter Jr., as they looked into the small valley at their feet? Whether they thought of it first as a place to settle, or a prolific source of much needed timber isn't known. But the fact remains that the two brothers, who had negotia¬ted rugged Weber Canyon to explore the lovely Morgan Val¬ley, took lumber from the region long before they settled and es¬tablished the community of Porterville. OX TEAM The year was 1858 and anoth¬er year was to pass before the two men hauled a sawmill into the valley by ox team. They located it on Beaver — now Hardscrabble — Creek, not far from the place that would one day become their home. For two years, the men cut and sawed lumber, hauling it to Centerville on a car pulled by four yokes of oxen. But the more the brothers saw of the little valley, the better they liked it. Eventually, they convinced their father, Sanford Porter Sr., that here would be a beautiful and secluded spot to live. It was in 1861 or 1862 that the father, along with three broth¬ers, left Centerville and moved their families into Morgan Val¬ley, there to make their home. Using the still-plentiful sup¬plies of timber, log houses were built and the frontier village named Porterville, in honor of its first settlers. JOINED PIONEERS In 1864, Thomas Brough and his family joined the pioneers, Building a brick kiln, he erect¬ed the first brick home in the community. During Porterville's infancy, a log building was built near the center of the village to house church services and to serve al¬so as a school and town hall for socials and other events. Chauncey Warriner Porter served as presiding elder of the tiny LDS branch. He had been sustained as ward bishop in Winter Quarters Neb., and continued to preside over church meetings after set tling in Morgan County. Later, the East and West wards were organized and in 1877 were combined to make up the Porterville Ward. Using native brick — prob¬ably from Thomas Brough's kiln, work was begun in 1897 on a new church but it wasn't until 1908 that it was dedicated by President Joseph F. Smith. BELOVED LANDMARK A beloved landmark, the building still stands, not far from a j more modern brick building where church meetings are held. A painting of the old church j hangs in the Historical Society j Building in Salt Lake City, the work of Clark Wright, art in¬structor at Morgan High School. The stately old church is one of 12 historically and architec¬turally significant buildings and sites in the Golden Spike Em¬pire nominated for placement on the State Register of Historic sites by the Junior League of Ogden. A drawing of it appears in a prized historical calendar pub¬lished by the league for 1971.