NEWS and VIEWS Morgan is one of the communities of Utah which is celebrating the Fourth of July in a big way News & Views, as speaker of the day, gave a brief history of Morgan as compiled by the Utah historical records survey. In earlier times Weber canyon which opens into the valley when Morgan is situated, was a much traveled Indian highway, the trail still being visible along the mountain sides. The redmen, following the natural opening in the range, hunted in Salt Lake valley, gathered salt and made war. Comanches passed through Weber canyon to a winter camp in Promontory cave, where they live on the buffalo which came down from the north. That was when the lake was much higher than at present and was not as salty. In the distant past buffalo, camels and elephants were in this region. Part of the skeleton of an elephant has been uncovered on the bench land of Ogden, dating back to when Lake Bonneville was receding from its higher levels. Father Escalante, in his explorations, was on Utah lake in 1776. He must have been there on the first Fourth of July when the Declaration of Independence was given to the world, but he was too far removed from civilization to be aware of that stupendous event. At that time the Indians in this region told of battles with the Sioux. As late as 1876 Indians on the warpath were in Morgan valley. David Tracy, when section foreman at Croydon, with a crew of Chi¬nese, encountered warriors in feathers and war paint, who carried spears with many scalps im¬paled. The braves stopped to gaze at the strange section workers. One of the Chinese grew inquisitive and was lifted by the queue high in the air as a horseman with a big knife made a motion as though to scalp him, but was stopped by the chief. That near-tragedy squelched any further curiosity which the Chi¬nese might have had, as they trembled for their lives. General William H. Ashley, with his trappers, was in the Morgan country as early as 1824. Later Jim Bridger and Peter Skene Ogden set (Continued on Page 2, Col. 5)