WRITTEN BY z Richard Fry his wife: Nina Hess Fry Da.vid Sande(S As a supplement it becomes necessary to add another chapter, which I am attempting to do, which I expect to insert at the proper place in my life story. It goes something like this: Soon a~er our marriage, I found my wife suffering from home sickness, something I had never suffered from. but she managed to return to her home on the other side of the mountain. On a trip of this kind it became necessary to change trains at Ogden, walk two blocks to the Bamberger Depot and wait ao•times as much as two hours to catch the proper train south to Farmington. Either this way or drive with· team and buggy, which we sometimes did over rough roads and which took the greater part of a day at the end of which we were both worn out. Later on a~er we got our first Ford car we could make the trip down in about two hours by going over the sand ridge. We would start out with 80 pounds of pressure in our tires and when we got stuck in the sand, let S01'118 of the air - - out of the hind tires and then travel at a very low speed while Nina pushed • from behind, then let her run around and catch on the side of the car and ride until we came to the next stretch of sand. There were two or three of these places where Nina would push with all her might• run ahead and catch on the side of the car again. If I stopped I was hung up. We were always happy when we passed the last patch of sand. We were always welcome at the home of her parents and they usually loaded us up with fruit and other things which we were unable to produce in Horgan. Sometimes we hunted up several heavy rocks, which we placed in the trunk of the Ford, which gave us the proper traction to take us over the stretches of sand. It was on one of these trips when I met our grandfather, David Sanders. He had passed 80 years old but his mind was alert and he seemed to take quite a liking to me and I to him • As soon as we reached Grandma• s home in Farrnington • he would call out in a loud voice, "I heal:' that man from up Weber just come in• send him in here I -2- I ' ) . _ \ \ want to talk to him. " He would first ask about all his old friends in Morgan .• ~ When I had to tell him that they had all passed away and a number of the younger ones, also, he still seemed to want to talk about places and events of which we both had interest. • • He said• "Do you remember when I came to Morgan with my Company of the Davis Co\Dlty Militia for a week encampment?" I said, "I most certainly do and I will never forget it. " They came up from Davis County in three passenger coaches and some flat cars and were placed on the aide track at the east end nearest Como Springs . Permission was granted by Daniel Williams to cross his meadow; a temporary foot bridge was placed across the Weber River. Carrying their light equipment they marched single file to the Como Springs Resort where they stood ready to set up their Company tents which had to be transported by team and wagon across the old river bridge through South Morgan• aro\Dld what we called the back road, to Como Springs • The first day was spent by our visitors in setting up their tents in proper formation at the east end of the resort grounds . Ropes were stretched and guards, with guns and bayonets , to keep us kids back . We would not have dared to have gone up among the tents anyway, but military rules are military rules and we soon found that out. The next morning just a little before &\Dl-up, every man, woman and all the children were lined up on both sides of the Como Road. Flags were flying, the local band played patriotic music, all the military men in full dress uniform, from both Davis and Horgan County, marched between the spectators to the Morgan County Drill Grounds, on what was then known as the City Flat. Some of the men and all of the women went into the Como Springs Grounds and set up tables and commenced to prepare a hearty dinner for the hungry soldiers as soon as they came in from drill work-out up on the Flat. Most of the food had been prepared the day before. In the middle of the aftemoon, -3- when things began to quiet down a bit, Captain Sanders and one of his lieutenants • staged a fencing bout with swords. >.U this was very interesting to me and I got smacked across the side of my head enough to draw a little blood. I got too close. I remember I set up a howl which I am sure could have been heal'd all over the grove. • A good old friend of ours by the name of Fanny Toomer picked m, up and tied a mans handkerchief around my bleeding head. After that a rope was stretched to keep the croNd back and the fun went on. I was not badly hurt. Grandfather Sanders told me many of the incidents of his past life, which I later found out he had never related to any other person. I have been asked by members of his family to relate as many of them as I could. He was raised by his foster parents as they had no children of their own. Grandfather said, "The towns people in Farr.aington said I was spoiled and they called me a dude and a dacdy because my folks bought me store-bought clothes and shoes while the other boys I ran around with had to wear homemade, mother-made clothes, and shoes made by the local cobbler. But as grandfather said, 'I do not think you are too badly spoiled, looking back over what I was able to accomplish. • I married one of ThOlllas Grover's daughters . Her na.JN was Lucy Grover and her eldest de.ugbter is the 1n0ther of your wife, Nina, and her name was also Lucy. Soon after I was married I was able to own a home, a small farm and two span of the finest mules a person would ever want to draw a line over. At this time I was considered quite independent. At any rate I felt like I had it made. At a Stake Cmference for the Davis Stake held at Farmington in the early spring of the year, about 20 young married couples were especially notified to be present. Brigham Young and his first councilor, Heber c. l<illlbal, were • present. We were asked to stay after the regular meeting was dismissed and • -4- held in session for a few minutes. The Brethexn are called on a mission to go down and settle on what was then called "The Huddy River" and has sine:$ been known as the "Huddy Mission." As soon as the meeting was dismissed I walked out determined I was not going to go. To my surprise almost everybody who was at the conference gathered outside the Church and a numbe7.' of my wry close friends gathered around me. One of them said, 'What about it Dave, are you going?' I said, 'No, I'm not going.' I looked up just then in time to see Father Thomas Grover coming toward nae. He pointed his finger straight at me and said, 'Yes you are going and I aa going to see to that• . Right then I knew I was going. It took us a month to get ready. We traveled in covered wagons, was moN than a month oo the road and when we arrived at our destinatica, and while we were busy unloading and making ready for our last camp, a band of Indians • gathered around us. We were out-numbered more than two to one but very thankful when we found they were friendly and wanted to trade with us. About all they had to offer at that time was big long tame sunflower stocks as long as 16 and 17 feet. Some we used for tent poles and the small ones we'd tip ends for fi~ wood. They made a good hot fire to cook our supper with and burned well with dry grease brush we were able to get close by. We were hardly through unloading when Tff':I wife came running to me. 'David,• she said, 'the Indians have stolen my baby, come quick:' I said, 'Don't get excited they will give it back.' Moments later she came running to me this time with tears in her eyes; 'David', she said, •one of them old Squaws has opened up her bNast and our baby is nursing her.• (: Grandpa went back with her and the Squaw, very gently and quietly with a wide grin on her face, hand•d back the baby. 'I am quite sure," Grandpa said, ~ •we were the first white people these Indians had ever eeen. • • -s- As soon as we got straightened around, we held a meeting. It seemed no one was satisfied with what we were f.acing. Some wanted to go back home or at least to St. Geo1•ge, some wanted to go to California, others to Arizona. But oUl" three leadei'S sud no, we were sent down here by men in authority to settle up the country and we are going to do just that. r will. never forget the look in our leaders eyes when he turned to me and said, 'Dave Sanders you have the best outfit in this Company. I am going to put you back on the main traveled road betw~en St. George and the mouth of the muddy to pilot emigrants passing through to and from California. Take anything for your services they are willing to offer you, money or food stuff. We will give you all the help we cmi to get you started.' They gathered up te:i large wooden barrels and two smaller ones. I put heavy canvas over them for lids. With the help of other members of our COlllpany I made up three notices, fastened them onto boards, • put one on the crossing of Vegas Creek, one on the Muddy and one up on the crossing at the Vergin. They all read the same: Warning~ .22!_ attempt to cross the stretch of desert between here and the next watering hole without making arx,ange-ments with Dave Sanders for water for yourselves and animals. Then I tried to leave a note fastened at the bottom of each notice but I was never able to keep a very strict schedule, some companies traveled fast and some traveled slow. During x,ain storms or extremely hot weather we were held back. Sometimes the streams were swollen and made crossing impossible, we either had to wait until the stream went down or follow it up in hopes of finding a safe crossing. I found most of the travelers I came in ccotact with, friendly but a little suspicious . I had only been ·on the road a short time when something happened I have always been happy about . I found a young Indian boy walking along the road barefoot, ragged and hungry. I gave him a drink of wat0r and what I had ~ le~ of f!J'J morning meal. As near as I could guess he must have been about 16 • years old. He coul.d not talk nor understand English and I could not understand his Indian talk but we both got along quite well with sign language. I found him to be very quick to learn and a very dependable. Later on he taught me some of his Indian language and I got him to talking pretty good English. HG had wonderful eyesight, he could look ahead and see emigrants on the road long before I could ever see them. He could see bands of Indians approaching when all I could see would be hot summer heat waves up from the hot backed landscape. If wca met a band of Indiana he could always tell if they were hostile or friendly. When he was uncertain he would aske me to stop and ?le would walk on ahead making signs with his hands and arms which I did not understand. I am sUl'O be kept us out of a lot of trouble. I tried to pay him money, he would hand it back with the comment, 'no good'. • I soon found some things he did like. I was ilble to get a l.>ig brass belt buckle, a black Indian hat, some buckskin pants, a red shirt and two red bandana handkerchiefs. One would have been better, he always left the other one laying around and he would have lost it if I had not followed behind him and picked it up many times. I tried to teach him to ~ear shoes but he said moccasins were better so I watched Tll'/ chance and traded a few blue beads, which were not worth anything to me, for a pair of moccasins to an Indian Squaw we met along the road. I do not know what I woul.d have done without this fellow. He would always help me with the mul.es, he would jerk off his moccasins and stand in the water and hand a bucket at a time to me up in the wagon to fill my barrels. Sometimes the Company we were going to pilot would be ready to start before we had our water dipped. I would say to them, • Go on, I will catch up and be • ahead of you in side of an bour.' Sometimes they did not want to start and I _,_ would have to go over to them to find out what the trouble was . It was usually • the women foll<s. After I had explained everything to them they would say, • We do not like the looks of that Indian you have travelin& with you.• I would say to them. 'I do not like Indians any more than you dot that is why I have this fellow along with me.• This explanation usually got them off to a good start. I was only able to atop at the spot where my own Company were located oftener than about two weeks; but when I did they were always glad to see me . I always came in with some money, flour. beans. cured ham. salt bacon, sugar. rice. com meal• etc. and sometimes even cloth and sewing thread. The first season we were down there we harvested over 50 bushels of wheat. Constructed some good log cabins and some sheds and corrals for our livestock. We harvested the wheat with band cycle and beat it out with a hand flarl and windmowed it out in the afternoon wind. The next year we had almost l+O acres ready for harvest. We got wol'd there was an old wom out threshing machine up at St . George which could be obtained for about $50.00. A man in our company said he was a threshing machine doctol'. He said• 11I cannot make a thNshing machine. but I can make replacement f Ol' any part. • Well, we went and got the threshing machine but when we got it down to the Muddy Settlement it was completely shook to pieces. The old gentleman was as good as his wol'd. He worked day and night and got it fixed up and we thresned over 1 1 000 bushels that year. 11 Any student of Utah history knows what happened to the Muddy Settlement. After having been subjected to double taxation first by the State of Arizona and later the State of Nevada, they became discouraged. SO'C118 went to Arizona. some back to St. George. Utah• and some back where they started from. Grandfather Sanders came back to Morgan, made a down payment en a very good farm which was • later known as the Shurtleff Farm in North Horgan County. • -e- Utah had not been admitted to statehood then and Grandpa Sanders was appointed as Sheriff. He served two terms • two yea%'& each• then moved back to Davis County. A large book could be written on his actions frotJt here because he was only middle age when he left Morgan. He served two terms as sheriff of Davis County and also was Captain of the Davis County Militia at the time Coxie's Army mrule that famous march across the continent in the swmner of 1894. A number of wild threats had been made by some · of the marchers as to what they would do when they reached Salt Lake City• and for this reason• both Church and civil authorities• decided that they did not want the army to come to Salt Lake City. Utah at that time was still a territory and there was a lot of lawlessness going oo. The army was following the railroad around the north end of Salt Lake. • They walked along the railroad track, stopped all trains going east• helped themselves to what cargo they needed to continue the march to Washington. D. c. where they expected to force the Federal Govemment to build roads and bridges and open up new territory for settlement. • Orders came to Grandpa Sanders in the middle of the night to stop this army at the Davis-Weber Coun'tl' line !f!.. ~ _co_s_T_s. At daylight• Captain Sanders had his men out and lined up along the line between the two counties. There was nothing out there at this time but sage brush and sand burrs. The line was marked by stakes long enough to stand above the sage brush. His men all mounted on horseback• were stationed about fifty feet behind this line which uas plainly marked by strips of cloth and red handkerchiefs. The Captain instructed his men to bave their guns loaded• both their side arms and rifles but not to shoot anybody unless they were fired upon and if any of them were brave enough to cross that line against 1fl'/ ordeI'S• "-make -the d-ust fly around their ~ · . We waited about an hour when we first got sight of them . . • -9- coming along the highway on the sand ridge • I took a position on the wagon l"Oad with my first and second lieutenants . We had sixshooters but no rifles. As they approached closer, I gave them orders that they we?'e to halt and not cross our line. They immediately demanded by what authority my orders came from. I promptly told them it was my ordeNl and my men back of the line had been given their orders. Two of them advanced a little closer a:id one of them said, 'We'll see about . that. ' One of them stayed, the other o:ie went back into the rnks of the marchers and came up with a little short fella,, in uniform. He waR decked out with a lot of badges and the ugliest man I believe I have ever met in rvy life. He said, 'I am General Coxey, I am in command of this ar:ny and we are going through to Salt Lake City, Utah.' I warned him of the consequences if he did so. He took the small company of men who came up with him and ma?'Ched back into the • ranks of his followers. They talked for al1DOSt an hour before they started back along the road toward the main line of the Union Pacific Railway at the mouth of Weber Canyon. That was the last the Davis County people ever saw of Coxey's Army. Soon aftar this, and after his term of office as sheriff had expired, he left Farmington and moved his family into the Teton Country in Idaho. Soon after he arl'ived there, there was a lot of talk about building a railroad branch line up into the Teton Cowitry. The homesteaders talked about it in the winter, held meetings at diffe?'ent points, raised enough money by donation to make a pre-liminary survey and sent a couple of men back to New Yori< to interest some bond company to furnish money to finance the project. The two men who represent~d the homesteaders sent back encouraging reports, but another winter and swmnar passed by but no money came to finance the project. Everything began to look bad for the railroad. . . • -9- coming along the highway on the sand ridge • I took a position on the wagon l"Oad with my first and second lieutenants . We had sixshooters but no rifles. As they approached closer• I gave them orders that they were to halt and not cross our line. They immediately demanded by what authority my orders came from. I promptly told them it was lf'l'j orders and 1IIY men back of the line had been given their orders. Two of them advanced a little closer a.-id one of them said, 'We'll see about that.• One of them stayed, the other O':le went back into the rnka of the marchers and came up with a little short fello,, in uniform. He waR decked out with a lot of badges and the ugliest man I believe I have ever met in Tl'/ life. He said, • I am General Coxey, I am in command of this ar:ny and we are going through to Salt Lake City• Utah.' I warned him of the consequences if he did so. He took the small company of men who came up with him and mal'Ched back into the • ranks of his followers . They talked for almost an hour before they started back along the road toward the main line of the Union Pacific Railway at the mouth of Weber Canyon. That was the last the Davis County people ever saw of Coxey's Army. Soon aftar this, and after his tenn of office as sheriff bad expired• he left Farmington and moved his family into the Teton Country in Idaho. Soon after he arrived there, there was a lot of talk about building a railroad branch line up into the Teton Country. The homesteaders talked about it in the winter, held meetings at different points• raised enough money by donation to make a pre-liminary survey and sent a couple of men back to New Yoric to interest some bond company to furnish money to finance the project. The two men who representAd the homesteaders sent back encouraging reports, but another winter and sut11Dar passed by but no money came to finance the project. • Everything began to looJc: bad for the railroad. . . • -10- Grandfather Sanders got a lot of men who had put up a lot of money for the survey and who had promised the land for a right-of-way to gether and as soon as the winter snow had mel'tied Grandfather said, "Come on, what are we waiting for, let's go?" Some thought he had done wrong and exceeded his authority; but it proved to be alright because two repNsentati ves of the bonding company appeared on th• scene. They were amazed at what they saw; tDOSt of the grading had been done, each man putting up the fence where the grade passed through his l.imds. Grand-father kept track of all their labor and when the road was finished they were reimbursed for their land, labor and fencing materials. Grandfather was paid for his efforts and was granted an annual pass on the branch line for a number of years. He had t!:'Ouble sometimes when he tried to ride the main line of the o. s. L. but he had a way about him which he used to • make trips back to Davis Cowity. Later on, possibly 1896 or 1897, Gra..,dfatber Sanders wa$ employed by a very rich man who came in from the east to scr~pe out an old swainp which later became the famous Lagoon Resort. This mans' name was Bergeman. He had attempted on several occasions to have the swamp cleaned up to his likeing; It seemed that everyone failed and gave up the job ~afore it was finished. Someone suggested David Sanders. Grandfather took the job. He bad the advantage of those who had failed, he constructed a deep drain ditch--aomething those who tried before him had failed to do. He did this in the fall of the year and the swamp had almost a year to dry up. Hr. Bergerman seemed to think this was a smart thing to do. He was so pleased that he tolcl Grandiather he would pay him tl\e wages he had promised plus a splendid bonus if be would stay on the job and accomplish it within a year. Grandfather was able to do just that. He was well • paid and was able to pay his men and keep them on the j Qb. It could well be said that Gr-an elf at her built Lagoon Resort. . ,. • • • -11- Soon after this, Mr. Bergeman sold his interst to a rich relative by the name of Simon Batlberzer, who spent a lot of money for other improvements• including moving a resort which had been built several years bef()re along the shore of the Great Salt Lake, but had never been made to pay. It was known as Lake Park Resort. Hr. Bambergar bought and moved the buildings up to his resort. He also built a railroad J.nto Salt Lake City. This railroad was made to pay and was known as the Dummy Railroad from Farmington to Salt Lake, and was extended south to Provo, through Davis County• north through Ogden 11 and to Preston, Idaho. Sept . 1969