Pioneer Road. John Phelps entered a tract of land, presently owned by Milton Kidman of West Pioneer Road; bordering on the west boundary line of our settlement below Everet Wardle's property at 3202 W. Pioneer Road. Lack of foresight or failure to realize advantages that they could enjoy by locating in close proximity to each other and reasonably close to their nearest source of water supply, proved to be a hindrance to their efforts to assist each other or engage successfully in performing services of community interest. Because of the existing strenuous conditions, welfare of families was of pressing importance. Each of these men was duty bound to provide his family with food, clothing, and shelter. Many times in the past, these families with the body of Saints back in the states, experienced privations and suffering inflicted by insufficient food and exposure under extreme persecution. These past experiences, it is believed, qualified them to deal with emergencies that would unavoidably arise in what appeared to be an endless task in getting established. Like their persecuted comrade Saints who entered these valleys at that time, they accepted privations and suffering as part of their lot and set to work with greater zeal and determination to discharge responsibilities devolving upon them. Realizing that failure to reap could mean disaster they tilled and sowed the desert land trusting in faith to a merciful God for the harvest. Living quarters were erected with cottonwood and box elder logs obtained from nearby timber along Weber River. Cabins erected, though small and inconvenient as they were, sheltered their occupants from the burning heat of summer and cold of winter which in the early days here was reportedly very severe. While every effort was directed in providing for the security of themselves and families, one of the most vexing problems confronting them was no doubt the matter of providing necessary moisture to mature their crops. It is believed they fully realized, not only the present need for water, but also the great part it would play in developing industrial enterprises and advancing agricultural pursuits over this vast arid region in the future. After working weeks to complete projects which in their judgments were of first importance, the season was too far advanced and their energies too nearly exhausted to even contemplate construction of ditches to carry water to thirsty crops. Precipitation, it appears, was the only solution to moisture need during remainder of the year. Fulfillment of dreams of an irrigation system through which water could be conveyed to their respective tracts of land appeared destined to await arrival of more settlers. To complete a ditch from a dam across Mill Creek in the southeast corner of our settlement, the nearest source of water supply even to the two nearer farms those of Thomas Mccann and Thomas Virgo, would have taken weeks with modern heavy dirt-digging equipment. Influx of large numbers of Saints to these valleys was the usual annual occurrance from the time the first company of Pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Many of these immigrants came directly to Ogden rather than go first to Church headquarters in Salt Lake City. For a number of years, it is understood Church authorities or their representatives extended to those arriving at Ogden the usual welcome and encouragement accorded new arrivals at all larger centers. -8- We would naturally assume that, as far as possible, the food and clothing supply of the less fortunate among these people were replenished before they were released to take their places among the thousands in reclaiming desert wastes and establishing homes. The region in every direction from Ogden appeared to be much the same. Here and there in the radius of a few miles men and women in colonies commenced the previous year or so were struggling for survival. The year 1853 must have brought joy and assurances to the three families in the western part of Slaterville as well as to the Kelly family in the eastern part of the region. Good fortune evidently had smiled on these families in their feeble attempt to establish a colony here during the short time they had been in the area. The blessed land they so patiently and diligently husbanded, yielding to prayers and toil, brought forth the good things of life. Blessed with these desperately needed life-sustaining necessities and arrival of a substantial number of men and women to the small colony during the year of 1853 must have been sources of much encouragement and satisfaction. During the time that elapsed between the years 1853 and 1860, families of men who framed the destiny of this small village settled here. Among them are such familiar names as Steven W., Sylvester, and Alonzo Perry; John, Joseph, and William Shaffer; Davis Bartholomew; Richard Salter; Ammon Green; James, William, and Joseph Field; Thomas Casey; Fred Bradshaw; Jeremiah Bateman; Henry Holley Sr.; John Knight Sr.; William Singleton; Thomas Richards Thomas Thomas; Henry Bowns; Peter Rogers; Samuel Gates; William Price; Charles Webb; Thomas Foy; Moses Burn. Men whose names appear on the above list, it is understood, very well represent those who settled here between the years 1853 and 1856. Those who settled here during the four years between 1856 and 1860 are listed as follows: Edwin W. Smout; John Wheeler Senior; Layman; Lot Darney; Vol Simpson; John Etherington; John R. Manning; Jacob Neilsen; Svwen Anderson; George Billings; John Allred Sr.; James Cowan Sr. The silence of centuries was broken and the veil of solitude behind which this spot slept for generations was raised by the four men - Alexander Kelly Thomas Mccann, Thomas Virgo, and John Phelps when they ventured the establishment of a colony here. The pioneer who immediately followed them and settled here during the period between 1853 and 1856 was charged with laying the foundation on which the security of this particular spot has rested to the present time. Accomplishments of the early settlers through the years after a colony was commenced here were achieved through cooperative effort - a practice employed by the Saints from the time the Church was organized. Trials, hardships, and severe persecutions their inspired and beloved Prophet Joseph Smith, declared would be their lot until they arrived at a place where they could live in peace free from their enemies and worship God under their own "vine and fig tree." -9-