Settlement of Ashley Valley in Uintah Co., Utah

    It was the summer of 1776, when a party composed of ten Spaniards started on a journey; their only traveling companions were a few sturdy burros. This was the Escalante expedition from Santa Fe, who were seeking amore direct route to Monterey, California. After many days of travel they came to a river bordered by waving green trees and willows which Escalante named Rio Buenaventura. (Beautiful Adventure.) It was late called Green River. After camping on the banks of the river for two days, they pushed bravely on into another area of dry country, not knowing were they would find more water.
    They had not gone many miles until, mounting the summit of a little hill, they gazed down into Ashley Valley. The land was dry and arid, the soil sandy, and the vegetation consisted mostly of sage brush, cactus, and other desert plants, but through the northern section ran a narrow ribbonlike creek. This creek is now called Ashley Creek.
    Other than the score of wild animals, Escalante found there only the Indians. These Indians were a Nomadic people. Their food consisted chiefly of the meat from the buffalo, deer, antelope, and smaller game, but this was varied with squash and corn which they raised and with the berried of wild shrubs growing farther up the hills. The Indians made their implements of chipping flint into crude shapes and their cooking utensils were moulded from clay; such was the Ashley Valley and its inhabitants in 1776. Though he did not stop here, Escalante mentioned the place in his diary.
    After Escalante’s entrance there is no record of the Valley’s being visited by white men until 1825, when General Ashley passed through, leaving his name to both creek and valley. He was with Andrew Henry, the founder of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company on a trapping expedition. With their party was a young man, Jim Bridger, who afterward received much fame as a frontiersman.
    Ouray Valley was about the first place in Utah to be explored by white men.
    Green River was named in the year of 1825. The name was given by one of William N. Ashley’s fur trappers, whose name was Green. After leaving Green River, this company came to the Ashley Creek. This creek was named for William N. Ashley, Who was the one to help organize and manage the Rocky Mountain Fur Co.
    The bones and horns that have been found signify that great herds of buffalo have lived in the Basin. They were all held here by a hard winter before the first settlers came to Utah.
    On July 21, 1851, the Uintah Indian Agency was established b proclamation, by Abraham Lincoln. Governor Brigham Young also held the office to superintend the Indian affair, under appointment made by the president of the United States. The agency was made in the Uintah Basin. Lieutenant Pardon Dodds was the first agent to take charge on this reservation. He received his appointment in 1867.
    Mr. Dodds was born in Irie, Pennsylvania, in 1827 on March 13. He left home at the age of fifteen and went to Wisconsin. He was always self supporting from then on.
He finished common school and had entered college when the Civil War broke out. This ended his schooling. He entered the Civil War and was appointed to the rank of Second Lieutenant and was discharged from the army in 1865, coming to Salt Lake City, Utah, on Sept. 7, 1866. He was appointed agent for the Indians and took over the agency in the fall of 1867. He was first located on the upper Duchesne and then moved to Rock Creek and from there to Whiterocks.
    It seems that some of the early settlers have questioned his appointment and in an excerpt written b himself he said: “I was appointed agent under $20,000 bond under President Andrew Jackson.”
    The journal reads that he reached Whiterocks on Christmas Day, 1868, where the Uintah agency was established. (Whiterocks is the oldest settlement in Uintah County, not counting, of course, the old trading posts. Critchlow succeeded Dodds as agent in 1872. Then Pardon Dodds came back as agent as a stockman to Ashley Valley in 1873 on February 14. With him was Morris Evans and Dick Huffaker. They erected the first house ever built by white men in 1873. All of the work from timber to dirt roof was done by them; the windows were brought from Salt Lake. The main part of the building was first built to afford them shelter and as time permitted, the lean-to was soon added. The house served as a home for the Dodds family form 1873 to 1897 when a large frame house was erected.
    Mr. Dodds went with Major Powell on one of his trips down the Colorado after he retired from government service. He was appointed by an act of legislature, a Selectman in and for Uintah county, Utah. He was appointed by Governor Eli H. Murray in 1880. In 1883, January 18, he was appointed prosecuting attorney for Uintah County, by Governor Murray.
    John Blankenship joined the Dodds party and during their journey they fell in with Professor Marsh and a group of students from Yale University, who gave the name of Marsh Peak to the prominent mountain top usually called “Baldy.” Captain Dodds died Sept. 4, 1921 at the age of 84 years.
    Alfred Harvey Westover and Jimmie Rineman came here together June 10, 1876. John Kelley was the first man to build a house this side of the creek where the Ira Burton place is. This was the second house built and Jimmie Rineman built the third.

EARLY PIONEER FAMILIES
        During the coming summer autumn of 1876 and 1877, a number of persons moved in, among them were: Mr. and Mrs. William Gibson, Mr. and Mrs. John Fairchild, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hardy, Mr. and Mrs. Alma Taylor, William Powell, Lewis Kabell, Al Westover, S. P. Dillman, Jimmy Aiverman, Perry Decker, Pat Lynch, Robert Blankenship, Mr. Mason, Mr. downing, William Britt and Fin Britt, and James Gibson.
    Once a week carriers, riding horseback or wearing snowshoes, brought the mail in from Green River City, Wyoming. The Gibsons and Dodds had stores on their ranches; later Gibsons moved their store to old Ashley Town. Lycurgus Johnson also had a store there. Church was held in the homes of the people. The first Sunday School was organized on Washington’s Birthday, Feb. 22, 1880, with Alfred Johnson as Superintendent. Later, a log schoolhouse was built from donations by the Latter-day Saints; it stood just south of the old David Timothy farm. William Britt taught school in an old schoolhouse on Gibson’s farm in 1878 Other accounts acclaim Mr. Britt the first teacher. MR. S. P. Dillman said: “I moved to Ashley Valley in September, 1877. In the fall of ‘78 we built a log schoolhouse near the center of what is knows as the Nathan C. Davis farm, a little east of Joseph Hardy’s. That winter William Britt became Ashley Valley’s first schoolteacher and taught a three –months’ term of school.
    In 1879, while the Indian excitement was on, the Indians advised the people to move together. Those who moved their cabins to Old Ashley Town were: W. C. Britt and wife, a Alfred Johnson, Dick Huffaker and wife, Joseph Hardy and family, Lycurgus Johnson and wife, Charles Bentley and wife, Allen Davis and Wife, ( S. D. Colton came with his family but did not move into town), Venn Gundy and daughter Cora, and Minnie Jasperson. The single men were: S. D. Dillman, Finn Britt, John Steinaker, John Blankenship, Dan Brucil, Pat Carrell, James Rineman, Louis Cabell, Alfred Westover, MR. Hall, James Barker, Francis Hiatt, and John Kelley.
    It seems evident that the first settlement centered near the Pardon Dodds ranch and is known as Old Ashley Town, which is some two or three miles northwest of the present Vernal City. Another settlement on Green River near the present town of Jensen, and a neighborhood community in the Dry Fork, all seemed to evolve before the town of Vernal emerged. However, in 1879 and 1880, there were several families on the site where Vernal afterwards was located. To Old Ashley Town we turn our attention where we get a mental picture of the first laces of business.
    The business places in ’79 were: the Britt store and post office with an attic room where the boarders slept: Gibson’s store, and Bentley’s saloon. Huffakers also had rooms upstairs for extra cattlemen that came to town, among whom were: A. C. Hatch (Judge), Will Willis, Charles Jasperson, George Baser, Andy Strong, Jack Edwards, Griff Edwards, Charles Hill and a brother Dave, Dan Mosby, Fletcher Hammond, Charley Grouse from Brown’s Park, etc. In 1882 Brown and Luxen started a saloon. Clurg Johnson also started a store.

    THE BINGHAM PARTY
    In 1877 another company came to Ashley Valley under the direction of Thomas Bingham, Sr. He had been a member of the Mormon Battalion and at this time was living in Weber County. In the summer of 1877 he with his son and some others came to look over the Valley. He returned to his home in Huntsville in Weber County and made a report of his findings to President John Taylor. From him Elder Bingham received permission to organize a small company and aid in the settlement of Ashley Valley. They left in November, 1877, and coming over the Uintahs via Evanston and Brown’s Park, arrived in the lower end of Ashley Valley on the Green River in December, 1877.
    The party consisted of Thomas Bingham and wife, David H. Bingham and family, Enoch Burns and son, Frederic, G. Williams and family, Alma Taylor and two children, Joshua Chell Hall and wife, Lola and child, Orson Hall, Charles Allan, Charles A. Nye, Ben Lofgren, Neils Lofgren, Charles Jensen and John Nelson and family. At Evanston these were joined by a party who came along with the Bingham party. They were Allen Beceus, George Carry, Richard Veltman and Bill Bunnell. After contacting the people who had preceded him, he took a complete census of the whole population and sent it to President John Taylor at Salt Lake City.
    At a meeting held on Green River in January, 1878, Thomas Bingham, Sr., was chosen by those present to preside over them. Thus he became the first presiding elder in Uintah Basin.
    Deseret News, May 25, 1878:
    There are about 100 inhabitants in this precinct…The roads that lead to this place, whether by Fort Bridger or Heber, are very rough and twenty hundred is a heavy load for four animals …There are as yet no mills in the country …We have applied for a post office and mail route to this place and expect it will be established this summer.
    In the early civil and ecclesiastic affairs the Binghams played an important role. Thomas Bingham eventually moved to Dry Fork, an account of which appears later.
    Mr. and Mrs. William Gibson landed here from Kamas on the first day of November, 1877. They located on the place where they now live. They brought 35 head of cattle and enough provisions to do them for a year or more. The winter was very mild and they lived in a house without doors or windows. While Mr. Gibson was away after supplies two years later, the Indian troubles began over the line in Colorado.
    Mrs. Gibson, being afraid, went to Old Ashley Town where the rest of the settlers had gathered. When Mr. Gibson returned he moved their sawed log hose which they had built on their ranch during the summer (sawing the logs with a whip saw) to Old Ashley Town, where they lived for a year, then returned to their ranch. They sold their hose in Ashley Town to the county for a court house. It was used for this purpose four or five years. The county then moved it to Hatch Town, which is now Vernal, where it was used for many years as a county building. Being remodeled, it is still a neat looking building and stands on the corner just east of the Uintah Railway Office.
    “In 1878 the first Fourth of July celebration was held. There were only five women present: Mrs. William Gibson, Mrs. Robert Snyder, Mrs. Chell Hall, Mrs. George W. Hislop, and Mrs. Alfred Johnson (all deceased.)

        THE HATCH FAMILY
        In the early establishment of Ashley Valley, the Hatches played a most significant role. Previous mention has been made of the Old Ashley settlement, the Dry Fork neighborhood, and of the individuals who settled near the present Jensens on Green River. To the Hatches must go the credit for forming the nucleus of a settlement on what was called the bench, now where Vernal is. It was called the “bench” because it was up off the river. You could see miles across it; there was not a tree, a shrub or a green twig of any king. Indeed, the bench-which is no bench to us-was a different appearing spectacle when Escalante, Ashley and others peered across it.
    Mr. Hatch came to Ashley with Abraham Chase Hatch in the spring of 1878. Mr. A. A. Hatch claims the distinction of being the first settler on the bench. Andrew Jensen in his history of Uintah Stake, written in 1892, states: Jeremiah Hatch … built the second house in Ashley Center. David Johnston had already built the first.” “Down on the creek (east) there were two bachelors at the time, McKnight and McFarley by name, but they hadn’t any places on the bench,” states Mr. Hatch, Jeremiah Hatch and family came to Uintah as early pioneers and in the cause of settlement of this eastern part of Utah.
    No crops were put in by the Hatches in the year of 1878. A. A. Hatch made three trips to bring in all his belongings and got here in November, 1878, with his family. At that time there was no Uintah county. This was in Wasatch county. Mr. Abraham C. Hatch was the president of the Wasatch Stake. He was a brother of Jeremiah who was the father of A. A. Hatch, our consultant. (The very first settler of this territory, Pardon Dodds Sr., married the daughter of President A. C. Hatch.)
    Mr. Hatch’s own story:
    “When we came back from Heber he said he would show me some oats of Bill McKnight’s, and when I saw those oats my eyes must have stood out of my head for I never in all my life saw such oats.
    “I stayed at Pardon Dodd’s for three or four days until Uncle Abe and Father (Jeremiah ) drove out. Uncle Abe came out on business. Pard ran a trading post and Uncle Abe furnished the goods.
    “After Father came we got out enough logs to make the foundations for our houses. We made the return trip to Heber in forty hours. We returned about the last of May and built two houses quite close together, and they were the first houses built on the bench. The settlement that followed was first known as Jericho and then as Hatchtown in honor of Father.
    “We hauled all of our supplies and furniture out before we did our families, and it was Nov. 17, 1878, that we were all established.
    “In the spring of 1879 we put in our crops and the grasshoppers took practically all of them. They hit my crops first and then started on Dad’s. All we were able to save was about 40 bushels of Dad’s.
    “I surveyed the lower canal. I and Jim Hendry (Henry) plowed it while the lower settlers used a V-shaped scraper (go-devil) to clean it out with.
    “The first base meridian line was surveyed in the fall of ’79. It was located one and one-half miles east of the Uintah State Bank.
    “In the fall of ’79, Mr. Hendry and I formed a partnership and threshed the grain on the bench with a hand-fed, horsepower driven machine. This machine was brought into the valley by Bill Bealer, the fall of ‘77, and was used by him to thresh on the creek until he broke the master wheel. Among those we threshed for were: I. J. Clark, Brad Bird, Jim Henry, Al Johnson, Bill Hayden and Albium Batty.
    “In the year of ‘79 a number of the settlers raised sugar cane for the first time.
Fatter and I cooked the cane for them. We made the cooker with a sheet iron bottom and wooden sides. When the molasses was cooked and drained we would leave some in the bottom and cook it hard to make candy, and did we have some candy pulls!
    “The Meeker massacre happened on the 29th of September at Meeker’s Agency, near where the town of Meeker, Colorado, now stands. The reports were at that time that Nathan C. Meeker, Indian agent, was unfair and stubborn in his dealing with the Indians and their annuities. The Indians lassoed and dragged him through the agency until he was almost dead: they then took him and drove oak staves through his body staking him to the ground and left him until he died. They forced his wife and daughter and all agency employees to watch this tortuous and inhuman action, after which they kidnapped the women and killed some of the agency employees.
    “Reports were that Jane Powitz, daughter of Chief Aropeen, was the agitator and did all she could to urge the Indians on. She was a very handsome squaw and could talk the English language very fluently.
    “My house was the last one rebuilt and was the only one with a wooden floor, commonly called puncheon floor, made by hewing logs square and placing them on the ground side by side.
    “After we had built the fort we dug a well. We went down 20 feet and hit slate; we dug a few feet in this and then gave up and haled water from the creek.
    “All the dances were held at my hose, being the only one with a floor. Old Pete Peterson was the fiddler and did we hoe it down. Mariah Merkley, Kate Peterson, Annie Ross and others danced us almost to death.
    “George Merkley and I got out the logs for the first schoolhouse in Vernal. It was built inside the fort. I was the first school trustee appointed by Wasatch for Vernal.
    “During the winter our supply of flour from Heber was about gone and we decided to build a burr mill. Roan Taylor cut the stone, Bill Reynolds cut the grooves and dressed them.
    In the spring of ‘80, about April 15, Dave Woodruff and Jim Henry took four-horse outfits each and went to Green River City, Wyoming, for flour. Uncle Archie Hadlock had received $400 from the Government for the death of his son in the Civil War, and we settlers borrowed this money to pay for the supplies.
    “MY share was $100 and for security I mortgaged my new Peter Schuler wagon. T was a very odd contract. Archie picked up the tongue of the wagon and raising it to the sky said: ‘Know all things by these presents, this wagon is mine if this debt is not paid.’ Lowering the tongue to the ground our bargain was made and sealed. I don’t know the story of the other loans, but I do know he was paid back every cent plus interest.”--A. Reed Morrill.

    THE HARD WINTER
    During the hard winter of 1879-80 the people of the Valley went through some of the most trying circumstances of their pioneer days. People actually went hungry and lived on daily rations. There were no vegetables at all and no fruit. There were deer but they were so poor that not a globule of grease would rise in the pot in which they were cooked. There was no way out or in for supplies. The cattle huddled under ledges or anywhere nature had provided a little shelter and there they perished. Several hundred head were lost this way. Whole herds perished until by spring they had dwindled to small numbers and mild was luxury of high order. So serious it became that some of the most valiant and brave men undertook the trip via Brow’s Park over the mountain, up to Green River City, Wyoming, for flour and provisions. The team of Al Hatch was one of the first to be offered for service, and the men got together the best horses available under the circumstances of no feed, and started overt the rim of the northern mountains that cold day in the winter of 1879. Those who went from the fort were Jim Henry, Pete Peterson, Chell and Lee Hall, and Dave Woodruff.
    All the money available was gotten together and sent with these men to purchase flour and supplied, and it is said that Grandfather Archibald Hadlock and Chell Hall added their government pensions to this amount collected to help provide provisions for the needy in the fort that winter. The money was later returned.
    The winter of 1879 and 1880 was indeed a hard winter and several things occurred to make it hard. In the first place the snow was deep and the temperature dropped down, Perhaps it has been cold since that time, but there then no stacks of alfalfa hay to feed the cattle and help them resist the cold, penetrating frost; then there were no trees nor structures for windbreaks over the bench; there wee no barns nor shed for shelter, and consequently the cattle became thin and were swept away in large numbers by the cold persistent winter, Mr. Ike Burton, Mr. W. H. Clark, Mr. A. A. Hatch and others recall counting the dead cattle in large numbers where they had huddled together in an attempt to keep warm.
    Besides this situation of natural consequence, the crops of the summer of 1879 had been greatly diminished by the grasshopper menace. They scourged the fields and left waste in their wake. Thus supplies were reduced to a greater extent. Mr. A. A. Hatch recalls having saved practically no grain from the “hoppers” that summer but was grateful for a crop of sugar cane from which he made molasses that fall.
    Chell Hall and brother Lee left the next day after Jim Henry’s company, but caught them on the way back as they camped on Green River. It was Chell Hall who got them out of bed and with much persuasion got them to go to work and cross the rived in the night, using shovels for paddles. The river was rising so fast he knew if they waited the stream could not be crossed for several days.
    Coupled with these conditions and paralleling them in time was the Indian trouble which necessitated the constructing of a fort where the people could move in for protection. This trouble was a result of the Meeker Massacre. The Ute Indian leaders were on friendly terms with the Hatches and Uncle Jeremiah Hatch was told by the Indians to build a fort and “fort up” in case protection became a necessity. The feeling among the Utes ran high and it wasn’t easy to determine what might happen. Uncle Jerry was informed not to allow opposition to be initiated among the settlers and “if trouble occurs” he was cautioned to hoist a white flag over the fort under which conditions he was promised protection for the settlers.
    The fort was constructed where the J. C. Penney store and the Uintah State Bank now stand. Log cabins wee to be placed about in a square, facing in, with a space between so that log buttresses could be put up for fighting purposes if necessary. However, it was not finished so it formed a U. Thus in the winter of 1879 and 1880 this community of for houses--sometimes jovially spoken of as “Jericho” and sometimes as “Hatchtown” because of the great influence of Uncle Jeremiah Hatch--contained the families of Jeremiah Hatch, Sr., (Uncle Jerry had two wives, Al Hatch, Al Johnson, Jim Henry, I. J. Clark (who had three wives), Bradford Bird, Bill Reynolds, John Harper and mother, Dave Woodruff who married Jerry Hatch’s daughter, Pete Peterson, J. Dorathy, Charles Bartlett, Moroni Taylor, Lomoni Taylor, Ephraim Perks, William Gagon, Thomas Karren, Archibald Hadlock and James Hacking, and one or two others. There may have been others coming in and out during the winter,.
    In an attempt to supply the settlers with water, a well was dug in the center of the enclosure.   They dug down sixty feet but failed to strike the desirable objective and the project was abandoned. The closest available water was the streamlet which had been turned down a gulch which ran in a southeasterly direction about five-eighths of a mile below the fort that winter.
    From there a beaten path was kept open in the process of securing water for the inhabitants of the fort that winter.
    Not all the families moved within the fort and among those remaining on their ranches were Nelson Merkley, Sr., Joseph H. Black, T. Taylor, Alma Taylor, David Johnston, William Perry, J. Henderson and Belgina Reynolds. This of course does
not account for all the settlers of the valley as there were various others scattered along the river and up toward Brush Creek. There were, in reality, three localities that winter: the one at the fort, Old Ashley Town, and the more scattered settlement on Green River.
    Life in those early days was full of excitement, happiness, dullness and dreariness. It ad its ups and downs as life ever does. There were many amusing and serious incidents which helped to make” life go” as Mrs. Clark put it.
    When in the spring of 1880 the people of the fort were on their last rations, one day they saw winding back and forth across the foothills to their north and east, the returning wagons bringing flour from Green River City, Wyoming, Kate Merkley, at that time Kate Peterson, the daughter of Pete Peterson who was a member of the returning caravan, went with two other girls to meet the men returning home. The first words uttered by her father as she climbed upon lhs wagon were, “Katie, who has died?” to which Kate answered, “No one.”
    “Upon hearing my answer Father cried and I couldn’t understand why Father would shed tears when no one had died. But later in life,” added Mrs. Merkley, “I could understand the meaning of his tears.”
    “When the men drove into the fort and unloaded the sacks of flour in the square, stacking them two by two crosswise of each other, I tell you that pile of sacks standing before us was the most beautiful sight we ever saw.”
    On their return from Wyoming where they had ferried across Green River, the men had camped for the evening when L. Henry--noting the torrential appearing of the “spring rising” of the river--against the wishes of some of the party, persisted in starting again and crossing the river that night. Happy they were for having done so, for by morning the spring floods had raised a wall of water several feet high and to cross that morning would have been extremely dangerous and difficult if at all possible.
    “The advent of spring was very late that season and the farmers were unable to begin operations until the first week in April Steps looking to the organization of a new county were taken and early in the spring of 1880 Uintah County was organized.
    “We were unable to give a complete list of families who were in the county that winter, but so far as we know at present they were as follows:
    At Dry Fork--Men with families, Thomas Bingham, Sr., Thomas Bingham Jr., William H Perry, Chell Hall, Lee Hall, Charles Nye, Orson Nye, Iowa Hall, and Fletcher Hammond.
    “Ashley and Vicinity--Pardon Dodds. Lycurgus Johnson, Alfred Johnson, William Gibson, James Gibson, G. W. Wan Gundy, Philip Stringham, Al Westover, L. Kabell, Roch Gill, Mr. Hawkins, Alma Taylor, T. Taylor, William Britt, John Bentley, Richard Veltman, Bill Hayden, Samuel Miller, Mrs. William Preece and family, S. P. Dillman, G. F. Britt, Minnie Jasperson, John Kelley, Enoch Davis, J. H. Blankenship, George Thorne, and Ed. Colton
    “Vernal--I. J. Clark, Jeremiah Hatch, A.A. Hatch, James Hacking, Nelson Merkley, J. H. Black, A. J. Johnston, David Johnson, Thomas Karren, Bradford Bird, Peter Peterson, Jesse Clark, Ephraim Perks, Levi Dougherty, William Ashton, George Freestone, W. H. Gagon, Lafayette Harris, Lomoni Taylor, Moroni Taylor, Mr. Henderson, C. C. Bartlett, John Harper, James B. Henry, David Woodruff, William Reynolds, Martin Oaks, Heber Timothy, George D. Christopher, Maria Merkley, A. G. Hadlock and Sarah Merkley Coltharp.
    “At White River--Samuel Campbell, Joseph Campbell, Heber Campbell, Jerome Merrill, Porter Merrill, and Rodney B. Remington.
    “At the mouth of the Brush Creek on Green River--Judge Burton and family, Charles Smith, Jacob Burns, Lars Jensen and Jack Stevens.”
    Mr. Dillman, who recalls that winter vividly, make the following remarks. At this time his headquarters were in Ashley and not in Hatchtown: “New settlers had arrived in the fall and had brought few provisions with them for they expected to purchase flour, sugar and the like in Ashley. But instead there were just that many more hungry mouths to feed. The settlers had all moved together, forming Ashley about one and a half miles west and two miles north of where Vernal stands today. There were still a few scattered squatters on the creek but most of the population had taken heed of the Indians who promised not to molest them if they lived together. A few of the squatters had raised some grain which was ground to a coarse, crude flour in a coffee grinder and shared with the settlers of the village. During the first winter months meat was plentiful. Deer, healthy and well-fed, were easily shot, but as winter wore on and the deep snow still covered all the feed, the deer began to decrease and those that were captured were poor. The horses and cattle began to die one by one for lack of food until there were very few left. One settler had a mule, another a poor horse, another a cow, but the fine, vigorous, hard-working teams of the summer were not to be seen in this winter-driven country.   One day, Bill Reynolds, a former miller, who was homesteading in the valley, made a pair of great stone burrs for grinding the wheat and barley that were left in the community. A sweep was cleared and the stones were turned by man power for there were no horses left able to do the work. The flour thus made was nothing but chopped feed but those who couldn’t eat it had to go hungry. ‘If we could only hold out a few more weeks’ was on the lips of every man and woman, land it was a glad day in March,
1880, when Jim Henry made ready to go to Green River City for flour…
    “But now the dreadful winter was over; the sun shone and the snow on the mountains was melting in torrents of water rushing down the ravines. Travel by wagon was resumed between Ashley and Green River City. Settlers were coming in from the west. Ground was being made ready for planting and whenever possible new cattle were hauled in. After the hunger, fear, and uncertainty of the last few months, the future again looked bright and everyone set to work again.” --A. Reed Morrill.

    AURILLA B. HADLOCK HATCH
    She met Jeremiah Hatch in Vermont, while he was on a mission, in 1870. She accepted the gospel and with her parents came to Utah, coming to Salt Lake City on the train called Old Ironhorse. They married that same year in the old Endowment House. Moved to Smith Field. Came to Ashley Valley in 1879. She was president of the Relief Society and in 1886 or 1887, went to Salt Lake City and took training at the L. D.S. Hospital for nursing and midwifery.   She returned home and worked hard for the
people until two years before she died. She delivered hundreds of babies all over the country.

    JEREMIAH HATCH
    Born July 7, 1823, in Vermont
    He and his sons, Alva Jeremiah Jr., and Leoranzo, were called by President Brigham Young to come here to Ashley Valley on a mission and teach the gospel to the Indians. They settled closed to the creek, close to the foothills. There was one hill they called the “Look-out-Rock,” where they could climb to the top and watch for enemies, not only Indians, but there were outlaws to watch out for. They could see for miles. Large bands of Indians would come in the spring and fall with smaller crowds in between times. Father and is wives dug trees at Green River and planted a grove where we had many parties and wonderful time. He used to sell strawberries at 10 cents a quart, lovely large berries. He planted a large orchard below the grove. He also raised bees and we had lots of honey. He would go to Mr. Libberts and buy sorghum and made candy and popcorn balls. While our mother would card wool and spin, he would read from the Bible or Book of Mormon, then scoot us to bed. The Indians would come in large numbers and camp around his house under the large cottonwood trees. His wives, Arvill and Henrietta, would cook and feed them.

    ARCHIBALD GILCHRIST HADLOCK
    Born June 27, 1815, at Bath, New Hampshire. He married Feb. 25, 1839, in Jay, Vermont, Fannie Martha Hadlock, his cousin, who was born on August 29, 1814, at Bath, New Hampshire. They had nine children. After coming to Vernal, Mr. Hadlock worked with his sons Frank and Curtis as blacksmiths. He was very active in the church work, and was instrumental in obtaining flour for the settlers during the hard winter. He died in January 1898, and Mrs. Hadlock died Nov. 10, 1897.

    ISRAEL JUSTICE CLARK
    Born Dec. 25, 1821, at Danville, N. Y. Came to Utah in 1848 with John Smith Co. Married Emily Jane Pearson in 1853 at Salt Lake City. Indian War veteran. Missionary among the Indians. He died in September 1905.

    EMILY JANE PEARSON
    Born March 16y, 1837, at Olive Indiana. Pioneer of 1847. Died in Vernal

    MARY JANE HIATT
    Born Dec. 21, 1842, in the state of Iowa. She came to Utah when she was twelve years of age.
    She married Teancum Taylor in 1859 at Mill Creek, Salt Lake City. She was the mother of fifteen children. Her son, Reuben Taylor, was the third white child born
In Ashley Valley. He was born Sept. 11, 1878.
    She died in 1914 at Vernal.

    HISTORY OF TEANCUM TAYLOR
    Known as T. Taylor
    Teancum Taylor, son of John Taylor and Eleanor Burkett, was born in Ray County, Missouri, Dec. 21, 1836. He came to Utah when he was about eighteen years of age. In 1859, he married Mary Jane Hiatt.
    He came to Ashley Valley Sept. 16, 1877, his family being the fourth white family to settle there. He was the first man to bring a load of pine logs into the valley, from what is now known as Taylor Mountain.   The mountain was named for him. He was the first known person to enter Mt. Dell (Dry Fork), and lived there for a number of years.
    He died in November 1907.

    CLARISSA JANE TAYLOR
    Born July 4, 1845, in Nauvoo, Hancock county, Illinois. She came to Utah with her parents in 1850 when she was five years of age.
    She married Teancum Taylor on Aug. 15, 1860 at Ogden, Utah. She was the mother of fourteen children. She died Nov. 29, 1925, at Vernal.

    ALVA A. HATCH
    He was born in Salt Lake City in 1851. He married Mary Elizabeth Nelson. They had a large family and came to the valley in 1878. He was a farmer and sheepman.

    (WILL) WILBUR CARLTON BRITT
    Was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Sept. 22, 1849, a son of LeRoy and Rhod Britt. After the death of his first wife, Melissa Graves, he and his brother, Findley Britt, started out to find a new home. While in the Black Hills of South Dakota, they befriended a sick miner. He gave them a map of a gold mine on Carter Creek where the Carter Creek dugway is now. Early in the spring of 1876 they decided to go west and hunt for the hidden gold mine. In the evening before they left, they met a young man by the name of Peter Dillman who wanted to accompany them. The three came to Green River City, Wyoming, then over the mountains to Carter Creek, arriving in May, 1876, where they prospected until September when they came to Ashley Valley.
    Before winter, they went to Whiterocks and spent the winter with Pardon Dodds. In the spring of 1877, Pardon Dodds, Peter Dillman, W. C. Britt and Findlay returned to Ashley, built cabins and prepared to make homes.
    W. C. Britt built a store which housed the first postoffice. He was the first Justice of the Peace, and the first school teacher. On Nov. 2, 1881, his two daughters, Lillian (Mrs. W. P. White) and Gertrude, aged six and nine, came from Hillsdale, Iowa, and joined their father.

    HISTORYOF GEORGE FREESTONE
    AND JENNY LIND FREESTONE
    George Freestone, son of Thomas Freestone and Ann Fall, was born August 13, 1838, on Prince Edward Isle. He came to America when he was slightly under two years of age. In1858, he with his parents, came across the plains to Utah, from the state of Ohio.
    He married Alice Carlisle in 1861, she died in 1868.
    On August 12,, 1872, he married Jenny Lind, daughter of Jens Christian Lind and Mary Ann Nielsen. She was born in Aalborg, Jutland, Denmark, on March 26t, 1855. She came to Utah with her parents in 1868.
    In 1879 they came, with their three children, to Ashley valley by mule team. They built the first frame house. (It is still standing today.) Their’s was the first farm that was fenced. They planted the first nursery of fruit and shade trees and supplied the settlers for several years.
    Mr. Freestone was the first Bishop of the Vernal ward in Uintah stake, which position he held for eleven years. Mrs. Freestone was treasurer of the Relief Society in Vernal ward.   She was a charter member of the D. U. P. She was an unselfish worker among the sick and needy ever lending a helping hand in time of sickness or sorrow.

    CHARLES CLAYMORE BARTLETT
        Born Dec. 26, 1848, in Ohio. Married Annie Katherine Jensen Sept. 12, 1868 in the Salt Lake Endowment House. Moved to Ashley in 1879. They spent the “hard winter of 1879” in the Fort to be safe from Indian attacks. He was first county clerk and active in educational, civic, industrial and religious affairs.   He died Feb. 12, 1916.

    ANNIE KATHERINE JENSEN BARTLETT
    Born November 9, 1844, in Denmark. Converted to the Church May 23, 1863. Arrived in St Lake Oct. 19, 1866. In 1880 she was chosen to be first Relief Society president. Was doctor and nurse for many years in the county. She was primary president for nine years and matron in the Academy for fourteen years. She died Jan. 5, 1937.

    WARREN PIERCE WHITE
    Was born in Millville, Wisconsin, Jan. 30, 1860 and came to Ft. Duchesne in 1888 to work as a carpenter on the building at the Fort. He married Lillian Britt Aug. 12, 1890. To this couple were born twelve children.   Mr. White has been very active in the community and made many friends while following his carpenter trade.

    WILLIAM GIBSON
    Born in Killmornock, Scotland, April 25, 1845 of Scotch Irish parentage.
He emigrated to America with his parents in 1852 on a sailing vessel called “Gull in the Air, “ and was three months making the journey. They moved to Ashley Valley in 1877 and settled in Ashley ward.
    He was appointed Uintah County’s first constable preceding the first election. He was elected to the first State Legislature in 1936 While acting as State Representative he conceived the idea to paint “Remember the Maine” on the face of a high cliff in Ashley Canyon which is still visible on the face of a 500-foot cliff.
    He was the father of three children: J. L. Gibson, Mrs. N. G. Sowards and Sarah A. Eccles.
    He died Dec. 11, 1932, and is buried at the Gibson private cemetery.
    Mary A. Gibson was born in Salt Lake City Sept. l11, 1851, the daughter of John and Adeleg Grosbeck Lambert. She moved with her parents to Kamas Valley in 1861. She married William Gibson in 1872 in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City. Moved to Ashley Valle in 1877, was a Sunday School Teacher in Old Ashley in 1880, was elected trustee for District No. 3, in 1904. She served four years. In 1915, she was chosen president of the newly organized Ashley Ward Relief Society in 1915, I n which capacity she served for several years. She died Jan. 19, 1935 and is buried in the Gibson private cemetery.

    ELIZABETH REBECCA BLANKENSHIP
    Born in Snyderville, Utah, Feb. 24, 1858, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Johnstun, She came to Vernal in 1879. He father was killed in a sawmill accident. Later, her mother married J. A. Black. In 1879 she was married to John W. Blankenship.

    JOHN B. BLANKENSHIP
    Born May 22, 1834 at Columbus, Indiana. When about sixteen years of age, some of his neighbors were emigrating to Iowa. The lure of the west called the boy and he went with them wintering near Des Moines. In1869, Mr. Blankenship came to Uintah Basin on a scouting expedition looking after cattle rustlers, coming as far as the White river. Later he stopped at the Indian agency at Whiterocks where he worked for the government four years later. On Feb. 12, 1875, he rode into the beautiful Ashley Valley in company with Morris Evans, two days ahead of Parson Dodds, Sr. He located permanently in Ashley Valley, and was the first white settler to locate on Ashley Creek. In 1879, he married Miss Elizabeth Johnstun, who had come her the year previous. Six children were born to them.

    LYUCURGUS JOHNSON
    Lycurgus Johnson was born in Washington, Texas, August 25, 1844. He came with his widowed mother to Idaho in Rich County in 1846. After several years they moved to Spring Creek, Wyoming, in 1876, from there to Ashley Valley October 15, 1878. Located in Old Ashley Town. There he became the second postmaster of the Valley. Also was elected the first sheriff. Built the second flour mill in the Valley in 1885. Was a member of the Constitutional Convention in Salt Lake City in 1896. He was a representative of Uintah county for two terms. He was appointed a member of the Continental congress from Utah to Texas in 1884. He was one of the early merchants of the valley. He was a member of the High Council for many years. Died June 29, 1908.

    CORA ISABEL JOHNSON
    Cora Isabel Johnson was born Oct. 25, 1847, in Bolton, Warren County, New York. During childhood she moved with her parents to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her parents moved to Salt Lake City when she was thirteen years old. After six years there they moved to Idaho, where she married Lycurgus Johnson, March 1, 1867. She moved with her husband and family to Ashley Valley. Lived in Ashley Town nine years. For eight years she acted as postmistress, then moved to Maeser or Millward for twenty years. From there to Vernal City, where she assisted in the store of L. Johnson and Sons, where the Uintah State Bank now stands. She was a faithful church worker in the Sunday School. Was Stake President of the Y. L. M. I. A. for several years. She was the mother of eleven children. Died Feb. 10, 1926.

    MR. AND MRS. HENRY C. RUPLE
    Early Pioneers of Ashley Valley
    Henry C. Ruple was born in Hunderden county, New Jersey, Aug. 27, 1846. May C. Ruple was born Sept. 25, 1858 in Sugarhouse ward, Salt Lake City, Utah. They were married in Evanston, Wyoming, in 1873 and came to Ashley Valley in 1877.
    In 1881, Mr. Ruple began operating the Government sawmill which was located   at Government Park in the vicinity of Taylor Mountain. He sawed lumber for the construction of Fort Thornburg which was established by the U. S. Army in December, 1881. During the following year Mr. Ruple operated the grist mill owned by Kerg Johnson. In the late summer of 1883 the Ruples moved to Island Park where they homesteaded. They remained there until1910. A few years later the Island ranch was taken over by their son, Henry H. (Hod, who operated it until his death in 1937. The ensuing years between 1910 and Mr. Ruple’s death in 1930 were spent in operating sawmills and in ranching on Brush Creek north of Vernal.
    There were eight children born to this union. Mrs. Ruple, at 89, still enjoys good health.

    SAMUEL ROBERTS BENNION
    A son of John and Esther Wainwright Bennion. Was born Nov. 10, 1842, at Nauvoo, Ill., the oldest of seventeen children. Crossed the plains with John W. Taylor company, arriving at Salt Lake City Oct. l5, 1847. Married Mary Panter in September, 1866. To them were born nine children. IN August, 1879, he married Agnes Thompson. To them were born five children. He was a missionary to St. Louis, Ill., 1866-67 and to England 1883-85. Came to Vernal Sept. 24, 1886. Was president and helped in organizing the Ashley Co-Op, Vernal Mill & Livestock Co., Uintah Creamery, Bank of Vernal, Vernal Mill & Light Co,. Uintah State Bank, Telephone Co. Was president of Uintah stake for 20 years and patriarch until his death, Nov. 16, 1915.

    AGNES THOMPSON BENNION
    Born Nov. 2, 1857, at Salt Lake City, Utah. Married S. R. Bennion Aug. 10, 1879. Came to Vernal in 1886. Mother of five children. Active in Relief Society work.
Died March 4, 1928.

    MRS. MINNIE JESPERSON DAVIS
    Born in Gestrwp, Denmark, July 12, 1866. Came to America when eight years old with her parents who were converts of the L. D. S. Church. She came to Ashley Valley at the age of thirteen. Went to the home of Pardon Dodds. Married John N. Davis, 1893.   In Manti Temple and lived in Vernal until her death, March 1944. She was interested in church work of all kinds. Served in the Mutual for ten years and in the Relief Society for 28 years. She was an active member in the Republican party and served as a state committeewoman.

    JOHN NIGHTENGAL DAVIS
    Born Oct. 19, 1864 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He came to Vernal when a young man to worked in the sheep-raising business, and gradually worked into the wool-growing business for himself. He married Minnie Jasperson from Heber City, Utah on February 1, 1893. In 1895-97 he filled a mission for the L. D. S. Church in the Northern States. Later, he filled another mission to the Southern States. He served as bishop in the Vernal First ward from 1898 until the reorganization of the stake in 1910, when he went into the High Council and served in that capacity during two administrations. He was patriarch of Uintah State at the time of his death. He was prominent in civic and political affairs. He served in the State Legislature from 1906-1910, and during this service, secured the funds with which the bridge over Green River was erected. He served as a City Councilman, Juvenile Judge and the manager of the horse division in the State Fair. Mr. and Mrs. Davis were the parents of ten children, six sons and four daughters.

    THE MERLEY FAMILY
    The Nelson Merkley, Sr., family moved into Ashley Valley in 1878. They came from Cedar Valley and drove their cattle over the old road up Daniels Creek.
    When in 1879 (the Hard Winter) the families of Ashley moved together into the fort (often called Jericho because of Uncle Jerry Hatch), the Merkley family stayed out on their place. At this time the territory had not been surveyed and when it was finally done, it was found that the early settlers had calculated sections lines fairly accurately and were not off more than one-fourth of a mile.   To get correctly situated with the survey they simply squared their claims over so that each holding would fit into its proper position with the surveyed lines.
    One of the all important jobs was to take water from the river for their farms. Mr. Merkley, with others of the early settlers, would labor hard all day with improvised implements, to procure water.
    With heavy slabs fastened together, with two handles attached, they were able to etch out a furrow in which to take out the water. Nelson Merkley Sr., was born Nov. 11, 1828 at Williamsburg, Ontario, Canada. He married Sarah Jane Sander and had the following children: Nelson Merkley, Jr., Sarah Jane, George D., Charlie, John, Henry, Bessie, Christopher, Rachel, Jacob.

    WILLLIAM PORTER COLTHORP
    Was born in Monroe County, Tenn., in 1860. Came to Ashley Valley in 1880. Here he established himself in the mercantile business and sheep industry. He was one of the organizers of the Bank of Vernal. He married Sarah Jane Merkley who was born Aug. 24, 1891, Salt Lake City and came to the Valley in 1879.

    NELSON MERKLEY, JR.
    Born March 24, 1857. Died April 18, 1924. Mr. Merkley was known throughout the community as the most outstanding farmer and thoroughbred stock raiser. His farm was free from weed, had good fences, and he raised huge crops that were sold to the soldiers. He was progressive and community minded and served as High Councilman and Patriarch in the Church. He married Keturah Peterson, the daughter of Peter Peterson. She was born in October, 1867, in Kentucky, and came to Ashley Valley Oct. 24, 1879. They were married in June, 1884. She served as president of the Vernal Relied Society and helped both in the church and community. They built the first brick house, and had six children.

    CORA A. HARDY TEMPLETON
    Born at St. Charles, Idaho, Oct. 17, 1869.   Came to Ashley Valley in November, 1878. Was active in Sunday School and Mutual. Married William Templeton Feb. 25, 1889 and moved to Maybelle, Colorado.

    JOSEPH HARDY, SR.
    Joseph Hardy was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa April 8, 1848. Son of Joseph Hardy, Sr., and Lucy Blandon. Left St. Charles, Idaho, in November, 1877, for Ashley Valley with his wife, Lydia R. Davis, whom he married in Salt Lake City, October 2, 1869. One daughter, Cora and three sons, Joseph H., Nathan C., and Charles A. Hardy, and three other families, Lycurges Johnson, Alfred Johnson and Allen Davis. They married in the Ashley Valley Nov. 3, 1878. They had provisions to more than last a year, but in those days everyone shared with the other. There was only one white woman here, Mrs. Rolf Snyder and her hired girl, Clara Crouse.
    The men worked on the mountains that winter in their shirt sleeves, getting out logs to build their houses, which they completed before fall of 1879, which proved to be the hard winter. There were lots of new people coming in and they were unprepared for the cold and deep snow.

    MRS. LYDIA REBEKA DAVIS HARDY
    Lydia R. Hardy was born Aug. 15, 1850, at Boltan, Warren County, New York. Daughter of Nathan C. Davis and Isabella Wells. She crossed the plains as a child in the company called the Clendfendent Train. They arrived in Salt Lake City Aug. 15, 1860. She was ten years old. She married Joseph Hardy Oct. 3, 1869, in the Salt Lake Endowment House and came to Ashley Valley Nov.3, 1878. Was very active in different church organizations. She taught school in the early days, although she was the mother of ten children. When death came to this isolated valley, Mrs. Hardy was often called upon to make burial clothes and line and trim the coffins. A picture and sketch of Mrs. Hardy’s life was published in 1940 in the “Women of Deseret,” a historical pamphlet of her civic activities. Joseph Hardy, Sr., died Oct. 12, 1931.

    CORA VAN GUNDY
    Born in 1867 in Golden, Colo., she came to Ashley Valley with her father, George W. Van Gundy, in 1878. There were few white settlers in the Valley at that time. They all went through many hardships of the first pioneers.
    During the winter of 1878, the dreaded diphtheria epidemic struck the Valley. Every family lost lone or more members; one family lost six. There was neither doctor nor medicine of any kind. Cora, one of the first victims, recovered somehow. She was then able to go about caring for the small children and aiding the mothers in their arduous duties.
    George Van Gundy was a cabinet maker by trade. One of his first tasks was to make the needed caskets. When the lumber available in wagon beds was used up, he resorted to using handsawed lumber from logs.   The women ripped their clothing for material to line the caskets. Cora, always deft with the needle, was busy sewing and making these linings.
    The next spring, known as the “hard spring,” found the Valley snowed in. The settlers were always hungry and some days they had nothing to eat. They all divided their food and ground their seed wheat in the coffee mill, to keep alive. To add to their hunger, was the fear of Indians. The warriors went to and from Colorado, as this was the time of the Meeker Massacre.

    JOHN McANDREWS
    Born in Madison, Indiana in 1855. Came to Ouray, Utah, in 1883.   He was with the Department of the Interior in the capacity of Chief Herder of Indian cattle. He remained in the Indian Service twenty years. He and Cora Van Gundy were married in 1897. Both of their lives were full of adventure and hardships. Truly they helped settle the Great West!

    MARY FRANCES BROWN AND
    JAMES BARNUM HENRY
    James Barnum Henry was born June 30, 1852 in Oakland County, Michigan.
He was the son of Calvin William Henry and Rhoda Priscilla Barnum. When he was two years old, he came with his parents to Utah, traveling all the way by ox team. His early childhood days were spent in the canyons and towns surrounding Salt Lake Valley. His family later settled in Heber.
    Mary Frances Brown was born April 9, 1857 at South Cottonwood (now Murray),
Utah. She was the daughter of Jonathan Brown and Sarah Cousins Brown who came from England to America in 1850. She lived in South Cottonwood until her marriage. Mary was introduced to James Barnum Henry by Ammon Reynolds, a mutual friend, about 1877. They were married in Salt Lake City on July 24, 1878.
    At the October General Conference 1878 of the L. D. S. Church, the young couple was asked, together with a few others, to go to Ashley Valley to help make a permanent settlement. Although the valley to which they had been called was far from civilized settlements, was little known, and the road over which they must travel to reach it was scarcely more than a trail, they responded to their call. They placed all their food, clothing and furniture into one covered wagon and began the journey in October. The company was about three weeks on the way, first sighting the Ashley Valley on Nov. 9, 1878-a very dreary time of year. Ashley Valley looked very barren to the Henrys. AT that time there were only a few little log cabins in the valley. Mary thought of the Salt Lake Valley, with its fast-growing population, its silver streams, trees and shrubbery and wondered if the valley they were entering would ever be anything but a desert.
    That fall the people of Ashley built a fort near the center of what was then called Ashley Bench, near where the Commercial Hotel now stands. They did this because they had been frightened by the Meeker Massacre. Most of the inhabitants spent the winter in the fort, but were not molested by the Indians.
    The Henry’s first home in Ashley Valley was a low log cabin with a dirt floor in one-half of it and a rough board floor in the other. The next spring their first child, James Calvin, was born.
    Jim planted what seed he had left over after the winter and was able to harvest some grain and potatoes. Other settlers also raised fairly good crops, but the wheat was “smutty” and there wasn’t any surplus. However, that fall of 1879 brought many new settlers, some with meager supplies and some with none.
    The winter of 1879-80 became known as “the hard winter” in after-years, because snow fell early and deep and the people didn’t have enough food stored to supply their needs until spring broke. Most of the cattle either died of starvation or were killed for meat, although their flesh was too lean to even make good soup. When it looked as though the whole colony must perish from starvation, a few of the stalwart men of the valley volunteered to cross the mountains on snowshoes to Green River City, Wyoming, to get flour for the starving people. James Henry was one of the first to volunteer his services. These men crossed Green River on the ice and made that perilous journey to the Wyoming city and risked their lives to bring back flour to the people of Ashley Valley. As soon as the snow was sufficiently melted, the Henrys opened their potato pit. The neighbors flocked their as to a big celebration. The children, who hadn’t tasted any vegetables for months, begged for “just one potato.” Kind Mr. Henry passed them around and the half-starved youngsters didn’t even wait to wash the soil off, but gobbled their potatoes down, skin and all. In those days potato skins were never wasted but were boiled to make liquid for starch or mixing bread.
    Mr. Henry helped dig irrigation ditches and canals to bring water from the creeks to the dry farm lands of the valley. He helped make roads to the timber in the mountains. He was always fond of camping out and spent most of his life working with his horses, timbering, freighting, and hauling coal. They had many interesting and exciting experiences with the Indians in those early pioneer days.
    Mary Henry held many responsible positions in the L. D. S. church, being a member of Uintah Stake Relief Society Board for many years. She wrote many beautiful poems and tributes, several of which have honorary place in Daughters of Utah Pioneers” records. They had the following children: James Calvin, Sarah Priscilla, Albert Monroe, Emma Mae, Frances Mary, Lauretta, Merrill, Bertha.
    James Henry died Dec. 13, 1932. Mary Henry died Sept. 17, 1944.

    SAMIAL JONES ROLFE
    Samial Jones Rolfe was born Oct. 15, 1867, at Lehi, Utah. He came to Utah with the first settlers when they had to ford up from the Indians. Was a butcher. He died Nov. 25, 1928.

    HYRUM OSCAR CRANDALL
    Born April l26t, 1844, in Sherden, Hondcock county. Ran the first mail route to the basin. One station at Myton and one at Ft. Duschesne. He later moved to Driggs, Idaho. Was chosen bishop of the Duggs ward.   Died there in May, 1904.

    EDWIN GEORGE WEEKS
    Born at Danville, Vermont on Oct. 6, 1833. Married Elizabeth Jane Hadlock on March 24, 1861 She was born in Lisbon, New York April 2, 1844. They came to Vernal to be with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Hadlock, and Mr. Weeks worked as a wheelwright in the Hadlock blacksmith shop. They had seven children and were interested in church work.

    WINFIELD SCOT HULLINGER
    Was born Jan. 5, 1848, in Ohio, as son of Harvey Coe and Julia Bloc Hullinger. Came to Ashley Valley in 1883. Married Annel Davis Nov. 22, 1869, in Salt Lake City.

    JOHN E. CLARK
    Married Thedosia Hatch, a daughter of Jeremia Hatch. They came to Ashley Valley in 1879 and filed on 160 acres of land across from the John Readers place. They have lived in Uintah Basin ever since. He always had a sheep or goat herd. He is the son of I. J. Clark. They moved to Blue Bell on a farm there. She was the only midwife there for a long time. Has delivered lots of babies.

    JOHN S. HACKING
    Born June 223, 1867 at Cedar Fort Utah. Came to Ashley Valley in 1894. He has been one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of Uintah county, specialized in sheep-raising. Married Mary E. Hall, born March 19, 1874. Born in Beaver, Utah. Died, 1934, in Vernal, Utah.

    HARVEY COE HULLINGER
    Harvey Coe Hullinger, who spent many of the 100 years of his life in giving relief to the sick, was one of Uintah Basin’s first faithful practicing physicians. He merited the respect and esteem of many hundreds of is patients and acquaintances of the Basin, both Indians and Whites. His was a happy life because of the service he rendered. The Vernal Express of Oct. 16, 1925, carried these headlines: Harvey Coe Hulllinger of Vernal, Oldest Practicing Physician in United States.
    Dr. Hullinger was born on Dec. 2, 1824. He came to Utah in 1859 and was the recorder of Big Cottonwood district for some time. In 1883 he moved to Uintah County. He arrived there in October and purchased 160 acres near Jensen, Utah. On Dec. 7, he moved his family out.   His nearest neighbors lived about one-half mile away. They were Jesse McCarrell and John D. Mecham.
    Mr. Hullinger became a doctor in 1852 by self-determination. He began his practice of medicine in 1852 and practiced until 1925.
    Three days after his arrival in his new home in Jensen, he was called to go twenty miles to attend the son of Frank Moore, a saloon keeper of Ashley Fork. From then on until his death he was faithful in his care of the sick. He was the first real doctor of the Basin.
    From 1883 until 1888 crops were meager and scarce. Dr. Hullinger was kept busy with his practice and so his two sons, Adelbert and Winfield, looked after the Hullinger farm. Dr. Hullinger traveled long distances in the saddle and received mostly produce for pay. He went as far as sixty-five miles and stayed with patients until they recuperated.   He was gone from home for two weeks at a time. Before 1887 he acted as his own nurse. He procured the services of a nurse, however, in 1887.   He always kept records in a very methodical way and one finds that in the first two years he received only $40 in cash. From 1883 until 1922 Dr. Hulllinger ushered over 1,000 children into the world or into the Uintah Basin.
    Dr. Hullinger was called in 1885 to attend Chief Wash, Ute chief, who lived near the Green River below Jensen. The chief was suffering with pneumonia, but with the aid of an interpreter, with forty-eight hours of care and medicine, the patient recovered. The news spread and Dr. Hullinger was known as “Chief Medicine Man” from then on.
    Dr. Hullinger remained steadfast to his profession and by his willingness, skill and sincerity, was indispensable to the earl settlers of the 1880’s, 1890’s and the first two decades of 1900’s.

    STERLING DRIGGS COLTON AND
    NANCY A. COLTON
    They came to Ashley Valley with four children, Flora E., S. Leroy, Don B. and F. Edwin, in November of 1879.
    Sterling Driggs Colton was born in Provo.