The History of Pleasant Grove City Neighborhoods

The History of Pleasant Grove City Neighborhoods 0 The History of Battle Creek by Beth R. Olsen Transient Timpanogos Ute Indians seasonably hunted and lived around the canyons above what is now Pleasant Grove. Between and above the two east canyons lay a large flat area known as the summer Indian campgrounds. It is the mouth of the south canyon that Roman Nose and Blue Shirt and those of their lodges, constituting seventeen members, had camped the winter and the first few days of March 1849. Little Chief, logged near the south end of Utah Lake with his group, had driven this renegade group from his main group for living off white men’s cattle that winter. The Indians had stolen cattle from the Mormon Church’s herds, wintering at Willow Creek (Draper). Little Chief made known to O.B. Huntington that he wanted the whites to kill the renegade group lest Little Chief’s band be blamed for the theft and retribution be taken on them. Upon receiving information that identified the guilty party, Brigham Young called the Council of Fifty and appointed John Scott to lead the group in search of the guilty parties. Scott’s group left Salt Lake City March 1, traveling toward the Indian inhabited Utah Valley. After stopping to supply themselves with good horses and fresh meat from the church’s herds at Willow Creek, they entered Utah Valley on March 3, by way of the Jordon Narrows. After a search of the northern end of the valley, they visited with Little Chief at the south of Utah Lake near Provo River. He told them the location of the renegade Indian’s camp and offered three of his sons as guides. Traveling by night, first east to the mountains and then north along the foothills, the renegade camp was located and surrounded by daybreak, March 5. The Indian camp lay close to a deep ravine with a small stream of water running down it. Scott offered Roman Nose the opportunity to surrender his group. Roman Nose and his men answered with flying arrows and volley from the one gun they had. Roman Nose fell mortally wounded when the Mormons returned the fire. The remainder of the camp members took refuge in the willow- and brush – covered ravine. The skirmish went on for two hours before the Indians’ arrows were exhausted. During that time, three other Indian men, including Blue Shirt, were killed when each attempted to escape. After the surrender of the women and youth, fifteen cow hides were found in their camp, the evidence of the Indians’ guilt. This first short encounter with Indians, which turned violent, was the first conflict the two groups had had since the Mormons entered Indian Territory in July 1847. It was unfortunate that lives were taken during what was termed the first battle. The place of the battle, named Mepah or Little Waters by the Indians, from then on was called Battle Creek by the Mormons. One and one-half years later, on September 13, 1850 Pleasant Grove was settled and took on the name of Battle Creek for a short time. Bishop Clark, not wanting his settlement to be noted for the tragic occurrence, chose a more pleasing name for the settlement. However, the canyon at whose mouth the battle occurred continued with the name of Battle Creek as a reminder of the cold crisp day of March 5, 1849, when as the sun began to rise a disagreement turned into the first Mormon and Indian conflict. 1 The History of Big Springs by Beth R. Olsen Big Springs lay north east of the original Pleasant Grove settlement. A top the first rank of hills rising above the valley floor emerged a year-round, steady –flow of water, which appeared to seep from the south base of mountain Mahogany. Indians traversed the eastern hills, stopping to refresh themselves and their mounts at the inviting freshwater pond that formed at Big Springs. Henry Bullivant Radmall came to Pleasant Grove with his large family in1862 and settled below the Big Springs Hill on about eight acres of land. His only neighbor William Bush moved his family to the area in1863, one-half mile from Radmall. Bush‘s son Henry wrote “At that time we owned one-half of Big Springs Country, about seventy –five acres. We sold if for a cow. The grasshoppers and the crickets, and Indians made it impossible to live there. We move down into town in 1865.” Henry James Radmall, Henry B’s oldest son, probably traded the cow for the Bush’s half of Big Springs for Henry James Radmall owned the south part of the ground when land reports records began to be kept. He built his house, barn, pig pens, and other utility buildings from rock deposited at the Big Springs. The trickling water at the spring spread wide over the slopping hills for thousands of years, depositing a calcified stone over a large area. Big Springs was the source of some of the rock used to build the fort wall and from 1869 to almost 1900, the stone became the town’s major house material. Clay deposits were mined by open-pit during the early part of this century by Apostle John A. Widsoe and his partners, new owners of the land, who had also purchased the mountainous mining area above the farm from Sterritt and Warnock, who took out a mining homestead on the hill. Widsoe and partners sold to William H Homer, Jr. in 1916. And part of the land went to John M. MacFarlane. These two men sold the clay in partnership. Homer acquired 235 acres, and named it Homer’s Big Spring Ranch. Much of the land had already been planted in fruit, for the initial year that Homer owned the land; he shipped 2,000 bushels of peaches by September 9, the largest shipment of peaches in town that year. Being a horticulturist and business man, he formed and operated a fruit shipping company near the Union Pacific Railroad tracts. The pristine mountain foliage drew an abundance of wildlife and was one of the feeding stations through the first quarter of the century for quail and pheasants. The Utah State Fish and Game Association provided the feed for the Homers to distribute. Homer had borrowed heavily against the land to make improvements and start his business. He eventually had to sell. MacFarlane retained the clay mining hills and continued to mine and ship clay. Claud and Annie Birch purchased 134 acres on the north in 1928, but the Depression years were hard on fruit farmers and the Birches sold to James W. and Caroline A Wade in 1934. The Wades, who were strictly investors, hired Fred and Laurel Scholes to manage the fruit orchards, and Fred, also a horticulturist, farmed the acreage quite successfully for a number of years. The Big Springs water was purchased by Pleasant Grove City, and the ranch ground was annexed January 2, 1979. Those former orchards now blossom beautiful houses. 2 The History of Grove Creek by Beth R. Olsen Grove Creek, the northern most canyon directly east of Pleasant Grove, was named because of water that flowed out of the mouth to that canyon when pioneers arrived. The creek took a southwest turn and following the contour of the land, it ran through a grove of cottonwood trees located at 200 South above 450 East. It was in this grove that the first settlers lived the fall and winter of 1850 -1851, and it was because of this water that they stopped there. It was also because the water from this canyon ran through the grove that the canyon received the name “Grove Creek.” Grove Creek is notorious for its raging flood water. Earlier settlers defoliated the mountains by felling the trees and over-grazing the foliage, increasing the danger of floods in later years. Almost every mayor and city council has watched the canyons closely in time of spring runoff, especially in years of heavy snowfall in the mountains. The area from the mouth of Grove Creek Canyon through Joseph S. Walker’s property has been flooded so often it became known as The Walker Wash. The first serious control of excess water came in 1935 when the CCC Camp came to town. One of the first projects begun by the Pleasant Grove unit was to construct a flood basin and rock–check dam at the mouth of Grove Creek creating a deep bowl to catch and control excess water. The city in 1964 contracted out the enlarging, deepening, and updating of the catch basin, which through the years has saved the town much grief. The rugged canyon has always been a favorite haunt for those seeking beauty and hiking adventure. Many a canyon bear story was recalled by old-timers of the last century. For this century, many a flood adventure can be recalled. One of the earliest on record happened in 1914, when the floods didn’t hit once but twice. On the night of 5 June a heavy one-hour storm, centered over Bald Mountain and Battle Creek turned that creek into a raging river, sending boulders and debris rolling through bridges and canals, breaking them and creating floods below. But even more devastating was a later July storm when two to three inches of rain fell in one hour. This storm centered over Grove Creek and farther north near Big Springs. The water dug gullies that filled with water, which dumped into the newly–dug Murdock Canal, tearing open its soil foundation and leaving 15 to 20 foot deep and 40 foot wide openings.

Load more