Rickety

Mostly about Utah

Till Everything

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Tomato cage caught in the tiller
When I am out in the garden I till everything. Today as I was tilling I noticed that the width of my tilling had suddenly extended by another foot and a half, mowing down some flowers that weren’t scheduled for destruction. Until the flowers began to shred, I hadn’t noticed that a tomato cage was mangled in the rotors, sticking out of the side. It took me quite some time to extract what was left of the cage. I need more practice till I can get it right.

At the time there were not any tomatoes in the cage, and now there never will be. Oh well, till next time.
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Brigham City Temple West Spire Beginnings

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Brigham City Temple west spire beginnings

With the east spire well under construction, the west spire has its beginnings

Thursday found me in Brigham City for the funeral of Kamdyn Ross Brown. I was a little early so I stopped for a few minutes to take photographs of the construction of the Brigham City Temple. My last post about the Brigham City Temple construction was 15 days ago. Then I focused on the east spire. Today one can see the base of the west spire appearing and also part of the roof of the temple. The temple’s angel Moroni will be placed on the east spire.

Two of the photographs, when clicked, will show the same view, only much closer. Let me know what you think of the larger format of this post over a regular post. While the photographs are larger it can be annoying reading text that is spread so wide.

Brigham City Temple west spire

The base of the west spire takes shape

Brigham City Temple workers atop east spire

Construction workers can be seen at the very top of the east spire

Brigham City History

Colonization (continued)

All the people were poor and worked hard, but they found time for rest and recreation. The young girls made games involving their work, such as competition between neighbors to see who could produce the whitest laundry. They organized spinning clubs where each girl would bring her wheel and yarn and visit while she worked.

The women also mingled work with play as they gathered husks to fill mattresses and held quilting and rag bees where everyone quilted or sewed carpet rags for homemade carpets. These work socials often ended with dancing and singing.

Lars Mortensen frequently invited neighbors and friends to the two largest rooms in his home for dancing. Parents would bring their babies and tuck them away on top of clothes in closets while they danced. Lars Christensen played his fiddle, and refreshments were always home-made rootbeer and molasses cookies. Tickets were bought with a few potatoes, corn or other produce.

When Lorenzo Snow learned that two brothers, Peter and Alexander Baird, had organized a dramatic association in Perry, he asked them to come to Brigham City to play and entertain people. They did this during the winter seasons for many years. (From: Brighamcity.utah.gov)

Brigham City Temple construction

Brigham City Temple construction seen from the south east corner of the lot

Brigham City Temple roof beginnings

The beginnings of the temple roof is visible between the spires

Brigham City Temple concrete pump truck boom frames east spire

Concrete pump truck boom frames the east spire

Photo Credit: Rick Willoughby
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Family Home Evening Treacle Toffee

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One of the main ingredients for Family Home Evening must surely be the treat. On Sunday, I spied an old can of Lyle’s Black Treacle (by appointment to Her Majesty) on the pantry shelf and prised open the lid, which had printed upon it, “BEST BEFORE OCT 2001” and “DISPOSE OF ON EXPIRY.” The contents still looked quite serviceable to me so I searched the web for a treacle toffee recipe.

Melt 4 ounces of butter in a pan and then add 1 pound of dark brown sugar, 4 dessert spoonfuls of treacle, 4 tablespoons of milk, and 2 tablespoons of water. Stir until the sugar dissolves, turn the heat low and boil for 30 minutes. Pour into butter-greased pan and place in refrigerator to harden.

I only had 0.8 pounds of light brown sugar but when you are using treacle 10 years past its expiry, who cares? Another google gave me the insight that a dessert spoon is of a size between a teaspoon and a tablespoon (but closer to a tablespoon). So I merely dug out 4 tablespoons of treacle with an extra scoop to empty the can — after all, it was past its expiry.

The 30 minutes of boiling wasn’t working for me so Megan put a candy thermometer in the pan and we waited until the temperature reached 270 degrees Fahrenheit. That fixed it and I poured most of the gooey mess into a large flat baking dish and saved the rest to fix the leak in the roof.

On Monday, after hardening, I broke the toffee in pieces, ready for family home evening. Paul had some of his tasty cookies as backup, in case I burned the treacle.

Treacle toffee
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100 Years Ago: War On Mormons Is Waged In Britain

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The following was adapted from the Improvement Era magazine of April 1911

Investigation of Mormon activity

Investigation of “Mormon” activity in England will be made by the House of Commons. On the 6th of March, Secretary Churchill stated that the attention of the government had been attracted to recent allegations that young girls were being induced to emigrate to Utah, and that the matter was causing deep concern. He therefore proposed to investigate the subject exhaustively, with a view to bringing out the exact facts.

Hans P. Freece

Hans P. Freece

President Rudger Clawson, of the European Mission of the Latter-day Saints, welcomes the investigation, as do his co-laborers in that country, for they are confident there can be no other outcome before a fair judicial tribunal than a complete vindication of the actions of the Church. It has nothing to fear from an impartial and honest investigation, for its emigration affairs, as well as its missionary work in Great Britain, have been conducted in a manner that will bear the closest scrutiny. The Church has nothing to lose and everything to gain by the action which the home secretary has recommended.

On the 6th of March a demented man broke the windows and door of the mission house in Liverpool, “for God’s sake,” he said.

War On Mormons

Meanwhile the New York Times was reporting the story thus:

War on Mormons Is Waged In Britain

The crusade against Mormons initiated by the International Reform Bureau at Washington is being actively pursued in Great Britain.

Hans P. Freece, the bureau’s special delegate, has arrived in London after a 10 weeks’ tour in Scotland and the north of England, during which he succeeded in locating about 100 Mormon meeting places and 325 American Mormons engaged in inducing young women to emigrate to Utah. He also collected the signed statements of parents whose daughters had been enticed to America, and is in possession of irrefutable evidence that the Mormon church is in the habit of paying for the transportation of converts from England to Utah in violation of the United States immigration law.

Mr. Freece entertains great hope of succeeding in getting a bill into Parliament prohibiting American Mormon elders from proselytizing in this country—in fact, the same law as that adopted by Prussia and Hungary not long ago.

Although Mr. Freece declared his mission to be unofficial, he said he believed that should such a law, cutting off British-Mormon immigration to America, be passed, the Mormons would lose the control of Utah and a Democratic Representative might be expected to be sent to Congress at the next election.

[Hans P. Freece, an apostate, lectured the people against the dangers of “Mormonism,” and sought to prohibit them from preaching in the United Kingdom. A number of those who attended the lectures expressed themselves as being very much disappointed in them. They expected to hear something new from this man, who claims to have been born in the Church, of polygamous parents, but instead he had only the same false stories that have been retold so many times by others.

The International Reform Bureau was founded in 1895 and was known from 1924 as the International Reform Federation. Today it supports those moral and social reforms on which the churches generally agree, focusing especially on drugs and the spread of legalized gambling.]

Sources

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The Best Easter

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Target practice rifle Mark

Mark with a Robinson Armament Company XCR

Last Easter weekend the family gathered west of the Golden Spike. Instead of a silly Easter egg hunt we fired a variety of weapons for several hours. We also had three ATVs, a bicycle, and even a few kites. The weather was not too hot and the rain stayed away. We had a great lunch. It was The Best Easter yet.

Rifles

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Target practice rifle Jake

Jake

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Pistols

Target practice pistol Susan

Susan

Target practice pistol Randy

Randy

Target practice pistol Megan

Megan

Target practice pistol Jake

Jake

ATVs

Target practice atv Megan and Paul

Paul and Megan

Target practice atv Dan

Dan

Target practice atv Rachel and Jake

Rachel and Jake

The Children

Target practice hill Jake and Dan

The children, Jake and Dan, scrambled around on the hills when the range was closed


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The Watchtower

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Grand Canyon Watchtower view

The Watchtower has an internal steel framework designed by the bridge builders of the Santa Fe Railway

When I first saw the Grand Canyon Watchtower I thought it to be an ancient structure that had been restored. But no, the Watchtower was constructed in 1932 and opened in May 1933. Architect Mary Colter designed the tower and took care of every detail, even down to the placement of most of the stones, leaving weathered faces untouched to add to the ancient appearance of the tower. She said:

“First and most important, was to design a building that would become part of its surroundings; one that would create no discordant note against the time eroded walls of this promontory.”

The 70-foot Watchtower, a National Historic Landmark, is located at Desert View, the eastern-most developed area on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. The design takes its influences from the architecture of the ancestral Puebloan people. There is a gift store, with the upper floors utilized as observation decks for views of the canyon and the Painted Desert.

Grand Canyon Watchtower trees

The top floor of the tower is without decoration which might detract from the beautiful panoramic views of the Grand Canyon


Grand Canyon Watchtower and Colorado River

From the Watchtower is a magnificent view of the Colorado River

Desert View, named after the views to the east of the Painted Desert, has a grand view of the Colorado River, the North Rim can been seen more than 10 miles away, and a on a clear day a panoramic view is visible for over 100 miles.
Grand Canyon Watchtower mural

The first gallery, on the first landing, was done by Fred Kabotie, a Hopi from second Mesa


Grand Canyon Watchtower paintingGrand Canyon Watchtower artGrand Canyon Watchtower

Watchtower Family Photographs

Click on the links to view the family pictures shot at the Watchtower.

  • Jake on the top floor
  • Paul outside the Watchtower
  • Jill on the deck of the Watchtower

Sources

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The Grand Canyon

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Grand Canyon with Phantom Ranch

The Grand Canyon with Phantom Ranch center right

On our return to Utah from the Mesa Easter Pageant, we stopped at the Grand Canyon. The Canyon is 277 river miles long, is up to 18 miles wide, and a mile deep. It tells of geological processes in a unique combination of size, color, and dazzling erosional forms. There is a fascinating variety of plants and animals, from the desert next to the Colorado River deep in the canyon to the forests atop its North Rim.

The Making Of The Grand Canyon

The Colorado River flowed across the Colorado Plateau on its way from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. Each rain washed sparsely vegetated desert soils into the river.

A steep gradient and heavy sediment loads created a powerful tool for erosion. The river’s volume varied seasonally and over time. As the last ice age ended, the flow may have been 10 times today’s volume.

As the river cuts down, the canyon deepens. Tributaries erode into the canyon’s sides, increasing its width. Erosion carves faster into the softer rock layers, undermining harder layers above. With no foundation these layers collapse, forming the cliffs and slopes profile of the canyon. Erosion wears away the ridges separating adjacent side canyons, leaving buttes and pinnacles.

Grand Canyon

Revealed strata preserve a lengthy, although incomplete, record of Earth's history

Grand Canyon Vista with Phantom Ranch and Kaibab_Bridge

Grand Canyon Vista with Phantom Ranch and Kaibab_Bridge

Grand Canyon Kaibab Bridge

Grand Canyon Kaibab Bridge

Grand Canyon visitors

Grand Canyon visitors enjoying the magnificence of their surroundings

Jill at the Grand Canyon

Jill at the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon Colorado River from the South Rim

Grand Canyon Colorado River from the South Rim

Bright Angel Trail

The most popular trail into the canyon begins west of the Bright Angel Lodge on the South Rim. The trailhead elevation is 6,785 feet and descends 4,380 feet to the Colorado River. The Bright Angel Trail offers wonderful views all along the trail. It has an average grade of 10% along its entire length. At trail’s end, the River Trail continues another 2 miles to the Bright Angel Campground and Phantom Ranch.

Hazards hikers can encounter along the Bright Angel Trail include dehydration, sudden rainstorms, flash flooding, loose footing, bootpacked ice, rockfall, encounters with wildlife, and extreme heat. At the Colorado River, additional hazards include hypothermia (due to the river’s consistently cold temperatures), trauma (due to collisions with boulders in rapids), and drowning.

We decided to walk for just a half-hour down the trail.

Grand Canyon group shot

Along the Bright Angel Trail: Jill, Bryson, Paul, Sarah, Derek, Jake, and Rick

Bright Angel Trail

Along the Bright Angel Trail: Derek carrying Bryson, Sarah, Jill, and Paul

Jill on the Bright Angel Trail

The end, or the beginning, of the Bright Angel Trail

Jill pausing for a photograph on the Bright Angel Trail

Jill pausing for a photograph on the Bright Angel Trail

Grand Canyon Family Photographs

Click on the links to view the family pictures shot at the Grand Canyon.

Colorado River from the South Rim of the The Grand Canyon

Colorado River from the South Rim of the the Grand Canyon

Sources

  • National Park Service Grand Canyon brochure
  • National Park Service Grand Canyon Guide & Maps
  • Wikipedia Bright Angel Trail

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Brigham City Temple Spire

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Brigham City Temple Spire under construction

Brigham City Temple Spire under construction, viewed from the Tabernacle doors

Take a look at the Brigham City Temple construction two weeks ago and compare it with today. There is quite a difference as the east spire girders clearly show. It is exciting to see the progress towards the anticipated completion of the temple in 2012. Click on the images to enlarge.

The Temple Spires

I like the closeup photograph of the spire girders. Jill, that is a fantastic shot. The temple will have two spires and will face east toward the tabernacle. I have never followed the construction of a temple so closely before. It is great to see it gradually take shape.
Brigham City Temple Spire being constructedBrigham City Temple East SpireBrigham City Temple Spire girders

The Tabernacle Spires

For a 150 years the lighted spire of the tabernacle has been visible to travelers along I-15 or coming down Sardine Canyon. But the tabernacle really has 17 spires for the large main spire is accented by sixteen much smaller spires topping brick buttresses. The temple’s angel Moroni will reach several feet higher than the highest point of the tabernacle spire.
Brigham City Tabernacle spires

The man you can see at the bottom right of the Tabernacle photograph below told Jill that he is obsessed with the new temple. He says he walks down every day to see the construction. He lives two blocks away.
Brigham City Tabernacle

The Spires

I really like this shot of the old and the new spires.
Brigham City Temple spire and Tabernacle spire

Brigham City History

Colonization (continued)

Small businesses established during the 1850s included a cabinet shop, a water-powered saw mill, a tanyard and a grist mill built in 1855-57 to produce flour and meal. The Box Elder County Courthouse, begun in 1855 and completed in 1857, was used for city and county business, theatrical productions, religious meetings and school.

Children attended school only when there was no farm work to be done, so most of them had little schooling. Many were taught to read and write by their parents or older siblings.

Very young children were given important responsiblities. As soon as Minnie Lund and her sister were large enough to hold an axe, they chopped all the wood, milked sixteen cows morning and night, and cleaned stables. When she was nine, she was sent out on the hillside to herd the family’s sheep. She taught herself to crochet lace, to braid straw, and to make straw hats for her family and friends. Before her twelfth birthday, she went to Honeyville to work for an aunt. By the time she returned home, her father had four polygamous wives, and she went from one to the other to assist with house and farm work. At age 14 she cared for a lady who had just given birth. She said, “I never had any childhood. It was work, work, work.” (From: Brighamcity.utah.gov)

Photo Credit: Jill Willoughby
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