|
|
|
JANE DANIELS’ ARCHIVES
William Ashton's Accident
Katie Lyon Looks at Ashton
Glenn
Anderson remembers the hunting camp
William
Ashton's Accident
Thanks to Bernetta Hanson, who took time to
read the 1907 St. Anthony Teton Peak papers, we know how William
Ashton had his accident. The Herald Chronicle’s 1957 special
issue, celebrating Ashton's 50th birthday, gave a partial account
of the event.
William Ashton was the Oregon Short Line Railroad’s chief
engineer, and the town of Ashton bears his name. The railroad had
reached Ashton in 1906, and was within 17 miles of Yellowstone
Park. In many places, the line from St. Anthony north had
required blasting rock to make a roadbed, and was time consuming
and costly. However, the officials of the line were pleased
because the beauty of the country would attract the tourists.
William Ashton was among the railroad personnel who toured the
route in June of 1907.
It was noted that interest in building a line to the Teton Basin
would be explored by railroad officials when they visited the
basin, which they did in July. Railroad officials and local
businessmen were in the group. Traveling from Sugar City in a
light buggy, Ashton was accompanied by Mr. Killpack, a Driggs
businessman. A wheel slipped into a ditch at the side of the
road. It broke and overturned the buggy, throwing Ashton
headfirst to the ground. When others in the party reached the
injured man, he was unconscious. He was taken to St. Anthony and
put under medical care.
Dr. Wright of the Oregon Short Line at Pocatello suggested he be
brought to Salt Lake as quickly as possible, and those in St.
Anthony agreed. A special train was readied and left for Salt
Lake at 10:40 that night. Engineer Chassee was at the throttle
and made the 290-mile run in 7 hours and 10 minutes, averaging 41
miles per hour, a remarkable time for 1907.
After 18 hours of unconsciousness, Ashton began to recover and
was able to talk with visitors.
Dr. Laudenberger concluded that his worst injury was the bruise
at the side of the head. According to the July 22 Deseret News,
Mr. Ashton would be able to return to the office within a week or
10 days.
The Salt Lake City Deseret News also reported that, due to the
accident, plans for banquets at Driggs and Sugar City were
cancelled, but the route for the branch into the Teton coalfields
was carefully considered.
According to the Herald Chronicle special, William Ashton did
recover but it took a long time, as might be expected from one
suffering a severe head injury.
Top
Katie Lyon Looks at Ashton
Who has lived in the city of
Ashton the longest? If you know someone you would like to see
featured call 652-3222. Hopefully during the next few months
several of the "youngsters" will share their stories.
Today we start with Katie Murdoch Lyon.
Ashton was thriving when Katie Lyon moved here from Farnum in
1937. Four grocery stores existed on Main Street— when she
was little, there were only three. Her brother, Howard, worked
for Niels Knudsen. Later Glade's parents acquired the building
and it housed Lyon's for 42 years. Paul Stone's grocery had good
penny candy, but the two-cent kind was wonderful. Both Knudsen's
and Paul Stone sold mostly groceries. Burrall and Stone's was on
the corner by the Imperial Club and there were apartments
upstairs. Before it burned, it housed a butcher shop, shoe shop,
clothing, and groceries.
Three years ago, Rob and Sue Knudsen visited Ashton and met with
Katie and Glade. They were surprised to realize that the Lyons
had the store for so many years in the former Knudsen building.
Katie recalled she had been hired by Mrs. Knudsen to do dishes at
night but often got sidetracked playing with the children, the
youngest being Rob. Glade showed Rob his father's desk, which had
burns along the edge where Mr. Knudsen laid down lit cigarettes.
People shopped in Ashton, rarely going to St. Anthony. The stores
stayed open on Saturday nights until 10 o'clock. People would
come to town early so they could park their cars in a good place
along Main Street to sit and watch the people.
Hunts was the clothing store. There were two drug stores, the
Rexall and City Drug. Katie loved every minute she spent working
at City Drug when she was in high school. Katie remembers one
bank and is the proud owner, thanks to Glade, of the old bench
that graced the interior until a new bank was built. A Mr. Lupton
ran a hardware business where Stronks in now.
"Lup" Lupton and his wife Belle loved to disagree, and
since one was Republican and the other Democrat, they had
interesting political arguments. Belle was a musician and gave
music lessons to practically everyone in town, including Katie
and her brothers. Belle's daughter, Peggy, married Tom Egbert, a
local boy, and they moved to Victor where they started the
Playhouse. At close to 80, Peggy continues to play the piano for
the Playhouse.
Many items were rationed during the war. Katie kept her families
ration books: they had stamps for gas, meat, sugar, and many
other products used daily. One of the town boys came home from
the service and bought a can of pineapple at the grocery, not
realizing he needed ration points. A man spoke up and gave his
points to cover the pineapple.
To save gas, people drove 35 miles per hour. Katie's dad
delivered milk and even though he knew he could petition for more
gas for the milk truck, he made do with what he had. The day the
war ended, everyone came to Main Street in town. Katie remembers
the crying and laughing as people celebrated.
Glade and Katie have acquired some special places during their
life. As a kid, Katie and friends would walk two miles from her
house down a lane to the swimming pool north of Ashton. They
would pay a dime, have a refreshing swim, and then walk home. The
day some older kids came to skinny dip, Katie and friends quickly
left for home. It never occurred to them to complain. Katie
thought the pool was huge as a child, but years later when she
and Glade bought the property, it seemed to have shrunk
considerably. There is a hot pool which remains at 98 degrees,
but the tomatoes they were going to grow there never got planted.
Today the pool is filled with debris.
Another special place the family and friends enjoy is "The
Point." It is two acres where Conant Creek and Fall River
come together. After they owned it for 40 years, the sagebrush
and chokecherry bushes have receded and about a third of the many
planted trees have survived. Katie's father started the Conant
Creek Canal and was the Bishop of the Farnum Ward. The original
church completely disappeared except for the concrete slab that
Dick Egbert hauled home with his tractor. When the Egberts sold
and moved, Dick carted the slab to The Point. Katie feels her
father would be happy that part of the church survived.
For the past 67 years, Katie has lived in the city of Ashton.
Most residents realize she has been active in the P. T. A.,
American Legion Auxiliary, Chamber of Commerce, Flea Market, and
any other cause where help has been needed. Katie is the creator
of beautiful quilts. Much could be said about what she has shared
with others through the years, but summed up Katie has shared her
sunny disposition with all of us and we have benefited by being
shown how to appreciate life.
Glenn
Anderson remembers the hunting camp
Dan Reiman and Adolph Reickert were probably
the first to hunt on Wyoming Creek where we later had our camp. I
was a kid then. My brother and Claude Lee were good friends, but
my brother was not able to hunt due to poor health. Claude and
Dan were brothers-in-law and with myself started the camp. My
friend, Gene Morrison, Vic and Glenn Phillips, and Gene Hemming
were some of the others. Our camp was in existence between 25 and
30 years. Many years we had eight hunters in camp.
We bought a tent that was 26 feet long, 12 feet wide, had sides
five feet tall so you could stand up in it, and we put a stove in
each end. There were partitioned spaces about three and a half
feet wide for each man's bedroll or sleeping bag. First we put
straw down under the bedrolls for comfort. Each hunter had his
own footlocker, which held the straw in place at his feet and
gave him a place for his personal belongings. Discarded grain
doors from railroad cars served as the head of our sleeping
space.
Horses were needed to pack out the meat. We usually kept four or
less in camp. A surplus teepee style tent was used for a horse
barn. Poles were added and hay was hauled in to make mangers.
We could drive to the camp. Dan Reiman had a 4 x 4 surplus
command car and we had Jeeps that could buck the snow.
Claude Lee, who owned a restaurant, found a big caf� grill
powered by propane. A long table with benches on each side served
as a dinner table A canvas cubicle was made to serve as an
outhouse. When Glenn's cousin, Walt Greene, came from Arizona to
hunt, he brought his wife, Lois, who liked to hunt as did Ruth.
For the ladies convenience, Glenn and Walt purchased a special
tent and furnished it with rollaway beds.
Each year we'd set up camp at the first of the hunting season
which was usually in August. Someone had to stay at the camp to
see that nothing was stolen. Often I was the one who stayed and
my wife, Ruth, would take time off work to accompany me. We would
hunt a little when the season first opened and then would do our
serious hunting after the snow fell and the animals moved out of
Yellowstone Park.
When there was a mild fall, Ruth and I would go over to Sheep
Falls on Fall River, get our limit of fish, and then head for
Cave Falls to catch our limit of five there. Besides our usual
food, lots of fish were eaten at camp and meals cooked in big
pots and Dutch ovens.
Evenings were spent playing poker or pinocle, or we'd sit around
and talk. If the weather wasn't too bad, we'd have a campfire.
When it got to ten below zero we would dress for the weather. I
had wool shirts, a pair of plaid wool pants and a cap with ear
flaps. The stoves kept the tent warm.
Some years we checked out the animals in the park by air. Those
who used their planes included Jack Steinman for several years
and Sherman Hess one year. Glenn was lucky to go along on several
of the rides.
Glenn killed his first elk at 16 while hunting with his uncle.
Glenn tells the following hunting story about one of his early
years. Chet and Marie Smith lived in Ashton and both enjoyed
hunting as did the Andersons. Chet and I went hunting on Wyoming
Creek and ran into Dan Reiman and a party with horses already
saddled. It was dark when we started walking up the snowy trail
that went over the hill, past a lake and down into Winegar Creek.
We could hear Dan's party coming on their horses and they quickly
passed us. We decided to cut across country to where the elk came
out of Winegar's Hole. We climbed a fairly steep hill and came
out on the ridge and found three elk lying down. We each shot a
cow, dressed them out and headed back to camp to figure out a way
to get horses to bring our elk out.
In the meantime Dan's group went on the trail. Some elk had come
out of Winegar Creek. The men rode down the ridge to where the
elk had entered the timber. Dan tossed his reins to Claude Lee
and told the group to wait for 15 minutes and then follow him.
Several shots were heard as they waited. When they rode down and
found elk, they thought Dan had shot them. They could have gone
down the steep hill, but chose to drag the elk back by the trail.
We met them at camp and thanked them for bringing our elk to us.
Dan had not fired a shot and returned to camp while we were
hanging out our elk. They didn't think wasting a day bringing in
someone's elk was a bit funny, but over the years we've had a
good laugh over the memory.
We had names for some of the trees. Adolph Reickert from
Pocatello had Adolph's tree. He invariably got turned around and
was lost. He would be put by Adolph's tree and told to stay
there. That way everyone could find him. Glenn had Glenn's tree
although he did not get lost.
Gene Morrison had a special tree with a special ending to his
story. The Morrison's came from California and bought the Log
Cabin Motel in Ashton. Gene helped Glenn with building and worked
for the canal company in the spring.
To kill an elk was Gene's greatest desire. Gene was extremely
nervous and had to be on the move. Out hunting he was like a bull
moose chasing a rabbit. Not sure Gene could follow directions,
Glenn told him to sit by a certain tree, not to smoke often and
get the smell in the air, and keep his rifle ready. It was part
of our hunt for someone to check the "point" early in
the morning for tracks to see if elk had come out of the Park.
Gene was to sit under his tree near the rocky crossing. Over
several seasons, Gene was able to shoot three elk. The tree he
sat beside was known as Gene's tree. After a day of sitting, he
would come back to camp ready to explode.
When Gene Morrison died he was cremated. His daughter had
instructions to scatter his ashes on Wyoming Creek where he shot
his elk and Glenn could show her where, which he did.
When they were married, Ruth bought Glenn a hunting knife.
Through the years Glenn added a notch on the knife for each elk
he killed starting with the one at 16. The days of the hunting
camp have passed, but Glenn can look at the 43 notches on his
knife and recall all the wonderful memories.
Dan Reiman had passed away before the group divided up the camp.
When the large tent was sold, Mrs. Reiman was remembered with
Dan's portion of the proceeds. Glenn and Ruth have visited the
old camp site many times and not one trace of the camp has
survived.
Years of hunting have brought Glenn to the conclusion that to
become a good elk hunter, it helps
to know what an elk is going to do before the elk does.
Top
Home
|
