Chapter 12: A New Home in a Far Away Place

As summer approached in 1886, George Armstrong was busily making plans for his move to what was then eastern Piute County.  While his efforts at homesteading in Juab County had not gone well, he had acquired enough means to join with partner, Robert Pope, in purchasing a horse powered threshing machine. Upon arriving in Rabbit Valley, he would not only homestead 160 acres (1), but would also do custom threshing in the fall.

While George Armstrong saw this move as a chance to start over – an opportunity and an adventure - it’s hard to imagine Aurilla being enthused.  Nephi was the “gathering place” for her family – both the Sperrys and the Sidwells.  Even though it had been over 10 years since the first permanent settlers had made their homes along the Fremont River, Rabbit Valley was still a faraway place in a relatively unknown part of Utah Territory.  One hundred and twenty miles in our day of smooth highways and comfortable automobiles does not seem like a long distance, but in 1886, this was at least 10 days of hard travel –  rough roads in an even rougher wagon, riding a horse, or walking. While the Indian threat was minimal, travelers were still vulnerable to the rouge outlaw – be it white man or brown – not to mention the ever changing weather.  Reluctant to take his family into such an unknown situation, the summer of 1886, George left Aurilla and the kids and went to Rabbit Valley to get a start on their new home.

 Having been unsuccessful in their attempts to make a home in Chicken Creek, it seems likely that Aurilla (pregnant with a baby girl – Margaret Myra – due in September)  would have taken her 4 small children, George Alvin age 7, William Lamont, 5, Mary Leerolen, 4 and Thomas Edwin, 1, and moved back to Nephi to be close to friends and family during the months that George A. was gone.

The slow thrashing process may well have kept George away until late fall or early winter. I know of no record that mentions rather he was present for Margaret's birth on September 20th, but surely it was a happy day when he arrived back with his family in Nephi.  While Aurilla may not have been an enthusiastic listener, not wanting to think about the move, George surely would have had a lot of information to share about their new home and what the family could expect when they all moved south the following spring.  Eager to hear the news was his side kick half-brother, Peter James Christensen.   Even though he was five years younger than George, Peter was at a similar place in his life - married with 4 small children.  While Aurilla may have been hesitant, Peter wanted to know more. While Peter did not join George immediately, three years later, in 1890, he also left Nephi and moved to Rabbit Valley.  (Peter’s 5^th child was born in Nephi in the fall of 1889, and his 6^th child was born in April, 1891, in Loa, Utah. Considering the snow on the mountain passes, the family must have been living in Loa by the fall of 1890 at the latest)

As spring of 1887 approached, Aurilla and George prepared to leave.  It must have been a tearful good-bye as the Sperry, Sidwell, and Peterson families gathered around the small family as they headed south out of town with their one wagon, 4 horses and a cow headed to a faraway place in what was then one of the most remote parts of the Utah Territory. (Chappell family history has it that the family left Nephi with one wagon, four horses and a cow – History of George and Aurilla Sperry Family, Blue book p. 13) Surely there were tears.  Nephi, their beloved home looked over by the towering Mt. Nebo, would forever be a special place for George and Aurilla.  Considering the annual return visits to Nephi that were so much a part of the lives of this couple, it is very possible that George’s bride refused to make the move until George had promised he’d bring her back each year to spend time with dear family and friends.

Traveling with his wife and 4 small children, it is unlikely the young family averaged more than 15 miles a day.  Having lived in Chicken Creek southwest of Levan, the first miles of the journey between Nephi and Levan would have been a road familiar to everyone in the family.  However as the trek headed south the dry, sagebrush wilderness between Levan and Gunnison was surely lonely.  The 40 miles between Levan and Gunnison would have taken a couple of days and the family would have camped along the trail for at least two nights.  The Sevier River meandering through the bottom country would have provided water and forage for the animals and maybe a chance for the young boys to catch a fish.

From Gunnison south to Salina and on to Sigurd, the well-established communities along the Sevier River would have provided well maintained roads and plenty of resources for the immigrants.  However, as they left the Sevier and turned up Kings Meadow Canyon and headed southeast into the mountains, the wagon trail would have become much more primitive and the way more difficult.  After several miles of steady climb to near the top of King’s Meadow Canyon, the road turned south towards Bear Valley.  The narrow, winding canyon surrounded by dense pinion and juniper forest eventually gave way to a broad sage brush valley just below the quaking aspen and pine forests of the eastern slope of Monroe Mountain.  Soon the difficult climb ended and a welcome descent led them out of Bear Valley into Burrville nestled on the northern edge of Grass Valley. 

Just south of Burrville, a favorite camp site was Cedar Grove.  This somewhat unusual collection of mountain juniper grouped into a well-defined grove of trees near the valley floor provided protection from wind and storm but was also close to the stream flowing through the valley and its associated animal forage.   At near 7000 feet in elevation, their camp in Grass Valley would have been cool at night even in mid-summer.   While Grass Valley sloped gently south along Otter Creek, their destination was even further east – further away from what little civilization existed at the time in south Central Utah!

Fish Lake Mountain rose in impressive fashion to the east and north.  The western edge of the Parker Mountain, while not as high as its neighbor to the north, had steep slopes that rose up quickly providing an imposing obstacle of their own.   As they worked their way along the rough road toward the top, George knew this would be the last real challenge in their journey.  Topping out at near 8500 feet the view was magnificent.  Mountain ranges rising up to the brilliant blue sky could be seen in all directions.  To the west, the plateaus of the Monroe; and beyond, the jagged peaks of the Tushers.  To the north, the Fish Lake High Tops with their few scattered pine, sloped steeply to the east suggesting the mountain bowl holding the lake for which the mountain was named. To the north, on the distant horizon, much to their delight, Mt Nebo!  Familiar friend!  Maybe they were not so far away as they had thought!

Looking south, the rolling sage brush hills seemed to go on and on until the distant pine forests turned the horizon navy blue.  Moving east, the dark horizon rose quickly to a flat topped mountain – the imposing and impressive Boulder Mountain.  Looking directly east, another flat topped mountain – smaller but just as tall – stood separated and alone - the gap between the two suggesting they were part of the same until separated by millions of years of erosion.  The red, yellow and white foot hills of the Boulder and the imposing red cliffs of the southern Thousand Lake foreshadowed the rugged canyon country of the Colorado Plateau.  Even further east, the land of John Wesley Powell and the still relatively unknown Henry Mountains completed the vista.  At the base of the Thousand Lake Mountain, they could see a suggestion of a valley.  Following one more night camped on the rolling Parker; the family would have gotten their first good look at their new home.  An article that appeared in the evening copy of the Deseret News dated April 2, 1880, written by a Mr. Wheeler provides a contemporary opinion of what the Chappells found as they descended  the western hills: 

This valley is said to be bout seventy-three hundred feet above the sea level.  It is a new moon shaped basin surrounded by high mountains.  The north, east and sought mountains are covered with pine and quaking asp, while the foothills in every direction are covered with nut and pinion pine and volcanic rock.  The most excellent dry pinion-pine fires enjoyed here by the poorest family would break the wealthy in Salt Lake. 

The people here are living in a very scattered condition, each family on their respective quarter section.  There are sixty or seventy families in the valley and we heard of only one forty-acre man, and they say he is looking for more.  A town has been laid out on the west side of the valley on a beautiful, dry gravelly bench, but as all are quarter section men, they are following the dictates of the law to secure their titles…

There are two sawmills in running order with extensive groves of the very finest timber in Utah inviting us to bring our axes and use them as it requires no great strain of foresight to see that not far distant an extensive business will be done here in making and hauling lumber…

The valley is very well watered and Fish Lake, now frozen over is a natural reservoir on a large scale and abounds with trout, great quantities of which are caught every spring by the Indians. 

Elias H. Blackburn has recently been appointed Bishop in place of George S. Rust and with his first counselor, Franklin SW. Young, is trying to get the Ward organized… the people have built two school houses and two more are talked of…

Wheat, oats and barley have been raised and ripened three years now, also potatoes, turnips, beets, etc.  Many of the people are jubilant over the prospects of huge copper works as copper is said to exist by the acre about thirty miles below the valley on the Fremont River.

We have located our quarter section of land, and as you, the reader can’t all do the same, and as we have to go clearing of the sage brush lest we get too far behind those who have already gotten from five to thirty acres of grain, we best be obliged to go. (Deseret News, (Salt Lake City), April 2, 1880, p.2, as quoted in Chappell, Settlement and Development of Wayne County, Utah to 1900)

View of Rabbit Valley from foothills east of Lyman. Looking Northwest with Loa across the valley. 

The sage brush valley was several miles across and perhaps 15 miles long.  At over 11000 feet, the surrounding mountains obscured the fact that the valley floor was over 7000 feet and one of the highest locations in Utah to be cultivated. Dominating the western half of the valley were two large streams of water.  Meandering through the more middle part of the valley, surround by willows and meadows flowed the Fremont River.   Bubbling out of the ground to the northwest, Spring Creek paralleled the Fremont on the west until the two streams joined several miles south.  Road Creek, while smaller than the other two, entered the valley from the west, its deep canyon suggesting the quite stream was not always so passive.    Leaving Rabbit Valley, the reinforced Fremont carved a winding canyon through the encroaching Parker Mountain foothills before opening up into another flat valley at the base of the Boulder.  Red Lake (shallow precursor to the Bicknell Bottoms) was a temporary resting place for the Fremont where it gathered more strength from several springs, Pine Creek and Government Creek before plunging into rugged red canyons on its way to the Colorado.

Looking across the valley toward Thousand Lake Mountain - view from south of Loa 

To the east and the west of the streams, the sage brush flats, home to the many jack rabbits for which the valley was named, were in the process of being converted into checkered farms of barley and hay. The valley floor was void of any trees other than a few willows along the streams. While in many ways windswept and desolate, the valley did have the luxury of a generous and constant water supply.  The abundant water and forage had attracted the cattlemen who first built permanent dwellings in the valley in 1875 (2)  

When George and Aurilla arrived the spring of 1887, the local communities were still in their early stages of development.   Unlike other Mormon settlement operations in which individuals and families were called by church leaders to colonize specific locations , those who settled the towns along the Fremont came on their own.  Like the young Chappell family searching for a new start, people had come from all over Utah to settle this new and wild local.  Initially spread out and hap hazard, the early settlers homesteaded and built their homes on the part of the valley that was most pleasing to them. (See Appendix A)  

Most early settlers were members of the LDS Church and in December of 1877 there were enough people living in the area to establish the Fremont Valley Branch of the Grass Valley Ward of the Sevier Stake of Zion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (3) Concerned about the scattered nature of the early settlements, as early as 1878 LDS leaders out of Salt Lake City began encouraging the people to establish themselves into organized communities (4) Later that year the scattered members of the area were organized into the Fremont River Ward and as the people began to come together in communities other wards were formed.  The Thurber Ward was organized in 1882 and the Loa and Fremont Wards were organized in June of 1887 (5), likely not long after the Chappell family arrived. 

Having spent a good part of the previous year in Rabbit Valley, it’s likely George had already had filed on the land that would be his homestead about three miles directly east of Loa at the edge of the Thousand Lake foothills.  With a farm under way, he now needed a home for his family.  Loa seemed to be the best option.  By 1887 the town of Loa was well established.  Fremont, to the north, was the largest town in the upper valley – and would remain so until about 1895 (6) – but Loa was fast becoming the economic hub of the upper Fremont.   The town site had been surveyed in 1880 and dedicated in 1885 and many families were settling on its five and six acre blocks. (7)  Having come from an established Mormon community, it’s likely Aurilla preferred living in a town rather than settling on the homestead as so many others had done.   While not Nephi, Loa did provide some of the amenities Aurilla had left behind such as established streets and lots, schools and neighbors, and proximity to church activities and stores.  Another important factor in 1887 would have been the lack of a clean, consistent water source on the east side of the valley.   No perennial streams flowing off the west side of Thousand Lake Mountain reached the valley floor and irrigation ditches had their obvious draw backs.  Loa would be their home for the next 8 years.

View from Thousand Lake Mountain - Loa is on far side of the Valley

Current areal view of Rabbit Valley 

1.      Summary of The Homestead Act of 1862:  The Homestead Act of 1862 was a law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862.   It provided for the transfer of 160 acres (65 hectares) of unoccupied public land to each homesteader on payment of a nominal fee after five years of residence.   A homesteader had  to be the head of a household or at least 21 years of age to claim a 160 acre parcel of land.  Land could also be acquired after six months of residence at $1.25 an acre. http://www.homesteadhomemaking.com/the-homestead-act-of-1862/

2.      Aldus Chappell, The Settlement and Development of Wayne County, Utah, to 1900; Master’s Thesis, Brigham Young University, 1975, pp. 11-12

3.      Loa Utah Stake 1893-1993, published 1993, p. 3

4.      Miriam B. Murphy, A History of Wayne County, 1999, Utah State Historical Society, p. 108

5.      Loa Utah Stake 1893-1993 p. 4

6.      Anne Snow, Rainbow Views: A History of Wayne County; Daughters of Utah Pioneers of Wayne County; 1953, Art City Publishing Co., Springville, Utah; Fourth Edition, 1985.  p.177

7.      Snow, p. 197

 Appendix A,

Aldus Chappell, The Settlement and Development of Wayne County, Utah, to 1900; Master’s Thesis, Brigham Young University, 1975, pp. 21-22

In analyzing the settlement pattern of these early pioneers to Rabbit Valley, several interesting points became apparent.  For one thing there was no pattern of system to their settling.  Each came to build a home and looked for the most attractive (to him anyway) place to build.  The things that each looked for were fertile land, plentiful water supply, and suitable appearance.  As nearly as can be ascertained, these early settlers were live stock men and were attracted to the abundant forage and adequate water supply, so each chose the place that suited him best.

Another point that indicated a lack of an organized system is the fact that very few came from the same place.  Thurber came from Spanish Fork, McClellan from Payson, Allreds from Spring City, Morrells, from Emery County, Blackburn from Minersville, Paces from Dixie, and so on, each coming to make a home because the outside was getting too crowded, and each coming irrespective of the others.  For some it was the spirit of adventure and pioneering, others had experienced failures and were looking for new opportunities, a chance to “start over”. For some it was a combination of reasons. 

There was really no need of an organized settlement with a fort and people banding closely together, as was usually the case.  In most places in these early days a Fort was necessary for protection against the Indians but there was no serious menace here.  The families were scattered throughout the valley and it wasn’t until a few years later that townsites were surveyed and people started moving closer together. 

The Navajo Indians generally did not come this far north in their raids, and the Utes were so weakened after the Walker War that they did not operate in this valley.  There was only one band of Piutes, under the leadership of Tueank and these were peaceful.