I was mostly hired to move the hand move pipes. One field had some wheel lines which was pretty easy to manage. The other field had a pivot which mostly involved making sure the pipe to the canal was not obstructed and checking on the pump. Modern pivots are a wonder of technology. Before putting hand move pipes in the one field we used to flood irrigation which involved putting a small board in the ditch and then you would scoop this large flexible hose I guess you would call it into the ditch and then it would act as a siphon to pull water from the ditch and flood the field. I think I was 14 or so at the time and I rode my bike about 4 miles or so out to the fields to move the pipes about 3 times a day.
To me it looks pretty automated these days. I’m a city slicker, though. I love the area too.
I had a friend in High School who moved from Spring City to Sandy and went to Hillcrest High School. As a result of knowing him, I spent a lot a time in Spring City and several other towns in Sanpete County, and camping in the general area in the 70’s
Later in life, I had a friend, and my wife had an uncle who owned cabin property east of Fairview. As a result, we spent a lot of time in the area for several years in the 80’s and 90’s.
My wife’s family, owned (actually still owns) a quarry in the county from which came the stone for the Manti temple
From my experience, there are not many more beautiful places than Sanpete County anywhere in the world.
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My brother lives down in Gunnison so we spend a lot of time down in Sanpete County. His in-laws have a bunch of land and a cabin up in the mountains between Gunnison and Manti which is a great place to go as well. We have gone up with them to a few of their other favorite spot up in the Forest Service land. I think we will try and go camping with them again this year. Like a lot of people in the area they haul a trailer up to the FS land. You can leave a trailer in one spot for 14 days so they go up pretty much every weekend during the summer. Take the jeep and the side by sides out and have a lot of fun.
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Side by sides are everywhere there!
SalUte, I may just be related to your wife as I have relatives that at one point owned the quarry where the stone came from for the Manti Temple. Of course there could be several families with this claim. I loved to visit my grandparents in Manti and Ephraim. 4th of July at the Manti Ciry Park was one of my favorite family traditions when I was a kid and when my kids were young.
I was told that the oolite limestone from your relatives’ quarry so enchanted William Randolph Hearst that he had much of his castle at San Simeon built out of it. According to the story I heard he actually had a small railway spur built for the sole purpose of transporting the stone to Central California for his castle.
We met with a Manti stone yard owner today (we’re building a house) and he had some oolite (salvaged from demolished houses) on his yard. I asked him if there’s still enough of it available to build houses. He said the oolite quarries have been so heavily worked that the oolite is now too hard to reach and thus too expensive to use. So people like him bring in limestone from Kansas and other places.
Anyway, Sanpete oolite is all over Central Utah and also Salt Lake. It’s a shame we won’t see more buildings built with it.
The Park Building at the U. and the Utah governor’s mansion were a few of the famous structures built of oolite. Sorry, I’m mildly obsessed with Central Utah architectural history! Here is more than you probably want to know about oolite. Your ancestors’ names may be mentioned here:
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Interesting…
I believe that at the time the stone was quarried, it was the Halton family name that owned the quarry. However, I’m not really certain of that and you’ve got me curious now - I’ll speak with her second cousin next opportunity and ask more about the history of the ownership and report back here…
No mention of the Halton name here - but I’ll see what I can learn…
Fascinating article - many buildings with which I am familiar used the oolite stone, including the Hearst mansion - which I would never have guessed, but now that I’m reading it, and thinking back to the building which I visited many years ago, it makes sense.
My father-in-law built an apartment building on the avenues, in the 1960’s, with oolite stone from the same quarry on the façade.
My great great grandfather was the master stone mason on the Manti temple (and St George and also helped with Salt Lake). His name was Edward Lloyd Parry. There is a big monument for him at the Manti cemetery dedicated on my grandmas 100th birthday. I grew up hearing about the Manti temple and the stone so much that I kind of thought my family owned it. Even though I never lived there, I feel strong ties to the area and the buildings, though I am not near as knowledgeable as you!
Everyone, meet my client, Ali. His grocery store sits in the middle of a moderate-sized College town in Kentucky. He’s easily one of my favorite clients to speak with. Not only is it great because his English (he’s been here 30 years) is better than many native born Americans but Ali also speaks 9 languages fluently (many he learned traveling the world as a merchant marine) and he is currently learning three more. Bowling Green where I live is a “refugee city.” The United States when they get more “country” folk from a country send them to Bowling Green over say Chicago. He is someone who genuinely cares about the people coming into his store. From the Native Bowling Green resident to the newest arrival. Often times helping those find help where he can help. I’ve seen him convince doctors in their off time to help others who could not afford the doctor visit. Ali arrived in the USA from his native Bangladesh in 1988. Ali made Bowling Green his home in 2007. He and his wife and kids have made Bowling Green home and we’re better as a community with his being here.
So is the photo of something visually cool? No. But, we can all agree… Ali is a very cool guy and someone who I’m glad to call friend.
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My great-great grandfather John Daniel Thompson McCallister must have known yours (Edward Parry). J.D.T. was the president of the Manti Temple from 1893 to 1906, and prior to that the president of the St. George Temple from 1884-1893. There’s no way they didn’t interact somehow.
From the article above:
In the photograph taken about 1901, six quarry men and a dog are shown in the foreground of the working Ephraim quarry. The overburden waste of shale and thin-bedded limestone has been removed with the help of the man at the far right and his wheelbarrow. The man at the far left foreground stands on the upper limestone surface where feather and wedges were to be used to break the stone free. Edward L. Parry, in a dark suit, and the quarry foreman in a vest stand next to stone newly broken loose and moved into position for lifting by the derrick.
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I’d recognize that skyline anywhere. Very nice effect - B/W at GSL, Stanbury Island in the distance.
Heard they’ve closed the GSL marina because the lake is too low.
Waahkai (aka Pilot Peak, just NW of Wendover) is visible from higher elevations in the northern Wasatch, 120 miles away. I can see Waahkai from just above the Bountiful Temple, on a clear day.)
Driving back to I-80, I was chased by a haboob which barreled southbound through Pilot Valley.
The Donner Party passed through here in 1846, along with other less notable groups on their way to California using the Hastings Cutoff shortcut.
The US Army sent Howard Stansbury to map the Great Salt Lake and figure out just what the US got in this island sea, after the Treaty of Hidalgo turned “Alta California” (Utah and Nevada) into US territory. Stansbury’s expedition saw Waahkai off in the distance to the west, and kept drifting further away from the Great Salt Lake, but compiled the first map of the Great Salt Lake, along with a fascinating journal of traversing the Great Salt Lake desert.
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yesterday’s eclipse from Baltimore, MD
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So… were you on foot, and did you pass a guy on a mountain bike in a bright red jacket?
It was a pretty day up there. My first time on the trail 
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I was up there late evening. I saw bike tracks in the dirt but no riders when I was hiking.
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I was there late afternoon/early evening, and saw several hikers. I was very windy and a bit chilly, but a beautiful spot with spectacular views.
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