A SEA OF SAGE
A Biography of Harriet Annah Kidd Banner
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The valuable black pot.
Click photo for full image.
Alexander and Fidelia had increased their family at the rate
of one child about every two years. After our John, came Lovina on 27 September
1861. Susannah was born 8 January 1863. Hyrum blessed their home on 28 May 1865.
He was only to remain with them a short time, however. Tragedy struck the family
in July of 1866 when their third child, Fidelia, for reasons unknown to us,
passed away on 14 July at age nine. One month later on 11 August, baby Hyrum
also died. Thomas was born the next year on 17 June 1867. James was born
eighteen months later on 17 December 1868. David blessed their home 2 January
1871. After David, Fidelia bore three more children, Joseph, Fidelia and Mary,
but none survived. The record is sketchy, but it is believed that all three died
as infants. The 13th child, Mary, was born 17 March 1880 when Fidelia was
forty-five.
In Herriman, the struggle for survival continued to be very
real. The rough, rugged life of pioneering developed a community of hardy men
and women. The giant task of building homes, subduing the wasteland, and
harnessing streams, required cooperation and sharing. It developed an unselfish,
hardworking, neighborly people.
Harriet’s father, John, grew up as part of all this. Even
as a child he shared the work to be done as soon as he was able. He never lacked
for something to do. From such daily chores as carrying kindling for the wood
stove, fetching water, and hoeing the family garden, John advanced to herding
cows and sheep in the surrounding country. Impending danger from Indians, which
was considerable during the Indian wars of the middle 1860’s, made herding in
the open spaces surrounding Fort Herriman quite an adventure for him. At about
twelve he began spending his summers with his older brothers as the sheep camp
tender. He grew in the knowledge of caring for the sheep as he watched and
helped his brothers. He was a serious, dependable boy. He was trusted with more
and more responsibility as through the years he developed into a mature young
man.
Eventually it was Alexander, the oldest son, and John who
spent their summers together on the Uinta Mountain summer range. John’s next
older brother, William, must have helped his father manage the crops on the
large farm. The record shows John, not William, attending the Upton Ward near
the summer sheep grazing grounds. John had spent much of his young teen years
with his brothers learning how to shear, castrate, dock, treat the sick, help in
lambing, and properly grazing the sheep. Alexander and John trailed the sheep
together for the last time in 1877. Alexander planned to be married in May of
1878. After this year the transition to John, as family coordinator of the
sheep, was to be complete.
We will leave Alexander and John and their sheep en route to
the alpine setting above Upton and acquaint the reader with the Bishop of the
Upton Ward and his family. This family plays an important role in the history of
our Harriet.
During the time the Alexander Kidd family was experiencing
their saga of the great American West in Herriman, in the beautiful Chalk Creek
valley of the Uinta Mountains another real life western story was being acted
out. In 1862, three years after our John Kidd’s birth, a pioneer family named
Staley was traveling the Mormon Trail. They were from Magnolia, Harrison County,
Iowa where their first three children, Merrit, William, and Harriet (not our
heroine) were born. They were told of a Mormon coal mining and ranching
community named Coalville not far up the Weber River from Echo Canyon. The Weber
River intersected the Mormon Trail at the base of Echo Canyon. Chester Staley
and his wife, Harriet Emily Mahoney, made a decision to leave the wagon train
and take their three children and follow the Weber River upstream for about five
miles and assess the prospects of making their home in the community of Coalville.
Many immigrants had made their living in coal mining or coal
processing before coming to Utah. In the early exploration of the valleys and
mountains surrounding the Great Salt Lake Valley, coal had been discovered in
many outcroppings. The coal was mainly located in what was later called Carbon
County, Utah, Coalville, and also in southern Wyoming. The coal was vital to the
ever increasing population of the Utah Territory. Useable timber for fuel was
fast being depleted because so much timber was needed for homes, farm buildings,
and fencing. By 1862 Coalville was a well established Mormon mining town,
supplying the Wasatch Front and surrounding communities with coal.
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Three Staley brothers: Chester Jr, Edward, and Merritt. Click photo for
full image.
Chester was not drawn to the mining operation. He was more
interested in raising sheep, cattle, and dairy stock. He also was skilled in
sawmill operations. He felt the best way to provide for his family was to sell
his goods to support the coal mining community. He searched the valleys
surrounding Coalville and found good land about fifteen miles upstream on Chalk
Creek where the valley becomes wide and flat. Here he and a few other
venturesome neighbors established a ranching community. It became known as
Upton.
The setting at Upton could provide the sweeping scenery for a
movie. Beautiful green chaparral and oak-dotted hillsides rise easily out of the
flat valley. Far off to the east, snowcapped peaks greet the morning sun. They
are so high, the snow glistens on them most of the year. From that snow Chalk
Creek has a good flow of water even in the fall. Fall brings to this valley a
breathtaking beauty that enveloped this pioneer family in a western dreamland of
color.
This valley chosen by the Staleys was still wild in every
sense. It was home to wolves, coyotes, and bears. It abounded in deer, elk, and
mountain sheep. Sage grouse were plentiful in the lower hills and forest grouse
in the higher mountains. The streams had an abundant supply of native trout.
Timber was plentiful and the trees in the virgin forests were huge.
Chester and Harriet Emily had traveled West to be with the
Saints and to find a place to play out their lives. On the banks of Chalk Creek,
in the midst of all this wilderness, they dreamed of taming it. They staked
their claim to the land. In order to make a living and finance themselves while
preparing the Upton land for farming, they built a cabin in the town of Coalville, and worked there. As time would permit, Chester would travel the
thirteen miles up to his property and work on the land. Rocks had to be hauled
off by the wagon load. Brush had to be grubbed and burned. The land had to be
leveled, and the stream tapped for irrigation. The completed project would
require years of labor, but with an organized effort land was cleared and farmed
piece by piece.
During the first year in Coalville, Harriet Emily gave birth
to a baby girl on 3 July 1863. She was named Annah Mary. Annah would eventually
become the mother of our Harriet Annah Kidd Banner. This
family had more than the country’s independence to celebrate that Fourth of
July. They were in a peaceful Western setting. They had successfully negotiated
a long journey across the wilderness. They were blessed with a new baby in a new
home.
The Civil War had begun in 1860 in the East at Fort Sumter
one year before the Staleys came West. The War’s dark demolishing fingers
spread through village and town in a grip of destruction until 1865. The result
was more than 600,000 dead Americans and massive devastation of property.
However, in this tranquil community of Coalville, news of the far away
atrocities of war was sparse but available. In the East, America was mature and
locked in war for the freedom of all Americans. In the West, in a little town
called Coalville, like the new baby Annah Mary, America was in its infancy and
at peace. There was much to celebrate and be thankful for in the Staley’s
humble cabin. It was an Independence Day they would never forget.
As Chester leveled and plowed each parcel of his land, he
planted grain and lucerne. He learned from the experience of Joseph Cluff, the
first settler in the area, and from Leonard L. Randall, the second settler.
Cluff built a cabin in Upton and lived there the winter of 1862-63. In 1863 he
experimented with a small crop of oats, barley and potatoes. In November of 1863
Randall came in from Nauvoo and built a cabin one-quarter mile below the Huffs,
near the present location of the Upton meeting house. In 1864 Chester Staley and
Soloman Saxton joined them and began clearing land and building cabins. Chester
moved his family up from Coalville into the cabin in 1865. Their son, Chester,
was born in that cabin that year. The cabin was located near what is now called
Cemetery Hill.
A meeting was held by the members of the Summit Stake
Presidency on Saturday, June 17, 1865. All the Saints who had settled the Chalk
Creek above Coalville were organized into a branch. Joseph Huff was sustained as
Presiding Elder. He and Henry B. Wilde named the branch, Upton. Leonard L.
Randall was sustained as branch clerk. Chester Staley and John Huff were
sustained as teachers.
The first sawmill on Chalk Creek was built by L. L. Randall
and Freeman Pippen in the summer of 1863. The lumber was
used extensively in the construction and enlarging of Fort Bridger, and homes in Coalville. It is assumed that the Upton pioneers took advantage of the sawed
lumber for the floors and roofs, etc., of their log cabins.
The mill was productive, but the mill hands had to ever be on
guard because of Indian hostilities. The Indians would come in and shoot arrows
down at the mill hands from the rocks above. They would also come in and plunder
anything they thought of value. The mill hands were cautious of escalating the
Indian problem, but after two of the workers were nearly killed by arrows they
decided to take the offensive. They laid in wait for the Indians. When they
attacked, the mill hands killed two Indians. The rest took flight. After that,
peace reigned for a time. Three of the early mill hands were Conrad Staley,
Henry Wheaton, and William McMicol.
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In 1865 the Indians went on the warpath through the Utah
territory. It was called The Black Hawk War. Small pockets of Saints like the
Upton settlement were possible targets for attack. They were advised by the
Church leaders to move their families into the larger towns to better protect
themselves. Though the Staley family had been in Upton
only a few months, there was just too much potential hostility from the Indians.
They had attacked the sawmill employees directly above them and were often seen
around the Upton farms. Chester and the others moved their families to Coalville.
The men, however, continued to travel to Upton and farm the land. There are no
recorded incidents of Indians attacking Chester and the other men working the
farms during The Black Hawk War.
Chester and his associates had developed a crude road up
through the Chalk Creek Valley. They had to cross the creek 21 times between
Coalville and Upton. During seasons of high water, travel was dangerous and at
times impossible. In 1866 the government appropriated $500 to improve the road
by cutting dugways along the east bank of Chalk Creek. This made the travel to
the farms much safer and faster. Chester’s family
remained in Coalville for four years until 1869. Harriet gave birth to a set of
twins, Edward and Eva, on 15 October 1868. Eva died shortly after birth.
A truce was finally negotiated between the Utah Territory Government and the Ute
Indians. In the Spring of 1869 Chester loaded all his household goods and his
family into wagons and once again they returned to their beautiful valley to
live. Most of the former neighbors returned to Upton. The
branch was reinstated again, thus giving the community an organized leadership.
There was no meeting house in those days. Meetings were held in the private
homes.
Chester and his family developed their land into a
manageable, productive irrigated ranch. His wife, Harriet, developed a herd of
dairy cows. The area was ideal for a dairy business. The hay and grain could be
grown in quantities to provide winter feed, and the alpine meadows gave the
stock ideal pasturage during spring, summer, and fall. With the ranch
successfully developed and Harriet able to provide for family needs through her
sale of milk, butter, and cheese, Chester began to pursue his sawmill endeavor.
There was a growing need for lumber as immigrants moved into
villages–from the boom-town of Park City, Utah, to Evanston, Wyoming. The
transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. Now branches of railway were
being laid into every city, mining, and farming community as fast as possible.
Ties sawn into lengths and flat on two sides were needed in what seemed an
endless demand. Milled lumber and mine props were also in demand as the coal and
precious metals mining escalated. The mountains above Upton contained a rich
supply of virgin timber. Chester had the knowledge and the capital to take
advantage of the opportunity. The family sawmill was a profitable business
enterprise from its beginning.
Harriet and Chester Staley had their last child, Margaret
Emily, in August 1873. Merrit, the oldest son at seventeen, was now chief hand
at the sawmill. Chester was training him in all phases of the logging and
milling operation. Eventually Merrit would have full responsibility for the mill
allowing Chester to market the mill products and to spend more time at home with
Harriet and the younger children.
In 1872 there were enough families in the area that the Upton
Branch was more fully organized. President Huff chose two counselors to complete
the Presidency. Chester Staley was sustained as first counselor and Thomas Judd
as second counselor. With a convenient supply of milled lumber available, the
little community built their first chapel in 1875. It was a one-room,
twenty-by-thirty-foot, frame structure. It also became the community school and
recreation hall. On 3 July 1875 the Branch Presidency was again reorganized.
Replacing Thomas Judd as second counselor was Edward Powell. President Huff
retained Chester as his first counselor.
In 1876 the branch at Upton was more completely organized.
Auxiliaries were added to the branches. In a meeting at the Chester Staley home
the Relief Society was organized for the first time. Ann Powell was chosen as
President, Harriet Staley as first counselor, and Matilda Saxton as second
counselor. On that same day the Upton Sunday School was first organized.
President Cluff chose his first counselor, Chester Staley, to also be the first
Sunday School Superintendent (apparently in addition to his other duties because
there is no record of a change in the Branch Presidency). Chester chose David
Morby as Assistant Superintendent. He chose his two sons, William H. Staley and
Merritt Staley plus five other members as teachers in the Sunday School.
Church activities and branch socials gave the pioneers of the
isolated alpine valley a respite from the rigors of frontier life. The Church
gave them focus, a sense of belonging, and a feeling of community. The Relief
Society provided a better organization for the assortment of services
contributed by the women. As a united group they were better able to meet the
needs of the community at times of sickness, birth, and death. Strengthening the
web of interaction in the female culture of caring, curing, and charity, the
Relief Society became a great value and blessing to all.
In 1877 the Staley family participated in an unusual event.
All three of Chester and Harriet’s older children, Merrit, William, and
Harriet, were married on the same day, 19 April 1877.a
Harriet moved with her new husband to Coalville. Merrit and his wife moved into
a cabin at the sawmill and William and his wife stayed on the farm in Upton.
William helped as needed at both the farm and the sawmill.
Another event in 1877 would have a powerful impact on the
Staley family. On 9 July 1877 at a Summit Stake Conference, Upton Branch was
upgraded and reorganized into a ward. Chester Staley was ordained the first
bishop by Apostle Lorenzo Snow. He chose Joseph Huff as his first counselor and
John Clark as second counselor. The ward covered the upper half of the Chalk
Creek Valley including the highest community above Upton called Pineview. The
center of the ward was where Meadow Creek enters the Chalk Creek Valley eleven
miles above Coalville.
Chester would now spend much time in traveling and
administering to the members of the ward. Chester would be the community’s
spiritual leader, and he assisted them in times of trial and need. He was also
respected as a businessman and community leader. He provided the leadership,
along with Harriet, in a thriving dairy business, a ranch, and the production
and sale of lumber. The family enterprises were now supporting the families of
Chester, Merrit, and William as well.
Merrit named his first baby daughter Harriet in honor of his
mother. His mother was a great example of strength, hard work, and righteous
principles to all the family. She was like a glue, bonding the family together.
As the three married children began having their children, she was available to
assist and to provide experienced, mature advice. Her support and love were
sorely needed by the family soon after baby Harriet’s birth. Within a few
weeks of birth, baby Harriet took sick and passed away. A hill overlooking the
chapel on the east had been set aside by the community as a cemetery. Baby
Harriet was one of the first to occupy a lonely grave there. This was only a
foreshadow of sad times to follow.
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