Memories of the Old Fort Days and Historical Sketch of Smithfield, Utah

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SMITI]FIELD SERTIPEI
Smithfield, Cache County, Utah, Friday, May 12, 1922
MRMORIRS OF THE OLD FORT DiPIS 'ED HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SMITHFIELD CITY
There is no spot so dear to our hearts as along the banhs of the
beautiful stream of water, known on the map as "Summit Creek", that comes
gurgling, singing, splashing, and dashing from the mountain vales fed by
the winter snows that pile in huge drifts on the craggy breast of Mt.
Naomi, the lofty peak that stands so majectically at the head of what is
known as Main Canyon— it is deer to our hearts vie of the present generation,
thrice dear was it to the noble band of pioneer who in 1856, seeking a place
to build homes rested neath the "Cotton Roods" that lined the banks of this
stream. As they gazed to the East they saw the virgin forests that covered
the secluded snots within the canyons from which they selected the logs to
build their houses and poles to fence the lands they wished to till. All
around them lay the rich and fertile soil they were to redeem by clearing
the sage brush and turning water upon it. Still farther south-west and
north-west were the natural me-dows and marshes from which they could
secure forage for their animals, so necessary in subduing the barren wastes of
this intermountain regior.
The first thought of our pioneers was "water" the next like unto it
"grass" without which they could not have builded so well.
Stout hearts were they of the original band of 1859. Few ink number,
1.2 families in all consisting of Robert Thornley and wife, John G. Smith
and wife, Seth Langton and family, Dudley Merrill and wife, Virgil Merrill
and family, Eziekel Hopkios and wife and her son, Thomas Mather, Marshal
Hunt and Mfe, Ira Merrill and family, Robert Langton, John Thornley and wife,
Mrs. Ralmsley and. family consisting of five sons, as well as those who followed
in the early sixties.
The first houses were buMt west of the present townsite along the
south bank of the creek near James Sheen's farm.