The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-24
Beaver. Oct. q. 1896.

III route W DSdNtl 1ASAA. -" -
Weber addressed the people of Green
vile, while Hon. Sam A. King ex-
planned the mysteries of the Australian
ballot system to the interested denlZens
of Adamsville. On entering the town
of Beaver the Bryan caravan was Wei
Torrance the firing corps continued
at intervals until the hour set for the
meeting in Fields Opera House.
Beaver is place of historic interest.
1t is surrounded by fertile fields, and
almost at its very doors is the Newton
mining district, great in mineral posi-
bilities, and which is destined, at no
distant day, to become noted for the
richness and extent of its product.
The town was settled in 1856, and in the
year following fifty log cabins occupied
the sites on which comfortable resi-
dences and imposing business struc-
lures now rest Thirty years ago In
dams made life burden to the settlers.
They overran the valleys and the vol
canic-formed mountains and almost
daily gave battle to the hardy pioneers.
1t was here that the party of California
emigrants, who figured so disastrously
in the Mountain Meadow massacre,
were first assailed by the Indians, and
it was here they were succored by the
father of Philo d. Farnsworth. The
scene of the
MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE,
which occurred on September II, 1857, is
only few miles distant, and the old
courthouse in which John D. Lee ac-
cused of inspiring and participating in
the massacre, was twice tried before
Judge Boreman, convicted, and SEN
fenced to be executed twenty years
later. A few miles distant is also to
be found Fort Cameron, once the most
beautiful fort in Uncle Sans western
domain, but now a ruin. The reserva-
ton has been parceled out to settlers;
the buildings are now either given over
to solitude or are used for store houses;
the once well-kept cemetery is now
overrun with weeds and rude scars on
the bosom of mother earth denote
where once rested the bodies of boys
in blue, but whose bones are now
covered by the same soil at Fort Doug
las which furnishes q last resting
place for Utah'S 1iberator, General Con-
nor. Beaver, in the olden days, was
an important business depot; it is now
the gateway to the almost virgin fields
OF the southwest, 1t has a population
of about 1000. and the greater portion
= ofEits male adult population are en-
gagged in farming and in cattle-raisine
A few devote their time, experience
and money to the sheep industry
Fifteen years ago, 1 am told, it was the
headquarters of the most expert gang
of horse and cattle thieves that ever
infested the great basin and also the
rendezvous of all the big-hearted. roll
licking spirits of this entire section of
the footstool. Indian warfare and the
grim battle
AGAINST ADVERSE FORTUNE
for a decade or more made of the
early settlers heroes; and in their
children of today are found qualities
which make them worthy of their brave
sfres and devoted mothers. Beautiful
gardens and stately groves have taken
the place of the stockades of forty
years ago; here and there are to be
round rude cabins of the pioneer days
which lie in the shadows of the costly
buildings of modern civilization:
magnificent courthouse rears its tower
in sight of the rudely constructed
temple. the erection of which was
testimonial to the love Of the people for
justice and equal rights to all.
There is still another old landmark
mere which deserves special mention
1t is a person who is known by every
man, woman and child in the county
as Josiah Rogerson. What Doc Faust
is to Salt Lake city, Josiah Rogerson is
to Beaver. For nearly forty years has
ne resided here. In 1858. when
boy of H. he trudged across
the plains with detachment of the
handcart brigade and in the same year
reached this place. In 1866 he became
the operator at this point of the Des-
eret Telegraph company, and with the
exception OF I'VE years spent in the
employ of Marcus Daily and j. B. Hag-
gin in Montana, he has been at the
key ever since. Rogerson is a perfect
MINE OF "REMINISCENCES
He was the official court reporter at
the time John D. Lee was tried A
man named Patterson represented the
governments and his ORIG
now in Washington. Rogerson has the
records of both trials in his possess
sion still, and when John D. Lee was
executed he stood at the foot of the
coffin provided and recorded the last
words of the man who. within a few
moments, occupied it a corpse. Besides
being the telegraph operator at this
point. Rogerson is the editor of the
Ctonian. a sprightly silver paper. and
in all things affecting the welfare of
the people and the interests of Beaver
he always, despite his advanced years.
takes an active part. Whole-souled,
good-naturec and garrulous, Josiah
Rogerson is decided ornament to a
town which has numbered among its
citizens some of the sturdiest pioneers
who have honored Utah soil with their
presence.
a GRAND MEETING.
The people of Beaver turned out en-
rnasse last evening to listen to the
oratory of Weber and King. Fields
Opera House was crowded to it's doors.
and for nearly three hours the mag
nificent audience listened attentivelv TO
the silvery words which came enyel-
oped in sincerity from the lips of the
champions of the great cause of hui
manity. Weber is a pleasing, convinc-
ing, witty and eloquent speaker; King
deals with facts with a directness and
an eloquence which made a great i'm
preston upon his intelligent hearers.
w. l. II. Dotson of MinersvilIe. chair
man of the Democratic county COM
mittee. and N. p. Ibsen, candidate for
assessor and collector, also made short
addresses. Dotson is one of the heavy
taxpayers of the county, is interested
in every industry the county boasts of.
and while not an ornate speaker. has
a directness of style which gave evil
dence that he would not be a cipher
in the halls of legislation. He is sound
on all the vital political issues and can
be depended upon to do his full duty
to the cause of silver
Weber's speech was replete with
good points. He read Lincoln's
prophecy. made to his friend Ellxins
in Illinois in 1864, and taking it as his
text, scored the goldbug cornorants
who are now striving to bring to a