The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-09-14
AGED PIONEER IS
At DEATHS DOOR
Physicians Hold Out No Hope
for Recovery of James
Lawson.

James Lawson, 90 years of age, one
of the few remaining pioneers of 1sA7
and one of the most noteworthy char
acters associated with the settlement
of Utah, borne to his bed by the bur
den of his years, has lain at his homo,
100 North Second West street, for the
past several days waiting with clear
mind and courageous heart for the final
summons from the world that has
known him for his usefulness among
men, His physician says that he can
live but few hours.
A native of Kinross, Kinroshire,
Scotland, where he was born July 90,
1920, Mr.. Lawson comes of excellent
family, and has borne the mark of
his ancestral heritage of sterling char
acter through his long life. He is the
only one OF his family to come to
America, and the only one who Joined
the Mormon church with the history
of which he has been associated In
ways Of helpfulness to his fellow men
and in which, during the later part
Of his life, he held the position Of
patriarch.
Skilled as Artisan.
An artisan of unusual skill by ma
proved a valuable member Of the lit
tie colony that undertook the found
ing of an empire in the desert west.
In his young manhood he learned the
trade of machinlst and ironworker In
the shlpyards Of Robert Napier g. Sons,
steamship builders of Glasgow, Scot
land. While there he worked upon
some of the first steamships to cross
the Atlantic, notably, the Britannia,
the Arabia, the Arcadia, the Caledonia
and the Cambria
Upon his arrival in Utah, October
], 1917, with the company OF Farley
P. Pratt. he found worthy field for
the exercise of the skill of his hands
and the cunning of his mind, the
brightness of which remained uncorrod-
ed by time to the end of his long and
varied life. Among the interesting
things that he is known to have done
was the smelling Of the first iron ore,
brought from Iron county. from the
result of which he worked out with a
blacksmith's anvil and forge, a bar
of iron of the finest quality.
Made Paint for Theater.
When other mechanics had failed at
the task, he assembled the parts of an
oil mill. brought from the east in the
early SOS to make oil from flax grown
here The first paint that was used
upon the Salt Lake theater and the
tabernacle was mixed with linseed oil
from the mill, From his forge came
the iron fixtures that formed the de-
vice by means Of which gold was
first coined in Utah
One of Mr., Lawsou's first undertak-
ings upon arrival in this valley was
the building of homo for Mary Smith,
widow of Hyrum Smith and mother
of President Joseph F. Smith OF the
Mormon church.
Shortly after his arrival here. he
settled at the site which was to be his
home for the rest of his life, though
he twice took part in colonizing en-
teTprjses, once in Iron county and once
in Carson Valley, Nevada. In each
instance ne returned after a short time
to his home in Salt Lake. In appear
ance Mr.. Lawson is n man Of unusually
imposing physique, tall, muscular and
active.
a message telling Of the illness Of
the aged man brought a. r. McNitt,
his son.in-law, freight claim agent of
the Oregon Short Line, back from the
trade extension excursion in Idaho
yesterd9y