Stumbling on to World War I -- Part II --Details Make The Story, Stories Make History

I want to continue with the things we've stumbled on about World War I. 
I just watched the movie "War Horse" which takes place during this war. As I watched the fighting depicted on the big screen, I kept hearing Sheldon Axelson's letter home say,  "War is Hell." (See previous post--click on the orange text or scroll down)

Jimmy Jeffs in World War I

Last year when we were interviewing Arlene Callahan for an oral history. She shared some of her photographs with us, which brought us to another connection with World War I. She had taken care of her uncle James "Jimmy" Jeffs the last few years of his life, and he had given her all of his photographs and letters from the war. Most of the letters mention something about home, rather than what he was going through. They say, "I can't tell you much about what is going on here." 

  He brought home lots of post cards from the war that are so interesting. The post cards provided some amazing details to the history of that war and those times. Did you know the women of The Salvation Army set up a kitchen-station right there on the front lines in France to make donuts for the soldiers? I didn't--until I read those cards! Now that's what I call "supporting your troops!" I was amazed at the pictures so I looked it all up on line and found more information about it. The American soldiers developed a love for doughnuts and that is why we now have doughnuts in America. 

Salvation Army frying doughnuts on the front lines for the troops! Find the historic doughnut recipe by clicking here

If you have a couple of minutes view this youtube video about the Salvation Army women who made these doughnuts.

Jimmy Jeffs was among those soldiers who benefited from this sweet service. He came home safely through that war that was touted "the most horrible war in history." Great Britain lost a whole generation of young men, and America lost a great many. It was called "The Great War, or the "War to End All Wars." That is until we had another horrible war that included so many countries--at that time the "Great War"  was renamed "World War I" because we were in the middle of "World War II."

Another connection to World War I came from one of my assistants, Bernice Payne. She brought in the history of her grandfather who had been drafted into that war. His story was different from, but still similar to Jimmy's or Sheldon's.

George McMullin had just written to his mother in September telling her that it was

"impossible to get writing materials because they weren't allowed to carry it and they couldn't get it (letter) censored because the officers were too busy." He said there were more "air birds around here thicker than blackbirds in the spring at home." 

That was the last letter she received from him.

He was fighting in the Argonne Forest in France, where so many men were killed.  His mother received a telegram in November just as the war ended.

(The war ended November 11th 1918. The Emery County Progress reported that Emery County was celebrating the signing of the Armistice "which ended the most horrible war.")

George D. McMullin-

Killed in Action

  On November 23, 1918 the Progress ran articles about Corporal George D. McMullin's death.

"First Cleveland Lad to Lose Life at the Front...A shadow of gloom, all the more intense for the rejoicing on account of peace, was thrown over Emery County as a whole and the town of Cleveland in particular, by the receipt of a telegram by Flora Davis of Cleveland, saying that her son had been killed on October 24, 1918.  No particulars have been forthcoming and the grief-stricken mother still clings to hope that some mistake was made. Many friends of the family gathered at the home to offer consolation. Memorial services will likely be held as soon as public gatherings are permitted."

  The next week, the headlines were that Sheldon Axelson from Elmo had been killed, also in the last days of the war in the Argonne Forest.

George D. McMullin -Taken Prisoner

But then on December 28, 1918, the Progress announced the happy news that Mrs. Davis had received another telegram telling her that her son was wounded and then taken prisoner by the Germans, but was still alive!

I'm sure that had to be the dream and hope of every telegram-receiving mother in those times--that a mistake had been made and her son would be coming home! He didn't come home until the next May, but he DID come home. It is so sad that the Axelsons didn't get the same joyful telegram. But like Sheldon said, "War is Hell!" It always ends badly for many, many families.

These stories become human and interesting when we learn the details. Details from journals, letters, postcards, pictures and newspapers make the stories; the stories make history.

• Come visit Emery County Archives for details about history! 
• If you have a World War I story email me at dottiegrimes@gmail.com or comment on this blog.

For some more details about World War I--Click here.
HERE ARE SOME PHRASES THAT BECAME PART OF OUR LANGUAGE:

The following words were first used in the trenches of WWI, and are still used today!

 

Over the Top, 

Trench Coat, 

Ace, 

Buddy, 

Pushing up the Daisies, 

Red Tape, 

Zoom, 

Sniper, 

Washout, 

Cootie, 

Tune Up, 

In the Pink, 

Zero Hour, 

Zoom, 

Busted ,

Guy 

Ticked Off,

Put a Sock in it,

Hit the Deck, 

Washout, 

Rookie, 

Coffin nail, 

Seconds, 

Fed Up, 

Rise & Shine, 

Pipe down, 

Mess up, 

Get knocked off, 

Hike, 

Gadget, 

Kick the Bucket, 

Rank & File, 

Chow Down, 

Bull, 

Cushy, 

Scrounge, 

Shot(inoculation), 

Humdinger, 

Missed the Bus, 

Basket Case

(See http://lou_ww1.tripod.com/myww1trench/id3.html for more details.)

Stumbing Upon World War I -- Part I

Oral histories are really the life blood of the Archives. As we talk to people and get their life histories, we get extraneous information as well, which  stimulates curiosity, research and connection. Connection is what I want to write about today.

Sheldon Axelson died in World War I

One of our oral history projects centered on Life On The Homefront During World War II. We gathered histories mostly from women in Emery County who had stayed at home and carried on while their husbands were at war. In one such interview Velma Allred told us about her Uncle Sheldon Axelson who died in World War I. She had never known him, but was impacted by stories told about him and the pictures she had seen of him. She said that he had died in the "closing days of the war in the Argonne Forest in France." In her albums and histories that she shared with us, there were pictures and a history of Sheldon. We scanned his photograph into the computer as we created a file in our Personal Histories  for Velma Allred. We also created a file for Sheldon Axelson.

In his file there is his history and a newspaper article telling about his death. He died in the last month of the war. The newspaper also included a letter he sent before leaving for France after completing his training:

I am feeling fine and glad I am able to do and do my share, and when in the trenches, I will always think of the ones behind...I hope Mother can stand it alright...I am keeping myself clean from women and whiskey so I can have good health and stand some hardships.

In the letter after his first experience on the battlefield he said,

I was just down and had a bath--the first time we have had a chance for one month--I feel so good to get clean....Last night I had a shave and washed my face and hands for the first time in ten days. We do well to get water to drink, say nothing about washing when on the line...if you heard the big guns shoot a few times you would think it was hell instead of war, but since war is hell, there is no difference...

Velma connected us to Sheldon Axelson's history, which connected us to World War I and that Sheldon was in on the bitterest fighting in that war which happened the last few days in the Argonne Forest in France, soon after the Armistice was signed and the war was over. This connection reminded us that war so long ago and so far away had an impact on Emery County and then we ran into another connection:

Orlan Mortensen driving a CCC truck 1936

A couple of years later we were interviewing Orlan Mortensen in Ferron about his experiences in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps.) In the process he asked a favor of the interviewer, Trinadee, concerning a memory from his childhood. He said that when he was a young boy living in Elmo, there was a soldier that was killed on the last days of World War I. He remembered that there was a procession going down the street for this soldier's funeral. There were beautiful, white horses pulling a wagon with his casket on it draped with a flag and most of the town following it. It was a spectacular sight in his memory. He knew the man's name was Sheldon Axelson, and he had seen his headstone and knew when he was killed, but he didn't know when the soldier was brought home to be buried. He wondered if we could research that date for him. He knew that it took a while to get the bodies of soldiers home from the war for burial back in WWI. He had often wondered about Sheldon as a person, and also wondered how old he, Orlan, was when this funeral parade was set into his memory.

Memorial Services in Elmo April 6, 1919  for Sheldon Axelson.
"A large crowd attended, many from neighboring towns."

When my assistant Trinadee told me his request, I immediately remembered Velma Allred's story about her uncle who had died during WWI and was buried in Elmo. We found his death date and began researching in the newspapers to find his burial date. We found the article telling exactly when he came home and a little bit about the event! We are always excited when we find information people are seeking. We copied the newspaper article for him; contacted Velma and asked if she were interested in talking with him about her uncle. She was so happy to talk to someone who wanted to know someone who remembered anything about her Uncle Sheldon funeral! We took him the article and that answered his questions. He realized from the date of burial, that he had only been three years old when he was so impressed with Sheldon's funeral procession. We connected him with Velma,and they talked about Sheldon.She was thrilled to hear his memory of the matched pair of white horses and the beautiful wagon. She had not been told those details.

Both people brought new elements to our county archives, and the connections to other histories expanded our interests and our fundamental historical value to the community.

Eric Larson--Disney's Legendary Animator from Cleveland

Emery County lays claim on Disney Legend Eric Larson, who was an animator for 53 years. He was part of a group of animators hired by Walt  Disney himself, who later referred to the original group of artists as his ''Nine Old Men.''

Click Here for a photo of Eric Larson and some characters he created.

Eric was born in Cleveland, Utah in 1905. His parents are Lars Peter Larson and Alganora (Nora) Oveson Larson. His grandparents were also from Emery County. His Maternal Grandparents are Lars Peter Oveson and Louisa Otterstrom. Paternal Grandparents are Erik Larson and Anna Elizabeth Erikson.

An Internet blog  50 Most Influential Animators tells us:
Eric Larson was born on September 3, 1905 in Cleveland, Utah... He was born into a Mormon family and would continue to be devout and active in the faith all through his life although he didn’t talk much about his beliefs at the studio.  Larson grew up on a ranch and became fascinated by the animals that live there and their personalities. “I was born and raised on a ranch,” he remembered in an interview. “And I always wanted to be a rancher up to the time of my second year in college. It’s still a life I love, would still like to do. (Click on the link at the top to read his whole story.)

Eric attended the University of Utah and majored in journalism. He moved to California and was talked into applying at the Disney Studios. He was hired at the time Mickey Mouse was still evolving. Disneyland and major movies had not even been thought about. When Disney's first feature-length cartoon was created, he was among the major animators. He was responsible for the forest animals which are in most scenes of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was released in 1937.

In the Disney Family Album, Part 1 Eric talks about how growing up on a farm, and the animals of his childhood influenced his characters in all of his works. Watch the five minute video which tells about how he came up with the animals cleaning the house, etc.

See Disney Family Album 2 you can hear Eric talk about getting the animation of animals to look like real animals by the time the story of Bambi was ready to be told. They studied the bones and the movement of real deer to get the realistic look of all of the animals in Bambi. Eric was the supervising animator for Bambi and created the beloved character of Thumper. That  attention to anatomy carried on with 101 Dalmathions.

Eric Larson

A Partial List from Wikipedia of The Characters Eric Larson Created:  

• Forest Animals, Whistle While You Work Sequence (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
• Figaro, Cleo (Figaro lick Cleo and Cleo going into castle), French Can-can dancers marionettes and Russian girl marionette, Donkeys (Pinocchio)
• Pegasus, Centaurs, Centaurettes (The Pastoral Symphony) (Fantasia)
• Lullabye sequence "baby animals" (Dumbo) (uncredited)
• Bambi (Bambi)
• Cinderella, Prince Charming (Cinderella)
• Alice, Dinah, The Caterpillar, The Cheshire Cat, The Queen of Hearts, Flamingo (Alice in Wonderland)
• Flying to London Sequence (Peter Pan)
• Peg, Puppies in Pound (Lady and the Tramp)
• Pongo, Perdita, Puppies, Colonel, Tibbs (101 Dalmatians)
• The Vultures, some of the Wolves (The Jungle Book)
• Little John, Vultures (Robin Hood)
• Kanga and Roo (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
• Mr. Toad (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad)
• 3 Little Pigs (The Three Little Pigs)
• Roquefort, Scat Cat (The Aristocats)
• Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear (Song of the South)
• Barn Animals (Mary Poppins)

In the 1970s Eric became the head of Disney's Animation Training Department. Many of the best animators today were trained by Eric. Often used mimes to help train the people for animators. See Disney Family Album Part 3

Eric

Eric also helped the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints movie Man's Search for Happiness in 1964 that was narrated  by Richard L. Evans. It was presented at the Mormon Pavillion in the New York World's Fair.

“Eric was very, very gentle and he knew timing like nobody’s business,” said animator and dancer Betsy Baytos.  In real life Eric was a very giving, gentle, and unselfish human being who always helped mentor others and for decades was largely responsible for keeping together the sometimes egocentric and hyper aggressive top animators at the studio.  He had no ego and people always felt comfortable asking him for advice and guidance. Larson for the last 16 years of his career worked pretty much exclusively on running the training program at the Disney studio and was very successful at finding talent. (http://50mostinfluentialdisneyanimators.wordpress.com/)

He retired at the age of 80 because of poor health. "On October 25, 1988 Eric Larson passed away at the age of 83. The prince in The Little Mermaid was named Eric in his memory." (http://50mostinfluentialdisneyanimators.wordpress.com/)


His death left only four of Disney's "Nine Old Men."  Headlines remarked that another link to the Golden Age was gone. 

Update on Photograph Albums

I have had numerous requests for more information about Desert Lake and Victor and its residents. So I have updated the Photograph page on the top of this blog, and also put some links to the album on the previous blog post, but here it is as well for your convenience: Desert Lake-Victor

DESERT LAKE AREA TODAY--WANT TO GO WITH ME?

I was asked if the lake on the desert now called Desert Lake was the original reservoir for the settlement?
I originally thought that since they named their town "Desert Lake" it was because of the lake that was already there when they settled. I thought it was water that was too salty to be used, so they brought in other water and made a small reservoir---but you can't count on my "thinking." I learn on the job. 

I didn't grow up knowing about this county or hearing facts about the area; I have to depend on these wise, long-time residents to inform me. And lucky me, Mervin Miles--one of my mentors--dropped in to talk to me for a few minutes. He is a walking historic encyclopedia! He worked for the BLM for 38 years and I'm sure he knows everything about anything in the Castle Valley area. He has become a great friend and resource for the Archives. 

Mervin's answer was that it is a man made lake. It is a low spot that probably collected a little water naturally, but it was not a lake until a dam was built by the early settlers in the 1880s.

In Nancy Tanaguchi's book Castle Valley America, she says that Thomas Wells moved his family 6 miles east of Cleveland and OPTIMISTICALLY  named it "Desert Lake."

A book called,  Emery County Historical Records Inventory, 1941 states:

A dam was constructed from a reservoir in a natural declivity between the clay hills to impound the over flow water from Huntington Creek. In August 1896, the dam broke and many people had a narrow escape from drowning...During the following winter the dam as rebuilt with assistance from the L.D.S. Church...The region is irrigated from the reservoir, which covers about 2 square miles. A ditch intercepts the flood water from the Washboard Basin and Miller Creek.

I'm assuming from this that the town was still there in 1940 when this inventory was done.

Desert Lake taken by Lamont Johnson, probably in the  1940s

 Working at the Archives is always interesting. Besides the perfect timing of  Mervin coming in to answer my questions, I was excited to notice a black and white photo of Desert Lake sitting on top of a pile of photographs set aside ready to be scanned. It is part of Lamont Johnson's collection (an author from Emery County )which is in process of being documented. The above photo was in the right place at the right time for me to share in this article.

On the back of the photograph he has written "Desert Lake is a body of water amid the dry hills of northern Emery County. This area attracted some of the earliest county residents to that area. The loss of irrigation water has caused most of the rich land near the lake to be abandoned in recent years, but this is the landmark of an early Emery County settlement. A pioneer railroad grade was built near it, but that was also abandoned."

Desert Lake Cemetery

I have been to the Victor area quite a few times and had never seen any real evidence of former towns there--except the Victor Cemetery.  I wanted to go again with "history glasses" on. So Monday my husband Ben and I decided to go on our four wheeler and check out the Desert Lake and Victor area. We drove on all of the roads out there to see what we could see.We found the two cemeteries (found the Desert Lake one as well), and we also noticed fences, and old dead trees, roads, and driveways indicating residential spots.

Desert Lake Dam Area--between the two hills. The green area is the dam.

 We saw the dam that was built by the pioneers of this area and is now maintained by the Division of Wildlife Resources. Back in the 1800s, when the dam broke the town was flooded and it did some real damage. So we figure the town must have been in the direct path of the dam--to the right of the photograph, but I don't know for sure--remember don't trust my thinking or figuring. I've got to talk to my mentors about that. I plan to get a copy of the town plat, recruit a former resident of  Desert Lake or Victor and go back to the area. Want to go with me?

Close Up of the Desert Lake Dam--center of the photo where the greenery is seen.

BIRD REFUGE
The abandoned reservoir holds water that is not "fit for human consumption," as they say, but it has attracted so many birds there that today it is a Bird Refuge or a Waterfowl Management Area. One can see water birds like Egrets, Swans, Pelicans, Herons, etc. at certain times of the year. For a list of birds and seasons they can be spotted, see trails.com   http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=XFA045-071 or many other websites about Desert Lake, Utah.

Here is the technical information about why the water in Desert Lake is foul to all but fowl.

UNFIT WATER
Here is the history of the water situation for Desert Lake and other areas of Emery County.This is from Ed Geary's Emery County History book.

The predominant mancos shale formations of Castle Valley, having once been sea-bed deposits are impregnated with salts. Furthermore, the tight soil structure and lack of organic matter result in poor drainage characteristics. Irrigation saturated the soil and dissolved the salts, which then collected on the surface in "alkali" patches. Where canals cut through shale hills, large quantities of water seeped into porous strata to rise to the surface in some instances several miles away. Runoff water from higher fields returned to the creeks and was reused downstream. The addition of the salty water to salty soil only accelerated the degradation (of the soil) process. Within a few years, large areas of once productive cropland were transformed into alkali flats capable of supporting nothing by saltgrass and greasewood...A U.S. Department of Agriculture report estimated that by 1904 some 30 percent of the farmland in Emery County had been abandoned.

Desert Lake and Victor Were Part of That Abandoned Land
The saline waste water from Cleveland farms caused some damage, but then they extended the Huntington North Ditch to bring in some fresh water hoping to offset the saline problem. It worked okay for a while. They still had to import drinking water to the towns, but the final crisis that caused these to towns to give up and seek better land was the drought years of the 1930s. They were on the end of the ditch line and just didn't have enough water to survive. But these two towns were very much alive for over 40 years, making them an important piece of the history of Emery County.


MORE RESIDENTS OF DESERT LAKE: (email me copies of people you know who lived in this area)

Click here for Desert Lake-Victor Photographs Emery County Archives Photographs

THE TOWN OF VICTOR

Victor was a "twin-town" with Desert Lake that came about as some residents began looking for more land. Eventually most of Desert Lake residents moved over to Victor, but not all. They shared a cemetery  located between the two towns, and most of the graves from Desert Lake were moved to Victor, but not all. The towns are usually linked together in history, found in indexes as Desert Lake/Victor.

A couple of years ago the Pierce Family gave us some histories of people who lived in Victor--Martin Riley and Harriet Ann Peterson Pierce and their daughter Elda Pierce. I want to include some of Elda's history because with her words we get eye-witness view life in Victor. 

We left Hanskville on December 19, 1921 with a herd of goats, cows, and a buggy and two wagons holding what personal possessions we felt necessary for the move to Victor...Papa farmed raised animals, except lambs and chickens. This was Mama's department...

My memories of childhood were that of bare feet and hot sand. There was always

Claude and Elda Pierce

something to be herded like goats, cows, turkeys and pigs)...Mama made everything that we wore, including around-the-house-shoes. They were made from the backs of worn levis or seamless sacks. Our slips and panties were made from flour sacks. Mama was a beautiful seamstress. I wonder how many yards of material she sewed into something, for she made our clothes, men's clothes, temple clothes, and burials clothes too.

We were the first to have a phonograph, an Edison with cylinder records. To this music we danced, sang, and by it were lulled to sleep to the tune of the Blue Danube Waltz...  I was baptized in an irrigation canal in Victor. I attended the school in Victor which was also used as a church. My third grade teacher was Miss Lucille Gold. She boarded at our home, and it was my job to wash her dirty handkerchiefs. (We attended Victor until the 6th grade.) We rode a Dodge truck to Elmo for the 7th and 8th grades. High school was in Huntington. I boarded there and did housework for my keep and went home on weekends.

Victor School (Don Oveson Photo)

 School Children in front of School

Back yard of the Pierce home in Victor

When I think about Victor, I remember the fun we had dancing, skating, swimming, Easter on horseback, bonfire parties, ball games, sledding parties--of course after all the work was done. (Elda Pierce Throckmorton)

The following history is quoted from Thomas Wells' account published in Castle Valley, A History of Emery County, compiled by Stella McElprang, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1949. The photographs are from the Pierce Family  and the Don Oveson Collections in the Archives.

A Young school teacher, Manassa J. Blackburn came to teach (in Desert Lake). He remained to take up land and when the ward was organized he was sustained as the first bishop with Henry G. Mills, first counselor and David Powell as second counselor.
Mr. Blackburn, negotiated with Joseph Powell of Salt Lake, for the purchase of land about six miles below Desert Lake that he had taken up and surveyed...Water was brought in through the extension of canals from the Desert Lake Reservoir. Bishop Blackburn went to Huntington to teach school. Henry G. Mills was sustained as bishop in his place. The responsibility of establishing and building up the new settlement then fell to him.

Victor School behind the car

Elda Pierce age 15 in Victor, 1929

 The venture had been such a long hard fight that the people finally became discouraged (because of water) and left for more prosperous places. The ward was discontinued and joined to the Elmo ward and Victor became ghost town--Thomas Wells (McElprang, 130-131).

Victor School years after town was abandoned. (Don Oveson)

Martin Riley Pierce

Victor Cemetery (Don Oveson)

Pierce Home in Victor (Pierce Family photos)