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Soon after the completion of the railroad it was decided
to make Evanston the end of the division, and work was begun on a
substantial roundhouse and machine shops made of stone. Bishop Sharp of
the Mormon Church had the contract and employed about one hundred fifty
men in the construction. It was completed the Fourth of July, 1871, and
engines and men moved in from Wasatch to the accompaniment of shrieking
whistles and cheers from the assembled crowd. A town picnic was held
across the river, in which all of the community joined. The speech of the
day was made by Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the pioneer Presbyterian missionary,
who was afterwards famous for his work in Alaska and for the introduction
of reindeer into that territory. On the morning of the picnic Mr. Booth
met John Eldridge, and asked him if he could drive horses, to which
Eldridge responded that he had driven as many as fifty at a time in a herd
and would not hesitate to handle a "four-horse team". A fare of "two bits"
was charged to transport the merry-makers to the picnic grounds, and the
proceeds, amounting to twenty dollars, were evenly. divided between the
driver and Mr. Booth. Mr. Eldridge and his family have been residents of
Evanston since May 1, 1871.
As already stated, the first legislature of the Territory of Wyoming
divided Carter County into the two counties of Sweetwater and Uinta. The
county seat of the latter was placed temporarily just outside of the
government reserve in the Bridger Valley, about two miles east of the
fort. It was called Merrill, in honor of the officer in command of the
post at that time. Temporary officers were appointed by Governor John E.
Campbell, and were as follows : Commissioners, James Van Allen Carter,
Russell Thorp and Jesse Atkinson ; sheriff, Harvey Booth ; county clerk,
Louis P. Scott; assessor, James A. Ellis ; Probate Judge and treasurer,
William A. Carter ; coroner, Charles M. White.1
The first county record was written in 1870 by J. Van A. Carter. Mr. Scott
made Alfred G. Lee his deputy, and beginning with 1872 the records of
these early years are in his neat script Mr. Lee married the eldest
daughter of C. M. White, and was for many years a prominent citizen of
Evanston.
The tax rolls of 1870 show a property valuation of $506,597. Of this,
$449,400 belonged to the Union Pacific railroad and the Western Union
Telegraph Companies. The tax levy was fifteen mills. Some idea of the
relative importance of the precincts may be gained from the valuations,
which are as follows: Merrill, $32,400; Aspen, $4,227; Almy, $23,549;
Carter, $6,936; Evanston, $8,367; Piedmont, $8,490; Bear River (old Bear
Town), $2,852. One hundred six dollars of the money collected was poll
taxes from fifty-three Chinamen who were not voters and who did not know
that they were under no legal obligation to pay. They were employed in
section gangs. In 1872 two hundred forty were taxed, some of whom were
mining coal at Almy, and the number increased for some years. The county
issued warrants bearing twelve per cent interest. They could be bought at
a discount of twenty-five cents and were usually paid in two years.
The western division of the Union Pacific ran from Green River to Ogden.
D. V. Warren was the first superintendent.2
His assistant was Jerome Filmore, cousin of Luther Filmore, who was
assistant superintendent of the western division, with offices at Laramie.
Jerome Filmore later became general manager of the Southern Pacific
System. Warren was succeeded by Earl, and the offices were brought to
Evanston.
Passenger service began with two daily trains each way, numbers One and
Three from the east and Two and Four from the west. One and Two were
Pullman specials, with dining cars, and after a short time were
discontinued. The passenger trains made eighteen miles an hour, and so
accommodating were the crews that it was no unusual thing for them to halt
near some interesting point, such as the soda springs near Piedmont, to
give travelers the opportunity to walk a quarter of a mile across the hill
for a refreshing drink. Freight trains made twelve miles an. hour, and the
so-called "emigrant trains" ran on the same schedule. Many foreigners who
came as laborers to the Almy mines made the trip from New York this way,
and were fourteen days on the cars. Robert Louis Stevenson took advantage
of this cheap mode of travel when he first journeyed to California in
search of health, and graphically does he describe its discomforts when
the choice lay between the interior of the car, crowded like a ship's
steerage, with all sorts and conditions of humanity, and the heat of the
roof, to which the men sometimes resorted.
In 1871 E. S. Crocker was moved back from Castle Rock, to which place he
had been sent from Echo. The telegraph office was in the freight house.
When the Western Union was establlished Mr. Crocker entered the employ of
that company with an office in the Sisson Wallace store. He brought with
him his wife, Anna Hopkins Crocker, whom he had married in 1869 in New
York, and who became one of the best loved women in Evanston. The Crockers
built a substantial residence on the corner of Tenth and Center streets,
which is now part of the Bristol rooming house. From her side door Mrs.
Crocker had an unobstructed view of the caboose near the freight house
where lived the Earls. They later moved to the railroad house, two doors
from the Presbyterian Church. When, in 1873, the railroad put up the
residence next to the hotel it became their home, as well as that of their
successors. The Earls are still remembered -for their hospitality and
sterling worth.
The first railroad agent was named McCoy. He was succeeded by Frank M.
Foote, who came here from Bryan. Mr. Foote served the railroad for
seventeen years, and was an active man in public affairs until the time of
his death in 1915. He was twice appointed receiver of the land office, and
was at different times deputy sheriff and assessor. At the outbreak of the
Spanish-American War he was put in command of Wyoming troops and advanced
to the rank of major. He was active in Masonic circles, and had conferred
on him the thirty-third degree. Mr. Foote married Ida L. Duell, sister of
Charles Duell, who was employed at Almy. She makes her home with her
children of whom three are living, Mrs. Emma Fuller in Ashton, Idaho ;
Mrs. Grace Ruff in St. Louis, and Robert Foote in Anaconda, Montana..
It was several years before the trains ran with any degree of regularity
during the winter months. Snowsheds and fences built on exposed ground
were the main protection against drifts sometimes ten feet deep. One
school teacher from the East, who made the trip out to Evanston in the dry
month of August, to the great amusement of the trainmen, mistook the snow
fences for the feeding racks for Wyoming sheep, of which she had heard.
Old settlers still recall the winter of '71 and '72, when Evanston was
shut off from communication with the outside world for three weeks.
After the discontinuance of the Pullman Special there were no dining cars,
and the call "twenty minutes for dinner" summoned the passengers from the
coaches to hotels, where excellent meals were served at one dollar a
plate. The Mountain Trout House at Evanston became famous for its trout
dinners, served the greater part of the year. The first manager was a
negro by the name of Cosseley. He was succeeded by a man with the
appropriate name of Kitchen, and he by George Waterman. The cooks and
waiters in those days were Chinese. In an old copy of Leslie's Weekly,
dated November 24, 1877, a writer in a special excursion train bearing
some newspaper men to the Pacific Coast, describes the Mountain Trout
House in the following words "'In the little hotel, a gem in its way f or
neatness and order, we find the dining room given over to their (the
Chinamen's) presiding influence, and nothing can be more soothing to the
traveler's nerves than such a silent, soft-stepping, light-handed
attendant, gliding behind one's chair like a shadow, always smiling and
deferential. In the little office of the hotel there is a good deal of
decoration in the way of Chinese and Japanese pictures, and some fine
stuffed heads of Buffalo and lesser game. These trophies, together with
the large dish of fresh trout on ice which adorns one of the windows, are
evidences of the pleasures of the chase that can be indulged in around
Evanston." He speaks of "little Chinatown north of the tracks, where a
cluster of unpainted shanties crowd together, each one labeled with long
strips of red paper about the door posts, and all as dirty as possible for
anything to be." The Celestials on the platform are described as
"shuffling up and down on their cork soled shoes, with their long pigtails
swaying half way down to their heels, their hands thrust under the loose
folds of their dark-blue blouses; with bland, smooth, yellow faces all
youthful and innocent and utterly inscrutable of expression, looking at us
with a sweet smile and jeering us probably in their native tongue
for each other's delectation." The name Mountain Trout House was later
changed to Union Pacific Hotel. In 1899 the main part of the building was
destroyed by fire, and it was later fitted up for offices and the railroad
cafe. One of the well-remembered managers of the hotel was L. D. Jackson,
who had charge for more than ten years. His widow and daughter Jean live
in Washington, D. C., where the latter is secretary of the Young Woman's
Christian Association.
As already stated, Harvey Booth did not join the exodus to Wasatch at the
time of the removal of the shops to that place. His tent from the cut was
moved down to the lot where the Standard Timber office now stands and he
formed a partnership with a man by the name of Frank Moore. A few months
later Moore sold out to a man named William McDonald, an arrival from
Illinois, and the next spring they put up a two-story wooden building on
the corner of Ninth and Front street and called it the Booth and McDonald
Hotel. In January, 1869, Mrs. McDonald came out to join her husband. She
was the first woman to settle in Evanston.
The first residence was put up by Mary Gingell a few doors east of the
hotel. It was built of logs brought from the camp near Piedmont. The first
marriage in Evanston took place in this house in 1870, the contracting
parties being David Gingell and 'Caroline Gage. It was solemnized by Rev.
Mr. Stevens, a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, who stopped here for a
few days. After the death of Mr. Gingell his widow became the wife of
Joseph Williams, who died in 1911. She still makes her home in Evanston.
Front Street was built parallel to the railroad, which here runs northeast
and southwest, and the town was laid out accordingly.
In April Charles T. Duell, bookkeeper of the mine at Almy,
was appointed postmaster.3 He
never served in this capacity, but handed the office over to E. S.
Whittier, the pioneer merchant of the place, who opened a store between
Eighth and Ninth on Front Street. Mr. Whittier later moved to the corner
of Tenth and Front Streets, where the Gottstein building was later put up.
He continued as postmaster until 1878, when the keys were handed over to
A. A. Bailey.
About this time a meat market was opened by a man named William Crawford.
William Thompson, who had been running a store and saloon in the coal camp
of Almy, formed a partnership with him in 1872, and a few years later
Harvey Booth and E. S. Crocker joined them in the market and in a ranch
near Woodruff. One of the inexplicable mysteries of the west was the
strange fate that befell two members of this firm. On the 26th of
February, 1893, William Crawford came to town to attend a dance, put up
his horses in a barn, and was never seen again, nor was any clue found as
to his fate. Two years later to a day Harvey Booth was found murdered in
the barn belonging to the company, and though every effort was made to
ferrit out the crime and to bring the murderer to justice, it was never
accomplished.
Mr. Booth is survived by his wife whose maiden name was Julia B. Anderson,
and who came to Evanston from Canindagua, New York, to teach school. The
eldest son, Harvey, is a successful civil engineer in Montana. James and
the daughter Emily live in Southern California, as does the mother.
The Southern Pacific was built by coolie labor. Keeping pace with the
eastern construction of the road was the firm of Sisson, Wallace &
Company, of San Francisco, who were contractors and general agents for the
Chinese employed on that road and on the Union Pacific. In 1870 they
opened a store in a frame building on Front Street, and later erected the
substantial building known as the "Rock Store" which is now a part of the
Beeman & Cashin block. The firm did a big business from Rock Springs to
Ogden where ever Chinamen were employed. Clark Crocker of San Francisco
was general manager, and A. V. Quinn was made manager of the Evanston
store.
Mr. Quinn, who may be numbered among the founders of Evanston, had gone to
California in 1851 when he was twenty years of age. With the building of
the Central Pacific he had worked toward the east, and he was present at
the driving of the golden spike that marked the completion of the roads.
On the second train that made the trip to Omaha he was a passenger, and
after a visit to his childhood home in Kentucky he returned to the west,
where he was soon joined by the lady of his choice, who came out to
Corrinne, Utah, to be married to him. Soon afterward they moved to
Evanston. Their first home was on Main Street, and in 188 they showed
their faith in the town by building the handsome residence on the corner
of Center and Eleventh Streets, where they lived for many years. It is now
the home of Fred Lowenstein, who came to Evanston in 1900. Mrs. Quinn was
an active worker in the Methodist Church and in the cause of temperance.
There were four children in the family, none of whom are now living. Mrs.
Quinn died in 1898. In 1903 DIr. Quinn married Mrs. Marion Menough of Rock
Springs, who makes her home in Evanston.
Among the stockholders of the Beckwith-Quinn Company were the Smith
brothers. Edward Smith came out first, and was followed in 1876 by Albert,
who brought with him his wife and little son Clarence. Mrs. Smith, widely
known as May Riley Smith, is a gifted poet, and some of her sweetest verse
was written while she lived in Evanston. She is the author of "Sometimes,"
and "Scatter Seeds of Kindness." They made their home for many years in
the frame house north of the Presbyterian Church., which was built by a
conductor by the name of Joe Miller. It has been replaced by the Dawson
residence. Mrs. Smith is now living in her beautiful home on the Hudson,
where she is still the inspiration of a large number of friends and is
prominent in literary and club circles.
A young man named William Parpe opened a jewelry store in the fall of 1870
in the same block in which Mr. Whittier started his business. A few years
later he moved to the south side of Main Street, between years and Tenth,
and then across the street to the present site of the Engstrum store. Mr.
Parpe was a kindly, generous man and a lover of the beautiful, not only in
his line of merchandise, which was always the best, but in his
appreciation of nature as well. The back yard of his store was a
wonderland, to which he had transplanted columbines from the slopes of
Medicine Butte ; tall, pale f orgetmenots from Pleasant Valley, pond
lilies from mountain lakes and other wild flowers to grow side by side
with their cultivated kinfolk. Most of the lilacs that beautify our yards
today came from the bushes that started there. Beyond the fact that Mr.
Parpe was a Swiss by birth, his closest friends knew nothing of his early
life, and his death by suicide in the fall of 1893 was a cause of
sorrowful wonder to the entire community. Not until then was known the
full extent of his generosity, nor for how many struggling mothers he had
paid the rent and supplied the coal.
In 1870 the Union Pacific built a number of frame houses for the
convenience of its employes. In the one just east of the present home of
Fred Lowenstein lived C. C. Quinn, who was master mechanic of the shops
from 1871 to 188o. He moved from here to Riverside, California, and Thomas
Carrick succeeded him as master mechanic. Next to the Quinns lived A. C.
Phipps, master car builder. William Tildon, who was at the head of the
construction gang, lived across the street, where Mrs. Tildon ran a
homelike boarding house. The eldest daughter married William Daley, then
superintendent of bridges and waterworks from Cheyenne to Ogden. Mr. Daley
later won fame as an Indian fighter on the Bozeman trail, where he was
engaged in freighting. His home was for years in Rawlins, where he died in
1923, one of the most honored citizens of our state.
One of the earliest trainmen on the Union Pacific was Edward Linsley, who
was connected with the road from 1867 to the time of his death in 1913. In
1868 he was made engineer, and soon afterward came to the western division
and settled in Evanston. The first marriage on record in the books of
Uinta County is that of Edward Linsley and Alice Gunnell, a daughter of a
railroad man who came here in an early day. It was performed by Rev. Fred
Welty of the Presbyterian Church. This couple had the distinction of being
the parents of the first pair of twins to be born in the Territory of
Wyoming, Beulah and Claude. The latter has followed in the footsteps of
his father as engineer and is well known in Evanston. He married Miss
Isola Henry, and they are the parents of one son, Harry, who is studying
in the University of Wyoming.
Another engineer of this early day was Peter Kraus, who is still running
an engine, and whose sons are also in the employ of the road. Mark Murphy,
William Murray and William , Lethbridge, all engineers, were killed in
railroad wrecks. Their families are well known in the town. E. L. Knoder,
also an oldtimer, came in 1874.
C. H. Bogart, a native of New Jersey, had gone out to the western coast in
an early day and entered the railroad employ in 1870. He came to Evanston
the following year as fireman, and was soon promoted to engineer. In 1874
he married Miss Kate Welsh of Ogden, and the family. in which there are
three sons and a daughter, moved to the junction city.
Thomas Gorman, father of Mrs. M. B. Bohner, who made her home in Evanston
from 1911 to 1922, was section foreman, and lived across the track. He was
succeeded by John Byrne.
George W. Pepper came to Evanston in 1869 from the eastern division of the
road, where he had served as passenger conductor. After working here for
eight days as brakeman he was made freight conductor. In 1877 he was
elected sheriff and served four years, after which he was employed by the
Beckwith-Quinn Company. In September, '76, he married Miss Emma Rugg, who
lived in Green River, and to this union four children were born, two of
whom are still living, Nellie, who became the wife of Charles Myers on
upper Bear River, and Phoebe, who is in business in an eastern city. Mr.
Pepper died in 1899, and in 1906 his widow was married to Samuel Dickey.
Among early workers in the railroad shops was Thomas Johnson, who had one
son and several daughters. They moved to the State of Washington, where
Mrs. Addie Johnson Gibbs still lives.
'Charles Carpenter went from the shops here to Vernal, Utah. His son
Charles married Mary, daughter of James Morganson, and is engaged in
business in Evanston. Mr. Morganson was an early settler in the West and
had a shoe shop in Evanston. His daughter Johannah became the wife of
Charles Seigel, proprietor of the Seigel Bakery. Two daughters are in Salt
Lake and Mrs. Anna Morganson Hogeland makes her home in Los Angeles. James
and Muns Morganson live in Utah.
Among the first men to move their families to Evanston was Samuel Blackham.
In 1862 traveling in an "independent" or non-Mormon train with his wife
and eldest son, Samuel, he came west and settled in Morini, Utah. He
fought under Captain Canfield in the Blackfoot War, and became conversant
with several Indian dialects. He was employed in building the railroad
shops, and in October, 1871, put up a tent on the corner of Eleventh
and Center streets, into which his family, then consisting of five
persons, moved. As time went on and circumstances favored, this was
surrounded by a wall. of lumber, and additions were made until a cozy home
was established. His was the first lot to be ornamented by trees
transplanted from the riverside. The Blackham family have been pioneers in
introducing flowers and shrubs, and their garden has always been a spot of
interest. Mr. Blackham died in 1910, and his widow occupies the original
home. Among his descendants who are well known in Evanston are the sons,
Samuel and Benjamin, and the daughters, Mrs. Charles Morgan, Mrs. T. A.
Williams, Mrs. E. C. White, Mrs. Lydia Nash, Mrs. Harry Judd and Mrs.
Harry H. Hall.
Mrs. Jubb, or "Auntie Jubb," as she was called, also had an eye to floral
decorations, though her efforts were not a joy to the residents, as they
consisted in the importation of dandelion seeds from England. No doubt
this common pest would have reached the country in time even without her
agency. She was well known and well thought of, and her services were in
demand in many an emergency such as nursing and the management of homes.
One of the early settlers who came from Wasatch with the moving of the
shops was Charles Hammer. The family consisted of six daughters, who were
eagerly sought in marriage by the lone bachelors of the town. All are well
known in Evanston, Mrs. Frank Gunnell, Mrs. Lottie Allen and Mrs. Victor
Engstrum having lived here for years.
A firm by the name of Downs & Tisdel opened a restaurant. and saloon
between Tenth and Eleventh on Front Street, and soon afterward built the
Wyoming Hall, where the Hotel Marx now stands. The upper floor was used as
a dance hall, and one of the old citizens tells of a ball in 1871 where
they were successful in getting the attendance of as many as sixteen
women, while the men numbered more than a hundred.
Pete Downs was a unique and interesting person, as well as a famous cook.
He served for many years on the board of County Commissioners, and was
elected to the first state legislature in 1891. He had a hobby for
animals. For some time a monkey was in his saloon, but one day the little
creature aroused the ire of its owner, and he plunged it into a bucket of
water. The monkey never forgave the indignity, and would so rave and
chatter when Pete came in sight that he finally turned it over to the Red
Store, where it was for many years an object of curiosity to the children.
Another pet was a brown bear that was chained to a pole in front of the
saloon. When winter came on Bruin decided that it was time to dig in. He
was undisturbed until one night a brakeman by the name of Pete McMannus
stumbled out of the saloon and into the bear pit. At first he was too
stupified to realize anything but the f act that he had found a warm
resting place, but in time the movements of his bed fellow impressed him
as peculiar, and on awakening to the truth of the situation, with a howl
of fear a very much sobered man sprang to the side walk and made his way
down the street as fast as his legs could carry him. The bear emerged too,
but the stout chain prevented him from giving chase. As long as he stayed
here the life of the brakeman was made weary by the frequent allusions to
his free lodgings.
The Christensen brothers, Gotleib and Martin, natives of Denmark, had for
many years a store where they made to order boots and shoes of fine
workmanship. Martin went into the ranching business, in which he was
succeeded by his son Adolphus. His wife was the widow of H. Cummock of
Almy, and they are the parents of four sons and one daughter. They are now
living in Los Angeles.
A man named Emil Faus established the first furniture store in Evanston.
In 1875 he decided to try his fortune in the Black Hills and sold out to
E. S. Bisbing. Mr. Bisbing had two daughters, Anna now Mrs. Stephen Mills,
and Clara, Mrs. Frank Tregea, who are living on the western coast. Their
uncle A. H. Bisbing, who had been working for the Union Pacific, bought
the store and lived for some years in Evanston. He had a son and a
daughter, the former is now editing the "Who's Who" column of Collier's
Weekly. Harry Bisbing visited Evanston in 1924, and took pleasure in
renewing old acquaintances.
In the very early '70s Max Idleman, who later became a resident of
Cheyenne, opened a wholesale liquor house on Front Street that was sold to
the firm of Gottstein and Brown. Brown left about the year 1875, and his
partner, Mike Gottstein, bought the Whittier store and was succeeded in
business by his cousin Jacob Gottstein. In 1885 he moved to Seattle where
he amassed a fortune. He was succeeded in the Evanston store by his cousin
Jacob Gottstein, who married the daughter of Aaron Levitt, a clothing
merchant. DIr. and Mrs. J. Gottstein have three children, Cecelia, wife of
J. Solomen of Stager, Illinois, and Arthur, and Lester.
In 1873 Evanston was incorporated as a city, and Mr. Brown was elected
first mayor, beginning his duties January i, 1874. On account of expense
the city government was discontinued two years later.
Another man named Brown opened a fruit store in the wooden building on the
corner where the Hill-Otte Drug Company is now located. In a room at the
back was the office of the justice of the peace, with Christopher E.
Castle on the bench. "Kit", as he was universally called, was a
"forty-niner" and had had an eventful career in California and Nevada
before coming to Wyoming. He told Dr. Harrison that at one time in
California, he paid taxes on property valued at $25,000. He was a member
of the state legislature of California, in which a "frameup" was arranged
by certain members who afterward repudiated the secret agreement and a
fight ensued in which two men were killed. Whether Castle was guilty of
the death of one of these is not known, but it was a common belief that he
was entitled to at least two notches on his gun handle. He fled from
Sacramento to Helena, Montana, where he became involved in a scrimmage
resulting in some more killing, and as things had become too hot for him,
he allowed it to be circulated that he was one of the dead men, after
which he made his way to Green River when the Union Pacific reached that
place. In 1872 he came to Evanston, and lived here the rest of his life.
He had left a wife in California, who, believing him to be dead, had
married again. It was many years later that she sent word to her former
husband that she was going to pass through Evanston, and would like to
explain matters to him. Kit never married again. His huge bulk and many
eccentricities made him a notable figure in our early town history, but
with all his shortcomings he was possessed with a fine chivalry toward
women that one would like to trace to the place that this one woman had in
his life. A path from the office of the justice of the peace through the
dusty sage brush to the back door of Pete Downs' saloon was traveled many
times a day when the occupants of the court room including the judge,
lawyers, jury, and often the prisoners at the bar, would adjourn to seek
liquid inspiration. Their convivial habits did not seem to interfere with
even handed justice as the decisions were usually marked with fairness.
Many are the anecdotes told of Kit Castle. Finance was not one of his
strong points, and at one time a committee was appointed to examine his
books. They were turned over with cheerfulness, and when after fruitless
work the puzzled committee told him they could make neither head nor tail
to his reports, he answered that he was hoping that they might, as he
could not. Kit Castle succeeded himself in office as long as he lived, and
was sincerely mourned when his body was laid to rest.
-
Wm. Shager, "Historical Bulletin of the State of
Wyoming. 1890"
-
Letter from Mrs. Crocker, Portland, Oregon, September 5,
1922.
-
Bancroft, "History of Wyoming."
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