Yesterday and Today - Hillsdale (Day 16)

I received this flash drive as a birthday present.  See Below

September 17, 1884 - Panguitch to Hillsdale* (nooned) to a Meadow (Asay Creek ?)

Day 16 of 44 - (Week 3)
Panguitch to Meadow = 21 Miles (abt) (Total Miles = 310 Miles)
Total Trip Average Miles Per Day = 19.4: Average Miles Per Day - Week 3 = 14.8

September 17 - 18, 1884

September 16 - 17, 1884

Note:  Charles added a separate line in his journal with the day of the week and the date for easier reading.  Remember you can click on the green highlight for further information. 

Original Journal Entry
"Wednesday Sep 17 - Traveled 10 miles to Hillsdale which is a very ugly looking place - frost has taken all their crops, went a little ways south of Hillsdale - nooned - Drove about 11 miles in afternoon - turned out on good feed."

Final Journal Entry
"Sept. 17 traveled 10 miles to Hillsdale - very ugly place - frost in July killed everything - nooned south of Hillsdale - drove 11 miles in afternoon, good feed." 

The Anderson family were in Hillsdale after a killing frost in July.  I was there in July, but when it was warm and this time Summer was very evident.

Looking Back

Charles said Hillsdale was "A very ugly looking place."  An early frost in July had killed everything.
This is how the area might have looked to them.

"Practically deserted the haunting charms of a previous life to the town of Hillsdale lie in the abandoned schoolhouse................, rustic log houses with sheds and barns adorning the property, and a cemetery on a hill that can be seen from the highway."

"Hillsdale got its start when Joel Hills Johnson and George Deliverance Wilson started a saw mill in the 1870s.  they were soon joined by about thirty families.  Over the years, the quaint town eventually fell silent as residents began to move away from the difficult climate and overlapping land claims.  It's now known as one of Utah's own ghost towns". (click link)

The old graveyard

Hillsdale Today

What a difference a "few years" can make.  This is a beautiful area today.



   

Meet the Gunn Family

The Gunn family own property near Hillsdale

Terry and Wendy Gunn.  They own the  Cliff Dweller's Lodge near Soap Creek,
 a stopping place on "The Honeymoon Trail," which this blog will visit later.

Their son, Troy, fishing on the property near Hillsdale
 with the family dog, Boomer, a Boykin Spaniel

July 9 -  Happy Birthday From Terry Gunn

On my visit to Hillsdale, Terry Gunn gave me this flash drive on my birthday.
  It has the inscriptions of some names carved on the rocks at Navajo Springs and
 Willow Springs on the Honeymoon Trail.  Future posts will highlight these places.
If you ancestors went to Arizona early, they may be included. 

G. W. Davis was one of the inscriptions on the flash drive.
He was at Navajo Springs Aug 17 1884.

G. W. Davis showed up on the flash drive at Navajo Springs.  I would like to claim him as the George Davis who lived in South Hooper, Utah and the brother to my great great grandfather John Davis who had travelled by Navajo Springs a few years earlier on the way to Arizona.  George moved to Idaho about 1886, but could he have gone to Arizona first?  There is another George Davis but from Brigham City, Utah and not a relative, who could also be this person. Research continues.  

If your ancestors were early settlers to Arizona, perhaps they carved their names on a rock near one of the springs where they stopped along the way.  If you believe they did, send me their name and I'll look for it.  This happened more than you might think.

A Place to Noon

The Anderson family traveled 10 miles to Hillsdale and
 nooned a little south of there. 

A Place to Camp

Monument near hp 111
"In memory of Asay town and those that are buried in the
Asay town cemetery to  the southwest of this monument."

They traveled 11 miles in the afternoon. 

The highway post near the court house in Panguitch would be close to hp 131.  Ten miles would be be hp 121 if you  followed the highway today. It says they nooned a little way south of Hillsdale so I don't know if that mileage would be extra or part of either the 10 or 11 noted miles.  They then went 11 miles. The map shows 21 miles at Asay Creek.  Hp 110 would be 21 miles from Panguitch.  I will update this later showing Hp 110 as well.   This is not an exact science.  You can make the map a little larger to show the mileage.  Hp 111 is near Asay (see monument). 

Tomorrow the Andersons will see a well known Church leader who makes a comment to Charles Anderson.  Charles had received a letter from him when he lived in Grantsville.



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