Gene's Family Tree: A LIFE in a COMPANY TOWN by EUGENE

Eugene?s Story, I was born and lived in a company town in Bingham Canyon until it died in 1948.? When Winter Quarters died in 1928 our families moved on down to the Company Town of Castle Gate, both were owned by Utah Fuel.? Both were Company Towns and each situated high in the mountains.? But the scenery in which they were set was breath-taking.? Forests of Pine trees, Quaking Aspens, and wild vegetation surrounded both towns.? We had late springs and early fall but the summers were mild, green, and very beautiful.? There were all kinds of flowers, bushes and berries and animals of all kinds to see.? However, the winters were not so pleasant with their deep snows and cold wind, but we still found many things to do even then.? Winter Quarters History, according to Zehnder?s book on ?Coal Camps and ghost Towns? the mine was inspected by the State Mine inspector on 9 March 1900 and had good ventilation and declared safe.? Soon the mine was working night and day producing two thousand tons of coal a day.? Coal dust covered the floors of every tunnel and floating in the air.? There were many warnings and fears of this dust but work went on as usual.? Then on ?May Day or Dewey Day? 199 miners of the 367 that entered the mine were killed.? Looking for a scape-goat one of the Parmleys blamed the Finns for causing the explosion.? I often wonder why he could not see disaster just waiting to happen.? Our family?s came after the explosion but Tom Hall was killed ten years later.? Grandpa James Nielson ended his mining with a serious hand injury.? I went to the ?May Day? 2000 Memorial and walked here and there trying to find the houses and buildings that were once there.? I?ll soon be 84 years old and if I am allowed to trespass next summer hopefully I can match my pictures with the remaining cement and rock foundations. ?Zehnder said, for many years the buildings stood mute in that mountain valley; windows boarded shut, roof shingles slowly falling away and walls rutting into dust.? No sound of laughter at school.? Eventually the buildings collapsed or were torn down by scavengers.? I was told the company dynamited the beautiful Store built by Italian Masons.? I was also told that scavengers took the store down and hauled the blocks away.? I did take pictures of whatever I could find.? Well there is always next year I hope.? I could see why it was called Pleasant Valley, the town was now a valley of green grass broken up with the old store and foundations of buildings.? Zehnder also said the poor quality of coal caused the mine to shut-down, maybe so or maybe no, I do know there was a fire in there and the mine had to sealed to smother the inferno burning within it.? I remember travelling the old dirt from Scofield to Tucker.? I had no idea I was travelling the ?Calico Road?, the first railroad to Winter Quarters from SpringvilleI believe all my wife?s relatives lived just below the Wasatch Store and above the school.? I used to think we were all living in company houses with water, but they got their drinking water from a spring near the Store.? Wash water was carried from the creek.? And every house had an outdoor toilet.? ?It seems like we were related to everyone even the Parmleys.? As you read the children?s stories you will find that Winter Quarters was a treasure and it was alive with joy and laughter.? They never thought of it a place of death.? Keri Karpowitz said, Winter Quarters became one of the most impressive cities in the state.? Houses dotted the valleys and canyons. The business district grew to be more than a mile long. The residents built many fine stone buildings which were just as impressive as some of those in Salt Lake City. ?The company built Amusement Halls for dancing, show houses, schools with play-grounds, and sponsored many all-day celebrations with food, song, dance and even ball games.? Company Laws, Winter Quarters had a jail, guards, a Judge and a set of Company rules or laws all paid for by the company.? You could be jailed for 45 days on any charge without any complaints from the state or county.? The US Constitution meant nothing in those days.? One day a prominent Italian was arrested and jailed.? Friends sent for a lawyer to defend him.? Well he was arrested for trespassing and jailed.? Lawyers were never allowed in Company Trials.All food and clothing must be bought from the Wasatch Store or the guards would confiscate it as you entered the only road into town.? The husband could be fired and the family removed for bringing illegal items.? I have a picture of three armed-guards who intercepted a bunch of turkeys brought in from Utah County.? Today there is a ?NO TRESPASSING? sign, in the old days armed guards watched who came and left. ??Strikes were common and guards were always threatening someone.? The company brought in out of state gun-men and called them deputies and they were looking for trouble.? The town was full of State Militia troopers sent by our Governor to save the mine they brought in machine-guns and rifles.? In the 1903 strike Jakob Jarvi was shot in the back near his spine, the doctors were unable to remove the bullet.? They expected him to die anyway.?? Years later his brother cut it out.? How many others were wounded or killed.? In January 1904 Company guards force ably removed Wayne Jarvi?s grandfather along with many other Finns.? Houses were systematically broken into and the people and furniture were loaded on trucks and taken to Scofield and dumped.? The Finns allowed the soldiers into their Finn Hall entertaining them with food, drink and music.? A day or two later these so-called-friends were pointing their rifles at them and removing them from town.? This made the Finns angry, weaponless the charged the militia and? injured several of the soldiers.? Some big Austrian women took old Parmley down and peed on him.? So life was not always happy and rosy.? In the old days as you enter the long narrow canyon, there was a camp of tents where the Italians lived.? It was called (Rag Town).? At one time there were more Italians living there than any other group of people.? The next camp was called Finn Town.? The largest building was the Finn Hall and their houses were built with sawn-lumber like the rest but some had log homes and sheds with inner-locking logs built as they did in the old country. ?Many of these Private houses were confiscated and became Company houses.? All the people involved in the 1903 strike were ?Black Balled? and were never hired again. ?About half every immigrant miner groups were removed this involved many nationalities and even American citizens.Greek Town was with its many houses beer-joints and smoke-houses suffered the same fate as the Finns.? Greek Town was close to the white area where our families lived. ?There had to be an Austrians or Yugoslavs camp somewhere,? I am searching for it now.? . ?There were about 250 private homes and I have no idea how many company houses, beer-joints and houses of prostitution.? ?Ella Nielson Story, I was born December 20, 1904 in Winter Quarters, Utah to James and Christine Smith Nielson.? My brothers and sisters were:? Ida Marie Nielson, Niels Nielson, May Nielson, James Nielson, Christian Nielson, Joseph Nielson, Jennie Nielson, Caroline Nielson, James Nielson, Ethel Nielson, Martha Nielson, Decinious Nielson, Manila Nielson, and Minnie Nielson.? I was blessed and baptized in Winter Quarters and attended school in Scofield, Utah.? I was the 15th child of the family.? My mother died with the 16th child, and I was 18 months old at the time.? I was raised by my father and my sisters helped.? When I was a little girl, my father would put me in a sleigh and put a harness on the dog and I would ride all over town.? In the summer he got a little red wagon for me and we went all over.? There was a beautiful picture of me with light hair when I was young and I looked like Jalynn.? When I was little, I had mumps, measles, and diphtheria.? They always had a sign on the house, when anyone in the house had the measles.? When I was young, we had dances in a big amusement hall.? They had dances but the boys wouldn't dance.? We had to dance with girls all the time.? They had shows on Charley Chaplin, the silent movies.? We would go there once a week and have to pay for it.? When I was young, I played basketball and you should have seen my bloomers.? They were black with elastic on the middle and elastic on the legs.? We would go up where there were cattle and get mushrooms.? My brother fished and gave us some.? I went horseback riding up the hill with Winifred on Joe's horse.? Oh, it was so much fun.? My father went with us on picnics.? He watched me skate.? He would say, ?Ella quit letting those girls fall on top of you."? Our outdoor toilet had a catalogue in it.? We had dreams every time we went to the toilet probably about some of the things you couldn't get at the store.? On the 24th of July we went up a big hill to Lee Marsden's.? They had a bunch of lambs.? The men built a great big platform and put brush on every side of it and they would give popcorn, ice cream and hamburgers free anytime we wanted.? The Bishop was sponsoring it and he was the head of the mines.? The Bishop's son married Lavern Parmley of Salt Lake.? We had the best time.? We ran races and made a lot of money.? They played ball, and I like to play ball then.? We had fun.? When we got hungry again, we went back and had all the food we could eat.? I would love to play horseshoe's.? My brother, Niels said to me one day, ?Ella you take off those overalls or I'll be mad at you and give you a licking".?
At Christmas time when I was 12 years old, it was snowing like the dickens in Winter Quarters, Utah.? Tomorrow was Christmas and I wanted my Christmas tree.? My dad had been to busy to get one.? I put on my rubber boots, coat, and hat.? I went down the hills, over the road, over the railroad tracks and walked in the water.? I went way high in the hills.? When I found my Christmas tree, I took my ax and cut it down.? I let it roll down the hill.? When I got to the water, I pulled it across the water, across the railroad track across the road and up the hill I went.?? I made popcorn, colored it pink and put cranberries around it.? We put a bundle of tinsel on the tree.? Its not like Darlene's.? She has the most beautiful tinsel I have ever seen.? On the tree, my father put handles all over the tree to put candles in.? The candles were red, white, blue, green and orange.? That tree was so pretty.? He lit the candles and that tree was so gorgeous, much prettier than the trees are today.? Lights all over the tree were blazing, blazing, blazing.? They were so pretty.? My father was so pleased with what I had done.? I had made chains of different colors.? I made little lanterns and put them all over the tree.? I showed Marcie and Gayla how to make them.? Underneath the tree were beautiful packages from my brothers.? My father sent to Sears for a big bucket of caramels.? On top of the bucket was a lid so we could use it.? He sent for all kinds of candy:? peanut-brittle, orange sticks and old fashioned chocolates.? My, how we loved that candy.? The next morning it was Christmas and I opened my packages.? I got so many beautiful packages from my sisters and brothers? I loved my brothers, Ed and Joe so much better than the others.? I was 15 when I started to date.? My dad was a good sheepherder cook.? I went to the eighth grade and at the end of the eighth grade I graduated.? They gave me something real nice for graduation because I was the head of the class and got all A's.? I was valedictorian of the eighth grade.? I sang at my graduation but I don't remember what it was I sang.? I went to Scofield to school and I walked on the railroad and thought that was really fun.? It was about a mile and we went past the hospital.? I guess I'll have to tell you about the hospital.? It was real tall and had a lot of patients in there and it divided Winter Quarters from Scofield.? We laughed all over and had so much fun in the winter.? My brother, Joe, would take a sleigh to deliver groceries and I would sit on the running board of his sleigh.? He had boys deliver for him and would stop at the store after and give them a big box of candy and me some also.? We had a butcher shop run by Joe the Greek.? If I wanted anything, he would give it to me for nothing.? One day I took my friends up there and he gave us wieners and all kinds of lunch meat that we wanted.? He also gave us tripe and I just loved it.? You should try it sometime.? Oh, he was a good old Greek.? One day I went to a Greek wedding way up high above where the mines were and it took about three hours for them to get married and boy it almost makes you sick.? They just yim, yum, yum all the time.? Finally they took us off to eat and they had all kinds of? food you could think of.? Now, these Greeks were good eaters and they had so much food there that we ate and were filled to the top.? It was fun and I sort of liked the darn old Greeks in Winter Quarters.? ?But JIM NIELSON said; ?For some reason Dad (Joe Nielson) hated the Greeks.? He would go from one saloon to another looking for one to fight with.? One time this rather large Greek waited until Dad had to many drinks and beat him up.? Dad took care of him as soon as he sobered up.? The Nielsen?s would get together for a family Sunday dinner about once a month.? These were the families were families of ED Nielson, James Nielson and Joe Nielson, it would be at a different house each time and the occasion would always end up with a fight.? You could always find Joe even in a group picture.? He had these big cauliflowered ?ears.Ed Nielson Story, When Dad was fifteen the family moved to Winter Quarters, Utah.? It was here that Dad started his life long career as a coal miner.? Also it was he met and married Sarah Evelyn Gibson on July 30, 1907.? It was here in Winter Quarters that eight children were born to them:? Marie, Leo, Rena, Edna, Evelyn, Georgia, Erma and Ted.Dad and his brother Joe often participated on Rescue teams to save miners trapped in earth cave-ins or mine explosions.? He always got great pleasure from helping others and was always sad when the rescue came too late to save lives.? Upon returning from a rescue operation in another town or city, he brought each of his children a small gift.? His family was very special to him.In the spring of 1927 the family moved from the mountains of Winter Quarters because the mine had to be sealed off to smother the inferno burning within it.? The family moved to Castle Gate, Utah.? While living here two more sons were born, Glen on November 27 ,1927 And Vern Dee on November 4 1930.? Sometime in 1898 the family in search of a more stable income and better conditions moved from Richfield, Utah to Spring Glen, Utah.? James's brother, Christian Nelson owned farm here in Spring Glen and needed someone to take care of it.? Christian was the ?Railmaster? of the D&RG Railroad.? He helped them settle and helped James get employment.? We believe James did buy a farm here.? The family was quite large.? There were ten children, the parents and Stena's aging mother, Christina.?? These were hard years the time when four of their children would die,? Deceneous who was born in Richfield 7 June, 1898 died in Spring Glenn 15 February, 1899,?? Manilla Viola was born in Spring Glenn, 10 February, 1899and died soon after.? Another child, Minnie was born in Richfield 10 January, 1901 and died at birth. Grandma Christena Smith Nielson and Grandpa James Nielson Story, Ed said, " After the death of a favored child (Ethel in March, 1901), his father began drinking and gambling.? James owned a good share of land in Richfield and much of Spring Glen.? He lost most of his belongings to gambling, leaving the family near poverty."? "One evening after the sun had gone down in Winter Quarters, Stena and a neighbor stopped to rest while walking.? As they sat on the rail road tracks overlooking the town, Stena pointed her finger at the saloons below and said "That's the reason we are always poor."? Poverty caused by James' gambling forced the family to move back to Richfield.?? In the next two or three years the Nielson's would move again to Winter Quarters, their last and permanent home.? This is where Ella was born 20 December, 1904.? The move from the farm to the mining camps caused many problems, drinking and gambling was never a problem in Richfield but it was in Winter Quarters. Stena didn?t like to raise her children in a mining camp.? Some of her children began to drift away from the Church. Hard times also came when James was injured in the mine.? His hand was crushed but nothing has been written about it.? He was given some work outside the mine.? Town Marshall was one these jobs.? A few years later Stena , only 43 years old would die in Winter Quarters on 18 July, 1906. ?Some say she died of pneumonia.? Ella said she died giving birth to her 16 child.? She was taken to Richfield and buried near her four children and mother in the Richfield Cemetery.? Her name on the stone is listed as Christena Marie.?? James was left with baby, Ella and three small boys to raise.? Ella Gilbert Nielson Story, ?So, in later years when my father joined the Church, it was through Uncle Andrew that my father came to Winter Quarters as did many other converts who joined the Church.? It was there my sister met her husband, my brother met his wife and I met Niels Nielson.? His father's family lived there.? The altitude was nine thousand, nine hundred feet above sea level and in our time the Doctor said I would have to leave the high altitude for my heart.? We had five children born in Winter Quarters, Utah and six born in Ceader View, Utah.? I married Niels in 1903.? We loved each other very much.? In 18 July, 1905 Julia was born.? We named her after my Mother--her name was Julia Ann Thompson.? People were always telling me, when I was a child, about my mother whom they loved so much.? Julia, my daughter, was like her for everyone loved her.? And our next child was James Clifford.? He was a very fair complected and such a sweet contented baby.? He died when he was ten months old, lacking seven days.? The next baby was a baby girl and we named her Elva Christina.? She was born 9 January, 1910.? She had a dark complexion like Julia.? She like James didn't stay with us very long.? She died 28 May, 1910.? We had five children born in Winter Quarters, Utah and six born in Ceader View, Utah.? In the next few years, Niels left the farm in the winter months to work in the coal mines.? He would along bring horses from Winter Quarters and Price to winter on his farm.? When Niels came riding into town with about forty horses the people cheered, it meant spring was here, horses to ride. ?The company only kept a few horses to plow the road for the horse sled to deliver groceries. Ena Gudmundson Carrick,? I was about 20 years old and then I went back to Schofield, Utah and worked again in a boarding house.? It was at this time I met Jack Carrick, the man I was to marry.? He had decided he was going to marry me before he had even met me.? My sister Becky was working at Winter Quarters and had showed my picture to Jack and he told her he was going to marry me.? It was just after I met him that we started to go together and about six months later we got married.? We were married at Winter Quarters, Utah by Bishop Thomas J. Parmley (Jack?s sister?s husband).? He also blessed all of our children except Hannah.? At this time Jack was working in the mine and making $1.75 for a ten-hour day.? We rented a place for about six months after we were married and paid $5.00 a month rent.Then one of the miners, who had a nice home, he stole some explosives and was fired from the mine.? He was pressed to sell the house where he lived which I had wanted to buy, so I went to a boarder of one of my sisters who was also a good friend and asked to borrow money to buy the house.? They wanted $130.00 for the house and he let me have the money and after two months we were able to pay him back what we had borrowed and the house was ours.? The ground was not ours, however, as it was owned by the mining company.? This house was a three room home, with enough lumber to build another room.? It was in this home that my children Isabell, Little Johnny and Helen were born.? When Helen was two years old the mining company wanted the ground back so they gave us enough lumber to build on more of their ground.? We had enough lumber to build a 4 room house with a pantry.? Little Johnny was born in the second home, he died when he was four months old.In the year 1901, There was a terrible explosion at the mine in Winter Quarters.? There were 200 men killed in this explosion.? At this time Jack was working night shift at the mine and the explosion occurred at 10 o?clock in the morning, which was fortunate for us.? There both fathers and sons killed in this explosion.? Some of the boys were as young as 15 years of age. Hall Story, When we came from England we went to a mining town called Winter Quarters in Carbon County.? Mining was all my dad knew.? He quit school when he was 12 years old and worked in the mine with his dad.? My dad was bald-headed on the top of his head.? When we were kids, we asked him how come he was bald-headed. The only answer we got was that he pushed the loaded coal cars with his head.Winter Quarters was located 1 1/4 miles up the canyon from Scofield.? The altitude was very high.? The houses were on one side of the canyon.? On one hill, there were sage brush and sarvis berries.? They were good to eat.? The other side was pine trees, aspen trees, timber, lilies and forget-me-nots that grew wild.? There was the hillside, houses, road, railroad tracks and the creek.? It was cool in the summer and cold in the winter.? We got the first snowfall in October.? You never saw the top of the fences until spring.? We had dirt roads and no snowplows to clear the snow off.? The train would have a plow on the front of the engine to clean the tracks.? I have watched two trains together to clean the tracks off.? The snow was so high.We had no electricity in the houses.? We used kerosene lamps.? We had one in each room.? When I was about 9 years old, they put electricity in the homes.? My grandmother wouldn't let them put the wires above the ceiling out of sight.? She was afraid they would set the house on fire.My grandparents and most of the family joined the L.D.S. Church in England.? My mother was 15 years old when she was baptized.? The missionaries converted them.? My mother said she did the laundry for the missionaries every week. ?My grandparents had the missionaries for a lot of meals.? My grandfather and one son came to America first.? They worked in the mine and saved their money for a year, and then Grandma and the rest of the family came to America.? We came a year later.? I loved to go to my grandparent?s home.? Grandma always had something for us.? I was the first grandchild.?? She always gave me a handkerchief on my birthday. My grandpa worked in the fan house that pumped the air in to the mine.? It made a lot of noise.? It made him quite deaf. ?Grandpa died after my mother's sister, Florence May Hall Nielson died.? She had 6 children, one a baby six months old.? Grandma took the baby (Jim) and raised him until he was 7 years old.? It was hard for her because her health wasn't very good.? I remember the first year I went to school.? My teacher was Miss Walton.? I liked her very much.? I used to try and walk like her and wear my coat like she did.? When I was in the second grade, I forgot to put my dress on.? When I took my coat off, there I was in my slip.? The teacher wouldn't let me go home and get my dress.? After that I always looked myself over to see if I was dressed.? My mother had 5 babies in 6 years, so we had to do some things for ourselves.Another time I put my tongue on a frosted wagon wheel.? When I tried to get it off, the skin came off, too.? For a while I had a sore tongue.? And another time I put my foot between the spokes of a wagon wheel.? The man came back and started to go.? I did some fast moving to get out of there.? I was always doing some dumb thing. It was in the first grade, my Uncle Tom used to come to our house on Saturday nights, after we had our baths in front of the kitchen stove in a round washtub.? When we had gone to bed, he would come in and get us up.? He always had something for us, either an ice cream cone or fruit, a banana, orange or an apple. We thought that was great.? A little while after that, he was killed in the mine.My grandparents lived next door to the schoolhouse.? I would go over there and see them during recess.? They had a fence around their yard.? One day I went to see her and the gate was locked.? I didn't know it.? I was running.? I pushed on the gate.? It bounced back and hit me on the nose and made it bleed.? My grandma came out and took care of it.? I always made sure the gate wasn't locked after that.Another time, I knew she had some apples.? I wanted one.? I didn't like to ask for one, so I started to sing, made up the words as I went along.? As I sang "Apples, Apples, I sure would like an apple,? she heard me.? She said, "Do you want an apple?"? I said, "Yes."? She gave me one, then she asked, "Why didn't you ask for one?"Another time, I was taking care of the baby, Tom.? I put him in the buggy and took him to our next door neighbor's house so I could play on the lawn.? We didn't have any lawn around our house.? They had a picket fence around their place.? I parked the buggy on the outside of the fence, then jumped the fence to play on the lawn.? The baby started to cry.? I started over the fence.? My slip got caught on a picket.? While I was twisting and turning and pulling to get loose, I tipped the buggy over.? The baby fell out and it made his nose bleed.? Then mama came and picked up the baby and got me off the fence.? My slip had a big hole in it.? I was sent to bed without my supper.? She gave me something to eat later.I used to stand on a stool and wash the dishes.? We didn't have a sink, so we washed the dishes on the kitchen table. ?On a Saturday, I thought I would never get through washing dishes.? She did a lot of baking on Saturday.We always had a baby to take care of.? We would just get one to walk when another would come along. ??Mama was a very good seamstress.? She made all of our clothes.? She would sew all summer so we would have clothes for school.? We never had a lot of money, but there was plenty of love in our home.? I was baptized when I was 8 years old in the creek.? The boys had made a swimming pool in the creek.? That's the only place we had for baptisms.? After I was baptized, I had a terrible headache.? When I was confirmed, my headache was gone.? When my brother was 8 years old, he got the flu.? That was in 1918.? He died.? Nobody would come to your house if someone had the flu.? There was one friend that came and helped to dress him.? My dad took the body to Scofield.? The rest of us stayed home.? We were all so uptight and scared.Florence May Hall Story she was born in Higham (near Barnsley) Yorkshire, England.? She came to Winter Quarters when she was only 14 years old.? James, her brother had brought the family over as he earned the passage money for them to come.? He came in 1904 and the rest in 1906 and 1908.

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Winter Quarters was where Joseph Henry Nielson and Florence met and later married, on 18 October, 1911.? They rented a house here in Winter Quarters where six children were born to them; Veda May, born 1 June, 1912, Ellen Vernetta, 25 June, 1913, Joseph Henry, 4 October, 1916, Ethel, 15 June, 1920, Jack, 5 July, 1921 and John James, 5 July, 1924.? She died of uremic poisoning shortly after giving birth to this last child, on the 20 July 1924.? She was only 18 years old when she married and 31 when she died.? The children were to small to remember her.? Friends and relatives are our only source of information.? They all called her "Florie" and everyone loved and respected her.? Harry, her brother used to tell us things about her; how sweet and beautiful she was and how loving and kind she was.? Norma Jones Carter said,? "She was such a sweet person, everyone just loved her.? After her death, Jim was taken to his Grandmother, Mary Ellen Pearson Hall who also lived in Winter Quarters.? These must have been very trying times for the family because it was only six months later that Grandfather, John Hall died, 23 November 1924, 63 years old.? Jim lived with Grandma Hall until she began having health problems.? She had suffered from rumitoid arthritis and now from what they called dropsy.? This was near the time she would leave Winter Quarters to go to Castle Gate to live near or with her daughter, Eva.? Jim was about six years old when his father, Joe came to take him home.? He had grown to love his Grandma very much and wasn't about to leave her.? Joe picked up his clothes in one arm and Jim in the other and went out the door, Jim went kicking and screaming to his new home.? ?

Source: http://eugenehalverson.blogspot.com/2012/02/life-in-company-town-by-eugene.html

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