March SUP Newsletter 2010

February Event:

What an evening! The atmosphere was sensational! The room was full as people gathered to learn what they could about the obscure town of Mountain Dell in Southern Utah that had disappeared, it seemed, from the pages of history.

We first listened to the talented Laura LeBaron as she sang the song, “The Girl in Room 14”. It had been a spur of the moment thing for her, as she was prevailed upon at the last minute to do so. Her performance was stunning. What a beautiful young lady with such an outstanding clear voice. Thank you Laura.

We then lined up to get our food, which was again wonderful, as we had our choice of Dutch Oven potatoes, a variety of casseroles, breads, meat, salads and desserts. The one mishap was that the water container had been inadvertently left empty, and had to be filled, but once that had been remedied, everything else was great.

At the appropriate time, David Isom, along with Garth Isom, began unveiling, minute by minute, the story of Mountain Dell as if came from the pages of Owen Isom’s history. He told of the coming to America from England, and upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, how they left almost immediately for Southern Utah. When they finally arrived in Virgin, only living there for a short while, then moving up near Millville in a beautiful valley they called Mountain Dell.

We learned about the hardships of living in a dugout, and the building of a beautiful home, planting fruit trees, grapevines and gardens. We learned about the Blackhawk Indian war, and the pioneers having to move to Toquerville, then back to Virgin, then home again. We were shown two censuses that had been taken, learning that as many as twenty families lived there. We were shown how lonely it was for the pioneers there, and how the flooding that came from time to time eventually caused them to move and abandon the Mountain Dell community.

David had a variety of pictures he was able to show that helped tell the story.

March Event : Join us on March 17^th as we learn about the Hurricane Canal Ditch Riders – Presented by Carl Wadsworth. Hurricane not only could not have been founded without the canal being built, but someone had to ride watch continually to make sure the floods that came down the Virgin River didn’t wash out the damn, or that the flooding waters didn’t destroy the ditch. The “Ditch Riders” is the story of the Hero’s of our early community who, through sunshine or rain, wind or snow, kept the waters flowing into our little valley. Come, here the interesting story that will endear these wonderful men to your hearts as you learn about life and death on the ditch. It will be at the American Legion Hall at 6:30 p.m. The meal will be pot-luck.

We Announce the Passing of Our Friend Robert Horrocks.
He died saturday morning February 27th, 2010 from a massive stoke. He had a heart attack a month before and contracted pneumonia. He had served as the southwest area vice president for the national Sons of Utah Pioneers for the past two years and was a great help to our chapter. We will miss him and his wonderful smile and wish the best to his sweetheart.

Upcoming events:

April 21^st : Honoring Essay Winners – Durward Wadsworth

May 15^th : Ghoul’s Corral Trek – Wayne Hinton presenter

June 19^th: Parowan Gap Trek –

July 24^th : Early Morning Breakfast

August 18^th : To be decided

September 3/4^th : Peach Days – Root beer stand

October 21^st : Encampment in St. George

November 17^th: To be decided

December 4^th: Christmas Dinner

Help Needed: At the time of Peach Days, the SUP has always had a booth set up to sell Root Beer, and have done very well with it. We have gotten response from people that we are one of the reasons they like to come to the fair. The booth takes a great deal of planning and hard work. We have had several capable people chair this over the last several years. We are looking for one of our members who would be willing to take this responsibility on for this year. If you would be interested, please contact either Larry LeBaron 635-2080 or Garth Isom 635-0488. Your help will be greatly appreciated.