Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Wilson Lane

Wilson Lane is an area of Ogden, UT on the west side of town.  Here is some family information on the area-


From Steve B - That's the same neighborhood where the Hill's lived.  I remember West Ogden.  That's where Harold's wife, Bertha Stokes Hill, my grandmother's family lived, too.  I still have a relative who lives there and has lived there all her life, but she won't answer the door these days.  I don't know if this neighborhood was considered the "wrong side of the tracks" neighborhood, or it was just convenient to railroad men's work. 

I remember seeing Samuel Stone on this census sheet.  Of course, the Bachman's came from Eden.  One Eden boy, Jorgen, married a railroad man's daughter, Edna Hill, and first settled in West Ogden, next door to his in-laws.  John Peterson, Jorgen's brother, later owned homes in West Ogden and rented one out to my grandparents, Harold & Bertha.  One source, J.R., said that Joseph Bachman bought Verena and Henry's house in West Ogden (after Henry's death) and donated it to the Church. 

John's older Stone brother probably visited his father Samuel in West Ogden.  So there's a good chance that John was acquainted with Samuel Stone, thus acquainted with the Sewells. 

Some history: (from: PLAIN CITY HISTORY WRITTEN BY AND IN POSSESSION OF DAUGHTERS OF UTAH PIONEERS, PLAIN CITY CAMP)

"Becoming discouraged by the experiences of 1859, some of the settlers went to Cache Valley. Among them being Ruben and David Collett, Samuel Cuspins, Ezekiel Hopkins' mother and sister, and Mr. Lilly. John Falker and Alfred Falker moved to Ogden. Others came from Lehi to temporarily fill the ranks, some of whom later moved to Cache Valley.." Willard Carver's statement. "John Carver dug down into the ground he selected with a piece of sage brush. Joseph Robinson, Thomas Singleton, Charles Neal, George Musgrave, Clint Brown, Jeppe Folkman, and Peter Bech camped by Carver's on Kay's Creek. They drove on to the sand hills in Wilson Lane on the 16th of March, 1859. John Carver accompanied them as far as Slaterville. He stopped here to get shelter for his wife and children before going on.

Joseph Robinson was one of the first to raise alfalfa in Plain City.  The sugar beet industry is one of the leading industries of Plain City. Prior to the coming of the railroad into Plain City in 1909, the beets were hauled to the Hot Springs and sent by rail to the Amalgamated Sugar Company plant at Wilson Lane, or hauled direct to the factory. After the advent of the railroad there were beet dumps placed at convenient points along the line for the accommodation of the growers in unloading their beets. The beets were then reloaded upon cars and sent to the factory to be manufactured into sugar.

Before the enlarging of the factory at Wilson, during the month of October, it was necessary to pile the beets by the dump until winter, when they were loaded upon cars and sent to the factory as needed.

From our own family member: Bachman, J. RThe Story of the Amalgamated Sugar Company, 1897‑1961 (Caxton Printers, 1962):

The Ogden Sugar Company was incorporated on December 16, 1897, the company was organized on December 6, 1897.(Bachman pp.1, 2) Construction of the factory on 131 acres of land four miles west of Ogden on Wilson Lane began on February 28, 1898. (Bachman p.4) Operations began with the 1898 campaign in early October 1898. (Bachman p.4) During the 1898 season 15,205 tons (or about 507 30-ton carloads) of beets were purchased and 25,716 bags (1,285 tons, or about 43 30-ton carloads) of sugar were produced. By 1910 the numbers of growers had increased dramatically. In 1910 Amalgamated purchased 147,268 tons of beets and produced 364,206 bags (18,210 tons, or about 607 30-ton carloads) of sugar. The 1910 harvest was lower than the previous year by about 70 percent because of a late planting date. There was a delay in planting because the growers wanted $5 per ton of beets compared to Amalgamated wanting to pay $4.50. The compromise, at $4.75, came late with little or no planting until the agreement was signed. (Bachman p.36)


From the church web site:

1915 - Ogden 16th Ward is an outgrowth of Wilson Ward. It was organized as a separate ward Jan. 10, and called the West Ogden Ward.
Wilson Ward
Boundaries: 
Wilson Ward, North Weber Stake, Weber Co., Utah consists of the Latter-day Saints residing in a farming district lying west of Ogden. The meeting house and school house, which form the center of the ward, are located on the main road leading from Ogden to West Weber (locally called Wilson’s Lane), about 2 1/2 miles west of the center of Ogden, four miles southeast of West Weber, and 35 miles northwest of Salt Lake City.












1880 census: John Bachman's second wife and her husband lived in Wilson Lane.   Her husband Edward was a mail carrier and later a farmer.  








Edward and Emma Sewell in the 1910 census in Wilson precinct.  Notice that Samuel Stone is living with his daughter and son in law next door.  All this happened in what some call the Wilson Lane west of Ogden. 














West Wilson Lane: 




Looking east at an abandoned track and bridge at the West Wilson Lane grade crossing just west of Transfer Yard in Ogden, Utah. The silver bridge used to support a track over the Weber River but now sits unused. The railroad infrastructure pictured here used to belong to the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad; now it is part of the Union Pacific empire. Out of view to the right is a solid waste transfer station served by the railroad.