UTAH! FUN FACTS! on Leon's Planet

Leon's Planet is pleased to present a page about Utah.
Note: Leon's Planet is an educational website about the multiverse, but it is based in Utah.
So, Leon decided to do a page dedicated to his home base--Utah.

Date	Event
Geological History	Utah has been partially or mostly under sea water at least three times in geological history. You can find trilobites in the limestone of the Wasatch mountains. And, the Great Salt Lake is a remnant of that sea water (although now it is saltier than the ocean). Source #1: Utah Geological Survey. Source #2: PaleoPortal. Ocean = 3.5% salinity Great Salt Lake = 5-27% salinity (depending upon water level) Dead Sea = 33% salinity Source: Wikipedia.
Pre-precolumbian	There were what is called the "Fremont Indians" and the "Anasazi Indians". Not much is known about them except the homes they left behind.
Precolumbian	Utah was home to five types of indigenous peoples: Shoshone in the North, Navajo in the South, Utes in the East, Goshutes in the West and Paiutes in the center.
	Map of "City of Rocks Massacre" and the "Battle of Bear River"
Greatest Battles 1861-1863	One of the saddest parts of Utah history is the fact that the two greatest battles between the "whites" and the "reds" west of the Mississippi occurred right on the border between Utah and Idaho. The first was in 1861, called the City of Rocks Massacre. Over three hundred "white" emigrants were slaughtered by the Shoshoni. The second was in 1863, known as the Battle of Bear River. Over 300 "red" Shoshoni were killed. Both were surprise attacks. In both battles, men women and children were killed. Chief Pocatello led the Shoshoni in the first battle to attack the "whites", and General P. Edward Conner led the U.S. military in the second attack against the Shoshoni. Later a treaty was signed in Brigham City, Box Elder County, Utah. Source: Reeder, Adolph M. (and the Box Elder Chapter of the Sons of the Pioneers). 1951. Box Elder Lore of the Nineteenth Century. Chapter 18, "Shoshoni Treaty".

1869 First Transcontinental Railroad	Completion of the first transcontinental railroad happened in 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah. Above is a photograph by A.J. Russel (1869) at the dedication/celebration ceremony celebrating the event. While many were celebrating, many lay dead in shallow, unmarked graves. Most of the dead were Chinese workers, as they were not treated very well. They suffered cold nights, hot days, worked long hours, with no breaks and little food. It is a travesty what happened in the name of progress. Today, there is a monument to the Chinese workers at Gold Spike National Historical Park, acknowledging their hard work and sacrifice. Archaeologists have found a 150-year-old, buried China Town in Utah, where the Chinese workers lived who worked on the railroad. Read article.
Map of Transcontinental Railroad in Utah POINTs of INTEREST Promontory is where the two railroads met and where the golden spike was driven. Corrine "Boom Town" Story related below. Union Junction, Ogden, Utah in the story below. Ten-Mile Station is where my personal story took place.
1869 Corrine Boom Town &... The Corrine Prophecy	In 1868, Mark A. Gilmore purchased 160 acres of land in Corrine, Utah, anticipating that it would become the main railroad junction for the railroad. By March of 1869, people started purchasing lots there, moving there, and living there--all anticipating that Corrine would become the biggest town in Utah, because of the railroad--they thought that it would become the Junction City of the West. By April of 1869, 1500 people had moved there all anticipating the same thing. It was a veritable "Boom Town". At its peak, there were about 3500 permanent residents living there. There were many, many transients, such as railroad men, freighters, miners, sight-seers, trappers, hunters, and so forth. Also, there was a camp of about 500 Chinese living just outside of the town. In all, there were probably around 5000 people living in Corrine. (On a side note, all of this is hard for me to imagine, because I have passed through Corrine going to Golden Spike National Historical Park, and there are very few people living there now, and there are no remnants of the once boom town. There are just a few farms out there, one gas station and one little tiny restaurant). Incidentally, the town was named after General Williamson's daughter, the first white child to be born in the settlement. It was incorporated in 1870. Investors came from California and invested a lot of money into the town. Corrine had the first water system in Box Elder County. Utah's first Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches were built. It had the territory's first weather bureau. It had two banks before Ogden had even one. It had the first bank outside of Salt Lake City in all of the Utah territory. The town had a brick yard and a saw mill. Lumber was floated down the Bear River from Bear Lake to the town. They even had a smelter and a slaughter house. (None of these things still exist today.) Corrine was the biggest and most gentile city in all of Utah. Immorality ran high. It had 28 saloons and gambling houses, including houses of so-called ill-repute. About this time, President Brigham Young (president of the Mormon Church) was heard to prophesy that Corrine would not prosper, because it was too wicked. He also said that if the people did not repent, the city would fall, and it would not become the Junction City of the West--rather Ogden would become the Junction City of the West. The boom lasted only twenty years. Ogden did become the Junction City of the West, and the old Union Junction Station still stands (currently unused) in Ogden. Legend has it that it is haunted, and that sometimes one can see the ghosts in the window. One Halloween night, my son and I went there to see if we could catch a glimpse of a ghost in the windows. The windows appeared to be all boarded up. So, we couldn't see anything, but as we walked by a parked pick-up truck, it honked at us. I went up and looked in the window of the truck's cab. There was nobody inside the the truck. As we walked by some parked cars in the area, some of them honked at us as well, with nobody inside them. I wonder if the ghosts knew that we were there looking for them, and if they were saying, "We're here. You just can't see us." But, back to Corrine. I am amazed by this revelation to me from reading an article by John C. Hunsaker, 1949, entitled "Corrine in Boom Days," from the book Box Elder Lore of the Nineteenth Century, by the Box Elder Chapter of the Sons of the Pioneers, published by the same in 1951. I am amazed because there is nothing left to suggest that Corrine was such a boom town. It seems that none of the original buildings are still standing. It would appear that Brigham Youngs prophecy came true. And, he gave another prophecy that came true. When someone remarked that the land of Corrine was no good for farming, Brigham Young prophesied that irrigation from the Bear River that flows through it would allow farmers to produce lots of crops. And, that's what it is today... farms.
1896 Statehood	Utah was admitted as a state to the United States of America, (after polygamy was outlawed).

2023 Ghost Town at Locomotive Springs, Utah An account of a HAUNTING by Leon of Leon's Planet.	The Haunted Ten-Mile Station at Locomotive Springs! Photo Credit: "Road Trip Ryan". I love this photo, by Road Trip Ryan (click on the link above to see more pics of the area). It is so picturesque, but don't let the beauty fool you. Locomotive Springs is HAUNTED! Interpolatively, I should probably put this story on my Utah Lore page, (and I might, at a later date), but since it is connected to the history above, I'll put it here. Also, I should probably mention that I call this place a "Ghost Town" not just because of the abandoned buildings that you see in the photo above, but because of what happened to my son and me ("...and me" is proper grammar BTW. Trust me, I'm a linguist. See my grammar page for more info.) It is fairly common knowledge that ghosts inhabit the region wherein they died. Well, Locomotive Springs area is the area of Shoshoni burrial grounds, Chinese burial grounds (of those who died while building the railroad), and it is near the two greatest massacres west of the Mississippi involving the American Indians and pioneer settlers. Now, I did not know all that when I took my son out there in the early summer of 2023, but even if I did, it wouldn't have deterred me. You see, I'm not afraid of ghosts. I know that they cannot harm me. (See my ghost page for more information about ghosts). However, as I learned that day, they can do some freaky stuff. So, prior to our excursion to Locomotive Springs, I had been researching and thinking of places to go where my son could ride the ATV while I go fishing. Locomotive Springs seemed like the perfect place. There are tons of dirt roads out there that go for miles, and I could have my peace and quiet fishing at the spring... or so I thought. (BTW, you now need an OHV certificate to ride Off-Highway Vehicles in Utah). It was a beautiful sunny day in June of 2023, and it was the weekend. I knew that we would be alone out there, because we had been there once before, just to check it out, and it is way out in the middle of the desert, far from civilization (...living civilization, that is). And we were. We were alone (at least alone from other livings). I was excited to go fishing, because it had been a while. Well, if anything could go wrong, it did. First thing when we arrived, the wind picked up and clouds rolled in. Now, I had checked the weather forecast for the day and it didn't say anything about rain for Northern Utah and we had come all the way out there. We were determined to make the most of it. We got the ATV out of the trailer and my son started riding, while I went fishing. The wind kept getting stronger, and the clouds kept getting darker. Next thing I know, I had barely gotten in my first cast when my son comes back with the ATV saying, "Dad, the ATV keeps dying." I tried it out myself, and he was right. It kept stalling. We were lucky enough to get it back on the trailer just in time for it to start raining. So, not only was riding out, fishing was out, too! So, even though we still had plenty of daylight left, we decided to get out of Locomotive Springs, but the spirits had other plans for us. The truck wouldn't start. It wouldn't even turn over. And, no clicking sound from the starter either. I was flabberghasted. That had never happened to me before. It was as if the spirits were "sucking" all the "juice" from the battery. As we sat in the truck, hundreds of miles from any services, in the rain, we both freaked out. I said a prayer. "Dear God and Angels, please help us out of this situation." No less than five minutes later, a truck appeared out of nowhere, on a different dirt road that also came to the Springs. Although, there was plenty of light, it had its brights on, which I thought was weird. But, okay, some people drive with their lights on all the time. It stopped about two hundred yards from us. Why? We don't know. It sat there, for about five to ten minutes. Then, it started moving towards us. When it arrive at our location, I waved the driver down and asked for help. He looked like a younger version of a cross between Dann Florek (of Law and Order) and David Carradine (Kung Fu), the amount of hair just about right in between the two characters. If I had to guess, I'd say he looked more like David Carradine with hair cut. Really nice guy! He gave us a jump and we got the truck started. I thanked him and he said he'd follow us out to make sure we were okay. As soon as we got off dirt, I notice that we had a flat tire. So, we pulled over. I dared not turn the engine off, because I knew we'd never get it started again. We changed the tire--put the spare on, with the engine running, truck in park, parking brake on, and wheels chocked and trailer still hooked up. It stopped raining just long enough for us to change the tire. Never have I been so glad to get home after a trip. We took the trailer off with the truck still running, and then parked the truck. We turned off the engine. Waited a few moments. Then tried to start it again. It was dead. _________________________________________________________________ "What just happened there?" my son and I wondered. We got to chatting and came up with the following scenario. Somehow, and for some reason, our presence there that day was not appreciated by the spirits. Was it the ATV? Was it the fishing? Were we parked on somebody's gravesite? We may never know, but what we do know is that the spirits were not happy with us that day. They made it rain on a day when it wasn't supposed to rain. They made it windy. They "sucked" the juice from our ATV and our truck, and my son is entirely convinced that we got a flat tire from the spear of one of the deceased Shoshoni. When we were able to look at the tire that got flat, it was ripped or sliced open and not from a nail or a screw. Whatever happened that day, we aren't going back to Locomotive Springs!