|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This small southern Idaho town was an important place in the life of Ezra Grover Carter. "Franklin may well be called the 'mother of the settlements' established near here, as many of her pioneers and her sons were the 'first comes' in settlements in all directions from Franklin", according to Joel E. Ricks, editor of "The History of a Valley, Cache Valley, Utah-Idaho", published in 1956 by the Cache Valley Centennial Commission. The limited facilities in farm lands and cattle ranges in the immediate vicinity of the town, the developement of transportation facilities, such as the Packer's Bridge, to carry Franklin products to the mines and railroad camps, and the desire for 'elbow room' undoubtedly were motives which stimulated migration from Cache Valley's northern outpost in the 1860's and 1870's. Franklin poineers were among the first to settle in the area from Nashville to Oxford to the northwest, and Mapleton to Riverdale to the northeast. Worm Creek rises Northeast of Franklin and comes from Worm Creek Canyon into Cache Valley several miles west of this small community. It runs southwest and enters Cub River just south of the Utah line. The basin of this creek was very important to the people of Franklin since the rich grassy meadows near the banks of the stream offered grazing and wild-hay lands for the people of the area. Certainly the lands along Worm Creek were occupied early. Most of the settlements along that stream were established first by residents of Franklin! The mines and railroad Ricks talked about were located in Montana, however they had a definite economic effect upon the pioneers of Cache Valley as they built the railroad connecting Idaho to Montana. The developement of irrigation ditches (Worm Creek Canal and Mink Creek Canal and water from Cub River) allowed expansion of settlement from Franklin resulting in a rapid increase in population in the Preston area in the 1880's and 1890's. These were the times the Greaves', Carters, Eames' and others homesteaded the flats north of Preston. A number of Utah State University officials including professors Ricks, Woodward, Joseph Greaves and other contemporaries of Ezra G. Carter have ties to the development of Southern Idaho. The communities of Franklin and Preston figured prominently in their lives.Franklin was first settled in 1860 when thirteen men, some bringing their families located there on April 14 of that year. The following brief outline of events in the history of Franklin points out it's historical significance to Idaho and hints at the interesting but difficult times the "Utah Mormons" went through in their quest to achive statehood.
Ezra Carter, his brothers, mother & father and sons have all been associated with agriculture in Northern Utah and Southern Idaho. Cub River, homesteading, fishing, sugar beet raising, putting up hay, sheep, cattle, pigs and chickens, politics and religion have been central to their lives, but raising their families was their main work. Another very important strand of commonality was education and the desire to learn. Schools flourished early in Preston with the first school in Idaho being established by Hannah Comish in her home. In 1900 it was reported that as many as two hundred (200) students were attending public school in Preston. A two-room school house served the pioneers until 1905 when the Central School was erected. Education and religion plus the Puritan ethic of hard work have dominated the lives of these people and the communities of Cache Valley.
Click on your browswer's "Back" button to return to the biography you were reading. 
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
