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4th grade online class
Lesson Plan Template
Book Title: Roxaboxen
Author and publication date: Alice McLerran (1991)
Link to digital reading of book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIDQSfiX5ic&feature=youtu.be
What unit will you use this book with or how/when will you use it with your fourth graders: I plan to use this book
as part of an introductory lesson in a unit called: Utah towns: How did they get started?
Social Studies concepts taught
in this book:
Vision
Industry
Economy
Leadership, Resourcefulness,
Cooperation
Questions that could be discussed based on the text:
Why did the town of Roxaboxen keep getting bigger?
Besides money, what did the children have to do to start a
business (shop)?
What goods were produced in Roxaboxen? What resources
did they find in the desert…how did the children use them…
who may have used these things before them?
How did each child contribute to the building of the town?
Adapted from: Every Book is a Social Studies Book, Libresco, Balantic, & Kipling, 2011
Materials for the Lesson:
Digital book reading of Roxaboxen (see link at top of lesson plan)
PowerPoint: Utah Towns-Early Settlements (see: separate attachment)
Print:
Pre-Assessment-questionnaire (1 per student)
Small Group-Study Guides-(one settlement per group) print a copy for each member of small group)
Graphic Organizer-4 column chart
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Lesson Objective: SWBAT analyze how physical geography affects human life in Utah (Standard 1.2.b) by comparing
and contrasting the “distribution and use of natural resources” used by the pioneers in some of Utah’s first
settlements.
Background Knowledge: During the first years of settlement, in Utah, the pioneers established agricultural communities
throughout the region. The first pioneers had to produce not only enough food for themselves, but also for an everincreasing number of new immigrants. Major crops were wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, peas and beans. The people
imported and planted fruit trees, and in the warmer St. George region they grew cotton so the people could make their
own cloth. Raising animals-cows, pigs, sheep and chickens-was also part of the agricultural lifestyle.
When a new community was founded, the first people on the site usually slept in or under their wagons until a more
permanent home could be built. Sometimes it was a simple log cabin or a dugout in the side of the hill. As the
community grew, other buildings made out of sun-dried adobe bricks, wood or stone began to replace the first
shelters. The old buildings were then used for storage or even as barns for animals. Through cooperation the settlers
soon built stores and other places of business, churches and schools. They worked together to build roads, bridges,
and lumber mills.
Utah grew up from a number of colonies sent out from time to time, both north and south, by Brigham Young and his
council, the First Presidency and the “Twelve,” to form settlements and people the intermountain country. The
colonists were placed under able and experienced captains whom Brigham Young deemed the most fitting men to be
the founders of the communities and to formulate the local governments. Hence the settlements and counties of the
territory, at the outset, grew up rather in the organic form of colonies and family groups of settlements than as cities or
towns in the ordinary sense.
Instructional Procedures:
1) Anticipatory Set/Invitation to Learn: Give students (5min) to write their answers to the following questions
2) (see: Pre-assessment questionnaire) 1. If you were asked to go with your family and start a brand new town in the
desert areas of Southern Utah, how would you feel? 2. What are some things you would need to take with you? 3.
When you arrive to your new area, what will be the 3 most important things you will have to do, first?
3) (Follow-up discussion-whole group)Write 3 columns on the board: Feelings/Items to take/Things to do first
(5 minutes) Have a few of the students give their answers sharing their thoughts and ideas… the other students
will listen and give” thumbs up” if they answered the question in a similar way. (Teacher concludes the
discussion by thanking students for sharing and telling his/her feelings about the questions)
4) Method for sharing the book: “Today, we are going to watch a digital reading of a book called: Roxaboxen. The
children in this story use their imagination and a few items they find in the area outside of their desert town, to
create their own town!
5) A few words we will need to know: ocotillo (oh-koh-TEE-yoh ), amber, amethyst, sea-green –desert glass,
“ford “ a river, raid, greasewood
6) Listening Focus: As you watch and listen to the story: Think about the ways that each child used a skill to help
build the town. What were the materials they used to build the town…where did those materials come from?
7) Digital Reading of Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
8) Following the reading: Ask these text-based comprehension questions…give brief comments on the big
ideas/concepts involved in creating a town.
Vision
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Why did the town of Roxaboxen keep getting bigger?
Industry
Economy
Leadership, Resourcefulness,
Cooperation
Besides money, what did the children have to do to start a
business (shop)?
What goods were produced in Roxaboxen? What resources
did they find in the desert…how did the children use them…
who may have used these things before them?
How did each child contribute to the building of the town?
9)
PowerPoint: Utah Towns: How did they get started: Discuss- the natural resources that would have been
needed to establish the early settlements of Utah.
10) Activity- Divide students into Small Groups(of 4-6)
1) Groups choose (one) settlement to study-(See: selected settlement materials in Study Guide section)
2) Provide each student with a copy of the information and a graphic organizer. Students read the information
and help each other to fill in organizer.
3) Groups choose one spokesperson to share findings with class.
11. Closure:
1. Spokespersons from each group stand and share information about their settlement with the class.
* Teacher wraps up the lesson by comparing the imaginary town of Roxaboxen and the experiences that the pioneers
had when starting Utah’s towns (e.g.) Using available resources, sharing skills and working together as a community etc.
_____________________________________________
NOTE: This section of the lesson plan is to help you think about how you can use this particular piece of literature to
connect with, or integrate with, other things you are required to teach during your day. They are not part of your social
studies lesson plan above, but will help you think about how you could use this book to teach other things also, perhaps as
part of your literacy time or your science time.
Utah English/Language Arts Core objectives (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, or Language) that could
be appropriately taught with this text: (List at least 2 along with a brief explanation or example)
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences using descriptive details and clear event sequence- This book is
based on a true childhood experience. It could be used as a good literary example to have students write about their own
life experiences.
Other disciplines (math, science, the arts, etc.) that could be integrated with this text: (List at least 2 realistic
possibilities with a brief explanation or example)
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Science: Describe common plants and animals found in Utah Environments (desert) Students could see if the plants
described in the story are also found in Utah. Start a study of organisms and how they adapt to their environments.
Math: Measurement, Perimeter and Area-Students lay-out the homes, streets, parks, stores, etc. in their own neighborhood
using grid paper.
MATERIALS:
(Pre-Assessment)
1.
If you were asked to go with your family and start a brand new town in the desert areas of Southern Utah, how would
you feel?
2. What are some things you would need to take with you?
3. When you arrive to your new area, what will be the 3 most important things you will have to do, first?
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Small Group- Study Guides
Mormon Station-Genoa, Nevada (1850) http://parks.nv.gov/parks/mormon-station-state-historic-park/
Mormon Station is the site of Nevada's first permanent non-native settlement. A replica of the original trading post,
built in 1851, houses a museum with pioneer-era artifacts. Mormon Station is located in the small town of Genoa,
12 miles south of Carson City.
HISTORY
The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848 started the frantic migration west to California. After facing many
challenges along the journey, the final obstacle on the California trail was tackling the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Weary and thirsty travelers often rested and purchased supplies in the fertile oasis of the Carson Valley.
In June of 1850, two members of the Mormon Battalion, Abner Blackburn and Hampton Beatie, established a
temporary trading post on the west side of Carson Valley. Their stories of this beautiful area on the emigrant trail
intrigued their Salt Lake employer, John Reese, and his nephew, Stephen Kinsey.
In the spring of 1851, Reese and Kinsey loaded more than a dozen wagons full of supplies and set out for the
Carson Valley. The Reese Company built a permanent trading post, approximately one mile south of the temporary
trading post established by Blackburn and Beatie. Reese's Station soon had a blacksmith shop, livery stable, and
flour and saw mills nearby.
NATIVE PEOPLE
Long before the great pioneer migration to the West had begun, Washo Indians called the eastern Sierra area
home. Washo people traditionally spent summers at Lake Tahoe fishing, hunting and gathering seeds, berries and
roots.
In the fall, they gathered pine nuts, and grass seeds, preparing for winter in the Carson Valley. Although this cycle
changed when pioneers began claiming land, Washo people still live in the area today and practice many of the
traditional ways.
EARLY GOVERNMENT
In 1851 residents formed a squatter's government, and in 1854, the Utah Territorial Legislature organized Carson
County, Utah. Governor Brigham Young appointed Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde to serve as probate judge and
spiritual head of the community.
Orson Hyde changed the name of the community to Genoa (after Genoa, Italy) and made it the county seat.
Mormon pioneers settled in the area until 1857 when Brigham Young called all Mormons back to defend Salt Lake
from the advancing U.S. Army. Genoa was a regular stop for the Pony Express during its 18-month heyday from
1860-1861. In 1861 Congress created the Territory of Nevada. James Nye assumed his duties as Governor and
designated Carson City as the capital of the new territory.
Three years later, on October 31, 1864, Nevada became the thirty-sixth state in the Union. Because statehood
occurred during the Civil War, Nevada became known as the "Battle Born" state.
As the Comstock silver and gold discoveries continued, Genoa remained an important center of activity for freight
and passenger traffic. The route of commerce permanently shifted when the Central Pacific Railroad was built. The
county seat was moved from Genoa to Minden in 1916.
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St. George Settlement (1854) http://www.utahsdixie.com/saint_george.html
A Brief History of the Establishment of St. George, Utah
The Virgin River Anasazi were St. George’s earliest residents,
inhabiting the area from approximately 200 B.C. to 1200 A.D. They left behind
rock art and ruins of their dwellings. The reason for their departure is unknown
to this day. The Pauite tribe arrived between 1100 and 1200 A.D., utilizing the
area as a hunting ground for deer, rabbits and other animals. The Pauites also
grew crops along the riverbeds, including corn, wheat and melons. In 1776, the
Dominguez-Escalante Party became the first recorded European-Americans to
visit the area. Fur trappers and government survey parties followed.
In 1854, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS
Church, or Mormon Church) established an Indian mission in Santa Clara, two
miles northwest of present-day St. George. The church set up experimental
farms in the St. George Valley in 1857-1858. In October 1861, church leaders
called 309 families to establish the Cotton Mission. After the outbreak of the Civil
War that same year, LDS Church President Brigham Young felt it necessary to
grow cotton, if possible. Many of these families assigned to settle the area hailed
from the South and possessed the necessary skills to grow cotton and establish
a community. Paying homage to the nickname of their former home, these
settlers called the region “Utah’s Dixie.”
St. George, Utah was named in honor of Mormon apostle George A. Smith, also
known as the “Potato Saint” because he urged early settlers to eat raw, unpeeled potatoes to cure scurvy. Smith did
not participate in the town’s settlement, but personally selected many of the pioneers that originally settled the area.
The first years in St. George proved difficult for early residents due to challenges such as flooding, lack of culinary
water and scorching summer heat. A cotton factory erected soon after the settlers’ arrival produced off and on for
approximately 50 years, but overall, cotton proved an unsuccessful venture. The area also produced silk as early as
1874, but its production did not contribute significantly to the area’s economic prosperity. Other early pioneer
endeavors included the production of molasses, dried fruit and even wine.
St. George became the county seat of Washington County in 1863. That same year, construction
began on the St. George LDS Tabernacle, which was finished in 1875. In 1871, work began on the St. George LDS
Temple, which became a cooperative effort uniting many Southern Utah communities. Mormon Apostle Daniel H. Wells
dedicated the temple on April 6, 1877. It was the first temple constructed west of the Mississippi River. Undergoing
significant renovations in the late 1930s and mid 1970s, the structure is the longest continuously operated Mormon
Temple in the world.
Today St. George is the largest city in Washington County and the eighthlargest city in Utah. Its metropolitan area is home to nearly 120,000
residents.
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Maughan’s Fort-Wellsville, Utah (1856)
http://www.mendonutah.net/history/cache_county/08.htm
In 1856, Peter Maughan was chosen by Brigham Young to take a small colony into Cache Valley and commence the
settlement of it. Peter Maughan, his son William H. Maughan, George Bryan, John Tate, Morgan Morgan and Zial Riggs
arrived in Cache Valley over the Sardine route in July 1856. They were much impressed with the Valley and decided to
locate in the south end where Wellsville is. They returned at once to Tooele County for their families. September 15 th,
1856, the following arrived in Cache Valley and became the first real settlers and colonizers here: Peter Maughan, his
wife and sons, William H. Maughan and John Maughan, Zial Riggs, George Bryan, Francis Gunnell, Orange D.
Thompson and families. For two days they explored the Valley and finally decided to locate where Wellsville is. They
went to work cutting wild hay and building their log houses and corrals.
September 27th of this year, the first child was born in Cache Valley to, Mrs. Peter Maughan. It was named Elizabeth.
This event took palace in a covered wagon just after the first snowfall, September 26th. It was cold weather and the
settlers moved into their log cabins just as soon as they were completed. The settlement was called Maughan’s Fort
but later was named Wellsville in honor of Lieutenant Daniel H. Wells.
The winter of 1856 was also a severe one for the settlers. The snow was so deep that trenches had to be dug to the
woodpiles where one log was dug up at a time and used for the fires. Trenches were also dug around the haystacks to
keep the cattle off the stacks.
The snow was from three to four feet on the level and about ten feet deep in the canyons. In January of 1857, John
Gardner, son of William Gardner, attempted to reach Maughan’s Fort (Wellsville) from Brigham City through the
canyon. He was frozen to death and was found two days later about one-half mile from the fort. This caused great
alarm in the little colony and William H. Maughan and John Maughan made two trips on snow shoes over the Sardine
trail to Brigham City to forward a letter to their father, Peter Maughan, then at Fillmore, to inform him of Gardner’s
death; also to arrange to meet their father at Brigham City and escort him to the Fort in Cache Valley. In the spring of
1857, the settlers began to fence their farms and plant their crops. Other colonists arrived so that when the
provisional organization of the county was effected there were about twenty families. Among those to arrive were
William Hamblin, Timothy Parkinson, Sr., Thomas Leavitt and Joseph Woodward.
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Heber City Settlement (1859)
http://historytogo.utah.gov/places/hebercity.html
When the Mormons arrived in the Great Basin in 1847, they welcomed the opportunity to shape a virgin land into the
Kingdom of God, and they pursued an aggressive colonization pattern.
Heber Valley in the Wasatch Mountains, forty miles southeast of Salt Lake City and twenty-eight miles northeast of
Provo, could not be settled until there was a wagon road through either Parley's or Provo canyons. The first attempt to
build such a road, however, was delayed by the Utah War and the Move South. Once Johnston's Army was settled at
Camp Floyd near Utah Lake, Brigham Young responded to appeals by residents of Provo to build a road up the canyon.
By 1859 a road linked Provo and Heber Valley and newcomers who were looking for land settled the little valley
communities of Heber City, Midway, Charleston, Center Creek, Daniels, and Wallsburg.
According to John Crook, the first historian of the area, most of the initial settlers came from England and had been
converted by Heber C. Kimball. To honor Kimball, they decided to name the valley and the first settlement after him.
The residents harvested their first crops in 1859 but then returned to Utah Valley for the winter. The next year they
returned to make permanent homes. They initially built a fort for protection from Indian raids. Once fear of raids
ended, they started to build homes in the surveyed townsite. The settlers built using locally quarried red sandstone as
well as adobe and brick. The sandstone was also shipped and used in buildings in other parts of the state.
When the area was settled, the northern part of what is now Wasatch County (including Heber City and Midway) was in
Salt Lake County and the southern part (including Wallsburg in Round Valley) was in Utah County. In 1862 the Utah
legislature created Wasatch County and made Heber City the county seat. At the time the county was created there
were more than 1,000 people living in the area. Heber City was incorporated as a town in 1889 and as a city in 1901.
As in other Mormon communities, religion played an important role in Heber City. In 1867 Brigham Young called Abram
Hatch, a businessman from Lehi, to be bishop of Heber City's ward, and ten years later he became a stake president.
Hatch, like the church leaders who followed him, played not only an important religious role but was also a leading
merchant and elected official during and after his release from his religious calling in 1901. After only five years in the
area, William H. Smart, another imported stake president, was called to the Uinta Basin, and Joseph R. Murdock, a
local businessman, became the local stake president in 1906.
The Heber City area economy depended on agriculture, livestock, and dairying. Once the Rio Grande Western railway
track was completed in 1899, the city became a shipping center for agricultural products. For example, in 1915 the
D&RGW could boast that Heber annually shipped 360 cars of sheep, 280 cars of hay, 40 cars of cattle, and 60 cars of
sugar beets. As Heber grew, local residents and imports started hotels, retail stores, markets, lumberyards, banks, and
other businesses. The local weekly newspaper, The Wasatch Wave, began publishing in 1889. Elementary schools,
middle schools, and eventually a high school trained the young. The local chamber of commerce was active in
promoting the tourist industry and was pleased when U.S. Highway 40 passed through the community. In the 1990s
Heber City continues as an agricultural center, an attractive place for tourists to visit, and a bedroom community for
the Salt Lake and Utah valleys.
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Fillmore settlement (1852)
http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/fillmore.html
Until 1851 Mormon Settlement in Utah was confined mostly to the western slopes of the Wasatch Mountains. When
Utah became a territory through the Organic Act of 1850 settlement patterns began to change. Since the new
boundaries of the territory enclosed a smaller land area than expansive Mormon hopes had included in the proposed
state of Deseret, LDS leaders anticipated settlement of the entire territory.
Planning for the eventual settlement of Utah, the Legislative Assembly decided to locate the territorial capital at the
geographic center of Utah. Pauvan Valley was chosen because of its location midway between the Sierra and Colorado
Rockies and in the center of Utah. On October 4, 1851, the remote Pauvan Valley was designated as the site of the
territorial seat of government. On the same day, the Assembly named the surrounding area Millard County and planned
to create a capital city called Fillmore. A committee of four men was appointed to survey the area and determine the
exact location of the city and the capitol building site.
The party, led by Orson Pratt, left Salt Lake City for Pauvan Valley on October 21, 1851. When they arrived at the
uninhabited region, Jesse W. Fox laid out the boundaries for the capital city. Streets were outlined for future
construction. The site of the territorial capital was located. Orson Pratt later wrote a letter to Brigham Young
describing the city boundaries as square blocks of ten acres. The letter noted that a law was established that no trees
were to be cut in the city or for two miles out.
Anson Call and a company of thirty families arrived in Fillmore at the same time as the Pratt party. The group had been
asked by church leaders to settle the area. Before he left for Salt Lake City, Pratt instructed Call to construct the city
as it had been outlined. Streets, houses, public buildings, and, most important, the territorial capitol had to be built.
During the next year the Fillmore settlers worked to create a city out of a wasteland. The immediate need of building
homes and public buildings took up most of the time and energy of the workmen. Because of this, construction of the
capitol was delayed until the following spring.
http://historytogo.utah.gov/places/fillmore.html
By February 1852, about thirty houses and a log schoolhouse were completed in the form of a fort. In 1852 a post
office was established, and by 1853 the population of Fillmore was listed as 304. Farming and stock raising quickly
became its principal industries. Because of Indian problems, a fort was constructed in 1853-54 of stone and adobe, and
all local people were located within its walls for safety. On 26 October 1853 a team of U.S. Army topographical
engineers headed by Lieutenant John W. Gunnison was massacred by Pahvant Utes not far from Fillmore. Seven were
killed.
The first settlers were principally American, but later an influx of English, Scots, Welsh, and Scandinavians arrived in
the area. Today, Fillmore is a community of 1,956 people. It is a tightly knit community which has won numerous
beautification awards and is dedicated to community development. It is the home of the Chief Kanosh Pageant as well
as one of the largest Fourth of July celebrations in Utah. Its citizens are strong supporters of high school athletics. In
1985 the former Fillmore Hospital was purchased by Fillmore City, and by the fall of 1986 it had been remodeled, with
city offices in the east wing and the President Millard Fillmore Library in the west wing. Fillmore is also the home of a
multimillion-dollar mushroom plant located in the city's industrial park where 100,000 pounds. of mushrooms are
harvested each week. During the 1980s, Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants began to work in the mushroom
factory.
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4th grade online class
Chalk Creek Settlement –Coalville, Utah (1858)
Summit County's early history is largely defined by a trail. The road through Echo Canyon taken by a series of
immigrant groups, some famous for the disasters that befell them, others for the success of their colonization efforts,
became the line that drew history in this mountainous canyon to the northeast of the Salt Lake Valley. A number of
communities sprang up along the road: some were supply stations for the bands of travelers, and others were
permanent settlements of farmers anxious to try agriculture in the Great Basin.
The location of one such settlement, Coalville, was chosen by chance. In the fall of 1858 on a freight run between Salt
Lake City and Fort Bridger, William Henderson Smith stopped to camp near Chalk Creek. He noticed that wheat that
had fallen to the earth from earlier travelers' wagons had taken root and ripened without any attention. He took
samples of the wheat with him into Salt Lake City and by the next spring had convinced two other men, Andrew
Williams and Leonard Phillips, to join with him in the area's settlement. By April 1859 they were joined by Henry B.
Wilde, Joseph Stalling, and Thomas B. Franklin and their families.
At first the new settlement was called Chalk Creek, but after the discovery of coal nearby the name was changed to
Coalville. Thomas Rhoades discovered coal while hunting for game. He took samples of the coal to Brigham Young.
Soon Young sent Daniel H. Wells, Briant Stringham, and Stephen Taylor to open the coal mine they called the "Old
Church Mine."
Over the next several decades Mormon settlers opened a series of mines across the canyon walls, including mines at
Spring Hollow, Allen's Hollow, and Wasatch or Grass Creek. The Weber Coal Company ran the Wasatch Mine for a
number of years and then leased it for a period of time to J.H. Roberts. Most importantly, the coal mines provided an
important natural resource that benefited locals, providing needed income, jobs, and fuel for their homes. Before 1873
coal was shipped to Salt Lake City by ox teams; by 1873 a narrow-gauge railroad had been built to the Wasatch Mine.
The Utah Eastern Narrow Gauge greatly facilitated the transportation of ore to market. In 1880 a line was completed to
Park City.
The settlers built a mill at Sulphur Springs in 1861, a rock schoolhouse in 1865, and regularly held court in Coalville. In
1867 the town was incorporated; W.W. Cluff was elected as mayor, and H.B. Wilde, W.H. Smith, H.B. Clements, Ira
Hinckley, and John Staley were elected to the council. In 1871 Summit County built a county courthouse in Coalville,
thereby solidifying the town's political importance to the area. This yellow sandstone structure was described by one
observer as "by far the most beautiful public building we have seen for a city of its size." The formation of the LDS
Summit Stake in July 1877 made Coalville the center of religious, political, and commercial life. By the turn of the
century, a diverse group of businesses lined Coalville's Main Street and spread out from the center in all directions.
In 1892 LDS President Wilford Woodruff issued a charter for the Summit Stake Academy, a school opened in an upper
chamber of the co-op building on Main Street. In 1912 the public school district built a school. Typical of the two-story
buildings constructed during the consolidation movement, this school had four classrooms in the corners of the two
levels and multiuse recreation rooms on each floor.
Coalville is located about 5,600 feet above sea level, a town cradled by mountains with ready access to water. One
visitor to Coalville described Coalville as being "very picturesque. Through the city, from east to west, emptying into
the grand Weber river, which is the western boundary of the city. Hemmed in by these two beautiful rivers, surrounded
by majestic mountains, every home surrounded by flower gardens and fruit orchards, the pure mountain air--well,
draw the picture yourself, a pen cannot describe it."
In 1908, Coalville had a population of 1,200 and about twenty businesses, the largest of which was a ZCMI. The city
boasted its own opera house, electric light plant, and the elegant Summit Stake Tabernacle. Today, life in Coalville
proceeds at a pace established long ago. Known for its extreme winter temperatures, Coalville is still a quiet, peaceful
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town. Occasionally the scene of heated battles about land usage in Summit County, it is nevertheless a place with a
sense of tradition and a proud history that stretches back more than 140 years.
Session’s Settlement-Bountiful, Utah (1847)
Bountiful is Utah's second settlement and was named for one of the ancient American cities described in the Book of
Mormon. Bountiful was settled not long after Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Perrigrine Sessions
explored the area just three days after his arrival. In September 1847 Sessions gathered his family into their wagon and
herded 300 head of cattle into the South Davis Valley. Other families moved into the area and began planting crops the
following year. Fifty-three families had established farms in the area by 1850.
Because of repeated Indian problems, a fort was constructed of dirt walls, three-quarters of a mile square, with the
townsite being laid out within its boundaries. Each man from the area was required to put in a ten-hour day of labor
toward its construction, and all settlers were urged to move within its fortified walls. Though the fort was never
completed and its gates were not installed, portions of the walls stood until the turn of the century.
The settlement was first called "Session's Settlement," and later "North Mill Creek Canyon," which was shortened to
"North Canyon." In 1854, the first post office was established and was named "Stoker" in honor of the settlement's
Mormon bishop, John Stoker. On 17 February 1855 the name Bountiful was accepted unanimously by the people of the
community.
On 12 February 1857 ground was broken for Bountiful's landmark five-spire LDS tabernacle. It was built at a cost of
approximately $60,000 using local materials and local labor. Augustus Farnham drew the plans for the 86-foot by 44foot structure. The best artisans and craftsmen were employed in executing the plaster casting, hand carving, and the
winding stairways. It was constructed on a rock foundation, and featured adobe walls with a red pine roof attached
with wooden pegs. Bountiful was evacuated and its citizens sent to central Utah during the Utah War (1857-1858). As
Johnston's Army approached, construction on the tabernacle was halted and grain was stored in its foundation. It took
six years to complete the structure. A two-day dedicatory service on 14 and 15 March 1863 brought more than 150
visitors, including many dignitaries. Brigham Young presided while Heber C. Kimball offered the dedicatory prayer. The
Bountiful tabernacle remains the oldest chapel in continuous use in the state of Utah.
On 14 December 1892 Bountiful was officially incorporated by the territorial legislature. Joseph L. Holbrook served as
its first mayor. Bountiful originally included all of the south Davis region, but soon its area was reduced. In November
1895 the Woods Cross and West Bountiful areas voted to separate from Bountiful. Later, Centerville was incorporated.
Eventually Bountiful was reduced to an area slightly less than 10.5 square miles.
For more than four decades Bountiful remained a sleepy farming community, but in the 1950s its close proximity to
Salt Lake City made it an ideal residential community for suburban commuters. Families started moving from Salt Lake
City to the suburbs, causing Bountiful's population to more than double. Its demographics also changed since many of
these new residents were professionals (doctors, lawyers, educators, executives) who commuted to work in Salt Lake
City.
®Janae Oveson, onlinesocialstudies@gmail.com
4th grade online class
Name:_____________________
Settlement or Town______________________________________________
Four-Column Chart - Add details to each column
List the names of the
people who first settled
this town.
List the natural resources How did the settlers use
that they found in their
the natural resources?
area.
®Janae Oveson, onlinesocialstudies@gmail.com
4th grade online class
What were some of the
jobs in the town?
What goods did they
produce?
Other interesting facts about the history of your town (write here)
®Janae Oveson, onlinesocialstudies@gmail.com
4th grade online class