Joel Ricks Collection

A History of Fifty Years: 1888-1938

Joel Edward Ricks — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:35:37 PDT

For the past half century the Utah State Agricultural College has been making history without a history having been written. As the Semi .. Centennial year approached, the need of recording the outstanding events of the fifty years became imperative. This Institution, in the beginning, was established in the spirit of the Land Grant College Act of 1862-a spirit born in the gloom of military disaster and yet with rising hope and determination to preserve a Union which President Lincoln determined should "lift the burdens from the shoulders of all men." Each President of the College has stressed democracy and has lived democratically. The Faculties have been democratic and the students too have followed that tradition. All have sensed the obligations of such an Institution to the State and all have been very close to the people and their desires and aspirations. The greater Institution consists of three major divisions: the College on the campus, the Experimental College or Experiment Station and the College for the State or the Extension Division. As accounts of the latter two are being written, this history deals with the College on the campus only.

Mormon Colonization in Arizona

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:32 PST

While Mormon colonization was planned and initiated under Brigham Young, he died before his planned settlements could be well established. Thus it remained for the Quorum of the Twelve and Brigham Young's successor, John Taylor, to save the settlements already established and to expand the colonization of Arizona. Thus Brigham Young's colonial plans and efforts should be discussed as a part of the story of Mormon colonization. In the last three years of his life the great Mormon leader planned a magnificent colonization.

Mormon Western Colonization

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:30 PST

Like the pilgrims of New England, prayer and labor were united in founding a commonwealth in the west. Then too this was a pattern followed in the Mormon settlement which soon extended in all directions from the Salt Lake Valley. From the small camp in the valley as Brigham Young later stated were extended "the curtains of Zion."

The Utah Pioneers

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:27 PST

Eighty-six years ago the Mormon pioneer company under the leadership of Brigham Young entered this valley as the vanguard of a people who were to build their own civilization in the Great Basin and beyond. They were the fore-runners of a people admirably trained for the task of colonizing the intermountain valleys. The middle west was the proving ground for the Mormon movement. There they developed a missionary system through which they reached sufficient numbers for their far western venture.

The Origin of the Utah State Agricultural College

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:24 PST

In 1888, Representative Anthon H. Lund of Sanpete County introduced the bill to create a college in Utah. The idea of education for the people of rural Utah came to him while he was on a mission to Denmark. July 29, 1889 upon the sagebrush and wild grass-covered bench of Old Lake Bonneville, high enough above the valley to provide a marvelous view, the founders laid the cornerstone of a building to be used for the education of western democracy - a rural college for the masses.

Fremont and His Explorations in Utah

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:21 PST

John Charles Fremont, explorer, soldier and aspirant to the Presidency of the United States, was born January 21, 1813, in Savannah Georgia. Fremont's great contribution to western expansion did not consist of exploration so much as a scientific mapping of the country.

Jedediah Smith and His Travels in Utah

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:18 PST

Jedediah Smith and his travels in Utah.

Fur Traders and Trappers in Utah

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:15 PST

Though the explorers with their official reports did much to interest the East in the Far West, the fur men, who in most instances preceded the explorers, covered the Indian trails and trapped the beaver from the Rockies to the Pacific and added materially to our knowledge of the country. The story of the fur men is the earliest story of the white man in North America and from cavalier and Pilgrim days to the present, those who sought the furs were in the forefront of civilization.

Logan Fifth Ward History

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:12 PST

During the winter of 1865-1866, the people had settled in that part of Logan which subsequently became the Fifth Ward, went into the mountains after logs with which to erect a school house. his house was finished early in 1866 and stood on the Northwest corner of Block 15 of Plat "C" Logan City Survey. The building measured 16 by 20 feet; subsequently, an addition was made to it. As soon as the house was finished, the saints residing in the neighborhood commenced to hold meetings and day schools as well as social entertainments in this pioneer public building.

The Early History of Cache Valley

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:09 PST

The Rocky Mountain men--American fur traders--were probably the first white explorers of Cache Valley. They spent the winter of 1824 and 1825 on the Bear River and its tributaries. Since there were at least fifty men they probably trapped all the streams of Cache Valley. In this group was James Bridger who was said to have traveled down the Bear River to Great Salt Lake. While the Americans were still in the valley, Peter Skeene Ogden led a party of Hudson Bay fur traders to the Bear River and followed that stream to the Great Salt Lake. This was in May 1825. Ogden met some of the Americans, much to his regret. In the years immediately following Cache Valley, or Willow Valley as it was first named by the fur men, was a favorite rendezvous.

Early Cache Valley History

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:35:06 PST

In the vaults of the Hudson's Bay Company House in London, Professor Merle of Harvard discovered the earliest authentic evidence of the first fur men in Cache Valley.

The Settlement of Cache Valley

Joel E. Ricks — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:56:53 PST

The settlement of Cache Valley played a significant part in the tremendous efforts of Brigham Young to occupy and develop an extensive commonwealth in the Far West. As he led his tired but hopeful pioneers into the valley of the Great Salt Lake in 1847, it did not seem likely that one of America's greatest colonial enterprises was in the making.