Historical Society Antique Show

Lori Ann Larsen, President of the Emery County Historical Society opened the annual antique show and tell meeting at Miller’s Landing in Huntington. Larsen welcomed everyone and noted there were several antiques on display to be discussed.
Kathy Justice the owner of Millers Landing was asked to give a brief history about the Miller’s Landing historical building that she has had restored. The windows and the brick have been changed on the front of the building, which eliminated it from being declared a historical building. This building was built in 1912 and is named after George Miller who was a very prominent business man in Emery County. The building has been a furniture store, a bank, a post office and a department store. It is possibly the oldest business building in Emery County. Kathy said she is fond of antiques and has collected many antiques that are located up the stairs to the upper level in the building. The original floor is still being used. The flooring was covered with old carpet that was removed by herself and her sons. The flooring upstairs is also the original floor. The vault for the bank is still in the building.
Kathy told the group that she heard a rumor that Butch Cassidy would come here and take things, but that he would always leave a sack of money. She said, The ceiling of the building is still the original ceiling and was painted white. She had the ceiling painted a copper color. Those ceiling tiles are very ancient, very old and they are worth a lot of money.
The basement has a dirt floor and three sump pumps are used to keep it dry.
Larsen then introduced Lyndon Gardner who explained about music being in his family for many generations. One of his ancestors wrote a song that was included in the first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints hymnbook. One of his great aunts living in Orangeville was asked to join the Tabernacle Choir. His grandfather on the Humphrey side used to play a trombone in the city band in the 1920s. Van Gardner his father and eight brothers used to sing at various events. The hymn “High On A Mountaintop” was written by his second great uncle.
The first two songs that Lyndon sang while playing his guitar were written by his grandmother’s brothers. He then sang several western ballads for the group.
Edward Geary took over as emcee and stated that the Gardeners were also dancers. Lyndon’s grandfather George Gardner was reported to have been the best dancer in Huntington. It was reported every lady at that time wanted to do a turn dancing around the floor with George Gardner.
Edward invited each person that brought an antique to come forward and tell about their antique.
Some of those that came forward to display their antique are listed as follows:
The first person to come forward was Lesa Miller who displayed a picture in an old frame made in the late 1800s in Germany for her ancestors.
Gale Anderson had a display of a collection of nails decorating a short section of a telegraph pole. These nails over many years were placed in telegraph poles, trestle ties and railroad ties. The design on the head of each nail indicated when that telegraph pole or railroad tie needed to be changed out. These nails came out of telegraph poles in the southern part of Utah. One of the nails on display has been dated back to 1901. That one nail is 117 years old and was extracted from a telegraph pole in southern Utah. Some of the nails were taken from railroad ties at the Mohrland and Hiawatha Mine railroad tracks. These nails come in many different shapes. During World War II nails were not used because of the need for metal. Each nail represented approximately 100 railroad ties and spaced accordingly. The collection of these nails ended in 1933. Many of these nails can be found in Emery County if you know what you’re looking for.
Mr. Jensen of Castle Dale demonstrated how a grain scythe and a sickle were used to cut grain before the advent of the combine. Evelyn Huntsman said that her grandmother came to Castle Dale right after Castle Dale was settled and she used a sickle to cut bundles of grain.
Wayne Frisbie explained and demonstrated a carbide miners lamp. His dad started working in coal mines when he was eight years old and used a carbide lamp. The coal vein was 1 foot thick. Wayne indicated carbide mixed with water makes an acetylene gas. In the early days coal was extracted from a coal vein with a pick and shovel. In the bottom of the lamp is the carbide and a little water is added to the top of the container. Water mixed with the carbide forms a gas that gives off the light when ignited by a spark. The lever regulates the amount of water that drips into the carbide. Carbide is very dangerous and very unstable said Mr. Frisbie.
The regulator on the lamp starts out at 15 pounds. That is all it takes to get the carbide to ignite. When the gas starts to flow a spark is needed to ignite it.
Evelyn Huntsman displayed a piece of iron ore that came from the iron mines near Cedar City given to her by her brother.
Katherine Seeley displayed an early program from the Castle Valley Pageant and a pageant yearbook for 1978. The Castle Valley pageant was written by Montell Seeley Katherine’s husband. Early programs were a full two hours long and for the music several people brought guitars. The pageant started out as an LDS ward event.
Kay Jensen displayed two Mandolins with eight strings. The mandolins have a large body to amplify sound.
The mandolin is shaped kind of like a large gourd with a long neck. These mandolins are tuned the same as a fiddle would be tuned. They are played with a pick that is smaller than a guitar pick. Jensen said I have my grandfather’s mandolin and my cousin Sherry Vancleave received the other mandolin. Later I later received that other mandolin and now have two mandolins which I will give to my daughter. She plays a fiddle with our band on Wednesday nights in Castle Dale at the senior center.
Geary displayed a North Emery high school newspaper from 1940. He thanked everyone who had participated in this interesting and informative annual antique show and tell.
The group then retired to the kitchen for refreshments.