ORVll
s.cox
,^-b'
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THE LIBRARY
BRJGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSFTP
^ PROYO, UTAH^
Xi\e Aiorii
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x5pi r i "t
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The Pioncv-.T Spir tl^at mastered things
/»nd Broke tho virgin sod.
That conquered s-iv?.gcs and kings,
/ind only bowed to God,
The Strength of ndnd and strength of
soul -
The mil to do or die,
A ' •! — ^ That sets its heirt upon a goil.
/
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Cl?.rcnce H'wkcs-
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OSr^SEiS:.^
FEri).^e2EK
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-"^ THE LIBRARY
BRIGHAM YOUNS UNiVERSITV
PROVO. UTAH!
(olO.l
ORVILLE SOUTHERLAKD COX
Biographical sketch of On/ille Southerland Cox, Pion-
eer of I81i7, p?j"tly from a sketch written by Adelia
B. Cox oidwell for the "Dauphters of the Pioneers",
Monti, Utah., 1913.
Orville S. Cox, was born in Plymouth, N.Y,
November 25, I8II4, He was one cf a f airily of
1I2 children, ten of whom reached maturity. His
Uather died xHnen he was about fifteen years old,
.\nd he i-ras then "bound out"; apprenticed to
learn the trade of a blacksmith under a dea-
con Jones," Tsrfio was considered an excellent
man as he was a pillar of the church. The
agreeji^ent was that he was to ^rork obedient-
ly until twentv one and that Jones was to
give him board and clothes, three months of
school each vjinter, and teach him the trade
of blacksmi thing. Wo schooling was given
or allowed, and -one pair of jens p,ants was
all the clothing he received during the
first thi-ee years of his apprenticeship, and
his food was rather liir.ited too. The women
folks ran a dairy, but the boy was never allow-
ed a drink of milk, of x^rhich he was very fond
because the lirs, said "it made too big a hole
in tlno cheese," He was indeed a poogr little
bondsman, receiving plenty of abusive treatment.
As to teaching' him the trade, he was kept blow-
ing the bellows and usint^ the tongs and heavy
sledge. But the deacon sometimes went to dist-
ar.t places and then the boy secretly used the tools and oracticod doing
the things his keen eyes had watched his master do. During some of these
honrs of freedorii, he made himself a pair of skates from pieces of broken
n?iJ s he gathered carefully and saved.
^-^z
Also, he striirhtencd a discarded f/un barrel raid made a hammer, trig-
ger, sirhts, etc, to it, so that he had an effective weapon. These things
he had to keep hidden from the eyes of his master and associates, but se-
cretly he had grer.t joy in his nosessions and once in a while found a lit-
tle time to use them.
Occasionally the monotony at the bellows
and i.-rith the tongs and sledge — was brok' n in other
ways: -for exapiple-at one time' oxen \jere brought to the]
. shop to be shod that had extrcv. cly hard hoofs., -call
"glassy hoofs", '/^cnever Deacon undertook to dri ^
a r. .il in, it bent. Cox straightened nails over ¥ nV"Tn)
and over, as nails were precious articles in those -iiXL.
days and must not be discarded because they Tjere
bent. Mter a ^-/liile, the boy said "let me". And
he s^od tl'-e oxen mthout bending a single nail;
And thereafter Cox shod the oxen,
one nd all that c"i"e to the shop.
Ov rville Southerland Cox - Cont 'd
Fare two
One other pleasant duty was his: that of bur ing oh rcoal, ?.s coal was
then ijndiscovered. He le-.rncd much of the trade of the woodman while attend- I
irg to the pits in the depth of the mirhty New York Forests, as well as having
•an opport nity to jgf use ■his,„;>^;^ -^^S*— -- ' skates and gun ,a little. 1
He acquired the cognoman
'^-' of "Deck" among his associates, andj
when he had vrorked for something over
three years,, he car c to the conclusion
that was all. he ever vrould acquire,
along xviith Karsh treatment; so during
one of the Descon's visits to a distant parish, he gathered to-
gether his few beloni^inf-'s and a lunch, between two days, shouldered his
home made gun and "hit the trail for the tall timber", th"t being the route
on whrch he was least apt to be discovered. He made his x/ay tow-rd the Sus-
cuehai-iah river. First he reached the Tioga River, which was a branch of the
Susqueharinah, He began reconnoitcring for a m£.jns of crossing or floating
down 1. e river and soon discovered a log canoe, "dug-out" as it was c-Jled, ,
' fro7en in the mud. He decided to confiscate it' as "contraband of war" and
' pried it up, launched it, .and was soon' f IpatJaig and paddling in it doiAin to-
ward t'.G junction of the Tioga and the Susquehann.-h,
/
Shortly he felt l-.ds tired feet being submerged in cold w.-tie]/. Stooping
to investigate, he found that the log xvas leaky and rapidly filijAn^ with water.
He also fo-und an old vroolen firkin, a small bai-rel, that he a^^p^e bef;an mak-
ing use of, bailing the Trater, alternately paddelin^, stecrir^ /4id bailing.
He co_itinued doim stream, keeping near the sh'ore asMposjBible,i| in case the old
dug-o-i.t should get the best of him. The second day 'he iherrd '"(lello, there,
will "ou take a ^^assenger?" from a m.an on shore,
steer, and rov."
the log cn.noe.
"Barkis is willin", came the
Yes, if yoiji '11 help bail,
ere two in
p^ly, iso fthtiro we
T h 1^ I
n^'luence of tJfcT
for a trip y^y^S > ]
^sp e-rly '• );//., ^
Then they made better time, wearing the
th. / saw u boat preparing to "leave the dock
Su£aueh::iin.?h, a primitive stern xjh.cel -oacketNDf tl
(1831). He ajid his passen^-er applied themselves
their r?,ddling, bailing --nd steering, signalling
wait J just as s^e started he drew near enough to
the dug-out to her deck.
*"' A free boy.' For now he was sure pursuit would
not ov( rt".ke' him. His passenger called "VJhrt shall ^ . .^,
do T'dth this c^noe?" "Keep her or lot her float" shouteji-;^
Cox.. (If the ox-jner of thnt dug-out mil send in his /^/•^
bill for dajnages, O.S. Cox's children -vdll cheerfully
settle. ) As for food on f^is trip x-dth the c.-noe, gbmc
was plentiful 'and ho was a good shot. 'While on this';
boat, h . must ha.ve xjorked his passage, for he had no!
irtoney. I
! On bo-rd th.at boat x-ath a C-rgo of Southern Projduce, he
first ti'.ie in his life, saw an ora ge. He remained on this
little river packet som.e distance up the river, tho't)' l^^nded
rativc eir.ploym.ent -'t Iximbering .?ixd logging, r?iid sonfctimos at
OrviZlc Southcrland Cox - Cont'd - V'CC three
smith '3 forgo. Soon ho had the gcod luck to find his tv;o brothers, Walter
?nd Augustus. rr_fting logs down the rivci". He was ,an cxpcri, at this hinself.
Now he lo-arnod th?t his mother, and hur younger children, Anos, Harriet,
Kary and Jonathan had gone to Ohio under the care of his oldei- brother, Wil-
liam U. , via the great world f?ir.ous Erie Canal; (at that time the largest
canal in' the worlds ) So by slow degrees and hard work he began to work his
Wc7 towrd Ohio, Usually he worked for lumber compaiiies. His tvo brothers
d:d lil-jmse. ^^^^^ They litoral?-y wallred all the ^^ray through the forests,
the /-hcle vv.^^^ length of the st^te of New York.. Finally tb^y were un-
ited -s a I'-.C' y family in Nelson, Portage Co. Ohio, the former home of
his future^,'^'\\, H wife, Elvira, although she was at that time an emigrant
in Mi^soui^, >^,,^)l| f^^ The eight Cox bo;, 3 continued their xrestward
some of them rc-'chcd California during the gold
Charles B. Cox was elected Senator from Santa
Company for a number of terms. William Uo had
his property in a concern called the Phalanjc
defrauded by the officers of every cent and
debt i\3G00.00, an onourmous sum for those days,
mother Lucmda, --^nd her family went to Missouri
h^d received the gospel in Ohio previously,
heard terriMe stories of the oiitlawry of those
Mcrrr.ons"; but he became personally ac que in ted
. some (Among them a Sylvester Hulet) He
they iiTcre sinned against. He lived in Jack-
County for a time, and ever a;ftor Jackson
Ji ilissouri was the goal of his ambition; Ho
nj lieved to his dying day that he should one
v/; return to that favored spot,
"f'l
:'/ Orville met and loved Elvira in Far
s^id he didn't propose to tiirn Mormon to pro-
cure a wife, \ilhcn the Sain-bs were di'iven from lissouri, he located near Lima
Illinois, vjith a group of ilorrrions and helped biiild the Lorley settlement.
'TH
. c.ours
stamtje
Rosa ^^r^' A ^
put \ V 1 \^*'
and was X
left in
Orville 's ^
Walter
Orville
"awful
■•dth
decided // /
son // / ff I
County/' ,' J/ /
^ J'Jm //
Vfest, but was not baptized.
He
Hearing his 2[ith birthday, he was a thorough frontiersmaji, forester,
lTjnbL,rm?ja, a splendid blacksmith, a nrtural born engineer; in short a genius
and ?j\ -ill around good fellow. He xjas six fe^t in his socks and heavy prop-
ortion-vtely,
'Haile here he won the heart of the orphan girl, Elvira P. Mills, who was
living with her uncle, Sylvester Hulet. But she hesitated about marrying a
gentile. Octooer 3, 1839, hoxirever, she yielded, and they were married in
Father Elisha "ihiting's home, at the lorley Settlement by Elder lyman l-fi-ght.
The tvro newly weds, on October 6, I839, drove into Nauvoo txjenty miles
away, -^nd Orville S. Cox was baptised by the Prophet Joseph Smith. He went
a gentile and return d a full-fledged IJonnon, so short a time it takes a
wcaman to make a convert. He was a faithful L,D.S, , full of love and zeal.
He was a moiifcer of the f amours brass band of the llauvoo Legion. Jh.en the
Prophet and his brother x/ere killed, none mourned more sincerely than he. He
assisted those more helpless or destitute in the migration from Nauvoo.
His stacks of grain were burned at the Horley settlement by the mobbers. and
they fled to the City of Nauvoo, he x.jith his 'dfo and two children — the ^I'd-
( rvillu Southerland Cox - Con.t 'd pape I" our
est child had died when an infant as a result of its mother having chills
and fever, and from exposure resulting from mobbers ' violence.
**^^the Saints
claimed
rmd many
changed
Prophet 's
a moment
in the
^ \ main-
iSist-
, ^ sh if ts
He attended the meeting vdiere Sidney Higdon asked t
to appoint him as guardian, and where Brif^ham Young
that the Twelve Apostles were the orda,ined lec^dersj
times thereafter he testified that he saw Brigham Young
to ar <e.ir like Joseph md heard his voice take on the
tone. And after that manifestation he never doubted fo
that the rightful leadership of the Church was vested
twelve, with Prighajr Young qt their head. He re
ed in Nauvoo till alm.ost f-e last departed. He as-
ed BroTnig in transforming the old rusty steamer
into c. rnons that -rere so effectually used by Dan
H. fells at the Battle of N-^uvoo,
Leavinp Nauvoo vri. th the last of the Mormon ^
iles, he crossed Iowa ^nd settled ^t Pispah,
he served as counselor to Lorenzo SnoX'j, Fresid- I T j
at i't. Fisgah. In his devoted attachment to V ■] J
enzo Snow, he was an enthusiast; also to Father
and he would follow their leadership anyiAere.
•and Elvira hnd their tvjo children. Aimer and
An incident th -'.t illustrated the pioneer lif
18U5-6 :3 told in the story of. the "Last i']->tch."
•i.-'.nter cf l81i5-6 Orville S. Cox and two iJhiting
cousins of Elvira, went from Fisgah mth ox teams
wagons down into Mssouri T-iith a load of di airs to
Miitlags had a shop in w ich they mailufactured
Being successful in disposing of their chairs, and
leads of bacon and corn, they were almost home v;hen
blizzard, or hurricane, or cyclone, or all in one,
tl.em. Clouds and Egy-^tian d-'rkness settled suddenly
them. They had no modern "tornado cellcrs" to flee into and no manner of .
shelt.-r of any kind. The cold was intense; the mnd came from ever direct- |
ion; they were all skilled backwoodsmen and knew they were very close to
f' eir homes; but they also knew that they were hopelessly lost in that swir-
ling wind and those black clouds of snow. They gnd their oxen were freez-
ing, "nd their only hope of life was in making a fire and camping where they
were. Everything was wet and under the snow, and an arctic mnd in the
fierceness of unclaimed violence was raging around them. At first, they un-
yoked the oxen that they might find som.e sort of shelter for themselves. Then
with froL^t-bitten fingers they sovg'-t in the darkness and storm for dry fuel.
The best they found was dam,p and poor enough — -^nd now for a match. Only
three in the crowd, and no such matches as w;e have in these days either, to
side a large wooden Uicket in xvhich they fed grain, they careful.ly laid their
kindling. Then turning another bucket over it to keep out the falling snow,
and hugging c] ose over to keep the x^ind off, they lifted the top bucket a
little and one of the uniting boys struck a precious match. It flickered,
blazed a moment against the kindling and w.s puffed out by a draft of vdnd.
j'jiof^cr ma.tch was taken, and it died almost before it flared. Only one m^.tch
remained to save t'nree men from certain de^th. Tlieir fingers were so numb
they covld not feel, and every minute increased the numbness. "Let Orville
Try; he -' s steadier than we", they said. So Orville, keenly sensing his re-
Orville Sovtherlnnd Cox - Cont 'd - Page f l\-e
, sponsibility, tool: the tiny splinter of vrood, and struck- the spark; it caught,
it blazed and the fire lived and grew.
Now they were in the woods ---nd the fuel was plentiful and soon a roaring
blaze was swirling upvprd« The cattle came ne-^r, and although their noses
and feet were frozen, their feet grow new hoofs nd their noses healed of
frosted cracks, ./hen the storm broke and li?:ht ap-^tared, they found them-
selvee onlv a few rods from their home fences.
For a good reason, Orville v/as not in the Battalion draft. The *»/hiting
boys, S-']voster rfulet, and Amos Cox were. But Orville was vcit busy iranufac-
turing wagons. It was told of him that he found a linch cin -nd said, "I'll
just rari-co a war'on to fit that pin". He prepared as good and ser^'iceable an
outfit •'s ^ds limited means world alloij for the long dreary joumey to the
mountains, Tt.to home m-^dc v:rgons, T-dthout brakes — brakes Terc not needed on
the eas-^em end of the joumey — two yoke of oxen, three yoke of cows, a box
of c: ickens on the back of a wagon, a i-ri-fe and t-:o children, >n.th bedding and
foQd, was the outfit that started across 'he plains the last of June 18L)7,
singins the song "In the spring -re '11 take our journey. All to cross the
grassy plains," Ke travelled in the hundred of Ch .rles C. .iich, known as the
Artiller".^ Company. Cox !-:as captain of one of the tens. Oh,' the seemingly
endless T evel nrairiei The p.onotcny was terribly wearing, .Jhen Independence
Rock was sighted, and again when Chimney flock w.s sighted, it was a xironderful
r lief, .Trre-it Land n?.rks they were, in that unsettled countiy, Novj they
were sure thev were approaching the Rocky hountains, especially the children
longed for that ;7oal.
One evening at camping time, U:GO P.M., a heird of buffalo were sighted
about two miles away. The people were veirv hvingry for a piece of fresh beef,
so Father and one companion shouldered their guns, snatched their percussion
caps and powder >^cms, and started to "try a hunter's luck," About simset
t^ay got their steak, a generou.s load of the best cuts from, the Buflalo, and
started for camp. On md on they went, -A-at they thought was a two mile
stretch Denpt-hened and Icnrthened, and tho:-r Ic^j^s of £-cat grew heavier and
heavier. They began to think tlag^H^E^^ ^^^ buTjhi;e--T;amp'
told tnen they were ..-^'"'^
Tires and stars
pomg an
r
_the rirht
j
■^y
direction.
Finally the
fire their puns.
This they did, and it fillt-d 'the cb;^ tdth alarm, least the hunters ^/jere :n
danger. Two or three men rushed nwlv in the darkness to give aid, and they
fired th:.ir guns to locate the hunters. Several shots brought them togetht^:':
"4elp us Tjith this -rub pile", they said. Help was given. They reached the
camp at MtOO o'clock. It must have been six i-iles or perhaps ten to the
h- rd of buffalo. They were now in the clear air of the up-lands and could
see m.vch farther than thcr had been -^blc to see in the I ississip^.i valley.
Orville Southerland Cox - Cont 'd - Page six
The next morning all in the camp had a feast of fresh meat.
After leaving the Platte fliver, while travelling along the
sweet Water River, the company met General ?leamey and
s5x>^>\ ^-^^ company of Battalion scouts with their illustrious
^^^, prisoner, the great path-finder Freemont, '
(V^en California xiras freed from Mexican rule,
Freenont and his little band, who had helped to free
it, were gre-^tly rejoiced; and in their enthusiasm his;
folloxirers proclaimed Freemont governor, Genernl Kearn-
ey arrived rnd expected to be governor by right of his
Vr^-.i generaJi^shipa He was vur^r angrv and h^.d Freemont
.XTTcsbod .-aid sent to l-fcisijington,
>Jith Freemont 's r;uards were Sylvester i-Iulet, Elvira's IMcle, and
I-ar.03 Cox. They had traveled m-my weari^A months in "n iml<nown, lonely
country; and C, C. Riche 's company were .also travel wc^ry. To thus
meet relative? and friends so unexpectedly was a joy unspeakable to
both p^jrties.
Now the battalion m.en he-^rd from their famili.ss left in Iowa, for
the first time in mor3 than a year. And tc^js of Joy and sorrovj were
freely mingled, A daughter of Airios hid died. Sylvester's idfe had
gone to New York where the ;\n-itmer's and her father and broiiiers lived;
so he decided to return to the Rocky Iloujjtains Tcjith the
pxoneers, and Kearney gave him his discharge.
continiB d with the prisoner to Fort
LcavenxTOrth, where he received his
honoraolc dishcarge, and then went to
his weary waiting farrdly in low:;.
Amos
ine pioneering company con
tinued on westward. At Green Riv
near Brid='er's Station, they met _^
pioneer's who had reached Great Sailt
Lake Valley and made a start toward"
Cox
^ii^>'
1 '-V^
\
now home; and were now returning to the camps ly
in lovja, vith m.ore definite knovjledge rnd instructions
to impart to those xoho were to come to "the mountains next year. They
told. Rich 's ccmp?.ny many things reRarding the way that lay before thcra,
and it rns a great relief to know \h-.\, they were nearing t' eir destin-
ci-'ion.
From now on the mountains x-/ere on every side; frovjning cliffs
looked ready to fall on and crush the poor foot-sore travelers; for
people raised on the rilains are apt to have a shudderinr- of such
sigjhts. C. G. Riche 's prtillcry company rolled into the valley of the
great SaD.t Lake. They were only tvro or three days behind Jtdediah M,
Grant's comp-^ny of one hundred wagons.
Being exp^.rt in handling lumber. Cox was irranediately sent into
the canyon for logs. Houses must now be built, /anong other timbers,
he brought doivti a magnificent specimen of a pine for a "liberty Pole",
"vrhich he assisted in raising on Pioneer Squcre, It was the first
Orvillo South crland Cox - Cont 'd - p?go seven
pole to carry the stars rnd stripes in t'e city. One had been rcd.sed on En-
sign Peak before. The.y \d.nterc.d in Salt Lake Valley, There another son, Or-
ville H. , was bom Novcnbjr 29, I8I47.
Ver:.' early in the spring of I8UG fathe^^fiCvt?^
t'. z Adol'^ Fort mth his v^ife and thjice chy^^ren,-
ar.d began farming in SossiGnsvil^e-y^<JT3U-§oi3S^xful
Ho vjas the first bishcp of the ^r^^^^^^^ " "^ ''
Tliore they had the famous expcrienc
with the crickets, Ke devised the
bread paddles, as x^fcll as the oft
,s4
: SanT)itd^ "^h U\M /^*>/' " .:^
rf
\\\'i%
mcnti^med methods, to try to ext^r-
mi ipt^: them; and then came the
GuJ-ls. He raised a crop in 'laS ^,^ (
and 'L9 t^-orc; also he dug Vc^ii-"^"^ \'
first -.rell in Bountiful, ^;^- — {)'■
and struck water so suddenly
to be almost droTimed by it be-
fore h : cculd be hauled up. In ^-'
the fall of 'U9 he was cai:
to go --ith "Father" horley '
to colonize the valley of Sanrsitd?^
He arrived, at the future site of i^iariirlp- Novonber 19, ieU9. The
journey from Salt Lake City to th^ Sajipctc Vil.ltiy ocaipied one month, breaking
new roads, fixing fords, and building dug-xiays. The fort;'- families workj u \ri.-
dustriously, sometimes only movin' fon^rard two or threo mJJcs. One six .n ] j
stretch in Salt Creek Canyon occupied them a whole '.ooek. Tiic only settloi^cjit
between Salt LcJ<e and Manti was Provo, cmsistirg of a little fort of green
Cottonwood logs a "^-^ '^IT "^_
Aft. ry\ getting througn/
worked lo// their upmost
Or\'il]e Soutbcrland Cox - Cont 'd - page eight
snowing on them there
t' r 's home., „That
wi :;h t
sue-
^i^CV
side of
droS sbot. Now they must '^.Ty^'^ ^^
raising log cabins; samng lumber^^pi^ '"'
of siw mills.
and it was far from being a desirable win-
winter w^s one of the hardest
heaviest snoT>r fall for many
ceeding years. Arriving at
destination, camp was made by
Morley's company on the south
Temple Hill which was a shelt-
do their upmost in canyons,
snw pit, which was the most primitivi
Oreille was an expert at hcTiing and squaring the logs -,dth his ax, and
making everything as comfortable as possible in their new home. All winter
long thoy had to help the cattle find feed by shovelling snovr-in the m.eadows,
as the snow lay four feet deep. It was May before the snow xjas pone so that
the iicn could begin to clear the groiind and begin their f -rming. Then there
came irrigating ditches to dig and the usual labor of clearing, plowing, and'
planting.
Between their individual duties, thuy found time to build log school,
and a bowery, and then a meeting house. They felt th^t it was quite commod-
ious, Rre in the long evenings of the xrintcr of l850-5l Cox taught a sing-
ing and dancing school, Sarah Fcttj was the first school Ki 'am. In the
w:' ater oi 18$0-$1, school was taught by Jesse W. Fox, In 18^0 he was elected
Alderman,
9. S, Cox married Kary Allen about 185U; he served many years as the .
first counselor to Bishop Lowry; -and he was captain of the Mlitia. He was
very energetic in the performance of his duties, ^specially throu^ the pro-
tracted period of the Walker war. He m=rried(:
Eliza Losec about 1857-59. He served under j,~ ' '^r^^^p^-^^'-
Major Hirr-ins, an old Battalion veteran.
xinai
To be sure, nobody appreciated m.ort,
he did a liberty pole, and all that it f'9~~"-i
tj'pifijd, so he was comrissioned to f indi ^^il^
one at the earliest convenient moment;
for iJar.ti; this ho did in 1850, Ten
years he labored faithfully for the 'jj^ji
upbuilding of Ilanti, and then like f-uji^'- ,^
Boon -^nci Crockett, "he wanted .^^^ ■,
more Elbov; room" and moved to Fair- ^^^' ,.
view, Snnpete County. He also moved parx ^-^ ^ ^''
of his family to Gunnison (Hog //allc^j, lic^^y^ ^ ^2^
was cillcd then) and raised two crops there, •'^'Pt^ ^^ "^^"^
In February 186U, he moved pn.rt of his f.amily^,^^^^^ ^^ -^i^if^
to dunvjood, built a cabin there and raised a **^ a *^ ^
crop. He sold out ind moved elsewhere to engineer ditches, I^ engineered
over fortv ditches in Utah and Nevada, as near as his children can reiOimber
in 1910, as well as doing all other kinds of pioneer iiiork.
In "1865 he was advised by Lorenzo Snow to move to the ttuddy, a branch of
t". :; Rio Virgin, a stream running through Moappa Valley, to assist in survey-
ing and malcing irrigation ditches there, Th- soil was very rich, but there
was so much quick sand that it made it almost impossible to build a dam ih at
OrvilT G Southcrlond Cox - Cont 'd - page Nine
hold 0
southo
• to irrigitc without washing away the soil. So he' went south into
stgm Ncv-xda. He thought thit w-s the route the saints would travel
going back to Jackson County, so he was
th.-\t much nearer the final home. He lab-
\ ored here for six years, and engineered a
J numb>_r of dams th-t would hold against the
n floods and treachery of quicksand. They
/i/ hod only poor home made plows and a few
Tk other tools to T^ork vdth, ind no cement
y or modern building material. He also
/ built cab'jns and cleared and tillud the
land there. In clearing the land, the
"Kesquite' brush root wa's the hardest dig-
ging they enco'jntered. St, Thomas, St,
; /vf^ Joseph -nd Ovv.rton,tfefc- 3 -townsin-theTolli^
/'(j ^^=^ r^/ y^^v ■-^^^''^ p-.rtly of his building. The first
A \ v\^ ^JJ rP^f^^X "t^iP>^^ 'took with him his third iiafe,
- ^ ^ "^ ^' ^ » \ N Eliza, and h^r one child, a little
two j'-c-^r old girl; and i.'-.lter, a lU
year old son of the first vjife,
lElvira, The following year, after
crops were in and thu spring work
he returned to Fairiduw after
another section or his fam-
ily •- Ihr?/., the second xidfe,
, ^^' ' .?Jid her- five chl'ta'en, Fi'cm
i^^ ^^that time on 0., S. Cox'j life
^ is a voJ.u;Tie o!' trage'iy and ha'-'d-
ship, 'Eae life in the burniii,-;
desi^rt is always more or Icso
unpleasant, and pioneering is cxcess:vol.y
hard. And he was past fifty y-'-rs o^ld..
THE PICFE2R >K)THBR
l^on a joltint- wagon scat she rode During his al
Across the trankless praric to the v/est,
Cr trudged behind the oxen 'lith a goad,
A slcc^iing child cl-^.spud tightly to her
breast.
Frail flesh rebelling, but spirit never-
VJh^.t talus thu d -.rk could tell of vjoman's
tears J J —
Her br-Vor?/- incentive to endeavor;
Her laughter spurring strong men past
their fe '.rs,
0 to h^r v-.lor and her comeliness
A comrianweT-lth today owes its vjhite
dovics
Of St-r^j its fiads, its hi^wavs,
its hor.ios —
:e, Eliza '.I. lattle
girl Lucim;.-.^ ' ook hei* lit !;"] e T>a''l
to the crcu.': \.o gut so'-nc waterj
the quicksar. 1 caused h.„r to -\ir
•md she was drox-ned. They took '-v:. -:
out not very far down the stroma.
but could uct rcsusit'i.ie nu~'. T'-.o
poor mother, aKcng s"ti- ^'gu:.'s ''nd
homesick, w:js unconsol-^.l.ic in her
sorrow, Walter seeing his little
pet ccmp?jiion stricken in all her
robust beauty -"nd health, was wild
Xi,'ith grief, -^nd could net be comfcr tei
.U'ter a time t! e reighbors conclude -1
that waiter w.;'V.-'.d die if sojtd chaaf..
and "iJ-d i^ot coma ': ., gut him to sleep sf'..
eat. They trld Eliza of their X: _-
Its cities vrrested from the wildcrnuss, for him, -ni so the dis ;onsol-.te
It ben ,'3 in memory above the h-«nd mother tried to hide her own grie'
That gentled, wom-ji-vjise, a savage land, "-nd comfort him. It is said it (,)■
the so.ddost thing the x-jomaji f'ure
Ethel Romig Puller- over saw, to see the brave mothur and
Orvillc South erl-^nd Cox-
fj Cont'd - Page Ten
the boy trying to comfort each other in their lonliness. Fifty years later,
it was a hightin.are to Walt.
Aimer, Laun and 'felt all went to the Muddy in 1867, the year Mary was
moved. In 1868 Philmon, fifth son of Elvira,, a very promising lad of thir-
teen, died of appendicitis, at that time called inflamation of the bowels.
Than Ha'ry lost a little daughter, Lucy for whom she grieved many years.
Financially the prospects x^rere more promising than ever before. They
had pl-^nted a large orchard, and a vineyard th"t was just coming into bear-
ing. Then a new, line was run bctxireen the states of Utah and Nevada, which
gave f^is section to Mev-^da, and Nevada dejnanded back taxes j .and they am-
ounted to more than their farms and houses were worth. So Brighajn Young
said, "Corrt home to Utah." They came,
Elvira, with Orville a grown, son, Walter 17, Tryphuna, Amasa and Eu-
phrasia, returned to the old home in Fairvicw, leaving all of their beaut-
iful peach orchards and vineyards, fields of cotton, cane, wheat and the
comfortable houses in the most fertile of lands, -triiich. they had subdued andj
made to "Bloagom as the Rose" by seven long years of toil and privation,
Thiy rendered absolute obedience to their great leader; and so they hitched
up their teams, took their most choice belongings, and wended their way badi
to Utah, leaving their settlement and farms to pay Nevada the back taxes it-
had demanded, ';
Cne company which had thoroughly learned the trick of building a dam in
quick sand of the desert, stopped at an abondoncd settlement in Long Valleyi
Kane County, 0, S. Cox and sons began the engineering of irrigation canals ;,
and dams, ij\d so on, as they had cleaned ?jad repaired the deserted cabins,
so th 't they offered p-^rtial shelter from the Febniary storms. The people
n-'med this town Mt, Carmel,
VJhen the former settlers learned th'.t they had builcied d.-^jns that vjould
stand, they came back and said "Got Out, this is ours," So the weary pion-
eers i^.cved again, this time ,only a few miles farther up the valley into a
cove, -ind went to -^ work to
dams, more ditches v» and more
pleasant narro;
build more
^X^
cabins. In one place tho water had to be carried across a pulley, and it
gave more trouble than all the rest of the ca-nal. .tfter a whale Cox, with-
Qr-ille Southcrland Cox - Cont 'd - Page Eleven
out comment or ::ny consultation, vjcnt into the timber and found a very large
Ic ! and felled it, made of it a huge trough, placed it across th^ gully an-:
it rea '^ed far cnoup'a to secure a solid bed above the quicksand. Thirty
years " ater, this "Cox" Trougii '• was still doing successful service as a
flume ..
In 1875, when Brigham strongly taught the principl.' of Cooperation^
th.-s corpany of sairts were orgr^nized by unarL",,^-^-=;:_ imous consent into the
un--tcd order of 2noch, ar.d Yiana-'. their town^— ;'
li~,tle property, r.ioscly cattja. horses and ^^^S
Oo:atl3'-o T'jclve years father labored 1oy- ^'-y-
\n the "Order" c The town g:c;ir and thrived; f:-^
trades T-rcre remarkably well repreocnted by
perity and a measure of plenty was there, i
fact that there i^erc more inf m; people /
any ward in the church.
Then dissatisfaction and disunion \^-^
"Order'' broke up. Thurc ^as not a great^ /
ty to divide, althoi^gh some people came ^'T
property than others, according to the ar,-.ount^
crated in, ILary and Eliza, father's second I ■$
vd'xs, each received a tv.am and vjagon. iiarjf^-
f aj .il,7 located in Huntington, Emery County, ( ^
fc'n.ily in Tropic, Grj'ficld County, Father
Vfell along in years, and broken in health,
CO lid do little more than advice his sons.
El' za vras dying of cancer. In 1886 Orville
S. Cox came to F-irview to the best-pro vidudj
for br-^jach of his family. One year he i-e-
mained -n invv.lid, and on July U, 1888 he
laid h.'-s exhausted body dovm to rest. The
passin • was ouict and peaceful. His two vjivqlb
Elvira, and Mary and many of his descendents^, /
at the last, — — - ^- r-^
The following are sonc of the thriving towns 0.
founding: Lim.a, 111,; Pisg-^h, Iowa; Salt L-ke City,
Crd crvilic . Thi^:'. r
, war-ons, were pw.r.3 ;
ousiy and unself j-rlily
^thc arts, school v3 ;:.id
the young, Prcs-r
in spite of the
in ijhat vrard thar
V
anff the
\ deal of proper-
y I out mth more
V'-^ they consc-
and third
and hor
Eliza ajad her
was then
VCV He
with hin
nuson, Fairvievj, Glenwood of Ut^h; St, Thomas, St,
Mt. Carmel, Orderville and Tropic of Utah,
''S. Cox assisted in
Bountiful, ILanti, Gun-
Joseph, Overton of Nevada
If man ever earned his salv-tion, surely O.S. Cox did. Alw-ys found in
the v-^ja vrhero the hardest work was to be done, and if ho advanced the cause
one iota, no matter at what loss, or cost to himself, he consioered he had
been eminently successful. Never was there :^ murmur from him.
To illustrate the ingaauity of 0. S. Cox's ditch making, here is the
ston- of the Pig Plow as told by an old settler of Fairvie\-j, P-.pnas Brady.
""Jhen the ditch was first laid out that was ^ftenijards called "City
Ditch", every m.an -^nd boy was called on to come -and work on it every day til
it would carr?/- water. This v;as in the spring, and it had to bu finished be-
fore the fields were, ready to be plowed and planted. The men turned out ^ral
with te-jns -"nd ploi-rs, picks lyad crow bars and shovels. There was a rocky
'• Orville Southcrland Cox - Cont'd - F'lgc TUclvc -
point at the head of the ditch to bt; cut through, and it wr.s hird pan, about
like ccnent. Couldn't be touched by plow, no sLree; no more than nothing,
"ifv'3 was Just prying the gravel loose with pick-- end crowbars, and looked like
it would take us weeks to do six rods. Yes, six weeks. Cox looked at us
working and sweating, -^nd never offered to lif a finger. Ho sir, never done
a tap; just looked -.nd then without saying a ivord, he turned around an" walk-
ed off. Yes, sir, Xifalked off,' IJcll of all the mad bunch of men you ever saw
I guess we was about the maddest. Of course, we didn 't svjear; we was normons
and the Bishop was there, but we watched him go and one of the men says,
"'Jell, I didn't think Cox was that kind of a feller". His goiiig discouraged
the vest of us, just took the heart out of us. But of course we plugged away
pretendin ' to work the rest of the day, and dragged back the next morning,"
"Wc wercn 't near all there when here came Cox. I don 't just remember
whether it was four yoke of oxen or six or eight, for I was just a boy, but
it was a long string r^nd they vjas every one a good pulling ox. /uid they was
hitched on to a plow, a plumb new kind, yes sir, a new kind of plow. It was
a gre-t big pitch pine log, about fou]?tQfin-J'eet long, and may have been eight-
een, with a limb stickin ' doxm like /.s if nm arm and hand was the log and ray
thumb +hc liinb; he h^.d bored a holc|^;______J_L through the log, and put a
crow b-r down in front of the kno^;!^,--^--;-'^ ^^ ^ and cross ways along the
log back of the limb be bored hoTiSS'i .^ \\\\'v\ and puo stout oak sticks
through for spikes. They were the N^^'y^^ )-''^^^^plow handles; <and he had ei-
ght men get ahold of them handles ^^-.f i'' ; ^ '7''^\ ^-^^ hold the plow level
and he lo-^ded a bunch of men along on i^^\j};^^,-yV'^ >y that log, "nd then he
spoke to his oxen,"
"Great Scott, ye ot.cr
^'■e cter heard us feiliu^e:^-aaugi
sir, he olowcd xx^^^^^^^^^'o^ dc
f:ve ti; OS '■nd thn.t ditch
m-do. All that the
to shovel out thr IboSc
more in half a day -=.— -
rest of us could a done
"VJhy didn 't-l;c "tall
the first thing, so wc_
so discouraged, and hate
cause he knew it'TTOnidn 't
of good to talk,
the Bishop; -^n
been, plans like that wotld
hooted at by half the
No, sii^ee,' His -.ray was
Just rhut up and dg-^
when a Imnoh of men '^
a thing a workin ' they
believe; yes, sir,
soein ' is bolievin,"
the gravel fly, and
and holler,' Vfell,
ditch lino four or
made, practicaJLly
f us had to do was
stuff; he done
than -11 the
n six weeks,
his plans
wouldn 't be
him so? iJhy,
do a might
Ho wasn 't
.if h(- had
Y\ 3uro b^^
"ellcrs, I,
,tho be^'
and
s^ ,)
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