Summerville Mining District Video

This video was put out by Emery County.  This mining district is in an area where I went often with my dad and I have a lot of memories here.  It is a big part of me.  I have been into prospecting, gem hunting now and treasure hunting.  I am apparently a fourth generation prospector.  There may not be a fifth.  I still have hope of being very successful with the gem hunting.  It may be the easiest with the biggest pay.  The Curtis Formation which is part of the San Rafael Group, I believe was named after Joe Curtis who is my great grandfather and one of the first settlers of Woodside.  My big clue was that there was an individual named Summerville, from Moab, who was also one of the first settlers of Woodside.  The Summerville Formation is just above the Curtis Formation. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUoe1_DnrsI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

A real treat. Joseph the 1st

I feel those of you who took the time and effort to come to this blog are in for a real treat.  I was able to find the article that mentions Joe Curtis on the net.  Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 79, number 1, p. 27. (Winter 2011)

First go to http://www.history.utah.gov/

Then click on the Learn & Research tab
It will bring up a drop down menu
Click on Publications
You can now do a search
Search the Utah Historical Quarterly
Search for "Joe Curtis"
It brings up about 182 hits
The first one is the one we want
Just click on it and you are there
You may have to navigate to the article about Range Creek
Joe Curtis is mentioned on page 27.


Here is the paragraph that mentions Joe Curtis.

   When Allen departed, Wing took over managing the ranch as well as overseeing the farming tasks near the ranch headquarters.  His cousin Charley Wing, who arrived in July 186, ran the cattle operation while Joe oversaw the farm near the ranch headquarters.  Besides building a cabin, a corral, a blacksmith shop, and a chicken coop, Joe Wing and his ranch hands were heavily involved in alfalfa farming.  At first the men tried clearing the native greasewood and sagebrush with hoes--backbreaking work--but ranch hand Joe Curtis showed them how to hitch a big roller to a team of horses and break the brush.  The large piles of it were then burned.


Footnote: Joseph B. Curtis testimony, Heirs of Joseph E. Wing.

The Ditchdigger

When I was in high school in order to motivate you the teachers would say that you need to get an education so that you wouldn't end up being a ditch digger.  As if being a ditch digger is a bad thing.  Some of them that use machinery today can make some good money. 

Anyway I have been wanting to tell this story for some time.  Joe Curtis apparently was one of the best ditch diggers around.  I have found some documents to back this up so it is official.  He is a good ditch digger.  I know he did other things as well.  He was a farmer, rancher, pioneer, family man, business man and did his share of prospecting.  Joe was one of the first settlers of Woodside credited with that honor partly because he settled with his family present.  In one of my earlier posts I alluded to some of the place names that were named after him.  The Curtis Formation and Joe's Holes are probably the most prominent.  One of the first recorded instances of his ditch digging prowess follows:

     Sylvester and his brothers, George, Nick, Chris, Davis and Silas, built a one-room log house that serves as a schoolhouse, church and amusement hall.  Davis Wilson and William Higby called for the dances and George Biddlecome, with his fiddle, was the musician.  Harmon Curtis, son of Simmon(s) P. and Emeline Curtis of Springville, came to Castle Valley when he was but a boy of sixteen, with his brother Joseph and his wife, who settled a mile or so south of Castle Dale on land purchased from Andrew Rasmussen.  The Curtis brothers helped plow the first irrigation ditch south of Castle Dale.  Harmon Curtis was the first school teacher.  He taught for three years and had from twelve to fifteen students of all ages from Wilsonville and the nearby ranches.  The only desks were homemade benches and the books were brought in from Sanpete County by horseback.  School was only held for about four years. 

Kate B. Carter, Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 13. p. 495. 

He probably helped plow this irrigation ditch before he moved to Woodside.  The Woodside documentation is next:

      Woodside, on the Price River, lies approximately halfway between the town of Price and Green River. 

     The first settler, Henry Hutchinson, was attracted by gold pay dirt in the Cedar Mountains.  In 1885 Pete Peterson and Sanderson also located here.  The next to come were Scott Miller and Joe Curtis.  Indians told them to turn back or they would starve; but they ignored the Indians and proceeded to take up homesteads, diverting the waters of the Price River for irrigation.  Joe Curtis and Scott Miller both had families. 

Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, Castle Valley, p. 324. 

There are two irrigation ditches at Woodside.  I wonder if Joe helped with them.  From the above information it would seem that he did. 

The third documentation of his ditch digging prowess seals it.  The Castle Dale and Woodside ditches were probably made in the 1880s.  This article postdates them.  It affirms Joe as one of the best: 

                Joe Curtis, of Lower Crossing, was in our town this week.  Joe is not only a good miner but can throw as much mud out of an irrigating ditch as any man in the west. 

Eastern Utah Advocate

January 22, 1891

And a ditch at Desert Lake:

                John L. Thayne and Joseph Curtis are running a four or five-mile ditch from the extreme north end of the Cleveland Canal to carry water to a reservoir north of Desert Lake for culinary and stock watering purposes.  

Eastern Utah Advocate

November 23, 1905

Wow, as much as any man in the west.  He must have been pretty good.  This ditch from the Cleveland Canal to Desert Lake makes at least the third ditch that Joe helped on.  That is pretty good.  My dad used to say when talking about people that they hauled the dirt to make this country.  That would seem to fit Joe very well. 

Joseph Augustus Curtis, Jr. (Dode)

Joseph Augustus Curtis, Jr. was eventually known as Dode.  Dode was never baptised into the LDS Church despite his rich pioneer heritage not only for pioneers in Utah but also pioneers in the LDS Church.  Dode was born in Castle Dale.  From what I can tell he never really went far from  the area of the Price River drainage and spent his life in Carbon and Emery Counties near Woodside, Summerville, Humbug and Grassy.  I could also throw Cedar Mountain into that mix.

Dode is often associated with two men.  His father Joe and his brother Guy.  Dode had many mining claims with different family members.  That will be explored in more detail in later posts.  Dode once bought a horse with his father Joe and the Whitmores.  That too will be explored more in future posts.  Where as my grandfather Nicholas was a city dweller, Dode spent a lot of time on the desert.  A lot of this time was spent in a tent.  A lot of that time was also spent alone as far as I know.

There are a few landmarks which bear the name of Joe or Curtis which I believe are attributed to Dode's father who was one of the first settlers of Woodside.  Joe's Holes near Cedar Mountain is one of those.  There is also a Joe Spring near Park Wash which I believe is a strong candidate for being associated with Joe Curtis, Sr.  Dode had mining claims in Park Wash.  There is also a story of Dode having a wolf attack a young colt in the Park.  The colt later died from it's injuries.  The Park is in the Bookcliffs just above Horse Canyon and at the head of Park Wash.

Joe, Dode and Max had much in common.  I know Joe and Max herded sheep and I suspect Dode did as well.  Dode and Max had mining claims and it is also reported that Joe was known to prospect when he had time.  Joe and Max were farmers and Dode even attempted a homestead on Cedar Mountain with Guy.  I believe they were the first to attempt farming on Cedar Mountain.

I would also like to mention another landmark which I believe was named for Joe Curtis.  In the San Rafael Group of formations there is one called the Curtis Formation.  It borders the Summerville Formation which was named for another early settler of Woodside named Summerville.  I believe that the Curtis Formation was named for Joe simply because he was one of the first settlers of Woodside.   The Curtis Formation reaches as far as Flaming Gorge, Moab, near Hanksville and surrounds the San Rafael Swell.  The Entrada Formation, Summerville Formation and Curtis Formation were all named at the same time.  At the same time the formations were named there was also places named.  Entrada Point, Summerville Point and Curtis Point were named where these formations were prominent. 

In my next post I will summarize my comparison of my two grandfathers.