Early Pleasant View families included the Seaman, Rhees, Barker, Ferrin, Love, Stanford, Johns, and Blanchard families, just to name a few. The lack of stores, the need to be self-sustained, and the lack of toys made life very different than what we experience here today.
Everyone raised what they intended to eat during the winter because there was no store in which to purchase supplies. Many settlers secured fuel by digging sage brush while simultaneously clearing their lands. This “Mormon Hickory” provided warmth for pioneer families. They also used oak, maple, quaking aspen, and evergreen logs from nearby hills and mountains. Ice was harvested each winter at the Hot Springs ice pond and stored in sawdust for use the following summer.
Presents and toys are typically the highlight for most children during the holiday season today. They likely were the highlight for children back then, too, but toys were almost unheard of in their time. Even homemade toys of any kind were repaired, cleaned, and kept year after year. Often, a boy’s only toy was a tin can used to scoop dirt.
Although our way of life has changed in a lot of ways, some of the things we experience are pretty similar. George A. Seaman remembered the excitement of seeing his father after a long week of being gone. He worked in Evanston, Wyoming, at the Utah and Oregon Lumber company. Whether you’ll be seeing aunts, old friends, grandparents, or cousins who you haven’t seen in a while, it’s always exciting to embrace a loved one and strengthen those bonds.
George also remembered the joys of playing in the snow in the winter. “We enjoyed sleigh riding, sometimes in the two-seated outer, other times in the bob sled with a capacity-load of singing, joyous youth.” People continue to make memories and have good fun with their sleds on the nearby hills.
We hope you can take some time to not only feel grateful for what you have, but to feel gratitude towards the people who made, and continue to make, Pleasant View the wonderful place it is. Merry Christmas!