Burl D. Twitchell Life Story Parents: Don Twitchell Sarah...

Burl D. Twitchell Life Story

1

Parents: Don Twitchell Sarah Etheleen Searle

Grandparents: William Henry Twitchell William B. Searle

Martha Elizabeth Potter Mary Jane Boren

My mom and dad were married in 1919. They lived in Manila, Utah for a while

then moved to Whiterocks, Utah where my dad rented farm ground from the Ute tribe.

This was during the depression time. All the spending money they had was from doing

extra things for the Indians like butchering, hauling wood, baking and such. The Indians

had cash allowances from the government that they used to hire these things done.

I had four older sisters and two older brothers (both of whom died and are buried

in Tridell, Utah). I was the youngest child to be born in this family.

My mom had trouble with the last little boy that was born so the doctor’s advised

her to stay in Vernal at Mrs. Swain’s Midwife Home, which still stands today. My

mother went to the doctor one day and he told her that I would be born soon but he had to

leave town for some training and another doctor would assist her.

Time went on for about six weeks after this and I still refused to come. My father

came to Vernal and took her to the doctor. The doc said, “My Lord, woman! I thought

you had this baby a long time ago.” He helped her and I was born that day; it was the 17

March 1934. I weighed in at 14 ½ pounds and my mom’s words were that I was “black

as the ace of spades.” I was large enough that the blood supply could not give me enough

oxygen. I had six fingers on each hand (a trait which has passed down to one of my

great-granddaughters); they took them off the next day.

My family moved to Manila in 1936. My first recollection of things was on my

Grandfather’s ranch in the south-east corner of the valley. My father had a big black dog

named Spike. Everywhere I went, Spike went with me. The sheep outfits used to cross

at the bottom of our place. I used to like to see them come, for they would always stop in

South Valley for a few days and I would go and have dinner with them. They fixed

things like sourdough, biscuits, fried potatoes and fresh, hot mutton. Boy was it good!

In the spring and fall the Indians used to travel this route and they would also stop

and say hello to my mom and dad.

When I was growing up I helped my mother with daily chores that were many

such as feeding the pigs, chickens, turkey, bum calves and lambs. We planted large

gardens with all types of vegetables. My mother and I would weed, hoe and water

everything.

Mom would bottle all the beans, peas and beets. The squash, carrots and potatoes

we dug and put in the cellar. The corn we would cut off of the cob and put it between

two sheets on the roof to dry. We did bull berries this same way. The cabbage we

shredded and put in Crock containers with salt to make sauerkraut. The cucumbers were

picked and put in jars and crock jars. This is what we had to eat in winter time as there

were no produce stores or electric appliances.

The pork we ate some fresh. The rest we put in salt brine in wooden barrels. We

always had two barrels of pork. My mom made casings for sausage by tearing sheets in

12 inch strips then sewing them back together. We then would stuff them full of sausage

and hang them to cure.


2

The beef and mutton we ate fresh and shared with our neighbors. We would hang

the meat out on the house to cool at night. In the morning we would cut off what we

wanted for the day then it was my job to bury it in the grain bin to keep it cool.

My mother always took care of milking the cows and separating the cream which

we sold. We also churned our own butter, gathered eggs and candled them. We sold

them to the stores or traded them for groceries. All of our food came from these things.

Plus, Mom cleaned house and did laundry as most moms did. She made all her own rugs

and quilts from rags and material end pieces. This is what she did in the evening to keep

her hands busy.

All the ranch work was done with work horses except spring and fall. The

community had gone together and purchased a large tractor and threshing machine.

Spring they would plow and in the fall they would thresh grain. Everyone would go from

place to place until all the grain was threshed.

My father bought a new pickup truck in 1937 from Joe Burleffe in Fort Bridger,

Wyoming. That was my first hotel experience. Also, my father paid $750.00 for the

truck and the room was free.

Concerning my childhood I loved to roam the hills with my dog Spike. He was a

faithful guardian. He would attack anything at my command. I remember finding water

snakes. He would grab them in his mouth, shake them then throw them. You had to

watch or he would warp them around your neck.

My father I thought was being good to me. He would cut me out a sizable stream

of irrigation water always next to a prairie dog town. My dog and I would shovel and dig

to get water to run down the hole. When the dogs came out, old Spike would catch and

kill all of them. I thought my dad did this so I could have fun, but now I realize how

shrewd he was. I learned how to make water go where I wanted it, I rid the ranch of

varmints, I irrigated a lot of ground with the stream I had and I was out of my family’s

hair.

My sister, Donna, and I were in the corral one day and we build a swing under the

shed and had lots of fun with it. But the next morning I really got my fanny strapped.

During the night my dad’s prize work colt had stuck his head in the swing and went

around and around until the swing tightened around his neck and hung him from the shed.

Woops.

Being the youngest in the family I went where ever the family went like dances. I

remember the old time square dances. Tim Potter and Mark A. Anson would call, Mark

E. Anson and Edith would play the piano and fiddle. Other times Ed Boren and Lila

would play. They would dance quadrilles, waltzes, schottische, and the Chicago glide.

Oft times there would be individuals who danced the two-step. Everybody else would

stand in a circle around them and clap to the music. These were generally men. The

round dance was danced part of the time also.

At these dances, Cala Anson and I were the only youngsters there so we would

dance together. We learned fast and had lots of fun. These dances were held in the old

hall owned by Willard Schofield. There was no electricity. There were six gas lanterns

that were pulled up to the roof with ropes. About every two hours they would lower them

and pump them up or re-fuel them, which ever they needed.

The heating stove was a large round barrel stove. It would get so hot it would be

red all over. Many dresses, coats and pants were ruined by touching this stove.


3

There were waltz contests held at these dances. My father would always get

Bertha Potter for his partner and they would win all the time.

They would make a bed for Cala Anson and me up behind the piano. I can still

hear the thump of that piano. When we got rested up we would go dance some more.

One time I was in Linwood watching the sheep shearers with Myron Slaugh,

Weldon Potter and Ned Twitchell. The herders would stay in their sheep camp while

their herd was being shorn. This day Bill Davenport was in his camp. We got to teasing

him about being Shaky Bill. He got mad and pulled a rifle and started firing. I don’t

know if he shot in the air or at us, but we left totally scared to death.

A few things that happened while we lived on my grandfather’s place: There was

a coal mine operating in Linwood Canyon, it was run by Harold Neilson. One day My

father and I went to get a load of coal. While we were waiting for the coal my father was

rough housing with me and gave me a little shove. I fell backwards and tried to catch

myself with my arms and hand but what happened was I ran my one hand and arm into a

crevice of a burning coal mine and burnt my one hand and arm quite bad my father felt

real bad. Years later the BLM came in and put the coal mine out. I used to go with my

dad to haul cedar wood from the reaves with a team of horses and a wagon. It would take

all day long. We would take a lunch normally consisting of coffee, homemade biscuits,

and salt pork. My father would take the team and pull the branches off from the big

cedars and pull them up to the wagon then he would pull over the big trunks of the tree

and pull it up on the up hill side of the wagon. we would take a large limb and put it at

each end of the wagon then he would pull over top of the wagon and around the big trunk

then pull and roll the log upon the wagon. After the big trunks were loaded we would fill

the holes and cracks with the limbs we pulled off earlier then go home. After we got the

wood home and unloaded my dad would chop all the wood we used and it was my job to

pack it into the house. Sometimes he chopped more than I wanted to pack so I would

hide it under the snow. I never thought about the snow melting in the spring. Then I had

a lot of wood to pack and my dad didn’t have to chop any for quite some time.

My sister Donna was 5 years older than I and didn’t care to much for her brother I

guess I teased her a little. One day Donna and I decided to smoke some cedar bark so

we rolled us a smoke out behind the shed then she said I forgot the matches you stay here

and I will go get some. When she cake back she had more than matches it was mom and

dad, I got worked on.

My father had a cousin Willis Twitchell but everybody called him Rip because his

father was also Willis. Rip used to come and visit dad after he became a night marshal at

Lyman, Wyoming and later at Evanston, Wyoming. One day Rip came and was wearing

his service revolver, I wanted to shoot it. He told me I would have to ask my dad. I ask

and dad said he didn’t think I was big enough to hold it. He said if I was big enough to

hold it I could shoot it. Dad, Rip, and I were sitting on the kitchen porch and Rip gave

me his gun and said go ahead. I said what should I shoot at. Rip said shoot your mom’s

chicken that was crossing the yard. So I pulled up and fired and blew that chicken all to

hell. About that time my mother realized what had happened and she blew her top. Poor

dad and Rip.

One time shortly after school was out for the day my oldest sister Dessie came to

the school in my father’s truck so I decided to ride home with her instead of the bus. I

got in the back of the truck and leaned my back up against the end gate. We started for


4

home and got down where Ina and Ernest Crosby lived and my sister hit a big chuck hole

in the road, the end gate came undone and I went out backwards into the gravel road.

When I realized what had happened I was bleeding all over my head and face, my arm

hurt real bad and I could not see my sister so I started to walk for home. But I could not

move because a big dog was pushing me. I tried and tried but to no avail so I just went

with him. I was afraid to go to Crosby’s house because I didn’t know them. Mrs. Crosby

saw us coming and ran to help me. Her husband went to find my sister who had gone all

the way home (about 5 miles) before she missed me. That night I met Doctor Sudman for

the first time. He stitched up my head, put my arm in a sling, picked pounds of rocks out

of my nose. I guess I learned something you don’t lean against the end gate.

When I was in the second grade I came down with the measles, I was quite sick

and got to stay home from school. I was in bed one day and my Uncle Roy came to see

me. He said he had something for me that would make me feel better, it was a quart of

wine. I kept that bottle in bed with me, when someone would come I would pull it out

and offer them a drink of that nice warm wine. My mom caught me taking to many

drinks and threw it away.

My father and other members of the people’s canal used to clean sections of the

canal yearly with teams of horses and slip scraper. I used to carry my father’s lunch to

him each day. We would eat our lunch then lay under the wagon while the horses were

eating and rest. I used to love to hear the crunch of the horses eating and sometimes I

would go to sleep. When I woke up the men would be back to work. I would spend the

rest of the day with my father. Sometimes I would ride the scraper and sometimes my

father would put me on the back of the work horse, I would hang on to the hames of the

harness and go round and round as they pulled the scraper.

When my dad was working on the roads I used to do the same thing for lunch.

One day my dad and Gerald Twitchell were drilling some rock by hand to dynamite the

road for a school bus road between South Valley, our place and Yelinchetas. I watched

them pound the drill and turn it each time it was hit they would pour water in the hole so

the cuttings would turn to mud. Then they would take a long spoon and dig the mud out.

It was a very slow process until they loaded the hole with dynamite and shot it, what a

big bang and very little rock was left.

I had a new pup called Curly, one day a man who only had one leg named Jack

Allen came to see my dad. After they talked awhile he started his car and left but ran

over and killed my dog in the process. Damn was I mad and I called him some choice

words. Then my dad kicked me in the butt for swearing. In later years I liked Jack Allen

very much and played a lot of bottle pool with him.

My dad stacked his hay by using a slip platform and ropes. They would lay a v

rope across the slip then pitch the hay onto the slip. When they got a load they would

pull up to the stack and attach the ropes to the double side of the v rope then they would

throw a rope over the load and attach it to the single side of the v rope. They had a team

of horses they attached to the end of this rope. My dad would get hold of the double ropes

and brace himself because he had to hold against the whole load. The team would pull

the load up rolling it between the ropes when the hay got to where dad wanted it he

would release ropes so the horses could pull them out. Then he would stack the hay and

start all over again. My father hired men to pitch hay onto the slip so he could do the


5

stacking. My sister did the hauling and driving the pull off team. I remember Howard

Iverson and Billy Pallesen pitching hay for $2.00 per day.

One of the Reed brothers, Lee married a very nice lady and moved down on their

ranch just below us. I used to walk down and visit them. She was going to have a baby

and my mother offered to help her make the baby clothes. I would watch and walk up to

our house with her, then I would home with her after she was finished sewing. I liked her

very much. When she had her baby it was a boy and they named him Cloyd. We moved

from my grandfather’s place shortly after this.

I remember going to a Christmas party at the Washam school house. I remember

Dewey Lamb singing “The Strawberry Roan”. Gene MacKay sang “My Pretty

Quadroon” and Pat Searles played a guitar solo. Howard Porter, Jimmy Darty, and Fred

Lowe played and sang some songs. I always was impressed by music and loved it very

much.

The ranchers used to get together in early summer each year and gather the cattle

off from the range and take them to William’s ranch, on the Henry’s Fork which was

about a mile up the creek from the Green River. There they would work together to

brand, dehorn, vaccinate, and casterate the calves. We kids had fun roping, keeping the

fires hot for the branding irons, and roasting some rocky mountain oysters, and having

lunch when it was over and returning the cattle back to the range where they would

remain until fall.

The 4th

of July rodeo’s used to be held on the bench directaly south of Manila.

There was a bowerie made from poles and covered with willows for the women and kids

to sit in. Elbert Steinaker used to sell ice cream and pop for treats. Each family brought

their own picnic lunch. Normally everyone ate together and shared with everyone. There

was a baseball game in the morning and the rodeo in the afternoon. The rodeo had no

fences around them, sometimes the bucking horses would go straight and sometimes they

would turn and go over the steep hill to the north and really give them a ride. There was

always a dance at night.

The Twitchell Family Reunion was held in Manila for many years. People qould

come from far and wide. Nearly all the community was related to the Twitchells one way

or another so it turned out to be a community affair. There was baseball games, all kinds

of musical and family singing, poetry and funny stories. These reunions were held at

Palisades Park. There was always more food than anyone could eat. At night there was a

dance and the whole community was invited. I remember our house would have beds

made on every square foot of room. I really enjoyed this because I would see cousins I

hadn’t seen for a full year. I never had boys to play with so it was a treat to have

company.

My first year of school was the only year that I had a perfect attendance. My first

year teachers name was Miss Merriott. Students that I remember are James Briggs,

Carlton Myers, Forrest Pallesen, Larrie Grenhough, Weldon Potter, Myron Slaugh, Mary

Jane Christensen, Rena Potter, Warren Riggs, Ross Siler, Evan Bullock, Louise Nebekear

and Bobby Lowe.

My second grade teacher was Miss Marriott for half year and she died, then Mrs.

Agnes Briggs was teacher the rest of the year.

Third and fourth grade was Mrs. Mary E Tinker. Fifth and sixth was Eva Ruble.

Seventh through eleventh were Miss Jackson, Miss Sheets, Mrs. Slagowski, Mrs.


6

Williams, Mr. Harper, Mr. Corn, Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Welch, Mr. Williams, Mr.

Hemmingway, Bill Garner, Mrs. Corn, Mr. & Mrs. Goodrich, and a one-armed bandit

name Gibson.

Because Bill Garner was a first Lieutenant, he had to return to the army in the

Korean War and he was the only ally that I had at the school. Because of the direct

personality conflict I had with Mr. Gibson, Gibson told me he would make sure of me

never attending Manila High School by destroying all my grades, which he did, there is

no record of me at Manila High School. I never returned for my senior year.

Growing up, my mom and dad always raised turkeys and at Thanksgiving time we

would slaughter them for sale. We would normally have about 50 turkeys and as high as

100 old laying hens we would kill. The turkeys were the most work as when you would

try to catch them, they would beat you with their wings. We would hang them by their

feet then Dad would use a pocket knife to numb their brain and cut their throat. When he

numbed them they would release their hold on the feathers and you could pluck them real

easy. The chickens we would scald in a barrel of hot water then pull the feathers off.

The hard part was trying to corral the turkeys as they ran free on the farm. We

would start to feed them in the shed for a couple of weeks then we would shut the door

on them. But it seemed like always some got away. It didn’t matter, though because

there was Christmas and New Year’s coming, too.

I remember the C.C.C. camp that was down on Sheep Creek. (See Appendix A)

They had a doctor there, a movie house and lots of men.

They had an equipment shed and lots of equipment. They had a creosote plant.

They made bridge timber fence posts. Boy did this place smell. The crew use to play

basketball and baseball with the surrounding communities.

They left home in 1939. When they left they had an orphaned deed named

Nancy. She use to come to Manila and play with the kids at school. At this time, my

wife was living on Sheep Creek with her family. One night she was running and here

came Nancy and knocked her down and stomped her. My wife still has scars to prove it.

They hauled Nancy to Vernal and turned her loose.

After the C.C.C. left, they sold the buildings. My father bought the officers

quarter and the 32-hole privy. The officer’s quarters we used to build on to our home at

the ranch. But the privy smelled so bad, we used it for pig pen lumber.

I remember the first time I saw Lawrence Biorn and Thelma. They had moved a

saw mill into the county and had hired my oldest sister, Dess, to work for them to help

with children and help Thelma with cooking for the hired men. My dad and mom went

up to Lost Springs to see her. The Biorns had a boy named Larry. He and I played

together. He showed me the saw dust pile where we rolled in it and played for hours.

We used to have picnics together. They were always fun. Later, Lawrence moved his

saw mill to Sheep Creek at the gap. They lived in a little white house and had a small

orchard located where the Willows campground is now. They lived here for a few years

then moved to Evanston, Wyoming. I missed having Larry around to play with.

Their daughter, WaNeta, stayed with us one winter and went to school in about

1942 or 43. I always liked Lawrence and he like me also, even as a kid. He would take

me fishing all the time. In later years, we hunted together a lot. I remember one time he

took me to an air show with his family.


7

He would always sing and yodel. After I got to playing music, he would sing

with us all the time. We played and sang at programs, funerals and just family

gatherings. He was extremely good to me.

One Hundred Sixty acres each, 40 acres being separated by a road. My father

purchased this from Keith Smith for $1700.00. This is where the rest of my growing up

years were spent.

World War II was in swing now. I remember the draft board, the rationing board,

the rationing stamps; it seemed like you could not buy anything you needed.

I always had plenty of chores to do. Morning and night we always had about 300

laying hens, from three to five cows to milk and tend, pigs to feed and water and about 30

head of cattle. We had to haul our water for everything or drive the livestock to water,

both of which we did.

We sold our cream to the Birch Spring Creamery. They came around once a

week and picked it up. Seemed we had plenty to buy with but could not buy anything

until after the war.

1945

My father bought the first Ford tractor that came to the valley after the war. I was

11 years old then. My father was mowing hay and would not let me try; he said it was

too dangerous. So, I waited until he went in the house for dinner. I went and started the

tractor and went to mowing. What a mistake! I never got off the machine for four

summers. We mowed and stacked all Keith Smith’s hay in this period.

About the only entertainment we had was MIA on Tuesdays and movies at the

church on Saturdays. We live about two miles out of town and my dad did not go out at

night so if I went anywhere, I walked or caught a ride with someone else.

My Aunt Lilie and Uncle Vernon always went to MIA as they were dance

instructors. I would always catch a ride with them and appreciated them very much.

After I got old enough to drive, I would take my mom in the truck to the movies.

Gasoline we bought from the Linwood store. We paid $0.17 a gallon and used

about 7 gallons per day. My dad rented me and the tractor for $25.00 per day. Back

then, most of the hired men worked for $175.00 per month.

1946

Austin Stevens contacted my father to bring his tractor to Rock Springs to dig

post holes for fences and pens for the first Sweetwater County Fair. It was across the

street from the Old Timers Building where the animals were kept. The old Timers

Building was used for Egeberts.

One day after we bought the farm, Tim Potter ran over and killed Spike, my dog.

At this time we were friends with a man in Rock Springs. He gave us a cocker spaniel

female dog. Her name was Snowball. My oldest sister had a male dog she called

Pickles. Now old Pickles like Snowball right off and a few months later, we had puppies.

Of these I picked one for myself and called him Cub.

Now Cub and I got in lots of trouble. He was jealous of me. I would love stuffed

animals to tease him, but if I ever left hem where he could get them, he would tear them

to shreds.

He liked to hunt and was good at it. We hunted rabbits, ducks, pheasants and

geese. If I shot something he would go get it and bring it to me. One day I shot a goose

and it fell in a patch of cattails. Old Cub was right there and in he went, jumping around


8

trying to see. Then all at once I heard him yelp. The seed on the cattails looked like

clouds of white. Old Cub had run face first into that goose and it had pecked him right on

the nose. He turned and run out of that cattail patch with goose right on his tail. He ran

right up to me and I finished the job.

We kids used to ice skate. We would get on opposite sides of the pond. One of

use would hold on to Cub, the other would call him and he would pull us around the pond

for hours and never complain.

After I was married, one night my wife came home and Cub was asleep on the

bed. Cub and I were in trouble again!

After we moved from my grandfather’s place, the house was just three rooms. It

was a house that Daniel Nelson had built across the road from where it now stands. I

don’t know who moved it or why, because they only moved it about 300 feet east from

where it was originally built. When we got the house we had to burn sulfur candles in it

for about a week to get rid of the bed bugs. The people that lived there before we did

didn’t have any wood, so they took the board off from the back side of the house and

burned it in their stoves.

My dad and I hauled gravel form a sand bar in Sheep Creek for cement.

Everyone used just Sheep Creek gravel and sand in those days. My dad and Bill Briggs

went together and bought a hand turned cement mixer. We built forms for a new addition

to the house along with putting the original three rooms on a foundation. I helped turn

every bit of this cement. What a job it was! We had cinder block laid on the new part

then we finished the floors, roof, partitions, etc from the Officer’s Quarters we had

bought down at the C.C.C. camp. This added three more rooms to the house plus a

pantry. The only fun part of this was I got to drive the truck some times.

My dad took the job of Ditch Rider for the people’s canal company. There were a

lot of beaver in those days so we rode certain sections every day. I would take my dad to

the head gate at the Dewey Lamb place then he would walk to the waste gate at the

George Despain place. I got to drive the truck. If all was well, he would walk from the

waste gate to Mr. Yokies place. I would pick him up there. You can see I got several

miles driven each day. If there were beavers dams we had to pull them out and try to get

rid of the beaver. IF we failed, the beavers would break the canal banks. We did this for

several years.

Then in 1945 my father was working for Germer and Abbot, a construction

company who was paving the road from Linwood to Manila. My dad was chaining

gravel fro them. I was there with him when a truck pulled up and waited his turn to get

past the gravel pile. It was Lawrence Biorn and his saw mill. He told us he was going to

Scraper Springs. I was excited to see them back. My sister just older than I had marred

Dee Potter and they went to work for them, so my folks went up there often.

We had some interesting neighbors when we bought our farm. There was Charlie

Ship who used to hire my sisters to bake for him. There were Ralph Mass and Minnie

Mass and Edgar Finch who was brother to Minnie Mass. They hired me to haul them a

barrel of water twice a week, when I hauled ours. Bertha Beckstead and family, Buhlea

Lowe and Family, John Ylincheta, Claude Jones, Frank and Mable Adamson, Owen and

Elma Walker, Tim Potter and Bertha Marion Twitchell and later, Tom Ruble. These

people helped everyone whenever you needed it, mainly because they were the closest to

you and knew your needs.


9

One day there was a man and his wife and a daughter stop at our place. They

were riding horses and leading pack horses. They were trying to buy some horses. They

said they were traveling the country this way. My dad sold them two horses. They

stayed for dinner then went on their way. The next I knew they were living in Little Hole

working for Burton’s and were writing a book about Daggett County. They were the

Dunhams. Their daughter stayed with Jack and Eonice Ellison and went to school in the

same grade as I. Her name was Mary. We sure used to tease her because she had her

hair cut like a boy and wore clothes of the same style. She never wore a dress like other

girls. She wore shirts and levis and boots. They were a very interesting family.

When I was 13 I took my dad’s tractor and stacker over to Tom Jarvie’s on Henry

Fork and bull raked hay for them. I learned real quick that when you worked for Mr.

Jarvie, you ate three meals a day there or it would insult them. They really ate well.

Pamela did the cooking along with her mother. They bottled all their beef for summer

use. They really gave you plenty. One day I came to work and Tom asked me where I

was for breakfast. I said I ate at home. He told me, “When you work for me, you eat

here.” That I did. After that, they were a fun family to be around.

Other ranches I hayed on was Hampton Cobb, Marion Campbell, John Ylincheta.

Olsen’s at McKinnon. Makey ranch I worked with Steril Mckey, Ed Wasmuier, Willford

Tolton. Ratie Searles ran the cook house and was a fine cook.

I worked one spring at Sage Creek and Currant Creek for Frank Bosler of

Laramie.

I remember when I was a seventh grader we used to pick potatoes during

Teacher’s Institute each year. Marion Campbell and his son Gene used to hire the kids to

pick and haul them into the cellar. I was always big so I normally hauled and dumped the

potatoes into the cellars.

Leland Meyers and Hans Michelson raised potatoes also. Some times if we did

not get all of them in the four days of Teacher Institute, they would let school out for a

day to get the job accomplished.

One day when I was in the 7th

grade, all the boys in the 7th

and 8th

grades decided

they had enough school. It was a nice, warm, spring day so we decided we would just

walk over the hill to Henry’s Fork where Blain Potter and his brother Tommy lived.

They had a basketball hoop and we could play ball. What we found out was the Wade

place is more than just over the hill, it was over several hills and deep washes. When we

got there it was about two o’clock in the afternoon—we were starving to death.

So, Ted Potter and his wife, Wanda, took us in and fed us then Ted loaded us up

in his car and hauled us to our different houses. We boys got in a little trouble over this,

too. It seems like nobody understands boys….

Our neighbor, Beuhula Lowe, had a boy who was the same age as I named Bobby

and a younger brother named Bruce. We played together all the time. One day in the

third grade, Bob and Bruce and I decided we had enough school for one day so we

sluffed the afternoon class and went up on the hill in back of the school house. While we

were up there, we killed a rabbit with a rock and decided to cook it but we didn’t have

any pans. So, we decided to use Bobby’s lunch pail. It was brand new and real shiny so

we built a fire and put the rabbit in the lunch box and put it on the fire. That bucket

turned black and so did the rabbit. We could not eat it so we threw it away. We walked

down the back road to Bob’s house. When we got there, Beuhla had made a rice pudding


10

for supper and had it sitting out to cool and she was gone. We decided it looked better

than the rabbit and each of us got a spoon and went to eating. When we finished there

was no more pudding. I left and walked on home. The next day Bob told me he didn’t

know which licking hurt worse, the one for the pudding or the one for the lunch box.

Poor Bob.

Beuhla lived where Paul Franklin lives today. In the summer time, they moved

over on Henry’s Fork where Stanley Slagowski lives today.

My dad use to love to fish and was good at it. When I was a boy, the limit was 60

fish. My dad could catch 60 fish anytime he wanted. Often he would catch a hundred.

We would take 60 home and eat 40 for lunch while we picnicked. I use to try as hard as I

could, but could never catch as many as Dad. I remember Dad and Burl Potter going

over on the east Fork of Carter Creek fishing and wouldn’t let me go because I was too

little. They said when they returned they had two 50-pound salt sacks full of fish they

had caught out of the beaver dams. Damn, I was mad at them!

I remember the last time I took Dad fishing, we went up on West Beaver Creek in

Lone Tree. My dad’s vision was quite poor. He said he couldn’t see, but he caught more

damn fish from feel-see than the rest of us did by seeing.

One time Burl Potter, my dad and I went fishing up to Anson Lake. It was quite

an experience for me. I had to weed the potato patch before they would let me go, which

was about an acre and took about a week. When we got up to Wyman Park, I had the

strangest feeling, like I had been there before, but I knew I had not. I knew where every

lake was and the trail that went to them. I knew were the camping spot was too. It was

kind of scary; it must have been part of the preexistence that I had not forgotten. We had

a real fun time and caught lots of fish. We ate some, put some down in sheep salt and we

put some in the spring to eat in the morning for breakfast. But a mink came along and ate

them first.

Dad and I use to camp out on Sheep Creek the first part of June for the low-water

fish season opening. We would camp out at Hickerson Park for the high-water opening.

I sure use to enjoy this and learned a lot from it.

When I was 13, my dad and Burl Potter took me hunting deer over to the Ford

Ranch on Goslin Mountain. We had a large snow storm the day before we left and when

we got to lower Guardstone, the snow was dragging the hubs on the wagon. When we

got to the Ford Ranch, it was getting light and we did not have much time to set up our

tent. My dad started looking around and found Tom Jarvie’s tent already set up. It had

been flattened by the snow but was dry inside. We ran the mice out and used it for the

three days we were there. My dad shot a nice buck the first day, but he went down the

east side of Goslin and we lost him. There was a 3-point buck that laid in the quaken

aspen and we saw him every day just laying there. I wanted Dad to shoot him, but he

said he was too small. The second day, Burl Potter shot a nice buck in the Glades. The

third day we did not find any big ones and on the way off from Goslin, my dad said, “Can

you see that 3-point? If you can, hit him in the head, go ahead.” I aimed as well as I

could and I got the buck but I hit him in the kidneys. Bye, first deer. The next day when

we came back home, the road was completely dusty.

My first rifle was a Winchester 32.special hexagon barrel that had been sawed off

about a foot. I bought it from Edgar Finch for $10.00. When you shot this gun, the

bullets were not tight in the barrel, so you did not know where they would hit but I use it


11

for two years, anyway. I used to borrow a shotgun from Minnie Mass to hunt duck, geese

and pheasants. It was a fine gun with hammers you had to cock in order to fire it. It was

all engraved and a very beautiful gun. It belonged to her father, Mr. Finch, so she would

never sell it to me.

My oldest sister’s name was Dessie, we called her Dess. I remember she always

worked outside with my dad driving horses, riding horses, working cattle and milking

cows. She married Elvin Luke in 1943. (see Appendix B)

My second sister was named Twila, we called her Ty. My mom said she was

sickly when she was born and so she stayed in the house most of the time with mom. She

married Howard Porter first and later divorced him. They had one daughter, Janet, who

my m mom raised until she was seven, when Twila married Bud Lowery.

My third sister’s name was Hertha Elisibeth, we called her Pete. She was always

a good cook and done some field work and milked a lot of cows, too. She married Burl

Potter.

My fourth sister’s name was Donna, we called her…oh, never mind. She used to

help Dad in the fields as well as milk cows. She married Calvin Dee Potter.

I had two brothers who died in Whiterocks, Utah. There names were Deloss

Twitchell and Harold Twitchell.

I was last. My name was Burl D. but they called me Buggs. I fed a lot of pigs

and chickens, and milked the cows. I also candled eggs and cleaned chicken coops.

My favorite person of the older people was Mark A. Anson. We called him

Trapper. He was also sheriff of Daggett County for several years. He would always take

me fishing, hunting and camping.

He had a 300. Savage rifle he had made a stock for from red cedar wood. He was

really proud of this gun.

One day we were preparing to go hunting. He told me to take his rifle and see if it

was any good. So I took his and he took mine. At the end of the day I had killed my deer

and his. He said, “I though you might like it. I want you to know you’re the only one

that has ever done that.”

I thought it a pleasure when he asked me to play dance music for his and Sara, his

wife, 50th

wedding anniversary celebration. He was truly a good friend.

I remember when he was sheriff, Billy Pallesen and Owen Walker got in a fist

fight at the dance over Elva Adamson. There was blood all over the floor. Old Mark

broke it up and took them down to the little cement jail and locked them in the same cell.

They never fought, though.

1949 & 1959

I bought my first mandolin in 1949. My father played a mandolin and fiddle. I

learned fast and it wasn’t long until I was playing in public. Myron Slaugh, Reo Boren,

Doyle Boren and I started a band and played music for dances and programs at Manila

and surrounding communities until in the sixties. Due to church involvement I couldn’t

play in places where I played music when I first started out. We used to go from ranch to

ranch and month. We would start to play about six in the evening and often we were still

playing at six the next morning. The ladies would all bring food to eat, the men all

brought something to drink. Along about midnight, they would pass the hat to pay for the

music. All the men would empty their pockets into the hat. We were paid well for our

efforts. There was a lot of fun had and not one single instance of violence.


12

The different ranches where we played were the William ranch on Henry Fork,

the old Buckboard Hotel on the Green River, the Currant Creek ranch on Currant Creek,

the Jim Ramsey ranch on Little Mountain, and the Gun Ouaily school house in Ouaily.

Sometimes Billy McCurtain and Paul Williams would join in with us playing their

accordions.

We played dance music for years in several place like Old Hall in Manila, school

house in McKinnon, school house in Lyman, school house in Manila, church house in

Manila, the UFW Club in the Green River, the Eagles Club in Green River, Solvinski

Dome in Rock Springs, Bud’s Bar in Rock Springs, Club 535 in Rock Springs, South

Pass bar in Rock Springs, Hub Bar in Linwood, Utah, The Gateway Club in Vernal,

Burnt Fork school house and Kemmerer Community Hall. Part of the time I played also

with Sonny Landon and his band, which included Archie Lamb and his tenor guitar. We,

at one time, put on a Hee-Haw show using the kids who were young men and women.

Letting them act and sing the songs of the stars. It was highly successful and we took it

to Green River, Rock Springs, Lyman, McKinnon and Manila. The kids loved doing it.

One night a group of kids decided to go to South Valley and chivalry Argie Boren

and Shirley Chumbly who had just got married. We went and picked them up and went

for a ride over to Sheep Creek. On the return trip, Fred Olson was in front of me with the

couple and a whole load of kids. We came down the dug way to South Valley and the

dust was real thick. I was driving along when all of a sudden, there was that car stopped

right in front of me in the middle of the road. I tried not to hit the car, but as I went in the

bar ditch to pass, the bed of the truck hit the bank and caused me to roll over one time.

When the truck stopped, I as lying on the ground with the truck door open. My head and

ribs hurt badly. Later I found out a five-ton hydraulic jack had hit me in the head. My

ribs were broken, also. Ida Marie Biorn had a broken collar bone, Sheila Masters broke

her thumb but Leta Olson and Donna Slagowski were unhurt. There was myself and four

girls in the cab of this truck…not too bad for a guy who didn’t like girls.

The next day a group of kids left school to go see where we had wrecked the night

before. They had a car owned by Jimmy Lamb. He had with him Burnell Lamb, David

Larsen, Larry Biorn, Darrel Mitchell, and Jimmy Masters. They were traveling too fast

and rolled that car over. There was no one hurt, lucky kids.

One fall when I was 16, Myron Slaugh, Weldon Potter, Forrest Pallesen and I

were headed for the Ford Ranch to hunt deer. We had a wagon and team of horses. We

forded the river at Suicide Wash on the Green River. We then took the road to Jug

Hollow. When we got there we met a horse that was saddled and the reins up on the

saddle horn. So we thought some one had turned him loose. We traveled on up the road

to Lower Grind Stone, a well known sheepherder camp, and we came up on a man

walking down the road with a walking stick to help him. It was old Mark Anson. He

told us he had shot a deer up at Cow Springs on Goslin. When he stepped off his horse

and shot, his horse had spooked and he could not catch him. So Myron rode back and

caught the horse and brought him back. We spent a week camped out with Mark and

really enjoyed it. We learned that every night’s meal was rice and raisins. We learned

some techniques of how to care for the game we killed and helped him carry his deer in

when we got through hunting. One of Marks sayings was, instead of saying where he

was hunting, was “I was just bragging around.”


13

On another occasion, Myron Slaugh and I had been fishing on the canal lake on

east fork of Carter Creek. We came up on the Wyman Park stream where the trail

crosses. We stopped for some lunch and I found a fishing rod, a good one, too. When

we got back to Manila, I saw Mark Anson and he asked what I had been doing. I told

him I just got back from fishing. He said, “Me also and I lost my damn fishing pole.” I

walked over to Dad’s truck and pulled out the pole I had found and asked, “Is this

yours?” You should have seen the smile on his face.

I would look up Larry and we would try to find something to do. Now, Larry had

a sister I had not known when they were on Sheep Creek, but now she was about eight

years old and a real Mama’s girl. I didn’t like girls much after having four older sisters

who didn’t like me. So, Larry would find someway to lure her away from her mother,

and then we would waltz her down to the stock pond, which was full of frogs, and throw

her in. Boy would she throw a fit. After doing this a few times, Ida would get sick when

she saw me coming and her mom would put her to bed until I left. The big chicken!

Later, Lawrence moved his cook house cabins and saw mill to the head of Saul’s

Canyon. Ida had got three or four years older and her mother trusted her to do the

cooking for the hired men. I was off bearing lumber on the saw mill and Larry was

skidding logs out of the woods to the mill. Now, I would really get hungry working that

hard. We would go in for dinner and it was really good, but I never let on. I always told

Ida how bad it was. At night she would go to a spring to wash the pots and pans. I would

wait until she got started then I would push her in the spring. She always got mad and

told me how bad she hated me. I didn’t really care, I still hated girls.

One day, I was using my father’s truck to cruise town with and got to work one

Sunday afternoon. I was driving down Manila’s main street when I met Von Christensen

driving his dad’s car. He stopped and so did I. We talked for a while. He had his

girlfriend with him, Ida Marie Biorn, and her friend Donna Slagowski. After a while

Donna asked me what I was doing that night. I told her nothing and she said, “Why don’t

you go get Forrest Pallesen and bring him up to my place?” I said I would see, and then

Ida spoke up and said, “Come get me, too.”

So about 7:00 I went and got Forrest then stopped at Biorn’s. I went in and asked

Thelma if Ida could ride with use, not knowing Ida was standing behind me, mouthing to

her mother “NO! She did not want to go.” Now, her mother thought, if she doesn’t want

to go then no harm can come of her going so she said, “She can go if you have her back

by 10:00.” I said, “Sure.” So she let her go.

That was not a very exciting evening, to say the least, but something happened to

Ida that night. She tagged me every where I went with other girls, but she just got mad at

the girls and not me anymore. And, I must admit, she was starting to look a little better.

She was not that bad of a dancer either.

One night I was sitting in the Old Hall waiting for the band to start up. Ida was

sitting by me, we were holding hands—I don’t know why. When her mother lit on me

about being disrespectful to her daughter and that she was going to take her home herself.

I didn’t really care; I just hated the tongue lashing I got. It was quite some time before

Ida could get within gun-shot distance of me, but she never gave up.

Eventually I married Ida. I don’t know why she wanted to marry me unless it was

to get even for some of my fun times.


14

As for Larry, he was always a friend. We used to sleep over together, hunt rabbits

and get into trouble. One day in particular, we went hunting and never got the wood in

first. There was a wood shed built on their house, and when we got back, Thelma was

REALLY mad. She took Larry in the wood shed and was tanning his hide. I thought it

was funny and started to laugh. Thelma picked up a piece of firewood and threw it at me.

She missed, but I did not stick around to see the end of the licking. Larry and I grew up

as friends, worked as partners and are still friends today.

In May of 1952 I had known Jack Evers for some time as I had played music in

his club and had been there on different occasions with Lawrence Biorn. I got the notion

one day to buy an engagement ring, but I didn’t have any money. So, I thought where I

had worked for Jack from time to time, I would ask him to loan me the money. His

response was, “What are you going to do with it?” I told him, “Buy an engagement

ring.” He laughed and said, “That’s the dumbest thing you could ever do.” Then he said,

“Who for?” I told him and he said, “Hell no! Lawrence is my friend.”

So, I let it drop. When I left the club Mary Martha Evers was waiting out side for

me. She said, “I heard what that old fool said and I don’t agree. You go up to Long’s

Jewelry and tell Hughy Long I sent you and I will call him right away.”

I left to make my way up there. When I walked in I told Mr. Long who I was and

he said, “Yes, Mary Martha just called me and told me to give you any damn thing in this

store you wanted and she would back your bill.”

The next evening I gave this ring to Ida Marie. The following day there was a

feeling that I was the lowest form of life that could be had throughout the Biorn family

and I don’t know if that ever completely changed or not.

On one occasion I asked Thelma and Lawrence if I could marry their daughter

and their response was, “Why in the hell don’t you go join the army?” This hurt my

feelings, but I didn’t give up.

On October 7, 1952, Ida Marie, her mother and I left Manila at 6:00 in the

morning to travel to Vernal, Utah where we were going to get married. My mother and

dad followed us in their pickup. It took us until 10:30 to get to Vernal on the old dirt

road. We went and got our marriage license at the court house.

We then went to the hospital for blood testing. They took us down stairs to the

lab. Ida had hers done first, then it was my turn. When they started to draw that blood, it

felt like someone had pulled the shades over my eyes. The next thing I knew, every body

was laughing and waving something under my nose that smelled bad. The sweat was

standing out all over me but it soon passed and I got up to leave. We climbed the stairs

and walked down the hall to the receptionist desk when, lo and behold, the lights in my

head went out again. When I woke up this time, I was back on a bed and they wouldn’t

let me up for about an hour.

When I finally got out of the hospital we called a bishop of the LDS church to

marry us. He said he could not come until 4:00 pm. The church was where the Ashley

Valley Medical Center is now. I think it was the Fourth Ward chapel.

When he got there it didn’t take long then we went out to a café and had dinner

before starting home. We left Vernal about 5:00 pm. While traveling home, we had a

flat at Deep Creek. When we got to Manila, MIA was just letting out. The kids saw us

and got the wild idea to chivalry us. We had to drop Ida’s mom off. So by the time we


15

headed for Green River, the pursuers were getting might close. They chased us until we

passed the junction of the McKinnon road before they gave up.

The next day I had to find a job because the place where I had been working

would not give me a day off to get married so I had to quit. So, I went down to the Union

Pacific Railroad and hired on as a switch man in the railroad yard.

About two weeks later we were in Manila visiting my folks. We had just got to

bed when those kids caught up with us to chivalry us. I got up and put my pants and

boots on and while they were fussing with Ida to get her dressed, I fled out the front door

and down the alley. There were several chasing me but finally they gave up and went

back for their car. They took Ida with them and drove around and around looking for me.

One time they stopped and said, “There he is!” Doyle Pallesen said, “No. That’s my

white-faced cow.” They eventually got tired and took Ida back home. I stayed out for

quite some time before I returned. But, we got together with Forrest and Donna Pallesen

and gave a wedding dance so they would leave us alone. It was held in the old dance hall

with George Okona’s western band playing the music with Howard Porter playing the

mandolin and guitar.

After Ida and I were married, it was time to go to work. I started by working for

her dad hauling props to the mines in Rock Springs, Wyoming. I would take a load in to

the mines either Superior, Reliance or Stansbury everyday then return to the mountain,

load up another load by hand, then return to my house. It would take 12 hours to do this.

We made this run six days a week. On Sunday we got the trucks serviced for the next

week, maybe we would get a half day off.

Some times we would stock-pile the props in Green River then we would load

them by hand into railroad cars, which was a lot of work. We wore horse collar pads on

our shoulders to keep from getting sores. Also we would make 6 x 6 wedges and load

them in to railroad cars. We would cut 40,000 board feet (bd. ft.) of 6 x 6 per day.

Lawrence had built a wedge mill that he should have patented. It would cut more wedges

than any other mill made at that time, or since.

On April 7, 1953 at 8:15 pm at the Sweetwater County Memorial Hospital, Rock

Springs, Wyoming, a baby boy was born. His name would be Lawrence Don Twitchell

after his two grandfathers, Lawrence Biorn and Don Twitchell. His parents were glad to

have him here but were really frightened when they attending doctor came in and told us

that the baby had a birth defect commonly known as club feet. He gave us an address for

the Crippled Children Services in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Lawrence’s little feet were so turned that he would kick and his toes were pointed

at his chin. When he was a week old, I went to Salt Lake and talked with the Crippled

Children’s Service and they recommended a doctor whose name was Clegg. I made an

appointment with him for the following Monday. After this appointment we took him to

Salt Lake every two weeks for two years. We had to take the casts off the night before

we went, which was no easy task. We would set him in a tub of water and I would cut

the cast off with a razor blade. Then the next day we would go to the doctor and he

would twist his feet as much as he dared and put new casts on that would hold them in

this position. Lawrence also had two surgeries by the time he was two years old.

Finally we got him in shoes, but at night we would put a bar between his shoes

and turn them out far as we could. Lawrence never slept with out shoes until he was

eight years old. His feet were fairly straight but he was flat footed. One of the operations


16

was they cut the cord in back of his foot so therefore, he could not jump. Despite all of

this, he was a good athlete but a very cranky boy. But, after what he had been through,

maybe he earned it.

On April 7, 1955 at 4:15 pm at the Sweetwater County Memorial Hospital in

Rock Springs, Wyoming a baby girl was born. Her name would be Christina Beth

Twitchell. Her parents were really excited to have her here but were frightened also that

their might be a birth defect like her brother. That was the first thing we looked for and

were extremely relieved when all we could see was a beautiful, black-haired little girl

that was perfect in every respect.

Beth was always the little mother to all the family. She helped everybody

anytime she could. Her mother depended on her all the time to help around the house.

Beth was always glad to share with others. I remember one time she wanted to

give her aunt Elsie a doughnut. She took the whole bowl out to meet Elsie and said,

“Would you like a doughnut, Aunt Elsie?” Elsie replied, “Why thank you, Honey,” and

took the whole damn bowl. Beth felt so bad that she cried about it. But, Beth was always

a good cook, a good student, and achieved high at whatever she tried. She grew into a

fine woman.

On August 6, 1956 at the Sweetwater County Memorial Hospital, Rock Springs,

Wyoming, a baby girl was born and her name would be LuAnna Marie Twitchell.

LuAnna was a small, blonde-headed little girl; perfect in every respect.

Her childhood was different than the others as she liked to play with dogs, cats

and other animals. She stayed to herself and never needed someone to talk to or play

with. She was a wild, hyper-type child who feared very little. She would tell me when I

got home at night about how mean her mom had been to her that day.

She was real creative, but liked to do things in her own sweet time. The other

kids used to get angry with her because she was so slow with her chores. Some things

they would have to help her so they could go do what they wanted.

LuAnna never walked anywhere, she ran as fast as she could. She was always

skinned-up from falling down. But, despite all the skinned knees, she managed to grow

into a fine woman.

In 1956 we had our saw mill up at Hole in the Rock Ranger Station cutting

Douglas Fir. We had logged out a large area of timber, and the forest ranger wanted us to

go back and lop down some of the tops. This one day I had been working lopping brush

and my axe got dull, so I set down and filed and whet-stoned my axe until it was like a

razor. Then I got up and went back to work. Forgetting to swing easy with a sharp axe, I

swung like it was still dull. I went right through the top of that tree, about 3” diameter,

and right into my foot. I knew I was cut bad so I started to walk out. Every step I would

take, I could feel the cord to my toes working up inside my leg. Finally, Roy Richardson

came and helped me to the truck. My father-in-law took me to the doctor in Green River.

He put me in the hospital for surgery. No one let me wife know. She heard it on the five

o’clock news that I had been admitted to the hospital…she was a little mad.

I was laid up for three months with this injury and workman’s compensation did

not come through until after I got back to work. We were getting low on groceries when

one night Junior Reed and his wife came up and said, “Let’s go for a ride.” We ended up

at Connor Basin where Carlene’s dad, Lorel Nelson, was ranch foreman. He said, “I hear


17

you need some and meat.” When I agreed, he said, “I have some I want to get rid of.” It

was a nice four-point buck deer; it sure did help us out.

November 1954-January 1955

Duane Lamb and WaNeta, along with Ida and I took a contract to paint the inside

of the old church. The church furnished the paint and materials. We worked on this

project for three months for a total amount of $600.00.

From 1965 to 1974 we were custodians for five years at the Manila Church house

and grounds.

During this time we were trying to raise funds to build the church and dedicate it.

There were several projects that I was responsible for. They were cutting 2000 6 inch x

20 feet poles to build fence for the Forest Service. Four dock sections and eight finger

sections were contracted from Bob Witherspoon. He furnished the plans; we did the rest

for a net profit to the church of $12,000. I helped mill the lumber at Hole in the Rock to

the tune of 30,000 bd. ft. This was enough to get the church started.

Other Fund Raisers

Burning slash on clearing project at airport in Dutch John

Installing guard rail on highway 44 down Sheep Creek Gap

Painting guard rail on Lucerne Road

Helped with several auctions

Supervised and cooked several family dinners

We used to contract hauling hay and stacking it for so much a ton, to raise funds

to build the church. We hauled hay to Lawrence Biorn, J.R. Broadbent, Lee

Nebeker, Connor Basin and Bransen Neff.

On January 10, 1959 at Sweetwater County Memorial Hospital, Rock Spring,

Wyoming, a baby girl was born and her name would be Nella Rae Twitchell. She was a

very perfect little girl with blonde hair.

She, like her sister LuAnna, like animals and played with them a lot. She also

loved new-born babies. Whenever she got near one, she could not leave it alone.

When she was about four years old, she got a little accordion for Christmas and

boy did she play it.

She always wanted my lunch box, when I would come home at night, to see if I

had left her something to eat. She would also bring me my slippers and help take my

shoes off.

One night I came home and sat in my chair and she came over their. I said,

“Nella, get my slippers for me.” She replied, “I can’t because we just wrapped them and

put them under the Christmas tree.” Uh-oh! The other kids were so angry with her.

Nella always wanted to be just a good housekeeper and good mother. I believe

she has done this, plus being a good neighbor to whomever is in need. She is always the

first there to help. She is a dedicated community leader.

After we were married I worked in Evanston, Green River and for Lawrence for

the first year. At this time Lawrence moved the cook house from Saul’s Canyon and set

it by Levi Reed’s property. They sided it and put new shingles on the roof. A man by the

name of Bill Haggardy lived there for about a year then had to leave. Ida and I moved in

to this house and lived there for about a year. It was the first time I didn’t have to use a


18

gas lantern. Junior and Shorty (Derl) Reed ran an extension cord over to our house with

one light bulb. We thought we were really “Up-town”.

We lived there for about a year then my father gave me an acre of ground where

we live now. Ida’s dad gave Ida the cook house and we got Kenneth Reed, who had a D-

4 Cat, to pull the house up where it is now.

From 1953 to 1958 we carried water from my father’s well as the town would not

let him nor I hook onto the city system. He had a well drilled and we still use it today. In

1953 I hired Burnell Lamb to put in a water line to our house. I hired Roy Richardson to

wire the house for electricity. We had, for the first time, a refrigerator, lights in all the

rooms, hot water and an electric range.

In 1963 I gave Lawrence Biorn $1200.00 for a large chicken coop he had built but

used very little. I took a chain saw and cut it in half and hired Shorty Reed to haul it to

Manila. I attached it to the cook house. There had been six of us living in a small, three-

room house and suddenly space had more than doubled.

In 1971 I added on to the house one more time, building a utility room, entry way,

large bedroom and large bathroom; no more outdoor privies. I remodeled the rest of the

house so we ended up with a utility room, kitchen, living room, three bedrooms, a

bathroom, an entry way and forced-air heat.

My father was the first funeral held in the new ward chapel in November of 1963.

My daughter, Beth, was the first girl baptized in the new ward chapel, also in 1963.

After the death of my father I started going back to church. It was quite a switch

from the life I had been used to. I quit smoking and playing music in bars. It was hard

on me because the old friends I had wouldn’t have anything to do with me because I was

going to church. On the other hand, the church people wouldn’t have anything to do with

me because of the things I used to do. They didn’t treat Ida this way, I guess because all

the blame was laid on me.

In the early spring of 1964 I was working for the National Park Service and living

in Dutch John through the week in a trailer house. One night I went to bed and about

4:00 in the morning I had an experience I will never forget. Some people may say it was

a dream, but I think it was real. My father had died in November 1963. He and I had

always been really close. He came to me in this spiritual experience and he was holding

on e small child in his arms and he introduced this child to me as my brother, Harold.

There was another small boy holding my father’s hand and standing beside him. My dad

said, “This is your brother Deloss.” He said they were fine but he had one request of me.

I asked what it was and he told me he needed their temple work done because being

where they were and not having it done was like only having half of your face. I

remember looking and seeing a blank side of my father’s face, which was very disturbing

to me.

That fall, on November 17, 1964, we went to the temple and did the work for my

dad. His cousin, Frank, stood proxy for Dad as Mom and him and all their children (that

could be at that time) were sealed.

June 1965

We had a large snow pack in the mountains this year and the spring was

especially cold. On the eighth of June we had a warm rain start to fall that continued for

several days. The low snow and ice in Cheep Creek started to flow, but because of the

excess water, the ice jammed up in the stream beds and would block the stream off. This


19

was going on all up the stream then when the ice and snow could not hold it back any

longer, it would cause a large gush of water, all at one time, running down stream to the

next and pond and doing the same thing to it only now there was twice the amount of

snow and ice and water. It continued to do this all the way to Palisades Park. When it

reached there, the water was 15 feet high on the trees that survived. It took out the road,

picnic areas, bridges, fields, fences and worst of all, people. Seven people lost their lives

in this flood. I had the job of taking a flat bottom barge and sifting through the debris

that hit the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. There was one body that was never found.

To date, we have not repaired all the damage that was caused over 40 years ago.

This not only caused problems in Sheep Creek, but every stream in the forest. There was

no road to Vernal except to go down Sheep Creek to the old switch backs that were built

in the 1920s. Primarily a one lane road, it sure crippled traffic. The school kids from

Dutch John had to be bused by motor boat and picked up at Antelope and Lucerne.

Sheriffs of Daggett County I Have Known

Mark A. Anson, John Ellison, Pete Riggs, Merlin Schofield, Mark Cornaby,

Sonny Larsen, Ed Greathouse, Ken Reed, Gaylen Jarvie

Mail Services

There was one post office in Linwood operated by George Rasmussen, and in

later years, was moved to another building and was operated by Elene Williams. There

was also a post office in Manila. My first recollection, it was at Nels Pallesen’s home

and was operated by Nels Pallesen. Later it was moved up to J.D. Harpers. It was in a

log cabin where the post office is today. J.D. Harper and his wife Julia operated all three

locations. Upon their retirement, Carleen Reed operated the post office until her health

failed her.

The early mail drivers had quite a challenge. They had to drive from Green

River, Wyoming each day with no paved road and very little gravel. The early drivers I

remember are Steve Anastas, Bill Urwin, and Marrion Meeks. Later came Bill Steinaker,

Harry Hudson, Lorain Beck, Elaine Steinaker, and Ray Bullock.

Businesses

Some of the businesses I remember when I was growing up were:

Silver Leach Saw Mill, Manila, Utah located about where Steinaker Chevron is today

Smith & Larsen Mercantile, Linwood, Utah operated by George Rasmussen

Manila Trading Company, Manila, Utah operated by Albert and Helis Steinaker

Reed Service, Power and Rentals operated by Ken and Myrtle Reed

Hans Repair and Power operated by Nels Philbrick

Reed Repair operated by Levi Reed and sons

Birch Springs Creamery operated by Cliff and Marian Christensen

Charlie Lazzel Blacksmith Shop

Mick Mahoney Blacksmith

John and Eunice Ellison Boarding house

L.R. and Son Freight Line operated by Levi & Sons

Vivian Pollson Dress Shop

Merlon Campbell Sawmill and Freight Line

L.P. Biorn Timber Company

Burnell Lamb Construction Company.


20

About 1958 George Ellsworth set up a repair shop and Randy Steinaker built a

service station about the same time. Levi Reed and Sons moved their home across the

street and built a new service station and maintenance shop. Bill Bruce built the Sure

Save Market and The Villa restaurant. The Hub bar and service station was built down

on Henry’s Fork in Linwood on the road to Flaming Gorge Dam and Dutch John town

site.

I have had foreman type jobs since 1964. My area for two years was all of

Flaming Gorge, Fontanel and Fossil Butte with headquarters in Dinosaur National

Monument. (See Appendix C)

Some of the local people who have worked for me since I went to work in a

foremanship role for the U.S. Government are:

Paulette Welder Ray Dale

Milton Wilkinson Steve Dillerie

Rusty Muir Celia Slagowski

Keith Babcock Dennie Maras

Rowdy Muir Brian Coulter

Tex Leflet John Simmons

Stan Slagowski Nancy Jarvie

Kelly Iverson Zane Radosivitch

John Iverson Curt Sadlier

Doyle Slagowski Steve Neff

Don Larsen Dixie and Carl Moser

Forrest Pallesen Danny Lamb

Merlin Schofield Kelly Wilde

Gene Campbell Craig Jarvie

Allen Campbell Dewey Erich

Eldon Lamb Hob Redden

Vivian Slagowski Tom Cook

Doyle Boren Leonard Twitchell

Selvian Arrowsmith Barry Cain

1984

When my mother died the cemetery committee asked me if I would be sexton of

the cemetery and clean it up. At that time, every lot had its own rock wall or log fence.

There was brush five feet high in places. There were many unmarked graves so Ida and I

sent out letters asking for donations. The response was great. We got over $6,000.00 of

which we started to build a pump house and make a water collection system from the

canal. We used a forest service loader to level the ground and haul off the debris.

Larry Biorn donated a load of P.V.C. pipe and fittings. Cyril Raylonce donated a

chain digging machine. Gene Briggs ran it for us then we put the piping in for a sprinkler

system and planted grass.

The next thing was to make markers for the unmarked graves, 76 in all. Vernal

Mortuary donated the markers. We put them in a 16 inch concrete block and set them.

Curtis lamb put up a flag pole for an Eagle Scout project. This was all done with

volunteer labor; mostly Burl, Sam and Lawrence Twitchell, Rusty Muir, Gene Briggs,

Punky Steinaker, Rick Ellsworth and the LDS Elders quorum. I was sexton until July

2008.


21

On May 12, 1994 I retired from the US Forest Service with 31 years of service. I

did not work this year but ran for County Commissioner. I did not get elected, thank the

good Lord!

In 1995 I was asked by Commissioner Sharon Walters if I would work for the

county and build them a park. I started by clearing five acres of Russian olive trees. The

area was a swamp so I put in four major drains to dry it up so we could work.

Scenic Highway donated money to build a picnic shelter, restrooms and parking

lot. We built the restroom and picnic shelter first then we did side walks, water and

electrical lines and security lights.

Then came top soil and sprinkler systems. The school let us use their water

system. After all of this was completed we paved the parking lot. There were still

swampy areas so I met with S.C.S. to see if they could put the irrigation ditch at the west

side of the park in a pipe. They said I would have to get a rancher or water user to apply

for it. I asked John Tinker if he would apply. He was hesitant but finally signed. This

dried up the whole area.

Next they wanted me to move the historic school house from Clay Basin and put

it in the park for a museum. This was done. The next project was electric lights in the

rodeo arena. I contacted UDOT in Orem and asked if they had any long light poles they

had taken off from interstate roads. They gave me eight. George Ellsworth went and got

them. We used a chain digger donated by Doc Huston and ran all the lines to the poles.

After we poured concrete bases we assembled the lights. Donald Pallesen used Gary

Pallesen’s track-hoe and stood them up into place. Next we got grants to build handicap

ramps into the grandstands. Then we purchased a water cannon to wet the rodeo

grounds.

The gates to the park were an Eagle Scout project by Travis Lamb.

The volleyball court was an Eagle Scout project by John Ross Catron.

The horse shoe pit was an Eagle Scout project by Chase Ellsworth.

The carved bear was an Eagle Scout project by Tyrell Smith.

The individual picnic sites were and Eagle Scout project by Jason Lamb.

The flag pole was an Eagle Scout project by Brett Steinaker and James Lamb.

The Town of Manila was having water problems and the new soil could not go

without water. I told Commissioner Jim Briggs I knew where there was a tank we might

get. The forest service had one at Red Canyon they wanted removed so they let us

remove it and set it up at the jail for reserve water. It held 17,000 gallons; enough for

three days. I redid all the side walks around the Court House. Put down new pavement

at Historical Park, Court House, new jail and medical building.

The county put me in as district road chairman. Since this time we have paved 12

miles of road, chip-sealed 14 miles, crushed 100,000 tons of gravel, and purchased and

hauled 10,000 tons of chips.

Presently the road committee is doing a $6,000,000.00 road into Brown’s Park. I

also assisted town of Manila in paving their streets in 2008. (See Appendix D)

Timeline

1951 Found me working for Petty Geophysical Seismography for oil in Buffalo,

Wyoming and Rock Springs, Wyoming. I worked up fast and was soon a Junior


22

Operator of the camera truck. It was a fun job, but I didn’t want to move as often

as they did, so I came back to Manila and went to work on constructing the 530

road from Squaw hallow to Linwood Canyon.

1952 Electrical power came to the valley. I married Ida Marie Biorn in Vernal, Utah.

After I was married, I worked as switchman for the Union Pacific Railroad.

1953 April 7th

a son (Lawrence Don) was born to Ida and me.

1954 Ida Marie and I hired out to Heber Bennion to herd and lamb sheep. We did this

one summer. We borrowed a camp trailer from Duane and WaNeta Lamb. This

was a real enjoyable job, as you were so free to do what you wanted as long as

your sheep were cared for.

1955 April 7th

a daughter (Christina Beth) was born.

1956 August 6th

a daughter (LuAnna Marie) was born. All this time I was working in

the timber, oil fields and construction.

1959 January 10th

a daughter (Nella Rae) was born.

1964 November 16th

I got married again. This time the lady had four kids but we all

went to the temple and were sealed for eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. Yes, it

was to Ida Marie Biorn.

On May 21st of this year I was looking for work and I called the National Park

Service to see if they had an opening. They referred me to a man named Dick

Herriman. I called him and he asked me, “Can you add 2 & 2?” I said, “Yes,

that’s 4.” He said, “Come to work in the morning.” I worked for the Federal

government ever since.

1965 Went to Idaho Falls Temple with Ida’s mom and dad and witnessed the sealings

of Lawrence to his first wife, May, and their children and then Thelma and their

children.

1966 June 6th

a daughter (Thelma Louise) was stillborn.

1967 Called as Second Counselor to Bishop Dixon Christensen. Set apart by Edwin E.

James, Stake President.

1969 Released from bishopric.

1971 My oldest son, Lawrence Don, graduated from high school and went to work in

the oil fields.

1973 My oldest daughter, Christina Beth, graduated from high school and went to

Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.

1974 My second daughter, LuAnna Marie, graduated from high school. She enrolled in

Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho.

1975 My youngest daughter, Nella Rae, was married on August 8th

to Gale B. Lamb.

My oldest daughter, Beth, graduated from Continental Beauty School.

My sister, Hertha, died of a stroke in Rock Springs, Wyoming

1976 LuAnna Marie graduated from Ricks College.

1978 January 26th

a son was born named Samuel D. Twitchell.

1979 October 13th

a daughter was born named Sarah RaNae Twitchell.

Burl D. Twitchell Life Story Parents: Don Twitchell Sarah...

Documents

Transcript of Burl D. Twitchell Life Story Parents: Don Twitchell Sarah...