A black and white portrait of an older C. R. Savage.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers
Charles R. Savage (1832–1909) was born in Southampton, England. When he was nearly fifteen, Charles received his first introduction to the Church and was baptized soon afterward. After serving a successful mission in Switzerland, Charles crossed the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in New York City in 1857, where he met and married Annie Adkins. During his stay in New York, he also developed a great interest in photography and determined to become proficient in that trade.
The Savage and Ottinger Gallery.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers
Charles managed to obtain a wagon and a yoke of cattle. Shortly after arriving in Salt Lake City in 1860, he joined with Marsena Cannon in opening a photography business. Later Charles opened his own business in the upper part of a house located on Main Street just south of the old Salt Lake Council House (which stood on the southwest corner of Main Street and South Temple streets where the Gateway Tower West now stands).
Charles traveled throughout the Rocky Mountain region, taking photographs of everything that interested him. He won numerous prizes for his abilities. On June 21, 1883, an enormous fire started in Hiram Clawson’s building that engulfed Charles’s Photography Shop as well as the Council House. All of his negatives portraying the growth of Salt Lake City and other areas were destroyed. His surviving photographs have become a priceless treasure of Salt Lake City’s pioneer legacy.
Located on the northeast corner of South Temple and Main Streets. Utah State Historical Society
A portrait of George M. Ottinger, C. R. Savage’s partner. Utah State Historical Society
This camera was used by the Fox-Symons photography studio. It is similar to the one used by Savage and Ottinger in their early photography business. It is now on display at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum.
In this historic view from the mid-1800s, looking southwest toward Temple Square, City Creek flows past walled Whitney properties (center right) toward Brigham Young’s properties (upper center left). The dome of the Tabernacle and walls of the unfinished Salt Lake Temple are seen in the upper center right. C. R. Savage courtesy of Richard K. Winters
This stone commemorates the 1995 groundbreaking for City Creek Park designed to complement the Brigham Young Park immediately across the street to the south.
David M. Whitchurch
This landscaped acre in downtown salt lake city sat north of Brigham Young’s farm. In the 1990s, the park was developed by Church and city leaders to honor the nineteenth-century pioneer settlers of the Salt Lake Valley. It was also designed to complement the Brigham Young Historic Park across the street. “We’re happy to be participating with Salt Lake City in this undertaking [and develop it into] what will be a beautiful facility and a great attraction for this community,” President Gordon B. Hinckley said at the ground-breaking ceremony held on June 12, 1995.
City Creek Park serves as a gathering place where local citizens may eat their lunch and relax.
David M. Whitchurch
President Hinckley noted that the park projects were undertaken as Utah approached its centennial in 1996 and preparatory for the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebrations of the pioneers in 1997.
A beautiful bridge spans City Creek as it passes through the park area.
David M. Whitchurch
City Creek is significant to the history of the city and the Church. The advance party entering the Salt Lake Valley dammed up City Creek and flooded the area to the south to water the ground for the potatoes that had been planted. The water was channeled to the area of Second South and State Street, where it was used to irrigate the first crops of potatoes, beans, corn, buckwheat, and turnips. More than twenty thousand acres were under cultivation within six months of the pioneers’ arrival.
Beautiful trees and flowers have been planted in and around City Creek Park to make it cool and inviting. Kathie and W. Jeffrey Marsh
Crossing Creeks and Ditches
Several ditches diverted water from City Creek. Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933), a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, had an interesting incident while serving as president of the University of Utah in the 1890s. He had obtained a bicycle, which was then the new wave in transportation.
A photograph of the young James E. Talmage.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers
James acquired one of the new machines, not as a hobby or physical conditioner but as a practical means of transportation. . . .
Some time after James had achieved reasonable proficiency in handling his machine on standard roads, he showed up at the front door one evening a full hour late for dinner and scarcely recognizable.
May [his wife] nearly went into shock, for her husband was a frightening sight. Battered, bruised, and bleeding profusely, clothes torn in a dozen places and covered with dust and mud, James looked as though he had been caught in a riot, or at least a fight of unusual violence. Neither, it
developed, had been the case.
Half a block from the Talmage home a single-plank footbridge crossed the ditch of running water that separated the street from the footpath. Until now, Jamesnhad dismounted when he reached this point in a homeward journey, and crossed the narrow bridge on foot. Today, he had decided that he had reached the point in his development as a cyclist where he should no longer resort to this prudent maneuver, but rather ride over the bridge in the manner of an accomplished veteran of the two-wheeler.
Having so decided, James approached the bridge resolutely, confident that he would negotiate the tricky passage in a manner to be proud of and to impress neighbors, if any should chance to be watching, with his skill and casual daring. He turned sharply from the road toward the bridge with scarcely any diminution of speed. The result was spectacular and observers, if any there were, must indeed have been impressed, but in a very different way from that intended. The professor’s bicycle went onto the plank at an oblique angle and quickly slid off the side, throwing its rider heavily into the ditch bank.
Dazed, bruised, bleeding and humiliated, Dr. Talmage was not convinced that the difficult maneuver was beyond his skill. Rather, he was stubbornly determined to prove that he could and would master the difficulty. For the next hour, the president of the University of Utah might have been observed trundling his bicycle fifty yards or so down the road from the bridge, mounting and riding furiously toward the plank crossing, turning onto it with grim-lipped determination— and plunging off it in a spectacular and bone-shaking crash into the rough ditchbank. Uncounted times this startling performance was repeated, but in the end mind triumphed over matter, will
power over faltering reflexes, and the crossing was successfully made. Not just once, but enough times in succession to convince James that he was capable of performing the feat without mishap at any time he might desire to do so. From then on, he never again dismounted to cross the bridge, albeit he never made the crossing without experiencing deep-seated qualms which he kept carefully concealed from any who might be watching.
The waterwheel of Crismon Mill was powered by water from City Creek.
Courtesy of Richard K. Winters
Crismon Mill Site and Veteran Volunteer Fireman’s Hall
One block north of City Creek Park, following Canyon Road, is a monument honoring the site of the Crismon Mill, the first gristmill built in the territory of Utah. The mill was built by Charles Crismon in the fall of 1847, just months after the pioneers entered the valley. This mill ground the wheat brought across the plains by the pioneers. Brigham Young’s sawmill originally stood nearby. Much timber came from a toll, or assessment, of those using City Creek Canyon to harvest timber. The tollhouse was located on the west side of City Creek.
Ottinger Hall, located in City Creek Canyon, was named after George M. Ottinger, who worked as an artist with pioneer photographer Charles R. Savage. Many of Savage’s prints were hand-tinted by Ottinger. Ottinger later played a prominent role in Salt Lake City’s first fire department.
Kathie and W. Jeffrey Marsh
Another block north on Canyon Road is Ottinger Hall. This social hall for firemen formerly housed the first manually operated fire pump in the West (the pump is now at This Is the Place Heritage Park), and was named after Salt Lake City’s first full-time fire chief, George M. Ottinger.
Memory Grove
Just north of the Ottinger’s Hall is a secluded grove of trees planted in 1920 to honor war veterans. It was here that City Creek was diverted through the downtown area for irrigation purposes. Memory Grove is a beautifully landscaped park lying in City Creek Canyon containing a number of monuments dedicated to Utah’s soldiers who lost their lives in America’s wars.
The tree-lined road up the canyon above Memory Grove is popular with bicyclists, joggers, and hikers. A tornado which touched down in Salt Lake City on August 11, 1999, severely damaged many of the trees in this area, and efforts to repair the damage are still evident. Occasionally, moose and deer are spotted in the park. Located in the park is a full-scale replica of the Liberty Bell, one of only one hundred casts by the original maker.
Joseph L. Heywood (1815–1910).
Daughters of Utah Pioneers
Joseph and Serepta Heywood’s home and property sat behind Elder Orson Hyde’s property north of Temple Square. Today the Conference Center sits on this block.
David M. Whitchurch
The Joseph and Serepta Heywood homesite is located approximately at the midblock area between State and Main streets on the north wall of the Conference Center. Joseph was baptized in the Mississippi River in 1842 after listening to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was called as a bishop in Nauvoo and acted as a trustee of the Church in disposing of its Nauvoo properties after the exodus to the Salt Lake Valley.
A Fork in the Road President Gordon B. Hinckley’s father, Bryant S. Hinckley, told a story about a young man who had an unusual dream while staying at the Heywoods’.
John Morgan’s first home in Salt Lake City was with the family of Joseph L. Heywood, Bishop of the Seventeenth Ward.
Morgan was not, at this time, a member of the L. D. S. Church nor had he given it much consideration. One morning, on coming down to breakfast, he related to Mrs. [Serepta] Heywood an impressive dream he had had during the night in which he dreamed that he was back in North Georgia near the battlefield of Chickamauga where he had fought in the Civil War and he was traveling southward on a road running from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Rome, Georgia. He was perfectly familiar with the road, as it was one the soldiers had used many times.
In this dream he suddenly came to a fork in the road and for a moment was undecided as to which fork led to Rome. Then he was amazed to see President Brigham Young standing in front of a large tree in the fork. President Young told him the right hand road led to Rome, but that if he would take the left-hand road, he would have an experience that would give him a strong and abiding testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. Laughingly, he asked Mrs. Heywood what she thought of it. “I am not interested in the Book of Mormon or its divinity, but I am interested in knowing what you think of my dream.”
Mrs. Heywood answered: “Mr. Morgan, I think I can give you some light concerning your dream. It is my conviction that the time is not far distant when you will become a member of our Church and that in due time you will be called to do missionary work in the Southern States. It is my thought that in your missionary work you will one day be following the road and will arrive at the fork you saw in your dream—but President Young will not be there. However, I counsel you to remember his instructions and take the road that will lead to the left.”
Mr. Morgan thanked Mrs. Heywood for her interpretation of his dream and soon forgot about it.
John Hamilton Morgan: Founder of Morgan Commercial College, whose students included Heber J. Grant, Orsen F. Whitney, J. Golden Kimball, Brigham H. Roberts, and Ruth May Fox. Utah State Historical Society
A year later, John Morgan became a convert to Mormonism and was baptized.
Ten years later while traveling as a missionary from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Rome, Georgia, he came to a fork in the road that confused him and caused him to stop. He was undecided as to which of the two roads might lead to Rome. As he was pondering, he suddenly realized that the fork in the road that lay before him was the identical place that he had seen in his dream when he had resided in the Heywood home in Salt Lake City ten years before.
The large tree in the fork was there, but as Sister Heywood had predicted, President Young was not there; but he vividly recalled the counsel given in the dream not to take the right-hand road which he said led to Rome, but to follow the left-hand road which would lead him to a remarkable experience from which he would gain a testimony of the divinity of the work in which he was engaged and a knowledge of the divine teachings of the Book of Mormon. Thrilled with his experience, he took the left-hand road and continued his journey. After an hour’s walk, the road led him to the rim of a beautiful valley in North Georgia. From a passerby, he learned that the name of the place was Heywood Valley, having the same spelling as the Heywood family, and that it was settled and farmed by some twenty-three prosperous families.
Bibles similar to this one may have been marked by a stranger prior to the visit of John Morgan in homes in the Heywood Valley of Georgia. David M. Whitchurch
In high spirits he traveled on and called at the first house he came to where he was received with true southern hospitality. Filled with the spirit of his mission, he spent the entire evening in gospel conversation. Three hours were engaged in his effort to explain the first principles of the Gospel to his newly made friends. As the interview closed, the head of the house brought out the family Bible, and, to Elder Morgan’s amazement, he found that many of the passages of scripture which he had used in explaining the principles of the Gospel, were underscored and in asking who had marked the passages, was advised that ten days before, a kindly looking man in very tidy apparel, and seemingly possessed of great intelligence, had come to their home and had, with their permission, marked their Bible, explaining to them that another would come in a few days who would teach them the meaning of the marked passages and explain to them in its completeness the great Plan of Salvation. They knew not who the stranger was—his name, or from whence he came, or where he went.
During the following six weeks, Elder Morgan called successively on each of the families in Heywood Valley, and in every home that the stranger had called on and had marked the family Bible and had indicated that another would soon visit them and explain to them the scriptures in their fullness, he was successful in converting and baptizing the inhabitants thereof until all but three families were led into the water of baptism. Among those converted was a Methodist pastor, who was made the Presiding Elder of the Heywood Branch and the building he had previously used as a Methodist church, now became a Mormon meeting house. John Morgan’s dream had come true.
B.U.M.P. Limited is pleased to announce that Starrs Universal has won a first-place 2010 Silver Telly Award for its media production of "The Mormon Tabernacle" for Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys, part of the BYU Virtual Tours series. Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys is a co-production of Brigham Young University Religious Education and Starrs Universal.
An integral part of the production has been mentored students from BYU. More than a dozen BYU students have received professional experiences and mentoring by working on BYU Virtual Tours.
Sam Mangum, who now works for National Geographic, began as a student editor and later worked as an Associate Producer for Starrs Universal. “As a student this was a great opportunity for me to work in a mentored environment. I was able to gain real-life experience while still in school. After I graduated I continued to work at Starrs Universal as a full-time editor. The time I worked at Starrs Universal helped me to develop my creative talents and also build professional relationships. Working there helped me gain the confidence and experience I need as I continue my professional career.”
Mark Gillins, one of the student editors on the project who now works for BYU Broadcasting states, “Perhaps the most significant takeaway from my time on BYU Virtual Tours was the realization that creating something that requires so much of my time and talents better be worthwhile, not just in the sense of entertainment value, but mostly in that it should be uplifting and inspiring, ultimately drawing its viewers a little closer to my Heavenly Father, even if the content isn't strictly spiritual in nature. I do my best to apply this mindset to all of my work and when seeking new projects to take on as a professional.”
John Starrs, a graduate of BYU Broadcast Communications, and producer of BYU Virtual Tours says that working with BYU students has been a rewarding experience. "I believe that mentoring students is an excellent opportunity for everyone involved: for the students as well as the mentors. This award is not a student award, it is a professional award, and a testament to the professional quality of work of which Brigham Young University students are capable."
About the Telly Awards
Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and web commercials, videos and films. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world. The Telly Awards is a widely known and highly respected national and international competition and receives over 11,000 entries annually from all 50 states and many foreign countries. Less than 10% of entries are chosen as Winners of a Silver Telly, the highest honor. Other outstanding work is awarded a Bronze Telly.
Starrs Universal is an associated company of B.U.M.P. Limited.
B.U.M.P. (Building Unity Media Productions) works to add to the ways people can “bump” into uplifting media, and to “build unity” with our friends of faith all across the globe.
On the northwest corner, where the streets West Temple and North Temple intersect, was the house of William Clayton. Guests were often invited to social activities in the Clayton home. Dances were held in the large living room, and other activities were accompanied by instrumental music played by the Clayton children. William played several instruments and enjoyed band music.
View (looking southwest) of the Clayton homestead (middle right in yellow) and the surrounding buildings. On the left is the easily recognizable dome of the Tabernacle on Temple Square. The block in the forefront is now home to the Conference Center. Utah State Historical Society
William, an early convert to the Church in England, immigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1841 at age twenty-seven. He was appointed as a personal secretary to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and later to Brigham Young. His writing and record-keeping abilities provided much useful Church history from the nineteenth-century.
William was a member of the original pioneer company to enter the Salt Lake Valley. An avid reader, William carried his collection of books under his wagon seat, which included the Letters of Voltaire and the Works of Frederick the Great. While on the journey, he kept an extensive journal, from which he later authored the Latter-day Saints’ Emigrants’ Guide, which became the primary source of information for many who traveled to the West.
As a resident of Salt Lake City, William participated in civil and religious affairs and ran a boardinghouse and a bookstore. William served God and his fellowmen faithfully until he passed away on December 4, 1879. He is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.
A portrait of William and Diantha Clayton.
Utah State Historical Society
A Pioneer Anthem
William Clayton was an excellent writer and poet. His hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” is deemed the “pioneer anthem” and was written in the midst of a storm during the first pioneer trek.
Conditions were miserable and to add to Clayton’s worries, he had left his expectant wife, Diantha, with her parents in Illinois. A son was born March 31, but Clayton didn’t hear the good news until April 15 while camped at Locust Creek. . . . It was this happy news that motivated the 31-year-old pioneer to write “Come, Come Ye Saints.” His journal entry for that day reads, in part:
“This morning Ellen Kimball came to me and wished me much joy. She said Diantha has a son. I told her I was afraid it was not so, but she said Brother Pond had received a letter. I went over to Pond’s and he read that she had fine fat boy, . . . but she was very sick with ague and mumps. Truly I feel to rejoice at this intelligence but feel sorry to hear of her sickness.. . . This morning I composed a new song—All is well.” . . .
Clayton’s four short verses . . . form an American epic which has been called “one of the most beautiful hymns of western history.” It became the grand marching song of all the Mormons who trudged across the plains during the next 40 years and remains today as the rallying song of church members all over the world.
The lyrics William Clayton penned have come to characterize the hopes and desires of the persecuted and driven pioneers during their exodus to the West:
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear; But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear, Grace shall be as your day.
’Tis better far for us to strive Our useless cares from us to drive; Do this, and joy your hearts will swell— All is well! All is well!
The Lyrics to “Come, Come, Ye Saints” in William Clayton’s handwriting are found on the right side of the page. The song is on permanent display in the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City. Ronald Read
The power and strength of William Clayton’s hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints” can be seen from an incident told to President Heber J. Grant by his father-in-law, Oscar Winters:
One night, as we were making camp, we noticed one of our brethren had not arrived, and a volunteer party was immediately organized to return and see if anything had happened to him. Just as we were about to start, we saw the missing brother coming in the distance. When he arrived, he said he had been quite sick; so some of us unyoked his oxen and attended to his part of the camp duties. After supper, he sat down before the campfire on a large rock, and sang in a very faint but plaintive and sweet voice, the hymn, “Come, Come, Ye Saints.” It was a rule of the camp that whenever anybody started this hymn all in the camp should join, but for some reason this evening nobody joined him; He sang the hymn alone. When he had finished, I doubt if there was a single dry eye in the camp. The next morning we noticed that he was not yoking up his cattle. We went to his wagon and found that he had died during the night. We dug a shallow grave, and after we had covered his body with the earth we rolled the large stone to the head of the grave to mark it, the stone on which he had been sitting the night before when he sang:
“And should we die before our journey’s through, Happy day! All is well! We then are free from toil and sorrow too; with the just we shall dwell. But if our lives are spared again to see the Saints their rest obtain, O how we’ll make this chorus swell—All is well! All is well!”
I noticed tears in my father-in-law’s eyes when he finished relating this incident; and I imagined the reason he did not relate to me another far more touching incident to him was the fear that he might break down.
An odometer similar to the one William Clayton used to log the number of miles he traveled.
Robert L. Hall
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A black and white portrait of an older C. R. Savage.
A black and white portrait of an older C. R. Savage.
The Savage and Ottinger Gallery. 
Located on the northeast corner of South Temple and Main Streets.
A portrait of George M. Ottinger, C. R. Savage’s partner.
This camera was used by the Fox-Symons photography studio. 
