--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Beus, Rulon collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 30 number: 9 published: 1927-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Beus, Rulon, “The Passing of Old Fort Callville,” *Improvement Era* 30, no. 9 (July 1927): 806–807." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3009unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera3009unse start_page: 806 end_page: 807 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1927-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3009unse publication_year: 1927 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1927, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Passing of Old Fort Callville THE PASSING OF OLD FORT CALLVILLE By Rulon Beus Mack is an old frontiersman. He came west when he was twenty years old and has been here ever since. He is now ninety-five years old. His hands and face are dried and brown from many rough years under the hot southern-Nevada sun. His beard and what hair he has on his head are thin and of a brownish or sunburned gray. He walks with a firm step, in spite of his age, and his rather slim figure shows signs of having been very strong and hardy. He isn't given much to talking, but is a man of action; hence, it was with some dif- ficulty that he was persuaded to tell about Callville. When he decided to do so, however, a reflective little smile came over his drawn face. He sat out on the edge of his old chair, leaned on his staff and I think that in his mind he lived over again those grueling, but interesting, days on that western frontier. About sixty-three years ago, according to his story, or in the year 1864, the "Mormons" faced a very difficult problem. Here they were way out west with but very few supplies and no practical way of getting more. True, here was the old trail across the plains to the East. A few supplies could be freighted from that way, but to bring large loads of goods over so long and difficult a read was up- hill business. Then there were Indians and bandits to contend with. All these things made it nearly impossible to supply a rapidly increasing population from that way. The west coast was a little nearer, but there was that great, dry, hot, sandy desert. When asked if the pony express and the stages weren't going across the desert all right, he said, "Oh, yes," then went on to tell where the southern route was. There were a few watering places on the west and south of St. George. The Virgin and Moapa rivers helped. Then there was the historical Stewart ranch, but, even with these, the desert was so sandy, rpugh and hot that it wasn't practical to try to freight many supplies from the west. These difficulties caused the merchants of Salt Lake City to try another plan. They decided to buy the goods in San Francisco and ship them down the coast to the Gulf of California. From here they would be taken by lighter boats up the Colorado river to a point about forty miles south of where Las Vegas now stands, and there they would be unloaded into a store-house and held until they could be freighted to Salt Lake City. After a thorough investigation of the route, plans were made and Mr. Call was sent down to build the store-house on the bank of PASSING OF OLD FORT CALLVILLE 807 the river. Mr. Call got some men together, one of whom was our old friend. Mack, and went to work. These men gathered rocks, made their own lime, cut and hauled the lumber for the roof and, after considerable hard labor and time, completed the building. However, by the time this store-house was ready for use, the construction of the transcontinental railroad had gone on so far that the Salt Lake merchants decided to abandon this old route, and wait for the railroad. But, this wasn't the end of the history of Callville. Some San Francisco merchants decided to try to ship some goods up the river and then on to Utah. They fitted out a ship, called the Silver Heels, loaded her with about $30,000 worth of goods, and sent her down the coast and up the river to the same old store-house which the "Mormons" had built about two years before. The goods were all 'stored away in this building and a man was left there to watch them for a year, when some teams from St. George were hired to haul them north. Some of the supplies were sold on the way, and what were left were taken to Salt Lake City, where they were all, eventually, sold. Of course, the difficulties of this route far outweighed the advantages, especially after the completion of the railroads; hence, it has long since been abandoned. Though they have weathered many scorching summers and frosty winters, the walls of that old building still stand and are as solid as the day they were built. The lumber which formed the roof has all been taken for better use, but the walls are still silently waiting to do their bit to help a worthy people continue their progress. Goodsprings, Nevada A Contrast A fern with her frail, fair foliage Sprang up in a deep dark well; And to gaze on her tender beauty Few indeed were the eyes that fell. The chink in the rocks for her rootlets Was meager and mean and small ; But she grew to great splendor and beauty- And the good God above saw it all. A plant in a pot by a window That was tended with gentle care Lost all her lustre and beauty, And the life in her foliage fair. Many there were that watched her, And did all that they could do; But she crumbled down 'neath the hand of Death — And the good God above saw this, too. Alan Reidpath