Supplemental History of Nelson Arave, 2018

By Lynn R. Arave

This account is a supplement to a history of Nelson Arave that was written in 1997 by the late Alvin E. Arave. Found herein are historical items of importance about the first-ever Arave that Alvin E. Arave did not have access to 21 years ago.

In summary, these additions prove that Nelson was a brilliant inventor, was not afraid of water, even acted as a “lifeguard,” and he shows up in the official histories of both Weber and Morgan counties in Utah.

(This supplement was researched and written by Lynn R. Arave, a great-grandson of Nelson and both a journalist and a historian. References are listed at the end of each item.)

1853:

In the spring of that year, a sawmill was constructed in Uintah by Abiah Wadsworth, Henry Beckstead and Nelson Arave. (-From “Images of America” Uintah,” by Sue Bybee, 2010, by Arcadia Publishing, page 10.)

1860:

Nelson Arave saved a fellow Mountain Green, Utah resident from drowning.
Nelson and George Higley built a flat bottom boat that would cross the river at the Strawberry junction. The boat capsized on its maiden voyage and both men, plus David Coolbear, another area resident, were thrown into the Weber River.
Coolbear could not swim and Nelson Arave is credited with saving his life.

(This effort is extra significant when considering that Nelson’s own father and grandfather had drowned decades earlier in the St. Lawrence River in Canada.)

Nelson Arave was among the first four pioneer families to settle Mountain Green.
He and a Mr. McLean built a sawmill on the Weber River, located at the Strawberry bridge junction. (That is located at the far east end of Weber Canyon, where the canyon ends and the Morgan Valley opens up. (-From the Morgan County News, March 21, 1947, by Mrs. William Chadwick in her “History of Morgan County” series.)

1860s:

-Nelson, Abiah Wadsworth (his father-in-law) and George Higley also operated a sawmill to produce shingles, located just east of 200 East and Young Street in Morgan (where Morgan High School sits today). This mill was eventually moved across the Weber River, to 404 East 300 North.

-Nelson, Wadsworth and Higley were also among the earliest of residents in Mount Joy, a short-lived community in Morgan County. The three men and their families eventually moved to Mountain Green, in about 1861, when the local Indians caused problems for the settlers. (-From “A History of Morgan County,” by Linda H. Smith, 1999, pages 64-65 and 69.)

-Nelson built one of the first mills in Weber County, in Hooper, in the 1860s,” according to “A History of Weber County,” by Richard Sadler.

According to another source, this was a water-powered grist mill on the Hooper Slough.

Nelson was also one of 14 Hooper residents who sponsored the “West School,” built at 6700 West and 5500 South in Hooper. (-From “History of Hooper: Land of Beautiful Sunsets,” by John M. Belnap, 1976, page 81.)

1874:

A large pioneer map of the Hooper area, on the wall at the Hooper, Utah City Offices (drawn and produced by John M. Belnap), lists Nelson Arave as having wrecked a boat on Fremont Island in the Great Salt Lake in 1874. 

                  Part of the historical map at Hooper City Hall.

Three years later, in 1877, there’s a reference in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Volume 39, p. 223) that states Nelson Arave had built 2 large boats to transport cedar posts and wood from Promontory (Point?) to Hooper. Presumably, it was one of those two boats that wrecked on the isle.

The part of the map at Hooper City Hall, that shows where Nelson Arave would launch his boat from Hooper into the Great Salt Lake.

       A copy of the Nelson Arave boat reference in the "The Millennial Star" book.

And, once again, Nelson showed no fear of bodies of water. It is uncertain how Nelson got off Fremont Island, after his wreck. It was 12 years earlier, in 1862, when the legendary grave robber was exiled to Fremont Island, by Brigham Young. Without modern weather forecasts, it appears very likely that a sudden storm could have easily shipwrecked Nelson’s boat. The GSL level was unusually high in 1874 too, around 4,210 above sea level, or 10 feet above the long-term average elevation. That depth means the island was surrounded by water at least 15 feet deep and so there was no way to use the natural sandbar to walk off it. Perhaps he lit a large fire and hoped others would spot it. (Fremont Island is directly west of Hooper.)

Taylor Arave standing in the dry bay on the southeast end of Fremont Island, in 2006, when the Great Salt Lake level was only 4,193 feet above sea level, or about 17 feet lower than in 1874, when Nelson Arave shipwrecked on Fremont Island.

Taylor Arave highlights a dry boat buoy in Fremont Island bay, during a 2006  walk on dry ground to Fremont Island.

This 1993 photograph shows Mark, Norma, Gene and Wayne Arave standing on Fremont Island, with the boat that carried them there off in the distance. During that era, Fremont was truly an island.

Ironically, about two years prior, in 1872, Christopher Layton, the namesake of Layton City, wrecked his large boat in a storm on nearby Antelope Island. There was a sailboat on the island and Layton and the other 8 or more people stranded with him used that to escape the isle. (-From the Salt Lake Tribune, May 2, 1872).

Four years after Nelson’s wreck on Fremont Island, one of his friends, Charles Smaltz, wrecked his large boat on Fremont Island. It seems such shipwrecks were common on the briny lake. Even the first white explorers of the GSL, in 1843, John C. Fremont, Kit Carson and Company, encountered a sudden storm when they left Fremont Island and noted they were lucky to have safely made it back to the mainland.

1880:

It was reported that Nelson Arave had built a just finished his shop and was looking to employ 8-10 men for the winter to build hay-balers he designed and had patented. Hay-balers of the time were stationary and had to have the hay brought to them. The hay had to be loaded by hand and the bale had to be manually tied. (-From the Ogden Junction, Nov. 13, 1880.)

1882:

Nelson Arave was reported as working on a revolutionary new railroad scraper, which could carry a cubic yard at each loading. (-From the Ogden Herald, March 3, 1882.)

1884:

Nelson Arave of Hooper, was awarded a contract from Morgan County to build a bridge over the Weber River in Morgan City, for $1,480 to $1780, depending on the style of bridge desired. His was the lowest of two bids received. (-From the Ogden Herald newspaper, Aug. 2, 1884.) Presumably, he actually built that bridge when he was about age 50, with help from others.

1892:

Here is an actual news account of Nelson’s arrest for polygamy. (Of course, the Arave family today wouldn’t be near as large as it is, had he not had two wives ….)

"Held for adultery. Deputy Marshall Gill yesterday arrested Nelson Arave, an old resident of Weber Weber, on a charge of adultery. He was taken before Commissioner Hulaniski and waiving a preliminary examination was held in bonds of $500 to await the action of the grand jury. The alleged plural wife, Mary Ann Williams, was not arrested, but Arave gave bonds in the sum of $250 for her appearance when wanted." (-From the Ogden Standard-Examiner, Dec. 31, 1892.)

  

                                  The Salt Lake Temple, Drawing by Steven Arave.

1893:

Nelson Arave was in the Utah Prison from March 5, 1893 to May 5, 1893, about two months worth. (-Acccording to: Prisoner for Polygamy: The Memoirs and Letters of Rudger Clawson at the Utah,” edited by Rudger Clawson, Stan Larson.)

The time for Nelson’s imprisonment is extra significant, because that meant he would have been unable to attend the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, which took place on April 6, 1893.

                                       Nelson Arave's grave in Basalt, Idaho.