By N. L. CHRISTENSEN Ever bear of the Onland School in Hubble Creek Canyon? Since time has a way of dimming memory and ohliterating facts, the story of this “one-room school” might have been lost to the puhllc were it not for a small volume edited and authored by Lucy A. Phillips of Springville, The school – named ”0akland” for the abundance of oak brush in the canyon – operated between 1886 and l9l7. Initiated by the homesteadexixgoneen of the Hubble Creek area. it functioned i pendaitly for s short period in its three-decade tenure. then under the Springville and Utah County school systems before t.he Neho School District was established in 1915. its students – never mote than could be accommodated in one roun – ranged through the elementary They came from families over a geographies area from Kelly’s Ranch (site of the present Hobhle Creek golf course) north to include the left hand fork of Hohhle Creek Canyon together with Pole Haven and Bartholomew Canywi. Miss Ptiillim, retired professor of Snow College ‘tEphraiml. s written the history in a concise manner – yet with a warm and intimate style that captures the flavor of the times and the problems unique to the one-room school She could do this with both authenticity anu understanding because she i”l .. .. ‘H.’ s en su vors an penisa am y , diaries and other available records. onThe difficulty of the research task is indicated in this sentence by the editor-author early the history: “Like many other pioneers. these families were so Note; Lucy A. Phillips received her bachelor and master’; degrees at BYU. She has been a recipient of an honorary doctor’: degree at Utah State University and a distinguished service award ul BYU. Snow College. where she taught many years, named n new library for her. engrossed with the struggle for living and so imdervalued the importance of their achievements that they preserved little or no formal written record ‘lhe book, with a limited number of copies published, is multilithed and packaged attractively in a hardback cover. Printing and layout, under the direction of Joseph W. Crane, was accomplished at the Snow College Graphic Arts Department. Homesteading of llobble Creek Canyons left fork, Miss Phillips notes, was facilitated by the Homestead Act passed by Congress in 151. The act granted ownership of a plot of 160 acres to the head of a household after he had cleared and improved the land and maintained a residence on it for five years. Coloniution of the area comprises a chapter in the volume, which also includes several photographs, a list of the Oakland School teachers. “probable roster of students? remnants of class programs, recollections by former teachers, census and Sunday School records. etc. The illustrations include photos of the two school houses. a few student groups. and the old school bell which summoned students to the classroom. ‘lhe bronze bell, whose clapper was lost at one point and replaced about 1902 by an iron washer suspended on stiff, heavy wire. is a valued mememto in the Phillips family. The author divides the Oakland School story into three eras: the Pioneer. 1886-1892; the bog House 1892-1907; and the “New School House” era: 1907l9l7. The “Pioneer Era” began in the winter of 1886 when Hannah Priel Davis taught school in one room of the Erastus Z. Clark three-room home. A floor was built later in the Clark gra nary where Mrsi Davis taught in the summer of 1887 and winter of 1 . auamle Kelly. daughter of Elisabeth Kelly. a ghomesteader, rode horseback from the Kelly Ranch to teach in 1869. When fire destroyed the Clark home. the family of necessity moved into the granary. Thus a school was organized, with MarymCox Whiting as teacher. in one room of the Kendall me about a mile farther north in the canyon. l.n later this became known as the Sadie Gallup (Mrs. illlam Gallup) place. About IDN Jonah Thomas Phillips bought the place. Mary Cox Whiting, wife of Edwin tnliight in 1Nl at this site. Mamie Kelly, later Mrs. ett O-andall, returned and unit, 191-IZ. closing out the first period of struggle by the canyon homesteaders for formal education for their children. The “Log House Era” was ushered in when the Oakland people built a log structure on the loot.l1ill among the scrub oak about midway between the Clark and Kendall (Gallup) homes. This was used for church and recreation in addition to school purposes. Sulhjects stressed were reading. penmanship. arithmetic. geography, history, writing of short compositions, and spelling. A “spelling bee” was held Non Fridays. Smme teachers made special effort to enrich the curritculum. One. Mima Hales. states Miss Pltillips,4 gavei emphasis to choice gems of philosophy or poetiry – and “and to this day those gems are Wpelted by students of that yesterday.” Texhing all subjects in each grade, first through eigh , made the teacher’: task exceedingly comtplimted . Retcmeation involved everyone – t.he older and younger pupils and the tucher. A homemade ball, boa whittled into a bat., and a “ginnie-peg” were the k of equipment. W’ r sports included rolling snow into a fort. pilin up snowballs for ammunition, then staging a haul betneqi t.he “North and the South.” in oh of deep snow. pupils from Bartholomew Van multi came xo cttnmt it- a to-li hcrserdranwi , X hii- 51% – c ted. -Jonah Thomas a bob sleigh. “Te chefs and pupils crowded into these vehicles and istened to the sleigh bells on the hamesses as the horses plunged through snowdrilts. often as high as me-wire tences.” T homesteaders got used to snowslides. Sarah Barker Allan told of her famnt o. hg snowbound in Bartholomew Cnayon for weeas. She remembered 32 slides from the peaks into the valley. Hsat for the log school house was provided by a “pot-bellied” stove. and Miss Phillips noted lightly that a woodpile back of the building “provided fuel. punishment. and recreation.” The beginning of the “New School House Era” came in the summer of 1907 when Jonah T. Phillips andl his wife Rachel donated a site near Bartholomew Creek. and tl1e Springville School Distkict provided some materials for a new school house. Hobhle Creek residents contributed the labor. This, building, -“a palace by frontier standards.” functioned until 1917 when the last classes of the Oakl School were held. So phases of the cum lum were moderni and the recreation fare expanded, but few 4 not le differences betw life in the log sch house and the new one were noted. “Ou tanding was the repl ement of states . with scratch paper and wra g paper,” Miss Phil ps noted. “More sleeves were clean because they were no lon erused as slate rags. The scratch of graphite on tie slate less often pierced the silence? Coal became a fuel for the stove and a coal shed and bucket became new additions to the scene, lessenxng the use of t.he ax for cutting wood into stove lengths. Sharing of the sparse supply of school books was a necessity. with several grades each year and one to three children in a grade. Each teacher brought something new to the school. For example. Ada Brennan provided the first web btgoks I; be uid for enrichment reading: e s r’s ” epy to yne” and ”l-lughW ne” b Mitchell. And Franlrie Nagle was notablyenin he; stress of music. She also taught knitting of slippens to the girls as a rest break. The lmell for Oakland School sounded in the spring of l9l1 because of small enrollment. and the Nebo District policy of closing one-room schools. “Children had grown up. families had moved away; the story of homesteading and pioneering for education changed as did the society that had been,” recorded Miss Phillips. A concluding chapter tells of life style changes, contrasting the homesteading era with the present, and closing with this nostalgic note hy the author – editor; ‘”l’he old tin tub. the wood – box, the water bucket are history. The call of ‘the bell’ is heard no more.