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iY; ‘;iY7Z?H0rses Had Mishmps;

Click to see original imageWotrldn’t it be interesting rt, by some sort of magic, we could transport ourselves back mtu a bygone era for a look at tts people and hlestyles’! Ot course a really old newspaper can provide some intimate glnnpses and right now l’m looking at a copy cl the Sept. 15. 1874, issue of the Salt Lake City llerald. Tlus 1″m “lunmg in” on a day more than lll years ago, The paper drdn’t carry any news of automobile nor airplane accidents because there were no autos in the area at that time and the airplane ltadn’t been invent-ed. However, rt had an item about a runaway of a frightened horse during which a man was thrown from a buggy and seriously injured The buggy was “snrashed.” Two tires were reported. One on the roof at S1roweIl’s saloon was started by an overheated stovepipe. it was doused lrclorc frre-lighters arrived in the other, the prisoners’ “eook slranty” near the courthouse burned tu the ground, For the most part, though, news of the day was rather hum-drum except for some domestic violence in New Orleans — no international crises nor wrangling over the national debt. indeed the debt ul $2.7 billion, incurred during the Civil War. was insignitrcant by todayis standards. The government tried to live within its means in those days, and hy 1890 the national debt had been reduced to just over St billion. Let’s look in on history for a few more 1874 glimpses: Ulysses S. Grant was United States president There were only 37 states at that time. Colorado. the Cltlth, wasn’t admitted until 1876 The linkup of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Purnt in Utah May 10, 1869, had accelerated westward migration Brigham Young, great eolontzer of the Utah Territory and second president of the Mormon Church, was still living The Brigham Young Atiademy, lorerunner vn BYU, was to he founded in 1875, The Salt Lake Herald used very small headline type, typical of that period of newspapering. A big share of the front page was taken by advertisements. Column One teatured a directory of federal and territorial officers rrr Utah and a listing oi postal rates Vostugr- for ar lr uri was three cents. The paper’s news style apparently permitted a reporter to tnterjeet personal opinions. Thus one writer was nlrli- to report. “Yesterday a (kimtrrercial Street shut-maker grussly insulted the wile of rr lailiu and was lined $25 for the ottensu. Sewell him righl.” Advertisements, accurate “signs of thttimes.” tutored such merchandise ars wagons, wood and coal stoves. rmnrug equipment, farm nriplcments, grins itu-luil ing breech and muzzle-loading rules, and kerosene lanterns and lamps. One ad called for teams “ro haul tuttuoo pounds at treight to Montana” and noted at the bottom: “Ox teams will do’ Transportation nds extolled the convontence and reliability of stagecoat-lies. railroad trains atrd steamers. There were numerous hotel ads. Grand Central at Omaha claitnul tu be “the largest and linest hotel between Chicago and Sun Francisco ” Attorneys-at-law and doctors advertised freely. A Dr. C. W. Higgins, who had just moved west from Boston. really “tlid it all.” “Particular attention is givmr to chronu diseases of temales, lrts, cancers, sore eyes, deafness, catarrh, neurzrlgta, tapiworms, piles, gravel, salt rheum, erysrpelas and spinal diseases.” his ad stated “Call and see me and it you do not kni-vt what your problems are, 1 will tell you at once,”