Darrel Buxton and Henry Bates (December 1, 1970)

              Voices From the Past
Darrel C. Buxton and Henry Bates
By Darrel C. Buxton and Henry Bates
December 1, 1970
Tape # 115
Oral Interview conducted by Harold Forbush
Transcribed by Tia Aucoin April 2007
Edited by Jamie Whitehurst April 2008
Brigham Young University- Idaho
Harold Forbush: Through the facilities of the Upper Snake River Valley Historical Society, the following taped interviews with Henry Bates and D. C. Buxton, which have been formerly recorded on reel- to- reel tape are now transferred onto a C90 cassette this 11th day of March 1984.
HF: Well now seated across from me this afternoon, it being the first day of December 1970 here at Driggs Mr. Henry Bates and Mr. Darrell Buxton. First of all though, we’d like to hear from Mr. Bates and we’ll be talking about LDS Meetinghouse # 1 in the Bates’ community. And this building was constructed at the time when it was Freemont Stake. Mr. Bates will you state your full name and where you now live?
Henry Bates: Henry G. Bates at Bates, Idaho.
HF: And when and where were you born?
HB: Right in Bates, Idaho.
HF: And when?
HB: When? In 1893 June 22.
HF: Now at the time that you personally attended meetings in the first chapel how old were you?
HB: Well I would imagine around maybe eight years old there abouts.
HF: Alright, will you describe chapel # 1 for us, starting with the outside structure?
HB: It was a log building and I believe the foundation was just made of rock. And it was hewn logs; they weren’t sawed. It was hewed with [ inaudible] and plastered into cracks with lime mortar.
HF: Do you know where they probably got the logs for this building?
HB: Well, I think they came out of Mahogany Canyon.
HF: Do you recall anything about the roof?
HB: Yes, the roof was made of lumber. It was lumber run up and down and then battened with lumber.
HF: Now can you describe its approximate size, it’s length and width?
HB: It would be about 36 long and about 18 wide.
HF: And just average height, would you say?
HB: Average height. Yes, I imagine it would be about a seven foot ceiling or something like that.
HF: It didn’t have any marking or anything on top to indicate that it was a chapel?
HB: No.
HF: Or meetinghouse of any kind?
HB: No.
HF: How was it heated?
HB: It was heated with one of the old big pot belly stoves in the center of the building.
HF: And the heat and smoke and so forth would go up through, not a chimney.
HB: No. No.
HF: But probably a stove pipe of some type.
HB: A stove piper. That’s how it caught fire.
HF: And this heating unit was located in the middle of the room?
HB: Approximately in the middle of the room.
HF: Now I understood you to say or infer that this was just one room.
HB: One room. That’s right.
HF: Just the one room. And how was it lighted, Mr. Bates?
HB: Kerosene lights.
HF: Were these lights arranged around the wall some way? Can you describe how they might be located?
HB: Well, they had a sort of a bracket that fastened them to the wall and then a reflector and a kind of a bright tin reflector that reflect the lights out.
HF: And there would be two, maybe four, lights in the building?
HB: I think there were four anyway, maybe more. HF: Now as you recall, will you describe the walls as they appeared on the inside of the building?
HB: Well they were bare. You could see the plaster in the cracks and they were white- washed.
HF: Do you recall as a young man of ever seeing pictures or portraits of anything like this hanging from the wall?
HF: I don’t remember a picture of any kind on the wall. There could have been but I don’t remember.
HF: On the inside of the building was there a stage or a raised area?
HB: No, none.
HF: And so therefore there wouldn’t be much of a pulpit?
HB: No pulpit. No.
HF: How about the seats in the building?
HB: They were raised by the carpenters, just plain lumber. They plained it with a hand plane and sort of long benches about eight, maybe ten feet long.
HF: And those were moveable I suppose?
HB: Yeah, they were moveable.
HF: And the floor, will you describe the floor?
HB: The floor was red fir, rough lumber, about six inches wide I think.
HF: Now in this building did they use or have the benefit of a musical instrument?
HB: No.
HF: No piano? No organ?
HB: Nothing, no.
HF: And was the building used for other purposes?
HF: Yes, for every community purpose come along or election days and dances and all kinds of parties. HF: Now do you know as to whether this was the Bates School also? Was it used as a Bates school house?
HB: Yes, it was used as a Bates School house.
HF: Now originally in the construction of this building and I’m assuming it was done by the community as a joint effort.
HB: It was. Yes.
HF: And would it be correct to say that it was the only public building in the community?
HB: It was the only one.
HF: And they used it as a church meeting house as well as a school.
HB: That’s right.
HF: Where was the structure located, Henry, with reference to the present day Latter- day Saint meetinghouse at base?
HB: Well, it’s just across the road north of the present meetinghouse.
HF: And that wouldn’t be more than what, five or six rods?
HB: Well…
HF: Eight or ten rods or there abouts?
HB: Five or six would be about right.
HF: Now I think we’ve talked about who built the building. It was a community who built it.
HB: Yes.
HF: Do you have any knowledge as to who might have supervised the building or it’s construction?
HB: Well, I think maybe Ben Homer might’ve done because he was a carpenter and he was about the only one around there who could cut a rafter. He knew how to cut a rafter and they made this roof with the lumber and I think he put on the roof. So he maybe supervised some of that. Of course, building up to the square there’s some of the old timers who’ve been around the log laying and he might’ve been. HF: Incidentally do you recall what type of a roof it was? Was it V- shaped or kind of a flat top?
HB: It was a V- shaped with a 45 pitch and lumber running up and down and battened with four inch boards.
HF: Running up and down?
HB: Yep.
HF: That’s interesting. Alright can you tell me the approximate date when the building was commenced to be used?
HB: Well, I don’t know. That would be a guess, I guess. Well it’d be about 1900.
HF: It could have been a little before, couldn’t it?
HB: Yes, it could be a little before.
HF: Alright now how long was it used as a meetinghouse and a schoolhouse?
HB: Well it was used from the time it was constructed with the date we just gave there to 1907 when it burned.
HF: And that was I think you mentioned what date in 1907.
HB: Yeah that was November.
HF: November of 1907. Do you understand anything about the circumstances under which it caught fire and burned down to the ground?
HB: Well, it was the first day of school and kind of cold and it had been not used much during the summer and they’d come there to start to warm the building up and I think they fired it pretty heavy. And no one had inspected the upper part where the stove pipe went through and it evidently had come undone or rotten out, rusted out and caught fire in the attic of the building. And it was burned, almost the roof off, before you could even think of trying to do anything.
HF: So the building as such was destroyed by fire and it wasn’t salvageable in any way?
HB: No.
HF: As far as you know. Mr. Bates, I really appreciate the opportunity of chatting with you on these items. Now we note that you do have a picture of the original building. Now as we conclude this part pertaining to Chapel # 1 are there any additional comments or statements that you would like to make, as you recall, about this building? Any experiences or events or statements that you would like to make concerning this building?
HB: Well, there’s nothing I can think of any great importance. It brought people there from all over the valley when they had their dances. And there was one thing that they always looked forward to. Dicky Olsen lived on the river, east of that building and his wife was a great coffee maker and whenever they’d have these parties they’d have old lady Olson make the coffee. It was on a five gallon can of cold water and she’d put in the coffee and boil that and she knew how to make it. They all seemed to go for that and she was the official coffee maker. And then they used to have is a good place come and carry on a few fights. They drank a little, these wild ones, you know. And that’s about all. It was just kind of wild…
HF: It was definitely a community building.
HB: Oh yes. It was a community building.
HF: This is a continuation of the interview with Mr. Bates made on the same date and the same place. And we will now be talking about Chapel # 2 of the Bates ward and in the Teton Stake of Zion. Now Mr. Bates, will you describe for us the outside appearance of chapel or meetinghouse # 2?
HB: Well, it was a little more modern in construction. It was I think a rustic was on the outside. It was plain finished lumber. And I believe it was painted. I don’t remember about that.
HF: But it was definitely lumber construction.
HB: Yes, it was lumber. All constructed in lumber.
HF: And did it rest on a foundation?
HB: Yes. It rested on a rock foundation. And by the way, that foundation was built by an ex- convict. He learned the trade while he was away.
HF: Is that right?
HB: That’s right.
HF: The foundation was?
HB: The foundation.
HF: Now can you give me the approximate size of the building? Its width and length and height.
HB: Well I would think it’d be about maybe 50 or 60 feet long by 30 feet wide. And it had a high ceiling: I think about a ten foot ceiling that was an arched ceiling besides that, which would be 15 or 18 feet to the highest point.
HF: What type of roof?
HB: Well it was an octagon shaped roof? No wait a minute. No it was a V- type roof, but it had this rounding affect inside the way it was finished off.
HF: I see. Which direction did this building face?
HB: It faced the north.
HF: And did this building have a basement?
HB: No, not when it was built. There was a basement dug under it afterward. It was excavated underneath, but it was never completed.
HF: Never completed.
HB: No.
HF: Did it have any type of a spire or emblem on the top to indicate that it was an LDS meetinghouse?
HB: Yes it did. I had kind of a spire and a belfry up there. I don’t think the bell was ever put in there but it indicated that.
HF: Did this structure have more than one large room?
HB: No.
HF: Did it have a porch on it?
HB: A small one.
HF: A front porch?
HB: Yes.
HF: And how about on the inside of the building? Did it have a stage?
HB: Yes, it had a stage. HF: And could you describe the construction of the walls on the inside?
HB: Well as I remember the walls, I think they were made of something similar to what we call beaver board. And then it was calcimined, I believe that’s what it was as I remember it.
HF: And do you recall how this building was heated?
HB: It was heated in one of the same old pot belly stoves. And it was nearly at the center of the building, off to one side of the center lengthwise.
HF: No chimney, but a stove pipe put there.
HB: Yes, it had a chimney.
HF: It had a chimney?
HB: Yeah, a brick chimney.
HF: A brick chimney. So this added caution and precaution was taken in its construction.
HB: Apparently that’s right.
HF: And how was it ventilated?
HB: By windows.
HF: Through windows. Was there more than just the one entrance way?
HB: Yes, there was an entrance at the back. One door. Well, it would be on the east of the southeast corner.
HF: How was this building heated? Or excuse me, how was this building lighted?
HB: Well I think about the first lights we had there was a gas light, when the gas lights first come out. The old mantel lights, you know.
HF: Those would be arranged along the side of the building?
HB: Yes.
HF: Side of the walls.
HB: Yes. And then later there was a system put in there, a wire system put through, and the ceiling lights and they was permanent there. HF: Now Brother Bates, on the stage was there a pulpit erected of some nature or type?
HB: Yes. Yes there was. Sort of a pulling something, I don’t know.
HF: And how about the seating arrangements down on the main floor. Were those all portable?
HB: Yes.
HF: Portable seats?
HB: They were all portable.
HF: And this would be true with those seats on the stages, I suppose?
HB: Yes.
HF: Portable seats?
HB: Yes, all portable. First they were the homemade lumber benches long and then they eventually got individual chairs.
HF: Now, do you recall as to whether this meetinghouse was blessed with some type of a musical instrument?
HB: Yes, it had an organ first, I think, and then a piano later on.
HF: Do you think they used them both there? Were both of them available for usage at the same time, do you think?
HB: No. I think the organ was replaced with the piano, if I remember.
HF: I see. And it would be one of these foot bellow type of organs.
HB: Yes.
HF: Air compression type.
HB: Yeah.
HF: Was the building # 2 used for other purposes than a meetinghouse?
HB: Yes it was.
HF: And these would be for community events and affairs? HB: That’s right.
HF: But was it used as a schoolhouse?
HB: No. No, it was never used as a schoolhouse.
HF: It was never used as a schoolhouse. It was constructed for the purpose of worship then.
HB: That’s right.
HF: And activities related to the LDS church?
HB: Yes.
HF: Now where was the structure located with reference to the present day LDS chapel in Bates?
HB: Well, it would be three quarters of a mile south and just on the opposite side of the road. I don’t know what the present one is.
HF: Very good. Very good. Who was the builder of this second LDS chapel in Bates?
HB: It was Lynn Perry and Byron Griscal.
HF: Can you make appropriate comments as to the builders? They had a quite a lot of experience? What comments do you have about the construction of the building as you remember?
HB: Well they were fairly good carpenters, I think. They seemed to be able to cope with any kind of a building that anyone wanted to construct in those times. Now it might be that they weren’t builders. They worked there practically all the time, but I think there was someone else that contracted that. But these were the people that done the work.
HF: Can you remember much community support given in the construction of that building?
HB: I think there was considerable, yes.
HF: Mr. Bates, can you tell me the approximate date when this chapel # 2 commenced to be used as a meetinghouse?
HB: It would be about 1910.
HF: Now from between the time that the building # 1 burned down and the construction of this one, which could have been three, possible four years later, where did the people in the Bates community attend church?
HB: Well I think the first place they held church was in a one room log building south of what was known as the old [ inaudible] place. It was a home settlement of Nick [ inaudible] and it belonged to his son, Will [ inaudible] where he homesteaded there. And they held [ inaudible] in that building for some time. I don’t know how long. And of course [ inaudible] had to serve for everything. There wasn’t too much carrying on then. But that was hit by lightening. I saw the lightening hit that and it went up in a few minutes.
HF: And then possibly did they just move around from home to home?
HB: I think the next place was in what was known as the Pate Home. And that’s where Morris Joseph’s present home is. It was a log building. And from there they went up to my dad’s old homestead. There was a log building there and is still there inside of that building is his own place now. And they held school in there awhile, or church I mean. Then [ inaudible] Josephson built a house about a quarter of a mile east of where the church house # 2 was. And they held church in there for a while and I think they went from there to this # 2.
HF: I see. Do you have any knowledge as to the cost in money of this chapel or this church # 2?
HB: I wouldn’t have any idea what it would have cost then.
HF: How long was this meetinghouse # 2 used by the Latter- day Saint people in the Bates ward?
HB: Well it was used from the time it was first constructed when they built the later one in 1942. So maybe if was during that period of time.
HF: Up until about 1941?
HB: Yeah.
HF: Now can you tell me what has become of the structure, the chapel, the meetinghouse # 2?
HB: Yes, it was sold to Ed Wood and he tore it down and hauled it to his ranch.
HF: I appreciate very keenly your comments about this chapel. Now, if you have any comments, Brother Bates, of chapel # 1 or # 2 in addition to what has been said, I’d appreciate your comment as a statement in conclusion of this interview.
HB: I don’t think of anything, of any other material interesting. Now I just recall this. When Edward was moving that building he was killed.
HF: This is building # 2
HB: Number two. When he was in the process of moving it, his team run away and he was killed right on the corner.
HF: And you live right across the street to the north, do you not?
HB: Right across the street, yes. That’s about the only thing that I can connect up with that.
HF: This is an interview with Mr. Buxton who will be telling us about building # 3 of the Bates Ward in the Teton Stake. I’d like to ask you Brother Buxton, if you will state your full name and your present residence.
Darrel Buxton: I’m Darrel Buxton and I live in Driggs.
HF: And will you state the date and place where you were born?
DB: I was born in Eureka, Utah 1897.
HF: And at the time that you were involved in inquiring the knowledge of this building # 3, of course you were really an old time residence of the community in Bates. And later on to be one of its bishops. Is this correct?
DB: Yeah.
HF: Alright, now Mr. Buxton, with respect to building # 3 or LDS meetinghouse # 3 the Bates Ward, can you tell us a little how this building came to get started, that is to say the background and the need for its construction?
DB: Well, as stated by Mr. Bates the old big one room building was very much in need of a building where we could have some classrooms. So we undertook the project of building one with some classrooms in it. And we drew out a plan with four classrooms and a large assembly room. There was an annex to the other entrance with a stage in it and we decided on that kind of a structure to have with the approval of the presiding bishopric. And we got the materials out of Mahogany Canyon, the logs, in one week’s time about 28,000 feet of lumber, [ inaudible]. In the winter of about 1939 I think, ‘ 38 or ‘ 39, and the following spring why portable saw mill by the Green brothers come over and saw it. And when the lumber dried out sufficiently we started to build it along about in the spring of 1941.
HF: Had you employed an architect or a man who was familiar with building to more of less guide you through the construction of this building? DB: John Christofferson, he was hired as a supervisor over the work and the people the ward contributed their work to the building.
HF: Now the plan that you had designed for these classrooms, and the stage, and the hall and so forth, this plan that was before the building was constructed was taken to the presiding bishop’s office for approval, I presume.
DB: Yeah.
HF: Can you relate any experience that you had with the PBO as to their feelings?
DB: Well at the time we made application for a building, they sent in a plan to us with a building with one big assembly room with a one side room to it. Just a small room for a Relief Society room, I guess they called it. But then [ inaudible] in the wad so we got together and drew up the plan and this plan, the building I think was 50 feet long and 34 wide. Which we felt that the main building could be about 24 feet, that is the assembly part of it, 24 feet wide was the stage in one hand which would make us room on the side for four classrooms which would be about 10, 11, 12 feet square. And they approved it and that’s the building that we have.
HF: Now would you describe the outside structure of the building?
DB: The building is a framed structure with stucco on the outside. The inside of the building is flat and plastered.
HF: And you’ve stated the size: 50 by 34?
DB: That’s right.
HF: Did it have a spire or marker on the top?
DB: No.
HF: To indicate that it was a…
DB: No, there was never anything built on it other than just the outside there.
HF: Now this building rests on a foundation?
DB: Yes. Cement foundation.
HF: Cement foundation. Any basement in it?
HF: It had a one room basement that accommodated a cold furnace and cold storage.
HF: And so the building is heated by what? Forced air? Heat?
DB: Forced air heat.
HF: Heated with coal I suppose?
DB: Coal furnished with a stoker on it.
HF: What was the construction of the floor in your assembly room?
DB: It was oak, hard oak.
HF: And how was the building lighted, Bro. Buxton?
DB: It was electricity. In fact, that building was dedicated, completed at the same year that we had electricity in our community.
HF: That’s interesting. What program brought electricity into the Bates community?
DB: Oh, it was the desire of the people and the determination through the REA.
HF: Through the REA? It wasn’t a private concern or corporation?
DB: No.
HF: Now on the inside of the building how were the walls prepared and finished?
DB: They were a plaster finished.
HF: Were there any types of decorated material placed on the walls?
DB: No. Just plain.
HF: Pictures? Any pictures or photographs? Portraits?
DB: Oh, we had a picture of the Lord’s Supper. And we had that for many years just on the stand behind the pulpit. It’s still there I think.
HF: Now this building had a stage?
DB: Right.
HF: How high a stage or how tall a stage?
DB: Oh about two feet.
HF: And an appropriate pulpit on the stage?
DB: Yeah, a nice pulpit. It was portable and movable.
HF: Now did it have seats arranged on the…
DB: No, they were portable.
HF: Portable seats?
DB: Both on the stage and in…
HF: And in the assembly.
DB: Yeah.
HF: Any musical instrument?
DB: Yeah. They have a piano and an organ.
HF: What type of organ?
DB: Well, at first it was an old foot tread organ and made it electrical now.
HF: Electric organ now. And the piano?
DB: Right.
HF: Now you mentioned that this building also has a kind of front entrance?
DB: Right.
HF: Enclosed?
DB: Right.
HF: Was the building used and was it constructed for other purposes?
DB: Well…
HF: Such as a schoolhouse or anything like this?
DB: Oh community activities other than school.
HF: Other than school. What is the location of the present building?
DB: It’s about three quarters of a mile north of building # 2.
HF: Of # 2? And I understand that a good brother by the name of Darrel C. Buxton donated the land for this.
DB: Oh yeah.
HF: How much land was deeded?
DB: About an acre.
HF: About an acre.
DB: Yeah.
HF: To provide for the building and what a yard area, a lawn and so on.
DB: Yeah.
HF: Incidentally where does this structure get its water?
DB: The schoolhouse is across the road east. The old red schoolhouse and there was a well drilled on it with pressure water. And piped the water across the road to the church building and the school district granted the ward the option of using that water as long as we needed to use it.
HF: I see. Now Brother Buxton, you mentioned that Mr. John Christofferson was retained and employed as kind of the supervisor for the building. Does this mean then, that the men in the community donated a lot of the work?
DB: They donated all of it.
HF: All of the work.
DB: The only paid person was John Christofferson.
HF: I see. And when and what date approximately was this chapel # 3 commenced to be used as a Latter- day Saint meeting house in Bates?
DB: It was in October in ‘ 41.
HF: And it presently is still being used as the chapel for the Bates people in which to gather.
DB: Yeah.
HF: I appreciate very keenly of the interview that we have had now as we conclude. Could you make some appropriate comment of chapel or meetinghouse # 2, the impression that you have from seeing and using that building?
DB: Number two?
HF: Of # 2.
DB: Oh, I guess it was really enjoyed. A place for the people to meet, to get together. A lot of happy moments spent there by all the people and some [ inaudible] I don’t know which was the most impressive. And # 3 it was used for the continuation and social times as well as the community church, dancing and such. I’d like to comment one thing. Back at the time Mr. Bates’ interview at the earlier times in the ward there was a family almost every 160 acres. There was a lot more people in the ward then than there is at the present time. There was over 200 membership in the ward at one time and at the present conditions that we have today I think it is right near 100 in the ward, a hundred in membership.
HF: So it’s just only about half than what it used to be?
DB: I think so in membership.
HF: I appreciate, Mr. Bates and Mr. Buxton, the opportunity of interviewing you men on this day.