Odds & Ends from Leeds

One nice thing about staying in one area for a month or more is that we find out little things about the town or city.  Leeds, today, is a very small town that is very proud of its history.  According to the historical markers placed along Main Street, Leeds was one of 3 towns in the area.  The others were Silver Reef and Harrisburg, both now ghost towns.

These remnants are all that still stand in Harrisburg.  Leeds & Harrisburg were agricultural communities.  When silver was discovered and Silver Reef was established, the miners would buy their food from the primarily Mormon citizens of Leeds & Harrisburg.  Many of the miners were Protestant & Catholic - and each had their cemetery.

This is the Protestant Cemetery.

It was heartbreaking to see all of the stones for children.

This was a different type of marker than any of the others.

Just up the road is the Catholic cemetery.

These wooden crosses were scattered around  - they read "Unknown".

This marker in the ghost town of Silver Reef, showed the location of the church that Father Thomas Scanlon was able to get built.  He was sent to Silver Reef to tend to the Catholic miners (and probably take lots of confessions due to the brothels & saloons in Silver Reef!).  I thought it was interesting that before he had his own church, he had formed a close friendship with the Mormon elders in St. George.  They invited him to bring his "flock" to the St. George Tabernacle for Mass.  That's religious acceptance!

Well, the silver ran out, so Silver Reef became a ghost town, and Harrisburg ran out of water for their crops, but Leeds survived because of Leeds Creek, which was how they irrigated their crops.

The Leeds Town Hall was originally the school building in Silver Reef.  It was moved into Leeds & now has a new use!

This is the home of one of the early settlers.  There are several in town & they are occupied and beautifully maintained.

This is the Tithing House.  Mormons tithe 10% of their "income" whether money, or crops, or livestock.

Leeds is also home to an old CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camp.

This marker explained that the CCC was started by President Franklin D Roosevelt during the Great Depression as a way to get the men back to work.  They were paid $30.00 a week - $25.00 went to their families & they received $5.00.  The men built their camps & then worked on projects in the National Parks.

These are a couple of the buildings left.  They were officers quarters, an infirmary & workshops.  They lived in wooden buildings that are not there any longer. 

We also were able to get back & see the Silver Reef Museum.  It had all kinds of old mining equipment, household items, clothing and pictures of Silver Reef's residents.  I was surprised to read that there was a large Chinese American group in Silver Reef.  The museum also had a very nice gift shop with items from local artists.

This cow's skull was beautiful.

They had Kachina dolls made by a local artist.  I brought this one home (our kids think it's the funniest thing they ever saw!).

We are on the move to the eastern side of the state. 

 Hope everyone has a blessed Easter!