Historic Architecture of Sanpete County

[OlDoinyo]

The area around the San Pitch Valley was settled in the 19th century by followers of the Mormon church who had been led to Utah by Brigham Young a few decades earlier. Many had evidently been recruited from western Scandinavia, judging by the names on local gravestones. A few historic structures of varying ages are scattered throughout the area, and some are of architectural interest. All of the following photos were taken with a Sigma SD14 (my travel camera) at ISO 50 and manual mode with the hot mirror out and a Baader U2 filter on the lens. All but one used the Steinheil Cassar S 50mm lens set at f/16; the picture of the Manti temple used the Asahi 35mm lens at the same aperture. Exposure was determined by bracketing and trial-and-error; sometimes the difference between an acceptable image and a poor one was only a half stop.

 

This shed in downtown Mt. Pleasant is a particularly fine example of full-dovetail corner joinery, which I would guess dates to about 1900. Such construction needs neither interior framing nor fasteners, as it locks the structure together under gravity. Furthermore, when done as well as this, it needs only minimal chinking. Several roofs have been applied and then removed over the years. The structure has been smeared with something, perhaps a wood preservative, which shows very dark here.

 

 

This rustic cabin from before 1900 also shows full-dovetail joinery, albeit not of such high quality as the previous example. It is, however, easier to see. The paleness of the weathered wood indicates long exposure to the elements.

 

 

Near the town of Chester is a house that shows three joinery styles. The oldest section (palest, at center) shows dovetail joinery. A newer section at left employs simple lap joinery (which is not self-locking;) the newest addition at right shows a more modern "Link-n-Log" joinery style with protruding ends which is still seen in contemporary log-cabin-type structures.

 

 

A different sort of architecture, which I would call "Mormon Victorian," is often seen in the towns. It consists of brick structures adorned with the kind of ornamental woodwork more often associated with all-wooden structures elsewhere in the western US. The following two examples are from the town of Mt. Pleasant. You may note that the spandrels and columns have modern paint on them, indicative of some degree of ongoing maintenance. One is dated 1897; the other is presumably of similar age.

 

 

 

Outside the hamlet of Birdseye is an old turkey shed, presumably from the early 20th century, with cement-block walls and a terne-metal roof. The paleness of the paint on the gable indicates that it is pre-1977, although the general decrepitude of the structure may hint that the last coat of paint is even older than that. The raising of poultry is an important business in this area even today.

 

 

There were once over 5,000 drive-in outdoor movie theaters in the US between 1933 and 1965; they were once an iconic cultural fixture, but time and technology has swept almost all of them away (it did not help that the large screens were easily destroyed by high winds.) The Basin Drive-In, on the north side of Mt. Pleasant, is one of the very last ones still functioning.

 

 

Another view of the same theater shows that, while most indoor movie screens are coated with a special reflective coating, this one is simply painted with ordinary paint, showing dark in the UV.

 

 

The Manti Temple was completed in 1888; it consists of somewhat variegated sandstone blocks. The variegation is accentuated in the UV view. The bottom of the cupolae are painted with a paint to match the color of the stone--but not in this wavelength band. I actually had not noticed this before viewing this image. I gave it the sepia faux-vintage treatment described elsewhere. To learn more about this structure, you may consult https://en.wikipedia...nti_Utah_Temple.

 

[Andrea B.]

What an interesting and historical series, Clark. Very enjoyable.

I particularly enjoyed seeing the joinery work and comments.

[colinbm]

Thanks Clark.

Great story & beaut photos.

Col