December 1st to 31st 1900

December 

3rd Harrowed all day.

4th Finished Harrowing, started cultivating.

5th Wrote to Mother. Received a letter from her. Finished cultivating.

6th Hauled a load of straw to field and made road down the bank on each side of the creek.

7th Watered grain on east side of Hatch's farm.

8th Watered grain.

Sun. 9th Finished watering. Miss Wordsworth started home. 

10th Went to field and got load of wood. 

11th Walked around town in fornoon. Went to Washington with Weller. 

12th Helped Weller cord 3 cords of wood. 

13th Came to St. George then on to Santa Clara to attend Mr. and Mrs. Edward Stuckie's wedding dance. Stayed up until 4 o'clock. 

14th. Came back to St. George. Went to bed at 8 o'clock but was woke up by Emery Huntsman who brought letter from mother. 

15th First day of conference. Wrote letter to mother, sent out by Emery Huntsman. Went to meeting in afternoon and to Mutual conference in evening. 

*After another day of conference and some additional days in Saint George, Luther starts making his way home for Christmas. It seems like it isn't so easy. No bus service in those days and he didn't have any transportation of his own except 'shank's ponies'.

16th Went to conference in daytime and Mutual conference in evening. 

17th Still in St. George

18th Went to see ?Taubion? Brothers but they were not home. Went to bed at 7:30 PM with a slight sore throat. 

19th Went and made arrangements about going home. Rode over to Washington and back. Spent the evening at Straton's. Received $10.00 of ?Taubion? Brothers. 

20th Started home with Elmer Hunt. Came as far as Damron Valley

21st Traveled from Damron Valley to the Burgess Reservoir. Walked most of the way. 

22nd. Reached home about 12:30. Rode from Holt's ranch on horseback in company with Will Pace.

Sun 23rd Stayed home most of day. Andy and I spent the evening at Mr. and Mrs. James Hall's.

24th Went to Hebron. Had a Christmas tree in evening at School house for the towns of Hebron and Enterprise. After which a crowd of us lads turned Hebron bottomside up. There were 8 in number. We had 2 gallons of wine which helped the occasion on considerably.

*To put this two and a half day to three day journey into modern perspective, the distance from Saint George by road to Dammron Valley is 17.4 miles, a 20 minute drive. From Dammron Valley to Enterprise is 23.9 miles, or 26 minutes by car. The trip today would take about 45 minutes. Burgess Reservoir no longer appears on the map, so I'm not sure how far he made it on foot. We don't know where Holt's ranch is either, but the variety of means of travel and the time it took draw a wide contrast with how and how fast we travel today. To think of him writing letters back and forth with his mother as he works too far from home to go there very frequently at a distance that we now would consider a medium commute, is an example of how much has changed in the time since

The holiday season gets into swing then and we get some idea of what social life was like for folks at the turn of that century and for teen age boys in Southern Utah at that time. After enjoying time at home the next day, he and his closest brother, Andy, spend an evening socializing at a neighbor's house.

The next day they travel the 6 miles to Hebron where he says, "Had a Christmas tree in Hebron for the towns of Hebron and Enterprise."  He doesn't elaborate, but if this was a social occasion for both towns at the school house including a Christmas Tree we can speculate that there would have been food, music, maybe a school program, and presents under the tree for the children-maybe even a visit from St. Nicholas? Plus lots of visiting and cheerful wishes of holiday cheer.

For the boys in Luther's age group this would have been fun, but just a prelude to their own celebration which was less staid. As Luther puts it, "...after which a crowd of us lads turned Hebron bottom-side up. There were 8 in number. We had 2 gallons of wine which helped the ocassion on considerably."

As his grand-daughter, I have to smile to visualize him young and letting off steam with friends. Wine was locally made as noted earlier and may not have been overly strong, and was the fuel of boys then as now when they wanted to act up and be rowdy. We shouldn't be too surprised that even though he was basically hiring out and living on his own at what we would consider a very tender age now, there was still a way to see his youth and immaturity from time to time.

25th Xmas. The day's amusement consisted of a game of ball in the afternoon, an entertainment in forenoon. A dance for children in evening, a dance for adults in evening. 

26th Came to Enterprise to attend the marriage of Mr. John Z Al.. and Miss Mary Hall. The marriage ceremony was performed at 4 p.m. after which picnic was served to all. 

They gave a free dance same evening to all in the Y. M. M. I. A. hall. (Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association) A very enjoyable time was had by all. 

27th Stayed in Enterprise all day. 

28th Went to Hebron and attended a dance at night. 

29th Playing ball and target shooting was the amusement of the day. With a theatre and pantomine at night. 

"Sun 30th Was most too sleepy to move about much so stayed in Hebron"
"31st Came home and went to bed."

*Even a 16 year old can get tired out with all the galavanting to different towns and homes for entertainments and dances.