As you enter Porterville, Utah, cross the creek on the main road and there in front of you on the right at the intersection is this historical marker. It reads:
"Porterville was settled by the members of the Porter family. Sanford Porter Jr., while on duty as a scout in the winter of 1857-58, rode into a canyon so rocky and difficult to travel that he named it Hardscrabble. Here he found a stream of water and abundant timber, ideal for a sawmill. In 1859 the family hauled machinery and supplies over the Wasatch Mountains by pack mule and built the first sawmill in Morgan County. In 1860 Sanford Sr. and Nancy Warriner Porter built a cabin five miles east of the mill and spent the first winter here. During the following two years, four sons, Chauncy, John, Sanford Jr., and Lyman built log homes and moved their families into the valley.
For several years after settlers came, Chief Washakie and his band of Shoshone Indians returned each fall to hunt, fish, dry meat, and pick berries.
In 1863 English converts began to arrive. In 1864 a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized.
When the railroad was built through Morgan County, the Porter mill furnished ties to lay the track from Echo to Devil's Gate."
Below: Hardscrabble Canyon
Photo Album of Porterville, Utah
Click on "Next" to View Photos. Porterville runs North and South. The views from Cemetery Hill are pointing Northeast toward Morgan and the freeway. The photos of Sanford's Homesite points southwest toward Cemetery Hill as do the Canyon shots from Cemetery Hill. Farmington and Bountiful are just over the mountains to the West.
Unfortunately, Sanford Porter and Nancy Warriner, parents of Nathan Tanner Porter, refused to have photos taken, considering such behavior "vanity." For existing photos of the extended family, please pick up the book, Porter Family History, in three volumes, by J. Grant Stevenson, Provo, Utah. Write: Stevenson's Genealogy Center, 230 West 1230 North, Provo, Utah 84606. They cost $15.00 each. Vol. I contains histories of Sanford, Nancy, Nathan, Rebecca, Eliza, and other family members and is an excellent buy. Our Family thanks Grant for years of wonderful work in all our behalf.
Many other family histories are also on the Nathan and Rebecca Home Page, below.
Go to Children of
Nathan and Eliza Photo Page:
Return to Nathan Tanner and Rebecca Cherry Porter Family Web Site Home Page:
