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Nestled in the mountain pass
that seperates Skull Valley and Dugway Proving Grounds from
Tooele County (highway 199), there is a delightful flowing-creek BLM campsite
called Clover Spring.
The local Boy Scouts put up a wooden sign to on the spot
which reads as follows:
"THE WATER FROM CLOVER SPRINGS WAS FIRST
USED BY GOSHUTE INDIANS WHO CALLED THIS
AREA SHAMBIP (Clover). IN 1855, LUKE S.
JOHNSON AND ENOS STOOKEY SETTLED ON CLOVER
CREEK. SINCE THEN RUSH VALLEY RESIDENTS HAVE
DEPENDED ON THESE WATERS. ON JULY 23,1978
A RAIN-CAUSED FLASH FLOOD SWEPT AWAY AN INDIAN
CAMP NEAR HERE, DROWNING TWO."
This is interesting enough; but it is only part of the history that pervades this
natural campsite in a major mountain pass. Captain James H. Simpson who surveyed
this area in 1859 camped here as he went west through the pass. The map the he used
shows a military encampment here, as well as a nearby "mule herd", and a bit down stream a
"military reserve."
In the early 1900's the Goodyear Cutoff of the famed Lincoln Highway passed immediately
adjacent to the campground so that Clover Spring campground-area no doubt saw some of the people and equipment
associated with that undertaking in spite of the fact the much of the work was done by
convicts housed on the other side of Johnson's pass.
However,
the focus of this photo-essay is 130 plus young men from the eastern United States who
came to Clover Creek to live and work in the mid 1930's. These young men lived and based
at the Clover Creek CCC Camp, and were members of an industrious Company designated:
2517.
These young men came here and changed the land. And, in doing so, the experience changed
many of the young men.
Leroy Denner, of Salt Lake City, was one of those young men who got off the train in Tooele and
thought "Oh my gosh, there's not a tree in sight anywhere -- what have I got myself
in for." But who later found "...greater peace and contentment than I had found
anywhere else."(The above from a telephone converstation with Leroy Denner, 10-24-03)
In later editions of this website we will focus on some of the specific work projects
the men of Company 2517 accomplished, but in
this
article we want to present you with photographs from the very nice
CCC photograph collection at the Utah State Historical Society.
One of the goals of those of us who have worked on this article is to
absolutely
identify two of these photographs as belonging to the Clover Creek CCC Camp since
the collection is vague about a number of them. So we have included some
matching current photographs ( taken Octover, 2003) to show how the same location
looks today. All of the photographs show here have been
definitely
matched to the Clover Spring campground site by the residents of Rush Valley, Utah who
have assisted me with this article.
So those of you who have never know exactly where the CCC camp was in Johnson's Pass,
now you can see for yourself.
And for those of you who have never visited Clover Spring Campground, please be
introduced to a delightful and history-rich part of Northwest Utah.
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The first two pictures were take on the north side of highway 199 in Johnson's pass. The present
Clover Creek Campground is just to the southwest on the other side of the road.
The picture below is taken looking southwest. Ihe old road is visible in the lower-right of the
photograph. The matching photograph which follows it was taken from approximately the same
position as you can confirm by observing the two skylines. Also, notice that the present highway (199)
is in about the same location as the old road. The date on this photograph is listed as 1937-1939.
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The photo below is a similar photograph to the first one. Still looking to the southwest from the north
side of the road. But this photograph shows much more detail. Again we have a matching photograph
taken from the same position. In the matching photograph the campground is somewhat obscured
by foliage but I'm sure many of you can tell exactly where we are. The date on this photograph is
listed as 1934-1936. The CCC Alumni Association reports that Clover Creek Camp was occupied as of
September 11, 1935.
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The next photo is already identified as being from Clover Creek Camp, However, it is take
from the western side of camp on a small hillside so it looks over the camp to the east.
Since this view of the camp gives an interesting perspective we have included another current
photograph taken from 'approximately' the same location.
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Obviously, this is where the crews ate (the messhall).
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And here are the members of Company 2517 as of September, 1938.
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