THIS IS THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WM. JONES OF NORTONVILLE, UTAH

Today is the Sabbath, so my inner spirit does not permit me to write of my tantalizing hypothesis concerning the origin and nature of human existence on earth. However, I feel inclined to write of my grandfather-William Jones. He was born on May 11,1859, to Edward and Martha Jackson Jones in Nephi, Utah. That was ten years after the beginning of the gold rush to California. Four years after his birth, gold was discovered in Pioche, Nevada, and at the time, Pioche and other settlements were a part of the Utah Territory of which Brigham Young was Governor. Pioche was located 350 miles from Mormon Headquarters in Salt Lake. There was no legal law there, so miners streamed in to be rich, many leaving Virginia City and the gold fields of California. Miners shot each other, and sometimes at the rate of 20 a day. Although history books or TV Westerns never included it, Pioche was considered the "baddest" town in the West, far exceeding the reputation of such notorious frontier towns of Tombstone, Dodge City and Deadwood. Seventy-two people died in Pioche from stabbing or gunshot wounds before anyone died of natural causes. Those killed rest in a "Boothill" where wooden markers remain. The population of Pioche was 7,000 many of which were the Mormon settlers that followed Brother Brigham's call to populate all the way to Vegas and San Bernardino. The people's food supply had to come from Salt Lake. In 1875, the Mormon Church built the Utah Southern railroad which ran from Salt Lake to York, which to local's was where Doc Steele's Ranch was. Freighters from Nephi then picked up food and supplies and hauled them in until the railroad was extended to Nephi. In 1873, at the age of 14, Will Jones began his occupation as a freighter to the Nevada gold mines. As more people came west, various routes and stage lines developed. Various freighters tried different routes, and as nearly as we can find from relatives that knew Wm. Jones, he and his brother-Leonard(my Dad called him Uncle Len) was going south from Nephi through Cove Fort; then Corn Creek(Kanosh), then west at Beaver through Adamsville, Beryl, Modena(an LDS town), Meadow Valley and Devils Gate Road, then Pioche. For several years, this writer has traveled all that area in search of the Wm. Jones Trail. No conclusive evidence. When interviewed, Ross Garrett, another grandson reported that Will Jones often went to Pioche through Milford, which later became a giant railroad town. Wells Fargo was a competing stage line from Pioche and they reported between 1870 and 1884 their stages were robbed 347 times, with 18 stage drivers, guards and passengers shot. Wm. Jones didn't want to make the trip back to Nephi empty or "dead heading", so he would often go by way of Silver Reef with a load of ore. The large freight wagons would often be pulled by 8 to 10 horses, and William Jones was considered the man who knew horses. After several years of fighting mud and muck, and tired of watching men hang in Pioche, he and his brother met two Tolley gals and got hitched and settled Nortonville. After Will and Lizzy lost two sons, he was called on an LDS Mission to England, and off he went leaving his pregnant wife(Vic). She lived with her mother(in Rex Tolley home) till he returned. That sort of thing wouldn't happen nowadays but both were very active in the Church and followed the calling. Second photo is of William during his freight years and the other is his missionary photo which hangs in my house, so he can overlook his home on earth while I read his Missionary Journals and try to be as good as he is. He died a few weeks before I was hatched, so I got his mustache and my middle name of him.