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Viva Mexico

THE COLONISTS, from the day of their movement into Mexico, observed with great zest the country's Fourth of July-Diez y seis de septiembre (16th of September) commemorating Miguel Hidalgo and the Grito de Dolores of 1810. On this national holiday the whole town would come alive at daybreak with the first simulated boom of cannon.

The 16th of September of 1896 celebration climaxed the first decade of settlement. Every detail of the memorable day was anticipated and provided for by committees. Cannonading at daybreak, serenading by the band and hoisting of the Mexican flag at sunrise were the martial preliminaries that set the tone of the day, but the colorful parade preceding the program was the event on which major preparations were expended. Floats representative of every industry fostered by the town and dramatizing the development and growth made by each in the ten years since settlement were entered. It was as gratifying to glory in seemingly impossible achievements and to demonstrate what faith, stamina, and determination could accomplish in a barren valley as to honor a day they had grown to revere. Patriotic fervor spoke from the red, white and green decorations on all the floats, in the costumes of the young ladies gracing them, from the flags bobbing on the bridles and breechings of the horses, floating from the standard bearer leading the procession, and from the hats of natives who joined the procession in prideful appreciation.

Promptly at 10:00 a.m. the parade left Cardon's corner in the upper part of town. Miles P. Romney, marshal of the day, seated straight-backed and majestic on a gaily bedecked charger, the plumes in his hat waving and the buttons on his coat gleaming, with booming voice and flashing sword gave the signal to start. Stretched from end to end of Main Street the parade made a spectacle that to be appreciated had to be seen. The band wagon followed the marshal and his aid Peter C. Wood, and in turn was followed by the Colonial Brigade, a cavalcade of seventy men and boys gloriously filing out on their own with a flag bobbing gaily from every horse. Then came carriages carrying Henry Eyring and Bishop Sevey, orator and chaplain of the day, floats, on which sat the Goddess of Liberty, Esther Coombs, and her attendants, and Miss Chihuahua with her accompanying twenty-six states of the Republic. All were costumed in national colors or decked with flags and bunting, and stirring dust as they marched.

Community floats made up the rest of the parade, each industry or activity typically presenting itself in some ingenious way. Humphrey and Wood had stalks of sugar cane, piles of corn, squash, turnips, and clusters of fruits displayed in tempting profusion to show the output from gardens and lots. Relief Society women carded wool, spun it into yarn and sewed on stacks of new and used clothing in characteristic resourcefulness. Ben L. Croff and James Mortensen as helper clanged anvils and plied bellows as they shaped rods of iron into horseshoes or reset wagon tires. John C. Harper wielded cleaver, knife and meat saw on the hindquarters of a beef as his wife, with baby sitting near, weighed out typical cuts of meat. Walser and sons, Clayson and sons, and J. C. Peterson combined leather tanning with leather products and proudly displayed sides of leather along with harnesses, boots and shoes. The cannery was represented by pyramids of canned fruits, some labeled and some not, piled beside Thomas Hawkins' glittering array of tinware from his tinshop. Roy Cluff plied his mason and stonecutting trade as he fitted both into a wall behind which he was all but hidden. Brigham Stowell with his stacks of yellow cheese by the side of a dasher churn in operation eloquently proclaimed the capacity to which his dairy had grown. The Cooperative Mercantile Institution with its bolts of cloth and the big variety of staple articles advertised merchandise kept in stock. Carpenters working with hammer and plane in a sea of shavings proudly displayed doors, window sash, and articles of furniture as a sample of their output. Sandwiched in between the more pretentious floats were neat loads of wood and hay, advertising not so much professions as utilities necessary to the life of the community. Bringing up the rear and climaxing the parade came a procession of forty-two wagons of individual citizens which all but exhausted the possibility of there being any spectators. These had joined in for the pure love of being a part of the celebration.