We took the pumpkins home to live in the chilly garage until a few days before Halloween, when we would gather around a newspaper-covered table. We would dig out the cold, gooey insides, eager to make our very own pumpkin into a creative work of art to display on Halloween night.

Four miles up a deep canyon on the west slope of the Oquirrh Mountains is a town that was too tough to die: Ophir. It all started back in 1863 when Gen. Patrick Edward Connor granted leave for a large number of his soldiers at Fort Douglas to go and prospect in the mountains of Utah for gold.

In last week's article we left off with Captain Stansbury and his survey party recouping their strength at the base of Pilot Peak in October of 1849 after nearly perishing in their crossing of the salt desert from the north end of the Great Salt Lake. Stansbury commented that heavy clouds hung over the mountain (Pilot Peak) for the three days that they were there. When Stansbury gazed up towards this summit he had no idea that about 30 years later, an intrepid explorer, mountaineer, and surveyor from the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey would build a trail up to the summit of this rocky, inaccessible peak and establish a camp on its 10,716 foot summit. This gentleman's name was William Eimbeck.