In honor of yesterday’s first snowfall of the season here —
Had you lived in Utah in the 19th century, you might have welcomed frost and snow with enthusiasm: When the ground froze, streets that had been churned inches deep in mud suddenly became hard enough to walk across. Even better, when the snow fell, the sleighs came out.
“Lots of sleighing now,” read an 1868 Salt Lake newspaper. “Big sleighs and little sleighs, cutters and bobs, one horse affairs, and from that up to Wells, Fargo & Co.’s eight horse institution. The streets are filled with the music of sleigh bells from morning till noon, and from noon till night.”