Archibald Gardner - Life in The West

Life in The West

Arriving in Utah in 1847, Gardner first built, with his brothers William, and Robert, a mill near Warm Springs. In 1848 the family moved the mill to a site on Mill Creek where the water flow was greater, in time for the fall harvest. There the family claimed to have sawed the first lumber in the Salt Lake Valley. West Jordan business boomed with the building of a gristmill. "Gardner Mill inspired a cluster of small industries, including blacksmith shops, logging and hauling operations, woolen and carding mills, a tannery, several stores, a shoe shop, and later a broom factory". In total Archibald, partnering with many others, built 23 mills in Utah, with several of the mills selling its products to Camp Floyd and Fort Douglas. Archibald, working with other partners, also built miles of canals, tunnels and bridges. Archibald's canals, tunnels and bridges of this period were predominately reimbursed by the Utah territorial legislature.

Archibald was also a miner and land developer, partnering and selling several mining properties. The largest was a site in Bingham Canyon, south of West Jordan, Utah, that was found in 1863 while logging with a partner. For several years Archibald was the county recorder, recording mining claims and other deeds in the Bingham Canyon area. From 1878-1882 Gardner served in the Utah Territorial Legislature.

Archibald, and brother Robert, became polygamists by the requests of Brigham Young, and the approval of their first wives. The last of Archibald's 11 wives was 'illegal', taking place after the 1862 Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act. Due to an unsettled polygamist status after 1882, Archibald was chased by federal agents enforcing anti-polygamy laws. In 1886 a trip to California to visit brother William was made. On his last trip evading federal agents Archibald visited Mexico, and brother Robert in southern Utah. In 1889 Archibald established a home in Afton, Wyoming (Star Valley). In Star Valley additional mills were built, he lived near and with two wives, Laura Althea Thompson, his fifth, and Mary Larson, his 11th, and near or with several of his 48 children. When Althea died in Afton in 1896, Archibald buried her in the Salt Lake cemetery's Gardner family plot. Archibald stayed on in Utah building another gristmill in Spanish Fork. Archibald Gardner died on February 8, 1902, and is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. A new headstone was dedicated after a 1990 Afton, Wyoming family reunion when 5,000 of his 10,000 descendants attended.