The actual dark side of Lagoon ...

By Lynn Arave

Fatalities/Accidents at Lagoon:

 There is one taboo subject at all amusement parks – fatalities and accidents.

Accidents do happen -- nothing in life is totally safe.

However, rest assured that statistically, you are far more likely to be injured, or killed in a car accident on the way to/or from Lagoon Amusement Park, Farmington, Utah, than on any of the park’s attractions.

Let’s do some statistics – Lagoon has likely averaged about 1 million visitors a season during the past 3 or so decades. With just 3 ride fatalities from 1960 to 2021 (by using a half-million annual  visitors as average before 1980 and one million a season thereafter), the odds of being killed on a Lagoon ride would pan out at about 2 chances in 47 million of dying on a ride.

Furthermore, with only 27 known fatalities in the park’s long history, that isn’t a bad safety record at all. The park would prefer to have had no deaths, but then reading below, one can clearly conclude that most of the deaths at Lagoon were caused by a patron’s own negligence or recklessness.
In others, riders "tested" their safety restraints, or even tried to exit the ride on their own.

  THREE of the fatalities on rides -- the most of all -- are from the wooden Roller Coaster. Add the worker's death accident on the tracks and that's 4 fatalities from the coaster, making it the park's most dangerous.
Swimming/diving produced Lagoon's most fatalities in its early years. In fact, the Ogden Standard-Examiner on July 29, 1912 stated in an editorial that due to all the drownings at Lagoon, its lake should only be 3 feet deep. It also stressed that more warnings for riders of Lagoon's Scenic Railway ride should be posted, given the ride's turbulent nature.

-Still, a FOX News story in July of 2017 ranked Lagoon as the one of the nation's 11 most dangerous amusement parks, based on its fatal ride accident history.
(http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2016/07/15/most-dangerous-theme-parks-in-us.html)

(Note also that state fair rides and traveling amusement rides are likely far more dangerous than the rides at amusements parks.) 

 (Note too, that "Lake Park" was Lagoon's original name and was at a different, westward location in Farmington. There's no information of any injuries or fatalities at Lake Park, which existed for almost a decade (1896-1896). Thus, all injuries/fatalities listed here happened at Lagoon's current and second location.)

                                       Lagoon's most dangerous ride?

The accident list below does NOT claim to be a complete history of all accidents at Lagoon. Still, it is likely the most comprehensive list available anywhere.

DEATHS:

1.   Henry John Barnes, 50, of Farmington, drowned in about 3 feet of water at Lagoon's Lake on August 3, 1907. He had been drinking and was believed to be intoxicated. His body was not found until the next morning. (-From the Deseret Evening News, Aug. 5, 1907.)


2. Herbert Lee Reeder, 19, of Ogden drowned in Lagoon Lake on June 5, 1909. A passenger in a shell-like boat with a friend, Fred Naisbitt, the boat capsized when the two were changing oars. Reeder, who could not swim, sank to the bottom and Naisbitt nearly lost his  own life trying to save him. Others came from shore and also tried to help. The June 6, 1909 Ogden Standard-Examiner article on the accident noted that Lagoon management has made no effort to patrol the lake, to keep it safer.
  

3.  “Emma Youngquist drowned at Lagoon.”

The young woman was boating on Lagoon Lake with a boyfriend on July 28, 1912, when she decided to change places and row the boat. The young man disagreed with that action, but she stood up anyway, the boat rocked and both fell out. The young woman drowned, her body being found 25 minutes later, 16 feet from shore and in eight feet of water. (-From the Davis County Clipper, Aug.2, 1912).

4. "Railroad man is killed at Lagoon."  Albert Fulton, 27, a Denver & Rio Grande Railroad employee, died at Lagoon on July 15, 1914 when he struck his head on the bottom of the pool and fractured his skull. Fulton leaped from the Lagoon high dive and hit the water perpendicularly, as he was believed to have slipped off the platform. The depth of the pool water was clearly posted at 6-feet. (Ogden Standard-Examiner, July 16, 1914.)

5.  “Earl E.  Logston killed after races.”

Logston of Salt Lake City was killed on the Lagoon racetrack on Sept. 5, 1921 in a vehicle accident. He and a companion were trying to see how fast they could drive around the track, following the day’s official races there. Somehow a light in the car came loose, stuck in the steering gear and caused the car to crash into a fence. A splintered rail struck Logston and instantly killed him. (-From the Davis County Clipper, 9 Sept. 1921.)

6.  "Auto racer at Lagoon Killed." Chris Chioles, 23, died when the race car he was in crashed into a fence around the Lagoon racetrack on July 24, 1922. (Chioles was the vehicle's mechanic.) Charles W. Herman, of Salt Lake City, was driving the vehicle and was injured in the crash. It is believed that a cloud of dust on the track had blocked Herman's vision. (-From the Ogden Standard-Examiner, July 25, 1922.)

7. "Husband dies after saving wife in flood." Arnold Christensen, 38, a Lagoon employee, rescued his wife from flood waters that struck Lagoon on Aug. 14, 1923, after a cloudburst in Farmington Canyon. Farmington Creek was overflowing and caused thousands of dollars in damage to the park. Christensen, a brother of A.C. Christensen, Lagoon Park Manager, "died of heart disease, caused by excitement and exertion," according to reports. He and his family were living in a tent at Lagoon that summer. This is undoubtedly the strangest of all deaths in Lagoon's long history. (-From the Salt Lake Tribune, Aug. 14, 1923.)

8. “Ogden man killed on Dipper at Lagoon.”

George Burt, 19, of Ogden was killed instantly on Saturday, July 26, 1924 when he fell 25 feet from the Dipper roller coaster (today’s wooden roller coaster).

Burt was making his fourth ride of the night and was insistent on standing up during the ride. He eventually lost his balance, slipped out – hung onto the car -- and was dragged 30 feet down one incline and partially up another, before he lost his grip and suffered the fatal fall.

He had a broken neck. (-From the Davis County Clipper, 1 Aug. 1924.)

Note that this coaster at the time likely did not have seat belts.

9-10. “Park City miner meets death at Lagoon July 4”

Tobias Oritz, a Park City miner and formerly from Santa Fe, New Mexico, died in the Lagoon swimming pool on the afternoon of July 4, 1925.

He leaped from the pool’s high dive and struck his head on the bottom. He was under the water 10 minutes before he was located, pulled out and resuscitation was used unsuccessfully. His neck was not broken, so it is believed that he was stunned under water and drowned.

“This is the second accident of the kind that has occurred there since the diving place has been in use.” Thus a similar such death from diving happened earlier, although no details are available. (-From the Davis County Clipper, 10 July, 1925.

11. "Rocking boat brings death to young boy." Henry Wright, 15, of Salt Lake City, drowned when horseplay on a boat while fishing on Lagoon Lake knocked him into the water. (-From The Weekly Reflex newspaper of June 30, 1927.

12. “Park City woman accidentally killed at Lagoon.”

Mrs. Luka La Fay Goodfellow, of Park City, died instantly from an accident in the Lagoon Fun house on July 13, 1930.

She was accidentally thrown from the “fun wheel” in the fun house and struck her head against a post. Note that this was the original Lagoon fun house – the one that burned down in the 1950s --  not the later version. (-From the Davis County Clipper, 18 July 1930).

13. Ernest Howe, 21, Ogden, stood up on the roller coaster ride and fell out as made its first turn, dying on impact, with a fractured skull, on Aug. 20, 1934. . (-From the Salt Lake Telegram, Aug. 21, 1934.)

14. Samuel George Marler, 20, of Idaho Falls, Id., died August 17, 1942, from a neck fracture three days after diving into Lagoon's swimming pool. (-From the Weekly Reflex Newspaper of Aug. 20, 1942 and the Salt Lake Telegram of Aug.18, 1942.)

15. James Young Hess, 23, of Farmington, died from injuries sustained from being stuck by a roller coaster car at Lagoon on Sept. 1, 1946. Hess was hit by the car while working on the ride’s scaffolding. He suffered skull, leg and arm fractures and died later at a Salt Lake hospital. (-From the Salt Lake Telegram, Sept. 2, 1946).

16. F. Dana Loveless, 51,  of Salt Lake City, was found drowned in the Lagoon Swimming pool by workers. Foul play was not suspected. (-From the Salt Lake Telegram, Aug. 5, 1952.) 

17. Michael Scott Johnson, 7, of Granger, drowned in the Lagoon swimming pool on Aug. 1, 1961. The boy had went to the pool with his mother and three sisters. The mother had told the boy to wait for them by the women's dressing room, but he said, "I'm no sissy." When the rest of his family came out of the dressing room, the boy could not be found. He was discovered moments later floating lifelessly under the surface in five feet of water. He had not learned to swim. (-From the Salt Lake Tribune, Aug. 2, 1961.)

18. William Stewart, 23, of Layton drowned in the Lagoon swimming pool on July 5, 1975. He was found at the bottom of the pool's deep end and could not be revived. (-From the Herald Journal, July 7, 1975.)

19. Ryan Beckstead, 6, of Bountiful, was killed on the “Puff the Little Fire Dragon” ride at Lagoon on April 30, 1989. This mini children’s roller coaster did not malfunction. The ride operator hastily decided to give the riders a second ride and failed to notice that Beckstead – in the rear car -- was already almost out of his seat, believing the ride to be over. Beckstead was tossed out of the ride and stuck in between the tracks. No one – including his father – could reach him before the coaster came back around a second time and struck him on the tracks. (-Deseret News, 1 May 1989). Note that thereafter, Lagoon enhanced the restraints on this ride to hopefully prevent any future such accidents.

20. Kilee King, 13, of Bountiful, died July 9, 1989, after she fell 35 feet from the lead car of the roller coaster ride. She suffered a broken neck and had been trying to “get air” by pushing her legs against the seat of the car as it went over a hill. The result was she was thrown out of the ride’s car. Her lap bar had remained closed, but failed to keep her inside the car. (-From the Deseret News, 13 June 1989). Note that soon after, Lagoon moved all the coaster seats permanently slightly forward, to lessen the chances of this type  accident from happening in the future.

21. A 32-year-old man died several days later from critical injuries suffered in a 50-foot fall from the Sky Ride on August 14, 2021. (The Sky Ride is a tram ride, virtually identical to ski lifts, that transports riders from one end of Lagoon to the other.) The ride has no seat belts, but the man had to have purposely climbed out of his seat in order to fall. Videos taken by other riders showed the man with two arms hanging onto one of the front enclosure bars and his feet dangling. He eventually lost his grip and fell to the ground, probably crashing on asphalt. The Sky Ride opened at Lagoon in 1974 and had never suffered any significant accidents prior. Unlike any other ride at Lagoon, this tram ride (like all such "lifts") is subject to extra strict governmental regulations and regular inspections. There was no malfunction here, as the man willingly left the safety of his seat and ultimately caused his own death. Was it a suicide attempt or a stunt gone fatal? One may never know. 

(Note that Disneyland used to have a similar ride, the "Skyway," that operated from 1956-1994. It was more gondola like, though the top half was open. Two riders fell to their deaths in separate accidents, in 1980 and 1994 respectively on that ride, that passed through the Matterhorn. One of those deaths was ruled a suicide and the other an accident. Disney removed the ride, likely because of not just the two fatalities, but also because of some required costly structural upgrades, that would have been needed.)

 22-27. There have been at least six other non-attraction related deaths that happened at Lagoon since 1978:

-Neil Keith Hansen, 28, of American Fork, died in a rodeo accident at Lagoon on July 3, 1978. He was thrown off a bull he was riding and then it kicked him fatally. (American Fork Citizen newspaper, July 13, 1978.)

-Park officials say one person died in the park from a seizure and another from a heart attack.
-A Lagoon employee, Denise Davis, 16, was also critically injured on June 29, 1981 after she fell off a garbage truck in the parking lot. She died a few days later.
-Still another person drowned in the old Lagoon swimming pool after illegally entering the park grounds after hours.
-An Idaho girl was killed when she was struck by a car in the Lagoon parking lot on May 16, 1996.
-A 72-year-old Roy man died from a heart attack at Lagoon on May 17, 2003. A lawsuit later claimed the man did not receive prompt enough emergency care. (-From the Deseret News, 11 June 1989 and also 1 Aug. 2004; plus the Provo Daily Herald, May 20, 1996).

NOTE: Obviously, others likely died of illnesses, etc. at Lagoon over the years, especially before 1980.

SOME NON-FATAL ACCIDENTS AT LAGOON:

-July 5, 1898: The young daughter of Dr. J. Thomas of Salt Lake City, suffered moderate burns to her chest from a large fireworks rocket that went haywire and exploded near her during a pyrotechnic display at Lagoon. (-From the Salt Lake Herald, July 6, 1896.)

-June 16, 1900: Andrew Jensen, a ZCMI employee, rescued two young women from drowning in Lagoon's lake. He was walking over a bridge on the lake and heard cries for help. With a loud musical presentation going on at Lagoon at the time, it was hard to hear. He supposed the women had been flung from an overturned boat. He was the only person nearby at the time. (-From the Salt Lake Herald, June 20, 1900.)

-July 18, 1902: “Accident at Lagoon. Reckless man causes injury to several children” was a July 19, 1902 headline in the Salt Lake Herald Republican newspaper. An unknown man with a palm tree fan in his hand struck the horse that powered the merry-go-round ride at Lagoon to make it go faster. As a result, Sarah Jane Cameron, 14, was knocked down and out of her seat and was stepped on by the horse. She sustained bruises and cuts. Hattie Crabbe, 12, was knocked off the ride and hit the picket fence surrounding the ride. She was badly bruised. An Ogden boy was thought to have a broken arm from the accident, but it was only a sprain. The man who caused the accident disappeared into the crowd and was not found.

-Early April of 1906: Charles Boylin of Farmington, who looked after the grounds and animals at Lagoon, was seriously bitten by a monkey. He suffered a paralysis to both arms initially, but after several weeks recovered full use of his limbs. (From Box Elder News, April 19, 1906.)

-April 22, 1907: Two painters suffered serious injuries when their scaffold fell to the ground after the ropes broke. They had been painting the roof of the Lagoon dance hall, which had been replaced after high winds blew it off last fall. (From the Deseret News April 23, 1907.)

-May 30,1908: Undoubtedly Lagoon's most disastrous opening season day: two injuries, one very serious -- 1. Logan Balderston of Bountiful was seriously injured on Lagoon's scenic railway, when he was thrown out of the car on a turn and fell 40 feet to the ground. He broke his leg, displaced ribs and moved his heart a few inches. Doctors thought he would not survive at first, but he did gradually improve; 2. Leonel Layton of Layton, broke his arm on the park's skating rink. (-From the Davis County Clipper, June 5, 1908.)

-April 28, 1908: Lorin H. Heninger of Ogden, was seriously injured at Lagoon while riding "bumping the bumps," some kind of ride. No other information available. The ride may have been similar to today's "Dodge 'em" car rides. (-From Davis County Clipper, Aug. 28, 1908.) 

-July 4, 1915: "M.L. Rose seriously injured at Lagoon." Mr. Rose, a Lagoon employee was struck by a scenic railway car in the park. The force of the crash pushed him six feet and to the ground. He had four broken ribs and had to have a damaged kidney removed. (-From the Weekly Reflex newspaper, July 8, 1915.)

-July 24, 1922: Charles W. Herman, of Salt Lake, an auto racer suffered a concussion, cuts and bruises, when a race car he was driving crashed into fence around the Lagoon Race Track. (Chris Chioles, 23, of Salt Lake City, his mechanic, was also in the vehicle and died in the crash.)

-Aug. 16, 1924: "Three injured when Lagoon balloon bursts." Three men were hurt, two seriously, when a gas balloon being readied to go airborne to advertise Lagoon, exploded and caused burns to workers. (-The Weekly Reflex newspaper of Aug. 21, 1924.)

-July 14, 1930: Edward Miller, 22, from Pennsylvania, suffered lacerations of the head and a fractured elbow after diving from the high dive at Lagoon's swimming pool. (-From the Weekly Reflex newspaper, July 17, 1930.)

-August 30, 1951: "Train victim, 5, 'poor' in Hospital." Karen Winter, 5, of San Leandro, Calif., suffered a skull fracture, shock, body, head and leg injuries when she stepped into the path of the miniature train at Lagoon. The train was entering the depot and was traveling about 5 mph and was unable to stop. The train had to be turned on its side of remove the injured girl. She had wandered away from her parents just before the accident. (-From the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper of Aug. 31, 1951.)

-November 13, 1953: At 10:56 p.m., Lagoon’s 67-year lucky streak of no fires ran out. It was a blaze!

   A Farmington resident, Fred D. Fellow, first noticed the fire. The skies were red and smoking. The flames were so high - up to 300 feet - they could be seen from 20 miles away in western Salt Lake City.

   Owner Peter Freed was at his 16th Avenue home in Salt Lake City and a neighbor who worked at the Salt Lake Tribune called to tell him of the fire.

   Flames swept down the west side of the midway, destroying everything thing in their path.

   The front (east end) of the wooden roller coaster was wiped out. The Fun House and the Dancing Pavillion were reduced to rubble.

Also destroyed were the Tunnel of Horrors, the Shooting Gallery, cafe, taproom, several storehouses and small concession booths. The historic Merry-Go-Round was saved by a constant flow of water sprayed on it. Volunteer firemen from the city battled the blaze for more than six hours, but no injuries were reported from the fire.

                                                                    From Lagoon's photo collection.

   Looking at photographs taken by the Deseret News the morning after the fire, the scene looking from the Merry-Go-Round out was like seeing the aftermath of a nuclear explosion.

Twisted metal columns were sticking out of the ground.

                                                            From Lagoon's photo collection.
                                                                                     

  It was simply amazing the east section of the roller coaster was almost totally destroyed and that the Merry-Go-Round was saved. Thousands of spectators from Salt Lake to Ogden were attracted to see the fire, that caused an estimated $500,000 in damages. The fire was undoubtedly the largest commercial fire in Davis County during the 20th Century.

   Lagoon had been closed since Labor Day for the season, though a few employees had stayed on for maintenance work.

   The exact cause of the fire was never determined. It was suspected that an electrical transformer near the Fun House had caused the fire. Spontaneous combustion and some greasy rags near the Fun House were also a possibility.

   Even before the flames had died down, the Freeds' had vowed to rebuild Lagoon.

  The park had insurance, but it didn’t cover enough of the damage as the entire west end and the ballroom were destroyed.

This was still a summer enterprise and one that had yet to make a profit. Only the Freeds' other business enterprises, the Freed Finance Company and a ranching business kept them going.

   Like a phoenix, Lagoon rose from the ashes and never looked back. 

-July 29, 1954: "Gay Lagoon coaster ride injures eight." A train returning to the station on Lagoon's wooden roller coaster, failed to come to a stop and crashed into another coaster car being loaded. Injuries to the neck, back and a fractured pelvis were among the worst of the injuries. Others were bruised. The ride operator saw the errand coaster car coming and had moved the outgoing car around the bend, a move that, with emergency brake application, probably lessened the injuries. (-From the Ogden Standard-Examiner, July 30, 1954.)

-Sept. 2, 1954: Hans Gregerson, 19-month-old son of Clyde Gregerson of Bountiful, suffered a fractured skull and other injuries when he fell backwards and into the concrete water channel on the baby boats ride. The miniature tug boat ride then ran over top the boy and he became tangled in the boat's propellers (From the Deseret News Sept. 9, 1954.)

  -June 23, 1958: Carolyn Brain, 15, of Salt Lake City, lost the end of a little finger when it became caught in a flange on the side of slide at the Lagoon Swimming Pool.

-Circa mid-1960s: According to a March 2016 Facebook post by Laurie Capener of Layton -- She was a teen waiting in line for a ride nearby the original Wild Mouse (Then located at the north end of the midway). She said she saw the Wild Mouse malfunction -- "Watched one car not make it up the last hill, while another one rammed the stalled car from behind. Several kids were injured. I would never get on it again."
Apparently no one was seriously injured, but this accident is the source of overblown urban legends that the Wild Mouse jumped off the tracks and some riders were killed.

-June 27, 1967: “Ride at Lagoon hurts worker.” The Salt Lake Tribune reported on June 28 that a Lagoon employee, Greg Wilson, 16, of Salt Lake City, was seriously hurt when a midway car at an attraction struck him from behind.

 

-April 20, 1968: Danny Smith, 12, of Bountiful, was critically injured when he fell from a swing at Lagoon and the swing struck him in the head. The accident happened when the park was not open. (-From the Salt Lake Tribune, April 21, 1968.)

-June 27, 1968: Six riders were treated for injuries and released after an arm of the Octopus ride fell to the ground. One of the main pivet pins on the ride sheared off, causing the crash. No one was seriously hurt. This ride was taken out of Lagoon for good, soon after.

-May 31, 1976: “Fall at Lagoon hurts employee.” The Ogden Standard-Examiner stated on May 31 that James Holt, 17, of South Weber, a Lagoon employee, was in fair condition after a 15-foot fall at the park. Holt had climbed up on the Jet Star ride to dislodge a stuck car on the tracks, when he fell after the car moved. He suffered a broken back and pelvis.

-Sept. 7, 1980: "Guard OK after attack by caribou at Lagoon." Steve Keller, 22, of Layton, a Lagoon security guard, was attacked and bruised by a loose caribou at the park. The area was off limits to Lagoon visitors and the animal was later sedated with a dart gun and put back in its enclosure. (-From the Lakeside Review, Sept. 11, 1980.)

-June 11, 1983: A Lagoon employee, Shauna B. Lassen of Clearfield, lost her left arm after it was severed by the Fire Dragon ride as it raced by.

-June 20, 1983: Bart Page, 16, of Centerville, a teenage worker at Lagoon, lost his right foot when it became caught in the control mechanism for the Tilt-A-Whirl ride. Page somehow pushed his foot through a narrow slot, where it was crushed. (-From the Provo Daily Herald, June 21`, 1983.)

-1984: Two children were injured when the kid's Helicopter ride plunged to the ground. A lawsuit followed. 
 
 -1987: A Pittsburgh, Penn. Woman said she was injured on the Jet Star II ride, when it came to an abrupt halt. Also, in 1987, a Ketchum, Id. man said he was hurt when a Jet Star II car struck his car from behind.

-June 19, 1989: "Bad wire shocks Lagoon visitors, one employee." A faulty wire at a coin-operated basketball game at Lagoon caused a minor electrical shock to four patrons and one park employee. The short circuit sent 110 volts of electricity into a metal fence behind the game and that's where the 5 people were shocked. (From the Provo Daily Herald, June 20, 1989.)

-1990s: A young girl suffered a serious ankle injury when the Sky Ride struck her as she exited the attraction. She required multiple surgeries to repair a torn Achilles tendon and also reportedly received more than $100,000 in a settlement from a lawsuit.

 -June 10, 1991: A cross board on the Lagoon roller coaster (2X6 feet) came loose and broke the arm of an Elko. Nev. teenager, Frank Greco, 18, who was riding at the time and it struck him from overhead as the coaster car went by.

 -August 1996:  A 16-year-old Centerville girl, working at Lagoon, was bit in the arm by a cougar at the Lagoon Zoo. The animal was euthanized later, to check if it had rabies, or other diseases.

 - July 3, 2000: A Layton man injured a finger and his arm in “The Drop” water slide at Lagoon-Beach.

-Sept. 2000: A South Jordan man injured his knee after crashing into the end of the pool of “The Drop” ride in Lagoon-A-Beach’s water slide area. (This was at least the third injury that resulted in a lawsuit against Lagoon on the “Drop” slide.)

-August 9, 2001: A freak accident on the Scamper, a children’s bumper car ride, frightened but did not hurt a male rider, age 6. A pole at the top of one of the ride's cars shorted out, produced an arc of electricity and caused a heavy piece of metal about 1 1/2 inches long to heat up and fall onto the seat next to the boy. 

-Summer of 2002: Jessica Jackson was riding the Jet Star 2, with a mother, aunt and cousin. The brakes on the incoming car behind them malfunctioned and struck their car. She and most of her group suffered some minor injuries from the crash,

-2012: An elderly man shattered his leg in a fall getting off the Dracula's Castle ride. He apparently could not exit the ride quickly enough, before the next ride car came around the corner and bumped him to the ground.

-Sept. 25, 2016: A decoration at Lagoon's Halloween event, "Frightmares," caught fire and sent people running. A grim reaper decoration burst into flames and caused brief havoc at the park. No one was injured.  (Source: KTVX, Ch. 4 news on Sept. 26, 2016.)

-December 18, 2021: A fire broke out in a candy shop building at Lagoon, located just north of the wooden roller coaster. Fire crews thought they had extinguished the fire during an initial call earlier in the day, only to have to return hours later for a second go, when the fire rekindled. The nearby kids bumper car ride was destroyed, besides the candy building. Damage was estimated at $300,000.

 

August 9, 2023: The Primordial roller coaster ride was being tested and injured a contractor who was working on the ride building’s HVAC system. The worker, "Stephen," had to be hospitalized when a coaster being tested unexpectedly came back down the track, the room went dark, and he could not get out of the way in time. The coaster collided with the worker’s scissor lift, that was about 20 feet high and knocked him off it. He suffered permanent disfigurement, including a head wound and fractures to his left knee and right hip. He now has to walk with a cane, as one leg is shorter than the other one. A lawsuit followed, as claims were made that although Stephen knew the coaster would be tested that morning, he was not given specific times for that testing. Lagoon claims he was given all information. The man also may not have been wearing a safety harness on the scissor lift either, or he would not have been thrown to the ground.  (Source: KTVX, Ch. 4, news report on August 11, 2025.)

 

-CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR -- SHOOTINGS, ROBBERIES AT LAGOON:

-"Shooting at Lagoon. Bartender Alexander has encounter with thieves. They wanted free beer" in 1897. In just its second year at its current location, Lagoon had a shootout at its saloon. Alexander "order then to throw up their hands, but they fired six shots at him instead -- It was dark and their aim was poor -- One bullet out of the six fired at him took effect, lodging in his arm -- Will not be able to mix drinks for a few days to come" -- as quoted from the Salt Lake Tribune of June 17, 1897. The men ran away after the shooting.

-"Sixteen-year-old boy arrested for trying to wreck Lagoon Train" in 1903. Charles Fowler of Salt Lake was arrested after it was determined that he tried three times to derail the miniature train at Lagoon. He placed obstructions on the train tracks. (From the Salt Lake Herald newspaper of Aug. 26, 1903.)

-"Jimmie Johns is shot by officers." On July 15, 1916, police had to arrest 20 men with disorderly conduct at Lagoon's dance hall. John's was shot four times during the incident. (-From the Journal newspaper, Logan, Ut. of July 18, 1960.)

- Lagoon's Foreign Spy/Bomb plot incident in 1917:

Lagoon has also had some very weird happenings over the decades.

How about a foreign spy and a bomb plot?

“Dancing master proves to be spy; Man who taught dancing at The Lagoon tried to blow up pavilion on Soldiers’ Day,” was the headline in the Sept, 7, 1917 Davis County Clipper.

“The professor who had been teaching dancing at Lagoon has turned out to be a German spy,” that article stated.

The bomb didn't off, but if it did, dozens could have been killed, or injured.

It was reported that the professor disappeared, but was later captured and imprisoned in the prisoner’s camp at Fort Douglas.

The newspaper stated that rumors were also circulating that the spy had already been convicted and executed.

The article also reported that another German, who had been living with a family in Centerville, had also been arrested as a spy and sent to Fort Douglas.

-"Man arrested for beating up girl at Lagoon May 30." Blanche Price of Salt Lake City was beaten up and robbed by Roy Thomas, 19, of Salt Lake City on May 30, 1930. He attacked her in the parking lot, stole an automobile and fled to Ely, Nevada. He was arrested after he returned to Salt Lake. (-From the Weekly Reflex newspaper of June 5, 1930.)


-"Four arrested for burglary" in 1934. Four teenagers from out-of-state were arrested at Lagoon on Nov. 18, 1934, for trying to smash open penny arcade machines. The youths caused at estimated $1,000 in damages to 25 arcade machines, as well as to smashed odors, tables and cash registers. (From the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper of Nov. 20, 1934.)

-"Thugs bind guard, get Lagoon cash" in 1950. Two experienced criminals escaped with up to $5,000 after they bound and gagged a night watchman in the Lagoon office at about 4 a.m. on June 5, 1950. The masked robbers took all the cash they could find, including pennies. They were never caught. (-From the Ogden Standard-Examiner newspaper of June 5, 1950.)

-"Davis nabs two juveniles on wounding of woman" in  May of 1951. Two boys, ages 12 and 13, were shooting a .22 caliber rifle about two blocks east of Lagoon. One of their wild shots struck Janice Coombs Hansen, 19, of Salt Lake City, in the left shoulder while she was standing  north of the Lagoon Swimming Pool. (-From the Salt Lake Tribune of May 22, 1951.)

-"Shots fail to stop youths after Lagoon car crash" in 1951. A Farmington Deputy Marshall fired four shots at two 16-year-old youths at Lagoon on August 9, 1951, after they raced away after striking another car in the Lagoon Parking Lot. The two teenagers had tried to enter Lagoon without paying and that began their run. Their car stalled in Farmington Canyon and they were arrested walking back to town. The same two youths had been referred to juvenile court a week earlier for public intoxication at Lagoon. (-From the Salt Lake Tribune of August 28, 1951.)

-July 15, 1959: “Lagoon worker hurt in fracas.” The Salt Lake Tribune of July 17 reported that Dale Thurston, 19, of Farmington, an amusement park worker, suffered a deep cut on his forearm during and altercation at the park. Two men from Salt Lake and a woman were arrested as part of the violent, stabbing incident.

 -"2 Salt Lakers jailed after shooting." Two Salt Lake men were involved in a shooting in front of the Lagoon dance hall, on Aug. 2, 1961. (-From the Salt Lake Tribune, Aug. 3, 1961.)

-Two young fawns were shot and killed in the Lagoon Zoo by unknown intruders, sometime during the weekend of December 17-18, 1967. (From the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Dec. 19, 1967.)

 - June 15, 1991: Three teenage boys were stabbed during a fight at Lagoon. This was not gang related.

SOME LAWSUITS AGAINST LAGOON:

Here are a few examples of some past lawsuits, likely a fraction of what actually happened, since most modern lawsuits are likely settled privately:

-Summer of 1908: Lizzie W. Priestly sued Lagoon after stepped in a hole near a grandstand for a baseball game at Lagoon and suffered lasting injuries.

-March 1926: Franklin H. Mitchell tried to sue Lagoon for $10,000 (almost $134,000 in today's dollars) when he fractured his skull when a water toboggan struck him in the Lagoon Swimming pool. The jury decided the Mitchell was negligent by being in that area of the pool and the case was dismissed.

-November 1926: Bessie Wintercloud tried to sue Lagoon after a board on the dancing floor caused her to trip, causing leg injuries. This case was quickly settled outside of court.

-November 1983: A Clearfield teenager who lost an arm while working at Lagoon's Fire Dragon ride, sued the park for $11 million. The accident happened on June 10, 1983.

-Sept. 6, 2021: A Taylorsville, Utah man filed a lawsuit against Lagoon almost a year after being injured on the Wicked ride, in October of 2020. His foot was allegedly shredded on the ride after claims he was improperly secured. The man is paraplegia and initially did not feel the injury. (Source KUTV news on Sept. 6, 2021.)

SOME MALFUNCTIONS:

 Here are a few examples of malfunctions that occasionally happen on Lagoon rides, usually only causing delays and inconvenience …

  - July 24, 1999: The Skyscraper ride malfunctioned and its brakes temporarily stopped working. The ride continued about an extra 25 minutes before it was finally stopped. Some passengers loved the extra long ride with a view; others felt trapped. No injuries.

 -July 1, 2002: The Roll-o-Plane ride malfunctioned and left eight passengers stuck and stranded on the ride for 30 minutes. No one was injured.

-Oct. 14, 2002: The Samurai rode broke and left 28 riders trapped in the cold and in an upright position for one hour and 45 minutes.

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

Keep young children out of the theater for non-kid movies!

I went to see "Man of Steel" with my son some years ago. First, I joked about whether or not they would still run the movie, if we -- the only ones  there -- more people finally arrived.

 Then, I told my son about how during my first time at "Man of Steel," someone's 4-year-old kid in the audience tainted my experience. Then, exactly as the movie began, guess what happens ... a mother with 5 young  kids (2 of them age 5 or under) walks in and sits right in front of us! (We are the ONLY people in the theater.)
The two younger kids aren't interested in the movie after 5 minutes and the mother has to keep taking taking them out and then returns. Finally, she doesn't return about half-way through the movie.
What a waste for her and a disruption for the audience ...

 Theaters have now cracked down on texters and mobile device use during movies.

Now they need to go after  families who bring young kids who are clearly too young for such dark, violent and complicated  movies.

Get a babysitter people!!!!

This is as much about courtesy, as it is about protecting young children, who should not even be exposed to such dark movies period at that age.

If they have a special showing of a kid-friendly movie, fine, let the kids dominate the theater, but not for a "Man of Steel" type of movie, that is simply NOT suitable for young children!

If only all churches had this magnificent setting ...

  IT seems like just about anyone would enjoy going to church more, if all churches had such a spectacular outdoor setting as this chapel does in Yosemite National Park.

  I always have to stop at this church when I visit Yosemite, though the vast majority of park visitors don't stop there.

Do NOT hike alone!

  I used to do it myself, when I was younger.

But it is neither smart, nor safe.
A 22-year-old BYU student found dead on June 6, 2013, on the Y Mountain trail, above Provo, Utah, some 4 days after he likely fell off a cliff. He was hiking all alone, on a trail not used a lot at the time.
Cell phones do not necessarily make hiking alone safer.
-I used to hike alone in my early 20s too, in similar terrain, above Weber State University, east of Ogden, never seeing another person for hours. I was lucky, never having an accident.
At age 22, you have peak energy, peak ability, peak independence - and not so peak judgment -- always.
Would the young man not have died with a fellow hiker along? Perhaps. We'll never know. But, at least that would have likely saved 4 days of search and rescue.
If you are going to hike alone, at least only do it on busy trails, on busy weekends.
-ALSO, do NOT confuse hiking with climbing. The deceased 22-year-old student also thought it was safe to rock climb alone and without any equipment.

Mormon Pioneer Myths Debunked

 A handcart has become the symbol of the Mormon Pioneer Trail. (A photo from the Greenery Restaurant, in Ogden, Ut.

THE traditional depiction of life on the Mormon Pioneer Trail is a dismal one of tragedy and suffering — almost like one long funeral procession.
But Melvin L. Bashore, a senior librarian in the history library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also promotes "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Utah: Laughable Incidences on the Mormon Trail."
He says even if some of these happenings weren't funny to the pioneers, they seem to be today.
For example, one his favorite stories concerns a very old Danish man who had completely lost his sense of smell and was part of an 1857 pioneer group headed for Utah. After some men killed buffalo and other major game for the group's food, he thought he should make a contribution, too.
He came back to camp with a skunk to cook for soup.
"This made the rest of us leave," C.C.A. Christensen, a member of that Danish company, wrote in a diary. "He had killed it with his cane and knew nothing about its peculiar means of defense."
Some other stories involve mosquitoes, which seemed to particularly like attending Mormon meetings on the Plains.
An 1861 diary records: "In the evening a meeting was held in camp, but the mosquitoes were there first and stay there they would. They sang at the opening song during service, at the closing and finally sung all night. Tried to sleep, but they pulled me out of bed."
An 1853 diary reported: "I saw Indians by the hundreds, buffalo by the thousands and mosquitoes by the billions."
In still another tale, a young pioneer man had to separate from his fiancee and travel with a separate wagon group because he didn't have enough money so they could travel together. His diary on the first night of separation states:
"My mind was rambling over many things, especially as to when I should meet my dear girl again. After a while we began to turn in. I had occasion to go to my bag for some clothes and in taking out what I expected to be white duck sailor overalls and holding them up an examining them they turned out to be some sort of ladies' unmentionables trimmed and adorned with lace. The eyes of the crowd caught onto it. I had made a mistake and got my sweetheart's bag instead of my own."
In his research, Bashore found the vast majority of the pioneers didn't die along the way but safely made the journey to the Salt Lake Valley.
Bashore said that although hardships did occur on the trail, Utahns today falsely often skew our perception and understanding of the entire history of what happened on the Mormon Trail by dwelling on the sufferings of a few.
• Bashore's overview of the Mormon trail experience is available online at: overlandtrails.lib.byu.edu.
(Adapted from a July 24, 2004 story in the Deseret News by Lynn Arave.)
--- The Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Despite the fact this is one of the most epic events in regional history, there are a lot of myths and fallacies circulating regarding the pioneers and their trek and arrival in the valley.
For example, the travel of the pioneers to Utah — excepting the handcart companies — was likely not as difficult as many perceive it to have been.
"Contrary to myth and popular belief, this 1847 trek of approximately 1,032 miles and 111 days was not one long and unending trail of tears or a trial by fire," The National Park Service's "Mormon Pioneer: Historic Resource Study"(www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/mopi/hrs5.htm) states.
"It was actually a great adventure," the NPS report continued. "Over the decades, Mormons have emphasized the tragedies of the trail, and tragedies there were, but generally after 1847. Between 1847 and the building of the railroad in 1869, at least 6,000 died along the trail from exhaustion, exposure, disease and lack of food. Few were killed by Indians. To the vast majority, however, the experience was positive — a difficult and rewarding struggle. Nobody knows how many Mormons migrated west during those years, but 70,000 people in 10,000 vehicles is a close estimate.
"To the 143 men, three women and two children who left Winter Quarters, the 111-day pioneer trek of 1847 was mostly a great adventure, with a dramatic ending."
Also, a second myth is that handcart travel was both common and typical for numerous pioneers. Given all the attention LDS stakes have given their own personal mock handcart adventures in Wyoming, this exaggerated belief is logical, but incorrect.
Using the most commonly accepted estimate of 70,000 total pioneers coming to Utah between 1847 and the coming of the railroad in 1869, plus the handcart estimate total of 2,962 people, the total percentage of pioneers who were in handcart companies is only 4.23 percent.
Bashore said handcart companies have evolved to be the "iconic symbol of pioneer Mormonism."
"We're focused on what a lesser number of people did," he said.
(That is why I don't personally care for handcart "treks" by stakes and wards. Accurate history is rarely taught on them and their entire focus is just a sliver of pioneer travel.)

--Following are some other pioneer myths:
• Death was a common occurrence on all pioneer treks. Not true, as most who started for Utah arrived. For example, no one died in the original 1847 pioneer company to Salt Lake.
The average death rate in all Mormon companies was less than 3 percent; a third of the companies (more than 80) did not have any deaths at all; only 18 of the more than 250 companies experienced more than 20 deaths en route (so only 7 percent of the total companies accounted for 43 percent of the total deaths); and at least seven people were bitten by rattlesnakes, none of whom died.
• Pioneers all traveled basically the same route. False. For example, variants in trails were established in southern Iowa, or via Mitchell Pass in Nebraska or in not crossing the Platte River at Fort Laramie in Wyoming.
Also, many pioneers from 1850 on used the "Golden Pass Road" (Parleys Canyon) to enter the Salt Lake Valley instead of Emigration Canyon, making some 42 miles of trail different at the end of the trek.
The John G. Smith pioneer company of 1851 was counseled by Elder Orson Hyde to head for the Elk Horn River in Nebraska before reaching the usually traveled road. That meant several hundred miles of different route.
There were many other variations too, especially on the later treks. Some came from California, others from Texas.
"We tend to think all trail travel started in the Midwest," Bashore said.
• The pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Not quite accurate. The lead company and the main company of pioneers actually entered the valley on July 22 and camped there that night. Meanwhile, Brigham Young and the rear company had not yet climbed Big Mountain, and it didn't enter the valley until July 24 — the celebrated day.
In addition, two advance scouts, Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow, had even entered the Salt Lake Valley a day earlier on July 21.
• Brigham Young declared "This is the place." Not a complete statement. "It is enough. This is the right place, drive on" is the full declaration President Young may have made. However, there is still doubt.
Jeffrey Carlstrom and Cynthia Furse, in their book "A History of Emigration Canyon," note there is "considerable room for doubt that Young ever made this famous pronouncement." That's because no firsthand accounts of it exist.
Wilford Woodruff is credited with recounting what President Young said, but that was in 1880, 33 years after it happened and about three years after President Young had died.
• This Is the Place Monument is located exactly where Brigham Young made his famous statement. Unfortunately, history didn't leave us with an exact location. However, when the original monument on the site was dedicated on July 25, 1921, Elder B.H. Roberts, a member of the Seventy and a church historian, cited a journal of President Woodruff that "proved conclusively that there can be doubt that the spot now marked by this concrete monument is very near to the actual place."
• There was a "lone tree" in the barren Salt Lake Valley when the Pioneers arrived in 1847. It is simply pioneer legend that paints such a grim picture of the Salt Lake Valley — barren, harsh and a desert, save a lone cedar tree. In reality, say historians, the valley was well-watered, with tall grasses and trees along the many stream banks.
"One of the greatest myths of the church is that the valley was total desolation," said the late Dr. Stanley Kimball, a Utah historian. No pioneer diary accounts he ever found supported the desolate valley idea.
Most of the paintings depicting the valley when the Mormon pioneers arrived look more like the west desert area than the Wasatch Front.
Richard Jackson, professor of geography at Brigham Young University, did extensive research in the 1970s on what the Salt Lake Valley was really like when the pioneers arrived.
"Briefly, there was not a lot of timber in the valley according to pioneer diarists, but there was clearly some, especially along the creeks," he said.
But regardless, the pioneers did not have an easy time in Utah, and some people still feel the desert of Salt Lake did "blossom like a rose."
"Settling the Utah area in the 1840s and '50s was a challenge," Glen Leonard, director of the LDS Museum of Church History and Art, states on the church Web site, lds.org.
"They had left a lush farm area and came to an arid region. The soil was good, but the water was scarce. The seasons were short. So, Brigham Young wisely scattered the people out into small communities so that they had the natural resources — the water and the soil — and the community resources, the well-organized communities with different skills and talents, and then he just challenged them to make the desert blossom like a rose. And they did."
• Other handcart myths. Chad M. Orton, an archivist with the LDS Church's family history department, has researched various handcart pioneer legends. A recent newspaper obituary that made reference to one of the deceased's ancestors as deceased ancestor's as having been a handcart pioneer in 1847 best illustrates the wide misconceptions about of handcart pioneers. There were none in 1847.
• Missionaries at Martin's Cove in Wyoming occasionally mention to visitors that several tree stumps in the C cove offer evidence to prove the handcart pioneers were situated there. Neither Both Orton nor and Bashore has found have found no historical evidence to support that belief.
• Sometimes it is said that none of the survivors of the Willie and Martin handcart companies ever left the church. Orton said that's false because there were some who apostatized.
• There's also no evidence that handcart wheels were made out of green wood.
• Handcarts didn't carry everything these pioneers had. All handcart companies traveled with supply wagons that carried tents, extra food and other provisions too, according to Orton. One wagon was allocated for about every 100 members of a handcart company.
•The Mormon Pioneers universally were unique in one other way — no pioneer parties hired guides to take them west. Mormon Pioneers did all the advance research they could and then relied in the church leaders with them for guidance.

(Adapted from a July 24, 2008 story in the Deseret News, by Lynn Arave.)

Salt Lake Lone Tree Myth False

   Pioneer legend paints a grim picture of the Salt Lake Valley — barren, harsh and a desert, save a lone cedar tree.

In reality, say historians, the valley was well watered, with tall grasses and trees along the many stream banks.
"One of the greatest myths of the church is that the valley was total desolation," said the late Dr. Stanley Kimball, a Utah historian. No pioneer diary accounts he ever found supported the desolate valley idea.
Most of the paintings depicting the valley when the Mormon pioneers arrived look more like the west desert area than the Wasatch Front.
Richard Jackson, professor of geography at Brigham Young University, did extensive research in the 1970s on what the Salt Lake Valley was really like when the pioneers arrived.
"Briefly, there was not a lot of timber in the valley according to pioneer diarists, but there was clearly some, especially along the creeks," he said.
But regardless, the pioneers did not have an easy time in Utah, and some people still feel the desert of Salt Lake did "blossom like a rose."
"Settling the Utah area in the 1840s and '50s was a challenge," Glen Leonard, director of the LDS Museum of Church and Art, states on the church Web site, www.lds.org.
"They had left a lush farm area and came to an arid region. The soil was good, but the water was scarce. The seasons were short. So, Brigham Young wisely scattered the people out into small communities so that they had the natural resources — the water and the soil — and the community resources, the well-organized communities with different skills and talents, and then he just challenged them to make the desert blossom like a rose. And they did," Leonard concluded.
Comments by Young, Heber J. Grant and other church leaders made the desert comparison of the valley blossoming like a rose, too.
Many diary accounts support that the Salt Lake Valley was more green that history paintings illustrate:
William Clayton's journal for July 22, 1847, records his first view of the Salt Lake Valley and comments on the land between the mountains and the Great Salt Lake:
"The intervening valley appears to be well supplied with streams, creeks and lakes, some of the latter are evidently salt. There is but little timber in sight anywhere, and that is mostly on the banks of streams and creeks of water, which is almost the only objection which could be raised in my estimation to this being one of the most beautiful valleys and pleasant places for a home for the Saints which could be found."
Jackson said on Sept. 9, 1847, Brigham Young cautioned the Saints before he left to return to Winter Quarters that in "selecting your firewood, it will be wisdom to choose that which is dry and not suitable for timber of any kind, and we wish all the green timber and shrubbery in the city to remain as it is . . ."
Henry Bigler noted in his diary in October of 1848 that he commenced building a house. "I began to make preparations to build me a house on a city lot . . . situated in a very nice part of the city on City Creek, a nice little grove of Box-Elder and Cottonwood on it."
Thomas Bullock, clerk of the Mormon pioneer camp, wrote that the valley was "dotted in three or four places with Timber."
"A valley of about 20 eight miles wide lay before us the most of it covered with good gras and various outher vegatables. but timber was handey," is what Levi Jackman, a member of the original Mormon pioneer group to enter the Salt Lake Valley, wrote (with imperfect spelling) about his first impression.
There was enough water in the Salt Lake Valley of 1847 — even in mid-summer — that the first recorded pioneer death was from drowning, not from thirst. Milton H. Therkill, a 3-year-old boy, fell in City Creek and drowned on Aug. 11, 1847.
Jackson believes when the leaders and members of the pioneer companies of 1847 talked about the lack of timber, they were apparently comparing it to the Midwest and also recognizing that it would be a challenge since their homes had been built primarily of wood, and wood was the primary fuel source. Within a few days of arrival they found lumber in the mountains adequate for their needs.
How did the myth of the lack of trees in the Salt Lake Valley of 1847 start?
Richard Jackson, professor of geography at Brigham Young University, said that idea developed in later years, probably for three reasons:
"First, as the settlers celebrated the 24th of July, the oratory often included a certain amount of hyperbole about the magnitude of the trip across the plains, settling and developing the Salt Lake Valley, etc. As with most reminiscences, the story tends to grow with the retelling, so the Salt Lake Valley became ever more arid in those accounts," he said.
"Secondly, by the 1850s and 1860s when these myths became common, the only land not being farmed or built upon was in fact the worst land that was more arid and so later arrivals concluded that the entire valley found in 1847 by the pioneers was basically the same as the remaining marginal lands in the valley.
"Thirdly, as Brigham Young and the leaders encouraged the settlers to go south to Dixie, etc., the idea that Salt Lake Valley was a treeless desert implied that the farms and city that the settlers had developed with the help of the Lord could be replicated in the more marginal sites he was encouraging settlers to move to," Jackson concluded.
The late Stanley Kimball, a Utah historian, once said he also believed it came about after the desirable valley filled up — consciously or subconsciously to foster the idea that it had been tamed and to encourage people to settle in Dixie and other frontier areas.
Besides paintings, the biggest myth supporter is perhaps the "Lone Cedar Tree" monument in Salt Lake City, in the median on the south side of the intersection at 600 E. 300 South.
The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers erected this monument on Pioneer Day in 1934 to what was supposedly the only cedar tree in the valley when the 1847 pioneers arrived. Some original pioneers are reputed to have sung hymns and prayed by the tree.
One problem with that story is that the pioneers followed the Donner Party trail to about 1700 South, then headed to a small grove of cottonwood trees near today's 300 S. State Street — missing the "Lone Cedar Tree."
Vandals cut the Lone Cedar Tree down on Sept. 21, 1958. A related controversy ensued with the DUP when the media said the tree's status was a fraud anyway. (Ashes from the stolen cedar tree were purportedly found later in a Greyhound bus depot locker.)
A new plaque was added to the monument in 1960 and is still there today — for anyone to see and decide from themselves if the tree's legendary status holds merit.
(Adapted from past Deseret News articles by Lynn Arave.)