ONE OF THE FISHIEST stories in Utah didn't originate anywhere near a lake, or even a fishing stream. It happened 135 years ago, high in the mountains of northern Utah.
In the fall of 1856, the first settlers on the way to Cache Valley stopped near a spring about 1 1/2 miles east of what is now known as Dry Lake. They ate a lunch there consisting of canned sardines. They even reportedly littered and left the sardine containers there, as sort of a cheap monument that later travelers saw - hence the name Sardine Canyon.Without the litter, the name might not have stuck. (Too bad that James Andrews, alias "Mad Max" in the Utah Department of Transportation's "Don't Waste Utah" TV ads, wasn't around then!) But the story didn't end there.
There's always been something fishy about that canyon most people call "Sardine Canyon," located along the entire stretch of U.S. 89-91 that traverses the mountains between Brigham City and Cache Valley. Most of the canyon is not particularly narrow, and so without knowing about the pioneer lunch tale, the name doesn't fit the place any better than if you try to call a whale a sardine.
Actually, three canyons in that same area now bear the unofficial name of "Sardine Canyon" - and none of them is the real Sardine Canyon.
Highway maps still contain correct names of canyons in the area. The only reference to "Sardine" along U.S. 89-91 is "Sardine Summit."
To set the record straight, there are three canyons along the highway between Brigham City and Cache Valley. Technically, the route travels through Box Elder Canyon - not Sardine Canyon - from eastern Brigham City to Mantua. Then the highway follows Dry Canyon from Mantua until about Sardine Summit. From Sardine Summit until Cache Valley comes into view, the defile is Wellsville Canyon, not Sardine Canyon.
Sardines are a strong-smelling fish, and the name must be strong sounding to have endured this long. Hmmm . . . if the pioneers had eaten a different kind of lunch back in 1856, maybe we'd have a different name here.
How about: "Tuna Canyon," "Peanut Butter Canyon" or "Steak Canyon"? Nah, maybe the Sardine name isn't so bad after all.Anyway, there's no chance today of getting the public to change the name of "Sardine Canyon" to its three real names. Once a Sardine, always a Sardine. . . .HERE'S A brief rundown on Utah's four separate, though somewhat interconnecting, "Sardine Canyons":
- The real Sardine Canyon
The real Sardine Canyon, the only one that officially bears the fishy name today, is the one that the pioneers traveled through. It shows up only on a detailed U.S. Geological Survey topographical map, though. The canyon itself starts at Sardine Spring, heads east over the ridge from Dry Lake and into the northeast tip of Cache Valley. This true Sardine Canyon is located almost exactly between Sardine Canyon versions A and B (described below).
The pioneers who headed to Cache Valley to settle it followed a cattle trail used one year earlier by Brigham Young and others when 2,500 head of cattle were herded into Cache Valley to escape the terrible Salt Lake-Ogden area drought of the summer of 1855.
After reaching what is today called Sardine Summit, the pioneers apparently turned right and headed over an undetermined path until they reached Sardine Spring and ate their famous lunch. Plentiful water from this spring was probably the main reason for the pioneers' (and Brigham Young's) particular route, since by late summer there was likely no other source for water.
From Sardine Spring they headed east down the short Sardine Canyon and into Cache Valley.
James and Margaret Bradshaw homesteaded the real Sardine Canyon area in the late 1800s. They had a camp and milk cows there and even made butter near the site of Sardine Spring.
The land has since been purchased by the LDS Church and is now part of the Wellsville Stake welfare farm grazing area.
There has probably never been a public road along this route, since later travelers quickly found a smoother path to Logan along Sardine Canyon "A."
- Sardine Canyon "A"
This side canyon starts just north of Sardine Summit and heads east. It probably follows part of the main route into Cache Valley that the pioneers took, but it misses Sardine Spring by heading straight east along the Mt. Pisgah Road and into McMurdle Hollow.
Today this route is a passable dirt road for trucks that ends up in Paradise and has a spur road that leads to Hyrum. Usually only farmers and hunters travel this route today.
- Sardine Canyon "B"
This is a second road and canyon that start about 1,000 feet to the north of the original route. This road was opened many years after the "A" version and offered smoother access to Cache Valley with fewer curves and hills.
It skirts around the east end of Dry Lake on the south, hugging the hillside, and continues east before making some sharp curves and ending in the Mt. Sterling area of Cache Valley, only a half-mile away from where the modern U.S. 89-91 ends in Cache Valley.
Version "B" is not completely passable today. The west end is blocked by a wall of dirt and rock and also later by a wire fence. Only hikers or mountain bicycles can travel the entire road.
Much of the original asphalt on the road is intact. However, since the route has not been an official state highway for 31 years, the lack of upkeep has allowed the road to be covered with rock slides and weeds almost to total obscurity in some places.
- Sardine Canyon "C"
Today's version of Sardine Canyon was a road built in the 1950s and opened in 1960. This road was used as early as 1917 as an alternate path into Cache Valley, but it was bumpy and sometimes Dry Lake wasn't very dry.
Modern equipment hauled in tons of fill and raised the roadbed in Dry Lake, and dynamite was used to clear a wider path down into the area. (The Dry Lake roadbed had to be raised again in the wet seasons of 1983-85.)
When this improved road opened, it also took the name "Sardine" - now simply a blanket name for all the canyons in that area. If a fourth version of the road in this area is ever constructed, it too will likely be named Sardine.
Excursion leads to a good look at the real Sardine Canyon
A recent Saturday excursion, together with permission from landowners, provided the opportunity to find and explore the real Sardine Canyon. A 1.5-mile hike along the Sardine Canyon "A" version road and a half-mile trek off the road led into the real Sardine Canyon.
This dirt road begins at an elevation of 5,900 feet and is easily passable by trucks. Users should be aware of the many portions of private land along the way, particularly on the south side in the Mt. Pisgah area.
After leaving the dirt road, it was possible to reach Sardine Spring in 45 minutes by following a fence line and cow trail. Today the spring, located at an elevation of 5,400 feet, is protected by a concrete cover and empties into a small reservoir.
A herd of cows inhabits the springs area, but they have created trails that make traveling through the area easy as long as you watch where you step to avoid cow pies. (When we went off the cow trail, we quickly found a rattlesnake.)
There were not any old sardine cans visible around the spring, but there was an old plastic cup. Also, AT&T has a main underground telephone line that runs through the area, ironically following most of the what was probably the pioneers' original route into Cache Valley.
A descendant of the Bradshaws, Mark Lindley of Wellsville, believes that the state of Utah would have been smarter to have taken the main highway to Cache Valley through the original Sardine Canyon area rather than at its current route past Sherwood Hills because of the better terrain. After hiking the area, it's difficult to disagree with that.
Leaving Sardine Spring and heading north up the hill, we connected with the Sardine Canyon version "B" road and were able to return to our car by taking a trip along the paved road that was the main route into Cache Valley up until 31 years ago.
From the road along Sardine Canyon "B," it is possible to get a good birds-eye view of Sardine Spring. There are no such views available from the version "A" road.