Betsy Ross, get out your flag and sew on another star . . . Halleluja! A state is what we are!
With songs, dancing and a fusillade of gunfire that set downtown Salt Lake City's concrete canyon echoing, Utahns heralded the state's first hundred years.A re-enactment of the momentous arrival of the telegram from Washington, D.C., announcing signing of the statehood document climaxed morning activities as Utah's 100th Statehood Day got into full swing. Earlier, a flag-raising ceremony and issuing of a centennial stamp had set the stage for the downtown festivities.
"I got it! I got it!" Max Evans hollered, getting the attention of the crowd milling around in front of a replica shell of the old Western Union Telegraph office midway between South Temple and 100 South Street. What Evans, head of Utah's Division of History, had, however, was only a personal telegram to Anna May Clark. But the bit of fun kept the audience glued.
Moments later, at 9:13, the "real" statehood telegram arrived, and Evans duplicated the two shots fired by Marion B. Brown, Western Union manager on Jan. 4, 1896. His shots let waiting Utahns know that with President GroverCleveland's signing of the official proclamation, they had shucked territorial status and were bona fide citizens of the United States.
Evans said he solicited the job of firing the 1996 shots. He was armed with a double-barreled 12-gauge H.J. Sterling shotgun that dates back to at least 1884. The gun was "picked up somewhere" by his brother-in-law, Ted Barrett, he said. Two shells, made by the same gunsmith who got the shotgun ready for Thursday's re-enactment, were filled with black powder and cork - not enough power to do anything but generate a small kick.
The shotgun pops set off a furor of cheering, bell ringing, singing and dancing in the street, just as the original signal precipitated a noisy celebration, including bombs fired in front of the old Deseret News building.
Today, a group of Weber State University performers enthusiastically sang and danced a salute to statehood, and a 21-gun round from the Utah Civil War Association had nearby spectators filling their ears with fingers.
The 1996 dignitaries, also had the benefit of a special bleacher set up for their comfort. Gov. Mike Leavitt had shed the formal turn-of-the-century attire he has worn to other Centennial events this week in favor of canvas and leather. It was appropriate dress as he mounted a black horse to cover the parade route.
Hundreds of notables and just-plain-folks, including schoolchildren from Edison Elementary School sporting "Take Pride in Utah" T-shirts spent a few minutes that will live on in their personal history books. After the re-enactment frivolities, they lingered on in the winter chill for the Statehood Day Parade.
Thursday's events, which will culminate tonight in a gala celebration at the Delta Center, continued a whirl of activities noting the century mark. Wednesday, revelers arrived from three of the state's population centers by train.
The train rides, which originated in Cedar City, Green River and Logan, were, to those who participated, a centennial celebration ride through rural Utah - a Norman Rockwell painting come to life.
Thousands of rural Utahns - most of them schoolchildren waving American flags and holding hand-painted banners with birthday wishes - lined railroad tracks throughout the state Wednesday to welcome three passenger trains, each packed with Utah dignitaries and specially invited guests.
There were high school bands, cheerleaders, mayors with keys to the city, cowboys waving their hats while sitting on bales of hay, volunteer fire department trucks wailing sirens, corny political speeches and sincere prayers of thanksgiving.
"We tend to think of America as big cities, but the truth is America is an aggregation of thousands of small towns like these," said Leavitt, who rode the centennial train from his hometown of Cedar City through the communities of Milford, Delta, Tintic Junction and Tooele to the Union Pacific Depot in Salt Lake City.
"It is small towns like Delta where there were hundreds of children waving flags and the high school band was playing `Stars and Stripes Forever.' It is a moment I will not soon forget."
Nor will the thousands who braved chilly temperatures to celebrate the excitement of the state's birthday by greeting a train. From those who climbed to the roof of Big J Enterprises in Delta to proud American Legion color guards, everyone in rural Utah was caught up in the celebration.
Two bus loads of children waited for the train at Lund, Iron County, even though the train was not scheduled to stop there. At Tintic Junction, the entire community of Eureka turned out to greet the centennial train - by then an hour late in arriving.
In fact, all three trains were late because of the overwhelming public response at each stop along the way. The centennial train from Green River to Salt Lake City was delayed in Wellington, Price and Helper because of cheering crowds.
"The train coordinator had not seen anything like it in 20 years of running (special celebration passenger trains)," said Utah Statehood Centennial Commission Chairman Stephen M. Studdert. "(Lt. Gov.) Olene Walker said it was the greatest day of her life. Everywhere there was spontaneous celebrations that exceeded all of our expectations."
Maxine Grimm, the first chairperson of the Utah State Centennial Commission in the late 1980s, was apprehensive going into Wednesday's events that Utahns might not catch the spirit of the occasion. Those fears had disappeared by about 9 a.m. when Leavitt led the Cedar City High School band in a rousing rendition of "Stars and Stripes."
"I started crying. I couldn't help it," she said. "This is the spirit we wanted for the centennial."
The whistle-stop tours of the state were made possible because Union Pacific and Southern Pacific donated the use of the three passenger trains, which are used for special celebrations across the nation. A north train left Morgan for stops in Ogden, Brigham City and Cache Junction. An east train left Green River with scheduled stops in Helper, Provo and American Fork. The South train left Cedar City with stops in Milford, Delta, Tintic and Tooele.
Everywhere a road crossed the train track, entire families waved and pointed video cameras. Some families even managed tickets to ride on the train.
Darlene Wabel of Sevier County took the Cedar City train with her daughter, Amy, relishing in the once-in-a-lifetime celebration. "I took my daughter out of school for this," she said. "I thought she could learn more about Utah's history this way than by staying in school."
But history is only one aspect of the celebration, said Leavitt, who proclaimed Wednesday a day of Thanksgiving "for the wonders of our state, both scenic and cultural." The centennial celebration is also about charting Utah's course for the next 100 years.
"We'll survive the future in the same style as we did the past," he said. "Utah is an exciting place to be living right now. We have what people are groping for all over the world."