O.E. Nelson, Early Tilden (and Otis...and Sterling) Pioneer
One family's version of the Springfield-Sterling experience
8/20/20264 min read
A very early resident to the Tilden area (now Springfield and Sterling), O.E. Nelson, was born in Heber City in 1871. As a young man he worked many odd jobs, including one for John Young, Brigham's son, serving as a chain man on a survey crew in 1894 for a proposed rail from Park city to Vernal. Nelson had to sue for his wages, received only a partial settlement. Fro there he went with a cousin to Taylor, Idaho to work the harvest. That trip took seven days astride a horse.
He heard scuttlebut about land opening northwest of Pocatello, so filed (as did his brother Andrew) on 160 acre plots at Tilden. His homestead sat on the west side of Boone Creek. not far from the west side of Reservation—which would prove to be helpful for his endeavors financially but detrimental to his future wife's anxiety. The Nelson place would be in the center of what was then the small village of Otis.
The Homestead law required a building be put on the property so he erected a 12' x 12' dirt floored cabin. he panned for gold, sometimes earning as much as $2 a day. He courted a fifteen year old girl in Utah and married her two years later, in 1897, who was disappointed when she saw their dwelling, "We bought a set of bedsprings and I built a bed of sorts," Nelson would reminisce. "She was able to get some crates when we went to Pocatello and she put chintz around them and made the place look homey." He went to Taylor to teach, they had no money so paid in butter and farm goods, nowhere near the $45 month promised. in 1899, returned to Otis, opend up a general merchandise a grocery sstore. petitioned the gov't, got a post office with him as postmaster. People coming to get mail would ususally buy something. that helped. When supplies were depleted he had to go to either poky or blackfoot, depending on the river's flow, leaving his wife alone to take care of the p.o and store. She had a great fear of Indians. wild animals, and was very lonely. they held church in a red-topped schoolhouse.
O.E. Nelson, born in Heber City, worked many jobs including for John Young, Brigham's son, as a chain man on a survey crew 1894 for a proposed rail from park city to vernal. He had to sue for his wages, received partial. went with a cousin to taylor, idaho to harvest, a trip that took seven days atside ahorse. He heard about land opening up northwest of Pocatello, filed, along with his brother, on 160 acre plots at Tilden, later Otis, later Sterling. on west side of Boone Creek. west side of Reservation. law required a building, so he erected a 12 x 12 dirt floored cabin. he panned for gold, sometimes earning as much as $2 a day. His wife, whom he married in 1897, was disappointed when she saw their dwelling, L"We bought a set of bedsprings and I built a bed of sorts. she was able to get some crates when we went to Pocatello and she put chintz around them and made the place look homey." Jane, his wife, would expand on that, later in her life writing, "I was so tired a frightened after such a long hard journey that upon seeing the cabin with its dirt floor and roof and Boom (sic) Creek running swiftly across the front of our place I wished I could wake up and find it all a bad dream." She admitted to looking out at the creek and being so lonely that she contemplated throwing herself in. Living around so many sloughs and streams frightened her and she never got over her fear of water. Oscar was a dreamer of big projects and a community builder, she explained, while "I dreamed of him staying home with me and the children."
Times were tough and they went to Taylor where Oscar was offered $45 a month—a significant wage to him—to teach, but the school quickly found itself out of funds so paid what wages it could in butter and farm goods. They returned to Otis in 1899 and opened up a general merchandise and grocery store. Nelson petitioned the government for a post office, was given the position of postmaster, his wife his assistant. People coming to get mail would usually buy something, Nelson recalled, which helped business considerably. But when supplies were depleted he had to travel to either Pocatello or Blackfoot, depending on the strength and depth of the Snake River's flow, leaving his wife alone to take care of the business. His trips were admittedly difficult for her as she had a great fear of Indians. wild animals, and was very lonely.
The community LDS held service in a red-topped schoolhouse in Otis, the first ward being organized as Tilden in 1896 before organizing as Sterling in 1912 with Nelson as Bishop. The town of Sterling was then two years old, Otis having been moved from the bottoms to stand alongside the newly built Aberdeen Branch railroad. Just prior to that move, Nelson's store had been flooded when the Springfield Lake broke its levee and sent the brunt of its entire contents down Danilson Spring and into Boone Creek. Sterling was predicted to be a thriving community, with Nelson the Vice President of the Sterling development group, but no one knew how the loss of Indian trade and the Depression would affect the area, he would write.
A large two story rock building was erected in the Sterling townsite, the upper floor serving as auditorium and dance floor and the bottom Nelson's store and another business. Across the street was the Driscoll pool hall, that building sometimes housing a barber shop and was a seedhouse.
A large share of his sales came from Indians. Nelson wrote, and he spoke their language. He traded Natives supplies in exchange for their well-crafted gloves and other items. The store carried anything from bolts to fencing to shoes, clothes, and medicine.
In 1915 the Nelson's house burned (Jane was expecting their ninth child), so they moved a house from Rochelle, a short-lived community just two miles down the track, that had been a creamery in 1917, and refurbished it.
The attached pictures (above the text and below) show the Sterling LDS Church in 1950 and the Nelson store in 1915. (Most of the information posted here has been gleaned from Ancestry.com)
Sterling store c. 1915
