(Cover page has four photos. Upper left photo is a headshot of Sarah Palmer. Caption also says born July 7, 1879. Died Oct. 1, 1965. Upper right photo is Hugh Jones Evans, caption says, born Dec. 2, 1876. Died Feb. 17, 1976. Lower left photo is a headshot of Sarah and Hugh Evans, captions says, 50th [wedding] Anniversary ‘1902’. Lower right photo is Hugh working.
Remembering: Hugh J. Evans was Malad’s blacksmith for over 60 years.
(Editor’s Note: This “Ogden Standard Examiner” article, dated february 14, 1958, provides a small glimpse of Malad’s early days. It was written by Mona Smith.)
Malad, Idaho, 1958-Proving that hard work never hurt anyone is Hugh J. Evans, who at 81 is still operating a blacksmith shop here in Malad.
His min [main] work at present is to repair plows and sharpen plowshares. The first warm spring days will find him busy helping the farmers get started on their spring plowing.
Sixty-one years of steady blacksmithing makes his one of the three oldest businesses in Malad.
Mr. Evans began his blacksmithing by blowing the fire with a leather bellows in this father’s shop when a boy. He has worked steadily at his trade since 1897. During the busy months of spring, summer and fall, his hours have been from “sunup to sundown.”
His aim has always been to get the work done on time for his busy customers. He never remembers taking a “coffee break.”
18 Horses Daily
The years have seen him busy with various types of jobs connected with his shop. He and his business partner ere [were] able at one time to fit and shoe 18 heads of horses in one day. He no longer shoes horses, though he does fit the shoes occasionally.
During World War I he supplied artillery and cavalry horses for government purchase.
With the passing of horse and buggy days, Mr. Evans owned one of the first automobile agencies in Malad. The Hupmobile was one make of car which he proudly displayed. He supplied Malad City with its first fire truck and first motorized hearse.
In spite of his long hours of hard work, Mr. Evans found time to serve a term on the Malad City Council.
Mr. Evans was born December 2, 1876, a son of William T. and Ann Jones Evans. They came to Malad from Wales the year of his birth. He attended school in the old Malad First Ward Chapel. On May 21, 1902, he married Sarah Palmer.
They became parents of three children, two of whom survive. They are Myrthus Evans, Riverside, California, and Mrs. Joe (Maria) Williams, Malad. They have nine grandchildren. A daughter, Mrs. Maureen Hunter died in 1955.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans are members of the LDS Thurch [Church].
(picture of a cabin on the lower right hand side of the newspaper article. Captions says, Malad’s Blacksmith Shop that served early residents of the Valley was located on Bannock Street at the Five Points Corner, where Shaun Alberetsen’s Cabinet Shop is now located. The business was started by William T. Evans in the late 1800’s and was later taken over by his son, Hugh, who continued operating it until the late 1950s.)
H.J. Evans, 81 year old Smithy, Still Active at His Trade.
(Picture Hugh J. Evans in the upper right hand corner of another newspaper article. Caption says, Pictured at his forge is Hugh J. Evans who has been blacksmithing in Malad for the past 61 years.)
Sixty-one years of steady blacksmithing is the record of Hugh J. Evans who celebrated his 81st birthday December 2, 1957 by heating up the forge at his shop at Five Points on Bannock Street.
Mr. Evans, who began his blacksmithing as a boy by blowing the fire with a leather bellows in his father’s smithy, has worked steadily at his trade since 1897. From 1901 to 1903 he and his father ran a shop where the Chat ‘N Chew Inn is located and, after his father’s death in 1903, he moved his shop across the street and in 1908, back to the present location.
A record of 18 horses shod in a day was made by Mr. Evans and the late Hart Ezell who did the fitting. Mr. Evans no longer shoes horses though he does fit the shoes. Most of his work now is repairing plows.
Mr. Evans owned one of the first automobile agencies in Malad City and the first car he sold was a 1914 Hupmobile to John Illum. He also sold the first motorized hearse to D. P. Woodland and the first fire truck to the City of Malad.
During World War I he supplied artillery and cavalry horses for government purchase. Mr. Evans also served a term on the city council.
Mr. Evans’ parents, William T. and Ann Jones Evans, came to Malad on July 24, 1876 and he was born the following December. He received his education in the old First Ward and was married to Sarah Palmer on May 21, 1902. They are the parents of three children: Myrthus, who is superintendent of the Sherman Institute, an Indian school at Riverside, Calif.; Mrs. Joe (Maria) Williams, Malad; Mrs. Maureen Hunter who died in 1955. They have nine grandchildren.
Mr. Evans’ aim has always been to accommodate his customers. During the summer the hours were from “sun up to sun down” and Mr. Evans never remembers taking a “coffee break”.
Besides Mr. Evans, only two other men in Malad who were in business in the early 1900’s are still active in business. They are Edwin R. Jones, who opened his barber shop in 1894, and Clyde Hanson who leased the Idaho Enterprise from R. H. Davis in 1902.