Many Utah County pioneers believed in the old adage, "It is an ill wind that blows good to no one." In the early 1860s, this proverb certainly proved true in Springville. The extremely heavy snowfall of the winter of 1861-62 caused the waters of Utah Lake and its tributaries to rise, and large amounts of crop land and pasture were damaged severely.

When the heavy snowdrifts that piled up in the Wasatch and Uinta mountains that winter of began to melt, rising water spelled destruction to almost every bridge that spanned any major stream in Salt Lake and Utah Counties.

In Salt Lake County, the surging waters of the Jordan River carried off or made impassible five of its six bridges. Only the bridge over the Jordan near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Creek remained open to traffic.

Brigham Young's history states that "great quantities of farming land on both sides" of the river were inundated.

The Deseret News reported that in Utah County most of the bridges crossing the streams that emptied into Utah Lake were either destroyed or "rendered useless."

A reporter for the News wrote: "The Provo [River] is booming, and the other rivers discharging their waters into Utah Lake are reported to be as high, or higher, than ever known before since white men dwelt there."

Thousands of acres of farmland in Utah County were either flooded by overflowing streams or covered by the rising waters of the lake.

Mormon Apostle George A. Smith, who oversaw activities in Provo, estimated that Utah Lake was more than 7 feet higher than normal, and he said the Jordan River measured one mile wide where it flowed out of Utah Lake.

Travelers moving south from Salt Lake City found it expedient to cross the Jordan River on a ferry recently established near the Point of the Mountain. They used the much drier road down the west side of the lake.

Travel through Utah Valley on the east side of the lake almost ceased entirely. One load of mail was "utterly destroyed" in American Fork Creek.

The Deseret News warned its readers that the road between Provo and Payson appeared to be impossible to navigate. The torrential waters of Hobble Creek bisected Springville, making it very dangerous and nearly impossible to travel from one side of town to the other.

This overabundance of water was indeed considered to be an "ill wind," but it also managed to blow some good to the people of Springville.

Through the years, a sandbar had formed across the mouth of Hobble Creek where it flowed into Provo Bay. This bar sometimes hindered the lake's native trout from gaining full access to the stream.

The torrent that surged down Hobble Creek during the spring of 1862 washed out this bar and deepened the stream's mouth. Backwater from the rising lake worked its way up into Hobble Creek.

These two factors combined to give trout better access to Hobble Creek, and local fishing improved tremendously. That summer, fishermen in Hobble Creek Canyon caught trout weighing as much as 6-8 pounds.

Aaron Johnson, Springville's bishop, devised a plan whereby the flatland dwellers could harvest their share of the big ones. Johnson provided Tobias Dallin, the town's notable fisherman, with a supply of cotton yarn. Dallin twisted the yarn into cord and wove a 50-foot-long net or seine.

Johnson also put his sons to work. They cleaned a stretch of Hobble Creek running from Main Street to Fourth West. The boys removed all of the snags and large boulders. Then the bishop reserved that four-block stretch of the stream for seining purposes.

Good fishing was the reward for their hard work. Don Carlos Johnson, one of the bishop's sons, later said, "The family had trout until they were no longer a luxury."

The following winter, 1862--63, was relatively dry, and Utah Lake slowly receded. But it still remained at a higher level than normal when spring arrived in 1863. Trout once more had ready access to Hobble Creek when their spawning runs began. It looked like another first-rate year for lovers of the sport piscatorial.

People who did not live in Utah Valley were not fortunate enough to have such ready access to trout. To many of them, a meal of fresh trout still reigned as a royal feast to be treasured for a long time.

When Bishop Johnson and the other leaders of Springville learned that Brigham Young and his entourage were scheduled to visit their city during April of 1863 while on a unity-promoting tour of the southern settlements, they likely wasted little time before inviting him to tarry long enough to do a little preaching and eat a trout dinner. It probably took Young even less time to accept the offer.

Implementation of Springville's plans for both a temporal and a spiritual feast began at 5 a.m. April 21. Bishop Johnson and his boys left their warm beds and prepared to seine the four-block stretch of Hobble Creek that they had cleaned the previous spring.

The busy group loaded the net on a large wheelbarrow and walked a little more than a block to the banks of the stream. The boys entered the creek with bare feet and seined all of the holes from Main Street to Fourth West.

The fishermen received ample reward. Their catch filled the barrow to overflowing with fine trout, many of them weighing from 4 to 6 pounds.

Before the sun had risen, the fishing party arrived back at Bishop Johnson's rambling home, which stretched along the east side of Main Street between First and Second North. All of Johnson's available wives and children helped make final preparations for the feast.

Brigham Young and his party spent the evening of April 20 in American Fork. Early the next morning they resumed their southbound journey and passed through Pleasant Grove without stopping.

North of Provo River, the Provo Brass Band met the travelers. These musicians provided entertainment for the company as it moved through Provo and on toward Springville.

About halfway between Provo and Springville, the Springville Brass Band "and quite a respectable delegation of citizens on horseback," according to a letter from a member of Young's party, met the cavalcade and escorted it into town.

As Young and his company approached the Johnson residence, some of the hard-working women placed large drippers upon two big cast-iron stoves, and soon trout were sizzling in what Don Carlos Johnson called "oceans of new butter."

Brigham Young and about 60 others seated themselves at what must have been a very long table in Bishop Johnson's very long house, and the feast began.

The words of L.O. Littlefield show that the travelers were thrilled with their table fare. He enthusiastically wrote:

"We were all delighted at the presentation of dishes of savory trout, which had that morning been taken from the crystal waters of the stream that flows down from the adjacent mountains through the center of that pleasant town. ... I need not labor to impress you with the fact that they were a decided luxury."

Soon after the diners finished their meal, the sonorous sounds of the meetinghouse bell called Springville's faithful to a special church service.

Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Lorenzo Snow took their turns behind the pulpit. When the meeting ended, the visitors climbed into their wagons, and the caravan once again wended its way southward.

The Springville trout fest was very well-received by President Young. Later developments indicate that the people of Provo may have been a little envious of the success gained by their sister city, and Provo officials made a bid to gain some fishy recognition of their own.

On his return trip from southern Utah, Brigham Young stopped over in Provo to preside over a two-day conference. Representatives from Utah County's 13 towns received invitations to attend this affair.

To provide a meeting place that would hold a large group, Provo residents built a 130-by-112-foot bowery on the block where Provo's tabernacle stands today. The large, open, flat-roofed structure could hold about 5,000 people, and that's about how many churchgoers showed up.

Not wishing to be outdone by the people of Springville, the enterprising Provoans served up a trout dinner of their own.

The next week, George A. Smith favorably mentioned the meal in a letter to his cousin. Smith wrote: "We feasted on mountain trout, which are caught in great abundance in Utah Lake and Provo River, some weighing from one to seven pounds, of very delicious flavor; they are caught with hook or with seine."

It is difficult to ascertain whether Springville or Provo prevailed in this culinary contest, but one thing is certain -- the visiting church dignitaries triumphed twice.

• D. Robert Carter is a historian who lives in Springville. He can be reached at 489-8256.