Book Notices

By Judith E. McConkie. Photographs by Michael A. Dunn. (Salt Lake City: The Utah State Capitol Preservation Board, 2008. 126 pp. Cloth, $39.95.)

This richly illustrated book uses historical and contemporary photographs to reveal the majesty and detail of the Utah State Capitol. Designed by Richard Karl August Kletting, Utah’s “Dean of Architecture,” the capitol was constructed between 1912 and 1916. In 2002 the Capitol Preservation Board and its executive director and architect, David H. Hart, began a six year restoration and earthquake stabilization project that was completed with a rededication ceremony on January 4, 2008.The five chapters are entitled, “The Capitol Preservation Project”; “Kletting’s Capitol; Architectural Preservation and Innovation”; “The Capitol Art Collection”; and “With Anxious Care”—a brief essay on the enduring symbol of Capitol Hill, the need for ongoing stewardship of the building, and a tribute to the hundreds of workers who made the restoration a reality. A chronology and short historical essays by Faye and Richard Tholen about Arsenal Hill, location of the Utah Capitol and the Utah State Capitol Commission are also included in the volume.

By Kirk Huffaker. (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2007. 144 pp. Cloth: $18.95.)

Kirk Huffaker, Executive Director of the Utah Heritage Foundation, has compiled a most welcome addition to the Thunder Bay Press Then and Now Series of major cities. The book offers an interesting look at nearly seventy different buildings and views in and around Salt Lake City. With the “then” black and white photograph on the left page and the “now” color photograph on the right page and well-written captions for each, the book provides a visual summary of the “successes” and “losses” of the historic preservation movement in Utah during the last half of the twentieth century. Readers are sure to find many surprises in the pages of this book as to what has been preserved and what now occupies the location of earlier buildings.

By Dottie Grimes. (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2008. 128 pp. Paper, $19.99.)

This volume compiled by Dottie Grimes, Administrator of the Emery County Archives, provides a delightful illustrated history of one of the most scenic and interesting areas of the state. The two thousand square miles that make up the San Rafael Swell were first occupied by prehistoric peoples for hundreds of years. Beginning in the 1830s a kaleidoscope of visitors on the Old Spanish Trail, explorers, militiamen, cattlemen, outlaws, prospectors, miners, CCC workers, and they continue today with countless outdoor enthusiasts. The collection of more than two hundred photographs and captions provides a stimulating glimpse of the Swell and its history.

By Allen P. Bristow. (Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 2007. 173 pp. Paper, $24.95.)

James L. “Whispering”Smith, a colorful western character who spent time in Utah from 1888 to 1900, was the subject of Frank Spearman’s popular novel Whispering Smith published in 1906. The book became the subject of three films, the last,starring Alan Ladd,was released in 1948. Allen Bristow has traced the career of Whispering Smith and found evidence of him in Ogden, Castle, Gate, and Price. In Carbon County he was a railroad detective for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad working with the another detective, Cyrus “Doc” Shores, during the Pleasant Valley Coal Company payroll robbery at Castle Gate in 1897.