My View from 1958

Where I grew up there was a small county park named Manti. The park had a small pond, a forested area, and of all things a cemetery. Manti was settled in about the 1850’s as I remember the story. It was a great area to camp for our Boy Scout troop. Imagine, a pond for fishing, a creek, a spillway a small forested area and an old abandoned cemetery with grave stones from the 1800’s. Now imagine a bunch of stupid kids (with no or minimal adult supervision) going on a campout at this park. Midnight trips to the cemetery to visit the graves and looking for ghosts of the past, eating well, what ever we could pack with us….chips, hot dogs, Pop Tarts, Space Sticks, soda pop, marshmallows…..all kids of candy. Believe me back in those days soda pop was a real treat. And of course a camp fire that burned all night….no sleep. Fishing during the day or perhaps wondering up the creek to explore new worlds. And the park was filled with Gooseberry bushes. Have you ever ate a Gooseberry?????…..so sour. These were the best of times.

I have no idea how the settlement got its name…but we imagined…Manti…was Man Tie…..a settler was tied up by Native Americans perhaps….there had to be a great story behind that name. Our imaginations ran wild.

The park is all but gone now. Vandals destroyed the grave stones. The pond filled in over the years and is now just a small creek and camping is no longer allowed. I guess it is some kind of nature reserve and of course Boy Scouting is not much of an attraction these days. I have visited the park over the years….just to see…and remember. I can still imagine my old friends Bill, Jeff, Rick in my mind….my camp mates and fellow explorers. Bill has left this world a few years ago. I remember Bill always packed the best food and he was willing to share….the rest of us were too lazy to pack much and we always depended on Bill to share his supply….he never let us down.