One of the trails coming north through Montana
came out of Helena and headed north to the Canadian
border. Just south of the border, in the hills forming the
Milk River Ridge, it branched, forming two passes. The
eastern pass later became known by the romantic name
of Whisky Gap while the western entrance was dubbed
Immigrant Gap. About two miles north of the border
crossing, of Immigrant Gap the two trails converged and
continued on in a northerly direction. The deep rutted
trail made by the many wagons travelling north can still
be seen in many places 90 years later.

In 1889 travelling along this westerly fork of the trail
came the two covered wagons of William Vaughn and
family, a son Joseph driving one of them. Shortly after
crossing the border they were struck with the beauty of a
large meadow Iying to their left with the mountains in the
background .

This is what they were looking for; a large meadow
with lush green grass waist high, and a clear stream flow-
ing into and out of a fairly large lake. To make it more
interesting this land was open for homesteading, free for
$10.00 a quarter or homestead. Here they settled. This
meadow later became known as the Vaughn meadows.

By 1898 other pioneers heading into Canada from the
south were equally impressed with the beautiful Vaughn
meadows and also settled there. Among these were T. G.
Reid, whose name was given to the lake and later to the
School District. Another was D. S. Duncan. There were
also the Taylor brothers who settled in the meadow and
along the banks of the creek, Willow Creek they called
it, which flowed north out of the lake.

There were other immigrants equally enticed by the
surrounding country and took up homesteads there.

About this time they decided to establish a village in
the area. Just north of the junction of the two trails, the
N.W.|/4 of Sec. 15, T 1, R 24, which lay between Willow
Creek on the west and the lake they called Police Lake on
the east and a bit south, was chosen as the site. It was sur-
veyed and divided into lots. In the next few years a store
and several homes were built there. It was named Taylor-
ville after the Taylor brothers who were some of the first
settlers there. Some of the survey stakes can still be found
though none of the original buildings remain. There is
now a modern farmstead there built by Bill and Fawn
Campbell and now occupied by their son Richard.

Names taken from the Poll Book 1899 show the
following names: E. Rolph, J. Rolph, Hugh Park, J. H.
Taylor, J. L. Taylor, Wm. Taylor, M. A. Lowry, B. F.
Lowry Jr., T. N. Lowry, M. Cardiff, Tom Jones, August
Neilson, Amasa Parker, Wm. Vaughn, Joseph Vaughn,
Julius Johnson, D. S. Duncan, Wm. Manning, W.
Cleveland, James Rampton, T. G. Reid, Lemuel Fackler,
Fred Nielson, George Nelson, Harvey Edwards and Alf.
Barton. In the next few years appear the additional
names of: J. M. Pyper, Robert Nelson, Harry Albiston,
Wm. Albiston, Lorin Little, Ellis Henry, Thomas
Albiston, John G. Hadfield, James H. Hadfield, Moroni
Leithum, Moroni Sheen, Edward Wolsey, John Wolsey,
James Gregson, Alex Anderson, D. K. Greene and Fred
Sommerfeldt.

Many of these built homes in the village while others
built homes or temporary dugouts on their homesteads.
In the village besides several homes was a store, the first
one owned by J. H. Taylor, then one owned by Lorin Lit-
tle. The Post Office was run by Jane Pyper. Fred Nielson
had the first telephone, a toll phone used by all.

After a few years it seemed more convenient to live on
their homesteads where the work was so one by one they
moved their homes onto their land. It was not long until
the village as such had disappeared but it remained a
community bound by strong ties of love and friendship
with deep concern for each other's welfare.

The very first school was held in a log house on the
Vaughn Meadows with Anna Gillespie as teacher.

In 1899 a school district, "The Reid Public School
District No. 510" had been formed and school was being
held in a rented building in the village. Miss Anna
Gilespie was the teacher.

On December 14, 1899 at a meeting of the school
board and rate payers, Bylaw No. I was passed to issue a
debenture to borrow $550.00 by the Reid School District
No. 510 for the purpose of building and furnishing a
school. This was to bear interest at not more than 8% and
be repaid in five equal payments. The voting by
ratepayers was to take place at J. H. Taylor's store at 10
A.M. on the 3rd day of January 1900. Signed T. G. Reid,
chairman and J. H. Taylor.

On January 3, 1900 the vote was taken. All voted in
favor. Ten ratepayers pledged their support in payment
of debt if necessary.

On March 1, 1900 the board entered into contract
with D. S. Duncan to build the school on the decided
location, southeast corner of NWI/4 of Sec. 14 Tl Range
24, just across the road from the village. The building was
to be 20' x 30' x 10' walls. His wage was to be $100.00 to
be paid when finished.

May 17, 1900 a meeting was held at which Mr. Dun-
can reported the building finished. He further agreed to
build two privies 4' x 5' x 6' and one coal shed 8'xlO'x6~
all for $ 12.00, the district to furnish the material. He also
agreed to build a fence around the school yard for $18.00
and furnish the posts and braces.

That fall school commenced in this little white school
with A. J. Atcheson, teacher. His salary $45.00 per
month until the end of December then a raise to $60.00
per month to the end of June 1901.

This little school became not only the educational
center, but also the main center for religions, cultural,
and social activities in the community for a number of
years.

On May 31, 1900 the Taylorville Ward was orga-
nized with George A. Nelson as Bishop, James Rampton
I st and Fred Nielson 2nd counsellors. The school served
as their chapel until 1918 when a church was built one
mile east on land donated by James Gregson. This was a
beautiful chapel and the pride of the whole ward. Much
of the spiritual, cultural, and social activity shifted to this
building which was used until 1942 when the two-roomed
school was purchased and remodelled. This building
served as a chapel until 1964 when the Taylorville Ward
was discontinued, members being transferred to the Aet-
na Ward and then with the rest of the Aetna Ward to the
South Hill Chapel in Cardston in 1972.

The little school, however, continued to serve well as
the educational center until 1926 when it was felt that
more room was needed. That fall school commenced in
the new two-room building just a stones throw west of the
old one with Eula and Orzie Steed as teachers. This
offered a greater educational opportunity to the youth of
the community as now high school at home was
available, many of the older youth who had been out of
grade school a few years took advantage of the oppor-
tunity .

It served the community well until 1942 when the
Reid School district became part of the Jefferson Con-
solidated School District. In 1963 the Jefferson School
was closed and the Taylorville children along with the
children from the other districts in this consolidation
were taken to school in Cardston by buses.

Taylorville was mostly a farming community, friend
Iy, neighborly and pulling together. They suffered many
setbacks, droughts, frost hail, pests, and hard winters.
There was sickness, epidemics and death at times, but
neighbors helped neighbor at these times making the
burden lighter and easier to bear.

There were happy times too: Dominion Day
Celebrations were something to look forward to with
programs, races, prizes, games and the bowery with all
kinds of goodies to buy for a nickel, Pioneer Day was
another fun time, Santa always seemed to find his way to
the Christmas party to delight the children. Then there
was the 17th of March and Ward Reunions, always gala
events with lots and lots of good things to eat. We
mustn't forget the summer baseball games either,
Taylorville belonged to the Boundary Baseball League.
Their team was top notch. Games were played every
Saturday afternoon. Most old and young travelled, often
with team and buggy or wagon, to the ballfield to cheer
their team to victory. Besides a good game to watch there
were always freezers of homemade ice cream made by
someone in the community. Often the day ended with a
dance and more freezers of ice cream.

With the changing years the old-timers moved or
passed away. Their farms were taken over by members of
their family or sold to others. Larger farm units, con-
solidated schools, improved roads and faster means of
travel took their toll.

Present day Taylorville is not what it used to be-the
school gone, the Church gone, the ball team gone and the
old-timers gone. About seven of the families in Taylor-
ville are direct descendants of some of the first settlers
and among them still exists a strong community spirit.
This was proven by the Taylorville Home Coming held
July 16, 1977. Over 250 people who had once lived there
came, travelling from as far away as Ontario, B.C.,
Northern Alberta, Montana and Utah. Everyone had a
wonderful time listening to a program where many past
events were reviewed, visiting and, of course, partaking
of all the yummy food. "Just like the olden times", the
one remaining old-timer was heard to say.

At a meeting on April 10, 1942 it was decided that the
Reid school house be sold to the L.D.S. community
Later it became the property of Mrs. Fawn Campbell
and is used for storage. It still sits on its original site. The
school barn was sold to Mr. Eph Bateman.

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