Pioneer Lake ( By
Stan Short )
In the late
1970s, my cousin David Short & I went to the top of Willard Peak on our
ATVs. When we got to the top, we spotted a small lake in Plain City. Since we
were always looking for a private place to ski we went to check it out. When we
got there we figured it was big enough to use so we went to the post office to
see if they might know who owned it. She said it was owned by an irrigation
company & gave us the name & address of one of the owners. We went to
the door & told him we were looking for a private place to ski & would
like to lease it. He said that there were six owners & it would take a 100
per cent vote. He then said that he would vote against it. So we gave up &
thanked him for his time & left.
This is the
story that was told to me by Greg Soter. & Scott Mickelson.
We found the lake around 1980 & decided it was big
enough to use. We checked around to find who owned it. When we couldn’t find
that out, we decided to hire a lawyer. He said that he could not find an owner
either. He advised us to start using the
lake. He also said that it might be abandoned & that after a few years of
using it we could maybe claim it as our own. We came up with about $2000.00 & hired a large backhoe & dump
trucks. We started hauling road base in to build a small road & launching
ramp. Needless to say when one of the owners saw this, it hit the fan. We
removed the backhoe & decided that we had lost $2000.00. Scott decided that
now they know who & where one of
them lived, he went there to apologize.
They became friends & decided that maybe their lawyer & the
irrigation company’s lawyer could get together & work something out. Which
they did.
Greg & Scott put many tournaments on in the 1980s &
90s.
I am convinced
that if they had tried to do it the way David & I did, they probably wouldn’t
have got the lake.