This is a story about a young girl and her enchanted playground.

A fairy-like tale about an energetic, idealistic romantic who believed she could converse with the plants and animals that inhabited this magical kingdom, and how her innate curiosity and creativity came to be shared and supported with an appreciative audience.

This is a remarkable story of persistence, dedication, passion, hope, and love, but most of all, steadfast determination in the face, of what would become, enormous challenges from several different and diverse sources.

But before we share her saga, we must first recount the backstory of this magical place and how a young  girl named Dorothy persevered and helped protect her small patch of nature and grew to share her special garden with a grateful public and how it helped launch a city.

Millcreek, located at the base of Mount Olympus on the eastern edge of the Great Salt Lake Valley, is Utah’s newest Municipality.

Despite the freshness of its incorporation, the four boroughs or districts that make up the City’s composition, Mount Olympus, Millcreek, East Millcreek and Canyon Rim have all played an integral and historical part in the early development of the Wasatch Front on the Eastern edge of the Salt Lake Valley.

In fact, the appeal of the gently sloping Alluvial Plane spreading out beneath the towering mountains and falling towards the lower valley and the salty lake below, both which had given the Great Salt Lake Basin its name, was an enticing entrée to Erastus Snow, George Smith, and Orson Pratt, the advance scouts of Brigham Young’s Mormon exodus, who, upon entering the Salt Lake Valley on July 21, 1847, turned South and, after exploring the region, established their base camp at the mouth of, what is now, Parleys Canyon, on the banks of a crystal clear and flowing creek that would later give the region its character and identity.

Those men realized then, and what history has since acknowledged to the almost 100,000 residents that reside here now, that the beauty, accessibility, and setting of the Millcreek/Holiday area make this one of the most choice and inhabitable regions in the entire Salt Lake Valley and they encouraged the Mormon Prophet, when he arrived three days later on July 24, to locate to this area.

Brigham Young, however, choose to establish the main encampment for his weary and intrepid settlers farther north on the flatter land and a steadier flowing stream, which is now City Creek.

Whether owing to divine inspiration or the genius of a master colonizer, President Young saw, on that hot steamy July day, that the final encampment for those early and hardy pioneers, which is now Utah’s capital city, lay on the north end of the valley, not the south.

However, the water supplied by those clear flowing mountain creeks, rushing unrestrained from the numerous canyons that dotted the landscape of the region, that had enticed the trailblazers to camp in the first place, would later irrigate the crops, orchards and grow the forage for the livestock that would nourish and sustain the thousands of settlers flowing into the Salt Lake Valley without which, the success story of the Great Mormon migration west, might never have happened.

For almost one hundred years the landscape of the Millcreek/Holiday area, continued as a sparsely populated, rural, farm community, growing fruit, raising produce, grazing the cows, sheep and horses that would endow the booming industry of the rapidly developing capital, all while remaining largely unsettled, even while the northern and western parts of the valley swelled into a flourishing metropolis.

But the great depression and a world war would change the complexion of the sleepy, pastoral, out-back lurking on the fringes of the rapidly growing and industrialized central region.

Servicemen returning home from a world-wide apocalypse were seeking new beginnings and flocked to the area to build their homes and raise their growing families.

The region encouraged and promoted this tremendous growth, and it became known collectively as “Veterans Heights” as development expanded southward beyond thirty-third south, historically the southern boundary of Salt Lake County.

It was during this rampant and unrestrained growth period, that developers set their sights on the peaceful and tranquil natural hollow that shadowed the channel of, what had come to be known as, Parley’s Creek.

Named after Parley P. Pratt, an early leader of the Mormon church, who was one of the first to recognize the stream bed provided a natural gateway into the valley from the east, and, after constructing the initial roadway up the canyon, also named in his honor, this pathway would replace the hazardous and steeper Emigration Canyon as the preferred avenue into the Greater Salt Lake Valley.

This Gully, Gulch, or Hollow as it was collectively known, at the mouth of the canyon, would go on to define the Northern boundary of the Millcreek/Holiday area and was an early epicenter of commercial enterprise including a Pony Express stop, a stagecoach way station, a lodging house, inn, and saloon to refresh travelers arriving in the valley.

Eventually, this early thoroughfare became a major access road and then an interstate highway connecting the Great Salt Lake Valley to, and crisscrossing, the Western United States.

But the Hollow lingered, now bounded between the busy expressway and positioned below the upraised hillsides that bequeathed the community its identity and the original name of Pleasant View, the gully would remain segregated as a tranquil, peaceful haven for wildlife and nature.

Appreciated as the last remaining natural stream-bed and canyon mouth flowing into the Salt Lake Valley, it progressively morphed into a sought-out destination for hikers, nature lovers, and outdoor enthusiasts.

But, as the region grew and access became more accommodating to the increasing number of families wishing to relocate to the area, change was in the air as developers aggressively turned their attention to the increasingly desirable and valuable real estate, both in, and around the hollow.

Before our conversation turns to the how and why this change came about, our narrative returns to our central character and her beguiling kingdom. Because hers was a story book romance with nature and the outdoors that was meant to be shared and enjoyed by all of God’s creations, regardless of their intentions or motives.

The heroine of our story was born of goodly parents on Halloween Eve, 1918 and raised in a middle-class home near the rapidly growing Sugar House area of Southeastern Salt Lake, close by the western entrance of the hollow, and the small settlement known as “Pleasant Valley.”

Fascinated by the outdoors and all its splendor, glory, and magnificence, she spent her waking hours playing, studying and interacting with nature.

Whether it was watching the ubiquitous water skeeters dancing on the surface of the ponds, joined by the many fish, ducks, and geese that populated the many creeks that inhabited her neighborhood, observing the thousands of migrating birds that used the gulley for safe haven, riding the draft horses and playing with the barnyard animals on her grandmothers farm in Springville, helping with the sheep being herded up the gully to their summer pastures, coupled with her frequent excursions into the magnificent canyons that peppered the Wasatch Front, the outdoors was her perpetual playground.

Always observant of the many insects and animals like the numerous racoons, skunks, fox, deer and elk that frequented the hollow and the 100’s of plants, flowers, flora and fauna she found growing in abundance around every crook and cranny, she spent her days observing, studying, sketching and painting the hundreds of varieties and species that were part of her special place.

Hers was not a passing fancy but a lifetime love affair with the outdoors as the little girl name Dorothy grew and broadened her affection for nature through her formative years that ebbed and flowed between school, marriage, building a home and raising her children. Her passion for all Mother Nature’s belongings continued to expand and broaden as she progressed into volunteering, coaching, teaching, girl scouts, cub scouts, and church related activities.

As her expertise grew and her knowledge broadened, so did her footprint in the community, state, region, and nation.

She would go on to serve as President of the Utah Historical Society, Chairperson of the Western Section of the National Nature Society, Presenter at the National Wildlife Summit, and a frequent lecturer at educational camps at the National Parks.

Affectionately called the “Bird Lady,” Dorothy taught educational classes at schools throughout the Western United States. And her paintings and drawings became the standard references for outdoor enthusiasts wishing to identity the 100’s of species of migratory birds that used the hollow as flyovers and nesting areas.

The gully became her laboratory, workshop, classroom, and sanctuary all rolled into one, and, as her accomplishments grew in stature so did the public’s awareness of her special place.

Unfortunately, this added attention also perked the interest of callous and aggressive investors, always lurking nearby, seeking to bulldoze and destroy everything she held dear.

The realities of life have always determined that commercial development runs hand in hand with desirability and access and the hollow proved to be no exception.

The original roadway that Parley P. Pratt constructed in the mid 1800’s developed into a major east-west highway through the Salt Lake valley and would stake claim as the original pathway of the Pony Express, California Trail and the Lincoln Highway. Later designated State Route 201, this major thoroughfare over its history had spawned numerous businesses, industries, mills that utilized Parleys Creek for power, and other commercial enterprises, including hospitality amenities for travelers coming and going through the Salt Lake Valley.

In 1920’s The Salt Lake Country Club began purchasing land on the northern side of the hollow to build a golf course, resulting in an increase in speculation and rapid inflation of the value of property on both sides of the proposed highway, including the hollow.

And in 1938 Stillman’s Bridge was constructed at the mouth of Parleys Canyon, bridging the far eastern end of the gully, and connecting the original Parleys Road, now designated as State Route 201, to Wasatch Boulevard, which at the time was the only north-south road above Highland Drive in Salt Lake County, now yielding an eastern entrance into the growing Millcreek/Holiday area.

In the 1950’s things took a radical turn as the Interstate Highway Act became a reality, and Interstate 80 replaced 21^st South as the major east-west roadway up to the mouth of Parleys Canyon.

This construction would effectively blockade entrance to the gully from the north and, as freeway construction continued up the canyon, necessitating the demolition of the Stillman bridge to facilitate an expanded freeway interchange at the mouth of the canyon, access was now blocked at the eastern end as well.

And finally, when fire destroyed what was left of Dudler’s Inn and Saloon, the last remaining outmoded commercial remnants of a bygone era in the Hollow came to an inglorious end and, what had been an accessible and historical retreat for residents of nearby cities and towns, became effectively a box canyon, secluded, neglected, and forgotten, at least for a while.

As the Salt Lake Valley, and the Millcreek/Holiday area in particular, continued their exponential growth and our story searches a conclusion, the convergent paths of unchecked commercial development and preservation of a pristine nature reserve located in the hollow, are on a collision course.

Added to the dilemma is, as real estate speculation grew in the decades following the expansion of the Interstate and increased escalation of land values in the adjoining neighborhoods, private ownership of parcels located in the hollow were seeking to cash in on the rapidly increasing value of their property. Including sixteen choice acres in the middle of the gully owned by the descendants of original settler, Joseph Dudler who wished to develop a gated community of condos and high-rise apartment buildings including private access into the development.

Construction, along with other plans for permanent infrastructure, would rapidly escalate, and, once started, there would be no turning back from.

This construction would virtually destroy what remained of the last easily accessible, natural, riparian habitat in Salt Lake City. When coupled with the historical importance of what the Hollow had meant to the early settler and pioneers, community residents and other concerned citizens became alarmed and discussions began in earnest on how to preserve this vitally important community resource.

Stepping to the forefront of this peaceful insurrection was none other than the main subject of our fanciful story of the young girl and her magical kingdom.

It has been said that most ordinary people do not seek to become heroes, that history has its own way and method of finding and identifying them. In this case, history was spot on because Dorothy “Dot” Platt was ideally suited to help steer the vanguard of this insurgency against the destruction of her cherished playground.

As the matron of the Hollow, lifetime resident of the area, teacher, historian, chronicler, along with her status as a Daughter of Utah Pioneers, her credentials were impeccable, rock solid, and irreproachable. And she was more than ready to engage in battle to save, what remained, of the last pristine nature park in the Salt Lake Valley.

But where to start?

The first order of business was to enlist community support for the radical concept of redirecting private property to the public domain. That support, out of necessity, had to be popular and enjoy wide-spread collaboration and teamwork.

The second was how would the desired property in the Hollow be acquired and how would it be paid for? With a preliminary forecast of upwards of a quarter of a million dollars to acquire the necessary acreage, the project was frightening in its magnitude.

And finally, and perhaps the most daunting of all was, who or what, would control, manage, supervise, maintain, and oversee the proposed open space?

Immense challenges that could overwhelm all but the foolhardiest of souls, yet once again, providence and the shifting tides of history would intervene and turn favorable for our hardy and committed revolutionaries, who would forge bravely ahead and blaze uncharted paths.

The decade of the 1970’s had brought immense social and culture change to America, and several important causes and movements were changing the established norms and behaviors of citizens everywhere.

The upheaval in economic and political institutions were wreaking havoc on the everyday life of most middle-class Americans who were becoming increasingly tired of the turmoil in society and the daily struggles to forge ahead.

Women’s rights, Civil rights, the anti-war movement, the silent majority, the economy free-falling into a recession, interest rates sky-high, as was inflation, and money was scarce for large portions of the general public.

On a positive side there was a growing awareness of the individual self and the environment. People were looking for purpose, meaning, and motivations to enjoy themselves and spend their personal time by recreating, especially out-of-doors.

The call for healthy, affordable, outdoor activities resonated well in Utah and the preservation of the Hollow became a cause the Canyon Rim community embraced wholeheartedly.

On September 26, 1977 the Canyon Rim Citizens Association (CRCA) was officially formed as a non-profit corporation when 501(c)(3) Articles of Incorporation were filed with David Monson, the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Utah.

Our hero, Dorothy “Dot” Platt was one of the 17 original members of the Governing Board and Steering Committee of the Council, which now bequeathed the organization a legal status to own and obtain property in the Hollow. More importantly it allowed CRCA to solicit tax-exempt funds and contributions for that purpose.

The next hurdle, for the community activists trying to save the acreage in the Hollow, was to prioritize where their fund-raising efforts should be concentrated, whether it would be the upper, smaller piece of land adjoining 27^th South, or the much larger, natural valley piece, that stretched from Suicide Rock at the mouth of Parleys Canyon, down the canyon, almost to Sugar House.

The consensus of the group was to concentrate on the smaller of the parcels available in the vicinity of 27^th South and 27^th East. The rational being it would be relatively cheaper, and more accessible to a larger population.

CRCA then began fund raising in earnest, going door-to-door soliciting pledges and donations, conducting charity auctions, and collecting old newspapers. It was tough work, but good causes have a way of rewarding those who engage in worthy endeavors, and sometimes, just sometimes, bestowing a knight in shiny armor who rides in to save the day.

Grace and Obert Tanner, Millcreek residents and proprietors of a large and successful Utah business, were also world-renowned philanthropists, known for their support of noble cases.

When the Tanner’s learned of CRCA’s efforts to raise money to establish a park on the site, the couple stepped up with the offer to match any funds CRCA could raise and when the organization was getting close to obtaining the necessary funding, O.C. Tanner supplied the rest of the needed capital to purchase the entire 10 acre piece along with providing valuable administrative planning.

On July 5, 1982, Tanner Park for Children was completed and dedicated to the memory of Gordon Tanner, Grace and Obert young son, who tragically had been killed in an automobile accident.

With the upper parcel now secure and protected, CRCA and our Bird Lady, could now turn their undivided attention to protecting the much larger, lower piece of the Hollow.

However, with so many competing entities, including private ownership of the many contending interests, the project would prove daunting with little money and conflicting agendas.

Yet once again, our intrepid warrior rose to the task.

Dottie, alongside 55 other like-minded activists, representing a coalition of 37 environmental, civic, government, and historical groups, established a “Parleys Park Committee” and her dream of sharing her magic kingdom with all who wished to participate, was off and running.

Dotty, using her influence as a Daughter of Utah Pioneers, enlisted her companion organization, the Sons of Utah Pioneers, who wholeheartedly embraced the notion of a Natural Park in the Hollow, so much so that, they supplied tacit endorsement by establishing their National Headquarters on the southeastern corner of the proposed park.

With the added weight and validation of these and other high-power entities, including the Salt Lake City Parks Department, under the direction of Mayor Ted Wilson, the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation came on board, and, in 1980, donated the money to purchase a significant 10-acre piece in the middle of the park from Harvey Hansen. A section so crucial that for years, the entire area had been known as “Hansen’s Hollow.”

With the handwriting on the wall, and pressure being applied from all sides, the final piece of the puzzle occurred when, on December 20, 1985, the Schaer Family, descendants of the original homesteader, Joseph Dudler, sold the last remaining 16 choice acres in the middle of the Hollow and at long last, the Grand Crusade of CRCA and a young girl’s fairy-tale romance with nature finally came to fruition.

The final piece de resistance occurred, fittingly enough, on Arbor Day, 1986, when Governor Scott Matheson formally dedicated, in perpetuity, 90-acres of the Hollow as the, “Parleys Historic Nature Park,” and the dreams of a young, energetic, idealistic, romantic, who talked with the birds and the flowers, in her secret, magical kingdom, at long last, became a reality.

To fully grasp the conclusion of our fanciful tale vis-à-vis the intermingling of the Dorothy Platt, Millcreek City, and the Hollow stories, we must, once again, return to the turbulent years of the 1970’s and a concept that was sweeping through the unincorporated portions of Salt Lake County.

A populist notion of self-government for local communities was gaining traction and, increasingly, taking on a life of its own.

The concept known as, “Wall-to-Wall Cities,” was rapidly gaining a foothold with the Salt Lake County Commission, local Cities and Towns, and the Utah State Legislature.

Municipalities, amid a demanding economy and rampant inflation, were trying desperately to balance municipal service budgets including Roads, Garbage, Parks, Police and Fire services, and were desperately searching behind every nook and corner for added revenue sources and economies of scale.

Every community along the Wasatch Front including the unincorporated Salt Lake County were on board, and looking, if for nothing else than their own selfish, self-survival, either to incorporate, or annex into an existing City or Town, including our area of interest, the Millcreek and Canyon Rim communities.

Salt Lake City had thrown down the first gauntlet in 1978, when, in what Millcreek Mayor, Jeff Silvestrini has since labeled “a wrong that should be righted, it was nothing but a crime, a grab of revenue.” Utah’s Capital City blatantly annexed a small 23-acre island in the middle of a residential development in unincorporated Salt Lake County which just happened to include the busy and successful Brickyard Shopping Plaza.

In the Fall of 1985, seeing the handwriting on the wall, the citizens of Millcreek, Canyon Rim, Holiday and Cottonwood, knowing the Cottonwood Mall could be the next domino to fall, initiated incorporation proceedings to prevent the annexation of the Mall into either South Salt Lake, Sandy City, or Murray.

That incorporation failed at the ballot box but set off a rash of annexations and new incorporation’s throughout the County as local communities sought to protect their own boundaries and the ensuing tax revenues.

A movement that saw in the next five years, unincorporated Salt Lake County population and tax revenues fall by 17%, as Taylorsville incorporating into a new city and Midvale annexing large swaths of the Central Valley including the lucrative Fort Union Shopping District.

And, finally, in 1999, hearing the proverbial footsteps inching ever closer, the Holiday/Cottonwood incorporation was realized and finalized their long-standing goal of becoming their own City, selfishly leaving the recalcitrant residents of Millcreek straggling behind to fend for themselves.

There was much hand-wringing going on in the east bench communities of Millcreek, East Millcreek, Olympus Cove and Canyon Rim about their expectations and what future opportunities would hold for the 60,000 residents who called the area home. Would they stay in the County or would the long-standing and proud communities be bought and sold like cattle to competing cities who would piecemeal annex their commercial centers but leave non-revenue generating neighborhoods behind.

Compounding the dilemma for the Canyon Rim residents was Salt Lake City’s approved Master Plan, which, based on the elapsed projected development of the Hollow, including the forestalled and expected commercial development, included plans to annex the entire community from Wasatch Boulevard, down 33^rd South, to 7^th east on the western end. A nefarious motive and purpose they had already manifested by wantonly and greedily annexing the Brickyard with little regard for natural and long-established community boundaries.

So, what stopped them? Why is Canyon Rim now one of the four Community Councils in Millcreek, Utah’s newest City, rather than the southernmost district in Utah’s first, and Capital City?

I would suggest, without the slightest hint of hyperbole, that it was the preservation of the Hollow and the talents, efforts, and determined perseverance of Dotty Platt, the CRCA Council, and other like-minded concerned citizens, that stopped them cold.

If not for the sheerest of wills, courage, and determination, and the Hollow not been preserved as a Nature Park, but been permitted to be ripped up, subdivided, destroyed and denuded of any remaining naturalism, and the unchecked speculation of commercial development been allowed to proliferate in and around the proposed development in the Hollow, then Salt Lake City would not have hesitated to annex the entire Canyon Rim Community to realize the increased tax revenues that large scale commercial development would have then realized.

But, without the profitable, business-related enhancements to the Hollow, and the subsequent taxing authority, Salt Lake City had little, or no, incentive to add 12,000 residential properties and their neighborhoods, to its municipal services portfolio. With the added miles of streets to plow and maintain, garbage to pick up, police and fire services to provide, Salt Lake City passed on their proposed annexation of the Canyon Rim community.

As long-time resident and CRCA member, Nancy Von Allmen emphatically stated, “There is no question, that without Dotty’s leadership and artistic talents promoting the preservation of the Hollow, it would never have happened.”

And I would just as emphatically state, “Without the Community of Canyon Rim and Parleys Historic Nature Park, Utah’s newest city of Millcreek would never have happened.”

For many of the same reasons that would have made Canyon Rim so attractive to Salt Lake City, namely the added tax revenues generated by the anticipated new housing and the subsequent commercial development in the Hollow, many new businesses now congregated along the Highland Drive corridor and 33^rd South, adding contemporary revenue sources, without which Millcreek City could not have justify incorporation.

And so, our fanciful fairy-tale comes to an end. The little girl who talked to the birds, sketched the flowers, and interacted with the many animals that frequented her beloved Hollow, grew up to be the foremost expert on native western wildlife in the Western United States, became a trusted and valued community leader and activist, almost singlehandedly saved a pristine and historical slice of early pioneer nature and culture, honorably fulfilled her earthly callings as a devoted daughter, wife, mother, grandparent, sister, teacher, and friend, and, in her spare time inspired a City.

And by any standards you might want to use, Dorothy “Dot” Platt’s storybook journey as the Grande Dame of Parleys Historic Nature Park can only be defined as “A Life Well Lived.”

Jeff Waters is an author, producer, and storyteller who is a life-time resident of the Sugarhouse/Canyon Rim areas. He is a long-time member of the Canyon Rim Citizens Association where he currently serves as its Chairman.