Archives West Finding Aid

The Ella Mae Donohoo Bills diary [typescript] (1915) contains Bills' short, daily diary kept from 29 April 1915 to 10 May 1915. She describes a move from East Crescent, Utah, to Lontree, Wyoming. The account was written for her family: her father, Robert Burns Donohoo, a Civil War veteran from Tennessee, her mother, Ella Rebecca Workman, of Arizona, and her ten siblings. A brief family history is provided with the diary; it details moves of the Donohoo family throughout Arizona, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. The diary of Ella Mae Donohoo begins when the family cattle, chickens, and wagon are loaded and moving along the Cottonwood Road. She describes the Cottonwood Canyons and the "old paper mill," Millcreek Canyon, Parley Canyon, and Echo Canyon. Also mentioned are the towns of Wanship, Hoytsville, Coalville, Wasatch, Evanston, Mountain View, and Lonetree. Of particular interest in this diary, are the contrasts drawn between Utah and Wyoming. Utah is described as greener, more agricultural, more urban, while Wyoming is unfavorably described as "behind-the-times" and "less-fashionable." Settlements in Wyoming are described as isolated, set in sagebrush, with more log cabins and pole fences, and more cattle and cattlemen, than Utah towns. Bills says Wyoming salaries and prices are higher than Utah's, but little quantative information is given.