Layton area pioneers helped develop dry farming

                                                   Farmland in western Layton today.

SOME of the first dry farming in the nation may have happened on the north end of Layton City.

According to the Salt Lake Herald newspaper of January 9, 1910, the ridge between Ogden and Salt Lake produced wheat – without irrigation – back in the 1860s. The story stated that Christopher Layton, a Utah pioneer (and namesake of Layton City) was one of those early dry farmers.

“Dry farming was discovered here” was the headline of the story. It states that the practice spread to other parts of Utah and the nation.

-A separate story in the Davis County Clipper of April 14, 1978 was headlined, “Wouldn’t turn years back.” Written by Roselyn Kirk, this story focused on the memories of West Layton resident Reuben Kilfoyle, age 87 at the time.

Kilfoyle, who lived on West Gentile Street, said the area was getting too crowded and he didn’t know if they’d run out of water, electricity or gasoline first.

Back in 1912, Kilfoyle drove a team and wagon for Dr. Walter Whitlock, one of the area’s only physicians. He said emergencies called day and night and sometimes involved traveling through mud as high as a horse’s belly.

He also recalled that the Friday night dance was the week’s big event and they were held at Lagoon, Syracuse, Hooper, or a big store located on Church Street on the other side of town.

Traveling by horse meant it often took 30 minutes to reach Syracuse and two hours to go to Hooper.