Searching for Cora Sue - 10 - Salt Lake City

We arrived in Salt Lake City more or less on time, and asked our taxi to take us to the Peery Hotel (pictured above)  at 110 West Broadway.

Again, I shall quote from the literature about the hotel to say what it was like.

The beautiful Grand Lobby replicates the gracious charm of a Victorian parlor. Wingback chairs cozy up to reading lamps and side tables. An enormous chandelier hangs above the entry table on the marble walkway that leads to the grand staircase. Guest rooms and suites offer half-canopy beds and antique-style furnishings. There are Parlor-style lounges on each floor. 

The lobby is delightful, with old-style pigeonholes for letters and a grand staircase to the upper floors. Each unique, handsomely appointed room contains period furnishings and pedestal sinks with antique brass fixtures.

Having checked in, we went down to have a cup of tea (water for me) to unwind and just get our bearings. We asked the waitress in the tea shop about the history of this hotel, which had only just opened this year.

“It was built by the two brothers, David and Joseph Peery, mainly for businessmen and their families. The architect is quite a famous man - maybe you have heard of him - Charles Onderdunk.”

“No, I haven’t, but, he certainly did a good job.” 

“Are you Mormons?” she asked.

“No, we aren’t. Is that what most of your visitors are?”

“It is a bit late in the season for ordinary tourists. Things get a bit colder around here before long, you will find.”

“We are interested in finding someone who makes beautiful silver jewelery who lives in this town.
Do you know of any shops where they might sell that sort of thing?”

“Oh, this place is full of silver. Almost every shop will try to sell you something made of silver. They mine it all over the place around here.”

“Does the name Cora Kellogg mean anything to you?”

“No, sorry. I think there are some Kelloggs in town though. I remember because I heard about that
new cereal, corn flakes, made by somebody called Kellogg.”

“Oh, that’s a different family completely,” I said. “Thank you for your help,” and she went to get our order.

Later when she returned with our food, she said, “You ladies want to watch it a bit in this town.
You know that this place has got a reputation for allowing women of the night to do what they want.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, a couple years ago, when they were trying to spruce up the town and remove vice from the
downtown area, they came up with what they thought was a really good plan. They decided to allow a Madam to run a house called Belle London and do her stuff legally in just one small area. But,
let me tell you, it didn’t work. There are lots of men hanging around looking for a good time, so make sure you are always together when you go out.”

“Thank you for your advice. We will bear that in mind,” said Kate.

Afterwards she thought that the idea that some man would mistake one of us for a Madam of the night was both flattering and insulting, and we both had a good laugh over it.

Having had such success using the telephone exchange in Denver, we tried to do the same thing here. It was an easy enough building to find, Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company.

I went up to the woman at the desk and asked if I could have the phone number of the Kelloggs in
Salt Lake City.

“What first name is it?”

“Cora Sue.”

“I’m afraid that we don’t have any Cora Sue listed. We do have a Roy Kellogg and a George
Kellogg. Do you want their numbers?”

“Yes, please, as they might know where Cora Sue is.”

“So she happily wrote down the two numbers for us. George was 225 and Roy was 340.”

“Are you ladies new in Salt Lake City?” she asked in a friendly fashion.

“Yes, we are just visiting for a few weeks. I am hoping to catch up with my sister, who moved here
about ten years ago.”

“Oh, well, you had better talk to Mr. Riter. That is him over there,” she said pointing to an
elderly man sitting by a desk on the far side. “He used to be the only pharmacist in town but now they have branches all over the place, called Riter Brothers' Drug Stores. If your sister ever went
into his drug store, he might remember.”

So we thanked her and approached the man.

“Excuse me, but that lady over there said you might be able to help us. We are looking for my sister
who moved here about ten years ago but now we don’t know where she is living.”

“And what is your sister’s name?”

“Cora Sue Kellogg. She is a bit older than me, but she would have been about 40 in 1900. We think
she was living with a jeweler or anyway a man who made silver jewelery who lived here, but we don’t know his name.”

“What did she look like?”

“Well quite a bit like me, but with lighter hair and shorter and plumper.”

“I can’t say the name or description rings a bell for me,” then he laughed as he considered that quite a funny joke, coming from the telephone office.

“You ladies sound as if you come from the East.”

“Yes we live in Massachusetts just outside Boston.”

“My son, Franklin, just graduated from Colombia University in New York. He’s a lawyer. I'm very proud of him even though I was hoping he would take over my drug stores. I have five of them now, you know.”

“That is very good - him being a lawyer. We just might need one of those while we are here, so we
will keep him in mind,” said Kate.

“My son, who has just started medical school in Albany, New York, is called Franklin too, but we
call him Frankie to distinguish him from his father.”

“What a coincidence,” said Mr. Riter. “My name is Franklin too, but in reality it is Benjamin
Franklin, as is my son’s, but for some reason I prefer to go by my initials, B.F. and my son prefers just the Franklin.”

We all laughed. Imagine parents giving you such a name, but, of course, Mr. Riter had landed his son with the very name that he himself didn’t want to use in its entirety.

“Why don’t I take you two nice ladies out for a cup of coffee and I can tell you a bit about our fair town. Have you been here before?”

“No,” we both said together, “but it is a very beautiful city and we are very pleased to be here,” added Kate.

I couldn’t help thinking that Kate and Mr. Riter had a sort of spark going between them, and since
he knew all that there was to know about what happened in Salt Lake City over the last ten years, it was a good connection to make. So we agreed, and the three of us went out the door and to Mr. Riter’s favorite restaurant, Martine, between Main and State Street.

We walked up the steps and into the cute little brownstone building but were quickly impressed with
the immense oak and beveled glass doors, high ceilings, and we settled into a deep cozy booth. The bar was backed by an old bank vault. The waitresses were dressed in crisp white aprons over their black outfits and it reminded me of the hotel in Chicago that Cora Sue and I stayed in back in 1883.

Having ordered, we settled down and let Mr. Riter tell us about his town.

“You probably know about our origins, with the Mormons coming here. Well, it is true that at the
turn of the century, when your sister arrived here, nearly 9 out of 10 of our citizens were Latter-day Saints. Apart from approximately 3,000 Indians, mostly on reservations, the 571 blacks and 768 Chinese counted in the 1895 territorial census were the largest racial minorities. Perhaps 2,000 of our total of 50,000 were polygamous families and there were a considerable number of single men in the mining communities.

“We were pretty well set up even then. A maze of power and telephone lines in the downtown area;
a university and eight academies; a limited distribution of natural and manufactured gas; 68 miles of street railway; three daily newspapers; three theaters and two businessmen's clubs; a just-finished gravity sewage system with seven miles of mains; and a three-year-old fun spot, the Saltair resort, perched on piles in Great Salt Lake were further evidences of the march of progress.”

“That sounds like someplace we must visit - Saltair.”

Rather annoyed at being interrupted in mid flow, B.F. continued, “Farming and mining were the main businesses of the state, and neither was doing well. The Panic of 1893 had added mining distress to agricultural depression. Approximately one-third of Utah's total employed population was engaged in agriculture.

“So the farmers tried out some other crops to try to help them survive. 40,000 pounds of cotton and
almost 3,000 gallons of wine produced in the Virgin River country in a year in 1895 and 10,000 pounds of silk cocoons reported a year later. We also started growing sugar beets, and processed some 40,000 tons a year.

“At approximately 65¢ per ounce, Utah's mines had produced only $4,800 in silver in 1895, and
that largely from a few spectacular enterprises like the Centennial-Eureka and Bullion-Beck in the Tintic District and the Silver King and almost exhausted Ontario at Park City. The total value of nonferrous metal production was down almost $4 million from 1890.

“Most of the agriculture was owned exclusively by the Mormons. The mines and the railway were not
- but, for the town to survive, the two groups had to work together, rather than keeping strictly apart as they had done for that period earlier. With cooperation, the town again began to increase in wealth and confidence.”

“So you are saying that the Mormons had to give up some control that their church had in the
state for it to go forward.”

“Yes, that is exactly it. Up till then, the Mormon-owned shops had been Co-ops, and some still are,
but once the non church people came in, they come up with the idea for getting customers in by having a sale.

“'All Our Underwear at One-Third Off' drew crowds to Siegel Clothing Company, where the
finest full length union suits in 'Switz Conde' cost $2.75 but 'natural mixtures' could be had for 60 cents. Auerbach's was clearing ladies' tailor-made suits at $3.85, foot warmers at $.50 a pair,
children's shoes at $1.00 a pair, and ostrich feather boas from $1.75 to $10.00. Lipman, Nadel and Son offered "Your choice of any suit or overcoat in the store for $10.00. The corner grocers usually
relied on handbills rather than newspapers to call attention to their 10¢ beefsteak, 15¢ butter, and assorted penny candy.

“It should be remembered, however, that those were the days when $2.00 was a good day's wages,
and the youngsters in a workingman's family did not always have pennies to spend on luxuries.

“A public school system came in, and unlike their parents, children could go to school without
tuition fees. The Mormon academies were, on the other hand, vigorously expanding in secondary education and the normal course training of teachers.

“The Mormon churches were giving up some of their economic and political activities and
transferring many of their educational functions to the state. And most of the major Christian communions were represented in churches and hospitals.

“So you are telling us that when Cora Sue moved here, she would have had a better chance of
getting a job and being accepted, as a non-Mormon, than she would have done a few years before that.”

“Exactly my point. Sorry if I seem to go on, but I do like to share my knowledge of the history of
my state.”

“We found it very interesting. But say that this young woman with her silver jewelery producing
boyfriend came into the city about that time, where do you think it useful for us to go to look for them?”

“If he had anything to do with silver mining, you should go to the establishment that deals with
miners - the Alta Club.”

“And is that easy to find?”

“Certainly. I can give you the address, and if you give me your address, I will take it upon myself
to make some inquiries myself and let you know what I find.”

“Thank you so much BF,” said Kate. “You have been more than helpful. We will follow up on your
suggestion tomorrow, and do certainly contact us at the Peery Hotel if you can find anything else that might help us in our search.”

So with that, we took our leave of our new friend, with a much more positive take on our possible
task ahead.

When we reentered the hotel, I asked to use the telephone, which was located in the ladies' lounge,
as it had been in Denver. I checked out the two telephone numbers. Mr Roy Kellogg was of no assistance at all. Mr. George Kellogg, who mentioned that he had a wife, Mary and two children, had no knowledge of Cora Sue, but he did tell me he was from Wisconsin, so we had a
good chat about his childhood in Font du Lac.