Fremont Bean Update

Time for a Fremont Bean update! This is my 3rd year growing these unusually large beans in my garden.

 
I purchased them from Liberty Heights Fresh, and instead of eating them (although they are quite tasty) I decided to plant them.

The story is that they were preserved in an archaeological cave in Southwestern Utah and were 800 years old.

I don’t believe they were hundreds of years old when found. Culinary beans are selected for their ease of germination, a trade-off at the cost of the long-term dormancy and storage life. Typical of agricultural seeds.

I have previous posts about my skepticism of their origin story. I have no proof these beans are, or are not, tied Utah's history, but it's too interesting a possibility to ignore. Plus they are fun to grow!

For now, a simple update of a handful of Fremont Beans that I planted this year. They are doing well and are starting to flower. The red flowers are the dominant color, but it looks like I have white flowers too.

A brief history of Fremont Beans in my garden

• 2024: Experimental planting and I put them in a corner of the garden after everything else had been planted. Decent location, but not great. They did pretty well and they succeeded in showing that they could germinate from the bag I purchased.

• 2025: I put in a poor area of the garden with dryer soil and a little more clay than the rest of the garden. I wondered how they would do in a poor environment… were they suited for harsh desert conditions. The beans germinated but did not grow very tall or produce many flowers; also a squirrel dug up several of them before they sprouted.

• 2026: I put them in a very good area of the garden. Good soil. And watered well. So far, they are doing great.

Flag Wars (size matters)

Fifty years ago the USA Bicentennial celebration prompted competition among several Utah businesses to have the biggest American flag or the tallest flagpole.

Plaque and flag at Free Spirit Plaza, 2280 S State Street SLC

It began in Feb 1976 when Hayes Brothers car dealership announced the grand opening of the Free Spirit Plaza at 2280 South State Street.

Hayes Brothers claimed "the tallest flagpole in the State of Utah" at 200 feet, although later sources reported shorter measurements. State, county, and city officials joined the Utah National Guard and the Utah Bicentennial Committee for the Flag Day dedication.

Hays Brothers advertisement
Deseret News Feb 17 1976 p36

 
The flagpole and commemorative plaque still stand at Free Spirit Plaza, now home to Tesla.

Over the next few decades, shopping centers, businesses, and civic organizations across Utah promoted their own largest flags or tallest flagpoles. Some of these include Valley Fair Mall, Layton Hills Mall, Van Winkle, Reams in Provo, the State Capitol Building, among others.

Lincoln Plaza at 145 E 1300 South SLC

By 1990, Lincoln Plaza at 145 E 1300 S (demolished Sept 2026) entered the competition with a 38×20-foot flag on a 120-foot pole. The SL Tribune noted it was Salt Lake County's third oversized flag, comparing it directly with Hayes Brothers and the Van Winkle Expressway display.

Utah's tradition of giant flags stretched back even earlier. In 1896, an enormous American flag was hung from the ceiling in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. In 1897 this flag was moved and hung on the south side of the SLC LDS Temple for the 50th anniversary celebration of July 24.

The measurements of this flag vary widely depending on the source. Newspaper articles from 1896 describe the flag as 150×75 or 125×75. Later sources in 1897 and 1901 indicate larger and smaller measurements.

Statehood Celebration 1896, from USHS
Newspaper clip from Woman's Exponent Jan 1 1896 p4

Commemoration of Utah statehood, 1896, SLC LDS Temple
From USHS

Today, enormous ceremonial flags such as Big Betsy in Grove Canyon continue that tradition.

Other claims through the years:

• 1977: Reams Market at 1350 N 200 W in Provo claimed the tallest flagpole in the state at 160 ft.
• 1978: Valley Fair Mall in West Valley City : largest flag in the world (no dimensions given)
• 1980: Layton Hills Mall in Layton: largest flag in the state (no dimensions given)
• 1988: Spring Run, along VanWinkle Expressway in Murray: largest flag in the state at 60x30 ft with the second tallest pole at 110 ft.
• 1988 Utah Summer Games in Cedar City: Largest flag in the state, 150x75
• 1992: Franklin Quest Corp in West Valley City: tallest flagpole in the state at 120 ft with 50x30 size flag.
• 1993: Utah Summer Games in Cedar City: Largest flag in the state 108x65 ft
• 1998: Reams Market in Provo, largest flag in the state along with the largest pair of pants (no dimensions given)
• 2001: Utah State Capitol Building in SLC: One of the world’s largest (no dimensions given)
• 2001: Stadium of Fire event at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo: largest flag in the state (no dimensions given)
• 2002: Freedom Festival in Provo Utah: : largest flag in the state (no dimensions given)

Same info as above, just as a table.

Of Note: The Hayes Brothers also advertised a newly constructed natural artesian well drinking fountain for public use. I did not see it during my visit, but perhaps someone knows what happed to it.

Panchucunquibiran with Domínguez and Escalante

In 1776, while thirteen colonies on the Atlantic coast declared independence, two Spanish friars were in the West. Domínguez and Escalante's search for a route from Santa Fe to California eventually took them through Colorado, Utah, and Arizona.

The expedition's path through Utah was based entirely on the knowledge of their Indigenous guides.

While in Utah in September 1776, they crossed the Green River and journeyed to areas near Strawberry Reservoir, Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah Valley, Sevier River, Milford, Cedar Valley, and the Virgin River.

Of course, Domínguez and Escalante named and renamed things along the way. Their name for Utah Lake was Laguna de Nuestra Señora de la Merced de los Timpanogotzis, translated to "Lake of Our Lady of Mercy of the Timpanogotzis."

The name is in honor of both their Catholic faith and the name of the people living around Utah Lake identified by one of their Indigenous guides, Panchucunquibiran, as the Timpanogotzis people.

Panchucunquibiran was himself Timpanogotzi (called "Laguna" by Escalante, the Spanish term for the same lake-dwelling people) and was one of two second-tier chiefs beneath the head chief, Turunianchi, as explained to the friars through a painted hide depicting the tribe's leadership hierarchy.

The name “Timpanogos” is still with us today.

 

Clip from the C. E. Erickson, The Escalante Trail: 1776

Clip from Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco's Map 1778

SOURCES:

C. E. Erickson, The Escalante Trail: 1776, [G4300_1776.B6.jpg]. Arizona Memory Project, accessed March 7, 2026, https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/257568

Joel C. Janetski, The Ute of Utah Lake, Anthropological Papers no. 116 (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1991).

Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco, cartographer, Plano geográfico de los descubrimientos hechos por Dn. Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco y los RRs. Ps. Fr. Francisco Atanasio Domínguez y Fr. Silvestre Vélez: S. Felipe Rt. de Chiguagua [cartographic material], 1778. Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, WA MSS S-2856, https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2002707

David E. Miller, ed., The Route of the Domínguez-Escalante Expedition, 1776–77: A Report of Trail Research Conducted Under the Auspices of the Domínguez-Escalante State/Federal Bicentennial Committee and the Four Corners Regional Commission (Domínguez-Escalante State/Federal Bicentennial Committee, 1976), https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6qmeb5m

Robert S. Russon, “A Trail Guide to the Domínguez-Vélez de Escalante Expedition 1776” (M.S. thesis, Department of History, Utah State University, May 1973), USU Digital Commons, https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9154&context=etd

Nick Saenz, “The Domínguez-Escalante Expedition in Ute Country,” History Colorado, August 6, 2025, https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2025/08/06/dominguez-escalante-expedition-ute-country

Claudio Saunt, West of the Revolution: An Indian Continent Shaken by Distant Empires (W. W. Norton, 2014).