A hundred years ago Christmas in the Uintah Basin wasn’t as comfortable, elaborate or as commercial as the one residents celebrated last week.

By 1909, the Basin had only been open to homesteading for four years. This, however, was long enough for a pressman to start slapping ink on paper. The area’s only weekly was apparently proud of not only its hometown, but the breadth of its influence.

This pride is evidenced by the ad which read in part, “The Uintah Chieftain is an up-to-date, live newspaper published every Thursday at Myton, Utah, the largest and most prosperous town on the former Uintah Reservation. The Chieftain endeavors to give its readers all the news all the time and is read by practically every inhabitant.”

Those inhabitants that chose to read this newspaper would have known about the Big Dance in Myton Town Hall on Christmas Eve where there would be “First-Class Music and prizes for the two best waltzers.”

Subscribers also would have learned about an oil well that was being drilled at Rangely, Colo. The man working on this site was writing to the good people of Myton wishing he could return to them and “the progressive outside world.”

“In all the wells so far drilled we have stuck oil of a very find (sic) quality. The weather is extremely cold and about eight inches of snow.”

The young writer had no hope of returning to “civilization” for Christmas, but hoped to be home by Jan. 1.

Another Basin citizen was a bit more positive about his holiday circumstances. One Harold Carter wrote a letter to the Myton paper which thanked the publisher for the valuable service being offered local residents and then said, “I have just returned from Salt Lake where I was fortunate to get me a wife, so I have quit baching it and feel like life is worth living and the experience of pioneer life is not so bad after all. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

Certainly even for the newly married couple, the holiday gift-giving was not as elaborate 100 years ago as one might find today. This would be a reasonable assumption after comparing the present ads to those in the Myton-produced Chieftain.

In the entire month of December there was only one ad that even mentioned toys, and this was at the Golden Rule Store. Their motto printed right on their three-inch advertisement said, “We’re blind as a bat to everything but right.”

In another corner of the papers was a notice for men looking to buy a romantic gift. The ad in its entirety said, “Call and get some of that stationery or one of those toilet sets for your sweetheart.”

The only ads that ran all four weeks in December were for men’s suits and Carter’s Little Liver Pills.

In bold print right next to a black silhouette of a rather lean male figure was the slogan: “Clever suits for the clever man.” The price of these intelligent pure-woolen outfits was “between $12.00 and $25.00.”

Carter’s Little Liver Pills advertisements didn’t seem to particularly suggest that they were as much a holiday item as a necessity for everyone who was tired.

Inside the square box right next to a black bird that was apparently their logo was the slogan: “Your Liver is Clogged up — That’s why you’re tired and out of sorts. Carter’s Little Liver Pills will put you right in a few days. They do their duty.”

Another ad for the same product said, “A vigorous stomach, perfect working liver and regular acting bowels belong to all who are wise enough to use Carter’s Little Liver Pills.”

A little online research revealed that the pills got such healthy results because they were loaded with Bisacodyl, a stimulant and laxative.

The little pills were a staple household item, but eventually the company decided to diversify and produced another household item, Arrid Deodorant. Men, however, would not be able to buy this addition to their sweethearts’ toilet set until 1935.