Last updated on June 24th, 2025
The Gravel Pit
“When I was five or six years old, before they built the Highland Ranch community, the only thing that was out past Virginia Palmer Elementary School, way out into the middle of nowhere, was a gravel pit. My dad took the little truck that we had, and we drove out there, turned around, and backed up to a pile and scooped in a bunch of gravel. That was all that was out there. There was no getting over to Pyramid Way or anything. It was just complete. That was the back end of the valley.” — Nat Phelps
The Sandlot
“I grew up across the street from what is now Sun Valley Community Park, so the dirt road right there behind the post office. That whole park used to be just a sandlot filled with sagebrush and Squaw Tea shrubs (also known as Mormon Tea or Brigham Tea, and popotillo or canutillo in Mexico). There was a baseball backstop there, nothing elaborate, but it hadn’t been used in years. There wasn’t even a fence, we just walked out of our driveway and into this lot.”
“We used to go over there and hunt lizards. I found a few horned toads that I’d catch and annoy and then set loose. The pit was there, too. Later, they refined it a bit to make it the drain off reservoir, but I always remember the BMX track being there. But, obviously, the skate park wasn’t there yet.” — Nat Phelps
The Runaway Cow
“My uncle told me a story about his milk cow that would get away and he’d see her at the top of a hill, and they’d both go down the hill and he’d only hope he was closer the next time to cow got to the top of a hill and was visible. Lots of people lived in tents and depended on that cow for whatever milk Uncle Earl’s family didn’t use, so they’d help him catch her and get her back.”
“I’d never thought about how many little hills there are here in Sun Valley. My cousin said, ‘Oh, yes! I even got to milk her occasionally.’ He and a neighbor, Mac, decided to make ‘real’ ice cream once so they used only cream. It was so rich they couldn’t eat it in one sitting.” — Valerie Keele Kortenber
If you have memories of Sun Valley from days past and would like to share them with the community, please contact us and we’ll publish your anecdotes!
