For better or worse, there is nothing about the coins that makes me nervous (seeing sacred symbolism from the temple in the open would make me nervous the way it would horrify me to see a classified document lying open in a public street). When I was a kid we lived on a dairy farm (~200 acres) in Lehi, Utah that my dad bought as a graduate student (some men indulge in drinking binges, my dad bought property…). Anyway, there was an old headstone in the front yard that had a sacred symbol on it. It made my mother ‘nervous’ to see this symbol of eternity openly displayed. So she placed the stone on its face. Soon animals started dying. I’d have to ask her to find out how many died and how quickly. But she placed the stone upright again and cleaned it. And the animals stopped dying.

Memories of little mink feet drying in the eaves of the garage, the dead cow that had died of bloat, watching the bugs skittering across the surface of the water in the irrigation channels, the smell of silage, pulling apart cattails (in my bedroom – made an horrific mess), the large silvery truck that would come each morning (and evening?) to collect the milk, looking at Mount Timpanogos and trying to see the ‘indian face’ on the side of the mountain after I heard the legend of Timpanogos cave.

Unfortunately, my dad had some completely irresponsible renters a couple of years ago who apparently had OCHD and a desire to ‘save’ horses. The place now looks like a war zone and is fouled with layers of fecal matter.

But I found the legend of Timpanogos – [http://tinyurl.com/2bjpqh] The myth was actually created by Brigham Young University professor Eugene Roberts in 1922. He made up the tale on the spot while sitting with a group of hikers around a campfire.
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Long, long ago there were Indians that lived on Timpanogos. Every year they gave a sacrifice to the Great God Timpanogos.

This one year it was very dry, and the Indians thought the great God was angry.

The Chief had a young daughter, who was very beautiful. She was of age to be chosen. All the young girls in the tribe were blindfolded and given an opportunity to choose a pebble from a pottery dish. The young princess, Utahna, chose the black pebble. It was her fate to go upon the mountain.

All her tribesmen were sad and they wanted someone else to go instead. But, she bade her friends goodbye and ascended the mountain, winding her way towards the highest peak.

When she reached the top, she knelt in prayer. Begging for rain, she held her arms outstretched. A handsome young brave had seen her and followed her. “Please do not jump!” he said.

She thought he was the Great God of Timpanogos. He led her to a cave. Here they lived together, because they had fallen in love.

One day he was attacked by a bear and injured. Because he was hurt, she knew he wasn’t the Great God Timpanogos. She cared for him until he got well. Then she left one morning very early to ascend the mountain.

When the sun was up, she reached up her arms out and leaped to the crags below. The young warrior gathered her broken body in his arms and carried her to the cave. Here the two hearts were made into one, as we can still see the Great Heart of Timpanogos.

If you look closely at the mountain, they say you can still see the outline of Utahna in Mount Timpanogos, where she was found by Red Eagle.