Old museums always have unknown treasures in their basements or hidden on shelves. Lost drawings by Leonardo DaVinci even pop up occasionally.
This has happened twice recently at Ogden's Union Station. Both discoveries were miracles of serendipity, and I helped with one.
* The unforgotten forgotten: On the north wall of the grand lobby is a drinking fountain converted to a flower pot. Above it a bronze plaque bears the image of a man and the inscription: "In Memory of Hubert Lloyd Bell SUPT. O.U.RY. AND D. Co, 1918-1927, A Just Man, A Friend Who Will Be Remembered."
I asked Lee Witten, the museum archivist, "What about that plaque?"
He said "What plaque?"
I showed him. "I've never noticed that," he said, in honest amazement.
"Who is Bell?" I asked. No clue, Lee said.
So much for being remembered.
A few weeks later I noticed a box of railroad books, letters and other stuff in Lee's office that was donated by the relatives of a now-deceased railroad worker.
One item was a scrapbook page with a news clipping: an obituary headlined "Harry Bell Dies After Short Illness."
I felt like the guy who discovered King Tut.
Bell, the clipping says, was superintendent of the Ogden Union Railway & Depot Company, which ran Union Station. He had a distinguished career in the railroad business. He ran Union Station for nine years and died Oct. 25, 1927, at the age of 64.
"The splendid floral tributes were evidence of the high regard in which Mr. Bell was held," the clipping says, but flowers fade and even a bronze plaque can't preserve a memory.
* Buried treasure: Union Station Foundation Director Roberta Beverly said workers had known of the carved, gilt picture frame in the basement for years, but never paid much attention. There's a lot of junk down there.
About a month ago she took another look. "I said, 'That painting is fine art,' so we dragged it upstairs."
Under the filthy cover glass she found an oil painting. On the back of the oil painting is written the name "George M. Ottinger" and the year 1886.
Wow.
Ottinger was a Utah artist of considerable fame. He was born in Pennsylvania, studied in New York and moved to Utah in 1861 after converting to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was active teaching art as well as painting. He did a lot of landscape and Western scenes that were well-received even in his own day and are still desirable.
This painting shows the North Portal of Castle Gate, near Heber. The note on the back says a train at the base of the portal is a Denver & Rio Grande. The painting is 2 feet by 14 inches and is in remarkably good condition.
Roberta checked around. One local expert told her Ottinger's works bring hefty prices at art auctions, which put Roberta in shock, pondering what might have been.
"It's covered in glass (in the frame) and one of us could have kicked it and broken the glass. It could have been ruined. It might have ended up with us throwing it out."
Why is such a painting at Union Station?
Railroad officials used to have offices in Union Station. Those guys like railroad-related art. It is conceivable this painting even hung in H. L. Bell's office.
Roberta wants to have the painting cleaned and restored, but it will stay at Union Station. It is a treasure long lost, now rediscovered.
Wasatch Rambler is the opinion of Charles Trentelman. You can call him at 801-625-4232 or e-mail ctrentelman@standard.net. He also blogs at www.standard.net.
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