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Show to construct ditches, a flume and a trestle to convey water to his In he formed the Good 1891, workings. Hope Mining Company and sold stock in Denver to raise needed funds for his workings at Tlcaboo Canyon. Alfred Kohler, a competing prospector who seemed to have spent most of his time loafing in Greenriver, framed his own company with a similar name, apparently hoping to fool investors. But Hite traveled to Denver and took out newspaper ads exposing the hoax; a response that infuriated Kohler. Cass Hite had a town cabin near the Gammage Rooming House in Greenriver, and it was almost inevitable that he and Kohler would cross paths. In September, 1891, when Hite returned from Denver, he was met at die Greenriver railway station by two friends who warned him that Kohler was lying for him. Disregarding their pleas, he strolled over to the Gammage Rooming House, where Kohler, armed with a rifle, sat on the porch with two friends. Hite and Kohler exchanged angry words, and Kohler snapped off a shot from his Winchester, narrowly missing Hite's head. In a 1966 interview with P.T. Reilly, Arthur Chaffin, who later knew Hite well when both were on the Colorado, described the scene that ensued: Hite's reputation as a badman was not totally unfounded, according to Chaffin; prospectors Bill Kimball and Alonzo Turner had reported witnessing him shoot a pistol from a man's hand, Hollywood-styl- e, in an earlier altercation, fitting on the porch across from Kohler, Hite's aim was more direct According to Chaffin, he wore a seven-inc- h holster with a modified .45 whose barrel had been sawed down to one inch; all Hite had to do was swing his belt holster up and fire through the bottom. According to one account, both Hite and Kohler fired five times, but this seems unlikely given Hite's skill as a marksman and the close quarters; more likely only two or three shots were exchanged before Kohler tumbled out of his chair mortally wounded and his two accomplices fled the scene, one of them wounded in the buttock by a hurry-u- p shot from Hite's pistol Following the shooting, Hite walked back to his cabin, where he was Boon picked up by the sheriff Hite and his two friends were tried for murder beginning February 27, 1892. On March a 10, hung jury was dismissed as Hite's companions were exonerated. On October 13, Hite in Provo before an was jury. He was sentenced to 12 years in the state penitentiary bn October 15, 1892. Less than a year into his sentence, he was diagnosed with what was considered a terminal case of tubenrolosis. Through the efforts of his brother, he was pardoned on November 29, 1893 by Governor Caleb W. West Cass Hite was transported to Hanksville by a freighter, where friends nursed him back to health. According to local stories, the formerly stocky man weighed little more than 100 pounds when he began his convalescence. Hite never forgot the treatment he had received at the hands of the justice system, and he vowed he would remain for the rest of his life in the canyons of the Colorado. A second mining boom, coinciding roughly with the national depression of 1893, brought in yet another wave of gold hunters. Uncomfortable with the growing crowds, Hite left behind his namesake settlement and moved 14 miles downriver to Tlcaboo, where he built a cabin a mile or so upriver.There he cultivated Concord grapes and watermelons, as well as other crops, on his three-acr- e plot Hite remained true to his word and never again left his ranch at Tlcaboo for more than a few days. He died in 1914 and was buried near his cabin by fellow river men Bert Loper, Alonzo Turner and his brother John. By then, the second gold boom was over with only rusting mining relics, abandoned cabins and inscriptions carved by lonely prospectors on the rock walls to remind the few river visitors about what had transpired only a few yean before. All of these relics were inundated by Glen Canyon dam. Today, Hite's gravesite is under several hundred feet of water. A modern-da- y pioneer For a few years after Hite's death, the Dandy Crossing" environs was virtually deserted. Prospotor Frank Lawler held the property for a few years, then sold it to Tom Humphries. In 1924, Humphries sold the Hite ranch to the Snow Brothers of Richfield. Oren Snow sold the property to Arthur L Chaffin of Wayne County in 1934. Chaffin may well have known the upper end of Glen Canyon better than any other he had operated a trading post at Camp Stone, 45 miles below single explorer. In 1902-0Hite, where he became acquainted with Chief Hoskaniiuil, who was by then reputedly more than one hundred years old. During this period, Chaffin devoted much of his time to exploring slot canyons, building small boats from whatever material he found at abandoned mining sites, and trying to devise new methods of placer mining for gold. 3, After he left the trading post, Chaffin prospected with his brothers and the legendary William "Billy" Hay, an Irish immigrant who had reputedly run with the Wiki Bunch before being afflicted with gold fever. After none of the group's prospects panned out, he moved to Nevada and tried his hick gold mining there. In 1933, with gold prices on the rise, he returned to his beloved stone canyons and tried his hand once again at extracting the elusive Colorado River riches. re-tri- ed vL 3ir. Arth Chaffin site in those years The few visitors who found themselves at thiB described Hite as an "oasis in the desert." On their comfortable ranch, Arth and his first wife, Phoebe, cultivated wine grapes, peaches, watermelons, figs, pears, almonds, peanuts, pomegranates and dates. Because Hite was located at a relatively low altitude 3300') and sheltered by cliffs, the ranch boasted a growing season, something unheard of In that part of southern Utah. s, Chaffin's crazy idea of opening a tourist route into the Natural By the and from there onward to Monument Valley and the National Monument Bridges communities of far southeastern Utah had begun to seem just a little less delusional. His repeated visits to the Governor's office and the Utah Department of Publicity and Industrial nine-mont- h mid-1940- continued on next page. Hi Vers ar$ WiVers ar$ jeep ars ar peopW. vW) JriNe. MfO &oT ATaTorWv'oes -- tv ar$ adcVs eWbers Serving Dinner Nightly at 5:00PM 1393 N. Highway 191 (formerly the Sundowner) i Asflbrs o a parsuostoj Wtve'TW. xsV seWToo o 259-520- 1 The Paisano steak may have melted away with the winter snows but Chef Buckingham has prepared an extraordinary selection of menu items to help you forget. T-sUT-Ts State Liqsor Liceasee ivxxib, jaitomwL natal a |