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Show PAGE 19 THE ZEPHYRDECEMBER 1991 it was potatoes and wheat that was their priori ty-t-he cotton plantings never got underway.) Only a few short months after their settlement began, however, conflicts with a renegade band of Ute and Navajo forced the pioneers to make a hasty retreat. Closing the headgate on their irrigation canal didn't seem to be on their list of "things to do before you abandon the fort" The ditch was left running and, over the course of 47 years, it had created a deep, wide arroyo that snaked through the center of town. Moab's 1882 planners had laid out the town in 25 block sections of 4 sites each. It was a Mormon tradition which allowed ample room for streets and irrigation canals, but there was nothing that foe town fathers could do about foe arroyo that cut through the city. Irrigation water had to be run around it, roads had to bypass it, and each year the threat of flash flood exemplified the potential threat of the "Roya". It was an ever present reminder of an earlier action over which current town dwellers had no control. For a long time, the arroyo remained. The town grew slowly. Storefronts were little changed. Lula's granddaughter's history of Moab in foe 1930's might have continued something like this: "The highway through town is now paved. We had to cut down all the trees and move foe irrigation ditches. We have a new courthouse and a school house and the city has purchased a new spring, so we have plenty of water. The CCCs came to Moab and made many improvements for flood control, but a big flood came down Mill Creek and washed it all away. Flood took out the Courthouse Bridge, too. Everyone is afraid that foe water will flow over into foe 'Roya' and flood the town. A Mr. Beckwith visited the Arches and Dr. Williams says they are going to build a road there." In 1940 there were 1000 people in Moab. Lula's grandchildren might have engaged in raised cattle or sheep. They might have been miners, or oil prospectors. Their or farming, children would have seen foe town emerge from wartime into a period that dramatically change its make-up- . They might have written: "Our town is growing very fast. There are over 5000 people in Moab now. Everyone Y hopes to get rich in uranium and potash. The old Colorado Bridge was condemned so now we have a new one. For awhile there was not enough water for all foe people so we had to ration. ' ysfl We have two brand new elementary schools and they are going to build a new high school soon. We have a new post office and many new businesses. There are going to be new houses and new .roads all over foe dty. There is even a new road to the Arches, and now people can visit any time they want They're putting a new bridge over Mill Creek and filling in foe arroyo so Main Street will go straight through one day." Trailer courts dominated foe landscape Trucks whizzed down a newly paved Main Street The attempt to control public carousing had turned into a full-tipolice force. Moab was 200 into acres annexed In Moab its the at seams. boundaries, a move it felt 1961, bursting Qty was important for an orderly, systematic growth. In face of the boom , the dty had also finally adopted new zoning and building codes that required paved streets, curb and gutter and other -- V2 improvements. The move came too late to affect much of foe outcome of Moab's explosive need for housing. In fact, many residents were opposed to building restrictions, feeling that regulation V? 'Ki was a "doomsday" move that would restrict future developments. Apparently the "doomsday" advocates were wrong. Construction continued at a regular paoe. What did happen, though, was a reprise of a familiar tune. Each time Moab improved a street or covered an irrigation ditch, the power of flash flood waters came as a reminder of the forces of nature New subdivisions crowdei against hillsides and filled in foe gentle depressions water lost foe As irrigation ditdies were covered to widen: roads, run-o. of the lower valley. ' channels it had become accustomed to following. The shallow lines of traditional curb and glitter could not handle the flow that flushed down foe side canyons and into foe newly paved streets of Moab. In the peak of subdivision development in the late 50's and early 60's, rains ripped apart streets, flooded basements and swirled through backyards. Main street was often a river. A variety of dams in Moab's east canyons were combined with culverts, and cement waterways to handle the water. The attempts met with varying degrees of success. It is now the 90's. The "varying degrees of success" of early planners have now become foe heritage of a new generation of children. Problems in flood control are matched by potentially : v,'. inadequate sewer and water systems, by inconsistent zoning, and by inadequate road access and sidewalks. The problems have passed their way to us in foe same way that foe "Roya" was passed to foe 1880's settlers. Of course, our predecessors didn't intend to leave us with these problems anymore than foe Billings party intended to create the "Roya." By the late 1960's dty planners were calling for a Mill Creek flood control project. They wanted a truck bypass to reduce traffic on Main Street, and more stringent planning and zoning ordinances. Their own plans were echoes of requests l made thirty years earlier, but nothing happened, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that "not everything" happened. 'yf Read through a few old newspapers or spend an afternoon with the old minutes of any g of Moab's current organizations, and it probably wouldn't take long to concur with f:: foe old adage that history repeats itself. And in this case, history tells us that intention and action are two different things. We now have both a new dty and a new county master plan being developed. The success of either of foe plans depends cm how it is carried through. A master 'wji plan is a reference guide, a statement of intent that can be fairly subjective in its interpretation. Even with the dan, the future of Moab City, and of the county that surrounds it, is still at the hands of foe individuals of foe community. Bridges and roads have made us accessible; landscape and natural resources have made us desirable; now the challenge is to keep our home In a sense, it is another new beginning. livable. And what of the children? In fewer years than most of us would like to admit, it will be today's school children that will walk down a Main Street of changing faces. Let' s hope that they will be able to write something fine and strong and glowing about a town that someone once thought would be a good place to raise cotton. l? Quality Realty, Inc. Toll Free Ext. 800-345-46- 65 Z 259-50-21 We wish you FAX: 259-838- 7 peace aui happiness. 471 S. MAIN S DESERT PLAZA SUITE 7 and n trademark! of Century 21 Real Estate Corporation. Equal Housing Opportunity. 5l INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED. L'.A 3 ? . ff 03 cs 'i policy-makin- Merry Christmas from the roadkill folks FINEST FAMILY RESTAURANT OPEN 6 am. 259-835- 2 COME IN FOR THE BEST HOME COOKED MEALS 1075 So. Hwy 191 ...... (LM tOJDIW D 89 No. Main 259-813- -- D D5D ki '"i .1 alts 5i3 Cable 6 COMING IN DECEMBER ON: HBOCINEMAX "Hamlet" with Mel Gibson "Reversal of Fortune" with Jeremy Irons "The Rookie" with dint Eastwood "Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael" and PREDATOR 2 . 521-- |