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Show ‘ EARL'S TIMES - JULY 1994 - 7 \ He “took care of" the horse I couldn't shoot—that I‘d had since I was four. Earl “procured" some pipe so I could irrigate my first alfalfa lot, also. Earl kept grinning. We loaded the dynamite onto the flatbed. Jacques and I spent most of the showed me how to work the big 16" afternoon driving the mile or so to the well pump, and fixed it‘when it broke. We shared a garden the second year on what is now the llama lot. He cut and baled and stored hay for the horses. We had a giant flash flood in ’75 and my road washed out so completely I had a 6 foot drop about 10 feet across. bunker near the main ranch house. I don’t remember Earl being anywhere nearby during the drive, but he was waiting for us at the end of our journey—still grinning. Several months later. I asked Earl's advice on how to remove a rusted culvert from an old springbox at my home in Castleton. A twinkle crept into his eyes and he gave me a one word answer: “Dynamite!” A few days later, he brought some dynamite up to The next day he “found” an old piece of main line and installed it as the culvert that still carries flood water and provides access to this day. This article is my way of remembering all this man did for me and my cabin, and blew the hell out of the thanking him again, but I have only begun to tell a small portion. The thing is, he helped a lot of us. He taught a lot of us. He watched out for me as if I were family. He made me smile and laugh every time we met. He was an artist of life. Several of us need to sit down of an evening and write up and share “Earl” stories for history's and our own sakes. Especially since Nettie’s going old springbox. The rusted, twisted to move and we need her input. I’ll buy. —-Annie Benge Earl, the Dynamite Man Several of my memories of Earl center around dynamite. when I began work as a rancho—hand in March of '74, Earl was my boss. Besides his family and the salesmen, there were only two other people living at the River Ranchos—Annie McLanahan and Ernie Faust. That summer, Earl discovered some old dynamite at the homestead. He wanted me and the other ranchohand, Jacques Prevost, to move the dynamite to a more secure location in an old root cellar near ranch headquarters..Earl looked at us with his mischievous grin and said he had no idea how long the dynamite had been abandoned. Jacques and I jumped in the old ranch truck, a doorless flatbed with no shock absorbers, and met Earl at the homestead. He was still grinning. He led us to a full case of explosives. Jacques and I noticed that several sticks piece of culvert still sits atop a nearby hill where it landed. And .I can still see that mischievous grin on his face as he lit the fuse and we ran for cover. I suspect that the explosives he used were part of the old cache from the homestead The next summer, when roads were being built into the lower part of Castle Valley, Earl and I used dynamite to remove several large rocks from the roadway. He always seemed to find some perverse enjoyment in setting a long string of charges, lighting the fuse, and mnning for cover. Without Earl, my fust few years in Castle Valley would have been less fun, and less educational. He taught me how to build and mend fences. He taught me how to operate a road grader, tractor, and other ranch machinery. He taught me the proper way to irrigate fields—and then left me alone in those fields for days at a time. I was in heaven. He showed me a million and one uses for baling wire. And he taught me that I didn’t enjoy bucking hay bales in 100° weather. But when there was that type of work to be done, he was most often there next to me, hoisting his share of the hay. He will be missed. ——Frank Mendonca The Passing of an Era Earl Hotz. A real pioneer of Castle Valley in every sense of the word. A wonderful man to have known and worked with. I first met Earl in November 1974. He was the Castle Valley ranch ' foreman for the Carlsberg Financial Corporation of Los Angeles, California. They were in the process of finishing the roads in Unit I of the subdivision. ’Ihere were still cows, irrigation, fence mending, and other ranch chores to do. Of course, developing the Ranches meant phasing out the ranch operation. We had about 100 cows and calves which still roamed‘in both UnitI and Unit II. In 1975 a fence running from the area of the LDS church down to Bill Hedden’s future property was repaired, and all the cows were to be kept in the area of Unit II. After this change, the cheat grass really got out of hand, and we had several grass fires during the ’70s. Earl fought fires and mended fences to keep the cows contained, always commenting that cows would prevent the grass fues. But the cows had to go, because they were always testing for weak spots and breaking down the fencing. Then came the goats. Earl and Nettie developed a real hideaway down below their property in the creek bottom. the goats and the garden thrived, supplying not only their family but others in the valley as welLThe goats roamed for a brief period in those days. You could hear their bells ringing throughout the valley. The “official” watennaster for the irrigation systems was Earl. He was always trying to improve the water flow to the ditches. For a brief period, he had the well on Lot 205, Shafcr Lane watering the acres where the llamas and church are now located. In 1976 he had to tear out the old concrete pipes because the road cuts were getting too low. I also think that Carlsberg began to worry that we might think that well would make a good community water system and did not want to face that possibility. While Earl had the equipment to remove the pipes, he also buried the old ranch dump. I was in Salt Lake at the time and saw big changes when I returned. In a way it made me sad. Much of what had given the old ranch flavor was now gone—horse buggies, old wood stoves, Model T parts, old — More EARL, over |