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Show SALT FLAT NEWS, AUGUST, 1970 , Contemporary tcenes.Park Valley (Continued from page 4) War I, solved its educational problems, suffered during the depression, and built for the future. Ranches have changed hands, people have come and gone, there have been marriages and deaths, and there were happy times and tragedies. World War II saw many native . ' Im absolutely amazed that as a shock but its true! My God! something hasnt been done to Its truly frightening in this day turn the vast acreage surrounding and age . . . when nations all over Wendover into a veritable gold-- , the world are screaming for salt mine. Think of it thousands grass . . . and were not stock piland thousands of scenic white ing it . . . and yet our same govturf laying dormant for lack of an ernment has been stockpiling turidea. Let me boggle your mind key feathers for years ... we take with a few introspective thoughts out an agricultural loan for salt concerning the potential of this grass seed and after the first crop tourist paradise. We simply have we sell it to the government and to write to the U. S. Agriculture then put the whole thing in the Department in Washington D. C. soil bank and apply for a farm and request the necessary forms subsidy. We promise not to plant (in triplicate) to declare all of the any more salt grass if the governearth surrounding Wendover as ment will pay us fifty dollars an surplus acreage. We request that acre . . . then we all go out and all the ground go into the United pick us up a rocking chair and a States soil bank ... to preserve it palm frond . . . grab us aJiunk of for generations to come a rich shade and just sit and wait for heritage for humanity. Then we that check from Uncle Sugar evwrite the same green thumbers in ery month. Senator Allen Ellen-de- r has been doing just that for Washington to figure out a farm subsidy and an annual allotment years with cotton. Its such a marfor salt grass! You see, many peo- velous idea I cant imagine why ple dont realize that our far- some enterprising Wendoverite sighted government is not stock hasnt thought of it before. Perpiling salt grass. I know it comes haps you have a better Idea????? Jir ' NEWS photo by R. Goldborgar ... Then Fred Hirschi bought a tractor and a thrashing machine. For many years he thrashed all the grain in the valley. Some of the grain was cut with a binder that tied the stalks into sheaves or sons go to war. Some were wounded but all of them returned home. Education became more and more important in the lives of people so most of the young people went away to school. All walks of life claim some of the one time children of the valley. There are doctors, dentists, scientists. accountants, teachers, ranchers, homemakers, nurses, mechanics, secretaries, beauti-tianlaw enforcement officers and many others. Some activities connected with making a living that started when the first settlers came to the valley still continue today, some have changed with modem inventions, and some are never heard of now. The threshing of grain is one of these activities that have changed. When the thresher came it was a real event because, it took quite a crew of men and it called for some really big meals prepared by the women. In early years the grain was threshed (thrashed to the local people) by a horse power thrasher. Six horses provided the power by walking on a platform that moved underfoot as they walked (imagine walking all day and never going any place). There was one man to keep the horses walking, some to throw the bundles of grain to the band cutters, some to cut the bands on the- sheaves of grain and feed it into the machine, some to move the chaff and straw away, some to measure the grain and haul it to the bins, and some to haul the bundles of grain to the machine if it wasnt stacked. The thrashing crew started at one end of tile valley and worked its way through to the other end. It would stop any place where there was grain to be thrashed and stay just long enough to complete each job. Often the men who ran s, - the thrasher would months getting it all thrashed. be-tw- o Fred Zaugg had one thrasher, and little later another one was operated by Albert Hirschi and Henry Kunzler. They went as far away as Rosebud on the west to Kelton and Hardup on the east. bundles. These bundles were then put into shocks. Shocks were small groups of bundles standing on the cut end. When the thrasher came these were loaded onto wagons and hauled to the thrasher. Some people hauled the bundles before they were shocked and formed large round stacks with the heads of the grain all toward the center of the stack. They were then pitched directly into the thrasher. A header was also used to harvest the grain, especially if it ' was very short. This piece of equipment, pushed by 2 teams of horses, cut the grain and an attached elevator put the grain into wagons that followed along with the header. These stalks of grain were then stacked to wait for the thrasher. Laurence Carter bought a rubber tired tractor and thrasher that his son, Kay, operated. During World War II and after, Asael Oman from Yost, Utah came to do the thrashing for the people. Today all of the harvesting is done by combines. At first the hay was stacked by hand using a pitchfork. Then mowers and rakes came into use. When Lorenzo Larsen, a school teacher, made the first hay derrick for Jacob Kunzler people said, Jake is getting lazy, cant even 'stack his hay anymore. Then followed the use of a hay loader, buck rakes, and now windrowers complete with crimpers, balers, and farm hands do the heavy work. During the prohibition days some even made money in the moonshine business. The people who will talk, tell of at least 3 stills. There was one in Hardup, and the Ten Mile area, one at the abandoned Carters cabin in Pine Canyon, and one in the Muddy area. Today there are 31 families in the valley with a population that varies between 120 and 130. The first settlers and those throughout the years can be proud of the young people that have gone, and are still going, from die valley as well as those who have stayed to build success-fil- l lives with love in their hearts for their fellow men, their country, and their God. I VlrVI wllfUlf The NEWS unfortunately has made a mistake in a caption describing a picture. The boy is in reality not a boy at all but an attractive young lady, Miss Jackie Jones, daughter of Allen and Gayle Jones, Wendover. The NEWS offers an apology to Miss Jones for this embarrassing oversight. OB RCr Gffi r A GROCERY STORE 4!tt&y QaO Overheard at When in Dance: the Centennial Valle Park The as do Park Valley ites do, a teenage girl whispered to her girl friend while looking over her potential suitors. At the same dance one elderly matron said to her friend, We should have stayed home and irrigated tonight but he wanted to come to the dance. The big topic of conversation in Park Valley is that the phones are back in service after a two week interruption. Bet you didnt know that the telephone lines are strung along the ground rather than on poles in Park Valley. Park Valley -- The telephone company is which ' i services Park I ' .V . Valley . called The Silver Beehive Telephone Company. Was the telephone booth in Park Valley once a clothes closet ? No! Then why the clothes bar . . ? When the phones do work in Park Valley, however, it takes less than of a second to reach the operator in Salt Lake City. Have you ever timed your phone service? If you havent youd better see if youre getting your moneys worth. A sign in the parade during the Centennial celebration really socked it to you. Out of the kitchen and into the hay . . . Who said Womens Liberation came out of the cities ... Qlt&gfflB e0 SERVICE STATION LOCATED IN THE CENTER OF DOWNTOWN WENDOVER OPEN 24 HOURS A DAY DURING RACE WEEK AUGUST - REGULAR HOURS 7 a.m. - 1 1 23-2- 8 p.m. |