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Show SALT FLAT NEWS, DECEMBER, 1972 ft s by Ken Donoghue (Wine Editor) with M. L. Singleton and published by the University of California Press, Amerine says there is evidence that the Zinfandel variety of grape was already in California before Haraszthys sittings came in 1862. But fact never kills off charming and harmless fantasies like the Zinfandel fantasy. It wears the mask of beauty and the Agoston Haraszthy. Who was he? Haraszthy was an Hungarian immigrant to California who settled in San Diego in 1849. (on his way to California he stopped long enough, it is said, to found Sauk Cit Wbwww"" .' ' i 't'i's ? ? " ; ? ,t v ! vj? st ' 1 , !; .' Wisconsin.) From San Diego Haraszthy moved northward to Sonoma m - . v ,o-- ,y s -- ,???! ' .. JT - V . Growing trees, killing rattlesnakes, are the main industries engineering oasis in the desert. . at Simpson Springs, Utah. BLM is 7 was a teenage hermit ft ff gpSMDilg)Richard by tflie Ifl IFlitS Menzies Floyd Nippers doesnt fit the usual definition of a hermit; hes beardless, doesnt shoot at strangers, and is only seventeen and a half years old. But young Floyd is a hermit, nonetheless, not so much because he likes it but owing to occupational circumstance. Nippers is employed by the Bureau of Land. Management as chief administrator and caretaker of a place called Simpson Springs, Utah. Simpson Springs, for years a major watering hole along the old pony express and overland stage route, and sometime home for station agents, was in more recent times a remote camp for young recruits of the Civilian Conservation Corps. In prt World War II days, the CCC boys n eked out a living mining gravel, which was shipped to Southern California to be used as artificial grass. But the rain tended to dissolve the stuff, explains Floyd, and the ambitious project was destined to fail. These days, the entire Simpson Springs population of one is engaged in a project even more ambitious: Nippers is trying to grow real grass, and real trees, in an attempt to create a tourist oasis in the desert. So far, since he and his family undertook the project three years ago, a small circle of welcome greenery has pea-gree- cropped up, and things are looking better all the time. Floyd says that traffic along the old road has increased considerably in recent years, and that in the summer hardly a day goes by that he doesnt see at least one car. Arid on weekends, its almost crowded. Floyd is usually relieved of his duties by his parents on weekends, but come Monday, Hes back in his trailer, surrounded on all sides by sagebrush and sand, and with no company other than his two dogs. His nearest neighbor is the U.S. Army at Dugway proving grounds, just across Skull Valley Total population of Simpson Springs, FloydNippers and friend take to the west Floyd admits he a rest break from gardening duties. Traffic is up to almost one car a sees a lot of weird things but day. doesnt specify. He keeps busy To the thirsty wayfarer, watering saplings and killing ratSimpson Springs with its poltlesnakes, five so far. luted water is a welcome treat. Otherwise, recreation possiAdd to that a spare bunk to sit bilities here are limited. Floyd out a thunderstorm, a steaming has no means of transportation, cup of coffee, and someday, no electricity, and neither teleshade, and the desert is a friendphone nor radio communicalier .place thanks .to the, teen-age- d tions with the outside world: He hermit of Simpson Springs. does have this own swimming ' County where, in 1857, he established the Buena Vista vineyard. In 1858 he wrote a pamphlet on grape growing, which came to the attention of the then Governor of California, a certain Downey. Downey appointed Haraszthy to a committee to study grape growing. Haraszthy convinced the governor to send him to Europe to purchase grape cuttings. In 1862 Haraszthy brought back about 200,000 cuttings and these, along with the cuttings he had all along been privately importing, furnished the basis of Californias wine industry. Haraszthy presented his bill to the California State Legislature for his European trip and for the cuttings. But he never received a penny for either. So much for goofy Americans being swindled by the slick European. According to rumor Haraszthy went from bad to worse after this rebuff and had to flee California in 1868. He is supposed to have died in a crocodile infested river in Nicaragua in 1869. Let us then shed a real tear for Agoston Haraszthy, who did so much for the wine drinkers of America and received so little in return. Another legacy that Haraszthy left Americans is the Zinfan-de- l fantasy. Here is a typical version of it. When Haraszthys shipment of truth appears ugly. By the early 1900 s the California wine industry was flourishing. It had already survived a near fatal disaster the phylloxera-or vine louse about which more later. But waiting to pounce upon the newly recovered vineyards after World War I was Prohibition, which almost put them out of existence. JUNIPER GARDEN CO. Neat Trees, Schrubs, Geanup, hauling, etc. 364-482- 2 FREE ESTIMATE riM EXPERT REPAIRS cuttings arrived in California from Europe, he found that the tags identifying the cuttings various parentages had fallen off. Even so he identified them all, with the exception of one. Haraszthy christened the illegitimate cutting Zinfandel. Unfortunately for this story which readers on American wines will find scattered throughout the literature in one Professor version or another A. Amerine, a very Maynard careful scholar of American wines, vines, and the California wine industry, doubts it. In his book Wine, An Intro duction for Americans written CAT A EAST: 4419 So. 2950 E. Salt Lake City, Utah 84117 272-362- 1 WEST: 757 So. State Salt Lake City, Utah 841 1 359-104- 5 TOURING & RACING ACCESSORIES A SPECIALTY fOft JAKC ftiD ' BSULS RESERVATIONS ACCEPTED 917 SOUTH STATE PHONE 355-073- 6 1 |