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Show A9 Vernal Express Right: Dragon, Utah as it appeared shortly after it was founded. This new town was located in one of the most remote places in the West and had been brought about by the discovery of gilsonite. Through out its life, it would be serviced by a narrow gauge railroad, known as the Uintah Railway. ... , ffi-- . fiJg ' i : :t Wednesday, April 30, 2008 :"n f - . - e-.-.r- ; -.'! tm vim ' -Bm---- ,- ' ; f t Ghost towns Continued from A8 including motion pictures. Allen Gentry and Shirley Hatch told how their mothers would play the piano at some of these parties. Also Shirley's father. fa-ther. Art Wilson would often play his violin at these gatherings. A baseball diamond was laid out and ball teams from all around would come and participate in this favorite sport. Later, when the town of Watson came into being, there was quite a rivalry between the two when it came to baseball. Other events like horse and foot racing were common and games like tug-of-war and horseshoe pitching were popular. Dragon's populus didn 't lack for entertainment. entertain-ment. There were several men living in tents both at Dragon and the camp at the mine. Also at the mine was an office, a boarding house, a blacksmith shop and a bath house. Later several more log cabins were built along with a scale house and a boiler house withalarge steam boiler that was fired to furnish large amounts of steam when this method of mining was used there. They had a lime kiln where they burnt lime used in those buildings that were made of, block and brick, remains of this old kiln are still evident today. The mine later had a power plant, for at one time they had electric lights down in the mine itself. Later when battery head lamps came into use, the batteries batter-ies were charged at this small power facility. The company had a sawmill on the mountain near Baxter Pass and sawed practically all their lumber used both at the mine and in construction of many of the houses and shops. They also made hundreds of railroad ties at this mill. At McAndrews Lake near the foot of the mountain they had a huge ice house to store ice in the winter for summer use at the towns and mining camps. There wasn't good water for drinking at Dragon or the mines, so they had special tank cars in which to haul water by train from the cool mountain springs near Columbine Col-umbine on the northwestern side of Baxter Pass to places where it was stored for use by those living and working out there. In a short time business was booming at Dragon and its effect was well felt and appreciated in Vernal, Fort Duchesne and the new town of Roosevelt. In fact for many years the jobs, money ! and taxes brought ;about by the ' Uintah Railway ; and Dragon ' and later Watson along with the gilsonite business, was the biggest help and asset that ; Uintah County had. It helped ; tremendously with its growth : and development, plus opened the eyes of the outside world as : to just what was going on out ;in a remote area of Utah and . Colorado. Dragon soon became : Uintah County's No. 2 town. Hen Lee opened up the first saloon and also started the first ; store in which his wife Mae : helped run. He later sold the store and a man by the name : of McGuire would take it over and George Finnicum would : manage it. The mail and postal needs were also taken care of . at the store. In about 1914, the : store was destroyed by fire and : was soon rebuilt to a bigger and ; better facility, which George Finnicum and his son Don oper-' oper-' ated until such time that Dragon was abandoned. When automobiles came into use, Finnicums installed modem ; gasoline pumps for this service, ; in which the gas and oil was : delivered by Harmon Sowards of Vernal. Dragon also had a library and j a barber shop that was operated : by Myron Mott In later years a ; man by the name of Cy Nearing : and his wife Thelma took care of the postal needs. Following ; this, they moved to Jensen and : operated a store. In time another saloon was opened up and oper-: oper-: ated by man named Odem, which ; also burned down, but was soon rebuilt Later a couple of men by : the name of Thomas and Rosen- haur operated a saloon. ; Editor's note: this is part one of four in a series by Long about the ghost town of Dragon. Long anticipates a two-part series later this summer on the town of Watson near Dragon. CORRECTION: The dates for free entry into the Uintah County landfill are May 9-10andl6-17. Landfill users are reminded to cover and properly secure loads with tarps or pay triple fees to enter the landfill. Free landfill days are for yard waste only. ill 789-3511 J MlMHM Hill" - ii i ' in - ! if'- v with $400 purchase of any in stock OWENS CORNING 30 YEAR 0AKRIDGE SHINGLES Via mail-in rebate. Offer valid 5108- 5508 Limit 1 per household. See store for details. - -rat , ri'' " .isi x - 1 X. s r 1 1 mm Let's Build Something Together . Fes I KEUA 'I Any size any style . SPECIAL VALUE! now $797 was $997 4" x 4" x 8' Top Choice Treated Hem Fir 29914 SPECIAL VALUE! now $18 All In-Stock Molded Hollow-Core Interior Door Slabs SPECIAL VALUE! now yv-.--7 v - - - - " ' -inna'jLJunfc1 f L J ' aw- fcVJ" -' ' - - 1 wt (- . j , I " " " i b ' ; a ' '! f- , . 1 f 1 f 'V.'', 1 - . 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SPECIAL now was $62 Werner 4' Fiberglass Stepladder 250 lb. load capacity Heavy dutyindustrial use 'Includes Tool-Tra- Top, convenient tray for toolspaint can 971 00 I ; u if Vf Pncm moy wny altar 552008 If there ore mnrkot vnnaliora W prices In this irtvnrtisement were in effect on torn nut may vary based on l owe'n fcvmydny l ow Pnm Mm S "tow for ttW wxtag product While Lowe's strives to be accurate, unintentional errors may occur. We reserve the riqhl to correct 'any error. Prices and promotions apply to US locations only. We reserve the right to limit quantities, 2008 by Lowe's. All lights reserved. Lowe's and the gnhle design arc toqintormi trademarks ol LF, LLC. 0?0 1 91 001180591093 . |