OCR Text |
Show Fifty Years in Moa b Business Gives Barber Panoramic View of Growth There are well over 200 businesses in Moab, and V. P. (Krug) Walker, from his Main Street shop, has seen all but one of them set up. His Walker Barber Shop is the oldest business in the city with the exception of The Times Independent, which his cousin, L. L. Taylor, Tay-lor, was publishing before Krug began his barbering career. There wasn't much formality form-ality connected with barbering bar-bering before World War I. The only barber shop in Moab then was operated by Earl Harris, in the Main Street Building where the "66 Clulb" now operates. Mr. Harris asked young Krug ne day if he'd like to learn to cut hair.. "Guess I'll try it", Krug answered, and Ibegan his 50-year profession. pro-fession. Pioneering of any type didn't worry him then. His parents were early-day Moab Mo-ab pioneers. His mothr, August Taylor, ' lived in the old fort Iby the Colorado River with her parents when she first came to the Valley, and was a twin to Judge Taylor, prominent in early Moab history. His father, fa-ther, as a sideline to his trade as carpenter, worked with Don Taylor in sheep raising business, and among other things, helped build the first Moab coop Store building. In Castle Valley In 1915 Krug's father bought the general merchan dise store in the little mining min-ing town of Castleton, now a Ghost town up the Colo, river in the foothills of the LaSal Mountains. The store supplied groceries, hardware, hard-ware, mine tools, harnesses and other needs of the day to miners and! ranchers of the area. Castleton was a thriving town then, competing, with Moab for the county seat. It was supply center for scores of miners lured to the LaSals during a gold rush, and! for the eight ranchers ran-chers and dozen Castleton families. The Castleton post office was located in the Wialker store, and the family fam-ily lived in one of the two hotels. There were two saloons salo-ons before prohibition closed clos-ed them down, and a school house where children were educated in the daytime, and put to sleep on benches at night while their parents ,danced. Those dances were the gayest entertainment of the day. People came in wagons and on horseback from Moab, Mo-ab, from LaSal mountain mine camps,, from Dewey, and Richardson, another LaSal La-Sal Mountain ghost town in the present domain of the McPherson Ranches. The merriment started at dark, and lasted until daybreak day-break when it was ' light enough to hitch the horses and go home. Krug's father filled a boiler with water and! heated it on the potbelly pot-belly stove to make coffee. At midnight the women brought out a lavish assortment as-sortment of food for supper Music for the square dances waltzes, 2-steps, and Schot-tisches Schot-tisches was furnished by any number of fiddlers, and by Mart Fish, a rancher and left handed specialist on the banjo and violin. At times Krug remembers they had so- much fun they hung quilts over the windows and danced well into the next morning. Now a Ghost Town Castleton is a ghost town now. There were never any mining strikes of worthy note, and prospecting activities act-ivities gradually diminished A drowth put the upper-ranches upper-ranches out of operation, and only a few lower Castleton Castle-ton ranches exist today A few graves in the cemetery, some crumbling foundations and the log. cabin owned by Billy Mul'ler, Dutchman who rode horseback to Moab for years to serve on the school board, are all that remain of the once active town. Recently the County Commission turned the 60-year-old street and alley light of ways back to land owners. ' ; - Musical Career The Castleton dances may have been inspiration for Krug's own music career. He learned to play the drums and base tuba in the Moab School band, under John Bailey, then became proficient on the trombone and saxaphone. He was a natural "ear" musician, and by the time he was 12 he was playing in dance bands at WOW and Star Hall. He and his wife Agnes, an accomplished ac-complished jazz pianist,, later formed their own band and for years played for Gold and Green Balls, High School Proms, Arches Ball Room Dances, and in another anoth-er decade at functions in the Legion, Eagles and Town and Country Clubs. The pressure of Krug's barbering barber-ing business during the uranium boom in Moab forced them to dissolve the band, tout old timers insist "Ag and Krug" could . still fill a hall if people knew they were .playing for a dance. Good Entertainment Dances in early days in Moab were wonderful entertainment, en-tertainment, Krug says the men gathered on one side of the hall, the women on the other. When the band began to play the men ohose their partners. Throughout the evening me" present were almost sure to have dianced with most women wo-men there. The social cliques cli-ques were fonming during the last years they played, though, he notes, and the social aspect of the public dance began . to diminish. About the trend of modern mod-ern music, Krug recalls that his. lather, an old-time violin vio-lin player, scoffed' at his music in the "Shine on Harvest Har-vest Moon" era. Krug in turn,- objected to modern jazz played by his sons, Jimmy and : Jerry ; and now Jimmy,' a band leader in his own right, admits he gives his own son, Larry a bad time with his rock and roll varations. It is a common com-mon objection of age versus youth, as these four generations gener-ations of musicians prove, and Krug reasons his grandson grand-son Larry, will probobly carry it on when his own children instigate a new rythm typical of their generation. gen-eration. Krug was just a young man when, he accepted Mr. Harris' offer to teach hini to barber. Harris got him an apprentice license, all that was necessary then, and after a year and a half Krug bought the shop. He worked with Ben March, an old-time licensed (barber, and it was 1926 before the State Inspector happened by to give Krug an examination in the shop and issued him his own barbering license. Goes Into Business Barbering was different in those days; they gave two shaves for every haircut, hair-cut, and always a shave with a cut. Shaving with the straight-edge razor was quite a fete, and men bragged brag-ged of their ability to sharpen sharp-en their razors on the strap. Krug saw his first safety razor when one was issued to him after he enlisted in the Coast Artillery during World War I. He enlisted in 1918, and was stationed at Fort Moul rie, South Carolina, within sight of Fort Sumpler where the first shot of the Civil War had been fired. He was shipped to France as a mem bcr of the band and his outfit out-fit was just moving to the front when the Armistice was signed. He recalls being be-ing on leave that day and on his way with other servicemen ser-vicemen to a little French town. As they neared the town they heard! bells ringing ring-ing and whistles blowing, and knew the war was over. Then the French people gathered ga-thered around them shout ing "Viva LaMeric", and "Finit Duquerre" "Long Live America, the War's O-ver." O-ver." Krug returned to his barbering bar-bering in Moab, and in 1924 bought the Main Street building where the Town TV offices are now located. In 1931 he moved to his present pres-ent location, 61 North Main which he rebuilt and modernized mod-ernized after a fire in the '40's. During his years of barbering bar-bering he has given many two-bit shaves and 50 cent haircuts. There has always been quite a demand for his services in Moab, but it didn't take much to live in the valley in early days. During the depression he often traded haircuts for eggs or meat. His rushing business began be-gan in the '50's with the well - remembered uranium boom in Moab. A line of customers were waiting when he arrived for work each morning, and a houseful house-ful waiting when the doors closed at night. ,He was grateful when ' finally other barbers" opened" shbpV in the busy city. Oddly enough, his boom-town boom-town customers were not the bearded grisley prospect ors one might expect during dur-ing a imining boom. It was the early-day cowboys who challenged his barbering ability. Many of these men rode the Canyon country for months (before they got to town to spruce up. From his Main Street shops, Krug has seen Moab gradually climb from a sprawled village (into its present city status. The town has always had a tend ency to pulsate, he notes. There would be growing spurts, then a stagnate period. Something 1 always came along to give it new life. The early day uranium f activities promoted by How- 1 ardi Balsley was a major boost. It never occurred to the small town barber that Moab would ever develop into much of a city, though he is satisfied that it has a steady future now. Uranium Uran-ium activity will do still more for it, and tourist business bus-iness will play an important role. 'About tourism, Krug says early day Moabites didn't realize the scenery of their country was spectacular. spectacu-lar. As he rod'e cattle herd in Arches National Monument, Monu-ment, bunked in the old Turnbow cabin, and day after af-ter day passed by the now famous Delicate arch, then known to the cowboys as "The School Marm's Bloom-ears" Bloom-ears" the beauty of the area escaped him. Today he thinks Delicate Arch and Dead) Horse Point are two of the wonders of the world. "Sometimes one has to see his own country through a stranger's eye to appreciate it these Canyonlands vis itors had to wake us up." Partially Retired Krug is now partially retired; re-tired; he has sold his shop to Pete Peterson, and works part time himself. He is a member of the American Legion, and he and1 his wife live in the home on First South where they began their married life. She is the daughter of the late Andrew An-drew Somerville, one of the founders of the historical Seorup - Somerville Indian Creek Ranch. Two of his sons live in New Jersey and Texas; a daughter lives in New York. One daughter Patsy (Mrs. Kenneth Allred) lives in Moab. three sons Jack Bill and Jimmy live in Moab. Jimmy has inherited his father's musical ability and with his wife, founded the M, J and K trio, a popular pop-ular dance combo of the , area |