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Show Final tribute to two great people Dear Editor: We have recently lost several wonderful people from our midst. Many of these spent most of their lifetime in the Uintah Basin area, and helped make it what it is today. I for one mourn the passing of these fine individuals, not so much due to life itself, because most of them had lived long and industrious lives and in most cases their bodies were tired and ready for that peaceful rest. The thing I feel bad about mostly is the fact that with each passing of these pioneers as many of them were, it marks a closer end to an era, or maybe I should say an end to direct communication com-munication to our historic past. Soon all we will have will be written documentation documenta-tion of the basins early years and those who helped take part or witnessed it even as children, will be gone. What a great and special group they are. None greater as far as I am concerned. I would like to pay tribute to two special persons who recently passed on. Mrs. Pauline Hazelbush and Crawford G. MacKnight. I knew both very well and had several interesting talks with each one. Mrs. Hazelbush helped me very much on an article I did a few years back on the history of the Willow and Hill Creek area. How I marveled at her sharp memory and keen mind as she recalled things that had happened in her early past while living in the upper Willow Creek area. She rode horseback 75 miles as a bride to their ranch in the Bookcliff area. This was back when roads in that area were almost non-existent. I'm afraid there wouldn't be many marriages mar-riages today if the bride had to make such a trip, but she loved it. They had to ride 10 miles in order to get their mail and many times the children- rode horseback long distances in order to attend school. All this and do their share of chores around the home besides. Ordinarily they only came to town twice a year for supplies. This was in the spring and fall. The trip required two full days one way. No running to the store for every little want or whim like we do now. They forged a home out of the wilderness and raised a fine respectible family. They knew what hard work and hard times were. There were no conveniences conve-niences and they had to be self sustaining. sustain-ing. Yet she told me and with a twinkle in her eye, that if she had to do it over again, she would do it exactly the same. She was well respected by all who knew her, both her neighboring ranchers and the Indian people in the locality. One of the ranchers who had lived near the Hazelbush place would say to me when some item of question would come up pertaining to my story about Willow Creek, to check with Pauline, that if anyone knew or could recall the event as it should be, it would be her. All of them expressed their deep admiration ad-miration for her. .This fine woman didn't go through life without much more than what was her share of sorrow. She lost her first husband before she was thirty years old, leaving her with a small family. She lost a son during World War II and her second husband, Mr. Hazelbush passed away over 20 years ago. But all this, she accepted and if she felt self pity, pi-ty, she didn't let it show. She kept active and lived out a long and busy life. Yes, what a wonderful and proud woman she was. The other person recently passing away with whom I was close friends was Crawford G. MacKnight, known to his friends as Crof. I worked with him at Bonanza many years ago and how I cherish the chats we had. With his passing, pass-ing, goes one of the last sources of the fabulous Brown's Park history first hand, as he spent his early life there. His mother, the famous Josie Morris knew this area and its inhabitants as well as any person who ever lived, as the Basset family was among the original settlers there. She knew it like the back of her hand. Crawford knew of many of the outlaw element in the park and could recall many of the events that happened. Such as the hanging of Jack Bennett at his grandfather Basset's ranch and the shooting of a park rancher, Valentine Hoy by the notorious Harry Tracy, probably pro-bably the most cold blooded killer to ever frequent that area. He could remember the mysterious Tom Horn and his hanging in 1903 at Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was Horn who tracked down and helped bring in the famous Apache Chief Geronimo years earlier. It was felt that he was responsible for several killings in the Brown's Park area. Crawford told me about a Negro by the name of Baker who died sort of mysteriously and due to the condition of his body being in the hot sun several days, he as buried in an old buckboard box at the spot where his remains had been found. He could well recall the merciless slaying and robbery of store keeper John Jarvie and the finding of his body many days later along the Green River in a row boat. These were but a few of the many exciting and interesting items that we talked about during the years we knew each other. He had in his possession a set of arm cuffs which he prized very highly. These cuffs belonged to Isom Dart, a negro cowboy with a legendary background who had spent a long time in the park. Dart was one of the park residents killed by Tom Horn. These cuffs which cowboys wore to protect their forearms from thorny like bushes, had the initials I.D. carved into each. Crawford carried the mail for a couple of years by horse back from Maybell, Colorado to Brown's Park. You might sav it was northwest Colorado's Col-orado's pony express. He and his wonderful wife, Flossie, raised a fine family, and have spent most of their married life at their beloved belov-ed Jensen home near the mouth of Brush Creek on the Dinosaur road. Like Mrs. Hazelbush he ' was an extraordinary extraor-dinary person and between them they witnessed many historic and exciting happenings, yes things that none of us will ever see. These are just a few of the vast experiences ex-periences that these two poeple went through and I am sure much the same could be said about many of the other early residents that have left us for the great beyond as it's so many times referred to. This is one reason, as I mentioned earlier that I mourn their passing. Soon this valuable source of first hand information will be lost, and all we'll have is what we read from books. This plus the fact that they were an exceptional group of people. In closing I'd like to say to them, "farewell old, true and faithful friends," how well you deserve the name of 'real pioneers and builders of the basin'". GEORGE E. LONG |