Show millions of undeveloped wealth at our door we arc are on the vl victory korv highway we have haxe been to the uintah dinosaur quarry and are buck back in the scattered settlement ot of janen on the wet bank of green creen river we consult our road maps ani ind find that we e arc are in eastern uintah count only about seventeen miles from the state of colorado while looking at the map we disc discover that tle centar 0 of utah s famous oil I 1 shale depo its and oll onite mines Is only about fifty miles south of us so we decide if it e to NI it the place alpon inquiry we learn that the road in nirla dmd cod slap sl 0 ap and that the distance can be corned in about tao t end and a half haur with this information we c head our v m machine achin toward tre rive rie the steel bridge and strike for the south we retrace our ray along the victory highway and down don the rivers cour coure e for two and a halt half miles here tie t ie highway t orrs eat cat but we continue south still follow the winding tree lined river for the near y five miles and then begin a climb to the top of a high rolling table land over which W e are to travel for the next thirty miles mil c s at places on this elevation we can see tor for miles and miles in almost any direction the hills one beyond the other fade into haze and que e feel that u we e are surely on top of the world scant sagebrush prickly cacti dwarf greasewood and pitches patches ct cf scrub junipers give ghe meager covering to the landscape and remind us that we e are tr traveling meling over stretches that receive e but very little rain for n ales milts we w e see tee no signs of water and we wonder how the occasional lizard hare cottontail prairie dog or sage sparrow we encounter along the way can live in such a desert country at place the road is badly worn and gives evidence of old age this observation reminds one of our party that the narrow trail over which we are tire now pasing pa sing was mas once ane 1 pal roadway into the uintah basin for many years ears two stages ran regularly each day over mer this road one from watson to the basin and one from the basin to watson besides these there were many freight wag 29 f ons white tops and passenger vehicles seen along the route but conditions have certainly changed eight or nine vears ears ago a splendid highway was opened through indian canyon and over oser to helper and price this together with rapid automobile travel has taken almost all traffic over the new road only about two aarons or automobiles per week now go over the old route but in spite of mis limited traffic our road in general is in re remarkably good tood hape shape we clip along over Ws bound curve curves and across sways at t i it lively rate A a point twenty i in fi ajl s diz ont from jenan jeri en ue el pirl a big flat annly sr earing shed end conclude that the N ilder nem which illich vc we ere ore wt mang ong mus ba I 1 anter v range for thousands of EI h 7 while we think of sheep and the h b ul rs rg of their fleeces from thi i is claten place air machine speed on ecward the tle dev der I 1 in A few minutes wp v r pre re gliding ond end bouncing 1 fils this orfil area we r r t tr tr tair ir i which jt ry r hag has caned cn ud the battlements towers mounds and the tile like that n nw av nd us and feel awed in the stillness that criers all the subdued hun litan of our machines emphasizes this quietness and we sense a slight relief when vc th devils kitchen and see the numerous piles of yellowish bilcich and irray 1 1 ris r nir ng from the almost leel bed of dried mud these I 1 biscuits loaves cup cakes I 1 and the pan I 1 in which they stand arc are destitute of any vegetation of any sort and surely loot look as if they I 1 ed ad been in some sort of a fley y place since we e have in ie de dere ire to dine ith his majesty we hasten from th alv kitchen and continue ou journey over tl the tle e hill to the boutt near the roadway we see the remalia of an old stone building this a few 3 ears ago was as the half halfway say house between watson and vernal in the day of stages it wall as a busy place but is now in a dilapidated condition soon tb tl deserted deer ted house Is behind us ind we are speeding along the old stage route off in the distance ve we tee iee three poles standing in tripod fashion and near them a pile of glistening let jet black substance presently ve we aie e opposite the p ie le and in line with ath a black streak that extends in a conspicuous straight line oner 01 er hills and mountains both to the right and to the left of us our machines halt and me examine some of the black material picked bp up from the roadside from its bright luster deep black color brittle and light weight we soon conclude it Is gilsonite and the black streak over mer the hills and mountains Is th upper edge of a gilsonite ein A halt half mile furt further on a e come to three stone buildings rather close together torether four men are in the yard tie tle color of their facas hands and clothing tells us they work with gilsonite and ve we soon learn that the mire in which they are emp 0 ed ta shot sho t di distance to the west and in eln kout of the one we lust just law saw we speak cf of visiting this mine but are advised to so go further on to one of continued on an a pac J 3 millions of undeveloped wealth at our door continued from page 1 the older and baiger workings or kings in a moment or two we cross another vein th the one in which the tour four men are employed tris like the tart mark marks its presence with a pronounced black streak over hill and mountain and it extends in the same northwest southeast direction ar at did the other leaving this we soon begin a sl aught ight don doan hill grade an for or a few miles follow a dry creek bed into a beautiful but rather small box boc can vincon on this in turn leads into a wide open canyon which we me follow follos another few miles to white Ri only water we ue have seen since we ue left green river a distance of more than thirty eight miles A tine fine growth of cottonwoods along the river tempts us to hall halt in their shade but we me must hurry on across the rivers bridge me e are halted in the deserted village of white river formerly known as perga O which according to indians means a desirable place A gate ac a a aa the roadway reminds us that thi old stage route Is 13 now a dollway and that we are expected to help pay tor for its upkeep mr henry 11 wolf tile accommodating man to in charge of the toll station explains that the place some eight or nine years scars ago was a busy place toi fol freighters and travelers but at the present he his dog and a collection of ep the ones left to tell the tale after an ing questions r garding ln the history of the place mr wolf calls our attention to the normous nor moua deposits of oil shale in this part of the state he points out to the huge mountains about us and arid says hev are made principally of oil siale we readily see that some of the high eleva tons are topped with a sort of red material matt mat rial trial this Is red sand but the grayish and vol lowish me mass i below are oil bearing vegetation wa mal oberee grows in the sandstone for mittens but the light colored mountain sides and hills are almost bearer bearen of plant life this we me learn Is due to I 1 such u h an abundance of mineral oil in ili t the he rocks and soil toll i this information is very interesting ito to us so we me ask more questions our new nerl friend answers us by telling us griat the light soil soll on which we me now stand Is 13 made from shale that it contains considerable oil and that th tl country through which we have traveled during the last fifteen or twenty emilei Is comp oed largely of the same sort of material he ile explains that the extensive deposits to the north are uintah and to the are green it i ver these are of dl di terent ferent ages age s and those of the green river deposits are much the richer in oil content thee expressions arouse our curiosity and we leam learn that the sere ere once the bottom of some vast nast area of water sater which aich teemed with ith plant and animal life As the living organisms all fillod d they settled to the bottom of the water and became mixed with an ever increasing layer of lit and mud the bodies ut of these plants and animals contained certain quantities of 0 oil aru era this as te t ie bodies decayed with the mud and became a part of it in course of time the thick deposit of oil saturated mud under tremendous pressure and some heat changed to soft rock because the mud va was as deposited in water vater and because the heat was not particularly intense the rock thus formed is in layers and because of the presence of so much oil the layen er became blakey and thus formed the one of our party suggests that the pie crust his mother makes is blakey or shaley tor for the same reason this old old lake bottom like other very old lake bottoms was not to remain in a level position under the water changes in the earths crust were ere to be node trade and buhat was as the thick oil cliar fd td mud or soft rock bottom of the lak was lifted tilted and fald folded to form the impressive mountain masses manes of this part 0 utah such an explanation emphasizes th the tremendous us extent of these shale siale deposits and and causes mr wolf to state that the mineral oil tied i ri in them Is enormous in quantity when asked tor for figures he replies look over the vast area of mountains and then use your imaginations the figures quoted are too big to be comprehended at the rate of oil consumption the tin ply in this shale field would undoubtedly keep the whole world orld going for many years the leaon that the decosi 9 are not being developed is the cost of them and the present pr parr oil gasoline and the like considerable money has ben been to try to find some inexpensive way of e tracking the oil from the shab but as let no satisfactory solution has been met there seems to be little doubt that some day the problem lm will be solved and the that many oil and slid extracting tr and refining plants will be located here and there over tha vast st area binm in which we are now so to inter 1 d I we thank mr wolf tor for his he paul information and hasten on journey our machines climb up tp and ro down hiie of oil shale and oil shale we me see almost everywhere it Is around every enery curve cure and n every etry nearby and discart mountain we pass through a deep canyon wash vash with aith walls wails which tower on either side of us the same sort of mit cral serving as its th h road od end I 1 torn form the gray wills which roseron tower on either side of us aj as we me glide down doan th tha na barov ari ditale finally we me come to waban bairn it Is 1 3 iti itt abed in an open box cat von yon and is ir rounded by oil hale shale the pace is almost deserted since the uie davs das of the stage nearly all the buildings ha have e become vacated the population on ordinary days totals only eight souls but on train dayi days it often doubles that number B by train days we me I 1 learn arn is 13 meant the days on which the t train rain comes to that place thil thu is every other day the me train Is composed usually of one passenger car a freight car for hauling supplies and a string 0 empty flat cars tor for onite it odines from mack colorado on the niran nir ln line of the denver and rio asne 3 ide western hallway railway and travels over a barrow gauge track we see a few ot of the empty hat flat cars can at the station and realize that we are near one ot of the older alls onite mines nunes I 1 the keeper of 0 the only store at watton tells us that that mine Is aboudi about four and a halt miles to the south southwest Ret and kindly directs us to the roadway leading to it the way is up a narrow canyon cut through oil shale end and tori considerable distance Is not wide ide enough for one automobile to pup pups s another the noises of our machines tell us the grade up the dry creek bed of the canyon Is steep and the many abrupt curved make us somewhat anxious but before long the can canon on widens and we feel safe we speed up toward the summit turn to u the south cross a steep railway track climb to the top of a juniper covered hill and get our first view of the settlement of rainbow in a few minutes we me find curf hes in front of the office of the company which operates the famous mines we have come to visit mr homer D ford superintendent of the workings sor kings comes to the porch and bids us welcome elcome he ile knows knos why py we came to rainbow and invites us into the guilding to change our clothing preparatory to entering the mine utah educational review |