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Show CASTLE VALLEY TIMES MARCH TIMES Castle Valley, Utah - Volume 2, Number 3 - March 15, 1993 - In like a lamb—watch out! Balancr ng Water, Life of the Valley source in the La Sals, it flows down through Castleton and into the valley. Walking through the valley, I see the desert all around me, the hard baked dirt, agave, sagebrush, rice grass, and The Seventh Day Adventists constructed a diversion about a mile and a half up from their pond/holding tank (also known as Quakie-Shake). Since Spring Equinox, March 20, 1993. The first day of spring. A moment of balance in time and space, equal time for day and night. I like to pause during this bookmark day and reflect. Thoughts distilled Sal Mountains. To the north, soft sand this was built, the total flow of the stream has been diverted for irrigation. and lessons learned from winter’s quiet contemplation time. Some I gratefully cast to the winds of change, others I wish to bring with me into the ap- beaches of the Colorado River. Here on After passing through the valley, the proaching time of growth. In what the desert floor, not only the baked earth but lush fields, gardens, flowers, lawns, and old stands of cottonwoods. creek supplies White’s ranch and then ways would I like to grow in awareness runs on to its destiny, the river. There is another major stream system in the valley, Placer Creek. in the upcoming cycle? Spring Equinox: a time of infinite juniper. A place of contrasts. To the southeast, we have the snowcapped La We are surrounded by lithified sand dunes, red rock towers, and cliffs. This area has long been a desert. How many changes has this valley known? Seas have swept in and out. Mountains were born and slowly crumble. At one time there were even a few small glaciers melting in the La Sals. In the not so far distant past, Native Americans migrated through While dry most of the time above ground, Placer is assumed to have a substantial subsurface flow which supplies our groundwater. In heavy rains or during snowmelt, there is flow above ground. The creek itself is not well defined and has been known to change its path with each flood. Placer and Castle Creeks join together east of Bailey and Pace Lanes. In a heavy this valley. Some stayed for a while, no doubt farming and hunting. This valley has a long history of providing people rainfall in ’90, John Groo went to look with much satisfaction. For some today it meets all their needs. to find that the din came from Placer Creek as it crashed into Castle Creek, One of the major reasons that it has sustained people so well and for so long and that it supplied about 70% of the flow. "It was actually pushing Castle Creek up to the top of the bank, about 20 feet high.” is its water—snow run-off, natural springs, and a year-round stream. Our ability to mine and channel the water has in the last hundred years Yet another source of water is that creeksides, the valley was to become lush and verdant with alfalfa and have filled their cellars and their homes garden crops. with as much as a foot of mud and water. While the upper reaches of Castle Creek carry snowmelt downstream during winter months, by late Spring when the creek is being used for irrigation, little or no run-off reaches below the Seventh Day Adventists' property. The water further downstream is supplied by springs bubbling up into the creek. These springs occur Water rights in Castle Valley were established by local homesteaders and miners in 1893. Many who moved here in the early stages of development remember the valley as being much greener and lusher than it is now. Eleanor Hedden remembers how green it used to be, and she remembers how Earl Hotz would meander through the valley opening and closing the gates to the old irrigation system. There are dry questions, to abide peacefully with no immediate answers, to feel the quickening of seeds and earth awakening after the winter’s sleep, to welcome the resurrection of the sun. Tuning into the rhythms of nature blesses me with balance and joy. ——Melanie Allardale at the roaring creek. He was surprised which flows down from Porcupine Rim. There are at least eleven major washes in the valley. Residents have been flooded by these run-offs which changed the landscape of the valley. Once dry and barren except for the potential, visions, and hopes for how the gardens will grow within and without, a time to delve into many intermittently throughout the lower Good News! Duane Williams, son of Alan and Mynoa, Currently on scholarship at USU, has recently been . called to serve the Lord for two years, fulfilling a full time mission for the Churcn of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. His call is to the Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Mission. He will be studying Mandarin ' Chinese for work among the Chinese population there. You are invited to hear him speak Sunday, March 21, at 11:50 am. at the CV Branch. ——Mynoa Williams Congratulations to washes, basins, and other remnants of valley. The USGS has put in a couple Chloe Hedden— this old system still. of stream gages, one above the Middle School Castle Creek is the most visible and constant branch of the drainage diversion and one at the lower end. Honor Roll! system here in the valley. From its WATER, Contlnued on Page 7 |
