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Show FACES & PLACES V-- r Solid Mft: John C. Peterson of Mapleton, top, and Tom Chivers of Aurora check out a solid wall of salt In the Redmond Minerals Inc. mine. "There's an 800-yea- r supply of salt here," Peterson says. Pat Christian Local legend links Sundance Kid to Sanpete town Sunday, April IK, IW, lilt- DAILY f t 1 ,, By PAT CHRISTIAN The Daily Herald spoke with residents LaMar Bosshardt, 83, and his brother Milo, 82, who remember Bebee. They constantly heard rumors that the strange man with a beard was Sundance. CLARION, Sanpete Wind sways County blades of wild grass around the headstone marked with the Star of David. It, and one other lonely headstone, are about all that's left to identify Utah's only Jewish settlement, the ghost town of Clarion. Edward H. Lieberman, the son of Sam and Rose Lieberman, died in 1913, and is buried under a Hebrew inscription. His headstone is a stark reminder that a Jewish settlement between the Mormon communities of Gunnison and Redmond once thrived here, then disappeared. A HIH J. f iK 2 1L i 'I- THE BOSSHARDTS founded the commercial salt mining operation at Redmond. One reason for the emergence of the Sundance-Bebe- e stories was SEVERAL YEARS AGO, Keith outlaw duo's escape routes from Green River to Hanksville. We visited the ruins of a remote sheepherder's cabin Butch and Sundance were said to have used in their escapes. All that was left was a chimney. At Green River, Hooker introduced me to the late Pearl Baker, who wrote The Wild Bunch at Robbers Roost. Baker also wrote a book about Hooker's exploits as an Alaskan bush pilotdoctor and they were good friends. Hooker is an emergency room doctor at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. See KID, A 14 IV Wild grass all that's left of Jewish town On a recent visit to Redmond, I Hooker, a friend of mine, took me down to Robber's Roost, one of the uli 5' Maybe Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid didn't die in Bolivia in 1909, as the George Roy Hill film leads us to believe. I just know the scene where Robert Redford loads his two and then fires 17 shots can't be all that historically accurate. Maybe the Kid, born Harry Longabaugh, actually died in Utah State Prison in 1945 after living in Redmond, Sanpete County, for a spell as the colorful Hiram Bebee. Residents said Bebee ran around in his briefs and carried two IN 1980, a story in the Salina Sun quoted town resident Lorna Draper and Marwood Hales. ' Hales said there was no doubt Bebee was Sundance. She said her grandmother, who lived in Hanksville, knew the Wild Bunch and cooked for them when they came through town. Draper said Bebee was about 77 years old when he rented a house in Redmond from her relatives. She said Bebee later moved to Mt. Pleasant, where he was convicted of shooting the town marshal in 1945. He eventually died in state prison. In his book The Rise and Fall of the Sundance Kid, writer Edward M. Kirby also says Bebee was Sundance. If nothing else, it's a nice folk tale that people in Redmond still talk about today. But stories that Butch and Sundance returned after their reported death in 1909 and were seen in Utah abound. I : REDMOND Beebee's noted prowess with pistols that and the fact that he never worked but always had money. "He was said to shoot cans up in the air," LaMar said. "He'd throw 'em up and go ping, ping, ping until the can finally came down." Butch and Sundance became legend with their bank and train robberies in the 1890s. Some histories said they both committed suicide after being surrounded in Bolivia. These histories say they're buried in San Vincente. In Utah, stories that they stayed here or were spotted there became and still are as common as Elvis sightings. And the Bosshardts aren't the only ones to say Bebee was actually Sundance. I'rm.i. Memory Eighty-three-year-o- JsJrPmm.:. ' ? Sri-.-- ' Crumbling past: This abandoned (.W.tfcJT. , .7 y 'W )L . v. uTT - . TZXiM." - facility stands amid modern salt mining equipment at the Redmond Minerals mine in Redmond, Sanpete County. PAT CHRISTIANThe Daily Herald Sanpete mine toiir sets salt record straight Take a lick, that wall is pure salt By PAT CHRISTIAN The Daily Herald REDMOND Mr. Salt, John Peterson, doesn't even come close to having those blues. He really does work at the salt mines. The mines are deep underground here in Sanpete County. It's a lengthy drive from his family home in Mapleton. He also maintains a small house at Redmond. But to give Peterson a fair shake, you've got to say he just loves salt. In fact, he's a walking encyclopedia about it. We were all sitting around the table for lunch at world-famou- s Mom's Cafe in Salina eating their steak. prize chicken-frie- d Peterson and colleague Tom Chivers of Aurora had just given me a morning underground tour of the Redmond Minerals Inc. salt mine. They're both in marketing and sales. Doing lunch c.t Mom's, where they often eat, the conversation was of course about salt. On the wall of the cafe is a National Geographic magazine cover with a photo of the cafe landmark. On each table in Mom's is a shaker of Redmond Mk ; salt. "Local Indians mined the salt at our mine before the early pioneers dug it," inhabitants. Before the mine tour, I thought salt was white and granulated. It had always been that way in my salt ' f. shaker, at least, , But Mr. Salt was trying ' to set the record straight. In its natural state, salt is a solid suspended in an ocean or other waters, he explained. It can take a variety of forms because of other natural ' ingredients besides the IMWIillM1llliirillilTiHilMi jUTCHMSfUNlte Duly MraM Directions: A sign in RedfTKXKjfluktestruckato he underground salt rhines; . . RcMimonci County Sanpete Getting there: Take l1 jwwarit south to exit 222. souft-6- b basic sodium chloride. Peterson drove me in a pickup truck deep in an underground mine tunnel wide enough for two large trucks to pass each other. We were surrounded by rock, whitish with red and brown marbling. 8le-R6'-u Iaye 2 5 I to tfwfighway 83"junctic x Continue south about 7 miles to Ine Redmond tu n off. Tima 1 Season! Theta is a July 4 parade and I festivities. . salt-saturat- ed Enroute: Check out the old movie theater in Gunnison. i Comment See RodmortH Reservoir the Jewish ghost DAVID KENNAMyrke Mir tIcnM But the rock was actually salt. It didn't look like salt. I got put and put my tongue, to the wall. I LaMar Bosshardt, who lives in nearbv Redmond, said he remembers going with his father to the Jewish community when he was 8 or 9. "I remember walking up to a house above Clarion Road and my dad talking with them," Bosshardt said. "I think they spoke both Yiddish and English." He said they dressed about like everybody else in Sanpete County at the time. "They were rich and had the newest farm equipment. They didn't associate much with outsiders and I remember Dad saying they were poor farmers," Bosshardt said. 'y Lost dream Between 100 and 150 people arrived in Clarion in 1911, most of them from New York and Philadelphia, to form a cooperative colony. i Peterson said between delicious bites. "A salt rock from the Redmond mine was found at Mesa Verde," he added, saying it appears that Redmond salt was traded widely by Utah's first ld .Kwaoi i;iaaoiyanflLtneJ Mine. Redmond It was salt, I confirmed. Peterson and Chivers said their workers drill See SALT, A14 They hoped to kindle an exodus from the overcrowded East Coast urban slums and sweatshops. Led by Benjamin Brown, the Jews cleared 1,500 acres with their newly bought farm equipment. Mostly city dwellers, they tried to farm, but floods, harsh winters and poor soil hindered their efforts. There are also historical reports that the absence of locks on irrigation canals allowed neighboring farmers to take more than their allotted share of irrigation water. By 1915, most of the colonists gave up rural life and bought railroad tickets back to the cities. But a few stayed on until about 1920. Brown stayed and organized the Utah Poultry Association, which evolved into the Intermountain Farmers Association. Maurice Warsha moved to Salt Lake City and built the Grand Central department store chain. Today, only two headstones, a few dilapidated houses and the foundations of the old school building remain. . |