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Show - tUffe Page A6 -- Thursday, May 5, Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas Many Trails by Ollie Harris by Adrien F. Taylor THE GOLD CRACK comparison to the forward movement of the Moab Area Partnership for Seniors (MAPS) work on a new community and senior center, the progress towards a new hospital has seemed markedly slow. This weeks announcement, on page A1 of this issue, seems to indicate that the project may be getting off the ground. Thats good news, but the story about the HUD team, combined with other concerns heard in the commun ity, brings me to ask a number of questions that really need answers to before Im ready to jump on the bandwagon. The first may be semantics, and thats the name: Moab Regional Medical Center. To serve whom? What is our region? Do we really have enough patients, or potential patients in our region to support the facility currently envisioned by the medical community in Moab? Or is this name just something to make us feel grandiose? We are part of St. Marys Hospitals service delivery region, and for some specialties we are part of the Salt LakeDenverDurango mega medical regions. What size hospital do we really need? The g mailing that went out some glossy months ago says we are going to have 25 acute-car- e care beds in the new hosand 24 long-terthink the pital. community deserves to know how those figures were arrived at, especially since there is more and more talk about need for nursing home beds. Other questions: How will this hospital pay for itself? Is it paying for itself now? If so, how much profit is going into a fund to build a new hospital? What guarantees do we have that the new hospital when built will be self sustaining? What will the medical community do to entice Moab residents to use the local facility rather than take their special needs to St. Marys, Salt Lake, In etc.? Exactly what is the HUD funding? What other sources of funds are out there? Has the new hospital proposal been turned down by other funding sources, and if so, why? There has been talk abut surplus property. What is it worth? Should it be used to help fund new construction? What do local residents think about pital? I are the nursing-hom- e munity going to be met? a new hoscom- flood plain concerns? What about the 1 If FEMA is worried about them, why havent they been addressed earlier in the process than now? g mentioned the piece mailed out earlier. have questions about what it says simply because there are three errors of fact in the introductory material. When one is putting out supposedly factual material for the public, it is well to be sure that the facts are right. These may be minor, but they are errors nonetheless: 1 . Moab was settled in 1 880, not 1 860; 2. It was Cecil Thomson who donated land for the new hospital, not Cecil Thomas; and 3. The thing should read A hospital has served this community for over 85 years .... not Allen Memorial Hospital has served this community for over 85 years So, there are some questions. know there are others with different questions. And now that the fund raising may indeed be really starting to get moving, it's also time for answers. 00-ye- ar I fund-raisin- I fund-raisin- m I ..." I The way it . . . Sam Remembers by Sam Taylor number of years ago, on one of my solo outings, crossed Mill Creek just above were the Kens Lake diversion dam now sits after crossing Flat Pass. The track from the creek up into the rough country underneath the La Sal Mountain mesas was pretty rough. got out and continued on foot and stumbled across what appeared to be the base of a rock tower and other signs of human activity. stopped on my way out at Junior Meadors small farm along Mill Creek for a visit. asked Junior about it. He said it was the base for the old tram that was used to ferry items from South Mesa into Mill Creek canyon. Being the curious type, did some research on the tram, which I had never heard of, and found an interesting account of early Moab area history in Grand Memories, published by the Moab Daughters of Pioneers. Here it is: There was only one ranch on South Mesa. John Tangren received a patent on the land. He built a big reservoir and cleared about 100 acres to plant in alfalfa. John soon had huge stacks of hay to feed his fine saddle stock and big work teams. In 1 91 6, they sold the ranch, work horses, saddle stock, and several hundred head of cattle to the Murphy brothers. Murphys soon discovered the inconvenience of the rutted and lengthy route over which they were forced to transport themselves and their produce. Felix Murphy, the oldest brother, came up with an idea. Why not rig up a tramway and lower crops over the edge of South Mesa to Mill Creek? Felix installed a big binder wheel on top of the mesa at a point where the waters of Mill Creek rush out of a deep canyon. four-whe- el I two-fo- I I I ot load. built the first usable road over Flat Murphys Pass and to the foot of the mesa to the tram. They used the tram until Nate Knight Sr. contracted to build a road across Mill Creek and Horse Creek up-goi- to join the Brumley Ridge road, which then completed the Loop Road. Nate then built a road from Webb Hollow to North Mesa, making it possible for all the settlers on Wilson Mesa to haul their produce to Moab in the summertime. The Sand Flat road was still used during the winter. During 1 971 the road was widened and improved so that its now a good road to travel at any time of the year." The ranch homesteaded by Tangren is now owned by the South Mesa Ranch Land and Cattle Company. The company has a much easier time getting their produce to town than did the Murphys. r (UPS) 6309-200- ISSN 0) 1538-183- 8 Entered as Second class Matter at the Post Office at Moab, Utah under the Act of March 3, 1 897. Second class postage paid at Moab, Utah 84532. Official City and County Newspaper. . Published each Thursday at: 35 East Center Street, Moab, Grand County, Utah 84532 address: editormoabtimes.com ail four-wheel- er When I have either grown tired or filled my down-goin- the five-gallo- handful. Heber Murphy, the ranch manager, took his ranch crew to cut and haul logs, which were lowered over the rim to Felix and his younger brother, Otho. They built eight towers in a straight line down the face of the cliff. Each tower contained eight-inc- h pulleys rigged to the two arms of the A towers. binder wheel was placed at the bottom of the tram. With an endless cable the young men began lowering their produce a vesical distance of 2000 feet. The cable was equipped with twelve hooks that carried a total of some 1200 pounds at a time. Gravity supplied the power for the tram and a homemade brake slowed the load so that not one load was lost. The tram could raise supplies or equipment at the same time produce was being lowered prog load was heavier than viding that the I I recently spent a few pleasant hours gathering six or seven gallons of dirt from the cracks in the bedrock, in the bottom of the wash, for processing in my gold pan. Everything about panning for gold is pleasant. It starts with gathering all of the stuff I need for cleaning out the cracks. I take hammers, screwdrivers, pry bars, bottle brushes, a broom, spoons, shovels, two or three plastic ice cream buckets and maybe a n bucket. Grab something for lunch and some drinking water and I am ready. The drive to the site is also pleasant. I travel out of town to the end of the pavement. I take a gravel road that soon turns into a rutted From that I take an ancient road that crosses the wash. This year the track down into the wash is almost invisible, all grown over with I continue over grass. If Im on my the bedrock a short distance down the wash. I place all of my tools on the rock, sit down beside the crack and go to work, if you can call it that. Predictably, the day will be fair. Even if theres wind 111 be protected down in the wash. The sun will warm my back. Ill be alone and it will be very quiet. The crack I worked on this last time was wide enough to allow my hand inside. I began by clearing away the top one or two inches of sand and gravel. Then I began prying embedded rocks and gravel out of the crack. It is amazing how tightly rocks can become embedded in the crack. Usually, I can pry them out with the largest screwdriver. If the rock is too difficult, I turn to my heavier pry bar and a bigger hammer. The rock either comes out in one piece or gets broken. I continue to gouge, scrape, sweep, and spoon the dirt out of the crack. I generally go down six or eight inches. It goes much faster when I can reach into the crack and remove dirt by the two-trac- k. needs of the How . A 2005 High Country News Writers on the Range The devil (Old Nick) made us do it . . Ed by Quillen A recent proposal to change the name of Devils Tower National Monument has fallen through, but even if it had succeeded, Old Nick would have kept a prominent place in the landscape of the West. In Wyoming, monument supervisor Lisa Eckert had suggested adding the name Bear Lodge to the site. That came at the request of some Native American groups, whose ancestors h conducted sacred rituals at the imposing 1,200-foot-hig- volcanic monolith. However, area residents persuaded Wyoming Rep. Barbara Cubin, R, to introduce a bill to block any name change. Her spokesman explained that Once you start messing around and calling it Bear Lodge, it loses some of its identity. In response, Eckert dropped the suggestion, although American Indian activists say they have not given up on the issue. Whatever happens, well still have the Dirty Devil River in Utah, and Ill still see the Devils Armchair when I walk home from the post office in downtown Salida, Colo., and gaze at the eastern bowl of Mount Ouray in the Sawatch Range. According to the U.S. Geological Surveys database of place names, there are more than 750 demonic place names in the West. The most there are 71 of popular is Devils Canyon them. We also have an assortment of Devils Gulches (3), Devil Creeks (17), Devils Basins (5), Devils Peaks (11), and the like, but they dont really reveal much about their namesake. For that, you could examine various anatomical parts, starting with the 19 Devils Backbones in California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado. The Devils Head emerges in Colorado, California and Washington. Look around the infernal West, and you can also find the Devils Gut, Nose, Thumb, Elbow, Tooth, Horn, Ribs, Heel, Eyebrow, Tailbone and Throat. Somewhat surprisingly, given our common image of Satan (which comes from the faun, a halfwildland creature in Roman myman half-gothology), we have no Devils Hoof or Hoofprint, although there is a Devils Tbe Creek in Idaho. It appears that the devil did keep a second home in the West. It had a Chimney in Montana and Stairs or Stairways in Wyoming, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. at Postmaster: Send changes of address to: The 435-259-75- Member U P.O. Box 129, Moab, UT Times-lndepende- or FAX 84532 435-259-77- NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION vUU UTAH and PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Adrien F. Taylor, Editor Sadie Warner, Assistant Editor Tom Taylor Zane Taylor Lorinda Applegate Carrie Switzer Lisa Church Jeff Richards Marjorie Miller Circulation Manager, T--l Maps Press, Production Manager Advertising Sales Staff Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Jeannine Wait Dorothy Anderson Jose Santana, Jed Taylor Ron Drake Ron Georg Oliver Harris A.J. Long containers with dirt, I head for home. I take a stool out back, get my gold pan and snuffer bottle and some containers of water and go to work, if you can call it that. I pour dirt and water into the pan. I swirl, swish, shake and stir it. The gold is much heavier than anything else in the pan and if given enough water, agitation and time, it will work its way to the bottom of the pan. When I think that enough time has passed for the gold to work its way beneath the surface, I begin to dump the upper layers of slurry out onto my little muck pile. I continue this process, occasionally raking my fingers across the top to scrape away the gravel. The trick is to work the gold to the bottom of the pan and to discharge all of the muck over the sides. At last there will be a teaspoon or two of black sand in the bottom of the pan. Next to the gold, the black sand is the heaviest thing in the pan. As enjoyable as all of this has been, this next step is the most fun. I start slowly sending clear water gently around the pan. Each pass over the black sand strips a little of it away. As the black sand peels away, little pieces of gold are revealed in the very bottom ofthe pan. As Ive said, like my adventures and miracles, they are little ones. But, they are exquisitely beautiful. I bought a 30X microscope from Radio Shack. Before I pick up the gold I like to look at it through the microscope. It has such character, such beauty. After I have admired each piece, I suck all of them up with the snuffer bottle and put them in a little glass vial where I can admire them anytime I wish. In one of my most recent pans I discovered a strange little rock that behaved just like the gold. I separated it and looked closely. I could see the gleam of gold. I placed it under the microscope and beheld seven tiny nuggets embedded in a matrix of stone. It is truly beautiful! As for furnishings, theres a Devils Footstool in Montana and a Bedstead in Idaho, as well as Chairs and Armchairs in several states. He cooked in the Devils Kitchen of California with a Dutch Oven from Utah, did laundry with a Washboard in Idaho, made butter with a Chum in Oregon, opened wine with a Corkscrew in Montana and got clean on Saturday night at the Bathtub in Arizona or California, so he could go to the Dancehall in Montana. On Sunday, he might have led the unfaithful from a Devils Pulpit in California or Oregon. Or he could have sneaked off for a few holes at the Devils Golf Course in California, using the Devils Golf Ball from Utah. Why all these devil names on our landscape? The provenance of most is lost to time, but certainly some people believed that the devil lived inside the earth, and so it made sense to name protuberances and escarpments for his backbone, thumbs or horns whether from whimsy or honest conviction. As for the others, many of these devil spots are rough places that somebody had to cross once, and had a devil of a time doing it. Thats how Devils Slide in Colorado got named a century ago. The Denver, Northwestern & Pacific was then laying rails to cross the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass, 11,660 feet above sea level. To get there, the tracks had to hug the mountainside on a shelf above timber-lin- e but there was a quarter-mil-e stretch that was nothing but sharp talus. Crossing that treacherous zone required building two side-hi- ll trestles, where the slightest mishap could mean a 1,000-foplunge into the headwaters of North Boulder Creek. d trains ran over it until the Moffat Tunnel opened in 1928, and the locomotives nb longer had to climb the pass. Thats just one place where people had to work like the devil to make a route, and there are scores of others in the West. So, no matter what happens with Devils Tower in the future, the devil will still adorn our maps. Out here, we seem more than willing to give? the devil his due. Ed Quillen is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He lives in Salida, Colorado, where he publishes Colorado Central Magazine. odd-shap- ot Steam-powere- Letters Policy does not necessarily endorse the opinions published in letter to the editor and 1 ecfitorials.TheT-welcomes opinions from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to Soiflheastem guest Utah. Letters should be to the point and must include the writers name, address and telephone number. Letters may not be used to replace advertisements, or to 1st and thank sponsors or participants to a particular evert Letters to the editor will be not be accepted from any candidate who has filed for poStical office or from anyone writing in support of a filed candidate. Anything unsigned, of a Bbelous nature, or containing defamatory statements will not be considered for publication. All letters must be typed or legibly written, and be 400 words or less. Letters are subject to editing. Mail to Letter to the Editor RO. Box 129, Moab, Utah, 84532. to edjtormoabtimes.com or submitted on Deadline is Monday, 5 p.m. Letters may also be sent via the website: www.moabtimes.com. The may not accept letters from persons who write more frequently than once every four weeks. Changes to letters to the editor after submission will be only in the most extreme circumstances. 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