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Show -' ' 7 -- '''' ' ', --- ,e, - , - . 1- . v 0 Et-- . tb::) village., of Hanktville ,--' Wayne County really Gibbons went to Hankiville in o 1882,-twyean after its founding by Ebenezer been a of the place ever xincé. The town is not well known because Of its' location in one of the mort isolated spots , in Utahnear the Henry Mount-ibis60 miles south of Greenriver and 125 m117, west of Richfield. In earlier days it was a community of prosperous cattlemen who pastured' their herds on the lush :angel; extending eastward to the Colorado River. But in time, sheep were brought to the range, and they reduced it to a desert after a:few years. Floods then washed away much of the fertile settlers moved elsewhere, and Hanks: vine ,became almost a ghost town. i ; Hanks,-and-ha- - L ' s - - - ' ', - , t ' 3 , -- I , ,- ' --'-4,- - - - - -' ---- - - 4C- ' ,' i - . c I.- - ,. .7 ,, - ''-- , B. 0, - ... z,, .t , 1 ; ' -- " : ' , .. ' y - - .:.L : .- ---- - -. - --- . .:,--- -,' . .'-'- , - , ; i -- ift . '. effort.1- -- er - 4 - IL - - t N -...-, f- , 1889-9- . ,. ,; - . - , t - .: , - - . ...,, , ------- , , , - - - , 1,, ,, L.', pi .. - is , . .'. 4 0 11 it-J.),-- NvintrNal,. I r- '.' , ..............- .-,,, anMitt) (Yak itt 11;1) tnitt tl 0 lot Is m IS moil - ' 00 e - b I (01:171i OS ittrp iTt:111r4 e, (aril ....11141..W. ,sillk.0 ITI lal,c1 ITO:4 wi.4,4, Al" vid.tj;LI11 lia I, 94 0 ' alzy I mit aolagsfo amu 1.t It) oln 1 . . - a earalra on CI . , , revived, and Gibbons spent two years looking for the lost mine. He found every landmark indicated except the last one and still has faith that the gold will be discovered some day.Though having just celebrated his ninetieth birthday, Charley Gibbons has still got "Where to this ,time?" he was . ' . , -- - I , .For -- i - , - asked.--- I -- - - . . , 4.114P , - , 1 , ' , , ,,-- Y nou4syst.,,-wos,""rne- . MAGAZINE si -- .- ;--- '''- - ,'eti'' .. l- --- i . ft , . , - 1. , ...-- -- ' - 1 ,.;-..-- ,....-- ,.., ,, -.- - ' c. , ,- t, It .- - 0 , t .. ? . ; ,:, . -- .. - - - "Out to the San Rafael' country." he replied. "1 found a rich uranium deposit out there many years ago and I'm going back to relocate it for ' my grandsons." ' Only a short time ago he discov7. ore cred a rich vein of in the Henry Mountains. When he. returns from relocating his uranium claim in the San Rafael, it would take little argument to induce him, even at 90, to make another trip into the ' mountains. . . , it wouldn't surprise anyone if he found the Lost Josephine. on his next trip. - - ., - - -- ,- . . , , . silver-copp- er 7, ,... . . . , - , I , '- ' -- ; t:, - - - - tul ;- nap to confirm the story, interest was - - - ' son-in-la- w -;-- -- Po , -- ..., ' GI ,' On S a (49, ' ,,,, - - dt)- a 1111 ,( I W HEN THE RANGE near Hanks- became denuded and the Dirty ville Devil River carried away many fertile acres of farm land, population 3f the town dwindled and Gibbons sold the store he had operated so many years. He then opened some uranium, vans dium, and placer gold claims he had discovered earlier. These were active during World War 1 and were re- and grand- opened by his sons during the last war. They are now being worked for their uraniuni content and 'probably will be active - for years to come due to atomic de- ' veloprnents. Early pioneers repeated a legend of the Lost Josephine gold mine. sup- posed to have been located in the a Mexican . Htnry Mountains.' When came into the country with an old '' - e , ' i , :,-- .. - .1 'Till. DEURITINEWS -- L - A chase, Gibbons finally maneuvered ! the stallion Into a box canyon. Cord' . . ,. . ' , : ' . nered,, the horse attempted to run between Gibbons and the canyon walls. Since they often outnumbered resiship with the boy which : lasted It was then that Charley roped the - throughout his life, although that boy. dents of Hanksville, it was good policy to remain. on friendly terms with later became famous as Butch Cassidy, animal and led him back to Hanksnotorious outlaw.-- this reason, Charley Gibthem. iyllle. bons became well acquainted with all This spectacular capture soon bethe outlaws who lived in the Roost at came an epic in western lore. When IN 18811, GIBBONS opened store in Zane Grey beard of it, he spent an. - Hanksville which he continued to op1,-- -i various times, including his former erste for 40 At that time Rob-- , eral days with Gibbons making notes cowhand, Butch Cassidy, and others fur a book, later published under the ben' Roost,- SO miles - northeast of - ' such as Matt Warner, Tom and Bill title "Wildfire." In Grey's story Hanksville, was the hangOut of sevMcCarty, Eza Lay, Saver Tip, ,Blue outeral cattle rustlers and minor Gibbons John, and Jack Moore. his and , Charley daughter, laws,' all of whom bought supplies.' These gentlemen of the outlaw nomMrs. Edna Elker, were the lead-- never , caused Gibbons tram Hanki . the store. Unlike characters under fictional . trail ing names, ,ville any modern gunmen, these .shaillY charbut all essential elements were based trouble except on one occasion when acters never disturbed local ranchers, on fact. they bought supplies with greenbacks obtained in a train robbery in WyoSoon' after going to HanksvMe in usually, behaved themselves when In town, and committed few crbnes in - ming. When Gibbons spent these bills , 1882, Charley Gibbons homesteaded In Salt Lake City they were traced to Wayne County. Fairview Ranch at the base of Mt. : ' Ellen and at one time owned thous--, , , . . ' mounof ands ... cattle ranging on the V - ,,, jb,,,,- '''....... ls.,,.. , ,,, ', , .,.. ,.,,,, tain'alopes.. Among the cowboys he ', , 7 ,:, : 2 'WV! , hired was a 'young man named George ,,'-- . ,71. . , ,,,......,,, -, Leroy Parker. from Circleville. He . , ' it ,'", V.rer :.,, .1 was a good hand with cattle, a hard.' ' ''.'' -- - , 'i ' ' . ,,, - . .. .." ..,44'"-worker, and Gibbons formed a friend, ,. 14 - ! I . ' - Iveek's 'in the I. AN , - c - SPENDING . , - '7 I , ' A MR . ,- ''' 1 - Roost. - . - - i 1 . can . dx,...e: ,- - ., him and he had toexplain, to. secret me by them. . service me Although he often carried consid- erable sums of money in a large iron sale in the store. the outlaws never him. At that time the attempted to rob law had not - yet reached Robbers' ...,1",, --' A Ill',140;01---"- 1. CHARLES-KELLY . . By -- - - é - - 4 - CHARLEY Gibbons still liked the country and stayed on. Today, at 1 90, Charley can spin tales of west-- ern lore that sound like pages from a western fiction thriller. But they're all trueCharley lived them and was a part of them. There in the shade of the cottonwood that towers above his house, ' Charley will tell you about gold for lost mines, the strikes,' hunting days of the Robber's Roost and the notorious outlaw, ButchL Cassidy.' But the story Charley Gibbons likes to tell best is about how he captured thegpmous stallion. Wildfire.... story, thal was first written by Zane Grey and then was made into the moving picture.. "Wildfire." This magnificent animal had been seen by many cattlemen riding the rang. between Hanksville and the Colors& River, but was too wise to be caught by any of them, Gibbons decided he wanted that animal worse., than anything in the world and determined to capture him. and his band ranged over - the roughest Ikind of desert country, Many-by times when capture seemed almost Certain the wily stallion would find sowx, almost, invisible trail to lead him away from his pursuer. But Gibbons wu persistent. I 1 ..'-- - s, D 1I . , Stanton made Robert ' ' . a railroad survey down the canyon . -'-, -- - - - -- -of the Colorado River. His proposed ' 4'447- 1 .1.04ty J 4, railroad was never built, but while 1 d ' ' 1 14, , "sv passIng through Glen Canyon he found itv fine gold in the sand. In 1900, he pro- ' ' . . ql., , Ii moted a gold mining company, built a 10,...... ' ''' - 4 , and shipped it to Green- 1, JP . , 'V o heivy dredge, s, - t ' . there it had to be From rail. river : , , by orir''''' 4 ' - hauled to the river ,,, ' r .. '1 4tt i by teams,, a dia- ' miles over the 150 more than of tance , 4 .,,,,,I-: roughest country outdoors. 1 ' . l', ' . Charley Gibbons was the only man a ' . ' ' with nerve enough to take such a con- ' ' t ' . t " ...... '4 , - ,' '' tract-Aft- - -- - L almost superhuman l' , i,,'Nr- - -..0 ' "ehe finally delivered the dredge to the ' I, :e te:..,,... bank of the Colorado. Some of th, V "t road he had to build is still in use. ,Z11.4";:,I ., I When it failed to work, the big dredge . was abandoned. Its skeleton still .. stands in the river at the mouth of . I 'S. Bullfrog Creek. ., Later that same year, Julius F. IN , , an eastern man who had an ' ..' : : ' T'""'"" in the dredge, came to Hanks- interest -. ,. vile on a vacation trip, hired Gib- 11.........., . bons to drive him in a " whitetop- " on exploratory trips through the desert, ' and later invited him to be a guest on a boat trip on the Colorado from Hite to 'Lee's Ferry. The album of pictures . . Stone took On that voyage is one of most cherished, possessions. Charley's ' ' , ' - 1 1 - . ) - - -- land,,- - innomerable-canyon- I , 11l , -- . . ldfire - I , BUT 4 - IN..---- nt - - 1:110nrile 0 e, , 7 r- 1 , s rest-de- 07.--- A., - .... ....- -- -- '' ct a , . ,. ' - should be renamed Gibboturville be- are'''. cause most cot its inhabitants children, grandchildren or great- grandchildren of Charley Gibbons, its .oldest citilen. tut - . , Tim . - . . - .. I : - ' ' , - - , L |
