Show ss Serving Utah’s Great Pahvant Valley DaKa Utah $1800 in out of month $1000 Copy 50 (In Advanca) Senior Citizens (65 and older) Motorists heed law School Bus Safety week a la carte drew a large appreciative crowd On HOMEMAKING to r Michelle Tobeck and Rebecca Brown home stage economists present the parade of foods with Valerie Mason assisting CAR SHOW many admiring car buffs THE CLASSIC in Delta over the weekend attracted 1987 The week of September is “Utah School Bus Safety Week” acState cording to Kelvin C Clayton at Specialist for Pupil Transportation the State Office of Education Clayton reminds motorists to exercise constant courtesy and alertness when in the vicinity of a school bus In Utah 1538 school buses transport 146000 pupils daily to and from their schools--total of nearly 173 million miles per year During School Bus Safety Week motorists are asked to cooperate by Utah’s safety helping to maintain record While the 2200 school bus drivers pick up and deliver students every school day adherence to the school bus laws by Utah drivers and drivers is essential to protect those students Last year 657 complaints were filed by school bus drivers of motorists passing a stopped bus while its red “It is the state lights were operating law that when a school bus is displaying alternately flashing red light signals visible from both front and back approaching or overtaking vehicles on the same roadway must stop until the lights are turned off” ' “Our bus drivers are very much aware of traffic behind and around them and endeavor to cause as little convenience to motorists as possible and while students are instructed to stay alongside the parked bus until it has moved back onto the road sometimes a youngster to get home will dart past the front of the bus into oncoming traffic It is imperative that motorists remain stopped until the flashing red lights are turned off and there is no chance of danger to ' students” concluded Clayton Outback in Utah Editor’s note: This article was submitted by Jim Jensen and in the author’s words “It is offered as payment on the debt I owe the most stimulating tellect I knew in Pahvant Valley Frank Beckwith Sr” by Dinosaur Jim Floyd Bradfield said he went up to Fish Springs and then decided to go on out to Callao where he saw a big tree maybe the biggest tree in the country He didn’t say what kind of tree it was but I’m crazy about trees especially big trees More than once I’ve delayed the progress of science by halting an expedition to run off and hug a tree I had to go see Floyd’s tree I told Marie my wife “Floyd saw the biggest tree in the world out in Callao” “Where’s Callao?” she asked and before I could answer: “We’ll leave as soon as I get off work Friday so fill the water tanks and light the refrigerator in the outfit” (I willingly submit to her orders when a trip is brewing) We got away late because I had to fool around with a stray cat caught in the back fence and had to pry some slats apart to free it As soon as the pressure was off the cat squirted out of its trap and was gone and in a few minutes we were gone But this put us turnoff south of at the Lynndyl late just as the sun sliced between a mountain and clouds over the Nevada border and shot a piercing glare across the desert to slam into our unprotected eyeballs Several miles ahead a large building complex shimmered in the ethereal sunset glow looking like the Taj Mahal adrift on a sea of liquid gold But when we passed it was only a big electricity factory floating in a sea of sage and greasewood The sun soon sank into Nevada and twilight quickly soaked up long shadows A single antelope dodged in toward us then veered away in the haze Off to our right squat Fumarole Butte perched like a ruptured navel on a broad black belly of lavathe entire outflow a prehistoric scab extruded onto the white bed of old Lake Bonneville The lava and its navel gradually slipped away into the fading light as we continued west The paved road finally curved to the right wormed its way over a series of low hills and a junction slid up to us in the dark Callao to the left and off we went on a gravel road We were now entering country I had seen only on maps I remembered my third grade teacher pointing to a vast barren expanse on a Utah map identifying it as “The Great American Desert” which was now waiting out there beyond our headlights! I was fascinated and happy to be exploring again A glow in the sky dimly revealed mountains off to each side but we couldn’t tell if they were nearby hills or distant peaks The road now a affair dipped and wound endlessly across the treeless ribs of an ancient highland drainage We reached a signless fork in the road where a black conical peak stabbed the charcoal sky on the right a convenient excuse to stop for the night In the morning I could marvel at mountains and valleys I had never seen get our bearings and see what that conical peak was made of What a gloriously peaceful night it was: no trains trucks or cars to rumble grind or otherwise curse away our dreams no barking dogs screaming bikes or tearing up the pavement at 2 am no slamming doors exploding shouts and goodnight guffaws Not even a nightbird’s gentle coo just blissful blessed peace In the morning twelve thousand one hundred and one foot Haystack Peak near the UtahNevada border and one of the highest peaks in Utah indicated the correct fork but light revealed tle about the odd conical peak except that it wasn’t as large as I first thought However we could still see it hours later from many miles away Our route wandered over the hump of a decayed mountain range and when it reached the crest we were treated to a remarkable view As if balanced on the rim of a vast basin we could see far away to its western edge which appeared to be tucked under the feet of Haystack Peak Callao a smudge of green nestled in the basin’s lowest depths resembled an emerald treasure a residue from creation’s firey crucible The road before us dropped in a straight line for a couple of miles turned left then sagged down across the basin like a jumping rope diminishing to a spiderweb line as it sloped up and attached its far end to the other rim at the base of the massive snowcapped peaks of the Deep Creek Range We slid down this “spiderweb” H SAMUEL REX HUDSON Goldhill Utah 00 $15 in county $18 00 out of County ary &s 9 ) (y f USPS 0 Vol 78 No 12 Sept 24 1987 What’s Burning? Recently there have been several fires started in the large dumpsters at the the various dumpsites throughout County Most if not all of these fires have been caused by careless ashes dividuals who continue to dump from their burn barrels or stoves into Most people are not the dumpsters e en aware that they have caused a fire Ashes from a bum barrel or ash bucket can literally smolder for days and when placed into the dumpsters cause an immediate fire For this reason we have built concrete receptacles at each dump site where all ashes are to be placed Please help avoid the needless problems by placing all ashes in the concrete receptacle provided It is also that time of year when we clean up our yards and prune our trees All tree limbs must be cut into six foot lengths or shorter and preferably bundled before placing them into the dumpsters Anything more than a small pickup load of limbs or any other item should either go directly to the landfill or to your community’s bulky waste site or be disposed of on your own property There will be no extra fee charged to anyone who takes loads directly to the landfill Violators of the Millard County Landfill Ordinance will be prosecuted Your support will help to keep costs down and make the new system work better for all of us Thank you Millard County Solid Waste Board Lt Gov to hold small business development conferences W Val Oveson Lieutenant Governor of Utah has announced he will hold a series of nine Small Business Development Conferences to inform Utah’s small business community about proposed Administration policy and to provide a forum for the discussion of small business concerns The conferences will begin on September 28 1987 in Richfield and end in Salt Lake City on November 11 1987 These conferences will be held in conjunction with local Chambers of Commerce the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development and the federal Small Business Ad The recommendations ministration resulting from these conferences will be used to enact legislation promoting small business development and to provide ideas for the formulation of state policy The conferences will be held in the Logan following cities: Richfield Cedar City St George Provo Vernal Ogden and Salt Lake conferences for the The agenda City a hearing will consist of workshops Governor conducted by Lieutenant Oveson and a reception for conference will Information booths participants be open at noon and the meetings will begin at 1:00 pm The receptions will start at 5:30 pm a Oveson Governor Lieutenant CPA and former State Auditor feels the concerns of small business need to be a top priority of the Administration and the Legislature He feds the recommendations from small businessmen will be invaluable in proposing progressive legislation to foster small business development in the state Chamber members in Delta and Fillmore may RSVP to their Chambers The Delta Area Chamber of Commerce is and Fillmore Chamber phone number is Delta City speed limit 25 MPH Unless otherwise posted the speed limit within Delta City is 25 miles an hour Main street is posted at 30 miles "an hour There are school zones where the limit is lowered during the morning and afternoon hours when children are going to and from school There have been a number of complaints of excessive speed around the high school and the vocational center This is especially true along First West and 350 East and along Second and Third North streets loop across the basin and up to the far end then turning right passed a campground to coast back down into historic Callao the “Willow Springs Pony Express Station” of an earlier era I have heard the site was renamed after Callao Peru which I once saw resting in a similar setting below towering Andean peaks Now off the gravel highway we drove a mile through the old settlement looking for the Great Tree but found none Nor did we see a living soul Herds of cattle complacently grazed in luxuriant marsh grass We saw multiunder ple log cabins built Utah’s “only huge cottonwoods one room school house” more cabins and cottonwoods frame shacks and an ancient buildings threshing machine but no giant tree no humans I finally remembered a visit I made long ago to Gold Hill an old and mining town north of Callao wondered if anyone was there a good excuse to do more exploring One muddy day in April over a half century ago I had ridden into Gold Hill on a motorcycle to find an elderly couple waiting hopefully in an old store: Goodwin’s General Merchandise It was large for such a small town but only a few dozen varieties of goods languished in scattered positions on dusty sagging shelves stock from an earlier boom An old gas pump with a 20 gallon glass reservoir stood watch out front I was sure the couple had long since gone to their rewards and the building had probably either collapsed or been gnawed to the ground by scrounging brick cannibals But am just as curious as an old milk cow over a stray dog in a pasture and wanted to see what was there The gravel road carried us north up out of the Callao basin over the eastern foothills of the Deep Creek and into the interesting Range mineralized province surrounding Gold Hill We passed a few old prospect holes noticed one fair sized mine dump back in the hills and then saw a battered electric refrigerator lying upside down in a roadside wash The old beer cooler had a bad case of ruptured rockwool and its door was flung back as if in a vain attempt to right itself We realized civilization as we knew it had passed through the area probably within the last twenty years The road climbed up around a hill over an old railroad grade crossed a rock skirted patch of crushed some splintered wooden buildings and undefinable twisted iron things a bat tered old truck and suddenly we were in metropolitan Gold Hill There stood the gaunt brick skeleton of “Goodwin’s General Merchandise” its name nearly obliterated front windows missing and boarded up an old mine pump incongruently waiting on the front promenade and a remarkable old man in his eighties raking up trash He said he was Samuel Rex Hudson and had grown up in Gold Hill as a boy Serving as the town’s conservator he is now cleaning off old store foundations and floors raking trash and clearing up junk out of streets and gutters and from around old rusting machinery abandoned along the street hauling the rubble away in a tle blue pickup truck No one pays him or even asked him to do it so why is he working? His motivation is probably known only to his wife who lives with him in a neat little cottage on the hill east of the old store With wornout rake and hoe he has hacked in the dead cheat grass along the road and cleared it back from old buildings even cutting circles around several protective wooden powerhne poles He is caring for the skeleton of an unplanned town that once contained over 3000 souls polishing its bones after they have been eroded for many years by the sandy desert winds and rotted from the snows and rain of neglect His rake has scratched the sharp quartzose sands so long its tines are worn down to short nubs He let me rake awhile Rex spent his boyhood years in Gold Hill and now owns property there but doesn’t restrict his efforts to it He is carrying on a lively conversation with a mild sarcastic cleavage but his dedication to the town seems motivated as much by historical interest as by community spirit and pride of ownership He has rebuild crumbling foundations shored up collapsing walls restored wooden building exteriors and his presence inhibits vandalism and souvenir pluckers who snitch ore samples from beside unoccupied dwellings He almost tenderly cares for Goodwin’s Merchantile building belonging to an absentee owner His presence provides the old town with the unofficial authority of watching and caring and he works at it I asked him how many people lived in town and he said he didn't exactly know as some property owners came and went while itinerant and fortune prospectors hunters are always drifting in and out Goodwin’s store once one of the largest buildings in western Police officers have been instructed to begin a stricter enforcement of the speed limit within the city If the limit is being exceeded a citation will be issued for which a substantial fine could be levied most Utah and certainly one of the most important in its day now suffers from advancing disintegration Heavy snows ruptured its backbone long ago Continued on Pg 2 |