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Show SALT FLAT NEWS, MARCH, 1975 2 Q .i ' Lake when his car overturned could get tout of it even, if he' and rolled three times. .Sam tried. Because of his limited invenprobably saved himself by hold-- . to here we are trying to start one. the with cars roof ing tight tory space, and because he lives his unforSam Coulson has plenty to left hand. The hand, far from the nearest warehouse, worry about in an age of mass tunately, took the full weight of Sam cant get deliveries from his the car. wholesale suppliers, so he either production and On the other hand, he has Laid up with a crushed hand trucks the food in himself or has a nostalgic sentiment going for and unable to work at his regular it brought in by friends. him, and a growing number of job, Sam decided to open a .. Another problem he faces is customers who enjoy shopping store. Now hes not sure he, that of volume. Since he cant in the move a lot of merchandise,- Sam way. While most businesses in has to look elsewhere for his Wendover cling to highway 40 profit. One thing hes discovered like ticks to a sheep, 5ams Prois' that for many items consumduce and Country Store is ers pay almost as much for the tucked away in a residential package as they do for the product. So by slicing and wrapping neighborhood. The store is one narrow aisle next to the Coul-son- s his own lunchmeat, for example, mobile home, sheltered by Sam can save the customer a roof Sam built himself and money and improve his own an heated by profit margin as well. Another Warm Morning coal stove. In tiling hes learned is that people order to get from one end of the dont mind paying more for a store to another, patrons must better quality product, if they caustove the with hot negotiate tcan find it. tion. Where the path is narrowSam' says hed like to buy more items in bulk. Hes' thinkest, pinched between the checkout counter and & refrigerator, ing of stocking grains and pickles customers must either edge past and honey by. the barrel. That one another sideways, or wait way' the customer could come, their turn at the one-wa- y aisle. in, warm himself by the coal Sam and Doris Coulson got When was the last time you saw stove, and then fish a fat juicy into the grocery business last a Warm Morning coal stove ? dill out of the barrel for lunch. summer literally by accident. Wendover grocer Sam Coulson Its a mouth-waterin- g idea, and Sam, who worked at the potash has a good one; one stoke a day one whose time may come again at Sams Country Store. away. plant, was driving back from Salt keeps winter e I saw on TV where these Mom and Pop grocery stores are all going out of business, and super-merchandisin- g. - old-fashion- - old-fashion- How's business ? And how does the . new year look so far? In view of President Ford's announcement that the state of the nation is not good," we set out on a walking tour of Wendover to assess the temper of the local economy. We spoke to a handful of citizens and got a handful of opinions , ranging from the optimistic view ("There is no unemployment in Wendover.") to that. of Hoy Ericksen , who told us, What I got to say, I don't think you'd want to print." Ironically, Mr. 'Ericksen 's picture didn't turn out either. ' Some other views: what Dad said this morning; Dad said the day it hits forty dollars, were' having a truck come and pick it up, so we can get this mess out of the yard. . ed Mrs. Rippetoe, Ripps co-own- Store: Well, I dont know. Im not a very good forecaster. Were hoping things will pick up. You see, were in the old post office building they moved out the first of August and we advertised it trying to get somebody else, hoping they would put in a business of some kind here. But, nobody had the money. Our payments go right on, so we had to do something to try to get some money out of it. Oh, my husband and son; theyre pretty sure it will go. Of course, I think theres a lot of that dont even know that were here yet. Wed stick people up notices at the store, but theres a lot of people that pass right on you know. Gary Rippetoe, Well, I think its going to be a good year. I mean, some things look bad, but people still gotta jack-of-all-trad- NEWS photo by N. Mmimi ON THE COVER: live. February 16th it was an average Sunday afternoon in Wendover; that is, it was average until the rustic figure on our cover walked into the casino. For the first time since Billy the Kid, the saloon stopped buzzing; slot machines fell silent as weekenders looked up from buckskins revolving lemons to see before their eyes a real live mountain man. His hand-sewhis a was concealed red woolen union hirsute crowned with a half century suit; visage barely old skunk hat. I know,who you are, declared one lady. MYoute Buffalo Bill! interjected her husband. No, Jeremiah Johnson! Well,, almost. His name, he said, is Timber Jack Joe, He hails from a place in Wyoming called Bear Hole 621, zip code 82513 and he is in fact a distant blood brother to Jeremiah Johnson and probably the last in a line of frontiersmen that goes way back to Jim Bridger and Broken Hand Fitzpatrick. Umber Jack Joe was down from the high country to visit a doctor in Arizona and friends almost, everywhere. Just'out of the hospital after an eye operation, Joe told us he could see better than ever, but that his left ear wasnt hearing very well. A bear slapped me, he explained. Although the mountains are his proper habitat, the salt flats hold a special place in the ' mountain mans heart. After all, thats where he can pick up a handful of natural saline to season a sage hen, or to salt a skunk skin. Besides, Joe himself is a pretty salty character. With his inseparable dog Tuffy and foxy friend, Timber Jack Joe passed a pleakant day sitting for pictures and gaming. No high roller, he stuck mostly to the slot machings and reports he was actually relieved when his nickels finally ran out. Theres no place to put em in these buckskin pants, anyhow. ... n . . As for the junk business, were going to get out of that part of it. Were just waiting for the prices to go up on the scrap iron. Price is down on scrap iron now.. Were just waiting. Thats William Woffinden, highway patrolman and part-tim- e manager, Northern Nevada Aviation: Oh, weve noticed an awful cutback in airplane transient flying. People just arent going across the United - States like they used to, especially in the last year and a half. We started in approximately January of 73 down here, and within six months we built up quite a business as a fuel stop on transient aircraft. And weve almost seen that diminish as a result of the fuel shortage, and also as a result of the increased price of what fuel isleft available. And its to the point now that if certain safeguards arent put within certain areas, that general aviation is really iri trouble. You take a small industry like were trying to' create with regards to bringing air travel and general aviation a chance to have something, in a remote area like we have here have something from a standpoint of an extension of transportation. A person wants to go somewhere, hes got a hundred miles looking at him, With the exception of Wells, in any direction he wants to go. Wants to visit relatives, he wants to go to the doctor or anything ... in other words, air travel, especially now with the fifty-fiv- e mile an hour speed limit, is a great asset, but its almost killed from the standpoint of what caused the fifty-fiv- e mile an hour speed limit. (SM1F ' I808 Mr ENDOVER S PI 5SU3H3E13I& ALT FLAT NEWS is published twelve times a year by the Salt Flats Publishing Corporation, Jim Smith, President. Editor: Richard Menzies Richard Goldberger Artist: Richard Holdaway Reporter-At-Larg- e: v P.O.BOX 11717 SALT LAKE giTY, UTAH 84111 . ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE . |
