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Show THE ZEPHYRJULY 1993 PAGE 14 Verona Stocks' of Moab History Vhen Verona Stocks died this month, she left a big hole in Grand County. Bom on April 1, 1905, Verona watched southeast Utah transformed. .from a pioneer town at the him of the century, to a uranium mining boom town in the 50s, to the tourist community it has become today, fortunately, for us, Verona was also a chronicler of the times in which she Hoed. As a child she discovered she had rheumatic fever, and because she could not always be as active as she may have wanted, Verona, in her own words, "heard " things and watched how people acted. About a week after her death, I got a call from Verona's daughter, Linda Stocks. She wanted to know if I would be interested in writing a story about her mother. Verona's life spanned almost the entire 20th Century and Linda felt compelled to share that I fie with others. Linda mentioned that Verona had written a history of her life and wondered ifl might want to use an excerpt or two from it. later that day, Linda, her daughter Monique, and I sat down over a cup of coffee, and I got to see the "histories " Linda's mother had compiled. Before I had completed the first page, I knew that I was holding a treasure in my hands. I asked Linda ifl could print the entire history, in chapters, for as long as it took to tell the story. She and Monique instantly agreed. What 1 have tried to do in transcribing Verona's story is to keep it exactly as she wrote it. I have even left the occasional misspelled word and avoided any attempt to "correct" Verona's grammar. To me, this story feels like a conversation, and that's really what it is. It's her story and her gift to you and me.. DrV PWsJfc 'V- S $f and Veronit. Uncles Tom & Otho ry'g the mail Monticelh. lJflCTnss My earliest memories erf home was a little log cabin, across the road from Grandpa and Grandma Murphy's Rode House. There were all poplar trees growing in front of the cabin, a little stream of dear cool water, a trough the water ran through to make it a water fall and a tiny pond My older sister, Mary and I waded in the stream and make mud pies and sand castles around the pond Mary could do many things I could not da In summer she could walk in the hot sand barefoot, she did not ay if she stepped on a sand burr. I can remember her carrying me piggyback through the burrs and hot sand bucket erf water or vegetables in one hand I do not know why she took me along. I was a crybaby or so they told me... I do not remember Mary crying about anything. In 1908 Dad and Grandpa Murphy bought the Cane Spring ranch, they got a contract to carry the mail from Moab and LaSal to Hatch Wash where they met the carrier from Monticella The mail was carried horse back in leather saddle bags. The mail station or Half Way House was across the road from where the is now. There was two small houses, one was to accomodate travellers that stayed all night The other was the kitchen, dining room and living quarters for the people who ran the Way Station. They were both washed away in big floods in 1910 and 1911 most of the farm was Hole-In-the-Ro- ck gone too. He didn't always make it so Unde Heber would have to the mail from Moab to Cane Springs go. Dad had drinking problems. Mother had her fourth child March 6, 1909, a little boy the named him William John after his father. He did not stay with the family long, he died March 30, 1909. Soon after that the family moved back to Cane Springs. It was better for Dad to be out erf town because when he drank he liked to fight. When he came home drunk he always spanked Mary. I wondered why she did not hide from him as I did. That fall Mary was six, the family moved back to Moab so she could go to school. I lived part time with Dad and Mother in Moab, then for awhile with Unde Felix and Aunt Marne in Cane Springs, Dad carried the mail so of course I saw him both places. I had lots of dolls to play with, Unde Felix carved little dolls out of wood. Aunt Marne dressed them. Unde Felix told me funny storys and he bought me other dolls, one was a beautiful China doll with long hair. I was so careful when playing with it Feb. 11, 1910 mother had another baby, a fair little baby girl they named her Neva Willma. Aunt Pearl a young girl still in school loved that baby, played with her a lot. She spoiled her too. Dad and Mother came to Cane Springs and almost the first filing Mary did was break my beautiful china doll I saw her take it by the feet and hit its head on a stone hearth in front of the fire place. I never knew why she did that until years later. I cannot remember erf even talking to her about it. Finally years later she told me Unde Felix told Mother to take the doll from her before she broke it That made her so mad she just broke it We lived around Dad's people so much, they did have favorites. Most erf his brothers liked Mary best Unde Felix liked me. The others were all right I just left them pretty much alone. . The Indians came through by hundreds both Spring and Fall. They never bothered the mail station. When Mother and Dad moved to the Cane Spring ranch they had three children, Mary, Verona (Me), and Annie who was born Feb.19,1907. Mary and I had a lot of fun at the ranch. The creek was narrow and there were a lot of bubbly springs, frogs to catch, lots of grass, flowers, butterflys and birds. Mary carried water from a pipe that came out of the rocks across the wash, the water was very cold, I could go with her and carry water too, there was no hot sand or burrs to go through. There was a long table in the dining room, it always had a big white table cloth cm it Sometimes when people stopped to eat we would hide under the table, I more than Mary. We seldom got caught or kicked when someone stretched a leg. Then there was a big bull when we caught him laying down we would slide off his back. I thought it fun to climb up his neck, sit cm his head between his horns my legs down by his eyes. Then we got caught. Unde Felix was scared and he spanked us both and sent us to the house telling us not to go near that bull or the corral again as that bull was mean. He had chased some of the men over the fence a few times and they had some branko horses there too. Just before Christmas Dad moved his family back to Moab. He was supposed to carry My formative years were spent under circumstances not much different from those of my Grandparents. Southeast Utah and file western dope of the Colorado was untouched by the whole ninetheenth centuary, because the treaty with the Indians was not signed until 1877. The Indians did not want to lose their winter camping ground in Spanish Valley, and some of them resented file white man even in the early 1900's. We traveled in covered wagons, buggys ind horse back as everyone else did who lived in Southeast Utah. Dad and Grandma Murphy filed on dry farms five miles south erf Blanding. That was 90 miles from Moab the way the roads curved and wandered nearly through the hills and canyons, following the line erf least resistance. We moved bade and forth from Moab to Blanding from 1910 to 1916. Mary's jobwith to drive from five to ten head of milk stock, all five was my help way. I always got sick going to Blanding. Mary rode her poney, drove the cows, and learned to whistle. She also practiced swareing like Dad. To her a great accomplishment It usually took about two weeks for file trip. Hie wagons were overloaded for the small horses that had to pull them. The roads were sandy to Peters Hill and muddy from there to Blanding. There was dust storms in Dry Valley and rain file rest of the way. We usually traveled in the spring or fall Dad and his brother Jack went to Blanding first to look the country over; that is when Dad filed on his farm. They liked what they saw so Grandma went to have a look. Mary went to school once again in Moab. Aunt Marne (Mary) Murphy married Theodore Duncan Nov. 25, 1910 in Moab. He was a veterinarian, fairly good for that time, he also trained race horses. He had two boys, Elven and Wendell. I liked riding in the back of the covered wagon, watching the Prarie Dogs, They always had a sentinel to warn the village if something did not look right, he barked and all the others scampered for their hole. When the danger was pasl little hands began popping up all over, soon they were out feeding as usual We went by so slow and their villages were so large I could watch for quite awhile. Dad got a mail contract, carrying the mail from Blanding to Bluff so in the spring of 1911 we arrived in Blanding with our milk cows, household goods. We lived in a dobie house a little north east of town, we did not have dose neighbors; they were about four blocks away. We had about six horses to take care erf besides the milk cows. Mother took them to water every day. There were lots of Indians around. One day several mounted Indians dashed up to our door and demanded food. Polk a dangerous Indian was their leader. He knew Dad had i |