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Show Page 14 The Ogden Valley news Volume XV Issue XIV July 1, 2008 SLAMMED AT PUMP cont. from page 10 exit ramps. These stations may be convenient, but they have higher overhead and know they have a captive audience. Try to fill up at a local station in the suburbs before you leave town, where the prices are lowest. If you stopover at a hotel for the night, ask the desk clerks where they buy their gas. Purchase the grade of gas recommended in your car’s owner manual. If it does not specifically state that premium must be used, don’t use premium. Slow down when possible. Driving 55 mph can save up to 10% on gas mileage vs. driving 70 mph or more. If your car has an overdrive gear, use it. Traveling at fast rates in low gears can con sume up to 45% more fuel than is needed. Keep windows closed when traveling at highway speeds. Open windows cause air drag, reducing your mileage by 10%. Drive steadily. Use cruise control if you have it on the freeway. Slowing down, then speeding up wastes fuel. Avoid tailgating—the drivers in front of you are unpredictable. If they slow down, you will be forced to also, causing your milespergal lon to suffer while resuming speed. When approaching hills, accelerate before you reach the hill, not while you’re on it. Truckers know this quite well, of course, as do drivers of the original VW Beetle. Take your foot off the gas well before stop signs and traffic lights. If you can keep moving while approaching stopped traffic at a red light and never bring your vehicle to a complete stop, this will save quite a bit of fuel versus starting from a standing stop. Regular tune-ups ensure best economy. Check the owner’s manual for recommended maintenance intervals. Avoid using roof top carriers. They can cause serious drag on the car and lessen your mileage by up to 15%. So to sum it up—maintain your car well, plan your trips wisely, and drive smart. If you don’t need to travel, don’t. If you can carpool to work or to the store, do so. Seriously con sider a stayathome vacation. It can be fun to discover the attractions near your home that others travel hundreds of miles to see. Staying home will allow time for serious talks with your family members and mak ing memories that will last a lifetime—if you plan for those experiences and lay the groundwork for a successful home holiday. Saving money on transportation is a critical issue for the family budget today, but not the only one. Keeping your car well maintained, and ready to serve during an emergency with a full tank of gas, can mean the difference between life and death. In the first minutes, hours, or days of a natural disaster, pumping gas to evacuate may be unthinkable or impossible. Like the five vir gins who lacked oil for their lamps, our families have to be frugal and ready for the unexpected. Conserving fuel while keeping our vehicle tanks full is a means of fuel storage— part of a wise fam ily strategy to save and store resources. We fill our tanks before the tank is half empty, because it empowers us to buy fuel at the lowest cost available where fuel is cheap—not because our tank is now empty and we must fuel at the next station we see. This effectively allows us to store some fuel for the day when there could be some local shortages, and carries us through the day when we don’t have the fifty bucks needed to pay at the pump. know how old it is, think about replacing it at the first sign of weakness—which may be cheaper than getting stuck on the side of the road later. Consider tinting your windows. This is mainly to keep your vehicle and you cooler during summer. Tinting can be either permanent or there is film that is removable and reusable. If you can’t find it in the automotive section of the store, try the children’s department. Not only will this postpone the need for the air conditioner and greatly increase your driving comfort, but it will also cut down sig nificantly on the whining from the back seat. Prepare an emergency kit for your car. A good kit should include flashlight, flares, a firstaid kit, jumper cables, work gloves, wet wipes, water for the radiators and for drinking, basic tools, mylar blankets, whistle, emergency food, sun block lotion, phone numbers for your insurance and tow service, and a cell phone. Fill up often. The pattern in our area used to be that new gas prices were posted every Friday (before the weekend). That is no longer the case. Prices can move up every day, we notice. Once the tank is half full, fill it up. In fact, if you have a car or truck you drive only occasionally, take that out today and fill it up while gas prices are rising. When you next use that vehicle it will be ready and at the lowest possible price. If you have a backup generator for emergencies, think of a spare vehicle as your fuel source for emergencies. And while you are at it, get a locking gas cap. It won’t stop all thieves, but it will stop the less creative ones. Lighten the load. Empty your car’s trunk of all unnecessary items. The reduction in weight will increase gas mileage—not a lot, but everything you do to travel light will benefit your budget. Use your most gas friendly car—it might be a tight fit, but the savings can be really big each time you leave the family wagon parked and its big horses still in the barn. Consolidate trips. Plan carefully your trips to the Big City, and combine as many local errands as possible into one daily or occasional trip. Stop at the post office or grocery store when you pick the kids up from school. Park your car and walk when possible. With so many shopping centers to choose from in a world where every town shares the same retailers as others, you might even have the necessary stores and services within walking distance of your home. Some of our parents used to walk to the store and carry home their groceries. With a little planning, more of us could do the same. Accelerate slowly when starting from a dead stop. Pressing the pedal to the floor wastes gas, so make it a game to watch the MPG gauge on your car instead of the speedometer. Avoid prolonged warming up of the engine. It’s a waste of gas. Our car’s operat ing manual says modern engines don’t need to be warmed up—just drive moderately until the engine is at operating temperature. Don’t start and stop the engine needlessly. Idling your engine for one minute consumes the same amount of gas needed to start the engine. Avoid the drivethru at the fast food restaurant— can anyone get through without idling for at least five minutes in line? Save money, stretch your legs, go inside. Avoid topping off your gas tank. When the automatic cutoff on the nozzle stops fill ing, that’s it. Otherwise, overfilling results in sloshing fuel on the ground. Cold gasoline pumped from a storage tank underground will Used by permission of Meridian Magazine <www. warm in your car’s tank, and if it is overfilled, meridianmagazine.com> Carolyn Nicolaysen is the author of the ebook: Pack Your Bags We’re Staying Home: a guide it can expand and leak onto the ground. Avoid buying gas at stations near freeway tostayathomevacations,availableat<TotallyReady.com> HISTORICAL cont. from page 13 Huntsville had been started about the same time as Eden was and was being developed under similar circumstances and condi tions. Ogden Valley is situated just a little north of a direct line east of Ogden City proper and is in Weber Co., Utah, U.S.A. It extends from northwest to southeast and is about twenty miles long with an average width of about five miles, is about 5000 feet above sea level and is at the headwa ter of the Ogden River. The water from the surrounding mountains comes down through the valley in three streams. One stream comes down from the northwest and is called the North Fork, one comes from the northeast through the center of the valley and is called the Middle Fork, and one comes from the southeast and is called the South Fork. These three streams run through the valley and join together in the south western part and form the Ogden River. Eden at this time comprised the entire territory of the North Fork and all the land between the North Fork and the Middle Fork. Eden [townsight] was situated on the bench land between the two streams. Huntsville comprised the territory of the South Fork and all the land between the South Fork and the Middle Fork. Huntsville [townsight] was situated on the bench land between the two streams. Thus the Middle Fork was the dividing line between the two settlements. The Ogden River thus formed by the junction of these three streams begins its course toward Ogden City through which it passes and empties into the Weber River by which its waters are carried into the Great Salt Lake. From its formation in the valley to Ogden City, this river passes through a part of the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains in a great, rough, picturesque, precipitous gorge about six miles long called Ogden Canyon. From the mouth of Ogden Canyon to Ogden City proper is about three miles. From the head of Ogden Canyon to our residence in Eden was about three miles, making the distance from our place to Ogden City by way of the canyon about twelve miles. The people built a narrow wagon road through Ogden Canyon close to the stream which they crossed in a number of places on bridges. Thus a means of communication was opened to Ogden City which became the principle market for the valley products. In summer this was a beautiful little fer tile valley. The streams abounded with fish and the land with wild animals—bear, wolf, fox, lynx, rabbit, deer, elk, etc. Indians, dressed in skins and blankets, decorated, with paints and feathers, were also in abundance. While generally friend ly, they sometimes made trouble and caused considerable uneasiness among the people. They would pass through the valley in bands or companies, some riding horses and some walking, and using some horses for pack animals. These would be loaded with supplies with the tent poles dragging by their sides. These Indian companies would camp in the neighborhood. and sometimes hold war dances and flourish, as tokens of bravery, human scalps which they had taken from the heads of those they had killed in bat tle. From these camps they would go out among the white settlers and beg from door to door for food and other supplies which they needed. The people would generally give them something either from humanitarian rea sons or because they feared to offend them by refusing. The Indian men were lazy loafers who seemed to think their women were made only for slaves. The women therefore did most of the begging and other work, often with their babies (papooses) in sacks strapped on their backs while the lazy men would lie around the camp fires smok ing and talking, and, when necessary, doing the hunting, fishing and fighting. Stories of these red skins scalping people, carry ing away white children, etc., together with their horrible appearance, made the white children very much afraid of them. The winters in this valley were long and cold. Five or six months of continu ous snow was not unusual being at times five, six or even more feet deep on the level where there were no drifts with the cold sometimes reaching 40 degrees below zero. We used horses, mules and oxen to draw our sleds in winter and our wagons in sum mer. Our principal social entertainments in winter consisted of dancing and other social gatherings in the meetinghouse or at private residences, sleight riding, etc.; in summer, dancing and other social gatherings, ball playing, horseback riding, walking over mountains and valley, gathering flowers, berries, etc., Our religious training, besides what we received at home from parents, ward teachers, environments, etc., was given us at sacrament meetings, fast meetings, mutual improvement association meetings, Sabbath Schools, etc. After such meetings, and at dances, social gatherings, etc., were favorite times for young men and young ladies to mingle together socially, selecting as social part ners those they liked. While the right of proposal either as partners for social gatherings or for mar riage was recognized as belonging to gentle men, yet ladies had a wonderful power in their smiles, frowns or other expressions of approval or disapproval of company with a well recognized right to accept or reject any proposal offered. Thus the young people formed social partnerships, courted and married as seemed to suit their feelings. The Ogden Valley News is looking for Ogden Valley and Ogden Canyon historical biographies, stories, and photos to use in its publication. Please mail, email, or call Shanna at 745-2688 or Jeannie at 745-2879 if you have material you would like to share. |
