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Show . j,.,-.,, I u. .,,. ..ayw ' .V. X'r - -v,,:. - .J v. :: 1 r ! - .L U ;. . j - i'r't J--c. i . - Li- Ml Boulder's Town Hall, formerly the "old school house" Is mill the hub of much activity. Room for public meetings, ceramics classes and children to play make the facility Inviting to all. Once Remote Boulder Now Fully 'In Touch' (B) BOULDER With the dubious honor of having been the last town in the U.S. to receive its mail by mule team. Boulder's remoteness is now largely a thing of the past, with the paving of the Boulder Mountain Road as a major connecting link between two famous national parks Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef. The beautiful little town has modern zoning. In an effort to keep its small-town, farming atmosphere, at-mosphere, Boulder's minimum lot is fi,ve acres, and it looks as though it will keep its farming, ranching flavor for a long time to come. Actually located at about the center of the county. Boulder is often thought of as the eastern boundary, since for so long travel to the more eastern parts was extremely difficult. dif-ficult. Modern road and an appreciation ap-preciation for the magnificant and unusual scenery of the central and eastern parts of Garfield County have made a lot of changes in travel through the area. Fishing in the many lakes on Boulder Mountain and camping in its several campgrounds is so outstanding out-standing that word has spread rapidly now that the areas are more accessible. With limited farming, it is nevertheless an area respected by stockmen, and it was stockmen who originally settled the area. Two men from Richfield brought 500 head of cattle into the area in 1879, although there is evidence that other white men had used the area, too. It has been estimated that some 12,000 head of cattle grazed the area in the ten years between 1890 and 1900. A school was started in 1896 after a few more famlies moved in; many of the residents in Boulder today bear the same family names as those early settlers. A road from Escalante to Boulder was constructed during the depression. Known as the Upper Road, it traversed 45 miles over some thrilling and dangerous terrain. It included "Hell's Backbone" Back-bone" bridge, one of the highest in the world at the time. The route followed by today's Utah Highway 12 was opened in 1S40, but it was 1971 before it was finally fully paved. An extra day or two of vacation time spent exploring the wonders of the area around Boulder Mountain and the magnificent Aquarius Pleateau will provide some of the best scenery, good fishing, and exciting and unusual terrain to be found in the U.S. If the road seems a bit steep and twisty at times, it should be reassuring to remember that the chilren from Boulder travel to Escalante every school day of the year in a big yellow school bus that has never had an accident as it traverses the road in the snowiest and iciest of weather Home of the Anasazi Indian Village State Historical Monument. Boulder can offer the visitor a concept of history ranging from the pre-historic twisted formations of much of its surrounding terrain through the basketmaker Indian period and on to the turn-of-the-century pioneer period when the area was settled by ancestors of its present inhabitants. For a real step back into time, visit Boulder. 1 |