Show C conditions f avs IN WESTERN BOX ELDER continued from last issue the ground was white with snow and the puddles in tile the road frozen over when we left the sun shone brightly but there was frost and chill in the air tile the prospects of the 40 miles of muddy flats to park valley were not pleasant we visited vis itel 1 the Si alii I 1 well known 1 landmark to all travelers to ta eow ril western te dox box elder and southern idaho its a peculiar place to find a ranch the tha bottom of oc a barren almost flat valley it is at the extremity of the curlew creek and owes IES fertility to deposits of 0 silt from that water course the land is rich and the water supply is thought to be ample for or five or six hundred acres there are two ranches formerly owned by george showell and abe rose roge mr air rose is still there but the showell holdings have passed into the hands 0 of upton brothers 0 of ogden henry G is in charge at present and is making some improvements among other things he Is doubling the acreage of alfalfa which does well there his present plans plang contemplate 1 00 acres of alfalfa which will be about the limits his water rights will serve by the way when the water has served its purpose tor for irrigation it disappears into alie th e ground hence the sinks this was the writers first visit to the sinks although the name of the place has been familiar all our lifetime the curlew valley stockmen stoc kmen make this place the center of the rodeo which was in full swing when we were there the cattle are driven south from here tor for the winter range from the sinks we drove up into the black pine and juniper country this country like holbrook was a surprise in its extensiveness it is also a dry farming section with emphasis on the dry so much of its previous population has gone elsewhere that respect for property rights are largely negligible people ire are right at home wherever th e r mind to live whether the home be theirs or someone alses there ire plenty to go round and to spare our townspeople the Hig Ilig leys john lee lea and henry wight at least are not in immediate want and apparently have no intention of leaving they live in hopes that their old neighbors will see the error of moving away awl will come back to help them maintain the community life they are all en good health and why not they have an all abundance of fresh hir air changed every day they are in no wise crowded and there Is nothing within the range of their almost unlimited vision to disturb their tranquility qui lity when prosperity now so widely heralded becomes a reality we hope that those hardy citizens who have had the stamina to hold out will be richly rewarded its about twenty miles from juniper south to the highway so call ed we say so called because it all highway by a good deal low spots are so frequent and so abrupt that it might with oqual equal aptness be called a low way theres a dugway out there that seems to lay just right to furnish dra drainage inagi tor for the bench it leads up to and every little rut in it has developed in into to a ravine the high places on this dugway are high enough but the low places are much too low there Is an abundance of gravel in the vicinity and it looks to us like some 0 of it might be profitably used to till fill those deep ruts right at this time of the year it be long until it would be effectively mac adami zed but more ot of this later we must get on we reached park valley finally with dry skins and necks unbroken glad to nave have achieved so much our old and esteemed friend charles 0 goodliffe was there to meet us he graciously offered us asylum or godspeed leaving the choice with us we chose the latter purely tor for purposes of expediency we thought wo we could make the highland ranch ranche that night about 22 miles southwest of park valley so set out with a bravado that we confess now was mixed with some misgivings As aa we reached the last house out of rosette and our self assurance waa as running low we sought specific information as to our objective the nature of the roads the likelihood ot of entertainment at the end the wisdom ot of trying tor for it that night etc the rancher pierced our thin disguise and discovered the forlornness within and suggested that it would be unwise to venture into strange country over muddy road and in a snowstorm which was already getting under way lie ile of offered ferel us supper and a bed and we nye accepted with almost disgraceful alacrity we know who our generous host might be but soon discovered him to be J IV bill callahan an old time resident of that country whom I 1 had never seen but whose name hame I 1 had hoard heard from many years back mr callahan claims to be on the retired list but he furnished us some of the liveliest entertainment we had had for many a day his stories of police and deputy marshal work of pre statehood days and of mining in utah assisted by his remarkable powers of mimicry kept our interest at top heat and this might be a good place to mention what he had to say regarding the upkeep of the road through his ranch this Is a part of the highway to the coast and he says he was induced to permit the opening of the road on the specific promise that it would be properly grades and kept in al A l 1 order he told us in language vivid and picturesque how that agreement had been neglected he declares it to be the worst piece of road between salt lake city and san francisco and a distinct and distressing blot on the fair escutcheon of the state of utah and of dox box elder county in particular he says that the only possible becom pence tor for the condition of this piece of road la Is that he has a chance every little while ot of pulling out oat tourists who get stuck in the mud there quo one tourist who went down there last spring sprung that old joke about carrying nater on the road to make a mud puddle to catch tourists fortunately tuna tely for tor him he made the crack after he ha had agot got out hereafter tourists 1 would do well to suppress that particular style of 0 humor after mr CalI callahan ahafi had said what he did about the road we took a look at it ourselves and kv we emust must say it is bad water all allover e T that at ne even alongside the wagon wago n trades tracks ana unless it Is graded graveled and drained properly some day an auto will sink out of sight with all on oil board there wont be even the redeeming feature of 0 that story told of a traveler who saw a hat lying in the road upon picking it up he discovered a man under it the man said he had a horse under him and guessed hed get out all right we found the ighland highland A ranch all right next morning on muddy creek with the ramsay ranch above iland it and the warner ranch above that below and on oil the east easl and south of tile highway is tile the well known harrington ranch called the rosebud these are all tine fine ranches but it is folly to run them without plenty ot of livestock hay of all kinds is grown along this creek but it is too tar far from the railroads to give the rancher any kind of independence unless cattlemen or ir sheep men go there to feed he be is rather helpless with plenty of liveston liv estok to utilize range and pasture and hay any one ot of those places Is a bonanzi men riding for cattle told us that there was so much snow up junction way that we make it over the hill to raft river so we went balc to park valley and crossed the divide at strevell A story ol of this trip be complete without some soma mention of strevell the only place we could see inhabited was the els ela gant hotel built there ten years ago or more by the pacific land water company there are evidences aplenty ot of prosperous days real or imaginary ag inary but now they present a picture ot of desolation talk has recently revived ot of the extension ot of the railroad from burley to kelton or other point on the S P it R R from idahome Ida home its present terminus the grade is already made to strevell and it if the good old times ever return it would only take one summer combined with inclination cli on the part ot of the railroad company to make the dream come true for the time being however the hotel is the only living thing mrs mra walters who lived tor for some time in brigham city is occupying it and dispensing rare hospitality to those whose business leads them that way bridge idaho on the raft halt river looks prosperous the hard times that have swept the country the past three or four years did not ignore that spot but we dont see any real reason why the settlers there should be downhearted they have sold their hay or r will sell it this year at from SOO tor for the first sold to 1300 1500 which many I 1 see as a reality As a matter of fact some gome hay was sold while we were there tor for 1000 we drove on through the storm and mud to malta a town with a history rich in the experiences of the reil real wild west the setting Is still there but the wildness was not so much in evidence and they have hay lay there thera man alive to the tenderfoot it looks like enough to feed all the cattle there are and ranches the old and famous keogh ranch with its hay landi land and more pasture lands and still more cattle and the deardorff ranch of acres in hay most of it alfalfa the tat fat hereford here tord cattle and the splendid horses 24 fields all perfectly fenced and clear running water in every one of them but another story it was saturday night and the next day a day of rest so this will be a good place to liy lily off this narrative until the next working day to be continued next issue |