Show highlights PAST OR PRESENT arthur and hazel ekker of green river utah uranium 0 rush yr yields ields to steady expansion by HAZEL it EKKER since 1883 when blake s ferry and the pony express from salina to la sal were replaced by the denver and rio grande railroad the town of green river utah has been growing slowly but steadily through the years it has been sus tamed by the steady pulse of farm ing and the railroad growth has also been augmented by seasonal tourist trade and little booms from peaches to oil we have the river so essential in semi and land the fertile soil mild climate and surrounding scenic and historical attractions trans continental highways 50 and 6 and the main line of the D and RG R G railroad go through green river growth was inevitable geographic attractions include the san rafael reef object of study in many universities which begins at silent city just west of town and runs more than fifty miles south forming san rafael swell and water pocket fold about midway temple mountain a massive jagged white sand stone crown rests upon the sharply broken crest of the reef just be yond temple mountain on the east slope of the reef is goblin val I 1 ley a shutterbug shutterbugs s paradise which s spreads its weird panorama of sandstone spooks farther south are the henry mountain mountains nature s textbook for feoli geology gy seven miles down the river from town costal geyser utah s cold waler water old faithful defies any time pattern in its mammoth spouting also on the south are remote sunset pass and robbers roost to the south east Is famous arches na national dional bonu meat ent and dead horse point on the north the book cliffs majestic ageless sentinels stand guard stock raising remains fairly con slant stant one hundred to one hundred fifty carloads of sheep come here for winter grazing on the desert they are shipped to summer ranges in the spring twenty to thirty car loads of cattle go out to market each year during the nineteen there was an increase in cul acreage A few new homes were built but most of the ex mansion in business was to accod increasing numbers of tour ests then came the early fifties de mand for agricultural products sag ged causing values to drop sharp ly but due to government support retail prices remained high or raised family incomes had to be augmented then luckily began the uranium flurry that finally infect ed most of local population riders of the open range either obtained a geiger counter or a friend who had one anecdotes from sad to comical emerged from the stampede A man we picked up on the desert by a broken down jeep said I 1 im in sure going to hell in a handbag fifteen years ago I 1 had a cow outfit at the state line I 1 sold the cattle and bought sheep 1 I sold them and now I 1 in down to prospecting there was a cowboy with the alack black rock that drove the geiger counter crazy but he never could remember where he found it this gasn wasn t so extraordinary but for months this cowboy had been tell ing how utterly stupid other peo pie were for the same thing another man laboriously gather ed uranium ore samples into an old iron skillet out of an old mine tunnel far from the beaten path assays of these samples resulted in a small but feverish gold rush until his brother admitted panning 9 gold old with the old skillet on the salmon river most tragic of all m ere the two men met from the east who left their jeep to prospect afoot in de cember the snow camouflaged the thin ice lee on a water pocket and they fell into four feet of water after trying unsuccessfully to build a fire nearby they threw away their wet matches unable to fin find d their jeep or their way back to the road they wandered for two nights and a day then separated the one who found help had frozen feet the rescue party who located the other man frozen to death found that the discarded matches now dry would strike A temple mountain miner while driving along a side road saw a prospector building monuments to stake stale a claim on ground that he had already staked I 1 hoped he hadn haan t seen me he said so I 1 wheeled around and drove back over the ridge as quick as I 1 could fixing my mouth for the big bite I 1 would take out of him for jumping a claim of mine later that day the miner drove back out to tern tent pie mountain forty seven carru gated miles and tramped half a mile over rough terrain to get the claim jumper jumpers s name off the pa pers in the discovery monument he found the location notice it was properly filled out with claim de and date but in t the he place of the locator locators s name ap feared the words nords kilroy was here in the days of butch cassidy it was mas a damning breach of eti quette sometimes even fatal to ask where a man was going the rule has returned nobody dares ask where a traveler is going but if you get a smile with how much back count do ou suppose there is in THIS heats he is prospecting jeep tracks appear in the most isolated regions and often where jeep tracks end foot prints go into the rim rocks for miles tors travel in every manner from horses trucked to road roads s end and rattling jeeps to planes and even from homemade home made counters to the latest scintilla tors uranium isn t new here since the turn of the century good ore has been coming to or through green river from temple moun tain the henry mountains the san rafael reef and old camp 1 A N L N arthur and hazel ekker of green river utah venura since 1930 the flow of ore has been increasing many came here to work and stayed there is a swelling stream of prospectors miners drillers and other busi ness operators arriving rents have gone up and available houses are taken modern trailer courts have been and are being built and filled applications for building permits are coming to the zoning commit tee in ever increasing numbers two large housing projects are in the planning stage all available offices are full and two vacant buildings have been converted into more offices the school census has increased steadily despite the shortage of houses in 1952 we had students in 1953 and in 1954 A new ultra modern school building is be ing erected now to be ready for the opening of school in septem her ber 1955 the postoffice post office has been having an ever increasing christmas rush more than thirty differ ent mining and drilling companies compan ies receive mail here demand for boxes has gone far beyond supply and is still mounting the mountain states telephone company reports that double the amount of circuits we me had has been added to carry the load of long distance calls mr J C taylor of the utah pow er and light company reports that records show that the year from october 1953 to october show ed an increase of 29 per cent kil hours used over the corre sp spending year before that the kil hours used in july 1954 are an increase of more than 36 per cent over july 1952 of the three leading grocery stores one reports a gain of at least 25 per cent in the last year the second claims a gain of 35 per cent in 54 over 52 and the last says that gross sales are slightly over twice the amount of the same month last year demand for culinary water has made it necessary to enlarge stor age and pumping facilities the city has purchased and installed a new filtration plant that in eludes two filters each having a capac capacity t Y of ten thousand gallons per hour five chemical feeders and a devise to hasten settling lans plans are already being implement ed to enlarge the new facilities so that we will be able to supply water 4 times as fast as at pres ent adequate water supply for a city of 50 or more is at hand so our problem is not one of wa ter shortage only one of engineer ing and of acquiring the proper equipment the local airstrip is the most con lenient small one in the state because of its proximity to town A pilot can taxi the plane from the strip to the service station ross cross the street and eat while it s being serviced the state and city ity have entered into a joint pro eject calling for an expenditure of 8 00 on this strip this will put the surface in first class condi tion five planes are tied down here regularly with unlimited space for more during 1954 consolidated uran burn ium mines inc of salt lake city a heavy producer at temple moun tain 47 miles south of green river and the atlas corporation recent purchaser of vernon pick s delta mine 30 miles beyond temple mountain were shipping up to carloads of ore per month from green biver river by rail consolidated was then shipping about 75 per cent of this while atlas and various small owners shipped about 25 per cent how ever the extensive new equipment installed stalled at the old delta mine now re named the hidden splendor by floyd odium has greatly in creased their production and the tonnage of ore shipped from green river in 1954 hidden splendor had a body of tons blocked out surrounded by unknown quantities averaging 46 per cent uranium ox ide besides this other new strikes have been reported of which one of the most notable ones is by four corners at old camp venura 12 miles west of town this is now the growth of a ne new w industry that must inevitably make green river with its high ways railroad sufficient water and power for a mill an important uranium center watch us grow not the fairytale growth of alice in wonderland nor jack jacks s bean stalk but a steady healthy nat eral progress |