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Show "THE OLD OX DRAG ROAD" A PLEA TO SAVE "JUMPOFF" FOR HIKERS J This is a plea in keeping with the sentiment of protecting the native shrubbery and vanishing pine trees those stalwart representatives of Qod's great outdoors. The robes In which ! nature has been dressing our barren mountain slopes these many, many moons. Struggling against greu odds, agalnst fire and vundallsm against ithoughtlcss Individuals, who in caro-lless caro-lless haatu or wanton dstructivonesa, Btart fires and abandon thorn to tako their course. Up there those hoary lords of tho wood chaining their gnarled roots to a barren crest. For years we have watched tho recurring blase of destruction lapping up the last ivcatlge of green verdure what, though it bee only scrub-oak, maples, or quaking aspen, thee verralllion brush of autumn no moreo blends her brilliant flashes over these espots, but seared and grey their skeletons rattle rat-tle In the mountain air. Hiking has become an instructive and healthful recreeatlon to not a few of our citlaens and here to the oast of us thee Wasatrh ledges rear their walls of geologic strata. Many spots reached only by Ktrenuous exertion ar rare In beeauty and seclusion The recent fires threatened one of those secluded canyons, known to comparatively compara-tively few persons. Tucked away behind be-hind the protection of towering peaks, east of Flvo oPinU. is thriving a dense forest of pine, ranging from the seedling to trees throe feot in diameter. dia-meter. Down whoso shady recosBes a rushing mountain stream makes Its way in tho early summer to the perpendicular per-pendicular cliffs, plunging over to the thirsty rocks below. Water, cold and sparkling, Is to bo found further back in the hills al all seasons, ohllled Just enough to tempt tho hiker to wtrotch himself upon the sharp rockB and drink hla fill. In tho early days of the saw mill in Ogd.en canyon attempts were made to bring logs out of this Isolated place when the ox took the place of the hiirso. As evidence of this, an old ox yoke was found by the writer in Jump-.Off Jump-.Off ranyon Paris f several wagons I almost burled In the mould can also! bo seen. A well defined drug roud I leading to the edge the cliff, still marks the spot where logs were .shunt-led .shunt-led over the walls of the cunyon. Efforts Ef-forts at this length wero very early 'abandoned, however, and so the forest for-est has been preserved In its native Iquletudo. A'-cosslblo only on foot or hone back, and the latter only from jthe east and north, by way of North , Ogden canyon. To. make the place ac-iceoslble ac-iceoslble by auto would destroy much 'of this quietude. j As a plea for the hiker who does not. regret to lea. the mell of gaua and burnlnc oil behind and take hlm-jSclf hlm-jSclf to the woods. Is there no place jthct one can tread out of doors without with-out stepping on six cylinders for ex-ervlee? ex-ervlee? Why not reserve one place for Just plain pedestrians, people who like to exercise tholr legs as well as their feet Xo limousine carbuncles, nor Kord bunions are developing among the devotees of uuunfain climbing Furthermore this particular spot is I at present part of a dedicated preserve. pre-serve. Doer are there, groueo, pine hens and birds of all kinds the robin lis there even in tho winter The isquirrel. that sentinel of tho wlldwood rings out his challengeo from the loftiest loft-iest spire of a pln tree the blue-Juy answers and all the wild life scurry for cover Improve the trail, make the way easier Let's go to the mountains, to the canyons, but let's go after tho firebugs fire-bugs and to those unthinking persons who load their cars down with choke-cherry choke-cherry branches and wild fruits und flowers Thanks to tho vigilance of the boy scouts, the forest service and organized mountain clubs, the hiking and motoring public are Interesting Inter-esting themselves In the preservation of the beauty spots with which ouri mountain abound. A WASATCH ER 1 |