Today we departed Antelope RV Park in Delta and are
headed to Green River, Utah. Antelope RV was an OK overnight stop, but not much
to do in the area. As the road approached Delta, it was a straight passage
across desert. It has now changed to zigzags through farming areas.
The highway continues to zigzag through farms until
arriving at more mountainous terrain at Holden. In 1853, a group of wagons came
over the rise of Scipio Summit. The Pioneers saw a valley covered with grass
and sage brush with trees defining the creeks. This large fertile valley was
surrounded by the Pahvant range of mountains on the south and east, by the
House range on the west, and the Canyon range on the north. To the west was
Pahvant Butte, an ancient volcanic cone. The shore line of old Lake Bonneville
could be traced here and there along the mountains in the east. These pioneers
did not know it at the time but the climate was typical for the area, too hot
in the summer and too cold in the winter.
William Stevens and Richard Johnson obtained
permission from Brigham Young to start a new settlement. In 1855 the two men
and their families came from Fillmore and settled on Pioneer Creek. The first
plowing at this area was done and attempts were made to plant crops but the
harvest was poor because of the shortness of the season and menacing
grasshoppers. Elijah Edward Holden came back to Utah in 1847, soon as the
pioneers arrived. He froze to death in a sudden winter storm in 1857. The first
post office was established in 1858 and the name of the town was changed from
Cedar Springs to Holden in honor of Edward Elijah Holden. In 1864 the settlers
built an adobe school house just west of the spot where the newer two story
school house eventually was built.
At Holden, the highway merges with Interstate 15 to
cross the Pavant Range at Scipio Summit and into Scipio. Scipio was settled in
1859. Early names included Round Valley and Craball, but it was eventually
named for Scipio Africanus Kenner, a young lawyer who helped the pioneers to
obtain legal title to the land. In 1861, George A. Smith organized an LDS
branch in the town. Fort Scipio also existed here at one time. There are
several nice pioneer style homes found throughout the town. Several houses are
found on the National Register of Historic Places. The Peter Quarnberg House,
the Merien and Rosabelle Robins House, the Thuesen-Petersen House and the Pharo
Village (a Fremont site) south of Scipio. Also on the Historic Register is the
Town Hall built in 1935. Not on the Historic Register is an old gas station, located
on Main Street. Before I-15 came through, this was highway 91, it must have
been a bustling town at one time.
Route 50 then separates from this freeway to travels
in conjunction with Interstate 70 in Salina. The two highways run concurrent
from this point east to Colorado. In early 1864 the scouts and some thirty
families returned to the area and settled here. Because of the abundant salt
deposits nearby, they named the site "Salina," surveyed it into
square blocks, each divided into four lots, and started to build shelters.
Efforts to divert creek water to the north failed and forced them to put to the
plow only land south of the creek; however, they did harvest a good crop from
this. They started to build a fort and church and constructed a bridge across
Salina creek. Troubles with the Indians, the Black Hawk War, forced the settlers
to retreat to the Manti area. They returned in 1871, determined to stay, and
organized a militia, completed the church and fort, started a school, and
explored the canyon to the east, where they found anthracite coal in
"almost inexhaustible quantities," various minerals, and more salt
deposits.
During the 1870s a telegraph, regular postal service, a
school, and a small library were operating. Many small mines produced coal for
local use, but farming and livestock raising continued to constitute the basic
economy. The railroad reached Salina in 1891. That same year, a newspaper, the
Central Utah Press, was started, and a city hall with library and an eight-room
elementary schoolhouse were built. A second Latter-day Saint ward was
established in 1912 and its chapel built at the junction of State and Main
streets. An LDS seminary was organized in 1921; the first seminary building was
completed in 1953. The community also welcomed members and churches of other
faiths. In 1882 a Presbyterian chapel was established and continued until 1947.
In 1982 the Faith Baptist Church, independent and local, was established. A
related private school was organized in 1984, and in 1991, a church building
was constructed. In 130 years Salina has changed from a settlement of thirty
families whose hard-scrabble economy was based on farming and livestock to a
small city of 2,000 with an economy based on coal mining, trucking, farming,
and livestock.
When traveling on the interstate, there is not as
much to see as there is on a secondary road. While co-routed with I-70, Route
50 crosses the Wasatch Plateau and passes through the San Rafael Swell. We
pulled into the Salt Wash View. This roadside view has spectacular views of the
San Rafael Swell and the stupendous rock formations. A part of the Colorado
Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is high desert country, vastly different from the
Sonoran desert of the Southwest. In some sections, it is a sweeping country
with towering mesas, buttes, and pinnacles rising from flat desert floors. In
other areas, it boasts rolling pasturelands populated with antelope and wild
horses. And just around the bend it can become an incredibly wild, broken land
with streams cutting through slot canyons that open up to panoramic vistas.
Yet again, we are on a stretch of highway that is 100 miles without
services from Salina to Green River.
We stopped at the Devil’s Canyon View. There are
relatively few canyons on the west side of the San Rafael Swell, where the land
slopes more gently and does not form the dramatic reef that characterizes the
eastern edge. One of the best is Devils Canyon, a long canyon that starts just
beneath the highest point in the Swell and has eroded deep into generally
dull-colored layers of Cedar Mesa sandstone that cover this region, forming
some narrow sections and joined by many slot-like tributaries.
On the road today, we have seen three different
EarthRoamer RV’s. We have not seen many before and to see three in one day,
amazing! This is what I learned about them. Since 1998, EarthRoamer has been
redefining luxury camping and overland travel with their solar/diesel hybrid,
four-wheel drive Xpedition Vehicles.
They are the go anywhere, do anything
answer for people who want to travel on their own terms and seek their own
adventures, without sacrificing any of the comforts of home.
Each EarthRoamer
is built custom to order and offers capability, comfort, craftsmanship and
convenience unmatched by typical recreational vehicles. Charlie found a 2006
EarthRoamer on RV trader for $149,900 … WOW!
The construction of I-70 through the swell is noted
as one of the engineering marvels of the Interstate Highway System. One
specific feat, the excavation through a portion called Spotted Wolf Canyon,
required excavating 3,500,000 cubic yards of rock to have a bed for just 8
miles of roadway. Construction workers noted that prior to the construction of
the freeway a man could stand in this canyon and touch both sides of the canyon
wall.
We were supposed to stop in Green River for the
night, but it was early and aonly 100 more miles to Fruita. We called Monument
RV Park in Fruita and they had a space for us tonight, so we made Green River a
gas and lunch stop. As we were heading back onto I-70, Charlie said we have
been here before. I thought for a little bit and then a roadside piece of
public art caught my eye and I said, yes … we have been here before. We were
there in 2016 on our Southwest Caravan. We came to a Pilot to get gas and we
were the tail-enders for the caravan, because the real tail-enders were back
down the road with Bud and Bernice and their fuel leak.
Green River is home to an annual Melon Fest. It is held
the third Saturday in September to celebrate the end of the melon season. There
are vendors in the park Friday and Saturday with crafts, retail, and food.
There will also be somethings for children like face painting, bounce houses,
etc. There are three melon growers in Green River, all of whom were represented
at this year’s Melon Days! You can pick up melons any time from Dunham Farms or
Vetere Farms by visiting their melon stands along Main Street in Green River.
The third grower is Thayn Farms.
US 6 rejoins Route 50 near Green River, Utah. The
three routes run concurrent and follow the southern edge of the Book Cliffs to Grand
Junction, Colorado. Once again, services are not present from Thompson Springs
to Fruita, Colorado, a span of about 60 miles. This portion of US-50 is part of
the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway, a National Scenic Byway. The name of
the byway comes from the large number of areas along the route with visible
dinosaur remains.
We passed the Utah and Colorado state line sign and
the ladies that wanted to picture the fact that they were there!
We arrived in Fruita, CO at Monument RV, our home for 4 nights!
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