Pulling into tiny Helper, Utah is like stepping back in time. Whatever way you come into town, you are likely to drive past one of their amazingly preserved vintage gas stations on your way in. These are perfect inside and out and you should definitely stop to check them out. When you pull onto Main Street, you will definitely be impressed by how well they have kept up their historic district and it feels like you are on a movie set somewhere. The only other place I have visited that had the same feel was Lowell, Arizona, but Helper feels more alive and less like a ghost town.
Located in Carbon County, this is definitely coal country, but the town developed around the railroad when the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) came through in 1881. The town gets its name because the trains needed an extra push to get them over the next hill, so an extra engine, or “helper” was attached. Between the mines and the railroad, Helper grew to a population of around 20,000 people who came to work in these industries from all over the world. The mines and the railroad still exist in the area, but increased mechanization has decreased the need for workers and the population has dropped by 90%. That said, the people who have remained decided to do what they could to preserve the history of the town and have worked hard to create the Helper you’ll find there today.
I was thrilled to find the Matt Warner Lodge of E Clampus Vitus while I was there. ECV is the historic organization I’ve been a part of for the last 20 years or so, but this is the only Lodge in all of Utah. They are working hard to preserve the history of the area while helping run many of the community’s events like the Easter egg hunt, which they were all excited about while I was there. It was nice to have some company for a change, and the Brothers filled me in on a lot of the local history. Their Lodge is located in the historic Carbon Hotel which was the last functioning brothel in Helper and was open into the 1970s. ECV historic plaques can be found throughout Helper and in many nearby towns and help tell the story of the communities which have long since faded into the past.
If you’re ever on your way to Salt Lake City from Moab or Grand Junction, definitely be sure to stop in Helper, you’ll be glad you did. I hope you enjoy these photos from Helper which is definitely Utah’s cutest small town.
Hello Everyone. It’s been a pleasant and reasonably slow week here in Utah. The temperatures have definitely gone up significantly and it feels like we are jumping right from winter to summer out here. I’ve spent plenty of time in Utah in summer in my life, so I know that’s not exactly true, but going from 40°F to 85°F is still a significant jump in a week. I’ve spent most of the week in the Greater Salt Lake City area, an area I’ve spent a decent amount of time in in the past but have never really had an opportunity to explore. I went to an amazing American Indian Powwow, learned more about the Mormon faith and history and generally enjoyed my time out in the Salt Lake Valley. This may have been my last full week here in Utah, and closing out my time in a state is always bittersweet. I’ve really enjoyed these last 5 weeks in the Beehive State, and I’ve certainly learned a lot about what makes it tick. That being said, the warmer temperatures are going to push me north and into the mountains, which is what I’ve been looking forward to all winter. Anyways, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, so let’s get right into how I spent my week here in north-central Utah.
After finishing up this post last week I used the rest of the daylight to cruise on up the road to Delta. Along the way I was excited to visit the town of Harding (my last name), but it turned out to only be a crossroads – no sign, no buildings, no nothing. That was disappointing, but the sun was already down when I got there, so I continued on and had a quiet night when I got to Delta. On Thursday morning I started my day with a visit to the Topaz Museum in the heart of downtown Delta. I got there right when the museum was opening and the docent who was there was a former Delta schoolteacher who spent a nice bit of time introducing me to museum.
I had a blast in Vernal, Utah - a fun little city of about 10,000 people in the far east of the Beehive State. Fremont Indians once lived in the area and were later followed by Utes who still live there today. When the Mormons came to Utah, they saw no reason to settle in the region despite the Green River flowing nearby. In fact, settlers didn’t come to what is now Vernal until 1879. The railroad came through in 1906 and Vernal was incorporated and began to grow. Just three years later, paleontologist Earl Douglass discovered a massive deposit of dinosaur bones and fossils just east of Vernal and it would be designated as Dinosaur National Monument in 1915. Oil and mineral extraction are probably the biggest drivers of Vernal’s economy, but dinosaur tourism certainly plays a significant role, as you can tell from the photos in this post.
I was only planning on staying a short while in Vernal, but ended up there for several days. I enjoyed checking out the dinosaur quarry at the National Monument, and the Field House Museum in the middle of town. The recreation center was top-notch and I even got to catch some bull riding while I was there. Mostly, it’s just fun town with a good feeling to it and friendly people at every stop. That and the sunsets were hard to beat. I hadn’t been to Vernal in many years and I was glad I made the trek to get there. I hope you enjoy these photos from Vernal, definitely a fun town in the heart of dinosaur country.
Nine Mile Canyon as often been called “The World’s Longest Art Gallery”. Despite its name, the canyon stretched 46 miles through east central Utah and has as many as 10,000 petroglyphs along its course. This route has been traveled for thousands of years, undoubtedly beginning as a wildlife trail which followed the easiest path through the mountains. It was used by a people we refer to as the Fremont People for many hundreds of years and they are responsible for most of the petroglyphs chipped into the canyon walls. Later, Ute Indians made their way through the canyon and made their own carvings, including those of horses and bison. Fur trappers and settlers followed the old Indian trails. The Nine Mile Canyon Road was originally built by the Black Buffalo Soldiers of the Ninth Cavalry to connect old Fort Duchesne to the railroad at Price. Once the road was complete, stagecoaches started using the canyon to deliver mail and freight and settlements began to spring up. Later, mining and natural gas extraction began in Nine Mile Canyon and continues today. Nobody knows how 46 mile long Nine Mile Canyon was named. Many people believe that explorer John Wesley Powell named it because the name first appears in his journals, but Powell was pretty good at naming things so I’m not buying that explanation. Also, I love a good mystery and don’t mind when one goes unsolved.
I started my drive from Wellington, just south of Price. The road is paved all the way to the Great Hunt Panel (and beyond if you continue up the side canyon), but has a stretch of decently maintained gravel road if you want to continue through to Myton (which I did). I loved seeing so many wonderful petroglyphs in such a small area and I know I only scratched the surface (pun intended) of what was out there. My favorite is the first one pictured below: Coyote Placing the Stars. I also loved the Owl Panel and the Juggling Man and of course the Great Hunt which is one of Utah’s most famous panels. There were a lot of old homesteads along the way and even an old townsite once called Harper but abandoned over a hundred years ago. There are some beautiful new homes out there as well and aside from the mining trucks rumbling past I imagine it’s pretty quiet out there most of the time. I really enjoyed my day out in Nine Mile Canyon and I hope you enjoy these photos I took along the way.
Hello Everyone. A belated Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all from here in Fillmore, Utah. I’ve spent this last week cutting across the central part of the state, checking out petroglyphs and dinosaur fossils in the east, cruising down the beautiful agricultural region of the Sanpete Valley and finishing up here in Utah’s first territorial capital. It’s been windy out here this week, but the temperatures have been pleasant and the rain and snow have stayed away, which was a good thing as some of these high mountain passes have taken me up above 9000’. Central Utah is definitely a less-visited part of the state, but it has a lot of cute towns, friendly people and plenty to keep me busy. I’ve been moving fast this week because there’s a powwow I want to get to in Salt Lake City this coming weekend and these are all places I wanted to hit before heading in that direction.
When I left you last week, I was out in Grand Junction, Colorado after a quick visit to Colorado National Monument. After I wrapped up my newsletter, I made a beeline back to the Beehive State and headed straight to Green River. I wanted to get there with enough time to see the John Wesley Powell River History Museum. If you don’t know of him, Powell led the first expedition to float the length of Grand Canyon. A retired U.S. Army Major, he had lost his right arm due to a gunshot through the wrist he received during the Battle of Shiloh, one of the bloodiest and most fascinating battles of the Civil War. After the war, he went on to become the curator of a small natural history museum in Illinois and went west to gather some samples for the museum. While there, he became fixated on the idea of exploring Grand Canyon and collected a rag-tag crew of mountain men and explorers to come with him. It was quite the adventure and this museum does a good job of documenting their trip and providing some great information on Powell himself. There are also displays on the geologic and human history of the Green River (which joins the Colorado River in what is now Canyonlands National Park and which Powell floated to get to the Colorado on his journey). In addition to the permanent gallery…
