Picto Diary - 24 August 2019 - Alzheimers Walk Park City
Above: Bishop 'n His Highness support 'Cake's LSDM Team. — attending 2019 Walk To End Alzheimer's at Basin Recreation Fieldhouse. 24 August 2019.
LSDM members 'Cake and Tennis did an excellent job in bringing the pitfalls of this pernicious disease to ROMEO's attention.
Above: His Highness and Duc. Big Mountain Pass. UT SR 65. 24 August 2019.
Out and about on the Duc.
His Highness and the Duc at Big Mountain Pass. Salt Lake Valley beyond.
Of the 80 mile stretch of Wasatch Mountains between Provo and Ogden, why did pioneers pick this difficult place to cross?
In 1846 it took the Donner Party thirteen days to get from this point to the Salt Lake Valley below...only fifteen miles as the crow flies.
The Mormon pioneers took six days the next year, though they had the benefit of Donner trail clearing the year before.
In 1868, Chief Engineer Ted Judah built his Central Pacific Railway (CP) down Weber Canyon to the valley, twenty miles north of this point. Note: Judah passed away before the CP reached Weber Canyon... but, it was his engineering plan and vision that led the CP to Promentory Point.
Credit west migration promoter (and con man) Lanford B. Hastings for pushing the Big Mountain route. Yet, he never took the difficult route himself. The scurrilous Hastings went down Weber Canyon in 1846 only days before the Donners arrived at Big Mountain Pass.
The Mormons had nearly reached their destination, but, the California bound Donners/Reeds paid dearly for taking Hastings' advice. — at Big Mountain Pass.
His Highness and Mwah (sic) parted company after doing a bit of shopping at the Browning Factory Store in Morgan. His Highness was under time constraints that didn't bind Mwah (sic). His Highness rode to Henifer and took UT SR 65 back to Park City. Mwah (sic) took the Echo frontage road and I-80 to Evanston for steak tacos at Don Pedros. Mwah (sic) returned to Park City via Yellow Creek Road, Chalk Creek Road and I-80.
Above: Bishop selfie at Echo Cliffs. I-80 frontage road. Echo, UT. 24 August 2019.
Out and about on the Duc.
In 1857 Bishop's great great grandfather, Andrew Hunter Scott, then a teen, was dug in atop these cliffs as a member of the Mormon Militia.
Why? To harass 2000 US federal troops led by General Albert Sydney Johnston, sent to Utah by President Buchanan to get the pesky, disobedient Brigham Young under control.
There was never any actual fighting in the "Utah War." Differences between the Mormons and the Feds were settled diplomatically.
After tensions were reduced Johnston and his 2000 troops made camp, for two years, west of Utah Lake. In 1859 President Lincoln called the soldiers back east at the onset of the Civil War.
General Albert Sydney Johnston, head of Western Theater Confederate Forces, died at the battle of Shiloh in April 1862. He was the highest ranking officer from either side to die in combat during the US Civil War.
Andrew Hunter Scott became a farmer in Lake View, Utah. He had numerous successful business interests and sired a big family of which I am a scion. He died of old age. — in Echo Canyon Utah.
Above: The Duc at The Needles. Yellow Creek Road. Uinta County, WY. 24 August 2019.
Out and about on the Duc.
The Needles (rock formation).
Namesake for nearby Pony Express Station.
The Needles/Needle Rock(s) Station (N41 09 50.0 W111 02 57.0) (P).
Located (NE1/4NW1/4 Section 21, Township 5 North, Range 8 East, Salt Lake Meridian.) just on the Utah side of the border with Wyoming, it lies on Yellow Creek, almost 10 miles south of the town of Evanston, approximately 8 miles from Bear River Station, Wyoming.
Little is known of the station, as none of the contemporary writers left a description. The station is named for a rock formation described by British explorer Sir Richard Burton as “…a huge Stonehenge, a crown of broken and somewhat lanceolate perpendicular conglomerates or cemented pudding stones called not inappropriately Needle Rocks.” Two stone foundations remain at the location (N41 10 16.9 W111 02 41.7) of the station. The site is on private land. — at Yellow Creek Road, Uinta County, Wy.
I love these obscure locations (and learning about them), usually found while riding the rumbling Duc, a special pleasure in and of itself. I am in awe of the early explorers and settlers of these places. I have the Duc, a ridable road, a cell phone and a bottle of fresh water to facilitate a mini travel experience more fun than challenging. Sir Richard Burton, when examining this spot, was a day away from Evanston and two days away from Salt Lake City, with none of the accoutrements that facilitate modern travel.