PRE CHRISTMAS JOURNEY TO THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT

CHRISTMAS APPROACHES

HAVE YOU BEEN NAUGHTY OR NICE?

STRANGE BUT TRUE -- CHRISTMAS EDITION

A JOURNEY BACK IN TIME

A big part of my Christmas tradition is a duck hunting excursion through southern Utah with my good friend, Oil Can. This territory is where Oil Can was born and grew up. It consists of Piute and Garfield counties. Eventually the inhabitants of these counties had had enough of Oil Can and he was driven out. That's how Sanpete County got stuck with the Can.

The good citizens of Circileville, Utah, escorting Oil Can out of town.... about 1984.



Although Oil left his boyhood town on somewhat less than favorable circumstances,

he still has an extreme fondness for this area and goes back there often. I go with him at least once year for the hunting experience and also because it is a very beautiful and interesting area.

This year our hunting trip started out like any other, but little did I know that Oil Can's truck would turn into .......

.......the Wayback Machine.




THE STRANGE JOURNEY BEGINS......

It all started on a Saturday morning. Oil Can showed up early at my house. Spike and I were ready to go....

Cruising With The Can

Although most people who know Oil Can try to keep their time spent with him at a minimum, Spike really likes him and loves to go cruising with him. Even I have learned that a small amount of time spent with Oil is not all that bad, if confined to a limited basis........

We left Manti and headed south on 89. We, then, went through Siguard, Koosharem, and came to Otter Creek Reservoir. We, then, proceeded to the little community of Antimony.
(see above)

Oil's last friend from that area , Tom Wiley, gave us permission to hunt ducks on his farm....

It was on this farm that we first felt we had traveled back in time. Above is a very old, but classic, tractor.

Another tractor on the Wiley farm........

Finally, to the delight of Spike, we found a few mallards....

Spike retrieving a hen mallard....






Spike now has a greenhead.....

It was crisp cold day with snow covered ground.....







Spike takes his bird to Oil....







Pals.....

Oil and Spike

Two of my friends who are known by their fondness for posing.........

Spike never takes his eye of his prize.....



This pretty much ended all of the hunting on our hunting trip as we did not find anything else to hunt the rest of the day. We got back in the truck and headed south towards Black Canyon..

We stopped at the Antimony Mercantile for coffee and homemade pie...

The coconut cream pie was delicious........

I did not really eat all this. I just mainly drank coffee....

Back on the road on HW 22..........

Entering Black Canyon.......

An old pioneer house sits lonely along the road.....

The Antimony grist mill-- it has been closed down since the 1920s.

Old grist mill in Black Canyon.....

At one time most the grain in Garfield Country went through this mill....

Oil and his high school buddies went through the mill one Halloween night and he swears that it is haunted.......




HIGHWAY 22

Oil says this is the longest stretch of straight highway in the United States. It is definitely very lonely. After we left the Antimony cafe we did not see another vehicle for three hours...



Finally we came to the ghost town of Widstoe....

This sign marks the spot of an old Mormon ghost town named Widstoe along Highway 22.....

Widstoe school house......

Old truck......

Biggest remaining house in Widstoe....

The Mormon bishop must have lived here. Poor land and a lack of water led to the community's demise.....

Oil also claims this house is haunted......

Another old Widstoe dwelling.....





On we go down the road to the Widstoe Cemetery....

Widstoe Cemetery sign on HW 22....

The Widstoe Cemetery is located in a very beautiful spot with gorgeous pinion trees...

It is also the number one cemetery in the US for plastic flowers per capita grave......

It is common to find photos on the grave stones. Many people who had relatives from Widstoe chose to be buried here even though they never lived here.

Many of the people buried here were known by Oil Can...

Lots of plastic......

Oil knew this couple.....

Some graves had individual fences........

That's not Bigfoot.... it's the pride of Piute County.

This is the number one most popular grave based on plastic offerings...

Another headstone photo..

Bird house and wreath...

Plastic dog with broken nose.....

Plastic cow......

Bird house....

Plastic cowboy boots.....

Voo and Spike ponder the meaning of life while surrounded by death....

Smallest grave marker which simply said BROWN on it.....

An old carton of Coke.....

A family bench.....

A soldier.......



We left the cemetery after about a half hour and headed down the road...




Back on HW 22 and a pretty drive further south. Lots of ponderosa pines and finally the junction at Bryce Canyon. Instead of going to Bryce, we headed West on HW 12 and then turned right on HW 89 towards Panguitch.

On the way to HW 89 we went through a beautiful place called Red Canyon. We went through two big tunnels and it proved to be very scary for Oil and Spike....

Approaching a Red Canyon tunnel...

Coming out the other end......what a relief.

Red ledges....

Red towers........


Red Riding Hood......





Back on 89.....






We stopped in Panguitch and had coffee with old friends, Glen and Barbara Leach.

Oil Can's mother was from Panguitch and he knows everybody in town. Many people living in Panguitch still know Oil Can but are careful not to advertise that fact.

Bird houses at the Leach house in Panguitch.



On the road again....

We thought we were headed back North on 89. All at once we weren't too sure....

Suddenly Spike's hair started to stand on end as we passed this road sign..


Could it be that we were actually headed south on Hells' Highway, 666, instead of North on 89?



Even Oil's hair started to stand up on his head when came to the sign post up ahead........and our next stop.....................

I initially spotted an old tractor which immediately caught my attention. At first glance I thought it might be a candidate for " Voo's Tractor Of The Week." Oil Can was driving and went by the tractor before I could get a photo of it but something caught my eye and I asked Oil to turn around. Sure enough, when we pulled up to the tractor we couldn't believe our eyes.

Sitting at the wheel of the old tractor, right before our eyes, was the dead farmer who owned the tractor. He had been dead for a long time.

(see below)

This old boy had long since plowed his last furrow on this old three-wheeled tractor...


Low and behold, next to the ghostly tractor sat an old steam roller holding the long
dead body of , what we presumed, was the farmers wife.

(see below)

Mrs. Dead Farmer on the steam roller from hell......

Sitting between the tractor and steam roller was a riderless motorcycle. The really weird thing was the fact the bike was standing up by itslef with no visible means of support.....

I am not sure, but I would would swear that looking out of the corner of my eye, the dead farmer raised his right hand towards us. Oil saw it too. I glanced over at Spike and his back hair was standing straight up.

We also thought we saw Mrs. Dead Farmer turn her head towards us......

All at once the old tractor fired up and started to run. At that point we decided to get the hell out of there. Spike had already started the truck as Oil and I jumped in. Away we went, down what was apparently, hell's highway, looking for an exit from Garfield County's version of The Twighlight Zone.




Spike driving us away from the Garfield County's ghost farm....





As Spike was driving us away, my camera happened to be aimed at the rear view mirror and I accidently snapped a photo. When I looked in the view finder, this is what I saw in the back seat of our truck......






When I turned around ....... it was gone.


We were very glad to get out of Garfield County...............



Next stop on 89 was in Piute county at the actual birth place of outlaw Butch Cassidy.

Butch's home home lies at the extreme south end of the pleasant city of Circleville. The home has been raveged by souvenir hunters. Every brick of the fire place and chimney has been stolen. All the floor boards have been pulled up and looted also.





Butch Cassidy

This is the home in Circleville where Butch Cassidy grew up. It has been occupied throughout the years until only recently.



We, then, journeyed through Oil's home town--- the town square.

Nativity scene at the city square....

In many cities across the USA natativy scenes are not allowed any more. Not so in Circleville...





Located next to the nativity scence is the absolutley nicest war memorial I have ever seen in the entire state of Utah.....

Circleville War Memorial

There have never been more that 400 people populating Circleville. Like all other small towns across America, it is amazing to see how many men served their country from these little towns in times of conflict.




A few of the names......

Above you can see the name of Harold Authur Gottfredson. This is Oil Can's dad who passed away several years ago. Unlike Oil Can, Arthur was one of my personal heros. He was a shinning example of what Tom Brokow called the "greatest generation." Arthur grew up on the family farm in Circleville where he excelled in athletics and was also an excellent scholar. When WW2 came along Arthur enlisted in the Navy and served for over two years as a gunner's mate on a destroyer in the Pacific theatre. Arthur was in the heat of battle many times and saw considerable action. After the war he returned home, with no complaints, and carved out a very successful life as a star athlete at Utah State University, farmer, educator, world traveler, and family man. He was always very kind and gracious. With the exception of Oil Can, he and his wife, Jean, raised a terrific family of two boys and two girls. He was a leader in his church and his community. He never forgot who he was or where he came from. He was loved and respected by all who knew him. He and Jean are buried in the Circleville Cemetery.

Soldier statue at memorial....

Always on guard....

Spike looks in awe.....

Circleville is like many small towns in southern Utah. The economy has not been good. Many stores have closed down and many old homes have been abandoned.

Old home in Circleville......





Old Circleville house....

Old store in Circleville......





Northwest of Circleville is Oil Can's farm. It consists of about 5 acres and a very good well.

Oil looking over his spread.....

Someone, probably one of Oil's wronged girl friends (and there are many), had burned down part of his corrals and stolen some metal gates. The crime remains unsolved in Piute County.








Continuing our journey south on 89 we came to a farm house outside of Junction that is well know for it's Xmas decorations....

Mrs. Sudwicks is well known for her plastic representation of Christmas.

The number one house for exterior illumination in Kingston, Utah....

Abandoned service station on the way to Junction. Oil says it closed down because it was robbed so many timess..

Definitely self service.......

North of Junction is there cemetery.....

Oil says it's the uglest cemetery in Utah. It is very unusual with the rock terraces and absolutely no grass......

Old house on the way to Marysvale...

Wild turkeys on a street in Marysvale.......

Another abandoned service station.............

Christmas decoration in Marysvale, UT

Marysvale was also the home town of movie actress Marie Windsor.....

(below)

Marie Windsor was a sultry movie star of the 1950s ..........

Marie Antonete was queen of France and is no relation to Marie Windsor.....

Marie Osmond was a heavyweight dancer and is no relation to Marie Antonete.....


On with the tour....

Old courthouse....

Old store....

Old cars.......

Old truck.....

Old jail.......

And finally, a fond farewell to Piute Country.................




Old gas station at Big Rock Candy Mountain....... and then it's back to civilization.

MANTI AT DUSK

We arrive back into the hustle bustle world of Manti at sundown. We are already looking forward to next year's trip to southern Utah and a step back in time.....

Until next time.........

Next week:

TULIP AND THE LEAF EATERS ARIVE IN MANTI FOR CHRISTMAS

TUCKER CHRISTMAS PARTY

CHRISTMAS EVE

CHRISTMAS DAY

THANKS FOR TUNING IN.........

.....voo