The Sacred Valley

by: Randy W. Lewis

Eight Flat Tires

It was a cloudy cool day on the Mornin of September 22 1983 ...

Dean Carlson, Dennis Shunn, My brother Mike left the Wasatch front headed for the high country. We were in two trucks, Dennis was driving his Chevy and Dean was driving his Dodge. We headed for Heber, then up over Daniels Canyon past Strawberry Reservoir toward Fruitland we drove by the old Pony Express Station past Current krick past Fruitland and then to Duchesne. We started east and just as we left town we had our first flat tire on the truck, front right tire luckily Dean had a couple of spare tires. We changed the tire and continued on, we hadn’t gone a block and an other tire on the truck went flat, this time the right rear one. We changed it and went down the road again. Then the tire on the horse trailer went flat, Dennis had a spare tire for the trailer so we changed it and went on. About 5 miles later we heard and awful hissing sound, yes Dennis’s tire that he had given up was loosing air. We stopped unhooked Dennis’s horse trailed loaded up all the flat tires and Dennis headed for Duchesne to get them fixed. This made four flat tires. Dennis was gone quite a while seemed forever, when he came back he told us he had had a flat on his truck and had to return to Duchesne to have it fixed, this made 5. we changed the tires on the horse trailer and finally continued on our way. We made if about 5 more miles and had a flat on Deans truck on the right rear. We started talking to ourselves about maybe we were not supposed to go on this trip, someone was trying to tell us to go back. We were indeed paranoid now.

We decided to go on. The road was a dirt road and was the worst washboard you have ever been on the trailer didn’t seem to touch the ground the old weathered tires couldn’t hold up,, the cracks in the sidewalls looked like road maps. Yes there went the horse trailers tire again. We got out and just starred at it, while we were looking at it the other side gave loose. Now we had two flat tires at the same time. Dennis looked disgusted, walked back unhooked his trailer and headed back to town, this time to buy two new tires.

He was back in no time and we had a new burst of energy and we were ready to go prospectin.

The trailer had two brand new tires and we were goin down the road the washboard road had the trailer bouncing back and forth from side to side. Dean had a careful eye on the rearview mirrors watchin things carefully.

He said that looks like a board from the floor of the trailer as he laid on the brakes.

Now What!!!!!! The floor had fallen out of the trailer and the horses were runnin on the road in the trailer. We were goin slow luckily and the horses weren’t hurt, just scared to death. We pulled the horses out of the trailer and just looked at the hole in the bottom of the horse trailer,, now what are we goin to do. Dean said well if we had some wire we could wire it back together. Luck was with us, on the side of the road was a barbed wire fence,, and plenty of wire layin all over the ground. Looked like they had just rewired the fence and left a bunch of wire coiled up in a pile. We cut up the wire in nice working lengths and started to weave the bottom of the trailer back together with fence wire, didn’t take too long but by now the sun was startin to set, we finally rolled in at the rock creek trail head where they were starting to put in the new rock creek dam.

We laid our sleepin bags in the back of the pick up,, the bed was hard and I tossed and turned all the wee hours of the mornin,, with the excitement of the next days adventure and 2 because the bed of the truck was so hard couldn't sleep any way......

There were 4 of us,, my brother Mike,, Dean Carlson, Dennis Shunn and me...

Dean had borrowed a couple of horses for my brother and I ,,When you borrow horses you never know what kind-a horse yer gonna get,,,
Usually one that ain't been ridden fer years and years just eatin hey in the pasture,, and the last thing that horse wants is to be ridden..

We had two pack horses.. Dean and Dennis were both pullin one behind them..

Well we got up at first light and started loadin up the horses; I hadn't ridden horses in the mountains much, so this new for me...

Dean had his pack horse tied to the frame of the open door of the truck... the window was rolled down and the rope was tied to the open window...
all of a sudden the horse went nuts, tried to go into the truck cab reared up and hit it's head on the top of the cab of the truck,,, shook for a second and then went down,,, it's eyes rolled back into its head.. All I could see were whites, he went limp... and didn't move,,, I thought he was dead,,,

we all just stood and looked at him...then all of a sudden his legs started flyin all over the place and he was runnin layin down,,, then stopped... his chest and belly were puffin like he had run ten miles,,, he scrambled back to his feet,,,

We watched him a minute,, he acted Ok so we saddled him up..

I watched Dennis saddle up his horse ,, so I kinda did what he did,, after about 3 dumb questions I asked,, I was clear I was a green horn,, and Dennis Kinda grinned ,, when he got done ,, he came over to give me a helpin hand,,

The horse that they picked for me was doin allot of dancin around while I was saddlin him...Dean looked over and said,” looks like were gonna have a Rodeo... I looked at him with a dumb look,, I wondered what that meant..

Dennis was Ranger in the Special Forces and put his time in Korea , when he was Young,, and was a retired Sheriff out of Weber County ,, He retired kinda early.. His patrol car was rear ended while he was on a traffic stop and broke his back...

He was on pain pills for the rest of his life and was in constant pain,, He was married and had nine kids,,,

Dean was the owner of a Title company out of Ogden kinda of a one man show..
Both these guys were the greatest,,,,

Dean and Dennis had read Footprints in the wilderness and were sure they had found the area of the Rhoades mines..

Dean had worked with my brother over at the Weber County Courthouse,, and talked about the book allot..

My brother said you need to get hold of Randy and see if he will share his maps with ya,,

that is how I met up with these two Hombres.....

I remember lookin up at the mountain to the south and seein a road cut into the top of the mountain..

It was the road Bullock had cut in with the dozer,, He had found the Paint mine,, and caved it in with the dozer tryin to uncover it.. That makes two Rhoades mines that have been screwed up through carelessness...

The trail head had a few log fences around,, and I could see the trail as it crosses a small creek and headed up into the trees..

Well it was time to mount up and Ride,,,, Dean led out and then my brother,, and Dennis would bring up the rear..
So it was my turn,,, I raised my foot up into the stirrup and the horse decided he wanted to spin in circles...

I was bouncin around on one foot on the ground and one in the stirrup,,, I finally go enough weight on the stirrup to throw my leg over the saddle,,, that is when all Hell broke loose,,, Yes It was a Rodeo,, except I was not a rodeo rider,,

the horse bucked and snorted and in circles we went, next thing I knew I was air born head for a big rock....

luckily I missed the rock,, and I was ok... the horse continued to buck and crow hop.. Until nothin was left on his back...

Dean and Dennis got off their horses and tied them up and gathered all my stuff up off the ground..

My brother never got off his horse,, just sat there with a grin on his face,,, knowing he got the better of the two horses, It could have been him...LOL

Dennis Saddled up the horse and gave me back the reins and said ..."Well get on"" I said.. You know the horse has got all the weight ,, maybe I can just lead him and walk..

Well I didn't get an answer,,, they both just looked at me..

So I guess that meant I was gettin back on...

So I started again,,, Put my foot in the Stirrup again and around we went again,,
This time I got my foot over quicker and proceeded to Hold on..

the horse did a couple of quick jumps and then quit...

and believe it on not,, he was walkin up the trail..
I was proud of myself... I was a real Cowboy Now,, I rode a buckin horse,,,

Now this horse wanted to knock me out with his head kept throwin his head back...Dean was watchin... got off his horse grabbed a small piece of rope tied it to the breast strap and to the bridal. Now he couldn't jerk his head back..
Handed me a stick and told me if he got outta hand smack him between the ears...

so he acted up and I smacked him...only took once.. That horse turned into a well mannered good horse after that,,
and when he got tired,, he was great..
Well I ain't tellin what direction we left to that mornin,,, but I will say,, I had never been there,, just heard from my Granddad Bill Mangum about the area,, and he was always going to go there..

A place with four lakes,, two had fish in then two did not..

And I later call this place the Valley of God......

we turned off the main trail and started headin up the creek bed ,, following old game trails and pickin our way up the canyon... mile after mile,,,

I gripped the saddle with my legs and knees as hard as I could,,

I found out this was a bad mistake.. Pretty soon my legs ached,, and were numb.. They hurt so bad I wanted to die,, I couldn't wait to get off the horse.. But on the other hand I didn't know what the horse would do when I tried to get back on..
So I wrestled with this on my mind all day...soon we were going across a side hill and it was steep off the side..
I hated to look down,, it was scary....

Then it happened,,

I was behind Dean's packhorse,, this is the same horse that knocked himself out on the inside of the cab of the truck,, started to bock,,,,he would stop and the rope would get tight,, about pulled Dean off his horse,,

He didn't have the rope tied he was just holdin it in his hand with one wrap around the saddle horn,,,, Now I know why,,

The horse stooped again and turned facing down hill,,, with it's legs all bunched up together,,, then lost it's balance and went head first down the hill,,
Dean let go of the rope,, and yelled """Look out""" I guess he had to yell somethin,, Look out was good enough,,,

all the weight was too much for the horse to hold back and he went over head over heels,, then heels over head and went tumblin down the steep Hill end over end,,, bouncin,,, hit and fly in the air then tumble down and down he went,, about 200 yards straight down,, every time he bounced,, stuff from the pack saddles would fly into the air,, dust was flyin in the air,,

I never heard a horse scream before till then,,, what an ungodly noise,,, it was,,,,

Well that just about did it for that horse,,, nothin could have lived through that one,,,

we went on a few hundred feet till we could find a place level enough to tie up the horses,, then we got off the horses to go back and pick up the pieces,,,

when I slid off the horse my legs buckled,, I couldn't stand up my legs they were numb,,, damdest thing I had ever felt,, couldn't even feel them,, so I sat there a minute,,,

Dean was laughin his head off, at me,,, said wait a few minutes,, the feelin will come back,,,,,,

pretty soon I could feel my legs start to get a warm feelin and I could feel the blood kinda pumpin through them.. then they started to tingle,,, oh that hurt,,,, started at the top of my legs and then started to work it's way down,,, I just laid there helpless,,,

I heard some yellin from back down the hill,,, the other guys were workin there way down the hill,, pickin up all our stuff from the pack horse,,

I still couldn't walk,,,, seemed like an hour,,, Dennis yelled .. Hey this horse is still alive,,,,,,he worked with him for a minute,, and the horse got back on his feet,,,
Heard him yell,,, I'll lead him up the canyon from the bottom and meet you guys back up on the trail...

seemed like forever but I was finally able to get up and walk.. Again. I worked my way back over to where the horse had fallen ,, and started helpin carry all the stuff back over to the rest of the horses,,

Everything seemed to be alright not much damage at all..

by the time we got everything packed up the hill and back over to the level spot,, here comes Dennis with the stupid horse,,, He was OK,,, unbelievable,,,,, so we saddled him back up and continued up the canyon,,,

Darkness started to settle in and we were lookin for a wide place in the trail,, a little meadow,, with some water for the horses,, to tie them up in for the night..

I remember the death like quiet,, nothin not even a stir of a leave in the trees,,

kinda of an eerie feeling... I had noticed a change in the Geology... the Pink quartzite was fading away and rock with more dark reds showing more Iron was standing out,,,

I was looking for that black layer I had seen at my granddads place above the kitchen sink on the window ledge,, black with white quartz with stingers of gold running all through it,, the rock shinned with rich butter like gold... rotten with gold...the most beautiful rock you had ever seen...

We finally came to a clearing just like we wanted and tied up the horses...

and got out our bed rolls,,,

then we went and let the horses graze for a while and get a belly full of water....

after about an hour it was time to tie them up...

Dean grabbed my horse by the lead rope and snubbed him up close to a tree..

I said isn't that kinda cruel tyin him up so short,,,

He Looked at me and said,, It is better than cuttin him out of the rope in the middle of the night when he's all tangled up in the rope...layin in a Knott...

I would learn about that too...!!!!

We continued north riding toward aaaaaaaaa north,,,,lol,,, It was a long trail I have no idea where we were or when we would get to our destination...

The sky was cloudy,,, the air was cold,,,the quakies were thick,,,

then a strange feeling started to come over us,,, a strange darkness started to set in,, the horses started to get nervous.. they started whinnying and making strange grunting noises,, my horse started to shake,, the darkness closed in on us,, I looked at my watch it was 5:00 pm we still had over 2 1/2 hours of daylight.. a empty cold feeling came over us,, from deep inside your gut,,,you could feel evil it is a cold nasty feeling,,, I could feel my horse shake and quiver,, he was scared,,, I was scared,,,..

The horses stopped and would not go any farther,,,
Dennis spurred his horse and the horse jumped forward the went sideways reared up and turned around,,

My brothers horse reared up.. threw his head back hittin my brother in the face,,, My brother fell to the ground he was knocked cold,,..

We could not control the horses,,, they all were raring up whinnying and making all kinds of noise,,,

We got off our horses and tied them up.. Dean grabbed Mikes horse,, tied him up,
We went over to see how Mike was,, by then he was coming around,,,

his nose was bleeding bad,, and he had one of his front teeth knocked out...

We all gathered around Mike,, he was lying on the ground,, as I remember Dean said a prayer to drive away the evil,, and as quickly as it came,, it left,, you could feel the darkness leave,,,... the horses calmed down and things were quiet,,

We sat up camp for the night right there,, and talked about the strange feeling that came over us,, We all had felt it,,

We got up early the next morning , and had a small snack, I think I had a can of fruit cotail... lol

My horse was really proving to be a good horse,,, we were crossing a small stream,,, Deans horse walked right through it,, so I was not paying much attention,, when I came up to the stream.. my horse hesitated,, and reared back and jumped,,, I will tell you what,, 0 to 40 miles an hour in less than a click on your watch,,, I'm tellin ya I thought the horse had popped my head off,, I wasn't expectin that,, cleared that stream by 10 feet,, left my head back on the other side,,,I thought I had been shot outta of a cannon,,,

Gees!!!!!!!

We started ascending up a small canyon.. and there on the right,, there it was,, the black formation I had been looking for a layer about a 100 feet wide,, was running parallel to us on my right,,, we switched back to the north and started run into large boulders,, the trail was leading right into them,,,

There wasn't much room to go between the rocks on a horse,,

all of a sudden I heard this crazy cracking noise,, Deans Pack horse,, was throwin a fit again,, he started kickin the boulders,, sparks were a flyin,, ,,, the stupid horse bloodied up his right leg,, and tore off his shoe,,, on the back right leg,,

Now he was limpin real bad,,,blood runnin everywhere,,,, what a stupid horse,, I'm tellin ya...

We stopped in the next meadow that had water and waded the horse in to wash him off,,

I let my reins down and let my horse eat the long grass, while I was helpin Dean with his Pack horse,,,

I had tied my reins together in a Knott on the end of the reins,,,
while I wasn't watchin he stepped in the middle of the reins with his front foot,, and pulled his head up,,
then he jerked his head up,, I heard the commotion,,, all hell broke loose,,, he was jumpin in the air,, snortin and crow hoppin,,, I ran over and grabbed the reins,, he was pullin hard on them,, blood was runnin out of his mouth,, I grabbed my knife and cut the Knott in the reins,,, It was too late,, he was hurt bad....

Allot of people don't believe,, carving in aspens,,, but it depends on who carved them and when,,,

these carvings are what dreams are made of,,, and they are right where they are supposed to be,,

Gale Rhoades had a book with these symbols in it,,,

these symbols are worth there weight in gold...LOL

Blood was running down the horses mouth on to his chin,,,I slowly took the bridal out of his mouth,, and stuck it in the saddle bag,, his mouth would be sore for a while,,,

so I tied a piece of rope from one side of the halter to the other ,, and ,,, we have reins again,,,lol

I hopped up on the horse to test out my new steering,,, gee I had power steering now ,, all I had to do was lay the rope on the side of his neck and he turned,,,and just a small tug and he stopped,,

so I have power brakes,,, power steering,,, air,,, and cruise control,,,,

from a horse that bucked me off to one I can drive with just a halter,,, what a ride this was,,,

We continued up the small draw,, and it crested at the top ,, the view was spectacular,, a large Box canyon,, and scared with glacier marine ,, large boulders strewn all over and no top soil the glacier had striped away the top soil down to bed rock... we had passed the black formation and we back in the pink quartzite,, the ground was terraced down in layers toward the far ledges of the other side of the Valley...

on the top of this pass was a small lake void of trees just small shrubs,, we were over 11,000 feet...

way above the tree line,,,

we got off our horses and just sat and marveled the view,, it was beautiful,, had something there I had never felt before,,

A peaceful feeling you can't describe

We had ridden by 3 or 4 of the x's on Hathenbrucks map now and not gone to investigate them...

We descended down toward the middle of the basin,, into the thick quakies,, the sun heat was beatin against my face,,
We were deep in the dark as said dark thick, thick quakies

then a feeling started to come over us,, a warmth you can't describe,, a brightness,, it was so bright you could not open your eyes,, and a heat and warmth that penetrated your whole body and a piece came over us that can't be described.. a feeling of happiness,,, we couldn't go anywhere we were stopped by the brightness,, got off our horses and just stood there...

our minds were completely void of any thoughts seemed like an hour.. we were paralyzed in the light...

you could feel the presence of a being and not of this world,, more powerful than you could ever imagine,,,you were helpless

it was like a smile from God... then is slowly started to decide,,, and fade away,,, the light became normal again and we could see,,,

I noticed two small birds sitting in a small bush.. close to me,, they did not fly away .. they were sitting there just looking at me,, I took a couple of steps in their direction and they didn't fly or even act scared,, I slowly put my hand out toward them,, they didn't fly,,, I put my index finger under one of themes feet,, It hopped up on my finger,, I brought him closer to my face,, I said Hi little bird,, Why are you not scared of me,,, Dean was just standing there watching,, He didn't say a word,, I careful and slowly petted the little guys head,, and carefully set him back on the limb I had taken him from,,

I put my finger out again,, and got the other one on it,, did the same thing,, walked over to Dean,, let him pet him and then went back and put him next to the other bird,, and climbed back on the horse and we started to ride away...

I thought those birds something must be wrong with them,, but at the second glance they both flew off...

We rode off down the small game trail and came to a meadow,, full of long green grass and covered with the most beautiful wild flowers you have ever seen,, blue ones,, pink ones ,, red ones, yellow,,
\
there was a small stream running through the middle of it,, and lying right in the middle of the meadow was the Biggest Bull Elk I had even seen in my whole life,, He was a Monster,, his horns were layin back clear past his body,, massive horns,,

I naturally just started heading toward the middle of the meadow ,, heading straight for the monster Bull Elk,, I had no Idea he would just lye there and not move,,,

as I got closer and closed,, I finally realized,, I was in serious trouble,, He could get up ,, charge me and my horse,, and someone was going to be Hurt,,,(me),,, it was too late to turn back,, I was only about 20 feet from the Bull,,

He just sat there sunning himself,, and didn't even move,,

He was a Beautiful Bull,, Dark Brown almost black neck,, the Horns went way out,, past his Butt,, He Looked like a living moving Giant Tree,,,, I was scared,, stiff ,, I could do much but kinda guide my way around him,, the best I could,, as soon , as I got past him ,, I didn't look back,, just listened,, waiting for that snort,, and great suck of Air,, that I could picture in my mind,, and me and the horse flying through the air,,, on the end of those massive horns,,,

After I got though the meadow,, to where I felt I was safe,, I pictured those birds,,, and now this Elk,, what was it,, that turned these wild animals tame as a lamb...

I wonder,,, I wonder,, with what I had felt,,, I knew,,,

one more thing I might mention,, as long as Dennis was in this valley ,, he felt no pain from his back injury,, as soon as he left the valley his pain set back in,, just a another curious note,,,,

We finally reached camp,, the second day,,,,

I was a great place to camp,, plenty of grass for the horses and water,,

my brother and I started to set up camp,, we dug a hole all around the tent,, that turned out to be the smartest move we could have made,,

my brother was pretty well beat up with his head all swollen up and his toothy knocked out,,

I told him to take it easy,, I would set up camp,, Dennis and Dean were busy settin up their stuff,,

We took off the saddles off the horses and tied them up..

While I was settin up the tent,, Mike said,, in a whisper,, Hey look,, there's a deer right there,, about 50 feet from camp,, a two point,,

Mike started starin at him,, then the deer stared back,,,

Mike hid behind a tree,, the deer slowly walked to the side till he could see mike,,
Mike moved back around the tree so the deer could not see him,, the deer moved till he could see him,,

The deer was getting closer and closer,,

the deer could care less about the rest of us he only wanted to see Mike,, so we started givin Mike the necessary signals to keep him behind the tree from the deer,, soon the deer was 10 feet from the tree lookin for Mike,, Mike was movin back and forth behind the tree so the deer couldn't see him ,, left then right,, then left,, the deer was now about 3 feet from the tree,,, funniest dam thing you'd ever seen,, we didn't have movie camera’s back then,, and I was so completely engulfed in watchin I forgot to take pictures,,, that's always what happens,, last thing you think of is a camera,,

we named the Deer Dennis,, after a while the deer got tired of playin and went aback over and started eatin in the meadow,, I believe he was there or close by the whole time we camped there,, used to come in closer when we would call ,,, Hey Dennis where are ya,, He would wonder in closer,,

Well ,,, this is the story of just how I got to the Valley of God the first time,,

the rest of the story covers

1. 8 horseshoe markers .. ones that look like the one found by "The Church Mine" where Caleb got his Gold for the Church.

2. An Old Spanish Corral one that could hold easily fifty horses of burrows.

3. A stream that was diverted ..

4. A Rifle found near a camp site 25-35 rolling block

5. A cabin that was burnt down

6. A Spanish Monument so old it is caked with Lichen

7. Spanish Carvings in the trees

8. A cabin built in the rocks with a door with leather strap hinges.

9. Lightning or electricity coming out of the ground

10. The Death of Dennis Shunn

11. A grove of cut down trees

12. Spanish Oak powder kegs

13. The Serpent with wings

15. The legend of the Snake People

16. Surveyor that never returned

17. The God's Face over looking the Valley

18. The real location of the Shoot out near Scout Lake

19. The Old pair of Boots

20. Bullet casings every where

21. Chunky Murrys Last words to me,,

My granddad always used to say,, "DON"T drink the water"

he used to say this 3 or 4 times each time he would tell the story,,,

I never could figure out what that meant... My horse, Deans Horse, and most every horse we took up there has died,,mine died of some kind of cancer... or something..

When we sat around the campfire that night,, I told one of the stories that was told to me by my grandfather,,I told it just the way I remembered it,, time after time after time,,

So I added Don't Drink The Water,,,,
I took 2 gallons of water with me,, on the trip,,, and I have never drank the water up there,, Call it what you want,, but I do what I am told...

Grand dad Mangum was the kinda guy that was quiet,, didn't talk loud,, soft talking,, and he didn't talk too much,, but when he did you better pay attention,, it was important,,
He was the kind of man,, that you always tried to please,,It made you feel good when he would give you that little grin of approval.. he would tell ya nothin """" just grin..

After gettin to know a couple of Indians this is the way they are too,,, Paul Tabbee was a perfect example,,

when he talked he would just nod his head in the direction,, or kinda point his chin,, and grunt,,uhh,,,

Same as my granddad...I'm sure this is the way Hathenbrucks taught him...Hathenbruck having spent years with the Indians..

so when your Granddad looks ya right in the eyes and says,,Don't drink the water,, you pay attention,,

I could never get that through Dennis's head,,,

The Valley was beautiful,, had about three small streams running down through the meadows,, all coming right out of the base of the mountain,,

There were fish in some of the lakes.. brookies,, some there were nothing,,,mmmmm yes nothing...

We looked around the Valley and wondered which way to go,

We decided to split up and meet back at camp at lunch,,there were no radios back then,, or at least we didn't have them .. would have been nice,,

Dean and Dennis went North,, my brother and I went south,,

as we circled the meadow,, I noticed a large pine tree that was cut down,, I walked over to it and in the base of the tree were 3 notches,, and what was more unique was the ax that had made the cuts was about 12 inches wide,, one heck of an ax I will tell ya... it laid across a small stream..

after further investigation we saw numerous cut down trees,, we counted over 30 trees cut down,, Why,, where were they,,,they were cut down a long ,long time ago..

In the edge of the meadow,, I could see something that didn't look natural ,, so we walked over to see it,, it was a large horse shoe made of logs,, Two high,, about 8 feet long and 8 feet wide and half way there were smaller logs laid across it,, closing half of the u shaped structure,,

there was a pile of small rocks in the front of the horseshoe with an old stick in the middle of them poking out the top,,
What kind of a marker was this,, we had never seen one before,, pointing due north...

it was old mostly deteriated but still plenty visible..

I slowly started circling the area around the Marker to see if I could find anything else,, we photographed the monument and took compass readings to see the degree the monument was pointing..

as I circled around a small grove of Large pine trees there was another marker facing a different direction,, built the same way, but the trees were over growing this marker,, and the size of the trees growing over it,, they were really old,, real old over a hundred years maybe more from the size of the trees

this marker had a pile of rocks near the front on the left side and the rocks were in a triangle formation,,

the marker crumbled at the touch of anything moving it, we were careful not to disturb it,,

Monuments
now we had found two markers.. there were old cans strewn around the marker,, newer cans probably from the early 20's badly rusted,, evaporated milk cans,, coffee cans,, and my favorite a log cabin syrup can which I still have,, a can shaped like a log cabin and the syrup poured out through a small hole punched in the chimney which once had a cap that screwed on it,,

and I found a lid off a Postum bottle that I know was left from my granddad Bill Mangum,, he drank Postum and was in that area in the late 1940's or early 1950's..

We circled around the meadow and started west... we followed the small stream as it winded down toward the west it entered another little meadow and we walked along the bank,, something wasn't right,, I couldn't put my finger on it but something was wrong,,, I sat down and just looked,, then it struck me,, the stream was running straight south,, not following the natural fall of the ground,, then it made a right 90 degree angle west,, yes the stream had been diverted,, but why,,, in the middle of the meadow were three dug out round holes about 15 or 20 foot in diameter,, about 3 feet deep full of water,, but why??? what was going on,, and why,, the stream,,, the holes,,,, why???

Our hearts pumped with excitement,,, had we found a rich placer deposit,, or a meadow lined with gold nuggets,,,

We high tailed it back to camp to dig out the sluice box...
when we got back Dean and Dennis were there,,

They had found more of the horse shoe markers and a make shift cabin build in some large boulders with a door hinged with leather hinges,, that were so old they felt if they opened the door it would break and fall off,,

We told them of the ditch we found that had been dug and the large dug out holes.. there voices changed to an excited pitch also,,,,, we fixed a hurried lunch,, grabbed some shovels and the sluice box and headed back to the meadow,,,, I think our feet didn't even touch the ground,, what a find we had made,,,, the sediment was about 3 feet thick and then solid bedrock,,, the top of the basin was scraped by glaciers and large rocks were intermittly strewn all down through the trees the pines and the quakies,,, about three feet to four feet in diameter,,,

as we dug and filled the sluice box with our hopes and dreams thoughts of our find,, had our chests puffed with pride of finding gold in the high Uintahs,,,,

We worked for about an hour making sure we took samples from each layer as we dug down to bedrock,, when we hit bedrock we carefully scraped into the cracks digging out as much as we could,,,,

it was time to tear down the sluice and wash out the carpet into the waiting gold pans,,,, each of us got a panful,,, 4 of us working our pans,,, we washed and shook and shaked,, and washed,, down to the bottom,,,

then we saw it,,, Nothing,,, not a speck,, not a grain of black sand,,, nothin,,, just plain nothin,,

I puzzled,, and puzzled,, then puzzled some more till my puzzler was sore,,, Hell I'm still puzzled,,,

Well our spirits were pretty well beat down,, and we put our tails between our legs.. and headed back to camp to sit down together and try to sort things out,,,

we made a beeline straight to camp,, not following the stream up..

as we walked back we came to a grove of pines,, small ones about 8 to 10 inches in diameter,,, then we noticed one cut down with an axe,, and another and another,,, trees all over were cut down about 3 feet from the bottom,,,, there were 29 cut down trees right there in a group...

Now what is going on?

what was the purpose of all these cut down trees.... our mood changed we were in the excited mood again,,, the blood was pumping again,,,,

we started walking in a circle around the trees looking at every little thing,,, looking for clues,,,

that stillness in the air and that light gray haze started to set in,, yes the sun was going down all the colors started to blend together and turn that pretty gray blue color,, we better make tracks to camp and get some firewood gathered and get dinner goin before dark,,,

so we set out for camp,,, when we got there we all had a job to do,, there were no questions,, we all knew what had to be done,,,

breakin up wood and pullin it in and pilin it up,,

I grabbed a roll of visqueen out of my saddle bags and started unrollin it,,, I had a piece about 30 x 20 or so maybe bigger I don't remember,,,

and now for one of those Indian tricks my grandfather taught me,, I grabbed a small acorn or a little rock or a piece of a branch and wadded it up in the corner of the plastic and tied some nylon cord around it and threw it up over a tree limb,,
I did this on each corner so when I got done,, I had a nice visqueen shelter high over our camp to keep us dry incase we had some rain,,

and anyone that has spent any time in the Uintahs,, knows you better prepare for rain,,, or...

I dug a trench around the tent,,, and when I got done with my part,, the fire wood was brought in,, the fire started,, and dinner was just about cooked,,
and the outline of the mountains were slowly disappearing and darkness was settin in,, the light from the fire slowly started to inch it's way further and further in a circle,, away from the glowing rocks that held it in,,

the light from the fire was dancing off the trees and a light wind started to whisper through the tree tops..

Night settled in and after a long talk about the meadow,,, the chopped trees around the campfire,, we went off to bed,,still with all the unanswered questions heavy on all our minds,,

why the diverted stream? why the chopped trees?

mmmmmmmmmmm

The sky was clear,, and the thousands of stars illuminated from the sky,, you felt like you could reach out and touch them...

I finally dozed off to sleep,, still thinking about the stream and the chopped trees,,,

later that night.. I kicked out of my sleeping bag,, it was so hot....it woke me up.. I laid there,, then I thought to myself,,HOT !!! at 10,000 ft,,, huh....usually anyone that has spent time in the high country knows,, 40 degrees at night is the norm,, and freezin is not uncommon...

I was kickin off the covers,,, then I saw a blue light through the walls of the tent flash,,,

What in the heck was that,, then another,,, and another,, I crawled out of the tent,, I was not alone,, all four of us were standing there in the dark, wondering what in the heck...

the light blue flash was coming from the base of the mountain,, and a buzzing sound of electricity lasting 2 or 3 seconds.. it was coming from 3 or four locations,, looked like it was dissipating about 30 feet off the ground,,,

The air around us was fully charged with a electrical static charge,, the hair on my arms and head was standing up on end,, like rubbing your head with a balloon,,,

you could hear a sizzle , buzzing then a popping noise,,

I drug my foot in the dirt and made a line so I could see what direction it was coming from come morning light,, I drew four lines on the ground,,, to the locations,,,

It was an erry sound,,, like the laboratory in Frankenstein’s movie..

and it was scary,, I thought any minute we would be engulfed on a blue flash of light,,
the blue light looked to be 40 to 50 feet in length and going into the air about 30 feet,,

There was not a cloud in the sky,, the stars were still shining bright,,,

After we felt we had all the locations of the strange blue light marked with lines on the ground and we felt there was nothing more we could do we went back in our tents and laid there puzzled till we difted back to sleep

The next morning we all got up early with one thing on our minds, we needed to investigate the source of last nights phenomena. We got out the compasses and wrote down all the numbers and darned if they didn’t match up with the strange horse shoe markers. Imagine that.

Mike and I went North and Dean and Dennis went East. We had no idea what we were looking for.

We walked straight for the mountain Mike and I . I don’t think our feet were hitting the ground we didn’t look for things on the way like we usually did, we were focused on the origin of the blue light.

As we reached the base of the mountain we could see that the small plant life was burnt, I was glad I had decided to wait till morning and things were back to normal. I could see why the Indians considered this place sacred and why there was a burial ground here. I couldn’t see any minerization on the surface but after digging around a little I noticed there was a real possibility.

Then I noticed something not natural the Tallis rock face had been cleared in lines about three places, someone had done a lot of work moving rock to expose the layers, It would have taken an army of men to clear those places. That is why it was not noticeable at first glance, it wasn’t possible but there it was.

We clawed our way to the top of the mountain ridge to get a birdseye view of things. The time had gotton away with us it was late in the afternoon. We looked over the valley it was a beautiful site. Then we noticed something that kinda made us wake up and pay attention. There was a wall of clouds at the other end of the valley headed fast our way. A thick white blanket was coming. Mike had seen the same thing, he looked at me and I looked at him we both said at the same time. We better get the Hell outta here, NOW!

We crawled back off the ledges to the base of the mountain, then it hit us. We were socked in. Solid clouds, we couldn’t see our hand in front of our face.

Reality hit us right between the eyes. Visions of us huddled sheltered under a pine tree flashed into my mind and this cloud was cold, went right through ya, chilled ya to the bones, What was a nice warm day in the 70’s, turned into the low 40’s or less in ten minutes. How are we going to make it back to camp to wait this out, we can’t see. Mike and I stayed close together and we carried on a conversation so we knew we were together, We decided to circle to what we felt was North West to try and find the small stream, we knew it wound down through the meadows close to camp, Then we figured we could hear the horses if they made any noise. The words my granddad bill echoed in my head the stream comes right outta the mountain and runs down through the valley. There is a Indian Burial ground there and it is a sacred place to the Indians. Paul Tabbee used to tell me all the mountains our a sacred place, we used to argue this point all the time, finally I would just say ,”Paul, Some are more special than others”. He’d say Nope there not and even the trees and rocks our special. We never did see eye to eye on that.

We circled to our right,, probably went in circles who knows, finally we found the small stream and started following it down stream.

Then here came the snow, boy it was coming down there was six inches of snow on the ground before you knew it. We were talking to ourselves wondering down the small stream when we heard Dean call us, Where you guys been.

We were at camp and didn’t even know it.

Dean said he was worried about us, said there was no way he could come to look for us in the fog. We were all soaked and wet. Dennis had spent an hour dragging in wood before the fog set in. We sat under the visqueen built a big fire to dry out. We spent the night talking about all the events of the trip and laughed till late that night. The snow was still coming down about 2 feet now was piled up.

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