White Canyon

[Littlesaltwash]

We just got back from a whirlwind trip visiting with family south. It was great seeing Narraguinnup and McPhee full and folks out west towards the Utah line irrigating. Ridgeway was at near 100% and as high as I remember seeing it. ( I tend to think of all the water this year as water in the bank) I had the time to read, “White Canyon” by Tom McCourt, recollections of time spent in White pre-powell. Pretty good read for a better understanding of that area. I am looking forward to my next chance to visit the Hite overlook and see that view with a “different” set of eyes.

 

[shanewave]

Nice book recommendation. Sounds like an interesting read. Will have to check it out. Glad you had a good visit.

 

[Littlesaltwash]

I should have put the whole title and a little more info for you history buffs. “White Canyon, Remembering The Little Town at the Bottom of Lake Powell” It’s told thru the eyes of an young boy who visited his grandma and grandpa there in White starting in 49 and ending mid 50’s. Grandma had the distinction of being the company cook for the mill workers. The town, at the mouth of the canyon, had a store, school, barracks, a uranium mill, private houses, a post office, and landing strip. Lots of other interesting history of the north end. After reading the book I even got back into Pegusus’s Flights archives of earlier this March to see if Fort Moki was visible!

 

[Mildog]

We tried to find Fort Moki a few years back at a lower lake level, but it was still higher than the level he took the picture of it that he had in the book. We think we found it, it was still under about 10 feet of water and on the graph it appeared that it the walls were only about 5 feet higher than the bottom, there is a ton of silt so I may be partially buried and or fallen apart. I graphed as if it was a circular pattern higher than the surrounding bottom in roughly the dimensions it appeared from photographs of it. Water was too murky to see anything and the surrounding shoreline had a pretty good layer of silt deposits.
I'm pretty sure we were at the correct spot at least we convinced ourselves we found it. I had the picture with me to try to get the same view and background. I had thought of trying to hike up at a lower level but never put that together.
The book is a great read for Lake Powell and Southern Utah buffs..

 

[Littlesaltwash]

From Pegasus’s photos of the mouth of white earlier this spring it looks like at a certain lake elevation the river current would hit that point head-on before turning west. With luck, I hope that point stays under water for years to come. Heading to the library today to place a hold on a couple more of his books, a history of Moab, one of Cass Hite, and he has a book on Nine Mile. McCourt definitely has a way with words.

 

[PBR]

The Cass Hite book is called "The King Of The Colorado" It is a very good book with a lot of history.

 

[Dungee]

Nixon always asks if we can go look for his cabin and grave in Ticaboo, hasn’t sunk in yet that it’s way under water.

 

[Joy]

My mom lived there as a child, too! Not sure exactly when but she was very young, she passed last year and took a lot of stories with her, even though I heard them many times there's nothing like hearing 'her' tell them. I'll be looking for that book!