From ‘The Journey Home” by Edward Abbey. 1977

AN EXCERPT:

Maxine Newell: I moved to Moab in the early 50s. Charlie Steen had already hit the strike, but nobody knew how big it was. My dad said, there’s something interesting going on down there. They tell me this man named Steen has hit something big. And he said, history’s history…try to get acquainted with him while you’re in Moab because I think he’s going to write some history. By the time we got here it was already getting crowded. But it was Charlie’s announcement that really created the grand rush. They had been mining the uranium here all through the war for the atomic bomb, not knowing what they were mining it for.

NOTE: The Zephyr recently received a DVD of a 1949 documentary film by Ray Garner. The film is silent; Mr. Garner exhibited it to audiences around the country and provided ‘live’ narration. ‘The Desert’ is now in the public domain and I’m happy to present some still images from it.
In this issue–images of downtown Moab in 1949 & camping out at the Devils Garden at Arches National Monument….JS

TO SEE MORE STILL IMAGES FROM RAY GARNER, CLICK THE PHOTO BELOW…

Ray Garner’s “The Desert (Exploring the Southwest)”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ssbgThljU

The Devils Garden trailer at the campground. Arches NP. 1976.

“NO…This was NOT Edward Abbey’s Trailer.”

(photo by Michael Brohm)