Longtime readers of the Canyon Country Zephyr know that, in September of 2016, we were sued for defamation, along with four other defendants, by former Moab City Manager Rebecca Davidson and Tayo, Inc. owner Tara Smelt. That case was dismissed…
Readers of the Zephyr have always shown a particular fondness for Herb’s 1950 Ford ‘Woody’, which appears in a number of his photos. Below are a number of photos of that beloved car, taken from 1950-1953…JS HERB RINGER came West…
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More than three years have passed since the idea of a “Bears Ears National Monument” was first introduced to the general public. One of the most far-reaching and expensive coast-to-coast marketing campaigns ever promoted by the powerful outdoor industry and…
They aren’t called “Trailer Parks” anymore, I’m told. The phrase has negative connotations. “Mobile Home Communities” is better, though still not ideal. “Manufactured Home Communities” is preferred. Which is fine. But everyone I’ve known who lives in a Trailer Park…
A recent op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune raised concerns yet again about the impacts of oil and gas developments at Big Flat in Grand County, near the boundary of Dead Horse Point State Park. Jacques Hadler, the manager of…
Long-time Zephyr readers will certainly recognize the name De Puy. We have featured John De Puy’s artwork a number of times in this publication, as well as stories about his incredible life and his close friendship with Edward Abbey. But…
“We started on the Trail at 1:30 P.M., leaving the hospitable roof of the Wetherills at Kayenta… with the same spirit of buoyant expectancy as in former years.” —Charles L. Bernheimer, June 4, 1924 From the 1890s to the 1930s,…
Paul Vlachos is a New Yorker who understands The West. And he is a New Yorker who understands New York. Wherever Paul goes, he finds signs of life… From the beginning, the word was there. Some of my earliest memories…
A long-time Navajo politician and advocate for Bears Ears National Monument and related tourism development won the June 26 Democratic primary for District 3 San Juan County (Utah) commissioner. Kenneth Maryboy defeated incumbent Rebecca Benally by 39 votes, 705-666, according…
CLICK HERE to READ PREVIOUS EPISODES of BRAVE NEW WEST (The Comic Strip)! Jim Stiles is Founder and Co-Publisher of the Canyon Country Zephyr. To comment, scroll to the bottom of the page. Don’t forget the Zephyr ads! All links…
A two-part essay on the process of New West gentrification and the future of San Juan County, Utah after the designation of Bears Ears National Monument. Part one will provide historical context and define certain conceptual terms in order to…
Cisco, Utah is literally in the middle of nowhere. Off of I70, northeast of Moab and east of anything, it once was a bustling community. The decaying structures, and plenty of old vehicles and other rusting wreckage, are left deserted…
time and again I do not believe my father remained a fly fisherman long after I moved away from Moab. From the time he left Utah in the mid 1990’s, he seldom fished. Back in Texas, Dad went through a…
If there is one issue that most of the polarized citizens of San Juan County, Utah can agree upon, it’s that very few of them want their communities to wind up like Moab, Utah. The fear of “Being the Next…
As a young man, Howard E. Phelps lived in the shadows of his father Henry Enon Phelps, a Salt Lake merchant pre-dating the Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI,) and grandfather, William W Phelps, an important figure in early Mormonism. Both…
Fight or Flight Some years back, I moved from my reasonable confines of Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. At the time, to say the least, I needed a new chapter and had found one with a woman I now…
EDITORS NOTE: For almost twenty years, the “DOG OF THE MONTH” was one of The Zephyr’s most popular regular features. When the print version ended, so did the dogs, but now we’ve been thinking it’s time for a Renaissance of…
Herb: One morning I took off from Reno to explore an old ghost town called Ludwig, near Yerington. While hunting through an old station, I heard a car motor wheezing over the rough steep hill, and hitching my gun forward,…
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