THE COLORADO RIVER BRIDGE at Moab, Utah. Herb and his parents first passed though Moab on June 1, 1950. It was a blistering hot day, but the Ringers found the shade along the river a refreshing break from the…
Herb Ringer’s American West: Bridges
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The April/May Issue of the Zephyr!
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT…Jim Stiles RESTORE GLEN CANYON? OR KEEP IT IN ‘LIQUID STORAGE?’ SOWING CLOVER…Tonya Stiles ‘How to Fight a Fire’ BEFORE & AFTER US 191 AT ARCHES NATIONAL PARK 1940s & TODAY GROUND ZERO with KARA DOHRENWEND…
Take it or Leave it: RESTORE GLEN CANYON? OR KEEP IT IN ‘LIQUID STORAGE?’…by Jim Stiles
I drove past Glen Canyon Dam last week, on my way to visit friends in Springdale. It hasn’t changed much since my last visit, or my first for that matter; it’s still the biggest chunk of concrete I’ve ever laid…
Sowing Clover: How to Fight a Fire…by Tonya Audyn Morton
“It came from out of nowhere.” Things do, of course. Come out of nowhere. It’s Easter week. Tuesday morning, waking up, every channel is BREAKING NEWS. There’s been a Terrorist attack in Brussels. The airport and the subway system. You…
Moab: Ground Zero…They’re BAAAAAAAACK!!!…by Kara Dohrenwend
By April 1st tourist season in Moab is in full swing. With Easter as early as it can get this year the season starts off with a roar during March with a series of smaller weekend events and then the…
Vlachos’ Views…Photo and Captions by Paul Vlachos
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… 1. Cars get dirty everywhere in different ways. This is…
‘A STORY OF TWO PRAIRIE GRAVES’ … by Jim Stiles
One frenzied afternoon in Moab, more than 20 years ago, the crush of tourists, the asphalt-enhanced desert heat, and the already disturbing first hints of a “New West” future driven by an ‘amenities economy” got the better of me. I…
THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG MOVIE?: Forty years later…by Jim Stiles
Would 2016’s “New West” Even ‘Get” Ed Abbey’s Classic 1975 Novel? There’s a new “Monkey Wrench Gang” MOVIE rumor circulating on the internet. A web site called “New WorldOdor.com” reports that Leonardo DiCaprio is secretly producing the film version of…
(from the Zephyr Archives) LAST DAYS of GLEN CANYON & ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’…by Tony van Renterghem
When Tony van Renterghem sent me this story in 2004, I was eager to print it. But I never had the chance to know Tony better and that’s a regret I’ll carry to my own grave. Only later did I…
“MY OLD MAN, THE URANIUM KING” … by Mark Steen
CHARLIE STEEN’S youngest son ‘sets the record straight’ about the Life & Times of Moab’s Most Famous Prospector My father, Charlie Steen, has always maintained that the truth about his discovery of the Mi Vida mine and its consequences is…
An Excerpt From ‘LAST OF THE ROBBERS ROOST OUTLAWS: Moab’s BILL TIBBETTS’, PART 5…By Tom McCourt
THANKS to Tom McCourt & the Tibbetts Family. For years, I have been watching Moab move farther and farther away from its roots, to the point where it seems few people even know the history of the place anymore. Some…
CITIZEN COMMENTS ON THE MOAB CITY HALL STORY (“WHAT’S PAST IS PROLOGUE”)
…Last issue’s 14,000 word investigative report on the hiring of Moab City Manager Rebecca Davidson generated a record number of comments on our web site. Here is a compilation of most of them. To read these and other comments,…
Arth Chaffin & Cass Hite: The Adventures of Two Colorado River Pioneers… By Barry Scholl
In the annals of southern Utah history, September 17, 1946 was a day to be remembered. With proper pomp and circumstance—even the San Juan County High School Band—the Hite Ferry was dedicated. With the completion of the ferry it was…
The Great John DePuy: His Life’s Work Now on Exhibit in Taos
Don’t miss this rare opportunity. The Life Work of JOHN DEPUY is at the HARWOOD MUSEUM TAOS, NEW MEXICO through MAY 1, 2016 CLICK HERE for More Information The Harwood Museum of Art is honored to present the expressionist paintings…
Latigo Wind Project: Terminal Pragmatism Writ Large…by Scott Thompson
Where there is no vision, the people perish. – Proverbs 29:18 The ancient pueblo ruins at the Lowry archeological site are about nine miles due west of Pleasant View, Colorado, and they go back to 1060 C.E. They lie on…
Before & After: US 191 at Arches
US 191 AT ARCHES NATIONAL PARK 1940s and Today Until the 1950s, when the road from Crescent Jct to Moab was finally paved, just covering those 30 miles could be an ordeal. In this image, taken in the late 1940s,…
Herb Ringer’s American West: ‘SUMMER CAMP.’ 1944-1952
‘SUMMER CAMP’ 1944-1952 HERB RINGER came West from his home in New Jersey in 1939. Camera in hand, Herb captured the American West, from the Canadian Border to the Rio Grande and from the Big Sur coast to the High…
A Full Year of Backbone Supporters! Please Join!
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The February/March Issue of the Zephyr!
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT…Jim Stiles * Some Personal Thoughts on the Moab City Hall Story, & Local Journalism in General. * Wind Subsidies & Conflicted Core Values, left and Right SOWING CLOVER…Tonya Stiles Sorry, Smokers. The Death Panels…
Take it or Leave it: SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON THE MOAB CITY HALL STORY, AND LOCAL JOURNALISM IN GENERAL…by Jim Stiles
I’ve been doing The Zephyr for 27 years now and one of the problems with running a small independent publication like this is that, as publisher, I’m required to wear many hats, even when I don’t want to. It’s not…