The Wheels on the Bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. : Hanksville, Utah

Scenic Hogback - One of the wildest drives and most scenic highways of south-central Utah was completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1940. Once called the Million Dollar Road to Boulder.

In the early 1900's, Edwin Thatcher Wolverton, a mining engineer from Maine, came to southern Utah to look for gold in the Henry Mountains. Believing he had discovered the location of a legendary Old Spanish Gold Mine, Wolverton tried for nearly 12 frustrating years to file mining claims around Straight Creek on Mt. Pennell only to find each time that others had filed before him. He waited until the others gave up and, about 1915, was finally able to establish his own claims. With the help of his two sons, Norville and Thatcher, the sixty-year-old Wolverton began construction of a mill to crush gold ore about 1921. Knowing that he would need wood for the mine as well as some way of keeping in supplies, Wolverton built a large table saw in one end of his mill. With this, he could cut lumber for his needs as well as those of many of his remotely located neighbors, thereby obtaining supplies and bartered services. This feature made the Wolverton Mill unique because it combined both wood cutting and ore crushing operations under one roof. Besides being unique in function, the Wolverton Mill was also unique in construction. Most log structures of the time made use of some form of log notching and overlapping to tie the walls together. Wolverton cut his logs off evenly, stacked them, and used steel spikes inserted vertically through the ends of the logs to build the mill walls. The walls were built in sections and braced with heavy posts. There were no other mills in the Southwest like this one.

Gold ore was run through the mill for only a short time. It is unlikely that Wolverton ever found his lost mine, but, once in a while, he would show up in town with a little gold. Irregardless of whether Wolverton's dreams were realized, his mill stands as a unique monument to mining, perseverance, and genius.

When the mill still stood on Mt. Pennell, it was subjected to vandalism and was the source of a variety of problems. Because of this, the Bureau of Land Management moved the mill to its present location in Hanksville during the summer of 1974. Restoration of the mill was completed in 1988.

Little Egypt

Crescent Creek in Conundrum Canyon at Lecleed Narrows

We are in search of a 125-year-old log dam that dates back to the gold rush era. We came prepared to walk in the water but we're not sure we are up for bushwhacking

We feel like we are right over the dam but can't see over the edge

Looking for a way down into the canyon and this is not it

We have made our way around to the other side of the canyon

Someone found it!

The old log dam has long silted in. It now forms a nice waterfall. Popular with rappellers.

Fellow jeepers were camped at Goblin State Park and came to Hanksville for gas and dinner.

Poison Spring Canyon

Warrior and a buffalo

Two warriors

I love the fern leaf

Cowboy glyph

Dirty Devil River

Out in the middle of nowhere with no vehicles in site and we find ourselves stopped at a red light for five minutes

Lunch in Bullfrog

Waiting for the Ferry to continue onto Hwy 276

Castle Ruins

The ruin consists of a multi-room cliff dwelling that is nestled within a south facing alcove that sits about 30 feet above the wash.

Matates

Check out the petroglyphs and moki steps on the roof.

Clay Hill Pass

In 1879 the LDS church sent missionary families to San Juan Country to make settlement and better relations with the Indians. These pioneers came through the Hole in the Rock. The company consisted of 83 wagons, men, women and children. Passage was often cut through solid rock or sandstone. On March 5, 1880 they reached the top of this hill, camped, and worked eight days building a road three miles long to bring the wagons safely to the bottom, a drop of 1,000 feet.

Bears Ears National Monument gets it's name after the two buttes that resemble a bear's ears. The buttes have been considered sacred by many indigenous tribes for over 2,500 years.

Cheesebox Butte

On July 15, 1884, a US Calvary scout named Joseph Wormington and a cowboy names James “Rowdy” Higgins were killed in a battle with Indians at nearby Paiute Pass. These men were part of a posse of cattlemen and Sixth Calvary – F – troop soldiers from Fort Lewis, Colorado who were chasing a band of renegade Ute and Paiute Indians led by Mancos Jim. The Indians had stolen 150 head of horses from the round-up grounds in Verdure, Utah. After a 75 mile chase the Utes and Paiutes led the posse and soldiers into an ambush.

Two months after the battle, prospectors Cass Hite and Joe Duckett found and buried the remains. The Utes and Paiutes were watching the U. S. Government absorb their homelands. They fought back in the only way they knew how. The soldier gave his life in the service of his country. The cowboy did the tough job he was paid to do and a little more. All of them played out their heroic roles in this epoch struggle to settle the old west.