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    <description>Latest local news from The Durango Herald.</description>
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        <link>https://tj.durangoherald.com/the-case-of-the-stolen-stove-doors-couple-gives-mining-history-to-san-juan-historical-society/</link>
        <title>The case of the stolen stove doors: Couple gives mining history to San Juan Historical Society</title>
        <description>Couple give mining history to San Juan Historical Society</description>
        <pubDate>Tue, 15 Oct 2019 16:59:33 -0600</pubDate>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[Couple give mining history to San Juan Historical Society As a Southwest tour leader and former museum director, occasionally after a few beers, folks tell me what they took from public land. Then I help them return items. Such is the case with stolen stove doors carted away from mining cabins high in the San Juan Mountains. Years ago, I learned of two 19th-century rifles that a Quaker family in Philadelphia wanted to return to the West. After checking serial numbers, we realized that the guns had been lost by Custer’s men of the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn battle in 1876. Lakota warriors had taken the guns and then lost them again to 7th Cavalry soldiers at the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890. An Indian commissioner from a Quaker family had been given the guns. His descendants wanted to return them, so I helped arrange for the rifles to go to the South Dakota State Historical Society. I’ve assisted pot-hunters in returning ancestral Puebloan pots and broken sherds taken from the Navajo Reservation. Locally, I’ve delivered a box of potsherds collected over decades to Mesa Verde National Park for rangers to use as a teaching and interpretive collection. Heavy, historic mining artifacts are in a class all their own. ••• With the widespread proliferation of Jeeps after World War II, historic mining camps began to be looted for artifacts. Vandals ripped boards off buildings for the “barnwood” craze of the 1970s, when suburbanites lined their family room walls with old wood. Thieves once helicoptered heavy ore cars from the historic Silver Lake Mine above Silverton. Large, four-wheel-drive pickups and smaller, highly mobile ATVs make it easy to steal from public land. A case in point is a uranium mine ore car now on display at the San Juan County Historical Society Mining Heritage Center in Silverton.Exhibits Curator Steve Rich with the San Juan County Historical Society Mining Heritage Center in Silverton stands next to his exhibit on uranium mining, which includes a stolen uranium ore car recovered by a Bureau of Land Management law enforcement officer.Courtesy of Andrew Gulliford In the former uranium mining district near Naturita, a Bureau of Land Management law enforcement officer observed a thief taking a large ore car and loading it into his pickup. Rather than arrest the vandal on the spot, the officer discreetly followed him home. The officer then arrested the vandal and the case went to court. A judge ruled a crime had been committed, and in addition to community service, the thief paid a $2,400 fine. Eventually, the Silverton museum got the ore car and the restitution dollars to mount an exhibit about uranium mining. “The ore car was pilfered out of a BLM adit in a supposedly abandoned mine. But the theft was observed by a BLM ranger,” Exhibits Curator Steve Rich explained to me. The BLM developed a traveling exhibit based on the ore car, and part of that exhibit is now in Silverton. “I liked the story, so I decided to put it on a label,” Rich said. The exhibit concludes with the words, “Remember, because an artifact seems abandoned and nobody is around to see you, it doesn’t mean no one owns it.” On public land, we all own historical artifacts, and they must stay in place. My hero, President Teddy Roosevelt, signed the Antiquities Act in 1906, protecting Native American sites on public land. Because of a wave of looting, Congress strengthened the original law in 1979 with passage of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act that protects both prehistoric and historic sites and artifacts. Looters now face serious penalties. ••• The stove door story is complicated. When a Denver-area couple talked to me about items they had taken from the San Juans, I did not understand until they presented me with a binder full of photos. I then understood the extent of their collection, their regret at taking the stove doors and their sincere desire to place the objects in a museum. The couple will remain anonymous.This cabin on the Lake City side of Engineer Pass has no furnishings. Sitting on Bureau of Land Management land, the cabin is routinely visited by four-wheel-drive users, but no historic artifacts remain inside. All too often, cabins on public land are looted.Courtesy of Andrew Gulliford In the 19th century, miners built their log cabins on cliffs, in gulches, on ridgelines and by springs. They used local materials as much as possible, but the one thing that had to be imported and brought in by burro were cabin stoves – essential for heat in the winter and for cooking year-round. A few stove manufacturers existed in Colorado, but most stoves came from companies back east, and though the stoves – sometimes two burners, sometimes four – were functional cast-iron objects, along the sides could be embossed metal with intricate designs. Usually, the most fashionable part of the stove was the door, which opened into the fire box. As I viewed photos in the three-ring binder, I understood how big the collection was. I did not yet know about the couple’s meticulous notes, including United States Geological Survey maps with exact coordinates, elevations, descriptions and even directions like, “from semi-collapsed cabin on knoll 100 ft. WNW of jeep road; cabin had coal room in rear, old collapsed bed frame.” I arranged for the San Juan County Historical Society to accept the stolen stove doors. The repentant couple hand-delivered the collection from Denver – 15 boxes weighing from 30 to 55 pounds each. “They were real friendly folks and we worked together unloading. They stole stove doors then documented everything and were very glad that someone wanted the collection,” curator Steve Rich says.Stove doors and embossed metal sides from heating and cook stoves are part of a large collection taken off public land from remote mountain cabins in the San Juan Mountains and given to the Mining Heritage Center in Silverton. The collection included 15 boxes, each weighing from 30 to 55 pounds. For years, the stove parts decorated a couple’s basement in a Denver suburb. Eventually, the stove doors will be exhibited in Silverton.Courtesy of Andrew Gulliford The couple wrote, “Probably no other gold rush-era artifact has as much nostalgic romance as the miners’ respite from cold, disappointment and loneliness than his warm companion – his stove. What stories could emerge from this most basic tent/cabin necessity. The hillside tents, outback cabins and even major mine complexes have receded into the earth. In many cases, the only clues of occupancy are the durable cast-iron stoves.” “The collection of stove doors was born of urgency,” the couple wrote in a preface to their extensive documentation. They offered, “Our family backpacked most of the San Juan high country. We were saddened by observing the neglect of mining-era artifacts. Unfortunately, at that time, it was common thought that ‘mining stuff’ was to be shot at, burned or rolled down slope. Government agencies were understaffed for such a wide area. Local sentiment at that time was, quite frankly, ‘so what?’” ••• So why steal the stove doors? Why backpack with a hammer and chisel to break the hinge pins and carry out the heavy metal doors? The couple’s rationale was simple. “We decided to collect the stove doors before they were shattered by gunshots.” In other words, they wanted to take something off public land before someone else did or because artifacts might be damaged. I’m not sure a federal judge would agree with that philosophy, but then if the doors were taken before 1979, federal and state laws were imprecise. A judge would agree with the couple’s statement, “Now, after more than 40 years, it is time to find a home for them.”Exhibits Curator Steve Rich with the San Juan County Historical Society Mining Heritage Center in Silverton holds a metal stove door from the Ohio Stove Co. as part of a large stove door collection stolen from the San Juan Mountains and donated to the historical society. Note the teeth marks made by hungry pack rats on the stove door’s handle.Courtesy of Andrew Gulliford Bev Rich, director of the San Juan County Historical Society, adds, “The doors are important because they are a snapshot in time. Cast-iron stoves were everywhere in this rugged wilderness.” The stove doors came from Illinois Gulch, Cement Creek, Georgia Gulch, Little Giant Basin, Silver Lake, Grassy Gulch, Poughkeepsie Gulch, Maggie Gulch and Mineral Point. The stoves include the New Loyal Cook No. 8 made in Albany, New York; the Kibler Stove Co. of Denver from 1895; a No. 7-16 from 1881; the “Palmetto” made by the Comstock Castle Co. from Quincy, Illinois, patented in 1873; and a white porcelain Pride Pearl Buck’s Stove and Range – “guaranteed to bake like a brick oven.” I believe in amnesty. I believe returning something taken from public land is important, but all artifacts, whether they are log cabins, wagon wheels, arrowheads, ore cars or stove doors, belong in situ, or at their original location. We need to learn to leave things alone, to have an open museum on our public lands. But in the meantime, as that ethic evolves, I’ll help folks give back what they should not have taken in the first place. Andrew Gulliford is an award-winning author and editor and professor of history at Fort Lewis College. Reach him at andy@agulliford.com.]]></content:encoded>
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        <link>https://tj.durangoherald.com/through-the-grand-canyon-before-major-powell/</link>
        <title>Through the Grand Canyon before Major Powell?</title>
        <description>This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Major John Wesley Powell’s daring expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. But was he the first? Another story exists with defenders and detractors and links to Silverton and canyons...</description>
        <pubDate>Sat, 14 Sep 2019 01:15:25 -0600</pubDate>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Major John Wesley Powell’s daring expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. But was he the first? Another story exists with defenders and detractors and links to Silverton and canyons in Bears Ears country. Two years before Powell and his men emerged from the Grand Canyon’s depths, a sunburnt, blistered, starved, half-clothed and half-dead bearded man, leashed to a log raft, arrived at Callville, Nevada, on Sept. 7, 1867. Barely alive, with bruises, welts and recent scars, he was incoherent. His skin was dark brown like mahogany, his hair matted and bleached. Slowly, he recovered from dehydration. His mind cleared. He called himself James White. ••• His story begins high in the San Juan Mountains where a party of drifters and gold-seekers under the leadership of Capt. Charles Baker had returned to Baker’s Park, now the site of Silverton. Baker’s first venture into the high country in the winter of 1860-61 had proved disastrous, with men living in brush huts working gold placer claims. The Baker Expedition had retreated south toward Santa Fe, but now the captain was back with two other men – George Strole and James White. A fourth man had been included, but White shot him in the foot after a “provocation.” Who were these men? “Baker and companions were merely examples of hordes of drifters, the flotsam and jetsam of westward migration,” writes Colorado historian Virginia McConnell Simmons in “Drifting West: The Calamities of James White and Charles Baker.” Baker himself “did what he did better than anything else – promoting an enterprise for others to subsidize with provisions and labor.” Finding no new opportunities in Baker’s Park, because placer mining had yet to become the hardrock, deep-shaft mining that would make Silverton boom, after a month, the small band rode south. Near what would become Durango, they drifted west to follow the Mancos River, where they saw small cliff dwellings or “houses built of cobblestones.” Baker’s party paralleled the Mancos River to the San Juan River, hoping to prospect for gold in the softer sandstone. They were some of the first white men to see ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings near Mesa Verde and to venture west into Bears Ears country. ••• In later years, White became confused, stating that the three men went south of the river, when instead, they probably crossed it to the north near the Rincon or where Comb Ridge comes to the water’s edge and a natural, shallow ford exists. They rode up either Butler Wash or Comb Wash and then turned west to be caught in a maze of canyons coming off Cedar Mesa toward what is now Lake Powell. White claimed to have two revolvers. He would need them both. They camped two days after leaving the San Juan, and while the other men were exploring, White saw a Native American. His partners thought he was imagining things. Riding out the next morning with Capt. Baker in the lead, a rifle shot rang out. Baker fell off his horse and either died immediately or shouted to his companions, “I am killed.” Another version of the story has Baker whispering, “Save yourselves.” Either way, the founder of Silverton and the mineral riches of the San Juan Triangle died in the dust in Utah while his two companions fled down canyon for safety. They were stopped at the water’s edge. Fearful of being trapped in a narrow canyon, they used their lariats to make a raft of four cottonwood logs, perhaps 8-inches thick and up to 10-feet long. White described the raft years later to engineer Robert Brewster Stanton, whose manuscript would be published in 1932 under the title, “Colorado River Controversies.” On their makeshift raft, White and Strole drifted off down Glen Canyon, named two years later by Major Powell. There are no rapids in Glen Canyon, and after a few hours or days, they could have abandoned their raft and begun to hike out. They also could have left the Colorado River near what became Lees Ferry. Instead, they stayed on their flimsy raft until at the first Grand Canyon rapid, Strole fell off never to be seen again. He probably drowned in Badger Creek Rapid. One writer explained, “White still clung to the logs, and it was only when the raft seemed to be floating smoothly, and the sound of the rapids was behind, that he dared to look up; then it was to find himself alone, the provisions lost, and the shadows of the black canyon warning him of the approaching night.” White drifted, making 10 hours a day. Starving, he met Native Americans, possibly Yavapais, who gave him a few roasted mesquite beans near Grand Wash. He floated off, forced to chew on the leather scabbard of his knife, and finally, semi-conscious, he arrived at Callville, now under the waters of Lake Mead. ••• Two years later, Powell made his epic journey. His men, aware of White’s claims, thought it impossible as did subsequent river runners. Still, the story endured, and White lived out his days as a drayman at Trinidad, Colorado, moving dry goods with a small wagon. Writers came to interview him and gained different versions of his tale. Even Gen. William Jackson Palmer had White interviewed, and Palmer believed the story of the water-logged raft. A granddaughter, Eilean Adams, wrote “Hell or High Water: James White’s Disputed Passage through Grand Canyon, 1867.” I set out to find where White and Strole may have entered Glen Canyon. Adams thought it was Moki Canyon, so with a friend, we camped nearby and tried to four-wheel-drive into Moki Canyon from the top. I thought we were in trouble when I drove over a small sand dune wondering if we could get up it on the way out. I should have known better. Farther along we were blocked by a huge dune. Turning around, sure enough, I buried my truck to the axles. Luckily, it was still mid-morning. I’ve learned through the years that if you are going to make a mistake, always do it when there is plenty of daylight. I got out the shovel. My friend found flat rocks. Slowly, a few feet at a time, we drove in low gear back up to what passes for rural roads in San Juan County. Did James White and his companion launch a log raft at Moki Canyon and did White survive huge rapids in Grand Canyon? That’s hard to say. I’ve been down the canyon three times in rafts. At Hance Rapid, I ejected sideways across a paddle raft, wondered what my paddle was doing in my teeth and would have had a terrific swim if my buddy hadn’t slammed his outstretched hand into my shoulder to stop my lateral movement. I crumpled to the bottom of the raft delighted not to be flushed down current. Did White survive alone? His descendants think so and want recognition for their ancestor. Greg Adams wrote me that James White’s river tale is “a controversy that never ends and never will.” He explained that, “White was honest in his story,” but that other writers did not want to believe that “a simple miner might have done what they couldn’t ... namely run all the rapids in Grand Canyon, which they themselves found impossible to achieve.” Major Powell gets the credit. After all, he documented his trip and ran the river twice – once in 1869 and again in 1871. But did James White survive solo on a tippy log raft? We’ll never know, just like we’ll never know what happened to the bones of Capt. Charles Baker, the founder of Silverton and a drifter who took one trail too many in the American Southwest. Andrew Gulliford is a professor of history and environmental studies at Fort Lewis College and an award-winning author and editor. Reach him at andy@agulliford.com.]]></content:encoded>
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