cal*i*for*ni*an (kal’ u forn’ yun) n. 1. resident of the state of California. 2. imprudent spender single-handedly responsible for inflated values of real property. [earlier form: Texan] en*dan*gered spe*cies (en dan’ grd spe’ sez) n. 1. every group that has had a representative address a public hearing in the West: “Ranchers, miners, etc.: We’re the […]
Communities
Posted inSeptember 29, 1997: The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
‘Greens’ bulldoze a conservation effort
Karla Player has seen a lot of changes in the eight years she’s lived in Springdale, Utah. Each summer, more than 2 million people pass through this dusty gateway town of 300 on their way to Zion National Park. Most visitors spend just a few hours here, though lately, people are coming to stay. “You […]
Posted inSeptember 29, 1997: The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
A town with a desert heart
TORTOLITA, Ariz. – The nerve center of this brand-new town is not a shopping mall, health resort or golf club. It’s 21 square miles of saguaro, palo verde, cholla and ironwood trees, packed so tightly together that you can’t walk through them without getting jabbed. A 30-minute drive northwest of Tucson, this is some of […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 1997: Radioactive waste from Hanford is seeping toward the Columbia
American Birding Association
To encourage young people interested in wildlife and conservation, the American Birding Association is sponsoring the Young Birder of the Year Competition, with lots of prizes, beginning at the end of September. In this year-long contest, kids 10 to 18 years old will be asked to write two essays, and keep a field notebook of […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 1997: Radioactive waste from Hanford is seeping toward the Columbia
The Taylor Ranch downsizes
In a surprise development, Zachary Taylor, owner of the controversial 121-square-mile Taylor Ranch in southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley, sold one-third of the property to an undisclosed buyer in early August. Since 1993, the state of Colorado and some valley groups have looked for money to purchase the ranch, which Taylor has been intensively logging […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 1997: Radioactive waste from Hanford is seeping toward the Columbia
One county’s misgivings over not-so-ordinary housing
Taos County, N.M. – Architect and developer Michael Reynolds doesn’t usually lock the gate to his property west of Taos, but ever since county officials drove out to inspect his work site, he’s been viewing outsiders with a wary eye. Recently a county code enforcement officer had red-tagged several houses under construction, and just after […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Bad blood over good sheep
-I’ve had it with the land-grant system. They don’t care about people. They care about money, power, profits and greed,” charges Lyle McNeal, founder of Utah State University’s Navajo Sheep Project, which brought traditional Churro sheep back from the brink of extinction (HCN, 5/1/95). Now, the Navajo Sheep Project is in the process of becoming […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Don’t blame women
Northwest Environment Watch in Seattle, Wash., isn’t very big at 1,400 members and five staffers, but its reach is ambitious. In less than four years it has published five reports, including The Car in the City, Stuff, and the latest and perhaps most provocative, Misplaced Blame: The Real Roots of Population Growth, by Alan Durning, […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
The West that was, and the West that can be
On Jan. 24, 1855, Henry David Thoreau sat down to his journal to reflect on all the ways his homeland had changed since the first English colonists had arrived on the shores of Massachusetts two centuries earlier. For several days, Thoreau had been reading the accounts of some of the earliest settlers. Compared to the […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
The West may not be literary, but it’s littered with reading matter
Along with watching birds on my long bicycle trips between several Western states and California, I developed a fascination with roadside signs. Among the most common were the hand-painted advertisements posted in many a rural driveway. People were selling rabbits, nightcrawlers, boxer pups, Fuller brushes, RV repairs, stud service, plants, dolls, mattresses – you name […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
How the writer learned that he is not very spiritual
My wife and I had just finished hiking Brims Mesa outside of Sedona, Ariz., when we spotted a woman at the trailhead wearing a purple velvet, or velour, dress that hung loosely to her bare ankles. In her right hand she held a hawk feather, and around her neck dangled a leather “medicine bag.” She […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
On being wrong
Years ago, I wrote a little essay that appeared in The Sun. The title of the essay was “Being Wrong.” I wrote about all the mistakes I had made in my life. I said I was tired of looking back and feeling embarrassed and angry with myself for having been so wrong in the past. […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
If a town is more dead than alive, it’s the Old West
ANACONDA, Mont. – The gravestones stand in ranks on the hills above this old smelter town, providing hard statistics. By the 1890s, when Anaconda was only a few years old, people of European descent were already dying here. McGinty, Deslauriers, Nitschke, Dadasovich and other names of the dead indicate epic journeys. One stone, for the […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Jell-O and suicides
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to an essay, “If a town is more dead than alive, it’s the Old West.” Various statistics describe different aspects of the West today. For instance, Salt Lake City leads the nation in per capita Jell-O consumption, while Nevada leads in […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Petroglyphs and pavement collide
A proposed road through Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque continues to be paved with controversy. The latest round features a standoff between Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Pueblo Indian leaders. Domenici, who met recently with the Pueblos for the first time since proposing the bill in April, says the road would reduce traffic congestion around […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
The Bear Essential
Attention writers: The free magazine, The Bear Essential, is holding its first annual Edward Abbey short fiction contest, deadline Sept. 2. Editor Tom Webb tells us judges want unpublished “quality work with a Western environmental aspect” and that winners receive $100 to $500. For more information, write The Bear Essential, P.O. Box 10342, Portland, OR […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Riches and Regrets
In 1990, Colorado voters approved limited-stakes casino gambling in the three old mining towns of Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek. Riches and Regrets: Betting On Gambling in Two Colorado Mountain Towns explains why. Gambling was promoted as a way to save towns, but it became a way to shred communities. After gambling arrived, […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills … and languishes
CASPER, Wyo. – In 1984 an ambitious young legislator from southwestern Wyoming made a startling statement. Ford Bussart was on everybody’s short list as Democratic candidate for governor in 1986. The Democrats, though a distinct minority in Wyoming, had held the governorship for 12 years under Ed Herschler, and they saw Bussart as his likely […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Wyoming is “open for business”
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. That’s the theme pushed by Gov. Jim Geringer, a Republican elected in 1994. It’s been used before, and it hasn’t worked. Nor have these other themes: Wyoming is a good place to raise families; Wyoming has an educated workforce; companies will thrive in Wyoming […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
A Wyoming coal town comes of age
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. WRIGHT, Wyo. – Sometime this fall, a trickle of construction workers should begin arriving in this town of 1,300 tucked on the southern edge of Wyoming’s coal-rich Powder River Basin. By next summer, their ranks will swell to about 850, most living in temporary […]