Around the Henry Mountains with Charlie Hanks

Abstract

It was my good fortune in 1935 to be assigned chief of a U. S. Geological Survey field party studying and mapping the geology of the Henry Mountains in Utah. Geologically the area is of great interest because of the classic work done in 1876 by G. K. Gilbert for the Powell Survey. In the 1930's the area still was frontier-a long distance from railroads, paved roads, telephones, stores, or medical services. It was the heart of an area the size of New York State without a railroad, and a third of that area without any kind of road. This was not Marlboro country; it was Bull Durham country. The geological work had to be done by pack train ; it was about the last of the big packtrain surveys in the west - the end of an era. It was my good fortune also to obtain the services of a veteran horseman who knew that country, Charles R. Hanks of Green River, Utah. Charlie served as packer during each of my five field seasons in the area. He had played a leading role in the history of the area; the town of Hanksville was named for his father when a post office was established there in 1885. Charlie, an old time cow puncher, had spent more hours in saddles than he had in chairs, and he had slept more nights on the ground under the stars than he had in bed under a roof. Most of his meals had been before an open fire on the range. He knew that country , both its good features and its hazards. He knew and understood horses and mules and knew how to travel and live comfortably in the desert and the mountains. And he learned about geologists.