It's Day 424.....It's also July 3 2020...and we are in Jensen Utah

It's Day 424.....It's also July 3 2020...and we are in Jensen Utah

Talk about random...When it comes to our travel plans these days.....A couple days in....up in Ashley National Forest......I was studying the map one afternoon...... I had decided that heading any deeper into Ashley National Forest would eventually bring us to Flaming Gorge and having seen that area last summer, so I decided a little back tracking was in order....I wanted get deeper into that corner of Colorado and Utah we had not seen. We were actually headed back towards the Colorado border....when we passed through the tiny little town of Jensen Utah....and just after crossing the bridge over the green river....a right hand turn would take us just up the road a bit....to our next address....for the next couple nights anyways. Pretty cool change in scenery.....within 25 or 30 ....maybe 40 miles....we'd come back down out of Ashley National Forest.....and back into the arid...high desert surroundings of the Uinta Basin. And pretty convenient that a pull out just to the right of the road... allowed us to pull right down in next to the River. Levelers down...and awnings out.....we were ready to hang out for a bit.....enjoy some time watching the Green River roll by each day...on it's way from the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming....passsing thru Utah....and right by us here in Jensen...on it's way into Colorado....where it joins up with the Colorado River around 200 miles from here.

It's pretty cool....knowing that as we sit here next to the green river...in Jensen Utah.....in the middle....of one of the richest fossil beds on the planet....staring off into those mountains.....imagining...150 million years ago....when fossils being dug up today....were still alive and well....and for millioins of years.....they roamed the lands here....lands that looked nothing like what I'm looking at....but instead....an immense flood plain....loaded with rivers and lakes....and thick lush foilage creating the perfect jungle like home for massive creatures live....to wander.....to hunt.

And then...what it would have been like....on that day. Scientists now refer to it as "An extinction event"....that day when a massive asteroid strikes the earth....setting into motion.....a cataclysmic series of events....Volcanoes....earthquakes.... sudden climate change....the series of events that would end a species nearly over night....and set into motion yet another series of changes....changes that would take millions of years.....to put this corner of Utah....and Colorado...back together looking as it does today...imagining even more.....about what the next event looks like.....long after I'm gone.....when the universe decides once again that it's time to wipe the slate clean....and start over....again.

Then shifting my gaze...only slightly.....back over that bridge we crossed to get here....and into Jensen...and curiosity shifts again.....to this town....and the 400 or so folks that call it home. And why's Jensen here? How did this happen.....

That after centuries of Native American inhabitance....and after Spanish explorers had barely more than passed through....

It was 1869....when a 2 year old Norwegian boy...named Lars Jensen.... would land in New York...with his family. They would initially move to New Jersey for a brief period before setting out west in search of this new world everyone was talking about. The family would eventually make their way to this corner of Utah....in 1877....when Lars was just 7 years old.

And he would spend his life here.......growing into a respected member of the community. He found his living in prospecting....and providing ferry services along the green river.....and eventually the town would be named for Lars.

This community...Jensen...would remain largely as it is today...throughout it's history. A quiet little place....in a vast region of high desert....not far from the foothills of Ashley National Forest.....The fertile soils....and the life giving waters of the green river provided the perfect spot for folks to make their way farming...and ranching. Mining would pop in here and there adding to the communities economy....and later....a rail line connecting Grand Junction Colorado and Salt Lake City....would pass by within a few miles....providing greater access to bigger towns...if they needed it....which it didn't appear was often. For the most part....what they didn't have here....they could get just 13 miles....up that dusty trail west...to Vernal. If they hustled....they could likely do the round trip...some 26 miles.....in a single day.

Today....a lot has changed....of course.....but a lot hasn't. It's still a quiet community along the banks of the green river. Some still farm....and ranch.....others....hop in the car and commute to Vernal...and Roosevelt....returning home each night to their quiet spot along the Green River. More adventuresome may trek a bit further....to places like Price Utah....or even Green River...and Rock Springs Wyoming.....for work...or maybe just some shopping...or fun...when the itch for the Big City strikes.....and by big city....I guess we mean the 25 thousand or so that can be found in Rock Springs.....thats about as big as it gets around here.

And of course....woven into the towns past....is the Dinasaur National Monument. A paleontologist would discover the first fossils in the area in 1909....and by 1915....the Dinasaur National Monument had been established....protecting and preserving over 210,000 acres of those fossil rich mountains. The Monument would grow to include multiple exhibitions and museums...and Jensen plays host to the Utah entrance to the monument...just 21 miles up the road from Dinasaur....and the Colorado entrance to the Monument.

The boys and I.....parked outside one morning after breakfast......watching and waving...as fishermen and rafters,,,and those folks on intertubes floated by....I suddenly remembered "Salt Houses" That term I'd read back up there in Ashley National Forest. A term that would come up again here...in Jensen.

And before I knew it....I was being reminded of a time before refrigeration....freezers......and the high tech canning mechanisms we have today....before electricity even... Folks had to preserve foods using centuries old methods....drying.....and curing their meats in particular. And salt....was a critical element in that process...which more than explained why it was during these times...when the expression "worth your salt" was born....a time when salt....could literally be worth more....than gold.

Reading that over 5000 years ago...Ancient Egyptian civilizations had figured out food preservation methods using salt.....they had learned that applying salt to their meats and some vegetables....would help to speed up the dehydration of the food....removing the risk of bacteria...and rotting...and somehow...those methods had passed down through generations...and finding their way across the globe...including the wide open spaces of the United States ... like here....in Jenson Utah in the 1800's. Where settlers would build Salt Houses.....a simple....and small structure....built to store salt...keeping it dry...and safe from animals. The structure was also used for food storage....during and after the curing process.

Some made from wood....others of stone.....interesting that I had not read about salt being a key component of the trading activity of the time....but it was. In some area's....salt could be extracted from bodies of salt water...in other areas natural salt springs or mines would provide the source.....but in areas without either of those accessible....trade was often their only access to the mineral...making it extrememly valuable.

And by the late 1800's....salt mining had become a thing across the country ....on a commercial level.....as natural deposits of salt were discovered and methods for extracting it from the earth were developed.

And soooo much work......easy to see how these folks kept so busy all the time......

I was imagining life....in the 1800's....as I read through how the slaughter of a single animal....would lead to the next two to three weeks of your life....if your plan was to have meat in the salt house for winter.....

Butchering the meat into managable cuts and pieces

Rinsing and drying the meat to remove the yucky stuff....and patting it dry.....

Beginning the salting process with a generous rub over all surfaces....then layering the salted meat into a large container.....making sure to ad yet another layer of....yep....salt....between each layer of meat

Keeping the container covered with cloth...or some sort of lid as it cures......preventing dust, dirt....or bugs from joining the party......Checking....and turning the pieces every day to ensure even curing....and this goes on for a week or so....before allowing it to rest for another week.

And after a couple weeks....the final rinse.....patting it dry again....and hanging it in a cool dry place....ya know....like that salt house.

And then sanitizing the salt for re-use...the stuff is valuable ya know.....so gotta boil it down....then allow evaporation back to salt crystals so your ready for round two....or 10.....I guess.....depending on the size of your tribe and how long the winter. But then...winter....in Jensen Utah.....kinda already got that ready made built in freezer outside.....so maybe save yourself some salt if ya hunt then.

Man....probably gonna give that little process a thought or two next time I pull a steak out of that grocery bag and throw it in the freezer.

And then...the news.....and yup.....headline of the day on every network.....covid 19......Insert video....but enough of that....

We're doin our part....social distancing for sure....

We'll hang out here.....not sure how long....kinda getting itchy feet again.

I'm thinking back to that dirt road we passed on our way out of Colorado a couple days back......a simple two track....seemed to wander forever north....into those mountains....

The sign read....Miners Draw Road......a name like that's gotta have a story right?

I wonder what we'll learn there