Gunnison news-champion., 1924-08-08

lowing interesting letter:
The little Cr0ssroad. summer resort
, and eattle-loadiug station thirty miles
west Of GuunisOn is affectiona,ely
called Sap. No one bothers to string
out the name, whatever il means.
, Sap" doubles sounds good TO many
tourists who drop down to ciyiliza-
tiOn and standard highways At this
point after negotiating Black mesa
After 4 sixty mile drive eastward
from Hotchkiss. varIously interrupted
by visits 10 ranches and COW camps,
I'll confess the mere IntimatiOn Of ar
additional supply Of inner gumpticn
seemei good
You travel on the lip Of eternity"
some one has remarked, in doing the
Black mesa drive. II fate even grinned
you would be spilled off into the depths
Of Gunnison canon, that dark abyss
Of roaring waters which A. L. Fellows
and other government engineers nego-
tIatcd 10 their peril 20 years ago in
making = preliminary survey for the
Gunnis0n irrigation tunnel
There are moments Of relief, Of
course, but somehow the Black mesa
road Is eternally skirting the nose Of
some wide and frowning promontcry.
~ n A4l EtoAf iliEh Gdlllt lffTitDFt.
mostly IN the Gunnison National
forest.
In Wrong County
As n matter Of fact, q goodly slice
Of Black mesa Is in Montrose county,
whereas it should be in Delta The
canon most effectively cuts of com
nunicatlons southwark with Montrose
city and the rest of the county. Resi-
N.,rsa - Tr.r4-f.rA
ties, TO reach their county seat, have
to cover most Of Delta county and
travel thru Delta itself
. Just to get glimpse Of Lieutenant
Governor Rockwell's old ranch and
the present day leading cattle ranch
Of the Black mesa territory. and 10
say hello TO the Allyns, ! turned north
! ward a few miles east OF Crawford,
/ the little foothills town II mile from
. Hotchkiss, and landed at once in the
{ coy little valley occupied by the
/ Castle View. The castle" comprises a
fantastic mountain to the eastward
capped by 4 rocky promJntory family
resembling ruin on the Rhine.
Mr.. and Mrs. Charles Allyn did the
honors in an extremely pleasant two
/ hour visit lasting thru lunch time, al
/ cordially satisfying meal over which
We chatted in general Of the cattle
business and experiences of the times.
Mrs. Allyn admitted that the Castle
/ View was the most fascinating ranch
in the west, but far, far from town
7 privileges and the outside world.
| Thereby she voiced the same criticism
I that led the Rockwells, former occu-
I pants Of the ranch, to sell out few
B ..lya rnHfAanr. in,
| Paonia on the North fork of the Gum
nison.
Formerly at Hardin
| The Allyns came to the Black mesa
county six years ago, after conducting
/ the al" ranch at Hardin in northern
! Colorado for the better part of fifteen
years. Missouri is their home state
and they are a good sample of the
genial I'm froms" who originate in
that interesting commonwealth.
| Mr.. Allyn, in taking over the Castle
| View ranch from the syndicate which
purchased it from Governor Rockwell
/ studied the proposition carefully for
a short time with his son, Ted Allyn,
who runs the ranch with him today,
and decided that Black mesa, for the
present at least, is a steer country"
There was begun forthwith com
paratively ruthless disposal of fine
breeding stock. Attractively bred cows.
heifers and even purebred sires went
on their way to market. 1t developed
that, as far as prices were concerned.
Allyn was hitting for a bulls-eye.
Fifty dollars for heifers, | understand.
was about the lowest price taken for
any of the stock that was sold.
This year Mr.. Allyn is grazing
some 900 Utah yearlings, nothing
fancy in the way of weight, but quite
promising as to grass gains by ship
ping-time this fall.
At Allyn's Cow Camp
For the express purpose of looking
over these steers on their summer
grazing grounds at the head of Cure
can't Creek and possibly obtaining
few photographs, l turned off at
the foot of Black mesa and ferreted
out the Allyn COW camp, in charge of
most proficient cowman. 7. d. Nc
Leod of Crawford, and his estimable
wife. The cabin which is summer
headquarters for the herdsmen is To-
Gated in little open park which
comes into view from the top of the
winding trail down the mountain.
The Mcleod hospitality included
three most appetizing meals and a
comfortable bed in roomy cabin
attic. Tho far from base of supplies
Mrs. Mcleod is not stumped when
company arrives in camp. Her prowess
in meat canning serves her in most
excellent stead. Such spareribs, bis
cults and raspberry preserves l have
seldom tasted before. Savory pork
sausage, also from a mason fruit jar,
graced the breakfast table.
A full morning in the saddle, with
. Mcleod as guide enabled me to gain
first hand knowledge of geography of
upper Curecanti creek and to inspect
! successive branches of the Utah
. steers. Mcleod was engaged in