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Sunday, June 19, 2011

I Owe My Soul to the Company Store

In June of 1997, I spent a week at Clear Creek, a summer camp sponsored by Alpine School District, located near a small mining town. I loved it. As part of our camp we hiked, sang camp songs, and performed skits, but we also learned about Scofield, some of it's history and what it meant to work for "the company". Little did I know that I would later come to love that small mining town, Scofield, Utah.

Fast forward to January 2008 when my boyfriend invited me to his parents' cabin, just miles away from Clear Creek on the Scofiled Resevoir.

Lucky for me, I married that boyfriend.

And, lucky for us. We just spent the weekend here:


(Brad and Jennifer's Cabin at Aspen Cove)

With a drive up that looked like this:


And lake views that looked like this:


(The Scofield Resevoir, at its highest in at least ten years)

And breakfast that looked like this:


(Thanks to Ryan and Kyle for delicious "Cabin Breakfast")

The best part about the trip? We got to enjoy the company of our friends Sara and Kyle and their two adorable boys.

They're the greatest, and we have loved getting to know them. We were thrilled that they wanted to come with us and thrilled that they even wanted to adventure to Scofield!


Scofield, Utah according to Wikipedia is a town in Carbon County, Utah with a population of 28 at the 2000 census.

But, this wasn't always the case. In the late 1800's, Scofield was a booming mining town with a population over 600. However, on May 1, 1900, a huge explosion rocked the mine and devastated the town.

I remembered that we had learned about the disaster at Clear Creek, but my memories were vague. (In fact, all I could really remember was the phrase "I owe my soul to the company store" from a song we listened to the entrance to the mine. It wasn't until recently that I discovered the whole song and who "the company" was--think October Sky.)



Anyway, when we were planning for the trip, Sara and Kyle had mentioned the disaster, so when we made it to the cabin, we decided to take an adventure to Scofield for a closer look.


We stopped at the cemetery



Come to find out there were over 125 men buried in this cemetery who were killed in the accident. These wooden headstones are scattered everywhere and mark the graves of those killed in the 1900 disaster (with a more recent headstone to help identify the names on the illegible, rotting wood)



They had erected a memorial to the fallen, with this sculpture depicting the feeling of the accident.

It was tragic.

And the 5th worst mining accident in American history.

Over 200 men were killed, leaving 107 widows and more than 250 orphans.



The tomb of the unknown is dedicated to the men they couldn't identify and bury accordingly




Most of the men killed in the accident had only the wooden headstone, but a few had more elaborate memorials. This was one--crumbling after 110 years, but beautiful all the same.



Adi took at interest in the cemetery and wandered to see the various flowers and flags




I love this little girl!



Another thing this area is known for are the "Potguts" (aka rockchucks or the yellow-bellied marmot) and we got to see quite a few of them running around the grass and poking their heads out of their little holes. Even Adi liked them! (Here's a snap shot of Sara and Isaac checking one out.)


And one of a potgut and Isaac running to see it.

After checking out the cemetery, we visited the school house and tried to find the mine, but were unsuccessful... we'll just have to save that for another adventure.



When we got back to the cabin, we decided to roast marshmallows and Starburst candies because it had been too late the previous night.


Yummy Starbursts! (If you haven't tried this, you must. It takes technique, but if you do it right, it's caramelized with a slight sugar crunch on the outside and gooey and yummy on the inside.


Adi didn't seem to mind...


In fact, she loved it!


And so. did. I.


Overall it was a fun, relaxing trip--quick--but such a treat. Thanks to Sara, Kyle, Isaac, and Liam for a fun weekend!

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