ATDDTA(10) My Boomerang Won't Come Back [279:1-16]

[Keith]

[279:4] "One of Bulkley Wells's people."

TRP left out an 'e' in Bulkeley.

"Bulkeley Wells was born in Chicago on March 10, 1872, to businessman  
Samuel Edgar Wells and Marry Agnes Bulkeley. He was educated at  
Roxbury Latin School and at Harvard. He married into the wealthy  
family of Colonel Thomas L. Livermore, to daughter Grace Livermore.  
He moved to Telluride, Colorado, and joined the executive board of  
the Telluride Mining Association, and headed up the San Miguel County  
Citizens' Alliance (SMCCA). He had a deputy sheriff's commission, and  
was captain of Troop A of the Colorado National Guard. He was also a  
Mason, and an Elk. Wells became president and manager of the Smuggler- 
Union Mining Company after the murder of Arthur L. Collins."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulkeley_Wells


The Corpse On Boomerang Road
Telluride's War on Labor, 1899-1908
by MaryJoy Martin

This is also the story of Vincent St. John, one of the most  
influential labor leaders the West produced in its early years. He  
was an officer in the Western Federation of Miners, and as president  
of Local 63 at Telluride, Colorado, led a successful strike against  
the Smuggler-Union Mining Company in 1901. In 1902, he and Union  
secretary-treasurer, O.M. Carpenter, inspired the rank and file to  
build a state-of-the-art brick hospital, union hall, and library. The  
building still stands as a symbol of solidarity in Telluride.

During St. John's lifetime, opponents of labor accused him of  
murdering Will Barney, and the murder was used to condemn him in the  
press despite the absence of a corpse and any evidence against him.  
The Mine Operators' Association in Telluride sent gunman, Bob  
Meldrum, after St. John, hired Pinkertons to harrass him, had him  
arrested on various charges without foundation, and hounded him for  
years. In 1907 mine manager, Bulkeley Wells, found a skull and bones  
on Boomerang Hill, claiming these were the remains of the murdered  
Barney. Wells displayed the skull in shop windows with a sign  
condemning St. John and the union as murderers. He claimed further  
proof: he had a Pinkerton-produced confession from a union miner  
named Steve Adams. This tale claiming St. John had murdered Barney  
and hired Adams to assassinate mine manager, Arthur L. Collins, has  
endured for a century.
http://www.spesindeopublications.com/corpse.html

[279:10] Reef spotted in "Glenwood Springs."

"Glenwood [Springs] has a long, interesting history. Its unique  
location at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Roaring Fork  
River as well gaining a stop on the railroad historically made it a  
center of commerce in the area. The city has seen numerous famous  
visitors including President Teddy Roosevelt who spent an entire  
summer vacation living out of the historic Hotel Colorado. Doc  
Holliday, a wild west legend from the O.K. Cor[r]al gunfight, spent  
the final months of his life in Glenwood Springs and is buried in the  
town's original cemetery above Bennett Avenue."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenwood_Springs,_Colorado

"In 1860, a young government geologist named Captain Richard Sopris  
discovered the 3-way valley formed by the junction of the Colorado  
and the Roaring Fork Rivers. The area’s natural resources and  
spectacular beauty impressed him. It was, however, 20 years before a  
permanent settlement, originally called Defiance, was actually  
founded. In 1885 the fledgling town was renamed Glenwood Springs,  
after the town of Glenwood, Iowa, and soon it was hosting visitors  
from all over the country.

The reason for Glenwood Springs’ rise in popularity was its  
geothermal hot springs and the nearby vapor caves. For centuries, the  
Ute Indians had come to this valley in pursuit of the huge herds of  
deer and elk that found comfort at the springs. The Utes summered at  
the place they called Yampa. Yampa means Big Medicine, since the  
vapors and sulfur of the springs and caves were thought to be a  
curative for whatever ailed the body. Early settlers found similar  
comfort in the waters, and word quickly spread of this natural  
wonder. Almost immediately, people from far and wide began making the  
arduous journey here to find relief from their ailments."
http://www.swaviator.com/html/issueMJ02/Glenwood5602.html

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[279:15] "sparking"

Means courting. Refers back to the spark in her hazel eyes [275:36]  
and the half-masted sparkling eyeball at [276:26].

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[279:16] "Uncompahgre Plateau"

About 25 to 30 million years ago the ancestral Colorado turned  
westward and established a westward course over the Uncompahgre  
Plateau. The plateau was thousands of feet lower than it is today.  
The present East and West Creeks mark this ancestral course. The  
Gunnison River flowed westward from the current Black Canyon area,  
and then northwestward across Cactus Park to join the Colorado River  
at the northwest end of Cactus Park. About 10 to 15 million years ago  
the Uncompahgre Plateau began to rise. The rivers begin to cut down  
to form Unaweep Canyon and Cactus Park. About 7 to 10 million years  
ago the Colorado River found an easier route around the north end of  
the Uncompahgre Plateau. The Gunnison River continued to follow  
through Cactus Park and Unaweep Canyon. About 7 to 9 million years  
ago the Uncompahgre Plateau was still rising and the Gunnison River  
abandoned Unaweep Canyon. Canyons on the northeast side of the  
Uncompahgre Plateau were entrenched. Hence, from the northwest end of  
Cactus Park, the Gunnison flowed northeastward through the Colorado's  
former canyon (the current lower half of East Creek). The Gunnison  
eroded this route deeper before the backup system reached this far.
http://www.durangobill.com/UnaweepCanyon.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncompahgre_National_Forest

          "Gunnison"

After the killing of Curley Bill, the Earps left Arizona and headed  
to Colorado. In a stop over in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Wyatt and  
Holliday had a falling out but remained on fairly good terms. The  
group split up after that with Holliday heading to Pueblo and then  
Denver. The Earps and Texas Jack set up camp on the outskirts of  
Gunnison, Colorado, where they remained quiet at first, rarely going  
into town for supplies. Eventually, Wyatt took over a faro game at a  
local saloon.

Slowly all of the Earp assets in Tombstone were sold to pay for  
taxes, and the stake the family had amassed eroded. Wyatt and Warren  
joined Virgil in San Francisco in late 1882. While there, Wyatt  
rekindled a romance with Josie Marcus, Behan's one-time fiancée. His  
common-law wife, Mattie waited for him in Colton but eventually  
realized Wyatt was not coming back (Wyatt had left Mattie the house  
when he left Tombstone). Earp left San Francisco with Josie in 1883  
and she became his companion for the next forty-six years (no  
marriage certificate has been found). Earp and Marcus returned to  
Gunnison where they settled down, where that state’s governor refused  
to extradite Wyatt back to Arizona on the grounds that he could not  
get a fair trial, and Earp continued to run a faro bank.

Gunnison isolated themselves from the surrounding area during the  
Spanish Influenza epidemic for two months at the end of 1918. All  
highways were barricaded near the county lines. Train conductors  
warned all passengers that if they stepped outside of the train in  
Gunnison, the would be arrested and quarantined for five days. As a  
result of the isolation, no one died of influenza in Gunnison during  
the epidemic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnison,_Colorado

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