Grandfather Comparison.

I did a grandfather comparison once before in one of my very early posts but I would like to do another short comparison or brief description of them. 

My grandfather Nicholas Peter Pettersson was an immigrant having been born in England of Swedish origin.  He worked for the railroads and mines before becoming Carbon County Treasurer.  He was also a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He was very valiant and ambitious in his membership in the LDS Church.  He was still leading the choir in priesthood meeting and doing treasurer work for the seminaries at 90 years of age.  He was well known, well liked and well respected and had a cheerful nature and disposition. 

My grandfather Joseph Augustus Curtis was born in Castle Dale and was a lifelong resident of Utah.  In fact I'm not sure he went far from the Price River Drainage area at all and spent most or all of his life there.  His nickname was "Dode".  His father had the same name and generally went by Joe as far as my research determines.  In fact it is Joe who this comparison may involve more than Dode.  Dode has reportedly said that Joe's Holes was named after him.  I'm inclined to disagree with that as I believe he was a newborn when Joe's Holes was named.  It could have his his father Joe however.  Joe reportedly ran sheep quite a bit.  I don't know if they were his sheep or someone else's but he supposedly had large herds of sheep.  He would also be more contemporary with when Joe's Holes was named.  He also went by Joe rather that Dode.  They aren't called Dode's Holes.  Joe was also one of the first settlers of Woodside.  As I have mentioned earlier I am certain that the Curtis Formation which is part of the San Rafael Group of geologic formations was named for him.  The Curtis Formation is just above the Entrada Formation and is very evident at Goblin Valley.  The Entrada Formation, Curtis Formation and Summerville Formation were all named at the same time in 1928 by Gilluly.  There was a guy named Summerville from Moab that is also credited as being one of the first settlers of Woodside and that is exactly why I feel that the Curtis Formation was named after Joe Curtis.  It only makes sense.  I also believe that Joe's Holes was also named for Joe Curtis.  Lew's Holes was names for Louie Pressett and as far as I can tell he was a contemporary of Joe Curtis.  Apparently they laid claim to these watering holes.  My dad used to call Lew's Hole "Louie Pressett waterhole". 

I am going to contradict myself here.  Joe's Holes starts near the Cedar Mountain summit area of the Castle Dale Road.  Or on old maps the Green River Cutoff.  But the Green River Cutoff took a different route in some places than the present Castle Dale Road.  Joe's Holes empties eventually into Lost Spring and further down into other washes before eventually emptying into the San Rafael River.  The Curtis Formation also in within the San Rafael River drainage area.  I don't know how much impact this has on my earlier statement that Dode spent most of his time in the Price River drainage area but they are so close as to almost be the same and one has to make some effort to distinguish the difference.

Old Stove Claims.

This is Entrada Point just off the Caslte Dale Road and just north of Rancho Notso-Grande.  Some of dad's claims are in this area. 

My recent trip to the Summerville, Neversweat and Lost Spring Wash area was mainly for the purpose of rockhounding or prospecting.  I did pick up a few rocks and was checking out ant hills and dry washes.  I didn't quite make it to two places that I wanted to.  Partly because of the windy weather and partly because of time.  Also partly I'm sure because of the gas expense involved and the remoteness of one of the locations.  I did want to go investigate some of my dad's old claims.  I did get to that location but was not able to do much investigation.  The road had not been graded and was not in good condition either.  That would be another reason. 

My dad prospected for quite a few years and had claims with different people.  Some family members including sibling, parents and even spouse.  Two that stand out aren't family.  There was a guy named Brownn from Grand Junction I believe that he staked a lot of uranium claims with in the 1950's along with a substantial amount of the male population of the time.  Another is Adolph Herrera.  In fact their tombstones are near each other in the Price City Cemetery.  They had quite a few claims in the area of Entrada Point, Summerville Point and Curtis Point.  This is also close to the lower end of Joe's Holes in the Big Hole area and near Cement Crossing. 

At this time dad had 70 claims.  I have the original map and I have also plotted them on the Dry Mesa quadrangle map.  The names of the claims are the Old Stove, Sand Pass, Red Rim and Sal.  There were 42 Old Stove claims, 12 Sand Pass claims, 6 Red Rim claims and 10 Sal claims.  Recently I had an individual do some map dowsing for me.  In the course of his dowsing he came up with six locations for gold prospects in the area east of Cedar Mountain or on Cedar Mountain.  One of these locations was on one of dad's old claims and that is what I wanted to investigate when I was down there.  There was in fact a company I believe from Grand Junction who leased some of these claims at one time and did some drilling I believe on some of the Old Stove claims but it could have been other claims as they are right next to each other.  Another item to follow up on if possible.  It was while attempting to investigate this dowsing location and claim that I ran across the couple that was stuck off the road in my last post.  I still may get down there to investigate or prospect this claim that also showed up on with a dowser and see if it may be worth putting forth more effort into.

Sugarloaf and some of the young neighbors or residents of the Neversweat area.

Joseph Augustus Curtis, Jr. (Dode)

Joseph Augustus Curtis, Jr. was eventually known as Dode.  Dode was never baptised into the LDS Church despite his rich pioneer heritage not only for pioneers in Utah but also pioneers in the LDS Church.  Dode was born in Castle Dale.  From what I can tell he never really went far from  the area of the Price River drainage and spent his life in Carbon and Emery Counties near Woodside, Summerville, Humbug and Grassy.  I could also throw Cedar Mountain into that mix.

Dode is often associated with two men.  His father Joe and his brother Guy.  Dode had many mining claims with different family members.  That will be explored in more detail in later posts.  Dode once bought a horse with his father Joe and the Whitmores.  That too will be explored more in future posts.  Where as my grandfather Nicholas was a city dweller, Dode spent a lot of time on the desert.  A lot of this time was spent in a tent.  A lot of that time was also spent alone as far as I know.

There are a few landmarks which bear the name of Joe or Curtis which I believe are attributed to Dode's father who was one of the first settlers of Woodside.  Joe's Holes near Cedar Mountain is one of those.  There is also a Joe Spring near Park Wash which I believe is a strong candidate for being associated with Joe Curtis, Sr.  Dode had mining claims in Park Wash.  There is also a story of Dode having a wolf attack a young colt in the Park.  The colt later died from it's injuries.  The Park is in the Bookcliffs just above Horse Canyon and at the head of Park Wash.

Joe, Dode and Max had much in common.  I know Joe and Max herded sheep and I suspect Dode did as well.  Dode and Max had mining claims and it is also reported that Joe was known to prospect when he had time.  Joe and Max were farmers and Dode even attempted a homestead on Cedar Mountain with Guy.  I believe they were the first to attempt farming on Cedar Mountain.

I would also like to mention another landmark which I believe was named for Joe Curtis.  In the San Rafael Group of formations there is one called the Curtis Formation.  It borders the Summerville Formation which was named for another early settler of Woodside named Summerville.  I believe that the Curtis Formation was named for Joe simply because he was one of the first settlers of Woodside.   The Curtis Formation reaches as far as Flaming Gorge, Moab, near Hanksville and surrounds the San Rafael Swell.  The Entrada Formation, Summerville Formation and Curtis Formation were all named at the same time.  At the same time the formations were named there was also places named.  Entrada Point, Summerville Point and Curtis Point were named where these formations were prominent. 

In my next post I will summarize my comparison of my two grandfathers.