Crescent Junction, Utah - It isn't Brendel Anymore 2010

 

 

Crescent Junction, Utah

It isn't Brendel Anymore 

Traveling north on U.S. Highway 191, it is thirty-one miles from Moab to Crescent Junction, Utah. There the motorist can travel west or east on Interstate I-70. After passing the City of Green River, twenty miles to the west, it is over one hundred miles to the next town, which is Salina, Utah. From Crescent Junction to Salina is a distance of 127 miles. Traveling east from Crescent Junction, it is over eighty miles to the City of Grand Junction, Colorado. Traveling south on U.S. Highway 191, it is 106 miles and almost two hours of windshield time to Blanding, Utah. In any event, Crescent Junction is a remote outpost on the Interstate Highway System.

 

While researching Crescent Junction on the internet, I found that Wikipedia is the primary information source for that place. References to the Denver & Rio Grande Railway (now Union Pacific Railroad) mention the place, as well. That is where railroad history and automotive history diverge.

 

In 1882, the Denver & Rio Grande Railway (D&RGR) first laid tracks through there, on its way to nearby Green River, Utah. Later, the D&RGR added the Crescent Siding to the main line, northeast of present day Crescent Junction.  In 1930, highway builders straightened the Old Hwy. US 50 route between Green River and Thompson (now Thompson Springs). At that time, the new junction with U.S. Hwy. 450 (now U.S. Hwy. 191) received the name Crescent Junction. Valley City, which was the site of the previous junction, soon disappeared from most maps.

 

Trusting Wikipedia as an unimpeachable historical source can be problematic. The current Wikipedia listing for Crescent Junction, Utah is as follows: Crescent Junction or Brendel is a small,  within Grand County in the eastern part of the  of . The community is located at 4,900 feet (1,494 meters) above sea level. Most highway maps use the name Crescent Junction, as the name given to the junction of  and . Most railroad maps use the name Brendel, the name of the  and junction at the same location.

 

Wikipedia's error is in use of the phrase, “at the same location”. After additional research, I discovered that Crescent Junction and Brendel are unique, non-interchangeable places. Crescent Junction is a highway junction, with an adjacent gas station and mini-mart, plus a few other buildings. Brendel is a “ghost place” just northeast of Crescent Junction. Using separate map databases, both Google Maps and MapQuest locate their Brendel markers adjacent to an old rail spur to the northeast.

 

Although I have not yet visited there, a Google Maps Satellite View helped me to picture the general area. Directions from the Stop & Go at Crescent Junction to Brendel are as follows: Head east on Frontage Road (variously called Old Hwy. U.S. 6 & 50, Old Cisco Highway and Utah Hwy. 128). In 0.2 miles, turn left (North) on Railroad Road. There, just east of Railroad Road, south of Old Railroad Road and west of the rail spur once stood the place called Brendel. Like the former town of Valley City, five miles to the south, there are few clues to help us understand what Brendel was or why it carried that name. With only 0.4 miles separating the two places, it is easy to see why writers for Wikipedia blended Brendel and Crescent Junction together.

 

Other than its adjacency to a rail spur, I found no historical reference to human activity at Brendel. Even so, its status as a “named place” in the U.S. Census database indicates that at one time it hosted human activity. In 1917, Floy Station, to the west of Brendel served nearby Manganese mines. Today it is as vacant and empty as Brendel.

 

Well into the twentieth century, cattle exports were the economic lifeblood of Grand County, Utah. Conventional wisdom and published history indicate that Thompson was the only cattle loading station in the area. In the early days, communities along its tracks knew the D&RGR for its fast freight and customized service. Did early ranchers from Moab herd their cattle all the way to Thompson or the shorter distance to Brendel, for loading at the rail spur?  Did fruit growers in the Spanish Valley take wagonloads of apples, pears and peaches to Brendel, as well?

 

Whatever happened there, we know that Brendel and Crescent Junction are unique and different places. How long it will take for Wikipedia and its contributors to differentiate between the two? After all, Brendel is not “a small, unincorporated town within Grand County in the eastern part of Utah”, nor is it Crescent Junction.

Email James McGillis

 

By James McGillis at 12:04 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

Green River to Floy, Utah, via Old Hwy. U.S. 6 & 50 in 2010

 

 

Green River to Floy, Utah, via Old Hwy. U.S. 6 & 50 

In 1965, when I first visited the City of Green River, Utah, completion of nearby Interstate I-70 was still five years away. At that time, the Utah Launch Complex of the White Sands Missile Base lay just south of town. With Cold War missile testing ongoing there, the population of Green River was rocketing towards its all-time high of 2000 in 1970.

 

To watch the Green River Video, click on the arrow button, above.

 

For much of its history, the Green River itself served as the county line between Emery County to the west and Grand County to the east. When the missile launch facility closed in the 1970s, the combined population on both sides of the river soon fell by half and had not recovered by the year 2000. In 2003, the State of Utah redrew the county line, thus placing all of “greater” Green River and its 1000 residents in Emery County. In the early days and even now, the name “Elgin” describes the portion of the city lying east of the river. The 2000 census listed over one hundred residents in Elgin. Today, several websites indicate that Elgin is a ghost town. Perhaps the residents of Elgin can comment here and let us know if they are still around.

 

Continuing my search of the Green River and Crescent Junction area, I found several anomalies in the Google Maps database. According to Google, a westbound drive on I-70 from Crescent Junction to Green River covers a distance of 20.4 miles. If you reverse your course, Google Maps directs you east to Thompson, and then back again to Crescent Junction. That journey east, with a double back to the west covers 31.1 miles. I reported the problem to Google. Perhaps it will be fixed before any readers attempt the trip.

 

To make things more confusing, Google misidentifies a stretch of unmaintained “Old Hwy. US 6 & 50” as “Business I-70 & Business US 191". The misidentification continues from Green River to I-70 (Exit 173), near a long abandoned rail stop named Floy (pop. 0), or Floy Station (pop. 0). Interestingly, MapQuest gets the “Old US 50” designation correct, but misidentifies the nearby railroad line at the old “Denver & Rio Grande Western”. Google Maps does not identify the name of the railroad at all.

 

After driving the old highway eastbound from Green River, I can assure you that it is not a business route. With only a few dirt crossroads and only a single tree standing along that route, it is one of the loneliest and least traveled paved roads in the state. During my transit, encountered not one other vehicle traveling in either direction. At Green River, signs warned that the old highway is not maintained, which is true. Although navigable in a standard passenger car, be prepared to drive slowly over the many rough spots and minor washouts.

 

Looking back on my brief adventure on Old US Highway 6 & 50, I realized what a treasure it is. If you like to get away from it all, yet be only a few miles distance from an interstate highway, this is the route for you. To the north, the Union Pacific Desert Main Line runs largely unseen from the road. Likewise, I-70 to the south is visible only as you approach Floy. Traveling the old highway in either direction takes less than an hour. There, you can recreate a cross-country adventure from the era before the advent of interstate highway travel. Please remember, if you run out of gas or get a flat tire, Floy is abandoned and it could be a long walk back to Green River.

Email James McGillis

 

By James McGillis at 10:50 AM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link