RETURN TO DONKEY GULCH
CADE'S ADVENTURE
by
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Lumpy- Dick acquired his name a few years back, as the story goes, during one of his more adventurous attempts to get his spirits. One of the local boys thought it would be a hoot to see old Dick retrieve a whole fifth of red eye from the center of the Lone Tree railroad trestle.
The long bridge was suspended about two hundred feet above the dry creek bed from which Donkey Gulch derived its name. The large structure was an architect’s nightmare. It was hurriedly built a few years earlier to ship out the rich ore. There were no walkways only ties held together with the rails. The ties were evenly spaced every two feet. The whole thing was held up high by the monstrous trestle.
Dick must have been mighty thirsty that day because he started his precarious walk across the bridge on one of the shiny rails. He slipped and fell twice before reaching the beginning of the trestle. Word of a great happening spread through town like wind rushing over the crest of a great bald knoll.
Most of the towns one hundred and seventy-five residents hurried out to see the show. When the last onlookers arrived Dick was about twenty feet out on the track, on his hands and knees. He still had about one hundred feet to go and was moving about thirty feet every ten minutes.
At about seventy feet the nine twenty could be heard around the bend. Dick stood up on one of the ties and cocked his head toward the oncoming train. The crowd grew silent.
Looking at him now one would hardly believe he was only a couple of months into his Fortieth year. His heavy drinking had always made him look older, but he seemed to age right before the crowd. It was rumored that one lady was heard to say that she was sure he had dark hair, but now it was as white as the snowy peaks many miles off in the distance.
The miner who started the whole episode was getting nervous. He called for Dick to come back and he would buy him another fifth, but in Dick’s mind he couldn’t stand to see that perfectly good bottle go to waste. He astounded everyone by jumping from tie to tie.
The train was just entering the trestle when Dick reached the bottle. Scooping it up, he pulled the cork out with a loud pop, and took a long pull from it. He replaced the cork and placed the whiskey in the waist of his holey britches. The engine was only about ten feet away from him, whistle blowing, steam escaping, sounding like the gates of hell closing, when Dick disappeared from sight.
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About the Book
Return to Donkey Gulch depicts the adventure of seven year old Cade Walker and his father author Sam Walker and Sam’s two best friends (Big) Mike Barber and June ( Low to the ground) Luke.
Sam Walker is the author of dozens of Ghost town stories. His latest article is going to be on the abandon mining town, Donkey Gulch, Utah. On the day they are to leave on their trip Sam receives a journal written by the Sheriff of Donkey Gulch. It contains the story of the new school teacher, a Miss Newman, who was supposed to arrive on the morning stage. When the stage arrived the driver was dead and the passengers were missing.
Sam and the boys had ten days to explore the town and surrounding area, and to pan for gold and treasure hunt with Mike’s metal detector, but Cade’s favorite time came at night when they would all gather around the fire pit to read from Sheriff Elis B. Underwood’s journal. They began to find clues to the hundred and twenty five year old mystery. They decided to try and solve the case of the missing school teacher.
About the Author
Wayne S. Christiansen was born in a small community in central Utah. Some of his earliest memories revolve around family outings to several “ Little known places”of interest through out the state.
He continued the practice of visiting out of the way places with his own family. Cathy his wife and Stacey his ( now grown with a family of her own) daughter were constant companions to many Ghost towns and mining camps.
After researching then visiting and photographing many of these places Cathy encouraged Wayne to write about them. The result was dozens of Wayne’s Ghost town stories have appeared in several Western magazines including True West, Old West, Frontier Times, Trailer Life, and Ghost Town Quarterly. This is his first novel.
He is a graduate with honors from Salt Lake Community College, a Grandfather, and a retired General Foreman from Kennecott Copper Utah Division. He now resides with his wife of 33 years in Springville Utah.