City Watch

On any given Saturday, you can walk into Ken Sanders Rare Bookstore and find its owner, bibliophile and polymath Ken Sanders, holding court. Sanders, as much as his shop, is a source of information, referring to random bits of Utah history and counterculture lore. 

This is Salt Lake’s Living Room. And we’re about to say good-bye to it. The bulldozers are stirring.

Like so many memorable, even iconic, places in Salt Lake City Ken Sanders Rare Books and the block anchored by the Green Ant furniture store will be razed by a developer, in this case, Ivory Homes. In its place? Yet another “multi-use” mid-rise building.

“There is tremendous pressure for businesses downtown to produce more dollars per square foot,” says Downtown Alliance Director Dee Brewer. “Residential rates, office rates—they’re all skyrocketing and small businesses are moved out of the way.”

In this year’s 2019 State of Downtown event, Jerry and Kestrel Liedtke, owners of The Tin Angel, were presented with a Downtown Achievement Award for their bold move in 2007 to open their restaurant in the blighted area across from Pioneer Park. They created a second location in the Eccles Theater last summer. But in September, disputes with a landlord who, according to Kestrel, has plans to develop the property, led to the Liedtke’s leaving the original award-garnering site.

Is Salt Lake City ‘Great?’

In 2016, urban planner Alex Garvin wrote a book titled What Makes a Great City; in it, he lists the essentials—and Salt Lake City fails to measure up to most of them.

According to Garvin, a great city should be open to anyone. Yet Salt Lake City’s core has always been Temple Square, a “public space” that’s walled all around, centered by a building whose doors are closed to most and with strict rules about what you can wear and how you’re supposed to behave. Temple Square includes a chunk of what used to be a public Main Street, excising what was a vital block in downtown from the rest.

In 2003, a new Salt Lake City Library was opened and in a sense, the building has become the secular center of the city, where many of the city’s multi-cultural celebrations and discussions take place. And between those two anchors, the rest of the city, the business district, is where money and culture are clashing.

“There is a tension between these three parts of downtown,” says Brewer.

Developers, he says, haven’t demonstrated understanding of how essential character is to a city. The old, the unique, the quirky actually add value to property, attracts leaseholders and population.

Lost Among Giants

Amid the two countervailing poles of Temple Square and The Library, tucked into the crevices between the banks and big businesses, the little places that grew up as stubborn, cheeky and rebellious counterpoints to a homogeneous culture, are struggling to stay afloat. But although new buildings are required to have a streetside presence, it’s hard for a municipality, to always affect what developers do with their property, Brewer says.

“It has to be the ethos of the property owners. They have to see the net potential, that if they preserve interest and charm it will be an economic win for them.”

Sanders is less-than sanguine about it all. A lover of old things, and a keeper of weird Utah lore, Sanders, built his second-hand and rare book shop out of the remains of Cosmic Aeroplane, a head shop that was more than just bongs. It was a counter-cultural gathering space. Now after 23 years at his own shop, he feels fortunate to have had such a long run but still a sense of inequality rankles.

“We gave Amazon a $5.6 million tax break to build a warehouse,” Sanders says. “Gov. Herbert, where’s my $5,600 dollars?”

True, Sanders’ fiscal contribution to the local economy is minimal but his cranky place on 300 East and 300 South is an anchor for local authors, poets, and musicians. He works to shine a spotlight on literary figures from Utah’s past like Wallace Stegner, Edward Abbey and Everett Ruess and he works to find and uncover a different story of Utah than we hear on Pioneer Day.

Isn’t that worth something?

See all of our Issues and Citylife Coverage here.

Some may carry a sentimental attachment to the now-demolished South Salt Lake landmark, Granite High School building. Others, like Ken Sanders, owner of Ken Sanders Rare Books, class of ’70, saw its exit quite differently: “Give me the match.” “It was old when we attended,” Ken explains. “They were actually tearing down parts of the high school while I was a student in the late ’60s.” Granite student Sanders recalls standing with fellow classmates as President Richard Nixon selected numbered ping-pong balls to determine who would be drafted for Vietnam. “It scared the hell out of us,” he recalls. Sanders was spared, but remembers, “Some ended up in Canada, while others went to fight.”

The school boasts other notable alumni such as Ed Catmull, president of Pixar, prominent church leaders like Neal Maxwell, Super Bowl XII’s Golden Richards, and BYU’s LaVell Edwards. But there’s no room for sentiment in the march of development.

With the old Granite building gone, 27 prime acres became available and zoned for single residential units. There was an attempt to mitigate the loss of the school with a community recreation center. The city launched a $25 million dollar bond initiative to make this possible. It failed by a handful of votes. Four years later, they issued a second bond, this time to purchase land for a city park. It failed again.

Instead, against strong opposition from SoSL’s mayor and surrounding residents, those running against her and some city council members were pushing for a new power shopping center. Some candidates were meeting up with business developers with big pockets and forming alliances, and the Granite High School Legacy Walmart was becoming a possibility.

The fight for the future of South Salt Lake was on. And it continues. Why such a fuss? We’re talking about South Salt Lake. 

South Salt Lake City’s downside: its rep.

South Salt Lake’s‘s crime rate, 88 per 1,000 residents, is considered one of the highest in America according to neighborhoodscout.com. Those numbers don’t help SoSL’s reputation. “Regardless of whether South Salt Lake does well or poorly compared to all other cities and towns of all sizes in the US, compared to places with a similar population, it fares badly,” the site gloomily reports. According to cityrating.com, “The violent crime rate for South Salt Lake in 2016 was higher than the national rate average by 106 percent.”

Yikes. But wait. Really?

You’ve lived in SoSL for years and have never had issues. If this is true—why are these numbers so high?

Ken “give me a match” Sanders, growing up in South Salt Lake some 60 years ago, claims he never felt unsafe. He remembers the town knitted together with several small mom and pop grocery and drug stores which over the years have slowly disappeared. As a youngster, Ken recalls being able to roam without supervision, spending Saturdays shopping for comic books and candy.

Sanders did notice a change when the high school boundaries were re-drawn, and a portion of SoSL’s east side students were sent to attend Cottonwood High School. Granite High School was diverse by Salt Lake standards, Sanders said, and losing its mostly white east side students made the student population lopsided .

And a high percentage of SoSL was and is industrial space. After business hours, vacated spaces open up possibilities for trouble: arson, theft, vandalism and other types of evening mischief. “My neighbors have had to deal with vandalism, I’ve been finding remnants of food wrappers in my backyard for a while,” reports South Salt Lake resident, Ellen Zinn. And while she hasn’t encountered much difficulty, she notes that as an area zoned for residential and business, the “community has many homeless people around.”

South Salt Lake’s intergenerational poverty issues have been linked to the fact that 37 percent of its population is foreign-born. In 2009, 23 percent of residents, concentrated among young families, lived 200 percent below the federal poverty threshold. Ninety-two percent of elementary students take advantage of free and reduced lunch programs.

So then, what’s so great about South Salt Lake?

Despite those dismal statistics, outsiders are seeing something valuable now that a lot of locals never did. With demand for land and prices skyrocketing all around the valley, developers are foaming at the mouth for land to accommodate—and profit from—the influx of population. While some may wish they could somehow wipe the slate—meaning, most of State Street—clean, what still remains is its history. So take note. While we are all shaking our heads about what has happened to mess up Sugar House, a formerly treasured part of a town because of its walkability and uniqueness, SoSL could be headed for the same traffic-jammed, bland fate.

Incorporated as a city in 1938, South Salt Lake is made up of seven (very flat) square miles, from 21st to 39th South, and running west of 500 and 700 East to the Jordan River. 

You’ve probably driven through at least once today—just under a half-million cars do—on either State Street, I-15, I-80 or along 21st South. SoSL is highly accessible. All major transportation hubs intersect here, including TRAX, S-Line and Parley’s Trail, making it desirable for businesses as well as for those who live here. You’ve got multiple ways to get around the valley—an easy hop to the airport or a quick train to downtown.

The city’s closest neighbors include Salt Lake, Sugar House, West Valley City and Millcreek. Driving past and looking south of I-80, you can see SoSL’s landmark water tower. That’s Horton, built in the 1940s—the city’s name painted on it is now faded and almost unrecognizable.

Adding to its attraction, SoSL recently amended its liquor laws, easing zoning restrictions and welcoming a larger number of local evening establishments. With its new friendliness to booze, the city hopes to improve its vibe while attracting more entertainment and nightlife centered around restaurants and music.

The bait has worked—newly opened Level Crossing Brewery and several other craft beer and distillery establishments have opened in SoSL. Obtaining liquor licenses in Utah can be a famously tedious and time-consuming process. Level Crossing  co-owner Katie Flanagan acknowledges how SoSL’s support, including its attendance at license approval meetings, made a huge difference in expediting the entire headache of a process.

People First

The city’s first female mayor, Cherie (pronounced /sher-ee/ and if you say “Cherry” she’ll correct you) Wood took office 10 years ago. As a third generation resident of the city, the mayor attended SoSL public schools, is a graduate of the former Granite High School and also resides next to it. Taking a job with the city at the age of 19, she kept tabs on her home while she was earning degrees and creating her family. Mayor Wood is invested in SoSL, and has high hopes to attract the right types of businesses to the area, while prioritizing people over profit.

There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.

—MAYOR Cherie Wood quoting author Margaret Wheatley

Eight years ago the mayor, along with other government leaders, toured a program for children in Harlem and, seeing what was possible, was convinced a similar program would work in SoSL. Mayor Wood came home and founded Promise SSL, an after-school program which became a city department in 2014. Currently, Promise SSL operates 14 after-school neighborhood centers offering students homework assistance and activities, including dinner and transportation home. It’s in the little details, like making sure they get help with their schoolwork and have a fun, safe place to hang out before returning home that is making a huge impact not just on students, but their families and the city. And the kids are actually attending these programs—not ditching.

Since 2011, SoSL’s average graduation rates for low-income families have climbed to 68 from 58 percent, and the number of those without health insurance has been cut in half. Since the establishment of Promise SSL, crime is down 32 percent and youth crime is down 64 percent between the hours of 3-6 p.m. (the times between when school gets out to when parents actually get off of work). Without question, these statistics reflect more than numbers, and demonstrate what an invested city government can do for its own. For example, Promise SSL stepped in to provide transportation after school, making it possible for students to attend activities like soccer and join the Cottonwood High School Robotics Team (13 of whom are refugee students.)

What’s the future  of SoSL?

HORTON THE WATER TOWER

Standing at 162 feet, Horton, named after its founder, Horace Ebenezer Horton, who was the owner of Chicago Bridge and Iron Company. Built in 1949 and is turning 70 this year, it was the first of its kind both in its design and function. While many South Salt Lake lots have water rights and wells in their backyards, Horton held water for 40 years and is considered a symbol of the city. The water tower now marks SoSL’s Creative Industries Zone, a new area designated to open up affordable business and retail spaces.

The rebuilding phase started with the creation of a 235-acre mixed residential/business new downtown area, on State Street, I-15, I-80 and 21st South.

This quadrant has been a major focal point, including the new Parley’s Trail (both a pedestrian and cyclist pathway) and the UTA’s Streetcar S-Line, Central City Station. Along with transit lines came the opening of WinCo Foods grocery store in 2018, followed by both the Ritz classic bowling apartments and Liberty Crossing Townhomes.

Yet again, once leveled, the huge area was claimed, divided, sub-divided and built up lickity-split by developers: the grocery store, parking lot, townhouses, a large multi-unit business center and a credit union. With the S-Line running down the middle and new structures rising on both sides, a once empty space is now crowded.

Residents notice the fast pace of what’s going on around them.

“It’s concerning how the shock of increased density is going to be absorbed into our smaller, neighboring streets,” says SoSL resident, Ellen Zinn. She wonders how it will impact traffic, on- and off-ramps onto highways, and whether the area has enough grocery stores, libraries and parks, to meet the demands of the population increase. She asks, “Who holds the highest priority? Residents or developers?”

Just look at Sugar House, once so quaint and lovable. While financially more profitable, this area is an example of a place being developed without a coherent plan. Things got torn down and up it went, the skyline, the prices, the middle finger. The UTA’s S-Line stops at Fairmont, Parley’s Trail is disconnected and gets lost between stopping points. Bicycle paths and walkways are tight and inconsistent.

Mayor Cherie Wood and city planners are working hard to avoid the same type of development “glop” from occurring, but it already is happening. City planners conducted research visiting cities like Austin, Texas and asking other city leaders the smart types of questions you would hope they would ask like, “What would you do differently?”

One bit of advice they received and followed: Add a grocery store first. Until recently, Ream’s on State and a few convenience stores made SoSL a food desert. The Mayor says that it took some convincing before WinCo agreed to build their store in the Central Pointe S-Line neighborhood, adding to a growing number of food stores including the Chinatown Supermarket (State Street), Tenoch Market (33rd South) and the New Roots refugee-supported Sunnyvale Farmers Market.

Why build up a space that is going to be torn down or unusable in 20 years? According to Wood, the lifespan of the average shopping center is 20 years. However, when built near transit, a grocery store and a residential area, that number jumps to 50 years. Adding murals and art to an urban area is another way to enhance the value and the longevity of developments.

Along with building, South Salt Lake is paying attention to decay, operating on the principle of “the broken window effect.” If a window is broken and not quickly repaired, someone may walk past, notice the damage and throw another rock, break another window and so on. SoSL along with the city planners and its police department are working together to stop this kind of vicious cycle of decline. SoSL’s Community Connection program strategically selects residents and areas around town that are in need of some assistance—a fence repair here, yard work or a new roof there. Its Good Landlord Program provides incentives to landlords and encourages good renting policies. “Bowling with a Cop” and “Coffee with a Cop” programs encourage both youth and residents to get to know the police, and discover that they are people too, who also like to bowl and drink coffee. The fixed window effect can also expand its influence outward,  and these are the hopes to make SoSL a little nicer and yes, a safer place to live.

But the struggle between residents and developers continues. Going back to the old Granite High School, if the original bonds had passed, the lot would have become a park, or a much-needed recreation center.

Instead, the Granite School District ended up selling the whole enchilada, all of its 27 acres, to developers. And without fail, gridlock followed. One half of the property was built up into single residential units and developer Wasatch Residential Group saw an opportunity to make more money with the last 11 acres.

We’ll call it the County Library Hostage Crisis. It went like this: We (the developers) will sell five acres back to the county for a library if the city agrees to rezone and allow us to pack in 100+ densely spaced townhomes. You may think that the term hostage seems harsh—it really isn’t. According to Director of SLC County Library, Jim Cooper, until just a few months ago the county was about to give up on the location for its new county library Without the new zoning approval the Granite lot could have been another subdivision. Or worse, a Walmart.

Staying true to her vision for building a better city, Mayor Wood and enough city council members insisted on offering something more sustainable than just a power shopping center. In her words, “We owe that to our residents, to somehow mitigate the impact of development in our community.” The projected 30,000 sq. ft. county library space will include an outdoor amphitheater and walkway. Wishing to preserve some of the aspects from the Granite HS, the new library plans to display the school’s director “rock” (guessing it’s granite) and the former school seal, both to be placed outside. SLC County Library Director Jim Cooper, says, “It is anticipated that the new County Library at Granite would welcome 600-800 visitors per day. The County Library provides a variety of programs and services to the public—from early learning, entertainment activities, lifelong learning, digital literacy, robotics, family game nights, financial education and 3D printing.”

With the increase of new businesses and residents, the city’s tax income will increase and become available for infrastructure and government agencies (police, fire department, programs like Promise SSL and community arts funding). But Wood gives us a quick lesson in city government, “A city council is the governing arm of the city,” like the legislative branch, and as the executive, “the mayor serves to enforce what is allowed by the council.” To ensure proper representation, it’s crucial for residents to keep up with the city council meetings and find out how what their council members are supporting—or not.

What seems inevitable is the need for a strong police and fire department to keep up with the increase in population—earlier this spring, the Mayor proposed a 31 percent property tax hike to the City Council to help keep up with wage increases and upsizing. With no reported city property tax increase since 2006, the average cost to residents will be $71 per year.

It’s going to take a team of passionate and informed leaders and members of the community, like the Mayor, Ken, and Ellen to keep things moving. Building a community is not about just what leaders want. Residents need to speak up. 

SHE’S GOT THIS

It takes a village to raise a city. Something unique and inspiring is happening and the women in charge have something to do with it. More than ever, women who are strong, smart and competent need to take the lead. In 2018, a social media blitz ensued after a warranted pay-increase was voted down for Mayor Wood. In response, a city council member, Sharla Bynum wished to open up a discussion, pointing out that in similar cities, local male mayors on average received both higher salaries and regular pay increases. The immediate backlash from several male city council members was both transparent and so back to the 1960’s. From taking the lead in city government to dropping down with the kids at Woodrow Wilson Elementary—word up! to the women who are getting it done on the south side.

Sharen Hauri
SoSL Urban Design Director
Passionate about cities and wild spaces, she found both in Utah. Sharen has planned and designed public projects of all scales. As the Urban Design Director for the last eight years, she has helped the community envision its leap from an inner-ring suburb to a walkable, urban neighborhood. With a B.A. in Architectural Design from the University of Utah and a Masters of Landscape Architecture from Utah State, Hauri moved to Utah 20 years ago for the mountains and stayed to raise a family in what is finally becoming “a real city.”

Lesly Allen
Executive Director SoSL Arts Council
With a degree in Community Leadership and a love for working with disadvantaged populations and youth, Allen is the tour de force behind SoSL’s Mural Fest, along with the Utah Arts Alliance and acclaimed artists who have created 10 murals in SoSL’s Creative Industries Zone. Artist murals display a wide range of styles and themes which brighten many not-so-vibrant cinder brick facades, sometimes deterring graffiti, sometimes not. To view these works of public art, walk along West Temple or Parley’s trail.

Kelli Meranda
Promise SSL Director
With a background in community recreation, she’s been working with Promise SSL since its start in 2011. Meranda now oversees 14 school and neighborhood after-school centers serving SoSL youth. Seeing things run full circle is the most rewarding part of her job—those students who have participated in the program, graduated and gone on to earn degrees are now coming back to Promise SSL as employees and giving back to the community. Meranda is excited to announce the opening of the new Best Buy Teen Tech Center, opening this fall at the Columbus Center.

Sharla Bynum
City Council for District 3
She got some backlash for pointing out a possible gender bias issue following a denied pay raise for the Mayor after serving for eight years. Sharla’s full-time career is as an educator, teaching at Roosevelt Elementary 1-3 grades—she was approached by the Mayor to run for City Council (and is in her second term.) Sharla inspires by her ability to lead and call out the elephant in the city council room when she sees it.

Bonnie Owens
Promise SSL, Deputy Director
Meeting up with Bonnie as the kids gather in the cafeteria at Woodrow Wilson Elementary, one thing stands out—how much they love her. With big smiles, they run up to greet her. The Promise SSL after school program provides snacks, homework help and activities for children around the city and extends through the summer. Staff and volunteers from Westminster provide a safe, caring environment; the positive impact is very clear.

Emily Samuel
Administration Assistant, SoSL Fire Department
Prior to her employment with the SSLFD, Emily worked in numerous administrative positions, including a retail business, owning a real estate team and leading a telecom company. Along with keeping up with a rowdy bunch of fire fighters, she also works along side her husband as the co-owner of Z Nectar Craft Beverages—perhaps you’ve tasted their iced teas at the Farmers’ Market?

See all of our community coverage here.

 

Another day of sunshine and rain, rapids and rolling on the muddy Green River is behind us. We sit in a circle on a beach in Desolation Canyon with guitars and glasses of whiskey and wine, playing the songs we know. Emanuel “Manu” Tellier strums and sings, “He’s a real nowhere man, knows not where he’s going to, isn’t he a bit like you and me?” “A bit like Everett Ruess, no?” Manu says to no one.

A bit like Everett Ruess, yes.

Ruess, a young artist/wanderer who disappeared into the southern Utah desert wilderness 85 years ago still haunts the imagination of writers, filmmakers, artists and wanderers young and old. Last August, Ken Sanders, owner of Ken Sanders Rare Books, and French journalist/musician/filmmaker Emmanuel Tellier organized a raft trip down the Green River—“Down the River with Everett Ruess and Friends” to celebrate the Escalante premiere of Tellier’s film, Le Disparition d’Everett Ruess and a screening at Moab Star Hall.

Days and nights on the river were filled with references to Ruess, discussions of his work and readings of his poems, music composed and played by Tellier and violinist songwriter Kate MacLeod, all inspired by Ruess’s enigmatic life, passion for the wilderness and mysterious disappearance in 1934.

Utah’s dean of letters, Wallace Stegner, wrote about Everett Ruess in his book Mormon Country—Stegner called Ruess, “a spiritual and artistic athlete who die[d] young.” He was “one of the few who died—if he died—with the dream intact.” Gonzo environmentalist Edward Abbey wrote “A Sonnet For Everett Ruess” writing, “You knew the crazy lust to probe the heart of that which has no heart that we could know.” In Into the Wild, the book Jon Krakauer wrote about young Chris MacCandless who abandoned civilization to discover himself in the wilderness, the author quotes from Ruess’s letters, saying they could have been written by McCandless: “The beauty of this country is becoming part of me. I feel more detached from life and somehow gentler. I have always been unsatisfied with life as most people live it. Always I want to live more intensely and richly.”

The story of Everett Ruess has haunted the Western imagination for generations and it still does.

The Family

Everett Ruess was born in Oakland, California on March 28, 1914, to Christopher Ruess, a Unitarian minister, and his artistic wife, Stella. He had an older brother, Waldo. The family moved often when Everett was young and ended up settling in Los Angeles. Ken Sanders, who advised Tellier on the new film, says, “Ruess was always a precocious artist, writing and drawing when he was a child—extremely observant, as you can tell from his letters.” Ruess corresponded with his family throughout his short life, describing his life and travels, exploring his thoughts and explaining the reasons for his way of life. He took his first road trip when he was 16, hitchhiking through Yosemite and the Sierras before returning to finish high school. Then he took off again.

Except for a semester at UCLA, Ruess never attended college, but began wandering the West, traveling with burros and horses through the Sierras and the high deserts of the Colorado plateau in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. He searched out ancient Indian ruins and petroglyphs, learned to speak Navajo and took part in Hopi ceremonies. He worked intermittently on ranches and with archaeologists, he sold a few prints, but despite his expressed scorn for regular employment, he depended mostly on his parents for support.

The Friends

For awhile in the early 1930s, Ruess lived in San Francisco, befriending artists like Ansel Adams, Maynard Dixon and his wife Dorothea Lange. In Big Sur, he met photographer Edward Weston. The older artists mentored him, encouraging him in his work and his wanderlust. In his wanderings he befriended Indians, sheepherders and rancher Pat Jenks, who met Reuss along a road in 1931. The artist was worn-out, the burros were tired—Jenks loaded the whole sad caravan into his truck and Reuss stayed at his Deerwater Ranch for a month or so before taking to the road again. There are a number of encounters like this recorded in Reuss’s letters—chance meetings, brief employment and fleeting but memorable friendships that all ended with Reuss on the road again with his donkeys and his dog, Curly. Reuss never wrote a book, he wrote poems and he was a prolific letter-writer. Later, these were gathered and published by Peregrine Smith Books in a book called Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty.

“Have you seen my son?”

Everett Ruess left Escalante, Utah on November 12, 1934, headed for some of the least-explored, roughest landscapes in the country. As usual, his intention was to paint, explore ancient Indian cliff dwellings and continue his life of solitary self-discovery with his paints, his books and his two burros. He sent a final letter to his parents in Los Angeles explaining that he was headed into wilderness and that he would be unable to communicate for two months “…as to when I revisit civilization, it will not be soon. I have not tired of the wilderness…”

He never came back.

After three months with no word from Everett, his parents became alarmed and called on locals to search for their missing son. Scouts, Indians and other volunteers hunted through the canyons and mountains for days; they built signal fires and fired guns. A shepherd reported seeing Ruess on November 19, near the treacherous intersection of Escalante Creek and the Colorado River. Searchers found his two burros grazing peacefully in Davis Gulch, a canyon off the Escalante River. There was evidence of a campsite and it looked as though the camper had every intention of returning. Cut into a rock face they found the words “NEMO 1934”—nemo means “nobody” in Greek, the word Odysseus used to escape the Cyclops and the name of Jules Verne’s intrepid undersea captain in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a favorite book of Everett’s. In 1957, some camping equipment, presumably some of Everett’s kit, was found stashed in a nearby cave. Stella doubted they were Everett’s and now the site—and NEMO—is drowned under Lake Powell.

Everett’s mother Stella came to Utah several times to search for her son, even making the arduous trip to Davis Gulch. She tried to keep the search alive until she died in 1964.

The Rediscovery

In the end, no one knows what happened to Everett Ruess. Was he murdered by cattle rustlers? Did an attempt to cross the river fail, sweeping him downstream in the wild water? Did he marry a Navajo woman and lose himself in Navajo country? Did he purposely disappear, leave behind his identity and live out his days anonymously in Mexico? No one knows. His trail ends in Davis Gulch, but his story endures.

On Desert Trails with Everett Ruess, a collection of poems and letters, was published in 1940, but it was long out of print when Utah publisher Gibbs Smith ran across a copy. According to Catherine Smith, Gibbs’ widow who went with Sanders and Tellier “Down the River with Everett Ruess,” her late husband, along with river-runner Ken Sleight, who had been telling Ruess’s legend around campfires for years, joined with writer W.L. Rusho to rediscover the story of Everett Ruess.

“We became Everett sleuths,” she says. “We went to the Ruess family neighborhood and house in Los Angeles. We visited Mexico to meet Pat Jenks, the person with a truck who rescued a tired Everett in northern Arizona. We got to know Waldo, a member of the Explorers Club in New York, and held a Gibbs Smith sales meeting there. We visited with Ansel Adams about his trading a photograph for a Ruess block print, and checked out his time in San Francisco.” They went to meet Waldo and his grown children in Montecito, and brought boxes full of the life of Everett to Kaysville, Utah.” We put up Ed Fraughton plaques for him in Davis Gulch near the NEMO, and at Dancehall Rock. I think these were quickly stolen. But one resides in Boulder at the Burr Trail Outpost and Grill.”

Le Disparition d’ Everett Ruess

“Down the River with Everett Ruess” was an 80-mile raft trip down Desolation Canyon organized by Ken Sanders and produced by CRATE (Colorado River and Trail Expeditions). A group of 12 Ruess enthusiasts, including Catherine Gibbs, one of the original researchers, Utah filmmaker Trent Harris, documentary filmmaker Marcia Franklin, musician Kate MacLeod, (see her Small Lake City Concert here) French journalist, musician and Reuss filmmaker Emanuel Tellier and his wife Nathalie and David Murrell and Mary Beckerle, who introduced Tellier to Ruess, plus others who simply have been fascinated by the legend of the long-gone Reuss, traveled down the Green River in a six-day trip punctuated by discussions and readings about Ruess.

Image Courtesy: Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah

So how did Everett  Ruess end up in Paris?

When noted cell biologist Mary Beckerle and her husband David Murrell took a sabbatical year in Paris for Beckerle to work at the Curie Institute, they happened to enroll their children in the same preschool that Emmanuel and Nathalie Tellier’s child attended. The couples became fast friends, often vacationing together. The Telliers visited Utah, staying in Beckerle and Murrell’s home in Torrey. Murrell, whose own youth was spent wandering, had long been fascinated with Ruess. Nathalie picked up a book about Ruess, read it and handed it to Manu, saying, “You could do something with this.” As Manu delved deeper, Murrell introduced him to Ken Sanders, whose store is a repository of Ruess lore and who has been fascinated by Ruess since he first read about him. Tellier produced a two-person musical play, an album of original music, How the Wild Calls to Me, inspired by Ruess and performed by Tellier’s band, 24 Swimming Pools. Finally, six years later, Tellier’s first film, Le Disparition d’Everett Ruess premiered, with music adapted from the original 24 Swimming Pools score for the play.

Why does the story of this particular young man still hold such power? The answer is personal, but universal.

Tellier says Ruess’s story illustrates “the capacity to fully enjoy and embrace little things, little bits of beauty here and there, when they happen. Today, everything has become easy, so we tend to take everything for granted. Everett could have had a quieter and simpler life in LA…but he chose a more demanding path, where things that matter mean even more.

Russell Neilson, a member of the river expedition, says, “My paternal grandfather is my “Everett Ruess” whom I’ve been following for all my life. As a young boy of 12 he left home and herded sheep in the deserts of Nevada. He didn’t disappear, although he very easily could have as someone took a bullet for him in a gunfight during those early years of the 20th century. He lived to become a schoolteacher, poet, orator, photographer, etc. Grandpa John R. died many years before I was born after raising seven children. Each of them adored him, as did the community, which he had a lasting impact on.”

Catherine Smith says, “In the search for him through the items he left—journal entries, poems and art work, I had a glimpse into his short life. I have found a reflective piece of my life, and discovered qualities in the lives of ancestors who have made me who I am today.”

Waldo Ruess lived until 1998 and attended the first Everett Ruess Days, held every September in Escalante. He once said, “He kept his dream. Most of us go lock-step through the decades, talking about what we’d like to do and never doing it.” Frank Cook of Peregrine Smith Books once said Everett Ruess represents “that special spirit which exists in all of us but which few have the courage or opportunity to express.”

Tellier, who made the French film, says, “It’s a universal story of a young man, a child, really, going off to find himself and his art.” The story made him think of his own child, says Tellier. “Would you let your child do that? I think not.”

In 2009, National Geographic headlines proclaimed: “Everett Ruess Mystery Solved!” University of Colorado researchers found human remains 60 miles from where his burros were discovered. The DNA in the bones appeared to match Ruess’s. But a further DNA analysis confirmed that the body was not that of Everett Ruess.

“His legacy is what it’s all about,” says Sanders. “It’s not about finding his bones.” The last Utah screening of Le Disparition d’Everett Ruess before the Tellier’s return to France was at City Library. The place was packed with boomers with a sold-out dream behind them, young hopefuls with lives before them, all dreaming of freedom, living wild, owing nothing to nobody. There was a sense that the dream of living free, of seeking self in the wilderness, the fascination with one who dared to step out of the mundane and into the unknown, was in the heart of everyone who came to watch.

The quest for Everett Ruess continues, but you can’t help but wonder if it’s better that Ruess never be found. Perhaps this mystery is best left unsolved. Its lingering questions allow dreams to live on. 

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More to read, view and hear Many films and books have been written about Ruess. Ken Sanders Rare Books is the place to find them, old and new. Tellier is returning to Utah in December for a reprise showing of Le Disparition d’Everett Ruess. Look for details at saltlakemagazine.com or kensandersrarebooks.com.

See all of our Issues and City Life Coverage here.

You have a relative or friend who is on the verge of homelessness or needs a place to stay. You never considered becoming a landlord. But Salt Lake City has a serious housing shortage, especially severe for low-income people—those who earn low wages or live on Social Security for example.

Image courtesy of Modal

Learn more

The Salt Lake City Planning Division has designed a handbook for property owners who are interested in building an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on a lot that has an existing single-family home. This guide provides you with general information including: eligibility, ADU configurations, application process, commonly used terms, frequently asked questions and resources.

As a solution, this year Salt Lake City officials are opening up another option for homeowners, allowing them to create backyard spaces, rentable mother-in-law units, officially known as accessory dwelling units or ADUs. While this won’t fix the affordable housing issue, allowing homeowners to offer additional renting spaces, such as ADUs, seems like a good option.

Of course, there are many strings and zoning restrictions attached. There is still a lot of NIMBY attitude towards extra dwellings—concerns about parking, trash removal and other not-so-nice neighbor issues. ADUs could also reflect well or badly on your home’s property value. And ADUs can be expensive to build.

As an option, locally made Modal builds “small but smart” ADU units which provide a cost-effective way for homeowners to add living space to their property. More efficient than traditional construction, the 432 sq ft. units are built off-site, then installed on-property. Modal arranges for all building permits and utility connections and includes built-in furniture. The average units cost around $120,000 and once installed, the owner can rent or use them how they wish. For more information visit livemodal.com.

See all of our Issues and City Life coverage here. 

Why yes, yes there is. Utah Giant Pumpkin Growers (UGPG) consists of a group of folks who love to grow pumpkins, and it’s not about how many, the taste or color. Their quest is to grow the greatest pumpkin in all of Utah.

And it’s no small feat. Long before the growing season begins, as any gardener knows, from germination to full fruition, there are a lot of Cucurbita pepo-growing smarts that come before you’d ever be expected to grow a 1,608 lb. giant pumpkin. This weight just so happens to be the very same as this year’s UGPG-winning bad-boy. The weigh-off took place at Thanksgiving Point and was brought in by a local grower and second-time winner, Andrew Israelsen.

GET PUMPED!!

America First Credit Union cashed in and purchased this pumpkin. The carving will begin on October 25, 2019 and the pumpkin will be on display at Station Park mall in Farmington.

Israelsen has been growing all his life but became compelled to grow big-enough-that-you-need-a-backhoe to lift pumpkins about 20 years ago. His first attempts were impressive but did not exceed 100 pounds. Then fate brought Israelsen to Thanksgiving Point, he became aware of the UGPG and began sharing and asking questions with fellow mega-pumpkin growers and the rest was well, cake, or pie, I personally really love a nice piece of pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

Secrets to growing a big pumpkin? Like any proper garden space, he uses mostly organic ingredients, lots of cow/horse/chicken manure, compost from his fields, fallen leaves and lawn trimmings, some fertilizers, really stinky fish emulsion and seaweed. Israelsen also shared that every fall he plants barley as a cover crop (that’s a term we farmhands call green manure) which he tills into the soil in the spring.

Here’s another bit, after the pumpkin plant has germinated and as the vines start to produce fruits, Israelsen measures and compares each to determine which ones are the biggest and strongest. Eventually, the largest gets to stay on the vine, and he then trims off the inferiors, so that all the energy from the plant goes toward only that single one (sure, glad my mom didn’t raise us that way).

Here’s to our community gardeners and urban AG enthusiasts. To read more about what’s growing, go here.

Get ready for Howl-O-Ween. Park City’s absurdist tradition features extremely-proud dog owners and their thoroughly-humiliated hounds parading down Main Street on October 31. If you’re into celebrating Halloween in a more traditional manner, and seeing all of the best dogs in park city, Main Street shops will be welcoming trick-or-treaters of the two-legged variety at 3 p.m. until the dog parade takes off from the top of Main down towards Heber Ave. at 5 p.m. Dogs wishing to be part of the spectacle must be leashed so as to control their unruly owners.

Check out our Park City Life for more!

For decades, fans of American football have had a tradition of pregame partying: tailgating. Every game day, August through November, in the VA parking lot near the University of Utah, cliques of hard-core Ute fans cook, eat and freeze their buns off while gripping koozie-wrapped light beer augmented by the occasional swig from a flask.

But down in Sandy, tailgating has grown up around a different kind of football, not the minor American game, but the most popular game in the world known (only in the U.S.) as soccer. Fans of Utah’s Real Salt Lake, party hard and pre-game in a lot five minutes away from the RioT (Rio Tinto Stadium’s nickname).

Major League Soccer’s season runs March through October—twice as long as NCAA football. Real play 18 home games to the Utes’ seven.

That means more parties. Over the course of 18 games, the enthusiasm and atmosphere at RSL tailgating builds—when the team is winning (as they have been)—to a happy frenzy. Supporters of The Claret and Cobalt welcome everyone ready to cheer on their team—it’s one big family. Check out pancake breakfasts for all at early games and local home brew tastings later in the day. Walk stall-to-stall for impromptu games of corn hole.

The best part comes at the apex of the whole bonanza—the RSL band marches through the lot and a scrum of supporters march along to cheers with horns, drums, and red and blue smoke grenades. Everyone joins the defining rally, the tailgate’s last hurrah before the march to the gates of the RioT, where they’ll cheer their eleven to victory.

The cutthroat MLS Western Conference only has seven points separating second and seventh place. In this tight spread, RSL has had a great year. TRAX (an amazing convenience for the inebriated) to the pre-game extravaganza of Utah’s other football. Tailgate and cheer RSL to victory.

For their full game schedule, go to rsl.com