The Utah deer and elk archery seasons wrap up across much of the state this Friday. The Division of Wildlife Resources says there are more buck deer in the state than at any time in the last 25 years. KUER’s Benjamin Bombard sends this audio postcard of a recent hunting trip in the Uintas.
Credit Benjamin Bombard/KUER
Joe Smith claimed the mine in 1997. He believes it may be one of the legendary “lost Rhodes mines.”
Credit Benjamin Bombard/KUER
David Betts worked as a tramp miner for 56 years, traveling from job to job across the country. He held the claim on the mine before Joe Smith took it over, and his father was the last person to recover valuable ore from the mine when he held the claim in the 1940s.
Credit Benjamin Bombard/KUER
The hoist installed in the back of Joe Smith’s 1986 Chevy pickup truck is over 100 years old. It once belonged to Betts’ father, and it has been used to remove dirt and ore from mines in 48 states, as well as parts of Canada and Mexico.
Credit Benjamin Bombard/KUER
Ryan “Blue” White helps to guide a 25-gallon full bucket of dirt out of the mine shaft. Over the course of a day, he and the rest of the crew excavated half a ton of dirt.
Credit Benjamin Bombard/KUER
James Betts enjoys the adventure of working in the mine. “I like to do things people just talk about,” he said. “Oh, I’ll do this. Oh, that would be cool. It’s like why wait? Just do it now.”
Credit Benjamin Bombard/KUER
David Betts watches his son James dig in the mine shaft. “The main thing we’re concerned about — heck with the mineral — it’s pure safety,” he said. “We do not want anyone hurt or injured.”
Credit Benjamin Bombard/KUER
James Betts works to loosen dirt in the mine shaft. He’s standing on about two feet of dirt atop a layer of sheet metal that overlays the bulkhead, the wooden cap that seals the mine. From there, the shaft descends another 90 feet.
A Salt Lake native, Benjamin Bombard served numerous internships in the KUER newsroom before becoming a producer of RadioWest. He aspired to the position for years, and in his sometimes wayward pursuit of it he has worked as a print and radio journalist in Utah, Wyoming and California, a horse wrangler in East Canyon, a golf course "bag rat" in Massachusetts, a dishwasher, a bookseller, a librarian, a children's museum guide, a barista, a linecook and a male nanny or "manny." He has also dished up gelato to Mafiosos in Providence, R.I., and worked as a volunteer for a health NGO in Mali, West Africa, where he declined an offer to act as a blood-diamond mule. During his free time he can most likely be found running up and down mountains along the Wasatch Front with his two dogs.
