THE GREAT DEPRESSION TO POST-WAR RECOVERY
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Meanwhile, additional CCC recruits cleared debris from approaching roads with h a n d tools. The men called the road that w o u n d a r o u n d the head of Death Hollow the "Poison Road: one drop—sure death."41 The workers anchored huge ponderosa pine logs next to the rim of the gorge to inhibit vehicles from plunging downward. Amazingly, the bridge was completed by October, before many of the CCC men left for a winter camp in California. For more than a quarter century the bridge served travelers. (In 1960 Forest Service personnel replaced the old bridge with a new wider and longer structure.) The road into Boulder, although not finished, was passable in the fall of 1933. By 1935 crews had completed construction on this good dry-weather road between the two communities. Because this road could not remain open during heavy winter weather, residents of Boulder and Escalante pleaded to have another route established. Work by the Civilian Conservation Corps on such a route began during the winter of 1934. It also presented some daunting challenges, as the men had to blast through sandstone ledges to the Escalante River and along the sheer canyon walls east of Calf Creek. Construction of the road included building a concrete bridge to span Escalante Creek. The twenty-nine-mile stretch of road cost more and took longer t h a n anticipated. W h e n CCC funds ran out, Forest Service, Division of Grazing, and Garfield C o u n t y m o n e y went toward completing the bridge. Thanks to the leadership and work of men like Albert Delong, Dan Covington, Osro Hunt, Wanless Alvey, and many others, the road opened five years later. Before the completion of the latter two roads, mail and supplies h a d to be hauled from Escalante to Boulder on pack horses a n d mules over Hell's Backbone or the Boulder Mail Trail—both precarious routes. Residents claimed that milk and cream Boulder residents sent to Escalante would often arrive as butter after being jostled along the trail. To celebrate the access provided by the three good dirt roads, local residents staged festivities on 21 June 1940 to honor visiting dignitaries and the builders themselves. With more than 600 people in attendance, the revelry began in Boulder and included a barbecued beef dinner (John King donated the meat and the local
