FREIGHTING ON THE COLORADO RIVER: Reminiscenses of
VIRGIL FAY BALDWIN B Y BARBARA B A L D W I N E K K E R
The Colorado River has been of interest to numerous persons for years, but for five years it was part of my daily life. It all began in 1924. The Mid-West Exploration Company sent their geologist, Mr. H. A. Aurand, to study the geology of the country and to find a location for drilling a well on the Colorado River downstream from Moab, Utah. The Moab Garage Company had several boats. One called The Pumpkin Seed, so named because of its shape, was 20 feet long with an Evinrude four-horsepower outboard motor. The Black Boat, 20 feet in length with a 41/2 -foot beam, was powered by a Ford automobile engine. The company also owned a 27 footer with a 6-foot beam and equipped with a Chandler motor, an 18-foot motorboat, and several rowboats and canoes powered with outboard motors. These boats were hired by Aurand and operated by myself and my brothers, Clarence and Dennis Baldwin of the Moab Garage Company. Aurand made several trips up and down the river during that year collecting data. Finally, a location was made on the John L. Shafer Dome, 18 miles downstream from Moab, where the formation dipped quite abruptly. Mrs. Ekker, of Hanksville, U t a h , is the daughter of Virgil F. Baldwin, part-owner of the Moab Garage and Transportation Company from 1921-1933. Mr. Baldwin dictated his reminiscences, with the aid of a brief diary he had kept, to his daughter in 1960, shortly before his death. T h e following account covers the period from 1924-1929.
