Windord Bunce, Moab, Utah, Uranium History Series

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ST EVE GUTTMAN AND JOHN DONNELY INTERVIEWED WINFORD BUNCE IN MOAB, UTAH ON JULY 29, 1970 . TH IS INTERVIEW IS A PART OF THE URANIUM ORAL HISTORY PROJECT CONDUCTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH AND CALIFORNIA STATE COLLEGE AT FULLERTON . SG: Mr. Bunce, can you tell me when you f irst came to Moab? WB: Fourth day of December, 1931. SG: And what kind of town was Moab at that time? WB: At that time, oh, I would guess the population wa s mayb e a thousand. No pavement, the streets were all dirt--big ditch running down th ro ugh the center of the street, great big trees. It was just a little country town. SG: What brought you to town? WB: I brought a herd of cows here to feed them f o r the winter. SG: So you were a rancher at the time? WB: Uh huh. SG: And did you remain in ranching? WB: Uh, my folks stayed here, and they was here for several years, and they stayed in the ranching business. I didn't. Let's see, I was eighteen at the time, and I broke off and got to work and finally got married, and then I never did go back to it. SG: What kind of jobs have you held? WB: You name it, I've been there! SG: Have you done any mining yourself? WB: No, I haven't, no--well, o ne time we did have a claim leased that we leased that we mi n ed a li t tle bit, but that's a l l. I never staked any c laims, I never mined any.