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Show THE CAVING PIT AT KERR Chapter XI One Sunday in the spring of 1914, Father rose upon a rain-fresh dawn. He saw "the little hills rejoice on every side" and with the psalmist he rejoiced too. He proposed we drive the ten miles to Kerr for a picnic and a close look at our property there. Although traveling past Kerr almost every day all winter on his way to Lund for mail, he had not really examined the Kerr land since he bought it that first visit to the Escalante. He had only looked across the railroad at it. Always eager for an outing, Mother packed a lunch. El Vera preferred to stay home. She was halfway through Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona, in the most agonizing part. "Bring the book along and read it in the surrey while the rest of us explore," Mother urged. No question about it, Kerr was ideal for a "port of entry" to serve all Southern Utah, Father explained. He enlarged upon the merits of "our" siding as we jounced over the humps and ruts of the trail. Kerr had high well-drained ground-our ground; it was no sinkhole where every shower collected to make gluey gumbo, the way Lund was. Friday in Lund he'd heard that a new highway, or branch railroad, or both, would soon be built from the Kerr-Lund area to haul goods to Cedar City and Southern Utah and take tourists by bus to the brilliant Utah canyons. Kerr was the logical starting place. Mother agreed enthusiastically. She suggested, however, that sometimes people make unexplainable blunders, and the new highway might start from Lund simply because Lund had got a headstart on "us" and was located at a slightly better angle to save mileage between the main railroad line and Cedar. |
