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LoveU, Wyoming 82431
Price 75¢
WES MEEKER PHOTO
Some of the men who went on the 1965 final float of the Big Horn River are pictured paddling
their raft through the calm waters of the canyon. Pictured are: (l-r) Dave Thompson, C.E.
Webster, Charles Borberg, Edison Real Bird and Bob Borberg.
Big Horn Canyon film on final float tonight
BY BRAD DEVEREAUX
As a child, Wes Meeker al~vays dreamed of
floating the Big Horn River.
"I always wanted to go through the canyon," he
said. "There was a guy who floated the canyon sev-
eral times. When I was 10 years old, I paid a dime
to see a movie in Lovell about
his trip down the canyon. I
was amazed at what he had
done."
What is now Big Horn
Lake was a river then, but it
didn't stay that way for long.
As Meeker grew older and
started a family, the Nation-
al Park Service began plans
to develop the canyon into
a recreation area. After the
completion of the Yellowtail
Dam, rising lake water would
change the canyon forever.
....... In:~iiguS~"6F1965, ~'tti, :- ' - - .........
verse group of 29 men set out on what would later
be referred to as "The Last Trip." Leaving a sand
and rock covered beach south of the confluence of
the Shoshone and Big Horn Rivers in five rubber
boats, these men floated down the Big Horn River
through Big Horn Canyon. They were historians,
photographers, travel commissioners, mayors and
government employees.
Meeker, who had all but forgotten his child-
hood dreams, was given a chance invitation from a
friend who worked for the Game and Fish Depart-
ment to join the expedition and serve as cook for
the voyage. Meeker recalled his desire to float the
Big Horn and happily accepted the invite.
"It was a nice ride," Meeker said, noting there
were rapids on a few stretches, but easy floating
overall. "One guy fell in, but he was just wet and
not hurt."
Meeker said his wife helped him kick off the
journey with a bang by preparing a stuffed turkey
with all the fixings the night before the voyage.
Meeker froze the turkey that night, and then let
the bird defrost as it sat in the sun in the bottom of
his boat.
See the film
'The Canyon Before the Dam'
Jan. 28, 2010, 7 pm
Bighorn Canyon Visitor Center
Wes Meeker will share his story of the trip
Historical film from Aug. 1949
will follow.
Historg, wildlife, chain canyon, bobcat
hunting, fishing, human remains.
"When we got to our evening destination (Bar-
ry's Landing) I popped it in a folding stove and
cooked it up," Meeker said. "Those guys thought
I'd really done something, but I later told them my
wife prepared the bird the night before."
Meeker said he usually prepared a hearty
breakfast and dinner, serv-
ing sandwiches and candy
bars for lunch.
According to a letter
written by David Thompson
Jr. of the NPS following the
voyage, "There was a gener-
al consensus of opinion that
Wes did such a fine job, some
of us were seriously consid-
ering obtaining our services
and firing our wives - but he
assured us he was not inter-
ested in such a post."
After making stops at
Horseshoe Bend, Barry's
Landing, Big Bull Elk and their destination at
Black Canyon, the group was airlifted to the air-
strip at Yellowtail Dam to end the journey.
Others along on the trip were Crow Tribe rep-
resentative Edison Real Bird, lawyer Stuart Con-
ner, psychiatrist Don L. Harr, Lovell Mayor Cal
Taggart, Grant Salisbury of U.S. News and World
Report, as well as representatives of the Wyoming
Game and Fish Department, the Wyoming High-
way Department, Montana Fish and Game and
other organizations.
When he wasn't cooking, Meeker was behind
his video camera, taking video that he later set to
music to create the film that will be shown tonight
at the visitor center.
Meeker said he is glad he took the opportunity
to take the trip and is happy to share his memories
with the public at the planned screening.
Though the route down the Big Horn is no lon-
ger passable by boat, maybe Meekeffs film will in-
spire someone to go out and have an adventure of
their own, just like early films of the river prompt-
ed Meeker to climb aboard for the final float down
Big Horn Canyon.
Meyer first out of the chute in GOP governor's race
seeking the Republican nomina-
tion for governor, the first of sev-
ern anticipated candidates to an-
nounce.
In a tour that took her across
the state, Meyer visited Laramie,
Rawlins, Rock Springs, Green
River and Kemmerer on Wednes-
day; Pinedale, Thermopolis and
Worland on Thursday and Cody,
Powell, Lovell and Greybull on
Friday.
"My approach was getting
BY DAVID PECK
After announcing her bid for
governor at rallies in Riverton,
Casper and Cheyenne last Tues-
day, Jan. 19, Wyoming State Au-
ditor Rita Meyer made a whirl-
wind tour through Wyoming
during the rest of the week, step-
ping in Lovell on a snowy Friday
morning, Jan. 22.
Meyer is finishing her fourth
year as auditor, having been
elected in 2006, but she is now
DAvm PECK
Wyoming State Auditor Rita Meyer stopped in Lovell Friday
during her whirlwind tour of Wyoming after announcing that
she is seeking the Republican nomination for governor.
right back out after announcing
and quickly touching base with
a lot of communities across Wyo-
ming," she said.
Meyer said she has two main
themes to her campaign so far:
the economy and federal intru-
sion into state and local govern-
ment.
Number one, she said, is the
economy - "jobs on Main Street,"
she said. Wyoming has lost jobs
with the current recession, per-
haps fewer than other states, but
many jobs nevertheless.
"It's all relative," she said.
"We're still operating from a posi-
tion of strength in Wyoming, but
all roads lead to the economy and
jobs."
She said she will work closely
with the private sector to promote
job growth in Wyoming.
"The governor's office is go-
ing to have to work directly with
Main Street and partner with the
private sector," Meyer said, "and
not only keep the jobs we have but
also create new jobs. It's not nec-
essary to find the 150-job plant,
but the wise direction is a variety
of smaller businesses with five,10
or 15 employees."
She said she is wary of the
"mission creep" of the federal gov-
ernment "layering" regulations
See 'MEYER' page 8
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Volume 104, Number 33
Plaintiffs aim
to uproot
widely used
beet seed
BY BRAD DEVEREAUX
Opponents of genetically mod-
ified sugar beets have filed a re-
quest for a preliminary injunction
last week in U.S. District Court
for the Northern Division of Cal-
ifornia. If approved, the injunc-
tion could force farmers to return
to planting traditional seeds in
the future. The vast majority of
U.S. farmers - about 95 percent -
planted the seeds in question dur-
ing 2009.
Since Roundup Ready beets
were approved for use in 2005,
farms all over the country quickly
began using the seeds. The seeds
are genetically modified (GM) to
withstand the herbicide Roundup,
which many farmers favor because
it requires fewer applications than
other traditional herbicide chemi-
cals and does a good job of protect-
ing sugar beets from weeds.
While Roundup would kill
plants grown from ordinary sug-
ar beet seed, the Roundup Ready
seed has genetics that make it re-
sistant to glyphosate, the main
ingredient of Roundup herbicide.
The seeds are based on genetic
technology made by Monsanto, an
agriculture company of St. Lou-
is, Mo. The technology is used by
seed companies and sold to farm-
ers across the U.S.
Kasper said. "That's a testimony
to the growers. Clearly they want
the technology and we're going to
fight for their right to have it."
The company is responding to
a request for a preliminary injunc-
tion filed Tuesday, Jan. 19, in U.S.
District Court for the Northern
Division of California. Plaintiffs
the Center for Food Safety, High
Mowing Organic Seeds, Organic
Seed Alliance and the Sierra Club
filed the injunction asking the
court to suspend the use of Round-
up Ready seeds or beets until they
take a hard look at the technolo-
gy with an Environmental Impact
Statement through the National
Environmental Policy ACt.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Vilsack is listed as the defen-
dant, along with defendant-inter-
veners Monsanto Company, Syn-
genta Seeds, Inc., the American
Sugarbeet Growers Association,
Betaseed, Inc., and Sesvander-
have USA, Inc.
One argument for the injunc-
tion comes from organic beet seed
producers, mostly found in Ore-
gon's Willamette Valley, who ar-
gue that cross-pollination of GM
beets could corrupt their organ-
ic varieties. They say that some
cross-pollination has undoubtedly
taken place already, according to
. In2009,95percentof~ebeets:: media rel~rts'- +:
planted in the U:S. were Round- Representatives of the Cen-
up Ready, according to Monsanto ter for Food Safety have gone on
spokesman Garrett Kasper. record in the past about potential
"It has the fastest rate of "biological pollution and economic
adoption of any biotech crop," See 'BEETS' page 8
DAWD
Francis Moody pushes snow off of the sidewalk in front of
Lovell Drug Saturday. The Lovell area was hit with more than
a foot of snow over a two-day period this weekend.
Snowpack rebounds from decline
BY DAVID PECK
The winter snowstorm that
blanketed most of Wyoming over
the weekend and hit Big Horn
County especially hard has re-
versed a several-week trend
of decreasing snowpack levels
statewide, the National Resourc-
es Conservation Service report-
ed Jan. 25 in its weekly Monday
morning snow report.
The weighted statewide av-
erage of snow water equivalent
in 13 Wyoming drainage basins
had declined steadily from 80
percent on Dec. 28 to 71 percent
on Jan. 18 but rebounded to 73
percent of average on Jan. 25,
according to data collected from
SNOTEL sites throughout the
state.
Eleven of the 13 drainage ba-
sins were up from one week ago,
one remained the same and one
lost ground from a week ago. But
while the downward spiral has
reversed, at least temporarily,
the state is still well behind SWE
averages recorded a year ago.
One year ago, the state aver-
age was 98 percent, with a low of
74 percent and a high of 120 per-
cent of average. But this year,
as of Monday, the state average
was 73 percent with a low of 56
percent (Upper Green River) and
a high of 87 percent of average
(Lower North Platte).
Locally, the Big Horn Basin
drainage stood at 69 percent of
average on Monday, up from 67
percent a week ago but down
from 107 percent one year ago.
The Shoshone drainage recorded
a SWE of 64 percent of average
on Monday, up from 63 percent a
week earlier but down from 100
percent a year ago.
The Wind River drainage av-
erage of snow water equivalency
was 73 percent on Monday, up
four points from 69 percent one
week earlier but down from 86
percent one year ago.
The Lovell Chronicle 234 E. Main, Lovell, WY Contact us at: 548-2217 www.lovellchronicle.com Icnews@tctwest.net
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