First of all, If you blink twice going thru Delta Utah - you will miss most of what is here! We drove all around town and was back to the start in about ½ hour - and that was driving really slow and stopping to check things out!
We had two main goals this morning when we left the Coach - first to get some lunch and second to visit the Great Basin Museum in town. Lunch was satisfied by a wonderful Carnitas Burrito at a small -very new - Mexican “Fast Food” place on the main drag. Very authentic and great food!
With our tummies full, we drove the 1 ½ blocks to the museum. We were met at the door by a very friendly docent, who proceeded to give us a guided tour of the facility. We got this special treatment basically because there was nobody else around and I think the guy was bored. In any case, he was very interesting and passed along lots of neat trivia about the area. Their main claim to fame here at this time is Beryllium. The form of beryllium that is mined locally is called bertrandite. Beryllium, atomic number 4, is a brittle, steel-gray metal found as a component of coal, oil, certain rock minerals, volcanic dust, and soil. Elemental beryllium is the second lightest of all metals and is used in a wide variety of applications. In its elemental form beryllium exhibits the unique properties of being light weight and extremely stiff, giving the metal several applications in the aerospace, nuclear, and manufacturing industries. In addition, beryllium is amazingly versatile as a metal alloy where it is used in dental appliances, golf clubs, non-sparking tools, wheel chairs, and electronic devices. Aquamarine and emerald are precious forms of beryl. Beryllium metal did not become readily available to industry until 1957. Beryllium is used as an alloying agent in producing beryllium copper, which is extensively used for springs, electrical contacts, spot-welding electrodes, and non-sparking tools. It is applied as a structural material for high-speed aircraft, missiles, spacecraft, and communication satellites. Other uses include windshield frame, brake discs, support beams, and other structural components of the space shuttle. Over 75% of all traffic on the Internet is carried on beryllium copper! Because beryllium is relatively transparent to X-rays, ultra-thin Be-foil is finding use in X-ray lithography for reproduction of micro-miniature integrated circuits. Beryllium is used in nuclear reactors as a reflector or moderator for it has a low thermal neutron absorption cross section. It is used in gyroscopes, computer parts, and instruments where lightness, stiffness, and dimensional stability are required. The oxide has a very high melting point and is also used in nuclear work and ceramic applications. The Brush-Wellman-inc company, which mines and refines the beryllium here in Delta, is the only fully-integrated producer of beryllium and beryllium-containing alloys in the world. That is probably way more than you ever wanted to know about Beryllium, huh? He handed us a piece and it was almost light as a feather! If the piece had been steel it would have weighed a least a couple pounds.
After our extensive lesson on Beryllium, several other people came into the Museum - so our “personal guide” had to split his time. We wandered around on our own and saw many interesting displays of stuff from when the pioneers settled this part of Utah.
There were many examples of Quilts on display.
This is a cabin used by early pioneers to this area. It is said to be the first “mobile home” here in Delta. When the family’s children were old enough for school and a bigger home was built on the farm, they put this cabin on skids and pulled it with 6 horses from the farm into town in the Fall so the children would have a place to live closer to their school! In the Spring they would drag it back to the farm for the Summer. This is a real log cabin - it must have been really hard to accomplish this - even with 6 big horses!
The inside of the cabin was set up like it would have been when it was actually being used. Somehow I think the Quilt is a new project!
In 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the U.S. Government rounded up all the Japanese-Americans and forced their evacuation from the West Coast into ten internment camps. Over 110,000 people were torn from their normal lives to be transferred to these camps. They were allowed to bring only what they could carry with them. One of those camps was located near Delta Utah. Despite all their hardships, they basically organized the camp into a community. They set up schools and established churches, held community functions and staffed a hospital. They even published their own newspaper. In 1945, at the end of WWII, our government just told them they could go. Some returned to where they came from and some stayed in Utah. None of them had anything to go back to and basically had to start all over again with nothing. It is a very sad part of our history indeed!
On our way back to the RV park, we made another loop thru town so I could get some pictures. My camera always works better with a clean windshield (smile!) The center of town is a large beautiful park, complete with playground for the kids and picnic shelters. This cabin was used as a home and then as the Post Office for awhile. The plaque is a memorial to the Topaz Internment Camp.
Tomorrow is another day - there are choices for us to make - who knows what we will do. Maybe go hunting for the Topaz and Apache Tears that are supposedly laying all over the desert around here, or maybe for some of the abundant fossils? Maybe just take a day off and vegetate - that one sounds like a winner for sure! Monday we will be heading West to discover the Great Basin National Park just across the border in Nevada.
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