Got alot of questions about Gilsonite mines lately, and this did not make in to the book.From the Vernal ( Utah) Express Newspaper, Jan. 15 1931, by D.W. PARRATT
------- The little village where we have stopped is Rainbow. It is in the eastern part of Uintah county and about twelve miles from Colorado. The place is made principally of two rows of frame dwellings with a wide open "main street" extending north and south between the houses. An abundance of Junipers relieves the barrenness of nearby rolling hills and many dwarfed trees are found int he back yards of the homes. There are about twenty dwellings in this place and all belong to the comapany which owns the mine that we have come to visit. The town has one little church building and a one room school house, but not a merchandise store of any kind. About 135 people reside here and all depend upon the Gilsonite mines for a living.
The chief inhabitant is Homer D. Ford, superintendent of the mines. He welcomes us to the place and makes us feel right at home. Inhis office building we change our clean clothes for black dusty ones and the follow his lead out the spaciuos street. A few steps fromt he office we pause at the town "tap" and are told that all the water in the village is supplied at this place. It is first hauled to the town in a railway tank-car from a mountain stream thirty five miles away. Then it is pumped from the car to the big barrel like tank which we see mounted high in the air near the south end of the east row of houses. From there it is piped to the supply tap at which we have haulted for a drink.
Mr. Ford again leads the way and we following. Presently at the south end of town we come to a bridge over deep, empty, sewerlike opening. We look down in to it for more than one hundred fifty feet and then trace it for a long distance to the northwest and a shorter distance to the southeast. We measure and find it clean cut walls are about seven feet apart. They are solid stone and are straight up and down and the empty trench is almost as straight as if it had been staked by expert engineers. Pieces of timber extend in frequent intervals from side to side and thus keep the walls from caving in. These were placed for safety purposes when the men were working the in this area, but of course are no longer needed.
