STORIES OF THE BLANCO BASIN ROAD: ROAD TO A THIN PLACE

BY : JAMES R. WHITE, JR.

TABLE DECORATOR: MARY HELEN CAMMACK

Nearly 50 years ago author James R. White, Jr. and his family settled on the banks of the Blanco River, " Los Blancos en el Blanco". Many years before them, Native Americans, French and Spanish explorers, fur trappers, miners, and Hispanic herders traveled deeply rutted trails into the Blanco Basin. Homesteaders soon followed, log cabins were built, wagon roads were cut, logging railroads constructed, ranches carved out. Mile by mile up the Basin Road, rich stories evolved of celebrations, hardships, picnics, parades, bandits, grizzly attacks, marriages, and even murders! Tales of characters who inhabited the Basin include Fred Harman, the creator of "Red Ryder and Little Beaver" comic strip, the physicist Frank Oppenheimer, the musician Dan Fogelberg, movie stars, FBI agents, colorful residents, and our very own legendary Ruby Sisson, whom the library was named after!

A history of the Blanco Basin is represented in our library table... A Pendleton picnic blanket may have been spread on the banks of the Blanco River long ago. Tin plates filled with fresh baked bread, freshly caught cutthroat trout and homegrown delights. Chokecherry wine may have been sipped with a sweet ending of a thick slice of pie, made from the ever present patch of rhubarb. Children played nearby, throwing rocks in the river or pushing their wooden toy trains, just like the logging train that delivered packages and mail to their homesteads and logged out areas which could be developed into pastures.

The table includes:

*Guided Blanco River Fly Fishing trip for two on the private Lindner Ranch, El Rancho Pinoso (value $700)

*Box of 80 hand tied flies by local fishermen Lowell Wiles and Larry Gwaltney

*Field trip with the author, James White, along the Basin Road

*Pagosa Hot Springs Pendleton Blanket- Limited edition

*Wooden toy logging train and cutting board "table" handmade by local architect, Dallas Reynolds

*Catered picnic for 2 on the banks of the Blanco River complete with chokecherry wine, rhubarb pie and a tour of the Morris Brown Halfway House log cabin

*Picnic Settings for 6, including enamel tin plates, cups, utensils, napkins and wine glasses

*2 camp chairs

*South San Juan Wilderness National Geographic Map

*Antique Trappers Basket