Delta, UT is a sleepy little town with a mini version of Walmart, a rock hound shop, McDonald's, a second grocery store, a feed and grain store, a Mexican restaurant and not much more. We headed for the Chamber of Commerce on Friday afternoon only to find it and the town offices were closed on Fridays. We discovered the library was open, however, and stopped in to look around. We told the librarian we were touring the country and wanted to get some information about the area. She told us the Chamber of Commerce would not reopen until Monday. As we were headed out the door, she caught up with us and presented us with a packet of literature about their community. I decided to ask her a few questions about local tourism efforts. She said she did not believe there was a tourism plan for Delta and the biggest area attractions were the many locations sporting all varieties of rocks; a real draw for rock hounders. She cited the bowling alley and the movie theatre as also being a draw. She made lite of the Japanese American internment camp located nearby saying there was nothing there to see because all the buildings had been torn down. She mentioned that the "great stone face" that was suppose to look like Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, was also close by, but she never did see any likeness; not much of a recommendation for the things touted in the literature she had just brought us.
We thanked her and headed for the nearby park to walk around. The park is lovely and has a fountain, flowerbeds and a small log cabin that use to serve as the post office...pictures of both are posted above. The next day we decided to try our luck at rock hounding in the area called Sunstone Knoll located 15 miles from our RV park. We climbed up the knoll and broke open some rocks searching for the golden labordorite said to be located here. What we found were clear glass like pieces glistening on the ground. We searched for about an hour and decided we had had enough fun; rock hounding was definitely not our cup of tea.
The next day we set out in search of the Japanese internment camp. It was about a fifteen minute drive from our RV park through desert type terrain with mountains in the backdrop. I must say the Librarian was right about there not being much to see. There were remnants of two old buildings and few signs marking the locations of buildings that use to be of significance; like the guards tower. We walked the area and sent up some prayers for those who had been interned there. While we were out and about, we decided to visit two of the neighboring towns, Holden and Fillmore City. Our first stop, Holden, was 23 miles away and the town consisted of only a post office...no retail stores, restaurants etc. and so we drove on to Fillmore City. Fillmore, although it did have a limited shopping district, wasn't very exciting either. We did take time to go and visit the museum (the towns claim to fame) which had been Utah's original Territorial Statehouse. We saw lots of portraits hung everywhere in very ornamental frames, a printing press, antique furniture, tools, and not much more.
So here we are with four more days left of our stay in Delta. Bill bought a case of apples and and is going to make and can apple sauce and apple butter. I have resumed working on our family album project.
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