Work in Denver, Summer of 1970
submitted by: H. Roice Nelson, Jr.
-104.9743491 39.7390478 1970
As part of the Pan American Scholarship, I was able to obtain an Internship in Denver for the summer of 1970. Nelson Meat Packing Plant was now shutdown, and I needed to earn money because I had decided to go on a mission at the end of the summer. Riley Skeen and I had been in Historical Geology together, and he was going to Denver to work for Exxon. We roomed together that summer, as well as when we got back from our respective missions the winter and spring quarters of 1973.
I lasted less than a week working at Pan American before I was bored to death. They didn't go to work until 7:30 and they were finished by 4:30. So I got a second job working in the evenings at The Red Barn, between our apartment on Corona Street and downtown.
There were several interesting things that happened that summer, some good and some not good. Pan American sent me to Rock Springs and Green River to experience field operations on a seismic crew. It was like being home. I enjoyed the surveying, setting off dynamite, driving the trucks, stripping down and taking a swim in the Green River when no one was around and the crew was shut down, and everything about the field.
At one point, the Party Chief asked me to take a survey rod over to a surveyor on the other side of a little valley. The path required going across a little steam. I recognized the stream could be a problem and so I gunned the truck and went across the wet area very fast. The Party Chief followed my same tracks and dropped his truck to the axle. He was not a happy camper and this was the first time I remember being called arrogant in a professional setting. It has happened many times since then.
Later we drilled a seismic shot hole and loaded it with dynamite next to the outcrop Rock Springs is named for. On reflection, and after some lengthy discussion, the geophysicist cut the wires and did not shoot the dynamite for fear of knocking down the rock formation and creating a public relations nightmare for Pan American. They set off one dynamite shot in the Green River flood plane which sent dirt and water a couple of hundred feet into the air.
The Company Scout I rode up to the crew with was named Spooky. He took me to a couple of outcrops where I got some very nice fossils and petrified moss (stromatolites), which are still in my rock collection. I learned a lot about seismic sources, seismic receivers, recording trucks, and surveying. After this experience, I was hooked on geophysics and seismic exploration, and knew this was what my career was going to be.
There was a great Young Adults group in Denver. This is where I met Quentin Reed, which started our collaboration on several songs. We had a couple of neat camp outs with young men and young women. At one camp out, I remember going off, climbing a reasonable sized hill, and having a long talk with the Lord about Robin Baker. Another I remember taking my guitar and singing songs with Quentin around the camp fire.
Riley and I met some girls at our apartment with whom we had a fun time. I remember walking a block near downtown Denver leap frogging over each parking meter. I was still exchanging Christmas Cards with one of the girls in about 2010.
I also enjoyed working at The Red Barn. These were the hippie days. May of the hippies hung out at The Red Barn, which was across the street from a concert hall. I never went to a music concert there. We were robbed at gunpoint one night. Luckily I had just left the cash register. I say luckily, because I probably would not have given money to the robber. I became friends with some of the motorcycle riders. One wanted me to get him a gun so he could take care of someone. I refused. I cut a finger pretty bad one night and had to be taken to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. It was not near as bad of a cut as I had over and over at Nelson Meat Packing Plant. This is where I learned about all of the rules there are to protect employees in "real" businesses. I did and do not like the rules and the forms and the questions and the intrusion by government.
There was a girl interested in the fact I was working two jobs to earn money for a mission. We talked a lot about the church. I attempted to get her to quit shacking up with her boy friend. She left, then she went back. I went to the apartment and tried to talk her out of going back. The boyfriend answered the door, she came out in her underwear. It was more than awkward. Marti worked at the same Red Barn. It was her first summer job after High School. She attempted to protect this girl from my proselyting. She ended up going to baptisms and learning about the church. Marti was baptized the same weekend I left for my mission.