The Yampa House

The Historian's of Moffatt County say that the Indian word for 'bear' is 'yampa'. I don't really speak Indian, so I guess I'll have to take their word for it. I know where your mind is going with this, but the answer is "no, I didn't wrestle a bear when I was in elementary school"! There were a lot of things in the small town of Craig named 'Yampa'. Mainly, the Yampa River. The Yampa River was a fairly good size river and ran through the valley where my hometown sat. Of course, that meant that the entire valley was called the 'Yampa Valley', and many things around town were named after the bear. For example, my Dad worked for the Yampa Valley Creamery. There was a Yampa Elementary School. And the main north/south street that ran through downtown Craig was named 'Yampa'.

That's where we were living when the above picture was taken. It was the 600 block of Yampa Street, and it was just North of Downtown Craig. The house is no longer there; it is now the parking lot for the Bank at the corner of 6th and Yampa. The house was old, even in the 60's when we were living there. The house was unusually shaped in my opinion. Basically square at the base, with a porch that ran the length of the front side of the house. An unattached garage in the back left side of the house. The unusual part was the roof. All four side of the roof ran up to an 8 foot square, or flat section at the top of the house. I found a picture of a similar house here in Nampa. Unlike the Yampa house,this one is in great shape and well taken care of...but the shape of the house is really what I want you to see.



If parents really knew what their kids did when they were not around...boy, what an eye opener that would be. My mother was struggling to get by in those days and I'm not sure who was watching us, if anyone. Perhaps one of my older sisters. Maybe Beth was somewhere else, and I was home alone after school?? I pulled some good ones there at the Yampa house.

My friend Andy and I were typical boys. We rode our bikes all over town. We made bow and arrows out of sticks we cut from a willow. It's a wonder we never put an eye out. The arrows flew pretty good considering it was all home made with a willow and some string. My fellow 911 employees would be saddened to know that I played on the phone one time (pre-911) and the operator finally shut the phone off. I remember being so scared that I was going to have to explain the dead phone to my mother when she got home. The operator turned it on before I had to do that...whew!! I didn't play on the phone any more. Oh yeah, there was the time I tried to make a homemade worm electrode. I had seen someone put an electrode in the ground which forced the worms to exit to the surface. So, I tried to make my own. A couple of wires attached to a screwdriver and whah-la. There was sparks, smoke, and a big black spot at the electrical outlet... but no worms.

We had endless hours of fun on the roof of that old house. From the fence by the garage, we could climb up onto the roof of the garage. Then, a 4 foot jump from the garage to the back of the house. Then straight up the roof to that flat section on top of the house. When we reached the top, 2 little 5th grade boys were on the top of the world. We could run down the front to the porch. Or down the back to the add-on roof. Both of the sides went to a nice 12-14 foot free-fall to the ground. So we were smart enough to stay off the sides. Still, it had to be dangerous. I'm sure my mother would not have approved. But she was working...and we were crazy fool headed boys. It's a wonder I did not fall to my death, or get electrocuted, or fall and crack my skull... hmmm... maybe I did...


Ahh, those were the days. I remember being at the age where I could follow a recipe and cook things at that house. I loved to make Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. I made them often. And yes sir ree Bob, I ate the cookie dough. We had never heard of salmonella poisoning in those days. Who cares if there are raw eggs in the dough. Yum-yum cookie dough. I liked my cookies crunchy, so I always almost burnt a couple of batches at the end. Just for me! I never got salmonella and died. I think I would have remembered that.

I do remember picking out a Birthday card for my Mother one year. I was so proud of that card. It had multiple pages, cute animations, nice things to say about good old Mom. And everyone gathered around the table as she read it out loud. I was so proud until she got to the end of the card and it read "From your loving Hubby"...and everybody burst into laughter. I cried in my room for at least an hour. And despite all the apologetic trips to the room everyone made...it still makes me sad today. Kids are fragile at that age I guess...and so are old men. Nevertheless, Happy Birthday Mom! Hubby was just not in my 5th grade vocabulary.

I think I'll go for now. I think I'll go make some Chocolate Chip Cookies.

P.S. I still like raw cookie dough.