Earl Massey lives in Dry Fork near Vernal, Utah. He is in his 80s but still has a keen intellect.
His family owns a ranch in the canyon and has for years. It is located near Sink Ridge. The
nearby cave carries the family name. There are a lot of fascinating things to see in this area.
Years ago my dad and I took a walk with him and he told us a story as we passed a knoll
and a large sink hole.

His uncle, Everette Massey and a good friend Acel Rowley, were hiking in this area back in
the 1960s when they found something very unexpected. As they walked one of them noticed a
colorful rock at their feet. He reached down, picked it up, and soon realized it was out of place.
It was colorful, heavy, and appeared to be highly mineralized. What it was exactly, they didn't
know, but they thought it could be valuable. They made the decision to send it to a university
and have it assayed. Earl doesn't remember which university they sent it to, but he does remember
the reaction it caused. Within a short time of sending it a man showed up at their door. He had
thoroughly examined it; flown to Vernal, and asked if he could buy shares in their mining venture.
You see, the sample was very good! They had to disappoint him by telling him the truth; they
didn't know where the source was. It appeared the rock had been dropped long ago from a
pack horse or by someone who had traversed the old trail they were on.

As I looked around I could see two trails running side by side going up the side of Sink Ridge.
One was old and the other one was even older. We followed one of these trails to the top
where it turned north west. In this area we found symbols on trees, but we lost the blazed trail
after a while. We didn't find the source of the float but it sure was an interesting walk.

I spoke with Earl on August 9th, 2001. He gave me permission to place this story on my site.
I thanked him for it. Below is a photograph of the location where the float was discovered.
This knoll is located on the south west side of Sink Ridge and was probably created by
movement of the hillside long ago. The float was discovered near the base of the mound
near the bottom center of this photo. If you decide to follow the clues good luck.

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