VAQUERO DREAMING

By Stephen Dark


Photography: Steve Greenwood, VisitUtah.com

White sombrero, side brims upturned, crowns the rake-thin man leading his black stallion across the corral, as dusk settles over the tree-drowsy neighborhood. The vaquero from Sonora rides east, past streets with English-town names — Chatham, Hempstead, Stratford. Horses, llamas, cows and goats graze on large lots beside shacks and houses. He passes buildings that celebrate faith, Iglesia Apostolica Sion, Tongan Methodist, Khadeeja mosque, the clopping of hooves echoing through this rural paradise 10 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City. In the 1990s, nighttime was meth labs, fugitives with prison tattoos and maverick cops. There’s still crime, but this independent-minded enclave defies the hard men and townhouse developers to claim its heart. This is the vaquero’s hope-filled dream of Utah, this sleepy, hidden gem: our Chesterfield.


Stephen Dark, after living in London and Buenos Aires, found in Utah a land of urban contradictions and desert beauty. He wrote about Utah's underbelly and margins for 13 years at Salt Lake’s City Weekly and now pens for University of Utah Health.