Road stories: Mr. H. Ballard Harris and Johnny Cash

26 Sep 2004 by Jason Fried

About 10 miles south of ghosty Cisco, Utah and 30 miles northeast of Moab, Utah is the Dewey Service Station. Well, Ex-service station. What was once a business first and a home second is now just the home of H. Ballard Harris — an 87 year old fountain of history. Originally born in Green River, Utah, he has been living behind his service station and next to the Dewey bridge for over 40 years.

We first noticed him as we sped by the boarded up station. He was (barely) standing out front, tending the grounds. You couldn’t help but think something special was going on here.

We parked the car on the side of the road, walked up, traded waves and howdies, and started listening. He had all sorts of stories. Each one preceded by “You wouldn’t believe the changes I’ve seen in my life.”

He talked about when the ferry would shuttle people down the Colorado river (which flows right behind the station). He talked about his five wives — how they came and went and how much he misses “those ladies.” He talked about his kids. He talked about being a real cowboy (and surviving all the falls). He talked about wearing — not drinking — white wine to keep the disease away. He talked about the Bible and Jesus and how the Lord told him that the doctors were wrong about his pancreatic cancer diagnosis (it turned out he just had gallstones). He even threw a prayer our way. He talked about the Ten Commandments in the schools (“No harm ever been done by kids reading those words”). He talked about the incredible joy that comes over him when he feeds the pigeons and wild turkeys along the river — something he’s been doing twice a day for the past 30 years. He talked about kicking the drink 20 years ago. He had plenty to say and we had plenty of time to listen. About 45 minutes was what he gave us. Twice as long would have been just fine.

And then, near the end, he slipped in this gem… Before he opened up his own filling station, Mr. Harris used to work at Clifton’s Filling Station 10 miles up the road in Cisco. He pumped gas, fixed tires, did whatever needed to be done. He told us about how one day Johnny Cash pulled up. Mr. Cash and Mr. Harris had a little chat and then he filled up Cash’s car with $7 worth of gas. And then Cash wrote a song about it: