Although authorities with the U.S. Forest Service have made some progress in their search, they're asking for the public's help in finding a historic military vehicle stolen from Utah's Dixie National Forest last month.
According to Tuesday's announcement, the historic half-track military vehicle went missing on June 21 or 22 after someone illegally removed it from its original location on Boulder Mountain. Authorities say someone used a truck and trailer to haul it out of the forest.
The last anyone saw it
Since it went missing, authorities say a concerned citizen reported seeing it carted off by a white Dodge Ram 2500 Heavy-Duty pickup truck with gold trim. For the historic vehicle, the driver used a PJ-brand gooseneck trailer.
With the help of other concerned citizens, police tracked the truck to Glendale on Highway 89, and then to Coral Pink Sand Dunes in southern Utah. Although the concerned citizen was unable to photograph the license plate, police believe it has ties to Colorado City, Arizona, which borders Utah.
Authorities believe the suspect used this white Dodge pickup truck to haul the historic military vehicle away from Dixie National Forest. Credit: USFS/Facebook
The significance of the vehicle
In the announcement, the Forest Service describes the missing vehicle as a White Motor Company Half-Track military vehicle last used by the service in the late 1950s. Utah state Rep. Carl Albrecht said his father Torval used the vehicle to haul freshly cut logs to the Torval Albrecht Sawmill in Bicknell, Utah.
"The last year he logged was on top of Boulder Mountain," Albrecht said in a statement. "He had the largest mill in Wayne County. There were four mills in Bicknell and nine in the whole county. The crew lived on a school bus, and I was in the fourth or fifth grade."
Albrecht added that his father harvested Beetle-kill Spruce and Ponderosa Pine from the Boulder and Thousand Lake Mountains. In addition to adding jobs, Albrecht's father's company built many of the first roads in the forest, many of which people still use today. However, he primarily used them to haul logs and people to and from the mill.
What's more, builders used processed wood made out of the logs for construction projects in Salt Lake City as well as mining projects and roofs and flooring.
Today, the vehicle is part of a historic archaeological site determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
How you can help
Officials with the Forest Service are asking anyone with information about the missing vehicle to contact Forest Service Intermountain Region Investigative Analyst Robert Smith at 775-420-1479 (cell) or email him at [email protected].
