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[Illustration: Cover: _Owachomo Bridge._]
[Illustration: Natural Bridges National Monument]
Natural Bridges
NATIONAL MONUMENT · UTAH
[Illustration: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR · NATIONAL
PARK SERVICE]
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Douglas McKay, _Secretary_
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, Conrad L. Wirth, _Director_
_Three gigantic natural bridges carved out of sandstone and located in
a region of superb scenery_
San Juan County, in the southeastern corner of Utah, is a land of
brilliantly colored cliffs, tortuous box canyons, pinnacles, and arches.
Near the center of this scenic and geologic potpourri is Natural Bridges
National Monument.
Within the monument are three huge natural bridges. While they are
exceeded in size by the great Rainbow Bridge, which lies about 60 miles
to the southwest in Rainbow Bridge National Monument, they rank with the
largest known natural bridges.
One of these bridges--Owachomo--is directly across the 600-foot-deep
Armstrong Canyon and spans the mouth of a short tributary canyon. The
road from Blanding, Utah, ends at the rim of the Armstrong Canyon. To
visit the other bridges in the monument, one must walk. The trail is
unimproved, and sometimes rough, but the 6-mile hike is rewarded by
views of the magnificent canyons, the bridges, and ancient Indian ruins.
The headquarters area of the monument overlooks the Owachomo Bridge, and
a 300-yard trail drops to the bottom of Armstrong Canyon to a point
where one can walk under the bridge. Continuing on this trail, Sipapu
Bridge may be reached by a 3-mile walk; however, if you wish to see all
three bridges with the least walking, drive your car from headquarters,
4½ miles, to the Kachina Bridge parking area and from there it is
three-quarters of a mile by a ladder trail to Kachina Bridge and 2 miles
from Kachina to Sipapu Bridge, up White Canyon. No trail is maintained
between Kachina Bridge and Owachomo Bridge.
The Bridges and Their Names
The bridges were first seen by white man in 1883 when Cass Hite, a
prospector, visited the region. National publicity was given to the area
in 1904 when an illustrated article appeared in the National Geographic
Magazine. In 1908 the area was proclaimed Natural Bridges National
Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt. This action was the result of
pleas of Utah citizens and of a Government surveyor that the bridges be
protected by the Federal Government.
[Illustration: _Owachomo is in view at the end of the road._]
Early explorers had named the bridges for members of their parties or
for relatives. When the monument was established, an effort was made to
find Indian names which would fit the bridges. Paiute Indians, who still
live in the country, had no names for the individual bridges. At the
time they were questioned they professed to know only a single term
which they applied to all bridges, natural or otherwise. This was
"Ma-Vah-Talk-Tump," or "Under the Horse's Belly."
[Illustration: _Kachina Bridge--the youngest of the three._]
At that time it was generally thought that the prehistoric people who
had lived in the ruins of southern Utah were direct ancestors of the
Hopi Indians, so it was natural, when no Paiute names were forthcoming,
that Hopi names were applied to the bridges. They are:
_Owachomo_ (Rock Mound)--So named because of a large, rounded block of
rock on the mesa near one end of the bridge. Also formerly known as the
Edwin Bridge.
_Kachina_--On one of the abutments of this bridge are numerous
prehistoric pictographs, some of which resemble Hopi masked dancers, or
kachinas. The former name for this bridge was Caroline.
_Sipapu_--The graceful arch of this bridge suggested to its namers the
sipapu (place of emergence), a hole through which the Hopi believe their
ancestors emerged from a lower, dark world into the present, sunlit one.
This was also known as the Augusta Bridge.
The dimensions of the bridges are:
Bridge Height (feet) Span (feet) Width (feet) Thickness (feet)
Owachomo 106 180 27 9
Kachina 210 206 44 93
Sipapu 220 268 31 53