On September 12, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed an act of
Congress establishing Canyonlands as our thirty-second national park,
the first addition to the park system since 1956.
The birth of Canyonlands National Park was not without labor pains. In
the 1930’s virtually all the vast canyon country between Moab, Utah, and
Grand Canyon, Ariz., was studied for a projected Escalante National
Park. But Escalante failed to get off the ground, even when a second
attempt was made in the 1950’s. Not until another proposal had been made
and legislative compromises had been worked out did the park
materialize, this time under a new name—Canyonlands. Among the many
dignitaries who witnessed the signature on September 12 was one of the
men most responsible for the park’s creation, park superintendent Bates
E. Wilson, who did the pioneer spade work in the field.
The newborn park covered 400 square miles[1] at the junction of the
Green and Colorado Rivers in Utah. It included such magnificent features
as Island in the Sky, The Needles, Upheaval Dome, and the two great
stone formations, Angel Arch and Druid Arch. On November 16, 1971,
President Richard M. Nixon signed an act of Congress enlarging the park
by 125 square miles in four separate parcels of land, so the area now
totals 525 square miles, all in southeastern Utah, as shown on the map
(fig. 1). The northern boundary was extended to include parts of Taylor
and Shafer Canyons. The addition at the southeast corner takes in the
headwaters of Salt and Lavender Canyons and part of Davis’ Canyon. The
largest addition, at the southwest corner, includes grotesquely carved
areas bearing such colorful names as The Maze, Land of Standing Rocks,
The Fins, The Doll House (fig. 36), and Ernies Country (named after
Ernie Larson, an early-day sheepman). The fourth parcel lies about 8
miles west of the northwest corner and encompasses much of Horseshoe
Canyon, whose walls are adorned by striking pictographs (fig. 2).
At this writing (1973) the park is still in its infancy, with most of
the planned developments and improvements awaiting time and money, but a
good start has been made. In 1960 my family and I first traversed Island
in the Sky to Grand View Point over a rough jeep trail; now it is
reached with ease over a good graded road which eventually will be
paved. A temporary trailer-housed entrance station near The Neck will be
replaced by permanent headquarters for the Island in the Sky district
after water is piped up from wells drilled near the mouth of Taylor
Canyon.
In August 1965, when the Park was but 11 months old, we drove the family
car over a two-track dirt “road” from Dugout Ranch to Cave
Spring—temporary headquarters for the Needles district of the park,
whose personnel were housed partly in trailers and partly in the cave.
Now a modern paved highway, built by the State (Utah Highway 11) for 19
miles to Dugout Ranch and by San Juan County, the State of Utah, and the
National Park Service for the next 18 miles, extends a total of 38 miles
from U.S. Highway 163 to a new modern campground at Squaw Flat (fig.
39). The entrance station and housing for park personnel are now in
trailers about 2 miles west of Cave Spring, but the trailers will be
replaced by permanent structures. A shallow well near temporary
headquarters supplies the only water available to the campground 1.5
miles to the west, but a new supply is to be developed for the
campground and permanent headquarters. Groceries, gasoline, trailer
hookups, and charter flights are available at Canyonlands Resort, just
outside the eastern park boundary. The old cowboy line camp at Cave
Spring has been restored so that visitors can see this phase of colorful
Canyonlands history (fig. 6). Except for 2½ miles of partly graded road
west from Squaw Flat, all travel to the west and south is by
four-wheel-drive vehicle or on foot. In order to reach the confluence of
the Green and Colorado Rivers, The Grabens, and Chesler and Virginia
Parks, drivers must conquer formidable Elephant Hill, with its 40
percent grades and backup switchbacks. SOB Hill and the Silver Stairs
also tax the skill and patience of jeepsters. Parts of this area will
eventually be reached by graded roads, possibly by about 1977, but many
hope that much of it will be kept accessible only by jeep or foot
trails.
Bates Wilson, recently retired superintendent not only of Canyonlands
National Park but also of nearby Arches National Park and of Natural
Bridges National Monument about 80 miles to the south, is one of the few
men in the park service who has guided a national park through all
phases—location, promotion, establishment, and initial development. He
retired in June 1972 to a ranch along the Colorado River north of Moab.
Unless credited to others, for which grateful acknowledgment is made,
the color photographs were taken by me. Most of these were taken on 4-
by 5-inch film in a tripod-mounted press camera using lenses of several
focal lengths, but a few were taken on 35-millimeter film. Unless
credited to others, the black and white photographs were kindly loaned
from the Moab and Arches files of the National Park Service. The points
from which most of the photographs were taken are shown in figure 19.
[Illustration: Petroglyph]