Rainbow Bridge
By Hank Hassell
4/5
()
About this ebook
On the morning of August 14, 1909, a small, diverse group including Professor Byron Cummings of the University of Utah, Government Land Office surveyor William Douglass, pioneer archaeologist and trader John Weatherill, and Paiute guide Nasja Begay gazed at the largest structure of its kind in the world-Rainbow Bridge. Their presence marked the official discovery of the magnificent natural bridge, which spans 275 feet and towers 291 feet above the stream bed below it. Of the discovery party, only Nasja Begay had seen the stone arch before; he was one of a probably small number of Paiutes and Navajos, the true modern discoverers, who had visited it. In 1910, an executive order issued under the still fresh Antiquities Act created Rainbow Bridge National Monument, one of the first.
This was only the beginning of the Rainbow Bridge historical record. Its fame was soon widespread, but for many years its visitors would be few, their numbers restricted by the long arduous trail around Navajo Mountain to the site. Those few and the tour guides and businesses that emerged to serve them, especially at Rainbow Lodge, were an interesting mix though. The bridge's story included such western figures as trader Louisa Weatherill, wife of John and a Navajo speaker who was the first Anglo to hear of the bridge; Barry Goldwater, who for a time owned and operated Rainbow Lodge; Zane Grey, who wrote about the bridge; and David Brower, the Sierra Club leader who got wrapped up in the intersection of the Rainbow Bridge story with that of Glen Canyon Dam. Its construction and the filling of Lake Powell behind it made Rainbow Bridge a battleground, key territory in the larger war over water and conservation in the West. The remote, hard to reach national monument was supposed to define a limit to Colorado River reclamation but instead was inundated by Lake Powell and the tide of visitors who then could reach the foot of the bridge by boat. Though Rainbow is now easily and frequently visited and National Park Service amenities are in place, access to Rainbow Bridge is still an evolving and controversial issue.
Related to Rainbow Bridge
Related ebooks
Mystery of the Ambush in India Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShepherd of the Hills Country: Tourism Transforms the Ozarks, 1880s-1930s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrail of Story, Traveller’s Path: Reflections on Ethnoecology and Landscape Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRailroaders: Recollections from the Steam Era in British Columbia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRagnarok : the Age of Fire and Gravel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlainview: The Enigmatic Paleoindian Artifact Style of the Great Plains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWestwater Lost and Found Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Geography of the Region about Devil's Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaincoast Chronicles 24: Cougar Companions: Bute Inlet Country and the Legendary Schnarrs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDamming Grand Canyon: The 1923 USGS Colorado River Expedition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ladies, the Gwich'in, and the Rat: Travels on the Athabasca, Mackenzie, Rat, Porcupine, and Yukon Rivers in 1926 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva: The 1540-1542 Route across the Southwest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrehistory of the Nile Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMendip: Cheddar, Its Gorge and Caves Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Kyrenia Ship Final Excavation Report, Volume I: History of the Excavation, Amphoras, Pottery and Coins as Evidence for Dating Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShipyards of the Upper Mersey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCruachan: The Hollow Mountain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRude Pursuits and Rugged Peaks: Schoolcraft's Ozark Journal, 1818-1819 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWitch Wood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Capitol Reef Reader Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Niagara River Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsContinental Drift Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToronto's Lost Villages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Caledonian Canal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Wayfarer in China Impressions of a trip across West China and Mongolia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistoric Photos of the Brooklyn Bridge Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blackbeard's Sunken Prize: The 300-Year Voyage of Queen Anne's Revenge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5U.S. History 101: Historic Events, Key People, Important Locations, and More! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related categories
Reviews for Rainbow Bridge
1 rating0 reviews