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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
No full textJournal: Anthropological Notes, University of Utah Department of Anthropology, "Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region 1776 - 1922", Number 42, September 1959, page xivFigures Page
17. Looking up at Hole-in-the-Rock from half-way to river level 45
18. View from Hole-in-the-Rock across Glen Canyon 46
19. Road built by Hole-in-the-Rock party to ascend east side of Glen Canyon 46
20. Road across gravel bar approaching Colorado River at Halls Crossing (site 41) 46
21. Remains of cabin of unidentified origin at Hite (site 73) 47
22. Remains of cabin built by Cass Hite at Ticaboo (site 62) 47
23. San Juan River looking upstream near mouth of Copper Canyon 48
24. San Juan River at Piute Farms 48
25. Remains of stone building near mouth of Copper Canyon 49
26. Views of well preserved rock house near mouth of Copper Canyon 49
27. Mining machinery at Spencer Camp. San Juan River 50
28. Ruins of building at Spencer Camp 50
29. Ruins of rock house at Spencer Camp 50
30. Boiler and remains of machinery at Zahn's Camp, San Juan River 51
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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
No full textJournal: Anthropological Notes, University of Utah Department of Anthropology, "Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region 1776 - 1922", Number 42, September 1959, page 1SPANISH-MEXICAN BACKGROUND, 1776-1848
There is practically no evidence to suggest the discovery of Glen Canyon, or any portion of the region to be touched by the Glen Canyon reservoir, before 1776, when the Spanish exploring party headed by Dominguez and Escalante crossed the Colorado River at the Crossing of the Fathers (site 9) (Figs. 2-7). On the other hand the lower basin, below Lees Ferry, was known to the Spaniards within 50 years after the discovery of America. That they assumed the existence of a long stream heading deep in the continent is evident from an examination of sixteenth century Spanish maps. After the occupation of New Mexico and particularly following the location of the capital at Santa Fe in 1610, Spain was in a favorable position to reach the upper Colorado. Before 1776 exploring parties ranged north and west from Santa Fe and touched the river, or at least the Dolores and Gunnison rivers, within the present boundaries of Colorado, crossing the upper San Juan enroute. Conceivably they might have reached the river through Spanish Valley at Moab in Utah. Spain from Santa Fe early established contact with the Zuñi and Hopi villages seen by the Coronado expedition and established missions among them, 1628-1680. The date 1661 on the walls of Inscription House at the head of Navajo Canyon suggests and early approach to the Navajo Mountain region.
Before the extensive exploration made by Dominguez and Escalante, the La Sal Mountains and the Abajo (Blue) Mountains had been named, but documentary evidence of any Spanish discovery of the deeply entrenched lower course of the San Juan River and of the canyons of the Colorado extending from Moab to Lees Ferry has not been found. The date 1642 (site 101) and the existence of a trail, sometimes called the Spanish Trail, leading to Spanish Bottom in Cataract Canyon (Mile 213 River Map Sheet M; The Needles quad USGS 1953) may be indications of Spanish discovery. But the first is probably spurious and the second is possibly an old Indian trial improved by users within the last 65 years.
There is abudant physical evidence to show that the Indians in historic times have been intimately familiar with Glen Canyon on both sides of the river (sites 100,8,9,6,2,24,26) (Figs. 8-13). Similar access trails exist in San Juan Canyon.
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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
No full textJournal: Anthropological Notes, University of Utah Department of Anthropology, "Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region 1776 - 1922", Number 42, September 1959, page 17in Monument Valley, where searching parties from Colorado soon afterward found their bodies and some specimens of silver ore. The legendary silver mine of the Navajos now became identified with the presumed discovery by Merrick and Mitchell. The elements of a first rate lost mine story are there: the hazy Spanish background, the massacre, and the wild country where the Indians guard the secret of their mine. The Merrick-Mitchell mine was a lodestone for prospecting parties for at least 25 years.
Indeed the mining history of the Glen Canyon region opens with this incident. It advertised the mineral possibilities of the area and within the next 20 years prospectors had pretty thoroughly explored the canyons and plateaus, and the five adjacent laccolithic mountain masses: Navajo Mountain, Carrizo Mountains, Abajo Mountains, La Sal Mountains, and Henry Mountains. The first focus of interest was the Monument ValleyNavajo Mountain section but failure to locate the Merrick-Mitchell mine and the hostility of Indians soon deflected attention to other areas.
Among those who had prospected the Mounument Valley-Navajo Mlountain region was Cass Hite, who had been a miner in Montana and Colorado. When the friendly Navajo chief Hoskininni told him that gold might be found on the Colorado, Hite gave up the search for the Merrick-Mitchell mine (later called the Pish-la-ki mine after the name the Navajos gave to Cass Hite: White Silver Hunter, or Worker in Silver) and, probably following the trail made by the Hole-in-the-Rock party from the San Juan River to the head of Grand Gulch, he descended White Canyon to the place later called Hite (site 73) (Fig.21) where he arrived in September, 1883. Hite is said to have named the Crossing of the Colorado River at this point "Dandy Crossing". Easily reached from the east by White Canyon and from the west by Trachyte Creek and North Wash, Dandy Crossing is the best in Glen Canyon above Lees Ferry. From the number of archeological sites in the vicinity noted by the Powell expeditions, the crossing was well known to prehistoric peoples, as it was to the Navajos who directed Hite to the locality. And it was probably used by whites before Hite's arrival.
Hite discovered placer gold in the gravels in the banks on both sides of the river near the crossing and more extended explorations soon led to additional finds. Although there appears to have been some prospecting in the canyons below Moab and Green River and above Lees Ferry during
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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
No full textJournal: Anthropological Notes, University of Utah Department of Anthropology, "Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region 1776 - 1922", Number 42, September 1959, page 29Bibliographical notes: Gold on the San Juan
Less is known about the San Juan boom than the earlier excitement in Glen Canyon. Gregory (1917) and Butler and others (1920) published brief accounts to which very little has been added since. This includes Miser's valuable little paper (1924), the first extensive description of the San Juan Canyon and the starting point of later scientific investigations in the canyon, and Baker's bulletin on the Monument Valley-Navajo Mountain region (1936). The full extent of gold mining on the San Juan can only be surmised until further research has been accomplished.
Gillmor and Wetherill (1953) have told the life of John and Louisa Wetherill; the book has a list of works which carry acknowledgments to the Wetherills. The recent book on Richard Wetherill by McNitt (1957) has a wealth of information on the archeological discoveries of the Wetherill family. The several publications of the Hayden survey are listed by Schmeckebier (1904). W. H. Jackson, photographer for the Hayden survey, recounts the discovery of the Mesa Verde ruins and others near the San Juan River in 1874-1875 in his autobiography (1940).
The gold mining history of the Abajo and La Sal mountain groups has been briefly summarized by Gregory (1938) and Hunt (1958) but it is imperfectly known as yet. As elsewhere in the Glen Canyon region, the raw material of history exists in the form of newspaper accounts, official records, and personal reminiscences but these have not yet been synthesized into published historical narrative.
Even less has been written of the history of the livestock industry in southeastern Utah. Woodfield (1957) in his summary for Utah as a whole emphasizes the Great Basin part of the state. Excellent studies such as Frink, Jackson, and Spring (1956) exist for backgrounds in Colorado. Perkins, Nielson and Jones (1957) touch on cowboys and cattlemen in San Juan as does Tanner (1937) for Grand County. Biographical matter on J. M. Cunningham is found in Cunningham (1943). The biography of J. A. Scorup by Stena Scorup (1944) is the story of one of Utah's most successful cattlemen. Lavender (1956) has some material on Scorup and episodes in te history of southeastern Utah. Wentworth's (1948) immensely valuable work has material on the sheep industry in the region. Kelly (1959) has a book on Butch Cassidy and the wild bunch of outlaws at Robbers' Roost.
The scholarly work by Harrington (1940, map p. 514) indicates the scope of Navajo expansion. Perkins, Nielson, and Jones (1957) report Kumen Jones' encounter with Kigalia on Elk Ridge.
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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
No full textJournal: Anthropological Notes, University of Utah Department of Anthropology, "Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region 1776 - 1922", Number 42, September 1959, page 33was mined in the Henry Mountains, an ice plant was set up and a telephone line connected the freight terminus at Stanton Canyon with Camp Stone. Stanton employed as many as 75 men--mechanics, machinists, carpenters, freighters, and assessment workers. The work of assembly and construction began sometime late in 1899, the first trial run was made opposite Camp Stone in March, 1901. By that time at least 1100. It never operated again. It stands in the river today at mile 121.5, a historical monument completely covered at the highest flood level but otherwise partly visible (Fig. 36).
Reliable production figures for the amount of gold mined in Glen Canyon have not been found. A saying often repeated during the rush that the canyon contained enough gold to pay off the national debt (in 1900!) reflected the buoyancy of boom times. Some of the most productive locations were Ticaboo Bar No. 2 (site 63), Good Hope Bar (site 60), Olympia Bar (site 58), California Bar (site 53), and Moqui Bar (site 51).
Not the least difficulty encountered by the miners in Glen Canyon was the matter of getting about from one place to another. The precipitous walls of the canyon and those of its deeply entrenched tributaries offered a real barrier to land travel. It is possible only in the upper miles of the canyon to travel along either bank of the river for any considerable distances. Yet wagon roads were opened to reach the banks of the river at a number of points. Lees Ferry and Dandy Crossing are natural crossings and little road building was necessary to reach them. The first track to reach Dandy Crossing from the west followed
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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
No full textJournal: Anthropological Notes, University of Utah Department of Anthropology, "Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region 1776 - 1922", Number 42, September 1959, page 51
Fig. 30. Boiler and remains of machinery at Zahn's Camp, San Juan River.
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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
No full textJournal: Anthropological Notes, University of Utah Department of Anthropology, "Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region 1776 - 1922", Number 42, September 1959, page 65RECLAMATION
Anglo-American reclamation in the Glen Canyon region began in 1855 when the short-lived Mormon colony at Moab placed some land under irrigation. And irrigation, by using the waters of adjacent creeks, was vital to the Mormon settlements which later encircled the region including Kanab, Escalante, Hanksville, Moab, Bluff, Tuba City, and Lees Ferry. Within the canyon lands, the Indians at Piute Farms, and perhaps elsewhere, have irrigated crops for an undetermined length of time. The minine populations in San Juan Canyon and Glen Canyon diverted river water and tributary streams for mining purposes and for limited farming in a few locations. Robert B. Stanton, as before noted, planned the first multiple-purpose hydroelectric project in Glen Canyon and he doubtless considered the possibility of irrigated agriculture in the canyon as an auxiliary enterprise.
The fundamental importance of irrigation to the life of the small Mormon settlements in the western portion of the Glen Canyon region was recognized by John Wesley Powell who initiated a topographical survey of the country between the north rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the base of the High Plateaus in Utah in 1871 even before the second exploratory voyage on the Colorado River was completed. Systematic mapping was begun by A. H. Thompson, who based his operations at Kanab, and it was gradually carried northward. In 1875 Powell added G. K. Gilbert and C. E. Dutton to his staff and by 1878 the survey had reached the Wyoming line and the Colorado line in northeastern Utah. During its course the notable volumes on the High Plateaus, the Henry Mountains, and the Uinta Mountains were prepared. In 1878 (second edition, 1879) Powell published his Report on the Arid Lands of the West with a More Detailed Account of the Lands of Utah containing contributions by Gilbert, Dutton, and Thompson. For his part Thompson delineated the irrigable lands in that portion of Utah drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries. These lands, like those along the Paria, Escalante, and Fremont rivers, were precisely located on the accompanying map of Utah, the first really accurate map of the state, and it was certainly the first attempt of classify its lands. Thompson, who witnessed the beginnings of some of the Mormon villages along the eastern base of the High Plateaus, may have suggested the location of others within the Glen Canyon region by means of the green patches on this map, which shown out brightly like oases in the desert.
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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
No full textJournal: Anthropological Notes, University of Utah Department of Anthropology, "Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region 1776 - 1922", Number 42, September 1959, page 82published accounts of these trips consist mainly of personal experiences, much geographical knowledge was accumulated, for he persisted in going beyond well known routes into new areas, and notes were made on archeological sites. On the 1921 expedition an unsuccessful attempt was made by Bernheimer to locate the Crossing of the Fathers (Fig. 47) and in 1922 he completely encircled Navajo Mountain. The expeditions of 1921, 1922, 1923 and a synopsis of that of 1924 are reported in his book, appropriately entitled Rainbow Bridge.
After the Powell voyages travel on the Colorado River through Glen Canyon for scientific purposes, if one excepts the Stanton surveys, does not begin again until the first decade of the twentieth century when government surveys in the interests of reclamation were initiated. The most extensive of these was the topographic survey of the river from the mouth of the Green to Lees Ferry and of the San Juan River below Chinel Wash, undertaken in the summer of 1921 by the U. S. Geological Survey and the Southern California Edison Company under the direction of C.H. Birdseye, Chief Topographic Engineer. The survey of San Juan Canyon at this time, directed by K. W. Trimble, was the first detailed examination of the San Juan River below Bluff. The map of the rivers and of the canyons published as a result of this survey has been widely used by subsequent investigators and river travelers.
Recreational use of the rivers began about the same time. The rivers, of course, were the highways for miners working in Glen and San Juan canyons during the gold rush, and for trappers who were probably the first voyagers in the canyons. The best known trapper in the Colorado canyons is Nathan Galloway. With William Richmond, Galloway in 1895 traveled from Green River, Wyoming, to Lees Ferry and in 1896 they went all the way from Green River, Wyoming, through the Grand Canyon to The Needles, arriving there in January, 1897. Galloway trapped the canyons on other occasions and recorded his name at Outlaw Cave, or Galloway Cave (site 21), a favorite camping place. He is credited with the stern-first technique in rowboat navigation in the canyons and with the "Galloway type" boat used by later river runners.
Although it was primarily a prospecting venture, the traverse of the canyons made by Charles S. Russell, E. R. Monette, and Bert Loper in 1907 may be considered one of the earliest tourist runs. Loper had been in the gold rush in San Juan Canyon and he joined
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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
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Anthropological Papers - Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region
No full textJournal: Anthropological Notes, University of Utah Department of Anthropology, "Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region 1776 - 1922", Number 42, September 1959, page 10050. Moqui Creek (Moki, Moquie, North Gulch); mouth at mile 126 River Map Sheet H and topographic map in Hunt et al. 1953 as Moki Creek, Lake Canyon quad USGS 1953 as Moqui Canyon; usage among cattlemen in San Juan County has this as North Gulch, usage during the mining boom of the 1880's and 1890's refers to the fast water below the mouth of the canyon as Aztec Rapids, suggesting Aztec Creek as another early name; camping ground on flat at mouth of canyon, right bank, date "1904" chipped in rock about 20 yards from river.
51. Moqui Bar (Moki, Moquie); mile 128-129.4 River Map Sheet H left bank, (the location as printed on River Map Sheet H mile 127.5-128 right bank and on Lake Canyon and Mt. Ellsworth quads USGS 1953 probably incorrect), topographic map Hunt et al. 1953 as Moki Bar; placer mining site since 1880's probably at north and south ends of this long bar; evidence of usage during the mining period favors this as Moqui Bar rather than the one below on the right bank; prospect pits, workings, some machinery.
52. Smith Bar; mile 129.4 - 130.3 River Map Sheet H, right bank, topographic map Hunt et al. 1953, Mt. Ellsworth quad USGS 1953; site of placer mining operations from 1880's possibly, worked as late as 1939; site of placer workings (adits) largely buried by talus and sand, old boiler at upper end of bar.
53. California Bar (Mitchel Bar); mile 130.2 - 131.5 River Map Sheets H-I, topographic map in Hunt et al. 1953, Mt. Ellsworth quad USGS 1953; long bar was the scene of extensive placer operations, particularly at the extreme north and south ends, as early as 1888, machinery installed and powered by coal brought from Henry Mountains; placer mines as high as 75 ft. above river, most extensive at southern end, remains of machinery, grave of Tu [r]ner, remains of stone cabin, corral.
54. Hansen Creek (Hanson); mouth at mile 129.95 River Map Sheet H; served as primitive road for hauling coal from Henry Mountains to power mining machinery on California Bar, opened possibly as early as 1882.
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