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Show Utah 's Contribution to A merica 's Curiosity Shop rKEN the late Fisher Harris sprung his celebrated slogan: "See JL Europe if you will ; but see America first," he had evidently measured in his mind's eye the matchless contribution that Utah could make to the sum total of the wonderful attractions of the western world attractions that hold even the most seasoned globe-trotter spell bound as he comes face to face with these great natural exhibits and contemplates the fanciful whims of old Mother Nature in the light of her own freakish handiwork. But man is mortal, and it is not given to him to picture on canvas or in story the marvelous panorama that might be possible of execution, could the human mind comprehend compre-hend the wonders abounding in this region. As it is, the prospect simply challenges the imagination and beggars all description. Utah has much to offer the stranger and traveller in the way of artificial accomplishments. The hand of man has made a wonderful impression on the face of the country. The waters have been harnessed, har-nessed, the barren soil has been reclaimed and the desert has been made the abode of a prosperous and contented people. The mountains moun-tains have been disembowled and the earth has yielded up countless treasure to enhance the wealth of the world. Wonderful buildings p, have been raised skyward mighty monuments to religious, educa tional and civic ideals and industry has written a record that marks substantial progress and some of the most unique undertakings in the whole scope of human endeavor. But this story has to do particularly with the handiwork of God and his eternal agencies as it is revealed in all its pristine grandeur in this great state of ours. The Great Salt Lake and the Great American Desert are best known of all the natural exhibits that go to make up Utah's wonderland and they, in themselves, offer sufficient attraction to draw the stranger to this region and stir his soul with tremendous tre-mendous impressions. Wo pass them by, however, with the simple statement state-ment that the time will come when they will be known as the least interesting in-teresting of all Utah's natural attractions. attrac-tions. It may startle many of the natives to learn that over in the Uintah basin has been located one of the most remarkable fossil quarries known in the whole field of science. This great natural sarcophagus containing the well defined remains of prehistoric monsters is situated near the hamlet of Jensen, some dozen miles from Vernal. The quarry was discovered by archaeologists representing the Carnegie Car-negie institute of Pittsburg and Philadelphia Phil-adelphia several years ago. Active excavation ex-cavation work has been progressing for some few years and the research expedition has already expended over $25,000 in their efforts to uncover the remarkable fossils. This quarry lies near the gorge where the Green river breaks through the range of mountains forming the eastern boundary of the Uintah basin and may easily be reached by automobile. automo-bile. The fossils so far discovered belong be-long to the Bonasaur and Dinosaur family of reptiles which inhabited the waters covering this section of the earth ages upon ages before the advent ad-vent of man. Tho first skeleton removed re-moved from the quarry measured 85 feet in length and at the time of discovery dis-covery was said to be the largest skeleton skel-eton in existence. Its parts were shipped east where it has since been its discovery astounded the scientific world. The work of uncovering and assembling this skeleton is now proceeding pro-ceeding rapidly and is in charge of Professor Earl Douglas, a noted archaeologist. arch-aeologist. No man knows what rare specimens are yet to be found in this remarkable remark-able quarry but the contributions it has already made to archaeology mark it as one of the scientific wonders of tho world. Of equal importance in the field of research, but of a decidedly different order, are the well defined ruins of the cliff dwellers in the extreme southeastern south-eastern section of the state. Tho character of this country is exactly opposite to that found in the Uintah basin. It is barren of vegetation the rabbit brush, greasewood and mesquite being tho only remnants of plant life to eke out an existence. Rock is everywhere of sandstone variety and many of the cliffs have been carved into balance rocks, towers, temples, domes and other most fantastic fantas-tic shapes. These cliffs present a LITTLE ZION VALLEY ANGEL'S LANDING IN THE DISTANCE. assembled and mounted. Recently another an-other and much larger fossil of tho same species was discovered. It is said to have a length of 135 feet and veritable riot of colors by reason of the variety of shades in their stratification. strati-fication. The San Juan river, rising to the oast in Colorado and flowing almost t! duo west to empty in tho Colorado 1 river, has cut its way deep into the ' sandstone. A canyon gorge or chasm H has resulted which, though smaller in proportions, is characteristic of and iPI compares favorably with tho Grand f Canyon of the Colorado. This river r' continues to cut its way into the rock liil so rapidly that the water is heavily H weighted with mud so much so in lH fact, that even dogs cannot swim the Sl stream, and have to bo towed by ropes lH when fording parties negotiate the IH treacherous river. Bl Where the San Jua and tho Colo- 11 rado rivers meet, their confluence SH forms an almost perfect arrowhead. 11 This name has been given to the area Sl defined by these waters. Here is to 31 be found a forest of petrified trees Sl and not far to the northeast are the 91 ruins of the cliff dwellers a people Ml whom archaeologists relate lived and 91 thrived in this barren region long be- 1 fore the white man's age. Due to tho 1 Indefatigiblo work of Professor Byron 91 Cummings, for year's in charge of re- 91 search work at tho University of Utah, 91 much excavation and exploration work ral has been done amidst these marvelous Sl ruins. Through his labors many addi- sl tions have been made to the world's 91 fund of knowledge. Mummies, corn, fll beans, squash seed, cloth, pottery, 91 weapons and many other interesting 91 relics have been brought to light from 99 these various excavations. These 199 ruins have been scarcely scratched as H9 yet but enough information has been l9 gleaned to lead us to believe that the . if 9 prehistoric peoples who once inhabited this region were civilized after a M fashion and had high ideals of life m M and community obligations. S M It would be most interesting to dis- K'l cuss the wonderful legends and tradi- I'l tions that have to do with these m M strange inhabitants of early Utah, but it M space will not permit. Suffice it to I M say that some day this particular re- J M gion will become the mecca for count- I M less numbers of tourists who will come i M to see with their own eyes what the $j M pen and the tongue ctin so inadequate- 1 H ly describe. W M In this section of tho state, a hun- i jfl dred miles or so northwest of tho I M town of Bluff, is a white box canyon. I H Here are found tho most massive and H picturesque natural bridges in all the fl world. Among these are numbered the j H great Aaigusta, the Edwin, the Caroline H and the Nonegoshya. These mighty - M natural monuments have already been H reproduced on canvas by the celebrat- M ed Utah artist, tho late II. A. L. Cul- H mor. The United States government H has also taken stops to perpetuate H this wonderful region 'by designating H it as a national park. H To tho south of the San Juan river I H lies Monument Valley. Here the ero- !T B sion of the ages in the native sand- H stones surpasses oven tho wildest nH stretches of the imagination. Nature H has fairly outdone herself in the carv- H (Continued on Page 37.) ifi i'tfl UTAITS CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICA'S GURIOSITY SHOP i (Continued from Pago 7.) ' ing of the fantastic figures that adorn this far away garden of the gods i . Zane Grey has undertaken to describe this regipn in his 'pen picture of tho "Painted Desert," but his attempt, estimable es-timable though it is, is only another instance of the futility of trying to paint the lily. Across tho mountains to the west of the region of tho cliff dwellers and the natural monuments lies the great Kiahab plateau. This great stretch of upland reaches clear from southern Utah to the brink of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Hero indeed is a forest primeval a vast area of big timber inhabited by big game and as yet untouched by the ravaging hand of man. The majesty of this woodland and the mighty silences it holds are impressive beyond expression. So much has been said of the incomparable in-comparable grandeur of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado that it is unnecessary un-necessary to attempt a further description de-scription of the sensational spectacle which it affords. It is to be remembered, remem-bered, however, that Utah claims a I fair share of its matchless assets, in that it furnishes it a right of way for a long distance and affords the rarest viewpoints to be found on either side of the rim of the great gorge. Arizona has seemed to enjoy a monopoly of this wonder of wonders, due to the ready means of access afforded to the visitor; but the time is not far distant dis-tant when Utah will take advantage of the opportunity which lies before her and open up a passable way to the Grand Canyon. Then she may rightfully lay claim to this asset which has so long remained neglected. West of the Kiabab in the far-famed St. George country Utah's Dixie lies the new national park, Little Zion Valley. Val-ley. The Rio Virgin river sweeps through this picturesque region and has cut a gorge that in certain places rivals the Grand Canyon. At one point the river occupies the full width of the canyon while the walls form a sheer precipice towering upwards to a height of three thousand feet. The tops are heavily wooded and the natives na-tives make a practice of felling the trees and lowering the logs by means of steel cables to the river below, whence they float to the saw mills at the mouth of the canyon. This region has been opened to tourists this year I and is already attracting tourists, due to the ready means of access now afforded. af-forded. To the north of the Little Zion valley, val-ley, a considerable distance, is to be found the San Rafael swell, one of the far-famed geological freaks. The contour of this region suggests a circle cir-cle of mountain peaks all leaning towards to-wards a common center. Geologists account for this extraordinary condition condi-tion in the following manner: while tho earth's crust at this point was still in a molten condition, the gases underneath un-derneath gathered in such force as to force tho entire center of this great expanse of country upwards in the I form of a bubble. Then, when the earth began to cool the bubble burst, leaving the mountains all leaning toward to-ward the center, in such a manner as to cause the peaks to resemble the teeth of a saw. The San Rafael river has cut its way through the northern part of this strange formation, digging its way deeply through the soft sandstone. sand-stone. At one place it has reached a depth of three hundred feet and at this point a cedar log bridge sixteen feet in length swings over the yawning chasm. The region abounds in freakish freak-ish sandstone carvings similar to those already mentioned in other fields. This completes the circle of Utah's wonderful natural curiosity shop. It has only been told in running fashion, whereas a detailed description of these marvelous attractions would fill volumes. Some day the tourists will turn in this direction in hordes and when they come to view with their own eyes the inimitable handiwork that God has set about us, they will not be disappointed. And as they wander from one point of interest to another they will encounter many interesting in-teresting experiences along the way; for this story would not be complete without reminding the reader that here in this matchless Utah climate one may roll snowballs under the heat of the summer's sun and pick roses out in tho open air in the dead of winter |