Show I I THE 1 SAN BAN RAFAEL SWELL A NEW WONDERLAND By H a L A Culmer L RICH IN SCENIC AND MATERIAL POSSIBILITIeS I I I Sheep bridget bridge r fP 7 i i V Q t 4 9 rr 3 A Ac R c I Ik i w t a k 1 ale alej j 4 I M 3 ry t n I Sheep bridge dam site for f or Mexican Bend reservoir ate at d has hag ha ev ea en 11 f r the wonders of or the S San tn r ll Ua a peculiar region that jr JV rP a t rable area in Wayne ayne i j i counties in this th state Al it its northern ramparts are plain i w ip iet from th the trains of the Den 1 Rio Frio f i Grande railway rall as tI they ap oa oah h n Green River station and where h hey err art pointed out to tourists as u the nt Oty sity It no attempt has hAa h s hitherto u I ewer r n made mad to impress the public with s gr great at scenic features Yet Tet they t are area rr a character so h Imposing and ex inary that in any ether state if T y would be b exploited plotted far and t HI wide bringing thousands th to see them theta from frome e rory r ry land and adding t th the fame of i Ita tail 1 a one of the greatest greatt scenic s ut atAs s in the Union i the natural bridge country in inan Inan inan an Juan county they are easy r of ac Three hours drive in to a buggy buRy buRyi i r oel 1 stretches will wilt bring brin you al iii alt aIl l 51 t to th the entrance gate te but there i arP rp rivers to ford and bad roads to tc e from that time onward How Howe Howa e M a few thousand dollars doIrs spent on em emad rad ad and bridges wW would carry th the ther I r cehr tr r easily and safely tel into the tM heart hart near of this we and from there thre horse trails in every egery direction 1 muM take him into a world of mys ms ri ry and delight deli ht l I To Tn appreciate them fully tully he lie should a e n eastern pilgrim who he has already t the greatest scenic aoe lc splendors a from th the rear of a Pull Pullan in an n ard and has bas written home about the lit of f the Gods Mother will then t i another letter coming What the Swell Is 0 v Enfant Swell Sell ia is a volcano that Happened To Io the east in full tun tunI fulla I a dr tr r the lofty eruptive cones ernes of e Lt gal al mountains and to the too south i ow Henry HenryL L run are visible Tn Tr P are arc the remain of volcanoes 1 a arrived piling their fiery fter t it nt t over ever 11 feet high They r i their mir work in an unusual man nian J iut jl different to the effete meth 1 f tu old countries due probably It tre unusual conditions that con cont t Thorn hem Geologists t call it the f h origin ori in Stripped of or technical rn it t s something like Jike this thit A large J art y of rf molten rock far tar down in Inic ini oo ic i o t tit II h of the earth feeling a de det deo t o merge emerge into the outer world worlds s hove shove upward naturally ex that the crust of or the earth rack as all it does elsewhere and andr h r tuff come out Nothing doing fire had made its US way WR rn r z about bout half of the worlds shell shelli i t was stopped by the upper r of or the r Devonian epoch and andi andr i r ones lInes of the carboniferous s ss Sf se liege s in m turn were eid down by b bp p f n nian ian a n and the ponderous I r i j Jurassic Jura sic layers of sandstone 9 h dl much of eastern ea tern Utah is 18 1 r They The refused to break but buti buta i Kt a t resist r the upward thrust 1 lIte forced itself 1 between the th rata irua t in great quantities bull bulli i I Tm ii It the he t surface of the earth still r tilting the sandstone sand one layers up toward the center tenter of the mound i t up l a c being bein made mad Finally after alter i c r the th strata thousands tho of feet the ther thet a take t r I kr I through and ad In m eases like 0 f t the th La is Sal and the Navajo I poured out Its ile floM sal Jal al manner i Say Sai Sa Rafael Rarael Arrive c were Just about to burst out outi i HV on the San Rafael Swell j Jt IP laccolite went out of nC Da buM I Ic L c that this particular hell boll on oa UM the the earth never ne broke nOke But BOt Buti BOtt i t fd td strata are there Jo loaf Jt t th thid the theT T id a thin line Itne Ito of M lava Java barely h 1 in III u a neighboring valley gives r rth i evidence i nce of i what bat t nearly hap ha har r r i geological way there are other 1 J i J matures in eastern Utah r instance Green GreeR river winds wind r 1 n 11 low 16 lands r JO ji jiing i t y ing at an altitude attitude of about r 1 aud Id d entering Utah Ubah butts butt into th b the great range rane ay through narrow gorges r I Kp p to make its way south ward ar Then lh er In Is I Ih Ier I no other ther pass pasa avros this t h IS range lover than feet while Green Oreen river It If dammed by the rill In tahl could have flowed into the great basin without rising over 6 feet Similarly SimIlar the San Rafael river butts butte into i to the great cliffs cUrts on the west flank of the he Swell and gashes through its nigh high 1 g mesas when It would be much easier to have traversed a lower and smoother country around it Rivers Rivera Antedate Mountains Major aJor Powell was as the first to this thUi problem He decided d ded that tits rivers were older okler than the mountains through which they had carved their courses coUnteS as aa rapidly as the ranges ran Es were wert uplifted in no other way can ran the queer conduct of the San Rafael ann ana other rivers rIven of the plateau region to b br explained The San Rafael is a tributary of the Green and has its origin in the th Wa Va Wasatch sateh satch plateau which rises to its it t great eat e t height of ot 1 feet f t between en Sans Sai pete and Castle valleys alle It has two Hood flood seasons one in the spring from melting snows snow the other in August from cloudbursts It has a apa ity to irrigate acres acle of land and tl n beautiful stretches of oC fertile country of that extent and more now lie lit shim shimmering shimmering mering in the hot sun Iun between the swell and Green river but every drop of oC the bounteous flood Hood of or the San fan Rafael runs unchecked to the ocean Will Utilize Water To remedy this woeful waste wa tt a strong reclamation company has been formed with well known Salt Lake people at Its head heed It Its is called the Green River Valley Land Water Yater company They propose to furnish ir irrigating water to four tine line valleys Antelope Coquina Dry I Lake ke and the main valley valle of ot the San Rafael by con constructing constructing constructing a dam to hold hokl the river within the swell thus forming thE Mexican Bend reservoir then tunnel tunnelling ling Hug Un a water way through the cliffs to toa toa a system of canals cana I that will lead and ani traverse the rich valleys v named This i the most extensive exten ve reclamation reclamation reclamation tion project yet attempted in the state and will Involve evolve the employment of many and the expenditure of much money mODe for several years But the outcome will be a large increase in inthe inthe inthe the taxable property of the state Mate the furnishing of or farms and orchards to settlers a prosperous com community community in fact where now no Don Uon can be discovered d as 8 far across acro those plains as u the eye can see It will all come about 8 lt in a very ven few fe years yean Just as it has H done In Grand Junction and the Uncompahgre valley Colorado in several parts of or Idaho and elsewhere Hitherto Utah has not kept pace with ith modern reclamation develop developments development developments ments ment but here at least Is one that will rank with the greatest of or any an for forthe forthe forthe the ultimate conceptions of this com company company company pany Involve the irrigation of or over oer half hah halfa a million acres acre The rhe soil of ot this land Jand is rich and anel deep deel enough h I took photographs where it had been cut Into gullies showing the alluvium to be at least lea fourteen f fin feet feel In depth How Ho gladly such ground will 1 m respond to the husbandman hu bandman when wa water water ter tel is turned upon It every settler m la lathe Inthe the valleys of Utah Knows I A Great Arable Tract There is ia very ry J little rain or 01 snowfall snowfalls over tbs tb district whose area are is 18 s at l least twenty by sixty miles stretching from the Denver Rio Itlo Grande rail railway way which runs through through the northern part of the tract southward south wan to Fre Fremont moot mont river rive of or Pres President PresIdent But to t the experienced eye I ident W D Candland of r the state front e land board who has just returned from a careful l revIEw of or Ute the tract It prom promises most lIeS to be loo one of the most attractive e I districts in the state when the water projects under way are completed 1 I was at Mexican ledean bend end of t the he San Rafael on OR April 2071 when snows and ann andI I killing frosts fr e did a million dollars dol ian are worth of damage to the theof fruit interests Interest lof of the state but there was no snowfall snowfall there and a d no storm except a rather br I chilly wind No harm was done a by b bi y i frost rost to the young youn orchards around Green River I found on Inquiry that car carno no bearing beaming orchards orchard at t that place car carbe be bought bought for less than 1800 per acre Incidentally tali I found that I could than not not buy baled lucern hay for less leas than 85 per ton toe Also Alo that peaches last year far per of oer over 1 t brought the fancy fanT fan y price bux box m in in car ir ar l It lots t With trees t t th acre and an average yield y of or seven j boxes to o the tree It is no wonder that thai I I II II x 8 I 1 I a k I II II I II I I II I t I aK I tt ro roe ron i I I Ii II II II e n t i 1 I A h i V VS j I ac e ef I S f I c o a hundred gigantic I President Candland examining the rock for the dam i I 5 a t tA w wS A x yA S 3 9 C r k q Fertile soil fourteen feet deep j i I fruit lands thereabout aro are in demand r I was shown young oung poach trees in blossom that were were only planted eleven months ago In the near future as tho the result of ofIr Sir Mr Ir visit a acres res ol or orthis this land will bo be withdrawn from entry and shortly after will be offered to th the I public under the tho provisions of or th the Carey Garey act Including ample water rights at a reasonable price to be he set by the state I have described in a general way the geological features of the San Rafael Swell SwU and the beneficent influence its Ill river is destined to have bave on the agri agricultural agricultural cultural development of oC the state sta e but those are not the features that I went there to see Recesses of the Mountains For years I have bave heard stories storie of its rocky rock fastnesses and of the strange stran e forms taken by the cliffs that hem it itIn itIn itin In on every side sWe The tales were dim dimand dimand dimand and shadowy some of them incredible for tor very ven few had penetrated Its re recesses recesses recesses Xo No doubt there are many can canyons canyons canyons and gorges within its boundaries that have never been explored by white men and evidences of Indian occupation occupation occupation tion are strangely absent There seem eem to be no cliff dwellings nor hieroglyphic writings although It is the kind of country in which such things are usual usually ly found The first wagon wheel tracks were made on the SUI of last January and the men who took the outfit in are I swearing about it yet What the horses i isaid said has escaped es aped Three men were com compelled 1 to ride outriggers yet the wagon waOn rolled upside e down Some improvements have hav since been made on the road There are tales of murder and out rege galore Xo No 0 safer retreat could be I imagined than these dark gorges many of which contain con ain good springs and I eaves caes while deer are within easy reach I ot or the hunt x I Mexican Who Went to Death Mexican Bend is so O named Because a j Mexican If xi an dared to some thieve who had stolen his cattle cuttle down in Old Mexico I xico and although they the disposed of ofa ofa ofa a number humber of them at the settlements on their tb lr way up they the still had a goodly hunch buoch when they the reached readied San Rafael The pursuer told a rancher in the outer valley that he was on their trail and would get them yet You wont get them fellows up in inthe Inthe inthe the Swell said sahl the rancher They will have every advantage e of you in inthe Inthe Inthe the world This is ip just the place for you to turn back and not roller foller them theman any an further Ive tracked em all the way from OW Oki Mexico was the reply re y and Sand Ill foller rem em to h hll hil 11 before I turn hack back That was the last of or the Mexican He was murdered at the bend in the river but was not burled buried until some years later by b other parties s Within half halt a mile of or the bend is it the mouth of or Walker canyon canon so named be because because because cause it was there that an outlaw named Walker shot slot Sheriff Sherif Tuttle a afew afew afew few years ago There is a delicious spring close clo e to the entrance E of the can canyon canon canyon yon on near which Walker hid with his horse concealed among the rocks behind him The sheriff was killed at the first shot and Walker Valker fled northward to the Book mountains where he and three companions were killed by b a posse po ie in pursuit And EO so it goes on The history of the place is written in blood with the names of Butch Cassidy and other des desperadoes desperadoes desperadoes in respectable sized letters Trail Full of Peril eril There is but one way war into the San Rafael Swell from the eastern side and that is 18 by way wa of or Black Dragon can canyon canOn canyon yon On As to going up San Rafael can canyon canon canyon yon on that is considered quite an achieve achievement achievement achievement ment on foot root or horseback ho eback at the lowest stage of the stream It involves leaping leap leaping leapIng ing your our horse from rocky ledges into deep water and many man a quick over down in the dark boxes of the canyon The trip is said to con contain contain contain tain more thrills to the mile than any other trail in the universe At it is impossible But Black Dragon canyon is superb It carries no stream and for distances its ib gravelly bottom is as pleasant pleasent to travel upon as the shingle on the ocean beach bt Its It magnificent and unbroken walls nearly 10 ioe lOM feet in height bulge over the pathway sometimes with an over overhang overhang hang of a hundred feet Ferns and clinging vines hang han from the crevices It is cool and shadowy shadow in the depths every football echoes with a spacious sound For a mile or more you wind through this cranny in the mountain and then emerge to the interior of the Swell your our course now surrounded by towers and columns of o Triassic rocks They rise In massive massie cliffs in spires and minarets in jagged teeth in domes and cornices They are of or a rich orange and brown bro R and harmonize har bar harmonize monize splendidly with the Indian Ind lm red and maroon of the Permian series on which they rest In its own unique i way Black Dragon canyon canon is IB as line as any scenic feature in the state In the Fastnesses Once within the ramparts the travelers trav travelers travelers elers usual aim is to again reach the river elver for the water question mu must mUll l never be forgotten in these theat wilds wild But Bat tM tIMi path of the UM dragon d on is now beset bese II pitfalls and rocky steppe steeps IT w WS leave iye it to skirt along the bus baas fI f a great cliffs elm hugging the walks walk eia ly I to escape abysses that reach t almost ut bit their feet Some spectacular I tics are now required by both bores ban sad rider but unless they end f fatally ass I generally reach the river where whee a aford Mep I ford offers offen |