| Show STILL WORKING FOR THE RIVER john otto custodian of the colorado national monument near grand junction is still working for the designation of a road direct from grand junction to moab by way of glade park and dewey eliminating the desert road from thompsons Thomp sons to the state line he has written a cettei to henry H blood chairman of the utah state road commission advocating the road which he calls the union trail his letter to mn blood which is self explanatory follows hon henry H blood chaffman utah highway commission salt lake city utah my dear sir we are founding forming the colorado river basin chamber ot commerce with grand junction as the basin city one of the first things we would like to do is to file an injunction to prevent if possible the expenditure of federal funds on the P P 0 10 line of highway across the utah desert between thompsons Thomp sons and state line j we claim that it would be by fa to the best interest of Colorado aud utah of mesa county and grand county and the federal government i as well to center all activity on the construction of the colorado river highway for short the union trail and thereby directly link the two centers of population grand june tion and the grand valley in colo rado and the baab valley in grand county utah some eight or ten years ago lh utah legislature designated the nv er road a state highway the grand junction chamber of commerce that time aided grand county offic bals in that move but since then the traveling agent of the P P 0 0 paint on poles highway talked you people into sticking with the line hiross the desert so today a whole flock of wooden bridges are ordered to be constructed i across the desert washes truly i enough for temporary gain but real ly sadly to say for permanent loss 1 the which rush down from the book cliff range in cloudburst season are fierce and these wooden bridges and trestles just come and go As an example for one we invite you to get the story of the hunter bridge here in the valley in one season but out the next very deep excavations had to be made for the foundations of the new steel structure which was set in place athis list season I 1 its the same nature of country al the way through from mack in colorado to Thom pons adobe banks and nothing solid besides that it is a country anere nobody lives and no dogs bark at strangers and not a single spring fhe lire cf the union trail is j i as different from it as day is from night one bridge high and dry and set firm across the rio dolores is just the one main bridge item between the two county seats it is un mistakably the natural line for the grand highway into utah and there are settlements all along it soon the colorado river highway into scenic wonderland will bamona the country over and you at the bead of the utah depart ment of highways should alar an important part in the designation of it as one of tn primary east and west interstate highways of the united states and all in your power to bring about the speedy construction st of fhe same and most certainly and truly we want to have it so that people can travel in fin fashion from moab to green river ance provo and salt eaks city both counties both states and th government in that way will be well served we are sending a copy of this protest to our highway senator in washington that he may take it up with the chief of the bureau and secretary jardine yours very truly JOHN OTTO Trail builder promoter |
