Show fragile landscape arch in the arches national monument ment area grand county i j 4 W PA I 1 oll f 1 al 4 t al 1 we made the trip to this spot by pack train and saddle horses the packer of the tram train said when this thin arch came into view if a horse fly lit on that thing it would bust it down and no seemingly truer statement could be made k for or it has a span of the enormous width of feet and the slender arch is feet in the clear from the ground to its highest throw so far as is know this arch has the widest span of any others in utah and its thinness may be seen by comparing the width of the shadow cast below it against the height of that stunted tree in the center arising just on the edge of the shadow it looks fragile so slender a shaft of rock connects abutment to abutment that it seems imps sible the arch can hold together notice a crack beginning in the arch from near the left abutment to beyond the center who can predict in how many or in how few years that crack will weaken the arch in the most vulnerable spot and with a resounding crash down may it come comee this interesting object was call ed landscape arch because it has the appearance of a big span under which on a theatre drop a landscape of trees shrubs and rocks had been painted the som ber greens of the cedars inter with reddish salmon col ored sandstone rocks fallen off the arch in times past the shadow of the arch thrown by the sun from abutment to abutment the sky seen between the arch and the tops of the rock mass in the back ground all this adds up to sim ul ted artificiality a pointed painted landscape the photo was taken in 1934 when the writer was in moab for three months as direct director or of a small archeological party in the arches national monument area A pau city of indian evidences and in from higher authorities in the project to limit all acrivi ties strictly to the arches area only and not overstep its bound anes aries resulted that the project was diverted into photographing scenic values for the development of the area as a tourist attraction the pack train outfit left our camp in the early morning and slowly proceeded across salt val ley and up the slopes of the dev il ils q garden area we had to twist and wind around crags and bluffs picking out a route to the north side or back of the bluffs of rock on the top and there we found several arches some very short others larger some in the process of making continuing we finally saw this arch in the dis tance the packer rode up into it and the rest of the party temper airily scattered for advantageous positions later they all assembled under the arch and back of it the bluff at the back is the top of the ridge of the devil devils s garden that is we were practically on the top of the mountain no water but excellent feed for the animals of course in that high part of the mountains there were no springs the packer rode off to one side on the trail as we went up disappeared behind a wall of rock and came back grinning saying water in that pot hole if we need it I 1 stumbled onto that by wat ching cattle trail in and out some ears ago when I 1 rade range here so we can acome t come to grief for lack of water that pot hole was a bout two miles from the arch but as it was in december that we took to trip our party got along nice ly IY on the water bags slung onto the packs on the animals so did not have to visit the pot hole sup ply on almost every spur of the bluffs a bridge of some sort was found there were many of them one was only about 20 feet span but very massive another was not wholly cut through yet requiring additional time for erosion to bite out the slight amount of material the removal of which would let daylight under the arch arches were abundant the rock walls were thin slabs of sandstone set on edge rising vertically hence each slab was split apart from its neighbor and spans were easily made in these thin slabs so far as the packer knew and he was a cattle man there were no springs in the area stock could get water only from pot holes and when these dried the stock must go elsewhere the whole area is extremely and when the arches national mon ament was first set aside for the public it did not embrace the devil ils s garden area nor klondike bluffs those were added later one very striking sight appears on the eastern tip of the th e devils devil s garden where the thin slabs or ot stone weathered into jagged pieces serrated saw toothed sharp mas ses this is called hells corner northeast of the devils devil s garden is the yellow cat mining district where dinosaur bones were abend ant |