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Show A NATIONAL PARK IN THE DESERTJEGION Boulder Canyon Region May Furnish New and Spectacular Spec-tacular Playground When Great Dam is Completed (By Philip Johnston) Reprinted with permission from Touring Topics, Official Publication Publi-cation of the Automobile Club of Southern California. While pioneers with Kentucky rifles, Sharps carbines and mare efficient Winchesters were wrest- ! ing from the native redman his traditional habitat, there were areas that successfully resisted the advance of the newcomers. More : deadly than winged arrows or iron- 1 tipped spears were the unnumber-; unnumber-; ed leagues of arid waste, gashed I and riven by cloudbursts, torn and convulsed by volcanic forces, and swept by devastating gales laden with sand. Today, these sections of the southwest are seldom visited, visit-ed, even by hardy "desert rats," i prospectors, and cowboys who are inured to travel in the raw. It is such a land that lies north of the Colorado river, bounded on the .' west by the Virgin river valley with its opulent fields, and on the i east by the Shivwits plateau with its forest of stately pines. Desolate, Deso-late, forbidding, sinister, it differs but little from other desert regions re-gions of the southwest; but a pe- euliar interest centers here because ! it is making its last stand against man's advance. Within a decade, ! that parched land will be wash- ed by the waters of the largest ! man-made lake in the western j hemisphere, impounded by the .' Boulder dam, the greatest structure j since Cheops. So greatly will this dam and i lake change the topographical j characteristics of the region that ! it occurred to federal officials I some time ago that there might be possibilities of developing in this area a new and different type of national park. It sounds rather fantastic fan-tastic the suggestion that here in the heart of a desolate rock-strewn rock-strewn region, might be created a national park. The words "national "na-tional park" to most readers recall re-call visions of huge forests, cool and shady canyons, rushing rivers, riv-ers, and scenic curiosities of striking strik-ing magnificence. And so they have been, in the main. But of late years increasing thousands have come to find a new beauty in the deserts of the southwest, with their distinctive' flora and fauna, their eternal and health-giving sunshine, their great buttes, scarred canyons and other geological geologi-cal phenomena. That the project is considered seriously by the department of the interior is indicated by its action in withdrawing from public entry the entire area affected. If this area 'be embraced in a national park it will adjoin the Grand canyon can-yon on the east, and extend westerly wes-terly almost to' Las Vegas. To learn more intimately of this newest of possible national parks j before the hand of man scratched j Its surface with excavations for resorts, pumping ; establishments for water, edifices for housing I the boats that will float upon the j great lake, and modern highways to facilitate the passage of thousands thou-sands of motorists, the author of this article and a party made an extended trip to the region. He continues : Following a boulder-strewn water wa-ter course, the dim road for the next five miles gave us a faint idea of what we were to encounter the ensuing day in the Grand and Tassie washes. The sun had set when we reached Gold Butte, a one-time mining camp that long ago fell upon evil days. The single remaining building was a ramshackle ram-shackle structure with a peaked roof and ancient windows. The door was open and a few scrawny chickens were the only signs that the place was inhabited. Scarcely had we started when we discerned a man approaching. Introducing himself as Bill Garrett, he invited us to pass the night at Gold Butte, but receiving all information informa-tion possible we pushed ahead. Emerging finally upon the broad rough floor of Grand wash we found conditions that had made progress slow to be even worse. Here, apparently, the floods had swept with greater velocity, laying bare large rocks, and rolling smaller small-er ones along the deeper channels. Accustomed to this desolate environment, en-vironment, and to the numerous obstacles to travel, the feeling grew upon us that here at last we had found a country totally unfit for human habitation, a land that would probably remain in its completely virgin state forever. The following day we filed through the tortuous course of a wash that was confined by high walls of conglomerate. Leaving the arroyo by an obscure, long abandoned aban-doned trail, we rode over a broad, level mesa to the edge of a high bluff, below which flowed the Colorado river. On three points of the compass north, south and west the gray desert, cut by deep washes and wrinkled by sere ranges rang-es stretched away to a far horizon. hori-zon. But on the east the Grand Wash cliffs, a wall of colossal proportions, pro-portions, towering into the sky, like a bastioned parapet reared as a defense for some Brobdingnagian city that lay beyond. Through a narrow crack the Colorado river emerged into a channel that was shallow, bounded on the north and south by bluffs of conglomerate. This was the lower limit of that unapproached scenic masterpiece, that riddle of the ages the Grand canyon. Here, within a few years, the greatest , transformation ever wrought by human agencies will take place. A lake more than 300 feet above the present level of the river, will wash the base of those cliffs, and tributary washes will become arms and tributaries of that great body of water. Travel to this region, then, will not necessitate nec-essitate daj'S of hard motor travel, trav-el, and miles on horseback. It will be in fast, luxurious motor, boats and steamers, bearing thousands who will come to marvel at the grandeur that few day have been privileged to behold. Pierce's Ferry was the first ferry to be established on the Colorado river, and for years was the principal prin-cipal crossing for travelers bound from Arizona to Salt Lake City, and other Utah points. Long ago it ceased to operate, and the road leading to this sector of the river was abandoned. Successive rains and cloudbursts have obliterated that read in some places, and have transformed it to a deep arroyo in others. Upon the site of the old ferry, we found a party of government surveyors who were making a hydrographic survey. Mysteries, riddles that baffle human hu-man solution, cabalistic secrets without number are locked within that colossal gorge through which flows the Colorado. A few days before our arrival, one of the party had found under the high cliffs at the mouth of the Grand canyon, a peculiar structure that had been reared by prehistoric people. It was a ring of stones, four or five feet in height, six feet in thickness, and thirty feet in outside diameter. Within the enclosure lay ashes and charcoal to a depth of several feet, indicating indi-cating that fires had burned there for many years. Grouped around this strange fire pit were the remains re-mains of seven dwellings, unlike other ancient houses of southwestern southwest-ern Indians. The significance of that mysterious community, isolated iso-lated from other centers of prehistoric pre-historic population, may some day be determined by scientists; to the lay mind it will remain one of those inexplicable features of this region. The region surrounding Pierce's Ferry was a stark wasteland; yet beyond that rimrock on the east was a forest of magnificent pines, groves of oak trees, and thickets of pinion and juniper. The distance dis-tance by airline was not more than ten miles, but to reach that locality lo-cality would require a journey of 250 miles over a circuitous route. Nevertheless the strange paradox was so intriguing that we felt an urge to trace this matter to an ultimate solution to see for ourselves our-selves the region that contrasted so sharply with this arid land. In the region surrounding the lake to be created, the attributes of the desert are particularly notable, not-able, and should the national park under consideration be there developed, it will be the first desert-type national park in the United Unit-ed States. Its chief appeal, however, how-ever, will be even more spectacular, spectacu-lar, for the dam will back up water wa-ter in a lake more than 100 miles in length and provide boating facilities fa-cilities unlike any to be found elsewhere. The arm of the reservoir reser-voir extending into the Virgin rfVer canyon will furnish lake-like boating, boat-ing, while the journey up-river into the lower reaches of the Grand canyon will furnish river boating of unexcelled character. One of the government engineers who investigated the plan and re7 ported it to be entirely feasible remarked of the 100-mile trip which will foe available: "Nearly half of this trip will be in a canyon which is probably only second, if not equal to the portion of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, lying in the Grand Canyon national park. Under the present plan it will be possible for the hundreds and thousands of tourists, whether old or young, sick or well, to enjoy the same stupendous canyon views which are now enjoyed by only the most hardy and experienced boatmen." Although virtually no roads exist ex-ist in the region at present, routes for highways are not at all difficult diffi-cult to discover. One road, it is said, can readily be built from Las Vegas to the damsite proper, prop-er, another from St. Thomas to the lake in the vicinity of Boulder canyon; another from St. Thomas to the vicinity of old Gregg's ferry; fer-ry; still another from St. Thomas to Pierce's Ferry, and finally another an-other from St. George to the mouth of the Grand Wash, near the lower end of the Grand canyon. can-yon. All these roads, leading from the north would connect with the Arrowhead Trail. The road from St. Thomas southward to Gregg's Ferry can be connected easily with a road leading northward from the National Old Trails highway, just east of Kingman, and a similar sim-ilar connection be made at Pierce's Ferry with a road leading southward south-ward and intersecting the Gregg's Ferry-Kingman road. The motorist motor-ist thereby would be given the opportunity op-portunity of visiting the Grand canyon, swinging westerly and northerly, journeying to Zion National Na-tional park, or vice versa. The next day we journeyed over the long and somewhat difficult route to Bunkerville, and thence by the Arrowhead Trail through a pass in the Beaver Dam mountains moun-tains to St. George. This picturesque pictur-esque town, located about a hundred hun-dred miles north of the Grand canyon is the outfitting point for stockmen whose herds range the sage-clad uplands that extend to the rim of the deepest of gorges. Never to be forgotten was that panorama behind us as we were leaving St. George. North of the town a lofty cliff of red sandstone sand-stone formed a vivid background for the dark green foliage of poplars that lined the streets. To the west,, an equally vivid background back-ground appeared in a jet-black lava flow, against which the snow-white Mormon temple stood out in sharp relief. Ahead were a few small ranches, where the smoke of early' morning fires curled from quaint stone chimneys; beyond, an undulating undu-lating expanse of desert clad with stunted greasewood stretched away to the base of a high' mesa, defining de-fining the southern horizon. The northern and central portions por-tions of the Shivwits plateau proved prov-ed to be a succession of wooded ridges and broad "valleys. In such a setting, the two buildings and corral that comprised Wolf Hole seemed to be oddly misplaced. The most difficult stretch of read was encountered at Poverty Hill, where a stiff grade, generously gener-ously sprinkled with loose rocks made progress exceedingly slow. Nor had the character of the country changed when, after traveling trav-eling thirty miles farther we reached reach-ed a group of ranches on the floor of a wide valley. Here were a few small fields, cleared of brush, three or four tiny houses, and well-built corrals that proclaimed stock-raising stock-raising to be the chief industry. This valley is called Parashaunt. a Piute name meaning plenty of water, though there was scarcely any water in the whole valley. Continuing on we came to Lake Flat, the best landing field in this part of Arizona. Looks like nature just made it to order. Twelve miles from here is the Grand canyon. You can ride out on a point with horses and get one of the finest views that can be had anywhere from the north rim. Here, in truth, was a fitting climax cli-max to our pilgrimage, an appropriate appro-priate finale to a story that has just begun in the abysmal gorge of the Black canyon. Days of- arduous ar-duous travel had taken us through miles of country, now almost unknown. un-known. Yet that same land, within with-in a decade, will become one of America's most treasured playgrounds. play-grounds. Here, for the first time, the wilderness in all its savage beauty, may be viewed from the comfortable deck of a boat. Here a person may climb, by bridle trail, the bold cliffs that tower above the wasteland, and find himself in the fastnesses of a virgin vir-gin forest. Or, if he prefers, he may journey from afar by airplane, air-plane, and land safely in the heart of that forest. Then, from excellent excel-lent vantage points, he can view the pinnacles, terraces, and escarpments escarp-ments of the world's deepest gorge. He can descend by a trail that leads into its depths, and voyage through its winding course on still waters between towering walls. The Boulder dam will, for the first time in our history, metamorphose metamor-phose a region that is now practically prac-tically worthless into one of scenic grandeur without parallel on this, or any other continent. And here will be a novelty in national parks a lake of fresh water in the wilderness, with a long, winding estuary that extends for miles into the Grand canyon. There will be something highly significant, even dramatic in the consummation of this, the greatest engineering project pro-ject of its kind yet to be attempted. at-tempted. It will make obsolete the thre:dbare aphorism. "You ran't improve upen Nature." |