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Show RAINBOW BRIDGE LOOKS FOR NEW LEASE ON LIFE (Editor's Note: This is another an-other in a series of "See Utah" articles designed to better acquaint ac-quaint Utahns with their home state. The articles have been prepared by the Utah Tourist and Publicity Council. Each week a different sector of the state will be featured.) Rainbow Bridge, one of the world's most amazing natural wonders, is going to get a new lease on life. Rainbow Bridge National Monument was established in 1910 but it is so remote and isolated iso-lated that only a handful of persons have seen this world's largest and most beautifully-formed beautifully-formed natural bridge. But now with tha, waters of Lake Powell backing up behind Glen Canyon Dam, in a year or two visitors will be able to get to the bridge with relative ease. Rainbow Bridge National Monument is this week's "Tour of the Week" presented by the Utah Tourist and Publicity Council. The tours have been planned to better acquaint Utahns with the wonders of the Beehive State, according to D. James Cannon, Council Director. Di-rector. Rainbow Bridge stands in the semi-desert country of southeastern Utah in San Juan County. It is one of the most remote and inaccessiDie areas in the United States. Not only doesn't it lure visitors vis-itors compared with other national na-tional monuments ,but so rugged rug-ged is the surrounding Rainbow Rain-bow Plateau that few of the Navajo and Piute Indians who live nearby have ever seen ine bridge. '; The bridge nestles among canyons carved by streams that wind their way from the northern north-ern side of Navajo Mountain toward the Colorado River. It spans Rainbow Bridge Canyon and the tiny streamlet in its bottom. Rainbow Bridge is greater than any other natural bridge in size, in color, and in its almost al-most perfect symmetry. With a 278-foot span, the bridge gracefully grace-fully arches to a height of 309 feet large enough to straddle the Capitol Building in Washington, Wash-ington, D.C. At the top the bridge is thicker than a three-story building build-ing (42 feet) and it is wide enough (33 feet) to accommodate accommo-date the average highway. In 1909, John Wetherill, Dean Byron Cummings and W. B. Douglas were the first white men to view Rainbow Bridge. The great natural wonder is an example of the effect of stream erosion. One geologic explanation is that the arch vas formed through the penetration pene-tration by the stream of the neck of an entrenched meander mean-der oxbow. Many boaters have visited the great red onage Dy mmis six miles up Forbidden (Aztec Creek) and Rainbow Bridge Canyons from the Colorado River. An alternate approach is by land from Navajo Mountain which is reached by unpaved roads leading from U.S. 89 in Arizona or Slate 47 in Utah. The overland trip by horse or mule is 14 miles each way by trail, requiring at least two or three clays for the round trip. But all of this will be changed soon. The unique sandstone sand-stone wonder will be reachable by an easy walk of less than two miles from an unusual Na- Continued on Back Page visitors may lie boats while they hike to" the bridge, public restrooms, and utility systems to serve the facilities. And once the waters of the dam begin backing up early next year, Rainbow Bridge will be well on its way to its rebirth re-birth and it's about time ,too. easy walking distance of the bridge. However, the lake level will vary and dock facilities will be needed. Hence the Park Service floating float-ing installation project. Plans call for assembly and testing of the facilities on the lake shores of Wahweap, near Park Service headquarters. The structures, largely of prefabricated materials, will be towed to their final locations when the lake rises. Specifications Specifica-tions include three houseboats to house fulltime rangers and maintenance personnel, a smaller small-er houseboat for a public information in-formation center, a dock where HERE'S MORE ABOUT RAINBOW BRIDGE Continued from Page One tional Park Service floating installation. in-stallation. The Park Service project is officially defined as "Rainbow Bridge vicinity development, construction of floating facilities, facili-ties, Rainbow Bridge Development, Develop-ment, Glen Canyon Recreation Development." After the completion of Glen Canyon Dam, the waters of the reservoir will rise to " within |