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Show diagonally fording the stream over a shallow aandbar. The brat marker wai erected in 1938 by Dr. RuMell G. Frazier, Charles Kelly and Byron Daviei, three well-known river runnert. Presumably it will be removed before be-fore water backs up to cover up the Crossing. will be greatly offset by the creation crea-tion of a vast recreation area in the spectacular southern Utah wilderness wilder-ness a recreation area destined to be one of the most popular in western America. "Crossing of the Fathers" draws the spotlight as this week's "See Utah" subject of the Utah Tourist and Publicity Council's weekly "Know 'Your Utah" campaign. "Crossing of the Fathers played a significant part in the first chapter chap-ter of Utah's history," said D. James Jam-es Cannon, director of tSe Utah Tourist and Publicity . n cil. The first white men to penetrate tlia state were two Spanish p'iests from Santa Fe, Father Escalante and Father' Dominguez, who, with a small party of soldiers and Indians, In-dians, crossed Utah in 1776 in search of a route to California. While encamped in what later was to become Beaver County, the Franciscan explorers gave up their search and then traveled south and southeast, looking for a place to cross the steep-walled Colorado River. After many hardships and weeks of searching, Escalante's party made its way down what later was to be named Padre Creek, chipped steps out of the sandstone walls to give their horses footing and eventually even-tually crossed the Colorado on November No-vember 7, 1776, at the spot known today as "Crossing of the Fathers." The stone steps chipped by the Franciscan explorers are still visible vis-ible about a mile up Padre Creek. Tliey too will be covered by the waters of Lake Powell. A plaque at the mouth of Padre Creek commemorates the historic crossing. The Fathers actually cross ed the river a little downstream, r ' r- r -- " p " rprjMmM''-' - , , - 11V fc -? if (X. ' 'iMZ ZZ? :i The arrow in this aerial photograph of the Crossing of the Fathers shows the mouth of Padre Creek where a brass plaque was placed in 1938 to commemorate the historic fording of the Colorado River by the first white men in Utah. Actual crossing took place downstream at the ben in the river over a shallow sandbar. , CROSSING OF THE FATHERS ; TO LIVE IN UTAHNS' HEARTS tunnels at Clen Canyon Dam and begin storing water in massive Lake Powell, soon to be the largest fresh water lake in Utah and one of the largest man-made bodies of water in the world. Water backing up behind the dam will soon cover up the historic ford where the first white men on Utah soil crossed the Colorado River Riv-er in 1776 on their way back to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Loss of the "Crossing," however The famoirs "Crossing of the Fathers" on the Colorado River in Kane County will be consigned to a watery grave early in 1963 but Utahns will cheer rather than mourn its demise. Engineers from the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation will close diversion |