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Show Ma 2004 Wuation Guide JA Nine Mile Canyon, voices from the past Native American Voices from the Past Nine Mile Canyon Nine Mile Canyon is a step back in time The stories of people who lied there centuries ago grace the walls ot sheer cliffs This canyon, filled with the best pictographs and petroglyphs in the west, gives a view- of the life of ancient Native Americans This unique canyon outside of - Wellington, is an interna- tional treasure Nine Mile Canyons rock art has been featured in National Geographic and many other publications because of its beauty and intensity Over 1,000 sites have been catalogued to date Large panels of pictographs and petroglyphs can be found just a few feet from the road Travelers can wonder at the meaning of the carv ings of goats, people, calendars and Indian Gods Nine Mile Canyon is surrounded by foreboding desert mountains, cactus and brush-fille- d dunes and peaks The Native Americans, farmers, outlaws and ranchers who dared to live in this canyon have fought every ugly element known to Mother Nature Only the toughest humans that have lived amid these rocky walls have survived This untouched wilderness allows travelers to see the rock art created centuries ago in the setting that it was created The varied styles of rock art and evidence discovered by archeologists show that this canyon has been home to Native American Indians tor thousands of yeais One Bureau ot Land Man- least 1(),()(K) miles north ot Wellington and stretches 40 miles along the noithem side of the Book Clifts I he Nine Mile rest area otters toilets, picnic tables, dispersed camping and group facilities agement archeologist estimated there are at archeological sites in the canyon The College of Lastern Utah Prehistoric Museum in Price is a good place to begin ajourney through Nine Mile Canyon Advice from locals who know the area, roadside guidebooks and brochures are available there Nine Mile Canyon is a wilderness area It is advised that visitors take plenty of food and water, check weather conditions and if possible travel in two vehicles Nine Mile is an outdoor museum with Proud to be an Energy Producer for American Businesses and Families Bill Barrett Corporation 1099 Eighteenth Street, Suite 2300, Denver, Colorado Fax: Telephone: 0, icmaikable examples ot Native Ameiican rock art and remnants of dwellings The area contains the greatest concentration ot rock art in the United States The rugged, remote cany mi begins 20 80202 Ancient cultures carved in stone For thousands of yeais people have sought to live in Tastern Utah Remnants of the earliest inhabitants are studied by archaeologists in an attempt to determine how these people lived and why they left The physical remains of these vanished cultures are small, an image carved on stone, a shattered arrowhead, a broken pot, a crumbling wall, but each tells a very important part of a larger story Eastern Utah was home to tour distinct prehistoric cultures The earliest, the Paleoindian Cultuie followed the animal herds and hunted near mammoths, saber tooth cats and other large game After the Ice Age ended, the Desert Archaic Culture returned to a hunting and gathering way ot life They tiaveled in small bands and were the first ones to leave evidence of their lives in rock art Later the Trentont Culture dominated Utah L iv mg in permanent v illages and farming, the F remont left behind many clues to their way ot life f inally, the Ute Culture, a group that still resides in Utah, introduced tepees and migrated with the bullalo to find food for their families Today, archaeologists spend their summers looking for the evidence ot the past in Eastern Utah A past as rich as the fertile farmland and abundant game that diew these ancient people here |