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Show THE ZEPHYRAPRIL 1991 I entered on duty at Arches In August of 1956. Ed had been hired early that summer. I replaced Robert Morris and I never loaned Ed one of service shirts. my park Couldn't have, as I didn't have that many of those expensive, paid for by myself, National Park Service uniform shirts by Frechhelmer. The final paragraphs In Desert Solitaire Indicate that Morris took him to the train at Thompson. Contrived, for Morris wasn't at Arches the end of the summer of 1957, was. Besides, Ed had a car, a wife and a child to move, but It did make a good ending for a good book. The summer of 1957 must have been too traumatic for Ed for It was his last Other than the search for the dead man, he suffered the Indignation of start the of the road seeing building Into Arches. His peace and tranquility were Interrupted by rescuing a man with a broken hip not a week after the search for the dead man. Several other Incidents must have convinced Ed that Arches was too civilized and accident-profor his lifestyle. As he wrote the Introduction to the first edition of Desert Solitaire. Ed apparently was not aware of how much Input the superintendent In the small National Park Service areas had In the 1950s and 60s In the Master Plan. Superintendents, like Bates, had the time and the Interest In exploring the areas they administered and becoming Intimately acquainted with every hill and canyon and problem that might occur. Consequently, they wrote the Master Plan based on a few vague constrictions set by Washington and the regional office. When planners were Involved, they not only wrote the Master Plan, but stirred up enough local and state support to get the money to carry It out PAGE 19 57 North Main Moab, Utah 84532 1 ne home of: Wine & Beer Home Brew Supplies & Equipment for Moab O Edward Abbey, 1988. By the time of the publishing of the latest edition of Desert Solitaire. Ed must have wised up to the fact that Bates and I, and others before us, had actually done the planning for the roads and developments he so hated and objected to. He eliminated the Introduction which was so kindly towards the "working rangers In the field" and substituted a preface In which he further decried the "Industrial tourism," told the history of the writing of the book remarks. and made a lot of Ed was a good ranger. He did pick up the garbage, clean outhouses, patrol the roads picking up trash and talked to tourists In his own Inimitable manner. We never had a complaint from the visitors on him. He did show up the second summer with a beard, but cut It off, perhaps because Bates asked him. I had told Bates there was nothing against beards In the regulations. He was blackballed by the regional office In a subtle manner the next spring when they Issued a directive that anyone thinking of hiring Ed, should contact them first He must have olned some suspect organization (Sierra Club?) In those days of self-explanat- ory Senator McCarthy and his communist-hatin- g paranoia. monuments In those days. Everyone did In small the There were no specialists out a pit toilet today, or a ranger, or even an the basics. Ever see a superintendent clean administrative type? Nowayl Those were marvelous carefree days In the 1950s, but It would have been to have kept It all to ourselves. There were and are other presumptuous and bitter-heartalmost no less spectacular places to enjoy that were not developed or on the tourist-orientare. Lots maps. People need parks else we all get a little crazier than we already of rangers, Ed Included, felt like the park area they worked In was theirs alone and that the tourists who visited them were a public nuisance. Some of us never felt that way even In though some tourists can be a real pain at times. We tended to emphasis the service National Park Service. My management philosophy was always, If the park people are not smart enough to stay ahead of the Neanderthal or nonthinking, uneducated about the outdoors tourist, then heshelt doesnt belong on the Job. wonders of Ed, in reality, was part of the problem. By writing about the who real and nature of lovers, southeastern Utah, he stimulated a whole hord to It the back like to take would would love southeastern Utah to death and others who ever did, Pleistocene. He did a better Job of advertising than the local chamber of commerce so not someone persuasive eloquently If but Ed hadnt done It someone else would have; or understanding of the problems In desert environmentalism. Fortunately, some of his outdoor philosophy has stuck and struck a chord among certain segments of our population. of mother Unfortunately, he has stimulated others who consider themselves "protectors earth," but aint He always Ed was not a demonstrative person when he worked at the Arches. to gig He loved of struck me as somewhat quiet and reserved with an Ironic sense humor. His remarks us about paving the entire monument and calling It Arches National Moneymlnt In Desert Solitaire about my dreading my transfer to the cannonball circuit resulted from his of kidding me about being finding me at Appomattos Courthouse one day and was a way I did plan to get back to the there. I actually somewhat enjoyed the appointment although uthwest one way or the other, did have a Some of his characterization of Bates was not accurate either. Bates of Virginia. aj ulcer and I dont think he ever attended the University never bragged about his he but a and a poet, writer was Ed always told us he movie. We took his writer talk rk, although one of his early works had been made Into a th a grain of salt If we had known the power of his pen, we would have had Ed writing Wouldn t that have ir usually dry governmental reports rather than picking up garbage. t the regional office on Its collective ear? ed ed self-styl- ed In Utah, Former Park Ranger, Archeologist, and curmudgeon, Uoyd Pierson, resides Moab, And somewhere, Cactus Ed Is grinning. Cabinets, j Box 1806 Castle Valley Star Route Moab, Utah 84532 6 (801) 259-729- Furniture, Doors and Custom Interior Finishing, custom homes, additions, remodeling |
