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Show However, their time in a permanent exhibit is but a passing moment ... How can we build a typical 'Mormon community' out of such temporary variables as human beings? These are transient values and we should not let our misguided sympathies for a few 'old timers' and their structures, even if adorned 'with star and crescent', divert our attention bom the real values and significant points of Capitol Reef." The private landowners were bought out Down the buildings came. Writing yean after the feet; author Wallace Stegner weighed in with his own argument Doing research for the book American Places, cowritten with his son Page, he revisited Capitol Reef, a favorite site of his dating back to the 1930s, when his family had owned a cabin at nearby Fish Lake. Stegner had occasionally stayed in the rough cabins Doc Inglesby rented out, and had fond memories of the old Fruita. He wrote: "Fruita used to be one of our favorite places-- a sudden, intensely green little valley among the cliffs of the Waterpocket Fold, opulent with cherries, peaches, and apples in season. Inhabited by a few families who were equally good Mormons and good frontiersmen and good farmers. During the course of his research, Stegner interviewed Eugene Blackburn, a part-tim-e farmer from nearby Bicknell, who did maintenance work in die park Blackburn expressed his belief that vestiges of the settlement, particularly the Chesnut store, with a d should out have been front, gas pump preserved as living history. Stegner concurred: "Capitol Reef would have been richer if the Chesnutt store had been kept The land is not complete without its human history and associations. Scenery by itself is pretty sterile. The Chesnutts were living folklore, survivors of the frontier. I would go a good way to have one of Mother Chesnutt' s breakfasts again, with peaches and cream, hot biscuits, corned elk and eggs baked in the oven in a muffin tin. ... " Stegner would have been pleased to see that the park's current superintendent, Chuck Lundy, is largely in agreement with this sentiment. "We're very pleased with the fact that Fruita was recognized in March on that National Historic Register as a Rural Cultural Landscape, Lundy said. "It's a celebration of pioneer settlement; the unique cultural component of Fruita. "Over the next few years, Lundy continued, "we plan to put in new hiking trails and trails. It says to past practices that there are interpretive exhibits and handicap-accessibl- e no more ambiguities. Fruita is important and will be protected." Lundy is also pleased by the advent of the Gifford House, which serves as a sort of adjunct to the offical park visitor center. This restored pioneeraa home helps visitors to e music, and the sale of interpret local history through lectures, concerts of reproduction items produced by local craftspeople. Lundy's sincere desire to encourage cooperation between the local community and the park's personnel has already produced favorable results. But he still believes Capitol Reef is among of the toughest assignments in the National Park Service. This is largely due to local distrust of the federal government, a distrust due in part to how the monument was expanded. In 1969, with less than 90 minutes remaining in his administration. President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation adding 215,000 acres to Capitol Reef National Monument's existing 39,173 acres. Area residents were stunned when word of the expansion leaked out ("flooded might be a more accurate term). They feared their ability to graze cattle in the Waterpocket Fold area would be revoked and the areas placed under control of the National Park Service. The book Boulder Country and Its People by Lenora LeFevre recounts the reaction of some Garfield County stockmen: "Ranchers forsa w their pleasant community turning into a ghost town. They said, 'We do not want such a place to bear the name of Boulder.' So they persuaded the town board to vote that the name be changed forthwith to Johnson's Folly. This action by the small town naturally received news coverage in state and national publications. It was really only a sort of grim joke. Most people were likely relieved when late in the summer Utah's attorney general, Vernon B. Romney, stated that the action of the town was not legal." In the first few weeks following the addition, public reaction was mixed. Predictably, area stockmen and miners were outraged. So was much of the Utah Congressional delegation. After a lot of accusations were made and Sen. Wallace Bennett had threatened to eliminate the expanded boundaries of Capitol Reef and Arches and make the former national monument lands into national parks, things began to settle down into an uneasy period of intermittent bickering. Meanwhile, seemingly endless public hearings were conducted. In 1971, President Nixon signed the Capitol Reef National Park Bill into law. The goal sought by many of the area's boosters since the 1920s had finally been realized, but at a price that some in the local communities and elsewhere considered too high. Today, Capitol Reef feces many of the problems that burden the Southwest's other popular parks: lack of staff (according to Lundy, Capitol Reef has the lowest ranger-to-acr- e ratio of any park in the lower 48 states), vandalism, theft of resources, and antiquated equipment The park is currently constructing a general management plan that Lundy believes will address many of the concerns before they become overwhelming "We want to be ahead of the curve that some of the other parks, like the Grand Canyon and Arches, have been overwhelmed by," he said. One example of this planning is the park's nascent educational outreach program which, according to Lundy, is being designed to enrich visitors' experiences. "It's one more way to build a constituency that cares deeply about the park and surrounding environs. We want to reach the thousands of families and kids and help them to understand the natural resources and unique culture of this area." Given the number of visitors to Utah's national parks, Lundy's efforts to protect Capitol Reef are welcome. An estimated of a million people visit Capitol Reef each year and that figure is growing all the time. Who can say how many tourists will soon be vying to see Hickman Bridge or huffing as they ascend the steep incline to Chimney Rock, or standing transfixed by the ancient Fremont Indian petroglyphs lining the steep cliff face opposite the Fremont River? Govenor Blood's 1925 dedication speech seems more prescient all the time: "It needs no prophet's vision to foresee the time when this monument will be one of a chain of similarly valuable scenic attractions, and when a highway system will link them with the Natural Bridges and Mesa Verde National Park to the east; with the Bryce Canyon, Zion and Grand Canyon national parks to the south, and by way of Fish Lake and the Skyline Road with the attractions of the Wasatch Mountains to the north." ever-increasi- three-quarte- hand-cranke- Special thanks to William and Jennie Barclay and Neal and Judy Busk for the use of their materials. Also thanks to Chuck Lundy and Bob VanBdle of Capitol Reef National Park. Barry Scholl remains the Wayne County correspondent of the Zephyr. Since last issue, he has completed two more chapters of his novel about the Wild Bunch, women aviators, and Robbers Roost. He and his wife Tifani are the proud parents of a brand-nebaby girl, Wallis, named after the author not the duchess. w old-tim- 4HT OZZI fi rs -- AND NOW A PEW WORDS FROM MARY SOJOURNER "Sojourner Lands on Mars. Suddenly, my life ia a Joke. I hang up after the fourth person has said, Tiar, har. So Sojourner's on Man; we always expected that, blah, blah.1 1 am regarded by many aa a radical environmental extremist because I want to live the way my Fennsylvania-Dutc- h did. A mile away the "I sit on the back stoop. It's early evening, green-golForest Highlands developers are torturing a meadow, forest and riparian and an executive golf course. The sound of area into 128 luxury home-site-s heavy equipment is inescapable, a mosquito's whine on the bright air, a mosquito carrying a plague for which there is no cure. "Sojourner,1 1 say, 'I hope you disappear into one of those long, low Martian mountain ranges. I hope your last message is this: THERE IS NOTHING HERE FOR YOU, ts HUMANS. . Fra STAY AWAY" Judi Bari & Bonnie Abzug, wherever they are. A DISPLAYPERSONAL fAkTHUVGb1. MV TRAP Norc I AD FROM MARY SOJOURNER OF FLAGSTAFF, AZ The OctobcrNovcmber Issue of the Zephyr will be on newsstands September 26th FAMOUS OZZIES IN HISTORY This time It's REALLY Ozzle Nelson of TV's 'Ozzle & Harriet' m .mm mm mmm VNKfNK. What was the deal with Wally & the Beaver In last Issue's ad? You'd never see my David and Ricky act like that 11(1119 MtlMOMDCOOK M m-J MW m HOT! .TWENTYiSEVEN HAVE YOU TRIED OUR RANGER CUT?' |