Show w san an juan county has unique scenic industrial endowments replete with scenic and prehistoric civilization attractions F for 0 r t the h e scientist and tourist county also holds industrial advantages destined Destin cd to make it one of the populous sections of the state of utah by H E blake san juan county is the largest I 1 single political subdivision of the state having an area of acres which is one tenth of the states entire area it covers the entire southeastern corner of the state east of the colorado river the county is unique in that it is composed of a series of extensive plateaus ranging in altitude f from roin to J feet above sea level in a series of abrupt steps where the rim of one plateau divides it from another in from to 1000 feet difference in altitude these plateaus are bisected by deep canyons where the water courses from the higher regions meander to a junction with the san juan river on thac jhb south or to the colorado river on the north and west they are also broken by two ranges of mountains the blues and elk ridge on the west and the la on the north from which the melting snows during the spring and summer send streams to the lowlands and furnish irrigation supplies to the farms and ranches surrounding their bases the county is unique in scenic and prehistoric civilization attractions tr for the tourist it boasts the greatest natural bridges in the entire world while the carvings of nature in the canyon rims of its stupendous gorges lend diversified versi fied and breath taking vistas unrivalled elsewhere with the possible exception of the grand canyon of the colorado river from and industrial point of view view the county holds possibilities ahat that will in time make of it one of the most populous counties of the state the district immediately east of the blue mountains reaching to the colorado line and covering some three townships wide by six town bips bips long is an immense plateau ion lying at an elevation ber 44 tween six six and seven thousand feet in altitude with the consequent annual precipitation of from 15 to 19 inches making it one of the most prolific non arri gated farm districts of the state this together with the vast irrigated districts surrounding the base of the blue and la sal mountains make for a future farm development that will in time support a teeming rural population the counte county has been and will continue to be e f for or some years to come come the greatest livestock grazing section of the state summer and winter ranges are divided by sharply defined altitudes bakir making lg it possible for the stockman to use one range exclusively for summer grazing and without unusual cost of driving shift his herds and flocks from summer to agn pter range and thus always 0 awe axe a fresh range with the seas wal orial changes of the year this makes for a continuous con tinous luxuriant pasturage which when handled without crowding of herds is ideal to sum up the countes coun tys attractions for the sightseer the globe trotter and the home builder may we recapitulate a little for the sight sightseer eer the globetrotter and the seeker after forgotten human lore ore the county can give the natural bridges the goose necks of the san juan the monument valley with the myriad of different and unusual scenes of cliff and gorge painted by nature in an inimitable variation of color and stupendous disregard for size or dimension with a x restful change to rolling prairie or the soothing rustle of the aspen in the higher reaches along the parks and swales of the mountain sections added to this the cliff dwellings of forgotten man or the community houses of the same races may be sought out and studied by the seeker after such lore by a little extra effort good roads built during the past decade have made all of the foregoing picture accessible to the motorist so that no dread of hardship or inconvenience should deter one from personally verifying the picture the county is cut by U S highway from the north it turning east from monticello where it leads to colorado some twenty miles away from monticello south a new graveled state highway leads to the town of blanding and from there improved state and county i roads will lead to the various places of scenic interest and on down into arizona and the land of the navajo |