National Park Service Canyonlands U.S. Department of the Interior Canyonlands National Park

Cultural Histo ry

The cultural history of Canyonlands spans thousands of years. Over time, diff erent groups moved in and out of the area in concert with the availabil i ty of natu ral resources. The Peekaboo rock art panel in the Needles District (shown above) includes the work of two cultures: archaic hunter-gatherers and ancestral Puebloans.

Native Americans Hunter-Gatherers Over time, growing populations at Mesa Humans fi rst visited Canyonlands over Verde caused a search for suitable land all 10,000 years ago. Nomadic groups of hunter- over southeast Utah’s canyon country. By gatherers roamed throughout the southwest A.D. 1200, large groups had moved into the from 8,000 B.C. to 500 B.C. Living off the Needles District, especially in Salt Creek land, these people depended on the avail- Canyon. However, granaries and dwell ings ability of wild plants and animals for their used by the an ces tral Puebloans are scat tered survival. They do not appear to have stayed throughout the park. Examples of these in any one area for very long. They left structures can be seen at Roadside Ruin in little in the way of artifacts and didn’t build the Needles, Aztec Butte on the Island in the homes or other lasting struc tures. However, Sky and along many backcountry trails. the hunter-gatherers during this time cre- ated a great deal of intriguing rock art. Some For many years, changing weather pat terns of the best examples of their art, known as made growing crops more and more diffi cult. “Barri er Canyon Style,” remain on the cliff Around A.D. 1300, the ancestral Puebloans walls of Horseshoe Canyon. left the area and migrat ed south. Their de- scendants include the people living in mod- Ancestral Puebloans and the Fremont ern pueblos in New Mexico and Arizona like Roughly two thousand years ago, the hunter- Acoma, Zuni, and the Hopi Mesas. gatherers began to rely more on domesticat- Detail from the Great Gallery rock ed animals and plants for food. These early Utes, Navajos and Paiutes art panel in Horseshoe Canyon farmers are called the ances tral Puebloan Before the ancestral Puebloans left, other (formerly known as Anasazi) and Fremont groups appeared in the area. The Ute and people. They grew maize, beans and squash, Paiute cultures may have arrived as early as and kept dogs and tur keys. In order to tend A.D. 800. The Navajo arrived from the north their crops, they lived year-round in villages sometime after A.D. 1300. All three groups like those preserved at Mesa Verde National still live here today. These cultures initially Park. Though the two groups overlapped, lived more of a hunter-gath erer lifestyle than the Fremont lived mostly in central Utah, the ancestral Puebloans. Their use and ex- while the an ces tral Puebloans occupied the ploration of the Canyonlands area appears Four Corners region. These cultures can be to have been minimal. Granary built by the ancestral distin guished by their diff erent tools, pottery Puebloans and rock art.

Europeans Exploration route that passed through Moab like the For early European explorers, Canyonlands highway does today. off ered more of an impediment to travel than a des ti na tion. In the 1770s, the Spanish The fi rst Europeans to explore Canyonlands priests Escalante and Dominguez circled the were probably American and French trap- area, looking for a route between New Mexi- pers searching western rivers for beaver and co and California. Escalante and Dominguez otter. Pelts from these animals were in great failed, but trappers and traders from Taos demand in the east. One such trapper named and Santa Fe succeeded. In the early 1800s, Denis Julien carved his name, the date and the “Old Spanish Trail” became a well-worn a picture of a boat along the Green River in 1836. Julien also carved his name in Cataract Shafer families grazed cattle and sheep in Canyon and in Arches National Park. what is now the Island in the Sky. Don Coo- per, Mel Turner, D.L. Goudelock and Joe Offi cial exploration of the Colorado and Titus ranched the Indian Creek area. Their Green rivers did not occur until 1869, when holdings under the Indian Creek Cattle Major John Wesley Powell led a group from Company were bought by the Scorup and Green River, Wyoming all the way through Sommerville families in 1914. Head quar tered the Grand Canyon in Arizona. During the at the Dugout Ranch outside the Needles three month expedition, Powell mapped District, the Indian Creek Cattle Compa ny the rivers and recorded information about operates today under ownership of the Na- the natural and cultural history of the area. ture Conservancy. One stop of his in what is now Canyonlands inspired the follow ing passage in his journal: The Biddlecome, Ekker, Tidwell and Chaffi n families wintered animals in the Maze. The “…The landscape everywhere, away from Ekker Ranch grazed cows on lands adjacent the river, is of rock – cliff s of rock; plateaus to the Maze until 2000. In addition to cattle of rock; terraces of rock; crags of rock – ten and sheep, the rugged country around the thousand strangely carved forms.” Maze harbored out laws. Robbers Roost, a mesa top west of the Maze, provided refuge Powell repeated the trip a few years later. for Robert Leroy Parker (a.k.a. Butch Cas- sidy), Tom and Bill McCarty, Matt Warner Settlement and others. European settlements in southeast Utah devel oped from the missionary eff orts of the Mining Mormon Church. In 1855, Mormons set up The growth of America’s nuclear arms pro- a mission in what is now Moab, but confl icts gram in the 1950s created a high demand for with the Utes caused them to abandon it. uranium. Geologists thought that Utah’s can- The Hole in the Rock expedition–a Mor- yon country contained a signifi cant amount mon mission charged with settling southeast of uranium, but the rugged terrain made ac- Utah–founded the town of Bluff in 1880. cess diffi cult. To encourage prospectors, the The towns of Blanding, Moab and Monti- Atomic Energy Commission off ered mon- cello were settled shortly thereafter. Most etary incentives and built almost 1,000 miles resi dents made their living as farmers, pros- of road in south east Utah. In Canyonlands, pec tors or ranchers. these roads include the popular White Rim Preparing dinner in a Needles Road at the Island in the Sky. District cowboy camp (circa 1938). Ranching From the 1880s to 1975, local ranches used Though the region produced substantial much of Canyonlands for winter pasture. amounts of uranium, miners discovered Cowboys searched the canyons for good very little in what is now Canyonlands. feed and water. They constructed trails to However, the newly created roads led to move their stock across the rugged terrain. other discov er ies. For the fi rst time, much of To guard their herds, cowboys lived in prim- Canyonlands could be seen from a car. Tour- i tive camps for weeks at a time. The Cave ism slowly increased as more people learned Spring Trail in the Needles District features about the area’s geologic wonders. By open- one such camp. ing canyon county to travel, the miners Working a uranium claim at the blazed the trail for the creation of a National Island in the Sky four months after Places throughout the park bear the names Park. the park was established in 1964. of early cowboys. The Taylor, Holeman and

Creating a Park In the 1950s and early 1960s, Arches National View sites from a distance. Ancient walls Monument Superintendent Bates Wilson crumble easily. Never enter structures or advo cat ed the creation of a National Park in human-made enclo sures as your movements what is now Canyonlands. Wilson led gov- may damage the foundation or other struc- ernment offi cials on jeep tours which fea- tur al elements. tured lengthy talks over campfi res and hearty Dutch oven dinners. Secretary of the Inte- Leave things where they lie. Resist the temp ta - rior Stewart Udall joined one of these tours tion to collect artifacts and allow future visi- in 1961, and began lobbying for the proposed tors the joy of discov ery. Also, arche ol o gists park. On September 12, 1964, President Lyn- can determine a great deal from the presence don B. Johnson signed Public Law 88-590 and loca tion of artifacts. establishing Canyonlands Nation al Park. Initially consisting of 257,640 acres, Congress Enjoy rock art with your eyes only. Pic- expanded Canyonlands to its present size of to graphs and petroglyphs should not be 337,598 acres in 1971. touched as the oils in human skin will de- stroy them. Never spoil cultural sites or Preserve Your Heritage natu ral features with modern graffi ti. Cultural sites and artifacts are irreplaceable. Please observe the following guidelines when visit ing sites in Canyonlands and other Na tion al Parks.

Printed by Canyonlands Natural History Association on recycled paper (100% post-consumer waste). 08/02 6m

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA