1 As Messian later recalled, his trip to Utah was more a In this collection of then, served as the first built sanctuaries in the region religious experience than a mere sightseeing excursion. Willie Holdman arresting photographs, that would one day come to be called Utah. The pictures he’d seen of Bryce Canyon had particularly invites us all Willie Holdman invites captivated him but seeing the canyon in person was us all into his personal The Southern Paiute similarly cultivated their own “even more beautiful than in the photographs.” Its into his personal sanctuaries, the places connections to the land, which they believed was given “extraordinary beauty” and “fantastic shapes” along with sanctuaries where he has found refuge to them by their gods. During the wintertime, the “all those wonderful colors” left him yearning to put what in Utah’s natural beauty. Tu-gwi-vai-gunt or elderly storytellers gathered band he saw into music. The piece he composed attempted In doing so, Holdman bids us to ponder the wonder members around a nighttime campfire to repeat the to do just that—capture the resplendent varieties of red of Utah and the messages its diverse landscapes are Southern Paiute creation story and thereby connect and orange, the color of the cliffs, in the notes that he waiting to share if we are quiet enough to listen. The the rising generation to the Southern Utah soil and wrote. “Whenever I hear music … I see colors,” Messian lone leaf in fall, the silent and stalwart stand of aspens simultaneously to their gods. The Southern Paiute explained, and Bryce Canyon inspired his musical palate in the cold of winter, the spring Columbine blooms in believed that the wolf Tabuts, under instruction from in new ways. remote Parunuweap Canyon, and the Virgin River Ocean Grandmother, carried their ancestors in a sack cutting a meandering path through the jagged red rocks to “the very best place, at the center of the world,” on Cedar Breaks was next on his itinerary and he was again of southern Utah, oblivious to the relentless heat of the north side of the Colorado River, and opened the struck with wonder at what he saw. “The feeling I had summer: collectively these images speak to the march sack. There they could find plenty of deer, pinon nuts Willie Holdman’s photographs there was religious,” he recounted. It was a “reverence of time and the ever changing seasons that witness both and agave to eat. The people liked their new home and collected here prompt us to before something sacred. One senses a divine presence,” the fading of life and its annual rebirth. Utah a Sanctuary decided to stay. Tabuts carried them to their land, he elaborated, and “one is subjugated to this feeling.” thus captures the beauty that surrounds us in all seasons placed them there, and in the process implied his divine ponder on the natural beauty As a result, he composed a piece titled “Cedar Breaks as well as the transcendent solace which silently approval. For the Paiute, their space had meaning and of Utah and the Gift of Awe.” communes with our hearts if we are willing to be still importance, and in the act of the gods placing them and heed its call. upon it, it became sacred. Finally, Messian encountered Zion National Park where In 1971 internationally acclaimed French composer his inner senses were again elevated. “The atmosphere It is no wonder then, that in the 1870s when federal Olivier Messiaen received a commission to compose is more somber, serene, more sacred, even more celes- Indian agents tried to move the Southern Paiute to the a symphony in celebration of the upcoming bicentennial tial,” he remembered. “I believe that it is indeed celestial Uintah Reservation in northern Utah, they resisted. of the United States. He was naturally honored and set because the Mormons, who discovered this place, One Paiute explained it this way: “We love our country; about looking for inspiration in his library of over 7,000 called it Zion Park. Zion in the Bible is the synonym we know not other lands. We hear that other lands are books, including a series on the wonders of the world. of Jerusalem, not of the earthly Jerusalem, but of the better; we do not know … We do not want their good To that point in his life, Messian had spent most of his celestial city itself, thus the gift of heaven.” For Messian, lands, we want our rocks and the great mountains where time in Europe and wondered how to capture the Zion Canyon was indeed a gift from heaven and so he our fathers lived.” essence of the United States in music. He grew up as composed a piece which he called “Zion Park and a gifted musician and entered the Paris Conservatory the Celestial City.” His symphony thus ended with a It is a mistake, then, to view Native American space as at age eleven. He was well on his way to a promising mediation on one of Utah’s natural wonders, something simply geopolitical and economic. As government ex- career when World War II erupted. He was drafted into Messian considered an earthly “paradise” or a sanctuary plorer John Wesley Powell explained, “The land the French Army and was subsequently captured by in the desert. belonging to an Indian clan or tribe is dear to it not only German soldiers. He spent time in a German prisoner as a region from which it obtains subsistence but chiefly of war camp where he composed one of his most Messian is only one example of countless people who The Ancestral Puebloans (previously known as Anasazi) because it is the locus of its religion.” Long before famous pieces, Quartet for the End of Time, which have found their souls stirred by Utah’s scenic wonders. who occupied much of present-day Southern Utah for Euro-American pioneers pushed west to seek refuge he first performed in 1941 in front of an audience of In fact, Utah has long served as a sanctuary for a variety over seven hundred years, demonstrated the earliest in Utah’s mountains and deserts, Native peoples had prisoners and prison guards. But now he was of groups who have sought refuge in its varied known ritualistic attachment to the land and their own cultivated their own sanctuaries quite literally grounded commissioned to write a symphony to celebrate the landscapes. From Native American peoples to European sense of sacred space. They built community structures in their deeply held connections to the land. two-hundredth anniversary of the American founding. travelers, and from Mormon pioneers to immigrants from called kivas where scholars believe they may have After perusing his vast collection of books, Messiaen around the globe, the high mountains and low deserts; performed ceremonial rituals centered on their creation The same was true in concluded that “the grandest and the most beautiful the deep blue skies, blazing sunsets, and rejuvenating story which taught that humans emerged from an “The mountains, Northern Utah where marvels of the world must be the canyons of Utah. sunrises; the red rock monoliths, whimsical hoodoos, underworld through a hole in the earth known as streams, and the Northwest Band of So, I’ll have to get to Utah.” and mystic arches; the vast open expanses, narrow slot a sipapu. Ancestral Puebloans thus connected their Shoshone hunted and canyons, and tranquil alpine meadows each evoke a very existence to the earth; their kivas offered them plains stood gathered. As Darren Parry, Messian did travel to Utah and like so many others before sense of peace and transcendent awe which elevates opportunities to gather and reflect on that connection forever.” tribal chairman explained, him he was awe struck by what he found. As a result, the souls of those who encounter them. and meditate on their own sense of the divine. As the “We traveled with the Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks, and Zion Canyon became Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition noted of the sacred changing seasons. We looked upon the earth as not central inspirations for the twelve-movement orchestral Bears Ears region in southeastern Utah, “these places just a place to live, but as our Mother, the provider of work titled From the Canyons to the Stars, which are not just national monuments and beautiful our livelihood and our very existence.” Shoshone women premiered in 1974 at the Lincoln Center in New York City. landscapes—these are our churches and alters.” Kivas, and men were therefore tied to their land not merely

2 3 economically, but metaphysically. “The mountains, three or four places with timber… The sky is very clear, The sense of reverence the canyon conjured for Behunin ture generations. As we look, we might also listen, with streams, and plains stood forever, and the seasons the air delightful and altogether looks glorious.” was repeated when nineteenth-century surveyor French composer Olivier Messiaen, for the musical notes walked around them annually. Our bodies were created He worried about the absence of timber in the valley but Clarence Dutton visited Southern Utah. “Nothing exceeds that surround us in the vibrant colors that clothe Utah’s from her dust; blood that runs through our veins flows predicted that the wonderous beauty of Little Zion Valley,” Dutton sanctuaries. In the twenty-first century Utah’s strong like the mountain streams from which it came,” if the Saints could find coal, they would do well “and concluded. “No wonder the fierce Mormon zealot, who economy has continued to attract new peoples to the Parry elaborated. be hidden up in the Mountains unto the Lord.” named it, was reminded of the Great Zion, on which Great Basin to both work and to encounter the grandeur his fervid thoughts were bent—of houses not built with of Utah firsthand. In some years Utah has ranked among Brigham Young, as leader of the Latter-day Saints, hands, eternal in the heavens.” Thus, for both Behunin the fastest growing states in the nation. This phenomenal claimed a similar experience when he first looked and Dutton, Zion was the temple of God as well as an growth, while good for Utah’s economy, also carries over the valley. “The spirit of light rested upon me and earthly sanctuary where mere mortals could seek with it potential dangers for Utah’s environment. The hovered over the valley, and I felt that there the Saints communion with a higher power. Ancestral Puebloans occupied Southern Utah for far would find protection and safety,” he recorded. Four longer than its current inhabitants but when a thirty-year days after Young’s arrival, pioneer Levi Jackman It is clear, then, that the Utah landscape has a long drought struck they withdrew from the region. Certainly, documented a version of Young’s words that have since history of inspiring those who encounter it with the Ancestral Puebloans learned about the limits that the become immortalized into a monument and state park. transcendent thoughts and a proclivity to marvel at the land could bear. Twenty-first century Utahns must also “Pres Young said tha[t] he knew that this is the place,” relationship of humankind to the universe. Utah has also grapple with this reality. With more money, technology, Jackman wrote. “He knew it as soon as he came in sight long served as a sanctuary for peoples from around the and resources at our disposal than our predecessors, of it and he has seen this very spot before.” world precisely because of its distinctive history. In fact, it seems easy to conclude that we can continue bending in 2019, Utah Governor Gary Herbert drew upon this and manipulating the environment to meet our Latter-day Saints soon spread out and founded over history to urge federal leaders to allow the state to unbounded needs—or should I say wants? What are 300 settlements throughout the Intermountain West continue to welcome those seeking a haven in the West. the limits of a semi-arid environment? The answer is not before Young’s death in 1877. In doing so, they frequently “Utah’s unique history informs our approach to refugees,” clear to me, but we seem determined to push against drew upon sacred scriptures, including the Bible and he wrote. “Our state was founded by religious refugees them. One unstated obligation for those who seek It is no wonder, then, that Book of Mormon, to name the towns and unique fleeing persecution in the Eastern United States. These sanctuary is the need to preserve that sanctuary for “The sky is very when Euro-Americans landscapes they encountered. They read themselves experiences and hardships of our pioneer ancestors others to enjoy, far into the future. clear, the air arrived in the Great Basin into the Bible and came to believe that the biblical 170 years ago are still fresh in the minds of many Utahns,” in 1847 seeking sanctuary prophet Isaiah foresaw their western Mecca when Herbert explained. “As a result we empathize deeply with Willie Holdman invites us now into his sanctuaries to delightful and of their own, conflict was he prophesied, “And it shall come to pass in the last individuals and groups who have been forced from their experience the awe of Utah’s landscapes in all their altogether looks inevitable. It was more than days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be es- homes and we love giving them a new home and a new resplendent beauty. Join with Holdman in a pilgrimage glorious.” a clash of tablished in the top of the mountains, and shall be life.” Utah, thus continues to serve as sanctuary for those of your own to ponder your place in the universe and cultures, it was a crash of exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” who are seeking solace in its open spaces. seek solace at the alters of nature which the gods cosmologies. Both Native seemed to have clustered so thoroughly in one corner Americans and Mormons claimed the same geographic The Latter-day Saints’ new home was thus spiritual Willie Holdman’s of the globe that came to be called Utah. place as sacred and both believed it had been given to ground in their minds and they busily labeled its towns Willie Holdman’s photographs collected here them by their gods. The arrival of Mormon pioneers in and landmarks as such. The Jordan River, Canaan photographs prompt us to ponder on –W. Paul Reeve the Salt Lake Valley marked the creation of new ideas Mountain, Eden, Moab, Ephraim, Hebron, and the Three the natural beauty of Utah about sanctuary and at the same time it ushered in an Patriarchs in Zion National Park, were all biblically collected here and on its human history era of displacement for Native peoples. The Latter-day inspired place names. Meanwhile Bountiful, Nephi, Manti, prompt us to over time—to think about Saints came as refugees to the Great Basin, driven from Lehi, Kolob Canyon, and Deseret, were all names derived ponder on the the various meanings of their homes following several violent expulsions. They from other books of Latter-day Saint scripture. Clearly sanctuary and the ways simultaneously encroached upon Native American Mormon pioneers believed they were on God’s errand natural beauty we can ensure Utah will sanctuaries which predated their arrival by hundreds and sought to replicate the sacred in their settlements. of Utah remain a refuge for fu- of years. Perhaps it was in the naming of Zion Canyon that As with Native Americans, the Mormon pioneers viewed Mormon notions of the sanctified found their fullest their new home as spiritual more than economic and expressions. Isaac Behunin, the first Mormon settler political. As historical geographer Richard Francaviglia in the canyon, named it Zion. According to family explained, “religion rather than economics lay at the tradition, Behunin was captivated by the grandeur of heart of why Mormons settled, and mapped, the West.” his surroundings and named the canyon Zion because it They sought sanctuary in the isolation of the Great Basin drew his thoughts heavenward. The canyon represented and believed their god had led them to the tops of the a spiritual as well as a physical refuge to him. As he stood mountains as a haven from outside oppression. When in awe of the great canyon walls he concluded that they pioneer Thomas Bullock first saw the Salt Lake Valley were “the Temples of God” and believed that “one can from atop Big Mountain in Emigration Canyon he wrote, worship here as well as in any man-made Temple.” “a very extensive valley burst upon our view, dotted in

4 5 Strawberry Ridge

6 7 Utah a Sanctuary

Photographs by Willie Holdman

Albion Basin, Little Cottonwood Canyon

8 9 Photographs © Willie Holdman for eternity. All rights reserved

Red Castle, Uintas

10 11 “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors: we borrow it from our children”

– Chief Seattle

To all those who came before us, in admiration of this great land we enjoy with its many resources. May we never take them for granted and look upon our mother earth with awe and reverence.

Big Cottonwood Gold

12 13 ?

“Alaska is our biggest, buggiest, boggiest state. Texas “If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than remains our largest unfrozen state. But mountainous contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles Utah, if ironed out flat, would take up more space of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was on a map than either.” in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.” -Edward Abbey “We must not only protect the country side and save it from destruction, we must restore what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm of our cities … Once our natural splendor is destroyed, it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature, his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted.” – Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States

14 15 Provo River, Heber Valley

16 17 Escalante Waterpool San Rafael River

18 19 Winter Aspen Grove

Frozen Feather Sun Dog

20 21 Blue Aspens Eagle’s Landing

22 23 Upper Red Pine Lake Dollhouse Canyonlands

24 25 Cainville Badlands Boulder Creek, Escalante

26 27 Canyoneering Escalante Arch, Kanab

Balanced Rock, Paria Double Arch, Bullfrog

28 29 Grand Gulch Bonanza Flats, Cascade

30 31 White Pine Lake

32 33 Lake Powell Padre Bay

34 35 Crest Trail, Big Cottonwood

36 37 Wasatch Layers

Fireweed, Big Cottonwood

38 39 Hummingbird, Timpanogos

Geranium, Uintas Agave

40 41 ?

North Fork Creek Provo Canyon

Black Bird Zion Ponderosa

42 43 Pines and Aspens, Uinta Forest

Aspen Sunburst

44 45 Sundance Creek Aspen Stand, La Sal Mountains

46 47 Hanging On To Fall

Zion Narrows In Ice

48 49 Wink Powell Side Canyon

50 51 Torrey Rock Moonset, Hanksville

52 53 Escalante Ruin

Pictograph Ruin Kiva, Grand Gulch

54 55 Lone Pine, Gaurdsman Pass Cascade, Timpanogos Autumn

56 57 Lunar Eclipse over Factory Butte Little Sarah Sand Dunes

Crescent Moon, Timpanogos Golden Moonset Wasatch

58 59 Old Man Of The Mountain Daisy Parunuweap Columbine

60 61 Lake Powell Grand View Paddle Boarding Powell

62 63 Indian Paintbrush, Cascade

Elk , Tushar Mountains

64 65 Primrose, Gilsen Butte

Fisher Towers, Castle Valley

66 67 Provo Cirque, Maples

Burning Maple , Cascade Springs

68 69 Currant Creek, Nebo

Bristle Cone pine, Death Hollow

70 71 Utah Daisy, Escalante River Escalante Waterhole

72 73 Provo Peak View

74 75 Land Of Standing Rock, Canyonlands

Yucca, San Rafael Desert Primrose, Sunset

76 77 Hickman Bridge, Capitol Reef Zion Narrows

78 79 Wasatch State Park, Midway

80 81 Virgin River, Hurricane

82 83 Utah Powder, Big Cottonwood

84 85 Spring, American Fork Canyon

86 87 Full Bloom, Timpanogos

88 89 Timpanogos North Peak

Landscape Arch, Arches East Zion

90 91 Observation Point, Zion

Angels Landing, Zion

92 93 Little Sarah Sand Dunes

Scorpion and Beeplant Full Moon, Monument Valley

94 95 Tiger Canyon Neon Canyon

96 97 Reids Peak, Uintas

98 99 Columbine, Maybird Bells Canyon

100 101 Provo River, Charleston

Midway Pond

102 103 Ice, Great Salt Lake

Frozen Utah Lake

104 105 Bishops Bowl, Sundance Red Pine Lake

106 107 Rocky Mountain Goat, Lake Blanche

108 109 Maple Mountain

110 111 Christmas Meadows, Uintas

Lily Pads, Uintas

112 113 Bridal Veil Falls

Golden Aspens, Center Creek

114 115 The Windows, Arches Land of Standing Rock, Canyonlands

116 117 Parrys Primrose, Waterfall

Bald Mountain Reflection, Uintas

118 119 Silver Glance Sunset

120 121 Bryce Canyon Winter

Bryce Glow Wall Street

122 123 Cedar Breaks

Escalante Wash

124 125 Sipapu Bridge

Grand Gulch Ruins Grand Gulch

126 127 Big Cottonwood Layers

128 129 Aspen Forest, Wasatch Mountains

130 131 Henry Mountains, Capitol Reef

Delicate Arch Coyote Gulch

132 133