The Lost Civilization at Range Creek Story and photos by John Toren For 50 years, Utah rancher Waldo Wilcox kept quiet about the mong the ancient peoples remarkable Fremont Indian ruins on his land. His efforts to of the American South- preserve the sites may allow archaeologists to piece together west, the Fremont do not more of the story of this ancient and enigmatic people. loom large in public con- sciousness. They lack the Aspectacular cliff dwellings and zigzag tions are a reflection of the environ- In 1941 the Wilcox family, who had pottery of the Anasazi, the ball courts ment in which they worked—an envi- ranched in the Green River area since of the Hohokam, and the strangely ronment of extremes, in both tempera- 1883, moved their operation to Range modern animal imagery of the ture and elevation, that required move- Creek Canyon, tucked deep in the Book Mimbres, all of whom developed com- ment, efficient storage, small-scale Cliffs of eastern Utah. Ten years later plex civilizations to the south of them. communities, and much adaptability. they purchased other chunks of nearby The Fremont are best known for a thin- Fremont sites have been unearthed in land, expanding their holdings in the walled gray pottery that’s difficult to the spring-fed oases of Utah’s salt canyon to 4,200 acres. Waldo Wilcox categorize without the help of chemi- marshes; in desert caves that contain raised cattle for 51 years in this remote cal analysis; a basketry technique the record of several thousand years of enclave of pastures, creeks, and cliffs, that’s unique and often exquisite but continuous occupation; in upland moving his herd year in and year out rarely to be found in the field; and a fields where corn was planted and har- from the canyons of Range Creek to the distinctive style of rock art often con- vested year after year, even though the table lands of the Tavaputs Plateau and taining ominous figures with elongat- elevation made the harvest a doubtful back again. It was a good life, if not an ed trapezoidal bodies, tiny limbs, and proposition at best; and in pinyon- easy one, and Wilcox took pleasure in elaborate necklaces and headdresses. juniper forests where game and nuts pondering one very unusual feature of Almost all Fremont sites that have were plentiful or scarce, depending on the Range Creek land his cows were been excavated share attributes of the season. Some sites appear to have roaming for forage: It contained a neighboring Anasazi, Plains, or Desert been occupied year round, but many remarkable number of Native American Archaic peoples. In fact, the regional more were not. ruins. In fact, the Wilcox ranch may variations in Fremont culture are so great that some archaeologists ques- Reverence for ruins Waldo Wilcox, pictured with the road leading to tion whether such a culture actually Through painstaking examination of Range Creek Canyon in east-central Utah, existed. After studying the Fremont for artifacts, seeds, and waste material at raised cattle for decades in the midst of more than 20 years, expert David B. sites scattered throughout Utah, west- undisturbed ruins of the ancient Madsen felt no uneasiness about open- ern Colorado, and eastern Nevada, a Fremont people. ing a recent monograph with the picture is emerging of a people who words, “The Fremont have always possessed an impressive array of sur- mystified me.” vival strategies. Their baskets, rabbit- All the same, the word Fremont skin clothing, and clay figurines are remains a useful tool for describing a things we can look at, admire, and group that first appeared in Utah and occasionally even touch; but in the surrounding areas around A.D. 400 end, the wiliness and adaptability of and vanished from the scene a thou- the Fremont impress most. sand years later. They were an agricul- The study of Fremont culture has tural people, but they also depended recently been given an enormous boost heavily on hunting and foraging. by an American rancher who also cul- Archaeologists have recently come tivated the virtues of adaptability and around to the notion that their varia- movement. 28 THE HISTORY CHANNEL MAGAZINE May/June 2005 ‘It’s very remote, few people knew anything about it, and those who did also knew that Waldo Wilcox was protecting it. Now two of those three things are gone.’ THE HISTORY CHANNEL MAGAZINE 29 May/June 2005 well hold the most extensive grouping the ruins of a village that had probably By that time state archaeologist of Fremont dwellings and artifacts that not been visited in 700 years. In the Kevin Jones and site archaeologist anyone is ever likely to discover. course of time Wilcox developed an Duncan Metcalf had already been at Wilcox learned the value of the impressive collection of surface work for several years cataloging sites sites early in life. At the age of 11, finds—pottery, tools, arrowheads— at Range Creek and developing a strat- while he was playing in a remote sec- without beginning to plumb the rich- egy for the enormous task of unearthing tion of the ranch, he came upon a ness the area had to offer. But he never the story that lies hidden in the rubble. Fremont granary and carved his name lost sight of the cultural value of what When it became widely known that the in it. When his father caught wind of his land contained and the importance canyon was public land, freely accessi- the episode, he let his son have it. It of keeping it intact. In 2001, when he ble to anyone who cared to enter on foot or horseback, they knew their strategy would have to change. “Three things have preserved Range Creek,” says Metcalf, a profes- sor of archaeology at the University of Utah. “It’s very remote, few people knew anything about it, and those who did know about it also knew that Waldo Wilcox was protecting it. Now two of those three things are gone.” Metcalf has shifted the attention of Meet the Fremont Range Creek Canyon, located in the remote reaches of east-cen- tral Utah, will be closed to vehic- ular travel for some time to come, but the remains of Fremont cul- ture can easily be explored up View of the Range Creek valley with pit house remains in the forground at right. and down the length of nearby Nine Mile Canyon. Following a didn’t take long for the young Waldo felt he was too old to maintain the well-graded gravel road, visitors to develop the kind of respect for the ranch at Range Creek, Wilcox quietly pass numerous examples of rock ancient sites that his father already began transferring ownership to the art, several Fremont pit houses, possessed, and when he took over the state of Utah. In a complex chain of and scattered ranch buildings— ranch Waldo built a sturdy gate to deter events, the San Francisco-based Trust some derelict, some still in use, casual visitors and keep looters from for Public Lands bought the ranch, including the headquarters of poking around on his property. “My then turned it over to the Federal Utah’s most famous cattle family, father taught me we should leave Bureau of Land Management, which the Nutters. Guides are available things just the way we found them, or in turn conferred primary responsibili- at the Prehistoric Museum in maybe a little better,” Wilcox says. ty for managing the ranch to Utah’s Price, which also houses exhibits “All we’ve lost at Range Creek in the Department of Wildlife Resources. containing Fremont basketry, last 50 years is a lot of rattlers and the moccasins, and rare figurines. An spotted frog.” Celebrity threatens site excellent recent account of both Though he’s not an archaeologist For several years news of the sale of the history of research into himself, Wilcox eventually got to Range Creek to the government was Fremont culture and the sights to know every inch of his unusual hold- limited to specialists, but in the sum- be seen in Nine Mile Canyon can ing. On one memorable occasion he mer of 2004 the national wire services be found in the 2003 book was chasing a mountain lion up the caught wind of it and the authorities Horned Snakes and Axle Grease side of a steep escarpment and was found it expedient, though they had by Jerry D. Spangler and Donna stopped dead in his tracks by the sight misgivings, to bring in a group of jour- K. Spangler.—J.T. of a perfectly preserved granary and nalists to view the canyon. 30 THE HISTORY CHANNEL MAGAZINE May/June 2005 his crew away from a broad survey of the sites scattered throughout the area toward marking, cataloging, and removing surface finds along the dusty road that threads the length of the canyon. “Right now I’m not as worried about the professional pot hunters as I am about the casual tourist looking for souvenirs,” he says. After a summer devoted to such work, it’s possible that someone could walk the length of the A granary (left and inset, above) clings inconspicu- ously to a rock face 40 feet above the canyon floor. canyon today, enjoying the beautiful cliff walls, the scattered cottonwoods, the rabbit brush, and the bubbling creek without the slightest suspicion that he or she was standing in the middle of a vanished civilization. On the other hand, the discerning eye, looking up, would see stone and adobe granaries clinging to niches in the cliff face, their roofs still intact.