Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

A BRIDGE BETWEEN CULTURES: 

An Administrative History of 

Rainbow Bridge National Monument

By 

David Kent Sproul

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History

No. 18 

2001

CULTURAL RESOURCES SELECTIONS

Intermountain Region 

National Park Service 

Denver, Colorado

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Table of Contents)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

Foreword

Acknowledgments

List of Figures

Abstract

Chapter 1: When the World Was Young: The Colorado Plateau and the Formation of Rainbow Bridge

Chapter 2: Life Before the Monument: Human Habitation at Rainbow Bridge and Its Environs

Chapter 3: Searching for Rainbows: The Cummings/Douglass Expedition

Chapter 4: Making It Work: Monument Development, 1910-1955

Chapter 5: Issues and Conflicts I: Rainbow Bridge Religion and Navajo Legal Claims, 1863-1998

Chapter 6: Issues and Conflicts II: Rainbow Bridge National Monument and the Colorado River Storage 

Project, 1948-1974

Chapter 7: The Modern Monument: Managing Rainbow Bridge, 1955-1993

Chapter 8: Managing For The Future: Rainbow Bridge National Monument into the 21st Century

Appendix 1: Important Events

Appendix 2: List of Custodians and Superintendents

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Appendix 3: Pertinent Legislation and Authorities

Appendix 4: Visitation Statistics

Bibliography

Index (omitted from the on-line edition)

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Monocline Faults and Normal Faults

Figure 2: Stratigraphic Diagram of Formation Layers

Figure 3: Rainbow Bridge

Figure 4: Laccolith and salt anticline

Figure 5: Formation of Rainbow Bridge

Figure 6: Rainbow Bridge and alcoves

Figure 7: Excavated hearth at Rainbow Bridge, 1994

Figure 8: Excavated hearth at Rainbow Bridge, 1994

Figure 9: John Wetherill

Figure 10: Byron Cummings

Figure 11: Louisa Wetherill

Figure 12: Betat' akin in Navajo National Monument

Figure 13: Keet Seel in Navajo National Monument

Figure 14: Inscription House in Navajo National Monument

Figure 15: Expedition party en route to Rainbow Bridge, August 13, 1909

Figure 16: W.B. Douglass map of Rainbow Bridge, 1909

Figure 17: Rainbow Bridge, August 13, 1909

Figure 18: Expedition party seated below Rainbow Bridge, August 13, 1909

Figure 19: Mounting the plaque, 1927

Figure 20: Rainbow Bridge National Monument and vicinity

Figure 21: Kayenta Trading Post, 1912

Figure 22: Redbud Pass

Figure 23: Rainbow Trail from Rainbow Lodge

Figure 24: Rainbow Lodge, 1950

Figure 25: Echo Park Canyon

Figure 26: Glen Canyon, 1909

Figure 27: Proposed Sites For Protective Measures

Figure 28: Glen Canyon Dam under construction

Figure 29: Glen Canyon Dam, June 1963

Figure 30: Rainbow Bridge in relation to Lake Powell

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Figure 31: View of Rainbow Bridge from Lake Powell, January 17, 1971

Figure 32: Aerial Photo of Rainbow Bridge, August 16, 1971

Figure 33: Rainbow Bridge marina, 1965 

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Foreword)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

FOREWORD

Rainbow Bridge National Monument, located at the foot of Navajo Mountain in southeastern Utah, has long 

been a place of fascination, mystery, and reverence. It is also a place with a colorful, and sometimes 

controversial, history that includes Native American use, Anglo exploration, and Government management 

practices. This volume, number 18 in the National Park Service Intermountain Region's Cultural Resources 

Selections series, seeks to summarize that history in an effort to better understand where we came from and 

provide the context under which long-term management decisions will be made in the future.

The history of Rainbow Bridge begins long before it was established in 1910 as a National Monument under 

the Antiquities Act of 1906. There is incontrovertible evidence that Native American use of, and reverence 

for, Rainbow Bridge began in prehistory, and it certainly continues today. The Anglo discovery and 

scientific documentation of the Bridge in 1909, and the subsequent controversy over that discovery, is a 

fascinating story. Since the establishment of the Monument in 1910, ever-increasing visitation and conflict 

between users have challenged National Park Service managers to be innovative in seeking solutions to 

issues raised. Thus issues of scientific values, access, protection, religious freedom, and cultural significance 

have shifted in emphasis during the history of the monument and its management. The story of this history is 

admirably captured in the following pages and it is with great pleasure that I make this information available 

to the management community and to the public.

Karen P. Wade 

Regional Director, 

Intermountain Region

The National Park Service cares for special places saved by the American people so that all may experience 

our heritage.

NPS-D-4

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Acknowledgments)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project came together through of the efforts of numerous people. I am grateful to the National Park 

Service and their cooperative program with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which provided me the 

opportunity to write this history. I want to thank Lysa Wegman-French at Intermountain Support Office; 

John Ritenour at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area; and especially Chris Goetze, the project supervisor 

at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, who never failed in her support and patience. Without the 

research of former National Park Service historian Marcy Culpin, who gathered most of the archival 

documents before her retirement, this project would have been impossible. I also want to thank all the NPS 

personnel who reviewed the manuscript drafts.

Special thanks go to Pauline Wilson, the American Indian Liaison at Glen Canyon National Recreation 

Area. Her assistance with interviewing members of the Navajo Nation and her insight into Navajo culture 

were the keys to writing the history of Rainbow Bridge religion. I also want to specifically thank the 

individual members of the Navajo Nation who shared their stories with me over many days and many miles: 

Tom Dougi, Celone Dougi, Velta E. Luther, Leo Manheimer, Sylvia Manygoats, Buck Navajo, Jack Owl, 

and Bessie Owl.

At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, I want to thank Eugene Moehring and Willard Rollings for reading 

draft copies of chapters 5 and 6. Their suggestions were invaluable. Thanks to my Chair at the Department 

of History, Andy Fry, who allowed me the privilege of completing this project while still in doctoral 

courses. The person to whom I owe the greatest debt is Hal Rothman. During my graduate study as well as 

this project, he was my best critic, my mentor, and my friend. I will always feel privileged to have been his 

student.

Many of the staff at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah also helped with this project. Janet B. 

Seegmiller, the Special Collections Librarian at the Gerald R. Sherratt Library, helped me locate several 

volumes from the University of California series on the Southwest, including a copy of the 1934 Ansel Hall 

report on the first Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition. Jim Kroll, at the Denver Public Library, 

went out of his way to locate, copy, and mail to me all of Zeke Scher's articles detailing the controversy over 

honoring Jim Mike, one of the guides for the 1909 expedition to Rainbow Bridge. Laine Sutherland, Curator 

of Photography at Northern Arizona University's Cline Library, eased the task of acquiring most of the 

wonderful photographs of Rainbow Bridge and its environs. Rollan and Jane Fell at Cedar Express in Cedar 

City provided outstanding technical support during the pre-publication phase of this project.

On a personal level, I want to thank my parents, Wendell and Pat Sproul, for all their support and the 

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extensive daycare they provided to my children while I slipped away to write. I also want to thank my 

grandmother, Lura Bonar, who allowed me to set up camp in her only spare bedroom and fed me endless 

cups of coffee while writing this text. My greatest thanks and gratitude are to my wife, Alice, and my three 

sons, Henry, Holden, and Hayden. As with all things, I do this for them in the hope that they will forgive my 

countless absences from home. To Alice I can only say, "om mani padme hum."

David Kent Sproul 

Cedar City, Utah

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Abstract)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

ABSTRACT

The history of Rainbow Bridge National Monument is both long and complex. The monument has existed 

since May 30, 1910, when it was designated by President William Howard Taft. Between 1910 and 1916, 

the General Land Office administered Rainbow Bridge National Monument. With the creation of the 

National Park Service in 1916, the monument has been part of the evolving national park system. Since 

1916, the monument was the subject of numerous legal disputes involving several issues. This history 

identifies and explains the various historical controversies involving Rainbow Bridge National Monument. 

In addition, this history delineates the cultural, scientific, and aesthetic aspects of the monument that are also 

important to its interpretation.

The official life of the monument is only part of the story of Rainbow Bridge. Native American groups 

throughout the Southwest maintain a historical relationship with Rainbow Bridge that pre-dates the 19th 

century entrance of non-Native Americans into the region. There is also strong evidence that humans have 

been present near Rainbow Bridge for more than 8,000 years. The spiritual and religious significance to 

Native Americans groups such as the Navajo Nation, Hopi, and San Juan Southern Paiute, is detailed in this 

history.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 1)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 1:

When the World Was Young: The Colorado Plateau and the Formation 

of Rainbow Bridge

Comprehending the region that surrounds Rainbow Bridge is like looking through a telescope backwards: 

the picture is complete but it is a great distance away. The geologic history of the area currently referred to 

as Rainbow Bridge National Monument (NM) is long and complex. Comprehending the formation of the 

bridge is not as difficult when viewed in the larger context of the region known as the Colorado Plateau. The 

same series of forces that shaped Glen Canyon worked on a smaller scale in Bridge Canyon and gave the 

world Rainbow Bridge. It is that larger story that puts into perspective the relative place of humans at the 

bridge.

In the early 1880s, Clarence Dutton, led a team of surveyors from the United States Geological Survey into 

the heart of the Aquarius Plateau, just north of present day Boulder, Utah. Standing on a high point in the 

Henry Mountains, Dutton stared south into the expanse of Utah's canyon country. In the distance he could 

see Navajo Mountain. Dutton later wrote, "it is a maze of cliffs and terraces lined off with stratification, of 

rambling buttes, red and white domes, rock platforms gashed with profound canons, burning plains barren 

even of sage all glowing with bright colors and flooded with sunlight." [1] Dutton's prose conveyed the 

complexity of the Colorado Plateau but not the accurate sequence of its formation. In recent years a number 

of excellent monographs have been written that capsulize both the history of the Colorado Plateau and the 

formation of Navajo Mountain. The effect of these events on the development of Rainbow Bridge is a story 

flooded with sunlight.

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Figure 1 Monocline Faults and Normal Faults (Courtesy of Annabelle Foos, 

University of Akron)

In one of its earliest forms the Colorado Plateau was covered by an enormous sea. A billion years ago, in the 

Precambrian era, enormous horizontal fault lines emerged to form the border of the plateau. In the process of 

geologic and atmospheric evolution, the plateau emerged from that sea approximately 250 million years ago. 

This period comprised the latter part of the Permian era. The dominant features of neighboring provinces 

such as the Great Basin were extensive mountain ranges; this feature was noticeably lacking on the Colorado 

Plateau. Geologists speculate that being bounded by enormous fault lines hundreds of miles in length, the 

plateau moved in a single block, precluding it from the massive seismic upshifts necessary to form mountain 

ranges. This is not to say that the plateau lacks mountains; on the contrary, several peaks emerged on the 

plateau but not from the same causes as larger mountain ranges to the north and west. [2]

The region of the plateau that holds the Colorado River is known as a basin. Basins comprise the area 

between unique geologic features called monoclines. As large sections of rock rose or dropped vertically 

along fault lines, forming high and low plains, they created monoclines. Geologist Donald L. Baars 

describes the monoclines of the Colorado Plateau as "a carpet draping across a stair step." The higher rock is 

generally flat and forms a graceful slope down to the basin. To the east of Navajo Mountain is the 

Monument Upwarp monocline and to west lies the Kaibab Uplift. Rainbow Bridge sits just outside the 

northern boundary of the Black Mesa Basin, the basin formed from these two monoclines. Rainbow Bridge 

is located in a strange nexus of geologic designations. Technically it lies in the Paiute Folds, but this does 

not paint a complete picture: The bridge is also at the southern end of both the White Canyon Slope and the 

Kaiparowits Basin. The magma activity that formed Navajo Mountain (discussed later in this chapter) also 

contributed to the geologic character of the present day monument. All these geologic structures formed a 

southerly drainage system that provided the hydrologic outlet known as the Colorado River system. [3] But 

a cursory look at the structural composition of the landscape near Rainbow Bridge reveals layers upon layers 

of rock. These layers, referred to as formations, represent the geologic passing of time and the history of 

how the Rainbow Bridge region came to be. [4]

As the great sea receded, the Colorado Plateau 

was shifting from the Triassic period to the 

Jurassic period. One of the oldest layers observed 

near Glen Canyon is the Moenkopi Formation, a 

reddish brown layer deposited during the early 

Triassic period. Moenkopi formations tend to be 

so old that they are generally hidden by younger 

rocks. Because of the coincidence of time and 

events, Moenkopi formations are most often 

found encircling great uplifts such as the Kaibab 

Uplift and Monument Upwarp. Canyonlands 

National Park contains excellent displays of the 

Moenkopi Formation. In the latter Triassic 

period, the continent was in a calm climatological 

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Figure 2 Stratigraphic Diagram of Formation 

Layers (Courtesy of Annabelle Foos, University of 

Akron)

state. Land-bound remnants of the great sea 

coursed south from great lakes and the earliest of 

rivers flowed over the southern Colorado Plateau.

Between 200 and 250 million years ago, still 

during the Triassic Period, the Chinle Formation 

spread over the Moenkopi. The rivers that flowed 

across the breadth of the Colorado Plateau left 

what are known as the basal members of the 

Chinle Formation. Especially vivid near Natural 

Bridges National Monument (NM), the basal 

units are referred to as Shinarump Conglomerate 

and Moss Back Members. They are characterized 

by coarse, compacted sandstone that flows along 

various vectors in and out of the Moenkopi. 

These stream deposits formed the light colored 

cliffs that occur above and below many 

Moenkopi formations. It is also in these Chinle 

members that much of Utah's uranium load is 

located. The main part of the upper Chinle 

Formation is made up of multicolored shales 

laced by thin beds of fluvial sandstone and dense 

limestone. On the Colorado Plateau, the Chinle 

Formation is also known for its numerous 

depositions of petrified wood. The close of the 

Triassic Period did much to change the 

environment of the Colorado Plateau. The 

temperate weather conditions that created the 

seeds of the Colorado River System were 

replaced by a dryer, hotter climate that turned the 

plateau into a desert of sand dunes. It was these 

conditions, at the dawn of the Jurassic Period, 

that brought about much of the modern character 

of the larger Glen Canyon region. [5]

The Jurassic Period began approximately 200 

million years ago and progressed for about 70 

million years. Many of the formations that 

comprise the national parks and monuments of 

the Southwest developed during this period. The 

climate changes that took place from the Triassic 

to the Jurassic periods were extreme. Soaring 

temperatures and high winds carried sand across 

every square inch of the Colorado Plateau. 

Geologists compare the Colorado Plateau of that time to the Sahara Desert. Wingate Sandstone, Kayenta 

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Sandstone, and Navajo Sandstone all formed during the Jurassic Period. These three closely related 

sandstones comprise what is called the Glen Canyon Group. The oldest and lowest of these formations is 

Wingate Sandstone. It was named for the magnificent red cliffs close to Fort Wingate near Gallup, New 

Mexico. It is generally composed of thin-bedded, reddish-orange siltstone and sandstone. Its combination of 

cross-bedded and parallel-bedded structure helps Wingate sandstone form massive, vertical cliffs. The 

highly bonded nature of the sand causes Wingate Sandstone to break off in large blocks rather than the 

particulate-level erosion of less hardened units of the Jurassic Period. Wingate cliffs tend to directly overlay 

the Chinle formations. The distinct reddish color of Wingate Sandstone is due to the iron oxide that coats 

each coarse grain of sand. Wingate formations make up the bulk of Utah's most spectacular cliff sections. [6]

In the middle Jurassic Period, many millennia after the creation of the Wingate Formation, water and 

streams returned briefly to the Colorado Plateau. These streams deposited the second layer of the Glen 

Canyon Group called Kayenta Sandstone, which was named for exposures just north of Kayenta, Arizona. 

The Kayenta Sandstone is a ledge-forming, thin-bedded sandstone that tends to erode in gentle ledges and 

slopes rather than forming hardened vertical walls. This is typical of stream depositions throughout geologic 

history. The Kayenta Formation dissects the Glen Canyon Group by forming a ledge-like slope between two 

massive cliff-forming sandstones (Wingate and Navajo). Kayenta Sandstone is a firmly bonded stone that is 

perfect for supporting the massive Navajo cliffs on the plateau. The relatively soft nature of the upper 

bedding surfaces of the Kayenta Formation, coupled with excellent environmental conditions, make this 

stone perfect for preserving dinosaur tracks. Numerous tracks have been located near Rainbow Bridge NM 

in the upper layers of Kayenta Sandstone. This formation also makes up the base of Rainbow Bridge, the 

layer that underpins the bridge's abutments. This fact becomes significant later in the discussion of how the 

bridge was formed. [7]

The third prominent member of the Glen Canyon Group is Navajo Sandstone. In the region of Rainbow 

Bridge, the Navajo Sandstone is a distinctive element. It was designated "Navajo" by Herbert E. Gregory in 

a U.S.G.S. publication in 1917. Gregory spent large amounts of time exploring in the Southwest, and his 

surveys figure prominently into the story of how Rainbow Bridge was located in 1909 (see Chapter 3). 

Navajo Sandstone forms steep (sometimes vertical) walls among the canyons of the Glen. Rainbow Bridge 

was formed from one of these Navajo Sandstone walls. It is usually white or light gray in color, but 

occasionally it varies into light pink or light red. The formation consists of highly bonded remains from sand 

dunes that built up after the middle Jurassic period. In many locations Navajo Sandstone is interspersed with 

thin beds of dolomite or chert, adding a touch of variety to the appearance. [8]

The latter part of the Jurassic Period contributed numerous other formations. One of the more significant 

formations is the San Rafael Group which includes the Carmel Formation and Entrada Sandstone. The 

Carmel Formation is famous for the scenic beauty of the mesas outside Zion National Park. Entrada 

Sandstone does not form into massive cliffs and deep slot canyons but is responsible for the visual delights 

of places such as Goblin Valley and many of the arches in Arches National Park. The Jurassic Period came 

to a close approximately 135 million years ago. Towards the end of the period the Colorado Plateau became 

a lowland once more. The landscape was dominated by streams and feeder lakes that carried material along 

the channels that became Glen Canyon. Toward the end of the Jurassic Period the great sea returned to the 

Colorado Plateau, generating the enormous compression needed to form much of the Glen Canyon Group. 

But that sea receded once again, and three more important eras of deposition ensued. The periods following 

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Jurassic time the Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary Periods did much to shape the landscape referred to as 

modern. [9]

Figure 3 Rainbow Bridge (Courtesy of Glen Canyon NRA, Interpretation. 

Photo by Russell I. Alley)

In the West, the recession of the various inland seas was coupled with widespread folding and thrust 

faulting. These forces produced upward-shooting mountain ranges where seas had once gathered, forcing the 

seas to drain along new outlets. Erosion processes besieged the freshly made Glen Canyon Group, 

depositing thousands of feet of collected sand and boulders on the Colorado Plateau. This was the beginning 

to middle Cretaceous Period. By the late Cretaceous Period, the seas made their way east, cut off from 

western exit by new mountain ranges. As the seas moved eastward they ran into westward migrating 

shorelines, creating mud flats and aggressive barriers which prevented exit. As a result, material flowing 

from the western slopes of new mountains met material traveling from the eastern flats to deposit much of 

the composition of the basins of the Colorado Plateau. The San Juan Basin, which lies east of present day 

Rainbow Bridge NM, contains many of the younger formations of this late Cretaceous Period such as 

Dakota Formation, Mancos Shale, and the well known Mesa Verde Group. [10]

In Black Mesa Basin, just south of Rainbow Bridge, the formations generated in the Cretaceous Period are 

similar to those found in the San Juan Basin but vary in terms of age and depositional equivalence. For 

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example, deposition of the Dakota Sandstone began later in Black Mesa because it took longer for the 

eastern shoreline to migrate that far southwest. This also explains why Mancos Shale occurs higher in the 

stratigraphic map because it took longer for the mud beds to thicken and form the shale in Black Mesa Basin 

than it did in younger areas to the northeast. Effectively Black Mesa Basin formed the meeting place and 

exit route of eastward/westward geologic and hydrologic forces that shaped the end of the Cretaceous 

Period. Similarly, to the north these forces deposited many of the stratigraphic layers that form the 

Kaiparowits Basin and the Grand Staircase. The latter Tertiary and Quaternary Periods deposited little 

compressed material. Sand, gravel, terrace material, and igneous intrusions all scattered across the lower 

Colorado Plateau as a result of the exodus of water that ended the Cretaceous Period. Since no inland sea 

returned to the lower Colorado Plateau during these last two periods, no massive compression took place. 

The permanent recession of water from this point on did not allow these periods to leave a lasting geologic 

impression. [11]

Much of the geologic material formed in these later periods is not present in the modern monument, because 

of the volume of water present during the end of the Cretaceous Period and the force with which it exited the 

Rainbow Bridge region. The complex of waterways that are referred to as the Colorado River system began 

to cut through some 5,000 feet of sedimentary rock 30 million years ago in the middle of the Tertiary Period. 

Rainbow Bridge is situated in a unique geologic spot. As the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods wore on, more 

and more drainages from the surrounding basins formed around present day Rainbow Bridge. Consequently 

more and more water made its way through the region, flowing in a southwesterly direction. Obviously these 

waterways flowed for a very long time. But at one point they were the conduit for oceanic amounts of water, 

amounts that could not be measured in cubic feet per second with any realistic point of reference. This is 

why little compressed material remains in the Rainbow Bridge region from either the Tertiary or Quaternary 

periods; water simply carried it away. But the Tertiary Period was critical for its seismic contributions to the 

modern character of the Colorado Plateau and Rainbow Bridge. [12]

Times of extreme folding and faulting, which characterized both the late Cretaceous and entire Tertiary 

Period, are referred to by geologists as "orogenies." Caused by upward surges from an immense pool of 

subterranean molten lava, the orogeny that helped shape the Colorado Plateau began on the western 

coastline of North America and moved east across the plateau. The surging magma searched for release in 

every available horizontal fissure. When it could not escape horizontally it pushed up and formed 

mountainous ranges: This specific period of folding and faulting, known as the Laramide Orogeny, came to 

a climax in the middle of the Tertiary Period. By the close of this orogeny the entire Colorado Plateau rose 

approximately 5,000 feet in elevation. Navajo Mountain was formed during this tumultuous time. The 

mountain is referred to by geologists as a "laccolith," which means it is the product of a unified source of 

magma displacement that did not actually break through the earth's surface.

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Figure 4 Laccolith (left) and salt anticline (right) (Courtesy of Annabelle 

Foos, University of Akron)

Geologists speculate that a massive tube of lava moved horizontally through the earth's deeper layers and 

after meeting resistance turned upward in a mushrooming emergence. At Navajo Mountain, as with other 

laccoliths, there was no eruption at the top of the lava's journey. This is evidenced by the lack of cinder 

cones, lava beds, or volcanic debris. This explains the nearly uniform dome shape of the mountain, since 

constant pressure moved ever more vertically but never found a fissure to escape through. That pressure 

folded the sedimentary layers it encountered rather than breaking them. There is evidence of stress fracturing 

at the top of Navajo Mountain, like the splintering that occurs on the outside part of a bent branch that is 

about to snap. But that splintering never yielded a volcanic release. It was this aspect of the Tertiary Period 

that was so critical to the formation of Rainbow Bridge. [13]

As the Laramide Orogeny continued to shake up the Tertiary Period and the last era of inland seas receded 

to the south, the Colorado River system was beginning to form. While the hydrologic forces that shaped 

modern Glen Canyon may have been infantile 30 million years ago, they were sculpting the landscape. The 

depositions left by the Tertiary and subsequent Quaternary Periods were mostly uncompressed particulate in 

composition. These younger layers did not have a chance to be melded by the enormous pressure of oceanic 

bodies of water; consequently, the waters of the early Colorado River system made a different use of those 

sedimentary materials. As the waters receded, they carried tremendous quantities of gravel and sand and 

even massive chunks of segregated sandstone along their course to the south. These forces acted like a 

sandblaster on the surrounding landscape. Water alone would probably have shaped the canyons as they are 

viewed today, but the speed with which those erosional processes completed their task was enhanced by all 

the large-gauge particulate present in the water. This is why so little geologic evidence (save erosion) 

remains from the Tertiary and Quaternary periods it was simply washed away. This was the first factor in 

how Rainbow Bridge evolved into its current form. [14]

The rudiments of Bridge Canyon were likely born in the aftermath of Navajo Mountain's laccolithic 

construction. Geologist Donald L. Baars contends that the great drainage patterns of the Colorado Plateau 

were already well established by the late Tertiary Period, less than 10 million years ago. After the great 

dome pushed skyward to over 10,000 feet above modern sea level, between 30 and 50 million years ago, the 

normal work of erosion continued but with greater water flow. The presence of Navajo Mountain near 

Bridge Canyon intensified climatic activity, as most mountains tend to attract storms. The increased rainfall 

added to the ever flowing drainage system that was forming deeper and wider canyons. In addition to the 

increased flow caused by Navajo Mountain, increased precipitation also modified the climate of the 

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Colorado Plateau. Long periods of torrential rain, known as "pluvials," blanketed the Southwest. High 

volume water flows tended to tear away large chunks of strata from canyon walls as the hydrologic flow 

intensified, causing canyons to widen as they deepened. To make matters more complicated, much of the 

Colorado Plateau rose again during an orogeny that took place less than seven million years ago. This 

increased the velocity of the drainage and lowered the temperatures at the higher elevations, especially on 

Navajo Mountain. [15]

Near the middle of the Quaternary Period, also known as the Pleistocene Epoch, glaciers from the northern 

part of the continent moved south. While those glaciers did not make it across the length of the Colorado 

Plateau, they did help form the modern pale of the La Sal and San Juan Mountains. This Pleistocene Epoch 

also ushered in periods of snow accumulation on Navajo Mountain. As these glaciers expanded and 

contracted, melted and thickened, the flow of water continued to intensify through the ever evolving 

Colorado River drainage system. [16] It was the combination of all these geologic and climatic forces uplift, 

laccoliths, pluvials, and glaciation that made it possible for Bridge Canyon to give birth to Rainbow Bridge.

Figure 5 Formation of Rainbow Bridge (Courtesy of NPS Cartographic 

Division)

There is little rationale for why Bridge Creek followed the course that it did. The present-day topography 

reveals significant evidence of how the creek looked before Rainbow Bridge formed. As seen in Figure 5, 

the stream flowed across the Navajo Sandstone plain following the path of least resistance. As more water 

flowed during the Pleistocene Epoch, the erosive power of the creek intensified, cutting into the sandstone 

an ever wider and deeper trench. Like all streams or rivers, there were wide points in the flow. Water tended 

to swirl back on itself in those wide spots, forming eddies. The higher the flow, the stronger the eddy. The 

erosive power of Bridge Creek, with all its abrasive material carried down stream from above, intensified the 

effects of these eddies on the newly forming canyon walls. The result was a series of great ox-bow loops that 

held immense swirls of abrasive-laden water. The amphitheater-like alcoves that sit opposite the bridge 

today are all that is left of those ox-bows. As the water pounded into the downstream portion of the walls, 

the walls thinned, producing elongated fins that would not tolerate extended abrasion. Today one can view 

the remnants of Late Pleistocene fins cropping out from the alcoves directly opposite Rainbow Bridge.

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The number of alcoves created by the meandering course of Bridge Creek is difficult to ascertain. It is 

probable that the creek flowed from side to side in many curves in the span of only a few miles. As the base 

of an alcove eroded to progressively thinner dimensions, the overhanging roof of the alcove collapsed and 

sediment built up along the lower section. What is sure is that at the fin that became Rainbow Bridge, the 

water encountered a thick bed of Kayenta Sandstone. The base of the fin was much harder than the upper 

portion and Bridge Creek could not erode any further down the wall of the fin. At this point, some 500,000 

to one million years ago, the erosional process focused on thinning the fin on both the upstream and 

downstream sides above the Kayenta Sandstone base, since eddies would have formed at both locations. 

Eventually the Navajo Sandstone could no longer withstand the force of Bridge Creek and a hole formed in 

the fin.

Figure 6 Rainbow Bridge and alcoves (Courtesy of Glen Canyon NRA, 

Interpretation Files. Photo by Russell I. Alley)

Following the path of least resistance, Bridge Creek plummeted through the widening hole in the fin and 

abandoned the alcoves in immediate proximity to the bridge. This is why the alcoves near the bridge are still 

standing today. Large scale flooding, rain, and wind were the reason that the hole in the fin eroded from 

bottom to top. As the hole expanded, the flow of Bridge Creek moved in a northerly direction, and a trench 

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formed below the bridge. Even the Kayenta Sandstone could not withstand prolonged unidirectional erosion. 

Slowly, the empty space beneath the bridge expanded as pluvials and wind took their toll. Had the 

Pleistocene climate pattern not subsided, the bridge might very well have thinned to the point of either 

snapping under its own weight or being unable to tolerate seismic activity. Fortunately for contemporary 

humans, weather and seismology favored the bridge and left the most spectacular stone edifice of 

Southwest. [17]

The history of the Colorado Plateau, as briefly presented in this administrative history, is a complex and 

dynamic story. While the forces that created the plateau are currently at rest, the plateau's history suggests 

that calm is never a permanent state of affairs in the Southwest. Regardless, humans have been privileged to 

witness one of the great masterpieces of erosion in the form of Rainbow Bridge. It is apparent that a number 

of elements were necessary to produce the bridge. Had Navajo Mountain formed further south in the heart of 

Black Mesa Basin, the bridge might never have come to be. Whether the creation of the bridge was design 

or chance is idiosyncratic to the fact that contemporary humans have benefitted from the result.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 2)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 2:

Life Before the Monument: Human Habitation at Rainbow Bridge and 

Its Environs

Long before Euro-American populations occupied the Southwest, enormous numbers of Native American 

peoples inhabited the region. The most populous group is known today as the Navajo Nation. Theories vary 

as to how Native Americans, including the Navajo, came to live in the American Southwest. While some 

archeologists and linguists have suggested that Native Americans migrated into the region from elsewhere, 

the Navajo Nation contends that Navajos emerged in the Southwest. [18] To be sure, the structure of 

development and the patterns along which culture evolved in the Southwest is still a subject of intense 

debate. To better understand the controversies and conflicts that colored Rainbow Bridge NM during the 

20th century, it is important to examine the patterns of population development in the area. This chapter 

details how various Native American and Euro-American groups came to the region surrounding Rainbow 

Bridge and the conflicts and compromises that marked that influx. This information is critical to 

understanding the dynamics of the region's contemporary cultural disputes and the National Park Service's 

attempts to solve some of those disputes and to generate solutions.

There are two sets of data that detail human history at Rainbow Bridge. The first is commonly referred to as 

"written records" or scientific data. It is based on the many 20th century archeological expeditions that 

explored the region. The second, known as "oral tradition," or ethnographic data, is based on the 

ethnohistorical data collected by contemporary cultural historians and ethnographers. Unfortunately for 

contemporary readers, historians have barely tapped the vast reserve of oral history available in region. The 

ethnohistorical set of facts makes tacit use of archeological data but never at the expense of undermining a 

culture's history of itself. In other words, the ethnohistorical record never takes a backseat to the 

archeological record. At various points the archeological data coincides with the ethnohistorical data; at 

other times they do not. This administrative history makes no attempt to validate or discredit the stories told 

by either set of records. The focus is on the relative validity of those facts to their informants. The Navajo 

Tribe, while conducting contemporary archeological research, is not swayed from the ontological truth of its 

own oral tradition and history. Nor is any non-Navajo archeologist working under the penumbra of 

contemporary science dissuaded from the facts as they are presented through radio carbon dating and 

comparative site analysis.

Numerous archeologists, amateur and professional, conducted explorations of Rainbow Bridge NM during 

the 20th century. However, the data acquired prior to the 1950s was incomplete at best. Early EuroAmerican visitors to Rainbow Bridge noted certain site remains that have not been verified by contemporary 

archeologists. Most of the members of the first Euro-American expedition to the bridge, led by Byron 

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Cummings, William B. Douglass, and John Wetherill, observed what appeared to be a shrine or altar of 

indigenous origin at the foot of the bridge. There was no accurate analysis of what human group was 

represented by this structure or what its possible use may have been (see Chapter 3). Theodore Roosevelt, 

who trekked to the bridge in 1913, noted the presence of this altar-like structure as well as "the crumbling 

remains of some cliff dwellings." [19] Charles Bernheimer's 1920 and 1921 expeditions yielded only limited 

data regarding past inhabitants of the area. Bernheimer made no qualitative effort to categorize the sites he 

and his team located nor to accurately characterize the contents of those sites. Bernheimer should not be 

faulted for his failings; the region's limited archeological data base diminished the accuracy of archeological 

findings prior to the 1950s. The quality of reliable referential material available to men like Bernheimer was 

extremely limited. In 1932, Julian Steward, working under the guidance of the Bureau of American 

Ethnology, located five sites in the immediate Rainbow Bridge area. Four of those sites were eventually 

verified by archeologists from the Museum of Northern Arizona. The fifth site was never found, perhaps due 

to the inaccuracy of Steward's description. It is possible that the site lay in part of a canyon inundated by 

Lake Powell. [20]

The first comprehensive surveys of Rainbow Bridge NM took place in the 1950s. After Congress authorized 

the Colorado River Storage Project and Glen Canyon Dam in 1956, the Bureau of Reclamation contracted 

the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) and the University of Utah to conduct archeological surveys of all 

areas that would be inundated by waters impounded behind the dam. Among the many sites catalogued 

between 1956 and 1958, University of Utah and MNA teams located eleven sites in lower Forbidding 

Canyon. According to archeologist Phil R. Geib, these sites variously contained granaries, small habitations, 

petroglyphs, chipped hand-and-toe-hold trails, and terraced garden plots. Two sites were excavated in 1958. 

One contained pottery, lithic tools, and some remains of foodstuffs. Neither site revealed any concrete 

information about the region's prior inhabitants. [21]

In 1984, the Park Service contracted a group of archeologists from Northern Arizona University, led by Phil 

Geib, to conduct detailed site discovery and analysis of Rainbow Bridge NM and various surrounding areas. 

Within the boundaries of the monument, the team recorded eight sites and three isolated finds in a total 

surveyed area of seventy acres. Two of the sites were nothing more than the chiseled inscription of John 

Wetherill's name on rock surfaces. On the east side of Bridge Canyon lay site 42SA17328, which contained 

chert flakes, corn cob fragments, and flecks of charcoal. The team assigned this to a Preformative period. 

The chert flakes were evidence of "bifacial thinning activities," commonly understood as the production of 

some tool (arrowheads or axe blades) by chipping away at soft stone with a harder chipping stone. Site 

42SA17331, located on the southwest side of bridge canyon, consisted of two remnant masonry walls 

situated in an alcove. The walls appeared to be constructed from dry-laid, unshaped Navajo Sandstone 

blocks. This site was assigned variously to either Kayenta Anasazi or Pueblo II-III (1050-1250 A.D.). [22] 

Most of the other sites were either indeterminate in their origin or assigned to 20th century Navajos, Paiutes, 

or Euro-Americans. But the research did add to the general body of knowledge of the monument's prior 

inhabitants.

The 1984 survey gathered enough data to make some basic conclusions about human habitation in the 

Rainbow Bridge area. Thousands of years before the 1909 Cummings/Douglass expedition, Archaic huntersand-gatherers migrated throughout the region in search of mountain sheep and other wild foods. They 

certainly inhabited the Bridge Canyon region for a brief time. In the Puebloan period (700-1300 A.D.) 

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ancestral Puebloan peoples, also referred to as Anasazi, migrated through the monument's drainage in search 

of food as well as suitable agricultural locations. They planted small fields of corn, beans, squash, and even 

cotton. These activities necessitated the construction of granaries, rooms, and small living structures. While 

the occupation of Bridge Canyon by ancestral Puebloan peoples probably lasted no more than 150 years, 

evidence of their presence is unmistakable. [23] But the evidence of habitation is older than the Puebloan 

period.

Some of the most conclusive proof of prehistoric occupation in the Rainbow Bridge region came in the early 

1990s when Geib and others published extensive results of numerous analyses from sites in greater Glen 

Canyon. Those findings made use of certain terms, which are also employed in this administrative history, to 

assign temporal/cultural periods to human habitation. Those periods are: Paleoindian, Archaic, Early 

Agricultural, Formative, and Late Prehistoric/Protohistoric. These temporal/cultural periods were crossreferenced to existing archeological assignments known as Pecos development stages (e.g., Basketmaker II 

or Pueblo I). These published findings also used various dating systems, including references to B.P. (Before 

Present), C.E. (Contemporary Era), B.C.E. (Before Contemporary Era), as well as date references in terms 

of A.D. or B.C. All dates have been converted to A.D. or B.C. to provide readers a higher degree of 

consistency in interpreting the data.

The earliest evidence of human occupation in the Glen Canyon region suggests that Paleoindians occupied 

the area between 11,500 B.C. and 8000 B.C. These Paleoindians subsisted presumably on big game and 

were known for their distinctive point types. The Archaic period, 8000 B.C. to 600 B.C., was the time when 

corn and squash were introduced to Glen Canyon. The Early Agricultural period, 600 B.C. to 500 A.D., 

started after the extinction of large mammals, known as megafauna, and was characterized by the transition 

from hunting and gathering to the cultivation of corn and squash. The Formative period, 500 A.D. to 1300 A.

D., was marked by increasing reliance on agriculture by those people designated archeologically as 

Puebloan and Fremont. The Formative period is further categorized by Pecos Development Stages: 

Basketmaker III (600-800 A.D.); Pueblo I (800-1000 A.D.); Pueblo II (1000-1150 A.D.); and, Pueblo III 

(1150-1300 A.D.). There is evidence to support the claim that human habitation occurred in close proximity 

to Rainbow Bridge well before Basketmaker 111. [24]

Excavations at sites such as Dust Devil Cave, Sand Dune Cave, and Captain's Alcove, all of which lay less 

than twenty kilometers from Rainbow Bridge, yielded strong evidence of habitation between 7000 B.C. and 

750 A.D. Archeologists located a sandal fragment of an open-twined style at Sand Dune cave and 

radiocarbon dated it at 5750 ± 120 B.C. In 1970, archeologists excavated Dust Devil Cave, approximately 

20 kilometers west of Rainbow Bridge. They recovered another sandal fragment nearly identical to that 

found at Sand Dune Cave. The radiocarbon date of the artifacts at Dust Devil Cave ranged from 6880 ± 160 

B.C. (a yucca-lined pit) to 4835 ± 60 B.C. (a plain-weave sandal). At Captain's Alcove, also just west of 

Rainbow Bridge, archeologists radiocarbon dated charcoal from two separate hearths at between 1810 ± 75 

B.C. to 495 ± 85 B.C. At Benchmark Cave, slightly closer to Rainbow Bridge than Captain's Alcove, Phil 

Geib and other archeologists recovered multiple open weave sandal fragments. Those artifacts were 

radiocarbon dated from 3860 ± 70 B.C. to 1260 ± 55 B.C. The consistency of dates for artifacts found at 

multiple locations near Rainbow Bridge suggests that no single site was a fluke. The dates at these sites were 

also consistent with similar artifactual evidence taken from more remote Glen Canyon sites such as Cowboy 

Cave, Bechan Cave, and Old Man Cave. [25]

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The archeological data base, as it expanded throughout the 1980s and 1990s, suggested some obvious facts 

about Rainbow Bridge and its environs. It seems likely that numerous Paleoindians from nearby locations 

traveled in the Rainbow Bridge region, given that they were less than fourteen miles from the bridge. 

Habitation in the region surrounding Rainbow Bridge continued consistently from approximately 7000 B.C. 

up to 1300 A.D. Dust Devil Cave itself contained nine strata that housed artifacts spanning 9000 years of 

intermittent occupation. Coupled with the data collected by Geib in 1984, there was a clear record of human 

habitation in and around Rainbow Bridge NM that was much older than early explorers ever suspected. [26] 

Not surprisingly, evidence of early occupation grew ever closer to Rainbow Bridge.

In early 1993, a group of archeologists, including Geib, went to work on a project sponsored by the Navajo 

Nation Archeology Department. The project, which was not finished by the time this administrative history 

was published, was called the N16 Road Project. It involved a stretch of dirt road on the Navajo reservation 

between Inscription House and Navajo Mountain. Numerous Archaic Period sites were excavated along 

N16. Findings from only five sites have been published in Geib's Glen Canyon Revisited. As sites were 

found closer to Rainbow Bridge and Navajo Mountain, their artifactual evidence remained consistent with 

sites like Sand Dune Cave and Dust Devil Cave. The sites referred to as Windy Mesa (AZ-J-14-28) and 

Polly's Place (AZ-J-14-31) both contained multiple hearths that yielded charcoal samples dating to 

approximately 6000 B.C. The Pits (AZ-J-14-17) included multiple storage pits that contained maize 

fragments dating to 240 ± 60 B.C. The existence of storage pits also indicated seasonal and/or long term 

human occupation during the late Archaic Period. Even more definite evidence of early occupation of the 

Rainbow Bridge area came in late 1994.

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Figure 7 Excavated hearth at Rainbow Bridge, 1994 (Courtesy of Glen 

Canyon NRA)

Until 1994, the only site recorded that stood in close proximity to the bridge was site 42SA17329. The site, 

as it was originally documented, consisted of several historic petroglyphs, including a horse petroglyph of 

Paiute or Navajo origin (date uncertain). The remainder of the inscriptions were Euro-American in 

affiliation and consisted mostly of names, dates, and other drawings carved by visitors to the bridge. The 

name of western author and adventurer Zane Grey, who first visited the bridge in 1913, was among those 

inscriptions. Located on and around the east leg of the bridge, site 42SA17329 was significant in and of 

itself. But the site also stood directly above the purported location of the famous altar that so many early 

visitors noted in their descriptions of the bridge. The altar's existence was never verified by contemporary 

archeologists because it disappeared sometime after the 1930s. During the extremely heavy rains of early 

1994, water erosion at the foot of the bridge revealed a hearth structure that was definitely not of 20th 

century origin. Inspection of the hearth in September 1994 revealed that it was being damaged by vandalism. 

The Park Service decided an emergency excavation was in order. In November 1994, Park Service 

archeologists Chris Goetze and Tim W. Burchett commenced excavation and radiocarbon dating procedures 

on the hearth's contents. After consultation with the Navajo Tribe, Goetze and Burchett added the hearth to 

the described parameters of site 42SA17329 (based on proximity) and received approval for an emergency 

data recovery program. [27]

Figure 8 Excavated hearth at Rainbow Bridge, 1994 (Courtesy of Glen 

Canyon NRA)

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The results of radiocarbon dates on the hearth were intriguing. The charcoal samples were dated at 540 ± 60 

A.D., which placed the use of the hearth near the Basketmaker III period. However, Goetze and Burchett 

worried that this date was the result of "old wood" being used in the hearth. While this is possible, the data 

collected thus far from other nearby sites, including the N16 project, suggests that the Basketmaker III 

assignment was not too far off the mark. More importantly, even if the cultural assignment were adjusted to 

Pueblo II or Pueblo III, the hearth was indicative of early knowledge of the bridge and possibly reverence 

for it as spiritual icon. The report filed by Goetze and Burchett surmised that even if the Basketmaker III 

assignment was erroneous because of the "old wood" problem, "the hearth is still representative of activities 

including probable food processing, preparation, ceremonial, and social use of Rainbow Bridge." [28] This 

site, added to the dozens of others just beyond the monument's boundaries, evidences a thousand-year-old 

pattern of travel and occupation around Rainbow Bridge.

The archeological record tells a compelling story about Rainbow Bridge and its environs. There was 

definitely some human occupation of lower Bridge Canyon as late as 650 A.D. In the surrounding canyons 

and mesas, occupation by Paleoindians and Archaic Period humans took place as early as 8000 B.C. and 

continued through 1300 A.D. There is also the possibility that Paiute occupation began as early as the 12th 

century, though strong archeological data remains to be collected which would support such a claim 

definitively. However, based on the well established subsistence patterns observed by Dominguez and 

Escalante in 1776 (described later in this chapter), it seems probable that Southern Paiutes moved into the 

Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge region at least as early as the 15th century. But there is another set of 

facts that describe the history of human occupation near Rainbow Bridge. Those facts are based on 

ethnohistory and cultural sources that do not necessarily rely on hard archeological data and should not be 

weighed in terms of criteria established in other cultures. Local Navajo and San Juan Southern Paiutes, as 

well as the Hopi to the south, view their interpretation of their history with the same veracity that EuroAmerican historians view the archeological record. [29] In this sense, modernism and traditionalism coexist 

at Rainbow Bridge.

In the contemporary Rainbow Bridge/Glen Canyon region there are numerous Native American peoples of 

various tribal affiliation. The largest tribe in the region is the Navajo Nation. The Navajo refer to themselves 

as Diné, which means "the People." Linguists trace the Diné language to the Lake Athapasca region of 

northwestern Canada. According to linguists, Athapascan-speaking peoples, which include the Diné, began 

migrating south from Canada between approximately 1000 A.D. and 1200 A.D. There is still debate today as 

to the path their journey followed. Two major schools have developed regarding Navajo entrance into the 

Southwest. One group of researchers contends that the Navajo moved south across the High Plains of the 

Southwest just prior to Coronado's presence on the Rio Grande in 1541, crossing the Continental Divide 

sometime after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The other school argues that the Navajo arrived in the Southwest 

before 1500 A.D., having traveled south along the east side of the Rocky Mountains. The former school 

suggests a southern terminus point further east than that claimed by the latter school. Both groups of 

scholars suggest that whatever the southernly terminus of Navajo migration, the Navajos migrated west into 

northern Arizona and southern Utah after reaching eastern New Mexico. [30] Both schools point to Tapacito 

Ruin (dated 1690 A.D.) near Gobernador Knob as the earliest evidence of the southern terminus. Tapacito is 

marked by Navajo pottery and forked-stick hogans. [31]

The exact time of Diné arrival in the Navajo Mountain/Rainbow Bridge area is difficult to ascertain. Many 

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archaeologists and anthropologists suggest that when Coronado's Entrada campaign arrived at the Rio 

Grande in 1541, the Diné were still in the process of migrating into the Southwest. [32] Mary Shepardson 

and Blowden Hammond advanced a similar theory in their study of the contemporary Navajo community at 

Navajo Mountain.[33] Consolidating broad data from various scholars, Shepardson and Hammond contend 

that the Navajo Mountain area contains hundreds of sites of historic importance. The earliest period 

represented is Basketmaker II, dating from 1 A.D. to 600 A.D. Basketmaker III and Pueblo 1, II, and III are 

also represented sporadically all over the Rainbow Plateau and Paiute Mesa just south of the Arizona state 

line. These records suggest the early presence of pre-Puebloan peoples. The ancestral Puebloan cultures, 

commonly referred to by archeologists as Anasazi, are represented in various sites near Rainbow Bridge. 

Between 1200 A.D. and 1300 A.D., the ancestral Puebloan cultures withdrew from the sites known today as 

Keet Seel, Inscription House, and Betat' akin. Ancestral Puebloan culture did not reappear after 1350 A.D. 

[34]

Archeologist Alan Downer, a member of the Navajo Nation's Historic Preservation Office, has argued that 

this data represents more than the southern exodus of ancestral Puebloans. Downer asserts that using a more 

ethnographically sensitive reading of the archeological record reveals more about Navajo origins than any 

interpretation filtered through the Pecos model of development. He argues against the idea that Navajos 

were late arrivals to the Southwest in the early 1500s. Downer suggests that the fact that Athapascan 

speakers were spread throughout the Southwest mitigates that linguistic element as a determinant of Navajo 

origin. He contends that there are now enough sites of distinct Navajo origin dating to the early 14th century 

to rethink the late arrival theory:

As more and more early dates continue to be added to the data, they become more and more 

persuasive as a suite of evidence. There are now enough dates to the early 14th century to 

suggest that this represents a real occupation dating to the early 1300s. These dates come from 

sites that are plainly Navajo that is, looking at the material culture evidence from the sites, 

there is no question that these sites are Navajo the artifacts, the architecture, and the spatial 

organization are distinctively Navajo. Such sites are not found anywhere along any of the 

posited migration routes. It is reasonable to conclude that this distinctively Navajo site 

structure evolved in the Southwest. Based on any reasonable reading of the archeological 

record, these sites can not be seen as evidence of a new ethnic group suddenly moving into the 

area. [35]

Downer contends that these sites are so distinctive that it must have taken several centuries for this pattern to 

evolve, placing Navajos in the region in the early 12th century. This evolutionary model of development 

reflects the Navajo Nation's firm commitment to an ethnographic reading of the archeological record. The 

site data Downer referred to, including carbon dating results and site excavation reports, is housed at the 

Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Office in Window Rock, Arizona.

Contemporary archeology and ethnohistory suggests that these ancestral Puebloan peoples, who inhabited 

the canyons near Rainbow Bridge and Navajo Mountain, moved further south between 1200-1300 A.D. to 

the mesas of Arizona. They formed the Native American group known today as the Hopi. Christopher G. 

Johnson, in his master's thesis about the significance of Rainbow Bridge to various cultures, consolidated 

much of the Hopi tradition and archeological evidence as it pertains to Rainbow Bridge. Clan histories tell of 

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a distinct link between the ancestral Puebloan peoples near Navajo Mountain and the contemporary Hopi. 

Hopi tradition claims that the first people to come to the southern Hopi mesas were the Snake People from 

Navajo Mountain (Toko' nabi). During this southern migration, certain numbers of the Snake People took up 

residence at places such as Moencopi and Wupatki (near Flagstaff). [36] Johnson cites Hopi oral traditions 

that mention Navajo Mountain as the starting point for Hopi southern migration. Beginning with the Snake 

People in 1150-1200 A.D., a large number of the remaining ancestral Hopi moved south to various mesas 

between 1250 A.D. and 1400 A.D.

Based on clan histories and certain pottery sherd analysis, the Hopi could have very likely begun their 

southern trek from Navajo Mountain. Hopi history tells that Coyote Peoples also came from Navajo 

Mountain. Rainbow Bridge also figures into the origin story of Hopi people. Johnson relates the oral history 

taken by A.M. Stephen in 1873 from an elder in the Snake Clan. The elder claimed that his people lived in 

snake skins that were suspended from the end of a rainbow. The opposite end of the rainbow touched 

Navajo Mountain. At some point, after the Snake people had acquired enough knowledge of Hopi lifeways 

from the gods, the skins were dropped from the rainbow onto the mountain, where the people emerged as 

men and women. [37]

In the 1930s, similar stories were told to Mormon missionaries who came into contact with the Hopi. 

Various Hopis told Mormon missionary Christian Christiansen that during the 17th century the Hopi used 

Rainbow Bridge as a refuge from invaders. The identity of the invaders is unclear, but the tradition of 

seeking security in Rainbow Bridge canyons is more certain. [38] During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Hopis 

claim that certain of their numbers fled north to the environs of Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge. 

Historian Richard O. Clemmer suggests that Hopi tradition locates the older forest stands on Navajo 

Mountain, also referred to as Tokonavi, as the home for most Hopi Katchina spirits. Clemmer also contends 

that Navajo Mountain, Black Mesa, and Betatakin have always been revered as part of the Hopi aboriginal 

homeland. [39] The probability that some Hopis came to the Arizona mesas from Navajo Mountain is very 

high. There is enough archeological evidence to support the claim that they were near Navajo Mountain for 

a time; moreover, the incidence of Hopi contact reported by both Navajos and San Juan Paiutes supports the 

reality of a multi-cultural community around Navajo Mountain between the 16th and 18th centuries. Even 

archeologist Phil Geib admits that there are dozens of sites around Navajo Mountain that may possess early 

Paiute or Hopi affiliation. To date, Geib says, there simply has not been sufficient testing or excavation to 

verify those claims absolutely. Essentially, the evidence is there waiting to be utilized. [40]

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 3)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 3:

Searching for Rainbows: The Cummings/Douglass Expedition

The push to make Rainbow Bridge and its immediate environs a national monument began immediately 

after it was sighted by two men: William B. Douglass, Examiner of Surveys for the General Land Office 

(GLO), and Professor Byron Cummings, a part-time archeologist and professor of ancient languages from 

the University of Utah. This chapter details the story of how these two men came together and put Rainbow 

Bridge on the evolving map of Utah's canyon country. The story of Rainbow Bridge's first official sighting 

is a controversial tale. Supporters of Douglass and Cummings have leveled numerous accusations at each 

other over the years. Debates over who led whom to the bridge, which Native American guide had the most 

immediate knowledge of the trails, and who actually sighted the bridge first are all part of the dispute. More 

important than the truth of individual claims to glory is the fact that having located the bridge for both 

science and government, the first official expedition made preserving the bridge a national concern. In 

addition, the controversy over who discovered the bridge in 1909, while academic at best, was only the first 

of many disputes that focused on Rainbow Bridge.

In his camp at Grayson, Utah, William Boone Douglass contemplated the fate of a little known stone edifice. 

On October 7, 1908, Douglass wrote to the Commissioner of the GLO regarding new information about an 

enormous, white sandstone bridge that was "like a rainbow," and which had a span greater than the Augusta 

Bridge in the recently created Natural Bridges NM. [76] Douglass admitted in his letter that this information 

came to him in early September from a Paiute Indian named Mike's Boy, also known as Jim Mike. Mike's 

Boy had been in Douglass's employ as an axeman. At nearly the same time, a hundred miles away in Oljeto, 

Utah, the same information was being passed between two other people. Byron Cummings, dean of the 

College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Utah and an amateur archeologist, was near Oljeto 

excavating sites at Tsegi Canyon in August 1908. Cummings learned of the possible existence of a massive 

arch from John and Louisa Wetherill, who owned and operated the trading post at Oljeto. [77] Wetherill and 

Cummings made plans for an expedition to the bridge for the summer of 1909. Eventually, Cummings and 

Douglass joined forces in August 1909 and completed the first successful expedition to Rainbow Bridge.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the American Southwest was a hotbed of archeological exploration 

and excavation. Richard Wetherill, John's brother, discovered Cliff Palace Ruin in 1888. The Wetherill 

family owned a cattle ranch near Mancos. Colorado. Richard Wetherill happened upon the immense 

ancestral Puebloan structures at Mesa Verde while chasing stray cattle with his brother-in-law, Charlie 

Mason. Of all the sites at Mesa Verde, Cliff Palace was the most spectacular. All the Wetherill brothers had 

cursory knowledge of abandoned dwellings in the Mancos area. In 1887, Al Wetherill stumbled upon the 

first of the Mesa Verde dwellings, Sandal House. After 1888, the Wetherills, especially Richard, developed 

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more than a passing interest in prehistoric cultures. Richard Wetherill believed he had discovered a "lost 

civilization" and was consumed with the pursuit of discovering more sites. [78] 

There were very few uniform standards for American archeologists in the late 19th century. In the 

Southwest, archeologists without any institutional affiliations were considered buffs at best and "pot 

hunters" at worst. Even the idea of valuing the past for its scientific or historical merit was not well 

established in the American Southwest. Preservation as a guiding principle was new to the federal 

bureaucracy that was just starting to manage America's public lands. But the ethos was forming. The federal 

government began to recognize the value of preserving scenic natural resources, translating that recognition 

into legislation with the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872, as well as three more national parks 

in California in 1890 (Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Yosemite). In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison signed 

an executive order that reserved the Casa Grande Ruin and 480 acres around it for permanent protection 

because of its archeological value. More and more federal agencies, as well as professional organizations 

like Edgar L. Hewett's Archeological Institute of America (AIA), realized that the vast federal estate needed 

management and rules. The evolving disciplines of anthropology and archeology were struggling to achieve 

legitimate scientific status in America during the late 1880s. Protection and preservation of America's past 

slowly became one of the goals of post-1890s society.

In this historical context, Richard Wetherill's practice of excavating for profit, even shipping artifacts 

overseas with men like Gustav Nordenskiold of Sweden, was much less controversial. The debate in the 

scientific community over how to preserve America's scientific and cultural past was still evolving. [79] It 

would be unfair to disparage Richard Wetherill from the vantage point of the early 21st century. Scientific 

preservation was in its infancy in the 1890s, and there was no reason for Richard Wetherill to feel an innate 

compulsion to save his discoveries for future generations of Americans. He was not alone in his desire to 

profit from past. But his practices were at odds with the evolving ethos of preservation. Wetherill 

represented the kind of "pot hunting" that American academics and scientists were trying to move away 

from. That Wetherill was so successful at finding abandoned dwellings and so undaunted by the criticisms 

of "professionals" made him an anathema to many. The fact is that many "archeologists" of the period 

engaged in the same practices as Wetherill. It would be hard to describe any of them as more than collectors 

of artifacts. Scientific processes such as dating sites, cataloging artifacts, preserving finds for future 

generations, or even publishing the results of excavations were not part of the regimen for most 

archeologists in the late 19th century Southwest. Ironically, these same "professional" organizations were 

trying to distance themselves from the amateurs they thought of as detrimental to their professional prestige. 

Regardless of the competing ethical interests, it was the professionals and academics who had the ear of 

Congress.

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Figure 9 John Wetherill (Stuart M. Young Collection, NAU.

PH.643.4.13, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University)

The push to legislate scientific preservation began in earnest at the beginning of the 20th century. Various 

organizations, such as the American Anthropological Association and the AIA, sought protective legislation 

that would prevent further export of Southwest Indian artifacts. Edgar Hewett and the AIA found an able 

supporter in Representative, John F. Lacey of Iowa. Lacey was known for his belief in the preservationist 

ethic and more importantly for his ability to translate that ethic into legislation. In 1900, Lacey introduced 

legislation to create a federal administrative entity responsible for managing America's national parks. 

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Though this bill was defeated, Lacey continued to fight for the protection of valuable scientific and natural 

resources. In 1901, he secured passage of the first comprehensive federal legislation designed to protect 

wildlife, the Lacey Act, which criminalized the interstate shipment of any wild animals or birds killed in 

violation of state laws.

After hearing about the high rate of artifact exportation in the Southwest, Lacey met with Edgar L. Hewett to 

discuss preservation of American archeological sites. At their meeting, Hewett presented a draft of 

legislation designed to prevent further unauthorized excavation of scientifically significant sites. The 

legislation also included language to authorize the President to protect such sites through executive order. 

With some modifications, Lacey introduced the bill to Congress. Other bills similar to Hewett's had been 

presented to Congress before. Western senators and congressmen had always killed these bills based on their 

dislike of any enlarged federal presence in the West. But Lacey managed to allay these fears with Hewett's 

bill. He assured western legislators that the bill's intent was to preserve significant but specific sites, such as 

Native American cliff dwellings, and would be applied selectively based on scientific rationales. In June 

1906, Congress passed "An Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities." [80]

Known as the Antiquities Act, this legislation provided mechanisms to the President "to declare by public 

proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific 

interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be 

national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall 

be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be 

protected." [81] The act required permits to be approved before archeological investigations could be 

undertaken inside the boundaries of a national monument. The criteria for designation as a national 

monument varied from location to location, but was based primarily on a site's scientific or historic 

uniqueness. The authorizing mechanism was also different from national park legislation, putting the power 

to preserve in the hands of the President rather than Congress. Federal agencies, private groups, or 

individuals could lobby the chief executive on a cause and effectively bypass the legislative system that 

encumbered the process of national park designation.

The first national monument, Devils Tower in Wyoming, was proclaimed by Theodore Roosevelt on 

September 24, 1906. By the end of 1908, Roosevelt had declared another sixteen monuments, including Gila 

Cliff Dwellings, Grand Canyon, and Natural Bridges. National monuments customarily remained under the 

management and supervision of the land management agency that controlled the land at the time of a 

monument's designation (e.g., the Forest Service, the War Department, etc.). One of those sixteen, Chaco 

Canyon National Monument, was designated in direct response to Richard Wetherill's homestead claim at 

Pueblo Bonito. [82] This did not stop Wetherill and others from expanding the search for archeological sites 

in the region. The non-professionals were not easily stayed.

It was not archeology alone that brought whites to the Rainbow Bridge area. Trade and goodwill played their 

parts in addition to exploration. By 1908, the American Southwest was still largely unexplored by whites. 

The area surrounding present day Rainbow Bridge was all part of the Navajo Reservation. During this 

period of archeological exploration in the Southwest, the Navajo were beginning to prosper economically. 

Utilizing "seed stock" obtained from the United States military, Navajo herdsmen raised sheep in earnest 

between 1870 and 1907. Despite difficult winters in 1894 and 1899, reliable estimates placed the Navajo 

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sheep population in 1907 at 640,000 animals. [83] But the Navajo were trapped in the cyclic dependency of 

sheep herding. As available grazing lands reached maximum capacity, expansion in the region was limited. 

More and more sheep were being eaten, and less raw wool was being traded despite enormous herd 

populations all over the reservation. The Navajo were compelled to find another way to convert wool into 

revenue.

The trading posts that popped up during this period were not popular at first with Navajo elders, nor with 

herdsmen that found them on the edges of their grazing lands. The Navajo were not tolerant of 

encroachment by whites so soon after confinement at Bosque Redondo. But trading posts offered a vector of 

economic exchange that was unavailable before. Navajo blankets and silver work, increasingly popular 

among Anglos, were sold at regional trading posts and made it possible for non-herding Navajos to improve 

economically. [84] Trading posts helped the Navajo economy to expand beyond agriculture and livestock. 

During this 20th century atmosphere of survival and expansion, John and Louisa Wetherill moved to Oljeto 

and set up a trading post on the Navajo reservation.

John and Louisa Wetherill were experienced traders. At their first outpost, known as Ojo Alamo and located 

near Pueblo Bonito, New Mexico, Louisa Wetherill befriended local Navajos and began learning the Navajo 

language. By 1906, Louisa was fairly fluent in Navajo and well acquainted with the culture and custom of 

local Navajos. [85]

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Figure 10 Byron Cummings (Stuart M. Young Collection, 

NAU.PH.643.45, Cline Library, Northern Arizona 

University)

In addition to running the trading post, the Wetherills tried their hand at wheat farming. Neither endeavor 

proved immensely profitable. Trading in the area was limited by numerous factors, and the years between 

1904 and 1906 gave the Wetherills three successive wheat crop failures. During this period their family 

responsibilities grew with the birth of two children, Benjamin Wade and Georgia Ida. Opportunities at Ojo 

Alamo had run out. What brought the Wetherills to Oljeto was a combination of adventure, frustration with 

farming, and the desire to run a profitable trading post. The trading post business at Oljeto was built on good 

will. In March 1906, the Wetherills and their partner Clyde Colville, who had been with them since Ojo 

Alamo, feasted with two of the most respected leaders of the Navajo Tribe, Old Hashkéniinii and his son 

Hashkéniinii-Begay. The combination of respect shown to Navajo custom and Louisa's linguistic fluency 

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combined to endear the Wetherills to the local Navajo tribal members. In an area quickly attracting the 

attention of explorers and government officials, the Wetherills established a firm presence with the "keepers 

of the rainbow." [86]

Like his brother Richard, John Wetherill had a deep passion for archeology and the history of prehistoric 

cultures. Ever since the discovery of Mesa Verde, John Wetherill was fascinated by the past hidden in the 

sandstone of the Southwest. Over the years he collected an enormous amount of knowledge concerning 

regional ancestral Puebloan sites and developed an intimate relationship with local Indians regarding the 

whereabouts of unexplored sites. To support his financial needs as well as to satisfy his innate curiosity, 

John Wetherill hired himself out as guide and outfitter to individuals and institutions seeking artifacts of the 

southwestern past. It was in this capacity that Wetherill came into contact with both Byron Cummings and 

William B. Douglass.

Byron Cummings was a typical archeologist of the early 20th century. He came to the West from New York, 

accepting a position as professor of Ancient Languages at the University of Utah in 1893. By 1905 he was 

dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a regular client of the Wetherills. Numerous trips in Utah's 

south-central desert intensified his love for archeology. He put together teams of students and semiprofessionals every summer for romantic journeys into the canyons of Dinétah. Cummings was self-trained 

and extremely motivated toward exploring and excavating the various sites to which John Wetherill led him. 

These included Keet Seel, Inscription House, and Betat' akin, all on the Navajo Reservation. [87] In 1907, 

Cummings and his party generated a topographic map of White Canyon, Utah. The dominant features of the 

geography were three sandstone bridges, all larger than any previously mapped in the continental United 

States. After Cummings sent his map to the GLO in Washington, D.C., President William H. Taft declared 

Natural Bridges NM on April 16, 1908. [88] Cummings embodied the spirit of discovery still budding in 

American archeology. His concerns were with knowledge and the preservation of scientific data. He was 

little concerned with regulation or the government's place in the scope of "discovery."

William B. Douglass came to the Southwest as a representative of order and regulation, the twin themes of 

the Progressive Era. [89] Having worked his way up through the ranks of government service, Douglass was 

the epitome of the Progressive ideology. He was less concerned with the esoteric value of Native American 

sites or artifacts than with maintaining the integrity of the federal estate and enforcing the provisions of the 

Antiquities Act. Douglass believed that structures or artifacts located on federal land were federal property 

and were therefore subject to federal regulation. The Antiquities Act was a touchstone for Douglass: his 

reports to his superiors regarding the creation of national monuments at Natural Bridges, Navajo, and 

Rainbow Bridge were critical to their designations as protected space. Like many bureaucrats at the time 

working to preserve newly discovered Native American sites or unique geologic structures, Douglass still 

had a bad taste in his mouth regarding Richard Wetherill. The days of amateur excavation and collection 

were over and in the mind of a man like Douglass, any hint of their return demanded swift action. [90] 

Douglass knew that Cummings and Wetherill were in the Tsegi Canyon region and feared that without 

immediate protection, artifacts from the area would end up in various private museums or collections and 

the dwellings at places like Keet Seel would be permanently disturbed. In the spring of 1908, after the GLO 

received Cummings map of White Canyon, they sent Douglass to resurvey the area and define its boundaries 

more carefully. [91] 

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William Douglass learned of the possible existence of the great Rainbow Bridge from Mike's Boy, his Paiute 

axeman. If the bridge existed, Douglass's immediate concern was that site avoid despoliation by amateur 

explorers. Writing to his superiors, he said:

Mike's Boy [Jim Mike] says no white man has ever seen this bridge, and that only he and 

another Indian know of its whereabouts. This bridge is in, or near, the oil region; it will 

undoubtedly be discovered, and as surely located by some kind of claim. I have secured a 

promise that nothing be said of it until I have had time to learn the wishes of yourself on this 

subject. [92]

As a prudent government employee of the Progressive Era, Douglass's first concerns were focused on 

protection and regulation. Whatever his motivations after finding Rainbow Bridge, whatever his actions in 

the ensuing controversy, his initial consideration was to secure a place for the bridge within the federal 

estate where it could be managed and protected from all parties that could do it harm.

How Byron Cummings learned of the bridge is a more detailed story. In 1907, Louisa Wade Wetherill was 

on good terms with the local Navajo population at Oljeto. She had a reputation with her customers for 

fairness in trade and was considered a healer by many. Her fluency in the Diné language also improved her 

standing and her ability to gather information. Her maternal nature and stalwart demeanor endeared her to 

most of her acquaintances. In early 1907, a Navajo named One-Eyed Salt Clansman (Áshiihí bin áá' ádiní) 

had just returned to Oljeto from guiding a party of whites into the White Canyon natural bridges. [93] OneEyed Salt Clansman knew of the Wetherills' passion for ancient places and people and inquired about this 

with Louisa. Author Frances Gillmor, in consultation with Louisa Wetherill, related the story of Louisa's 

knowledge of the bridge:

The One-Eyed Man of the Salt Clan came to Ashton Sosi [Louisa Wetherill, "Slim Woman"] 

with a question.

"Why do they want to go?" he demanded. "Why do they want to ride all that way over the clay 

hills to see just rocks?"

"That is why they go," Ashton Sosi explained. "Just rocks in those strange forms, making 

bridges. There is nothing like them anywhere else in the world."

The One-Eyed Man of the Salt Clan considered the matter.

"They aren't the only bridges in the world," he objected. "We have a better one in this 

country."

"Where is there a bridge in this country?" asked Ashton Sosi.

"It is in the back of Navajo Mountain. It is called the Rock Rainbow that Spans the Canyon. 

Only a few go there. They do not know the prayers. They used to go for ceremonies, but the 

old men who knew the prayers are gone. I have horses in that country and I have seen the 

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bridge." [94]

One-Eyed Salt Clansman died in the fall of 1907, before he could guide John Wetherill to the bridge. There 

are no sources that suggest why an expedition to the bridge was not mounted in the summer of 1907. 

Gillmor and Louisa Wetherill contend that in the early spring of 1908, Clyde Colville, partner to the 

Wetherills, employed Luka, Man of the Reed Clan, to guide Colville into the canyons north of Navajo 

Mountain. After crossing difficult creeks and canyons, Luka admitted he could not find the trail. Even after 

climbing the northwest slope of Navajo Mountain, Colville never managed to sight the bridge. [95] Rainbow 

Bridge remained hidden for a few more months.

In August 1908, the Wetherills informed Byron Cummings of One-Eyed Salt Clansman's story of the rock 

rainbow. Again, there is no explanation why the Wetherills waited until the end of Cummings' latest 

expedition to pass on this vital information. Nevertheless, Cummings and John Wetherill made definite 

plans for a summer 1909 expedition to find the bridge. But in the early winter of 1908, William Douglass 

appeared at Oljeto. That October, Douglass had received approval from the GLO to search for the bridge. He 

had arranged to meet Mike's Boy at Oljeto soon after breaking camp in Bluff, Utah. Douglass arrived at 

Oljeto on December 4, 1908. He intended to hire John Wetherill as an outfitter and use Mike's Boy as a 

guide. But poor supplies, bad weather, and the failure of Mike's Boy to arrive on time combined to cancel 

the trip. Wetherill also engaged in some slight subterfuge, trying to convince Douglass that Mike's Boy was 

either wrong about the existence of the bridge or misinformed about its location. [96] In the controversy 

which erupted after 1909 over who should receive credit for finding the bridge, Wetherill's ploy worked 

against him. Denying the bridge's existence to Douglass made it seem that any knowledge of the bridge 

flowed from Mike's Boy to Douglass to Wetherill. Wetherill vehemently denied this assertion in later years. 

Regardless, Douglass was undeterred by Wetherill's criticism of Mike's Boy and announced he would return 

the following year for another attempt. By extension, Wetherill knew in December 1908 that Douglass 

possessed knowledge of the bridge and would try to reach it as soon as the weather permitted. [97]

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Figure 11 Louisa Wetherill (Stuart M. Young Collection, 

NAU.PH.643.4.14, Cline Library, Northern Arizona 

University)

In the winter of 1909, Louisa Wetherill made numerous inquiries of her trading post customers about the 

location of the bridge and about Indians who might serve as guides. She received an unexpected response in 

the early spring of 1909. Nasja Begay and his father, both Paiutes, came to do business at Oljeto. They 

claimed to have seen the bridge only months earlier while searching for stray horses. They agreed to guide 

the Wetherills to the bridge in the coming summer. [98] It was to be a busy summer for Cummings, 

Wetherill, and Douglass.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 4)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 4:

Making It Work: Monument Development, 1910-1955

On May 30, 1910, President William Howard Taft issued a proclamation that designated the 160 acres 

surrounding the bridge as Rainbow Bridge National Monument (NM). Because the bridge was located on 

land administered by the General Land Office (GLO), the monument became the administrative 

responsibility of that agency. Before 1910, Rainbow Bridge enjoyed a quiet existence; after 1910, Rainbow 

Bridge was part of the federal system of land management and quickly became a contested space. This 

chapter focuses on elements of the monument's early development: administration, exploration, protection, 

and tourism. In the first few decades of the monument's official existence, there were numerous important 

scientific explorations of the region, various attempts to turn the monument into a national park, and 

organized efforts to promote the bridge's tourist potential. Between 1916 and 1955, Park Service employees 

as well as privately funded individuals spent more than thirty years trying to comprehend the vast resources 

of this relatively small monument.

Administering Rainbow Bridge NM between 1910 and 1916 was not a complex affair. Because of the its 

remote location, there was very little official activity at the monument. The administrative responsibility for 

the monument fell to John Wetherill in 1910. Wetherill was already the custodian for Navajo NM and in 

good position geographically to add the responsibility of Rainbow Bridge NM to his duties. Without 

question, Wetherill knew the region better than anyone, and his intimate local knowledge proved beneficial 

to many monument visitors.

In 1916, Congress passed the National Park System Organic Act, which authorized the creation of the 

National Park Service (NPS). After 1916, NPS was responsible for the administration of Rainbow Bridge 

NM. Based on the remote nature of the monument, as well as its positive relationship with John Wetherill, 

the Park Service maintained custodial management of the monument under Wetherill. NPS also continued 

the practice of making Rainbow Bridge part of the managerial purview of the custodian or superintendent of 

Navajo NM. This administrative structure remained in place until 1964, when control of Rainbow Bridge 

NM was transferred to the superintendent at Glen Canyon NRA (see chapter 6). The specific duty of 

managing Rainbow Bridge NM involved very little before 1964. Visitation was so limited until the late 

1950s that visitor impact was minimal; this translated into very little demand for maintenance. Custodians 

and superintendents from Navajo NM, along with Park Service rangers, made semi-annual trips to Rainbow 

Bridge. Most of the time the trips were two or three days long, during which time they performed trail 

maintenance, signage repair, and replaced the visitor register at the bridge. [141]

Rainbow Bridge NM also fell under another management umbrella. In 1924, the Park Service formed the 

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Southwestern National Monuments Office. Rainbow Bridge NM was part of a group of monuments under 

the administrative control of this office. The benefit to Rainbow Bridge was the Park Service's recognition 

of the need for more direct management control over remote locations such as Rainbow Bridge. As 

custodian, John Wetherill was made responsible to a local NPS administrator, Frank Pinkley, who had been 

Superintendent of Casa Grande NM since 1918. Pinkley was put in charge of fourteen national monuments 

throughout the Southwest region. Pinkley was a perfect choice, having worked his way up first with the 

General Land Office, and then NPS. The Park Service was not even ten years old at the time Pinkley began 

his administration of the Southwestern Monuments Group. In this capacity, "Boss" Pinkley (as he became 

known to his colleagues) fought an uphill battle for both recognition and adequate funding for his beloved 

national monuments. [142]

By 1927, Pinkley's monuments collectively attracted more visitors than Yellowstone on less than half of 

Yellowstone's budget. Pinkley often paid his own travel expenses and even went without salary at the end of 

the fiscal year to provide much needed repairs to various monuments. But Pinkley developed and grew as a 

park manager through good times and bad, always staying one step ahead of the new monuments being 

thrust under his care. At the time of his death in 1940, Pinkley administered 27 national monuments in four 

states. While Rainbow Bridge NM was part of this evolving rubric of regional control, local considerations 

and personalities continued to dominate the daily activity of the monument. The Southwestern National 

Monuments Group ceased administrative operation in 1957, just about the time that events at Rainbow 

Bridge became part of the national spotlight. But Pinkley watched over Rainbow Bridge with diligence 

during the sixteen years he administered it as part of the Southwest region. [143]

Despite the relative surety of NPS administration at Rainbow Bridge, the region that surrounded the 

monument was long contested in terms of ownership. Before Anglos came to the area in the middle of the 

19th century, Rainbow Bridge and Navajo Mountain were claimed by Navajos, San Juan Southern Paiutes, 

and Hopis as part of their aboriginal homeland. The area was also on the fringe of territory claimed by 

numerous Native American tribes from southwestern Colorado. But with the Treaty of Bosque Redondo in 

1868, the United States government was thrown into the mix of claimants on Rainbow Bridge. The status of 

the territory surrounding the bridge, an area referred to as the Paiute Strip, was in flux from the moment the 

Bosque Redondo treaty created the Navajo reservation. Even after the declaration of Rainbow Bridge NM, 

the status of the surrounding environs was not settled.

Originally the Navajo reservation was bifurcated by the Arizona-New Mexico state line. Its northern border 

was the Four Corners intersection and its southern border was only a few miles north of present day Window 

Rock, Arizona. From 1878 to 1934, the Navajo reservation was expanded by executive order ten times and 

by congressional act three times. Modifications to the reservation between 1878 and 1886 included the 

creation of the Hopi reservation in December of 1882, a section nearly as large as the original Navajo treaty 

reservation. The Hopi reservation was bounded on all four sides by the Navajo reservation. An executive 

order of May 17, 1884, by President Chester A. Arthur, added the portion of land known as the Paiute Strip. 

[144]

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Figure 20 Rainbow Bridge National Monument and vicinity (From 1950 

NPS brochure. Courtesy of Intermountain Support Office) (click on image for 

an enlargement in a new window)

The history of the Paiute Strip is an interesting odyssey. The Paiute Strip is the home of Rainbow Bridge. Its 

southern boundary is the Utah/Arizona border and its eastern border is the Utah/Colorado border, moving 

from Four Corners north to the point where the San Juan River crosses into the Colorado. The northern and 

western borders are created by the westerly flowing San Juan River, as it moves from the Utah/Colorado 

border north, then west, until it turns south and joins the Colorado River. Originally part of the 1884 

addition to the Navajo reservation, President Benjamin Harrison returned 431,160 acres of the Paiute Strip 

to the public domain in November 1892. Historian Bill Acrey contends that prospectors had long desired to 

explore the region for its potential mineral wealth and in turn pressured the President to make the Paiute 

Strip available to mining survey. [145] However, in 1908, the expanding Navajo population of both people 

and sheep motivated Congress to withdraw the Strip for use by multiple Native American groups. During 

this period, the area was known as the Paiute Strip San Juan Reservation, although much of the prime 

grazing land was overrun by Navajo flocks. The San Juan Southern Paiute had long considered this area part 

of their ancestral homeland. But Navajo pressure for competing use was too great for the small band of 

Southern Paiute who made Navajo Mountain their home. The Paiute Strip reservation remained under the 

administration of the Western Navajo Agency until 1922. [146]

Unfortunately for the San Juan Southern Paiute, the reservation designation did not last. The San Juan 

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Southern Paiute were hit hard by an influenza epidemic in 1918. Over the next two decades their numbers 

were cut by seventy percent, from three hundred people to fewer than eighty. Cultural historian Stephen 

Trimble contends that a poorly informed agent from the Bureau of Indian Affairs visited the Paiute Strip in 

1922. Seeing few Paiutes in the area, the agent informed his superiors of the situation. Within weeks, 

Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall bowed to Monticello, Utah mineral interests and returned the Strip to the 

public domain once again in 1922. Owing to pressure from local residents as well as the lack of any 

significant mineral discoveries, Congress returned the Paiute Strip (less the one hundred and sixty acres that 

comprised Rainbow Bridge NM) permanently to the Navajo reservation in 1933. [147]

With the monument established, exploration of its environs began in earnest. Despite the fact that Native 

Americans knew about the bridge for centuries, the rest of the country knew very little about Rainbow 

Bridge or its surrounding ecosystem. The Cummings/Douglass expedition revealed only the most 

rudimentary data about Rainbow Bridge and even less about the northwestern slope of Navajo Mountain. 

Before 1910, most of the exploration in the region focused on Tsegi Canyon and the many ancient Puebloan 

structures it contained. What waited for Anglos at Rainbow Bridge was a topography as diverse as any 

encountered previously, as well as evidence of early human habitation.

Figure 21 Kayenta Trading Post, 1912 (Stuart M. Young Collection, NAU.

PH., Cline Library, Northern Arizona University)

The official life of the monument started slowly. In addition to the few scholarly articles published after the 

1909 expedition, the early visits of notable men like Theodore Roosevelt and Zane Grey helped spread the 

word of the monument's stunning topography. Roosevelt and Grey both visited the bridge in 1913. In May 

of that year, Grey employed John Wetherill and Nasja Begay to guide him to the bridge. Grey was awed by 

the rugged state of nature that surrounded him. When Grey reached the bridge, he was dumbfounded. In his 

1922 autobiographical collection of essays, Tales of Lonely Trails, Grey described Rainbow Bridge saying 

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". . . this thing was glorious. It absolutely silenced me." [148] Grey returned to Rainbow Bridge several 

times, his last trip occurring in 1922. He went on to include scenes from those excursions in many of his 

most famous books. The Rainbow Trail was Grey's fictionalized tribute to Rainbow Bridge. These accounts 

helped popularize the bridge with literate America at a time when visual mass media was still a futuristic 

concept.

Theodore Roosevelt was no less impressed by Rainbow Bridge. In August 1913, Roosevelt was in the 

Southwest doing the things he loved most: hunting and exploring. As one of the founders of the Boone and 

Crockett Club, Roosevelt thought of the Southwest as the last vestige of America's untamed wilderness. 

Roosevelt employed Wetherill as a guide and set out for the bridge around August 9, 1913. When he reached 

the bridge three days later (the trip to Rainbow Bridge was now a matter of following the trail for guides like 

Wetherill) Roosevelt felt the intense emotion of early explorers. In his published description of the 

experience, authored only a month after the trip, Roosevelt said that Rainbow Bridge ". . . is a triumphal 

arch rather than a bridge, and spans the torrent bed in a majesty never shared by any arch ever reared by the 

mightiest conquerors among the nations of mankind." [49] Despite the flowery prose, Roosevelt's 

impression of Rainbow Bridge inspired further exploration of the region. Roosevelt and Grey can be 

credited with popularizing what was then one of the most remote national monuments in the country. They 

certainly contributed to the reality of increased visitation at Rainbow Bridge, which doubled between 1913 

and 1922 to over eighty visitors per year. But the immature fiscal and administrative structure of the 

National Park Service could not accommodate structural improvements to the monument, at least not by 

1922. The early priorities of the Park Service involved the development of more popular destinations such as 

Yellowstone National Park. The extremely remote location of Rainbow Bridge limited its annual visitation, 

which hindered making the monument a budgetary priority.

John Wetherill also played a large role in the early popularization of Rainbow Bridge and its surrounding 

monument. After leading the first publicized expedition to the bridge in 1909, Wetherill's notoriety grew as 

the best man to guide people to the bridge. As the monument's first custodian, working under the supervision 

of the General Land Office, Wetherill was responsible for trail maintenance and bridge integrity (in addition 

to his own guide service). The role of custodian at monuments in the 1910s and 1920s was largely 

volunteeristic in nature. Called "dollar-a-year" men (based on the rate of pay extended by the federal 

government), custodians generally pursued their duties out of a personal love for the immediate 

surroundings and the desire to contribute to the monument's preservation. Usually custodians, like Wetherill, 

were chosen based on their strong ties to the local area and their inordinate knowledge of the monument's 

surroundings. This was definitely the criteria used in choosing John Wetherill to watch over Rainbow 

Bridge. Any conflict of interest that might have existed between Wetherill's position as custodian and his 

ownership of a private guide service was too small for the government to worry about. Wetherill was an 

excellent custodian and an even better guide. In 1909, barely two weeks after the August 14 discovery party, 

he guided the first woman, Helen Townsend, to the bridge, along with her brother Arthur. [150] For all the 

historical debate over his role in the history of the bridge, one fact remains incontrovertible: Wetherill 

brought hundreds of people to the bridge and helped spread the word of the Park Service's commitment to 

preserving the structure for future generations. This was the mission of the Park Service after it became the 

monument's managing agency in 1916, and Wetherill pursued that mission admirably.

John and Louisa Wetherill stayed at Oljeto until late 1910. In 1911, they moved south of Oljeto to 

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Todanestya, Arizona, which Wetherill renamed as Kayenta. From here they operated a guide service and 

trading post operation until 1924. During the Kayenta years, the Wetherills continued to increase the 

popularity of Rainbow Bridge. It was during the Kayenta phase that John Wetherill came into contact with 

Theodore Roosevelt, Zane Grey, and eventually Charles L. Bernheimer. From the Kayenta location, trips to 

the bridge could include stops in Tsegi Canyon and camps at Keet Seel and Betat' akin. The only drawback 

to operating out of Kayenta was its seventy-mile distance from the bridge. But, as the Wetherills were the 

only guide service for over a decade, this was little more than an inconvenience.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 5)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 5:

Issues and Conflicts I: Rainbow Bridge Religion and Navajo Legal 

Claims, 1863-1998

After Rainbow Bridge became part of the national park system, it was not long before it was caught up in 

numerous controversies. Immediately after the bridge was mapped and made a monument, members of the 

Cummings/Douglass expedition were embroiled in arguments over which white man saw the bridge first and 

which Paiute guide actually knew the way to the bridge. But the significance of Rainbow Bridge to certain 

Native American groups also became the subject of controversy. Given the historic presence of Native 

Americans near Rainbow Bridge, it was only a matter of time before the interests of Indian groups clashed 

with the interests of the monument's federal managers. While many peoples, such as the Hopi and the San 

Juan Paiute, considered Rainbow Bridge important to their origin stories, the most strenuous claims to the 

bridge's sacred status have been made by the Navajo Nation. These claims were eventually part of litigation 

that affected the way the National Park Service currently manages the monument. This chapter will detail 

the Navajo origin story as it pertains to Rainbow Bridge and identify the relationship between those beliefs 

and various lawsuits filed by the Navajo Nation to protect them. In addition, this chapter will explore the 

outcome of those lawsuits as pertains to NPS management policy at Rainbow Bridge.

While Anglo culture appreciated Rainbow Bridge for its aesthetic beauty and geologic uniqueness, Navajos 

have identified Rainbow Bridge as a sacred, religious site. They believe it is integral to the story of their 

emergence into this world. The ingress of Native American peoples to the Rainbow Bridge area provides 

some of the data to support Navajo claims to cultural and historical preeminence in the region. The hearth 

located at the foot of the bridge, excavated by Park Service archeologists in 1994, suggests a definite and 

early Native American awareness of the bridge. The non-secular cultural characteristics of these ancestral 

Puebloans also allows contemporary scholars to at least argue that the bridge was a source of worship during 

the last 1,500 years. But the incorporation of Rainbow Bridge in Navajo religious beliefs is more readily 

documented than suppositions concerning ancestral Puebloans. One of the problems associated with 

examining this subject is the set of academic standards in place that mitigates the veracity of Navajo claims 

on Rainbow Bridge. Too many historians demand a degree of quantitative proof that cultures who rely on 

oral tradition cannot provide. Neil Judd's comments in 1924 regarding the double standard of Anglo history 

were especially prescient with respect to Navajo religious claims on Rainbow Bridge.

Unfortunately, quantitative standards for proof do not mesh easily with the qualitative study of Native 

American religion. To understand the Navajo conception of the religious and cultural significance of 

Rainbow Bridge, one must make use of different conceptions about what merits belief and about what 

constitutes a legitimate belief structure. This is less problematic when coupled to the physical evidence that 

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verifies a long-standing Navajo cultural tradition at Rainbow Bridge. That evidence includes detailed oral 

histories that document a pattern of religious belief involving the bridge; detailed descriptions of a primitive 

altar at the base of Rainbow Bridge prior to 1930; and, physical evidence of early Navajo existence in the 

region. What is important to remember is that one need not agree with the tradition that involves Rainbow 

Bridge religion in order for that tradition to have merit to Navajos. Their beliefs are as circumambient to 

them as the air they breath.

Part of the larger Navajo origin story includes the importance of the four sacred mountains. When First Man 

(Áltsé Hastiin) and First Woman (Áltsé Asdzáá) emerged into the Fourth World they created the four sacred 

mountains. After the first four Navajo clans emerged from a subsequent global flood, they moved into the 

area bounded by these four mountains. This was the original Dinétah (Navajo country). Those mountains are 

recognized today as San Francisco Peak, Gobernador Peak, Mount Taylor, and Mount Blanca. Some 

scholars argue that the Navajo origin story reveals much about the ontology of the Navajo people. The 

importance of place and the relationship of place to spirituality is evidenced in the four sacred mountains. 

The full account of the origin story reveals dozens of place-specific episodes that can be recognized in 

modern geography. Every nation, the Navajo included, has found tremendous nationalist spirit in places and 

place-specific events. [203] The Navajo belief structure is one that cannot be separated from the natural 

world. Mountains, water, and various natural features imbue their religion just as edifices and geographies 

underpin Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. The Navajo origin story also informs their value structure and 

social organization. It is not hard to discern the Navajo desire for order and their devotion to clan-based 

politics from their story of the world's beginning. The fact that Navajos pray to certain gods and assign 

importance to the location in which those prayers take place only evidences their dedication to polytheism in 

the face of other people's commitment to monotheism. It certainly does not mitigate their value structure on 

a comparative level; after all, much of the world's current population is polytheistic.

For this administrative history, oral interviews with residents of the Navajo Mountain community were 

conducted to elaborate on the role of Rainbow Bridge in the origin story. These interviews revealed much of 

the common belief in Rainbow Bridge as an instrument of spirituality and religious significance. Most of the 

interviewees had lived in the Navajo Mountain/Rainbow Bridge area their entire lives, as had their parents 

and grandparents. The stories they shared form the basis of the traditional origin story detailed below. [204] 

In this account, the first people were born in the Black world, home to spirits and holy men. Áltsé Hastiin 

(First Man) was born in the east out of a union between the white cloud and the black cloud. Born with him 

was Doo Honoot'ínii (the first seed corn). In the west, yellow cloud and blue cloud met and made Áltsé 

Asdzáá (First Woman). She arrived with yellow corn, white shell, and turquoise. Cooperation was a virtue in 

the Black World, demonstrated by Insect Beings. Other beings also lived in the Black World, including 

Wasp People, Bat People, Ant People, and Spider Woman. But infighting and bickering led all these beings 

to move up to the Blue World. They carried with them all the evils of the Black World.

In the Blue World, beings from the Black World found new beings, including large insects, feathered beings, 

wolves, and mountain lions. After much quarreling, Áltsé Hastiin conducted ritual prayers and feasts so all 

the beings could proceed to the Yellow World. In the Yellow World, there were six mountains and no sun. 

The original travelers also discovered snakes, squirrels, and deer. Unfortunately, Coyote came to this world 

with Áltsé Hastiin and Áltsé Asdzáá. In the Yellow World, Coyote caused problems. The inhabitants of this 

world watched as the clouds began to gather, first in the east, then the south, west, and north. The clouds 

came together and rain began to fall. The water rose all around them. They knew they must escape to the 

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Fourth World to avoid drowning. They planted many different tree species, hoping one would grow tall 

enough for them to climb up and escape the flood. After each tree proved too short, they planted a giant 

reed, which grew into the heavens. Locust volunteered to lead the group to safety. They moved up the 

hollow core of the reed to safety.

Unfortunately, Coyote decided to cause mischief during the escape. As Coyote watched the rising water, he 

noticed the child of Tééhooltsódii (Water Monster). Coyote decided he wanted to keep the child and raise it 

as his own. He took the child and hid him from Tééhooltsódii. In response, Tééhooltsódii made the waters 

rise up the reed behind the group, which threatened to drown everyone. The group pleaded with Coyote to 

give the child back to Tééhooltsódii. After pleading with Coyote four times, Coyote released the child. To 

appease Water Baby's parents, the group made offerings to Tééhooltsódii and the water receded enough for 

the group to escape. At this time, the Glittering World was inhabited by gods and spirits. There were no 

humans. Locust surveyed the land after emergence and found it covered with water. Big Horn Sheep dug 

canyons with his horns so the water could escape to the ocean. This is how canyons were formed. Locust 

then decided that fires should be lit so the gods would know of the group's presence. It was in this world that 

the first sweat bath was taken and the first hogan was built. The stars were placed in the great sky. In the 

Glittering World developed the seasons and the harvest. When the first emergents spied Navajo Mountain in 

the distance, they regarded it as the Head of the Earth.

It was at this point that two of the most important figures in Navajo religion appeared: the Hero Twins. After 

the first fires were lit, Áltsé Hastiin and Áltsé Asdzáá noticed tracks that led to the west. Part of the group 

decided to follow the tracks. The tracks were left by White Shell Woman's children, born to her after the Sun 

committed adultery with her before the emergence. These children are known to the Navajo as the Hero 

Twins: Naayéé' Neizgh ́ní (Monster Slayer) and T&ocaute; Baj&icaute;sh Chini (Born For Water). To travel 

to the western oceans and visit White Shell Woman, the group used rainbows to cover great distances. As 

the group proceeded west, they encountered the many monsters and evil spirits that were byproducts of the 

Sun's adultery. After visiting White Shell Woman in the west, the group returned with the Hero Twins, 

hoping they would grow up to battle the monsters and evil spirits.

Once they had returned to the Navajo Mountain area, holy men from the group placed the magic rainbow in 

the safest place they could: Bridge Canyon, below Navajo Mountain. The rainbow then turned to stone. 

Monster Slayer and Born For Water were raised in the cradle of Bridge Creek and the stone rainbow formed 

the protective handle of their cradle board. After they reached maturity, and discovered the Sun was their 

father, they traveled to visit him. They used the rock rainbow to ease their journey. The Sun tested his sons 

thoroughly during their trip and rewarded each of them with a weapon so they could battle the monsters. To 

Monster Slayer the Sun gave Lightning That Strikes Crooked. Born For Water received Lightning That 

Flashes Straight. The twins returned home and defeated most of the monsters. The monsters that were 

allowed to survive personified old age, lice, hunger, and death.

Monster Slayer and Born For Water went again to visit with the Sun. This time, the Sun gave them gifts 

from the four directions. In exchange for giving them these gifts, the Sun received the ability to destroy all 

beings who lived in houses. This was very important as many of the surviving monsters were children of the 

Sun. The Sun precipitated an immense flood which covered the earth and destroyed most living things. The 

Holy People saved one man and one woman and pairs of all the animals. In the wake of the flood, Asdzáá 

Nádleehé (Changing Woman) established the first four clans: Kiiyaa'áanii (Towering House), Honágháahnii 

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(One Who walks Around You), Tó Dích'íi'nii (Bitter Water), and Hashtl'ishnii (Mud). The four clans settled 

inside the area bounded by the four scared mountains.

All of the residents of the Navajo Mountain community interviewed for this administrative history detailed 

the same origin story. The only deviations that occurred were in the minute details that some respondents 

were hesitant to reveal. These people consider those details part of their identity as a people and therefore 

not open to public consumption. The Navajo are still very much an oral culture. The lessons contained in the 

entire origin story are meant to serve as lessons for Navajo children. What specific substances were offered 

to which gods or the details of various ceremonies are told from Navajo parents and grandparents to Navajo 

youth, not to whites or other interested parties. The Navajos interviewed for this history spoke often about 

cultural ownership and identity regarding their stories. But Anglo misunderstanding of Navajo life ways has 

a long history.

The clan-based Navajo socio-political structure was at odds with Anglo (mis)conceptions of Native 

Americans at least as early as the 19th century. Navajo tribal historian Bill Acrey, tracing the development 

of the modern Navajo nation, found that the initial contact between Anglos and the Diné was laden with the 

classic repugnance of Anglo attempts to mold Navajos into yeoman farmers. [205] In the period between 

1846 and 1860 there were more than five separate treaties of peace, all initiated by United States military 

commanders in response to livestock and slave raiding conducted by the Diné. Each of these treaties 

contained some provision which demanded Navajos stop raiding and embrace the farming ethic of the 

expanding United States. The lack of cultural understanding on the part of military personnel led to the 

demise of every treaty. For example, the Treaty of Ojo del Oso in 1848 forbade the Diné from raiding into 

New Mexico settlements because the United States was no longer at war with the Mexicans. This made no 

sense to Diné leaders because the Diné believed that an enemy was always an enemy regardless of political 

climate. American treaty negotiators continually made the assumption that there was some central form of 

leadership among the Diné. American military personnel assumed that those Diné leaders who signed the 

various treaties represented all the Diné. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The Diné 

signatories knew that they only represented their individual bands and that those bands not represented in 

signature on the treaty would never abide by its terms. These were just a few of the cultural 

misunderstandings that occurred between 1846 and 1860.

In 1863, the enmity that had formed between the Diné and the U.S. military culminated in the Bosque 

Redondo War and the military defeat of the Diné. Leading a scorched earth campaign, Kit Carson brought 

the Diné to their knees by late 1863. At that point, all the Diné that could be rounded up were marched 

through the winter months and incarcerated at the Bosque Redondo reservation, located at the newly erected 

Fort Sumner. The Diné endured four years of starvation and disease but persevered to a palatable solution. 

In 1868, the Diné successfully negotiated the Treaty of Bosque Redondo and were allowed to return to their 

ancestral homelands. The red rock mesas and canyons that the Navajo returned to formed the original 

Navajo reservation. In addition, the treaty stipulated that livestock would be returned to the Diné. As a result 

of both perseverance and excellent husbandry techniques, Navajo and livestock populations increased every 

year after the incarceration at Fort Sumner.

In every region of the Navajo Nation's current geography, the origin story has its permutations. To the 

western Navajo, Rainbow Bridge and Navajo Mountain are an integral part of the origin story. Both 

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locations are also key elements in various ceremonies conducted by Navajo singers or medicine men. There 

have been numerous attempts to document the role of Rainbow Bridge in Navajo religious belief. In the 

early 1970s, when Lake Powell waters started encroaching on the bridge, a group of Navajo singers filed 

suit to protect their religious freedom. The specific claims of that suit are dealt with later in this chapter. As 

a result of the suit, however, a stunning piece of oral history was collected. In an effort to put into writing 

what had long been oral culture and custom, a group of Navajo singers provided their oral histories to Karl 

W. Luckert, an ethnohistorian from the Museum of Northern Arizona. [206] The result was a sincere attempt 

to do justice to the Navajo tradition involving Rainbow Bridge in a form that non-Navajos would see as 

legitimate.

Like most ethnohistorians, Luckert tried to place the religious significance of Rainbow Bridge and Navajo 

Mountain in the proper historical context. For many of the Navajo singers interviewed as part of Luckert's 

project, Rainbow Bridge and Navajo Mountain were considered sanctuary from the ravages of Kit Carson's 

campaign against the Diné. At the time, many Navajos still held fresh memories of tribal experiences with 

the United States military and of the incarceration at Fort Sumner. But there were many Navajos who eluded 

Carson and avoided Fort Sumner altogether. Those Navajos hid in the numerous canyons of northern New 

Mexico and southern Utah. In addition to the role of the bridge in Navajo emergence, the added element of 

sanctuary endeared both Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge to contemporary Navajos. It was in those 

terms that Luckert's interviewees figured Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge as key fixtures in the story 

of Monster Slayer. The Navajo people refer to their sacred mountain in the northwest of their reservation not 

as "Navajo" Mountain but as Naatsis'áán (Earth Head). [207]

In the oral histories collected by Luckert, all the interviewees told basically the same story with regard to 

Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge as those stories collected in 2000 for this administrative history. The 

origin story that was taught to Navajo singers included Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge. That story 

also included the modern details of a group of Navajos attempting to evade the United States military. 

Fleeing Navajos perceived the fortuitous location of Navajo Mountain as a sign that their gods were 

watching over them. They perceived the canyons of the region to be gifts from Head of Earth. Whatever 

their motivations or proclivities, the fact is that all Navajo singers interviewed by Luckert couched their 

origin story in the benevolence of Navajo Mountain and the peculiar beauty of Rainbow Bridge. Each 

interviewee recalled in some form that in the days when humankind was born, Monster Slayer was 

transferred and born and raised in Bridge Canyon. When the Navajo were threatened, Monster Slayer 

(clothed in an armor of flint) and the Head of the Earth placed themselves as shields between the Navajo and 

Kit Carson. This event still echoes in the formalized Protectionway prayers of contemporary singers. [208]

Dozens of ceremonies were and still are conducted at Rainbow Bridge. The most common ceremonies 

conducted there during the period of Luckert's interviews were Protectionway, Blessingway, and rainrequesting. [209] In a 1974 affidavit filed as part of a larger suit to remove Lake Powell waters from Bridge 

Canyon, Navajo singer Nakai Ditloi recounted the tradition of Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge:

I have conducted countless religious ceremonies and sings throughout the area surrounding 

Rainbow Bridge and Navajo Mountain. Rainbow Bridge is extremely sacred to the Diné, as 

are many of the sites and much of the area surrounding the Bridge. The water from the lake 

has already entered the Canyon of the Rainbow Bridge and has covered the grounds sacred to 

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the Diné.

When the Diné were emerging from the east they stopped at a large mesa near Navajo 

Mountain to make a home on the mountain for Lageinayal. He is the god who was given 

lightning to create rain. His name means "came into being one day." In gratitude for his home 

on Navajo Mountain, Lageinayal promised to protect the Diné and look after their well being. 

Sometime later, a group of the Diné left this home with a god named Danaiize. He has the 

power to create and to travel on the rainbow. The Diné reached a canyon which they could not 

cross. Danaiize told them he would create a rock rainbow which would be a bridge for the 

Diné. It was in this way that the Diné were able to cross the Canyon of the Rainbow Bridge. 

[210]

Much of this interpretation is confirmed in the oral histories collected by Luckert. Floyd Laughter, another 

Navajo singer, recounted that "the Rainbow was left for prayer and offerings to the power of the Holy 

People." This account was echoed by other interviewees as well. [211]

There was another common understanding among various interviewees regarding Rainbow Bridge: the 

existence of a "sacred" spring below the bridge in Bridge Canyon. In 1974, Nakai Ditloi detailed for the 

courts his recollections of the spring and the specific ceremonies that were performed there:

There is a cave down the canyon from Rainbow Bridge. Medicine men come from all over the 

reservation to meet in this cave. There is also a sacred spring in the canyon near the cave. It is 

called "clear body male and female water." Its water is used in the prayers and to wash the 

sacred bundles of the medicine man. Ground turquoise and shells are given to the spring to aid 

in the prayers from rain. Prayers are renewed and knowledge of the earth and the ways of the 

Diné is increased when the medicine men come to the cave. [212]

All of Luckert's interviewees confirmed the existence and location of this spring. Floyd Laughter also 

remembered the spring as where Spring Person lived. It was located at the base of the slope of Rainbow 

Bridge. It was there that singers said prayers for wealth, for livestock, for jewelry. They also conducted 

raiding prayers and protectionway ceremonies at this sacred spring. [213] 

The other detail that most Navajo singers agreed on was the identity of the Navajo man who first brought 

them, or their fathers, knowledge of the bridge. His name was Áshiihí bin áá' ádiní (Old Blind Salt 

Clansman or Old Hashkéniinii). This was the same man who told Louisa Wetherill about the bridge in 1907. 

It was Áshiihí bin áá' ádiní who helped many of the 20th century singers with the rites associated with 

Rainbow Bridge. The one obvious problem with Luckert's interviews was the misconception that Navajos 

did not arrive near Navajo Mountain until the 1860s, being chased there by Carson. Nothing could have 

been further from the truth. Celone Dougi, Áshiihí bin áá' ádiní's granddaughter, was interviewed for this 

administrative history in 2000. She said that her grandfather had always been here, along with many other 

Navajos. Most of the Navajos and Paiutes interviewed for this administrative history were able to recount a 

long lineage in the Navajo Mountain area, remembering relatives born near the mountain as far back as the 

1820s. But what is important is that most Navajo singers and other residents from the region credit Áshiihí 

bin áá' ádiní with both early knowledge of the bridge and its associated religious rites. [214]

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It is unlikely that Navajos were the only people to find religious significance in the bridge. A fair argument 

can be made that early inhabitants of the region found the bridge and likely prayed there. The existence of 

the hearth excavated at the foot of the bridge (see chapter 2), the proximity of ancestral Puebloan dwellings, 

and the number of other pre-Puebloan sites a short distance from Bridge Canyon makes it likely that early 

inhabitants of the region found the bridge. Besides the oral tradition of Navajo religious beliefs involving 

Rainbow Bridge, there is other, albeit limited, physical evidence of religious worship at the bridge.

After the Cummings/Douglass expedition reached Rainbow Bridge on August 14, 1909, members of the 

party fanned out to explore the immediate vicinity. Cummings observed a small "fire shrine in the shadow 

on the bench at one side." [215] The details of the location are important in their comparative value. 

Cummings' observation put the shrine on the north side of the bridge, which would have been shadowed by 

a noon sun climbing into the sky above Bridge Canyon. Judd reported seeing the same shrine. He wrote that 

"near the down-curving buttress, but slightly to one side, is a small heap of stones inclosing a slab sided 

receptacle, the altar of cliff dwelling peoples who roamed this canyon country long before the Navaho [sic] 

won it for themselves." [216] William Douglass made a similar note. He reported that "almost under the 

arch, on the north side of the gulch [was] the wall of some small prehistoric structure in front of which slabs 

of sandstone set on edge outline an oval 3x5 feet an altar . . . ." [217] Temporal and cultural observations 

aside, the consistency in these descriptions allows some suppositions to be made regarding the non-secular 

traits of early inhabitants of the region and the possibility that they worshiped near the bridge. Before 1930, 

other travelers to the bridge noted the stone altar as well. Notable among these visitors was Theodore 

Roosevelt. He described what he saw as "the ruin of a very ancient shrine." [218] It seems clear that before 

the 1930s, when someone or something destroyed the altar-like structure, Rainbow Bridge was used as a 

worship site.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 6)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 6:

Issues and Conflicts II: Rainbow Bridge National Monument and the 

Colorado River Storage Project, 1948-1974

One of the most important developments of the 20th century involved the numerous debates and struggles 

over environmental issues. Indeed, the modern concept of "environmentalism" was forged in the middle part 

of the century. Environmental issues ranged from protecting the Hetch Hetchy Valley to the use of 

pesticides to the evolution of urban smog. In the American West, water was the core of a multitude of 

conflicts. Some of these disputes centered on development schemes involving the Colorado River and one in 

particular affected Rainbow Bridge NM. The Colorado River also framed the evolving conflict between 

utilitarian conservationists and strict preservationists. Developing the river begged the question of how 

public lands under the control of the National Park Service should be managed. Were they meant to be 

enshrined for permanent preservation or could their status be fluid in comparison to the larger demands of 

the Upper Colorado Basin states? Plans to develop the Colorado also problematized the role of the Secretary 

of the Interior. He directly managed two federal agencies the National Park Service and the Bureau of 

Reclamation who were at odds in their plans for the Colorado. Controversy over developing the river, 

thought settled with the signing of the Colorado River Storage Project Act in 1956, emerged again in 

southern Utah during the 1960s at Rainbow Bridge NM. For over a decade, "Save Rainbow Bridge" was the 

battle cry of environmental groups and an unforseen glitch in the larger matrix of western water and land 

management.

During the late 19th and early 20th century, the idea of preservation became part of an evolving ethos in 

land resource management. The byproduct of this preservationist impulse was legislation that allowed for 

congressionally approved national parks and presidentially designated national monuments. These new 

edifices were designed to protect scenic and natural resources as much as possible. Many federal managers 

hoped that national park or national monument status would avoid most of the conflicts over resource 

utilization. Preservationists, such as John Muir, asserted that the resources inside the borders of any national 

park or monument were legally fortified against any encroachment. Until 1913, the preservationist belief in 

this sacrosanct designation had not been tested. In that year, preservation came under fire at California's 

Yosemite National Park.

In search of better access to more water, the city of San Francisco lobbied federal officials to construct a 

reservoir in Hetch Hetchy Valley, which was located inside Yosemite's boundaries. The city's leaders 

wanted to avoid another disastrous fire like the that of 1906, when most of San Francisco burned to the 

ground for lack of an adequate water supply. City planners saw their solution in Hetch Hetchy Valley. Since 

very few people visited that part of Yosemite, San Franciscans argued that the scenery might actually be 

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improved by a pristine reservoir. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, saw the issue differently. The 

existence of a national park system was the precedent for preservation and the most viable argument against 

damming Hetch Hetchy. Despite the belief by some that the valley would not suffer any significant loss of 

beauty or quality, the integrity of all national parks was at stake in Hetch Hetchy, according to Muir. In the 

end, Muir's belief in national parks as sanctuaries was weighed against the water needs of San Francisco. A 

reservoir was constructed at Hetch Hetchy and the valley was inundated in 1913. [249]

The controversy over Hetch Hetchy inspired a more philosophical debate, one which had quietly been 

forming all over the resource laden West. What did Americans value as resources? Traditionally the answer 

was hard resources such as minerals, timber, and petroleum. But like federal agencies, Americans were also 

going through changes in their outlook. They were adopting new value structures at the same time that they 

were prospering in the workplace. Across the economic spectrum, people valued space and recreation as 

much as revenue and profit. The controversy over Hetch Hetchy revealed a new demand for protected and 

preserved space. To this end, Congress passed the National Park System Organic Act on August 25, 1916. In 

addition to authorizing the creation of the National Park Service, the act contributed new language to the 

dialogue over preservation and development.

In part, the Act stated that the Park Service had a specific mandate. In its "statement of purpose" the Act 

declared that the a priori purpose of a national park was to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic 

objects . . . and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave 

them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." [250] This language became important to 

preservationists and their struggle for park and monument sanctity; however, national monuments like 

Rainbow Bridge were not necessarily protected by the strict language of the law.

The issues of explicit concern to western states during the 1940s and 1950s involved determining which 

states owned what portion of the Colorado River, the distribution of its water, and the desire to reduce the 

loss of any unused water. The 1960s controversy over Glen Canyon Dam and Rainbow Bridge NM actually 

began in 1922 with the signing of the Colorado River Compact. The states bordering the Colorado River 

were growing rapidly by the 1920s. Los Angeles, California, expanded more than any other city in the West 

during this period. Severely pressured by an exploding population, southern California needed huge reserves 

of water to sustain continued development. The Los Angeles Municipal Water District, under the direction 

of William H. Mulholland, had already "acquired" all the water it could from its northern neighbors in the 

Owens Valley. But they needed more. California legislators lobbied successfully for the Swing-Johnson Bill, 

which authorized Boulder Dam on the Colorado River. Given Los Angeles' notorious history in water 

politics, the rest of the Colorado River basin states feared that California would co-opt all the available water 

from the Colorado. This was a legitimate fear in light of the western water right doctrine of prior 

appropriation.

The doctrine of prior appropriation held that whoever first developed a water source for beneficial use held 

permanent rights to that water, hence the phrase "first in time, first in right." In 1922 the Supreme Court 

codified this doctrine in law in Wyoming v. California. Delegates from all the basin states embarked on a 

series of negotiations to develop a system of water allocation that was equitable to all the states that 

bordered the Colorado. After nearly a year, the Colorado River Compact was signed. The basin was divided 

into the Upper and Lower Basins, with Lee's Ferry, Arizona as the demarcation point. [251] The Upper 

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Basin states were New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The Lower Basin included California, 

Nevada, and Arizona. The only state that did not ratify the Compact was Arizona, which was still afraid of 

California's consumptive nature. Arizona delegates knew that the Compact only protected Arizona from the 

Upper Basin states and said nothing about California appropriating Arizona's water rights. Regardless of 

Arizona's hesitation, Congress approved the Compact for the six signatory states in 1928, and construction 

on Boulder Dam began in 1931. As a result, the Colorado River was regulated in both law and practice. But 

California's voracious appetite for water loomed large in the minds of Upper Basin state leaders. How were 

they going to be sure their allocations from the Colorado were secure? The only answer was to develop the 

river through a system of dams to the benefit of the Upper Basin. [252]

The controversy over Rainbow Bridge and Glen Canyon Dam blossomed alongside the plans to develop the 

upper reaches of the Colorado River. Immediately following World War II, the nation teemed with returning 

veterans. Part of President Truman's "Fair Deal" involved federally sponsored development projects which 

put many of those veterans to work. The Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) was the byproduct of the 

post-World War II fever to develop natural resources coupled with the Upper Basin states' needs for secure 

water rights. The Bureau of Reclamation proposed that it and the Upper Basin states construct a series of 

dams along the Green, Yampa, and Colorado Rivers. Two of those dams were of particular import to the 

story of Rainbow Bridge. At the southern end of the chain were plans to dam Glen Canyon, then an obscure 

and seldom visited series of canyons just north of Rainbow Bridge. At the northern end was Echo Park 

Canyon. The dam at Echo Park was planned for a stretch of canyon inside the boundaries of Dinosaur 

National Monument (NM). Dinosaur NM was authorized in 1915 but was expanded to over 200,000 acres 

by presidential proclamation on July 14, 1938. The expanded area included the confluence of the Green 

River and the Yampa River the proposed site of Echo Park dam. [253]

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Figure 25 Echo Park Canyon (Alex and Dorothy Brownlee Collection, NAU.

PH. 93.37.20, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University)

Using the defeat at Hetch Hetchy as their battle cry, preservation groups rallied around stopping Echo Park. 

David Brower, then executive director of the Sierra Club, and Olaus J. Murie and Howard Zahniser of the 

Wilderness Society, launched a public relations assault on federal and state leaders. Letter writing 

campaigns, books featuring Dinosaur NM, and direct pressure wherever possible were the weapons of the 

new environmentalism. The issue was the same at Echo Park as in Yosemite decades before: preservationists 

believed that the integrity of the national park system hinged on keeping every possible unit free from 

commercial or civic resource development. Brower, Murie, and Zahniser were not alone in their fight. NPS 

Director Newton P. Drury adamantly opposed building dams inside national monuments. But the CRSP was 

a foregone conclusion to Michael Strauss, then Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation. [254] Strauss 

actively pursued the favor of Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman, and Chapman's successor, Douglass 

McKay. The administrative pressure to complete the CRSP in some form was too great for Drury. He 

resigned in early 1951. [255]

After Drury's resignation, Arthur Demaray became Director the Park Service. Demaray's position on the 

CRSP was dictated by his professional commitment to the Secretary of the Interior. Whatever his personal 

opinions on reclamation projects might have been, Director Demaray wanted the Park Service to be part of 

Interior's larger plan for western water management. The infighting of to the previous directorate was not 

part of Demaray's leadership. Conrad L. Wirth, Demaray's successor, expressed much the same tone. While 

Director Wirth opposed Echo Park dam, he followed Secretary Chapman's instructions to forbid NPS 

employees from publicly criticizing the CRSP or any of its provisions. Even in 1955, when the Echo Park 

unit of the project was in serious jeopardy, Wirth made it plain to all Park Service personnel that he would 

not tolerate their criticism of either the CRSP or the Secretary's policies related to reclamation in general. 

[256] Some historians have made the judgement that this policy line constituted apathy by the Park Service, 

abrogating responsibility for derailing Echo Park Dam to environmentalists. On the contrary, the decisions 

made for the Park Service by the Secretary of the Interior during this controversy demonstrates how 

complex the playing field was for various federal agencies. The Secretary was faced with balancing the 

competing missions of two agencies under his direct charge, with Reclamation dedicated to resource 

development and the Park Service committed to resource protection. [257] This complexity played out in the 

Director's decision to join forces with Reclamation in the attempt to protect Rainbow Bridge from 

encroachment by Lake Powell.

For the next four years preservationists waged all-out war against everyone who supported the CRSP: state 

leaders from all the Upper Basin states, Reclamation and Interior officials, and every key member of 

Congress. Under the direction of the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, as well as the newly formed 

Council of Conservationists, the campaign was grass roots. In truth, popular support for the Echo Park Dam 

among Colorado and Utah residents was deep and widespread. But Upper Basin legislators were attacked 

from extra-regional directions as the campaign against Echo Park Dam went national. The Sierra Club and 

the Wilderness Society solicited pressure from all of their members. Residents of states as geographically 

diverse as Wisconsin, Washington, and Alaska voiced their opinions about an environmental issue that was 

totally removed from their own local concerns. [258] In the fight over Echo Park, environmentalism 

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blossomed into a philosophy that did not depend on geographic proximity for its moral suasion.

As pressure mounted against building all the projects in the proposed CRSP, Brower and the Council of 

Conservationists faced a dilemma. Though very few people had seen Glen Canyon, there was a general 

understanding of how big the dam would be if constructed. Many participants in the debate realized that 

when water backed up behind the dam it might encroach on the boundaries of Rainbow Bridge NM, maybe 

even to the bridge itself. The Utah Committee For A Glen Canyon National Monument briefly 

acknowledged this threat in a written statement to Congress in 1954:

As previously mentioned, the elevation of the maximum level of the proposed lake [behind 

the dam] is 3707'. According to the figures of the Bureau of Reclamation, this is 53' higher 

than the canyon bed at Rainbow Bridge, which is 3654' above sea level. This dam will result 

in the submergence of the lower end of the National Monument a hundred feet. Parts of 

Rainbow Bridge National Monument will thus be flooded whenever the lake is within 100' of 

capacity. [259]

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay wrote to Brower to assure him that the Bureau of Reclamation 

would take all necessary steps to protect Rainbow Bridge, including a barrier dam one mile down canyon 

from the bridge. [260] McKay also indicated that protective measures would be part of the CRSP's 

authorizing legislation. In fact, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation recognized early 

on that protecting Rainbow Bridge would be necessary. In November 1954, a Memorandum of 

Understanding between NPS and Reclamation acknowledged the "problem of protecting Rainbow Bridge 

when the Glen Canyon Dam is constructed" and the need to look toward minimizing future risks to the 

bridge. By 1954 it no longer mattered if members of the Park Service were opposed to damming Glen 

Canyon. The simple fact was that dam would be built, and the Park Service needed to take steps to protect 

Rainbow Bridge. To this end, the Park Service became actively involved in researching and planning what 

would be involved in preventing Lake Powell waters from entering the monument. [261]

The Congressional hearings surrounding the CRSP included discussion of the possible impacts to Rainbow 

Bridge from damming Glen Canyon. The Bureau of Reclamation anticipated this criticism. E.O. Larsen, 

regional director for the Bureau, testified that at a maximum capacity of 26 million acre feet, the lake behind 

the dam would back up into Bridge Canyon, even under Rainbow Bridge itself. But the water would never 

elevate to the abutments of the bridge. [262] Various Reclamation officials also testified about contingency 

funds in the dam's budget for construction of three protective measures: a barrier dam below the bridge, a 

diversion tunnel above the bridge (Bridge Creek to another canyon), and a catch basin at the tunnel outlet. 

[263] Though the plans for protective measures were discussed in painful detail, the CRSP hearings in 

March 1955 revealed two important facts. First, the Bureau of Reclamation was shifting its focus from the 

losing battle at Echo Park to the less controversial Glen Canyon. Second, the hearings revealed the need for 

and promise of protection for Rainbow Bridge.

The Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation actively pursued plans for protective measures during 

1955. In May of that year, key Reclamation and Park Service personnel attended a field study and planning 

meeting. The group traveled to Rainbow Bridge by horse as well as various sites proposed for protective 

structures. They assessed various locations for a diversion tunnel and barrier dam, visiting four potential 

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sites during the three-day study. The trip yielded numerous alternatives that were ultimately forwarded to 

many Park Service and Reclamation directors. Given the testimony of Reclamation officials before 

Congress, NPS personnel believed that protective measures would be constructed and based on that belief 

took an active role in preparations and planning. [264] The report represented the Park Service's firm belief 

that they could prevent Lake Powell water from entering the monument. It also revealed a definite opinion 

regarding the outcome of the CRSP. Leslie P. Arnberger, then a Park Service naturalist, and Harold A. 

Marsh, NPS landscape architect, wrote to the General Superintendent for Southwestern National 

Monuments: "we suggest that reconsideration be given to the proposed height and location of the Glen 

Canyon Dam. Either a new location downstream or a decrease in the height should lower the level of the 

reservoir to the point where there would be no adverse effect on Rainbow Bridge." [265] However, if 

Reclamation could not be convinced to move the dam, the Park Service was committed to protecting 

Rainbow Bridge. This commitment was expressed in numerous memos as the plans to protect the bridge 

were evaluated over the entire summer of 1955.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 7:

The Modern Monument: Managing Rainbow Bridge, 1955-1993

When Congress passed the Colorado River Storage Project Act in 1956, Rainbow Bridge NM was already 

part of the national recreation lexicon. While Park Service personnel, politicians, and environmentalists 

sparred over the proper and effective means to protecting the bridge from the inevitable encroachment of 

Lake Powell waters, the monument still required daily management. Despite the national attention focused 

on this remote 160 acres of federal land, the practical considerations of daily visitation, trail maintenance, 

and cooperation with the Navajo Nation continued. This chapter focuses on the decisions and plans that 

made that daily process both possible and productive. Much of the tenor of today's monument was shaped in 

theory and practice between 1956 and 1993 by dedicated Park Service personnel who stayed focused on "at 

hand" issues in spite of the national furor over the integrity of the monument's boundaries. This period began 

with the Mission 66 program and culminated with the General Management Plan of 1993. Because of the 

unique location of Rainbow Bridge NM, bordered on three sides by the Navajo reservation, as well as the 

controversial history of the Paiute Strip, the evolving relationship between the Park Service and the Navajo 

Nation dominated most decision-making issues. Between 1955 and 1993, modernism and traditionalism 

continued to intersect at Rainbow Bridge.

With the dam at Glen Canyon a foregone conclusion, local Park Service personnel turned their attention to 

the internal needs of the monument. Trail improvements, rest room facilities, and maintenance were just 

some of the issues at hand in 1956. Visitation had increased steadily from 142 people in 1923 to 1,081 in 

1955. In the decade after World War II, park visitation nationwide increased every year, reaching a record 

high of more than 50 million people in 1955. [304] This figure represented a 236 percent increase in 

nationwide visitation since 1941. Since its beginning in 1916, the National Park Service operated under the 

philosophy of Stephen Mather: encouraging tourism brought people to the parks which translated into 

congressional support for the national park system which in turn ensured the survival of the parks. It was a 

good philosophy, but it assumed limited visitation growth. No one at the Park Service could have predicted 

the general post-World War II affluence that most Americans enjoyed. Nor was anyone prepared for the way 

that affluence translated into dramatic increases in park and monument visitation. This intense shift to 

maximum use of the parks by the public meant exponentially greater pressures on all Park Service personnel 

as well as individual park resources. The popular phrase among Park Service personnel during the 1950s 

was that the public was "loving the parks to death." [305]

The Park Service's philosophy progressed into one that encouraged development and control at the 

individual park level as a means of preserving and maintaining park resources for the longest possible 

period. In 1962, Yellowstone superintendent Lemuel Garrison called this new approach the "paradox of 

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protection by development." [306] The idea of protecting the park system through planned development was 

the backbone of Director Conrad Wirth's Mission 66 program. Succeeding Newton P. Drury in 1951, Wirth 

inherited a Park Service administration plagued by complaints from visitors over the condition of park 

resources and the lack of public facilities. Historian Bernard DeVoto, in his famous 1953 Harper's Weekly

article, stated flatly that many of the most popular national parks should be closed because of poor 

conditions. DeVoto was one of the first people to make public the poor living conditions of Park Service 

personnel employed at various high-profile destinations such as Yosemite and Yellowstone. For all his 

bluster, though, DeVoto was right about one major point: the park system needed a general planning 

overhaul, and Wirth designed the Mission 66 proposal to meet that need.

Mission 66 was a ten-year plan which focused on renovating existing park facilities as well as public use 

resources. Wirth announced the plan at a Washington, D.C. banquet on February 8, 1956. Personnel at 

Navajo NM, led by Superintendent Foy L. Young, had already prepared a prospectus for implementing 

Mission 66 at Rainbow Bridge NM. Young's prospectus was completed by July 1955. Review of the plan 

continued through the remainder of 1955. One month after Director Wirth's announcement. Associate 

Director E.T. Scoyen approved the summary prospectus for Rainbow Bridge NM. [307] Planning was 

tentative in early 1956, given the uncertainty of the final scope of the Colorado River Storage Project. Park 

Service personnel revised the prospectus on the assumption that Congress would approve the CRSP, stating, 

"completion of the Glen Canyon Dam by the Bureau of Reclamation will open an entirely new era in our 

operation and management of this area. It is estimated that at least 10,000 visitors a year will then reach the 

monument, via boat and trail." The basic problems that Park Service personnel faced revolved around the 

fact that Rainbow Bridge NM was completely undeveloped. Based on the projected completion date of Glen 

Canyon Dam and the creation of Lake Powell, they barely had ten years to get ready for the definite and 

massive influx of visitors who would reach the monument via the Lake Powell corridor. [308]

The formal Rainbow Bridge Mission 66 prospectus, submitted April 23, 1956, called for enlarging the 

monument's boundaries to accommodate necessary facilities, trail improvements, construction of utility and 

residential buildings, utility systems, and some level of permanent staff. One year later, Director Wirth 

approved the prospectus. The development plan included a visitor center, campfire circle, campground, 

signage, and comfort stations. It also provided for both year-round and seasonal staffing and the facilities 

necessary to accommodate those additions. No independent supervision existed at this time at the 

monument; the Superintendent at Navajo NM also managed Rainbow Bridge. Management of the 

monument was not transferred to the auspices of Glen Canyon NRA until 1964. Bearing this in mind, the 

Mission 66 prospectus for Rainbow Bridge was a radical departure from the management philosophy 

employed up to this point at the monument. In that context, Mission 66, as it was applied at Rainbow 

Bridge, represented the best example of dynamic Park Service management in the ever confrontational 

1950s. Within one year of recognizing what the CRSP would mean to visitation at the bridge, the Park 

Service responded with a plan that would meet those demands. [309]

Unfortunately, the application of the Mission 66 prospectus ran into difficulties between 1957 and 1966. 

There was some activity toward improving trails in the monument. But trail improvements and other 

development involved land beyond the monument's boundaries. Since the monument was bordered on three 

sides by the Navajo reservation, this meant cooperating with the Navajo Nation. Visitation was so infrequent 

at Rainbow Bridge before the 1950s that development had not been an issue. As a result, Park Service 

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personnel were not often exposed to the opportunity to negotiate directly with the Navajo Nation over any 

significant issues. These opportunities grew more numerous as the need to develop and manage Rainbow 

Bridge grew more intense.

In 1956, Glen Canyon Dam was at least five years from completion; indeed, after the success of the Sierra 

Club at Echo Park Canyon it was possible that Glen Canyon Dam might suffer a similar defeat in spite of 

Congressional approval of the CRSP. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club wielded genuine 

political power in the mid-1950s. In the meantime, Park Service personnel were faced with implementing 

much needed improvements at Rainbow Bridge. Senator Barry Goldwater spearheaded one of the largest 

trail improvement projects in 1959. Goldwater owned the primary interest in Rainbow Lodge, located at the 

foot of Navajo Mountain. The lodge's manager and co-owner, Myles Headrick, thought that Lake Powell 

would definitely mean a new, water-based line of visitation to the monument. This would have definitely cut 

into the lodge's traditional customer base. In response, lodge management decided to improve the existing 

land-based line of travel from the lodge to the monument in an attempt to make trail approaches to the 

bridge as inviting as water approaches. Based on this belief, Headrick persuaded Goldwater to lobby the 

Department of the Interior for approval to improve fourteen miles of trail from Rainbow Lodge to the 

bridge. The plan met with some initial resistance. But key NPS personnel, including then Regional Director 

Hugh M. Miller, lobbied to see the trail improved. On August 5, 1959 the Park Service's efforts met with 

approval from the Navajo Nation. The Nation viewed the improvement of the trail as mutually beneficial to 

themselves and the Park Service. The Nation's only stipulation was that the majority of men hired to carry 

out the improvements be Navajo and that construction remain limited to the linear boundaries of the 

proposed trail. [310]

The trail improvements proposed by Goldwater and Headrick raised an interesting problem between the 

Park Service and the Navajo Nation, a problem the Park Service had not encountered before. Most of the 

proposed trail was outside the boundaries of the monument. BIA Acting General Superintendent K.W. 

Dixon pointed out to Hugh Miller, then NPS Region Three Director, that the proposed trail would require a 

right-of-way grant from the Nation. The Park Service believed it only needed a BIA permit and the consent 

of the Nation to conduct immediate improvements and future maintenance. But consent from the Nation 

only authorized work to commence and did not guarantee any future agreement. [311] To make matters 

worse, between 1959 and 1961 the issue of protective measures at the monument consumed Park Service 

personnel. Trail improvements as well as applications for formal right-of-way were put on the back-burner 

while the Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation negotiated over protecting Rainbow Bridge from the 

waters of Lake Powell.

The controversy over protective measures did more than de-emphasize Park Service plans for trail 

improvements. It also heightened awareness among the Navajo Nation over the potential commercial 

significance of Lake Powell and Glen Canyon NRA. The Nation knew that it had a vested interest in 

maintaining as much shore access to the future lake as possible. That access promised real economic 

potential in the form of docks, concessions, and tour operations. This meant that negotiations over the 

proposed trail improvements and the associated rights-of-way had to be conducted in light of what those 

rights-of-way meant to Tribal commercial development at Lake Powell. During negotiations over the trail 

improvements, the Park Service realized that it needed some form of a "cooperative agreement" with the 

Nation in order to commence improvements and continue effective management of the monument.

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The cooperative agreement was a prerequisite for authorizing Park Service funds to improve non-Park 

Service lands. NPS Solicitor Richard A. Buddeke noted to Miller that based on the Basic Authorities Act of 

1946 (60 Stat. 885; 16 U.S.C., Sec. 17j2b) the Park Service could appropriate funds for trail improvements 

and maintenance for lands "under the jurisdiction of other agencies of the Government, devoted to 

recreational use and pursuant to cooperative agreements." [312] The "other" agency in this instance was the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs. Field Solicitor Merritt Barton observed that without a cooperative agreement, the 

Park Service would have no legal authority to construct or maintain the trail to Rainbow Bridge. [313] 

Pursuing the cooperative agreement raised issues regarding the status of the land in question as well as the 

status of lands that provided future water access to the monument via Lake Powell. The process of 

improving the horse and foot trail to Rainbow Bridge was no longer the simple request of Myles Headrick, it 

was the watershed for negotiating the legal status of lands that would be extremely valuable after 1962 (the 

year Glen Canyon Dam was proposed to be completed).

In January 1963 water began to fill behind Glen Canyon Dam, forming what is now known as Lake Powell. 

At the same time that the Park Service was negotiating with the Nation over access to Rainbow Bridge, the 

management authority over the bridge changed hands. During these initial negotiations, Park Service 

personnel raised the question of who should manage Rainbow Bridge in the long term. For immediate work 

projects, such as the proposed trail improvements, Miller suggested that Navajo NM Superintendent Art 

White continue in his dual capacity as acting superintendent of Rainbow Bridge. Miller also suggested that 

in the future, after Glen Canyon NRA was developed, Glen Canyon staff be charged with administering and 

protecting Rainbow Bridge. [314] This suggestion was not lost on regional administrators. In June 1962, 

before Lake Powell began rising, the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service entered into a 

Memorandum of Understanding regarding the management and development of the lake. The Bureau of 

Reclamation took responsibility for facilities and resource management related to the operation of Glen 

Canyon Dam. The reservoir (Lake Powell) was created for the purpose of fulfilling the intent of the 

Colorado River Storage Project; consequently, Reclamation retained control of the lake's water level and 

flow as a method of responding to power needs along the project's corridor. Upon completion of 

innundation, the reservoir would be known as Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Management of the 

reservoir was transferred to the Park Service for specific purposes, including public safety, recreational use 

management, wildlife management, and concessions and public revenues. Effectively the total management 

of the area was divided between Reclamation and the Park Service, with the mission of each entity guiding 

the scope and application of its respective management responsibilities. [315]

As part of the Memorandum of Understanding, protection and preservation of Rainbow Bridge NM became 

the responsibility of the superintendent of Glen Canyon NRA. NPS Director Hartzog approved the transfer 

of administrative control over Rainbow Bridge to the Superintendent of Glen Canyon NRA on August 5, 

1964. The recreation area operated in a legislative void for nearly a decade. Park Service personnel were 

assigned to administrative and recreational management of Lake Powell soon after innundation began. But 

in 1972, after inundation of Glen Canyon was nearly complete, Congress approved the establishment of 

Glen Canyon NRA. [316] With the transfer of control, Rainbow Bridge would no longer be an undeveloped 

Park Service unit nor would it fail to register on the appropriations radar. It became one of the best managed 

jewels in the national park system's Southwest crown. More progress in comprehensive management needed 

to be made, however, as visitation reached 12,427 by the end of 1965. [317]

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During the negotiations with NPS, the Navajo Nation questioned some of the basic assumptions held by the 

Park Service, specifically the legal status of lands in Bridge Canyon. The negotiations moved beyond the 

simple need for acreage dedicated to a horse and foot trail. The creation of Lake Powell meant the Nation 

needed to know what type of water access to the bridge would be available. The same month the diversion 

tunnels closed at Glen Canyon, Assistant Regional Director Leslie P. Arnberger met with the Nation's 

attorney, Walter Wolf, to discuss various issues related to land exchange. They discussed draft legislation to 

effect a land exchange between the Nation and the Park Service. What began in the late 1950s as the need 

for trail access turned into a debate over commercial development. The Nation changed its position, stating 

it was no longer amenable to giving up land around the monument. The meeting also included initial 

discussions of a Memorandum of Agreement regarding recreational use and development at Lake Powell. 

Wolf let the Park Service know that the Navajo Nation intended to develop commercial activities to the 

fullest extent possible along the southern shore of Lake Powell, which was part of the Navajo reservation. 

When Arnberger brought up the possibility of floating dock facilities in Bridge Canyon, to be located 

somewhere near the bridge, Wolf made it clear that the Nation reserved the right to approve any such plans. 

[318]

In September 1958, Congress approved legislation that transferred certain Navajo lands to the public domain 

(72 Stat.1686), known as Public Law 85-868. This law contained language that the Nation and the Park 

Service interpreted very differently. P.L. 85-868 stated, "the rights herein transferred shall not extend to the 

utilization of the lands hereinafter described under the heading parcel B for public recreational facilities 

without the approval of the Navajo Tribal Council." The Nation contended that all the lands in question 

around Rainbow Bridge were Parcel B lands. This interpretation specifically allowed for Tribal approval of 

all recreational facilities in Parcel B lands provided that those lands lay 3,720 feet above sea level. In 1963 

topographic data suggested that the proposed site of Park Service floating facilities, just north of the 

confluence of Bridge Creek and Aztec Creek, indeed lay above 3,720 feet. But the floating facilities would 

not be anchored or moored to the shore. Did Tribal approval extend to the waters that covered the Parcel B 

land? This was the real point of contention. The Nation argued that the innundation of various canyons near 

Rainbow Bridge did not change the Parcel B status of those lands. The Park Service contended that all the 

lands in question were part of the system of legal public access to a national monument and once submerged 

became subject to the same laws that regulated all the navigable waters of the United States. The Nation 

reasserted its position that the 1958 Act superceded Park Service intentions and made any proposed 

recreational use of those lands subject to Tribal approval. [319]

This was not a situation the Park Service wanted to wade through. The history of Anglo/Indian relations 

over land and water rights in the American Southwest was not a history that favored the Park Service. The 

Nation was in an advantageous position, bargaining with access to Rainbow Bridge in exchange for boat and 

tour concessions along Lake Powell's southern shore. The Nation advanced a revised Memorandum of 

Agreement (MOA) in late 1963. In the revised MOA the Nation tipped its hand in terms of what it wanted 

from the Park Service. The Navajo Nation retained the right to operate boat services subject to the standards 

of approval used by the Park Service in assessing all concessions contracts. The Nation offered unrestricted 

access to Rainbow Bridge via land or water and by extension released control of that access to Lake Powell. 

Also of importance was the Nation's willingness to transfer lands, in the form of an easement, necessary to 

the operation of the monument including approval to build and maintain structures or modifications 

designed to facilitate public access to the bridge. [320]

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Despite the conciliatory tone of the Nation's revised MOA, the Park Service had much to consider in terms 

of permitting Navajo concessions along the south shore of Lake Powell. Contrary to the proposed MOA 

terms, between 1964 and 1966 the Navajo Nation grew more convinced that it would have to have permitted 

access to large sections of Lake Powell's southern shore for both recreational and retail development. At the 

same time, the Nation went through a series of leadership changes that consolidated the Nation's desire for 

commercial access to shore front land. These leadership changes hampered the Park Service's ability to 

negotiate for desired easements as the Tribal Council grew ever more wary of the Park Service's intentions. 

[321]

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Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 8:

Managing For The Future: Rainbow Bridge National Monument into the 

21st Century

Since 1910, when President Taft designated the 160 acres surrounding Rainbow Bridge a national 

monument, controversy surrounded the new monument. Who "discovered" Rainbow Bridge first, the history 

of human activity at the bridge, the relative significance of the bridge to Anglos and Native Americans, and 

the protected status of the bridge in the face of development were some of the issues that drove Park Service 

management decisions. Managing the monument after 1993 was no less contentious and perhaps even more 

so. Despite the fact that the Park Service had an operational agreement with the Navajo Nation and a new 

General Management Plan that defined the interpretive goals for the monument, the Park Service faced new 

pressures from different corners and was still faced with the intensifying demands of expanding visitation 

and resource protection. This chapter describes the life of the monument after 1993 and the attempts of the 

Park Service and others to ensure both the protection of Rainbow Bridge and its varied interpretive status. 

Controversy was still the watchword of the early 21st century at Rainbow Bridge. This chapter details the 

Park Service response to that reality and its attempts to resolve conflict while still engaging in effective 

management of the monument.

One of the more important byproducts of the GMP process was the creation of the Native American 

Consultation Committee. In 1993, the Park Service proposed a meeting with representatives from the Native 

American groups that had contemporary, cultural, or religious affiliations with Rainbow Bridge. The 

purpose of the meeting was to create a planning and consultation committee that would utilize Native 

American input in the application of interpretive goals for the monument. The Park Service invited ten 

Native American groups to the initial meeting. Five of the ten responded and three groups sent 

representatives to the October 27 meeting. Staff from Glen Canyon NRA met with representatives from the 

San Juan Southern Paiute, Kaibab Paiute, and the Navajo Nation. The Hopi Tribe and the White Mesa Ute 

Council could not attend the meeting but asked to be part of the finalized planning process. The meeting 

participants worked toward two goals: to create a Native American Consultation Committee (NACC) and to 

generate, via NACC, a Memorandum of Agreement to address those issues that affect Native American 

concerns over natural and cultural resources at Rainbow Bridge NM. What emerged from this action was 

another management milestone for the Park Service. [354]

After subsequent meetings of the NACC, the Park Service, the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, and 

the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation entered into a Programmatic Agreement with the five original 

tribes on the Committee as well as. The Agreement made the NACC an official entity for the Park Service to 

engage in terms of advice and interpretation. The Park Service took the role of Native American tribes 

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seriously with respect to administering the monument. To that end, the Programmatic Agreement (PA) 

included stipulations for the Park Service to consult NACC on a variety of issues: interpretation programs, 

trail maintenance, construction of wayside exhibits, interpreter training, revegetation, visitor traffic control, 

and measures to reduce resource degradation. The agreement also authorized unrestricted and non-permitted 

access to Rainbow Bridge for members of signatory tribes who wished to conduct traditional ceremonies. 

The agreement also stipulated that the Park Service would consider periodically closing the monument at the 

request of any signatory tribe provided the reasons for the closure were compelling and the closure could be 

legally justified. [355]

The PA, like the GMP, stipulated that an NPS interpreter would be present on every tour boat that visited 

Rainbow Bridge. [356] This specific requirement was intended to augment public education regarding the 

multifaceted nature of the bridge and monument. While the PA did not compel the Park Service to prohibit 

direct public access to the bridge, it did stipulate that the Park Service would discourage physical visitor 

contact with the bridge. This was to be accomplished via terminating the trail improvements (normally 

providing access all the way to Rainbow Bridge) at a wayside exhibit and viewing area 250 feet northwest of 

the bridge. The construction of a low rock wall where the trail to the bridge left the viewing area would 

further discourage visitor trail access; the trail itself remained intact. At no point did the PA advocate 

preventing the public from approaching the bridge. It did make Native American concerns over the sacred 

nature of the bridge a part of the management philosophy at the monument. Interestingly, the Programmatic 

Agreement was conceived and executed months before Protectors of the Rainbow occupied the monument. 

It was no wonder that the Navajo Nation did not endorse the actions of the Protectors the Nation already had 

what it wanted in terms of access in the form of the PA. The Agreement was, essentially, a statement of 

respect codified in document. It acknowledged the importance of the bridge to Native American groups and 

the equal importance of consulting those groups about decisions that would affect the bridge. This was the 

kind of pluralism the tribes and the Park Service had always desired but had been so difficult to attain. The 

PA was free from the pressures of litigation or distrust. As a result of the Agreement, Native Americans had 

an official voice in the management of a national monument that was significant to both Indians and nonIndians. [357]

While the Park Service was negotiating the completion of the Programmatic Agreement, it was also working 

toward implementation of part of the GMP, placing signs at Rainbow Bridge that met each of its interpretive 

goals. Only the sign dedicated to educating visitors about the sacred nature of Rainbow Bridge met with 

resistance and controversy. In pursuit of the spirit of the PA, Superintendent Joe Alston notified the 

signatory tribes regarding new signs for Rainbow Bridge. Installed in May 1995, the initial sign read:

American Indians consider Rainbow Bridge 

a sacred religious site. 

Please respect these long-standing beliefs. 

Please do not approach or walk under Rainbow Bridge.

Alan S. Downer, director of the Historic Preservation Department for the Navajo Nation, noted the obvious 

deficiency of the sign. Downer pointed out to Alston that the bridge was not a sacred religious site to all

American Indians. Downer suggested that the sign specify the Navajo Nation as considering the bridge 

sacred, because the Navajos were the Native American group with the closest proximity to the monument. 

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This would have necessarily excluded other tribes, especially the non-Navajo signatories to the PA, from the 

educational process so critical to the new management philosophy at Rainbow Bridge. After soliciting the 

opinions of the other PA tribes, the Park Service developed and installed a new sign by July 1995. The 

revised sign read:

Neighboring American Indian tribes believe 

Rainbow Bridge is a sacred, religious site. 

Please respect these long-standing beliefs. 

Please do not approach or walk under Rainbow Bridge.

In August 1995, based on the perception that the Park Service would never allow Native Americans 

unrestricted and/or private access to the bridge, the Protectors of the Rainbow took control of the monument 

and spent four days engaged in cleansing ceremonies. The Park Service response typified the best intentions 

of its new management philosophy as expressed in the GMP and the Programmatic Agreement. NPS 

contacted the Navajo Nation to determine the degree of tribal support enjoyed by the Protectors of the 

Rainbow. NPS staff even met with the Protectors to negotiate a non-violent resolution to the situation. The 

decision to diffuse the situation by acceding to the Protectors' demands ensured the support and cooperation 

of the PA signatory tribes. It also evidenced the renewed commitment of the Park Service to fulfilling its 

intended mission at Rainbow Bridge the protection of sensitive natural and cultural resources at almost any 

expense.

It was also in 1995 that climbers, via the Bear Lodge Multiple Use Association, sued the National Park 

Service over the its decision to ban climbing at Devils Tower during the month of June. The Park Service at 

Devils Tower made prioritization of Shoshone religious beliefs its overt intent in the climbing ban. Climbers 

argued that this violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. When the Park Service modified 

its policy to a voluntary ban, asking climbers to self-select not to climb during June, the Tenth Circuit Court 

of Appeals ruled that the Park Service policy did not violate the First Amendment. The Park Service knew 

that at Rainbow Bridge there was no policy in effect that prohibited public access to the bridge during 

normal use periods. Barring revegetation activities on the trail or a natural disaster, the public could 

approach, walk under, and otherwise make physical contact with Rainbow Bridge. While Park Service 

interpreters discouraged such activity, they did not attempt to prevent it. On the heels of the Devils Tower 

suit, in May 1996, came President Clinton's Executive Order 13007, the Indian Sacred Sites proclamation. 

The order was very clear in its purpose:

"Section 1. Accommodation of Sacred Sites. (a) In managing Federal lands, each executive 

branch agency with statutory or administrative responsibility for the management of Federal 

lands shall, to the extent practicable, permitted by law, and not clearly inconsistent with 

essential agency functions, (1) accommodate access to and ceremonial use of Indian sacred 

sites by Indian religious practitioners and (2) avoid adversely affecting the physical integrity 

of such sacred sites. [358]

Effectively, the actions of the Park Service at Rainbow Bridge over the previous four years had been 

codified in a presidential mandate. But the specter of the Devils Tower suit still loomed over the Park 

Service. Superintendent Joe Alston knew that it was only a matter of time before somebody decided the 

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policy of "discouragement" was tantamount to establishment and thereby violated the First Amendment. 

Even the High Country News, in May 1997, speculated that "if anyone does sue at Rainbow Bridge, it's 

likely to be an unassuming nonprofit [group] of rock-arch lovers, the Natural Arch and Bridge 

Society." [359]

To avoid an inevitable lawsuit, the Park Service raised the issue of signage at the 1997 meeting of the Native 

American Consultation Committee. After a lengthy discussion the Committee decided that new signs needed 

to be placed at the bridge to make the voluntary nature of access restriction more clear. [360] The new signs 

read:

To Native American tribes/nations, 

Rainbow Bridge is a sacred religious site. 

In respect of these long-standing beliefs, 

we request your voluntary compliance 

in not approaching or walking under 

Rainbow Bridge.

These signs were still in place as of January 2001. The High Country News was more than a little bit 

prescient in its prediction of a lawsuit. In 1997 Stan Jones was a board member for the Natural Arch and 

Bridge Society and chairman of the Society's Rainbow Bridge Committee. In that year Jones began 

archiving data, in the form of press clippings and correspondence, regarding the "illegal"activities of the 

National Park Service at Rainbow Bridge NM. The Society was becoming annoyed at what it perceived 

were illegal restrictions on their access to the bridge and its environs. But tensions cooled in 1998 when the 

Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the voluntary ban on climbing at Devils Tower, initiated by the 

Park Service as a modification to outright prohibition, did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First 

Amendment. Park Service personnel were elated at the outcome. They felt that they had bridged the gap 

between Anglo and Native American needs and had come out ahead. Even the Court recognized the delicate 

line that the Park Service had to walk, noting that the Devils Tower policy was "a policy that has been 

carefully crafted to balance the competing needs of individuals using Devils Tower National Monument 

while, at the same time, obeying the edicts of the Constitution." [361]

With a temporary reprieve from the threat of litigation, the Park Service at Rainbow Bridge turned its 

attention to another matter. After a 1973 article in Empire Magazine that detailed Jim Mike's role in the 

Cummings/Douglass expedition to Rainbow Bridge, an unknown person removed the only commemorative 

plaque from the canyon wall near the bridge and threw it into Lake Powell. That happened in late 1975. The 

original plaque, placed in Bridge Canyon in 1927, only commemorated Nasja Begay's role in "discovering" 

the bridge. In 1974 the Park Service took Jim Mike to the bridge for a ceremony that recognized him for his 

role as one of the guides to the 1909 expedition. It was not until the early 1980s that a small plaque was 

placed in Bridge Canyon which gave Jim Mike equal credit for helping Cummings and Douglass find the 

bridge. The new plaque, smaller than the one commemorating Nasja Begay, was placed on the canyon wall 

directly beneath Nasja Begay's plaque.

This situation had never sat well with Mike's relatives. But Park Service decisions were beyond the scope of 

Native American input throughout the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, private individuals raised $6,000.00 to 

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commission a bronze plaque of equal size to Begay's that recognized Jim Mike. In July 1984, his daughter 

Pochief Mike, granddaughter Mary Jane Yazzie, and various other dignitaries traveled again to Rainbow 

Bridge to unveil the new plaque and pay homage to Jim Mike. The plaque was presented by Mary Jane 

Yazzie and Pochief Mike but for some unknown reason was never hung in Bridge Canyon. In interviews 

conducted by Glen Canyon NRA's Interpretation division in 1997, no Park Service personnel even knew the 

larger plaque existed. It appeared that the Park Service had originally planned to create a large exhibit that 

incorporated the larger plaque at the Rainbow Bridge trail near the courtesy docks. Somehow that exhibit 

never came to be. When the Programmatic Agreement was signed, the issue of Jim Mike's plaque was raised 

once again. In the 1995 and 1996 annual NACC meeting, committee members indicated that as part of the 

effort to reduce foot traffic to the bridge, replicas of the plaques commemorating Nasja Begay and Jim Mike 

should be placed at the viewing area, thereby mitigating the need to trek up-canyon to see the original 

plaques. It was during those meetings that Park Service personnel realized that a plaque was missing. [362]

Park Service researchers began looking for information on the origin of the Nasja plaque. In that process, 

Park Ranger Glenn Gossard remembered seeing a crate in the basement of the Carl Hayden Visitor Center at 

Glen Canyon Dam. Something about the crate's marking made Gossard think it had something to do with 

Jim Mike. The crate, in fact, contained the very plaque unveiled by Yazzie twelve years prior. Mary Jane 

Yazzie petitioned the NACC at its 1997 annual meeting to mount the Jim Mike plaque somewhere in the 

monument. The Committee decided that the most appropriate place was next to Nasja Begay's plaque, which 

hung on the canyon wall near the bridge. Replicas of the two plaques were commissioned to be hung at the 

courtesy docks. In July 1997 the smaller Jim Mike plaque was removed and the divot in the canyon wall was 

filled to resemble natural rock. The larger plaque was mounted next to the Nasja Begay plaque. On 

September 30, 1997 members of Jim Mike's family, representatives of the Navajo Nation, and Park Service 

staff members took a tour boat to Rainbow Bridge where yet another ceremony was held to commemorate 

Jim Mike for his contribution to the 1909 "discovery"expedition. The Park Service presented the smaller 

plaque to Mary Jane Yazzie. [363]

The life of the monument after the Fall of 1997 was fairly uneventful. The NACC continued to meet and 

review issues related to the natural and cultural resources at Rainbow Bridge. The 1998 meeting included 

discussion of raising the height of the rock wall at the viewing area in Bridge Canyon to further discourage 

people from approaching the bridge. By the time of the 1998 meeting the Park Service had installed replicas 

of the Nasja Begay and Jim Mike plaques at the wayside exhibits near the docks. John Ritenour, Resource 

Management Division Chief at Glen Canyon NRA, reported that the process of removing tamarisk from the 

monument was underway and would continue in the immediate Bridge Canyon area. Between 1998 and 

2000, the monument was being managed well by the combined and cooperative efforts of the Park Service 

and the Native American Consultation Committee. Even the issues related to Devils Tower subsided once 

the Park Service received a favorable ruling on the voluntary nature of the climbing ban at the Wyoming 

monument. This definitely put the Park Service at ease at Glen Canyon and Rainbow Bridge.

In addition to handling the daily tasks of management at Rainbow Bridge, the Park Service was interested in 

how well it was performing its mission at the bridge. Toward this goal, NPS conducted a visitor survey in 

various units of the park system, including Rainbow Bridge. The data generated from visitor response 

survey cards was tabulated and analyzed by the University of Idaho Cooperative Park Studies Unit. In light 

of the severe criticism they were receiving from pro-access interests, the results of surveys conducted in 

1998 and 1999 were more favorable than the Park Service anticipated. While certain sectors of the survey, 

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such as the rating for restroom odor, fell between 1998 and 1999, overall satisfaction with the Park Service's 

job rose from 92 percent in 1998 to 93 percent in 1999. These figures represented all those respondents who 

replied that the Park Service was doing either "very good" or "good" at maintaining and interpreting 

Rainbow Bridge. The survey measured numerous categories of performance: quality of exhibits; walkways, 

trails, and roads; restrooms; on-site Park Service employee quality; and, the ranger programs. Visitors also 

evaluated recreational opportunities for the survey. Those categories included outdoor, sightseeing, and 

educational opportunities offered at the monument. Visitors were also asked to provide additional comments 

about their opinion of the "special significance"of the park as well as any miscellaneous comments. In the 

statistical portion of the survey, the Park Service performed well. Between both years the categories that 

Park Service personnel fared best in those categories that involved personal contact: on-site service and 

ranger programs. The Park Service also relished the fact that in both years studied, only one comment 

appeared that disparaged the Park Service for discouraging access to Rainbow Bridge beyond the viewing 

area. The Park Service interpreted these figures as a validation of their mission at Rainbow Bridge. Fewer 

people were coming into physical contact with the bridge than in years prior; however, their satisfaction 

with the experience was still reasonably high. These survey results contributed to the general sense of ease 

among Park Service personnel at Rainbow Bridge. Unfortunately that state of ease was not to last. [364]

There was a growing interest in seeing Rainbow Bridge managed in a way that did not include Native 

American issues in the interpretation. This concern was most vehemently voiced by members of the Natural 

Arch and Bridge Society (NABS). Stan Jones, author of the most popular maps of Lake Powell, came to 

Glen Canyon in the mid 1960s and has lived in Page, Arizona ever since. Jones has long been the voice of 

the NABS in Glen Canyon and has always let the Park Service know when the Society thought cultural 

approaches to interpreting Rainbow Bridge were getting a little too sensitive. As mentioned previously, 

Jones began documenting the Park Service's "illegal" policies at Rainbow Bridge in 1997. This 

documentation took the form of a large private collection of newspaper clippings, personal and professional 

correspondence, and commentaries related to the supposed illegal policies of preventing physical access to 

Rainbow Bridge via foot trails. Jones contended in a letter included with his collection that the Park Service 

was supporting Native American religion through the use of federal funds to promote a Native American 

interpretation of Rainbow Bridge. He claimed that the Park Service was guilty of violating the Establishment 

Clause of the First Amendment by proselytizing Navajo religion at the bridge and compelling the public, via 

tour boat revenues, to pay for it. Jones believed it was unethical and illegal to compel visitors to see 

Rainbow Bridge from one dominant perspective and then not allow them to view the bridge up close for 

themselves. The NABS had always been offended by Park Service policies which discouraged visitors from 

approaching or walking under the bridge. Since conflict and controversy have always colored the life of 

Rainbow Bridge NM, Park Service personnel knew what was coming next.

While Park Service personnel were unsure of whether or not Jones or the NABS intended to sue the Park 

Service all along, Jones did provide his archival collection of Park Service activity documentation to the 

Mountain States Legal Foundation in late 1999. Regardless of a possible lawsuit, the Interpretation Division 

at Glen Canyon NRA decided in 1999 to begin developing a Comprehensive Interpretive Plan (CIP) that 

would guide the monument's interpretation for the next ten years. This effort was undertaken in response to 

various concerns over the way Rainbow Bridge was being interpreted. The CIP was only in a nascent phase 

by July 2000; however, it did promise to be a more balanced approach to interpreting the bridge beyond its 

spiritual connection to Native Americans. The Park Service had walked a fine line up to the 21st century, 

trying to balance environmental, archeological, and cultural concerns at the bridge. The process of making 

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policy at Rainbow Bridge was more broad based and complex than at any time in the monument's history. 

Concerns such as those expressed by the NABS were never dismissed out of hand. After all, the NABS 

represented a constituency of the paying public and their concerns were as valid as those of Navajos and 

Europeans. But for the NABS the issue was more than just about paying for access. Groups such as the 

NABS represent the view that national parks and monuments are traditional cultural properties which are as 

important to American citizens as sacred sites are to Native Americans. Non-secular perceptions of sites 

such as Rainbow Bridge hold as much validity to the philosophical underpinnings of the national park 

system as religious perceptions do to affiliated Native American groups. The CIP was the Park Service's 

attempt to once again gauge what the public wanted and needed at Rainbow Bridge and to develop an 

interpretive plan that responded to those concerns. The CIP was an internal planning process that solicited 

input from identified interest groups and stakeholders. [365]

On March 3, 2000 the Natural Arch and Bridge Society filed suit in U.S. District Court against Joe Alston as 

Superintendent of Glen Canyon NRA and Robert G. Stanton as Director of the National Park Service. The 

suit was inevitable according to many Park Service personnel. The situation at Rainbow Bridge, which 

involved a progressively greater degree of Native American input at the decision making level, was bound to 

incite response from someone. The NABS employed the Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) to 

represent them in the suit. The suit claimed that Park Service policies prevented visitors from approaching 

the bridge, which is the central attraction at the monument, unless those visitors were Native Americans or 

engaging in Native American religious ceremonies. The suit stipulated that these preventative policies 

violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as well as the Due Process Clause of the Fifth 

Amendment. The Park Service had seen this all before at Devils Tower in the Bear Lodge case. Specifically, 

the MSLF claimed that the GMP and its Interpretive Prospectus were part of a calculated effort to preclude 

visitor access to the bridge in favor of Native American access. In addition to the argument that Native 

American religious viewpoints formed a part of the policy making process at the bridge, the suit claimed that 

constructing a rock wall to define the boundaries of the viewing area served as an artificial barrier to visitors 

that desired to approach the bridge. [366]

The crux of the suit, in terms of plausible violation of the Establishment Clause, was in part 26 of the 

Statement of Facts:

Fares for the [NPS sanctioned] tour boats include fees to cover the costs of providing 

interpreters. Thus, in order to access Rainbow Bridge the majority of the 300,000 visitors who 

visit the Monument each year are required to listen to federal employees proselytize regarding 

Native American religion and are required to pay for that proselytization. Individual members 

of NABS have taken the official boat tour and been exposed to the interpretive speeches given 

on the boats. These NABS members are directly affected by and object to these speeches as 

well as to the use of any portion of the tour fees or other Park Service revenues, including but 

not limited to those derived from federal taxes, to pay for the interpretive program. [367]

NABS argued that it was the direct allocation of funds to interpreting Rainbow Bridge as a sacred site that 

violated the Establishment Clause. Whether or not the program of interpretation constituted endorsement of 

a Native American religion was the contested part of the claim. NABS also indicted NPS because of the 

Park Service response to the Protectors of the Rainbow seizure in 1995. NABS argued that the decision to 

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"allow" Navajos to conduct rituals was tantamount to supporting a religion. The fact that the Park Service 

did not allow public access during those four days compounded the problem and undermined the Park 

Service's position. Other parties to the suit made claims that upon approaching the bridge from the south 

side, on the old Rainbow Lodge trail, they were compelled by a park ranger to leave their position near the 

bridge and told to regroup at the viewing area. Evelyn Johnson, a member of this group of hikers, claimed 

she was told to move away from the bridge and back to the viewing area because her group's presence under 

the bridge encouraged other visitors to follow suit. Another plaintiff in the suit, Earl DeWaal, claimed that in 

1999 he was threatened by a park ranger with citation and/or arrest if he attempted to use the trail from the 

viewing area to approach Rainbow Bridge. DeWaal claimed that the express reason for preventing his access 

to the bridge was to avoid desecration of the site and protect Native American religious values.

Park Service personnel had been trying to work within the parameters of Interior policy throughout the 

1980s and 1990s. The Native American Relationships Policy (NARP), issued in 1982 by the Department of 

the Interior, was a clear agency statement about the future of the relationship between Native Americans and 

the National Park Service. With regard to interpretation, the NARP clearly stated, "the Park Service will 

seek to involve concerned Native Americans to the maximum extent possible in the development of General 

Management Plans and in interpretive programs which speak to their group history and prehistory." [368] 

The NARP went on to stipulate that in pursuit of greater Native American involvement in interpretation, 

Park Service efforts might "include the developing of signs and exhibits; the recounting of stories which 

figure in an interpretive exhibit; the appropriate display or non-display of cultural objects; the proper 

identification and protection of significant sites; and concerns of the contemporary Native American 

community." [369] The Park Service at Glen Canyon and Rainbow Bridge was doing more than simply ad 

hoc consultation of Native Americans or blindly generating policy designed to infringe on the Constitution. 

It was, in fact, following federally approved mandates to facilitate greater Native American involvement in 

the management and interpretation of a national monument which sat on ground that had been a part of 

various Native American's aboriginal homelands for hundreds of years. These claims were still in litigation 

as of June 2001.

The issues that plagued many parts of the national park system were not avoided at Rainbow Bridge. For all 

its beauty, grandeur, and amazing scientific and cultural resources, the bridge was and still is the object of 

controversy and conflict. From the debate over who first "discovered" Rainbow Bridge to the conflict over 

how it should be interpreted, the Park Service fulfilled its management responsibilities admirably at 

Rainbow Bridge. The comforting fact has always been that visitors continue to praise the Park Service for 

their efforts at managing the monument in a way that promotes resource protection over commercial profit. 

With visitation expected to reach or exceed 200,000 people in 2001, the goals at Rainbow Bridge remain the 

same.

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Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

APPENDIX 1:

IMPORTANT EVENTS

1906 Antiquities Act, sponsoring the national monuments, becomes law.

1909 August: John Wetherill, Byron L. Cummings, and W.B. Douglass reach Rainbow Bridge.

1910 May: Monument declared. John Wetherill assigned as Custodian (shared duty with Navajo 

National Monument).

1933 First year of Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley survey.

1955 Visitation to Rainbow Bridge exceeds 1,000 people.

1956 Mission 66 first funded by Congress. 

March: President Eisenhower signs the Colorado River Storage Project Act. 

October: construction of Glen Canyon Dam begins.

1956 Memorandum of Agreement between the Bureau of Reclamation and NPS.

1958 Secretary of the Interior establishes Glen Canyon Recreation Area and designates NPS the 

administering Agency. Congress passes P.L. 85-868, transferring lands between NPS and the 

Navajo Nation.

1963 January: BOR closes the gates of the west bank diversion tunnel at Glen Canyon Dam. Lake 

Powell begins to fill.March: the east bank diversion tunnel gates close, marking the official birth 

of Lake Powell.

1964 Administrative and operational control of Rainbow Bridge National Monument transfers to 

Superintendent of Glen Canyon Recreation Area.

1965 Visitation to Rainbow Bridge exceeds 10,000 people. NPS installs the first floating dock facility 

in Aztec Creek. 

May: Memorandum of Agreement with the Navajo Nation is signed. Lake Powell water enters 

the monument. Visitors can boat to within sight of the bridge.

1972 Congress passes P.L. 92-593, establishing Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

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1974 Jim Mike returns to Rainbow Bridge. Navajo singers sue NPS over Lake Powell waters 

inundating lower Bridge Canyon.

1978 Native American Religious Freedom Act becomes law.

1980 Visitation to Rainbow Bridge exceeds 100,000 people.

1985 Bureau of Reclamation concludes that Lake Powell is not contributing to any structural 

impairment of Rainbow Bridge.

1989 Rainbow Bridge National Monument nominated (although never designated) as a World Heritage 

Site.

1993 General Management Plan finalized.

1994 Hearth excavated at foot of Rainbow Bridge, dated approximately 600 A.D.

1995 Protectors of the Rainbow occupy the monument. Programmatic Agreement signed, creating the 

Native American Consultation Committee.

1996 Executive Order 13007, the Indian Sacred Sites proclamation.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Appendix 2)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

APPENDIX 2:

LIST OF CUSTODIANS AND SUPERINTENDENTS

Rainbow Bridge National Monument was administered by the Custodian or Superintendent of Navajo 

National Monument from May 30, 1910 to August 4, 1964. The monument was administered by the 

Superintendent of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area from August 5, 1964 to the present.

Navajo National Monument (Established 3/20/1909)

John Wetherill, Cust. 04/09/1909 - 12/31/1938

James W. Brewer, Jr., Cust. 06/01/1939 - 03/31/1943

William W. Wilson, Acting Cust. 04/01/1943 - 01/18/1946

James W. Brewer, Jr., Cust. 01/19/1946 - 06/23/1950

John A. Aubuchon, Supt. 06/24/1950 - 11/28/1953

Foy L. Young, Supt. 12/03/1953 - 04/07/1956

Arthur H. White, Supt. 04/08/1956 - 03/14/1965

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Authorized 4/18/1958; Established 10/27/1972)

James M. Eden, Supt. 04/19/1959 - 08/16/1964

Gustav W. Muehlenhaupt, Supt. 08/30/1964 - 06/03/1967

William J. Briggle, Supt. 06/25/1967 - 07/12/1969

Carlock E. Johnson, Supt. 10/05/1969 - 02/16/1974

Temple A. Reynolds, Supt. 02/17/1974 - 08/12/1978

G. Bryan Harry, Supt. 09/10/1978 - 01/10/1981

Irvin L. Mortenson, Jr., Acting Supt. 01/11/1981 - 05/16/1981

John O. Lancaster, Supt. 05/17/1981 - 05/03/1994

Larry May, Acting Supt. 05/04/1994 - 09/30/1994

Joe Alston, Supt. 10/01/1994 - 12/07/2000

Kayci Cook Collins, Acting Supt. 12/08/2000 - 02/24/2001

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Appendix 2)

Kitty Roberts, Supt. 02/25/2001 - 

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Appendix 3)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

APPENDIX 3:

PERTINENT LEGISLATION AND AUTHORITIES

Key Legislation/Authorities Directly Affecting Lands Inside the Monument Boundary:

● The Antiquities Act of 1906, entitled "An Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities." Section 

2 of the act gave the authority to the executive branch to establish Rainbow Bridge National 

Monument.

● The Act of August 25, 1916, 39 Stat. 535; 16 U.S.C. 1, established the National Park Service. Under 

the terms of the act, the National Park Service became the managing Agency for Rainbow Bridge 

NM. Its two primary objectives were ". . .to provide for the enjoyment" of persons visiting parks and 

monuments and "in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future 

generations.

● Presidential Proclamation Number 1043, of May 30, 1910. With this proclamation, President William 

Howard Taft established Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

● American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, Public Law 95-431, Stat. 469. The conditions of 

the AIRFA made it the policy of the United States to protect and preserve for American Indians their 

inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise their traditional religions and rites, to 

include access to traditional sites and the use and possession of sacred objects. The National Park 

Service must assure that its general regulations and basic management on access to, and use of, park 

lands and park resources, such as Rainbow Bridge National Monument, are applied in a balanced 

manner that does not unduly interfere with an American Indian group's use of historically traditional 

places or sacred sites located within the bounds of a park unit.

● Title IV of the National Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 1980, Public Law 96-515; 16 U.S.

C. 470 a-l, a-2. This outlines the Department of Interior, National Park Service's implementing 

responsibilities for the U.S. World Heritage nomination process. Rainbow Bridge National 

Monument was nominated as a World Heritage Site in 1989 (Fed. Reg., Vol. 54. No. 86, May 5, 

1989, 19469).

Key Legislation/Authorities Affecting Access to Rainbow Bridge National Monument and Indirectly 

Affecting Lands within Rainbow Bridge National Monument:

● The Act of August 7, 1946, 60 Stat. 885; 16 U.S.C.17j-2. This act provided appropriations to the 

National Park Service for: (b) administration, protection, improvement, and maintenance of areas 

under the jurisdiction of other Agencies of the Government, devoted to recreational use pursuant to 

cooperative agreements.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Appendix 3)

● Public Law 84-485, 70 Stat. 105, Colorado River Storage Project Act, April 11, 1956, "To authorize 

the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Colorado River Storage Project 

and participating projects . . . ." This act authorized the construction of Glen Canyon Dam and 

eventually changed the primary public access route to Rainbow Bridge National Monument from 

land to water. Section 8 of this law directed the Secretary of Interior ". . . to investigate, plan, 

construct, operate and maintain public recreational facilities on lands withdrawn or acquired for the 

development of said project or of said participating projects, to conserve the scenery, the natural, 

historic, and archaeologic objects, and the wildlife on said lands, and to provide for public use and 

enjoyment of the same and of the water areas created by these projects by such means as are 

consistent with the primary purposes of the projects."

● Memorandum of Agreement between the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service, 

September 24, 1956. Under the above authority, the Secretary of the Interior established Glen 

Canyon Recreation Area in 1958 and designated the National Park Service the administering Agency.

● Public Law 85-868, 72 Stat. 1686, "To provide for the exchange of lands between the United States 

and the Navajo Tribe . . .," dated September 2, 1958. Sec. 2 (a) describes parcels "A" and "B" lands. 

Along that portion of Lake Powell extending from the Page town site eastward along the Colorado 

and San Juan Arm, lands below the 3,720-foot contour were acquired by the Federal Government. In 

relinquishing these lands (known as Parcel "B" lands), the tribe retained the mineral rights. The 

legislation also specifies that these lands "will not be utilized for public recreational facilities without 

the approval of the Navajo Tribal Council." This affects lands where water-based transportation 

facilities could be constructed.

● Public Law 90-537, Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968. This law established an operational 

program for the upper and lower basin portions of the Colorado River. It established a full pool for 

Lake Powell at elevation 3,700 feet. With this legislation, the primary access to Rainbow Bridge 

changed from land to water.

● September 11, 1970, "Memorandum of Agreement among the National Park Service, the Bureau of 

Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Navajo Tribe of Indians, on the use and 

development of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and adjacent Tribal lands." This 

agreement recognizes Navajo Nation preference rights to operate concessions on Parcel "B" lands.

● Public Law (P.L.) 92-593, October 27, 1972, 86 Stat. 1311. This law established Glen Canyon 

National Recreation Area to ". . . provide for public outdoor recreation use and enjoyment of Lake 

Powell and lands adjacent thereto in the States of Arizona and Utah and to preserve the scenic, 

scientific, and historic features contributing to public enjoyment of the area . . ." Rainbow Bridge 

National Monument is accessed from the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Appendix 4)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

APPENDIX 4:

VISITATION STATISTICS

Prior to Lake Powell

1909-1949 7,795 1956 1,138

1950 542 1957 1,170

1951 388 1958 1,238

1952 522 1959 1,370

1953 826 1960 1,117

1954 881 1961 2,904

1955 1,081 1962 2,918

Since Lake Powell

1963 2,784 1982 114,555

1964 5,670 1983 172,126

1965 12,427 1984 161,551

1966 20,468 1985 177,971

1967 21,993 1986 283,307

1968 28,035 1987 238,307

1969 36,389 1988 255,420

1970 39,959 1989 258,346

1971 41,818 1990 255,420

1972 73,526 1991 258,346

1973 57,057 1992 256,158

1974 55,104 1993 211,254

1975 65,171 1994 298,648

1976 81,875 1995 346,151

1977 87,300 1996* 325,562

1978 95,930 1997 179,791

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1979 97,066 1998 195,916

1980 113,816 1999 234,550

1981 158,832 2000 197,614

*Before 1996, NPS estimated visitation through a combination of counts from an infrared pedestrian tracker 

(located on the trail between the docks and Rainbow Bridge) and ranger estimates. In late 1996, NPS 

replaced the original infrared pedestrian counter with new model and placed the counter on the courtesy 

docks. The visitation figures after this modification are considered more accurate than the pre-1996 

estimates.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Bibliography)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Archives

Bancroft Library, Sierra Club Members Collection 

Cline Library, Special Collections and Archives, Northern Arizona University 

Arizona State University, University Libraries, Department of Archives and Manuscripts 

Headquarters, Glen Canyon NRA: 

Central Files 

Cultural Resources Archive Files 

Interpretation Files 

National Archives and Records Administration: 

College Park, MD 

Denver, CO 

Laguna Niguel, CA 

San Bruno, CA 

National Park Service Library, Navajo National Monument 

National Park Service Library, Intermountain Regional Office 

Southern Utah University, Special Collections 

Interviews

Denny Davies. July 27. 2000, Springdale, Utah.

Tom Dougi. December 19, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona.

Celone Dougi. December 19, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona.

Stephanie Dubois. July 27, 2000, Cedar City, Utah.

Phil R. Geib. June 19, 2000 and January 15, 2001, Window Rock, Arizona.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Bibliography)

Velta E. Luther. December 19, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona.

Leo Manheimer. December 18, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona.

Sylvia Manygoats. December 19, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona.

Buck Navajo. December 18, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona.

Jack Owl. December 20, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona.

Bessie Owl. December 20, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona.

John Ritenour. July 24, 2000, Page, Arizona.

Books

Acrey, Bill P. Navajo History. The Land and the People. Shiprock: Department of Curriculum Materials 

Development Central Consolidated School District No. 22, 1978.

Baars, Donald L. The Colorado Plateau: A Geologic History. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico 

Press, 1983.

Baars, Donald L. Navajo Country: A Geology and Natural History of the Four Corners Region.

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.

Bernheimer, Charles L. Rainbow Bridge: Circling Navajo Mountain and Explorations in the "Bad Lands" of 

Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1924.

Boyce, George A. When the Navajos Had Too Many Sheep: The 1940s. San Francisco: The Indian Historian 

Press, 1974.

Clemmer, Richard O. Roads in the Sky: The Hopi Indians In A Century of Change. Boulder: Westview 

Books, 1995.

Crampton, C. Gregory. Standing Up Country: The Canyon Lands of Utah and Arizona. New York: Alfred 

A. Knopf, 1964.

Crampton, C. Gregory. Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region, 1776-1922. Salt Lake City: University 

of Utah Press, 1959.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Bibliography)

Crampton, C. Gregory and Dwight L. Smith, eds., The Colorado River Survey: Robert B. Stanton and the 

Denver, Colorado Canyon & Pacific Railroad. Salt Lake City: Howe Brothers, 1987.

Dobyns, Henry F. and Robert C. Euler, The Navajo People. Phoenix: Indian Tribal Park Services, 1972.

Dutton, Bertha P. American Indians of the Southwest. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983.

Euler, Robert C. Southern Paiute Ethnohistory. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1966.

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Geib. Phil R. Glen Canyon Revisited. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1996.

Gillmor, Frances and Louisa Wade Wetherill, Traders to the Navajo: The Story of the Wetherills of Kayenta.

Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1934.

Grey, Zane. Tales of Lonely Trails. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1922.

Hall, Ansel F. General Report on the Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition of 1933. Berkeley: 

University of California Press, 1934.

Harvey, Mark W.T. A Symbol of Wilderness: Echo Park and the American Conservation Movement.

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994.

Hassell, Hank. Rainbow Bridge: An Illustrated History. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1999.

Hintze, Lehi F. Geologic History of Utah. Provo: Department of Geology, Brigham Young University, 1988.

Hoofnagle, Keith. "Frank 'Boss' Pinkley: 1881-1940." In National Park Service: The First 75 Years, ed. 

William H. Sontag. Eastern National Park & Monument Association, 1990.

Iverson, Peter. The Navajo Nation. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981.

Judd, Neil M. Men Met Along the Trail: Adventures in Archaeology. Norman: University of Oklahoma 

Press, 1968.

Kelly, Isabel T. Southern Paiute Ethnography. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1965.

Levy, Jerrold E. In The Beginning: The Navajo Genesis. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

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1977.

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Martin, Russell. A Story That Stands Like A Dam: Glen Canyon and the Struggle for the Soul of the West.

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1989.

McNitt, Frank. Richard Wetherill: Anasazi. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1957.

McPherson, Robert S. The Northern Navajo Frontier 1860-1900: Expansion Through Adversity.

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988.

Nuwuvi: A Southern Paiute History. Intertribal Council of Nevada, 1976.

O'Connell, Daniel T. The Geology of Rainbow Bridge, Utah: The Largest Natural Bridge in the World.

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1936.

Ortiz, Alfonso, ed., Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 10, Southwest. Washington, D.C.: 

Smithsonian Institution, 1983.

Perry, R.J. Western Apache Heritage. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991.

Richardson, Gladwell. Navajo Trader. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1986.

Rothman, Hal K. The Greening of a Nation? Environmentalism in the United States Since 1945. New York: 

Harcourt Brace, 1998.

Rothman, Hal K. Navajo National Monument: A Place and Its People, An Administrative History. Santa Fe: 

Southwest Cultural Resources Center, 1991.

Rothman, Hal K. Preserving Different Pasts: The American National Monuments. Urbana: University of 

Illinois Press, 1989.

Runte, Alfred. National Parks: The American Experience. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1979.

Sellars, Richard West. Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History. New Haven: Yale University 

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Shepardson, Mary and Blowden Hammond, The Navajo Mountain Community: Social Organization and 

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Utah, 1986.

Topping, Gary. Glen Canyon and the San Juan County. Moscow: University of Idaho Press, 1997.

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In The Archeology of Navajo Origins, ed. Ronald H. Towner. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1996.

Trafzer, Clifford E. The Kit Carson Campaign: The Last Great Navajo War. Norman: University of 

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Press, 1993.

Underhill, Ruth M. The Navajos. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.

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Choctaws, Pawnees, and Navajos. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.

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1910).

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Jett, Stephen. "Testimony of the Sacredness of Rainbow Natural Bridge to Puebloans, Navajos, and 

Paiutes." Plateau 45 (1973).

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4, no. 2 (1933)

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World Prehistory 12, no. 3(1998).

Richardson, Elmo R. "Federal Park Policy in Utah: The Escalante National Monument Controversy of 1935-

1940." Utah Historical Quarterly (Spring 1965).

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Wetherill, and the Summer of 1909." Journal of the Southwest 35 (Autumn 1993).

Scher, Zeke. "Rainbow Bridge." Empire Magazine (Denver Post) (September 17, 1978).

Scher, Zeke. "Rainbow Bridge Ain't What It Used To Be." Empire Magazine (Denver Post) (September 17, 

1978).

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Smith, Chris, and Elizabeth Manning. "The sacred and profane collide in the West." High Country News

(May 26, 1997).

Newspapers

Arizona Daily Sun 

Arizona Republic 

The Denver Post 

Deseret News 

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New York Times 

Daily Spectrum 

Salt Lake Tribune 

San Francisco Chronicle

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Baker, Arthur A. Geology of the Monument Valley-Navajo Mountain Region, San Juan County Utah.

Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1936.

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Carr, Neita V. and Robert T. Trotter, II. "Ethnographic Overview and Assessment of the Glen Canyon 

National Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument." Flagstaff: Northern Arizona 

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Recreation Area, March 10, 1992.

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Concerns and NPS Management," in "Report of the Navajo Nation/Navajo Lands Area Superintendents 

Summit Meeting, April 16-17, 1997." Capitol Reef National Park.

Geib, Phil R., Helen C. Fairley, and Peter W. Bungart. Archaeological Survey in the Glen Canyon National 

Recreation Area: Year 1 Descriptive Report, 1984-1985. Northern Arizona University Archaeological 

Report No. 983a (November 1986). U.S. Department of the Interior. National Park Service. Rocky Mountain 

Regional Office.

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Thesis

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Northern Arizona University, 1996.

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Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

ENDNOTES

Chapter 1

1 C.E. Dutton, Report on the Geology of the High Plateaus of Utah, with Atlas (Washington, D.C.: 

Government Printing Office, 1880); quoted in C. Gregory Crampton, Standing Up Country: The Canyon 

Lands of Utah and Arizona (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964), 19.

2 Donald L. Baars, Navajo Country: A Geology and Natural History of the Four Corners Region

(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1995), 1-2; Arthur A. Baker, Geology of the Monument 

Valley-Navajo Mountain Region, San Juan County Utah (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 

1936), 6-10; Hank Hassell, Rainbow Bridge: An Illustrated History. (Logan: Utah State University Press, 

1999), 11.

3 Baars, 2-5.

4 Baars, Navajo Country, xiv; Baars, The Colorado Plateau: A Geologic History (Albuquerque: University 

of New Mexico Press, 1983), 157-162; William Lee Stokes, Geology of Utah (Salt Lake City: Utah Museum 

of Natural History, University of Utah, 1986), 107-109; Lehi F. Hintze, Geologic History of Utah (Provo: 

Department of Geology, Brigham Young University, 1988), 40-42.

5 Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 162-168; Stokes, 109-1 11; Hintze, 42-44.

6 Baars, Navajo Country, 55-57; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 168-169; Stokes, 111-112; Hintze, 43.

7 Baars, Navajo Country, 58-59; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 168-169; Hintze, 44.

8 Baars, Navajo Country, 59-60; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 169-173; Stokes, 119-120.

9 Baars, Navajo Country, 65-68; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 174-180.

10 Baars, Navajo Country, 69-75; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 190-193.

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11 Baars, Navajo Country, 76-83; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 194-202.

12 Baars, Navajo Country, 129; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 190-202.

13 Baars, Navajo Country, 75, 105; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 203-211; Stokes, 145-147, 237; Hassell, 

15-17.

14 Baars, Navajo Country, 87, 126, 138; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 217-220, 226.

15 Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 221, 223-227; Stokes, 215.

16 Baars, Navajo Country, 129-131; Baars, The Colorado Plateau, 221-229; Stokes, 212-215; Hassell, 18-19.

17 Daniel T. O'Connell, The Geology of Rainbow Bridge, Utah: The Largest Natural Bridge in the World

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1936), The Rainbow Bridge Monument Valley Expedition 

Bulletin Series, National Archives (NA), Record Group 79 (RG), E7, 1933-1949, Rainbow Bridge, Box NM 

RABR.

Chapter 2

18 Summary of Remarks by Alan Downer, Rena Martin, Timothy Begay, and Richard Begay, "Navajo 

Cultural Concerns and NPS Management," in Report of the Navajo Nation/Navajo Lands Area 

Superintendents Summit Meeting, April 16-17, 1997, 6-10; manuscript copy obtained from Capitol Reef 

National Park, 6-10. The authors point out that the Navajo Nation contends that distinctive Navajo material 

culture patterns indicate no such migrational entrance into the region occurred. The Navajo Nation points to 

various archeological evidence in Navajo sites, supported by cumulative tree-ring dates, which suggests an 

occupation dating from the early 1300s. The more popular date of Navajo entrance, approximately 1500 A.

D., fails to account for the idea that for any archeological pattern to emerge, at least 200 more years of 

activity would have to take place. This places the emergence of Navajo culture in the early 12th century, a 

date more consistent with occupation of the region by ancestral Puebloan peoples.

19 Theodore Roosevelt, "Across the Navajo Desert," The Outlook (October 11, 1913);314.

20 Phil R. Geib. Helen C. Fairley, and Peter W. Bungart, Archaeological Survey in the Glen Canyon 

National Recreation Area: Year 1 Descriptive Report, 1984-1985, Northern Arizona University 

Archaeological Report No. 983a (November 1986), 33-36.

21 Geib, et al., Archaeological Survey, 37.

22 Ibid, 37-45.

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23 Ibid, 45-46.

24 Phil R. Geib, et al., Glen Canyon Revisited (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1996), 7-9.

25 Geib, et al., Glen Canyon, 15-23, 27, 29-30, 40-41.

26 Geib, et al., Archaeological Survey, 45.

27 Rocky Mountain Region Archaeological Project Report, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, July 12, 

1995, "Rainbow Bridge National Monument Site 42SA17329 Hearth Emergency Excavation," 1-3, Cultural 

Resources Archive Files, Headquarters, Glen Canyon NRA.

28 Ibid, 5.

29 According to Navajo residents of the Navajo Mountain community, the Navajo did not migrate to the 

region but emerged there. A more detailed account of the Navajo origin story is found in chapter 5.

30 Ronald H. Towner and Jeffrey S. Dean, "Questions and Problems in Pre-Fort Sumner Navajo 

Archeology," in The Archeology of Navajo Origins, ed. Ronald H. Towner (Salt Lake City: University of 

Utah Press, 1996), 13-15.

31 Ronald H. Towner, "The Pueblicito Phenomenon: A New Perspective on Post-Revolt Navajo Culture" in 

Towner, Archeology, 151.

32 Ibid. David Brugge, "Navajo Prehistory and History to 1850," in Handbook of North American Indians, 

Volume 10, Southwest, ed. Alfonso Ortiz (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1983), 279-295; E.T. 

Hall, Jr., "Recent Clues to Athabaskan Prehistory in the Southwest," American Anthropologist 46: 98-105; R.

J. Perry, Western Apache Heritage (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991).

33 Mary Shepardson and Blowden Hammond, The Navajo Mountain Community: Social Organization and 

Kinship Terminology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970).

34 Shepardson and Hammond, 25-26.

35 Summary of Remarks by Alan Downer, et al., 8.

36 Christopher G. Johnson, The Significance of Rainbow Bridge: From Prehistory to the Present, Masters 

Thesis, Northern Arizona University (May 1996), 50-51. The Hopi moved north as well. Snake Clan 

symbols have been identified in sites inside Capitol Reef National Park in central Utah; see Rosemary 

Sucec, An Ethnographic Overview and Assessment for Capitol Reef National Park.

37 Hattie Greene Lockett, The Unwritten Literature of the Hopi, University of Arizona Social Science 

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Bulletin 4, no.2(1933): 43-44; quoted in Johnson, 51.

38 Lockett, 43; quoted in Johnson, 54.

39 Richard O. Clemmer, Roads in the Sky: The Hopi Indians In A Century of Change (Boulder: Westview 

Books, 1995), 13-15.

40 Phil R. Geib, telephone interview, June 19, 2000 and January 15, 2001, Window Rock. Arizona.

41 Clifford E. Trafzer, The Kit Carson Campaign: The Last Great Navajo War (Norman: University of 

Oklahoma Press, 1982), 4-7.

42 Richard White, The Roots Of Dependency: Subsistence. Environment, and Social Change Among the 

Choctaws, Pawnees, and Navajos (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983), 212-214.

43 Ethelou Yazzie, ed., Navajo History (Rough Rock: Rough Rock Demonstration School, 1971), 24-36.

44 Ruth M. Underhill, The Navajos (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971): 25.

45 Henry F. Dobyns and Robert C. Euler, The Navajo People (Phoenix: Indian Tribal Park Services, 1972), 

8-10; Trafzer, 6-8; White, Roots of Dependency, 215.

46 Dobyns and Euler, 12-13; White, 215-216.

47 Dobyns and Euler, 3-7.

48 Hal K. Rothman, Navajo National Monument: A Place and Its People, An Administrative History (Santa 

Fe: Southwest Cultural Resources Center, 1991), 9.

49 Bill P. Acrey, Navajo History: The Land and the People (Shiprock: Department of Curriculum Materials 

Development Central Consolidated School District No. 22, 1978), 12-30; Rothman, Navajo, 8-12.

50 Trafzer, 25-26.

51 Acrey, 40-53; Rothman, Navajo, 8; Trafzer, 75-78; White, 214.

52 Shepardson and Hammond, 29; Acrey, 40-41; Robert S. McPherson, The Northern Navajo Frontier 1860-

1900: Expansion Through Adversity (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988), 9-10.

53 Shepardson and Hammond, 28-30; Rothman, Navajo, 9-11.

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54 McPherson, 25-26.

55 Acrey, 96-102; White, 215.

56 White, 219-220.

57 David B. Madsen and Steven R. Simms, "The Fremont Complex: A Behavioral Perspective," Journal of 

World Prehistory 12, no. 3 (1998): 312-315.

58 Nuwuvi: A Southern Paiute History (Intertribal Council of Nevada, 1976), 5.

59 Nuwuvi, 8-9; Robert C. Euler, Southern Paiute Ethnohistory (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 

1966), 1-2; Robert C. Euler, The Paiute People (Phoenix: Indian Tribal Park Services, 1972), 2-3; Bertha P. 

Dutton, American Indians of the Southwest (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983), 157.

60 Dutton, 158.

61 Shepardson and Hammond, 39.

62 Herbert E. Bolton, "Pageant in the Wilderness: The Story of the Escalante Expedition to the Interior 

Basin, 1776," Utah Historical Quarterly 18 (1950): 226-228; Shepardson and Hammond, 27.

63 Bolton, 228; Euler, Southern Paiute Ethnohistory, 35.

64 Isabel T. Kelly, Southern Paiute Ethnography (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1965), 60; 

McPherson, 7.

65 McPherson, 7-8.

66 Shepardson and Hammond, 39-40; Ortiz, ed.. Handbook of North American Indians:Volume 10 

Southwest, 495.

67 Dobyns and Euler, 14-16.

68 Peter Iverson, The Navajo Nation (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981), 10-11.

69 Stephen Jett, "The Great Race to Discover Rainbow Natural Bridge in 1909," KIVA 58, no. 1 (1992): 49-

50.

70 C. Gregory Crampton, Outline History of the Glen Canyon Region, 1776-1922 (Salt Lake City: 

University of Utah Press, 1959), 2-3; C. Gregory Crampton and Dwight L. Smith, eds., The Colorado River 

Survey: Robert B. Stanton and the Denver, Colorado Canyon & Pacific Railroad (Salt Lake City: Howe 

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Brothers, 1987), 36-37.

71 Crampton, Outline History, 31-32.

72 Jett, 43.

73 Weldon F. Heald, "Who Discovered Rainbow Bridge?" Sierra Club Bulletin, 40, no. 8 (October 1955): 

25-27, National Park Service Library reprint, Denver, Colorado; Jett, 43-44.

74 Johnson, 139-140; James Black's original statement is located at Northern Arizona University Cline 

Library, Special Collections and Archives, Discovery Papers, Rainbow Bridge Collection.

75 Jett, 44.

Chapter 3

76 William B. Douglass to Commissioner of the General Land Office, October 7. 1908, NA, RG 79, E7 

1907-1932, Box NM, Pipe Springs National Monument-Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

77 Neil M. Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to Robert Sterling Yard, October 30, 1919, 

NA, RG 79, E 7, 1907-1932, Box NM PISP-RABR; also published in National Parks Bulletin 9 (1927), 6-

16; Hassell. 43.

78 Frank McNitt, Richard Wetherill: Anasazi (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1957), 27; 

Hal K. Rothman, Preserving Different Pasts: The American National Monuments (Urbana: University of 

Illinois Press, 1989), 18.

79 McNitt, Richard Wetherill, 32-44; Hal K. Rothman, "Ruins, Reputations, and Regulation: Byron 

Cummings, William B. Douglass, John Wetherill, and the Summer of 1909," Journal of the Southwest 35, 

no. 3 (Autumn 1993): 320-323; Rothman. Navajo, 19-23.

80 Rothman, Preserving Different Pasts, 21, 46-48; Alfred Runte, National Parks: The American Experience

(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1979), 71, 98.

81 PL59-209; 16 USC 431 et seq.; 34 Stat. 225.

82 Rothman, Preserving Different Pasts, xi-xvii, 34-51; Rothman, Navajo, 17.

83 White, 218-220.

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84 Iverson, 10-12; White, 243-244; George A. Boyce, When the Navajos Had Too Many Sheep: The 1940s

(San Francisco: The Indian Historian Press, 1974), ix-x.

85 Frances Gillmor and Louisa Wade Wetherill, Traders to the Navajo: The Story of the Wetherills of 

Kayenta (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1934), 45-47; Hassell, 40; Rothman, "Ruins, Reputations, and 

Regulation," 325.

86 Neil M. Judd, Men Met Along the Trail: Adventures in Archaeology (Norman: University of Oklahoma 

Press, 1968), 29; Robert Frothingham, Trails Through the Golden West (New York: Robert M. McBride & 

Company, 1932), 35-36; Gillmor and Wetherill, 47-50; Rothman, "Ruins, Reputations, and Regulation," 325.

87 Judd, Men Met Along the Trail, 3-5; Hassell, 39-40.

88 Judd. ibid., 17-18; Rothman, "Ruins, Reputations, and Regulation," 327; Rothman, Preserving Different 

Pasts, 234.

89 Rothman, "Ruins, Reputations, and Regulation." 318-319.

90 Rothman, Navajo, 21.

91 Douglass to Commissioner, October 7, 1908, NA. RG 79, E 7, 1907-1932, Box NM PISP-RABR; 

Hassell, 38,44-45; Rothman, Navajo, 19-20, 25; Rothman, "Ruins, Reputations, and Regulation," 329-330.

92 Douglass to Commissioner, October 7, 1908, ibid.

93 Gillmor and Wetherill. 128-129.

94 Gillmor and Wetherill, 129-130; Jett, "The Great Race to Discover Rainbow Natural Bridge in 1909," 7-

8; Frothingham, 37.

95 Gillmor and Wetherill, 131; Jett, 9.

96 William B. Douglass to Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane, March 7, 1918, NA, RG 79, E7 1907-

1932, Box NM, PISP-RABR.

97 Jett, 11.

98 Cummings, Indians, 39-40; Neil M. Judd, Men Met Along the Trail, 39-40; Gillmor and Wetherill, 161-

162; Jett, 10-11; Frothingham, 38-39.

99 Director of the U.S. Geological Survey George O. Smith to National Park Service Director Stephen T. 

Mather, April 13, 1918; Mather to Douglass, April 17, 1918; Douglass to Mather, January 19, 1919, NA, 

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RG 79, E7 1907-1932, Box NM, PISP-RABR; Herbert E. Gregory, A Geographic and Hydrographic 

Reconnaissance of Parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing 

Office, 1916), 45; Gillmor and Wetherill, 161; Judd, Men Met Along the Trail, 100.

100 Rothman, Navajo, 24.

101 Hassell, 45.

102 Cummings, 40; Judd, Men Met Along the Trail, 40-41; Gillmor and Wetherill, 165-166.

103 Gillmor and Wetherill, 165-166; Jett, 12-14; Cummings, 39-40; Judd, ibid., 40.

104 Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to Yard; Cummings to Arno B.Cammerer, March 6, 

1924, NA, RG 79, E7 1907-1932, Box NM, PISP-RABR; Judd, Men Met Along the Trail, 36-37; 

Cummings, 25-27, 40; Frothingham, 40; 162, Gillmor and Wetherill. 182-183; Rothman, Navajo, 22-24; 

Hassell, 46-47.

105 Judd, Men Met Along the Trail, 36-37, 86-89; Cummings to Cammerer, March 6, 1924, NA, RG 79, E 7, 

1907-1932, Box NM PISP-RABR; Gillmor and Wetherill, 164-168; Rothman, Navajo, 23; Jett, 14.

106 Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to Yard; Cummings, 40; Gillmor and Wetherill, 169; 

Jett, 15-16.

107 Cummings, 41; Jett, 15.

108 Judd, Men Met Along the Trail, 40; Cummings, 40; Gillmor and Wetherill, 169; Jett, 16.

109 Judd, Men Met Along the Trail, 40; Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to Yard, October 

30, 1919; Hassell, 48.

110 Cummings, 41; Judd, Men Met Along the Trail, 40; Jett, 19; Hassell, 47.

111 Cummings, 42; Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to Yard; Jett, 20-21; Hassell, 48.

112 Jett, 21-22; Hassell, 48.

113 Wetherill to Arno B. Cammerer, January 28, 1924; Wetherill to Stephen T. Mather, February 25, 1924; 

Cummings to Cammerer, March 6, 1924; Judd to Mather, March 8, 1924; Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow 

Bridge," report to Yard; Cummings, 41-42; Jett, 21.

114 Hassell, 49.

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115 Jett, 22; Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to Yard; Donald Beauregard, "Nonnezhozhi, 

the Father of All Natural Bridges," Deseret News, October 2, 1909, 11-1.

116 Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to Yard.

117 Cummings, 42.

118 Douglass to Commissioner of the GLO; Santa Fe New Mexican, May 29, 1917, NA, RG 79, E7 1907-

1932, Box NM, PISP-RABR.

119 Jett, 17, claimed that "Douglass was hard of hearing, making use of an ear trumpet on a 30-inch flexible 

tube (the Navajos dubbed him, 'Man Who Hears Through A Rope')."

120 Cummings, 43; Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to Yard.

121 Gillmor and Wetherill, 171; Jett, 25-26.

122 Gillmor and Wetherill, 171; Frothingham, 69-70; Hassell, 52-53; Jett, 26-27.

123 Douglass to Mather, February 2, 1919, NA, RG 79, E7 1907-1932, Box NM, PISP-RABR.

124 Santa Fe New Mexican, ibid; Beauregard, ibid; Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to 

Yard; Jett, 28; Hassell, 53; Cummings, 43. There is no evidence that Cummings made measurements on his 

initial trip to Rainbow Bridge.

125 Pauline Wilson, letter to author, April 13, 2001.

126 Proclamation 1043, May 30, 1910.

127 Douglass to Mather, NA, RG 79, E 7, 1907-1932, Box NM PISP-RABR.

128 Douglass to Lane; Douglass to Mather, ibid.

129 Byron Cummings, "The Great Natural Bridges of Utah," National Geographic Magazine 21 (February 

1910): 165.

130 Richard West Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History (New Haven: Yale University 

Press, 1997), 28, 31, 59.

131 Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," report to Yard; Judd to Mather, March 8, 1924; Judd to 

Mather March 17, 1924; A.E. Demaray to Ralph A. Graves, April 15, 1927, NA, RG 79, E7 1907-1932, Box 

NM, PISP-RABR.

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132 Wetherill to Arno B. Cammerer, January 28, 1924; Wetherill to Mather, February 25, 1924. NA, RG 79, 

E7 1907-1932, Box NM, PISP-RABR.

133 Cummings to Cammerer, March 6, 1924, NA, RG 79, E7 1907-1932. Box NM, PISP-RABR.

134 Wetherill to Mather, January 4, 1923; Mather to Wetherill, January 17, 1924; Dan Hull to Edwin 

Raymond Armsby, March 19, 1924, NA, RG 79, E7 1907-1932, Box NM, PISP-RABR.

135 Armsby to Director, April 21, 1924; Hull to Director, April 23, 1924; Arthur E. Demaray to Mather, 

May 10, 1924; Mather to Armsby, May 15, 1924; Armsby to Mather, June 2, 1924, ibid.

136 Mather to Armsby, September 10, 1927; Armsby to Mather, September 13, 1927; Mather to Armsby, 

December 2, 1927, ibid.

137 The San Francisco Call, October 18, 1927, 1, 7.

138 Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," National Park Bulletin, no. 54 (November 1927), 5-16.

139 Ibid 7.

140 Zeke Scher, "Rainbow Bridge ain't what it used to be," Empire Magazine, September 17, 1978, 16-17.

Chapter 4

141 Rothman, Navajo, 79-80.

142 Keith Hoofnagle, "Frank 'Boss' Pinkley: 1881-1940," in National Park Service: The First 75 Years, ed. 

William H. Sontag (Eastern National Park & Monument Association, 1990), 32.

143 Rothman, Preserving Different Pasts, 122-124; Hoofnagle, 32.

144 Iverson, 14-15.

145 Acrey, 113.

146 Acrey, 252-253; McPherson, 83-84, 88-89; Shepardson and Hammond, 32. 

147 Stephen Trimble, The People: Indians of the American Southwest (Santa Fe: School of American 

Research Press, 1993), 347.

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148 Zane Grey, Tales of Lonely Trails (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1922), 62; Crampton, Standing Up 

Country, 160; Hassell, 67.

149 Roosevelt, 309-317; Crampton, ibid; Hassell, 68-69.

150 Hassell, 65; Johnson, 160.

151 Charles L. Bernheimer, Rainbow Bridge: Circling Navajo Mountain and Explorations in the "Bad 

Lands" of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona (Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1924), xi.

152 Hassell, 65-70; Crampton, Standing Up Country, 164; Bernheimer, 76-78.

153 Bernheimer, 90-96, 100-110.

154 Bernheimer, 33, 96; Hassell, 66-67; Johnson, 162.

155 Gladwell Richardson, Navajo Trader (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1986), 29-31; Hassell, 76-

77, Johnson, 162-163; Crampton, ibid.

156 S.I. Richardson to Department of the Interior, May 12, 1924; A.E. Demaray to Richardson, May 25, 

1924, NA, RG 79, B 7, 1907-1932, Box NM PISP-RABR.

157 Stan Jones to Devin, NPS Library, RMRO, no date; Hassell, 78; Johnson, ibid.

158 Hubert Richardson to Frank Pinkley, October 30, 1924; Pinkley to Richardson, November 2, 1924, NA, 

RG 79, E 7, 1907-1932, Box NM PISP-RABR.

159 Pinkley to Stephen T. Mather, November 4, 1924; Cammerer to Pinkley, November 11, 1924, ibid.

160 Hassell, 78-80.

161 Tillotson to Director, March 16, 1931, NA, RG 79, E 7, 1933-1949, Rainbow Bridge, Box NM RABR.

162 Chief Clerk to Pinkley, May 9, 1931; Pinkley to Director, May 12, 1931; Director to Chief Clerk. May 

19, 1931; Albright to Pinkley, May 19, 1931, ibid.

163 Goldwater to National Park Service, February 25, 1946; Herbert Evison to Goldwater, March 25, 1946, 

NA, RG 79, E 7, 1933-1949, Rainbow Bridge, Box 2362, Folder: RABR Publications.

164 Stan Jones to Devin, ibid; Rainbow Bridge Visitors, Bancroft Library, Sierra Club.

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165 Russell Martin, A Story That Stands Like a Dam: Glen Canyon and the Struggle for the Soul of the West

(New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1989), 164-168; Hassell, 84-85.

166 Gary Topping, Glen Canyon and the San Juan County (Moscow: University of Idaho Press, 1997), 346-

347; Hassell, 89-90; Martin, 326-327.

167 Crampton, ibid, 165; Hassell, 97.

168 E.C. LaRue, Water Power and Flood Control of the Colorado River Below Green River, Utah, U.S.G.S. 

Water Supply Paper No. 556 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1925); LaRue, Colorado 

River and Its Utilization, U.S.G.S. Water Supply Paper No. 395 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing 

Office, 1916), 213-215; Martin, 20-21; Topping, Glen Canyon, 336-339.

169 Bernheimer to Smoot, December 2, 1928; Raymond H. Torrey to Mather, December 17, 1928. NA, RG 

79, E 7, 1907-1932, Box NM PISP-RABR.

170 Cammerer to Torrey, December 20. 1928, ibid.

171 Cammerer to Torrey, December 20, 1928; Byron Cummings to Hayden, February 18, 1929; Burke to 

Horace M. Albright, April 3, 1929; Albright to Carl Hayden, April 4, 1929; A.E. Demaray to Hayden, April 

16, 1929; Demaray to Chief Clerk, April 23, 1929; Bernheimer to Albright, May 7, 1929; Cammerer to 

Bernheimer, May 18, 1929; Commissioner BIA to Albright, August 9, 1929; NA, RG 79, E 7, 1907-1932, 

Box NM PISP-RABR.

172 Albright to Commissioner BIA, March 30, 1930; Commissioner BIA to Albright, March 10, 1930, with 

attached draft legislation, ibid.

173 Wissler to Bernheimer, February 8, 1930; Frederic A. Stearns to Albright, January 2, 1931; Albright to 

Stearns, January 22, 1931; Roger W. Toll to Albright, March 13, 1931; Cammerer to Secretary of Interior, 

April 22, 1931; Bernheimer to Albright, June 8, 1932; July 15, 1932; ibid.

174 "The Next National Park," Salt Lake City Telegraph, March 30, 1931, ibid.

175 Toll to Albright, April 28, 1931. ibid.

176 Iverson, 33-34, 37.

177 Bernheimer to Albright, June 8, 1932; Albright to Bernheimer, June 10, 1932; Stearns to Albright, June 

11, 1932; Albright to Stearns, June 11, 1932; Bernheimer to Albright, July 19, 1932, NA, RG 79, E 7, 1907-

1932. Box NM PISP-RABR.

178 Albright to Katherine Wilson, August 8, 1932, ibid.

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179 Rothman, Preserving Different Pasts 233-239.

180 John R. Wunder, "Retained by The People" A History of American Indians and the Bill of Rights (New 

York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 54-58, 60-62; Iverson, 39-40, 42.

181 Ansel F. Hall, General Report on the Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition of 1933 (Berkeley: 

University of California Press, 1934), 5.

182 Ibid, 6-8.

183 Ibid, 12-28.

184 William D. Strong to Hall, July 1, 1935; Hall to Strong, July 24, 1935, NA. RG 79, E7, 1933-1949, 

Rainbow Bridge, Box NM RABR.

185 Hall to John D. Coffman, May 5, 1934; Carl E. Guthe to Hall, January 24, 1935; Toll to Director, 

February 12, 1935; George M. Wright to Sarah Brock, February 16, 1935; Hall to Cammerer, May 19, 1935; 

NA. RG 79, E 7, 1933-1949, Rainbow Bridge, Box 2362.

186 Ronald A. Foresta, America's National Parks and Their Keepers, (Washington, D.C.: Resources For the 

Future, Inc., 1984), 44-46; Runte, National Parks, 223; Sellars, Preserving Nature, 134-135.

187 Demaray to Conrad L. Wirth, Thomas C. Vint, George M. Wright, Harold C. Bryant, F.A. Kittredge, and 

John D. Coffman, May 15, 1935; NA, San Bruno, RG 79, WRO, Files of Res. Wildlife Technician 1927-

1941, National Park Proposal, Box 8, Folder: Proposed National Parks; Elmo R. Richardson, "Federal Park 

Policy in Utah: The Escalante National Monument Controversy of 1935-1940," Utah Historical Quarterly

(Spring 1965), 111-114.

188 Toll to Director, September 21, 1935. NA, RG 79, E 7, 1933-1949, Rainbow Bridge, Box NM RABR.

189 Hall to Director, June 6, 1935; Cammerer to Hall, June 7, 1935; Demaray to Hall, June 17, 1935, ibid.

190 Toll to Commissioner, June 10, 1935, ibid.

191 Bernheimer to Cammerer, September 3, 1936; Cammerer to Bernheimer, September 28, 1936; 

Bernheimer to Cammerer, October 15, 1936; Demaray to Bernheimer, October 24, 1936, ibid.

192 "With the Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition," Ford News (March 1936), 47-48, ibid.

193 Cammerer to Pinkley, August 12, 1937; Pinkley to Director, September 7, 1937; Conrad L. Wirth to 

Pinkley, September 13, 1937; Pinkley to Director, September 23, 1937; October 21, 1937; December 7, 

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

1937, ibid.

194 Martin, 45-46.

195 Hal K. Rothman, The Greening of a Nation? Environmentalism in the United States Since 1945 (New 

York: Harcourt Brace, 1998), 71; Richardson, 116-119.

196 Toll to Director, February 12, 1936, NA, RG 79, E 7, 1933-1949, Rainbow Bridge, Box NM RABR.

197 Foresta, America's National Parks, 45-46.

198 Richardson, 120-127.

199 Richardson, 128-133; Martin, 47.

200 Sellars, 151-153.

201 Sellars, 137-138.

202 Halliday to Muench, August 22, 1954; Official Statement of the Utah Committee For A Glen Canyon 

National Park In Opposition to the proposed Glen Canyon Dam, August 1954, Bancroft Library, MS 

71/295c, Sierra Club Members Papers: box 19, folder: Glen Canyon NRA, D. Brower, 19:22.

Chapter 5

203 Iverson, xxxv.

204 Interviews with: Buck Navajo, Navajo Mountain, Arizona December 18, 2000; Leo Manheimer, 

December 18, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona, Navajo Mountain Chapter House; Velta E. Luther, 

December 19, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona; Tom Dougi, December 19, 2000, Navajo Mountain, 

Arizona; Celone Dougi, December 19, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona; Sylvia Manygoats, December 19, 

2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona; Jack Owl, December 20, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona; Bessie Owl, 

December 20, 2000, Navajo Mountain, Arizona; Yazzie, Navajo History; Jerrold E. Levy, In The Beginning: 

The Navajo Genesis (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998); and. Paul G. Zolbrod, Diné bahane: 

The Navajo Creation Story (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984).

205 Acrey, 10-46.

206 Karl W. Luckert, Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge Religion (Flagstaff: Museum of Northern 

Arizona, 1977).

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

207 Luckert, Navajo Mountain, 5.

208 Luckert, 5-6, 39, 48, 55-56, 60-70, 86, 109-110, 114, 140, 143, 148.

209 Luckert, 32.

210 "Medicineman Seeks Preservation Of Sacred Rainbow Bridge," Navajo Times, July 4, 1974.

211 Luckert, 46. Other interviewees told similar accounts: Long Salt, 40; Buck Navajo, 91; Ernest Nelson, 

106.

212 Navajo Times, ibid; Luckert, 39-41, 45-47, 86-87, 94-95, 106-7, 133, 139, 143-144.

213 Luckert, 40.

214 Hassell, 27. Luckert, interview with Long Salt, 40-41; with Navajo, 95; with Nelson, 127; with Nez, 133; 

with Bedonie, 145-146.

215 Cummings, "The Great Natural Bridges of Utah," 165.

216 Judd, "The Discovery of Rainbow Bridge," 14.

217 William B. Douglass, "The Discovery of Rainbow Natural Bridge," Our Public Lands 5, no. 2:15; 

quoted in Stephen Jett, "Testimony of the Sacredness of Rainbow Natural Bridge to Puebloans, Navajos, and 

Paiutes," Plateau 45, no. 4 (1973): 134.

218 Jett, "Testimony . . .," 134-135. Jett also quotes descriptions of the altar written by Joseph Pogue, Marion 

Speer, and geologists H.D. Miser, K.W. Trimble, and S. Paige. There was no indication of the altar's cultural 

affiliation.

219 "Suit Alleges Rainbow Bridge Desecration," Salt Lake Tribune, September 4, 1974; "Water at Rainbow 

Violates Religion," Deseret News, September 5, 1974; Badoni v. Higginson, 455 E. Supp. 641 (District 

Court, Utah, Central Division). The suit was originally filed as Ditloi, et al. v. Stamm, et al. In the three 

years between the original filing and the decision in 1977, Ditloi died and the defendants all changed office. 

The decision was named on the remaining plaintiffs and the new defendants.

220 Badoni v. Higginson, 455 F. Supp. 641 (1977).

221 Ibid.

222 Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d. 15 (1972).

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

223 Badoni v. Higginson, 455 F. Supp. 645 (1977).

224 Lamar Bandoni, et. al., v. R. Keith Higginson, et. al., United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth 

Circuit, Case no. 78-1517, Brief of Appellants (filed August 16, 1978, 9-11.

225 Ibid., 2-4.

226 Ibid., 12.

227 Badoni v. Higginson, 638 F.2d 172 (1980).

228 Ibid.

229 Acting Director to All Regional Directors, February 6, 1978, file code A5623 (560), RMR-AC, Library.

230 Regional Archaeologist to John Reed, January 2, 1979, file code H2215 (RMR) PN, RMR-AC, Library.

231 Acting Regional Director to Superintendents, June 27, 1979, file code H2215 (RMR) PC, RMR-AC, 

Library.

232 Associate Regional Director to Superintendent GLCA, February 24, 1980, file code D18 (RMR) PP. 

RMR-AC, Library.

233 Wilson to Superintendent GLCA. December 29, 1988, file code C38 (RB) xDl8.

234 Wilson to Files, October 26, 1990; November 26, 1990; December 3, 1990; December 24, 1990, file 

code C58 (RB) xDl8.

235 Jim Woolf, "Navajo Expert Rips Plan to Boost Monument Visitors," Salt Lake Tribune, January 17, 

1991.

236 Ibid.

237 "Park Service Forming Plan for Rainbow Bridge," Daily Spectrum, January 7, 1991.

238 "Park Service Seeks Limits In Rainbow Bridge Visits," Salt Lake Tribune, December 3, 1991.

239 Wilson to Files, February 18, 1992, file code C58 (RB) xDl8.

240 U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Rocky Mountain Regional Office, Rainbow 

Bridge National Monument: General Management Plan, Development Concept Plan, Interpretive 

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

Prospectus (June 1993), 6-9, 11-13, 23-30.

241 "Navajos Block Bridge Access," Arizona Daily Sun, August 13, 1995.

242 "Navajo Group Closes Page Monument," The Arizona Republic, August 13, 1995.

243 "Navajos Won't Be Kicked Off Monument," Salt Lake Tribune, August 13. 1995.

244 Deenise Becenti, "Navajos End Closure of Rainbow Bridge," Salt Lake Tribune, August 16, 1995; 

"Navajos End Protest at Rainbow Bridge," The New Mexican, August 16, 1995.

245 Bear Lodge Multiple Use Association v. Babbitt, 2 F. Supp. 2d 1448 (1988).

246 Ibid.

247 Ibid.

248 Ed Natay to John Hiscock, Joe Alston, and Pauline Wilson, April 7, 1998, GLCA NRA, HQ, Central 

Files, Folder: Rainbow Bridge-NACC.

Chapter 6

249 Mark W.T. Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness: Echo Park and the American Conservation Movement

(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994), 52, 56-57; Jared Farmer, Glen Canyon Damned: 

Inventing Lake Powell and the Canyon Country (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1999) 138; 

Rothman, Greening, 36; Sellars, 40-41, 43.

250 National Park System Organic Act, August 25, 1916 (39, Stat. 535; 16 U.S.C. 1); Foresta, 16-17; Sellars, 

29, 35-38.

251 Harvey, 27, 44; Rothman, Greening, 28; Farmer, 132-133.

252 Farmer, 133-134; Harvey, 78-79.

253 Harvey, 14, 62-63; Rothman, Greening, 34; Sellars, 31, 177-178, 186; Farmer, 140-141.

254 Rothman, Greening, 38; Sellars, 178.

255 Harvey, 78; Sellars, ibid.

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256 Acting Regional Director to Superintendents, Region Three, September 21, 1955, NA, RMRC, RG 79, 

8NS-079-65-481, Box 2, Folder: Encroachments-Water-RABR.

257 Sellars, 179.

258 Harvey, 268-270; Rothman, Greening, 41-42.

259 Bancroft Library, MS 71/295c, Sierra Club Members Papers: box 19, folder: Glen Canyon NRA, D. 

Brower, 19:22.

260 McKay to Brower, October 21, 1954, ibid.

261 General Superintendent John M. Davis to Regional Director, November 5, 1954, NA,RMRC, RG 79, 

8NS-079-93-274, Box 3 (38/05/2:2), Folder: A44, RABR; W.A. Dexheimer to Director of National Park 

Service, February 9, 1956; Conrad L. Wirth to Bestor Robinson, August 16, 1955, NA, RMRC, RG 79, 8NS079-93-281, Box 9 (38/7/4:4), Folder: A985, RABR. Regional Director Hugh Miller to Director, December 

16, 1955, NA, RMRC, RG 79, 8NS-079-65-481, Box 2, Folder: Encroachments-Water-RABR.

262 Colorado River Storage Project: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation; 84th 

Congress, 1st Session, March 9, 1955, copy of proceedings at GLCA HQ, Interpretation Files.

263 Ibid, April 18, April 20, April 22, 1955.

264 Report On Field Study and Meeting At Rainbow Bridge National Monument, May 19, 1955, NA, 

RMRC, RG 79, 8NS-079-65-481, Box 2, Folder: Encroachments-Water-RABR. 265 Leslie P. Arnberger 

and Harold A. Marsh to General Superintendent, May 27, 1955, ibid.

266 Harvey, 271.

267 Recommendation re: Rainbow Bridge, Secretary's Advisory Committee on Conservation, December 2, 

1955, Bancroft, MS 71/295c, box 26, Folder: 3; "Echo Park Projects' Ban Is Proposed," San Francisco 

Chronicle, December 3, 1955.

268 Brower to Ben Thompson. December 28, 1955, Bancroft, MS 71/103c, box 81, Folder:17; Brower to 

Georgia White. MS 71/103c, box 72.

269 Packard to Bestor Robinson, January 5, 1956, Bancroft, MS 71/103c, box 81; Runte, 187-188; Farmer, 

144; Rothman, Greening, 44-45; Sellars, 180-183. Harvey, 284-285; "Project To Begin On The Colorado," 

New York Times, October 7, 1956; William C. Dunn, "Twin Blasts Launch Work On Two Dams," Deseret 

News, October 15, 1956, 1:4; "Blasts Today Signal Birth Of Two Dams," Salt Lake Tribune, October 15, 

1956, 1:7.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

270 U.S. Statutes at Large, Public Law 485, 70 Stat 106, April 11, 1956.

271 U.S. Statutes at Large, Public Law 485,70 Stat 107, April 11, 1956; Harvey, 283.

272 Dexheimer to Director, ibid; Packard to Conrad L. Wirth, March 21, 1956, NA, RMRC, RG 79, 8NS079-93-281, Box 9 (38/7/4:4), Folder: A985, RABR.

273 Miller to Director, July 7, 1955, NA, RMRC, RG 79, 8NS-079-65-481, Box 2, Folder: EncroachmentsWater-RABR.

274 "Protective Works Rainbow Bridge National Monument Glen Canyon Unit Colorado River Storage 

Project: Preliminary Report. August 1959," Bancroft, MS 71/103c, box 81, Folder: 18.

275 Lois Anderson, "Touring Lawmakers Split On Rainbow Bridge Plans," Arizona Daily Sun, October 16, 

1959.

276 Sierra Club press release, "Rainbow Bridge Threat Renewed," Bancroft, MS 71/295c, box 26, Folder: 7.

277 "Sen. Frank E. Moss Would Endanger Rainbow Bridge," National Wildlands News 1, no. 6 (May 1960): 

1, 6.

278 "Statement of Senator Frank E. Moss (D-UT) before Senate Appropriations Committee, May 4, 1960," 

Department of Archives and Manuscripts, University Libraries, Arizona State University, MSS-1, Box 523, 

folder: 12.

279 Udall to Aspinall, August 27, 1960, ibid.

280 Miller to Director, October 6, 1960, NA, RMRC, RG 79, SW Regional Office, General Correspondence 

and Planning Program Records 1953-1961, Box 90, Folder: K3819.

281 Congressional Record, March 2, 1961, 2824-2825; "Another Utah Senator Seeks To Open The Way For 

Echo Park Dam," National Wildlands News 2, no. 4 (April 1961), 5.

282 "The Rainbow Bridge Promise," New York Times, July 7, 1961; "Statement of the Department of the 

Interior on Rainbow Bridge," Bancroft, MS 71/103c, box 81, folder: 17.

283 Carl Hayden to James W. MacBride, February 26, 1962, Bancroft, MS 71/103c, box 81, folder: 20; 

Hayden to James L. Jones, March 16, 1962, Archives and Manuscripts, ASU, ibid.

284 Seaton to Brower, February 15, 1960, Bancroft, MS 71/295c, box 26, folder: 10.

285 Floyd E. Dominy to Wallace F. Bennett, July 10, 1961, Archives and Manuscripts, ASU, ibid.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

286 "Sierra Club Charges Reclamation Betrayal of National Park System," Bancroft, MS71/103c, box 81, 

folder: 20.

287 Brower to unnamed, 1962, Bancroft, ibid.

288 Smith to Udall, August 20, 1962; Smith to Robert Latz, August 16, 1962; Smith to Brower, August 16, 

1962; Smith to Howard Zahniser, August 21, 1962; Bancroft, MS 71/295c, box 26, folder: 1.

289 Udall to Smith, November 26, 1962, Bancroft, MS 71/295c, box 26, folder: 2.

290 Edward Weinberg to Files, December 27, 1962, NARA-San Bruno, RG79, Office of Land and Water, 

General Correspondence (93-09), box 1, folder: RABR Land Records; Transcript of Proceedings, Bancroft, 

MS 71/295c, box 26, folder: 7.

291 Bancroft, ibid.

292 Smith to Udall, January 4, 1963; Smith to Brower, January 8, 1963; Brower to Udall, January 8, 1963; 

"Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, And Order Denying Plaintiffs' Motion For Preliminary Injunction," 

Bancroft, MS 71/295c, box 26, folder: 3.

293 Berry to Udall, January 18, 1963, NARA-SB, RG79, Land and Water, GC (93-09), box 1, folder: RABR 

Land Records.

294 Smith to Udall, January 24, 1963, Bancroft, ibid.

295 Brower to Udall, Bancroft, ibid.

296 Farmer, 146. On March 13, 1963, the gates shut on the east bank diversion tunnel. NPS recognizes this 

date as the official birth date of Lake Powell.

297 Order Judgement and Decree, United States District Court for the District of Utah, Bancroft, MS 

71/289c, box 63, folder: 63.

298 Ibid; Steve Wynkoop, "Interior Ordered to Keep Water Out of Rainbow Bridge," The Denver Post,

March 1, 1973; "Rule to Save Bridge Draws 2 Reactions," The Salt Lake Tribune, March 1, 1973.

299 Ruckel to Evans, March 1, 1973; McCloskey to Evans, March 2, 1973; Evans to McCloskey, March 15, 

1973, Bancroft, MS 71/289c, box 63, folder: 63:16.

300 Ben Avery, "Federal Judge's Ruling On Lake Powell Waters," The Arizona Republic, March 1, 1973; 

Salt Lake Tribune, ibid.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

301 "Colorado River Water Storage Projects Heading to High Court," The El Paso Times, March 3, 1973.

302 "Action Asks Stay On Lake Order," Salt Lake Tribune, March 14, 1973; "Judge Ritter Denies Stay On 

Lake Powell Order," Ibid, April 22, 1973.

303 Tim Rose, "Waters to Avoid Rainbow Bridge," Deseret News, March 28, 1973.

Chapter 7

304 Foresta, 50; Rainbow Bridge Visitors, Bancroft Library, Sierra Club Members Collection, MS 71/295c, 

Box 26, Folder 7.

305 Sellars, 181.

306 Quoted in Sellars, 180-182.

307 Sellars, 183; John Davis to Chairman, July 29, 1955; Regional Director to Chairman, September 12, 

1955; Associate Director to Southwestern National Monuments Superintendent, March 5, 1956, NA, RMR, 

RG 79, Box 9, Folder A9815-Mission 66 1955-1958. 308 Summary of Mission 66 Prospectus, NA, RMR. 

ibid.

309 Notice of Approval Rainbow Bridge National Monument Prospectus, May 27, 1957, NA, RMR, ibid.

310 Myles Headrick to Barry Goldwater, March 2, 1959; Goldwater to Roger Ernst, March 6, 1959; Ernst to 

Goldwater, April 8, 1959; Hugh M. Miller to Navajo Tribal Council Chairman Paul Jones, July 17, 1959; 

Jones to General Superintendent Navajo Agency, August 5, 1959, NA, San Bruno, RG 79, WRO-Office of 

Land and Water Rights, General Correspondence, Box 1, Folder: RABR Land Research.

311 K.W. Dixon to Miller, August 12, 1959, NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 8, Folder A6435.

312 Buddeke to Miller, October 27, 1959; Thomas J. Allen to Glen R. Landbloom, November 10, 1959, NA, 

RMR, RG 79, SWRO, General Correspondence and Planning Program Research, 1953-1961, Box 59, 

Folder D30a RABR 1959-1961.

313 Barton to Regional Director, August 20, 1959, NA, RMR, RG 79, SWRO, General Correspondence and 

Planning Program Research, 1953-1961, Box 56, Folder D22-9 RABR 1959-1961.

314 Miller to Director, August 27, 1959, NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 8, Folder A6435.

315 Memorandum of Understanding, Bureau of Reclamation Draft, June 5, 1962; Regional Director National 

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

Park Service to Regional Director Bureau of Reclamation, June 15, 1962; Superintendent Glen Canyon 

NRA to Regional Director Southwest Region, July 25, 1962; Assistant Regional Director to Regional 

Director Bureau of Reclamation, July 27, 1962; Memorandum of Understanding, NPS Draft, July 26, 1962; 

NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 5, Folder A44 1962 MOU GLCA.

316 Regional Director to Director, July 22, 1964; William S. Bahlman to Regional Director Southwest 

Region, July 30, 1964; George W. Miller to Southwest Region Superintendents, August 5, 1964, NA, RMR, 

RG 79, Box 6, Folder A6423, RABR 1962-1964.

317 Rainbow Bridge Visitation, National Park Service, GLCA NRA Headquarters, Central Files, Folder: 

Rainbow Bridge, 1992.

318 Arnberger to Regional Director, February 5, 1963, NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 5, Folder A3815 Public 

Relations with Navajo Tribe.

319 Regional Director to Field Solicitor Barton, February 8, 1963, ibid.

320 Walter Wolf to Arnberger with Memorandum of Agreement, August 6, 1962, NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 5, 

Folder A44, GLCA 1962-1964.

321 Superintendent Canyon de Chelly to Regional Director, July 24, 1964; Arnberger to Superintendent 

Canyon de Chelly, August 3, 1964; Frank H. Carson to Daniel B. Beard, January 7, 1966, NA, RMR, RG 

79, Box 8, Folder A6435; Thomas J. Williams to Spencer K. Johnston, August 4, 1964, NA, RMR, RG 79, 

SWRO, General Administration Files, Box 96, Folder A5431; Arnberger to Regional Director, February 5, 

1963, NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 5, Folder A3815 Public Relations with Navajo Tribe.

322 Regional Chief Norman B. Herkenham to Acting Regional Director, February 11, 1966, NA, RMR, RG 

79, Box 5, Folder A3815 Public Relations with Navajo Tribe.

323 Muehlenhaupt to Carson, January 31, 1966; Carson to Muehlenhaupt, February 2, 1966; Carson to 

Beard, February 18, 1966; Herkenham to Acting Regional Director, ibid.

324 Manges to Regional Director Southwest Region, March 2, 1966, NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 5, Folder 

A3815 Public Relations with Navajo Tribe. Manges' based his opinion of the navigable status of Lake 

Powell on United States v. Holt State Bank, 270 U.S. 49 (1926).

325 Ibid, emphasis in original.

326 Superintendent Canyon de Chelly to Regional Director Southwest Regional Director, January 30, 1967; 

Regional Director Southwest Region to Director, February 7, 1967, NA. RMR, RG 79, Box 5, Folder A3815 

Public Relations with Navajo Tribe.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

327 Cook to Director, March 20, 1967, ibid.

328 Nakai to Beard, April 21, 1967; Beard to Director, April 28, 1967; Beard to Nakai, April 28, 1967; NA, 

RMR, RG 79, Box 5, Folder A5431 Navajo-Window Rock.

329 Manges to Regional Director Southwest Region, NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 5, Folder A3815 Public 

Relations with Navajo Tribe.

330 Hartzog to Nakai, September 8, 1967; Cook to Hartzog, September 28, 1967; Hartzog to Secretary of the 

Interior, October 12, 1967; E. W. Watkins to Director, October 25, 1967, ibid; William J. Briggle to 

Regional Director Southwest Region, March 8, 1968; Kowski to Office of Resource Planning Chief, April 

19, 1968, NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 5, Folder A5431 Navajo Window Rock.

331 Kowski to Assistant Director Operations, October 18, 1968; Cook to Regional Director Southwest 

Region, November 4, 1968; November 20, 1968; December 5, 1968, NA, RMR, RG 79, Box 5. Folder 

A3815 Public Relations with Navajo Tribe.

332 Cook to Regional Director, April 21, 1969; Regional Director Southwest Region to Director, May 12, 

1969; Kowski to Director, June 24, 1969; Harthon L. Bill to Hummel, July 16, 1969; Kowski to Director, 

August 4, 1969, ibid.

333 Cook to Regional Director, August 27, 1969; Cook to Superintendent Grand Canyon, September 12, 

1969; Kowski to Edward Huizingh, September 25, 1969; Kowski to Harold Mott, September 25, 1969; 

Kowski to Associate Director Hummel, September 25, 1969; Huizingh to Kowski, October 2, 1969; Mott to 

Kowski, October 14, 1969; Cook to Regional Director, December 16, 1969; Hartzog to Nakai, December 

31, 1969. ibid.

334 Harrison Loesch to Deputy Director, February 3, 1970; Area Director Navajo Area Office to Kowski, 

February 4, 1970; Cook to Regional Director, February 19, 1970; Bill to Assistant Secretary Public Land 

Management, February 28, 1970; Cook to Regional Director Southwest region, April 20, 1970; July 17, 

1970; Lemuel A. Garrison to Sam Day III, July 17, 1970; Superintendent Glen Canyon to Regional Director, 

July 7, 1975, ibid; Rainbow Bridge Visitation, ibid.

335 Memorandum of Agreement, September 11, 1970, facsimile copy, Bureau of Reclamation, Folder W-SU78.

336 United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Rainbow Bridge Monitoring Program. 

Status Report No. 10, October 1, 1977-March 31, 1978, National Park Service Library, Denver Colorado; 

Zeke Scher, "Rainbow Bridge Ain't What It Used To Be," Empire Magazine (September 17, 1978), 12-17; 

Hassell, 142-143.

337 Superintendent GLCA to Regional Director, July 7, 1975, file code W1823 (RB), RMR-AC, Library; 

Martin, 236-236, 326; Rainbow Bridge Visitation, ibid.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

338 Pauline Wilson to Chief of Planning and Compliance, RMR, August 25, 1988; Wilson to 

Superintendent, December 29, 1988; Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Comments From Scoping 

Brochure, GLCA Interpretation Files, Page, Arizona; Rainbow Bridge Visitation, ibid.

339 Wilson to Files, October 26, 1990, ibid.

340 Wilson to Files, November 26, 1990; December 3, 1990; December 24, 1990, ibid.

341 Chief of Interpretation Denny Davies, Zion National Park, telephone interview, July 27, 2000, 

Springdale, Utah.

342 Wilson to Files, February 5, 1992; February 12, 1992, ibid.

343 National Park Service, Rainbow Bridge National Monument: General Management Plan, Development 

Concept Plan, Resource Management Plan, Interpretive Prospectus, and Environmental Assessment, 1993, 

1-6, 9-12; Rainbow Bridge Visitation, ibid.

344 Ibid, 17-20.

345 Neita V. Carr and Robert T. Trotter, II, Ethnographic Overview and Assessment of the Glen Canyon 

National Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument (March 10, 1992), 53-56; Trotter, II, 

Research Plan: Ethnographic Overview and Assessment of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and 

Rainbow Bridge National Monument, January 1991; Scope of Work (April 1991) Ethnographic Overview 

and Assessment Cooperative Agreement Between The National Park Service and the Arizona Board of 

Regents #CA-1440-0-0004, National Park Service, GLCA NRA Headquarters, Central Files, Folder: 

Rainbow Bridge Ethnographic Study.

346 General Management Plan, 12-13, Appendix A, 1-5; John Ritenour, Chief of Resource Management, 

interview with author, July 24, 2000, Page, Arizona.

347 General Management Plan, 5-6, 9-13, 16.

348 Ibid, Appendix B, 2.

349 General Management Plan, Appendix B, 6-7; Stephanie Dubois, Chief of Interpretation, GLCA NRA, 

telephone interview with author, July 27, 2000, Cedar City, Utah.

350 General Management Plan, ibid.

351 As of December 31, 2000, this part of the GMP had not been implemented.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Endnotes)

352 General Management Plan, 9-14.

353 Federal Register, November 26, 1982, Part VII. 33688-33691.

Chapter 8

354 Superintendent GLCA NRA to Associate Regional Director RMR, April 1, 1994, GLCA NRA, HQ, 

Central Files, Folder: Rainbow Bridge NACC.

355 Programmatic Agreement Among the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Kaibab Paiute Tribe, San 

Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, White Mesa Ute Tribe, Rocky Mountain Regional 

Office-National Park Service, The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Utah State Historic 

Preservation Officer Regarding Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Title I, GLCA NRA, HQ, Central 

Files, Folder: Rainbow Bridge 1995.

356 As of June 1, 2001, this part of the PA had not been implemented.

357 Ibid, Title III, Title IV, Title V, Title VII.

358 Presidential Documents, Executive Order 13007 of May 24, 1996, Indian Sacred Sites, photocopy, 

GLCA NRA, HQ, Interp Files, Folder: Rainbow Bridge Signs.

359 Chris Smith and Elizabeth Manning, "The Sacred and Profane Collide in the West," High Country News,

May 26, 1997, 10.

360 Glen Canyon National Recreation Area-Minutes-Rainbow Bridge National Monument Native American 

Consultation Committee Meeting, March 14, 1997, GLCA NRA, HQ, Central Files, Folder: Rainbow 

Bridge-NACC.

361 U.S. Department of the Interior, Press Release, "Secretary Babbitt Pleased With District Court 

Decision," April 2, 1998; Natay to Hiscock, et al., April 7, 1998, GLCA NRA, HQ, Central Files, Folder: 

Rainbow Bridge-NACC.

362 Zeke Scher, "Rainbow Bridge," Empire Magazine, September 17, 1978, 16-17; Glen Canyon National 

Recreation Area-Minutes-Rainbow Bridge National Monument Native American Consultation Committee 

Meeting, February 14, 1996; March 14, 1997, GLCA NRA, HQ, Central Files, Folder: Rainbow BridgeNACC.

363 Stephanie Dubois, Chief of Interpretation, Synopsis of Events Leading Up to Jim Mike plaque Ceremony 

of 9/30/97, October 2, 1997, GLCA NRA, HQ, Central Files, Folder: Rainbow Bridge-Jim Mike Plaque.

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364 University of Idaho Cooperative Park Studies Unit, Rainbow Bridge NM 1998 Visitor Survey Card Data 

Report, Report RABR298, copy from GLCA NRA. HQ, Interp Files, Folder: Rainbow Bridge-Visitor 

Surveys.

365 Stephanie Dubois, Chief of Interpretation, GLCA NRA, telephone interview with author, July 27, 2000, 

Cedar City, Utah; Comprehensive Interpretive Plan, Draft, GLCA NRA, HQ, Interp Files, Folder CIP.

366 Natural Arch and Bridge Society, et al. v. Joseph A. Alston, et al., U.S. District Court, District of Utah, 

complaint filed March 3, 2000, photocopy from GLCA NRA, HQ, Interp Files, Folder NABS Lawsuit.

367 Ibid.

368 Native American Relationships Policy, Section 3, VI.C. Interpretation. Federal Register, November 26, 

1982, 33691.

369 Ibid.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 2)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 2:

Life Before the Monument: Human Habitation at Rainbow Bridge and 

Its Environs (continued) 

By the time the Navajo were in the Southwest, the Glen Canyon region was a very active place. Ancestral 

Puebloan peoples were moving south to the Arizona mesas while Paiutes were forming their own bands 

along the San Juan river. The environs of Rainbow Bridge, Navajo Mountain, and the greater Glen Canyon 

were becoming a nexus of Indian activity. The Navajo occupied areas near the upper Chama and San Juan 

drainages in northern New Mexico around 1500 A.D. This area became the Dinétah (Navajo country). 

Navajos trace their emergence from the Fourth World, or Glittering World, to this region. A more complete 

version of the Navajo origin story, told by residents of the Navajo Mountain community, is detailed in 

Chapter 5. Based on Spanish sources, the Navajo first encountered Euro-Americans in 1541. In that year, 

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado made his historic trip into the Southwest. After crossing the San Pedro 

River into what would become Arizona, Coronado and his army pressed through what is now central New 

Mexico and onto its sprawling eastern plains. Near the Pecos River, Coronado encountered some of the 

ancestors of the Navajo, the Querechos. Based on the diaries of various observers, these early Navajos were 

unimpressed with Coronado and unafraid of the Spanish military presence. [41] Indeed, the Querechos were 

well established in the Southwest, evidenced by their use of horticulture. Spanish colonists arrived in the late 

sixteenth century, distinguishing the Navajo from other Athapascan peoples as Apaches de Nabahu

("Strangers of the Cultivated Fields"). [42]

Navajo oral tradition places the Diné in the Navajo Mountain area between 900 A.D. and 1150 A.D. As the 

Navajo emerged from the Fourth World, they eventually wandered into the area bounded by the Four Sacred 

Mountains. [43] During the wandering, they came by Navajo Mountain, finding many wild berries such as 

chokecherries, wild grape, and wild plum. The Diné stayed in the Navajo Mountain area for many years, 

enjoying the fruits of their natural surroundings. [44] Although there are large disparities between the 

archeological record and the oral tradition of the Diné, they were well ensconced in the larger Southwest by 

the time the Spanish arrived.

Relations between the Navajo and Spanish colonists remained fluid throughout the 17th century. As early as 

1629, Friar Alonso de Benevides brokered with the Navajo, arranging peaceful ties between the Spanish at 

Santa Clara Pueblo and their Navajo neighbors. However, as more and more Spanish moved into the 

traditional Navajo homeland, the Navajo realized more opportunities to raid and prosper. The Spanish 

regional government was unaware of the ancestral Navajo tradition of raiding. Raiding was conducted for 

staples and prestige. The Navajo were accomplished raiders, developing their skills before the Spanish 

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arrived by raiding the Pueblo Indians in the region. Rarely was anyone injured or killed at the hands of 

Navajo raiding parties. The Spanish brought horses and sheep into the region, animals that provided much 

needed bounty to the Navajo way of life. Spanish livestock was the primary goal of Navajo raids throughout 

the 17th and 18th centuries. Early on, the Navajo focused on Spanish settlements along the Rio Grande. [45]

What could have been a source of extensive economic and geographical expansion proved just the opposite 

for the Navajo. Although Navajo power was great in the region, Navajos still had to compete with northern 

tribes for territorial hunting grounds on the southern Great Plains. These tribes, including the Comanche, 

Pawnee, and Wichita, were better armed with weapons acquired from English and French traders. The 

Navajo only expanded for about one hundred years, finding their military match not in the Spanish but in the 

northern tribes. As a result of being squeezed between the Plains tribes to the north and the fortified Spanish 

to the south, the Navajo expanded within their traditional Dinétah. Spanish settlers and their Indian allies 

began reciprocating Navajo raids during this time. The Spanish raided for livestock and slaves. By the time 

the American military arrived in the region in the mid 19th century, the local Navajo and New Mexican 

populations had been raiding each other for well over one hundred years. Immense resentments and feuds 

were extant which did not favor the Navajo.

Raiding on the Spanish changed the Navajo lifeway forever. The introduction of horses, cattle, and most 

importantly sheep, to the Navajo economy helped the Navajo become the most self-sufficient Athapascan 

group in the Southwest. Dobyns and Euler refer to this period of mixed hunting, agriculture, and livestock 

domestication as the development of the triadic economy. Other Athapascan groups relied on the dual 

economy of hunting or raiding for meat and minimal agriculture for vegetable nutrients. These non-Navajo 

groups did not domesticate the livestock they acquired. Conversely, the Navajo, specifically Navajo women, 

began raising sheep for sustained use. While economic raiding was primarily a male dominated activity, 

Navajo women assumed the task of tending flocks of sheep while also trying to maintain horticulture. The 

Navajo sheep provided an enormous source of protein to the Diné. Sheep could be raised easily in the 

climate of the Southwest, and natural predation was extremely low. With this consistent source of fat and 

protein available to the Diné year-round, Navajo populations flourished during a time when most northern 

Native American groups were dwindling. Dobyns and Euler contend that the strong nutritional basis of the 

Navajo diet made all the difference when Navajos encountered disease or drought. [46]

The emerging clan structure of the 17th century Navajo made for great cultural fluidity. Men moved into 

their new spouse's camp, often marrying their new wife's sister as well. As the extended family units grew, 

various families interacted with each other and formed semi-formal land use communities. These 

communities always remained faithful to their primary clan affiliations but managed to coexist in pursuit of 

mutually beneficial land management. During this period the clans and extended family groups remained 

non-centralized; the contemporary concept of "tribe" was still forthcoming. Family groups operated 

relatively independently of the larger clans and were not responsible for or to each other. [47] This lack of a 

larger political structure proved very troublesome to the United States military in the 19th century when it 

tried to negotiate treaties that would oblige all Navajos to the terms of the treaty. The Diné simply had no 

centralized structure that would allow these treaties to be effective.

The Navajo expanded within the confines of the Four Corners region throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. 

The 19th century was not as hospitable for Navajo culture. Like the Great Plains to the north, the American 

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Southwest was a target of Anglo westward expansion. After Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 

1821, Mexican settlers expanded in every direction throughout the Southwest. During this period the 

incidence of violent contact between Navajos and Mexican settlers increased. Mexican military personnel 

were scattered along the southern edge of the traditional Navajo homeland. However, the newly formed 

Mexican government endured extended periods of turmoil during its early years Mexico found it difficult to 

maintain the frontier to the north and gradually phased out military control. The steady influx of Americans 

also added to the broil. American grazing and mineral interests soon eclipsed those of the Mexicans. But 

they shared a common foe in the Navajo, who were immune to the political imbroglio that was mounting 

between the United States and Mexico. Raiding continued to be an important activity to the Navajo and a 

constant source of anger to settlers. Mexican and American settlers retaliated frequently against Navajo 

bands. After 1848, however, Navajo fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse.

In 1845, the United States government declared war on Mexico. The war concluded with the 1848 Treaty of 

Guadalupe Hidalgo, which placed the Navajo and their homeland squarely under the control of the United 

States government. The Americans were less than sympathetic to Navajo land claims in the region. The 

interests of American settlers, as well as those New Mexicans that fell under American control, were first 

and foremost to the new government. In Arizona, the Navajo also felt the pressure of expanding Anglo 

grazing interests which forced the Navajo and their flocks further north. Fortunately for the Diné in the 

Navajo Mountain region, this pressure was minimized by distance. Navajo Mountain was too far removed 

from the southern periphery of Dinétah, and so the basic pattern of Navajo life continued near Navajo 

Mountain. There were also very few Navajos in the mountain's environs in the mid 19th century [48]

The United States government, through its growing military presence in the Southwest, tried to negotiate 

with the Navajo. American military commanders signed five separate treaties with the leaders of various 

bands between 1846 and 1860. Each treaty was designed to accomplish three objectives: end Navajo raiding, 

limit the land base of the various bands, and encourage all Navajos to adopt a farming lifestyle which would 

make them more productive as Indians and less combative as neighbors. [49] In each instance, the Navajo 

violated the treaty's terms. The United States government as well as local military personnel did not 

understand Navajo culture well enough to comprehend the truly independent structure of Navajo bands. 

When one band leader signed a treaty, his authority extended only to the members of his band, not to the 

Navajo tribe as a whole. But the Americans thought just the opposite. As a result, raiding continued and 

Anglo hostility toward the Navajo intensified. In 1846, General Stephen Watts Kearny announced that the 

American military would end Navajo raids and bring order to the Southwest. It was a promise New 

Mexicans and Navajos would never forget. [50]

By 1862, American military personnel were unable to stop Navajo raiding. Hostilities were at their apex 

when Brigadier General James H. Carleton arrived on the scene. Because of the failure of numerous treaties 

and the increasing number Navajo attacks on civilian and military targets, Carleton felt he had to act. He 

ordered the removal of all Navajos to a reservation at Fort Sumner, near Bosque Redondo. Some historians 

claim that Carleton was simply bowing to the pressures of recent gold fever in New Mexico. By the summer 

of 1863, Carleton was not satisfied with the removal process. He brought Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson 

from Taos to lead troops into the heart of Dinétah and eliminate the Navajo "threat."

Carson embraced his new duty with vigor, waging a "scorched earth" campaign against any and all Indians 

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in the region. Carson and his men burned orchards, crops, destroyed hogans, and killed thousands of Navajo 

sheep and cattle. Within eight months, most of the remaining Navajos surrendered to Carson. They were 

marched to Fort Sumner and incarcerated. [51] This event is now know as the Long Walk. The Navajo 

Mountain community achieved historical prominence as a result of the Carson campaign. During the 

conflict, an unknown number of Navajos fled northwest to the canyons of Glen Canyon and avoided the 

Long Walk. Hashkéniinii was the most famous of these fleeing Navajos. [52] Historians vary on the 

estimated number of Navajos that Hashkéniinii led into the canyons below Navajo Mountain. The numbers 

range from two dozen to over one hundred. Regardless, he and his followers remained unmolested at Navajo 

Mountain during the remainder of Carson's campaign.

After word spread of the excellent protection afforded by Navajo Mountain's canyons and mesas, hundreds 

of Navajos joined Hashkéniinii. Navajos found the terrain formidable but suited to their need for 

concealment. Carson never pursued the Navajos beyond the San Juan River and so the environs of Navajo 

Mountain became home to a healthy population of Diné. The mountain's ecosystem provided wild foods and 

grazing land for Navajo flocks. These Navajos were quite taken with their new surroundings and with the 

divine providence that its protection represented. [53] Navajos viewed the mountain and its surrounding 

canyons with great reverence, identifying the region as a gift from the gods. [54]

In their new home, the Navajo Mountain Diné found a safe and compatible lifeway. Their presence around 

Navajo Mountain intensified the region's reputation among Anglos as "hostile territory" and thereby limited 

Anglo encroachment. In addition, by 1868 the American government no longer wanted the financial 

commitment of feeding more than 5,000 Navajo at Bosque Redondo's Fort Sumner. The Navajo endured 

four years of privation and internment before the Americans gave up. On May 28, 1868, General William 

Tecumseh Sherman and Colonel Samuel Tappan arrived at Bosque Redondo and began negotiating terms 

for a new treaty that would let the Navajos go home. On June 1, 1868 twenty-nine Navajo headmen placed 

their marks on the treaty and the Navajo were free. The Treaty of Bosque Redondo allowed for a large, 

defined reservation in the Dinétah, supplies of grain, and the return of 14,000 sheep to support the Navajo 

lifeway. [55]

The Diné at Navajo Mountain avoided the Long Walk as well as Fort Sumner. The events of the Carson 

campaign and the Long Walk made the Navajo Mountain community unique among the Navajo Tribe. They 

were immune from American attempts to make Navajos dependent on federal largesse. They also managed 

to retain a strong sense of their traditional culture and belief structures without the pain of American 

retribution. Effectively, the Navajo Mountain Diné endured prolonged conflict with the Americans and gave 

up little more than geography as the price of survival. Under the terms of Bosque Redondo, the Navajo Tribe 

continued to expand and profit for the remainder of the 19th century. The best data available indicate that 

the Navajo population increased an average of 2.4 percent each year between 1870 and 1900. In addition, 

sheep populations multiplied from 15,000 in 1869 to nearly 650,000 by 1907. [56]

In terms of proximity, the San Juan Band of Southern Paiutes is the next most significant group of Native 

Americans living in the Navajo Mountain/Rainbow Bridge area. The San Juan Paiute are an offshoot of 

Southern Paiutes. Approximately 3,000 years ago, Uto-Aztecan groups expanded south from their northern 

homelands. By 1000 A.D. these groups, consisting mainly of Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, and 

Shoshonean peoples, were well ensconced in the Great Basin. During this period, these Numic speaking 

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peoples intermingled with Fremont Complex peoples. [57] They gradually moved southwest into California 

and southeast into southern Utah and northern Arizona. The Southern Paiute refer to themselves as Nuwuvi. 

The official Nuwuvi tribal history claims that "although culturally related to such tribes as the Shoshone, the 

Utes, and the Northern Paiutes, the Nuwuvi spoke a slightly different language and had their own separate 

cultural identity." [58] In general, the term Southern Paiute refers to Uto-Chemehuevi groups.

The San Juan Paiutes replaced much of the Pueblo culture they encountered. In southwestern Utah, 

archeologists have excavated the distinctive ceramic remains of the Southern Paiutes in direct connection 

with Pueblo remains dated approximately 1150 A.D. The Southern Paiute pottery was rust colored and 

conical in shape, decorated with small incisions in circular patterns. Their pottery was highly differentiated 

from the Pueblo remains which were characterized by black/white or black/yellow coloring. The Southern 

Paiute probably first occupied the San Juan River region 1200 A.D. and 1300 A.D. The group closest to 

Navajo Mountain became known as the San Juan Band. [59]

Upon their arrival in the Southwest, the San Juan Paiute were a hunting and gathering population. They 

possessed no territory-wide political structure but did demonstrate a broad, uniform culture evidenced in 

both language and pottery. They employed highly adaptive subsistence patterns, making use of an array of 

food stuffs and natural materials. Archeological evidence suggests that the San Juan Paiute, operating 

northwest of Navajo Mountain, gathered various wild plants and hunted both rabbits and mountain sheep. 

They employed long bows and arrows as well as nets for this pursuit. Their homes during this period were a 

combination of temporary camps in their larger home territory and permanent settlements along the Little 

Colorado and San Juan rivers. During their occupation of the Southwest, they probably learned the 

rudiments of horticulture and corn processing from their Puebloan neighbors. This made it possible for the 

San Juan Paiute to establish sedentary lifeways and allowed them to become ensconced in the area west and 

north of Navajo Mountain. Various excavations have yielded milling stones used to grind corn, piñones, 

seeds, and meat. These stones differ from those used by Pueblos. [60] By the end of the 16th century, San 

Juan Paiutes were firmly settled along the San Juan River and in close proximity to Navajo Mountain. [61]

There is early documentary evidence of San Juan Paiute north of Navajo Mountain. In 1776, Franciscan 

Fathers Atanásio Dom&iacuite;nguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante led an expedition out of southern 

New Mexico into Utah. They moved north, circling much of the Wasatch Range, after which they headed 

south to present day Cedar City. There they encountered Paiute groups with semi-developed horticultural 

practices. Dominguez and Escalante then traveled east to the Colorado River, stopping at what is now called 

Lee's Ferry. The expedition traveled another forty miles before finding a fordable section of river. This spot 

is known today as the Crossing of the Fathers. On the south side of the river the expedition encountered a 

small group of San Juan Paiutes. Escalante wrote that "eight or ten leagues [25-30 miles] to the northeast of 

the ford there is a high, rounded peak which the Payuchis, whose country begins here, call Tucane [Navajo 

Mountain]." [62] Later in the trip and further southeast, Dominguez and Escalante stopped on the rim of the 

canyon above Navajo Creek. At a point on the mesa they saw "ranchos of the Yutas Payuchis, neighbors and 

friends of the Cosninas." [63]

As the number of competing groups increased in the larger Navajo Mountain region, raiding patterns and 

politics also changed. The role of various Ute groups as well as Hopi in the area suggests that the Navajo 

Mountain region was on the territorial periphery of both Utes and Hopis. Eventually the San Juan Paiute 

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occupied a fairly distinct area near Navajo Mountain. Ethnographer Isabel T. Kelly defined their territory as 

"the area extended from Monument Valley to the Little Colorado and from the San Juan River to Black 

Mesa and the Moencopi Plateau." [64] This was a wide area, only the core of which was shared with the 

Navajo. Ute bands, specifically Weeminuche and Capote Utes, lived further east on the San Juan River but 

ranged in and out of the Navajo Mountain area. To the south were Hopi peoples who also made use of the 

resources on the southern slopes of Navajo Mountain. Moving to the San Juan region after 1300 A.D., the 

San Juan Paiute found much of the land they needed inhabited by Utes. The Weeminuche Ute claimed much 

of the San Juan as their own. Even though these eastern Ute groups shared a Numic linguistic pattern with 

the San Juan Paiute. the Weeminuche took advantage of their own mastery of horses in their pursuit of San 

Juan Paiute slaves. The Weeminuche preyed heavily on the San Juan Paiute all through the 18th and 19th 

centuries.

These Ute bands also targeted Navajos in their slave raids. The San Juan Paiute were not as quick to adopt 

sedentary livestock activities, perhaps because of their unwanted status as valuable slaves. [65] Navajos 

reciprocated against the Utes in terms of slaving and conducted a semi-profitable trade with their southern 

neighbors. These hostilities existed right up to the 1860s when the American government decided it would 

no longer tolerate tertiary aggression against its white citizens. However, it is fairly clear that the dynamics 

of the Navajo Mountain region as well as the larger Southwest were well established before the arrival of 

Americans and Mexicans. The politics of cooperation and conflict preceded any Anglo attempts to corral 

Native Americans and force them into the ill-fitting role of yeoman farmer.

It was around this time that the San Juan Paiute who were closest to Navajo Mountain were absorbed by the 

local Navajo population. Sometime after 1800, tensions between the San Juan Paiute and the Navajo became 

less important than the pressure both groups were encountering from the Utes to the northeast and the Hopis 

and New Mexicans to the south. San Juan Paiutes intermarried with Navajos and adopted clan affiliations 

along matrilineal lines. [66] There was always a distinct cultural fluidity among the Navajo when it came to 

adopting non-Navajos into clans. Navajo raiders often returned with female Ute, Mexican, or Puebloan 

captives. These captive women would usually bear children as monogamy was not the common practice 

among Navajos during this period. The Navajo response was to expand the aboriginal clan structure to 

account for these new additions to the population while maintaining the matrilineal structure of marriage and 

property ownership. Like other Native American societies, the Navajo assigned a less important social status 

to non-Navajos and their descendants; however, these assimilated captives retained the full benefit of 

Navajo rights in terms of property and inheritance. [67]

Another important part of the history of Rainbow Bridge NM occurred in the late 19th century as a result of 

the Treaty of Bosque Redondo. That treaty authorized the creation of the Navajo reservation, which 

surrounds the present-day monument. The original treaty reservation covered over three and a half million 

acres. Although the reservation represented only a fraction of the original Dinétah, it did offer some 

geographic continuity to Navajos. During a period when most tribes were being removed from their 

ancestral homelands to wholly unfamiliar areas, the Navajos were allowed to return to their own territory. 

Historian Peter Iverson notes that the ability of the Navajo to remain in their traditional lands and expand 

their territory almost four-fold is a testament to their tenacious roots in the region as well as the degree of 

value the United States government assigned to Navajo lands. [68] Another section of the Navajo 

reservation, known as the Paiute Strip, became a contentious issue to early visitors to Rainbow Bridge. The 

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history of this specific section of the reservation, which surrounded Rainbow Bridge, is detailed in Chapter 

4. Briefly stated, the conflict between whites and Navajos in the late 19th century did not conclude with the 

Treaty of Bosque Redondo. The area that the present-day monument occupies was embroiled in dispute long 

before Anglos ever laid eyes on the span of Rainbow Bridge.

There is excellent documentation of early Anglo travels in the canyons of Rainbow Bridge. The possibility 

that Spanish explorers found Rainbow Bridge in the 17th or 18th centuries remains remote. Generally these 

expeditions, such as the Dominguez-Escalante expedition of 1776, were heavily laden with men, horses and 

supplies. Moreover, given the religious motivations of many Spanish conquerors, there would have been 

little incentive to deviate from less difficult trails if there were no potential converts to be gained in the 

remote canyons surrounding Rainbow Bridge. If one accepts the veracity of a Latin inscription at Inscription 

House, located some fifty miles from the bridge, then Spanish explorers were in the region as early as 1661. 

But there is still little chance that large-scale expeditions made it up or down the narrow terrain of Bridge 

Canyon or Forbidding Canyon. The fact that no artifactual evidence has been discovered to support claims 

of early Spanish intrusion suggests it is a theory waiting to be proven.

In the 19th century, Anglos did encounter Rainbow Bridge and left certain evidence of those sightings. 

Many historians have inferred early 19th century visitation by fur trappers based on evidence found in areas 

near the bridge. Historian Stephen Jett contends that inscriptions left by Herman Wolf, Fred Smith, and W.

C. Seifert near Navajo Mountain indicates Rainbow Bridge was likely observed during fur-trapping 

reconnaissance. [69] Historian C. Gregory Crampton claims that an 1836 inscription found in Cataract 

Canyon, attributed to French trapper Denis Julien, suggests an equal probability that Bridge Canyon and 

Forbidding Canyon were scouted during the great American fur-trading epoch. The inscription was first 

noticed by Robert B. Stanton in 1889 during an extended survey of Glen Canyon and the Colorado River. 

[70]

During the 19th century a rumor evolved about a great silver mine somewhere between the San Juan River 

and Navajo Mountain. It was the same El Dorado-style legend that developed elsewhere in the Southwest. 

Miners came and went throughout the middle of the 19th century in search of this great lost mine. In the 

1880s, Cass Hite came to Glen Canyon and found placer gold near Dandy Crossing. Word spread and a 

small rush took place until the end of the decade. But in 1892, after miners discovered gold on the San Juan 

near Navajo Mountain, Crampton claims that every canyon nearby was prospected from top to bottom. [71] 

Neil Judd, one of the members of the first "official" expedition to locate Rainbow Bridge in 1909, 

acknowledged in a 1967 article that his party found mining tools at the mouth of Forbidding Canyon, less 

than five miles from the bridge. [72]

Given the topographic allure of Navajo Mountain as a mineral-bearing source, it seems altogether likely that 

prospectors hungry for wealth traversed all of its nearby canyons. The search for gold often led to new 

geographic data in the American West, and there is no reason to believe that the environs of Rainbow Bridge 

would be an exception to that pattern. In a statement taken by his daughter in 1929, William F. Williams 

claimed that he and his father, along with Chief Hashkéniinii, went in search of the infamous silver mine of 

the San Juan. Hashkéniinii led them to Bridge Canyon where they all saw the bridge first hand. Williams 

dated his first trip to the bridge as November 20, 1884. Williams also claimed that on the east buttress of the 

bridge, the names of Billy Ross, Montgomery, George Emmerson, Jim Black, Ed Randolph, and Wydel 

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were clearly etched in the stone. [73] Secondary confirmation of these claims came in the form of a personal 

statement made by Jim Black, a prospector in the area during the late 19th century. In July 1930, Black 

claimed that during his three trips to the bridge in the 1890s he observed more than thirty names carved into 

the bridge and its nearby walls. In his statement, Black corroborated many of the same names Williams had 

detailed in 1929. [74] Why all these inscriptions were absent when the Cummings/Douglas party arrived in 

1909 might never be known. Climatic patterns after 1884 could account for erosion of the original 

inscriptions. Vandalism is another possibility. In his article tracking the historical debate over who 

"discovered" Rainbow Bridge, Stephen Jett went so far as to volunteer personal observations of inscriptions 

near the foot of Navajo Mountain. These inscriptions were dated in the 1880s, corroborating some of the 

anecdotal proof that men like Emmerson, M.S. Foote, and J.P. Williams located the bridge before 1900. [75] 

Regardless, there is enough circumstantial evidence from mining related activity near Rainbow Bridge to 

say that non-Indians observed the bridge some time before the 20th century.

It is not surprising that the history of early human activity at Rainbow Bridge has taken a back seat to the 

more popularized 20th century accounts of "discovering" the bridge. Human contact with the bridge before 

the 20th century was characterized by minimal artifactual evidence, rumors, and a lack of photographs. But 

there is little doubt that humans have known of the bridge for many thousands of years. There is enough 

archeological evidence near Rainbow Bridge to suggest that it may have been seen by humans as early as 

6000-4000 B.C. Evidence closer to the bridge, including the hearth uncovered in 1994, confirms that the 

bridge was utilized for any number of purposes at least one thousand years ago. This reality was not lost on 

those Anglos who first documented the location of Rainbow Bridge. As explained in Chapter 3, men like 

John Wetherill and Neil Judd admitted readily that other humans had come before them. As the 19th century 

closed, however, word of the bridge was out. Trapper, miners, and Navajos living nearby knew the great 

stone arch was in a tight canyon just off the north slope of Navajo Mountain. Having traveled in and around 

the region throughout the 19th century, seeing its many wonders and natural features, those men and women 

probably felt awe at the bridge's span without feeling the need to boast of its existence. They simply left 

their marks on the bridge or nearby canyon walls, just as men like John Wetherill and Zane Grey did in the 

20th century.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 3)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 3:

Searching for Rainbows: The Cummings/Douglass Expedition (continued) 

One fact remains troubling in light of the controversy that began after the bridge was found. In July 1909, 

after Cummings was already in Tsegi Canyon exploring various ancestral Puebloan sites and planning an 

August expedition to find Rainbow Bridge, John Wetherill mentioned the bridge to an unlikely recipient. 

Herbert Gregory, a geologist for the U.S.G.S., was near Oljeto conducting a hydrographic reconnaissance of 

different areas. Gregory must have stopped at Oljeto for supplies and encountered Wetherill. Numerous 

sources confirm that John Wetherill informed Gregory of the certain existence of the great rock rainbow. [99]

Figure 12 Betat' akin in Navajo National Monument (Stuart M. Young 

Collection, NAU.PH.643.1.100, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University)

Gregory was forced to decline any excursion to the bridge in favor of his own work for the U.S.G.S. But one 

is left to wonder at Wetherill's motivations in tipping his hand to a government official six weeks prior to a 

planned expedition with Cummings. His antipathy toward Progressive Era bureaucrats was well documented 

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by this time, but perhaps he was beginning to soften. Including a representative of the U.S.G.S. on the 

inevitable trip in August would have lent an air of official sanction to the endeavor. Wetherill knew the 

value of including the government and the costs of trying to exclude them. This conciliatory gesture to 

government authority goes a long way toward explaining Wetherill's later attempts to appease William 

Douglass and his eventual efforts to include Douglass in the expedition to the bridge.

Figure 13 Keet Seel in Navajo National Monument (Stuart M. Young 

Collection, NAU.PH.643.1.76, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University)

William Douglass was facing many issues related to Byron Cummings in August 1909. While in Utah to 

resurvey the newly created Navajo National Monument (NM). Douglass learned through others that 

Cummings and his party were excavating and collecting inside the boundaries of the new monument. Being 

the regulatory hawk that he was, Douglass was more than a little perturbed. He knew that Cummings was 

operating under a permit issued to Edgar L. Hewett, director of research for the Archeological Institute of 

America. The fact that Hewett was not present on the dig left Cummings in technical violation of the 

Antiquities Act. [100] Douglass's disposition was evident in his correspondence. Writing to Dr. Walter 

Hough of the National Museum, he said:

The expected has happened! I learn here that Prof. Hewett and Prof. Cummings went into the 

reserved ruins about six weeks ago . . . I fear they are excavating. If any permit was issued to 

them I feel certain it was done under a misunderstanding as to where they intended to work. I 

have just wired and written the General Land Office for authority to stop the work and prevent 

the removal of any archaeological remains.

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P.S. Since writing the foregoing I have just seen Mr. Wetherill. He says that the GLO issued 

the permit to Prof. Hewett . . . He is not in the field now and Prof. Cummings is doing the 

work. He has obtained a very remarkable collection and unless stopped it will land in the 

museum of the University of Utah. [101]

Figure 14 Inscription House in Navajo National Monument (Stuart M. 

Young Collection, NAU.PH.643.1.59, Cline Library, Northern Arizona 

University)

Douglass informed Wetherill of his intention to stop Cummings' work at Navajo NM and to annul Hewett's 

permit. For Douglass, there was no room for pot-hunting in protected space. He saw little difference 

between pot-hunting and the work Cummings was engaged in. Wetherill rode back to Oljeto and then to 

Tsegi Canyon to give Cummings the bad news. [102] Before ever meeting one another, Cummings and 

Douglass were at odds. Cummings began to perceive Douglass as unreasonable and ill informed. Douglass 

already viewed Cummings as no better than Richard Wetherill.

John Wetherill tried to play the part of peacemaker. He knew that no good could come from a rivalry 

between federal bureaucracy and paying clients. Wetherill had a vested interest in the happiness of both 

parties and had more to lose than anyone if a war erupted over regulations. [103] When Wetherill arrived in 

Tsegi Canyon, he brought with him some mail for Cummings. A letter from friends in Bluff told that 

Douglass was attempting to cancel Hewett's permit and intended to confiscate any artifacts collected by 

Cummings. Douglass was also on his way to Oljeto to mount an expedition to the bridge. Wetherill was now 

in a difficult position. He had not informed Cummings of his meeting with Douglass the previous December 

or of his passing on knowledge of the bridge to Herbert Gregory. Wetherill knew that if they left for Navajo 

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Mountain immediately they could beat Douglass to the trail and the bridge by four or five days. Wetherill 

kept his misgivings to himself and advised Cummings that they should strike out for the rock rainbow. 

Cummings decided that the party should return to Oljeto and wait for Douglass's party and attempt to iron 

out any difficulties with the GLO. Cummings had no reservations about joining forces with Douglass in an 

attempt to find Rainbow Bridge. After all, Cummings' primary concern was his excavation in Tsegi Canyon. 

Rainbow Bridge had waited all summer and could wait a few more days.

Byron Cummings' Utah Archeological Expedition consisted of Stuart Young, Neil M. Judd (Cummings' 

nephew), Donald Beauregard, and Cummings' youngest son Malcolm. That summer the group located two 

very important sites: Keet Seel and Inscription House. Wetherill already knew of Keet Seel from his brother 

Richard but no academic excavation or cataloguing took place before Cummings arrived. In July, Wetherill 

led Cummings to another set of dwellings forty miles west of Keet Seel, near Nitsin Canyon. After feasting 

with a Navajo named Pinieten (Hosteen Jones), Cummings was guided to a small dwelling nearby. The site 

was a cave pueblo of about thirty rooms that sat in a shallow cave on the southwest side of the canyon. The 

Wetherill's children, Ben and Ida, were with the party during this trip, as was Malcolm Cummings. Youthful 

curiosity led the children to explore the various rooms of the site. They removed some debris from one of 

the walls in a small room and discovered writing on the wall. The words appeared to the group as 1661 Anno 

Domini. Interpreted as the markings of some early, unrecorded Spanish expedition, Cummings named the 

site Inscription House. The group made a cursory survey of the area and returned to Keet Seel. [104] It was 

after this side journey that Wetherill returned to Oljeto and discovered that Douglass was making plans to 

shut down the Utah Archeological Expedition. Failing to make peace with Douglass in Bluff, Wetherill 

returned to Tsegi and tried to convince Cummings to head directly to the bridge. As mentioned previously, 

Cummings would have none of it and looked forward to confronting Douglass.

Soon after departing for Oljeto on August 7 or 8, Cummings and his group made one unscheduled stop. John 

Wetherill had heard from Navajos in the area of another dwelling, perhaps larger than Keet Seel. They 

stopped at the hogan of Nedi Cloey, whose wife addressed Louisa Wetherill. Cloey's wife learned through 

conversation that the group was searching for dwellings of the Old Ones. She told Louisa about a large 

dwelling up a side canyon that her children had found while herding sheep. Cummings gave Cloey's son-inlaw, Clatsozen Benully, five dollars to guide them into the canyon. Two miles away, in a cave-like overhang 

at the end of an unnamed box canyon, stood Betat' akin (Hillside House). Betat' akin consisted of more than 

150 rooms, with artifacts and pottery sherds scattered throughout. Because of their pressing commitments in 

Oljeto, Cummings and the group only stayed a little over an hour. Before leaving, however, Stuart Young 

took a memorable series of photographs that captured Betat' akin in an undisturbed state. [105] In this 

renewed framework of discovery and excitement, John Wetherill, Byron Cummings, and the Utah 

Archeological Expedition (UAE) returned to Oljeto and their appointment with William B. Douglass.

The party arrived at Oljeto on or about the evening of August 8 or August 9. William Douglass was nowhere 

to be found. Cummings insisted on waiting for Douglass to try and secure the UAE's claim in Tsegi Canyon. 

The collections they had made needed to be protected from confiscation. Two days later, in the late 

afternoon of August 10, Douglass arrived at the trading post. [106] His party consisted of John R. English, 

F. Jean Rogerson, Daniel Perkins, John Keenan, and Mike's Boy. Wetherill and Cummings had already 

spent most of the morning getting the party ready for an after-dinner departure. Inquiring about the 

controversy over their permits, Cummings later wrote:

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Mr. Douglass was very noncommittal about what he had been doing or trying to do. He was 

very condescending toward our party, said he was going to find the big arch he had heard 

about, that his Pahute [sic] guide, Mike's Boy knew the country, had been to the bridge, and 

that we might go along if we wanted to. [107]

Regardless of the friction, the two groups joined forces and an overt confrontation never materialized. The 

combined expedition left within the hour and camped the first night on Hoskininni Mesa. Wetherill had 

already sent word to Nasja Begay, his Paiute guide, to meet the party at the Begay family farm. [108]

The morning of August 11 came early to everyone. The twelve-member team began traveling by dawn, 

heading north along Copper Canyon and toward the San Juan River. At the San Juan they turned briefly 

west and crossed Nokai Creek, where they made camp on the second night. On August 12, Wetherill led the 

tiring men up and onto Paiute Mesa. The trail was "long and dangerous" according to Neil M. Judd. [109] 

After crossing Paiute Mesa in the blistering heat, the trail led down Paiute Canyon and into the green river 

valley of Old Nasja's farm. As mentioned earlier, Cummings and Wetherill had arranged to meet Nasja 

Begay at his family's farm. Arriving at the farm, Begay's father, Old Nasja, informed the group that his son 

had tired of waiting for Wetherill and had gone to check on the family's sheep some twenty-five miles away. 

[110] Old Nasja sent Nasja Begay's younger brother to the sheep camp and made arrangements with 

Wetherill for Nasja Begay to meet the group north of Navajo Mountain.

Douglass was less than convinced that Cummings' Paiute guide would reach them in time or that he would 

even find the expedition. Wetherill dismissed Douglass's complaints and continued on to Navajo Mountain. 

Tensions mounted as Cummings, Wetherill, and Judd all noted that Mike's Boy seemed hesitant about many 

issues as the party progressed. He worried that untrained horses would not survive the journey, about the 

supply of food, and even the lack of a discernable trail. Douglass never mentioned any of these trepidations 

in correspondence related to finding the bridge. In any event, fearful or not, the group traveled up to the 

Rainbow Plateau, crossing Paiute and Desha Creek. They camped that night on the shores of Beaver Creek. 

[111]

Breaking camp on the fourth day the expedition made its way across vast slick rock, riding or walking up 

and down numerous precipices. The horses were tired, as were each of the riders. There was no obvious trail 

to follow and the journey was marked by men leading horses much of the way. The most daunting task of 

that day was locating a way around Bald Rock Canyon. Wetherill led the group down-canyon, not finding a 

route across until nearly the San Juan River. Once across, they had to traverse back up the west side of the 

canyon and resume the trail as best they could. After Bald Rock, Wetherill still had to locate a ford through 

Nasja Creek. Known today as the Hoskininni Steps, the expedition crossed along a set of divots pecked into 

the rock by some earlier travelers. The trail was so steep that one horse tumbled to the bottom of the grade. 

Though there were no critical injuries to any of the party, the psychological toll on every member was 

evident. The group finally pulled into camp in what is now called Surprise Valley. The area was well suited 

to their immediate needs, offering water, feed, and rest to men and horses alike. [112]

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Figure 15 Expedition party and horses west of Navajo Mountain, en route 

to Rainbow Bridge, August 13, 1909 (Courtesy of the National Archives, 

NWDNS-NJ-NJ-302. Photo by Neil Judd)

On that last night, most of the members of the expedition were exhausted and frustrated. Mike's Boy seemed 

more and more anxious about his ability to find the great rock rainbow. Judd, Cummings, and Wetherill all 

wrote later that Mike's Boy confided in them that he had never been to the bridge but only heard of it from 

other Paiutes. [113] This observation was later denied by members of Douglass's team. Many of the 

expedition members were not completely sure of what might happen next. Then came the unexpected. At 

approximately 10:00 p.m.. Nasja Begay rode into camp. It was "one of those unlikely but fortuitous 

miracles" that sometimes occur at key moments in history. [114] There was no telling how he managed to 

find the camp in the dark, especially given the secluded location of Surprise Valley. The entire team was 

elated at Begay's presence. He agreed to lead the group to the bridge the following day and lead them back 

to Oljeto for the sum of three silver dollars per day. [115]

The last day of exploring was short and sweet. Expedition members, bolstered by the arrival of Nasja Begay, 

moved lively over the trail. Spirits were high as the riders ascended Hellgate, a ravine that exited Surprise 

Valley. As the day progressed, Cummings and Douglass were certain they would reach the bridge. They 

followed the trail through the southern end of Oak Creek (near the base of Navajo Mountain) and then north 

along Bridge Creek. Nasja Begay indicated that the bridge was very close. At this point in the historical 

record, participant recollections of the journey took on a less professional tone. No doubt the rigors of the 

trek took their toll on everyone, including professionals like Wetherill, Cummings, and Judd. The UAE 

members recalled the day with gritted teeth. Judd later wrote:

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Throughout the last day's travel, with the big bridge reported not far ahead, Mr. Douglass 

exhibited the uncontrolled enthusiasm of the amateur explorer and he was so disregardful of 

possible danger to the other members of the party as to arouse the disgust of all. Seemingly 

impelled by the hopes of the old conquistadores; apparently without consideration for his 

companions, he repeatedly crowded the other riders from the narrow trail as he forced his tired 

horse to the front. Douglass was the only member of the expedition engaged in this wild race; 

time and again he turned back from ledges he had unwisely followed, only to rush forward 

again at the first opportunity. [116]

Even Cummings contended that Douglass was in the midst of jockeying for position so as to ensure his 

claim to being the first white man to see Rainbow Bridge. Cummings later remembered:

After we negotiated the difficult Red Bud Pass [on the eastern side of Bridge Creek], Mr. 

Douglass, Mr. Wetherill, Noscha Begay [sic] and I halted in the shade of a cliff to let the 

packs catch up with us. Mr. Douglass turned to me and said, "I should think you would go 

back and look after that boy of yours. I have a boy a little older than yours, but I think too 

much of him to bring him into a country like this. If you thought anything of your boy, you'd 

stay with him and look after him." It was soon evident why Mr. Douglass was anxious that I 

fall behind with the packs. [117]

William Douglass recalled the day with less vitriol than his contemporaries. He wrote in his report to the 

GLO:

On the morning of the last day's travel, when we were told by the Indian guides that the bridge 

would be reached by noon, the excitement became intense. A spirit of rivalry developed 

between Prof. Cummings and myself as to who should first reach the bridge. The first three 

places of the single file line were of necessity conceded to the three guides. For three hours we 

rode an uncertain race, taking risks of horsemanship neither would ordinarily think of taking, 

the lead varying as one or the other secured the advantage over the tortuous and difficult trail. 

[118]

A description of the moments before rounding the bend that revealed Rainbow Bridge is gleaned from a 

general consensus of participant reports. It was true that Douglass was in the lead. Whether or not he saw the 

bridge before the others cannot be determined. Wetherill, Judd, and Cummings all remembered that when 

they rounded the last bend and sighted Rainbow Bridge, they stopped to admire the span. They yelled to 

Douglass to get him to return to their position. Yelling was necessary because William Douglass was 

extremely hard of hearing. [119] This does not indicate conclusively that Douglass failed to sight the bridge 

as he rounded the same corner at which Cummings and Wetherill chose to stop. What is certain is that 

Cummings, based on this observation, claimed the honor for himself as the first white man to see Rainbow 

Bridge. The date was August 14, 1909.

After pausing at the bend, Wetherill and Cummings dismounted and began to lead their horses toward the 

bridge. Douglass, on the other hand, remained mounted and spurred his horse toward the rock rainbow. 

Various participants wrote differing versions of what words passed between Wetherill and Cummings. 

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Cummings contended he was satisfied with having seen the bridge first. [120] Wetherill claimed that 

Cummings thought it would be rude to race Douglass to the bridge and that he (Wetherill) replied, "Then I'll 

be rude." [121] At the sight of Douglass galloping away Wetherill remounted, spurred his horse, and raced 

past Douglass. Wetherill stood alone under the expanse of Rainbow Bridge for a brief moment before the 

other members of the expedition arrived. [122] The only reports that contradicted this version all came from 

William Douglass. In 1919, Douglass wrote to NPS Director Stephen Mather:

Instructions to visit the bridge were received from the General Land Office, dated Oct. 20, 

1908. in compliance with which, an effort was made to reach it that year. It was then that Mr. 

Wetherill learned of the bridge and its approximate location. In 1909, he was employed by 

Prof. Cummings . . . and told Cummings of the bridge. They planned to beat me to it, but 

failed, as I reached it before Cummings. I made no effort to get in front of Wetherill any more 

than I did to get in front of the Indians. [123]

This version of the story conflicted with Douglass's original report from 1909 and the description of the race 

that developed between he and Cummings. More important than the issue of who saw Rainbow Bridge first, 

the 1919 letter revealed Douglass's belief that Wetherill learned of Rainbow Bridge from him. When 

Douglass went to Oljeto in the fall of 1908, Wetherill tried to convince him that the bridge did not exist. 

Wetherill disclaimed any knowledge of any colossal rock rainbow. Douglass went to his grave believing that 

he himself was the source of Wetherill's knowledge about Rainbow Bridge. Wetherill's subterfuge was 

certainly the root of Douglass's later conviction that Mike's Boy deserved all the credit for bringing Rainbow 

Bridge out of myth and into reality.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 3)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 3:

Searching for Rainbows: The Cummings/Douglass Expedition (continued) 

After the historic posturing concluded, the expedition made camp below the bridge. Horses were set loose to 

graze and various members of the party wandered below the bridge's span. Douglass and his team set about 

measuring Rainbow Bridge. Using two steel tapes they had carried with them, the height was measured at 

309 feet and the span at 278 feet. This was by far the largest arch in the known world and the team was duly 

impressed. Cummings, Judd, and Donald Beauregard headed down Bridge Canyon to locate the creek's 

confluence. Cummings reported a slot canyon that was narrow enough to touch both walls with his 

fingertips. Cummings and the others returned near midnight. Meanwhile, Wetherill located a route to the top 

of the bridge by means of climbing above the bridge via the west buttress and then lowering himself onto the 

arch with a rope. [124]

After measuring the bridge, Douglass and his team stayed a few more days to survey the boundaries of what 

became Rainbow Bridge NM. Douglass laid out a 160-acre square centered on the bridge. Except for minor 

changes made later to the corner markers, Douglass's original boundaries remain intact to the present day. 

After the boundary survey, they returned across the southern mesas to Tsegi Canyon to survey Betat' akin 

and Keet Seel. Cummings began his return to Salt Lake City the day after finding Rainbow Bridge; he had to 

be back in time for Fall semester at the University of Utah.

Douglass also conceived of a name for Rainbow Bridge. In his 1910 report to the GLO regarding the 

expedition, Douglass claimed that his guides spoke a Navajo word, nonnezoshi, meaning "hole in the rock." 

Seeking a fitting tribute to the Paiutes who brought knowledge of the bridge to the English speaking world, 

he claimed he asked one of the guides for the Paiute word for rainbow. Douglass claimed the reply they 

offered was barahoine. Douglass made a topographic sketch of the bridge that revealed his desire for the 

Paiute name. In fact, the Navajo word for Rainbow Bridge is tsé naa Na'ni'ahi, which translates as "rock 

arch." [125]

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Figure 16 W.B. Douglass map of Rainbow Bridge, 1909 (Courtesy of Glen 

Canyon NRA, Interpretation Files) (click on image for an enlargement in a new 

window)

Douglass left Bridge Canyon on August 17. Neil Judd and Dogeye Begay, Wetherill's wrangler, led 

Douglass and his team to Tsegi Canyon. Douglass was in Tsegi Canyon by August 21, completed his survey 

of Navajo NM by early September, and returned to the GLO office in Cortez by September 11. The 

excitement over Rainbow Bridge spread quickly. Various regional newspapers carried word of the 

"discovery" in editions as early as September 2. In October, Donald Beauregard wrote his version of the 

adventure for the Salt Lake City's Deseret News. The first major report of the expedition came in the 

February 1910 issue of National Geographic. It was authored by Byron Cummings and included 

photographs taken by Stuart Young. There was little argument over the natural and scientific importance 

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came of Rainbow Bridge. The articles that after the bridge's "discovery" all pointed to its awe-inspiring 

physical beauty as well as its unique geologic significance. In his report to the GLO, William Douglass 

urged that the bridge be designated a national monument in order that it be protected from various threats. 

Douglass' efforts were bolstered by the attention the bridge received in the popular press. Based on the many 

considerations extant at the time, Rainbow Bridge became part of the national park system. On May 30, 

1910, President William Howard Taft designated Rainbow Bridge National Monument. In his proclamation, 

President Taft declared that the bridge possessed great scientific interest and was an example of "eccentric 

stream erosion." Utilizing the boundaries surveyed by William Douglass, the proclamation set aside 160 

acres around Rainbow Bridge. [126]

Figure 17 Rainbow Bridge, August 13, 1909 (Stuart M. Young Collection, 

NAU.PH.643.243 Cline Library, Northern Arizona University)

Over the course of the next forty years, participants of the first successful expedition to Rainbow Bridge 

jockeyed over the credit for finding the bridge, indicting each other's integrity in the process. For his part, 

William Douglass remained steadfast in his assertion that he sighted the bridge before Cummings, that 

Mike's Boy knew of the bridge before anyone else and shared that information with Douglass long before 

Wetherill or Cummings had knowledge, and that Mike's Boy led the joint expedition to its goal. For 

unknown reasons, Douglass even went so far as to claim credit for locating and naming Inscription House. 

In the same 1919 letter to Mather cited earlier, Douglass also wrote:

The Natural Bridges National Monument and the Navajo National Monument were both made 

on my recommendation and based on my surveys. The latter was first called to the attention of 

the Interior Department by me, and several of its ruins are of my discovery, including the 

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discovery of the inscriptions, which resulted in my naming that ruin "Inscription House." [127]

The world may never know what inspired Douglass to claim credit for discoveries he clearly had no part in 

making. But in his official report to the GLO concerning Rainbow Bridge, Douglass mitigated Wetherill's 

role to nothing more than "packer" and took the position that Byron Cummings and his team had joined 

Douglass and the government party. Nasja Begay was never mentioned in Douglass's notes or his reports. 

Douglass noted that he and his assistants were the first human beings to walk atop the bridge. The members 

of the Utah Archeological Expedition rallied around Cummings and against Douglass's obvious 

disinformation.

Figure 18 Expedition party seated below Rainbow Bridge, August 13, 1909. 

Back row, left to right: John English, Dan Perkins, Jack Keenan, Francis 

Jean Rogerson, Neil M. Judd, Donald Beauregard. Front row, left to right: 

Jim Mike (Mike's Boy), John Wetherill, Byron Cummings, William Boone 

Douglass, Malcolm Cummings (Stuart M. Young Collection, NAU.

PH.643.2.9 Cline Library, Northern Arizona University)

The official government history of the "discovery" of Rainbow Bridge was drawn from Douglass's report to 

the GLO and remained true to that version of the story for many years. Douglass refuted various deviations 

from his version that appeared sporadically in the government press. [128] For the most part, the members 

of the first expedition had individual versions of what happened and of who knew what and when. 

Cummings published his version in February 1910. It was totally innocuous in its description. Cummings 

mused that "not even Hoskininni seems to have penetrated as far as the Nonnezoshi [Rainbow Bridge]. The 

members of the Utah Archeological Expedition and of [the] surveying party of the U.S. General Land 

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Office, who visited the bridge together August 14, 1909, are evidently the first white men to have seen this 

greatest of nature's stone bridges." [129] There was no doubt in this publication that Cummings had 

divorced himself from any controversy or disagreement over credit for finding the bridge. Though he did 

publish the bridge's measurements without crediting the GLO, there was nothing in his article that suggested 

he made the measurements himself. Douglass's contention that Cummings "stole" the measurements and 

published them as his own was drastically overstated. One obvious fact remained true: Cummings 

acknowledged the participation of the GLO in finding Rainbow Bridge while Douglass all but omitted the 

UAE from his own official report. There was nothing in Cummings' early publication of the Rainbow Bridge 

expedition which suggested any attempt to either credit himself with the discovery or to exclude Douglass 

from the story.

Eventually, Sterling Yard, director of the National Parks Association (NPA), solicited Neil Judd's version of 

the events. Yard was instrumental to the Park Service as a publicist during large scale advertising and public 

relations campaigns. The Park Service, through the NPA, was trying to structure its image and its history for 

the public. [130] The details of every monument's history were important to this pursuit. Fortunately for 

Judd, Yard did not subscribe to the official line penned by Douglass. Judd wrote his brief narrative on 

October 30, 1919. The report disparaged Mike's Boy as a liar and Douglass as an amateur. Judd ascribed the 

credit for finding the bridge to Nasja Begay and his father, Old Nasja. [131] Wetherill chimed into the 

debate in 1924. He decided that there should be a commemorative plaque erected at the bridge honoring 

Nasja Begay as the real discoverer of Rainbow Bridge. To this end he wrote numerous letters to the National 

Park Service. Wetherill, in the course of this correspondence, took his jabs at Douglass and Mike's Boy. He 

wrote, "it was very evident that Jim [Mike's Boy] did not know the trail. I do not feel that Jim is entitled to 

any of the credit." [132] Wetherill also excluded any information relating to Douglass's aborted attempt to 

find the bridge in the fall of 1908 or of the disinformation he passed on to Douglass. Wetherill was not 

seeking credit for himself but rather his friend and guide, Nasja Begay. Cummings also wrote to the Park 

Service on this issue, verifying most of Wetherill's claims and the singular importance of Nasja Begay to 

finding Rainbow Bridge. [133] For the most part, the members of the first expedition were honorable 

explorers or government servants. Despite their differences, they all agreed that no white man would have 

found the bridge without one or both of the Paiute guides. To that end they all lobbied for a commemorative 

plaque which acknowledged this most basic fact.

John Wetherill began his attempts to honor Nasja Begay in 1924. Unfortunately, Begay had contracted 

influenza in 1918 and died as a result. Wetherill felt compelled to secure his friend's place in history and 

bronze as "the Indian who guided the first party to the Bridge." The initial problem was that the Park Service 

assumed Wetherill was talking about Mike's Boy, the Indian guide the Park Service knew from Douglass's 

official reports. This was NPS Director Mather's assumption in his reply to Wetherill a year later. This 

naturally reignited the whole debate among the original participants over which Paiute guide did what and 

what each expedition member knew and when they knew it. John Wetherill, Byron Cummings, and Neil 

Judd all wrote to Director Mather regarding their individual participation in the expedition and the role of 

their guide in finding Rainbow Bridge. Their efforts to ensure that Nasja Begay be remembered as the Paiute 

who found the bridge were admirable. For its part, the Park Service was dealing with a great deal of mixed 

information. Given the numerous and inconsistent versions of the "discovery" story, the Park Service 

personnel assigned to verify the historic record were slightly confused. Even Director Mather, for example, 

was unsure of the Paiute guide's identity in early correspondence with Wetherill. Based on the intense 

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interest in honoring the expedition's guide, Dan Hull, chief landscape engineer for the Park Service, made 

plans in March 1924 for a bronze plaque bearing the likeness of Nasja Begay and a brief narrative of the 

"discovery." The plaque was to be placed very near the base of the bridge itself, in plain view of any future 

visitors. [134]

Plans for the commemorative plaque continued through 1924 with design sketches and copy edits passing 

between various members of the Park Service. [135] But in July 1925, the official story still had not 

changed. A press release and information bulletin was in preparation to assist the growing number of visitors 

to Rainbow Bridge. That press circular identified Mike's Boy as the only Paiute guide on the expedition and 

described Cummings and Wetherill as ancillary to the whole event. By 1927 the "official" story was 

breaking down. Various public inquiries about who located Rainbow Bridge were answered by accounts that 

included Cummings, Wetherill, and Begay. Assistant Director A.E. Demaray, as well as Associate Director 

Arno B. Cammerer and Director Mather, were slowly but carefully gathering facts about the first expedition 

and relating those facts to other Park Service personnel. Based on the more complete story, Mather 

authorized mounting the commemorative plaque in September 1927. [136] The original plaque read "To 

Commemorate the Piute [sic] Nasjah Begay Who First Guided The White Man To Nonnezoshi August 

1909. [137] The real irony came with the event's press coverage. In newspaper stories which followed the 

plaque hanging ceremony, columnists credited John Wetherill as the first white man to see Rainbow Bridge, 

giving only cursory mention to the other members of the party.

The other story of note in 1927 was Neil M. Judd's published account of the expedition in the National 

Parks Bulletin. [138] Judd correctly identified the caveat that marked the controversy over who first located 

Rainbow Bridge. He wrote:

Who actually discovered Nonnezoshe? Nobody knows. Some Indian way back in that preColombian past when man romped and roamed widely over this continent of ours but left no 

written record to prove it. Some Indian was the real discoverer. But we whites have a conceit 

all our own which frequently tempts us to ignore the achievements of those of a different hue. 

A thing clothed in the traditions of a thousand years remains unknown until we ourselves have 

seen and recorded [it]. [139]

Rainbow Bridge was not discovered by Douglass, Cummings, Wetherill, or anyone else in 1909. It was 

located and mapped and then introduced to the English speaking world as a wonder to behold. It was 

exceptionally humble for Judd to couch his entire article in the framework of being last to the bridge. While 

Judd still clung to the belief that Cummings was the first white man to see the bridge, he did present a 

valuable statement about the biases of history and the way fortune favors the literate Eventually the whole 

story of August 1909 was told to the world. The plaque commemorating Nasja Begay's role in the first 

expedition hung silently on a rock near the bridge for fifty years. But in the fall of 1973, Empire Magazine, a 

weekly supplement to The Denver Post newspaper, published an article that detailed Mike's Boy's (known 

by this time as Jim Mike) part in the first expedition. Zeke Scher, a writer for Empire, obtained copies of 

William Douglass's account of the expedition and wrote an article to vindicate Jim Mike. Mike never told 

his story to the world, perhaps assuming Douglass would take care of the history. It is possible he never 

knew about the plaque honoring Nasja Begay. Jim Mike did not return to Rainbow Bridge until 1974.

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In June 1974, Jim Mike was 104 years old. He was alert and active but in no condition to trek to Rainbow 

Bridge. Fortunately for Jim, the inundation of Lake Powell had made it possible by this time to access the 

bridge via boat. He would not have to hike to have his place in history commemorated. The Park Service 

planned a ceremony to honor Jim Mike for his part in the Cummings/Douglass expedition and for his 

contribution to making the new monument possible. The ceremony took place June 18, 1974. At the 

ceremony, NPS Regional Director Lynn Thompson presented Mike with a new robe and $50.00 a guide fee 

that the Park Service felt Mike was owed for his services in 1909. It was a fitting tribute that Mike obviously 

appreciated; however, there was still no plaque honoring Jim Mike as one of the original guides. Another 

article appeared in Empire in 1974. The second article retold of Mike's role in 1909 and detailed the 1974 

ceremony. Within a year, someone clandestinely removed the plaque honoring Nasja Begay and threw it 

into the waters of Lake Powell just beneath the bridge. In the early 1980s the Park Service remounted the 

Nasja Begay plaque in its original location. They also placed a smaller plaque just below Begay's which 

recognized Mike's part in the 1909 expedition; unfortunately, he did not get the chance to see his name 

immortalized in bronze. On September 28, 1977, Jim Mike died of natural causes. He was 107 years old. 

[140]

Figure 19 Mounting the plaque, 1927 (Courtesy of Glen Canyon NRA, 

Interpretation Files. Photo by Raymond Armsby)

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 4)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 4:

Making It Work: Monument Development, 1910-1955 (continued) 

Tourism and exploration operated on a dual plane at the monument between 1910 and 1955. There were 

significant explorations of the monument's interior which tried to assess the best route to the bridge as well 

as the monument's biological and geological scope. One of the most popularized set of expeditions to the 

bridge were those inspired by Charles L. Bernheimer in the 1920s. Bernheimer described himself as a 

"tenderfoot and cliff dweller from Manhattan." [151] Bernheimer was that and more. A textile tycoon, 

Bernheimer had a passion for the Southwest. He spent many summer months in the Four Corners region, 

exploring and recording much of what he saw. In 1920, he employed Wetherill to guide him to the bridge. 

Awed at the spectacular edifice, Bernheimer decided that the bridge could be accessed more directly via 

some undiscovered western route. In 1920, the bridge was still being reached in the final stage via the 

original approach which included numerous canyon crossings and tiring course deviations. Bernheimer 

returned in 1921 to help create a more direct route that avoided delays in Bald Rock Canyon. [152]

The 1921 expedition proved to be quite exceptional. Bernheimer and Wetherill, among other feats, 

circumnavigated Navajo Mountain and located Redbud Pass as the likely candidate for a western approach 

to the bridge. However, Wetherill reported to Bernheimer that approaching the bridge from that point would 

be impossible due to natural impediments. Bernheimer returned the following year with Earl H. Morris of 

the American Museum of Natural History. With Wetherill as guide, the team took up the sole task of 

"creating" an approach to the bridge via Redbud Pass. Utilizing dynamite and chisels, Bernheimer and his 

crew worked for a week to create a path wide enough to lead horses through. They finished their efforts on 

July 5, 1922, riding through the newly formed Redbud Pass and into Bridge Canyon toward Rainbow 

Bridge. [153]

The completed route ran from Kayenta up Tsegi Canyon and then due north to the southern foot of Navajo 

Mountain. Here the trail forked; the east fork followed the traditional route around Navajo Mountain from 

east to west and into Bridge Creek. This is known historically as the Wetherill Trail. But the west fork, 

reconnoitered during the 1921 and 1922 Bernheimer expeditions, followed Horse Canyon into Cliff Canyon. 

It then made use of Redbud Pass and the more direct drop into Bridge Canyon. [154] From any camp 

situated along the southern slopes of Navajo Mountain, the new trail offered a more direct path to the bridge, 

ranging from thirteen to twenty miles depending on the starting point. The great irony of creating this new 

route was it made locations north of Kayenta more appealing as base camps. In 1924, S.I. Richardson 

recognized that very fact.

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Figure 22 Redbud Pass (Phillip Johnston Collection, Cline 

Library, NAU.PH.413.103, Northern Arizona University)

The establishment of Rainbow Lodge was inevitable from a tourism perspective. The Wetherills were too far 

from the bridge and could not hope to monopolize the tourist trade forever. John Wetherill had made a good 

living guiding men like Grey and Bernheimer to the bridge. But as public knowledge of the bridge grew, 

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others sought a living at guiding "tenderfoots" into the monument. S.I. Richardson and his brother Hubert 

were among those who saw more than the awesome natural beauty of the bridge; they saw economic 

potential. The Richardson brothers came to the Southwest to escape the harsh life imposed on them by their 

fundamentalist father. After working with relatives in the trading post business, the brothers took a pack trip 

from Kaibito to the bridge. It was this trip that inspired them to start a guide and trading post business on the 

southern slope of Navajo Mountain. Their plan included construction of a road from Tonalea, Arizona to 

their new Rainbow Lodge and Trading Post at Willow Springs. [155]

It was an ambitious plan. Permits, construction delays, threats from local Navajos, and canyon obstructions 

threatened to derail the project. But S.I. and Hubert were not dissuaded from realizing their dream. Using 

hired and family labor, the Richardsons finished construction of the lodge in late 1923. The Richardsons also 

managed to secure the official sanction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Unbeknownst to the Park 

Service, the BIA issued S.I. Richardson a permit to operate the Rainbow Natural Bridge Transportation 

Company. The Park Service was unaware of Richardson's permitted operation until May 1924. [156] The 

lodge started receiving visitors, even before guest accommodations were complete, in March 1924. Regular 

pack trips to the bridge began in early 1925. [157] Competition for the Wetherill clients had begun.

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Figure 23 Rainbow Trail from Rainbow Lodge (Courtesy 

of Intermountain Support Office) (click on image for an 

enlargement in a new window)

In order to improve his odds for success at Rainbow Bridge, Hubert Richardson lobbied the Park Service to 

appoint Homer Arnn custodian of the monument. Arnn was the chief packer for the Richardsons and would 

have been in a uniquely powerful position if appointed custodian. Even the Park Service recognized that 

custodians were in frequent contact with visitors, making custodianship and guiding a lucrative combination. 

The Park Service responded with consideration, indicating that "we would like to get a good man to act as 

custodian at the Rainbow Bridge." [158] But when the request made it to the review of Acting Director Arno 

B. Cammerer, all the cards were laid on the table. Cammerer wrote to Frank Pinkley, then Superintendent of 

Casa Grande National Monument, "perhaps the reason Mr. Richardson is anxious to have Arnn appointed as 

custodian of the Rainbow Bridge Monument is that this would give him official recognition as the Rainbow 

guide and some misunderstanding might arise in this connection with Mr. Wetherill." [159] It seemed that 

certain Park Service employees did not know that John Wetherill served the dual role of custodian for 

Navajo NM and Rainbow Bridge. In any event, Arnn's custodianship was denied by the Park Service in the 

form of it never being proposed officially.

Competing with the Wetherills had its price. Being so close to the bridge meant being very far from supply 

towns. Everything necessary to Rainbow Lodge's operation had to be trucked in from somewhere else: 

Flagstaff, Gallup, or other towns. The Richardsons realized quickly that business would have to be brisk to 

meet the cost of operating in such a remote location. In 1926, S.I. and Susie Richardson sold their share in 

the Rainbow Lodge to Hubert Richardson and left Navajo Mountain for Red Mesa. Hubert gave overall 

management control to Stanton Borum, one of the original partners in the venture. Hubert hired his brotherin-law, Bill Wilson and his wife Katherine to handle the daily lodge operations: guest services, trail and 

lodge maintenance, and advertising. [160]

The Wilsons came to Rainbow Bridge from Grand Canyon National Park. Wilson worked as a pack-master 

for several years at Grand Canyon under the direction of Superintendent M.R. Tillotson. He had made quite 

an impression on Tillotson during the years at Grand Canyon. Superintendent Tillotson, after reading a Park 

Service publication that indicated Rainbow Bridge NM lacked a custodian, immediately recommended Bill 

Wilson to the Director for the custodial position. Tillotson wrote of Wilson that "it would be difficult to find 

anyone more interested in the preservation of the monument than he and he is certainly the nearest white 

man to it." [161] In fact, John Wetherill was still the official custodian of Rainbow Bridge, a duty that 

Wetherill also performed at nearby Navajo NM. Whether or not Tillotson knew about Wetherill's role would 

be speculative. But in his letter, Tillotson detailed numerous other trading posts that lay some distance 

beyond Rainbow Lodge. Kayenta was not mentioned among them. In fact, in extolling the virtues of 

Rainbow Lodge, Tillotson compared Wilson's services to the other alternative, a ten-day pack trip around 

the north side of Navajo Mountain. Any information as to who ran these alternative pack trips was omitted 

from the letter. In any event, the recommendation of Wilson for custodian was denied by the Director based 

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on the advice of Frank Pinkley. Pinkley said that there were reasons for not appointing Wilson that Tillotson 

had omitted from his glowing recommendation. Those reasons were known only to the participants as they 

were never enumerated in any Park Service correspondence. [162]

It was apparent that even the eased access afforded by the Richardson road improvements were not enough 

to stimulate vigorous Park Service management. Budgetary limitations still in place as a result of World War 

II severely restricted structural improvements at the monument. In 1946, Hubert Richardson sold his interest 

in the lodge to Barry Goldwater, future Arizona Senator and presidential candidate.

World War II handicapped business at the lodge. Very little recreational travel took place during the war, 

and remote locations like Rainbow Lodge were hit the hardest. But Goldwater loved the country around 

Rainbow Bridge. He had bought into the Richardson operation in the 1930s as a partner and in 1946, after 

the conclusion of the war, decided he wanted to have a go at running a successful tourist operation. The 

lodge did little business during the war, with the Wilsons leaving Navajo Mountain for a brief time to secure 

employment elsewhere. The lodge was virtually unused for nearly five years. With wartime fuel restrictions 

lifted by 1946, people began touring the Southwest again. Goldwater had guessed well regarding post-war 

tourism. In 1923, annual visitation to the bridge was only 142 people. After 1945, visitation went up every 

year, reaching a high of 1,081 in 1955. Goldwater secured the promise of the Park Service to distribute 

Rainbow Lodge pamphlets to all persons inquiring about services at Rainbow Bridge. [163]

Figure 24 Rainbow Lodge, 1950 (Gladys Brodenson Collection, NAU.

PH.97.9. 129, Cline Library. Northern Arizona University)

In high hopes of success, Goldwater sent 1,500 pamphlets to the Park Service's information office. 

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Unfortunately the lodge burned to the ground in August 1951, leaving nothing but high hopes. Operations 

were transferred to the only building large enough to accommodate guest functions: a recently constructed 

stone garage. The Wilsons decided to retire after the fire and in 1952 moved to Clarksdale, Arizona. Myles 

Headrick, lodge manager after Hubert Richardson sold out, became partners with Goldwater. Goldwater and 

Headrick hired Merritt and Nona Holloway to replace the Wilsons and serve as hosts. The lodge was never 

rebuilt along its original lines. Trips to the bridge via boat tours on the Colorado River and the advent of 

Lake Powell in 1962 made continuing land-based travel to Rainbow Bridge a futile endeavor. Operations at 

Rainbow Lodge continued until Goldwater's priorities and finances shifted to national politics. The Rainbow 

Bridge and Hotel Company closed in 1965. But the era of guided pack services had firmly ensconced 

Rainbow Bridge NM on the recreational consciousness of thousands of Americans who would later lament 

the era's passage. [164]

River trips to the bridge also took on increased significance between 1935 and 1955. Norman Nevills 

operated the first tourist operation in Glen Canyon that successfully focused on Rainbow Bridge. Nevills 

operated from Mexican Hat, Utah, just north of the monument on the San Juan River. He was instrumental 

in designing boats that could withstand the harsh conditions of the San Juan rapids. He guided his first 

paying customers to the bridge via the San Juan in March 1936. Within a few years, Nevills was operating a 

commercially profitable river-based guide service that included a side trip to Rainbow Bridge on every 

voyage. Unfortunately, Nevills and his wife Doris died in a plane crash in 1949. But it was Nevills who 

introduced men like Barry Goldwater and Wallace Stegner to the beauties of Glen Canyon. His boatbuilding skill and technical prowess at running the river inspired many other guides in the years to come. 

[165]

Other river runners made Rainbow Bridge part of their itinerary as well. Art Greene started running clients 

to Rainbow Bridge in the 1940s. He traveled up the Colorado River from Lee's Ferry. Greene used modified 

air-boats, like those then used in the Florida Everglades. Greene's venture was never extremely profitable as 

the boats required tremendous amounts of fuel, which drove up the price of his trips. But Greene was 

important for another reason. When construction started on Glen Canyon Damn in October 1956, Greene 

acquired a lease on a large tract of land above the dam and built a small resort and marina. The marina 

became known as Wahweap. He continued to run river trips to Rainbow Bridge until 1962. Greene sold his 

interest in Wahweap to the Del Webb Corporation in 1976 and died in Phoenix, Arizona in 1978. Greene 

was an influential man in his time, guiding many prominent people to the bridge prior to the construction of 

Glen Canyon Dam. [166]

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 4)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 4:

Making It Work: Monument Development, 1910-1955 (continued) 

In terms of contemporary issues, the administrative life of Rainbow Bridge NM from 1945 to 1970 was 

dominated by the proposal and construction of Glen Canyon Dam. However, plans to dam the canyons near 

Rainbow Bridge began early in the monument's life, long before the Colorado River Storage Act which 

authorized Glen Canyon Dam. Reclamation as a federal management philosophy was codified in law in June 

1902 with the passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act. The spirit of reclamation infected the West. With 

so many rivers, the western states were ripe for reclamation projects that would bring paradise to the deserts. 

This belief in science controlling nature to the betterment of American lives was the driving force in the 

Bureau of Reclamation throughout the first sixty years of the Bureau's existence. By 1914, tens of millions 

of dollars were spent trying to irrigate the West through reclamation.

This spirit of reclamation made the 1920s a significant period in the official life of Rainbow Bridge NM. 

The states that comprised the Upper Colorado River Basin wanted more control over the development and 

distribution of Colorado River waters. To this end the Upper Basin states lobbied Congress for the right to 

form a compact of states and employ the doctrine of prior appropriation as it was codified in law in the 1922 

case Wyoming v. California. The doctrine of prior appropriation held that whoever developed a water source 

for beneficial use first held permanent rights to that water first in time, first in right. The Upper Basin states 

proposed a series of dams, funded in part by the Bureau of Reclamation, to help secure water from the 

Colorado River for the benefit of the Upper Basin. But there was no comprehensive map of the Glen Canyon 

region to aid in deciding possible dam placement. To this end, the U.S.G.S. conducted a mapping project of 

the Colorado River basin and Glen Canyon. Included in the U.S.G.S. survey were Bridge Creek and Aztec 

Creek. When the project was finished in 1923, Rainbow Bridge and its monument environs were part of the 

topographic data base. [167] The other significant result of the survey was the publication of the first plan to 

erect a dam in Glen Canyon and reclaim the meandering Colorado River for the benefit of the Upper Basin 

states.

As the water needs of southern California expanded, the Upper Basin states knew that reclamation was their 

only hope of making use of the waters of the Colorado River. One man working for the United States 

Geological Survey also believed the Colorado could be reclaimed. In 1916, Edward Clyde (E.C.) LaRue, 

chief hydrologist for the U.S.G.S., was convinced that reclamation and control of the Colorado River could 

be accomplished. LaRue favored a location somewhere in or near Glen Canyon. His first vision of a dam for 

the Colorado was a two hundred and forty-four foot gravity dam just below the mouth of the Paria River 

near Lee's Ferry, Utah. But LaRue changed his mind after taking part in the 1921 general mapping survey of 

Glen Canyon. After seeing the length of the lower Colorado River as it passed through Glen Canyon, LaRue 

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proposed a 780 foot dam be built four miles upstream from Lee's Ferry. His larger proposal would generate 

a reservoir of 50 million acre feet of water. LaRue thought this could be effectively accomplished by simply 

blasting the walls of Glen Canyon and modifying the resultant massive choke-stone of debris into a Glen 

Canyon dam. LaRue published his proposal a year after the completion of the general mapping survey. [168] 

Twenty years later, when the Bureau of Reclamation and others looked seriously at plans to dam sections of 

the Colorado, LaRue's idea was revived and formed the nucleus of the Colorado River Storage Project's plan 

for a Glen Canyon unit.

Charles Bernheimer's book Rainbow Bridge, as well as his various expeditions, revealed the vast diversity of 

the environs of Rainbow Bridge NM to a growing audience. That same audience also watched as the Upper 

Basin states signed the Colorado River Compact in 1922. The purpose of the Compact was no secret; dams 

were to be erected along the length of the Colorado River. Reclamation as a working philosophy was very 

popular in the West. Reclamation meant jobs, resources, and most importantly, control of the future 

distribution of the West's most valuable resource. Water had always been the most important issue in the 

Western states and the Compact reinforced that belief. Bernheimer, among others, recognized the possibility 

that dams could go up throughout Glen Canyon. To protect his beloved Rainbow Bridge, Bernheimer began 

a campaign in 1928 to lobby Congress to modify the monument's status to national park. He wrote letters to 

members of Congress, as well as NPS Director Stephen T. Mather, [169] Bernheimer also solicited the 

support of The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. This would be the first of many such 

schemes to make Rainbow Bridge a national park.

Acting Director Arno B. Cammerer replied to Bernheimer and others by pointing out the realistic problems 

of changing Rainbow Bridge to a national park: the lack of local infrastructure; the rugged terrain 

surrounding the monument which precluded development of roads and campgrounds; and the uncertain 

status of the surrounding lands. [170] Cammerer and others recognized the delicacy of dealing with both the 

Navajo Tribe and the San Juan Southern Paiute over the issue of land acquisition. The Paiute Strip, which 

surrounded the monument, had changed hands many times by 1928 and had only recently (1922) been 

returned to the public domain. At nearly the same time that Bernheimer proposed his plan, pressure was 

growing from many quarters to return the Strip to the local Navajos and Paiutes, and the Park Service did 

not want to jeopardize that process by attempting to accession more acreage in pursuit of a Rainbow Bridge 

national park. [171] By 1930, the Bureau of Indian Affairs was in the process of preparing legislation for 

Congress to return the Paiute Strip to Navajo control. Believing this transfer was a foregone conclusion, the 

Park Service did not seriously consider most early proposals to modify the monument's status. [172]

Proposals to make Rainbow Bridge a national park were not limited to the geographic boundaries of the 

Paiute Strip. Charles Bernheimer proposed another park, comprised of three sections, that was significantly 

larger than his 1928 vision. In 1931, despite the imminent return of the Paiute Strip to Navajo control, 

boosters formulated plans to create a Navajo National Park. The proposed park included all of the Paiute 

Strip, Navajo NM, and Natural Bridges NM. On the map it resembled a giant east/west diamond with 

Navajo Mountain near the center. Bernheimer lobbied tirelessly for his dream park. He obtained the support 

of the Clark Wissler and The American Museum of Natural History. [173] There was immense popular 

support for such a park. Letters poured into the Park Service's various offices between 1931 and 1933. The 

Salt Lake City Telegraph reported, "In the plans, the new national park will extend from Utah into northern 

Arizona, and will include the following: Rainbow natural bridge, Navajo national monument, the 

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Goosenecks in the San Juan river, Monument valley, the Utah natural bridges [national monument], and 

Arch canyon." [174] The supporters of this new park were getting press as well as official interest. But even 

as support grew, one problem remained the same: the land in the proposed park was almost entirely 

controlled by the Navajo Nation. The only land that was not under their direct control (the Paiute Strip) soon 

would be.

In March 1931 the Park Service investigated the possibility of establishing the proposed Navajo National 

Park. To that end, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent M.R. Tillotson and Yellowstone National 

Park Superintendent Roger W. Toll conducted a fact-finding trip to Rainbow Bridge country. Their 

conclusion was somewhat path breaking. In their assessment they vehemently supported establishing a 

Navajo National Park. Toll wrote, "this proposed national park would have great interest to the American 

public because of its unusual features of ethnology and archaeology, as well as because of its unique and 

remarkable scenic qualities." [175] The Park Service clearly recognized the diverse cultural makeup of the 

region surrounding Rainbow Bridge and thought it significant enough to include ethnology as reason to 

protect the region via national park status. This was exceptional thinking given the political climate in which 

Toll wrote this report. At nearly the same time that Toll and Tillotson toured the Navajo reservation, BIA 

administrators met in Washington, D.C. to finalize plans for large-scale reductions of Navajo sheep herds, a 

federal policy that most Navajos detested. Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier was an anathema to 

Navajos at large and especially to the Navajo Tribal Council. This feeling was so intense that a majority of 

Navajos voted against Tribal incorporation under the Wheeler-Howard Act just because Collier supported a 

federally approved Navajo constitution. [176] Federal involvement in the lives of Navajos at any level was 

not popular with members of the Tribe in the 1930s. Regardless, the Park Service supported a Navajo 

National Park because they thought would benefit everyone involved.

As part of a larger trip to the West, Director Horace M. Albright made his way to Rainbow Bridge and 

Navajo Mountain in late July 1932. At this time, John Wetherill was still the custodian of both Rainbow 

Bridge and Navajo NM. Prior to his trip, Director Albright corresponded with both Charles Bernheimer and 

Frederic A. Stearns. Bernheimer and Stearns tried to coax Albright into staying with and employing the 

Wetherills during the Rainbow Bridge leg of the journey. [177] There were still factions at work near the 

bridge, and those factions were divided along guide services. The Wetherills had long been thought of as the 

rightful heirs to the mantle of Rainbow Bridge tourism. After all, it was John Wetherill who "found" the 

bridge. Some locals thought of the Richardsons as intruders who made their living by capitalizing on the 

trail-breaking hard work of Wetherill and Bernheimer. Geographic proximity finally settled the argument. 

When Albright visited Rainbow Bridge in July 1932, he employed the Wilsons at Rainbow Lodge rather 

than Wetherill. The Director's aides selected Rainbow Lodge based on its fifteen-mile distance from the 

bridge. The Director was on a tight schedule and could not afford a ten-day pack trip that roamed all over 

the region. The Director was so impressed by Rainbow Bridge and the nearby lodge that he wrote to 

Katherine Wilson thanking her for their accommodations. Albright even offered support to the Wilsons, 

saying "I hope we [the Park Service] can find some way of helping your enterprise." [178] The Depression 

was in full swing and business was slow. Any kind of support, especially from the Director of the National 

Park Service, was welcomed by the Wilsons.

Director Albright's 1932 trip definitely augmented popular support for the idea to modify Rainbow Bridge's 

monument status along the lines of the Bernheimer plan. After seeing the region first hand, Albright was 

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convinced that a national park in some form should exist near the Four Corners. But the Park Service's 

desires could not keep pace with the political climate in which they existed. Because of the demands of the 

Depression, Congress was more inclined to employ men and women to improve existing units of the 

national park system, rather than create new units. Between 1925 and 1928, twenty-one new national 

monuments were established by Presidential proclamation. In the first years of the Depression, between 

1929 and 1932, only eight monuments were added to the national park system. [179] In addition to the 

economic chaos that eclipsed the Park Service's hopes, Congressional sentiment toward Native Americans 

was reaching crisis. At the same time that John Collier was arguing for Navajo stock reduction, Congress 

was debating passage of the Wheeler-Howard Act, commonly known as the Indian Reorganization Act. The 

mood of the first Roosevelt administration was one of conciliation toward Native Americans. Based in part 

on the liberal tendencies of the administration and the deplorable conditions revealed in the 1928 Meriam 

Report, that mood became the inspiration for letting the Navajo Tribe keep its ancestral homelands intact. 

[180] As a result of these forces, Congress returned the Paiute Strip to Navajo control in 1933. Negotiating 

an exchange of lands between the Navajo Tribe and the Park Service in this climate was unlikely. There 

would be no Navajo National Park during the Roosevelt administration. With the status of Rainbow Bridge's 

environs stabilized temporarily, public interest in exploring the monument for its scientific diversity grew to 

new levels.

There was much activity at the monument in the mid-1930s. Between 1933 and 1935 three separate 

scientific expeditions went into Rainbow Bridge NM and the surrounding environs with the express purpose 

of collecting sizable and accurate data on the area. These expeditions were organized by numerous 

professionals and largely without Park Service assistance. But the Park Service benefitted directly from the 

expeditions. The defined intent of the 1933 expedition was to provide "authentic and unbiased information 

which will be of both scientific and practical value to the Government and may help to form the basis for 

any plans which may be projected for the future administration of the area." [181] Ansel F. Hall, Chief of 

the Park Service's Field Division of Education, served a dual role in the Rainbow Bridge explorations. While 

the Park Service was not officially in charge, various Service employees (such as Hall) were involved in the 

expeditions. Due to the enormous financial strains of the Great Depression, NPS involvement was cursory; 

men like Hall administered all their expedition duties, such as planning or participation, on their own time 

and without using NPS resources. Hall led the 1933 group while on vacation from his post with the Park 

Service. The expedition was guided and supplied by John Wetherill. Since this was not a tourist endeavor, 

Wetherill was chosen for his knowledge of the terrain and ingenuity as a packer. The expedition was 

conducted as a cooperative effort and did not benefit from federal funding, since the Depression had made 

"unnecessary" scientific endeavors low funding priorities. The members of the expedition, teachers and 

students that came from universities across the nation, paid their own way to Kayenta and their share of the 

overall expedition costs. Certain transportation and technical services were "donated" by the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the U.S. Forest Service. Additional funding came 

from private monies provided by various academic institutions. [182]

The expedition considered itself to be a preliminary reconnaissance. The group members, including Hall, 

knew there would have to be investigation of the area beyond the 1933 season. Regardless, the initial trek 

yielded impressive results. The 1933 expedition had specific goals for each category of investigation. The 

engineering members generated a detailed map of the Rainbow Bridge Trail (from Rainbow Lodge) and of 

the monument itself. Numerous members of the group conducted a complete physiographic study of 

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Rainbow Bridge and its immediate environs. One group mapped the trail from Rainbow Lodge into the 

monument. Another group mapped Bridge and Forbidding Canyons. Geologists and engineers analyzed the 

physiographic history of the bridge and tried to construct an accurate picture of how the bridge evolved. The 

team members also ranged across the region, doing archeological field work at Puebloan sites in Tsegi 

Canyon as well as investigations related to paleontology, ornithology, and botany. Of major importance was 

the commitment to collecting primary ethnological data from Navajo and Paiute informants. This 

ethnological data centered around each Tribe's perception of itself as well as individual Tribal histories 

related to the immediate vicinity of Navajo Mountain, religion, and place names. [183]

After 1933, the effects of Collier's reorganized BIA could be felt even in remote field settings like the 

Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley expedition. Because the Navajo Tribe voted to exclude itself from 

reorganization under the Wheeler-Howard Act, no funding could be secured for an ethnologist to 

accompany the 1935 expedition. The language of Wheeler-Howard prohibited funding for ethnological 

research on any tribe that exempted itself from reorganization. This was a real blow to the expedition and 

the Park Service. Reliable data regarding local Indian populations was sorely needed during the critical 

1930s. But the Navajo unwittingly exempted themselves from ethnological study in their rejection of 

reorganization. [184]

The 1933 field work at Rainbow Bridge yielded interesting scientific and cultural results. Ansel Hall 

claimed in his summary report that the intent of the expedition was to provide raw data that could be used at 

a later date. In the introduction and conclusion of the report, Hall couched all of the rationale for the 

expedition in terms of the probability that the region would become home to a new national park. The field 

work continued during the summers of 1934 and 1935. Each of the successive years was marked by 

cooperative efforts between individuals and federal entities. Between 1934 and 1935 there was continued 

talk of developing some larger national park along the Rainbow Bridge corridor. These proposals were 

generally met with hesitancy by the Park Service, as the status of the land surrounding the existing 

monument was always at issue. Relations between the Navajo Tribe and the BIA and NPS did not improve 

very much in the 1930s. Interested parties like Bernheimer, who were outside the scope of federal control, 

were not privy to the pertinent data that made a larger national park seem unlikely. Senators and 

Congressmen, researchers and buffs were all in favor of simply declaring the larger Glen Canyon basin a 

federally managed area. They pointed to the exceptional findings of the various summer expeditions that 

validated the region's unique scientific and scenic value. But the Park Service knew that the area would not 

be wrested from Navajo control without serious opposition or lopsided concessions. [185] Hall, as subtly as 

possible, continued to "quietly" lobby for expansion of Rainbow Bridge's boundaries or the creation of a 

new national park in the area.

In 1936, Congress passed the Park, Parkway, and Recreational Area Study Act, a result of the lobbying 

efforts of men like Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. The Park Service had reached the conclusion 

that the Depression necessitated the urgent examination of the nation's recreational land base. The Act 

permitted the Park Service to make a comprehensive national survey of park and recreational programs. The 

survey was to be conducted in consultation with the National Resources Planning Board and individual state 

planning boards. What the Act did in retrospect was to codify in law the recreational penumbra and purpose 

of the National Park Service. The Park Service emerged from the 1930s as the preeminent federal recreation 

agency. [186] In theory, the Act boded well for Park Service desires to enlarge Rainbow Bridge NM and 

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reserve a larger corridor through Glen Canyon. But neither the Park Service nor Ickes accurately predicted 

the vehement opposition of Western states, especially Utah, with respect to preserving rights of access and 

use on lands the Park Service desired to reserve. In the West, the Park, Parkway, and Recreational Area 

Study Act ran headlong into the Taylor Grazing Act which had passed a little over a year prior.

In 1935 Secretary Ickes, in anticipation of the Park, Parkway, and Recreational Area Study Act's passage, 

began exploring numerous proposals for new or expanded national monuments in the Southwest. One area, 

labeled in a memo as the "Colorado River Exclusion," encompassed most of lower Glen Canyon. In its 

initial inception the area did not include Rainbow Bridge. The ostensible reason for excluding Rainbow 

Bridge was to avoid conflict with the Navajo Tribe. The boundaries of the proposed new monument, 

eventually referred to as Escalante National Monument, stopped along the northwestern border of the 

Navajo reservation. Ickes and the Park Service were aware of the existing political climate. The Paiute Strip 

had only been back under Navajo control for two years. The probability was low that the Navajo Nation 

would relinquish control of the Strip to help expand Park Service holdings in the region. Acting Director A.

E. Demaray notified various levels of Park Service personnel in the Southwest region about the intention of 

Secretary Ickes to secure an Escalante National Monument. This memo represented definite indication that 

the Park Service had decided to pursue protection of the Glen Canyon/Rainbow Bridge region on a greatly 

expanded scale. [187]

By September 1935, Superintendent Toll was openly lobbying the Director for a new national park or 

monument on the lower Colorado River at Glen Canyon. Toll suggested the new area be named Escalante 

National Monument. [188] At the same time the Rainbow Bridge Monument Valley Expedition had 

blossomed into a full-fledged organization, with a fourteen-member advisory staff and a three-member 

executive committee. The advisory staff included men such as John Collier, Horace M. Albright, and 

geologist Herbert E. Gregory. Ansel Hall remained as the expedition's general director. The Park Service 

also moved into a position of official sanctioner of the expedition, in terms of both permits and funds. 

Numerous direct expenses, including equipment and transportation costs, were approved to be paid by the 

Park Service for the 1935 expedition.

The Park Service knew that it would obtain invaluable information that would help bolster its lobbying 

position in support of a national park in lower Glen Canyon. [189] The Park Service also recognized the 

power of reclamation forces during this period. The Upper Basin states were busy planning their 

development of the Colorado River. In June 1935, Superintendent Toll wrote to the Commissioner of the 

Bureau of Reclamation requesting a "brief statement of the probable future use of the Colorado 

River." [190] Toll knew that the Colorado would be dammed at various points and wanted to be able to 

integrate Park Service proposals for monuments and parks into the larger matrix of water reclamation. For 

unknown reasons Commissioner Mead responded with the vague statement that Reclamation had no definite 

plans for development of the Colorado River or the Glen Canyon region. He referred Toll to various articles 

on existing projects such as Boulder Dam but refused to commit the Bureau to any development schemes on 

the upper Colorado. This kind of information vacuum was something Park Service officials would deal with 

for years to come, especially in relation to the Colorado River Storage Project (see chapter 6).

The Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley expeditions continued into the summer of 1936. The data collected 

over four years of expeditions was enormous. Based on the level of current and reliable data secured by 

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Hall's teams, the Park Service seriously considered national monument or national park status for a large 

portion of the Paiute Strip. When Charles Bernheimer inquired after the status of his own national park 

proposal from 1933, Director Cammerer replied that the Park Service was in fact preparing to lobby for a 

large monument that might eventually capture Rainbow Bridge and most of the Strip. [191] However, in its 

official form, the proposal for a new Escalante National Monument stopped at the San Juan River as it 

southern boundary. The 1936 expedition, which had grown in size to 73 men, made national headlines. Even 

Ford Motor Company, which provided many of the expedition vehicles, featured the expedition and its key 

personnel in an article for Ford News. The article extolled the virtues of science and, of course, Ford 

vehicles. [192] More important was the fact that the expedition as well as the environs of Rainbow Bridge 

received national press.

Aside from considering the creation of a new Escalante National Monument, Director Cammerer solicited 

the opinion of Frank Pinkley, Southwestern Monuments Superintendent, regarding the possibility of simply 

expanding the existing boundaries of Rainbow Bridge NM. Pinkley indicated to numerous personnel that the 

lack of reliable maps necessitated obtaining original Fairchild aerial maps and then verifying the contents of 

those photos through ground reconnaissance. By December 1937, Pinkley was able to make definite 

recommendations for expansion of Rainbow Bridge's boundaries. The proposed expansion included 

Rainbow Lodge, the trail from the lodge to the bridge, and much of the area southwest of Navajo Mountain 

and west to the Colorado River, then north to the San Juan River. All of the new territory lay within the 

Navajo reservation. On paper it was an impressive set of boundaries. But the practical pursuit of the plan 

invited many of the problems that the Park Service knew would accompany the removal of land from 

Navajo control. [193]

Unfortunately, numerous forces combined to derail both the Escalante National Monument proposal and the 

expansion of Rainbow Bridge's perimeter. The original Escalante proposal, which totaled some 6,900 square 

miles, looked more like the present Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It would have 

established a new preserve that straddled 280 miles of the canyons of the Colorado River, 150 miles of the 

Green River, and 70 miles of the San Juan River. [194] The area originally proposed totaled over 4,000,000 

acres. But the Taylor Grazing Act had only been law for one year prior to the inception of the Escalante 

proposal. The Taylor Act made long-standing traditions of open-range grazing a matter of law. [195] Utah 

residents were less than cordial to any Park Service proposals that tampered with their newly legalized 

rights. Their concerns were well founded. Despite protestations to the contrary, the Park Service intended to 

progressively phase out grazing in the proposed Escalante monument. In February 1936, Roger W. Toll and 

J. Lee Brown, representing the Park Service, conferred with Utah Congressman Abe Murdock over the 

details of the new Escalante National Monument. Murdock indicated that he favored continuation of grazing 

but "might agree to [Park Service proposals] limiting permits to present users and eventually eliminate 

grazing by not transferring permits or issuing new ones." [196]

Because of concerns from Utah residents and legislators over the viability of maintaining grazing and 

mineral rights in the new monument, the Escalante proposal was scaled back to 2,450 square miles that 

straddled a short section of the Colorado River as it passed through Glen Canyon. Even this modification 

met with disdain from Utah representatives. By 1940, Secretary Ickes was fighting numerous administrative 

battles in Congress, including attempts to reorganize various administrative departments under Interior 

control. According to historian Ronald A. Foresta, the rivalry between the Department of Interior and the 

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Department of Agriculture reached new heights under Ickes. Agriculture wanted to control western grazing 

lands that were then administered by Interior. At the same time, Ickes maneuvered to bring the Forest 

Service under Interior control so he could create a new Department of Conservation. Making the Forest 

Service and the National Park Service part of the same department would have given Secretary Ickes 

unprecedented levels of planning and control capability. The merger never took place, in large part because 

of President Roosevelt's ability to manage federal agencies. It is likely that the Western states would have 

lobbied fiercely to prevent the merger if Roosevelt had failed to step in. [197] These battles diminished 

Utah's opinion of any greater federal presence in the state. State leaders in the West represented a long 

tradition of trying to limit federal land control to those areas that generated revenue for the states. 

Reclamation was a favorite tool for Western legislators to meet that end. To complicate the situation a little 

more, the debate was heating up over preliminary plans for dams near Echo Park Canyon, which lay inside 

Dinosaur National Monument (see chapter 6). Utah representatives were concerned that Interior plans at the 

Park Service end would conflict with Reclamation plans for development of the Colorado River, leaving 

Utah in a bureaucratic stranglehold and unable to develop any resources.

In late 1939, the Park Service's support for legislation amending the 1906 Antiquities Act confirmed Utah's 

fears. The amendment would have empowered the President to authorize "national recreation areas" under 

the same criteria of the original Act. [198] Utah legislators thought this was tantamount to empire building 

on the part of Ickes and Interior. Had the legislation passed, Ickes may well have persuaded President 

Roosevelt to bypass Utah's objections and declare the proposed Escalante National Monument as a national 

recreation area. But Utah's Congressional leaders were able to block the Park Service's amendment and 

delay Presidential action long enough for the demands of World War II to supercede extended development 

of national monuments and national parks. [199]

World War II temporarily curtailed the Park Service's ability to expand the national park system. With 

America's entry into the war, the Park Service's operating budget was reduced by half and the Civilian 

Conservation Corps was eliminated. Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor the Park Service employed 

approximately 5,900 full-time employees. Yearly reductions in staff and field personnel left only 1,500 Park 

Service employees by June 1944. In 1940, Newton P. Drury became NPS Director. For the first five years of 

his eleven year term the Park Service focused almost exclusively on protection and maintenance goals. On 

more controversial issues, Drury remained true to the Park Service's mission. Secretary Ickes opened 

numerous national park units to war effort-related mining and logging. Drury opposed nearly every one of 

these measures. He never felt the complete favor of Secretary Ickes and was in a poor political bargaining 

position when the controversy erupted over Echo Park Canyon and the Colorado River Storage. [200]

Pinkley's proposed expansion of Rainbow Bridge's boundaries suffered the same fate as the Escalante 

National Monument proposal. Because of the controversy that escalated between Ickes and Utah leaders, 

Pinkley and Cammerer were unable to modify the Escalante National Monument proposal to include a 

southerly deviation that captured Rainbow Bridge. In addition, as World War II escalated and priorities 

shifted away from expanding monuments like Rainbow Bridge, maintaining the monument in its existing 

form was all the Park Service could accomplish. Ultimately, plans to expand Rainbow Bridge were hobbled 

by a series of events that really had little to do with the merit of Pinkley's proposal; in fact, the merits of 

expanding the monument were never debated or discussed beyond a small handful of key Park Service 

employees. Proposals to expand Rainbow Bridge NM did not surface again for another decade and then only 

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as part of the larger debate concerning the Colorado River Storage Project.

While World War II and federal/state conflict were definite impediments to expanding Rainbow Bridge NM, 

it was the shift to water reclamation policies that most affected the long term desires of the Park Service to 

modify the monument's borders. The Upper Basin states pursued plans to develop the upper Colorado River 

during the entire course of the war. When World War II ended, President Harry S Truman began promoting 

his Fair Deal efforts to employ millions of former military personnel. The Upper Basin states knew that they 

had the necessary combination of presidential support, available manpower, and legal right to pursue 

development of Colorado River reclamation. It was in this climate that the Colorado River Storage Project 

really took off. NPS and the Bureau of Reclamation both knew that trying to meld recreational preservation 

with hydroelectric development would be difficult. At the time, the only national recreation area was Lake 

Mead, created in 1936 after the construction of Boulder Dam. But the precedent for Park Service 

involvement in the recreational use of Reclamation projects was set at Lake Mead. During the Park, 

Parkway, and Recreational Area Study, Lake Mead was determined to hold enormous recreational potential. 

Managing this potential was definitely outside the purview of the Bureau of Reclamation in 1936; therefore, 

in October 1936 the Park Service signed an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation to manage public 

recreational use on and around Lake Mead National Recreation Area. [201] This new category of Park 

Service underpinned the transition to Glen Canyon NRA in the 1960s. It also made Reclamation projects in 

Glen Canyon more plausible.

The administrative difficulties of managing Rainbow Bridge NM between 1950 and 1955 centered around 

the Colorado River Storage Project (see chapter 6). In the early years of the proposal, consideration was 

given to the possible effects of impounded waters on Rainbow Bridge. The Park Service knew that a 

massive dam in Glen Canyon would eventually impound enough water to reach up the Colorado River and 

possibly invade the monument's boundaries. There was even early discussion between Park Service officials 

and the Bureau of Reclamation over developing protective structures that could prevent any adverse contact 

between the bridge and the waters of Lake Powell. But the Park Service maintained that until the dam was 

built and water was impounded, the possibility of any negative consequences to the bridge was merely 

speculation.

Based on the available data regarding Glen Canyon Dam, the Sierra Club organized a National Committee 

for a Glen Canyon National Park. It also organized a Utah committee dedicated to the same goal. In August 

1954, the Utah committee's spearhead, Dr. William R. Halliday, wrote to numerous club members regarding 

plans for the proposed park. The Utah Committee prepared a detailed statement in favor of a new national 

park that would straddle the Colorado River from Hite to Lee's Ferry and the San Juan River from Mexican 

Hat to the confluence with the Colorado. Naturally the proposal called for extended corridors around 

Rainbow Bridge. [202] The boundaries were strikingly similar to Secretary Ickes' Escalate National 

Monument proposal from the 1930s. Like most Sierra Club documents regarding Glen Canyon, the national 

park proposal was based on the Sierra Club's belief that the fiscal propriety of the dam was tenuous and the 

legal imperative regarding the protection of national parks and monuments was paramount. But the political 

reality of the mid-1950s was not favorable to the idea of protecting Glen Canyon. NPS Director Newton P. 

Drury had already resigned under the duress of trying to prevent dams in Echo Canyon and elsewhere. 

Douglas McKay occupied the office of Secretary of the Interior and was known to be in complete support of 

dams on the Colorado River. In addition, the Bureau of Reclamation enjoyed the favor of most of the 

Western states because their plans for the Colorado River ensured that the Upper Basin would receive its 

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rightful share of water in the face of California's voracious and growing need. The Sierra Club proposal 

never made it beyond its own committee. Congress approved the Colorado River Storage Project a year and 

a half later.

The first forty-five years of Rainbow Bridge NM were filled with activity. The Park Service during this 

period was dominated by people committed to the idea that Rainbow Bridge represented a stunning piece of 

natural architecture that should be preserved and protected. During the early life of the monument, the forces 

of reclamation and development were in a nascent phase and did not represent a serious challenge to the 

Park Service's mission at Rainbow Bridge. Between 1933 and 1955, regional demands for water and the 

growing political clout of the Bureau of Reclamation compelled the Park Service to reevaluate its goals at 

Rainbow Bridge. The Park Service was forced to consider management scenarios that included water from 

Lake Powell inside the boundaries of Rainbow Bridge NM. As will be seen in chapter 6, external forces put 

the Park Service and its leadership in an awkward position in their attempts to preserve the monument in its 

relatively unfettered state. The remote and "undiscovered" nature of Rainbow Bridge and Glen Canyon was, 

in the end, the greatest handicap the monument faced. The post-World War II fervor to reclaim the waters of 

the West was more than any federal agency, including the National Park Service, could compete against.

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Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 5:

Issues and Conflicts I: Rainbow Bridge Religion and Navajo Legal 

Claims, 1863-1998 (continued) 

There was and still is a long history of Native American activity at Rainbow Bridge. Between 1970 and 

1971, when the waters from Lake Powell began to creep up Bridge Canyon and into the monument, some 

Navajos were more than a little concerned. They were certain of their own history at the bridge and gave 

little thought to the fact that their history was unwritten. Outside some case-specific context, Navajos did not 

feel any need to record in written form the practice of religious ceremonies at Rainbow Bridge. Sometimes 

cultures overlook the significance of recording an activity when that activity is frequent and not out of the 

ordinary. In any event, the steady advance of encroaching waters between 1970 and 1974 dictated that the 

Navajo had to do something to preserve their religious heritage.

On September 3, 1974, the Navajo Legal Aid Society (DNA) filed suit in U.S. district court to stop waters 

from Lake Powell from entering Bridge Canyon. [219] The plaintiffs were eight Navajo singers, including 

Nakai Ditloi, Lamar Badoni, Teddy Holiday, and Jimmy Goodman. Shonto, Navajo Mountain, and 

Inscription House chapters of the Navajo Nation were also listed as plaintiffs. The suit named some 

important defendants: Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Gilbert R. Stamm; NPS Director George B. 

Hartzog; and Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton. The relief sought in the suit centered around the 

Navajo claim that "Rainbow Bridge [was] a religious symbol and a focal point through which many prayers 

and religious ceremonies derive meaning and vitality by reason of its role in the emergence of the Navajo 

people." The suit argued two major claims for relief. In the first claim, the suit alleged that the flooding of 

Bridge Canyon by water from Lake Powell desecrated or destroyed numerous sites of religious significance. 

Additionally, the improved accessibility to Rainbow Bridge provided by Lake Powell had resulted in 

thousands more tourists in the monument. This directly impeded the ability of Navajo singers and others 

from performing religious activities at and near the bridge. The negative physical impacts on Rainbow 

Bridge and its environs, occasioned by increased tourist visitation, were also cited as part of this claim for 

relief. As a result of these harms, the plaintiffs alleged that their ability to pursue the free exercise of religion 

was impeded by the current operational status of Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell.

The first claim for relief sought a specific response. The plaintiffs demanded that the Bureau of Reclamation 

and the National Park Service "to take appropriate steps to operate Glen Canyon Dam . . . in such a manner 

that the important religious and cultural interests of [the] plaintiffs will not be harmed or degraded." This 

meant releasing enough water from Lake Powell to let its waters recede from Bridge Canyon. It also meant 

implementing any measures necessary to curtail harmful tourist activities at the bridge. This claim expressed 

a concern that was new to the Park Service: Native American belief in the spiritual and cultural significance 

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of a natural edifice and the role of that edifice in the free exercise of a Native American religion. This 

concept predated the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) by four years. The language used in 

the DNA suit for describing the sacrosanct status of Rainbow Bridge and its relationship to Navajo religious 

freedom was strikingly similar to the language eventually used in the AIRFA. But in 1974, the AIRFA did 

not exist. It is likely that the significance of the Navajo suit and the damages claimed at Rainbow Bridge 

were definite contributors to the passage of the AIRFA in its final form. After all, the decision in Badoni v. 

Higginson came less than a year before the AIRFA. Unfortunately the documentary evidence to verify such 

a claim is beyond the resources and scope of this administrative history. [220]

Because the AIRFA was not law by 1974, the DNA suit made use of existing legislation to underpin the 

demand for injunctive relief at Rainbow Bridge. The second claim for relief raised the specter of the 

Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) and the historic relationship between the Department of the Interior 

and Native American tribes. This complaint stipulated that the improper operation of the Glen Canyon Dam 

violated Section 1 of the CRSP, which mandated the Secretary of the Interior to take adequate protective 

measures against the impairment of Rainbow Bridge NM. The suit stipulated that protecting the monument 

meant more than just safeguarding its physical resources. DNA attorneys argued that the plaintiffs were the 

intended beneficiaries of Section 1, because of their unique and verified interest in the integrity of the bridge 

and its environs.

The suit also observed that "the Secretary of the Interior, by virtue of his position of overseer of Indian 

Affairs, occupies the position of a fiduciary with respect to the plaintiffs, and thus owes them the highest 

level of care in actions taken by him which impinge on the rights and interests of [Navajos] and other Indian 

peoples." The historic relationship between the federal government and Native Americans was employed 

here to denote a vested Navajo interest in the effects of decisions made by the Secretary of the Interior. 

Navajo interests could not be separated from Rainbow Bridge interests; therefore, the Secretary of the 

Interior was obliged to protect Navajo interests as part of his obligation stipulated in Section 1 of the CRSP. 

The framers of the CRSP had obviously overlooked an important possibility in the intent of Section 1: that 

more than the physical elements of Rainbow Bridge required protection. Navajos were arguing that spiritual 

integrity was as important as physical integrity, which allowed the possibility that desecration of religious 

sites at Rainbow Bridge constituted impairment.

The issues in these claims clearly revolved around what constituted impairment and whether or not spiritual 

harm was a justifiable cause for relief. The courts had little practice establishing the veracity of Native 

American spiritual claims on natural features like Rainbow Bridge. In an unprecedented decision, Judge 

Aldon J. Anderson ordered a study be undertaken to determine the legitimacy of Navajo oral tradition 

regarding the religious significance of Rainbow Bridge. The court asked ethnographer Karl Luckert to 

complete this task. Luckert's collection of oral histories, Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge Religion,

was the result. Luckert designed a series of oral interview questions that tried to discern not only the details 

of the Navajo origin story but also the process by which that story was handed down for preceding 

generations. As discussed previously in this chapter, Luckert's efforts established a clear and consistent 

tradition of the bridge's importance to western Navajos.

Federal attorneys argued that summary judgement should be granted to the defendants for one simple, yet 

overwhelming, reason: the plaintiffs lacked claim to protection of free exercise of religion because they had 

no property interests in Rainbow Bridge NM. The Navajo Nation did not own the 160 acres that comprised 

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the monument; therefore, the government was under no obligation to protect Navajo religious freedom. 

Doing what the Navajo plaintiffs demanded regulating a unit of the national park system for the benefit of 

non-owners to conduct private religious ceremonies violated the Establishment Clause of the First 

Amendment.

The First Amendment forbids Congress from establishing a state religion; consequently, legal disputes have 

arisen periodically over government actions that might constitute an endorsement of a specific religion. This 

historical controversy became a permanent part of the legal disputes involving Rainbow Bridge. 

Government attorneys further argued that regulating tourist traffic at the monument in such a way that 

permitted Navajo access to the bridge for religious reasons while denying non-Navajo visitor access also 

constituted a violation of the Establishment Clause. The defendants claimed that for any violation of free 

exercise to occur, the plaintiffs had to establish a verifiable claim on the site where religious ceremonies 

took place.

Federal attorneys also filed a motion to strike the Luckert report, arguing that the subjectivity of the report's 

contents could not be contested by law. The court's reaction to the report was two-sided. On one side the 

court recognized the validity of Navajo claims to a court's decision to rule in summary judgement in favor of 

the defendants. As an aside, the court said it "the accepts as established and true all the facts and conclusions 

in the affidavit and monograph of Dr. Luckert." [221]

Unfortunately for the Navajo plaintiffs, the court's willingness to accept the existence of some religious 

tradition was not enough. Judge Anderson ruled against the Navajos on December 30, 1977, citing two 

rationales for denying Navajo claims. First, the plaintiffs did not have a free exercise claim because they had 

no property interest in the monument. The government, by extension, had no responsibility to uphold the 

free exercise of religion on land it managed as part of the federal estate. Second, even if the plaintiffs could 

prove a cognizable free exercise claim, the government's interests in the continued operation of Glen 

Canyon Dam and the larger CRSP outweighed any free exercise claims made by the Navajos. Regarding the 

specific claims of religious significance at Rainbow Bridge, Judge Anderson went even further. 

Underpinning his ruling, Anderson cited Wisconsin v. Yoder, a case involving the Wisconsin Board of 

Education and a group of Amish residents. In Yoder, the court ruled that Wisconsin laws regarding 

compulsory public education violated Amish principles and the free exercise of their religion. [222] In the 

final ruling on Yoder, the Supreme Court concluded that the Amish claim to protection under the First 

Amendment was valid because the traditional way of life for the Amish was not simply a matter of personal 

preference but "one of deep religious conviction, shared by an organized group, and intimately related to 

daily living."

It seemed to the Navajos and their attorneys that Yoder actually supported the claims on Rainbow Bridge. 

The Navajo chapters listed as plaintiffs were an organized group, their religion was a way of life, Navajos 

had no choice about their Native American birth identity. Moreover, the court had acknowledged the 

veracity of Navajo faith regarding Rainbow Bridge in its support of Luckert's monograph. But Judge 

Anderson interpreted Yoder differently than the plaintiffs. On the issues of religion, Rainbow Bridge, and 

the free exercise of Navajo beliefs, Anderson wrote "the present plaintiffs have gone to great lengths to 

construct a cognizable action out of their claim of First Amendment religious infringement. Again, however, 

even assuming that all the assertions as to the existence of plaintiffs' beliefs are true, it is apparent that these 

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interests do not constitute 'deep religious conviction[s], shared by an organized group and intimately related 

to daily living.'" [223] Based on the apparent contradiction of this rationale, DNA attorneys appealed the 

Anderson decision to the federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

The appeals process is generally a long and winding road. This was not the case in Badoni v. Higginson.

DNA attorneys filed their appeal August 16, 1978, five days after passage of the American Indian Religious 

Freedom Act. The appeal reasoned that the lower court "in determining the existence of sincere and bona 

fide religious beliefs on the part of the appellants. . . disregarded the record, [and] applied erroneous and 

unduly restrictive legal standards." [224] Much of the appeal concerned the lower court's decision regarding 

Navajo property interests in the monument. Attorneys for the Navajos argued that free exercise claims could 

be predicated solely on non-economic interests and that title to the land in question was irrelevant. The 

appeal contended that the Navajo possessed historic and aboriginal claims on the area surrounding Rainbow 

Bridge, claims denied only by the Treaty of Bosque Redondo and the illegal use of force in removing the 

Navajos to a reservation. The land surrounding the bridge had been added to the Navajo reservation by 

executive order on May 17, 1884. It remained part of the Navajo reservation until it was removed by another 

executive order on November 19, 1892. Given that Navajo cultural tradition maintained aboriginal claims on 

the bridge, and the federal government had at one time codified this claim in executive order, Navajo 

attorneys argued there was significant reason for the appellate court to rethink the standards for "property 

interest." Citing numerous legal precedents, the Navajo appellants maintained that proving actual title was 

not material to establishing interest in property. [225]

If the Navajo plaintiffs could claim an interest in Rainbow Bridge without establishing title, the appellate 

court would then weigh the interests of the government against the religious interests of the Navajos. To this 

end, the appeal indicted the application of Yoder as a standard for testing religious conviction. The appeal 

contended that even the Supreme Court recognized that the Amish standard was one which few other 

religions meet. Requiring that any religious claim made under the First Amendment must constitute deep 

religious conviction and be shared by an organized group and be intimately related to daily living would 

exclude many beliefs traditionally recognized as religions. Many religious people or groups have eclectic 

beliefs that are not uniformly shared; very few can make the Amish claim that their beliefs are thoroughly 

and intimately related to the daily lives of their adherents. In Anderson's application of Yoder, most religions 

and their adherents would not be protected by the First Amendment. [226] This was a compeling argument. 

The appeal further contended that the standard in Yoder was more a test of what constituted religious 

lifestyle than it was a test for determining religious veracity. In Yoder, the Supreme Court never questioned 

the legitimacy of the Amish religion. The appellants claimed that Yoder was incorrectly applied in Badoni.

The appellate court was not swayed. The Navajos hoped that the national and legislative mood embodied in 

the AIRFA would favor their case. The AIRFA had been law for two years when the district court 

announced its decision. But it was not a decision or rationale the Navajos expected. To the issue of property 

interests in the monument, the appellate court responded that establishing an interest was not necessary as a 

consideration in evaluating a legitimate free exercise claim. To the issue of whether or not Navajo religion 

was an established enough practice to be protected under the First Amendment, the court responded 

favorably. Judge Logan, writing for the appellate court, said that in reviewing Judge Anderson's summary 

judgement, the court viewed "the facts and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most 

favorable to [the] plaintiffs." Logan subsequently validated most of the Navajo claims regarding their 

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religious interests at the bridge: the existence of sacred springs, the need to pray at the bridge, generational 

importance of the bridge to Navajos, and the desecrating effect of tourist activity and inundation on Bridge 

Canyon and its holy environs as a result of allowing Lake Powell waters to enter the monument. Effectively 

Judge Logan was acknowledging that Navajo religious activity was a protected free exercise of religion, 

based on the validity of Navajo oral and cultural tradition rather than the existence of any title claim to the 

land in question. The most surprising part of the ruling was the court's assessment of whether or not Navajo 

First Amendment rights could be balanced against federal interests in Lake Powell.

One of the government claims in the lower court decision stated that regardless of the veracity of the Navajo 

religious claims, the government can preclude the free exercise of religion if there are interests of great 

enough magnitude to justify the infringement. In the case of Rainbow Bridge, the district court paid special 

attention to the fact that Glen Canyon Dam was one in a chain of water storage projects which meant that its 

significance was married to the overall Colorado River Storage Project and could not be evaluated in the 

vacuum of a religious freedom claim, Judge Logan wrote:

We agree with the trial court that the government's interest in maintaining the capacity of 

Lake Powell at a level that intrudes into the Monument outweighs plaintiffs' religious 

interest . . . . [Evidence] shows that the storage capacity of the lake would be cut in half if the 

surface level were dropped to an elevation necessary to alleviate the complained of 

infringements. The required reduction would significantly reduce the water available to the 

Upper Basin States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming from the Colorado River. 

Such a reduction . . . would among other things limit and reduce the development of water 

supplies within these States on either a permanent basis or on a limited long-term basis for 

irrigation purposes, for development of mineral and other natural resources, and for municipal 

and industrial water supplies. . . . Moreover, it is reasonable to conclude that no action other 

than reducing the water level would avoid the alleged infringement of plaintiffs' beliefs and 

practices. In these circumstances we believe the government has shown an interest of a 

magnitude sufficient to justify the alleged infringements. [227]

Despite the legislative mood favoring the free exercise of Native American religion, and the court's 

favorable opinion of Navajo religious claims, the court ruled in favor of federal managers. Judge Logan 

balanced the interests of the Navajos with the interests of the various states involved in the CRSP and on 

that playing field, religious freedom could not compare with economic prosperity. The Navajos were left 

with the unpalatable reality that they had proven their case but did not measure up to the interests of the state 

or federal government.

On specific Navajo claims that NPS policy encouraged increased and reckless visitation by tourists, and the 

effect of that visitation on Navajo religious practices, the appellate court was less generous. Granting Navajo 

demands for periodic private access to conduct religious ceremonies or ordering the Park Service to enact 

regulations designed to force monument visitors into solemn or deferential behavior would constitute federal 

endorsement of one religion over all others at the monument. This, the court ruled, would clearly violate the 

Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. On this claim, the issue of real property interest also worked 

to the disadvantage of the Navajos. Judge Logan wrote "we find no basis in the law for ordering the 

government to exclude the public from public areas to insure privacy during the exercise of First 

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Amendment rights. . . . We do not believe plaintiffs have a constitutional right to have tourists act in a 

respectful and appreciative manner. . . . Were it otherwise, the Monument would become a governmentmanaged religious shrine." [228]

The key, according to the court, was that no matter what title-based claims Navajos had made in the past, 

Rainbow Bridge NM was a public area and all members of the public had equal right to access and use. As 

long as no law was being broken, federal managers were not empowered or obligated to regulate the 

behavior of monument visitors. Navajos were left in a quandary. While the court had validated some of the 

most important moral claims made by Navajos (issues of religious veracity), the ruling made it a matter of 

law that Native American religious interests could be violated if the opposing interests were compelling 

enough to justify infringing on First Amendment protections. The Navajo Nation did not find relief for its 

claims in the courts. The development of a policy that addressed both Navajo and Park Service needs at the 

monument would have to evolve from mutual cooperation, not from a judicial order. It was not long before 

the Park Service and the Navajo Nation started looking for the middle-ground many issues.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 5)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 5:

Issues and Conflicts I: Rainbow Bridge Religion and Navajo Legal 

Claims, 1863-1998 (continued) 

The National Park Service spent much of the 1960s embroiled in numerous legal battles involving Section 1 

of the CRSP and protection of Rainbow Bridge (see chapter 6). Between 1960 and 1978, the Secretary of the 

Interior and the Director of the National Park Service were sued four times by three separate groups. 

Rainbow Bridge and its particular relationship with Lake Powell was a never-ending source of controversy. 

Despite this atmosphere, the Park Service fostered certain relationships with care and concern. Between 

1960 and 1975 the Park Service dedicated significant time and resources to developing a cooperative 

agreement with the Navajo Nation over fights, access, and commercial management at Lake Powell. The 

details of those negotiations are discussed in Chapter 7. Suffice to say that Park Service personnel were 

concerned with ensuring the Nation was treated fairly at Lake Powell while still maintaining a proper degree 

of visitor access at Rainbow Bridge. The Nation was more than stressed by the process of dealing with 

Anglo bureaucrats over issues it thought were non-issues. Navajos never understood or agreed with the need 

to comply with Park Service and Reclamation regulations and requirements concerning concessions and 

facilities at Lake Powell. The combination of this strained relationship with local Navajos and the reality 

check imposed by Badoni v. Higginson also compelled NPS to reevaluate its interpretive perceptions of 

Rainbow Bridge.

The mood of most Navajos after Badoni was subdued. They realized too late that the economic importance 

of water reclamation was more than their lawyers or prayers could manage. But the Park Service was not 

immune to the Navajos' needs at Rainbow Bridge. Badoni made it plain to the Park Service how the Navajo 

Nation felt about Rainbow Bridge. Badoni made public the Navajo belief that Rainbow Bridge was central 

to their origin story and that prolonged desecration of the bridge would not be tolerated. In internal memos 

written during the 1974 suit, the Park Service took stock of its secular interpretation of Rainbow Bridge. 

NPS maintained that its defense in the suit was not directed at Navajo beliefs about Rainbow Bridge. The 

plaintiffs, as part of the many claims for relief in Badoni, demanded that the Park Service restrict visitor 

access to the bridge in favor of Navajo religious use. As a matter of legislative mission the National Park 

Service was compelled to deny this request, adhering to the legal and legislative tenet that Rainbow Bridge 

was part of the public domain and must remain accessible to the public. Access could not be denied no 

matter who held it sacred. But the mood at the Park Service changed during the suit.

Thirty-eight days after the court issued a decision in Badoni, and months before the AIRFA passed, the 

Secretary of the Interior instructed Park Service personnel to begin accounting for Native American cultural 

resources in management and planning activities. The Secretary outlined this policy in Special Directive 78-

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1, which read in part:

In carrying out its mandate for the conservation and public enjoyment of park lands and their 

resources, the Service, consistent with each park's legislative history, purpose and 

management objectives, will develop and execute its programs in a manner that reflects 

informed awareness, sensitivity, and serious concern for the traditions, cultural values and 

religious beliefs of Native Americans who have ancestral ties to such lands. [229]

The purpose of SD 78-1 was to revise the Park Service's overall management plan to include Native 

Americans in significant and official ways. Even if the Park Service knew that the AIRFA was imminent, 

this was a bold step. The Park Service revamped its own policy to account for issues raised in both Badoni

and the eventual passage of the AIRFA. SD 78-1 also directed local park and monument managers to 

encourage and foster Native American involvement in local policies related to cultural resource 

management, and planning. SD 78-1 was not ambiguous with its intent: "Where planning, development, or 

interpretation relate to Native American interests, consultation with Native Americans is very important."

Within two months, the Statement for Management for Rainbow Bridge NM was in flux. In January 1979, 

the Park Service completed an informal survey of all of its units regarding the potential for religious 

significance to Native American groups. While the report was cursory, it concluded, "it is generally 

understood that Rainbow Bridge has a sacred significance to the Navajo." [230] The Statement for 

Management for Rainbow Bridge was expanded to include discovery and development of the cultural 

significance of the bridge. By 1979 the Park Service developed and adopted a religious liaison program to 

meet the legal requirements of the AIRFA. The program appointed special liaisons to help with 

implementation of the specific tenets of the AIRFA. Consulting religious leaders from every tribe affected 

by the AIRFA was a key goal in the early 1980s. [231] In 1981 the Park Service completed a draft version of 

the Native American Relationships Policy (NARP), an extension of the religious liaison program. The Park 

Service realized that part of its mission, in light of the AIRFA, was to interpret in certain park areas the 

"cultural heritage of the Native American." The legislative intent of the AIRFA trickled down to Rainbow 

Bridge in the form of yet another revision to the monument's statement for management. The revised 

management objective was "to strive to foster and maintain a better cooperative relationship for the use and 

protection of the national monument with the Navajo Tribe." [232] The Park Service knew it could not 

remove the waters of Lake Powell from the monument; but, it was willing to accommodate the Navajo 

Nation to the best of its ability while staying within legal limits.

As plans solidified during the 1980s for equitable management of Lake Powell's resources, the Park Service 

undertook an ethnographic study project. Pauline Wilson, the American Indian Liaison for Glen Canyon 

National Recreation Area (NRA), conducted numerous interviews with members of the local Navajo Nation 

chapters. The interviews were specifically designed to discern the level and type of religious activity 

engaged in at Rainbow Bridge. Based on these interviews, Wilson determined that Navajos "viewed their 

religious significance of the Rainbow Bridge as a very private activity." Wilson also noted that "in this 

situation, the public has impacted the Bridge so much that it has limited the religious activities tremendously 

since the lake establishment. Therefore, the Navajo People have adjusted to the impact rather than opposing 

the situation." [233] That lack of opposition did not last much longer.

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To cope with the numerous command and control issues at Rainbow Bridge, the Park Service also began 

working on a General Management Plan (GMP) for the monument. The GMP went through numerous 

revisions before sufficient cooperative efforts produced the final draft. As a result, the Park Service realized 

that some of its management efforts made during the previous thirteen years did not address the expanding 

expectations of Navajos and tourists. More of the administrative details of the GMP are explored in chapter 

7. But one of the major tools developed in the GMP was a framework for dealing with the religious issues 

surrounding Rainbow Bridge. An important part of this plan was limiting the number of visitors to Rainbow 

Bridge to approximately 400 people at one time (PAOT). [234] This constituted an overall increase in 

annual visitation but might reduce the maximum daily visitation during peak months. The first draft of the 

GMP also suggested that everyone who wanted to visit the bridge, including Navajos, should be required to 

obtain a permit and reservation prior to their visit. The permit proposal met with immediate criticism from 

both Navajo and Anglo sources. Alan S. Downer, the historic preservation officer for the Navajo Nation, 

said it was absurd to suggest that Navajos be required to obtain a permit to use something they had always 

considered sacred and holy. Speaking in the local press, Downer suggested other additions to the GMP: 

stricter limits on visitation, mandatory Navajo interpreters, and restricted traffic under the bridge. [235] Terri 

Martin of the National Parks and Conservation Association agreed with Downer, reiterating that the 

proposed visitation limits in the GMP would definitely result in overcrowding at the bridge and extensive 

ecological damage. [236] Martin suggested that the result would be "a carnival type atmosphere." [237] The 

Navajo Nation was certainly opposed to this possibility.

The first draft of the GMP, published in September 1990, was not an adequate response to the multifaceted 

concerns over Rainbow Bridge. The lack of local input was obvious. To remedy this problem, the Park 

Service involved the local chapters of the Navajo Nation even more closely than before. Each affected 

Navajo chapter held planning meetings to express detailed concerns over the GMP. Park Service officials 

were present at many of these meetings. The various drafts of the GMP that followed these input and 

planning sessions were significantly different from the first draft. Some of the modifications included 

limiting visitation during peak season to fewer than 300 PAOT. Revisions also suggested daily time 

restrictions on visitation, providing tour groups a limited window of four to six hours to see the monument. 

[238] By February 1992, the most recent draft of the GMP limited visitation to between 40 and 200 PAOT. 

It also included proposals for a reservation system and a shuttle service that moved people from a contact 

station outside the mouth of Bridge Canyon to the docks below Rainbow Bridge. [239] These changes 

represented the management direction most preferred by the Navajo Nation.

By June 1993, the final draft of the General Management Plan was ready. The visitation level was set at 200 

people at one time during the peak season. The plan also recommended that NPS interpreters be assigned to 

all tour boats entering the monument. This part of the GMP had two purposes: to facilitate monument 

interpretation and to ensure orderly and appropriate ingress and egress at the monument docking facilities. 

While the GMP allowed for discouragement of visitor access to areas close to the bridge, the plan made no 

stipulation restricting visitors from approaching the bridge via approved trail access. The plan classified the 

entire monument a "natural zone." This meant that in addition to the bridge's proposed status as a traditional 

cultural property, the monument would be managed based on natural resource sensitivity and the potential 

for negative impacts to extant ecology. The bridge represented the outstanding natural feature subzone; by 

extension, NPS was to manage the monument based on concerns for the bridge's physical integrity and not 

just its importance to Native Americans. The final GMP made no attempt to restrict visitor access in 

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deference to Native American use; in fact, the GMP referenced Badoni a number of times to reiterate the 

Park Service's mission to manage for the benefit of the general public. The final GMP also included an 

interpretive prospectus that mapped the history of the monument; the area's significance; the monument's 

cultural and natural resources; and, the history of the area's use coupled with Native American concerns. 

[240] But even the execution of a management plan would not help the Park Service avoid conflict or 

controversy in administering the monument.

Rainbow Bridge was a contested space as soon as it was first mapped. The debates ranged from who 

discovered what and when they discovered it to the controversial role of dams and reservoirs in the national 

park system to the responsibilities of officials charged with protecting the bridge from harm and preserving 

it for religious use. Navajos had long been present in the region, even when Anglos were nowhere near 

Navajo Mountain. The frustrations of some Navajos over religious use and restricted access came to a head 

in 1995. On August 11, 1995 a small group of Navajos and Anglos calling themselves Protectors of the 

Rainbow, announced that beginning immediately they wanted to deny public access to the bridge for a fourday period. They intended to perform cleansing and other religious ceremonies that they could not perform 

during the constant flow of tourist activity. [241] By 1995 over 1,000 tourists per day (during peak season) 

made the trek along Lake Powell into the monument. The Protectors of the Rainbow were angry that despite 

the best intentions of the Park Service, visitation had increased after the GMP was adopted in 1993 and 

abuses at the bridge continued. The Protectors of the Rainbow felt that the trust Navajos extended to the 

Park Service had been violated. "Many desecrations and defilements have been permitted by the Park 

Service during the 25 years in which the Navajo Nation has allowed the Park Service to conduct tours [at the 

bridge]," claimed the press release issued by the Protectors of the Rainbow. [242]

The Park Service responded with deference. There were no attempts made to remove the protesters, and the 

ceremonies took place without incident. [243] On August 15, four days after the protest began, the 

Protectors of the Rainbow ended their ceremonies and returned control of the bridge to the Park Service. In a 

post-occupation press conference, members of Protectors of the Rainbow said they wanted to demonstrate 

"Navajo sovereignty and to bring a renewed level of spirituality to the people." [244] The protestors also 

made references to frustrations over their failure to secure tour boat concessions from the Park Service. The 

Navajo Mountain Chapter of the Navajo Nation denied any affiliation with the protest, as did the Navajo 

Nation. Regardless, the event illustrated that some Navajos were not willing to watch passively while the 

bridge was continually over-crowded. The Park Service for its part became even more willing to do what it 

could to facilitate respect for Navajo beliefs at Rainbow Bridge while still adhering to its own legislative 

mission and the letter of the law as expressed in Badoni.

In July 1995, the Park Service placed a sign near the bridge asking tourists and visitors not to approach or 

walk under the bridge. The new signage was part of the requirements of a Programmatic Agreement (PA) 

signed by the Park Service and five Native American tribes that claimed cultural or spiritual affinity with 

Rainbow Bridge. The intent was not to physically prevent any visitor from approaching the bridge but to 

"discourage" such activity. In addition, the Park Service removed references in printed materials to the two 

historic trails so as to discourage excessive hiking in the region. The PA formalized plans to for a viewing 

area, located at the trail head. The viewing area was constructed from a natural Kayenta Sandstone platform 

bordered by small boulder. Rather than pave the trail to the bridge, the Park Service used a pine-based 

organic hardener to stabilize the trail. The organic hardener would not restrict the movement of Navajo 

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spirits to and from the various under worlds. The one thing the Park Service could not do was require 

tourists to stay back from the bridge.

How far the Park Service could go in regulating visitor access and activity at a national monument was 

tested in Wyoming District Court in 1996. In February 1995, NPS managers at Devils Tower National 

Monument (NM) did two things. First, in their Final Climbing Management Plan (FCMP), they instituted a 

voluntary ban on climbing during the month of June, "in respect for reverence many American Indians hold 

for Devils Tower as a sacred site, rock climbers will be asked to voluntarily refrain from climbing on Devils 

Tower during the culturally significant month of June." In addition, the Park Service, placed signs along 

access trails to the Tower which indicated the lands off-trail were sacred to Native Americans. The signs 

asked hikers not to leave the trail. Lastly, NPS decided that if the voluntary ban was not sufficiently 

successful, it would encourage compliance by not issuing any commercial use licences for guided climbing 

activity. Facing issues similar to those at Rainbow Bridge, Park Service personnel at Devils Tower NM 

decided to defer to Native American interests through a dedicated policy of voluntary compliance. [245]

The policy continued through the 1995 season and commercial permits were denied in June 1995. The 

lawsuit came in March 1996 in Wyoming District Court. In Bear Lodge Multiple Use Association v. Babbitt,

climbing guides filed suit based on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, arguing that the Park 

Service's express purpose for restricting commercial and private activity at Devils Tower NM was to 

promote Native American religion. [246] The Court split in its June 1996 decision. The Court held partly for 

the plaintiffs, ruling that refusing legitimate commercial activity permits for the purpose of securing private 

Native American religious access to the Tower was a violation of the Establishment Clause. But the Court 

also ruled for the Park Service on the constitutionality of their policy of voluntary compliance with not 

climbing during the month of June and voluntarily refraining from leaving the trails that accessed the Tower. 

The Court specifically stated:

The Defendants' efforts to fashion a voluntary program whereby climbers are encouraged to 

show respect for American Indian religious and cultural traditions is both laudable and 

constitutionally permissible. The Defendants' solicitous concerns for Indian religion and 

efforts to provide reasonably unfettered access to Indian sacred sites is also in keeping with 

the American Indian Religious Freedoms Act ("AIRFA"), 42 U.S.C.1996. Yet it must be 

remembered that the purpose of this act is to ensure that American Indians are afforded the 

protections guaranteed by the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause and was not intended 

to grant rights to Indians in excess of those guarantees. [247]

The Park Service at Devils Tower NM subsequently modified the FCMP to allow for the Court's ruling, 

eliminating the ban on commercial climbing permits during June. The Mountain States Legal Fund, 

litigating on behalf of Bear Lodge, appealed the Court's second order concerning the constitutionality of a 

voluntary climbing ban. Eventually the Supreme Court refused to hear argument on the case and the 

Wyoming Court's opinion held in the absence of Supreme Court action. The Park Service had a firm idea of 

how far it could go to facilitate relations with Native American groups with respect to visitor activity at a 

national monument.

After Bear Lodge, and in consultation with Native American groups, Park Service personnel at Glen Canyon 

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NRA modified the signage at Rainbow Bridge once more. In 1997 the Park Service placed a sign at the 

viewing area (250 feet north of the bridge) that asked visitors to voluntarily refrain from walking directly 

under the bridge. [248] Joe Alston, superintendent for Glen Canyon NRA, knew that any attempt to prohibit 

public access to the bridge in favor of Native American religious beliefs would be seen the same way the 

commercial climbing ban was interpreted at Devils Tower NM. Using the word "voluntary" clarified the 

intent of the Park Service's policy. The Park Service never intended to prohibit access to the bridge. Even 

Native American groups whom the Park Service regularly consulted agreed that total prohibition would not 

work. The contemporary policies concerning Native American religion and access to Rainbow Bridge are 

detailed more thoroughly in Chapter 8.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 6)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 6:

Issues and Conflicts II: Rainbow Bridge National Monument and the 

Colorado River Storage Project, 1948-1974 (continued) 

The desire to protect Rainbow Bridge also became a matter of law during the battle over the CRSP. 

Environmentalists had successfully manipulated public opinion against Echo Park dam. The thousands of 

letters people sent to Congress were reportedly running eighty to one opposing the dam. [266] Even 

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay withdrew his support for Echo Park dam in late 1955. [267] To 

solidify their imminent victory at Echo Park, the Council of Conservationists and Brower agreed to back off 

of the proposed dam at Glen Canyon. Glen Canyon was not protected with any federal designation and the 

threat to Rainbow Bridge was distant at best. Brower grudgingly was convinced that the Bureau of 

Reclamation would keep its promises to protect Rainbow Bridge, but not without certain provisos. [268] In 

October 1955, Brower and the Council of Conservationists agreed to cease opposition to the CRSP on two 

conditions. First, Reclamation had to remove all language regarding Echo Park and Dinosaur NM from the 

CRSP. In addition, the CRSP had to include language designed to protect Rainbow Bridge and to protect 

any other national parks or monuments from Reclamation projects. The Bureau of Reclamation accepted the 

offer. Congress fast-tracked the legislation and a bill that included all the necessary protective language was 

approved on March 28, 1956. Two weeks later, on April 11, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the 

CRSP into law. Construction on Glen Canyon Dam began October 15, 1956. [269]

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Figure 26 Glen Canyon, 1909 (Julius F. Stone Collection, 

NAU.PH.97.34.152, Cline Library, Northern Arizona 

University)

The legislation that authorized Glen Canyon Dam was specific regarding both Rainbow Bridge and the 

national park system at large. The last line of Section 1 of the CRSP assured "as part of the construction, 

operation, and maintenance of the Glen Canyon unit the Secretary of the Interior shall take adequate 

protective measures to preclude impairment of the Rainbow Bridge National Monument." [270] Section 3 

stated "it is the intention of Congress that no dam or reservoir constructed under the authorization of this Act 

shall be within any national park or monument." [271] In theory, these stipulations were as clear as they 

could be. The provisos were specifically included to assuage the fears of environmentalists and to guarantee 

that a battle like the one fought over Echo Park would never be fought again. In practice, however, this was 

not what happened.

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Controversy over Rainbow Bridge and the effect of Glen Canyon Dam on the monument erupted even 

before the CRSP legislation was authorized. The National Parks Association took the stand that the Park 

Service and the Bureau of Reclamation had not considered all the threats to Rainbow Bridge. Protective 

structures, such as a barrier dam, built north of the bridge in Bridge Creek, would only keep water from 

coming up the canyon to the bridge. What about the water coming down the canyon that would back up 

behind the barrier dam? In response to such criticisms, Reclamation and NPS planners explored provisions 

for pumping apparatus to be installed at the barrier dam. [272] Critics also charged that other impacts were 

not addressed at any of the Congressional hearings, such as the effects of building protective measures on 

the surrounding landscape. There were no roads to any of the possible barrier dam sites, and every site 

required a dam at least 150 feet high and 100 feet in span. While these were only small projects in 

comparison to Glen Canyon Dam, the relative effect of a "small" dam on the fragile sandstone ecosystem of 

Bridge Creek could be enormous. In July 1955, NPS Director Conrad Wirth received a letter from Acting 

Regional Director Hugh Miller detailing the possible effects of building various protective measures at 

Rainbow Bridge. In the margins of the letter, Wirth made a handwritten notation of his feelings about the 

proposal: "What an unholy mess they are going to make of a once wonderful national monument." [273] The 

problem of protecting Rainbow Bridge was expanding even as President Eisenhower signed the CRSP into 

law.

Over the next three years the Park Service worked closely with Reclamation and U.S.G.S. personnel on 

substantive plans and cost estimates for the protective works which Reclamation was required to construct. 

While high-ranking members of NPS were politically hamstrung in any effort to stop construction of the 

dam, they did actively pursue planning for protective measures. The documentary evidence between 1956 

and 1959 indicates that during this period Park Service personnel at every level were in nearly constant 

contact with counterparts at the Bureau of Reclamation. Together they explored numerous plans, 

alternatives, and technologies that would allow Rainbow Bridge to remain untouched by Lake Powell. All 

this effort was in preparation of some kind of finalized report on how the agencies involved could best 

protect the bridge.

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Figure 27 Proposed Sites For Protective Measures (Courtesy of 

Glen Canyon NRA, Interpretation Files. Photo by A.E. Turner)

In August 1959, the Bureau of Reclamation finished its report on the alternatives for protective works at 

Rainbow Bridge. Four separate sites were examined for a barrier dam on the southern side of the monument. 

A year of research and cost analysis produced a nearly predictable conclusion: all four of the prospective 

sites were imperfect at best. In the 1955 hearings before Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation's E.O. Larsen 

estimated that a barrier dam and diversion tunnel might cost between $2,000,000 and $4,000,000. The 1959 

report estimated the least expensive of the four sites at $15,000,000. Anxieties over access to the protective 

works were also an issue in the report. The report concluded that fifty to eighty miles of roads would have to 

be constructed. The only consensus in the report concerned the minimum number and type of works 

necessary to protect the bridge: a barrier dam with pumping facilities at the north end of Bridge Creek; a 

diversion dam at the south end of Bridge Creek; and a diversion tunnel twenty-one feet in diameter and 

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4,800 feet long. [274] There was no easy method of complying with Sections 1 and 3 of the CRSP.

Forces on both sides of the debate rallied after the report was published. By the end of 1959, attitudes were 

changing regarding protecting Rainbow Bridge. Given the realities of difficult access and high expense, the 

prospect of preventing Lake Powell from entering the monument was no longer very appealing. Even federal 

officials followed this new line in their intention not to protect Rainbow Bridge. In an October 1959 

newspaper article, Floyd Dominy, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, stated that Rainbow Bridge 

would be more aesthetically appealing with water under it. In the same article, Colorado Senator Wayne 

Aspinall questioned whether or not the cost of saving Rainbow Bridge was in the nation's interest. Texas 

Representative Walter Rodgers said flatly, "the money could be much better spent for other things." [275] 

On March 9, 1960, Representative John P. Saylor, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, 

telephoned David Brower with some disturbing news. The Committee had reached a consensus that 

protective measures were unnecessary for Rainbow Bridge. Despite the concerns of Secretary of the Interior 

Fred A. Seaton regarding the CRSP's legal imperative to protect the bridge, the Committee felt protecting 

Rainbow Bridge "was unnecessary." [276]

The Senate was also less than sympathetic to the deal struck between Reclamation and environmentalists. In 

May 1960, Senator Frank E. Moss (D-UT) introduced a bill to amend the CRSP and remove its protective 

language. The bill, S. 3180, would have changed the Section 1 phrase "any impairment" to "any structural 

impairment;" additionally, it would have amended the Section 3 phrase "any dam or reservoir" to "any 

dam." [277] The bill's intent was to release the Secretary of the Interior from the legislative obligation to 

protect the bridge. Moss testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee in May 1960 that no threat to 

Rainbow Bridge existed. He argued that simple math dictated the waters behind Glen Canyon Dam would 

never reach the bridge and even if they did, nothing would happen. [278] Environmentalists were sure that if 

the bill made it into law, they would have to fight the Echo Park battle all over again. Without the protective 

language regarding Rainbow Bridge, any national monument or park was subject to resource development. 

Although S. 3180 did not make it out of the Senate, one thing was clear: the concept of what constituted 

"impairment" was at issue.

Through all these disputes regarding the protective clauses of the CRSP, the Park Service remained a loyal 

supporter of building protective measures and following Congress's intent as defined in Section 3. But in 

August 1960, the Park Service and environmentalists lost an important ally in the fight to protect Rainbow 

Bridge. In a letter to Wayne Aspinall, Stuart Udall, then a Congressman, urged that doing nothing at 

Rainbow Bridge was the most ethical course of action. In his capacity as a member of the House Committee 

on Interior and Insular Affairs, Udall was in an influential position regarding the decision to fund protective 

measures. He had long been in the forefront of the contemporary conservation movement. But since there 

was absolutely no hope that the Bureau of Reclamation would abandon the Glen Canyon project or modify 

its proposed location, Udall reasoned that trying to protect the bridge violated one of the cardinal principles 

of conservation: destroying more to save less. He wrote to Aspinall:

As I conceive it, from my study of the history of conservation in America, the one overriding 

principle of the conservation movement is that no works of man (save the bare minimum) 

should intrude into the wonder places of the National Park System. A corollary of this 

principle is that even the waters of a man-made lake or reservoir constitute an unwarranted 

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Park invasion. Therefore, as I see it, building either of the two proposed dams near the 

artificial "boundaries" of the Monument would sacrifice the cardinal principal in order to save 

its corollary. [279]

Figure 28 Glen Canyon Dam under construction (Bill 

Belknap Collection, NAU.PH.96.4.210.4, Cline Library, 

Northern Arizona University)

Eventually Udall had to make some difficult decisions regarding Rainbow Bridge. Appointed Secretary of 

the Interior by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, Udall inherited the CRSP and all its associated political 

baggage. Udall was immediately placed in the awkward position of balancing highly competitive interests 

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between the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service. The Department of the Interior was 

supposed to represent the philosophies of all its subordinate agencies. But in the case of Rainbow Bridge, 

there was little room for policy compromise. The simple fact was that Section 1 of the CRSP left to the 

Secretary of the Interior the decision over what constituted "adequate protective measures" at the bridge. No 

standard had been established to gauge how far the Secretary needed to go in protecting Rainbow Bridge. As 

he had expressed in part of his letter to Aspinall in 1960, Udall reasoned that he could interpret the intent of 

Section 1 of the CRSP to mean doing nothing was the best alternative. Even certain members of the Park 

Service, such as Regional Director Jerome Miller, were advising Director Wirth that the impacts from 

building access roads and constructing protective measures might be more deleterious to Rainbow Bridge 

ecosystem than water from Lake Powell. [280] Secretary Udall understood that Rainbow Bridge NM, at 

only 160 acres, was not large enough to warrant national park status and any plan to increase the 

monument's boundaries would include complex and difficult negotiations with the Navajo Nation. Barring 

park status, the fight with Congress for funds to protect the bridge was a losing battle.

Ultimately, Congress removed from Secretary Udall's hands the decision over whether or not to protect the 

bridge. In 1961, Congress revealed it had no intention of funding the protective measures stipulated in the 

CRSP. In March 1961, Senator Wallace F. Bennet (R-UT) introduced another bill designed to strip the 

CRSP of its teeth. S. 1188 mimicked the language of the infamous Moss bill. At the same time, Moss 

introduced his bill again, this time as S. 175. [281] While these two measures failed, Congressional 

appropriations committees knew how to block the protection of Rainbow Bridge: they simply refused 

funding in Reclamation and Park Service appropriations acts. In fact, Department of the Interior budgets in 

1960, 1961, and 1962 were approved by Congress only after the addition of a line item that specifically 

denied funding of protective measures. [282] As a result of the appropriations process, as well as the 

continued legislative efforts to rewrite the CRSP in the Senate, the Department of the Interior did not include 

any requests for funds for protective measures in its 1963 budget proposal. [283] Without changing a single 

word in the CRSP, Congress made protecting Rainbow Bridge a moot issue with respect to completing Glen 

Canyon Dam. After 1962, the Secretary of Interior was no longer in a position to actively pursue protecting 

Rainbow Bridge; however, environmental groups were not ready to abandon the fight. Brower and Packard 

lobbied everyone they could think of to compel federal officials to honor the protective terms of the CRSP. 

Brower believed that Congress and the Secretary of the Interior would never skate past the legal imperative 

of protection. To Brower, not protecting Rainbow Bridge was the same thing as wantonly breaking the law. 

Until 1960, Secretary Seaton was sending Brower all the right messages: while Congress was defunding 

protective measures, the Department of the Interior announced it would lobby Congress for funds at 

Rainbow Bridge. In early 1960, Seaton penned a personal note to Brower at the bottom of a press release 

that said, "let me assure you that it is my firm policy, as well as that of all personnel of my department, that 

any actions or activities of this Department will be in conformance with existing law." [284] Commissioner 

Dominy even wrote to Senator Bennett in 1961 to assure the Senator that Reclamation could build the 

protective measures for under $8,000,000 "as soon as the Congress appropriates the funds." [285] Brower 

was understandably panicked at being told everyone supported protecting Rainbow Bridge while watching 

Congress refuse funding year after year.

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Figure 29 Glen Canyon Dam, June 1963 (Woodrow Reiff 

Collection, NAU.PH.99.5.149, Cline Library, Northern 

Arizona University)

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 7:

The Modern Monument: Managing Rainbow Bridge, 1955-1993 (continued) 

As relations with the Navajo Nation warmed throughout the 1980s, the Park Service began considering a 

large-scale management plan for the monument. Visitation as a result of improved monument access via the 

Lake Powell corridor increased exponentially in the 1980s. In 1979 the Park Service tallied 97,066 

monument visitors. By 1985 that number increased to 177,971 visitors. The Park Service knew that a 

General Management Plan (GMP) was the next logical step in the administrative and development planning 

of the monument. The GMP was in regular use at other units of the national park system. It was a relatively 

standardized document that made use of local resources and perspectives in pursuit of a cogent management 

plan. In the case of Rainbow Bridge, special concern had to paid to the Native American interests in the 

region as well as the special visitation problems presented by the limited geographic access vis-a-vis Bridge 

Canyon. Developing a modern general management plan (GMP) for Rainbow Bridge meant including 

cultural, natural, and human resources that were unused previously. One of the most significant 

considerations for Park Service personnel was including the viewpoints of local Navajos and Paiutes in the 

GMP's development. Interviews with Tribal members began in 1988. At the same time, interviews were 

undertaken by Pauline Wilson, American Indian Liaison for Glen Canyon NRA, to determine the scope of 

Navajo religious affinity at Rainbow Bridge. In 1989 the Park Service solicited public opinion at large, 

generating a questionnaire for visitors to the bridge and establishing a comment register where people could 

relate their views on improving and managing the monument. In 1989 visitation to the monument reached 

238,307. The Park Service knew that it could not keep pace with growing visitor needs and demands without 

a comprehensive management strategy. [338]

In 1990, Glen Canyon NRA personnel, under the direction of Pauline Wilson, Environmental Specialist Jim 

Holland, and Public Affairs Officer Karen Whitney, continued to conduct meetings at Navajo chapter houses 

to gauge Navajo opinion of the proposed GMP. Holland related at each of the meetings that the Park Service 

had a number of specific goals attached to the GMP: preserving Rainbow Bridge for future generations; 

identifying and protecting the cultural significance of the bridge to Navajo and other cultures; and 

maintaining a productive relationship with the Navajo Nation. It was obvious that the cultural imperatives 

born of the legislative and judicial events of the 1970s and 1980s were not lost on Park Service personnel at 

Rainbow Bridge. Despite the previous conflicts between the Park Service and the Navajo Nation, the Park 

Service was committed to improving that relationship via a culturally sensitive GMP for the bridge. By 

September 1990 the Park Service had created a Draft GMP that could be reviewed by the public. That 

review process began in earnest among the Navajo Nation in October 1990. [339]

The initial concerns for the GMP revolved around managing the growing population of visitors to the 

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bridge. Visitation had increased substantially every year since the availability of water access via Lake 

Powell. The effects of that increased visitation were obvious: graffiti, refuse, human waste, and off-trail 

damage were all evident. Phase I and Phase II initiatives in the draft GMP limited the number of people at 

one time (PAOT) at the bridge to about four hundred. The Park Service also proposed that NPS interpreters 

be on each tour boat headed to the bridge to provide information regarding the sensitivity of the bridge's 

ecosystem and the need to protect both natural and cultural resources. The draft GMP also advocated a 

seasonal contact station in Forbidding Canyon to collect entrance fees and regulate traffic to the bridge, 

interpreters at the bridge, and other contact stations. The plan's intent was to protect the area's diverse 

resources through increased contact with visitors. While no regulation prohibiting physical access to the 

bridge was proposed, the hope was that visitors would voluntarily comply with protective goals if a proper 

level of information was made available. The Park Service, in subsequent drafts of the GMP, never 

advocated statutory enforcement of provisions to prevent visitors from approaching the bridge. [340]

The idea of limiting numeric access to sensitive areas was not new in the Park Service or within the national 

park system. Zion National Park in Utah had been limiting the number of hikers in The Narrows section of 

the park to 70 people per day since approximately 1988. [341] The reasons at Zion were echoed at Rainbow 

Bridge limitations were necessary for both public safety and resource protection. Regardless of the cultural 

implications to a given group, the Park Service had always made preservation one of its top priorities in 

sensitive areas. The draft GMP also advocated a permit and fee scenario for bridge visitors, much like other 

parks and monuments had in place for their more delicate zones. Needless to say, the draft GMP ignited a 

controversy. Navajos wanted unfettered and non-permitted access based on their long-held religious beliefs 

about the bridge. The public comments were divided. Some respondents favored no controls of any kind, 

while some favored even stricter controls on access to the bridge. A few wondered why the Park Service 

was involved in any way at Rainbow Bridge. The Park Service, via Pauline Wilson, solicited local Navajo 

input on the GMP through 1992. [342]

In 1993, after soliciting extensive public opinion, the Park Service produced a final draft of the General 

Management Plan. The final GMP included plans covering development concepts and resource 

management, an interpretive prospectus, and an environmental assessment. It was the most comprehensive 

look at managing Rainbow Bridge NM ever produced by the Park Service. It was an extremely timely 

document. With most of the litigation concerning the bridge behind it, the Park Service could focus on 

tangible management problems such as graffiti, boat traffic in Bridge Canyon, waste disposal, and foot 

traffic at and under the bridge. Many of these concerns reached their apex by 1993, as visitation to the 

Bridge exceeded 250,000 the prior year. The GMP zeroed in on the most pressing concerns at the 

monument: carrying capacity, resource management (cultural and natural), and use definition. [343]

One of the more controversial elements of the GMP was its determinations on carrying capacity. There 

really had not been any limits to visitation before the 1990s. While certain references in various Park Service 

memoranda indicate that the Park Service hoped visitation and impacts could be limited, little administrative 

action was taken prior to formulating a GMP. Based on a survey of the resources at Bridge Canyon and the 

canyon dock facility, the GMP determined the maximum PAOT should not exceed three hundred and 

ninety. The plan also called for a fee for access to the monument. The carrying capacity was to be evenly 

divided between private boats and tour boats. The contact station also provided for concerns about human 

waste, trash, and prevention of unacceptable activity at the bridge via Park Service enforcement. One of the 

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most revolutionary ideas in the GMP, designed to mitigate individual impact on the monument, involved 

transferring private individuals from their boats to Park Service boats to ferry those individuals to the bridge. 

No boat traffic would be allowed past the contact station unless there was room at the monument. Using 

Park Service-operated transportation would have been unique at Rainbow Bridge but is now employed in 

numerous units of the national park system including Zion and Yosemite. Ultimately the desire of the Park 

Service to regulate access to Bridge Canyon took the form of employing concessionaire tour boats and limits 

on their maximum passenger allowances. But the GMP did represent the Park Service's desire for hands-on 

management at Rainbow Bridge. [344] Employing the carrying capacity formula proposed by the GMP, 

Rainbow Bridge could be seen by more people with less trouble and more control.

In terms of handling cultural resource issues, the GMP was not the only tool in use in the early 1990s. In 

addition to soliciting public and Native American opinion of the GMP, the Park Service's Resource 

Management Division at Glen Canyon entered into a cooperative agreement with Northern Arizona 

University (NAU) to study the ethnography of the Rainbow Bridge region. In 1991, Dr. Robert T. Trotter, II 

was assigned as principal investigator for the project with Neita V. Carr acting as the primary researcher and 

writer. The study was designed to provide a general overview of contemporary Native Americans who were 

associated with Glen Canyon and Rainbow Bridge and to define the cultural and natural resources under 

Park Service management that those tribes valued and used. Carr and Trotter generated a basic summary of 

the use patterns and affiliations of both Hopi and Navajos at Rainbow Bridge. That information is presented 

in greater detail in Chapters 2 and 5 of this administrative history.

What the ethnographic overview and assessment did confirm was the desire of the tribes to be more directly 

involved in the decision-making process at Rainbow Bridge. Every tribe that expressed cultural and 

historical affiliation with the bridge and its environs also indicated that their interests should be part of the 

criteria that underpinned management at the bridge. The ethnographic overview was a big step toward 

realizing comprehensive management at the monument. That goal was broadly defined in the Cultural 

Resources Management Technical Supplement, published by the Park Service, in August 1985. The 

summary of Carr and Trotter's report was that the Park Service needed to continue its efforts at ethnographic 

study and expand them to include other Native American groups, such as the San Juan Southern Paiute and 

Hopi Tribe. The report made general recommendations toward field studies, resource analysis, and the 

creation of a large-scale ethnographic data base that would be available to Park Service personnel for help in 

decisions that might affect affiliated tribes. Carr and Trotter observed, "it is clear from the literature search 

and our cultural consultation that multiple field studies are both desirable and necessary to create [an] 

appropriate data base and to provide a stable condition for relations with [Glen Canyon] and [Rainbow 

Bridge] associated peoples." In various forms, these suggestions were followed by the Park Service. The 

ethnographic overview, completed in March 1992, was definitely an influence on the final draft of General 

Management Plan, the creation of a Native American Consultation Committee, and eventually the 

Comprehensive Interpretive Plan. [345]

The public comment period for the GMP continued through 1992, with revised drafts being made available 

to Navajo, Hopi, and Paiute Tribal representatives. Pauline Wilson continued to take drafts to the Navajo 

and Paiute chapter houses for public comment and the results of the NAU ethnographic study were used to 

modify the parameters of interpretation toward maximum sensitivity to all affiliated Native Americans. The 

Park Service generated the final draft of the GMP in June 1993. It reflected much of the public comment that 

was gathered by the Park Service during the previous three years. In terms of the issue of carrying capacity, 

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the final plan was radically different from its various drafts. It called for a maximum of 200 PAOT, with 150 

allotted to tour boats and the remaining 50 to private boats. The docks would be reduced in length to 

accommodate the modified carrying capacity and a ranger would staff the exit point on the docks to ensure 

compliance with the carrying capacity limits. While this did not sit well with ARAMARK, the Lake Powell 

concessioner, the plan's focus was minimizing impact rather than maximizing revenue. Because of increased 

visitation over the years, the environs of Rainbow Bridge suffered a severe toll; the Park Service was 

dedicated to restoring the monument as much as was feasible. [346]

Protection of natural resources and processes in the monument was also a focus of the final GMP. Tamarisk, 

an exotic and non-native tree species, had been spreading rapidly near the bridge. It was long considered a 

threat to surrounding vegetation and to developing riparian communities. The GMP authorized the removal 

of tamarisk from the viewing area and near the bridge. Off-trail travel was forbidden in the new management 

strategy. The amount of cryptogamic soil damage was hard to measure, but it was extensive. The GMP also 

called for revegetation of impacted plant species and discouraging visitation beyond the assigned viewing 

area. Cultural resources also formed the object of intense management in the final GMP. Restricting certain 

access to the bridge in the form of petroglyph and archeological site protection was to be accomplished 

through increased Park Service presence and mandated trail boundaries. While nothing in the GMP provided 

for restricting access to the bridge (there were no mandates to stop visitors from approaching or walking 

under the bridge), the plan did seek to "discourage" visitor use below the bridge. The effects of these 

decisions would be monitored through visitor-use surveys and Park Service/visitor contact. It should be 

made clear, however, that the GMP never advocated that visitors be prevented in any way from approaching 

or going under the bridge. [347]

The GMP also contained a fifteen-page interpretive plan. Based on research done by NAU and the collective 

response from Anglo and Native American groups over the significance of the bridge, the Park Service 

developed an interpretive framework to facilitate and enhance the visitor experience at the bridge. The GMP 

made its purpose plain, stating, "the significance of Rainbow Bridge lies not only in its geological character, 

but in its power to move and inspire the human soul. For Navajo, Hopi, and other native peoples it is part of 

who they are and what they consider sacred and meaningful in this life." [348] The GMP acknowledged that 

the bridge occupies esoteric importance to other worldviews. In order to be fair to those peoples with a 

worldview that was not Anglo, the GMP advocated administering the monument in such a way that both 

worldviews were represented. In essence, the GMP took a non-Anglocentric vector and suggested that the 

Anglo interpretation of the history of the bridge was not the only acceptable interpretation but rather one of 

many. It is important to remember that this portion of the GMP was generated in a spirit of cooperation and 

diversity and not as a result of harassment or litigation. When all was said and done the Park Service 

recognized its responsibility to incorporate alternative worldviews into the Rainbow Bridge interpretive 

experience.

The interpretive goals for the monument were categorized around multiple resources. The GMP recognized 

the importance of prehistoric, historic, ethnographic, and natural resources. Since the monument barely 

measured 160 acres and visitation was averaging over 250,000 people per annum, the Park Service realized 

it had to act aggressively to preserve the resources at Rainbow Bridge. Native American groups were to be 

utilized in a consultation capacity regarding information that should be passed on to visitors (in the form of 

Native American historical beliefs about the bridge) and regarding the appropriate level of contact between 

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visitors and the bridge itself. The Park Service did not advocate that its personnel prevent visitors from 

approaching the bridge; rather, rangers and interpreters sought visitors' voluntary deference to Native 

American requests that the bridge remain free from direct human contact. In July 2000, Stephanie Dubois, 

Chief of Interpretation for Glen Canyon NRA, stated in an interview that no visitor had ever been cited for 

approaching the bridge on designated trails or for walking beneath the bridge. Chief Dubois also indicated 

that there was no Service policy to prevent or dissuade any visitor from approaching the bridge once the 

visitor has made the decision to leave the congregating area. Visitors are only cited if they violate the 

published restrictions on activities related to swimming, fishing, or entering closed or revegetating areas. 

[349] The interpretive outline of the GMP recognized the potential for conflict with Anglo belief systems, 

stating that there would be "other concerns that will surface, which affect interpretation at the monument. To 

be sensitive to the values and experiences of other people, to bridge the cultural gap, will be the challenge to 

interpretive managers." [350] Indeed, this is still the goal of managers in the 21st century.

The GMP settled on five major interpretive themes: that geological processes formed Rainbow Bridge; that 

Rainbow Bridge is part of the greater Colorado Plateau ecosystem; that people interacted with the bridge in 

prehistoric times; that people interacted with the bridge in historic times; and, that people continue to impact 

the monument. The Park Service made each of these themes a part of the interpretive goal for each Park 

Service interpreter working in and around the monument. The GMP also recommended that Park Service 

interpreters be part of each ARAMARK boat tour entering the monument, ensuring a maximum level of 

Park Service/visitor contact. [351] The GMP also called for interpreters to be stationed on a rotating basis at 

the monument to greet visitors and help enhance the Rainbow Bridge experience. No single cultural 

viewpoint was ever emphasized over the other defined thematic goals; rather, the cultural significance of the 

bridge to both Anglos and Native Americans was added to the larger interpretive matrix. Signs, exhibits, 

Park Service interpreters, revised access restrictions based on environmental concerns, and updated 

brochures all formed the core of making the interpretive experience both comprehensive and widespread. 

[352]

The signage that was part of the GMP wayside exhibit plan was to become one of the more contentious 

issues at Rainbow Bridge in 1990s. Signs seem to have taken on a peculiar significance to Americans, 

especially those signs that concerned religion or spirituality. The GMP allowed for one sign to be placed 

near the congregating area, which tried to inform the public that Rainbow Bridge was considered sacred to 

Navajos and other Native Americans. The wording of the sign was a major concern to the Park Service. But 

the GMP-authorized sign was not the first to define Rainbow Bridge's place in Native American spirituality. 

Located in the interpretation archives at Glen Canyon NRA headquarters is a photograph of a sign that was 

in place at Rainbow Bridge in the late 1980s. The sign read:

There are places mentioned in Navajo legends which are said to be sacred. Rainbow Bridge is 

one thought to possess supernatural powers.

According to one Navajo legend, the Diné (Navajo People) once believed that harm would 

befall anyone who walked beneath Rainbow Bridge without first chanting a prayer of 

protection. Over the years the prayer was forgotten and the Diné would no longer enter the 

area.

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Today you are about to approach this special place. Do so with reverence, for it is said: 

"Those who pause to rest within the shadow of the bridge will leave their troubles behind."

Investigation by Park Service personnel at the Harpers Ferry Center in West Virginia produced no clues as 

to the sign's origin. The Wayside Exhibits division at Harpers Ferry Center only had record of two signs 

constructed for Rainbow Bridge NM. Those signs dealt with the "discovery" of the bridge and the geologic 

formation of the bridge. Presumably this sign was placed at the bridge on the heels of the 1980 Badoni

decision and the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978. The signs may also have 

been placed after the Department of the Interior released the Native American Relationships Policy in 

February 1982. [353] Regardless, the mood of both the Park Service and public between 1980 and 1993 was 

one of conciliation. The reaction of the public and the Park Service to renewed Native American concerns 

over appropriate use and interpretation of Rainbow Bridge after 1995 is the subject of Chapter 8.

The GMP represented the culmination of the Park Service's efforts toward effective management of the 

monument. After lengthy solicitation of numerous opinions and viewpoints, the Park Service produced a 

plan that would manage the monument in terms of resources rather than profits. The Park Service's decision 

to limit ARAMARK's tour boat access to 150 PAOT, instead of 150 people per boat as ARAMARK wanted, 

was a testament to the Park Service's ability to manage beyond the traditional scope of visitor demands. 

Ensuring the longevity of Rainbow Bridge and its environs for as many generations of visitors as possible 

was the mission of the new GMP and the Park Service after 1993. Undoubtedly the Park Service would not 

escape criticism. Anglo proponents for unrestricted and secular access to Rainbow Bridge would criticize 

the Park Service for its cultural sensitivity. Certain Native Americans favored days dedicated to segregated 

Indian access to the bridge and so would criticize the Park Service and the GMP for not going far enough. 

Regardless, the period between 1955 and 1993 was one of major growth for the Park Service at Rainbow 

Bridge. The staff had managed the monument through national swings in political mood, through the 

Colorado River Storage Project and the creation of Lake Powell, and took ever more aggressive 

management action as visitation increased from 1,081 in 1955 to 256,158 in 1992. Keeping pace with these 

changes was not an easy task. The Park Service approach to managing Rainbow Bridge NM, as described in 

Chapter 8, was one of flexibility and willingness coupled with a firm commitment to managing the 

monument in terms of resource protection versus income maximization.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 7:

The Modern Monument: Managing Rainbow Bridge, 1955-1993 (continued) 

The major issue by 1966 concerned shoreline development and facilities on Aztec Creek, located one mile 

downstream from Rainbow Bridge. The Park Service and the Nation were trying to negotiate a land swap 

that granted the Park Service access to the shore along Aztec Creek in exchange for Tribal rights at Echo 

Camp, located just south of the Bridge. The basis for Tribal approval of facilities at Aztec Creek was in the 

elevation language of Public Law 85-868, as mentioned previously. Based on this law, all lands above 3,720 

feet could only be developed by the Park Service with the Nation's approval. But the Park Service 

determined that the water level at the mouth of Aztec Creek lay below the stipulated elevation requirements. 

Also, the Park Service did not intend for the floating facilities to be available for use by the general public. 

Based on this assessment, the Park Service had installed a small floating dock facility in August of 1965. 

This fact did not meet with the Nation's approval. To let the Park Service know it was serious about 

reserving access, the Navajo Nation issued a business permit to Harold Drake that allowed Drake to develop 

concessions at Echo Camp. The permit was issued before any MOA was completed. In addition, the Nation 

solicited development support from Standard Oil Company to help develop concessions facilities at Padre 

Point. The latter event involved lands that were below the 3,720 foot level reserved to Park Service control 

in Public Law 85-868. Given Standard Oil's interest in Tribal concessions, the Nation was anxious to 

complete a MOA. As a result of these events, a large scale meeting was scheduled between the Park Service 

and the Nation to work out as many details as possible toward competing an MOA. [322]

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Figure 33 Rainbow Bridge marina, 1965 (Woodrow Reiff Collection, NAU.

PH.99.5.177, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University) 

The conference was held at the Tribal headquarters at Window Rock, Arizona on January 26, 1966. Tribal 

representatives included Frank Carson, director of the Nation's Parks, Tourism, and Recreation Development 

council; Bill Lovell, Navajo Tribal attorney; and, Edward Plumber, Sam Day III, and Roger David, members 

of the Navajo Tribal Council. The Bureau of Indian Affairs sent seven regional representatives. The Park 

Service was also represented in force: Norman Herkenham and Joe Carithers from the Santa Fe Regional 

Headquarters; Superintendent Gustav W. Muehlenhaupt and Lyle Jamison from Glen Canyon NRA; 

Superintendent Meredith Guillet from Canyon de Chelly; and Superintendent Jack Williams from Navajo 

NM. The conference had an extensive agenda, but the majority of the issues revolved around Park Service 

plans to develop facilities near Rainbow Bridge and Tribal demands on access to Lake Powell's south shore. 

In addition to land issues at Rainbow Bridge, the Park Service and the Nation tried to work out details 

concerning a proposed land expansion at Navajo NM.

The conference did not go as the Park Service anticipated. Based on the stipulations of the 1958 Act, the 

Nation felt that the Park Service was trespassing on Tribal lands at Aztec Creek, given that the Park Service 

did not solicit Tribal approval to construct floating docks. The Park Service responded that this was the 

purpose of completing a Memorandum of Agreement to retroactively obtain Tribal approval for necessary 

facilities. The Nation was willing to grant such approval but only if the Park Service agreed to grant 

exclusive concessions rights to the Nation at those facilities. Regarding the land exchange for Navajo NM, 

the Nation felt betrayed when it was informed that they would have to pay rent to operate a Navajo crafts 

concession at the new Betat' akin visitor's center. Tribal representatives said they had been assured that no 

such rent would be required. The Park Service maintained that this was always couched in terms of the 

Nation granting approval of the desired land expansion at Navajo NM. Tribal attorney Bill Lovell 

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maintained an extremely diplomatic tone during the course of the heated negotiations, according to Park 

Service reports. Norman Herkenham said that it was Lovell's commitment to productive negotiations that 

prevented the conference from breaking down completely. The conference ended with both the Park Service 

and the Nation committed to finding mutually acceptable solutions to the issues that concerned Rainbow 

Bridge. During the conference, Frank Carson solicited Park Service assistance with developing his Parks and 

Tourism department, asking for information on Park Service boating regulations, concessioner rate 

schedules, and examples of concessions prospectus. Carson felt that, overall, the Nation still possessed an 

enormous commercial opportunity at Lake Powell and Rainbow Bridge even in the penumbra of Park 

Service regulations. [323]

Based on the reasonable progress made at the January conference, the Nation scheduled another meeting for 

March of 1966. The Park Service knew that the issue of "trespass" at Aztec Creek would figure heavily in 

the March meeting. Prior to the meeting, Norman Herkenham obtained the opinion of Park Service Field 

Solicitor Gayle Manges regarding the Park Service's interpretation of the 1958 Act. The issue was more 

complicated than anyone anticipated. Manges argued that based on court precedents, the waters of Lake 

Powell and the Colorado River were "navigable [waters] in fact" which made them "navigable in law." [324] 

Because the floating facilities at Aztec Creek were not permanently moored to the shore or the land below 

the water, those facilities were subject to the laws governing navigable waters of the United States and 

therefore exempt from any Tribal jurisdiction. Manges wrote:

As the Tribe is vested with only a right to approve recreation facilities built on the surface 

estate, either upland or lake-bed, it has no possession or title to support an action for trespass 

for use by the public of navigable waters over Parcel "B". It is my opinion that the United 

States need not obtain the permission of the Tribe in order to either locate a free-floating dock 

or other vessel on the navigable waters above Parcel "B" on lands in Lake Powell. [325]

The March conference produced another draft of the MOA, with most of the Nation's previous concerns 

over Aztec Creek still extant and unaddressed. Between 1966 and 1967, Park Service relations with the 

Navajo Nation deteriorated to an all time low. A series of Tribal elections in 1966 did not help matters, as 

the Park Service observed that the emerging Tribal Council was extremely factionalized. Most of the newer 

council members were very much in favor of maintaining the Nation's positions concerning concessions at 

Lake Powell. The Nation was distressed over the Park Service's apparent uncompromising attitude 

concerning Aztec Creek and Navajo NM. The Park Service was aware of the poor state of affairs and in 

response, assigned Superintendent John Cook at Canyon de Chelly the duties of Navajo Affairs Coordinator. 

The Coordinator's goal was to improve relations with the Nation and help solve the problems that plagued 

the MOA. [326]

By March of 1967 the Park Service was negotiating from a poor position. Various attempts to solidify an 

MOA were met with Tribal charges of deception and fraud. The Park Service started to reconsider its need 

for adding any land to Rainbow Bridge NM, maintaining the simple desire for Tribal approval of public 

access via Aztec Creek's floating facilities. Cook, also appointed as the Navajo Affairs Coordinator, 

advocated a non-aggressive posture toward the Navajo Nation. Writing to the Director, Cook said "we are 

going to clean our own house, stick to our word and proceed in a more professional manner utilizing our 

knowledge of Navajo thinking." [327] This perspective represented a genuine effort by the Park Service to 

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negotiate with the Nation on a more qualitatively equal plane.

In this new spirit, another meeting took place between legal representatives of the Nation and Park Service 

Regional Director Daniel Beard. After the meeting, during which another draft of the MOA was presented 

and discussed, Tribal Council Chairman Raymond Nakai wrote to Beard requesting Park Service assistance 

in helping the Nation generate a total development plan for the Nation's shoreline interests at Lake Powell. 

Beard responded enthusiastically, pledging the complete support of the Park Service and its resources. [328] 

This spirit of cooperation continued throughout 1967. The Nation focused on two issues of concern in the 

next draft of the MOA. In that May 1967 draft, the Nation eliminated the Park Service's requirement that 

any Tribal road or facility construction be pre-approved by the Park Service. The Nation also granted itself 

easements that would allow Navajo-controlled floating structures along the south shore of Lake Powell. In 

addition, the Tribal draft proposed exclusive concessions rights along all shoreline that abutted the Navajo 

reservation. As a conciliatory gesture, the draft contained language that granted approval to floating facilities 

at Aztec Creek. The Nation only required that the Park Service give due consideration to a proposal that the 

Nation operate the facility on a permanent basis at some point in the future. [329]

The Park Service responded that it could not guarantee approval of a plan to transfer control to the Nation, 

especially if such pre-approval was a prerequisite for completing the MOA. Director George B. Hartzog 

offered to remove the floating facility from Aztec Creek if the Nation preferred. In a letter to Nakai, Hartzog 

reminded the Nation that the Park Service was in the process of generating a massive development plan for 

the Nation that included plans for Tribal floating facilities at Padre Point. At the same time that the Director 

was buffering the Park Service's position, Don Clark replaced Frank Carson as head of the Nation's Parks, 

Recreation, and Tourism Development Department. This was good news to the Park Service as Clark 

favored improved relations between the Park Service and the Navajo Nation. [330]

Under Clark's guidance, the Nation negotiated through 1968 from a different perspective, narrowing its 

demands at Aztec Creek and along the south shore. Late in 1968 Sam Day III replaced Clark. Day was even 

more commercially oriented than Clark. Under his guidance, the Tribal Council met in October 1968 at 

Window Rock with representatives of the Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Bureau of 

Reclamation. The Window Rock conference produced a complete and mutually agreeable draft of the MOA. 

It was sent immediately to the Navajo Tribal Council for consideration. Unfortunately, Council Chairman 

Nakai rejected the draft out of hand and the council never got the chance to see it. Nakai contended that the 

agreement was not sufficiently favorable to the Nation and as such did not merit consideration. [331]

At another meeting in April of 1969 in the office of Regional Director Frank Kowski, Chairman Nakai and 

Tribal attorney William McPherson argued that the Nation should be guaranteed in the MOA the prospect of 

assuming control of all operations at the Aztec Creek floating facilities. Nakai also insisted that the Park 

Service guarantee south shore development funds for the Nation equivalent to those funds the Park Service 

already guaranteed to north shore development. These were two points that threatened to derail the entire 

MOA process that had gone on for over six years. The Park Service reacted with a touch of frustration. 

Kowski informed Nakai and McPherson that Navajo control of the floating facilities at Aztec Creek was not 

an option and non-negotiable. Under guidance from Director Hartzog, Kowski said that if an MOA was not 

completed soon, the Park Service would move the floating facility to another location and thereby end 

negotiations for a Memorandum of Agreement. The Nation, in true diplomatic fashion, responded by saying 

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that such a decision would be the Park Service's choice and not done at the request of the Navajo Nation. 

Representatives of the Nation and the Park Service met nearly every month throughout 1969 to clarify 

details of the MOA. The fact that the Nation was facing financial difficulties (Chairman Nakai told Kowski 

at a June meeting that the Nation could be "broke in six years") also heightened their commitment to the 

MOA and the tourism revenues it could ensure. [332]

The mood on both sides of the table softened during 1969. The Navajo Nation was more concerned with 

maintaining Park Service support of Navajo interests at Padre Point than Rainbow Bridge. The Nation also 

realized that it would benefit from Park Service development support and planning as public use at Lake 

Powell increased. Kowski spearheaded Park Service efforts to generate as much development funding as 

possible for the Navajo Nation, including grants for specific development at Padre Point. On December 2, 

1969 the Navajo Tribal Council passed a resolution authorizing Chairman Nakai to negotiate and complete a 

Memorandum of Agreement regarding Glen Canyon NRA and contingent areas. The resolution invested 

unilateral authority in Nakai to complete and approve the MOA on behalf of the entire Navajo Nation. [333] 

The following year was dedicated to finalizing details of the agreement and assuring the Nation that the Park 

Service would support development plans along the south shore. In addition to developing an acceptable 

MOA the Park Service pursued cooperative training issues with the Nation in an attempt to train potential 

Navajo employees at Park Service facilities for employment at both Navajo and Park Service concessions. 

The good will that flowed between the Nation and the Park Service paid off when the Secretary of Interior 

signed a Memorandum of Agreement on September 11, 1970. The agreement was made none too soon as 

visitation reached 39,959 by the end of 1970. [334] 

There were no surprises in the agreement. The Park Service agreed to help develop and manage any and all 

Navajo recreational facilities located at Lake Powell and on Navajo land. The agreement specifically 

excluded Rainbow Bridge and its floating facilities from Navajo control; however, the power of approval of 

any development plans for all other Parcel "B" lands above 3,720 feet remained with the Nation. All other 

Lake Powell development was subject to approval by the Park Service based on the overall development 

plan of Glen Canyon NRA. The same approval was required of any Navajo development plans for Parcel 

"B" lands below 3,720 feet. The Park Service also gave first-hire preference to Tribal members who applied 

for work at Glen Canyon NRA and offered to "encourage and assist members of the Tribe to qualify for 

positions" for which they may not have previously been qualified. This included specific training programs 

for positions in interpretation, conservation, fire protection, search and rescue, and historical programs, all 

designed to make Tribal applicants better candidates for federal employment. Pertaining to Rainbow Bridge, 

the Park Service agreed to pursue legislation that would transfer the annual concession franchise fee 

(normally paid to the Park Service) to the Nation in exchange for Tribal approval of existing floating 

facilities and the construction of any additional future facilities. [335]

The controversy of the 1970s was not limited to relations with the Navajo Nation. The 1970 Friends of the 

Earth lawsuit and the subsequent 1973 ruling in favor of the Park Service had real impacts on monument 

management. The Court's decision did not dispute the legal imperative to protect the bridge; rather, it 

confirmed the Secretary of the Interior's discretionary power to determine how that protection was executed. 

To help determine whether or not damage was being done to the bridge, the Tenth Circuit Court mandated 

that the Bureau of Reclamation monitor the effects of Lake Powell on the bridge for a period of ten years. 

The monitoring program commenced in 1974. The Bureau of Reclamation was extremely thorough in its 

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program. Every aspect of the bridge's behavior was monitored and analyzed. The program included surveys, 

photography, and geologic methods of a non destructive nature. The geologic methods included Whittemore 

strain gauges on the bridge's legs, measurement of Bridge Canyon's width, seismic monitoring, and laser 

measurement of bridge movement. The Bureau reported its findings at regular intervals and made copies of 

those findings available to the Park Service.

The monitoring program yielded some interesting results in the ten years it operated. The most amazing 

realization was that the original 1909 measurements taken by William B. Douglass were incorrect. Douglass 

measured the bridge's height at 309 feet and the width of the span at 278 feet. These figures were the official 

measurements since 1910. But Reclamation measurements, using slightly more sophisticated instruments, 

found the height to be only 291 feet and the span 275 feet. That the original measurements were so far from 

accurate was a surprise to the Bureau and the Park Service. The other result of the monitoring program that 

amazed everyone was the degree of regular motion exhibited by the bridge. The laser measurements 

revealed that the bridge could rise or fall as much as 0.38 inches from winter to summer. The Whittemore 

Strain Gauge recorded the displacement or movement of selected cracks as those cracks responded to the 

environment and stress in which they existed. Results from the Whittemore gauges revealed the same type 

of cyclical expansion and contraction patterns. Daily temperature changes, weather conditions, and exposure 

time to the sun all affected the behavior of various cracks in the same way the volumetric size and height of 

the bridge was affected. [336]

Whether or not the presence of water beneath the bridge contributed to the extent of this volumetric and 

crack variation was not part of the survey's conclusion. Whether or not moisture absorption or dehydration 

affected the extant structural fissures in the bridge could not be determined. Rock samples taken over the 

course of the program did not reveal any abnormal hydrologic effects. Thus, in 1985, the Bureau announced 

that Lake Powell was not contributing to any structural impairment of the bridge. Admittedly, it would have 

come as a major surprise if the Bureau had concluded any other way. Given the extremely short term (in 

geologic time) nature of the monitoring program, the Bureau's assessment was a forgone conclusion. But 

their efforts complied with the Court's mandate, and the bridge was found to be structurally sound.

In addition to the legal imperatives associated with managing the monument, tourism via Lake Powell began 

in earnest in the mid-1970s. After moving north and developing Wahweap Marina, Art Greene's Canyon 

Tours began running all day trips to Rainbow Bridge in the late 1960s. Demand for water access to the 

bridge grew as steadily as the popularity of Lake Powell among water recreation enthusiasts. By early 1975, 

Green was conducting half-day tours to accommodate the growing visitor demand. At the time Greene was 

the only licensed, official tour operator on Lake Powell. But the Park Service and all those involved at 

Rainbow Bridge knew that water craft tourism had permanently replaced land travel to the bridge. The 

growing number of visitors dictated that the monument and its environs needed careful and attentive 

management. By 1976 visitation reached more than 65,000 people. [337]

With a Memorandum of Agreement completed, the Park Service and Navajo Nation set about identifying 

potential development locations on Lake Powell's south shore. But the issues related to access and use of 

Rainbow Bridge were far from resolved. During the 1970s the Park Service personnel at Rainbow Bridge 

and elsewhere were consumed by the legal battle that erupted over Navajo First Amendment claims 

regarding unfettered access to the bridge. The Memorandum of Agreement had only been in effect for three 

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years when Lamar Badoni filed suit against the Park Service and the Department of Interior over the effects 

of Lake Powell on Navajo religious practices (see Chapter 4). The Park Service response, once the legal 

conflict subsided, was to generate the Native American Relationships Policy (NARP). The NARP was 

precipitated by passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-341). The policy's 

intent was to make the Park Service more sensitive and responsive to the cross-cultural makeup of the region 

surrounding Rainbow Bridge. Managing the monument in terms of cultural diversity, as well as increasing 

visitation, was the tenor of Park Service administration in the 1980s. Working from the existing 

management guidelines, the Park Service modified the Statement For Management for Rainbow Bridge NM 

several times during the 1980s. Eventually the Park Service personnel at Glen Canyon and Rainbow Bridge 

under Superintendent John Lancaster realized that a new plan had to be drafted. Continual modification of 

existing guidelines was simply not keeping pace with the management demands at the bridge.

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Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 6)

Rainbow Bridge

Administrative History

CHAPTER 6:

Issues and Conflicts II: Rainbow Bridge National Monument and the 

Colorado River Storage Project, 1948-1974 (continued) 

By 1962, the environmentalist rhetoric regarding the bridge was at a fever pitch. In a March press release 

sent to every member of the Sierra Club as well as Congress, Brower surmised that "no park or monument 

will be safe from destruction if this betrayal of promises and flouting of the law is allowed to 

continue." [286] This was the tone of all future environmentalist rhetoric regarding Lake Powell and the 

bridge. The issue at Rainbow Bridge was larger than one stone arch; to environmentalists it represented a 

threat to the national park system as a whole and an indictment of the veracity of any agreement with the 

federal government. If Congress did not mean what it said when it passed laws, Brower concluded, "we 

might as well close up shop!" [287]

Rainbow Bridge was at the center of a storm. Nothing the Sierra Club or others did worked. Despite huge 

letter writing campaigns and direct pressure on key committee members reminiscent of the Echo Park battle, 

Congress continued its tactic of ignoring funding requests from Interior. By the end of 1962 there was no 

movement on the issue from Secretary Udall or from Congress. In December 1962, the supporters of 

protection went to court.

The Sierra Club and the National Parks Association (NPA) knew that innundation of Glen Canyon was only 

a year way. Their only mission was to prevent the diversion tunnels from being gated, keeping the Colorado 

River flowing around the dam until protective measures could be funded and constructed. Anthony Wayne 

Smith, then executive secretary and general legal counsel for the NPA, wrote to Udall in August to urge 

Interior to comply with the legal and moral requirements of the CRSP and avoid litigation. Most interested 

parties understood that Udall could only demand funding and not appropriate funds. Environmentalists 

decided that if they could put the Secretary in a sufficiently public legal dilemma Congress might be forced 

to bail him out by funding protective measures. Smith anticipated that litigation would be expensive and 

would have to be pursued to the Supreme Court level and so began soliciting financial support from various 

environmental groups. [288] In November, Udall wrote to Smith, saying his inability to stop the closing of 

the gates on the diversion tunnels was unavoidable. Udall maintained that he had tried to secure funds for 

protective measures and that all his requests were not just denied by Congress but forbidden as a condition 

of general appropriations. He pointed to riders in the annual appropriations acts that stated "no part of the 

funds appropriated for the [CRSP] shall be available for construction or operation of facilities to prevent 

waters of Lake Powell from entering any national monument." [289] Congress had made it impossible for 

Interior or Reclamation to fund any protective proposal. For Smith and Brower, litigation was the only 

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remaining option.

On December 12, 1962, the National Parks Association filed suit against Stuart Udall in United States 

District Court for the District of Columbia. [290] NPA filed for a preliminary injunction to prevent Udall 

from authorizing closure of the diversion tunnel gates. The NPA relied on the case of Nichols v. 

Commissioners of Middlesex County, which held that under Massachusetts law an individual citizen had 

standing to compel a public official to carry out the duties of that official's office. The NPA reasoned that 

the defined scope of the duties of the Secretary of the Interior had been expanded by the legal stipulations of 

the CRSP. Judge Alexander Holtzoff ruled against the preliminary injunction for two reasons. First, the NPA 

lacked standing to sue. Based on Massachusetts v. Mellon (262 U.S. 447), the Massachusetts rule in Nichols

did not equate to a federal rule. Citizens only shared a "general interest" in the carrying out of federal laws 

and the "general" nature of that interest did not confer on them standing to sue the federal government or its 

appointed representatives. Secondly, the functions of the Secretary of the Interior in taking measures to 

preclude the impairment of Rainbow Bridge were discretionary and not ministerial. The specifics of how 

and when to protect Rainbow Bridge were intended to be determined by the Secretary, not the Court. 

Consequently the Court could not enjoin the Secretary from actions related to those discretionary powers. 

[291] What the Court meant was that Secretary Udall was free to make any and all decisions necessary to 

preclude Rainbow Bridge from impairment even if environmentalists viewed those decisions as wrong.

Secretary Udall, momentarily victorious, prepared for the NPA to appeal. The Court did make a point of 

something very important to the environmentalist plaintiffs. In the Conclusions of Law, Judge Holtzoff 

stated, "The provisions of the Colorado River Storage Project Act remain in force. Their execution lies 

within the discretion of the Secretary." [292] In the appeal, this opinion might have been troubling for Udall. 

To help prepare a response, the Secretary employed the opinion of Interior solicitor Frank J. Berry. Berry 

analyzed the precedents relevant to the Rainbow Bridge funding problems and concluded that Congress' act 

of defunding protective measures through prohibitive provisos constituted a suspension of Sections 1 and 3 

of the CRSP. Berry noted that in United States v. Dickerson (310 U.S. 554, 1939) Congress avoided its 

commitment to provide monetary bonuses to military re-enlistees by attaching provisos in subsequent 

appropriations acts limiting the use of available funds. "Not only are you not under any Congressional 

mandate to keep the diversion tunnels open," Berry wrote, "but your failure to effect closure would be at 

complete variance with the present state of the law applicable to the Glen Canyon Unit, for the Congress has 

effectively suspended the pertinent of the [CRSP] and has manifested the intention that construction and 

initiation of storage should proceed on schedule." [293] Based on this advice, Udall felt prepared for the 

appeals process.

Udall did not have to wait long for a final answer. Within a month, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and 

the Supreme Court upheld Holtzoff's opinion that the NPA and their fellow plaintiffs had no standing to sue 

and that the discretionary powers of the Secretary were not a matter of judicial concern. [294] On January 

19, 1963, after the Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari in the case, Brower telegrammed Secretary 

Udall and urged him to keep the diversion tunnels open until some kind of compromise could be worked 

out. [295] But the Secretary, in his dual capacity as conservationist and preservationist, could not do more 

than he already had done to protect Rainbow Bridge. Regardless of Secretary Udall's personal belief in the 

value of protecting Rainbow Bridge, he knew that Congress would never fund construction of protective 

measures. Two days later, on January 21, 1963, BOR personnel shut the gates of the diversion tunnel on the 

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west bank; the Colorado River rose thirty-four feet behind Glen Canyon Dam. [296] Brower and his fellow 

environmental activists had enjoyed their greatest victory at Echo Park but suffered their most agonizing 

loss at Rainbow Bridge.

For its part, the Park Service spent the period between 1960 and 1963 preparing for the development of Glen 

Canyon NRA (see chapter 7). Park Service personnel knew that they could do little regarding the 

controversy over protective measures. Memos during this period tended to be concerned with the more 

practical aspects of park management, such as trail maintenance inside the monument, sanitation, and 

planning for the inevitable flood of visitors that would come to Rainbow Bridge via Lake Powell. The Park 

Service understood that it operated under direction from the Secretary of the Interior regarding the issue of 

protective measures; therefore, the Secretary's policy of pursuing funding while still accepting the reality of 

Lake Powell was the official line the Park Service also followed. Local Park Service personnel familiar with 

the topography of the Rainbow Bridge area knew that even if protective measures were constructed, visitors 

would be able to boat to within a mile of the bridge via Lake Powell. This inevitable rise in visitation 

compelled the Park Service during the early 1960s to complete a Memorandum of Understanding with the 

Bureau of Reclamation regarding management policies and authority at Glen Canyon. Regardless of the 

outcome of the conflict over protective measures, Glen Canyon Park Service personnel knew that new 

management policies, modified budgets, and increased funding would be critical to handling increased 

visitation at Rainbow Bridge.

Figure 30 Rainbow Bridge in relation to Lake Powell (Courtesy of 

Intermountain Support Office)

The mood of the nation changed after 1963. In November of that year, President John F. Kennedy was 

assassinated, providing vivid evidence of life's temporal nature. During the 1960s Congress passed a large 

number of environmentally sensitive laws. Some scholars have described this period as the "green 

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revolution." Between 1963 and 1970, two presidential administrations and Congress made enormous strides 

toward protecting scenic and natural resources. During this "green revolution" Presidents Johnson and Nixon 

signed the Wilderness Act (1964), the National Wildlife Refuge System (1966), the National Wild and 

Scenic Rivers Act (1968), the National Trails Act (1968), and the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA, 1970). The NEPA authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and also contained 

language requiring environmental impact statements (EIS) for federal development projects or non-federal 

projects on federal land. The mood during the last seven years of the 1960s was optimistic with regard to the 

environment. Scenic landscapes were regulated by numerous agencies and protective laws. In this climate of 

national environmental sentiment David Brower returned to the fight for Rainbow Bridge.

During the 1960s, Lake Powell rose slowly behind Glen Canyon Dam. By 1970, the waters from Lake 

Powell threatened to cross the boundaries of Rainbow Bridge NM. Brower, in his new capacity as director 

of Friends of the Earth, decided the time was right for a new lawsuit. Brower never forgot that the only real 

reason NPA lost the previous suit against Udall was the Court's ruling that NPA lacked standing to sue; the 

merits of the case were never tried. In November 1970, Friends of the Earth, the Wasatch Mountain Club, 

and Kenneth G. Sleight filed suit in Utah Federal District Court against two parties: Ellis L. Armstrong, 

Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, and Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton. The suit 

alleged that the Bureau of Reclamation and the Secretary of the Interior were still legally required to prevent 

impairment of Rainbow Bridge from Lake Powell. [297]

In the 1970 suit, Friends of the Earth claimed that the water from Lake Powell had risen much further into 

the monument than anyone had anticipated. Evidence presented during proceedings in 1971 indicated that 

the water was flowing back and forth into Bridge Canyon. The plaintiffs argued that this represented a clear 

threat of impairment to the bridge and that stipulations of the CRSP had been ignored.

The case proceeded slowly through pleadings and discovery. Federal attorneys argued much the same as 

they had in 1962. They contended that Friends of the Earth had no standing to sue and that defunding of 

protective measures constituted a reversal of the CRSP's Congressional intent clause. But Friends of the 

Earth seized on a minor point of contention in the 1962 decision: even if the plaintiffs had standing to sue, 

they could not prove injury sufficient to compel the court to enjoin Udall from closing the diversion tunnel 

gates. In the 1970 suit, Friends of the Earth felt they had evidence to support a claim of injury, that Rainbow 

Bridge was being "impaired." In 1973, the plaintiffs filed for a summary judgement in the case. On February 

27, 1973, Chief Judge Willis W. Ritter granted summary judgement in favor of the plaintiffs.

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Figure 31 View of Rainbow Bridge from Lake Powell, January 17, 

1971 (Courtesy of Glen Canyon NRA, Interpretation Files. Photo by 

W.L. Rusho)

Ritter's decision validated a number points: that they had standing to sue; that the merits of the case should 

be tried; the Intent Clause of the CRSP (Section 3) had not been repealed by implication; and, Secretary 

Morton was bound by the statutory duty to not only protect Rainbow Bridge from Lake Powell but to 

remove any and all Lake Powell waters from the monument. Ritter issued a judicial order directing 

Armstrong and Morton "to take forthwith such actions as are necessary to prevent any waters of Lake 

Powell and the Glen Canyon unit from entering . . . the boundaries of Rainbow Bridge National Monument 

and they . . . are permanently enjoined and restrained from permitting or allowing the waters of Lake 

Powell . . . to enter or remain within the boundaries of the Rainbow Bridge National Monument." [298]

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The day after the Ritter decision, Senator Frank Moss introduced S. 1057 in the Senate. The bill amended 

the CRSP by deleting the prohibitive language from Section 3. Environmentalists anticipated this move. 

Within two days of the Moss bill, messages and telegrams were sent between key members of Congress and 

Brower and the Friends of the Earth. By March 15, Brock Evans of the Sierra Club assured Brower that the 

Moss bill would come before Senator Alan Bible's Interior Committee and "be buried for a very long 

time." [299] The mood regarding Glen Canyon also shifted in the Lower Basin states. To comply with 

Ritter's decision, which required the removal of Lake Powell water from the monument, meant lowering the 

lake's maximum elevation. The only feasible way to achieve this end was to release large quantities of water 

from Lake Powell to the Lower Basin. The prospect of nearly a million more acre feet of water naturally 

appealed to Arizona and California. [300] Newspapers called the situation a "classic confrontation between 

conservationists and the federal government." [301]

file:///C|/Web/RABR/adhi/adhi6b.htm (6 of 7) [9/7/2007 2:07:02 PM]
Rainbow Bridge NM: Administrative History (Chapter 6)

Figure 32 Aerial Photo of Rainbow Bridge, August 16, 1981. 

Water is not far from the bridge (Courtesy of Glen Canyon NRA, 

Interpretation Files. Photo source unknown)

The Department of the Interior decided to appeal Ritter's decision. They solicited the Justice department's 

opinion on how to stay Ritter's order and filed for appeal on March 14. Ritter denied federal requests that he 

voluntarily stay his own order until the appeal was heard. [302] To comply with Ritter's order, the Bureau of 

Reclamation began large water releases from Glen Canyon Dam at the end of March 1973. [303] They did 

not have to comply for long. That summer, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver reversed Ritter's 

decision and ruled in favor of Armstrong and Morton. The Bureau of Reclamation stopped releasing extra 

water from Lake Powell. The appellate court decision followed the same line as the 1962 decision, ruling 

that the power to protect or not protect Rainbow Bridge was discretionary to the office of the Secretary of 

the Interior. The court also concluded that Congressional defunding of protective measures was tantamount 

to a modification of Section 3 of the CRSP and the Secretary could no longer be bound by its stated intent.

On January 21, 1974, the Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari and did not hear the case, which Interior 

and Reclamation interpreted as tacit validation of the appellate court decision. As long as Rainbow Bridge 

remained vertical, the protective clauses of the CRSP were no longer an issue. Other groups, such as the 

Navajo Tribe, also filed suits seeking restriction of Lake Powell's water from the monument. The 

significance of Rainbow Bridge, as a unit of the national park system, was in its role as a playing field for 

competing public and federal interests. Secretary Udall entered the debate in 1961 with history of activism 

for both conservation and preservation. But in his capacity as Secretary, he was in charge of two different 

agencies with different agendas regarding Rainbow Bridge. The Colorado River Storage Project, a massive 

edifice of water reclamation that affected millions of people, proved too powerful a consideration during the 

debate over water inundating a small portion of Bridge Canyon. In one of the other important cases 

involving Rainbow Bridge, Badoni v. Higginson, the courts ruled that the considerations of the CRSP were 

so important that even infringing on the First Amendment could be allowed (see chapter 5). The Park 

Service's management goals and policies for the monument evolved quickly during the litigious 1960s and 

1970s. After Lake Powell water finally moved under the bridge, the Park Service embraced a management 

style marked by flexibility and adaptivity.

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