The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-08-13

T o keep the Kaibab plateau what it
now is-one of the few spots where
the Old west still exists-an effort
will be made to have it set aside as
government park.
Raised high above the Arizona des-
ert, with the depths of the Colorado's
giant canyon lying at its southern
edge. this plateau is today almost a
virgin wilderness. Big game haunt its
forests Flowers bloom in its grassy
pastures.
1t lies just below the Utah line. in
Arizona Kanab is the nearest town.
Railroads haven't come anywhere near
II yet, except TO reach the opposite side
OF a vast chasm. High in the air with
the grandest scenery on the continent
spread out beneath it, the vast upland
stretch is said by the few who have
penetrated it to be a wonderland.
All this may be changed in a few
years Cattle and sheep will do their
work and make cactus-spiked waste
of the open land. Pot hunters and
tourists VIII kill off it's game-unless
some steps are taken TO protect the
country and the animals.
To see that these steps are taken
kanab people are getting ready to ask
the government. to set the plateau
aside as "a national park. If this be
done, the table land. sixty miles long
H..
be kept place of beauty and won
ders
Access to it will be had by an over
land tour from Utah, or by crossing
the aerial tramway which is to be
built by a company recently incorpo-
rated by Utah men. The tramWay
across the gorge viii land tourists
from Bright Angel trail, on the side
of the Santa FEES Grand Canyon
branch. directly at the foet OF the Kai-
bah plateau
Bit of Old West.
Utah and Arizona today have with
in their boundaries more Of the old
west-the land of the cattlemen, the
long single action revoIvers, of I'M
broken solitude and terrific scenery,
than any other states in the Union.
This plateau is one Of those odd cor
ners where barbed wire fences have
never Came-may never come.
Upraised, 5000 feet above the desert
that lies behind it, it stretches out like
an open hand, its fingers reaching out
into the great chasm where the Colo
RADIO lashes its way between blood
red walls toward tidewater. Great for
ests stretch over its level roof. Noun
tain flowers bloom in its grassy pas
lures. Herds of wild horses gallop
down its canyons. The hand of man
has done nothing to defiie its wilder
ness. 1t remains as Nature first
made It.
% pldGtu anu 50 SlODluE that IT IS
an enormous natural trap. this Kaibab
plateau caught herds OF wild animals
that strayed across the deserts to the
north in the springtime. Once on il
they have stayed to breed and multi
ply. In winter time. when the SHOWS
lie thick over the lofty unduIating
floor they seek shelter and miIder eli
mate III the upper benches of the
Grand Canyon of the Colorado. With
spring they return to the uplands. and
so with other animals. a forest re
serve, still untouched by the whitening
hOOfs of sheep hocks. il has given rich
pasture to these wild things. They
live among it's groves as happily as
they did in the old days before the
railroads.
Fort on the Desert.
Historic associations cluster about the
place In the early years of Utah's
history, when the Mormon pioneers
were beginning to send out vanguards
TO the southwark q little band OF men
went TO Kanab- They lived there, fight
Ing at times Cor their very existence.
BY order of Brigham Young they built
a fort.-it was their last outpost Its
buildings still stand. weather beaten
picturesque, at Pine Springs, in the
midst Of the wonderful. silent desert
II lay in the land of the savaees this
fort It's little garrison was surrolInded
by bands of hostile Indians But the
men stuck 1t out, in spite of more than
one massacre and countless attacks
They had been told to stay. Their
presence in this desOlate spot was
necessary. Before the building of the
fort the Navajos had been accustomed
TO sweep across the alkali wastes. drfv-
ing before them the cattle of the white
men. BY a series of raids they had
Impoverished settlers: had made the
region dangerous. That was why they
built the fort. six miles south of Kanab.
1t stands, a monument to the days
civilization has put far back Of Us.
You can pass il as you leave the little
town for the plateau.
The journey to this Kaibab plateau
brings one back to the days Of which
you may read in fction-days you will
never see save in a few of the corners
which the barbed wire fences have
missed.
Leave Kanab and you ride out into
the desert. This is the desert of
Arizona It is land of silence and
mystery. In places giant cacti lift their /
spiked arms upward gaunt leafless |
forests. Again you find nothing about |
you but the sand. baked. burning. send |
ing out shimmering heat waves beneath /
the suns glare. As far as you may