The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-10-01
GOVERNMENT MAN
WAS ONLY GUEST
William B. Douglas Takes
Credit Belonging to Prof.
Byron Cummings.

Claiming credit which rightly belongs
to Professor Byron Cummings and the
exploring party sent out by the Univer'
sity of Utah, William 3. Douglas, ex-
aminer of surveys Of the general land
office, reports to the government that he
was the first white man to see the great
nat ITaI bridge near OljatO, Utah, last
summer. The official report of Mr.
Douglas, a synopsis Of which was pub
lished in yesterdays Herald-Republi-
can, says that Mr.. Douglas was &C
companied by a party of men from Utah
who wanted to take advantage of the
guide employed by Mr.. Douglas"
This claim, according to members of
the Utah party, will not stand inyesti-
CATION, in view of the fact that the Utah
party had the only guide who had aC-
tually seen the great natural bridge,
and Professor Cummings and his party
waited for the government surveyor,
and Mr.. Douglas was the one who was
accommodated with the Utah guide.
The Utah party left Salt Lake in
charge of Professor Cummings last
July, commissioned by the University
of Utah to investigate the traditions re-
garding the bridge near Navajo noun
tain. This party, in addition to Profess
sor Cummings and his young son, con-
sisted of Neil Judd, a student at the
university, Donald Beauregard and
Stewart Young. The chief guide was
John Wetherill, a trader at OljatO, Bo-
geye Beta, an Indian, who was to take
them to Masja Bega. another Indian
who had seen the bridge and knew its
exact location. When the party arrived
at the camp of the Indian who knew
the exact location of the bridge, this In
T,E4 Trl4,v- 1-,N ~
party was searching for him, he over
took Professor Cummings and his party
few hours later.
Waited for Douglas.
It was the next day at OIjato that the
party waited for Mr.. Douglas, who
came along with another Indian, who
had only heard of the bridge from the
father of the guide already engaged by
Professor Cummings.
The Utah party heard that Mr.. Doug
las was coming, and waited for him a
few hours. Then, as Mr.. Douglas
horses were played out, they waited
four hours until they had rested, and
started out a few miles from Oljato,
where they camped for the night
1t took a little more than three days
to make the trip to the bridge. AS the
guide employed by the Utah party said
they were nearing the bridge, Mr.. Doug
las whipped up his horse and endeav-
ored to keep ahead of the party, sue
ceeding at times in leading the others
by a few hundred yards. The party
was all together however, when they
reached the bridge.
Until the official report of the gov
eminent surveyor was issued, claiming
the entire credit for the discovery, there
had been no thought of anyone claim
ing the honors which were fairly won
by Professor Cummings and his party.
"I don't want to start any 'Peary-
Cook controversy over this affair. but
Mr.. Douglas was a guest of Professor
Cummings on this trip, and he simply
followed our guide, who was the only
guide who had actually seen the bridge
and knew its location" said a member
of the party last night. 1T seems to be
a deliberate attempt to take from Pro-
fessOr Cummings the honor which is his
due in discovering the bridge, and the
claims Of Mr.. Douglas will not stand
Investigation"