Canyonlands
National Park,Utah (page 2 of 2)
Human Settlement and Abandonment
Beginning in the last two centuries B.C., small fields of corn were being grown in the arable canyon bottoms of the Canyonlands region by the early Anasazi. Whether the Archaics were displaced by the Anasazi or evolved into them is still a matter of speculation. Based on pottery style and other cultural markers, the Canyonlands Anasazi either came from or were influenced by the Mesa Verde Anasazi.
The Anasazi occupied the region for 1,500 years, living in pithouses or mesa top pueblos for most of this time, only building cliff dwellings in the last few centuries. During the course of this occupation, farming became more intensive and sophisticated, allowing population density to increase. Carefully designed granaries, often still containing preserved corn, account for a large number of ruins within the park.
Fremont peoples had moved into the northern part of the region by 800 A.D. Although somewhat more mobile and less populous than their Anasazi neighbors, the Fremont also practiced agriculture and built temporary and permanent structures within the canyons, including cliff dwellings.
Between 1200 and 1300 A.D. both the Anasazi and the Fremont abandoned the Canyonland region, probably due to a combination of natural resource overuse, changing climatic patterns and other factors. There is no evidence of human occupation within the park's boundaries for the next few centuries until Ute and Paiute Indians entered the area in the early 1700s. Some of the Athapaskan peoples, who would later become the Navajo Indians, migrating south from their northern homelands settled in the area, although the exact dates for this migration are not known. Although Spaniards arrived in the area in the late 1700s, Canyonlands was not officially described by Anglos until 1859. In the 1870s and 1880s, western outlaws found the canyons of the Green and Colorado Rivers to be the perfect place in which to elude the long arm of the law.
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Stone pinnacles near the head of Chestler Canyon in Canyonlands. Early Spanish explorers, seeing the clusters of stone towers on the horizon, thought they might be looking at a city skyline. Photo © 1999 Ray Wheeler |
By the turn of the century, the canyons of what is now Canyonlands National Park were home to people of many different backgrounds and pursuits, including trappers, gold miners, cowboys and ranchers, oil prospectors and Mormon pioneers seeking refuge from eastern ostracism. While gold mining never went beyond panning in the rivers, ranching became firmly established on the rich pastures along the Green and Colorado Rivers and several oil companies drilled within the region for decades. Wells and pipes were built to tap the natural springs and groundwater sources and large herds of cattle, as well as horses and sheep, were moved into the canyons.
Decades of overgrazing and competition with native grazers took a heavy toll on native grasses, causing severe loss of ground cover and the expansion of invasive cheat grass. In the 1930s the Bureau of Land Management was established and began regulating the numbers of livestock based on range health, allowing the grasslands to recover to varying extents. By the 1980s, grazing had been completely eliminated within the park's boundaries.
Canyonlands became a national park in 1964. Several mineral leases allowing oil drilling within Canyonlands were still in effect when the park was created, but eventually these contracts expired and no new leases were granted. Just outside the park, within the Colorado River's main canyon, is a potash mine and processing plant which taps salt deposits 2700 feet below the surface. These deposits are evaporites left during the retreat of an ancient, shallow ocean and currently produce 20,000 tons of potassium per year, which is mainly used for fertilizer.
Canyonlands has only two paved main routes and maintains 192 miles of road for four-wheel driving and mountain biking, an unusual accomodation for a National Park. The Park Service has recommended that over 75% of the park be designated as wilderness. Although Congress has not made the official designation, the Park Service manages these 260,000 acres as wilderness.
--Researched and written by Shannon Kelly
References:
Barnes, F. A. 1988. Canyonlands National Park: Early history and first descriptions. Canyon Country Publications, Moab, UT, 160 pp.
Childs, C. L. 1995. Stone desert: A naturalist's exploration of Canyonlands National Park. Westcliffe Publishers, Englewood, CO, 193 pp.
Negri, R. F., editor. 1997. Tales of Canyonlands cowboys. Utah State University Press, Logan, UT, 205 pp.
Wilkinson, C. 1999. Fire on the plateau: Conflict and endurance in the American southwest. Island Press/Shearwater Books, Washington, D.C., 402 pp.