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Photo courtesy of National Park Service
The History of Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Moab
Arches National Park:
Arches National Park is a preserve that contains over 2,000 natural rock and sandstone arch formations, like the famous Delicate Arch, as well as many other rock formations. In some locations, nature has exposed millions of years of geologic history. The amazing features of the National Park create a landscape of varied colors, landforms and rock textures that is unlike any other in the world. Arches National Park covers more than 73,000 acres, or about 114 square miles.
Many have had a hand in establishing Arches as a national park. In the early 1920s, Alexander Ringhoffer, a prospector, traveled through the area and was overwhelmed with it's natural beauty. He invited passenger traffic manager for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad - Frank Wadleigh to come and experience this amazing place for himself. Wadleigh, was so touched that he contacted Stephen T. Mather, director of the NPS. Mather then initiated the creation of a national monument. In 1929, an executive order signed by President Herbert Hoover established Arches as a national monument.
Canyonlands National Park:
Canyonlands National Park is a geological province that encircles most of the Colorado River and its brooks. It preserves one of the last, mostly undisturbed areas of the Colorado Plateau. This unique desert ecosystem is carved out of sedimentary rock deposits, forming an amazing landscape of mesas, canyons, and deep river gorges.
The remarkable geology of the foundation of the Canyonlands' ecology is visible in the cliff profiles that expose millions of years of deposition and erosion. The rock layers continually shape the Canyonlands today, as their erosion influence features like soil chemistry and the direction of where water flows when it rains.
With elevations ranging from 3,700 to 7,200 feet above sea level, Canyonlands is known as “high desert” and experiences very hot summers, cold winters, getting less than ten inches of rain per year. On a daily basis, temperatures may oscillate as much as 50 degrees.
Moab:
Moab is surrounded by two of the beautiful national parks of Southern Utah -- Arches to the north and Canyonlands to the west and it is one of state's most popular travel destinations. Visitors here can mountain bike, off-road, hike, and enjoy this desert paradise.
Settled early in the pioneer era, Moab served as a mission focused on relations with Native Americans. The first European settlement stemmed from the colonizing efforts of the Mormon Church. In June of 1855, the Mormons attempted to establish the “Elk Mountain Mission”, but conflicts with the Utes caused them to abandon their efforts. In the 1880s and 1890s The Moab area was permanently settled by farmers, ranchers and prospectors.
In 1898, a settler by the name of John Wesley Wolfe, a veteran of the Civil War built the homestead known as Wolfe Ranch. It is located on Salt Walsh, at the beginning of the Delicate Arch Trail. Wolfe lived there surrounded by his family for over a decade, and then moved back to Ohio. An acknowledgment of what must have been an amazing experience, the Wolfe cabin remains to this day.
The uranium boom in the 1950s changed this quiet little town. You can still find pioneer artifacts today, making this area a prime destination for those wanting to learn about Mormon history. Among some of the Mormon historic sites in the Moab/Arches National Park area are: Hole-In-The-Rock, near Escalante, Bluff Settlement, in Bluff and Monticello Temple in Monticello.
