Utah canyon yields rare Indian ruins
By Michael Martinez Tribune national correspondent
High in eastern Utah's rocky cliffs, the ruins of an ancient Indian settlement stand in pristine condition, a glorious piece of early America frozen in time centuries ago and virtually untouched by humans since.
Though residents have known about the tract for decades, it was not until Wednesday that state officials unveiled what they're calling a national treasure for its unspoiled condition and historic significance.
Skeletal remains, rock burial mounds, arrowheads, beads made of Pacific seashells, pottery fragments, cliffside granaries, collapsed sandstone dwellings, panels of rock paintings and carvings--the remnants of an ancient native people called the Fremont are scattered throughout a 12-mile canyon teeming with wildlife and sustained by Range Creek and wetlands.
The Fremont are named after the nearby Fremont River, which in turn was labeled after 19th Century explorer John Fremont. They thrived almost 700 years until they disappeared about 1300, a mystery that could be solved in the coming years as experts explore and rediscover this area, officials said.
Artifacts abound in the Range Creek Wildlife Management Area, so remote that visitors must drive two hours along steep clay roads to reach the gate, 130 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.
Rancher protected land
Protecting the edenic canyon since 1951 was its former owner, rancher Waldo Wilcox, 75, a cowboy throwback who likes to spin yarns about how he chased away trespassers with a pickax.
Wilcox, who sold his 4,169-acre ranch for $2.5 million in 2001, joined local, state and federal officials Wednesday as they provided journalists with a tour of the area that is expected to yield thousands of ancient Indian sites in the canyon bottom. Already 225 have been recorded, officials said.
At one point, Wilcox demonstrated how relics lay seemingly abandoned in a valley whose rock formations are lined like pages of a book laid sideways, hence the formations' name, the Book Cliffs.
Wilcox pointed to what he said was a burial mound, marked by a heap of rocks at the foot of a rocky wall. He then meandered behind a boulder and picked up three broken pieces of Indian pottery, which were confirmed as authentic by archeologist Pam Miller of the College of Eastern Utah.
Behind him was rock art, a Fremont carving distinctive for its trapezoidal depiction of a man's body with curving horns on his head. Wilcox pointed to old stone dwellings high on both sides of a canyon divided by a cottonwood-shaded waterway.
"You see the way they put the rocks up. If you dig down, you'd find a dead person down there," Wilcox said of the burial mound.
State officials say they will seek national historic protection for the site.
"It's truly a national treasure," said state archeologist Kevin Jones, who works in the antiquities section of the Utah Division of State History. "It's one of the most significant archeological areas that remain today.
"This range is a jewel that has somehow escaped the ravages of vandals and looting."
Officials consider visitors
The challenge ahead for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is how to open the site to visitors and still maintain its archeological integrity. State officials say one way is to use rangers to patrol the valley and guides to escort visitors; permits or fees could be required for sightseers, officials said.
The ranch was sold in 2001 to the non-profit Trust for Public Land, which bought it with funds from Congress and the Utah Quality Growth Commission. The title was turned over to the state this year.
The purchase was strategic because the plot eases access to 100,000 acres of adjacent lands owned by the federal Bureau of Land Management and designated as wilderness study areas. The former Wilcox Ranch is prime habitat for wild turkeys, eagles, hawks, bears, cougars, elk, deer, and bighorn sheep. The alpine waters of Range Creek could become a prime trout-fishing stream.
The most prized portion of the ranch are the 1,309 acres at the bottom of Range Creek canyon.
While providing the most powerful human dimension, the presence of skeletal remains and burial sites also could be the most controversial. Native American tribes have been outspoken in seeking to have such sites labeled as sacred.
Burial sites avoided
Officials on Wednesday steered clear of providing reporters with any view of burial sites, though Wilcox said many exist, including several near his former ranch house.
Some graves have revealed their skeletal remains as weather and wind over the centuries have worn away rocky protections, Wilcox said.
In the 1940s, mummified remains were discovered, including some skeletons wrapped in skins and others in cedar strips; those mummies were taken to Arizona, Wilcox said.
As word about the site has leaked out in recent weeks, some looting has occurred, said Joel Boomgarden, 31, an archeology graduate student from Mankato, Minn.
He already has discovered "looters' piles," discarded heaps of artifacts left after poachers have collected and taken the best pieces, he said. Moving artifacts from their original sites renders them archeologically useless, he said.
More disturbingly, Boomgarden discovered a few days ago that a half pot was stolen from a cliff 1,000 feet off the valley floor.
"I'm scared that people are going to start digging holes and looking for artifacts that just aren't there," he said. "When these stories go out, things are going to start going out."
By Michael Martinez Tribune national correspondent
High in eastern Utah's rocky cliffs, the ruins of an ancient Indian settlement stand in pristine condition, a glorious piece of early America frozen in time centuries ago and virtually untouched by humans since.
Though residents have known about the tract for decades, it was not until Wednesday that state officials unveiled what they're calling a national treasure for its unspoiled condition and historic significance.
Skeletal remains, rock burial mounds, arrowheads, beads made of Pacific seashells, pottery fragments, cliffside granaries, collapsed sandstone dwellings, panels of rock paintings and carvings--the remnants of an ancient native people called the Fremont are scattered throughout a 12-mile canyon teeming with wildlife and sustained by Range Creek and wetlands.
The Fremont are named after the nearby Fremont River, which in turn was labeled after 19th Century explorer John Fremont. They thrived almost 700 years until they disappeared about 1300, a mystery that could be solved in the coming years as experts explore and rediscover this area, officials said.
Artifacts abound in the Range Creek Wildlife Management Area, so remote that visitors must drive two hours along steep clay roads to reach the gate, 130 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.
Rancher protected land
Protecting the edenic canyon since 1951 was its former owner, rancher Waldo Wilcox, 75, a cowboy throwback who likes to spin yarns about how he chased away trespassers with a pickax.
Wilcox, who sold his 4,169-acre ranch for $2.5 million in 2001, joined local, state and federal officials Wednesday as they provided journalists with a tour of the area that is expected to yield thousands of ancient Indian sites in the canyon bottom. Already 225 have been recorded, officials said.
At one point, Wilcox demonstrated how relics lay seemingly abandoned in a valley whose rock formations are lined like pages of a book laid sideways, hence the formations' name, the Book Cliffs.
Wilcox pointed to what he said was a burial mound, marked by a heap of rocks at the foot of a rocky wall. He then meandered behind a boulder and picked up three broken pieces of Indian pottery, which were confirmed as authentic by archeologist Pam Miller of the College of Eastern Utah.
Behind him was rock art, a Fremont carving distinctive for its trapezoidal depiction of a man's body with curving horns on his head. Wilcox pointed to old stone dwellings high on both sides of a canyon divided by a cottonwood-shaded waterway.
"You see the way they put the rocks up. If you dig down, you'd find a dead person down there," Wilcox said of the burial mound.
State officials say they will seek national historic protection for the site.
"It's truly a national treasure," said state archeologist Kevin Jones, who works in the antiquities section of the Utah Division of State History. "It's one of the most significant archeological areas that remain today.
"This range is a jewel that has somehow escaped the ravages of vandals and looting."
Officials consider visitors
The challenge ahead for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is how to open the site to visitors and still maintain its archeological integrity. State officials say one way is to use rangers to patrol the valley and guides to escort visitors; permits or fees could be required for sightseers, officials said.
The ranch was sold in 2001 to the non-profit Trust for Public Land, which bought it with funds from Congress and the Utah Quality Growth Commission. The title was turned over to the state this year.
The purchase was strategic because the plot eases access to 100,000 acres of adjacent lands owned by the federal Bureau of Land Management and designated as wilderness study areas. The former Wilcox Ranch is prime habitat for wild turkeys, eagles, hawks, bears, cougars, elk, deer, and bighorn sheep. The alpine waters of Range Creek could become a prime trout-fishing stream.
The most prized portion of the ranch are the 1,309 acres at the bottom of Range Creek canyon.
While providing the most powerful human dimension, the presence of skeletal remains and burial sites also could be the most controversial. Native American tribes have been outspoken in seeking to have such sites labeled as sacred.
Burial sites avoided
Officials on Wednesday steered clear of providing reporters with any view of burial sites, though Wilcox said many exist, including several near his former ranch house.
Some graves have revealed their skeletal remains as weather and wind over the centuries have worn away rocky protections, Wilcox said.
In the 1940s, mummified remains were discovered, including some skeletons wrapped in skins and others in cedar strips; those mummies were taken to Arizona, Wilcox said.
As word about the site has leaked out in recent weeks, some looting has occurred, said Joel Boomgarden, 31, an archeology graduate student from Mankato, Minn.
He already has discovered "looters' piles," discarded heaps of artifacts left after poachers have collected and taken the best pieces, he said. Moving artifacts from their original sites renders them archeologically useless, he said.
More disturbingly, Boomgarden discovered a few days ago that a half pot was stolen from a cliff 1,000 feet off the valley floor.
"I'm scared that people are going to start digging holes and looking for artifacts that just aren't there," he said. "When these stories go out, things are going to start going out."
