Geologic Story of Arches National Park
Lohman SW. 1975. Geologic Story of Arches National Park. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Bulletin. 1393. United States Geological Survey. Washington
According to former Superintendent Bates Wilson (1956), Prof. Lawrence M. Gould, of the University of Michigan, was the first to recognize the geologic and scenic values of the Arches area in eastern Utah and to urge its creation as a national monument. Mrs. Faun McConkie Tanner1 told me that Professor Gould, who had done a thesis problem in the nearby La Sal Mountains, was first taken through the area by Marv Turnbow, third owner of Wolfe cabin. (See p. 12.) When Professor Gould went into ecstasy over the beautiful scenery, Turnbow replied, "I didn't know there was anything unusual about it." Dr. J. W. Williams, generally regarded as father of the monument, and L. L. (Bish) Taylor, of the Moab Times-Independent, were the local leaders in following up on Gould's suggestion and, with the help of the Moab Lions Club, their efforts finally succeeded on April 12, 1929, when President Herbert Hoover proclaimed Arches National Monument, then comprising only 7 square miles.It was enlarged to about 53 square miles by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Proclamation of November 25, 1938, and remained at nearly that size, with some boundary adjustments on July 22, 1960, until it was enlarged to about 130 square miles by President Lyndon B. Johnson's Proclamation of January 20, 1969.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Lohman, S
- Date of Issue
- 1975
- Publisher
- United States Geological Survey
- Units
- ARCH , HIST , WRD
- Keywords
- Arches, canyon, Colorado River, Courthouse Towers, Delicate arch, Deposition, ehistory, Erosion, Fiery Furnace, Geographic, Geology, Geology, GRBIB, headquarters, History, monument, National Park, Origin, Park, Physical Sciences, plateau, Prehistoric, Rock, Rocks, setting, story, Uplift, windows, WRBIB