Ancient Indian Settlement Discovered in Utah
Sunday, July 04, 2004
RANGE CREEK CANYON, Utah "” An ancient Indian settlement has been discovered in a remote area of Utah called Range Creek Canyon (search), and archeologists are calling it one of the most spectacular finds in the West.
For 50 years, Waldo Wilcox (search) lived and raised cattle in the Utah canyon, where the Fremont Indians had farmed more than 1,000 years ago "” before drought forced them to abandon the region because they weren"™t able to grow their corn there anymore.
Wilcox left the ruins alone and kept people out until old age forced him to retire and sell the land to the government.
Though not as breathtaking as the well-known cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park (search) in southwest Colorado, the pristine, well-preserved Fremont Indian village ruins will yield much more knowledge about the ancient civilization, according to archeologists.
Now, as archeologists and students collect and identify artifacts that are literally scattered on the ground"™s surface, Utah officials are trying to figure out how to protect the treasures from looters who are already showing up to exploit the site.
The dichotomy of progress between the natives and the "settlers" of this country still strikes me as remarkable.
The man that owned this property till he was forced to sell it to the government also acknowledged that we need to preserve some things as a testament to man's progress and digress.
What is interesting also is that on this same day, Fox News carries a story about how our national parks are being trampled and disparaged by overuse, garbage, and illegal immigrants...."piles of trash" was a line from the story.....yet the park employees must be concerned first with security after 9/11 on restricited budgets. With higher demand and usage must come higher budgets, more facilities, and a lesser experience for all that pass through.
In a strange way, I regret that the 90's and the application of the new technologies ushered in such prosperity for America. With that prosperity came a demand for access to our national treasures that they can no longer sustain. Yosemite is a perfect example. When I first visited that amazing place in the early 70's, it was remarkable if 500,000 visitors made it through there in a year. Now 3 and 4 million is commonplace. People can "afford" to go, so they go. Everyone, like it or not, leaves their footprint and takes away a bit of the beauty forever. It seems that "modern" Americans have less appreciation for preservation because we demand a McDonalds everywhere we go, and plenty of free and easy parking, an air-conditioned room as a minimum for quarters, and on and on.
I've been back to Yosemite several times. Some of its majesty cannot be diminished. The mountains will remain and the streams and waterfalls will flow. But there is a finite limit to how many vehicles and roads and hotels and septic systems and trash disposal units you can allow before you've paved over and destroyed the place to the point where it is no longer "remote"...it is no longer what it once was.
To the problem with all our natural resourses whether they are parks, waterways or wildlife, they are being stressed at a greater rate each year for just the reason you state.
Interestingly enough the one most regulated may hold a solution to the impact on the others. Just as I have to apply and draw a tag to hunt certain animals, why not draws for admission to National Parks and the like.
To stay at any of the historic hotels like Yellowstones Old Faithful Lodge or the Grand Canyon you must make reservations almost a year in advance. A draw system could be set up for entry to the parks with an application fee to cover the operation. Then the numbers could be control and the quality of the visit would improve at the same time lowering the impact on the parks.
This would allow everyone a chance to visit and preserve the National gems for future generations.
__________________
Now you have to picture a combination of PeeWEE Herman and Wally Cox but with less muscle tone, trying to be intimidating None of this is funny! Message edited by Cougar Mag -- 1/7/2005 1:16:42 AM >/b]
I dosnt see why a lottery system wouldnt work. They have talked of a overhead tram sysytems where you park outside the park& take one in.The amount of humanity that pours threw there gates is great.
Ppl shoould get use to things like not having a mcy d,s every block or 10 miles or even 50.NMany like to change there new places to like the old , even thought they came because the new wasnt like the old they left.Makes as much sense as golf courses in the desert.
logs, the lottery idea sounds like a winner to me. I wonder why it hasn't been tried yet. I know its common on certain hiking trails in the west to allow only so many at a time.
The Freemont Indians
