Delicate Arch, in Arches National Park, Utah
by National Park Service, and available in the public domain
Arches National Park is a national park in Utah. It is noted for having over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch. In addition, Arches National Park has a variety of unique rock formations.
Arches National Park is located near Moab, Utah, and covers an area of 119 square miles (309 sq km). It ranges in elevation from 4,085 feet (1,245m) to 5,653 feet (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte. Since 1970, erosion has toppled 42 of the arches in the national park, even though Arches receives only 10 inches (250 mm) of rainfall a year.
Among the notable formations at Arches National Park are:
- Delicate Arch — a lone-standing arch which has become a symbol of Utah
- Balanced Rock — a large balancing rock, the size of three school buses
- Double Arch — two arches, one on top of the other
- Landscape Arch — a very thin, very long arch over 300 feet (100 m); the largest in the park
- Fiery Furnace — an area of maze-like narrow passages and tall rock columns (see biblical reference Fiery Furnace)
- Devil's Garden — with many arches and columns scattered along a ridge
- Dark Angel — a free-standing column of dark stone at the end of the Devil's Garden trail.
- Courthouse Towers — a collection of tall stone columns
- Petrified Dunes — petrified remnants of sand dunes blown from the ancient lakes that covered the area.
Panoramic view of the Tower of Babel, Arches National Park
Photo Credit: Shannon Martin, GNU Free Documentation License
The area, administered by the National Park Service, was originally designated as a national monument on April 12, 1929. It was redesignated a national park on November 12, 1971. More than 730,000 people visited it in 2004.
The Arches rock formations were first brought to the attention of the National Park Service by Frank A. Wadleigh, passenger traffic manager of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Wadleigh had explored the area in September 1923, accompanied by railroad photographer George L. Beam. They did it at the invitation of Alexander Ringhoffer, a Hungarian-born prospector living in Salt Valley. Ringhoffer had written to the railroad in an effort to interest them in the tourist potential of a scenic area he had discovered the previous year with his two sons and a son-in-law, which he called the "Devil's Garden". Wadleigh was impressed by what Ringhoffer showed him, and suggested to Park Service director Stephen T. Mather that the area be made a national monument.
The following year additional support for the monument idea came from Laurence M. Gould, a University of Michigan graduate student studying the geology of the nearby La Sal mountains. Gould was shown the scenic area of Arches by retired local physician Dr. J.W. "Doc" Williams.
A succession of government investigators came to examine Arches, partly due to a confusion over its exact location. In the process the name "Devil's Garden" was given to an area on the opposite side of Salt Valley while Ringhoffer's original discovery was omitted. Another area nearby, known locally as "The Windows", was included. The National Park Service supported the designation of the area as a national monument from 1926, but the proposal was resisted by President Calvin Coolidge's Interior Secretary. It was another three years that the area was proclaimed Arches National Monument by President Herbert Hoover shortly after his inauguration. It consisted of two comparatively small, disconnected sections. Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, the arches, spires, balanced rocks, and other sandstone formations are protected for their scientific and educational value. The name "Arches" was suggested by Frank Pinkely, superintendent of the Park Service's southwestern national monuments, following a visit to the Windows section in 1925.
In late 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a proclamation enlarging the Arches area to protect additional scenic features and to permit the development of facilities that will help to promote tourism there. President Dwight Eisenhower added an adjustment to it in 1960 to accommodate a new road alignment.
In early 1969, just before leaving office, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation substantially enlarging the area of Arches National Monument. Two years later President Richard Nixon signed a legislation enacted by Congress which significantly reduced the area of Arches, but changed its status to a National Park.
Balanced Rock, Arches National Park in winter
Photo Credit: Jon Sullivan, available in the public domain
|
