The Geologic Story of Arches National Park / Geological Survey Bulletin 1393

BALANCED ROCK, guarding The Windows section of Arches National Park. Rock is Slick Rock Member of Entrada Sandstone resting upon crinkly bedded Dewey Bridge Member of the Entrada. White rock in foreground is Navajo Sandstone. La Sal Mountains on right skyline. (Frontispiece)
By S. W. Lohman Graphics by John R. Stacy
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1393
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ROGERS C. B. MORTON, Secretary
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY V. E. McKelvey, Director
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1975
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington, D. C. 20402 Stock Number 024-001-02598-1
According to Breed (1947), Harry Goulding, of Monument Valley, in a specially equipped car, traversed the rugged sand and rocks of the Arches region in the fall of 1936 and, thus, became the first person to drive a car into The Windows section of Arches National Monument. Soon after, a bulldozer followed Harry’s tracks and made a passable trail.
When my family and I visited the monument in 1946, the entrance was about 12 miles northwest of Moab on U.S. Highway 163 (then U.S. 160), where Goulding’s old tire tracks led eastward past a small sign reading “Arches National Monument 8 miles.” This primitive road crossed the sandy, normally dry Courthouse Wash and ended in what is now called The Windows section. At that time there was no water or ranger station, nor were there any picnic tables or other improvements within the monument proper, and the custodian was housed in an old barracks of the Civilian Conservation Corps near what is now the entrance, 5 miles northwest of Moab.
According to Abbey (1971), who served as a seasonal ranger beginning about 1958, a sign had by then been erected at the crossing of Courthouse Wash which read:
WARNING: QUICKSAND DO NOT CROSS WASH WHEN WATER IS RUNNING
The ranger station, his home for 6 months of the year, was what Abbey described as “a little tin housetrailer.” Nearby was an information display under a “lean-to shelter.” He had propane fuel for heat, cooking, and refrigeration, and a small gasoline-engine-driven generator for lights at night. His water came from the 500-gallon tank, which was filled at intervals from a tank truck. At that time there were three small dry campgrounds, each with tables, fireplaces, garbage cans, and pit toilets. By that time an extension of the dirt road led northward to Devils Garden, and some trails had been built and marked.