Notes On The History Of The Kolob Canyons… Early Settlers

Issue 46.10

Part 8

The first settlers in the Kolob came in the 1930’s.  Even before 1930, the Samuel Pollock family lived in a house at the mouth of Taylor Creek.  The cement foundation for the home is still visible on the east side of I-15 where the freeway crosses Taylor Creek.  The Pollock children and their friends were frequent visitors into the Kolob.  Double Arch Alcove or “Leda’s Cave” was explored by young Leda Pollock and companions in 1915. [Middle Fork of Taylor Creek Trail Guide, 1993]

Taylor Creek attracted three individuals from Cedar City, Gustave Larson, Arthur Fife, and William R. Palmer for possible settlement sites.  All three built cabins and homesteaded sections of the canyon.  Remnants of the Larson and Fife Cabins can still be seen by hikers on the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek trail.  Palmer’s homestead and cabin was across Taylor Creek, northwest of the parking lot for the trail.  Why the families gave up their claims is not known but it may have been the pressure of the government to create a national monument, which would feature the Kolob Canyons.

The United States Geological Survey and the National Park Service made preliminary investigations of the Kolob in the mid-1930’s.  The scientific survey was led by retired Yale geologist and veteran surveyor of southern Utah, Herbert E. Gregory.  Gregory would write NPS Acting Director, Earl A. Trager his impression of the Kolob region:  “If only one spot in Utah and Arizona were available as a platform for a lecture on the geology of the Colorado Plateau country, I think, I would choose Kanarra Mountain were the sedimentary series (Kaibab to Wasatch) is in sight, the Great Basin topography abuts against the Plateau topography, and where the erosion, the faulting, and the volcanism characteristics of the Plateau Province could be discussed and illustrated with nearby examples.”  [Gregory to Trager, 8 August 1936]

Gregory’s recommendation to Trager led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create a new Zion National Monument encompassing the Kolob Canyons on 22 January 1937.  The existing Zion National Park had been designated as Zion National Monument in 1918 right before Congress created Zion National Park.  The creation of the new monument on the northeast border of Zion National Park resulted in a new scientific study of the Kolob.  In 1940 and 1941, Gregory and a colleague, Norman C. Williams undertook the task.  Their study of the new monument was published as “Zion National Monument, Utah” in the Bulletin of the Geologic Society of America in March 1947.  It was the first comprehensive view of the Kolob Canyons.  One of the features of the study was the little known Kolob Arch.  Our next episode will discuss this Kolob spectacle.