Rainbow Bridge Administrative History

This project came together through of the efforts of numerous people. I am grateful to the National Park Service and their cooperative program with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which provided me the opportunity to write this history. I want to thank Lysa Wegman-French at Intermountain Support Office; John Ritenour at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area; and especially Chris Goetze, the project supervisor at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, who never failed in her support and patience. Without the research of former National Park Service historian Marcy Culpin, who gathered most of the archival documents before her retirement, this project would have been impossible. I also want to thank all the NPS personnel who reviewed the manuscript drafts.

Special thanks go to Pauline Wilson, the American Indian Liaison at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Her assistance with interviewing members of the Navajo Nation and her insight into Navajo culture were the keys to writing the history of Rainbow Bridge religion. I also want to specifically thank the individual members of the Navajo Nation who shared their stories with me over many days and many miles: Tom Dougi, Celone Dougi, Velta E. Luther, Leo Manheimer, Sylvia Manygoats, Buck Navajo, Jack Owl, and Bessie Owl.

At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, I want to thank Eugene Moehring and Willard Rollings for reading draft copies of chapters 5 and 6. Their suggestions were invaluable. Thanks to my Chair at the Department of History, Andy Fry, who allowed me the privilege of completing this project while still in doctoral courses. The person to whom I owe the greatest debt is Hal Rothman. During my graduate study as well as this project, he was my best critic, my mentor, and my friend. I will always feel privileged to have been his student.

Many of the staff at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah also helped with this project. Janet B. Seegmiller, the Special Collections Librarian at the Gerald R. Sherratt Library, helped me locate several volumes from the University of California series on the Southwest, including a copy of the 1934 Ansel Hall report on the first Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition. Jim Kroll, at the Denver Public Library, went out of his way to locate, copy, and mail to me all of Zeke Scher's articles detailing the controversy over honoring Jim Mike, one of the guides for the 1909 expedition to Rainbow Bridge. Laine Sutherland, Curator of Photography at Northern Arizona University's Cline Library, eased the task of acquiring most of the wonderful photographs of Rainbow Bridge and its environs. Rollan and Jane Fell at Cedar Express in Cedar City provided outstanding technical support during the pre-publication phase of this project.

On a personal level, I want to thank my parents, Wendell and Pat Sproul, for all their support and the extensive daycare they provided to my children while I slipped away to write. I also want to thank my grandmother, Lura Bonar, who allowed me to set up camp in her only spare bedroom and fed me endless cups of coffee while writing this text. My greatest thanks and gratitude are to my wife, Alice, and my three sons, Henry, Holden, and Hayden. As with all things, I do this for them in the hope that they will forgive my countless absences from home. To Alice I can only say, "om mani padme hum."

David Kent Sproul
Cedar City, Utah