The Monument

The Monument includes 20,500 acres (32 square miles), much of which has been recommended to Congresss for designation as wilderness. (We learn BTW that a "Monument" is declared so by the President - in this case Taft - while a National Park is an act of Congress). The area was first explored by John Otto, a drifter who settled in Grand Junction in the early 20th century. Prior to Otto's arrival, many area residents believed the canyons to be inaccessible to humans. Otto began building trails on the plateau and into the canyons. As word spread about his work, Grand Junction sent a delegation to see what he was doing. The delegation returned praising both Otto's work and the scenic beauty of the wilderness area. The local newspaper began lobbying to make it a National Park.

The area was established as Colorado National Monument on May 24, 1911. Otto was hired as the first park ranger, drawing a salary of $1 per month. For the next 16 years, he continued building and maintaining trails while living in a tent in the park.

We learn all this and more at a nice Ranger's station where a young gal gives us the overview. The kids are entranced and more so by the gift-shop. Madeleine buys a very cool "stamp book" of all national parks in the US - there are about 400. We've already been to several including Big Trees and Black Canyon. She will have to get those later. According to the sales clerk "people go crazy about their booklets" and let us hope so.