The National Parks Service has awarded the University of Colorado in Denver more than $100,000 to document the religious and cultural significance of the Hole in the Rock area to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Under the terms of the contract, the university will have two years to conduct research — mostly via interviews with descendants of members of the San Juan Expedition.
The results of the study will be kept on file by the federal government and will be used to inform future decisions about development in the area, said Rosemary Sucec, cultural resources program manager at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
The 250-member San Juan Expedition traversed the Hole in the Rock trail south of Escalante during the winter of 1879-1880 while en route to a southeastern colony Brigham Young ordered the Mormon explorers to establish. The natural crevice, which had also been used by American Indians, later served as an important trade route for the colonists, who ultimately settled the town of Bluff.
Hole in the Rock trail has long been recognized as the most intact Mormon trail in Utah, but the area's cultural and religious significance has never been documented or studied in depth, Sucec said.
Recently, church members have become more interested in the Hole in the Rock expedition. That interest may be related to author Gerald Lund's 2009 release, "The Undaunted," a historical fiction novel about the San Juan Mission. Lund was an LDS Church general authority from 2002 to 2008 and the author of "The Work and the Glory" series.
The site continues to draw large numbers of Mormons who wish to re-create the Hole in the Rock crossing — a practice Sucec believes started in the the early 1900s and that she said is important to the faith's cultural and spiritual renewal.
"We recognize that they are rooted to places, through their history, and that those places have significance to them and mean something about who they are," she said.
At the same time, Glen Canyon and the surrounding area is enjoying a sudden rediscovery among backpackers, which Sucec said has drawn a large number of recreational hikers to the area. The University of Colorado study was initiated in part as an effort to head off conflicts between the two growing uses in the area.
"When you talk to folks who hold a place so dear, you want to be respectful of how you treat a place, so they can come back and have the same experience that their ancestors had," Sucec said. "This is less a crisis and more proactive management. This information is going to help us be more culturally sensitive managers of that corridor."
Twitter: @emapen
epenrod@sltrib.com
Hole in the Rock Road. Courtesy Jerry Roundy
Hole in the Rock Road descending to Lake Powell. Courtesy Jerry Roundy
