No uglier proposal could be made than the gravel pit in Parleys Canyon. Parleys Canyon is the gateway from all points east into Salt Lake City and the state of Utah.
We know what it will look like with a gravel pit because one confronts us heading north on I-15. The once green hills are an ugly cavern of orange rock and temporary work roads snaking up the gravel walls until they become part of the dust themselves, chewed away by polluting machines inexorably consuming the foothill.
This ugly first impression of Utah will be repeated at the eastern entrance. On the west is the lake and copper pit and to the south more urban sprawl. Tourists will light out from Salt Lake at their first opportunity to hunt for the Utah pictured in the travel brochures.
Kathryn Fitzgerald, Salt lake City
