The Geologic Story of Arches National Park: Geological Survey Bulletin 1393Lohman, Stanley William
Science
The Geologic Story of Arches National Park: Geological Survey Bulletin 1393
Lohman, Stanley William
Arches National Park (Utah); Geology -- Utah -- Arches National Park -- Guidebooks
Wolfe had sold his spread to Tommy Larson, who later sold it to J. Marv
Turnbow and his partners, Lester Walker and Stib Beeson. The old log
cabin gradually came to be known as the “Turnbow cabin,” and this name
appeared on early maps of the area by the U.S. Geological Survey and on
early pamphlets by the National Park Service, partly because Marv
Turnbow served as a camphand in 1927 assisting in the first detailed
geologic mapping of the area (Dane, 1935, p. 4). In 1947 the ranch was
sold to Emmett Elizondo, who later sold it to the Government for
inclusion in what was then the monument.
From information supplied by Wolfe’s granddaughter, Mrs. Esther Stanley
Rison, and his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Hazel Wolfe Hastler, who
visited the cabin in July 1970, the original name Wolfe cabin, or Wolfe
Ranch, has been restored, and appears on the newer maps and pamphlets.
(See fig. 1.) What remains of Wolfe’s Bar-DX Ranch is shown in figure 3.
[Illustration: WOLFE’S BAR-DX RANCH, on west bank of Salt Wash at
start of trail to Delicate Arch. Left to right: Corral, wagon, “new”
cabin, and root cellar. “Old” cabin, which formerly was to right of
photograph, was washed away by a flood in 1906. (Fig. 3)]
Arches National Park is surrounded by active uranium and vanadium mines
and by many test wells for oil, gas, and potash; it is underlain by
extensive salt and potash deposits. Oil and gas are produced a few miles
to the north and east, and potash is being produced about 12 miles to
the south (Lohman, 1974).
Uranium and vanadium have been mined on the Colorado Plateau since 1898
(Dane, 1935, p. 176) and in the Yellow Cat area (also called Thompson’s
area), just north of the park (fig. 1), since about 1911 (Stokes, 1952,
p. 7). The deposits in the Yellow Cat area occur in the Salt Wash
Sandstone Member of the Morrison Formation (fig. 4). According to Pete
Beroni (U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, oral commun., August 6, 1973),
some ore is still being produced in the Yellow Cat area, and the
production of vanadium ore will increase as soon as the uranium mill at
Moab is converted to also handle vanadium ore. The Corral and so-called
Shinarump mines along the southwest side of Moab Canyon just north of
Sevenmile Canyon (fig. 1) are still actively producing uranium ore from
the Moss Back Member of the Chinle Formation, according to Mr. Beroni.
The occurrences of salt and potash in and near the park and the attempts
to find oil and gas nearby are discussed in a recent report (Hite and
Lohman, 1973), and the deposits beneath Moab, Salt, and Cache Valleys
are discussed in later chapters.
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