State unveils prehistory treasure trove By Joe Bauman and Ray Boren, Deseret Morning News
An estimated 2,000 to 5,000 archaeological sites, most in excellent condition, are located on the newly acquired property; more are being discovered up and down the canyon. About 1,350 acres are part of the immediate Wilcox ranch, a verdant farmstead straddling remote Range Creek, a tributary of the Green River, while another 3,000 acres are on a nearby plateau. …
According to state experts, the Range Creek property is not only an incredible archaeological resource, it is also a wildlife haven, with wild turkey, eagles, hawks, bears, cougars, elk, deer, bighorn sheep and other important species. The creek itself could be developed as a blue-ribbon trout fishery. …
Part of the Desolation Canyon Wilderness Area is accessible above the mouth of Range Creek, near its confluence with the Green River. …
Much of Range Creek, with its year-round stream, open canyon floor and dramatically steep and colorful cliffs, is believed to have been inhabited a thousand years ago by pre-Columbian cultures that archaeologists call the Fremont and the Anasazi. Three radiocarbon tests carried out so far date village and rock shelter sites to between 1000 A.D. and 1200 A.D. An analysis of projectile points and pottery, using dates of known styles, shows the same range.
The finds include individual pit houses, villages, arrowheads, shafts, granaries, pottery, basketry and scattered rock art, the latter often representing otherworldly human figures, pecked spirals and sheep figures. …
The sites are the way that those of the famous Nine Mile Canyon, about 20 miles away, must have been like 150 years ago, before they were vandalized, he said. It is significant that Wilcox “took such pride in not letting people vandalize them.” …
“I didn’t let people go in there to destroy it,” the 74-year-old Waldo Wilcox told the Associated Press. “The less people know about this, the better.”
America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places 2003
Located in a remote part of Utah, Nine Mile Canyon is often called ”the world’s longest art gallery” as it contains more than 10,000 images carved onto canyon walls by Native Americans.