Stone House Lands: The San Rafael Reef

Book by Bauman, Joseph M.

The San Raphael Reef stretches 56 miles across the desert of southern Utah. Its multi-colored canyons and moon-like rock formations, sprinkled with juniper and pinon trees, give it a barren, haunting beauty. Bauman, an environmental reporter for Salt Lake City's Deseretstet News, appears to have dug up every scrap of information about the reef for this tribute to his favorite hiking area and as a plea to make the land a national park. He surveys the area's history from the early Tertiorystet epoch through pre-Columbian civilizations to the more recent exploits of Butch Cassidy, and finally to modern ecological threats, including uranium and petroleum claims, Interstate 70 and stray motorcycles. While Bauman's research and enthusiasm are commendable, his writing is less so ("The riptide of exploitation runs deep, and it's faster than the protectionists can swim").
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The San Rafael Reef is a 56-mile-long sandstone ridge cut by rugged canyons in desert country 200 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Bauman, a hiker and reporter, describes the history of the beautiful but harsh landscape from prehistoric times through Spanish and frontier explorers, outlaws, uranium miners, and, most threatening of all, present-day off-road vehicles and proposed development projects. When Interstate 70 bisected the area in the 1970s the fragile landscape became threatened by people and machines. The author believes passionately that the only solution is a new national "ecological park" with very restrictive use. The increasingly likely alternative is destruction. Especially suited for public and academic libraries in the Southwest, but the preservation call is nationwide. Roland Person, Southern Illinois University Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.