Uuuuudooooo. Hoodoo comes from the Southern Paiute word [ooh doo] for being afraid, for showing fear. The way we say it is 'uuuuudoooooooooo'. It's an expression of scary.
The barks of the Utah prairie dog are a language. Their calls to each other across the meadow alert the colony of an approaching threat. Specific barks indicate a particular predator or situations.
Situation 1: Badger, moving slowly, about 20 yards (18 m) from colony. Audio of Utah prairie dog’s vocal response to a badger moving slowly, outside of danger zone with no juveniles above ground.
Situation 2: Badger moving quickly towards the colony. Audio of Utah prairie dog’s vocal response to a badger moving quickly, inside the danger zone with juveniles above ground.
Translation in English: And I said, hello, in Zuni. And welcome people to the A:shiwi,the Zuni’s ancestral lands of the northwest. And wishing the people safe travels, having a good time within the ancestral lands.
Translation in English: That is the welcoming for Bryce Canyon, and Bryce Canyon, the way we interpret it is descriptive of the sandstone. It’s a description of the landscape. What we call it in Navajo.
Well, my great-great grandfather came from England right around 1870s, and they settled into Kingston and then his grandson was named Ruben, and that’s where Ruby’s Inn got its name is from him. We went by the nickname of Ruby. And they moved to Panguitch around 1900, and there he met Minnie Excelland they were married about 1905, and they ranched, farmed, down in Panguitch for several years, and then they decided they wanted to move out here. They homesteaded out here the spring of 1916, and dad was eight, and his younger sister, Armeda, was just a baby. And when they left Panguitch the people there told them they were foolish to come out here, that they couldn’t make a living farming, that there were other ranches out here. So, anyway they moved out here, and they were here six weeks when they finally heard about Bryce Canyon and they decided that tourist business was better than farming.
Well, my grandparents on my father’s side, on the Pollock line, hey lived in Kanarraville over by Cedar City. They had what they called Kanarraville Horse and Co-op Association and they had heard about this area over here. So, they were looking for winter range for their livestock. So, a group of them saddled up and rode across Cedar Mountain down across the east fork of the Sevier up here and down into the Tropic Valley. My grandfather was among the group and I guess they liked it so well they decided that they’d establish a settlement over here along with bringing their livestock. So my grandfather moved over here and he met a young woman, a Eunice Mecham, and fell in love with her and married her and they built the first cabin on the west side of the Paria in the Tropic Valley and lived there for quite a number of years.
May the 24th, 1935 is when I was born. And that was in Oak City, but we did live here in Tropic and I’ve lived here all my life. My great grandfather came here from northern Utah and it was told that he stopped his wagon, down in, probably just before Cannonville, and he took his lines and tied them and looked it over and wept, “What have I done coming to a place like this?” But he settled in Cannonville and had, what, nine or ten in their family. He died relatively young. My great grandmother took over the family and raised them the best she could. My grandfather started herding sheep in what we call the lower country, which would be the Rock Springs, Paria Creek area; so, we’ve been here all my life. And then I also have on my dad’s side, his grandfather Hatch. They were some of the shakers and movers of the area. And there was A.J. Hansen that moved in and he was Tropic’s first bishop. But when they all settled in Cannonville they noted that there wasn’t enough farmland and there wasn’t enough water. So, the drainage of this area is the Colorado River drainage and then you go up to the park and on the west is the Great Basin and these people needed the water. So, through A.J. Hansen and others, they went up near the Tropic reservoir, presently, and they started and built, what, a nine, ten, twelve-mile canal so were able to divert water from the Great Basin over into the Colorado. And that’s what made it possible for people to stay here. That was the lifeline to the community.
The sound of the park--from the loud rumble of thunder to the quiet thrum of hummingbird wings--are part of the natural soundscape. Please enjoy the sounds of your visit. Wildlife depend on them.
Field recordings of a rainstorm, bugling elk, squawking raven, and other park sounds.
Last updated: July 10, 2024
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Contact Info
Mailing Address:
P.O Box 640201
Bryce,
UT
84764
Phone:
435 834-5322
Phones are answered and messages returned as soon as possible as staffing allows.
