Rainbow Bridge Administrative History

Tourism and exploration operated on a dual plane at the monument between 1910 and 1955. There were significant explorations of the monument's interior which tried to assess the best route to the bridge as well as the monument's biological and geological scope. One of the most popularized set of expeditions to the bridge were those inspired by Charles L. Bernheimer in the 1920s. Bernheimer described himself as a "tenderfoot and cliff dweller from Manhattan." [151] Bernheimer was that and more. A textile tycoon, Bernheimer had a passion for the Southwest. He spent many summer months in the Four Corners region, exploring and recording much of what he saw. In 1920, he employed Wetherill to guide him to the bridge. Awed at the spectacular edifice, Bernheimer decided that the bridge could be accessed more directly via some undiscovered western route. In 1920, the bridge was still being reached in the final stage via the original approach which included numerous canyon crossings and tiring course deviations. Bernheimer returned in 1921 to help create a more direct route that avoided delays in Bald Rock Canyon. [152]

The 1921 expedition proved to be quite exceptional. Bernheimer and Wetherill, among other feats, circumnavigated Navajo Mountain and located Redbud Pass as the likely candidate for a western approach to the bridge. However, Wetherill reported to Bernheimer that approaching the bridge from that point would be impossible due to natural impediments. Bernheimer returned the following year with Earl H. Morris of the American Museum of Natural History. With Wetherill as guide, the team took up the sole task of "creating" an approach to the bridge via Redbud Pass. Utilizing dynamite and chisels, Bernheimer and his crew worked for a week to create a path wide enough to lead horses through. They finished their efforts on July 5, 1922, riding through the newly formed Redbud Pass and into Bridge Canyon toward Rainbow Bridge. [153]

The completed route ran from Kayenta up Tsegi Canyon and then due north to the southern foot of Navajo Mountain. Here the trail forked; the east fork followed the traditional route around Navajo Mountain from east to west and into Bridge Creek. This is known historically as the Wetherill Trail. But the west fork, reconnoitered during the 1921 and 1922 Bernheimer expeditions, followed Horse Canyon into Cliff Canyon. It then made use of Redbud Pass and the more direct drop into Bridge Canyon. [154] From any camp situated along the southern slopes of Navajo Mountain, the new trail offered a more direct path to the bridge, ranging from thirteen to twenty miles depending on the starting point. The great irony of creating this new route was it made locations north of Kayenta more appealing as base camps. In 1924, S.I. Richardson recognized that very fact.

Figure 22 Redbud Pass (Phillip Johnston Collection, Cline Library, NAU.PH.413.103, Northern Arizona University)

The establishment of Rainbow Lodge was inevitable from a tourism perspective. The Wetherills were too far from the bridge and could not hope to monopolize the tourist trade forever. John Wetherill had made a good living guiding men like Grey and Bernheimer to the bridge. But as public knowledge of the bridge grew, others sought a living at guiding "tenderfoots" into the monument. S.I. Richardson and his brother Hubert were among those who saw more than the awesome natural beauty of the bridge; they saw economic potential. The Richardson brothers came to the Southwest to escape the harsh life imposed on them by their fundamentalist father. After working with relatives in the trading post business, the brothers took a pack trip from Kaibito to the bridge. It was this trip that inspired them to start a guide and trading post business on the southern slope of Navajo Mountain. Their plan included construction of a road from Tonalea, Arizona to their new Rainbow Lodge and Trading Post at Willow Springs. [155]

It was an ambitious plan. Permits, construction delays, threats from local Navajos, and canyon obstructions threatened to derail the project. But S.I. and Hubert were not dissuaded from realizing their dream. Using hired and family labor, the Richardsons finished construction of the lodge in late 1923. The Richardsons also managed to secure the official sanction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Unbeknownst to the Park Service, the BIA issued S.I. Richardson a permit to operate the Rainbow Natural Bridge Transportation Company. The Park Service was unaware of Richardson's permitted operation until May 1924. [156] The lodge started receiving visitors, even before guest accommodations were complete, in March 1924. Regular pack trips to the bridge began in early 1925. [157] Competition for the Wetherill clients had begun.

Figure 23 Rainbow Trail from Rainbow Lodge (Courtesy of Intermountain Support Office) (click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

In order to improve his odds for success at Rainbow Bridge, Hubert Richardson lobbied the Park Service to appoint Homer Arnn custodian of the monument. Arnn was the chief packer for the Richardsons and would have been in a uniquely powerful position if appointed custodian. Even the Park Service recognized that custodians were in frequent contact with visitors, making custodianship and guiding a lucrative combination. The Park Service responded with consideration, indicating that "we would like to get a good man to act as custodian at the Rainbow Bridge." [158] But when the request made it to the review of Acting Director Arno B. Cammerer, all the cards were laid on the table. Cammerer wrote to Frank Pinkley, then Superintendent of Casa Grande National Monument, "perhaps the reason Mr. Richardson is anxious to have Arnn appointed as custodian of the Rainbow Bridge Monument is that this would give him official recognition as the Rainbow guide and some misunderstanding might arise in this connection with Mr. Wetherill." [159] It seemed that certain Park Service employees did not know that John Wetherill served the dual role of custodian for Navajo NM and Rainbow Bridge. In any event, Arnn's custodianship was denied by the Park Service in the form of it never being proposed officially.

Competing with the Wetherills had its price. Being so close to the bridge meant being very far from supply towns. Everything necessary to Rainbow Lodge's operation had to be trucked in from somewhere else: Flagstaff, Gallup, or other towns. The Richardsons realized quickly that business would have to be brisk to meet the cost of operating in such a remote location. In 1926, S.I. and Susie Richardson sold their share in the Rainbow Lodge to Hubert Richardson and left Navajo Mountain for Red Mesa. Hubert gave overall management control to Stanton Borum, one of the original partners in the venture. Hubert hired his brother-in-law, Bill Wilson and his wife Katherine to handle the daily lodge operations: guest services, trail and lodge maintenance, and advertising. [160]

The Wilsons came to Rainbow Bridge from Grand Canyon National Park. Wilson worked as a pack-master for several years at Grand Canyon under the direction of Superintendent M.R. Tillotson. He had made quite an impression on Tillotson during the years at Grand Canyon. Superintendent Tillotson, after reading a Park Service publication that indicated Rainbow Bridge NM lacked a custodian, immediately recommended Bill Wilson to the Director for the custodial position. Tillotson wrote of Wilson that "it would be difficult to find anyone more interested in the preservation of the monument than he and he is certainly the nearest white man to it." [161] In fact, John Wetherill was still the official custodian of Rainbow Bridge, a duty that Wetherill also performed at nearby Navajo NM. Whether or not Tillotson knew about Wetherill's role would be speculative. But in his letter, Tillotson detailed numerous other trading posts that lay some distance beyond Rainbow Lodge. Kayenta was not mentioned among them. In fact, in extolling the virtues of Rainbow Lodge, Tillotson compared Wilson's services to the other alternative, a ten-day pack trip around the north side of Navajo Mountain. Any information as to who ran these alternative pack trips was omitted from the letter. In any event, the recommendation of Wilson for custodian was denied by the Director based on the advice of Frank Pinkley. Pinkley said that there were reasons for not appointing Wilson that Tillotson had omitted from his glowing recommendation. Those reasons were known only to the participants as they were never enumerated in any Park Service correspondence. [162]

It was apparent that even the eased access afforded by the Richardson road improvements were not enough to stimulate vigorous Park Service management. Budgetary limitations still in place as a result of World War II severely restricted structural improvements at the monument. In 1946, Hubert Richardson sold his interest in the lodge to Barry Goldwater, future Arizona Senator and presidential candidate.

World War II handicapped business at the lodge. Very little recreational travel took place during the war, and remote locations like Rainbow Lodge were hit the hardest. But Goldwater loved the country around Rainbow Bridge. He had bought into the Richardson operation in the 1930s as a partner and in 1946, after the conclusion of the war, decided he wanted to have a go at running a successful tourist operation. The lodge did little business during the war, with the Wilsons leaving Navajo Mountain for a brief time to secure employment elsewhere. The lodge was virtually unused for nearly five years. With wartime fuel restrictions lifted by 1946, people began touring the Southwest again. Goldwater had guessed well regarding post-war tourism. In 1923, annual visitation to the bridge was only 142 people. After 1945, visitation went up every year, reaching a high of 1,081 in 1955. Goldwater secured the promise of the Park Service to distribute Rainbow Lodge pamphlets to all persons inquiring about services at Rainbow Bridge. [163]

Figure 24 Rainbow Lodge, 1950 (Gladys Brodenson Collection, NAU.PH.97.9. 129, Cline Library. Northern Arizona University)

In high hopes of success, Goldwater sent 1,500 pamphlets to the Park Service's information office. Unfortunately the lodge burned to the ground in August 1951, leaving nothing but high hopes. Operations were transferred to the only building large enough to accommodate guest functions: a recently constructed stone garage. The Wilsons decided to retire after the fire and in 1952 moved to Clarksdale, Arizona. Myles Headrick, lodge manager after Hubert Richardson sold out, became partners with Goldwater. Goldwater and Headrick hired Merritt and Nona Holloway to replace the Wilsons and serve as hosts. The lodge was never rebuilt along its original lines. Trips to the bridge via boat tours on the Colorado River and the advent of Lake Powell in 1962 made continuing land-based travel to Rainbow Bridge a futile endeavor. Operations at Rainbow Lodge continued until Goldwater's priorities and finances shifted to national politics. The Rainbow Bridge and Hotel Company closed in 1965. But the era of guided pack services had firmly ensconced Rainbow Bridge NM on the recreational consciousness of thousands of Americans who would later lament the era's passage. [164]

River trips to the bridge also took on increased significance between 1935 and 1955. Norman Nevills operated the first tourist operation in Glen Canyon that successfully focused on Rainbow Bridge. Nevills operated from Mexican Hat, Utah, just north of the monument on the San Juan River. He was instrumental in designing boats that could withstand the harsh conditions of the San Juan rapids. He guided his first paying customers to the bridge via the San Juan in March 1936. Within a few years, Nevills was operating a commercially profitable river-based guide service that included a side trip to Rainbow Bridge on every voyage. Unfortunately, Nevills and his wife Doris died in a plane crash in 1949. But it was Nevills who introduced men like Barry Goldwater and Wallace Stegner to the beauties of Glen Canyon. His boat-building skill and technical prowess at running the river inspired many other guides in the years to come. [165]

Other river runners made Rainbow Bridge part of their itinerary as well. Art Greene started running clients to Rainbow Bridge in the 1940s. He traveled up the Colorado River from Lee's Ferry. Greene used modified air-boats, like those then used in the Florida Everglades. Greene's venture was never extremely profitable as the boats required tremendous amounts of fuel, which drove up the price of his trips. But Greene was important for another reason. When construction started on Glen Canyon Damn in October 1956, Greene acquired a lease on a large tract of land above the dam and built a small resort and marina. The marina became known as Wahweap. He continued to run river trips to Rainbow Bridge until 1962. Greene sold his interest in Wahweap to the Del Webb Corporation in 1976 and died in Phoenix, Arizona in 1978. Greene was an influential man in his time, guiding many prominent people to the bridge prior to the construction of Glen Canyon Dam. [166]