I’ve read several articles online about the King America, King World carving (1935) in Moab and have really wanted to find it because it is the kind of thing I am fascinated by.
I looked for this location many times, learning that it was where the King World Water Park used to be, over behind the Arthur Taylor House / Moab Springs Ranch. The Water Park being named after the carving. I finally learned that the rock that was carved was moved over to the hospital in town and was able to go see it.
About 1750 the Old Spanish Trail was formed as a means to reach Ute Indian country where New Mexican corn, tobacco, blankets, iron tools for pelts, deer skins, and slaves were traded. Immigrants and Mountain Men pushed the trail into California in 1830. A yearly trading expedition between New Mexico and California began. California miles and horses were traded for New Mexico wool and cotton woven goods. Up to 200 men with pack animals engaged in this trade which became important to the economy of New Mexico, providing miles to trade to the United States and deer hides to trade to Chihuahua, Mexico. Wagons eventually replaced the pack animals. The route avoided deep canyons and unfriendly natives to the south. Today, highways follow much of the route.
The spring located here was a major water source for the mail or south branch of the trail. The north branch through western Colorado joined the south just east of Green River.
The Old City Park
In 1934 Moab’s city fathers took advantage of federal programs and passed a bond issue to buy Westwood Spring and the land around it for $1,000. The spring became the principal water source for the town, and the land was quickly made into a park with the aid of the local Lions Club and others.
In 1934 Moab’s city fathers took advantage of federal programs and passed a bond issue to buy Westwood Spring and the land around it for $1,000. The spring became the principal water source for the town, and the land was quickly made into a park with the aid of the local Lions Club and others.
North of Moab near the entrance to Arches National Park is a huge, steep hill of sand that usually has people hiking up to roll/fall/jump down. It’s a good place to stop and let everyone get sandy and playful after a long drive.
One room of this building, formerly the L.D.S. church, was erected in 1888. Two years later a second room was added. The Bishop was Randolph Stewart; Building Committee: O.W. Warner, who donated the land, Henry Holyoak, and O.D. Allen. Supervisors were Hyrum Allen, hauling of rock; J.H. Standifred, carpentry; W.J. Bliss, stone cutting; Angus M. Stocks, stone and adobe laying. Labor, money and materials were donated and the first services were held in May, 1889.
Located in Moab with DUP Marker #65. See other DUP Markers here.
In April 1855, forty-one men under the leadership of Alfred N. Billings were called to establish a mission in the Elk Mountains. They left Salt Lake City May 7, 1855, arriving at Grand River June 11, and selected the site for a fort. By July 15, they had built a fort 64 feet square, with stone walls, 12 feet high, 4 feet at the base and 1 & 1/2 feet at the top. Three of the pioneers, James. W. Hunt, Edward Edwards and William Behunin were buried within the fort which was located about 800 feet from this monument.
Located in Moab with DUP Marker #181. See other DUP Markers here.
Fisher Towers are a series of towers made of Cutler sandstone capped with Moenkopi sandstone and caked with a stucco of red mud located near Moab, Utah. The Towers are named for a miner who lived near them in the 1880s. The Tower is world-renowned as a subject for photography and for its classic rock climbing routes.
Fishers Towers Trail is part of the National Trails System, which is a network of scenic, historic, and recreation trails created by the National Trails System Act of 1968. These trails provide for outdoor recreation needs; promote the enjoyment, appreciation, and preservation of outdoor areas and historic resources; and encourage public access and citizen involvement.
Travelers along U.S. Highway 191 in Southwestern Utah are amazed to discover this historic 5,000 square foot home which began taking shape almost a century ago by the Christensen family. What began as a small alcove for the young Christensen boys to sleep in at night grew into a man-made engineering marvel 20 years in the making. A fireplace with a 65′ chimney,14 rooms arranged around huge pillars and a deep bathtub built into the rock delight visitors who visit this most unusual home in the dessert. Original furnishings, Alberta’s paintings, Gladys’s doll collection and many of the tools used to create this home remind you of the past.
In a 12 year period Albert excavated 50,000 cubic feet of sandstone from the rock. During this time he completed his famous painting Sermon on the Mount and his sculpture of Franklin D. Roosevelt on the face of the rock above his home.
When Albert died in 1957, the home was not complete. Gladys’s in keeping with his wishes & lifelong dreams continued to develop the property, opening a gift shop and giving tours of her home until she passed away in 1974. Gladys is laid to rest next to Albert in a small cove within the rock near the home.(*)
This location has been a travelers’ resting place for two centuries. Beginning in 1829, horse teams on the Old Spanish Trail between Santa Fe and California stopped here for the abundant spring water and shade. After the settlement of Mormon Pioneers, stage coaches traveling between Moab and Monticello stayed here overnight.
Early in the 20th century, the Christensen family of Monticello homesteaded 80 acres here. They blasted out a small cave in the rock where cowboys camped as they drove their stock toward the Colorado River. In 1945, brothers Leo and Albert Christensen expanded the cave and opened “American’s most unique dining room.” The Hole N” The Rock Diner was a watering hole for uranium miners and car tourists until 1955.
The Christensens continued to excavate the cave until it reached its current size of 5000 square feet. Take a ten-minute guided tour of this unique and spectacular 14-room home as millions have done since 1957.
Church Rock is a solitary column of sandstone in southern Utah along the eastern side of U.S. Route 191, near the entrance to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.
With majestic Colorado and Green River canyons, Canyonlands, this 200 foot roadside oddity near Monticello is called Church Rock. It seldom attracts more than a casual glance as visitors head toward Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument and the Needles district or drive between Moab and Monticello.
One of the interesting pages of 1930’s myths tells about Church Rock, and how the gumdrop shaped rock earned its name. The story is that Marie Ogden’s Home of the Truth, an Utopian community, was erroneously responsible. Ogden was a spiritualist during the 20’s, giving lectures across the U.S. on spiritualism, until she came to San Juan County, Utah. She allegedly called San Juan County and Church Rock “the spiritual center of the universe.” With a small band of followers, Ogden’s group moved onto a tract of barren land along Utah’s Route 211 in 1933, calling it the “Home of Truth.” Members turned all their worldly goods to Ogden to join her Home of Truth, abiding by a strict code of conduct, were expected to work for the common goals of the settlement. Women tended to the domestic chores and men worked the arid farm acreage. Not far from Church Rock are the remains of Ogden’s ghost town. A few buildings and a small cemetery are all that remain of the Home of the Truth community, found on a ridge called Photograph Gap. After the community broke up, Ogden stayed in Monticello and became the owner and publisher of the community newspaper, The San Juan Record, in the 1940s. She died in the 1975 and is buried in Blanding.
The three-tiered sandstone rock is located not far from the Home of Truth, but is only one of several in the area (Sugarloaf and Turtle Rock among others). Part of the myth is that the group set upon a grand plan to hollow out the entire center of the sandstone monument, by hand, to build a church. In fact, the sandstone formation was owned by a local rancher, Claud Young of Monticello. Young owned about 2000 acres of land, for cattle range, before the highway came through the area known as Dry Valley.
The only evidence of the myth, and the apparent basis for the assumption of turning the rock into a ‘church,’ is the 16 by 24 foot opening chiseled into the rock. In fact, that ‘opening’ was contracted out by the owner, Claud Young. The opening was dynamited and cut out of the stone during the late 1940s to store salt licks and feed for the cattle. The rock is still owned by the Young family, in equal shares by the two daughters and two sons of Claud and Inez Young, their surviving spouses, and/or surviving grandchildren owning their percentage of ‘the rock.'(*)
