{"product_id":"rainbow-bridge","title":"Rainbow Bridge","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the morning of August 14, 1909, a small, diverse group including  Professor Byron Cummings of the University of Utah, Government Land  Office surveyor William Douglass, pioneer archaeologist and trader John  Weatherill, and Paiute guide Nasja Begay gazed at the largest structure  of its kind in the world-Rainbow Bridge. Their presence marked the  official discovery of the magnificent natural bridge, which spans 275  feet and towers 291 feet above the stream bed below it. Of the discovery  party, only Nasja Begay had seen the stone arch before; he was one of a  probably small number of Paiutes and Navajos, the true modern  discoverers, who had visited it. In 1910, an executive order issued  under the still fresh Antiquities Act created Rainbow Bridge National  Monument, one of the first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis was only the beginning of the Rainbow Bridge historical record.  Its fame was soon widespread, but for many years its visitors would be  few, their numbers restricted by the long arduous trail around Navajo  Mountain to the site. Those few and the tour guides and businesses that  emerged to serve them, especially at Rainbow Lodge, were an interesting  mix though. The bridge's story included such western figures as trader  Louisa Weatherill, wife of John and a Navajo speaker who was the first  Anglo to hear of the bridge; Barry Goldwater, who for a time owned and  operated Rainbow Lodge; Zane Grey, who wrote about the bridge; and David  Brower, the Sierra Club leader who got wrapped up in the intersection  of the Rainbow Bridge story with that of Glen Canyon Dam. Its  construction and the filling of Lake Powell behind it made Rainbow  Bridge a battleground, key territory in the larger war over water and  conservation in the West. The remote, hard to reach national monument  was supposed to define a limit to Colorado River reclamation but instead  was inundated by Lake Powell and the tide of visitors who then could  reach the foot of the bridge by boat. Though Rainbow is now easily and  frequently visited and National Park Service amenities are in place,  access to Rainbow Bridge is still an evolving and controversial issue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hank Hassell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54279140245796,"sku":"9780874212662","price":23.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.co.uk\/products\/rainbow-bridge","provider":"IndiePubs UK","version":"1.0","type":"link"}