“Bring me men to match my mountains: Bring me men to match my plains: Men with empires in their purpose and new eras in their brains.” – Sam Walter Foss
Looking beyond Lake Powell to Navajo Mountain — Photo by Pat Bean
And What Changes the Men Have Wrought
Environmentalists have long bemoaned the creation of Lake Powell by the Glen Canyon Dam. The lake drowned the canyon and all its magnificence, wonders that sadly I never got to see. It was done in the name of progress, which requires ever available water and energy.
Lake Powell is popular with boaters — Photo by Pat Bean
The brouhaha about whether it was a good or bad decision continues today – an argument in which I’m not going to take sides. My waffling, fence-straddling, journalistic mind knows both sides have legitimate arguments.
My comment today is just to note how the landscape keeps changing, both by Mother Nature and by men. I thought about this when I stopped to read the roadside marker that points out Navajo Mountain across the lake. This mountain figures prominently in the history and legends of the Navajo people and the ancient Anasazis before that.
Navajo Mountain from space with Lake Powell in the background. — Photo courtesy Johnson Space Center.
The coming of white settlers intruded on these lands, and boundaries were established and re-established until today, when the mountain is once again in the hands of the Navajo Nation. All others have to get a permit to hike the remote areas around the mountain.
Climbing the sacred mountain itself is forbidden.
Thinking of the settlement of the west – I know, my brain hops around like it’s besieged by fire ants – made me think of the “men to match my mountains” quote. I thought Irving Stone, who wrote “Men to Match My Mountains (a really great book), was its author. Instead I discovered it was written by Sam Walter Foss, a 19th century Massachusetts librarian and poet.
Who would have thought? It’s not just fun to wander and wonder. It’s educational, too.
Bean’s Pat:: Hoof Beats and Foot Prints http://tinyurl.com/7ykh73n As a horse lover, I’m fascinated by this blog. But I simply enjoyed the message of this one.
*This pat-on-the-back recognition is merely this wandering/wondering old broad’s way of bringing attention to a blog I enjoyed – and thought perhaps my readers might, too. June 13, patbean.wordpress.com
Pat Bean's blog 