The Disappearance of Everett Ruess and the Discovery of Utah's Red Rocks Country
Document Type
Contribution to Book
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Utah in the Twentieth Century
Editor
Brian Q. Cannon & Jessie Embry
Publisher
Utah State University Press
Publication Date
2009
First Page
24
Last Page
44
Abstract
he twentieth could easily be Utah's most interesting, complex century, yet popular ideas of what is history seem mired in the nineteenth. One reason may be the lack of readily available writing on more recent Utah history. This collection of essays shifts historical focus forward to the twentieth, which began and ended with questions of Utah's fit with the rest of the nation. In between was an extended period of getting acquainted in an uneasy but necessary marriage, which was complicated by the push of economic development and pull of traditional culture, demand for natural resources from a fragile and scenic environment, and questions of who governs and how, who gets a vote, and who controls what is done on and to the contested public lands. Outside trade and a tourist economy increasingly challenged and fed an insular society. Activists left and right declaimed constitutional liberties while Utah's Native Americans become the last enfranchised in the nation. Proud contributions to national wars contrasted with denial of deep dependence on federal money; the skepticism of provocative writers, with boosters eager for growth; and reflexive patriotism somehow bonded to ingrained distrust of federal government.
Recommended Citation
“The Disappearance of Everett Ruess and the Discovery of Utah's Red Rocks Country,” in Utah in the Twentieth Century. Utah State University Press (2009).
Comments
Originally published by Utah State University Press.