title: Roads in the Wilderness: Conflict in Canyon Country
author: Jedediah S. Rogers
description: <DIV>&ldquo;A fresh and engaging contribution to environmental history, especially for its interpretation of the Mormon cultural heritage as a driving force for the economic development of the Utah hinterlands. Rogers&rsquo;s work shows how cultural imperatives arising out of the nineteenth-century settlement period, including memories of the 1879 to 1880 Bluff&ndash;San Juan expedition, gave roads their lasting and significant meaning in the minds of many contemporary residents.&rdquo; &mdash;Frederick H. Swanson, author of <I>Dave Rust: A Life in the Canyons</I><BR></DIV><br /><br /><DIV>&quot;[Roger&#39;s] argument is compelling; there is certainly a great deal to learn about the wilderness movement through the study of road development... <I>Roads in the Wilderness</I> is sure to engage historians, environmentalists, engineers, and anyone with a connection to southern Utah&rsquo;s backcountry, and all are sure to share Roger&rsquo;s hope: &#39;We can yet work for a middle way.&#39;&quot;&mdash;<I>Utah Historical Quarterly</I><BR /></DIV><br /><br /><DIV>&ldquo;Refreshingly, unlike authors with an ax to grind, Rogers treats fairly and evenly the views of developers and county commissioners, like San Juan County&rsquo;s Calvin Black, and those of environmental activists and authors, like Edward Abbey.&rdquo;&mdash;<I>CHOICE</I><BR /></DIV><br /><br /><DIV>&quot;This book is a must-read for anyone who identifies with and frequents southern Utah&#39;s rugged canyonlands.&quot;&mdash;<I>BYU Studies</I></DIV><br /><br /><DIV>&quot;By exploring these complex and sometimes irresolvable questions, Rogers opens up the road debates, laying groundwork for future research that may indeed help solve some of these problems faced by southern Utah.&rdquo;&mdash;<I>The Journal of Mormon History</I><BR /> &#160;</DIV>
zlib_text: Contents
  Cover
  Title Page
  Chapter 1
  Chapter 2
  Chapter 3
  Chapter 4
  Chapter 5
  Chapter 6
  Chapter 7
  Chapter 8
  Chapter 9
  Chapter 10
  Chapter 11
  Chapter 12
  Chapter 13
  Chapter 14
  Chapter 15
  Chapter 16
  Chapter 17
  Chapter 18
  Chapter 19
  Chapter 20
  Chapter 21
  Chapter 22
  Chapter 23
  Chapter 24
  Chapter 25
  Chapter 26
  Chapter 27
  Chapter 28
  Chapter 29
  Chapter 30
  Epilogue
  About the Authors
  Newsletters
  Copyright
  
  Chapter 1
  I had no way of knowing it at the time, but when Aaron told his joke, I was thirty-nine
  seconds away from driving our minivan through a guardrail over a cliff and into a river. I would be
  steering us down a canyon, bringing the two people in this world I care about most to the brink of
  death.
  And somehow, that wasn’t the worst thing that happened that afternoon.
  This is what happened.
  We were driving down a desolate stretch of highway. Three of us. Me, my husband, Aaron, and my
  daughter, Sierra. We were in the gorgeous no-man’s land between Utah and Arizona, a few canyons
  north of the “