GUEST BOOK OF RAINBOW LODGE

“GUEST BOOK OF

Rainbow Lodge is at the end of a bewitching thread of road which extends 80 miles from Tuba City, north of Flagstaff, deep into the desert of Navajoland. It spins its way over high mesa, past deep canyons. As it spins along, the country unfolds before it in all its color, its beauty, its loneliness. Always ahead is Navajo Mountain, in silent, sombre watch over the Navajo and his land.

On the western slope of the mountain, under high rocky cliffs, is Rainbow Lodge, a haven for the traveler in this most isolated part of America. Isolation, as the guest book shows, has not deterred the ambitious travelers who wish to add to their travel memories colorful, outof-way places, and especially the most colorful and out-of-way place of all-Rainbow Bridge. The lodge is the jumping-off place for the Rainbow, fourteen scenic miles to the north and east by muleback.

This unique lodge was built in 1924 by Hubert Richardson of Cameron to fulfill a need for accommodations for travelers going to Rainbow Bridge. Mr. Richardson, a pioneer trader to the Navajo, recognized this need and with true pioneering zeal entered into the project. He not only had to haul supplies and building materials a distance of over a hundred miles, but he had miles of road to build, and some of the roads you go over now are roads that he built. During most of the time the lodge has been in existence, it has been operated by Katherine and Bill Wilson, very charming host and hostess at a charming place. Several years ago Peggy and Barry Goldwater of Phoenix and Katherine and Bill bought the lodge from Mr. Richardson. At that time there was a war on and what with few travelers on the road and Barry head-overheels in assignments for Army Transport Command flying fighting ships to battlefields all over the world, there wasn't much doing at the lodge. Now it is different. New cabins are being constructed, a fine mule string has been brought in, and things are being readied for big and busy travel years to come.

Barry Goldwater, one of the owners of the lodge, operates with his brother, Bob, famous Goldwater's in Phoenix, one of the Southwest's finest stores. He's a photographer, explorer, flier and now he's to be a trader to the Indians. He's wandered over much of the Navajo country, gone down the Colorado in a boat, and this summer is doing San Juan. It's fitting that a person with his enthusiasm for the country should be part owner of Rainbow Lodge. Arizonans who know Barry expect to see the lodge become more important than ever in the travel world of the West.

More names will go into the guest book of the lodge this year than ever before. The lodge doesn't officially open until the summer travel season begins but this year travelers began to arrive early in spring. With the unprecedented travel, plus the addition of new cabins and the construction of a trading post (a permit to trade with the Indians was long ago granted to the lodge but never put into effect) Rainbow Lodge is, as it should be, a very busy place.

The builder of the lodge had an eye for beauty, scenery and utility when he built. Rocky cliffs of Navajo Mountain, from which issue never-ending springs, drop down behind. Out in front extend mile after mile of colorful country-mesa, plateau, canyon. The slope of the mountain, on which the lodge is built, is covered with scrub juniper. In the immediate vicinity are isolated hogans of the Navajos, and many cliff-dwellings. Around the mountain to the west is Navajo Community, sub-agency and day school.

Katherine and Bill preside at the lodge with true western graciousness and hospitality. Around their table, down the years, have sat many

RAINBOW LODGE

people, including some of the so-called great people of the world, but great, near-great and just ordinary people like most of us are equally welcomed, sharing equally in the warmth and friendliness of the place.

The guest book of the lodge, first entry in April, 1924, tells a fascinating story. It tells of the many people who have wandered by, gives their impression of the country and the trip to the Rainbow, and is as interesting a travel journal as anyone would care to read. It was not until Dr. Byron Cummings and John Wetherill in 1909 first brought out word of Rainbow Bridge, and they are reputed to be the first white men to see it. Through the years the word of the Rainbow has spread to all corners of the globe like that of some hidden treasure. The guest book has faithfully recorded those who have come and gone.

The first name in the guest book is that of J. D. Walkup of Flagstaff, who was there April 25, 1924. Jim is secretary of the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce and he has since directed thousands of people into the Indian country. On the same page appears the name of John Wetherill of Kayenta, beloved Hosteen John whose passing several years ago saddened all who knew him. Many artists have come and gone at the lodge but one of the first was Lloyd Moydan. In the guest book of May 5, 1924, he drew a sketch of some mules at the Rainbow and signed his name. As one turns the first pages of the book, now dim with age, names and addresses appear. Shamokin, Penna.; Brooklyn, N. Y.; North Cobasset, Mass.; Portsmouth, Ohio; Phoenix; Los Angeles; Alcalde, N. M.; all over the country. The word of the Rainbow was getting passed around. In September of 1924, Caroline B. Grask of Paris, France, affixed her name with a flourish. The word of the Rainbow was going to lands beyond the seas. Guides like Zeke Johnson of Blanding, Utah, came by with a party of visitors in September, 1924, andprobably rubbed elbows with the lady from Paris. Charles Owens, artist for the Los Angeles Times, a great artist and a great traveler, registered at the lodge May 14, 1925, and it was important enough to add that the trip was made in an "Outdoor" Franklin, Western Auto Scout car. Californians, the travelingest people in the world, began coming in 1925, but the rest of the country was represented.

Invariably the trip to the Rainbow drew enthusiastic comments. One visitor wrote late in 1925: "We are just back from a wonderful trip to Rainbow. It's glorious; and, too, we had a distant view of White Crag Arch which in itself was worth the trip." Another wrote: "Just one more reason for 'real Americans' to see America First." Another: "The ride to the bridge through Red Bud Pass is one of the finest trips I have ever taken." Jack Moss of Beverly Hills, California, in May, 1927, wrote: "This is certainly the real West." Mr. Moss had just ridden a mule 28 miles.

Another lady who perhaps was not accustomed to muleback riding wrote after the trip: "We had a lovely trip to the bridge, but what I enjoyed most of all was the return trip and the shower bath and how I shall sleep tonight." In July, 1928, Frederick L. Hoffman added to the book a more scholarly estimate of the trip. He wrote in part: "During more than forty years of world travel from the Equator to the Artic circle, I have experienced no more thrilling and awe-inspiring sensation than during my recent journey from Rainbow Lodge to Rainbow Bridge and back. The view from the rim of Cliff Canyon is superb and unforgettable, even more so, in my judgment, than the Grand Canyon which it resembles. The Bridge itself is a colossal remnant of the titanic forces of nature that in bygone ages carved for eternity the grotesque shapes that give to this country a character so unique as toPAGE TWENTY-SEVEN OF ARIZONA HIGHWAYS FOR JUNE, 1946 The late Irvin S. Cobb came this way in 1937. In the July, 1940, issue of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS he recorded a description of his trip to the Rainbow in an article: "Testifying, O Lord, As To Rainbow Bridge," a classic in travel literature by a great writer and a great man. Excerpts from that article follow: " Rainbow Bridge . . . this is not a mathematical proposition; this is not even geological or geographical, unless you want to be technical about it. It is sheer cosmic poetry. Statistics, however sizable, just seem to curl up in insignificance when they wriggle against a master achievement of the Divine Artificer.... Rainbow Bridge and environs that's where Old Marster stacked it up and scooped it out and shuffled it together again so violently, so completely and with such incredibly beautiful tonings, such inconceivably awesome results in the finished article... and I bear witness that the 14-mile jaunt to Rainbow Bridge furnished me with more thrills per square yard than ever I have garnered in a like space anytime anywhere... But, oh, such a lonesome spot... and silent."

Those amazing motion picture people in Hollywood, who have sought out so many scenic places in the West for their pictures, eventually found Rainbow Bridge. A party from the Wm. Fox Production, "The Lone Star Ranger," starring Sue Carol and George O'Brien checked into the lodge Oct. 3, 1929. It took 38 mules to transport the party to the bridge for sequences and the comment was "amazingly beautiful trip."

Almost every traveler who wrote in the guest book had something different to comment about. The muleback trip to the bridge, and not the bridge, was the highlight of the adventure for many. The Rainbow, as one person wrote: "Came as a climax." Travelers, scientists, artists, writers, hiking clubs, research groups they have all happened along during the years, and most of them have had something to say: "The bridge at dusk is the most impressive sight I have ever seen. The great arch was swathed in silence, incomprehensible, untouched!" "The bridge symbolizes America's greatness-matchless, far-flung, rockribbed, impenetrable." "I felt as though I might meet God." "One rainbow's end that really had a pot of gold." "They make you work to get there but it was worth it." "Bill's dinner at the bridge was the highlight of the trip." "There are not enough superlatives in the language to describe Rainbow Lodge, Rainbow Bridge and Frank's biscuits." "The scenery was beautiful but the hospitality of the Wilsons superb." "I rode Little Eva to the bridge. I don't know which I'll remember longest the bridge or Little Eva." (Little Eva, incidentally, was one of the mule string that had what could be described a quaint personality.) J. B. Priestley, the English author, was at the lodge with his family in 1936 and 1937. He was tremendously impressed, and those impressions were vividly told in an article in the Saturday Evening Post. Irvin S. Cobb came by in May, 1937. His description of that trip, which later appeared in Arizona Highways, was a classic in travel literature. This way, but those who have come since the white man first saw the As one turns the pages of the guest book of Rainbow Lodge, it is Bridge in the latter part of the first decade of this century have had fun amazing how many people have returned for a second or third trip to and left with pleasant memories. the bridge. As one traveler wrote: "This is my second trip to the bridge and I am just now really beginning to appreciate this country." Another commented: "This is my third trip but not my last. There is still much to see the next time."

The guest book contains its rhythmical and poetical comments as well. In September, 1937, George D. Huncke of Jackson Heights, N. Y.. left these lines as a mark on his journey: "Fulfilled the hope of years at last; What long was future now is past. The Rainbow Bridge is now attained. Its mystery met, if not explained. But how much joy was given beside! How much beyond the glorious ride! The trail, the canyons-aye-but more. The Lodge's host and open door."

And ten years before this entry another guest recorded in these lines impressions of the journey to the Rainbow: "Enchanted trail that led us to the Rainbow! No eagle wings had we-but sturdy muleStill did we soar to heights and sink to shadows Past sunlit rock-then canyons deep and cool. We paused where the winds meet for consultation, We rode for miles through rocky torrent bed 'Til suddenly the blue of sky to westward Was spanned by Rainbow Arch-where all trails led."

Poets, artists, scholars and ordinary travelers-just as you and Ihave through the years wandered into the Rainbow country, attracted by what they have heard tell from others. Not too many people have come