CHAPTER
1
WRITTEN ON THE LAND
X he Colorado Plateau physiographic province covers a vast area beginning in the Uinta Basin and continuing south t h r o u g h parts of western Colorado and eastern Utah and into northern New Mexico and Arizona. It is drained primarily by the Colorado River system. The Canyonlands section of the Colorado Plateau dominates the eastern three-fourths of Wayne County; the High Plateaus section covers the western part of the county. 1
A Geological Summary Before Wayne County residents, ancient and modern, dug irrigation ditches, the raw forces of nature sculpted the land. Like all of the Colorado Plateau country, the lands of Wayne County were periodically covered by primordial seas, river floodplains, and tidal flats that deposited layer after layer of m u d and silt. These sedimentary layers are clearly visible in the exposed strata at Capitol Reef National Park and elsewhere in the county. Additionally, the shifting of the Earth's tectonic plates, volcanic action, glaciation, wind, and rushing river
