ANCIENT America

Thompson Springs, Utah, is the town that time—and the railroad—forgot. In fact, the trains ceased stopping there in 1996. In the 2010 federal census, the town’s population was listed as 39, and I’m guessing even that was an exaggeration. When I passed through Thompson Springs in 2014, it appeared that most of even those 39 had bailed on the place. The place today looks like a ghost town, or at least well on its way to becoming one. Coincidentally, north of Thompson Springs there is a real ghost town, an abandoned coal mining community in Sego Canyon where you can see an old cemetery, the remnants of mining shacks, the standing walls of a few abandoned buildings, and some very cool bits of an elevated wooden trestle for transporting the mined coal. Driving north on a well-maintained dirt road, just about 3.5 miles from the husk of Thompson Springs and before the ghost town, which is itself definitely worth checking out, you will encounter a fascinating trifecta of rock art panels. They are not to be missed.

You’ll be able to see the rock art from the road (on both sides) as soon as you reach the parking area on the left (there’s a pit toilet there too). When you pull into the parking lot, you will be facing west (looking perpendicular to the road you took to the site). Right in front of you is the first art panel, consisting of a series of beautiful pictographs on a light tan rock surface. Painted in flourishes of brick red and white, there are depictions of a couple of bison, a bighorn sheep, a couple of humanlike images, two of what appear to be impressive circular shields (one of which looks like a Lifesaver and is very beautiful) and, significantly, three images of men riding horses. As noted previously, there were no horses in North America before the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century. There were horses in North America prehistorically, but they became extinct about 10,000 years ago. America’s first settlers didn’t ride horses; they ate them. Some of the Spanish horses escaped their encampments and became feral. Indians, having seen the Spanish ride horses to great effect, captured some from the growing herds of escaped animals and developed their own brand of equestrianism. So this depiction of men on horses postdates the arrival of Europeans in the region. The Paiute tribe inhabited the region around Thompson Springs historically, and they are credited with this art panel; it is figured that all the art of this panel dates to after AD 1300.

Still in the parking lot, turn 90 degrees to the right and face north. Directly in front and above you, you’ll see a broad, vertical, quite dark rock surface covered with at least six anthropomorphs in the typical Fremont style (Figure 114). Two of them are exceptionally well preserved and beautiful: broad-shouldered, narrow waisted, without arms or legs, and wearing neck ornaments. Both of them are wearing headdresses with what appears to be feathers sticking up from the middle. There also are a few bighorn sheep, one of which is being shot by a bow-wielding hunter; a broad-tailed critter that might be a beaver; a disembodied arm and hand; and some geometric patterns etched into the dark-surfaced rock face. It’s altogether a very sweet Fremont art panel.

Walk past the Fremont art, walk to the right of that panel and turn left, and you’ll encounter the coolest art in Sego Canyon: absolutely stunning Barrier Canyon pictographs of elongated, armless and legless anthropomorphs sporting horns and possessing large, circular, and hollow eye sockets (I.29). I admit it; they look very spooky and alien, not in a silly extraterrestrial sense, but in a spiritual, otherworldly way. There are more than twenty of them, all casting their eerie gaze down on their visitors. Very, very beautiful. Phantasmagoric is the best word to describe them. Now turn around and face east, across the dirt road. There you’ll see another set of Barrier Canyon pictographs, including larger-than-life-size humanlike images. You can walk over and see them up close unless, as we experienced briefly, real cowboys are herding cattle into the pen that abuts the rock art.

Before my odyssey, I had never heard of the Sego Canyon art. I encountered it entirely fortuitously, essentially on a last-minute whim. I was in the area, traveling west on the interstate, realized the art was just a few minutes away, and gave it a shot. I am very glad I did.

One of the things I found most compelling about Sego Canyon, beyond the sheer beauty of the artwork, especially the Barrier Canyon pictographs, was the fact that three temporally and culturally distinct groups of people elected to situate their art in essentially the same location. I also found it extremely telling how each group—beginning with the folks who produced the Barrier Canyon pictographs, next the creators of the Fremont petroglyphs, and then the Paiute painters—elected to honor and respect the artwork of those who preceded them, leaving the older images untouched and intact. There is no Fremont graffiti on the Barrier Canyon art and no Paiute graffiti overlaying or on the same panels with either the Fremont or Barrier Canyon art. That fact really struck me when I compared that respect to the supreme lack of respect and thought exhibited by more recent, Euro-American settlers of the area. There is English writing all over the Paiute art, Fremont petroglyphs, and Barrier Canyon art across the road, where it can readily be reached by vandals. Some people call these markings “gringo glyphs,” and their existence flat out sucks. Thankfully the idiots who marked up the art weren’t ambitious and didn’t climb too high up the rock wall. At least the really impressive Barrier Canyon work shows less graffiti, and I didn’t notice any high up among the most remarkable images.

Modern people can be thoughtless (shame on you, George Whipple; even in 1887 you should have known better). And, no surprise, they also can be pretty silly. On a recent trip to New Mexico, just for giggles we visited Roswell and stopped at the International UFO Museum and Research Center. When we arrived, the folks at the museum were concerned about a tour bus that was late arriving. When I suggested that, just maybe, they had been abducted by aliens, the woman at the ticket counter responded, without any recognition that I was joking: “No, no. They probably just got stuck in traffic.” Sure. That’s what they want you to believe.

Anyway, in one of the museum’s displays there is a series of photographs of rock art. And wouldn’t you know it? There in the middle of the display are ancient images from the Southwest that, it is suggested, just may be representations by local people of extraterrestrial visitors to Earth in antiquity! And yup; of the ten photos or prints presented in support of this hypothesis, three are of the Barrier Canyon pictographs in Sego Canyon. If that hypothesis is upheld, and the art accurately depicts them, the extraterrestrials apparently have no arms—or legs. Please! Let’s accord ancient artists the simply courtesy we give their modern cohorts: Credit them for their artistry, creativity, and imagination. The Sego Canyon art provides testimony to the exhilaratingly diverse character of the human imagination. Space aliens need not apply.

If you continue past the art on the same road, now dirt, for about 0.5 mile, there’s a fork in the road. Bear right at the fork and you’ll immediately see a small cemetery to the right. That’s the Sego Canyon Cemetery. Follow that road and you’ll soon come to a large stone ruin. You’re now in the ghost town. Continue on that road to the remnants of shacks, sheds, and pieces of the coal cart trestle. It’s worth a look.

Site Type: Pictographs, petroglyphs

Wow Factor: **** All the art is impressive, but the Barrier Canyon–style pictographs are gorgeous and otherworldly.

Museum: None

Ease of Road Access: *****

Ease of Hike: *****

Natural Beauty of Surroundings: ****

Kid Friendly: ***** Kids will likely think the art is cool, but if you continue on the road to the ghost town, they’ll love it.

Food: Bring your own.

How to Get There: Heading east or west on I-70, take exit 187 to UT 94 north (which becomes BLM 159 and then Sego Canyon Road) through Thompson Springs. You’ll soon see a sign that says “Indian Writing” and in about 3 miles see a parking lot on the left.

Hours of Operation: Open year-round, 24/7. The Bureau of Land Management administers the property; there is no gate to enter the site.

Cost: Free

Best Season to Visit: Any time. There is no hiking involved, so even the summer heat shouldn’t stress you too much.

Website: www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/more/cultural/archaeology/places_to_visit/sego_canyon.html

Designation: Bureau of Land Management property

Site 45 Sego Canyon