Colorado Plateau Essay

With its windswept mesas, colorful cliffs, water-carved slot canyons, chiseled earth, rich colors, and magnificent vistas, the Colorado Plateau is one of the most beautiful and unique areas in the world. Located in the Four Corners region of the United States, the Plateau has ten National Parks and eighteen National Monuments within its boundaries. The Colorado Plateau is home to one of the seven natural wonders of the world located in the United States– the Grand Canyon. Complementing its natural beauty, the Plateau’s history and culture are of paramount significance. Indigenous communities have inhabited the region for thousands of years, the Spanish explored the region five hundred years ago, and today visitors from around the world
One such story involves a photographer by the name of Emery Kolb. Born in Pennsylvania, Emery came to the Grand Canyon in 1902 to join his brother Ellsworth, who arrived the previous year. Emery purchased a photography studio for sale in Williams with an IOU; then packed the studio up and brought it to the edge of the South Rim of Grand Canyon. Emery operated the Kolb Studio successfully for over sixty years. He took pictures of early tourists traveling to the inner canyon by mule and in his spare time explored the canyon with his brother, taking thousands of pictures and scores of movies from 1904 until 1971. Emery captured photographs of previously unseen and nearly inaccessible areas of the Grand Canyon. In 1912 he and Ellsworth retraced the 1871 John Wesley Powell expedition exploring the Grand Canyon via the Colorado River. What made this journey so unusual is that they filmed it using a motion picture camera (new technology at the time). After completing the trip, Emery showed and narrated the film to millions of visitors from 1913-1971. Upon his passing, Emery donated his life’s work to the Cline Library Special Collections and Archives (SCA). It is the preeminent photographic collection documenting the Grand Canyon in the 20th