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GOLD ON THE SAN JUAN The explorations of Robert Brewster Stanton, the first after Powell to traverse the canyons from Green River, Utah, through the Grand Canyon, the gold discoveries of Cass Hite and the excitement that followed, and the opening of the Bromide Basin in the Henry Mountains, drew considerable attention to the Glen Canyon region. When gold was discovered on the San Juan River in 1892, there was a gold rush to the canyon before the year was out. About the same time gold was discovered in the Carrizo Mountains south of the river and in the Abajo, or Blue, Mountains to the north of it, which heightened interest in the area. Until 1892 the San Juan Canyon below Bluff seems not to have been prospected; at least no important discoveries were made public. The lure of the Merrick-Mitchell mine probably kept most gold hunters out of the canyon and no record has been found of any of the Glen Canyon miners working their way up the San Juan River from its mouth, although they probably tried to do so. However, E. L. Goodridge on an oil prospecting trip is said to have traveled the length of the San Juan Canyon as early as 1882. If so, this would be the pioneer traverse of the canyon. Beyond the fact that gold in paying quantity was discovered in 1892 on the San Juan River, the record is vague; the name of the discovery party has not come to light, nor the exact location. Although it is referred to as the "Bluff excitement," the first rush was probably confined to the lower canyon, west of Oljato, or Moonlight Creek, and Grand Gulch, and above the Big Bend. The lower canyon is accessible via Copper Creek and Nakai Canyon from the south, offering natural routes for prospectors from the Navajo Mountain-Monument Valley region, and via the open country at the base of the Red House Cliffs on the north side, an easy route by the White Canyon trail from the gold placers in the upper part of Glen Canyon. To prevent trouble between the Indians and miners the Navajo reservation in Utah west of the 110th meridian was restored to the public domain by executive order November 19, 1892. This reduced the threat of Indian attack at the same time that it helped to advertise the new diggings and over 1000 men (probably many more) most of them from Colorado, are believed to have entered the San Juan Canyon within a year after the discovery of gold, a larger number than went into Glen Canyon 10 years -22-Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 13,895,680 byte