The Great Natural Bridges of Utah 203 



that a party may easily become lost. The 

 absence of forage and at times of water 

 make it necessary to undertake the trip 

 as early in the spring as possible, ten or 

 fifteen days being about the limit of time 

 one can spend here because of the im- 

 practicability of packing a sufficient sup- 

 ply of forage and provisions. Of course, 

 a more extended trip could be provided 

 for by keeping pack animals on the road 

 to and from the base of supplies at Bluff, 

 the only or nearest place where a suitable 

 outfit can be obtained. 



The Augusta Bridge was so named in 

 honor of the wife of Horace J. Long, who 

 in 1903 visited the bridges in company 

 with James Scorup. They made approx- 

 imate measurements, but, not having ac- 

 curate instruments, their work was neces- 

 sarily faulty, and their pictures were 

 taken with a small Kodak, much too small 

 for the purpose. Mr Scorup, it appears, 

 had visited these bridges previous to this 

 time, and in showing Long the way to 

 them stipulated that the second one 

 should be named the Caroline, after his 

 (Scorup's) mother. 



So far as Scorup knew, the bridges 

 were first discovered by Emery Knowles 

 in 1895, and he himself visited them in 

 company with two cowboys, Tom Hall 

 and Jim Jones, in the fall of that year. 



The next party to visit this section, so 

 far as known, was that promoted by the 

 Salt Lake City Commercial Club during 

 the winter and spring of 1905. The 

 members of the party were H. L. A. Cul- 

 mer, artist; S. T. Whitaker, photogra- 

 pher; Carleton Woods Holmes, son of 

 Col. Edwin F. Holmes, ex-president of 

 the Salt Lake Commercial Club, who 

 first suggested the trip, and Scorup, 

 guide, together with two packers and a 

 cook. The party was well equipped with 

 scaling ladders and all the necessary par- 

 aphernalia. 



The measurements taken of the Au- 

 gusta Bridge were as follows : Height, 

 265 feet; span, 320 feet; width in nar- 

 rowest part, 35 feet, and thickness, 83 

 feet. 



The measurement of the Caroline 

 Bridge the party found to be: Height, 

 182 feet; span, 350 feet; width, 60 feet, 

 and thickness, 60 feet, while of the 

 smaller bridge, named by the Culmer 

 party as the Edwin Bridge, for Col. 

 Edwin F. Holmes, of Salt Lake City, 

 they found the measurements to be: 

 Height, III feet ; span, 205 feet ; width, 

 30 feet, and thickness, 10 feet, this bridge 

 being the much more graceful and slen- 

 der of the three. 



Oil paintings of the three bridges have 

 now been completed by artist H. L. A. 

 Culmer, from photographs, sketches, 

 water colors, and measurements taken at 

 the time of the visit, the measurements 

 having been corroborated from the rec- 

 ords kept by two different persons of the 

 expedition. The painting of the Augusta 

 is a canvas 60 x 90 inches and has the 

 noonday or mid-afternoon tints, with 

 storm-cloud approaching from the south- 

 east — an incident that actually occurred 

 at the time of their visit. Great buttes 

 and the high canyon walls are seen un- 

 derneath the arch and great Cottonwood 

 trees in the distance. 



The two other bridges are on canvases 

 42 X 60 inches in size, the Caroline being 

 in a rich sunset glow of color, with parts 

 in shadow, very dark, somber, and heavy 

 in tone ; the sky without clouds, but 

 luminous with light from the setting sun. 

 Little but rock and sky appear in the 

 picture, the little green foliage in the dim 

 distance being so far away as to show but 

 faintly. 



Of the Edwin Bridge the dominant 

 tone of rock color is a creamy gray, with 

 a purplish tint in shadow and interesting 

 perspective beneath the arch, showing 

 trees of mountain pine and cedar in the 

 distance and near foreground. The sky 

 of blue is marked by cloudlets of indis- 

 tinct outline, all in the sunshine of mid- 

 day. 



These bridges, composed as they are of 

 light sandstone, might seem to be wear- 

 ing away very rapidly. Such, however, 

 is not the case, as is evidenced in the 



