Around the city of Page in Arizona
Pictures taken in november 2008 and 2009 around the city of Page in Arizona
The City of Page is one of the youngest communities in the United States.
It is located in northeastern Arizona, approximately five hours north of Phoenix
and five hours east of Las Vegas.The town began in 1957 as a housing camp
for workers building the Glen Canyon Dam. In 1958, some 24 square miles of
Navajo land were exchanged for a larger tract in Utah, and "Government
Camp" (later called Page in honor of Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner
John C. Page) was born.
At first, the frontier community consisted of temporary homes and house trailers,
with a few streets carved out of the sandy, rocky slopes. Gradually, permanent
homes were constructed and churches sprang up along Lake Powell Boulevard.
Twelve religious denominations were granted building sites; today, that portion
of Lake Powell Boulevard is affectionately called "Church Row" by
local residents. During the seven years required to construct the dam, Page
was a federal municipality. It became an incorporated town on March 1, 1975
and is now home to more than 9,000 people.
The enormous task of building the Glen Canyon Dam began in 1956 and was completed
in 1963 as part of the U.S. Congress’s authorization to the Bureau of
Reclamation to build a dam on the Colorado River. This massive project was
undertaken during a time of great controversy over the future of America's
western water resources and wilderness areas.
The site near Manson Mesa and present-day Page was chosen to build Glen Canyon
Dam for several reasons: the area forming the basin could contain an immense
amount of water; the canyon walls and bedrock foundation were strong enough
to support the high dam; and a large source of good sand and rock was available
at nearby Wahweap Creek. The 7100-foot wall of concrete was erected with almost
ten million tons of concrete and seven years of extraordinary effort. It took
17 years for Lake Powell to reach "full pool."
Today, Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell fulfill the goals of water storage
and hydroelectric power generation for the southwestern states. They also
comprise a major recreational area that is visited by more than 3 million
people annually.
Lake Powell is named for John Wesley Powell, a colorful, one-armed explorer
and Civil War veteran who led nine companions on the first scientific expedition
of the Colorado River in 1869. Powell and his men embarked on a remarkable
journey that covered almost 1,000 miles through the uncharted canyons and
wild rapids of the Colorado River. This expedition, followed by a second one
in 1871 which produced the first maps of the region, changed the future of
the American West forever.
The City of Page is adjacent to the Navajo Nation, the United States' largest
Native American tribe. The Navajo people represent the largest segment of
the population in the Glen Canyon area. Their reservation adjacent to Page
contains more than 16 million acres (27,000 square miles) and extends into
both Utah and New Mexico. Today the Navajo Nation is home to about 200,000
tribal members. While incorporating many aspects of modern technology, some
Navajos retain their traditional lifestyles as farmers and sheep herders.
For many centuries the canyonlands and sandstone cliffs surrounding present-day
Page were home to ancient Pueblo people, whose culture encompassed an enormous
geographic region known as the Colorado Plateau. Old Oraibi, located on the
Hopi Indian Reservation southeast of Page, is the oldest continuously inhabited
community in the United States. The Hopis consider themselves the direct descendants
of these ancient pueblo people.
This text is copied directly from the city of
page website : http://www.cityofpage.org/history.html
Photos prises en novembre 2008 et 2009 autour de la ville de Page en Arizona
Pour retourné a la page principale cliqué la camera.
To return to the main page Click the Camera