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VOICE ONE:
This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.Come with us today as we visit a National Park in the western stateof Colorado.
We also tell about one man whomade sure the beautiful natural area would be protected for alltime. He did this by working to make it part of the National ParkSystem. Today we visit the Colorado National Monument.
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The Colorado National Monument is not as famous as some otherNational Parks. It does not get as many visitors as the GrandCanyon, Yosemite or the Yellowstone National Parks. However theColorado Monument has a strange and exciting beauty all its own.
It is similar to a great paintingdrawn by nature on to living rock. Minerals in the area helpednature create a painting that is black, light brown, dark brown andmany different colors of red. Often the colors seem to change asclouds block the sun. At other times the sun makes the manydifferent colors seem to burn brightly.
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The Colorado National Monument is an area of great extremes. Theground rises very sharply from the surrounding flat desert area. Themountains here are part of the western Rocky Mountains. It is anarea of huge rock formations created during more thanone-thousand-million years. Volcanoes, great rivers, wind, rain, iceand the birth and death of huge mountains formed this beautifularea.
It is not possible to see this extremely beautiful area and notfeel the power of nature. Giant mountains seem to have been cutsharply with a huge knife. Their sides are smooth and clean. Otherareas of the same mountain seem to have been torn apart in someviolent struggle. These areas are filled with huge piles of brokenrock.
Walls of rock are twisted and havehuge holes pushed into their sides. There are tall finger- likerocks that reach far into the sky. Many of these tall objects lookas if they will fall down any minute. Other parts of the same areaseem to have long, straight lines cut into the rock. It is possibleto count these lines. Each line represents a time long ago whenthese mountains were at the bottom of an ancient ocean.
Each line was formed by dirt, mud and sand that gathered at thebottom of the ancient ocean. Then, as time passed, the bottom ofthis ancient ocean floor was pushed high into the air by hugepressures deep in the Earth.
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Scientists have found seashells high in these mountains and thefossil remains of ancient ocean creatures. Near the ColoradoNational Park researchers have found the huge fossil remains ofancient reptiles called dinosaurs. One fossil skeleton found earlylast century was the largest fossil dinosaur ever found at thattime. It was huge and surprised scientists around the world.Scientists are still busy looking for remains of these creaturesthat died millions of years ago.
However, not all of the animals found in or near the park arefossils. Because the area is desert, it is easy to believe thatnothing is living here.
But if you are very quiet and stay very still you can see muchlife in the park. Mountain lions live here. It is very difficult tosee them. However, visitors sometimes see the foot marks these bigcats leave in the soft sand.
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If you look closely, you can see small rabbits serching for foodor water early in the morning. On hot days you might see deerresting in the shade of the juniper trees. The deer are protectedfrom hunters. Often they show little fear of people.
Visitors must be careful not to surprise a small reptile calledthe midget faded rattlesnake. The bite of this snake can be verypainful and make a victim very sick.
At first, the Colorado National Monument seems to be nothing morethan huge and very colorful rocks shaped by nature. But if you spenda few hours walking slowly on its many paths, you soon learn that itis very much alive.
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The forces of nature created the Colorado National Monument. Buta man named John Otto was responsible for making sure this beautifularea became part of the United States National Park System. JohnOtto recognized the great natural beauty of this place and wanted itto be protected.
John Otto was an unusual man. He lived alone much of the time inwhat later became the park. He did not build a house. He moved fromplace to place and lived in a temporary cloth home.
In a letter written in nineteen-oh-seven, Mister Otto told afriend the area made him feel like it was the heart of the world. Hetold his friend he was going to stay and build paths and work toinform people about this beautiful work of nature. Some peoplethought he was insane.
But John Otto began his campaign to protect the area by writingletters. He acted as a guide for people who read his letters andcame to see the great natural beauty for themselves. He askedeveryone who visited for their support in his campaign to have thefederal government protect the area.
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In nineteen-eleven, President William Taft signed the documentsmaking the area a national monument. It would forever be part of theNational Park System and protected by the government.
President Taft also appointed Mister Otto as the new park’s firsttop official. John Otto was only paid one dollar a year for thiswork. He was not expected to really work at the park, just deal withadministrative duties, which were few.
However, John Otto did work in the park. By nineteen-twenty-onehe had finished building one of the first major paths. This made itmuch easier for people to visit the area. He built it using simpletools and without much help. It is called the Trail of the Serpent.He was also very careful to build the trail without damaging any ofthe area’s natural beauty. It was one of the first roads into thepark that could be used by an automobile.
VOICE ONE:
High up in the Colorado National Monument is a steel sign thathonors John Otto. It has been placed into the wall of a rockformation that John Otto loved. The marker says: “In recognition ofJohn Otto, trail builder, promoter, and first custodian of ColoradoNational Monument, established May twenty-fourth, nineteen-eleven.”John Otto would have liked that.
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The Colorado National Monument is almosteight-thousand-three-hundred hectares. It is near the city of GrandJunction, Colorado, not far from the state border with Utah. Thearea is known for its mountains and the beauty of the desert. It isalso here that the last of the Rocky Mountains begin to drop away toflat land.
Although the Colorado NationalMonument is smaller than most National Parks, aboutfive-hundred-thousand visitors come each year. Most visitors driveon the interstate highway system.
Interstate Highway Seventy is only a few kilometers from thepark. When a visitor leaves the road, the path becomes much smallerand begins to rise into the mountains. Signs urge safety. Othersigns urge the driver of the vehicle to slow down.
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The small road begins to turn left, then sharply to the right,then left again. At the same time it moves up and up many meters ata time with each turn.
At first, mountains surround the road on both sides of the car.Then, without warning, the little road moves into the clear andvisitors can see hundreds of meters down into the valley. For alittle more than six kilometers the road twists and turns high intothe park.
At the top of the little road visitors reach the National ParkVisitors Center. The modern building provides information about thepark. It has a small store where visitors can buy gifts. TheVisitors Center also includes a small museum with fossils,photographs and the story of John Otto.
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When visitors have collected the information or gifts they want,most continue through the building to an observation area in back ofthe building. Slowly they walk to the very edge of the mountain.
In this great open space, the finger-like rocks seem to reach forthe sky. Far below is the great natural beauty that took more thanone- thousand-million years for nature to create.
And, it is here they can begin to understand why John Otto lovedthis place so much and why he worked so hard to protect it.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced byMario Ritter. This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program in VOA Special English.