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<br />-- '.':< li"':'- <br />";,(::'.~,,,,-.> ' <br />x..' 'I> ''". . ~~'!~' <br />;s.'i'~,~ . '.". <br /> <br /> <br />-"'I <br /> <br />An artist's conception of the bridge with water backed up Aztec and Bridge Canyons from Lake Powell. This would be at 3,700 feet. <br /> <br />,.... <br />3900- <br />3850- <br />..... " <br />J! <br /> ~ <br /> 0 <br /> ~ <br /> . <br />3750- > <br />.. <br /> w <br />"00- <br />3650. <br />3600- <br /> <br /> <br />-3850 <br /> <br />-3950 <br /> <br /> <br />.'900 <br /> <br />II <br />'[ <br /> <br />j .3800 <br />~ <br />o <br />~ <br />. -3750 <br />W <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />~'-'Elev. 3721 <br /> <br />-3700 <br /> <br />/ <br />/ <br /> <br />Lake Powell Reservoir <br />Water Surface Elev. 3700. . <br />(Full Reservoir) <br /> <br />Elev. 3654.-..... <br /> <br />'-I~T-- <br />~"lr <br />/ , I <br /> <br />-3650 <br /> <br />.3600 <br /> <br />250 <br /> <br />200 <br /> <br />5. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />50 100 150 200 250 <br />CroslI Sectlon-Drldge Creek <br />Looking Upstream under Rainbow Bridge Arch <br /> <br />150 100 <br /> <br />Horizontal DI.t8n~1Ht <br /> <br />This illustration shows water backed up ill inner gorge of Bridge Creek, at "critical" elevations. <br />Note thai the water would not touch the bridge itself, hut remain in very hard Kayenta sandstone. <br /> <br />38 <br /> <br />BRIDGE continued <br />service at Glen Canyon. lfi.:.': <br />been working on the project ,; <br />the U.S. Reclama.tion Bun <br />since 1956, and before that <br />was on the crew investigating" <br />Marble Canyon damsite on th~ <br />Colorado in Arizona. <br />He recalls that when diamond <br />drilling the canyon walls, the <br />hardest sandstone was that <br />which had been covered by <br />water for thousands of years, <br />just like the Kayenta founda~ <br />tions of Rainbow Bridge. In <br />other words, he is saying that <br />water alone would do no dam. <br />age. <br />Sanderson believes the bridge <br />has more to fear from the erosive <br />forces of wind, rain, cold and <br />heat than from Lake Powell. It <br />was cut by a powerful, fast.mov. <br />ing stream-long since gone. <br />Only an occasional gullywasher <br />temporarily resumes water ero~ <br />sion in the gorge under the arch. <br />A level of static water would <br />provide a safety cushion for <br />those gullywashers, he says. <br />Ivai Goslin, 59, executive <br />director of the Upper Colorado <br />River Commission for the past 17 <br />years, with degrees from Uni. <br />- <br /> <br />Moy 16, 1971 . EMPIRE MA.GAZINE <br /> <br />" <br />