Spirit and Grit: Ranching in Canyonlands
Thousands of years of human history have unfolded across the Dead Horse Point State Park landscape. The Park's name originates from its storied ranching history. One legend claims a group of cowboys cornered a herd of wild horses on the point. The horses, in a frenzy of exhaustion and thirst, could see and smell the water below and leapt to their deaths.
Take a look back in time at this colorful chapter of regional history—and learn how cattle hands survived in Canyon Country: Did cattle hands really camp for months? What happened before cattle ranching? How did they raise babies in the desert, much less thousands of cows? What about cowgirls?
Explore the Exhibits
Explore concepts of Spirit and Grit: Ranching in Canyonlands exhibition displayed at Dead Horse Point State Park.
Experience the Process...
The Moab Museum is proud to collaborate with Dead Horse Point State Park and The Museum of Film and Western Heritage to utilize the Park's visitor center to exhibit Spirit and Grit: Ranching in Canyonlands. Display materials such as pedestals and cases were acquired through support from our local and regional communities. Collaborating with our partners, members, and donors makes exhibitions like this possible to share stories about this incredible region with a worldwide audience. To support the curation of exhibitions and future programming by the Moab Museum, please consider donating and/or becoming a member.
Spirit and Grit takes visitors through a journey of the Moab area from a perspective rarely told. See for yourself!
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Simco Saddle
Also known as “Simco-Longhorn”, this saddle company manufactures trail, barrel, Arabian, and roping saddles in Greenville, Texas. On loan from the Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage.
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Cow Camp
This cow camp was constructed by Mark Beeson from his personal collection of historic artifacts. Part of the appeal for Beeson is that much of the local history involves his own family as a sixth-generation Moabite. Moab Museum has turned to Beeson for help in understanding the context and content of the museum’s own collections, some of which lack associated records.
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Tara Beresh and Elise Park
Elise Park, Director at the Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage, Center, and Tara Beresh, Archaeologist and Curatorial and Collections Manager at the Moab Museum, Right, collaborate to install a Simco Saddle on loan from the Moab Museum or Film and Western Heritage.
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Exploring the Exhibit
Admission is free to the exhibition in the downstairs of the Dead Horse Point State Park Visitor Center with admission to the park.
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Spirit and Grit: Ranching in Canyonlands
The exhibition explores the landscape and the people who called it home before the Uranium Boom which popularized Moab and Grand County in the mid-20th century.
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Sheep Ranching
Following the cattle empire, sheep were a profitable stock, especially with the added gain in mutton and wool. The first sheep shearers traveled from camp to camp and used shears like those in the foreground of this photo.
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Cowgirls
“When talking about foodways, housework, or children, there is a sense of the hardship—but also of the women’s ability to overcome the burdens, often through humor. This sense of competence is one of the major defining factors for this group of women. Many different words, stories, and memories are used to expand on this idea of strength, but all reflect a sense of confidence.” In Desert Woman by Amy Korpieski, 1990
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Cow Camp: Views from afar
Beeson's cow camp features objects including horse tack, era-specific cooking supplies, and a 100-year old bed roll.
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Hay Storage at Camp
Cy Thornell is pictured in this photo at Lost Canyon camp (circa 1938). Thornell was a nephew of Al Scorup’s, and not long after this photo was taken became the foreman of the Indian Creek portion of the ranch.
Acknowledgments: A special thanks to Mark "Gene" Beeson, longtime local and local historian, for his professionally researched and constructed cow camp, Elise Park and the Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage, and the staff at Dead Horse Point State Park for hosting this exhibition by the Moab Museum.