Rachel Marsden

President Teddy Roosevelt opened the lands of the Ute Reservation to homesteaders in 1905, and he seized back the tribe's lands in the Uinta Mountains.

President Teddy Roosevelt opened the lands of the Ute Reservation to homesteaders in 1905, and he seized back the tribe's lands in the Uinta Mountains.

That scratchy old recording is actually President Roosevelt's voice from a speech more than a century ago. It sounds terrible because it was recorded on a wax cylinder. What Teddy was saying was the government needed to promote prosperity in rural communities by making farms and ranches more productive.

That scratchy old recording is actually President Roosevelt's voice from a speech more than a century ago. It sounds terrible because it was recorded on a wax cylinder. What Teddy was saying was the government needed to promote prosperity in rural communities by making farms and ranches more productive.

Theodore Roosevelt's often remembered today for protecting America's national parks, prioritizing conservation and recreation.

Theodore Roosevelt's often remembered today for protecting America's national parks, prioritizing conservation and recreation.

But President Roosevelt also formed the U.S. Forest Service and gave that agency a mandate to manage national forests for multiple uses, not just recreation. The Forest Service was supposed to balance the competing interests of industry, local communities, wildlife, and the environment.

But President Roosevelt also formed the U.S. Forest Service and gave that agency a mandate to manage national forests for multiple uses, not just recreation. The Forest Service was supposed to balance the competing interests of industry, local communities, wildlife, and the environment.

The agency immediately started making trails in the Uinta Mountains on behalf of sheepherders, hunters, and hikers.

The agency immediately started making trails in the Uinta Mountains on behalf of sheepherders, hunters, and hikers.

By the 1920s, people were also petitioning the Forest Service to provide roads to the most scenic mountain spots, like Mirror Lake in the high Uintas. Let's have the road through that wonderland, one newspaper writer demanded. The government obliged. It started construction on what is today the Mirror Lake Highway. But some within the Forest Service began to worry.

By the 1920s, people were also petitioning the Forest Service to provide roads to the most scenic mountain spots, like Mirror Lake in the high Uintas. Let's have the road through that wonderland, one newspaper writer demanded. The government obliged. It started construction on what is today the Mirror Lake Highway. But some within the Forest Service began to worry.

They saw roads were like rabbits, rapidly reproducing. Pavement threatened to pierce every last wild place. One of these rangers put together a horsepacking trip into the heart of the High Uintas in September of 1930. He wanted to define the boundaries of a proposed primitive area where no new roads would be allowed. And he invited his 19-year-old daughter, Dorothy Rutledge, to come along.

They saw roads were like rabbits, rapidly reproducing. Pavement threatened to pierce every last wild place. One of these rangers put together a horsepacking trip into the heart of the High Uintas in September of 1930. He wanted to define the boundaries of a proposed primitive area where no new roads would be allowed. And he invited his 19-year-old daughter, Dorothy Rutledge, to come along.

Dorothy wrote this account of the trip, read by a voice actor.

Dorothy wrote this account of the trip, read by a voice actor.

I love Dorothy's story because she went out in the wild during a time when that was not expected of proper young ladies.

I love Dorothy's story because she went out in the wild during a time when that was not expected of proper young ladies.

This lovely basin is the same place Blake Summers told the Duchesne Sheriff he wanted to look for Eric Robinson. The basin below Dead Horse Pass. The quartzite rock of the Uinta Mountains varies in color from tan to pink to purplish-gray. The hues around Dead Horse are dreary, like the color of a bruise.

This lovely basin is the same place Blake Summers told the Duchesne Sheriff he wanted to look for Eric Robinson. The basin below Dead Horse Pass. The quartzite rock of the Uinta Mountains varies in color from tan to pink to purplish-gray. The hues around Dead Horse are dreary, like the color of a bruise.