The Road

The road through Rose Canyon begins to the west of Herriman in the outskirts of town. Initially the road travels through mixed agricultural and residential land. Over recent years much of the open land in this area has been subdivided and many private homes have been constructed. Along this portion of the claim, the road is a paved and well-maintained, two lane road. Shortly before the road reaches Yellow Fork Canyon, it leaves private land and enters the Camp Williams Military Reserve. At its intersection with Yellow Fork Canyon the paved portion of the road ends in a small parking area. From this point the claim continues to the southwest as a dirt road through Water Fork Canyon. The dirt road is heavily rutted and poorly maintained. In an effort to prevent damage from runoff, culverts have been inserted where drainages cross the road. While these steps have been taken, significant erosion of the road has still occurred in some places.

About 2/3 the way up the claim, the road crosses a parcel of private land. At the beginning of this stretch the road is blocked by a large locked gate. This gate effectively prevents the public from traveling along this stretch of road and accessing the rest of the claim beyond the private land. The claim extends beyond the private land, also part of the Camp Williams Military Reserve, to the Salt Lake County line.

Criteria*

"The right-of-way for the construction of highways over the public lands not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted."

Construction: "Means an intentional physical act or series of intentional physical acts that were intended to, and that accomplished, preparation of a highway by a durable, observable, physical modification of land for use by highway traffic."

The first portion of the Rose Canyon claim, up to the mouth of Yellow Fork Canyon, is paved and travels through private agricultural and residential property. Beyond the paved portion of the road, it is a fairly substantial, although poorly maintained, dirt road. At points along the route small culverts have been put in place to allow runoff to travel under the road. Although measures such as these have been taken, the heavily rutted condition of the road suggests that it sees infrequent maintenance.

Highway: "Means a thoroughfare that was prior to the latest available date used by the public, without discrimination against any individual or group, for the passage of vehicles carrying people or goods from place to place."

The public is able to travel along most of this road, which crosses the Camp Williams Military Reserve and one plot of private land. While the BLM maintains a right-of-way for access to the stretch of road crossing the private land, there is a large locked gate at the property line. No trespassing signs are posted on the gate, and vehicular travel along the road is blocked at this point.

Unreserved public lands: "lands owned by the United States...that had not yet been set aside, dedicated, withdrawn, reserved, settled, preempted, entered, appropriated, or disposed of, or on which claims had not been located."

This road first shows up on a map of roads created from a series of surveys completed in the late 1800’s by the Salt Lake County Surveyor. This particular road was surveyed in September of 1898. This is more than a decade and a half before the land was withdrawn from the public domain in 1914.
(*Definitions are taken directly from “The Revised Statute (R.S.) 2477 Rights-of-Way Act.”)

History

The Rose Canyon claim begins just outside of the Town of Herriman. A small 2 acre adobe fort, Fort Herriman, was constructed and occupied here during the 1850’s. It is believed that this road was originally constructed to provide a route for the cavalry between Fort Herriman and Cedar Fork.
By the late 1890’s this road had been surveyed by Salt Lake County and included in the Index of County Roads. The map that accompanied this index shows the Rose Canyon Road occupying the same path, and extending the same distance as the road that is currently being claimed. By 1914 much of the land the road crossed was withdrawn from the public domain. This area eventually became part of the Camp Williams Military Reserve. In 1995 a segment of land within the Military Reserve came under private ownership through a land patent granted under the Camp W.G. Williams Land Exchange Act. Prior to the transfer of ownership of the land the ROW for the Rose Canyon Road was reserved by the BLM for public use.

Sources

Bureau of Land Management. Right-of-way reservation for Rose Canyon Road. Serial Number U73132. April 24, 1995.

Bureau of Land Management. Land Patent in Rose Canyon. Serial Number U66676-C. June 21, 1995.

Bureau of Land Management (Utah). Research of mining claim patents. September 21, 2005.

Coon, Bill. Past President of the Utah Backcountry Horsemen (currently President of Friends of Sound Horses). Conversation on August 25, 2005.

Salt Lake County Recorder’s Office. Research of plat maps in area of Butterfield Canyon. Salt Lake City, UT. August 16, 2005.

Salt Lake County Surveyor’s Office. “The Bible” - Book of maps (sheet 16B), accompanied by a book of field notes (Field Notes of Survey - Hwy No. 125 p. 194). Surveyed September 15-17, 1898 with field notes recorded in Field Book I p. 70-77.

Relevant Documents

Map of the Rose Canyon Claim

Right-of-way (ROW) reservation (pdf 560 kB): The BLM reserves the ROW for a portion of the Rose Canyon Road that crosses private land. The reservation was made on April 24, 1995.

Land patent for private land within Rose Canyon (pdf 659 kB): A land patent granted pursuant to the Camp W.G. Williams Land Exchange Act. This patent was granted on June 21, 1995 and includes almost 680 acres in Rose Canyon.