 A century and a half have passed since the mountain men came to seek their fortunes in the land that was to become Utah. They were fur travelers, frontiersmen, soldiers of fortune who traveled alone with no home but the packs on their backs. Their names were Broken Hand Fitzpatrick, William Sublette, Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger. In the springtime of 1825, they came down from the mountains to rendezvous in the high valleys of the Wasatch. It was the social event of the season, a time for the renewing of old bonds and the making of new ones. It was a time for trading and the telling of tall tales, for shooting matches and contests of skill. Above all, it was a time for celebration. In a few short years, the men of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company would come to know the high country as few have known it since. Still, much of the territory remained to be discovered and two generations would pass before a government surveyor named John Wesley Powell would set out to explore the canyons of the Green and Colorado rivers. He threw whitewater rapids and rock-ribbed gorges a thousand feet deep and more. He preferred to rough it on the rapids. Today, there's still an added attraction. From the Bridget height to Glen Canyon Dam, the expansive waters of Lake Powell afford a new brand of adventure afloat. Red Rock shoreline, there's plenty of room to roam, to sunbathe, lays like a bass along anyone of countless coves and beaches, whether by houseboat or sailboat. Waters of Lake Powell, beyond the turbulent canyons of the Colorado, a different kind of vista unfolds. The result of eons of wind and weather, the Red Rock Desert of Southeast Utah, is a geological paradise, a billion years in the making. When C.E. Dutton of the Powell Survey first laid eyes on it a century ago, his thoughts were those of a poet. It is a sublime panorama, he wrote. A maze of cliffs and terraces, of crumbling buttes, red and white domes, rock platforms gassed with profound canyons, all glowing with bright color and flooded with blazing sunlight. Once the homeland of long vanished cliff dwellers, the high desert of the Colorado Plateau remains a place of unparalleled natural beauty, preserved today in the five national parks of canyon lands, arches, capitol reef, rice and Zion. In the summer of 1847, the first Mormon settlers came to pioneer their own vision of paradise here. They were farming folk, determined to make the desert blossom. By inspiration and irrigation and plenty of perspiration, the dream soon became reality. From ancient riverbeds of the Winter Basin, would come evidence of yet another time. The dinosaur national monument at Vernal offers a unique glimpse into the paleozoic past. The prehistoric graveyard is more than a scientific workshop, however. For the young, it is a spectacle to spark the imagination. For all, a reminder that ours is but a small... Torrey's Summit, Utah. The time, May 10th, 1869. Welcome, the last place you've been by. Here, 690 miles east of Sacramento, 1,086 miles west of Omaha, officials of the Central and Pacific Railroads meant to celebrate the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad. Today, visitors to Utah's Golden Spike Monument are invited to relieve the excitement of that historic day. The driving of the Golden Spike was more than a wedding of east and west. Where railroad workers pitched their tents, new settlements would spring up. On the tracks of the iron horse would follow a new influx of trade, commerce and culture. Away since that historic day at promenade in Provo Canyon, the age of the iron horse comes alive for a new generation. As the nostalgic whistle of the steam locomotive echoes through the hills. Golden Spike was a link with the future. Today's steam railroad is a link with the past, recalling a day when time itself seemed to move more slowly. When travel was more than a destination, and just the going was half with the fun. A breed of citizen to Utah and a new brand of prosperity, as prospectors' claims grew overnight into mining camps and mining camps into cities, drawing lifeblood from tap roots of silver, lead, copper and gold. The once faded storefronts of Park City have been restored and yesteryear's boom town is booming as never before. Can shovel during a living, today the living is easy. Recreation is the main occupation in today's Park City. And winter or summer, the slopes offer a mountain of good times. Are bringing a new kind of excitement to the wastes. As Mayan Hardison and year round festival, since the men of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company celebrated their first spring time in Utah, yet with the coming of a new year, in the dawning of another season, he's reborn the promise of the frontier. Enough to discover who we are, is but the beginning of a new.