Historic Timpanogos Cave marker uncovered by construction crews


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AMERICAN FORK CANYON — The installation of a new water line in American Fork canyon has resulted in a historic find.

"A few days ago I was working in my office and a construction crew came in and said they had found a rock wall that they thought I might be interested in," said Cami McKinney, a historian at Timpanogos Cave National Monument.

McKinney wondered why a rock wall would be buried next to the road.

"I came out to find a very large hole on the side of Highway 92 and about three feet down was just the point of this monument sticking out of the ground and I had seen enough historic photos to know exactly what it was."

The original boundary marker for the cave monument stood near this marker that has been in place since 1940. It appears to have been constructed using stones from the nearby river.

Photo: Timpanogos Cave National Monument
Photo: Timpanogos Cave National Monument

Crews lifted the marker out of the ground and people are still wondering why it was buried in the first place. McKinney said the marker was replaced during the era when the National Park Service went from being administered by the Forest Service to the Department of the Interior.

"All I can do is guess that they didn't need it anymore, they were trying to move with the times, but it was too heavy to take anywhere else.

By all accounts, the boundary marker was buried for more than 75 years in American Fork Canyon and rangers at Timpanogos Cave National Monument plan to keep it.

"We'd like to restore it, put it back up, possibly even make a sign that shows some of the historic pictures of early visitors taking their picture in front of this, so people can remake historic pictures.

A stone marker that was of little value in the 1930's is now a valuable part of history for generations to come.

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UtahOutdoors
Sam Penrod

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