The Oddity of Chinatown -- A Slice of Southern Utah in Northern Utah

     
                                                                    Northern Utah's Chinatown.



SOUTHERN UTAH is famed for huge, brightly colored rock formations such as those found in Bryce Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument. But unknown to many people are the similar but much smaller formations in remote sections of northern Utah.
    Eroded rocks and red bluffs visible from I-84 in Weber Canyon between Devil's Slide (a strange rock formation of its own) and Echo Canyon, and along the early portion of road from Croydon to Lost Creek Reservoir, are reminiscent of the sandscapes to the south.
But the biggest grouping of scenic rocks in that area is found in Chinatown, a 13-acre site of strangely colored, eroded red-rock formations atop a 7,000-foot mountain range on the Morgan-Summit county line.
  

                                          Chinatown view

  Since Chinatown is on private land - there's no public land within 10 air miles of it - a trip to this remote area (accessible only by seven miles of rugged jeep trail, through four private gates and with the aid of detailed directions) is a rarity and virtually impossible for the public at large. Maybe these observations and photographs of Chinatown and the surrounding area can serve as a proxy visit for the general public.
This area ought to be a Utah State Park, though it is likely local landowners would disagree.

                                             Chinatown

 Chinatown looks like a mini-Cedar Breaks Monument, or even like a small part of Bryce Canyon, with its 200- to 300-foot-high eroded red pinnacles.
    While Cedar Breaks is about a mile wide and three miles long, Chinatown is probably less than one-sixth that, but both are in amphitheaterlike forest settings near mountain tops.
    Cedar Breaks has a little more vivid reddish rock coloring, but Chinatown does contain shades of a faded red, amid a background of evergreens and quaking aspens.
    Chinatown was so named because of formations that reminded pioneer visitors of Chinese pagodas - pyramidal towers several stories high. Some other formations in Chinatown are in the shape of Indian totem poles.
    Most of Chinatown is a conglomerate mix of rock and gravel that could perhaps best be described as ``nature's own cement.'' (It's no wonder a cement plant is just 14 miles away in Croydon.)
    The summit overlooks a large portion of surrounding area. The highest portions of the Wasatch Mountains are visible to the west, and the high Uintas can be seen to the southeast.    Chinatown's summit-high location also hides it somewhat. The formations can't really be seen except from the overlook.
    En route to Chinatown, unusual rock formations can be spotted in several other places along this large tract of private property.

In 1947, the State of Utah published this promotion for Chinatown in various newspapers in the state. However, the place never took off, or became a state park.
  
One set of formations is reminiscent of some sections in Zion National Park, though much smaller. Other rocks look like southern Idaho's City of Rocks. One large rock, about two miles north of Chinatown, is shaped like portions of abandoned castle lookouts in south Wales and England.
    The town of Croydon boasted of Chinatown's scenic value and encouraged visitors as recently as the early 1960s, but public abuse and vandalism were probably the big reasons for today's seclusion behind locked gates and no-trespassing signs.
    There are also reportedly several other scenic wonders in the Croydon/Morgan area, like Red Canyon, but all are also on private property.
    After a tiring roundtrip visit to Chinatown, requiring eight miles of mountain bicycling and six hiking miles with a 2,000-plus foot climb, it is rather satisfying to have visited a rather obscure natural wonder where there were no other visitors and where things looked much as they did more than 100 years ago.
    Chinatown and other rock formations in this area also prove that nature does repeat itself. Bryce, Zion and Cedar Breaks are big, but hey, they aren't so unusual after all.
Interest in developing public access to Chinatown began in the late 1930s and continued into the mid-1960s.
 According to the Morgan County News of Oct. 6, 1937, the Ogden and Salt Lake camps of the Woodman of World organization praised the beauty of Chinatown.
"One can see the combined beauties of Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon in one look," Sam Jost, one of the Woodman members told the Morgan newspaper. "Each few yards you move along the scene changes and you see more mysterious figures, such as birds, animals and statues made of colored sandstone and natural concrete."
Some 24 Woodman members visited Chinatown that fall.
 The Morgan County News of April 18, 1947 contained this description of Chinatown:
"About 12 miles up Lost Creek, northeast of Devil's Slide is Chinatown. This is said to be a fascinating curiosity shop of Mother Nature, covering about 3/4th of a square mile. It has been called a miniature Bryce with its shades of pink, red, yellow, purple, gray, brown and white rock, intermingled with the green pine trees and often decked with snow banks way into summer."
The Croydon LDS Ward Mutual (young men and young women) visited Chinatown in the summer of 1956, according to the Morgan County News of June 22 that year. The touring group included 30 people.
"Development of Chinatown area for tourism to be undertaken" was a Nov. 12, 1965 headline in The Morgan County News.
The story stated that public access to Chinatown was very limited, since it required permission to go through private property and even then it was a walk or horse ride for the final mile.
The Morgan County Commission was very interested at that time of creating public access.
"Chairman Russell Porter said the group is unanimous in realizing that property owners will be put to considerable trouble if a road were to be opened to the spectacular cliffs, but it is hoped that some arrangement may be worked out," the Morgan County News stated.
Obviously, no agreement was ever reached. 
But, besides the author's trip to Chinatown in 1990, the Morgan County News of July 27, 1990 reported that small private visits to the attraction continued that year, with even some visits by boy scouts from Morgan County.

(Some information distilled from an article by Lynn Arave, originally published in the Deseret News.) 

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net