Glen Canyon Park
Aerial photograph of Glen Canyon Park; the Bosworth St., Sussex St., and Diamond Heights Shopping Center entrances are labeled. O'Shaughnessy Blvd. divides Glen Canyon Park (on the east) from O'Shaughnessy Hollow (to the west).
Type	Municipal (San Francisco)
Location	San Francisco
Coordinates	37°44′20″N 122°26′31″W / 37.739°N 122.442°W / 37.739; -122.442Coordinates: 37°44′20″N 122°26′31″W / 37.739°N 122.442°W / 37.739; -122.442
Area	70 acres (0.28 km2; 0.11 sq mi)
Created	1922
Open	All year

Spring in Glen Canyon Park. Field mustard in flower clings to the stony canyon walls; Islais Creek and its willow thickets lie at their base.

Glen Canyon Park is a city park in San Francisco, California. It occupies about 70 acres (28 ha) along a deep canyon adjacent to the Glen Park, Diamond Heights, and Miraloma Park neighborhoods. O’Shaughnessy Hollow is a rugged, undeveloped 3.6 acres (1.5 ha) tract of parkland that lies immediately to the west, and may be considered as an extension of Glen Canyon Park.

The park and hollow offer an experience of San Francisco's diverse terrains as they appeared before the intense development of the region in the late 19th and the 20th Centuries. The park incorporates free-flowing Islais Creek and the associated riparian habitat, an extensive grassland with adjoining trees that supports breeding pairs of red-tailed hawks and great horned owls, striking rock outcrops, and arid patches covered by "coastal scrub" plant communities. In all, about 63 acres (25 ha) of the park and hollow are designated as undeveloped Natural Area. Elevations in Glen Canyon Park range from approximately 225 feet (69 m) above sea level at the south end of the park to 575 feet (175 m) above sea level at the north end and along the east rim of the canyon; the walls of the canyon are extremely steep, with many slopes approaching a length-to-height ratio of 1:1 (100 percent).^[2]

Formal recreational facilities in Glen Canyon Park are mostly located at its southern end (see the aerial photograph). These facilities include a community recreation center, ball fields and tennis courts, playgrounds, and a ropes course. The park is also well-used by local rock climbers, who consider it one of the best "bouldering" sites near San Francisco.^[3] An additional building about halfway up the canyon near Islais Creek serves the Silver Tree Day Camp and the Glenridge Cooperative Nursery School.^[4]

The park is easily entered at its southeastern corner (end of Bosworth Street). Somewhat further north, there is a wooden stairway leading down into the park (the Sussex Street entrance). There are also trails leading into the park from the Diamond Heights Shopping Center. Of one of these, Joseph Stubbs has written "It is a dramatic, sudden revelation of the park interior from high up which is simply stunning. It occurs midsection of the park behind Diamond Heights Shopping Center and George Christopher Playground."^[5]

Islais Creek[link]

A branch of Islais Creek (named after the wild cherry islay^[6]) originates in the canyon. It is the largest remaining creek in San Francisco with public access. The bottom of the canyon, where Islais Creek flows, is irregular but moderate in slope, dropping 350 feet (107 m) over a distance of about 1 mile (1.6 kilometer).^[2] The creek is presently surrounded by willow thickets. In earlier times, the creek had an open water channel sustained by a much larger water flow, and was "more of a river than a creek".^[7] Urban development has reduced the watershed of Islais Creek by as much as 80 percent.^[2] At the southern end of the canyon, Islais Creek enters a culvert which carries it to its exit into San Francisco Bay.^[8]

Wildlife[link]

The creek has a meager but year-round natural flow, and the water and resulting vegetation provide a habitat for animals, including skunks, opossums, raccoons, red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, great horned owls, coyotes, and the rare native San Francisco forktail damselfly, Ischnura gemina.^[9]

Geology and Rock Outcrops[link]

Roadcut showing Franciscan chert rock in O'Shaughnessy Hollow.^[10] The remarkable folding of the stacked layers indicates the tectonic forces that lifted up the coastal mountain ranges, and which warped the originally planar layers of this rock into the fantastic shapes they now present. The chert itself in this area is rich with fossils of radiolarian creatures.^[11] The land above and around the roadcut has a "coyote brush scrub" community of plants that is typically found on thinner, drier soils in this region.^[2] The road is O'Shaughnessy Boulevard, which was constructed around 1935.

The scenery of Glen Canyon Park is also distinguished by numerous large outcrops of rock. The most striking of these consist of reddish, layered "Franciscan" chert. These outcrops have clearly visible banding (see photo) which is due to the different weathering of the layers.

The bedrock of the canyon is made up of rocks of the Marin Headlands terrane, which is a large packet of rock that extends diagonally from the Marin Headlands (just north of the Golden Gate), through the Twin Peaks and Glen Canyon area, and on to the southeast. This terrane is from 100 to 200 million years old (i.e. the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods).^[12][13] The bedrock of the lower slopes of the canyon - largely hidden under slope debris/ravine fill - is pillow lava or greenstone; these erupted from fissures in the deep ocean floor when the terrane was located hundreds of miles southwest of its present location.^[14]

The upper slopes and cliffs are of layered chert, which hardened into rock from the ooze of remains of countless radiolarian creatures that accumulated on top of the lava. The ooze was colored red by iron from hydrothermal springs. Both lava and chert were formed in the deep ocean near the equator, and were rafted northeast on the gradually-moving ocean floor toward California. Near shore, greywacke accumulated on the chert in some areas, including a small part of the southeast slope of Glen Canyon. Subduction then squeezed the terrane against the continent, and it eventually became part of the Franciscan formation that makes up much of coastal California. During subduction - 160 to 80 million years ago - and the subsequent uplift, the terrane was twisted, broken and disrupted, and the chert was deformed into the tight folds now visible in road cuts along O'Shaughnessy Boulevard (see photo).^[11]

History[link]

Sutro's Gum Tree Ranch[link]

The park's history commences with Adolph Sutro's purchase in the 1850s of 76 acres (310,000 m²) of the canyon, which he named "Gum Tree Ranch" after the blue gum eucalyptus trees he had planted. The first commercial manufacturing of dynamite in the U.S. occurred in the canyon; on March 19, 1868, the Giant Powder Company began production at its first manufacturing plant, under exclusive license from Alfred Nobel to produce his new explosive in America. The plant was apparently located near the present recreation center, at the southern end of the park.^[15] The factory did not last long. On November 26, 1869, an explosion completely destroyed the entire facility, turning every one of the buildings on the place, and the surrounding fencing, into "hundreds of pieces", according to a newspaper account.^[16] Two people were killed, and nine injured; the plant was subsequently rebuilt in the sand dunes south of Golden Gate Park. The site of the plant has been designated as California Landmark 1002, although no marker has been placed on the site.^[15][16]

The Crocker era[link]

In 1889, the Crocker Real Estate Company bought the canyon to develop a neighborhood that would attract homebuyers. As Jeanne Alexander has written,^[17]

Crocker installed a mini-amusement park with an aviary, a mini-zoo--bears, elephants and monkeys, a bowling alley, and, for extra thrills, hot-air balloon rides, and an intrepid tight-rope walker who performed on a wire stretched across the canyon. From 1907-1922, Glen Canyon Park was operated as a picnic ground -- mainly for adults. Crocker Real Estate added tables and benches, a baseball diamond and a running track. It was fenced and rented to organizations for company picnics that often turned into boisterous drinking brawls. Neighborhood children had to find other places to play. Concerned residents urged the San Francisco Recreation Commission to acquire the property for use as a playground, and in 1922, the city bought the 101-acre (0.41 km²) Glen Canyon Park and Recreation site.

A City Park[link]

O'Shaughnessy Boulevard currently defines the western perimeter of Glen Canyon Park. This street was built in 1935 using roadcuts and filled slopes on the canyon's steep slopes, and was named after Michael O'Shaughnessy, who was for many years the Chief Engineer of the City. The recreation center at the south end of the park was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1937.^[7] An undeveloped, very steep area just west of O'Shaughnessy Boulevard was purchased by the City of San Francisco in the 1990s, and named O'Shaughnessy Hollow.^[7]

In 1958, the California State Highway Department proposed a plan to widen O'Shaughnessy Boulevard as part of a Crosstown Freeway. Some work was done at the southern end of the park, and homes and businesses were demolished along Bosworth Street to permit its widening.^[18] Further work ceased following opposition by several groups;^[17][19] the conflict over the freeway was among the earliest incidents in the Freeway and expressway revolts of the 1960s and 1970s.

Future Management of Glen Canyon Park[link]

The city government of San Francisco mandated the development of management plans for all the "natural areas" under the city's control, and this process culminated in release of the Significant Natural Resources Areas Management Plan in February 2006.^[2] The plan favors the re-establishment of native species and species diversity in the city's parks. Some aspects of the plan have been controversial.^[20] For example, the plan envisions the removal of some large, mature trees (often eucalpytus, which was imported from Australia) to favor smaller native plants. The plan also includes new restrictions on recreational use of the park, such as the closure of some trails and of some areas for rock climbing, and prohibitions against unleashed dogs.

In Glen Canyon Park, about 20 mature eucalpytus trees were removed in 2004 as part of an effort to increase the diversity of species living along Islais Creek. The plan envisions the removal of an additional 120 trees (of the total of 6000 trees in the park) to further improve the creek, to increase the extent of the park's grasslands, and to promote forest understory plants. The plan also seeks to restore some open-water areas along the creek, which is presently nearly totally obscured by the willow thickets. The change in the creek would be established both by re-planting sections of the creek's banks with different plants and by the introduction of "scouring" structures.

Glen Canyon Park formerly supported populations of two rare species: the "vulnerable" San Francisco forktailed damselfly^[21] and the "endangered" Mission blue butterfly. The plan proposes changes in the management of the park that would promote self-sustaining populations of these insects. The damselfly population in the park was studied by John Hafernik and his colleagues in the 1980s prior to its local extinction; they re-introduced a population of these damselflies in 1996 that persisted for two seasons.^[22] The damselflies need open water habitat, which has proven difficult to maintain.

There has been a declining population of Mission blue butterflies at the nearly contiguous Twin Peaks Natural Area; while park employees logged about 150 butterflies in the 1980s, only four were found between 2001 and 2007. A reintroduction was done in April 2009.^[23] Reintroduction may also be possible in Glen Canyon Park. Here the main issue appears to be re-establishing the native plant "silver bush lupine", whose leaves are the larval food of these butterflies. A substantial fraction of Glen Canyon Park is now covered by non-native species including eucalyptus forest (17 acres), French broom (6 acres), and field mustard,^[2] but no specific proposal for re-introduction of the lupine was included in the Management Plan.

The Canyon and Urban Planning[link]

The importance of Glen Canyon Park to its surrounding neighborhoods is indicated by a recent community plan for Glen Park that contains the following statement: "The Glen Park community’s special character is created by the unique combination of eclectic building styles, pedestrian scale, the layering of green space and buildings climbing into the canyon, public spaces, walkable streets, a compact village, and proximity to transit and the canyon. Every new development project, whether public or private, must incorporate these features based on principles of good design and human scale.^[18]"

A section of Bosworth Street connects the southern entrance to Glen Canyon Park with the central commercial district of Glen Park that lies about a third of a mile east. This section presents an important opportunity for urban design because the properties along the north side have remained undeveloped since their acquisition by the City in the 1950s. The community plan proposes that this land be developed into a greenway and pedestrian plaza. The plan also suggests that Islais Creek, which runs underneath this section of Bosworth Street, be "daylighted" in this section. The plan was formally endorsed by the San Francisco Planning Commission in 2004,^[24] but implementation has not been funded as of 2007.

References[link]

External links[link]

San Francisco Bay Area portal

• Friends of Glen Canyon Park, a volunteer citizen stewardship group that was organized in 1986.
• Bay Area Hiker: Glen Canyon Park. A detailed guide for the urban hiker.
• Guide to San Francisco Bay Area Creeks - Islais Creek
• Planned route of the Crosstown Freeway

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Glen Canyon

Glen Canyon in 1873, near the confluence of the Colorado and San Juan Rivers

Glen Canyon is a canyon that is located in southeastern and south central Utah and northwestern Arizona within the Vermilion Cliffs area. It was carved by the Colorado River.

A reservoir, Lake Powell, was created by the Glen Canyon Dam. Lake Powell emerged from a struggle over damming Dinosaur National Monument. The Sierra Club and its leader, David Brower, were instrumental in blocking the dam in Dinosaur, ignoring Glen Canyon in the process. Before Glen Canyon was flooded, but after the struggle in Congress, Brower floated the canyon and realized what a tremendous resource it was. This experience transformed Brower's attitude towards environmental preservation, making him more radical and less likely to compromise. It was very similar to the experience of John Muir with the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. For Brower, it steeled him for the battle over a dam in the Grand Canyon. Beginning in the late 1990s, the Sierra Club and other organizations renewed the call to drain Lake Powell in Lower Glen Canyon.

Pre-dam history and rescue archaeology[link]

Glen Canyon

Around 1956, archaeologists and biologists from the University of Utah and the Museum of Northern Arizona, using National Park research grants, planned an emergency excavation of Lower Glen Canyon, which was soon to be flooded by the new Glen Canyon Dam. Between 1958 and 1960, four investigative phases, combined with other surveys prior to 1957, discovered 250 sites. Beginning in 1958, the Lower Glen Canyon survey was finished.

Excavations[link]

Excavations began during the summer of 1958 on 16 sites. A thesis emerged that prehistoric people living permanently on the highlands south of Glen Canyon, and on the Cummings Mesa, farmed the Lower Glen Canyon on a seasonal basis, and gathered raw materials. To prove this thesis of seasonal habitation, criteria such as architectural units, locations of trail systems, occurrence of ceremonial structures, prevalence of burials, and position of natural and cultural strata. Four types of sites are described in the survey classified as either open sites situated on rock terraces; talus sites on broken material below cliffs; shelter sites in protected areas under overhanging cliffs; and cliff sites beneath ledges or in caves and canyon walls. Open sites are the majority on both sides of the river. The majority of sites, mostly Navajo camps, feature lithic garbage or ceramics, or both. Talus sites are rarely recorded.

Most of the cultural remains found are chipped stone tools (lithic materials), including projectile points, scrapers, drills, knives, choppers, and ground stone tools and manos (grinders). The collection of sherds are mostly Tusayan Gray Ware and Tusayan White Ware. Petroglyph panels are found throughout Glen Canyon. “Pecked and incised figures depict mountain sheep, human figures, birds, human handprints and animal tracks. Geometric figures range from circles and spirals to highly complex rectilinear patterns. The human figures have triangular bodies. Painted figures have been reported for both sides of the river.... Petroglyph panels of such quality are lacking from the highland regions adjacent to Glen Canyon” (Long 61).

Prehistoric cultural periods[link]

Studies indicate a chronology for the Lower Glen Canyon prehistory, “from pre-A.D. 1 to the 15th century and recorded history from 1776 to the present” (Long 61).

• A Late Basketmaker II Era (generally AD 50-500) is represented by several sites. Radiocarbon dates from charcoal material are from A.D. 250 to 440 (plus or minus 80 years). Basketmaker III is not found in the Lower Glen Canyon, but is documented in Navajo Canyon, a large left bank tributary of the Colorado River, within the geographical area of the Lower Glen Canyon (Long 62). Basketmaker III introduces fired pottery, mostly Lino Black-on-gray and Lino Gray, and some small amounts of Lino Fugitive Red and Obelisk Gray. The Basketmaker culture is believed to have lasted later than Pueblo I.

• Pueblo I Era (AD 750-900) remains are found at Rock Creek in Lower Glen Canyon, and in Navajo Canyon. The pottery types are Kana-a Black-on-white, Deadmans Black-on-red, and Kana-a Gray, made from deposits found in Lizard Alcove. Pueblo I is the best documented period of Navajo Canyon, beginning in 800 A.D, lasting 200 years. “Pueblo II in Navajo Canyon is represented by the absence of Kana-a Black-on-white and the dominance of Black Mesa Black-on-white” (Long 62).

• Pueblo II (AD 900-1100) and early Pueblo III is the best documented cultural area in Lower Glen Canyon corresponding with habitation on Cummings Mesa. Pottery includes mostly Tusayan varieties, Black-on-white, Black-on-red, and Red Wear Polychromes.

• Hopi people from the Jeddito area came into the canyons in the 14th century, represented by Yellow Wares, mostly Jeddito Black-on-yellow, and Jeddito plain.

Most of the ceramic material found in the main canyon was probably made in the highlands, although it is possible some pottery was manufactured in Lower Glen Canyon. Clay deposits are found along the river, and some crude pottery specimens, that may have been made there. Only four burials were found in Lower Glen Canyon at three sites. Trash dumps are not very common at most sites. This is more evidence to suggest the seasonal occupation of hunters and farmers.

Historic periods[link]

Recorded history begins with the Dominguez-Escalante expedition in 1776.

Cultural similarities are based on the presence, or absence, of certain types of ceramic wares. (Long 63). Group types of pottery include Kayenta (Tusayan and Tsegi Orange Ware), Virgin (San Juan Red and White Wares), with Fremont, and Mesa Verde or Anasazi types of White and Desert Gray Ware found mostly on the right bank of Colorado. Basketmaker II is characterized by a lack of pottery, and above ground and underground cists lined with slabs.

Hite Crossing Bridge of State Route 95 at Glen Canyon

There is very little evidence of permanent occupation except at Talus Ruin, a small pueblo with a kiva, a ceremonial structure, made mostly of masonry, featuring jacal walls of sticks and reeds set in mortar in a single row of masonry. The presence of metates are evidence that campsites with slab-lined hearths being inhabited for longer periods. Agricultural structures are not found in the main lower canyon, and no formalized fields are found in the main canyon because of alleviation and slope wash burying (Long, 66). Houses, when found, were mostly sandstone slab with mortar, having one to seven rooms. “Well constructed mealing bins which usually denote permanency were lacking in the Lower Glen Canyon. In contrast, on Cummings Mesa at Surprise Pueblo, there was one entire room devoted to mealing bins…” (Long 65). In the highlands, granaries were near or incorporated into permanent Pueblos, compared with smaller ones near temporary sites in the Canyon (Long 66). “Home Base” pueblos in the nearby highlands on Cummings Mesa and Paiute Mesa are believed to support the temporary farming and the hunting parties who used an extensive trail system in the main canyon, still in use today.

Natural resources for tool-making[link]

“Stone tool manufacturing appears to have been an important industry for the entire Glen Canyon region, perhaps one of the major reasons for occupation” (Long 66). Cryptocrystalline rocks fill the Pleistocene gravel beds on the Carmel platforms. Scattered lithic tools and materials indicate workshops of various sizes. There is a lack of siliceous material in the highlands, but tools are found there made from the gravel beds in the river.

There are very few ground stone artifacts, such as manos, metates, and scrapers, found in the main canyon, since these tools are mainly found in the highlands. In the main canyon, a large number of chipped implements, ranging from small arrowheads to large knives, are found. Finished tools, and possibly blanks taken to the mesa, were probably used for trade.

See also[link]

• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
• Glen Canyon Institute

References[link]

• Jennings, Jesse D. Glen Canyon: An Archaeological Summary. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1966, republished 1998. ISBN 0-87480-584-8.
• Long, Paul V. Jr. Archaeological Excavations in Lower Glen Canyon, Utah, 1959-1960. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin No. 42 – Glen Canyon Series No. 7. The Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art (Flagstaff, 1966)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Glen Canyon

• glencanyon.org information from the Glen Canyon Institute
• Glen Canyon Natural History Association

Further reading[link]

• Crampton, C. Gregory. Ghosts of Glen Canyon: History Beneath Lake Powell, revised edition (2009). ISBN 978-0-87480-946-6
• Eliot Porter (Photographer), Daniel P Beard (Preface), David Brower (Foreword) (Eds., 1997). The Place No One Knew - Glen Canyon on the Colorado Publisher: Gibbs Smith, Publisher; Cmv edition (July 21, 2000). ISBN 978-0-87905-971-2.
• Fowler, Don D. The Glen Canyon Country, (2011). ISBN 978-1-60781-134-3

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Coordinates: 37°15′15″N 110°52′42″W / 37.25417°N 110.87833°W / 37.25417; -110.87833

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The Programme is an instrumental band based in Skiatook, Oklahoma. They were initially active the time period of 2004-2005. They are composed of Max Porter (guitar, xylophone, keyboards), Mark Chronister (guitar, keyboards), Travis Loafman (bass), and Jed Skalnik (drums). They have released one album, Theseus And The Time Machine, and created a massive cult following, stealing nearly every show they perform at.

Formation and Early Shows[link]

Their first album is a narrative album, telling the story of a man named Theseus, who creates a time machine and travels through time, to find a lover named Pianissimo. Upon discovery that she is married to a man named Xanthus, Theseus travels back in time to prevent them from ever meeting by killing him. This results in a dramatic change of the future, and Theseus resigns to leave this time behind, and instead wander alone through the ages.

At shows, one of their most famous songs was "They Make Love." The extremely catchy song was always very well received by an enthusiastic crowd. During one show, guitarist Max Porter got so fired up during this song that he accidentally kicked the glockenspiel used in "Return to the Future to Discover Everything Has Changed" off the stage and into an unsuspecting female fan. No one was injured, but it serves as a testament to the Programme's passion in performing their instrumental works.

The band's last show of this period was a modest affair played at Kris Payne's house in their hometown of Skiatook. Anyone and everyone was invited. Kris had several ties with the band, having performed with some of the members in an older band called Everyday Value. This last show was the only one in which the band played through their entire repertoire, with a heavily redone, darker version of "Thunderdog".

The band went on hiatus midway through 2005, when Porter left the band to attend Yale University. Their last show of this time period was recorded and released on the DVD "Live At Party Of The Decade Part 3", of which some have bootlegged the audio from.

Long-Distance Relationship[link]

In the month of January, 2006, The Programme reunited for a show at the Pink Eye club, which can be regarded as one of the best of their career. They played almost the entirety of their song library, along with an encore and two performances of a new song, the title of which remains unknown. It is assumed that the "new song" lies outside of the "Theseus" mythos, although it would not be a stretch to infer a relation to the band's single album.

On Saturday, November 18th, 2006, The Programme played another show, this time in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with a string trio and local favorite Kunek. The band played a fantastic set, retaining all of the prowess of their earlier performances. In performing "The Wayward Time Traveller", the band played a coda that extended for 3-4 extra minutes, with an extra melody, lots of distortion, and heavy drumming. The style was similar to the unnamed new song played at the January 2006 show.

After their set, songwriter Max Porter confirmed future shows in late 2006/early 2007, as well as commenting: "Hopefully we have new music by then. I have ideas."

This confirmation of new material also serves to confirm that the Programme is not broken up, but merely making the best they can of a long distance relationship.

Max Porter is currently teaching at Walter T. Helms Middle School.

Albums[link]

Theseus And The Time Machine[link]

1. Thunderdog (Theseus Creates The Time Machine)
2. "It Works!"
3. The Pangs Of Solitude
4 Theseus Meets Pianissimo
5. They Make Love
6. Enter Xanthus, Pianissimo's Husband
7. Theseus Travels Back In Time To Keep Pianissimo And Xanthus From Meeting
8. The Death Of Xanthus
9. Return To The Future To Discover Everything Has Changed
10. The Wayward Time Traveller

Live At Party Of The Decade Part 3[link]

1. At The Party
2. Thunderdog (Theseus Creates The Time Machine) (New Version)
3. "It Works!"
4. The Pangs Of Solitude
5. Theseus Meets Pianissimo
6. They Make Love
7. Enter Xanthus, Pianissimo's Husband
8. Theseus Travels Back In Time To Keep Pianissimo And Xanthus From Meeting
9. The Death Of Xanthus
10. Return To The Future To Discover Everything Has Changed
11. The Wayward Time Traveller