Antiquities Act turns 100

This year marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the Antiquities Act. The original goal of the Act, which was signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt, was to protect some of the “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest.” Of particular interest were the lands that were historically occupied by Native American cultures in the American West.

To achieve this goal, the Act gave the president the authority to declare such sites “national monuments,” thereby affording them federal recognition. Roosevelt took his new authority and enthusiastically applied it, probably in a much broader way than was envisioned by those who wrote the Act. He first designated Devils’ Tower in Wyoming as a national monument, and soon added Petrified Forest (Arizona), El Morro (New Mexico), and Montezuma Castle (Arizona) to the list.

His boldest interpretation of the Act came with the proclamation that 800,000 acres of the Grand Canyon constituted a national monument. Roosevelt’s successors added to the list.

The “national monuments” preserved under the Antiquities Act became a basis for the National Parks. In retrospect, the Act and its application by Theodore Roosevelt seem visionary.

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Images: (TOP) May 1972 photo from the Environmental Protection Agency: “Pictograph in the maze, in the heart of the Canyonlands dating back over 1000 years, these archaeological treasures are highly vulnerable to natural damage and vandalism. The park service, however, lacks personnel to guard them adequately and their best protection is their remoteness. Among the drawings the ‘harvester figure’ is significant since it proves that the aborigines of the region planted crops.” [EPA text] Photo in collection of the National Archives; (BELOW) National Parks Service photo, Devil’s Tower (undated).