Hal Rothman specializes in the history of the U.S. national monuments, both in the broad view (Rothman 1989) and focused upon specific Southwest monuments (Rothman 1988, 1991). This article takes up one of his major interests - the shift in the West from local and regional interests in management of Federal lands to national interests - and uses the formation of Navajo National Monument as an example.

The story begins with Richard Wetherill's excavations in Mesa Verde, Grand Gulch, but particularly Chaco Canyon, which gain him a reputation both among local "archaeologists" and in Washington as a pothunter and exploiter of American prehistory. Individuals in the Southwest such as Edgar L. Hewett pushed for a federal antiquities law to protect sites from people such as Wetherill. The resulting Antiquities Act of 1906 was partly due to the activities, real or perceived, of Richard Wetherill.