RonnieAdventure #0057 – Cathedral Canyon, Nye County, Nevada

Cathedral Canyon is another one of those places that I waited too long to visit. Gone are the stained glass windows, statues, suspension bridge, stairs, soothing music, lighting, astronomical observatory and gardens. What was once a beautiful, sacred place to visit has now been totally destroyed by vandals.

Photographer and year of picture unknown

Roland Wiley, moved to Las Vegas in 1929 and established a successful law practice, later becoming the Clark County District Attorney. In 1936 he purchased the Yount Ranch located southwest of Pahrump and started spending all of his free time at the ranch. He eventually purchased an airplane so that he could make the trip from Las Vegas to the Pahrump quicker, but sold the plane after a near accident in the Spring Mountains.

Roland retired from his law practice in 1952; and while stricken with fever, he had a vision about a beautiful desert canyon decorated with various art objects. He was certain that the canyon in his vision was a small box canyon located on his ranch, so he started a life-long career of transforming the canyon (later to be called “Cathedral Canyon”) into a work of art. He built two trails into the canyon – one up from the mouth of the canyon and the other from the east rim to the canyon floor. Although the canyon was never completed to his dream, at one time a pump-fed waterfall cascaded down the box end of the canyon, while beautiful stained glass windows and art objects from around the world were set in alcoves along the canyon walls.  Statues (both religious and secular) and quotes from many famous people lined the walkways throughout the canyon. Benches were placed along the walkways for visitors that wanted to sit and relax and contemplate the canyon’s beauty. Roland also built a suspension bridge across the canyon so that visitors could have a special aerial view of the beautiful decorations, with the focal point being a replica of “Christ of the Andes.” No admission was ever charged to visit the canyon.

The canyon attracted thousands of visitors each year and became so popular that most road maps contained an icon depicting the canyon’s location. A registration book maintained at the site contained visitor comments from around the world with many messages indicating that the serenity found at the canyon was better than any other site they had ever visited.

Unfortunately, Roland died in 1993 and Al Carpenter, an old friend of his, tried to keep the canon intact; but without Roland and a full-time caretaker at the site, vandals soon destroyed everything in the canyon. Today, Roland Wiley and Cathedral Canyon are just a memory of a forgotten era when people enjoyed and respected such works of art!

  

The below-listed pictures were taken in May 2013.