See Photos of the Pristine Utah Desert in the 1940s

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Utah’s national parks and monuments were established in the teens and 1920s, but it wasn’t until the mid-century construction of the Interstate Highway System that station wagons began to snake their way through the American West in droves. In 1947, when LIFE dispatched Loomis Dean to photograph the people and animals that called the desert home, it seemed there were still more sheep in the roads than cars.

Dean’s photos, never published in the magazine, capture the future tourist mecca with nary a track in the sand save for the sheep, the shepherds who herded them and the Native Americans who lived there. Though the images are in black and white, it’s hard not to see the rocks as red and the sky, stretching on forever, as blue. There is something quiet about the photos—you can see the wind in the hair of two children on a mule and the blinding sun on a man’s weathered face, but the noise of traffic and industry is miles away.

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.

Utah Desert, 1947
Native American woman and girl with sheep, Utah, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Close-up of sheep, Utah desert, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Shepherds herding sheep, Utah desert, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Unidentified man, Utah, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Sheep among the sand dunes, Utah, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Taking a moment in the shade, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
A man and his horse rest among the desert rocks, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Utah landscape, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
An unidentified man smokes a pipe, Utah, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Two young girls ride a mule, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Arched rock in Utah desert, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Utah rock formation, 1947Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Two young children with rock formations in the background, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Utah desert landscape, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Utah desert landscape, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
A car drives through a narrow canyon between the rocks, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Sitting beneath arched rock, Utah, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Headlights pierce through desert darkness, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Utah Desert, 1947
Sheep crossing, Utah.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com