--- description: An unpublished 1947 LIFE assignment captured the stark beauty of the desert in Utah and the people and animals who called it home. title: See Photos of the Pristine Utah Desert in the 1940s image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e43a5dee46dd117/6987ea962dce0126629e140b/150410-utah-desert-06.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Great Places](/tag/great-places/) ## Great Places Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See Photos of the Pristine Utah Desert in the 1940s  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 23, 2015 12:00 PM CUT  Taking a moment in the shade, 1947. Taking a moment in the shade, 1947.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 23, 2015 12:00 PM CUT 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_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk "undefined")_._  Native American woman and girl with sheep, Utah, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Close-up of sheep, Utah desert, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Shepherds herding sheep, Utah desert, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Unidentified man, Utah, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Sheep among the sand dunes, Utah, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Taking a moment in the shade, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A man and his horse rest among the desert rocks, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Utah landscape, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  An unidentified man smokes a pipe, Utah, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Two young girls ride a mule, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Arched rock in Utah desert, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Utah rock formation, 1947 Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Two young children with rock formations in the background, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Utah desert landscape, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Utah desert landscape, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A car drives through a narrow canyon between the rocks, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Sitting beneath arched rock, Utah, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Headlights pierce through desert darkness, 1947. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Sheep crossing, Utah. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3817668/utah-desert/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3817668/utah-desert/"},"headline":"See Photos of the Pristine Utah Desert in the 1940s","datePublished":"2015-04-23T12:00:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:45.756Z","description":"A look at the western landscape before the Interstate Highway System brought cars full of tourists","url":"https://time.com/3817668/utah-desert/","keywords":["Great Places","Newsfeed","Utah","Desert","photography","LIFE Magazine","Loomis Dean","1947"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e43a5dee46dd117/6987ea962dce0126629e140b/150410-utah-desert-06.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e43a5dee46dd117/6987ea962dce0126629e140b/150410-utah-desert-06.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Utah Desert, 1947","caption":"Utah Desert, 1947","creditText":"Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/great-places/","name":"Great Places"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3817668/utah-desert/","name":"See Photos of the Pristine Utah Desert in the 1940s"}}]}] ```