"As to when I shall revisit civilization, it will not be soon, I have not tired of the wilderness..I prefer the saddle to the street car, and the star sprinkled sky to the roof, the obscure and the difficult leading into the unknown to any paved highway, and the deep peace of the wild to the discontent bred by cities...It is enough that I am surrounded by beauty...This has been a rich, full year, I have left no strange or delightful thing left undone..."
"I Have Not Tired of the Wilderness", 1934
75 years after Everett Ruess wrote his last known letter to his Brother Waldo, from the tiny Mormon outpost of Escalante, Utah in November of 1934, declaring that “As to when I shall revisit civilization, it will not be soon, I think. I have not yet tired of the wilderness”, remains of a corpse tucked away in a crevice in a remote area of southeastern Utah known as Comb Ridge is believed to be that of the young vagabond artist.
DNA samples taken from four nieces and nephews are believed to match those of the remains so closely as to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that in fact, Nemo has been found. Allowing that the body found in Comb Ridge is that of the once youthful Ruess, does this really solve the 75 year old mystery of Everett Ruess? I think not. It only deepens the mystery.
"Bitter pain is in store for me, but I shall bear it. Beauty beyond all power to convey shall be mine...Death may await me...not through cynicism and ennui will I be easy prey. And regardless of all that may befall, let me not be found to lack an understanding of the inscrutable humor of it all."
from "I Go To Make My Destiny", 1932
Everett Ruess and his two pack burros left Escalante, Utah in November of 1934 with the stated intent of being gone for three months and ending his journey near Lees Ferry on the Colorado River. How did he end up far to the east of where he intended to go, moving across river drainages and extremely vertical country, without any sightings of he and his burros? In the winter of 1934, assuming he had his burros with him, what on earth did they eat? The stated distance between Davis Canyon and Comb Ridge is sixty miles. Perhaps as the crow flies. Someone on foot with burros would likely journey two or three times that distance to reach Comb Ridge. Despite the massive search efforts, there were no reports of encounters with Everett by anyone. Where did he obtain food for himself and feed for his burros.
"Say that I starved; that I was lost and weary;
That I was burned and blinded by the desert sun;
Footsore, thirsty, sick with strange diseases;
Lonely and wet and cold, but that I kept my dream!"from "Wilderness Song", 1931
It has long been believed that Ruess’s burros were found half staved in a makeshift corral in Davis Canyon along with the name Nemo left on a cliff wall. Despite numerous and massive searches for Everett Ruess throughout the 1930s, by his family, law enforcement and private individuals; in all these decades , in addition to the burros and the single Nemo carving, only two more Nemo carvings have veer shown up. And what about Nemo? It was reported back then that Everett’s childhood copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne was a favorite and was falling apart from having been read so much. And that perhaps the cryptic Nemo carvings related to the infamous Captain Nemo from that tale, or perhaps alluded to the latin for for no one. Canyon country legend himself Ken Sleight discovered one of the Nemo inscriptions in the early sixties while searcxhing for clues to Ruess before the then rising waters of soon to be Lake Powell would drown the Escalante Canyons where Ruess disappeared.
"Thus far I have been free of watches and clocks, I never wonder what time it is, because for myself it is always time to live...Don't leave your problems to be solved by Time-the solution might be adverse."
"It Is Always Time to Live" 1933
The Comb Ridge remains were found with the remains of burros, pack saddles, a belt and possibly other artifacts. If the remains were of Ruess, what became of his personal effects, his trademark beret, his artwork, and the long sought after Everett Ruess journal of 1934 which he would have had upon his person. Everett kept a series of journals going back to his childhood and mailed them back to the family when they were finished. Where is the Everett Ruess wilderness journal of 1934? And given he was always writing letters and would have saved them up and mail them when he reached a town or outpost or trading post, what happened to them?
"One way and another, I have been flirting pretty heavily with death, the old clown."
"I have Been Flirting With Death", 1934
The Navajo man who allegedly saw Everett Ruess that fateful day on Comb Ridge and witnessed the murder; and then remained silent about it for 28 years; what was he doing out on Comb Ridge? . And he describes the murder of young Ruess by three Ute Indians almost thirty years later; why did he wait so long to report the murder? And it’s interesting that in Navajo country, the crime would be blamed on the Utes by a Navajo. I Seems like we’ve been blaming the Utes for numerous atrocities in Utah’s past, including both the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the Gunnison Massacre.. back in the 1850s.
The Navajo then climbed down into the canyon, picked up the bloodied corpse and climbed back up Comb Ridge and left Everett in a crevice? Can a traditional Navajo man really have done this? And what about the burros and the belongings? Were they left down in the canyon or also placed in the crevice? What was found with the corpse in the crevice? Why would have a traditional Navajo have done this and why?
'The beauty of this country is becoming a part of me...but when I go I leave no trace".
When I Go I Leave No Trace, 1934
Local Escalante oral tradition has always believed that young Everett was murdered by some of its local citizenry and the murder covered up all these years. In one of his last letters home, Everett wrote…” I have been fooling around quite a bit lately with death, that old clown” Ruess was twenty years old at the time of his disappearance and was known to have made numerous dangerous climbs in and out of prehistoric Indian ruins throughout southeast Utah and Northern Arizona. Many have believed that Everett simply made a wrong step and plummeted into some as yet undiscovered crevice of his own. Perhaps he fell all the way to Comb Ridge. Perhaps modern science has genetically found the corpse of Everett Ruess and his cremated remains have been rejoined with his family on the Pacific Coast where he ventured forth from. But his spirit will always soar over the canyon country of Utah and his heart will remain a heart of stone forevermore.