120 Years of Saving America: The Law That Stopped the Plunder

When pot hunters were looting Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, stripping turquoise and ceramics from pre-pueblo ruins to sell to wealthy easterners, one politician decided enough was enough. John Lacy traveled to that ravaged site in 1902 and saw the damage firsthand—ancient civilizations being ransacked for profit. He returned to Washington determined to write a law that would make it impossible.

On June 8, 1906, President Teddy Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act into law, giving the President power to protect“objects of historic and scientific interest”on federal lands. These protected areas became known as National Monuments. What Lacy started in response to one canyon’s destruction would become one of America’s most powerful conservation tools, used more than 100 times since its passage. Devil’s Tower in Wyoming became the first, but the Act would go on to protect everything from dinosaur dig sites containing thousands of skeletons in Utah to Native American sacred grounds across the country.

Roosevelt himself wielded the Antiquities Act boldly. When the Grand Canyon faced exploitation for mining and hotels, and a speedy entry into the National Parks System seemed unlikely, Roosevelt designated it a National Monument by executive order. His opponents howled—a massive canyon system, suddenly off-limits to development by the stroke of one man’s pen. But that“unilateral nature”they feared became the Act’s greatest strength. It didn’t require Congress to act. It didn’t need political consensus. It just needed a President willing to say: this matters, and it’s protected.

Today, 120 years later, that decision to protect over profit still echoes. The Antiquities Act remains the only tool that lets a sitting President act fast when Congress won’t move. It’s been used by Presidents of both parties, from Theodore Roosevelt to Joe Biden. Some see it as presidential overreach; others see it as the only thing standing between irreplaceable treasures and the bulldozers. The real question isn’t whether the power exists—it’s whether we’ll keep using it.