The Blue Lakes routing drawing above is pretty much what they built. Look at the picture and you see the extreme elevation changes on the property. Its a wild ride. People walk it--the same people that raft rivers, climb vertical rock faces , climb mountains, run 6 miles every morning, you get the idea--so that's why they put in the lift in the 1950's to get those folks and their trolleys up from the river holes to the finishing stretch, and the later nine holes are in the same terrain. What I gleaned from James' biography is that he would build whatever his client wanted.
I grew up knowing all of the founders that made it happen, including my father and his buddies. This is an incredibly stark, dramatic, and beautiful site. I grew up here, traveled widely, and now have come home. The culture and people who created this place are part of my DNA. I think it is very similar to courses from the "golden age" of golf design: worthless piece of land for agriculture, no money for equipment to alter it, sand-based if you get rid of or work around the rocks, and you just have to lay it on the landscape the best you can. The canyon was created by the Great Bonneville Flood, a major geological event in earth's history. The name comes from multiple natural springs that bubble up from the bottom of the canyon (476 feet deep) that flow up to 100,000 gallons per minute of pristine spring water into lakes and containment areas where you can read the brand of a beer can carelessly tossed into forty feet of water. It is an oasis in the high desert.
IMHO I think most golfers would be blown away by this course. Probably more so for those in this DG because they are more tolerant of quirk and fun and the limitations of such "golden age" constraints to lay the course on a difficult piece of land. I have the course next door (across the river), which is walkable, shares the same dramatic landscape, generally has the same component parts, but has evolved differently as more of a working person's version. We have to get people around in a reasonable time and deal with the retail golfer while Blue Lakes is private. Some might prefer us, Blue Lakes is hard, but I have no problem saying to try our version of canyon golf. You will have fun at both courses. You won't have much at home like it.