A History of Southern Utah and Its National Parks (Revised)

by Angus M. Woodbury

Modern Development of Zion, Bryce and North Rim

At the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century, a few individuals here and there in the state were beginning to grasp the potentialities of southern Utah as a scenic mecca. Throughout the United States, agitation for better roads gained ground as the automobile assumed a larger place in our national consciousness. The first transcontinental auto trip was made about 1900 and much difficulty was experienced in finding passable routes. The old pioneer wagon roads, disused since the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, had fallen into disrepair and were obliterated or washed by erosion in many of the desert and mountainous areas so that they were often forgotten and nearly impassable.

After the first trip, however, other autoists quickly followed and there was a loud demand for logs and guide materials during the next decade—a demand which leading Utah newspapers attempted to supply. The first quarter of the century may be characterized as transitional from wagon and train to automobile. Roads had to be redesigned on the basis of alignment instead of grade control and reconstructed into highways, destined to become not only supplemental feeders of railroads but also competitors.

This movement led to the establishment in 1909 of the Utah State Road Commission, empowered to develop state roads and with the avowed intention to build a two million dollar highway through the entire state from Logan to St. George. It took several years for this program to reach southern Utah and by that time road building was beginning to be affected by modern methods of highway construction.

Occasional trips into the scenic southland continued, some primarily for enjoyment, others for publicity or promotional purposes, all of which served to focus public attention more and more on the area. Public pressure was brought to bear not only on the road commission, but also on the governor and eventually on the Federal government.

Governor William Spry of Utah (1908-1916) made at least three trips into the region (1912, 1913, 1916). During September, 1912, he visited the Dixie Fruit Festival at St. George, then went to Kanab and northward through the State prospecting the route now followed by highway 89.

A view of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. Courtesy Union Pacific Railroad.

How earlier generations explored the Kaibab: horseback, buggies, and automobiles.

Self-service on the Kaibab.

Visitors at “Uncle Jim” Owen’s cabin.

Camping party on the march. Courtesy D. D. Rust.

Theodore Roosevelt (center, holding rope), Jim Owen (next right), and party on Kaibab (1913) that captured ...

... a live cougar ...

... that was taken across the Colorado River in “the cage”. Courtesy D. D. Rust.

Waterfall after rain in Temple of Sinewava.

A guided party along the Narrows Trail (author at right).

Naturalists in Zion Canyon (1928), left to right, Harold Russell, J. W. Thornton and A. M. Woodbury.

During the following winter, a group of convicts from the Utah State Penitentiary was put to work building roads in Washington County between Cedar City and Toquerville. They improved the bad roads of the time, but the route was poorly chosen and was replaced several years later by a well-planned highway. The convicts continued to be employed in Washington County for several winters.

During the summer of 1913, E. D. Woolley and others urged the State Road Commission to take over the task of building an auto road southward from Salina to the state line on the route to North Rim. That fall, the U. S. Forest Service started construction of a permanent boulevard (?) from Jacob’s Lake to North Rim with a total allotment of $2750! The result was a road which when compared with highways of today, illustrates the revolutionary changes in standards of road making.

In July and August, 1913, ex-President Theodore Roosevelt took a party into the Kaibab from South Rim and spent three weeks hunting lions. They captured three and took one alive across the canyon. Roosevelt reported the trip in an article in the Outlook.[93]

During that same summer, J. Cecil Alter, director of the U. S. Weather Bureau at Salt Lake City and editor of this Quarterly, made a leisurely trip southward with his wife and two companions in a white top spring wagon, via Marysvale, Panguitch, Kanab and Jacob’s Lake to the Kaibab, North Rim and over the Cable Crossing to El Tovar. Returning, he traveled via Ryan, Pipe Springs and Rockville to Zion, then out via Toquerville, Parowan, Circleville and Marysvale. He reported the interesting aspects of his trip in The Salt Lake Tribune on August 31, 1913, and January 4, 1914. The enthusiasm of the Tribune was aroused and the paper sponsored a “pathfinder” tour under the leadership of W. D. Rishel to log the road to Grand Canyon. It left Salt Lake City on September 6, visited the canyon and paused a day at Kanab on the return trip.

On the occasion of Governor Spry’s first visit to Zion in October, 1913, the people along the Virgin River declared a holiday and accompanied his party almost en masse into Zion, where a picnic was enjoyed at the foot of the cable. To thrill the governor, a man was lifted to the top of the cliffs on the cable and brought back a few minutes later. The party rode horseback into the Narrows and was much impressed by the experience. Governor Spry was thoroughly convinced of the importance of national recognition and thereafter earnestly pressed for its realization.

From Rockville, the party took spring buggies for Kanab with extra teams to negotiate the hills. The idea behind the trip seems to have been to investigate the possibilities of tourist travel from some point on the Salt Lake Route Railroad to Zion and Grand Canyon. Douglas White, writing in The Arrowhead for July 1917, said that as a result of this visit, Governor Spry “decided that the highway division of his administration should accomplish the construction of a highway to the border of the National Monument.”

By 1914, the local people of Dixie no less than the governor, were awakening to the scenic potentialities of their homeland. It had taken five years to sell the idea of Zion Canyon as a national mecca to the people living near it. The Grand Canyon Highway Association was organized with David Hirschi as president, and a five-county (Washington, Kane, Iron, and Beaver in Utah and Coconino in Arizona) road convention was called for July in Hurricane. Up to this time no auto had yet been driven from Toquerville to Zion Canyon.

The first problem was to make the roads passable by removing high centers, reducing grades and filling washes. A campaign was launched locally to secure subscriptions for road improvement. Hurricane pledged $2,000, La Verkin $500, Toquerville $1,500 and Cedar City $1,200. During the winter the road from Toquerville to Hurricane and the dugway up the Hurricane Fault to the east toward Kanab were improved.

In 1916, political pressure had reached Washington. Senator Reed Smoot responded and planned to ask for federal assistance in road making. This dovetailed with a national movement which culminated that year in the first federal aid road act. Smoot called upon the Department of the Interior for information concerning the Mukuntuweap National Monument. Horace M. Albright, a youthful assistant to Secretary Franklin K. Lane, furnished the data. Senator Smoot inserted in a deficiency appropriation an item reading as follows:

For a proportionate share of the amount required to construct an inter-state wagon road or highway through the Mukuntuweap National Monument, Utah, approximately fifteen miles for the fiscal year 1917, $15,000. [Approved September 8, 1916. 39 Stat. 801-818].

The U. S. National Park Service was authorized by Congressional Act of August 25, 1916, but it was not actually established until May, 1917. Ever since the passage of the National Monument Act of June 8, 1906, national monuments had been accumulating without adequate supervision. The need for an agency to handle national parks and national monuments was becoming urgent. The bill, as passed, created the National Park Service “To promote and regulate the use of the Federal Areas known as National Parks, Monuments and Reservations by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purposes of said parks, monuments and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Albright had joined Secretary Lane’s staff in 1913 and had been assigned to deal with the parks and monuments. When the National Park Service was established, Stephen T. Mather of California was appointed director, April 19, 1917 and Albright was named his assistant. Because of illness, Mather did not assume his duties until March, 1918. and Albright served as acting director.

In the meantime, The Salt Lake Tribune had sent another auto pathfinding tour led by W. D. Rishel to the Grand Canyon, starting August 6, 1916. It reached Kanab in two days and spent three more going to North Rim and back to Kanab. From here, it headed for Hurricane and Zion. At Pipe Springs, the cavalcade met a railroad party in a large White bus going to North Rim (August 13). This party included representatives of the Union Pacific and the Oregon Short Line railroads, together with those of other travel agencies. The expedition shortly preceded the consolidation of the two railway systems represented, and the agents were scouting the possibilities for railroad traffic in the region. They had left the railroad at Lund by bus and traveled via Hurricane to Pipe Springs where they met Rishel’s jaded eight-car cavalcade.

The next day they drove through the Kaibab to Bright Angel Point on the North Rim; spent the following day sight-seeing and then drove back to Kanab, Hurricane and Rockville (August 16), where they held a meeting in the evening. The youngsters of Rockville saw their first auto bus and many of them had a ride. As on Governor Spry’s first visit to Rockville (October 12, 1913), the local people took a holiday and many accompanied the party next day into Zion Canyon. After visiting in the canyon until noon, the party drove to St. George where they enjoyed a feast of Dixie fruit. The next day they held a meeting in Cedar City and then returned to the railroad at Lund.

D. S. Spencer, Union Pacific Railroad Passenger Agent, informed the writer that the trip had been sponsored by the railroads and that Governor Spry and Road Commissioner Lunt had been induced to go along for consultation on road development. Governor Spry promised all possible support if the railroads would undertake tourist traffic development. Spencer further explained that the Union Pacific had profited from the experience of Edward H. Harriman, the noted railroad capitalist, who had built a spur to West Yellowstone, thereby greatly increasing his long-haul traffic to San Francisco. Carl R. Gray, Harriman’s successor as president of the Union Pacific, recognized similar possibilities in tourist traffic to Zion and Grand Canyon.

Sometime that fall, Douglas White designated the route from Los Angeles to Salt Lake via Las Vegas, St. George and Cedar City, now generally traversed by Highway 91, as the Arrowhead Route. The next year, Charles H. Bigelow of Los Angeles, was instrumental in organizing the Arrowhead Trail Association with J. H. Manderfield of Salt Lake City as president, and Joseph S. Snow of St. George, vice-president. It functioned for many years to promote road development.

Frederick Vining Fisher, a Methodist minister of Ogden, Utah, came to Salt Lake City in 1915 to lecture and show slides of California to advertise the Panama Pacific International Exposition. He had ministered in Ogden for some years prior to 1912, but his attention had never been called to Zion Canyon. One day at lunch at the University of Utah, a student said to him, “Mr. Fisher, your pictures last night were fine, but you have not seen the best.” Surprised, Fisher then wormed the story of Zion Canyon out of the lad. He was at once eager to visit the canyon, and in September, 1916, while traveling to St. George with Apostle Anthony W. Ivins, of the Latter-day Saints Church, to attend a local conference, visited the scenic area, took pictures and made slides which he thereafter used in lectures throughout the country.

Afterwards, Fisher induced Warren Cox, hotel proprietor of St. George, to take him to the Grand Canyon at the lower end of Toroweap Valley, Mt. Trumbull, where he took interesting pictures. Then, as Fisher recalls, Cox dared him “to cross the untrod wilderness one hundred miles” to Kaibab and North Rim. After they had explored the Kaibab with its endless herds, they camped with Jim Owens, U. S. Government hunter, for three days, vacationing and taking pictures. From North Rim, they went to Cedar City where they met Ivins, who in the meantime had obtained a team from his Enterprise ranch and who took Fisher up Cedar Canyon to Cedar Breaks where more pictures were taken. Upon returning to Cedar City, Cox accompanied Fisher to Rockville where he left him.

Bishop David Hirschi’s son, Claud, took Fisher and a friend, Bingham, up Zion Canyon where Fisher got the greatest thrill of his life. They decided to name the scenic points as they went along. Three peaks that Hirschi thought looked like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they called the Three Patriarchs. The boys of the party stopped at the big loop in the river and looked at the pillars of rock on the inside point. When Fisher asked why they were delaying the boys replied they were waiting for an organist to play the Great Organ. They coined several other names not now in use, but after reaching the Narrows and starting back, Hirschi espied a great white precipice gleaming in the afternoon sun, framed by the pass between Angels Landing and the Great Organ. He said. “Oh, Doctor, look quick, what is that?” Overwhelmed, Fisher replied, “Never have I seen such a sight before. It is by all odds America’s masterpiece. Boys, I have looked for this mountain all my life but I never expected to find it in this world. This mountain is the Great White Throne.”[94]

The money appropriated September 8, 1916, for a wagon road in Zion had to be spent before July 1, 1917. An engineer, W. O. Tufts, was dispatched from Washington, D.C. to look into the matter. After preliminary exploration, a survey was made, plans outlined, material procured and workmen engaged. By November 1, construction on the road was begun, starting at the boundary and working up the canyon. About the same time, convicts were building a road from La Verkin to Springdale. By the summer of 1917, a passable road led into Zion Canyon.

Douglas White, zealous promoter of Utah’s scenic riches, urged Albright to come west and visit Zion Canyon with him in the summer of 1917. In September, he met him in Los Angeles and they went to Lund, Utah, by train and over to Cedar City by auto, where they met Road Commissioner Henry W. Lunt and Mr. R. A. Thorley, a Cedar City stockman. The next morning Albright, White and Thorley, in a touring car driven by Chauncey Parry, started south over the “perfectly terrible roads” and reached the Wylie Camp in Zion in the afternoon. At Rockville, they met David Hirschi, bishop of the village. The next day, in the words of Albright:

We went as far up Mukuntuweap Canyon as possible. We watched the cable operate from the rim of Zion to the floor. We hiked through to the Narrows and back again. That night we saw a full moon light up the canyon and the next morning I was up early enough to see the sunlight creep down from the top of the domes and spires to the valley floor. I was overwhelmed by the loveliness of the valley and the beauty of the canyon walls and was sure that the area was of national park caliber.

Albright faced two troublesome local problems: elimination of grazing in the canyon and keeping narrow-tired wagons off the new road. He conferred with Bishop Hirschi, who suggested a conference with the local people concerned. At the conference, Albright recorded:

... cooperation of the local people was cheerfully extended, and the orders were issued soon after and were generally obeyed, with the result that the grazing was stopped and the shrubs and wild flowers in the canyon began to come back. I shall always remember with keenest delight my early association with those good Mormon people, who, without knowing what a national park was, cooperated so fully in executing orders that brought them real hardship.[95]

After the contractors finished the Zion road, equipment and other government property was left in care of Walter Ruesch of Springdale, whose home had been used as headquarters by Tufts. Albright interviewed Ruesch and retained him in charge. This led to Ruesch’s appointment as first custodian of the Monument and later as first acting superintendent of the Park. Albright enjoyed recounting his first introduction to Ruesch by Bishop Hirschi, who told him “what a fine character Mr. Ruesch was and how hard he worked, but cautioned me that he had one terrible habit. Over and over again he emphasized the habit. Finally, almost terror-stricken, I asked him what the bad habit was, and he said, ‘He swears.’”

When Horace Albright and Douglas White left Zion, they called upon the new Governor (Simon Bamberger), whom they asked to continue the convict labor on the road from Cedar City to Zion. The story goes that the Governor had driven over this road and found it pretty rough. Besides, the dugway up the Hurricane Fault had cost much more than he had expected. The proposals of White and Albright aroused his wrath. Jumping to his feet, the Governor pounded his desk and shouted, “I build no more roads to rocks!” As a matter of fact, road improvement was interrupted for the time being; World War I was on and interest lagged, not to be revived until 1920, when it was nearly time for a new governor to take over the state administration.

From Salt Lake City Albright wired Director Mather, who was still in California and had not yet assumed office, urging him to visit southern Utah, and giving him a glowing account of what he had seen. Mather did not reply at once but later wrote that he thought Albright must have fallen into the hands of some chamber of commerce directors or had been given some very potent drink, for he had never heard of such a country and found it difficult to believe it existed.

During the next winter in Washington, D.C., Albright toyed with the idea of changing the name of the monument from Mukuntuweap to Zion and was urged to do so by Douglas White. Secretary Lane approved and the Utah congressional delegation concurred. Albright prepared a proclamation changing the name and enlarging the monument to one hundred and twenty square miles, which President Wilson signed March 18, 1918.

Other Utah scenic areas, including Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon and Wayne Wonderland, all profited by the publicity accorded Zion and the Grand Canyon. S. A. Halterman of Parowan, Utah, took the first automobile to Cedar Breaks via the wagon road in Parowan Canyon. In 1920, he piloted Senator Smoot and others over the same route to see the Breaks. By 1921, he was planning regular weekly trips for tourists during the summer. Iron County spent about $12,000 that year to improve the road.

On August 25, 1918, Oliver J. Grimes of Salt Lake City, published an article in The Salt Lake Tribune, describing “Utah’s New Wonderland, Bryce’s Canyon,” which stimulated additional interest in southern Utah’s scenic wonderland. During that summer, LeRoy Jeffers, an eastern writer, visited Bryce Canyon and published an article entitled, “The Temple of the Gods in Utah” in the Scientific American of October 5, 1918. He approached Bryce from North Rim of Grand Canyon, from which he says, “we made a rapid run through the yellow pine and aspen forest of the Kaibab Plateau—crossed the burning sands of the Kanab which nestles verdantly among the vermillion cliffs of southern Utah. We had come eighty to eighty-five miles before sundown and were ready for a similar trip to Panguitch on the following day.” He gave directions for reaching Bryce via Marysvale and Panguitch; described the wonders of the scenery and published four pictures.

When Albright read the article, he recalled that he had heard of Bryce Canyon when he was at Zion and made inquiries about the feasibility of establishing it as a national monument. He was temporarily blocked because it was a part of a national forest. However, it was placed on the agenda for later consideration. Albright later made up his mind that Bryce Canyon belonged in the National Park System, but Director Mather did not at first agree and toyed with the idea of a system of state parks to supplement the national system. Bryce, he considered, would make a keystone around which other state parks could be clustered. However, when the Utah governor and state legislature rejected his view and insisted that Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks and Wayne Wonderland were of national park caliber, he yielded and when later he saw these marvels, was delighted that he had done so.

Cedar City was preparing to cope with the growing traffic. It was apparent that the town was the strategic point for those wishing to visit southern Utah via the railroad and auxiliary bus lines. Randall L. Jones returned to his native Cedar City in 1912 as an architect, and drew plans for a modern hotel, later called El Escalante. The local chamber of commerce backed him and work was started in 1918. It was, however, a major undertaking for a small community and was not completed for several years. His wide travel experience and his realization of the necessity of good highways as well as good hotels in the development of scenic attractions, made him the logical choice at a later date as liaison officer for the Union Pacific Railroad.

Mather and Albright were both in the West during the summer of 1919, but neither had opportunity to visit southern Utah. However, Albright had conferred with Senator Smoot several times on the question of creating Zion Canyon a national park. Mather finally yielded to their persuasion even though he had not yet seen it. Albright went ahead with plans, drafted legislation, prepared reports and presented arguments to the congressional committees. Boundary lines of the park were based upon information furnished by Richard A. Thorley of Cedar City and Leo A. Snow of St. George.

Smoot had previously introduced a bill in the Senate (S. B. 8282) to change the name of Mukuntuweap National Monument to Little Zion National Park, but no action was taken. On May 20, 1919, he introduced another bill (S. B. 425, Vol. 58:9640) to establish the Zion National Park in the State of Utah. It passed the Senate a month later and was sent to the House Committee on Public Lands the next day. It was reported in the House, August 26, after which amendments delayed its passage until October 6. The bill was finally signed in the House, November 15, and in the Senate, November 19, 1919, and sent to the President, who signed it that same day.

Mather was in Denver at the time of its passage, attending a conference of national park superintendents, at which Walter Ruesch was also present as custodian of Zion National Monument. When word reached him, Mather immediately decided to make his long delayed visit to Zion. His enthusiasm was immediate and thereafter he gave personal attention to its affairs.

The dedication took place, September 15, 1920, in the presence of a large assembly. St. George and Cedar City bands furnished music. Speakers included Director Mather, Senator Reed Smoot, ex-Governor William Spry, C. Clarence Neslen, mayor of Salt Lake City, and Heber J. Grant, president of the Mormon Church, representing Governor Simon Bamberger. Mather reviewed the history of the Park, Mayor Neslen foretold its future, and other speakers promised support for its development.

Travel into Zion was slowly increasing. The number of people entering in 1920 nearly doubled that of the previous year (from 1914 to 3692). By 1930 it had increased to more than 55,000 and for a decade thereafter registered proportionate gains. Governor Bamberger in 1920 sent Randall Jones to Denver as Utah’s delegate to the Park-to-Park Highway conference, where plans were laid to coordinate the local movements for good roads into a park-to park system.

Among the interesting parties that came in 1921 was a tour sponsored by the Brooklyn Eagle, which took in the scenic loop to Bryce Canyon as a side trip. Mather came again, bringing with him Emerson Hough, eminent novelist, and Edmund Heller, naturalist. During that year a road passable for autos was built from Cedar City up Cedar Canyon to the Breaks, but it was excessively steep and dangerous.

In response to pressure from Utah to undertake development of the scenic south, in 1921 Carl R. Gray, president of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, determined to investigate personally the agricultural possibilities of contributing areas. His party left Lund and examined the farming areas around Cedar, Parowan and Fillmore and interviewed farmers and livestock men. Mr. Gray was favorably impressed with the stability of the communities and the quality of the people. As a result, a railroad spur was built to Fillmore a year later.

The following summer Gray and his party made the rounds of the scenic areas. The Union Pacific was preparing to take over the Salt Lake Route and was further investigating the resources of the area. According to Randall Jones, Gray offered to buy the El Escalante Hotel in Cedar City and the next year a spur of the railroad was run from Lund to Cedar City, justified on the basis of anticipated traffic from livestock, agriculture, iron ore and tourist travel.

With a rail-head at Cedar City, June 27, 1923, the Union Pacific organized a subsidiary Utah Parks Company, took over the El Escalante Hotel, set up a large bus station at Cedar City, purchased the Wylie tourist camp interests in Zion Canyon and the Parry transportation route from Cedar City to Zion. In 1917 under National Park permit to the National Park Transportation and Camping Company, W. W. Wylie, who formerly operated in Yellowstone Park, had set up a tent camp in Zion Canyon and North Rim in cooperation with two of the Parry Brothers, Gronway and Chauncey, who had undertaken to provide transportation for visitors. The Parry Brothers closed in 1918 at the time of World War I, resumed business in 1920 and worked out a ten-day round trip for visitors from Cedar City via Zion, Kaibab, North Rim, Bryce and Panguitch back to Cedar City. This round trip with variations was maintained until 1923, when the Utah Parks Company acquired part, and in 1927, all of the Parry and Wylie interests.

Southern Utah scenic attractions were spotlighted with the visit of President Warren G. Harding to Zion Canyon, June 27, 1923, en route across country toward Alaska, a journey from which the President was not to return alive. The report of his trip was spread throughout the nation. Everything had been planned in advance. A group of seventy-five local Paiute Indians in gaudy attire was conspicuously at hand. The party was transferred from the station to twenty-four automobiles and started south over the newly smoothed earth and gravel roads leading to Zion Canyon. The caravan, including the cars of many local leaders, stretched out at least five miles and the dust much farther.

A stop was made at Anderson’s Ranch where the best of the Dixie peaches and other fruits were sampled. At Toquerville hundreds had congregated to honor the first President of the United States to visit their section of the country. Harding spoke from a flag-draped platform and then the procession went on, passed through Rockville, where the streets were lined with onlookers, to Springdale where it was welcomed by a fife and drum corps led by John Dennett and O. D. Gifford playing many of the tunes they had once used to welcome Brigham Young on his journeys.

At the entrance to the Park, they were welcomed by mounted rangers and by an orchestra and chorus from Dixie College at St. George. At the Wylie Camp, they were cheered by five hundred local people and tourists and serenaded by the college musicians during lunch. After the meal, the caravan proceeded to the end of the road at the Grotto campground, and twenty-four men, including the President, went horseback two miles farther to the foot of the cable. The caravan then retraced its route to Cedar City, where in the evening, both President and Mrs. Harding gave short talks to the assembled multitude before bidding farewell and boarding their train. The trip had been unmarred by trouble of any kind and seemed to have been immensely enjoyed.

Before leaving Washington, President Harding had signed a proclamation making Bryce Canyon a national monument, but had left it under the direction of the U. S. Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture. The transfer to the Department of Interior was to come later. The Forest Service went ahead with plans for its development.

By 1923, passable auto roads reached Zion, Kaibab, North Rim, Bryce Canyon, and Cedar Breaks, but some of the routes were circuitous and it required a great deal of extra travel to make the loop. Thus the road from La Verkin to Zion had to be retraced in order to go from Hurricane to Pipe Springs, while to reach Cedar Breaks a special side trip was necessary from either Parowan or Cedar City, and to get back to Cedar City from Bryce required a routing through Panguitch and Paragonah. Popular demand was growing for shorter and more direct routes as well as for better roads.

During Governor Bamberger’s administration, (1917-1921), a bond issue of $6,000,000 was earmarked to build a concrete highway south to St. George, but funds were exhausted before Provo was reached. Under Governor Charles R. Mabey (1921-1925), gravel roads were stressed in place of the more expensive concrete, and a gasoline tax to replace state and county road taxes was enacted into law, but the road to St. George had never been completed. A solution was proposed in 1924 at a meeting attended by G. G. Armstrong, Lafayette Hanchett, A. W. Ivins. George A. Smith, W. J. Halloran and Randall Jones, altruistic Utah citizens. The scheme proposed that each of the southern counties be given a quota of $5,000 and Salt Lake City, $10,000, to be raised through the chambers of commerce. This money was used by the State Road Commission to match federal funds for building the road over the black ridge between Ash Creek and Pintura in Washington County.

Federal aid for roads had been available since 1916, but complications between state and federal rights and prerogatives delayed cooperation. By 1923, the Federal Bureau of Public Roads and the State Road Commission were both studying the problem of linking the scenic points of southern Utah and northern Arizona. B. J. Finch of the Bureau of Public Roads and Howard C. Means, Utah State Road Engineer, investigated the possibilities of a short-cut from Zion eastward toward Mt. Carmel or Kanab. In early June, 1923, they arrived at Orderville and rode horseback with two local guides along the east rim of Zion seeking a possible outlet. From study of topographic sheets, they had already conceived a possible route up Parunuweap Canyon. Failing here, they drove around to Zion Canyon via Kanab, Pipe Springs and Hurricane. Walter Ruesch, acting Superintendent of Zion, suggested that they confer with John Winder, the man best acquainted with the “lay of the land” who already had ideas on the subject.

In 1880, when only ten years old, Winder had climbed the old Indian trail out of Zion where he later (1896) built the first East Rim Trail. He remembered that “old man Newman” of Rockville had always contended that timber could be brought down from Cedar Mountain if a road could be bored through the cliffs of Zion. Winder had explored every outlet and was convinced that there was only one possibility: a road up Pine Creek to the cliff and a tunnel opening in the Great Arch and coming out into the canyon above the cliff.

Means and Finch found Winder running logs down the cable. He immediately suggested the Pine Creek route and tunnel. The next day, the three men studied Pine Creek and the possible route up to the Arch. Winder then took them horseback to his ranch on the East Rim, via East Rim Trail. They walked down Pine Creek afoot to the top of the cliff. Encountering difficulties of grade and outlet at the top, they studied alternative possibilities and finally evolved the route now followed by the present road and tunnel.

The Salt Lake Tribune (June 25 and 26, 1923) published a sensational report of their investigations, but there was much skepticism in and out of official circles. In the end, however, the Pine Creek route was finally selected because it traversed the National Park, where federal funds would be available without being matched by the state.

Congressman Louis C. Crampton of Michigan, chairman of the House Committee for the National Park Service, took a personal interest in the route and tunnel and sponsored the appropriations that made it possible. During the planning and construction of this superb highway, which was to become an attraction second only to the canyon itself, Crampton made several trips to the park to watch its progress.

Since it was realized that the Pine Creek route would be years in building, several short-cuts were provided. A road connecting Cedar Breaks with Highway 89 on the summit between Hatch and Glendale was opened in 1923 so that parties making the loop could return to Cedar City via Cedar Breaks instead of Panguitch and Paragonah. In 1924, another cutoff was made from Rockville to the plains leading to Pipe Springs, thus eliminating the long trip down river to Hurricane and back. This road was firmly financed by a contribution of $5,000 from Stephen T. Mather.

In the Park itself, a road was surveyed from the cable up-canyon and was finished to the Temple of Sinawava in the spring of 1925. From that point on to the Narrows where the walls close in to leave room only for the river, a foot path, one mile in length, was constructed. Simultaneously three other trails were constructed: one to the West Rim, one to the top of Lady Mountain (Mount Zion) and one along the east bench under the cliffs from Wylie Grove in both directions. The next year, a trail to the top of Angel Landing was constructed and two suspension bridges across the river were installed and the trails opened to Emerald Pool.

A camp fire circle at Bryce Canyon. Courtesy Union Pacific Railroad.

A view of Hurricane (1929). Courtesy U. S. National Park Service.

Members of International Geological Congress on tour of Parks at Bryce Canyon, August 21, 1933. A. M. Woodbury, guide (seated, 5th from left): K. E. Weight, Naturalist at Bryce (Standing, 3rd from left): Dee Chamberlin and Chauncey Parry, drivers (standing right).

When the Utah Parks Company took over the Wylie camp in Zion, it was planned to construct a large hotel, but Director Mather firmly refused permission. He finally agreed to the lodge and cabin system, now serving the Park tourists. El Escalante Hotel in Cedar City was ready by the season of 1924. New accommodations were under construction in Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks. Reports from elated visitors, improvement of roads and accommodations and consistent advertising all resulted in vastly increased travel. The tourist traffic jumped from 8400 in 1924 to 16,817 in 1925. About half that number visited North Rim and presumably Bryce and Cedar Breaks. The tide was in full flow. For the season of 1925 new tourist busses with demountable tops for viewing the spectacular canyon walls were purchased. Busses, however, served only a small part of the traveling public, for America was on wheels and the roads were now such that auto traffic could roll in easily. The Grotto Campground was enlarged, equipped, and supplied with water. The survey of the Pine Creek road and tunnel was completed and Wayne Wonderland was dedicated.

Richard Evans was borrowed from the U.S. Geological Survey and served as acting superintendent during the tourist season for two years, while Walter Ruesch remained in charge during the balance of the year. Two permanent park rangers assisted Ruesch, Donald J. Jolley, appointed August 1, 1920, and Harold Russell, who had worked summers from 1920 to 1923 and who received permanent appointment in October of the latter year. All three were closely associated with developments and improvements in the canyon. In 1927, E. T. Scoyen was appointed permanent superintendent.

The Nature Guide Service in Yosemite and Yellowstone had proved so successful that it was decided to extend such services to other parks. It was initiated in Zion by the writer, June 19, 1925, and continued to mid-September. There was no precedent to follow, but the work gradually grew through succeeding summers into the Naturalist Service. During the next five summers, museum collections of natural history specimens, pioneer relics, and library books gradually accumulated and a museum was established in 1928. Information concerning the history, flora, fauna and geology of the canyon was collated. Lectures at the camp ground, at the Lodge, and the guided trips along the Narrows trail were developed and pictures and lantern slides were shown. In 1929, a mimeographed publication, the Zion-Bryce Nature Notes, was undertaken and a Natural History Association was organized to handle publications.

In 1926, daily bus service was established from Cedar City around the loop to Zion, North Rim and Bryce. The East and West Rim trails were reconstructed with better grades and locations. The West Rim Trail was dedicated at a ceremony held at the time of the visit of Crown Prince Gustavus and Princess Louise of Sweden, on July 11. A new road was constructed between Rockville and the Park boundary and the proposed Parunuweap road was surveyed.

In 1927, the Utah Parks Company took over the Wylie Camps at North Rim and the bus service from the Parry Brothers, and a lodge and cabins were constructed on the brink of North Rim at Bright Angel Point, so arranged that the Great View into Grand Canyon could be seen from the windows. This was completed in 1928.

In the meantime, Bryce Canyon was being developed by the Utah Parks Company under the direction of the Forest Service, in the expectation that eventually it would be transferred to the Park Service. The lodge and cabins were built some distance from the rim so that the beauties of the canyon could be preserved to best advantage. When Mather yielded to pressure to allow Bryce Canyon to become a national park if all private holdings were eliminated, Congress passed a bill, June 7, 1924, providing for the establishment of a Utah National Park upon the fulfillment of Mather’s conditions. The principal difficulty was that the State of Utah owned a section of land at a strategic point on the rim of the canyon. It took four years to fulfill the conditions, and before they were arranged Congress passed a revised bill. February 25, 1928, nearly doubling the size of the area and changing its name to Bryce Canyon.

When it became certain that the conditions would be fulfilled, the Union Pacific arranged for a large excursion (September 14-17, 1928). The party included: Carl R. Gray, president of the railroad; Stephen T. Mather, Director of the U. S. National Park Service, and Horace M. Albright, his assistant; Henry H. Blood, Chairman of the Utah State Road Commission (later Governor of Utah, 1933-1941); Congressmen Don B. Colton from Utah, and Philip D. Swing of California; Mayor John F. Bowman of Salt Lake City; Charles F. Burke, U. S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs; Thomas H. McDonald, Chief of the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads; Heber J. Grant, President of the Mormon Church, and his counselor, Anthony W. Ivins; representatives of the press, chambers of commerce and other organizations, and a host of lesser officials and advisers, including the writer.

After spending the first night in Zion, the party journeyed via Pipe Springs to the Kaibab and North Rim, where on September 15, 1928, the new Kaibab Trail and the Grand Canyon Lodge were dedicated. The next day the visitors reached Bryce Canyon where similar services were held in the evening. Congressman Don B. Colton formally presented deeds of the private land to Director Mather, who declared that the conditions having been fulfilled, Bryce Canyon had become a National Park.

VIEW FROM ONE OF THE GALLERIES OF THE FAMOUS ZION-MT. CARMEL TUNNEL. From UTAH—A guide To The State. Utah WPA Writers Project.

Thus the great scenic areas of southern Utah had finally been established as national parks and monuments, adequate roads and travel accommodations had been provided, and efforts had been made to give the casual tourist a deeper appreciation of the natural treasures at his disposal. Within the next few years many of the immediate projects for facilitating travel through the Park area were completed. The bridge across the Marble Gorge of Grand Canyon, a few miles below Lee’s Ferry, was dedicated June 15, 1929.

The next year saw the official opening of the Zion-Mt. Carmel highway, one of the most spectacular engineering feats in the history of road-building. From the canyon floor the road turns to the east up Pine Creek Canyon and spirals upward on a four-mile roadway to a tunnel paralleling the face of the vertical cliffs for 5,613 feet. Five galleries cut from the tunnel to the canyon wall offer the motorist vantage points for viewing the awe-inspiring scenery. Construction within the National Park cost $2,000,000; from the Park to Mt. Carmel a state and federal project, also cut in great part from solid rock, cost in excess of $500,000. Still later the road up the floor of Zion from the checking station on the main highway was reconstructed and made a modern oil-surfaced highway. Thereafter, until America’s entry into World War II, each summer brought greater throngs of visitors into the wonderland.

At long last the nation had awakened to the greatness of the gift nature had bestowed upon it, and in future years unnumbered generations will come to marvel at the wonders of the country which is southern Utah and at the austere majesty of the Great White Throne—generations free from the dread and superstition that made primitive races fear its unimagined heights no less than its long shadows and dazzling brilliance in the sun.

Symbol of Nature’s handiwork, this central and most magnificent of Zion’s features still echoes the distant footfall of Spanish padre and American Frontiersmen passing unwittingly by its dooryard; it is mindful of the day when the first Mormon pioneer lifted uncomprehending eyes to the solitude of its summit, and of that other day when religious fervor called it Zion, the dwelling place of peace. Men have come, cutting their trails, building their roads, roofing their shelters, dreaming their dreams. The human tide around its base has ebbed and flowed, according to human wont, but it remains serene, aloof, alone. It will be so a thousand years from now.