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

by Angus M. Woodbury

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.