Zion National Park

“ The Watchman, Zion National Park
It is a mysterious land of purple sage and empurpled distances, of incredible color, of sun-magic and the wizardry of wind and water. It is a place to drink in beauty, to form new conceptions of the divine.
Geologists recognize three subdivisions of the region from north to south: the High Plateaus; the Terraced Plateaus; the Grand Canyon Platform. From Cedar Breaks on the High Plateau it is more than 100 miles to Bright Angel Point on Grand Canyon’s rim; from Hurricane Ledge on the west, eastward to the Colorado River is more than 100 miles. ”

“ Zion National Park is reached from Cedar City, Utah, on the Union Pacific Railroad. From this point motorbus service is provided by the Utah Parks Co. to Zion National Park, as well as to Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon (North Rim) National Parks and Cedar Breaks National Monument. Passengers traveling on main bus lines may transfer to Utah Parks Co. buses at Cedar City. On advance notice, connections can be made with the Santa Fe Trails System at Mount Carmel Junction. ”

“ Cedar City to Zion National Park
The highway southward from Cedar City (the Zion Park Highway) is on the floor of an arm of prehistoric Lake Bonneville. This is the Great Basin region, a sort of prison for running water because none of its streams ever reach the sea. In the east are the steep scarps of the Markagunt and Kolob Plateaus limited by a tremendous fault plane, the Hurricane Ledge; in the west are the Iron Mountains, veritable masses of iron ore; in the south are the lofty, majestic Pine Valley Mountains, extinct volcanoes whose dark, wrinkled summits exceed 10,000 feet in elevation. ”

“ There are good roads, constantly being improved, between Cedar City and Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon National Monument; the roads between Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon and the North Rim of Grand Canyon are fair, safe to travel, and are also undergoing improvement. Excellent lodges and camps are maintained at places where stop-overs are desirable. ”

“ United Air Lines serves Salt Lake City, and from there passengers may go by Union Pacific Railroad or bus to Cedar City. Air service is also available from Los Angeles by Western Air Lines, with stops at Las Vegas, Cedar City, and Salt Lake City.
Roads in the Park
There are 20 miles of improved roads in Zion National Park. One road leads from the park’s entrance to the Temple of Sinawava, a distance of 8 miles. No one has really seen Zion Canyon until he has made a trip over this road. Visitors in closed cars should make frequent stops so that they may get out and enjoy the magnificent view. ”

“ Approximately 26 miles of trails lead to the more important sections of the park which are not reached by roads. These trails are well maintained and can be used at all seasons of the year, with the exception of those to the rims of the canyon which are closed by snow during the winter months.
The most popular of the footpaths, which have been constructed at different levels in the canyon, is the one extending a mile up the canyon from the end of the road at the Temple of Sinawava to the beginning of the Narrows. ”

“ Endless outflung bastions and buttresses, supporting towers, parapets and craggy spires, parade from the rim down into the painted abyss where, dotted by the green of pines, red, orange, yellow, purple and white are banded and splashed in a symphony of color literally unbelievable till the eyes confirm.
Bryce Canyon also is an amphitheatre, a richer, more compacted bit of resplendence. You hardly believe that Bryce Canyon exists until you have gazed many times; so amazing is its beauty that it seems like the flashing vision of a dream. ”

“ Preservation of Natural Features.—Trees, flowers, vegetation, rocks, mineral formations, or any animal, bird, or other life may not be disturbed, injured, or destroyed; and formations, rocks, and other natural features, may not be defaced by writing, carving, or otherwise marring them. Since the park is a sanctuary for wildlife, hunting and the use of firearms are prohibited. ”

“ Every visitor should take the trail into the depths of Bryce Canyon, either on foot or horseback. Lacy designs and dainty figures, seen from the rim, assume huge proportions when one is amongst them; there are sunless grottoes and shadowed crypts, wafer walls pierced by many windows, artists’ studios filled with half-finished models and figurines, innumerable fantastic forms in bronze, jasper, ruby amethyst, topaz and alabaster. Each turn in every innumerable aisle, alley and corridor on Bryce’s intricate floor has its charming revelations of unimagined contour and color. ”

“ Trails are all easily traveled in good weather; horseback trips can be arranged in half- or full-day units to suit the individual. Inquiry should be made before attempting a trip, as stormy weather sometimes makes the condition of these trails uncertain.
Administration
Bryce Canyon National Park is administered as a unit with Zion National Park and Cedar Breaks and Zion National Monuments. The representative of the National Park Service in immediate charge is the superintendent, whose post office address is Springdale, Utah. ”

“ Among the larger mammals, the mule deer are especially numerous and can frequently be observed along the floor of Zion Canyon in late evening. A few bighorn are present but spend their time in the relatively inaccessible canyons, hence are seldom seen. Other mammals, such as the mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, and fox, are resident within the park, but are rarely encountered because of their timidity. Ground squirrels and chipmunks are numerous and frequently tame. It is wisest to enjoy them without actual contact, however, for some rodents have been known to carry dangerous diseases. ”

“ In the sandy areas at elevations above 4,000 feet you may find this pretty, three-petaled, deep-blue flower on its slender stalk about a foot or more in height blooming early in June. The flowers bloom at night, so are not easily found except early in the mornings. The plant is fairly abundant along the Narrows Trail, the East Rim Trail and near the East Entrance Station of Zion National Park.
Indians used the entire plant for food.
Prairie Spiderwort
5 4. ”

“ A short distance farther up the gorge soars a slender, ethereal cone of pink and 19 white, a peak of such appealing symmetry and delicate tints, so lofty and aspiring, that it evokes a cry of admiration. It is the Mountain of Mystery.
One of the Amphitheatres of Cedar Breaks
The Wet Trail
The Canyon continues some eight miles farther, but its exploration is only for the adventurous few. There is no trail but the winding river which reaches from wall to wall; sudden rainstorms send between the scarred and splintered cliffs a resistless torrent of water. ”

“ On the edge of the plains are ruins of primitive dwellings of which the modern Indian knows nothing; in many a secluded canyon are the more inscrutable habitations of the 6 cliff dwellers. The indomitable ranchers have built quaint, poplar-shaded villages with homes of adobe, and their farms are often fenced with stone. ”

“ Directly in front of us a complex group of white towers, springing from a central pile, mounts upward to the clouds. Out of their midst, and high over all, rises a dome-like mass which dominates the entire landscape. It is almost pure white, with brilliant streaks of carmine descending its vertical walls. At the summit it is truncated and a flat tablet is laid upon the top, showing its edge of deep red. ”

“ These golden-yellow flowers, measuring about three inches across, are fairly common along the trails and roadways of Zion Canyon and in other low-elevation areas of the park. They bloom during May and June. The ray flowers become bleached and papery as they mature, thus accounting for the name Paper Daisy. This attractive composite is also known as Desert Baileya. In California this plant is cultivated for the flower trade. It has been found poisonous to sheep, although horses crop the flower heads, apparently without harmful effects. ”

“ It is actually a vast plateau, some fifty miles long and thirty-five miles wide, and containing 500 square miles of yellow pine, fir and spruce diversified by charming aspen copses, the largest and most beautiful virgin forest in the United States. In elevation it rises from 7,500 to 9,300 feet above sea level.
Kaibab Forest occupies the top of a lofty plateau isolated on the south and east by the Grand Canyon, on the north and west by the mysterious plains above which it rises 5,000 feet. On all sides are unexplored plateaus and canyons where untouched cliff dwellings stand. ”

“ Measured by civilization’s yardstick, the unknown land in which they lie is a frontier, still in the pioneer stage of existence. It is not so long since the forts along the way actually repelled Indian attacks; it is not so far to fastnesses where cougars come forth to prey on deer, or to desert valleys where wild mustangs range. ”

“ As they entrench themselves in horizontal layers of rock that vary in resistance to erosion, the master streams and their tributaries are developing stairlike profiles on their enclosing walls. Cliffs in resistant rocks and slopes in weak rock constitute risers and treads that vary in steepness and height with the thickness of the strata involved. Thus near the south entrance to Zion Park the edge of a layer of hard conglomerate is a vertical cliff, its top a platform. ”

“ 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 203 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) . ”

“ Where one succeeds another, the uppermost presents sinuous cliff walls, hundreds of miles in length and superbly distinctive in color and carving. More than 10,000 feet of strata are exposed, “a library of the ages in vivid bindings” that contains the fossil remains of creatures since the morning of life on earth. ”

“ Crossing the broad summit of the Markagunt Plateau the highway traverses fine coniferous forests that frequently open into charming “parks,” and passes great areas covered with lava from Hancock Peak and the adjacent extinct volcanoes. Navajo Lake, a beautiful mountain tarn encircled by pines and a noted fishing water, is about eight miles beyond Midway.
One of the Countless Castles of Bryce Canyon
Soon pretty Duck Creek, rising in full power from a fine spring and filled with trout, parallels the highway for several miles, then disappears under the volcanic rock. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Cedar Breaks is twenty-three miles by highway east of Cedar City and four-fifths of a mile nearer the sky. Immediately east of the town the road enters the rugged gorge of Coal Creek, its slopes covered with fine forests of conifers and aspens. The walls assume impressive castellated forms that are especially striking at the mouth of Ashdown Gorge, eight miles distant. Ashdown Gorge is an extremely narrow, tortuous and precipitous rift in the plateau, down which rushes a sparkling stream from the vast furrows of Cedar Breaks. ”

“ Technical literature contains other outbursts of enthusiastic admiration, some of eloquence, hidden, however, among pages so incomprehensible to the average lover of the sublime in Nature that the glory of Little Zion was lost in its very discovery. So remote did it lie from the usual lines of travel and traffic that, though its importance resulted in its conservation as a national monument in 1909, it was six or seven years more before its fame as a spectacle of the first order began to get about. The tales of adventurous explorers, [Pg 354] as usual, were discounted. ”

“ It was not until agencies seeking new tourist attractions sent parties to verify reports that the public gaze was centred upon the canyon's supreme loveliness.
To picture Zion one must recall that the great plateau in which the Virgin River has sunk these canyons was once enormously higher than now. The erosion of hundreds of thousands, or, if you please, millions of years, has cut down and still is cutting down the plateau. These "Cyclopean steps," each step the thickness of a stratum or a series of strata of hardened sands, mark progressive stages in the decomposition of the whole. ”

“ 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. ”