“In an instant, there flashed before us a scene never to be forgotten.
In coming time it will, I believe, take rank with a very small number of
spectacles each of which will, in its own way, be regarded as the most
exquisite of its kind which the world discloses. The scene before us was
the Temples and Towers of the Virgin.” Thus prophetically wrote Captain
Clarence E. Dutton of the U. S. Geological Survey in a report published
in the year 1880.
Dutton was following up the geological work begun by Major J. W. Powell
ten or twelve years earlier when the latter started out to explore the
Colorado River and made his two memorable trips in boats down the river
through the Grand Canyon. The geological problems encountered were so
extraordinary that Dutton was detailed to further investigation and
encountered problems that have engaged the attention of scientists to
this day, particularly the eminent geologist, Dr. Herbert E. Gregory.
Following the line of Vermillion Cliffs from Kanab westward, Dutton came
to the pass between Eagle Crags and Smithsonian Butte when suddenly,
startlingly, there lay before him to the northward the valley of the
Virgin River in all its grandeur.
Few have seen Zion as Clarence Dutton saw it. From a high pass, in late
afternoon, with the sun on his left, he looked into that vast panorama
of the Vermillion Cliffs of Zion and Parunuweap and those flanking the
Great West Canyon as well—a twenty-mile stretch in one sweeping view.
The setting sun cast shadows that made the turrets and towers stand out
in bold relief, while the light reflected from one wall upon another
intensified the tints and shades of the reds until they stood out in
striking contrast with the vivid green of the vegetation and the higher
cliffs. No wonder the cold scientist broke down and described in
emotional terms this superb panorama.
Forerunners of Dutton had visited Zion, but none had penned such
eloquent praise. Major J. W. Powell and two companions, Stephen V.
Jones, one of his topographers, and Joseph W. Young, a Mormon, left Long
Valley on September 10, 1872[90] and started down through the Parunuweap
on foot. They came out next day before noon and spent another day
visiting Zion Canyon. Of this trip, Powell says of the Parunuweap:
At noon, we are in a canyon 2500 feet deep and we come to a fall where
the walls are broken down, and the huge rocks beset the channel, on
which we obtain a foothold to reach a level two hundred feet below.
Here the canyon is again wider and we find a floodplain on which we
can walk.
Next day of the Mukuntuweap Canyon, he writes:
Entering this, we have to wade up the stream; often the water fills
the entire channel, and although we travel many miles, we find no
floodplain, talus, or broken piles of rock at the foot of the cliff.
The walls have smooth, plain faces, and are everywhere very regular
and vertical for a thousand feet or more, where they seem to break in
shelving slopes to higher altitudes; and everywhere as we go along, we
find springs bursting out at the foot of the walls.[91]
Jack Hillers, a photographer from Powell’s party, spent some time during
the summer of 1873 taking pictures in Zion Canyon. These are on file in
the U. S. Geological Survey Office and have been often used in
publications. For a long time, however, this material and Zion Canyon
were largely forgotten. The local course of development continued
placidly for many years. Only occasionally a hardy traveler, hearing of
the beauties of the region, had courage enough to brave the rocky, dusty
roads to enjoy the scenic splendors. One was Frederick S. Dellenbaugh,
who had accompanied Powell on his second trip down the Grand Canyon. In
the summer of 1903 he found his way into Springdale, where he made his
headquarters with Bishop O. D. Gifford, visited Zion Canyon, made some
oil paintings to be exhibited at the World’s Fair in St. Louis the next
year, and wrote an article, “A New Valley of Wonders,” which appeared in
_Scribners’ Magazine_ for January, 1904. In this article, describing his
first view of the West Temple, he wrote:
One hardly knows just how to think of it. Never before has such a
naked mountain of rock entered our minds. Without a shred of disguise
its transcendent form rises pre-eminent. There is almost nothing to
compare to it. Niagara has the beauty of energy; the Grand Canyon of
immensity; the Yellowstone of singularity; the Yosemite of altitude;
the ocean of power; this Great Temple of eternity—“The Titan fronted
blowy steeps, that cradled Time.”
Grafton has a situation that must some day make it famous, yet one
dreads to think of this land being overrun by the ennuied tourist. But
with an altitude of only 3,000 feet, a superb, dry climate, mild
winters, magnificent environment, and a supply of delicious fruits it
cannot long remain unvisited if a railway ever is built within easy
reach.
The Zion pictures at the fair created a great deal of interest. A young
Mormon missionary, David Hirschi, who had been reared at Rockville and
knew every foot of the Zion country, visited St. Louis on his way home
from Europe and found them to be a center of attraction in the Utah
section. He was surprised and delighted, but was put on his mettle when
he heard skeptics remark that there couldn’t be such a place. He
informed them that there certainly was, that he knew its every hill and
cliff, and to prove it, he pointed to his buckskin shoelace and showed
the hill in the picture where he had killed the deer from which they had
been made. A great crowd gathered to listen and an interesting
discussion followed. Undoubtedly the pictures and magazine article were
important factors in arousing a widespread interest in Zion Canyon. The
time was approaching when its superlative beauty would be recognized by
the national government.
The national conservation program inaugurated by President Theodore
Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot produced a bill (June 8, 1906) empowering
the president to set aside certain lands particularly valuable for
scenic, scientific or historic purposes, as national monuments. Many
were created during the next few years and among them was the
Mukuntuweap National Monument.
During the summer of 1908, Leo A. Snow of St. George, a United States
Deputy Surveyor, was detailed to survey in southern Utah, Township 40
South, Range 10 West from Salt Lake City. The party, of which the
present writer was a member, in executing the survey covered the upper
part of the Zion gorge. Triangulation was used in measuring the gorge
from the east to west. When the report and map were submitted that part
of the canyon was described as unsurveyable. In his report, Snow stated
that from a certain place (now Observation Point):
A view can be had of this canyon surpassed only by a similar view of
the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. At intervals along the west side of
the canyon streams of various sizes rush over the edge of the chasm
forming water falls from 800 to 2000 feet high. The stream in the
bottom of the canyon appears as a silver ribbon winding its way among
the undergrowth and occasionally disappearing from view. In my opinion
this canyon should be set apart by the government as a national park.
The report was dispatched to Washington, June 25, 1909. A little more
than a month later, July 31, the Acting Secretary of the Interior
recommended to the President the creation of the Mukuntuweap National
Monument. President Taft signed the proclamation on the same day. This
act was primarily a withdrawal from entry—a method of holding land for
national purposes and preventing it from passing into private ownership.
There was no active administration of the area at first. The farmers
still cultivated the land, the stockmen continued to graze their cattle
in the canyon and the sawmill owners to lower lumber over the cable. The
canyon was still inaccessible to automobiles and the roadway for wagons
or buggies was such that few people cared to drive over it for pleasure.
Wesley King, of the Salt Lake Commercial Club, was an early exception.
Poor roads could not thwart his desire to see the scenic beauties of
which he had heard from E. D. Woolley, a prominent leader of Kane
County. He and his wife traveled by train to Marysvale where they
obtained a team and buggy and started south. A report of this trip
appeared in _The Salt Lake Tribune_, November 12, 1911. King wrote:
We crossed the divide ... and began our descent into and upon one of
the most scenic portions of America.... I do not believe there is
anything on the globe like the canyon of the Rio Virgin, or to compare
with the Vermillion cliffs....
Our admiration for this people was aroused.... They can only market
such products as can be driven across the mountains, while freighting
of goods southward presents obstacles that would baffle the stoutest
hearts. Here and over in the Dixie Land to the westward, the people
live a simple, healthy life, unspoiled by the world and its vagaries.
Children of the soil ... of one faith and with a singleness of
purpose....
We lost our way and our tempers getting over the Sahara bordering
Kanab. A lone sheep herder saved us on the second morning out and we
floundered into Kanab over twenty-four hours late, just as Uncle “D”
Woolley was starting a posse of Indian Scouts after us.
The Kings took Dave Rust for guide and went over to Zion Canyon. On the
brink above Rockville, they “hesitated for awhile in an effort to
comprehend the grandeur of the ‘Great Temple’ and its score of lesser
temples and towers, brilliant in the glow of the setting sun.” King’s
story continued:
We found the Parunuweap Canyon impassable, so we spent the day in the
dark recesses of the Mukuntuweap, speechless with wonderment, except
for an occasional “awe” or an “absolutely wonderful.” This panorama
had a deeper, a more wonderful effect upon us than anything our eyes
had ever beheld....
Garfield, Wayne and Kane counties are sparsely settled, and until
permanent roads are constructed into them, they will remain so.
Washington and Iron counties have great natural resources and
wonderful possibilities which will blossom into realities only when
the transportation problem has been solved. Each county can do little
by itself in road building. It is a state problem and must be worked
out by our state officials.
Times, however, were rapidly changing. The automobile was displacing the
horse and the demand for good roads for auto traffic was being met by
ever larger road appropriations by the state and the nation. However,
the opening of the scenic areas of southern Utah and northern Arizona to
the touring public is largely a story of highways.