Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Lisa Corcoran and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
ZION
NATIONAL PARK • UTAH
_Open All Year_
[Illustration: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR · MARCH 3, 1949]
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Oscar L. Chapman, _Secretary_
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Arthur E. Demaray, _Director_
_Contents_
The Great White Throne _Cover_
Formation of Zion Canyon 3
Wildlife 6
Park Season 6
How to Reach Zion 6
Roads in the Park 8
The Trail System 10
Administration 13
Naturalist Service 13
Museum 13
Free Public Campgrounds 15
Accommodations 15
Transportation 15
Saddle Horses 15
Post Office and Communication Service 15
Miscellaneous Services 15
_Historic Events_
1776 Father Escalante in search of route to Pacific crossed Virgin
River near Hurricane.
1826 Jedediah Smith, fur trader, with a party of about 16 men
exploring the region, traversed Virgin River.
1847 Brigham Young and his band of Mormons founded Salt Lake City
and began the colonization of Utah.
1858 The colonization of Utah’s “Dixie” begun by the Mormons.
1858 Zion Canyon discovered by Nephi Johnson, a Mormon scout.
1861 Joseph Black explored the canyon and 1 or 2 years later was
followed by a few settlers who farmed in the canyon, which
they called “Little Zion.”
1872 Maj. John Wesley Powell visited the region and gave name
“Mukuntuweap” to north fork and “Parunuweap” to east fork of
Virgin River.
1909 Mukuntuweap National Monument established by Presidential
proclamation.
1914 Frederick Vining Fisher visited Zion Canyon and gave names to
many of the outstanding formations, such as Great White
Throne and Angels Landing.
1917 Wylie Way Camp, first tourist accommodations, constructed.
1918 Monument enlarged and the name changed to Zion by
Presidential proclamation.
1919 Monument changed to a national park by act of Congress.
1923 President Warren G. Harding visited the park on June 27.
1930 East Rim road and tunnel completed and dedicated.
[Illustration: Illustrated drop-cap]
Zion National Park, located in the heart of the spectacular desert and
canyon country of southern Utah, has as one of its chief features the
great multicolored gorge, Zion Canyon. The sandstone cliffs, rising
sheer to form the canyon walls and encircle the valley, are awesome; but
it is the vivid coloring which most amazes. The deep red of the
Vermilion Cliffs is the prevailing tint. Two-thirds of the way up these
marvelous walls and temples are painted varying shades of red; then,
above the reds they rise in startling white, sometimes surmounted by a
cap of brilliant red.
Formation of Zion Canyon[1]
Zion Canyon, the best known example of a deep, narrow, vertically walled
chasm readily accessible for observation, was made by the north fork of
the Virgin River, the stream which now flows through it. Before this
stream established its course there was no canyon. During the long
period since its course was established the river has slowly deepened
its channel and extended it headward until its original shallow valley
has become a long narrow trench between towering walls. Though now
deeply entrenched in the rocks of the Kolob Plateau, the river maintains
substantially its original pattern. It flows in the same direction, and
the curves and straight stretches of its present walls duplicate the
meanders of the stream when it flowed some 5,000 feet above its present
level.
For many thousands of years the Virgin River and its tributaries have
been busy with two tasks, namely, deepening their channels and
transporting material weathered from the canyon walls. At present the
Virgin carries away from the park each year about 3,000,000 tons of
ground-up rock at an average rate of 180 carloads a day. For such
effective work the many-branched river seems incompetent. But though
relatively small in volume, this stream system falls from 50 to 70 feet
per mile (nine times the fall of the Colorado in Grand Canyon) and is at
work on rock, chiefly sandstone, that disintegrates with exceptional
ease. Many tributaries are on bare rock, little retarded by vegetation,
and are fed by short but violent showers. Consequently, they are brought
to flood stage not only seasonally but with each period of heavy
rainfall. Because they flow only in response to showers, the smaller
tributaries are unable to cut channels as deep as the perennial master
stream. From their mouths high on the canyon walls, they descend as
waterfalls.
Though they are primarily responsible for the depth and position of the
canyons, the Virgin River itself and the other streams heading on the
adjoining plateaus are only incidentally concerned with the detailed
carving that makes Zion Canyon unique. The walls are retreating in
consequence of ground water which emerges as springs and seeps, rain
which falls directly into the canyon, water that spills over the rim,
frost and tree roots which pry off slabs, and chemical agencies which
weaken the rock by the removal of the cement about individual grains.
Continuous sapping at or near the contact of the porous Navajo sandstone
and the more impervious underlying beds has developed alcoves in the
canyon walls at Wiley Retreat, the Stadium, Weeping Rock, Emerald Pool,
Birch Creek, Oak Creek, and elsewhere.
[Illustration: _Generalized section of sediments in Zion and Bryce
Canyons._]