Show It i b.- b. TF Jj j n. n a w Dickinson vc 5 1 ts n 1 M w v Hollow Q Qi w i. i h i qa rt J v C 70 It wW HE DE national parks will probably soon stage a contest In Jn scenic loveliness loveliness love love- liness between Yosemite valley and r Zion canon For the bill creating Zion canon a national park has hask been passed by both houses of congress con con- congress k gress a and d at this writing g. g is in conference conference conference con con- ference over an amendment C Californians always always the best of of boosters have boosters have long contended that Yosemite valley Is the supreme supreme supreme su su- preme expression of scenic loveliness They hold that there Is is' nothing like It on earth To them It Is the valley whose compelling beauty the world acknowledges as supreme But nut Utah enthus enthus- lasts fasts believe that when Zions Zion's beauty Is known to the public Y Yosemite semite will be put In the second rank Of course the new ZIon National park will hardly rank with Yosemite as a n national park for tor the latter contains acres while theor the former will have ave only or acres But nut the contest con con- test In loveliness n between en Yosemite valley and ZIon canon cano is likely to bo hl close and Interesting Yellowstone National park in Wyoming Montana Mon Mon- Montana tana and Idaho as ever everybody hody knows was the first national park to be c established 1872 in the world It Is our oldest and largest and most famous scenic natural park Its ge geysers sers and hears bears have made its name a worldwide household word Yosemite In California established In 1890 1830 Is Scarcely less famous all the world knows of Its waterfalls and Its its big trees trees the the oldest and largest living things In t e world And Yosemite valley its Us greatest beauty Is familiar to everyone everyone every every- one through pictures It Is visited yearly by thousands thousands thou thou- sands this season the attendance was The proposed ed ZIon National park lies in south south- southern ern ern Ut Utah t about miles south of Salt Lake City The state has m made de It accessible to the tourist by building OO miles of automobile highway high high- i way from Lund on the Salt Satt Lake route The Arrowhead Arrowhead Ar Ar- trail from Salt Lake City is also available available avail- avail able lable President Taft in 1909 1903 created the Mun- Mun ri national monument of ot acres to preserve serve the wonderfully scenic area of the canon anon of ot the Rio Virgin In recent years other scenic canons were discovered and In 1 1918 President Pres 1 dent Wilson enlarged the national monument to acres and changed Its name to Zion In n the debate debat over the ZIon Na National onal park bill bili In the house housa Representative Welling of Utah said in part This region obtained Its name name ZIon canon canon because because be be- cause of the devout reverence of the Mormon who pioneers pioneers who settled upon the Virgin river more than 60 GO years ago Its perpendicular walls pre pre- presente presented an impassable barrier to hostile tribes of Indians who Infested these regions and these people looked upon Zion canon as a convenient ol 5 and hospitable refuge when threatened by attack at at- 0 tack from these troublesome Indian tribes ZIon canon Is an extraordinary gorge cut from brilliantly brilliantly bril bril- colored sedimentary rocks by the north fork of the Virgin river Its proportions are about equal to those of ot Yosemite vaIle valley In Yosemite YoI Yosemite Yo I semite National park the walls are several hundred hundred hun hun- dred feet lower and the canon is considerably narrower In the cutting of the gorge hO however hOever ever 10 the torrential stream and kind Ind and rain have carved domes spires towers and other curious S forms S that strikingly resemble of many the tea fea t tares tures res of ot Yosemite valley vaHey More 1 Interesting than the carving of ZIons ZIon's cliffs Is their exquisite coloring Red predominates nates as it does doE's In the Grand Grand- canon in Arizona but there are arc amazing combinations of brown black and white colors with the red and with each other White sandstone Is superimposed ed on the red rd strata and other layers of the red rock rockS S lie He In turn upon the white The action of water witter x up upon the ex exposed surfaces of these rocks has produced a symphony of ot color that gives the canon canon Its gre greatest charm The finishing touches are given 1 by y the forests pt of the valley vaIley floor and the trees on the rim and in the niches of the nearly perpendicular canon walls waIls Until recently ZIon has been practically inaccessible inac- inac and scarcely tens tells have seen It where thousands have seen But nut ZIons ZIon's vist- vist visitors tors have paid eloquent tribute te The Indians called culled it Land Land of God God because because It it was vas ya so beautiful The fierce Mormon 1 zealot named named It Little ZIon because of Its heavenly only enly beauty Away back bacle In the seventies s John Wesley Powell of Grand canon fame nos was was' tempted far out of his way ay by hy the ex exceeding of a temple of rock lifting Its opalescent t shoulders against the eastern sky It wn was the vermilion body and shining white dome of the West Temple Templo of the Virgin at the entrance to Again we are Impressed with the marvelous beauty of outline the Infinite complication of these titanic buttes It is doubtful if in this respect re re- sped t the valley has its equal Not e even en the Grand ca canon on offers a more varied spectacle yet allots alibis ls welded together In to a superb ensemble F F. F S. S X ellenbaugh topographer of the Powell party wr wrote te this on his second visit Nothing the wondrous can exceed beauty of n ZIon canon canon wrote C. C E. E Dutton In Its It Is s about equal to Yosemite but In the nobility and beauty of Its sculptures th there is no DO noa comparison It Is Hyperion f to t a 4 Satyr M. M rb rbt t I 11 IQ 90 C N U N 8 Icy Cr x fi appy r R H HW K e. e W Cr i nd i Jack Lait wrote a characteristic appreciation of Zion canon for a railroad administration booklet booklet booklet book book- let In which he said Zion canon canon Is is an epic w written itten by Mother Nature Nature Na Na- Nature ture In her most ecstatic humor Illustrated by Creation In Its most most majestic manifestations published pub pub- by God Almighty as an Inspiration to al all mankind Zion canon Is the most beautiful spot on this continent I think I have seen all the famed show places tl that fit the evolution of the earths earth's formation has made And of them all Zion t to f use nia st stands hd first stands alone Zion has the double charm of form and color and It Is hard to say which Is the more appealing The entrance to te the canon Is spacious and Im Im- The course up the J Rio Uio o Virgin Is tortuous tortuous tor tor- tor- tor and the variation of view and and of formation of the lofty walls Is great At the end of of- six or seven seen miles of ot canon the wall narrows to the stream What there Is Is beyond Is practically un un- known Thus from the pl plateau above the tor may may look 1001 down thousands of vertical feet Into the painted canon with Its river fiver From Froin the river bank banI he may look up thousands of feet with a changing changing- view turn at every turn of ot the canon The entrance to the canon Is most Impressive To the west rises the West Temple feet flanked by the Towers of the Virgin The guardian guar guar- dian dlan to the east Is the East Temple flanked by the Watchman r 0 and Bridge mountain Then coma the Streaked Wallon Wall on the west side and the Brown Brawn Wall WaIl on the east eastsIde eastside side topped respectively by be the Three Patriarchs and the Mountain of the Sun Extraordinary features fea fea- tures tUles of ot the wall formation Include El Gobernador Goberna Goberna- dor the Great Organ and the Temple of The visitor finally monies comes comes to a n point where th the chasm Is more than 2000 feet deep and the walls wall s so nearly touch that he looks up to to see to-see see no sky The walls are practically vertical and parallel and S warp In and out thus cutting off the blue above Here Is revealed the secret of the Making o of f ZIon as Is pointed out out by hy Dr G G. G K Gilbert of th the e United States geological This I survey chasm is s an nil example of ot downward erosion by sand bearing g water which acts like the marble saw The cut cu t Is not entirely vertical because the current current has s carried the cutting sand to one side or the other and the cut undulates both in its vertical and and p j horizontal sections The forms along the canon walls wails are Binary And the colors are even en more striking The Tile famous Vermilion Cliff of the Painted Desert Deseri here combines s with the tile White Cliff and we see a u 1 thousand feet of white superimposed d on orr two 1 tw thousand feet of red But this startling combine tion is but the beginning of a n veritable riot o of color olor Vermilion n Cliff rests on the Painted Desert stratum stratum o feet of a deeper red set o off by pu purple and mauve Below this Is a n hun dred feet fet of brown and gray conglomerate Th The e J crowning touch Is tine th-e coloring of the upper sum summits summits mits of the White Cliff Here there are re In pla places place es several h hundred feet of varicolored and an d lIm tones whose seepage fantastically stal stains th glistening white In consequence of the meeting g of these many colors ZIon I Is as gorgeous as a 1 Gypsy scarf and sunrise and sunset p sunset cuce un u un believable effects For example t take the West Temple From Froin a an i n P of mingled r re real s 1 wi browns brews s. s I I grays and purples It rises ab ab abruptly feet The body Isa Isa is isa a brilliant red The upper third is white The huge mass Is so perfect In conformation that It suggests the work of a titan architect And on top of ot the lofty central rectangle rests a squared cap of ot red above the glistening white Across the cannon and slightly slightly slight slight- ly to the north rising between two peaks of deepest umber looms the great silvery dome of the Eastern Temple clothed in ln n col colorings rings like to Its western western sis sis- sis sis- ter This rounds to a broad Abroad summit upon which Is mounted a o a symmetrical ran caD of ot that same beautiful sandstone for formation formation atlo J Just st beyond the East and West Temples are ranged three shaped cone-shaped mountains wildly rugged rugged rug rug- ged In their outlines and facing another court of of totally different type from that which fronts the he Western Temple Here again has Bible history contributed th the titles for the three peaks are known as the The Patriarchs and the space at their base the Court of ot the the Patriarchs A little farther on is another trio which occupies occupies pies the eastern ern wall Of decidedly different d rent formation formation for for- mation and coloring they are called the Three Brothers A great white dome douse Is known as the Mountain of or the Sun Here Het the breaks In both canon wal walls s have brought about a n most Interesting effect effect effect ef ef- for tor this beautiful mountain catches the first glint gUnt of of the rising and receives the last kiss o of 01 the setting sun Still SUU another feature of ot the 1 Mountain of the Sun is the tint of the afterglow that changes changE's Its chalky halky summit into a n rosy do dome e. e Many 1 Intersecting Inters ct ng canons and the tortuous course of the main marl canon give great variety to the formations Possibly El G Gobernador is Is' the gem of f them all Standing at a turn of the canon its mighty might mass rises sheer feet from ro Il the creek that skirts Its base this pile presents a picture unsurpassed Gray at I is s base it clears clears' to a glistening white with a summit that terminates In Inn ina ina a n great table Far up on one ne of Its faces there hangs a n wonderful natural bridge the top of which has never been pressed by the foot of man Beyond El the canon twists and turn until It widen out Into the most weird of all f tors rs s bizarre features This Is th the Great Temple Tem Tem- Temple of ot which occupies a vast ast amphitheater amphitheater theater shut In li by wals of ot brilliantly colored roc rock towering 2000 feet above its floor Here th the rippling creek horseshoes around a most remarkably remarkably remarkably remark remark- ably formed sandstone object that closely resembles resembles bles a nud Buddha ha seated on his throne Legend has given this place as the locality where the prehistoric prehistoric pre- pre historic people of this southwestern land gathered to do reverence to a their ruling deity The rhe place fills the bill If It ever there was a spot where weirdly mystic m Incantations and wildly Impressive ceremonials would seem to accurately fit into the surroundings it is this same rock rock- bound pocket in the depths of Zion Just Jut beyond the prehistoric temple the canon enters eaters Its narrows until the creek o occupies ples every foot of the floor boor and feathery ry waterfalls dash down from moss and lichen covered terraces As if it these were ere not enough It Is known n that th there re are other ther beauties possibly of ot even more won wonderful erf t quality Secretary Lane of of the the in in- tenor deportment department in recommending the bill wrote I have dwelt lt particularly upon ZIon canon becam because be be- cam cause e it Is is now so readily accessible and because It t Is s actually being used as a n tourist res resort resort rt but there ther are arc other canons In the tie reservation that are bigger and even seen more beautifully colored Still more remain rentals to be entered Bind tind explored L In time they will all nil be open to the public Further Further- Furthermore more more there are arp In to the reser reservation mountains wa wn natural bridges bridgE's ancient cUll cliff dwellings and numerous other features Interesting to to th the tourist and exceedingly valuable J to the tIie scientist and student Yosemite the apparently I 0 o ts Its laurels must mast look |