| Show I 1 how the word zion came to be given to Glor glorious ibus park zion national park utah jan 17 i in a very complete manuscript 3 ing to the history of zion national park lust just received at the office ot of the superintendent A M woodbury park naturalist trace traces in careful detail the manner in which aich the name zion first came to be applied to the colorful canyon in southern utah his conclusions differ widely from commonly accept lons tons of how the name came come b according I 1 f i nc by mr woodbury the first white person a man named joseph black entered zion canyon in the early summer of 1861 although engaged primarily in hunting for agricultural land black also had time to notice the sublime scenery of the gorge his tales ot of these venders brought forth the first name by which the canyon P nyon was known josephs glory it was two years later or in 1863 that three men went sent into the canyon to live the first settlers in the main canyon one of the men vu wai a deserter from the army amy the other two were typical western renegades it was one of the latter a man named isaac Beha inin who Is described by woodbury as being a rough old character but very ery religious reli rious withal who first started to call the canyon little zion I 1 it Is related that Behun nin used to sit in front of his cabin and looking at the great walls ails cut by side canyon canyons into great towrus and mountains he woud say why go to zion salt lake city and worship in a temple w when hen we e have gods clod a own temples here this Is as much zion as salt lake well we it call it little zion and by the name of little zion it wis afterwards lei ter yards wards known among the eary early settler of Sou utah in the commonly accepted version of the name it ii i i a stated that the canyon was considered by the pioneers as a place of refuge in base case of indian attack it Is a well established tact fact that no indian will stay in the canyon between sunset and sunrise and tor for this reason the canyon wold no doubt have been an ideal alae for the purpose however woodbury points out that in the th indian troubles of IM 1865 all ell thin the se settlers moved into rockville which is below the mouth of the gorge instead of seekim g refuge between its great walls aits it therefore appears that as a it result of the investigations of the park naturalist a man who enjoyed somewhat of a dubious reputation among his neighbors and who was the first to predate the tact fact that the canyon was the work of god must be given credit for giving it a name which every one must consider entirely appropriate prop that zion national park can be considered an all vear park Is clearly shown shon by the travel records tor for the months of No november ember and december and the first two weeks seeks of january according to a statement by D T a according to mr air alve entered the park every day so far this winter during november a total of private autos and persons entered the park while the figures for december were fla cars and people at the present time an f average of 3 cars can per day are pacing pasing through the entrance travel to the park since october 1 the officio i start ol 01 the 1928 traves year up to december 31 a total of 1822 persons had visited the park compared to last year the superintendent points out that although zion lodge Is closed tor for the tur winter persons carrying their own camping equipment are allowed in the park at any time in case of those who depend on hotel accommodations it Is 13 easily possible to stay overnight a at t cedar city hurricane or st ceorge take a box lunch the next morning spend the day in zion ana return to any of these towns in time for dinner mr alt also stated that ap roads to the park have been in excellent condition at all times during the winter with the exception of it 11 miles of good graded dirt road the entire distance of 64 miles fro from cedar city to the park can now be traveled over modern grae graveled led high ways way |
