OCR Text |
Show HOW ZION PARK RECEIVED NAME In a very complete manuscript relating re-lating to the history of Zion National Park, just received at the office of the Superintendent, Mr. A. M. Woodbury, Park Naturalist, traces in careful detail de-tail the manner in which the name "Zion" first came to be applied to the colorful canyon in Sauthern Utah. His conclusions differ widely from commonly accepted versions of how the name came to be. According to facts uncovered 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 of these wonders brought forth the first name by which the canyon was known "Joseph's Glory.'" It was two years later, or in 1863, that three men went into the canyon to live, the "first settlers in the main canyon. One of the men was a deserter deser-ter from the army, and the other two were typical western renegades. It was one of the latter, a man named Isaac Behunnin, who is described by Woodbury as being a rough old character, char-acter, but very religious withal, who first started to call the canyon "Little Zion." It is related that Behunnin used to sit in front of his cabin and looking at the great walls, cut by side canyons into great towers and mountains, he would say, "Why go to Zion (Salt Lake City) and worship, in a temple when we have God's own temples here? This is as much Zion as Salt Lake, We'll call it Little Zion." And by the name, of Little Zion it was afterwards known' among the early settlers of Southern Utah. In the commonly accepted version of the origin of the name, it is stated that the canyon was considered by the pioneers as a place of refuge in case of Indian attact. It is a well established estab-lished fact that no Indian will stay in the canyon between sunset and sunrise; sun-rise; and for this reason the canyon would no doubt have been an ideal place for the purpose. However, Woodbury points out that in the Indian In-dian trouble of 1865, all the settlers moved into Rockville, which is below the mouth of the gorge, instead of seeking refuge between its great walls. It therefore appears, that as a result of the investigations of the Park Naturalist, Na-turalist, a man who enjoyed somewhat of a dubious reputation among his neighbors and who was the first to appreciate the 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. |