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Show I i' " ' "" f 'r ' """''''"iw"'"fw'''w- -rf- -n, II.IIHH..II m ( - x (..,-. I IE NEEDLES Spectacular Needhs create a brvnth of color in southern portion of Cauyon. V National Park. This is slill the most inneces- rnbmls National r-i W5 officially estab-Xv estab-Xv h on September 12, 'under the signature Resident Lyndon B. . :n. President's approv-,5 approv-,5 the final act that ,uO for posterity one i last uninhabited rs, destined to be-one be-one of the great : parks of the world : 250.000 acre park ; con? of a va?t and ,1 scenic acreage in -.-.eastern Utah. It is newest and one of the ;;t) most spectacular, hdiOB a jn. die nation, fa-as-fip. for its aesthetic bea-orfe bea-orfe long before park sta- , imx. ms attained. park is scenically in-wMt in-wMt J -ribable a maze of :Etjter iantly colored eroded in'i -fcs iitone rocks, arches, rf i Hsi visses, spires "arid can-i can-i te i ;. ' Green jery adjective in the ;rs. has been employed by " 'best irs 'n an attempt to I'-Gari"- but gen-Islinri gen-Islinri ! !' cncensus f opinion iaej j He has to see it to be- iihffl''"'" ;f H : '' rcs only fitting that trdvfii: ' Wilson, for many HD(i rs superintendent of jtoflDfi ios National Monu-mnoe Monu-mnoe i J' near Moab, be chos-' chos-' as superintendent of !-i,tt:i ' newly - established -.iijtr.i ;t It was he who first ffnjlfl 'ted Park Service inter-fiidi inter-fiidi 1 in the Needles area of ufeidb'- ';p park and lured official offici-al into the Canyonlancls nils 43 to establish its can-.., can-.., yas a National Park. 7'.; Secretary of Interior ioiitjj Stewart Udall, is credited with naming the park: On his first trip into the area ' in 19G1 he officially proposed pro-posed the park and said, "A national park in the "Canyonlands" of Southeastern South-eastern Utah is an investment invest-ment for the future . . ." The name Canyonlands was coined. In 1963 Moab City a-doped a-doped . the official slogan, "Heart of the Canyonlands which is a fitting title for the host city for the park. It is situated midway between be-tween the Northern and . Southern entrances, surrounded sur-rounded by tempting scenic scen-ic attractions which rival those inside the park. The Canyonlands country has an historic past, dating dat-ing back centuries to the Anazazi Indians. Many pictographs, ruins and artifacts ar-tifacts in the park con- fines intrigue arehaeolo-gically-minded tourists. The canyon country has long been a popular hiking and exploring area for outdoor out-door lovers in Southeastern Southeast-ern Utah, and played a prominent part in early-day early-day cattle industry. Cowboys Cow-boys from .the historic Scorup - Somerville Cattle Cat-tle Co. roamed the rugged terrain from the time the country . was first settled in the late 1800's, and christened the ' fantastic rock formations with many of their still existing names. ' The first bill to authorize author-ize establishment of th2 park was entered in both the U. S. House of Representatives Rep-resentatives and Senate in 1961. Tho proposals were met with mixed emotions in Utah, and a lively controversy, con-troversy, raging over a three year period ensued. The1 opposition had a legiti mate base; areas surround ing Canyonlands had netted net-ted rich finds of oil, uranium, uran-ium, potash and other valuable val-uable resources, and the state would be deprived of sible portion of the new park, reached primarily by four-wheel drive vehicles, but is getting tremendous tre-mendous travel, according to NPS officials. ? jgifle to Msiiti Canyonbnds MofioiiaS Pork nied. on for Several' Long, Hectic Yesrs other possible prospecting finds should a park be established. es-tablished. A multiple-use clause was demanded by 'the State of Utah, The park was eventually eventual-ly established through com promise. The ' size of the (park was whittled from over a million acres to its present 250,000; multiple use was ruled out. Chief credit for legisla-" legisla-" tive impetus in gaining approval in Cohgress must go to U. S. Senator Frank E. Moss, a Utah Democrat, who promoted the Canyonlands Canyon-lands bill for three years in the Senate; and to Representative Rep-resentative Laurence J. Burton, a Utah Republican who effected compromises which gained final approval approv-al in the House. The spectcular unique beauty of Canyonlands National Na-tional Park was no doubt the life-saving factor that allowed it to survive the feuds involved in its creation. crea-tion. Publicity resulting from the controversy cast a national na-tional spotlight on the proposed park. Sightseers flocked to the area. Traffic becapne so heavy' it was necesstry for the Interior Department to arrange for guards and guides as a safety measure for both tourists and artifacts. . The enthusiasm of the visitors left little doubt in Utaf.i of the tourist potential poten-tial of the proposed park. Even now with facilities in the embryo stages the future of the park is easy to predict. No one, after a tour of the rugged lands which offer a new view from every turn, a change of color with the moving sun, challenges Secretary Udall's description of the park "acre for acre, the most , beautiful country in . the world." |
