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Show ZloV, THK (.ORGKOUS. ' President Wilson has enlarged the wonderful Mukuutuweap national na-tional monument. in I'tah, and fficiully known as the Ziun na'.iomr monument, in Utah, and changed i-name. i-name. It is now officially known a-the a-the Zion National Monument, which is immeasurably hotter from pvpi viewpoint. ! The old name, besides being bar ' to pronounce, and remember. ' obscure in origin and was never used except officially. The new : name is that in popular use. P'' j sides. It crystalizes the romantic ; history of this amazingly beautiful valley; the surrounding country was sett.led.by Mormons many years ago. and this difficult canyon was oho as a refuge In the event of Indian attack, and called "Little" Zion to differentiate it from "big" Zion, which was Salt Lake City. Since then It has universally been called Zion canyon. The enlargement of the Zion na tlonal monument follows naturally upon Its recent thorough exploration explora-tion and discovery of outlying areas of altogether extraordinary scientific scientif-ic interest and scenic grandeur. That its fantastic cliffs, its sensa-1 tlonal coloring, and its romantic conformation con-formation will bring It national popularity pop-ularity as a resort Is manifest destiny. des-tiny. It has been called, for goo' reasons, "the little Grand canyon" and "the desert Yosemite." but It Is no miniature of either; Its individuality in-dividuality is marked. The original monument was created cre-ated by proclamation in 1909, but. being well outside the highways of ordinary travel, it' was not thoroughly thorough-ly explored until within the last two years. Official Investigation and action ac-tion promptly followed. "Among the numerous geologic features of Interest," wrote Secretary Secre-tary Lane to the president, "two deserve de-serve more than passing notice. The Vermillion Cliff, so called because of Its brilliant color, famous since the days of Maj. Powell's exploration explora-tion as one of the most remarkable In the world, an escarpment more than 100 miles long and so precipitous precipi-tous that It can be scaled In few places, passes through this monument. monu-ment. It consists of red sandstone 1,000 to 2,000 feet thick and overlaid over-laid by 1,000 feet of glistening white sand. These two form single cliffs nearly 3,000 feet high. These remarkable re-markable walls bear evidence that the sand gathered in a desert ages long past that here was a great prehistoric American Sahara. "The second feature of unusual interest lies immediately above the sand, for the desert was destroyed by the incursion of sea water, which covered the drifting sand and buried It beneath gypsum and beds of limestone lime-stone in which were entombed the shells and bones of sea animals." The principal canyon, which is more than 15 miles long and varies from 50 feet wide in the Narrows to 2500 feet wide in other portions, is a mighty cleft, as if the mountain had been violently riven asunder. The walls are inconceivably carved into domes, half domes, colonnades, and temples, forms which appealed strongly to the religious imaginations imagina-tions of the early Mormons, who gave them names which appeal very Btrongly to-the imagination of today's to-day's tourists. The tortuous outlying canyons and monumental rock formations added by the new proclamation make an area as remarkable in it particular way as the Grand Canyon. Can-yon. There are several neighboring neighbor-ing natural bridges of magnificence. |