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Show "Angel's Landing" Was Named "El Gobernador" Honoring Governor Spry One of the itiange quirks in V-tuh V-tuh hi tory has been cleared up bv Dr. J. W. Brakr.i of Salt Lake Cics who states thai the Zin Nati i;u' Park formation known as Anocl';; ! Landing is in reality El Gcbornadoi j having beer, thus named ::i har.o: f of Governor Spry over 20 voars iigo. This interesting bit of informiuio.: j was unearthed by J. Cesil A tor , : Secretary of the Utah Hi tovif s; Society, So-ciety, who learned from Dr. Brakcn all the details cf the christening f El Gobernador, or Angel's Lanuin i. is now wrongly known. Dr. Braken states that ins nunv; i wt.s bestowed m 1U13 by hivnse,; ana Dcuglaj White, former editor cf tl i -AiY.wr.cad Magazine, vho weu members of Governor Spry's pi;n that visited aion Canyon tn.it yar. He emphatically states that the name was not given t the mountain moun-tain now called Great White Tnron.: but to the formation across Ih: river that has since been called Angel's An-gel's Landing. This statement is corroborated cor-roborated by Mr.Lawrence S. Mar- , igar, President of the Salt Lak:- i Transportation Company, who was ' also a member of the party, and; who was recently interviewed by Mr 1 Alter. Neither Mr. Marigar nor Mr. Bra - ken can explain just how the name became switched around so as t. be applied to the Great White. Throne, and since Douglas White, I who might have explained it, i j now dead, it will probably always, remain a mystery. Mr. Marigar say that Governor Spry knew of the error er-ror but modestly refrained from saying anything about it. Hence Mr. Alter has the evidence of three men that the mountain wrongly called Angel's Landing for these twenty years is in reality El Gobernador. Dr. Braken's narrative of the 1913 trip to Zion Canyon, resulting in the naming of El Gobernador, -brings out the contrast between transportation then and now. Governor Gov-ernor Spry's party spent the greater part of a day in buggies driving over ov-er sandy reads and across rocky fords in order to tour the Cnnyon, which is now easily accessible by paved roads extending its entire length of 8 miles. The Governor f pa: ty, accompanied by many residents resi-dents of Washington County, loaded load-ed their vehicles with melon; and other Dixie delicac'es, drove up to the Temple of Sintwawa in thj lore-noon, lore-noon, pi:d then retraced the.r '.y be the foot if C'acie Mouivt.n, where President Harding was later serenaded by the Dixie Bano'. After dinner Governor Spry, Mr. Marigar, Dr. Braken, Douglas White and others of the official party moved mov-ed down the river to a point that commanded a fine view of the red pinnacle now called' Angel's Landing. Land-ing. The view was especially effective effect-ive in the late afternoon light, and since the peak was then without a name, Dr. Braken suggested that it be named in honor of the Governor. Members of the party spoke of its central location among other Zion features, compared it to some of Yosemite'd formations, and mentioned men-tioned the name El Capitan. Douglas Doug-las White then suggested El Gobernador Gober-nador and, although the Governor modestly demurred, Dr. Braken and the others insisted on the new name. On the spur of the moment an impromptu christening ceremony was held, all standing with bared heads while Mr. White delivered a veiy poetic and formal dedication speech. Some time after the departure de-parture of Governor Spry's parry a sign was prepared telling visitors about the new name, but either through accident or other unknown causes, it was posted at the foot of the Great White Throne instead of near the mountain that Dr. Braken Bra-ken and Mr. White had named. A somewhat similar error was made in Douglas White's Arrowhead Arrow-head Magazine in 1917, when a photograph pho-tograph of the Great White Throne was wrongly entitled El Gobernador. Goberna-dor. Hence the name El Gobernador Goberna-dor has alawys been popularly associated as-sociated with the Great White Throne rather than with Angel's Landing, where it was originally bestowed. |