The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-12-05

w Ill duleDuIucUl.
Calltornians-always the best Of boosters-have
long contended that Yosemite valley is the SUI
prerne expression of scenic loneliness. They hold
that there is nothing / it on earth. To them it is
the valley whose compelling beauty the world
acknowledges as supreme" But Utah enthus-
lasts believe that when lions beauty is known to
the public Yosemite will be put in the second
rank. OF course the new Zion National park will
hardly rank with Yosemite us a national park,
for the latter contains 1862 acres, while the
former will have only 76,SO0 acres. But the con-
test in loneliness between Yosemite valley and
Zion canon is likely to be close and interesting.
Yellowstone National park in Wyoming. Mon
tana and Idaho, as everybody knows. was the first
national park to be established QS72) in the
world. 1t is our Oldest and largest and most
FAMOUS scenic natural park. Its geysers and hears
nave made its name a worldwide household word.
Yosemite in California, established in 1890. is
scarcely less famous; all the world knows Of its
waterfalls and its big trees-the Oldest and
largest living things in the world. And Yosemite
valley, its greatest beauty, is familiar to every-
one through pictures. 1t is visited yearly by thou
sands; this season the attendance was 1864.
The proposed Zion National park lies in south
ern Utah, about 200 miles south of Salt Lake
City. The state has made it accessible to the
tourist by building 100 miles of automobile high
way from Lund on the Salt Lake route. The Ar
rOWhead trail from Salt Lake City is also avail
able. President Taft in 1909 created the Mum
kuntuweap national monument of IL, $40 acres to
preserve the wonderfully scenic area Of the
canon of the Rio Virgin. In recent years other
scenic canons were discovered, and in 1918 Presi-
dent Wilson enlarged the national monument TO
1880 acres and changed its name to Zion. In
the debate over the Zion National park bill in the
house Representative yelling of Utah said In
part:
This region obtained it's name Zion canon be-
cause of the devout reverence Of the Mormon
pipnpprc who cattloJ ynop tho VirUip riyar mora
than 60 years ago. Its perpendicular walls pre-
scented an impossible barrier to hostile tribes Of
Indians, who infested these regions, and these
people looked upon Zion canon as a convenient
and hOSpitable refuge when threatened by at
tack from these troublesome Indian tribes. Zion
canon is IN extraordinary gorge cut from bril-
liantly colored sedimentary rocks by the north
fork Of the Virgin river. It's proportions are
about equal to those Of Yosemite valley, in YO-
semitic National park the walls are several hun
Ired feet lower and the canon is considerably
narrower. In the cutting of the gorge, however,
the torrential stream and wind and rain have
carved domes, spires, towers, and other curious
forms that strikingly resemble many of the fea-
lures of Yosemite valley.
More interesting than the carving of lions
cliffs is their exquisite cOlOring. Red predomi-
mates. as it does in the Grand canon in Arizona,
but there are amazing combinations Of brown,
black, and white colors with the red and with
eHcn Ol1PT. NHlle StrIluStont IL SuECl IuBoSNu Oh
the red strata, and other layers of the red rock
lie i'm turn upon the white. The action Of water
upon the exposed surfaces of these rocks has
produced a symphony of color that gives the
canon its greatest charm. The finishing touches
are given by the forests Of the valley floor and
the trees on the rim and in the inches of the
nearly perpendicular canon walls"
Until recently Zion has been practically mac
cessible. and scarcely tens have seen it where
thousands have seen Yosemite. But lions visi-
tors have paid eloquent tribute. The Indians
called ii Neutrality-suspicious. OF God-because
It was so beautiful. The fierce Mormon zealot
named it Little Zion because of its heav-
enly beauty. Away back in the seventies
John Wesley Powell of Grand canon fame
was TEMPTED far out of his way by the exceeding
beauty of a temple Of rock lifting its opalescent
shoulders against the eastern sky" 1t was the
vermilion body and shining white dome OF the
West Temple of the Virgin at the entrance 10
Munkuntuweap.
"Apain we are impressed with the marvellous
beauty of outline, the infinite complication OF
these titanic buttes. 1t Is doubtful IL IN this re-
spect the valley has It's equal. Not even the
Grand canon offers a more varied spectacle, YET
all Is welded together In a superb ensemble. T.
s. pellenbaugh, topOgrapher OF the fo"eii party
wrote this on his second visit.
.Nothing can exceed the wondrous beauty VI
Zion canon.' wrote G. e. Dutton. In us proper
lions II Is about equal to Yosemite put NJ "e
mobility and beauty of Its sculptures tnere Is ~
.comnarison. II Is Hyperion to q Satyr."