New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1919-11-28

lcIfnCt over an dlltHIlnenl.
alifOrnianS-alway the best of bOOSterS-haye
long contended that Yosemite valley is the SUI
preme expression Of scenic loveliness. They hold
that there is nothing like il 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 rs n national park,
for the latter contains 1892 acres, while the
former will have only 76,SOO acres. But the con-
test in loveliness between Yosemite valley and
Zion canon is likely to be close and interesting.
Yellowstone National park in Wyoming, Mon
iana and Idaho, ms everybody knows, was the first
national park to be established C1S72) in the
world. 1t is our oldest and largest and most
famous scenic natural park. Its geysers and bears
have made its name II worldwide household word.
Yosemite in California, established in 1880, 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. II is visited yearly by thou
sands; this season the attendance was 5S.5G4.
The proposed Zion National park lies in south.
ern Utah, about POO 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
roWhe;td trail from Salt Lake City is also avail
"o'' IltSIn'Hl lHlt III l'Hb crtltpn the Mum
kuntuweap national monument of 1880 acres to
preserve the wonderfully scenic area of the
canon of the Rio Virgin. In recent years Other
Scent" cinons were discovered, and in 1913 Pres!-
dent Wilson enlarged the national monument to
1G,SO acres and changed its name to Zion. In
the debate over the Zion National park bill in TIE
house Representative yelling of Utah said III
part:
This region obtained its name Zion canon be-
cause of the dpvOut reverence of thp Mormon
pioneers who settled upon the Virgin river more
than 60 years ago. Its perpendicular walls pro-
scented an impossible barrier to hostile tribes of
Indians, who infested these regions. and these
people looked upon Zion canon as IA convenient
and hospitable refuge when threatened by nj.
tack from these troublesome Indian tribes. Zion
canon is an extraordinary gorge cut from bril-
liantly colored sedimentary rocks by the north
fork of the Virgin river. Its proportions are
about equal to those of Yosemite valley, in Yo-
semitic National park the walls are several hun
dred 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 ii does in the Grand canon in Arizona,
but there are amazing combinations of brown,
Dlh'h, anu NnHe cOlorS Win tne red ana with
each other. White sandstone is s~uperimposed on
the red strata, and other layers of the red rock
lie In turn upon the white. The action of water
upon the exposed surfaces of these rocks has
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 III the inches of the
nearly perpendicular canon walls"
Until recently Zion has been practically mac
cessible. and scarcely tens have seen it where
have seen Yosemite. But lions visi.
have paid eloquent tribute. The Indians
II Neutrality-suspicious. of God-because
it was so beautiful. The fierce Mormon zealot
named it Little Zion" because of its heay-
beauty. Away back in the seventies
John Wesley Powell of Grand canon fame
tempted far out of his way by the exceeding
of a temple of rock lifting its opalescent
against the eastern sky" 1t was the
vermilion body and shining white dome of the
West Temple of the Virgin at the entrance to
Munkuntuweap.
Again we are impressed with the marvellous
beauty of outline. the infinite complication Of
these titanic buttes. Ii is doubtful if in this re-
spect the valley has its equal. Not even the
Grand canon offers more varied spectacle: yet
Dellenbaugh, torographer of the Powell party.
wrote this on his second visit.
Nothing can exceed the wondrous beauty of
Zion CANON wrote c. +. Dutton. an its proper
ions it is about equal TO Yosemite. but in the
nobility and be- uty of its sculptures there is no
comparison. 1t is Hyperion to a Satyr."