A History of Southern Utah and Its National Parks (Revised)Woodbury, Angus M. (Angus Munn)
History
A History of Southern Utah and Its National Parks (Revised)
Woodbury, Angus M. (Angus Munn)
National parks and reserves -- Utah -- History; Utah -- History
[Illustration: Members of International Geological Congress on tour
of Parks at Bryce Canyon, August 21, 1933. A. M. Woodbury, guide
(seated, 5th from left): K. E. Weight, Naturalist at Bryce
(Standing, 3rd from left): Dee Chamberlin and Chauncey Parry,
drivers (standing right).]
When the Utah Parks Company took over the Wylie camp in Zion, it was
planned to construct a large hotel, but Director Mather firmly refused
permission. He finally agreed to the lodge and cabin system, now serving
the Park tourists. El Escalante Hotel in Cedar City was ready by the
season of 1924. New accommodations were under construction in Bryce
Canyon and Cedar Breaks. Reports from elated visitors, improvement of
roads and accommodations and consistent advertising all resulted in
vastly increased travel. The tourist traffic jumped from 8400 in 1924 to
16,817 in 1925. About half that number visited North Rim and presumably
Bryce and Cedar Breaks. The tide was in full flow. For the season of
1925 new tourist busses with demountable tops for viewing the
spectacular canyon walls were purchased. Busses, however, served only a
small part of the traveling public, for America was on wheels and the
roads were now such that auto traffic could roll in easily. The Grotto
Campground was enlarged, equipped, and supplied with water. The survey
of the Pine Creek road and tunnel was completed and Wayne Wonderland was
dedicated.
Richard Evans was borrowed from the U.S. Geological Survey and served as
acting superintendent during the tourist season for two years, while
Walter Ruesch remained in charge during the balance of the year. Two
permanent park rangers assisted Ruesch, Donald J. Jolley, appointed
August 1, 1920, and Harold Russell, who had worked summers from 1920 to
1923 and who received permanent appointment in October of the latter
year. All three were closely associated with developments and
improvements in the canyon. In 1927, E. T. Scoyen was appointed
permanent superintendent.
The Nature Guide Service in Yosemite and Yellowstone had proved so
successful that it was decided to extend such services to other parks.
It was initiated in Zion by the writer, June 19, 1925, and continued to
mid-September. There was no precedent to follow, but the work gradually
grew through succeeding summers into the Naturalist Service. During the
next five summers, museum collections of natural history specimens,
pioneer relics, and library books gradually accumulated and a museum was
established in 1928. Information concerning the history, flora, fauna
and geology of the canyon was collated. Lectures at the camp ground, at
the Lodge, and the guided trips along the Narrows trail were developed
and pictures and lantern slides were shown. In 1929, a mimeographed
publication, the _Zion-Bryce Nature Notes_, was undertaken and a Natural
History Association was organized to handle publications.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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