1866 Capt. James Andrus in command of a military expedition from St. George, Utah, crossed the Paria River a few miles south of Bryce Canyon. 1872 A. H. Thompson, geographer of the Powell Survey, sketched the topography of the Pink Cliffs eastward to Rainbow Point and ascended Table Cliffs. Lt. W. L. Marshall, topographer, and G. K. Gilbert and E. E. Howell of the Wheeler Survey mapped, described, and illustrated for the first time the features of the park north of Campbell Canyon. 1874-76 Scattered settlements established in the Upper Paria Valley. Ebenezer Bryce, for whom the park is named, ranged cattle in the area. The region that includes Bryce Canyon National Park studied by Capt. C. E. Dutton. View from Sunset Point described (1876) by T. C. Bailey, Deputy U. S. Surveyor. 1877 Cannonville and Henrieville founded. 1905 The Paunsaugunt Plateau, which includes the park, set aside as Powell National Forest. 1923 Bryce Canyon National Monument established by Presidential proclamation. 1924 Act of Congress authorized the establishment of Utah National Park, subject to extinguishment of private land titles. 1928 Name changed from Utah National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park; park established. [Illustration: Decorated Capital] Bryce Canyon National Park includes some of the most interesting exposures of the Pink Cliffs formation, whose rocks are among the most colorful of any forming the earth’s crust. The major beauty spots of the area are found where forces of erosion have cut back into the plateau, forming amphitheaters or wide canyons filled with pinnacles and grotesque forms. Most of the park area, with some 30 miles of Pink Cliffs, can be seen from Rainbow Point, at the southern end of the park. Included in this panorama are such beautiful amphitheaters as Black Birch Canyon, Agua Canyon, and Willis Creek. In addition, there are magnificent views across “the land of the purple sage” to Navajo Mountain, 80 miles to the east, and to the Kaibab Plateau and the Trumbull Mountains to the south, the latter 99 miles distant. In reality Bryce is not a canyon; rather it is a great horseshoe-shaped bowl or amphitheater cut by water erosion into the Paunsaugunt Plateau and extending down a thousand feet through its pink and white marly limestone. The character of the area is well indicated by the Paiute Indian name, “Unka-timpe-wa-wince-pock-ich,” which is translated as, “red rocks standing like men in a bowl-shaped canyon.” The largest amphitheater is 3 miles long and about 2 miles wide, and is filled with myriads of fantastic figures cut by weathering influences. Its domes, spires, and temples are decorated in all the colors of the spectrum.