Zion National Park

Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. The lowest point in the park is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest peak is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km2) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to 2,640 ft (800 m) deep. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-colored Navajo ...Read more

Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. The lowest point in the park is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest peak is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km2) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to 2,640 ft (800 m) deep. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone eroded by the North Fork of the Virgin River.

Human habitation of the area started about 8,000 years ago with small family groups of Native Americans, one of which was the semi-nomadic Basketmaker Ancestral Puebloans (who used to be called Anasazi by early non-indigenous archeologists) (c. 300 CE). Subsequently, what has been called the Virgin Anasazi culture (c. 500) and the Parowan Fremont group developed as the Basketmakers settled in permanent communities. Both groups moved away by 1300 and were replaced by the Parrusits and several other Southern Paiute subtribes. Mormons came into the area in 1858 and settled there in the early 1860s.

Archaeologists have divided the long span of Zion's human history into three cultural periods: the Archaic, Protohistoric and Historic periods. Each period is characterized by distinctive technological and social adaptations.

Archaic period

The first human presence in the region dates to 8,000 years ago when family groups camped where they could hunt or collect plants and seeds.[1] About 2,000 years ago, some groups began growing corn and other crops, leading to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.[2] Later groups in this period built permanent villages called pueblos. Archaeologists call this the Archaic period and it lasted until c. 500.[3] Baskets, cordage nets, and yucca fiber sandals have been found and dated to this period. The Archaic toolkits included flaked stone knives, drills, and stemmed dart points. The dart points were attached to wooden shafts and propelled by throwing devices called atlatls.[3]

By c. 300, some of the archaic groups developed into an early branch of seminomadic Anasazi, the Basketmakers.[3] Basketmaker sites have grass- or stone-lined storage cists and shallow, partially underground dwellings called pithouses. They were hunters and gatherers who supplemented their diet with limited agriculture. Locally collected pine nuts were important for food and trade.

Protohistoric period  Kaun huts were used by Southern Paiute

Both the Virgin Anasazi and the Parowan Fremont disappeared from the archaeological record of southwestern Utah by c. 1300.[3] Extended droughts in the 11th and 12th centuries, interspersed with catastrophic flooding, may have made horticulture impossible in this arid region.[3]

Tradition and archaeological evidence hold that their replacements were Numic-speaking cousins of the Virgin Anasazi, such as the Southern Paiute and Ute.[3] The newcomers migrated on a seasonal basis up and down valleys in search of wild seeds and game animals.[4] Some, particularly the Southern Paiute, also planted fields of corn, sunflowers, and squash to supplement their diet.[4] These more sedentary groups made brownware vessels that were used for storage and cooking.[3]

Exploration and settlement

The Historic period begins in the late 18th century[3] with the exploration of southern Utah by padre Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and padre Francisco Atanasio Domínguez. The padres passed near what is now the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center on October 13, 1776, becoming the first people of European descent known to visit the area.[5] In 1825, trapper and trader Jedediah Smith explored some of the downstream areas while under contract with the American Fur Company.[5]

In 1847, Mormon farmers from the Salt Lake area became the first people of European descent to settle the Virgin River region.[6] In 1851, the Parowan and Cedar City areas were settled by Mormons who used the Kolob Canyons area for timber, and for grazing cattle, sheep, and horses.[7] They prospected for mineral deposits, and diverted Kolob water to irrigate crops in the valley below. Mormon settlers named the area Kolob which in Mormon scripture is the heavenly place nearest the residence of God.[8]

 A ranch near the mouth of Zion Canyon (c. 1910s)

Settlements had expanded 30 miles (48 km) south to the lower Virgin River by 1858.[6] That year, a Southern Paiute guide led young Mormon missionary and interpreter Nephi Johnson into the upper Virgin River area and Zion Canyon.[5] Johnson wrote a favorable report about the agricultural potential of the upper Virgin River basin, and returned later that year to found the town of Virgin. In 1861 or 1862, Joseph Black made the arduous journey to Zion Canyon and was very impressed by its beauty.[9]

The floor of Zion Canyon was settled in 1863 by Isaac Behunin, who farmed corn, tobacco, and fruit trees.[9] The Behunin family lived in Zion Canyon near the site of today's Zion Lodge during the summer, and wintered in Springdale. Behunin is credited with naming Zion, a reference to the place of peace mentioned in the Bible.[9] Two more families settled Zion Canyon in the next couple of years, bringing with them cattle and other domesticated animals. The canyon floor was farmed until Zion became a Monument in 1909.[6]

The Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869 entered the area after their first trip through the Grand Canyon.[6] John Wesley Powell visited Zion Canyon in 1872 and named it Mukuntuweap, under the impression that that was the Paiute name.[10] Powell Survey photographers John K. Hillers and James Fennemore first visited the Zion Canyon and Kolob Plateau region in the spring of 1872.[6] Hillers returned in April 1873 to add more photographs to the "Virgin River Series" of photographs and stereographs.[11] Hillers described wading the canyon for four days and nearly freezing to death to take his photographs.[11]

Protection and tourism  Painting of Zion Canyon by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh (1903)

Paintings of the canyon by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh were exhibited at the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904,[6] followed by a favorable article in Scribner's Magazine the next year. The article and paintings, along with previously created photographs, paintings, and reports, led to President William Howard Taft's proclamation on July 31, 1909, that created Mukuntuweap National Monument.[5] In 1917, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service visited the canyon and proposed changing its name from the locally unpopular Mukuntuweap to Zion, a name used by the local Mormon community.[12] The United States Congress added more land and established Zion National Park on November 19, 1919.[9] A separate Zion National Monument, the Kolob Canyons area, was proclaimed on January 22, 1937, and was incorporated into the park on July 11, 1956.[13]

Travel to the area before it was a national park was rare due to its remote location, lack of accommodations, and the absence of real roads in southern Utah. Old wagon roads were upgraded to the first automobile roads starting about 1910, and the road into Zion Canyon was built in 1917 leading to the Grotto, short of the present road that now ends at the Temple of Sinawava.[3]

 1938 poster of Zion National Park

Touring cars could reach Zion Canyon by the summer of 1917.[3] The first visitor lodging in Zion Canyon, called Wylie Camp, was established that same year as a tent camp.[3] The Utah Parks Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, acquired Wylie Camp in 1923, and offered ten-day rail/bus tours to Zion, nearby Bryce Canyon, the Kaibab Plateau, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.[14] The Zion Lodge complex was built in 1925 at the site of the Wylie tent camp.[3] Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed the Zion Lodge in a rustic architectural style, while the Utah Parks Company funded the construction.[3]

Infrastructure improvements

Work on the Zion Mount Carmel Highway started in 1927 to enable reliable access between Springdale and the east side of the park.[9] The road opened in 1930 and park visit and travel in the area greatly increased.[15] The most famous feature of the Zion – Mount Carmel Highway is its 1.1-mile (1.8 km) tunnel, which has six large windows cut through the massive sandstone cliff.[6]

In 1896, local rancher John Winder improved the Native American footpath up Echo Canyon, which later became the East Rim Trail.[16] Entrepreneur David Flanigan used this trail in 1900 to build cableworks that lowered lumber into Zion Canyon from Cable Mountain. More than 200,000 board feet (470 m3) of lumber were lowered by 1906.[16] The auto road was extended to the Temple of Sinawava, and a trail built from there 1 mile (1.6 km) to the start of the Narrows.[17] Angel's Landing Trail was constructed in 1926 and two suspension bridges were built over the Virgin River.[10] Other trails were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s.[10]

More recent history  The Altar of Sacrifice (center) with reddish, blood-like streaks

Zion National Park has been featured in numerous films, including The Deadwood Coach (1924), Arizona Bound (1927), Nevada (1927), Ramrod (1947) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).[18]

Zion Canyon Scenic Drive provides access to Zion Canyon. Traffic congestion in the narrow canyon was recognized as a major problem in the 1990s and a public transportation system using propane-powered shuttle buses was instituted in the year 2000.[19] As part of its shuttle fleet, Zion has two electric trams each holding up to 36 passengers.[20] Usually from early April through late October, the scenic drive in Zion Canyon is closed to private vehicles and visitors ride the shuttle buses.[19] The National Park Service has contracted the management of the shuttle bus system to transit operator RATP Dev.[21]

 Zion shuttle bus stops are marked with numbers

On April 12, 1995, heavy rains triggered a landslide that blocked the Virgin River in Zion Canyon.[22] Over a period of two hours, the river carved away part of the only exit road from the canyon, trapping 450 guests and employees at the Zion Lodge.[22] A one-lane, temporary road was constructed within 24 hours to allow evacuation of the Lodge.[22] A more stable albeit temporary road was completed on May 25, 1995, to allow summer visitors to access the canyon.[22] This road was replaced with a permanent road during the first half of 1996.[22]

The Zion–Mount Carmel Highway can be travelled year-round. Access for oversized vehicles requires a special permit, and is limited to daytime hours, as traffic through the tunnel must be one way to accommodate large vehicles. The 5-mile (8.0 km)-long Kolob Canyons Road was built to provide access to the Kolob Canyons section of the park.[23] This road often closes in the winter.

In March 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which designated and further protected 124,406 acres (50,345 ha) of park land, about 85% of the park, as the Zion Wilderness.[24]

In September 2015, flooding trapped a party of seven in Keyhole Canyon, a slot canyon in the park. The flash flood killed all seven members of the group, whose remains were located after a search lasting several days.[25]

In 2017, some scenes from the TV series Extinct were shot in the park.[26]

On March 25, 2020, the park campgrounds were closed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.[27]

^ NPS website, History and Culture ^ NPS website, Archeology (archive Archived December 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine) ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m NPS website, People ^ a b NPS website, Human History (archive Archived December 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine) ^ a b c d Kiver & Harris 1999, p. 457 ^ a b c d e f g Harris, Tuttle & Tuttle 1997, p. 29 ^ Arrington, Leonard J. (1994), "Colonization of Utah", Utah History Encyclopedia, Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, archived from the original on November 1, 2013, retrieved December 6, 2012 ^ 2009 Centennial Newspaper, Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 2009, archived from the original on June 9, 2012, retrieved December 6, 2012 ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference Tufts1998p45 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ a b c Powell, Allen Kent (1994), "Zion National Park", in Powell, Allan Kent (ed.), Utah History Encyclopedia, Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, pp. 576–579, ISBN 0-87480-425-6, OCLC 30473917, archived from the original on October 9, 2014, retrieved November 12, 2013 Retrieved on January 1, 2009. ^ a b Stoffer, Phil (ed.). Virgin River Canyons: Historic 3D Photographs of Powell Survey in the Zion National Park Area. Washington, D.C.: United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2009. (public domain text) ^ Albright, Horace M.; Schenck, Marian Albright; Utley, Robert M. (1999). "18 - Exploring a New World of Parks, 1917" (PDF). Creating the National Park Service: The Missing Years (PDF). University of Oklahoma Press, Norman Publishing. p. 243. Archived from the original on January 10, 2009. Retrieved January 18, 2009. ^ "Appendix C". Leave No Trace Principles. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service. ^ Cape Royal Road (PDF). Washington, D.C.: National Park Service. c. 1968. p. 4. HAER AZ-40. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 25, 2009. Retrieved January 18, 2009. ^ NPS website • The Zion–Mount Carmel Tunnel ^ a b A Guide to the Trails: Zion National Park. Springdale, Utah: Zion Natural History Association. p. 10. Archived from the original on September 17, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2009. ^ Kiver & Harris 1999, p. 465 ^ Maddrey, Joseph (2016). The Quick, the Dead and the Revived: The Many Lives of the Western Film. McFarland. Page 178. ISBN 9781476625492. ^ a b NPS website, Green Transit - The Zion Shuttle ^ "Zion Traffic Mitigation Report, Department of Transportation". United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2009. ^ "RATP Dev USA Renews Contract with Zion National Park Transit Service". March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020. ^ a b c d e Mentz, Kevin M.; Worrell, Eric; Zanetell, F. Dave (1997). "Park Project Is a Paragon of Partnership". Public Roads. Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. 60 (4). Archived from the original on January 17, 2009. Retrieved January 18, 2009. ^ Kona, Srividya. "Zion National Park, Utah". Travel. Texas Tech University. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved January 1, 2009. ^ "Wilderness Designated in Zion National Park - Zion National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved February 25, 2022. ^ Mims, Bob (September 17, 2015). "7 dead in Zion National Park flash flood". CNN.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016. ^ Sernaker, Matt (September 29, 2017). "Exclusive Interview with Chad Michael Collins on BYUtv's EXTINCT". ComicsOnline. Retrieved December 23, 2020. ^ "Zion National Park Updated Response to COVID-19 - Zion National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
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