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Show CIIAPTER4 ZION NATIONAL PARK: UTAH'S CONTRJBUTION TO THE UNION In 1873, New York Times journalist Justin E. Colburn penned a breathless description of Little Zion Valley in Southern Utah- the area now known as Zion National Park. Ile wrote: "In beauty of forms, in color, in variety, in everything but size, the valley vastly excels the famous Yosemite." 125 Colburn was traveling with John Wesley Powell on an overland expedition to the Grand Canyon and filed three dispatches from the Utah Territory: "The Great American Desert," "The Land of Mormon," and "The Colorado Canon." 126 It was in this third dispatch that Colburn described and praised Zion's scenery. For four days, Colburn ventured away from the expedition team to examine the scenery Powell had experienced the previous year. Colburn departed with guide and landscape painter Thomas Moran, whose depictions of Y c\lowstone had helped convince Congress to legislate the national park idea. 127 After traversing the Virgin River many 12 s Justin E. Colburn, "'The Colorado Canon," New York Times, September 4, 1873, 2. Justin E. Colburn, "The Great American Desert," .l'.,'ew York Times, July 15, l 873; Justin E. Colburn, "The Land of Monnon," New York Times, August 7, 1873; Colburn, 'The Colorado Canon," September 4, 1873. 126 127 Sellars, Preserving Nature in lhe Nmional Parks, 9. |
