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Show 51 times as they scrambled farther upstream into the shadows of Zion's sandstone cliffs, Colburn wrote what was perhaps the first description of the canyon to appear in a newspaper with a national circulation: In a distance ofa dozen miles are as many real domes, 3,000 feet and upward above the valley, dome-shaped from the very base, and most beautifully banded with lines of color. There are vast arches, cathrcdals [sic], columned temples, monuments and gates so perfect that the forms are recognizable without any aid from fancy. A river larger, and greatly excelling the Merced in beauty, flows through pleasant meadows and amid vast boulders, now forming emerald pools, and again breaking into cascades. At the foot of the valley, on the west, stands a mass of cliffs, 4,500 feet above the valley, called the Temple of the Virgin, which alone is worth the trip from Washington to Southern Utah. 128 The north fork of Utah's Virgin River carves south through the sandstone formations - domes, monoliths, cliffs, and crags, before reaching its confluence with the cast fork of the Virgin and flowing west through the Virgin River Valley. Mormon settlers, sent from Salt Lake City to eke out a living in Southern Utah's desert, established farming communities in this valley in the 1860s. In 1862, Isaac Behunin homesteaded on the north fork of the river and called the canyon "Little Zion." In 1872, Powell explored the canyon and called it "Mukuntuwcap," which he said meant "straight canyon" in Paiute. 129 Although Behunin left his homestead in 1872, other settlers continued to farm and run cattle in the canyon. In 1900, David Flanigan began logging on the rim of the canyon and shuttled the timber along a cable to the canyon floor, nearly 3,000 feet below. Four 111 Colburn, "The Color.ido Canon," September 4, 1873. Researchers who have attempted to verify the meaning of Powell's translation ofMukuntuwcap have concluded that Powell most likely misunderstood the Paiutes. Subsequent research suggested that the name was pronounced '"Huh-cut-u-weap" and derived from the Paiute words meaning red soil or red country. For a full discussion of the debate and the early history of Zion Canyon, see Angus M. Woodbury, '"A History of Southern Utah and Its National Parks," Utah Historical Quarterly 12 (July-October 1944) 129 |
