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Show 71 humanity," Utahns saw Zion National Park as its contribution to America in the state's struggle for legitimacy. 194 Mather might have sensed this spirit of competition in the comparisons and declarations of Zion's superiority to other national parks. The Deseret Evening News quoted him discounting the comparison between Zion and Yosemite: "Zion and Yosemite can not [sic] be compared with each other as they are both of entirely different beauty. There is no reason why the two parks should compete in any way, as tourists who visit one will be anxious to sec the othcr."195 The state's residents had reason to use the park to overcome their cultural anxiety and quench their desire for acccpiancc. Utah was a peculiar place - or at least many viewed it as such. Utah's development from territory to state, from 1850 to 1896, was a struggle in large part because Washington politicians looked at the Mormon empire as un-American. Utah's Mormon settlers held onto polygamy until, under govemmem pressure, they denounced the practice as a condition for statehood. Utah's religious leaders filled prominent political positions in the state, breeding further suspicion of theocracy. Even when Smoot was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1903, lawmakers, business leaders, and religious organizations argued that his position as an LDS church apostle should have disqualified him from political office. I le fought a four-year battle to keep his seat. Despite a Senate committee's recommendation to expel him, the full Senate voted in 1907 to let him stay. 194 Nash, "The American Invention of National Parks." 729. ~s Desere1 Evening Ne11s, "Park Is Big Asset," Nove111ber25, 1919 1 |
