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Show 78 the many natural wonders with which this region is blessed." The ten-by-fifteen-foot sign, which included driving directions and mileage to recreation destinations and cities, was part of accomplishing its policy.2 19 With the emphasis on road construction and tourist travel, a thunderstorm that washed out roads and bridges to Zion one month before the scheduled dedication was big news. Both papers reported the contents of a telegram from Mather to Utah's governor stressing the urgency of repairing the roads: "Unless the state undertakes to give speedy aid in the work, the director said, it will be impossible for automobiles to enter the park, and, it will, he concluded, add greatly to Utah's credit if immediate steps arc taken to place the road in condition for automobile traffic." 220 The state road commission dispatched construction crews and instructed engineers to begin work with "the understanding that the state would be reimbursed for funds expended on work within the park boundaries, and that work on the highway outside the park would be at the expense of the state." 221 Commercial clubs from around the state fretted that if visitors to the dedication had to travel on poor roads, "it would greatly handicap the future exploitation of the park as a scenic attraction as the auto tourists could hardly be expected to boost for a cowitry of bad roads." 222 Several days into the crisis, the local press reported that Mather had sent another telegram refusing to pay for road construction inside or outside the park: "The funds of 219 Descrct News, "Descrct News Posts Interesting Sign," September 25, 1920, sec. 4, 4. iw Salt lake Tribune, "State to Repair Zion Park Road,'' September 2, 1920, 20. ll)Jbid m Dcseret Newl", 'Commercial Clubs of Southern Utah Urged to Repair Park Road," September 2, 1920, 8. |
