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Show CHAPTERS BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK: 'USELESS LAND' IN THE SHADOW OF ZION Bryce Canyon- the red limestone amphitheater eroded from the Paunsaunt Plateau near the headwaters of the Pariah River in Southern Utah- was publicized while Zion National Park legislation was moving through Congress. The news of Zion's towering sandstone cliffs overshadowed Bryce, whose labyrinth of rock hoodoos, pillars, and panicles would have to wait to receive the national park mantle. While waiting its tum in the spotlight, Bryce Canyon still caught moments of attention from journalists, polil'icians, and business leaders. In 19 I 8, Salt lake Tribune photographer Oliver Grimes visited Bryce Canyon. His firSl·pcrson narrative and photographs ran in the newspaper's Sunday magazine. The article followed the pattern of those who first described Zion Canyon in the press - a poetic account of overwhelming awe and a declaration that it was the most magnificent place on Earth. Grimes recounted his first approach to the canyon: "Within twenty feet to the left of the tum in the trail the earth's crust had suddenly opened to an apparently interminable depth and the interior blazed like a mass of fire.',243 0. J. Grimes, ··Utah's New Wonderland, Bryce's Canyon - One of Nature's Masterpieces in Sculpture and Coloring,'' Sall Lake Tribune ,Haga:ine, August 25, 1918, l. HJ |
