| OCR Text |
Show 90 orphans of the service."258 One factor in this neglect was that monument administration was not concentrated, but was spread across the departments of Interior, Agriculture, and War. Although not considered as prestigious as a national park, monument designation was a clearly established step on the road to national park status. It seems that a presidential decree regarding land that had often appeared in the news would have been newsworthy in the state newspapers. However, from the time of Harding's proclamation creating Bryce Canyon National Monument on June 8, 1923, through his visit to Utah during the end of the month, local and national newspapers failed to report that news. Press references to the canyon during the president's visit were to Bryce Canyon, not Bryce National Monument, and the president made no reference to the monument in his speeches. Although Bryce Canyon National Monument had not yet received its recognition in the press, 1he president's visit was reported as an opportunity for the slate to showcase its natural attractions, particularly Zion Nat"ional Park. The twenty-four-car entourage accompanying President Harding on his whirlwind tour of Zion included reporters from major newspapers across the United States. Harding and his party were scheduled to spend fewer than three hours in the canyon, but The Salt lake Tribune reported that "they will sec enough to convince them that Zion park will be one of the playgrounds of this great nation from this time on and that hundreds of thousands of people will visit it annually."2511 HS Albright ond Schenck, Creating the National Park Service, 240. H9 Salt lake Tribune, ''Should Visit Us Again," June 27, 1923, 6. |
