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Show 103 even though the Deseret News reported !he tour's progress from Zion to the Grand Canyon and toward Bryce, it did not mention before the event that the canyon would be dedicated a national park.306 Aflcr the dedication, the headline in the Deseret News read: "Surprise Sprung in Creating Park." The story followed: "Everything went off as scheduled except the one item of the new national park~ that was not on the program, but came as a fitting surprise and climax. No doubt Stephen T. Mather, director of national parks, and others, had an idea that it might happen, but it was kept on the quiet until all the government and legal formalities were out of the way ready for the actual ceremony.',3o7 The Deserer News did not acknowledge that during the week before the dedication The Salt Lake Tribune bad reported the story three times. The dedication in the lodge at the rim of Bryce Canyon attracted "hundreds" from surrounding communities in addition to those traveling as Union Pacific guests. 308 At the Sunday evening ceremony, the state and the railroad formally handed over their land to the federal government, and the Forest Service handed jurisdiction to the National Park Service. Park and railroad officials gave speeches, as did LDS President Grant, who, according to the Deseret News, "told of the pleasure the L. D. S. Church has io cooperating with government officials and departments in the development of resources and the preservation of scenery and scenic and historic relics."309 .lOli Deseret News, "Railroad Chiefs Visit," September 12, 1928. J07 Deseret News, "Surpri.<ie Sprung," September 18, 1928. WI Salt Lake Tribune, "Bryce Canyon Presented to Nation by Utuh," September l 7, 1928, 18. J09 De.~eret Nrw.\", "Surprise Sprung,'' September 18, 1928. |
