Early Southern Utah: From the Four Corners to Monument Valley to Zion Canyon to the Pine Valley Mountains

By Lynn Arave

FOUR Corners is a popular tourist destination today, but just over a century ago it was still an emerging novelty, yet a very remote spot to visit.

As the junction where the four corners of four states – Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona – meet, this place is unique in America.

                                   In 4 states at the same time!

“A Geographical Novelty” was a Feb. 28, 1902 headline in the Coalville Times Newspaper. This article stated that even world-wide, there was not a similar place where four counties met at such a junction.

The Salt Lake Herald Newspaper on Aug. 13, 1902 stated that the Four Corners was located in the midst of desert. Grass for stock was sparse in the area. A Herald article on Sept. 11, 1902 also explained how many Navajos were starving in the Four Corners region, with food shortages.

              Even today, it is barren land around the Four Corners.

The Logan Republican Newspaper of June 8, 1904 said the first shaft type monument had recently been erected at the Four Corners. However, access to the remote place was still difficult, with Mancos, Colorado, some 100 miles distant, being the nearest railroad town to the Four Corners.

                                    Monument Valley

-Still another remote area in southeastern Utah of old was Monument Valley. First referred to in its early days as “Monumental Valley,” (Salt Lake Herald Newspaper of Nov. 1, 1908), it was later referenced as “Monumental Park” too.

The Salt Lake Tribune of Sept. 5, 1915 stated that it required a week of travel from Salt Lake City at that time to even reach the remote location. It was two years later before the first talk of making a regular road to reach the place happened.

-The Henry Mountains further north are another mysterious Utah place. It is often stated that these mountains were among the last to be named ranges in the entire United States.

The first newspaper reference to the Henry Mountains appeared in the Salt Lake Herald of June 18, 1875.

The Henry Mountains were also among the last places to be mapped too. The Richfield Reaper Newspaper of Dec. 30, 1937 stated that the first geological maps of the Henry Mountains were made in 1937.

-Some features in Zion National Park DON’T have the same names they originally had. Back when the place was sometimes referred to as “Little Zion,” a few titles were different.

                The big curve in Zion Canyon, near the former "Raspberry Bend."

For example, a story in the Ephraim Herald Newspaper of Nov. 22, 1919 included an early map of Zion Canyon.

The sharp curve in the canyon just past Weeping Rock was originally called “Raspberry Bend.”

Also, Native American “cliff dwellings” were listed on that map in the Weeping Rock area. These are not marked on maps today. “Mummy Cave” was also nearby and according to the newspaper article was where petrified mummies of early cliff dwellers here were found – several hundred feet above the valley floor. 

In addition, what is called the Great White Throne today had an alternate name in the early 20^th Century --  “El Gobernador.”

Plus, today’s “Grotto” area was originally named “Wylie Camp,” a rustic hotel, established in 1917.

              Looking north to St. George and the Pine Valley Mountains.

-The Pine Valley Mountains, north of St. George, are the highest elevations in southwestern Utah. A May 3, 1935 article in the Parowan Times Newspaper stated that the original name for the mountains as “Kaib-a-harur” – meaning “Mountain Standing Still.”

By 1935 there were already elaborate trails in these mountains, which assisted hiking and horseback trips, as well as hunters.

The Washington County Newspaper of June 17, 1926 stated that from “Signal Point,” the highest place in the Pine Valley Mountains at 10,300 feet, “one may from the same spot and with the aid of field glasses, witness people living in snowbound valleys to the north; see men hauling wood on bob-sleds; watch boys skating and observe gangs of men cutting and hauling natural ice 2- inches in thickness. Without moving a step but simply by turning the telescope of the south, one may see children in summer frocks, ladies picking roses from lawns and all classes of gardening in full summer sway.”

That was obviously referring to the elevation difference between Cedar City (5,850 feet above sea level) and St. George (elevation 2,800 feet).

                                       Vermillion Castle.

-“Vermillion Castle,” northeast of Parowan was so named in May of 1935. According to the Parowan Times Newspaper of May 17, 1935, Simon A. Matheson won a $5 prize for calling the forest campground there “Vermillion” in a Parowan Chamber of Commerce contest. He cited the “castle-like cliffs” as the inspiration for the title.

Previously, the area had been called “Five Mile.”

The road to Vermillion was first oiled in the late 1930s. Heavy rains washed out the road as recently as August 8, 1963.

Why Zion National Park trails are paved

By Lynn Arave

EVER wonder why many of the trails in Zion National Park are paved?
It isn't just because of erosion, like in many other National Parks, nor is it a recent development.
According to the Iron County Newspaper of June 22, 1928 under the headline, "Highway and trails to be oiled," a different reason is mentioned:
"Dust blowing off the roads and trails covers the nearby plants, shrubs and trees with a coating of gray dust, which entirely destroys its freshness and beauty, and, in time may seriously injure the vegetation," the article quoted Park Superintendent E.T. Scoyen.
So, applying oil to the trails in 1928 was an experiment. Special equipment, designed by the National Park Service's Engineering division, was used in this project.
Decades later, cement and asphalt were used to cover key portions of trails.
Yes, paved trails increase the speed of hikers and help prevent erosion, but the 1928 experiment worked.

                            The West Rim Trail beyond Scout Lookout.

Zion Canyon overflowing with heavenly titles

                      Angels Landing, center,  with the Great White Throne behind it.

By Lynn Arave

ZION National Park is Utah’s premier outdoor treasure. Visited by some 3 million people annually, Zion is actually steeped in religious overtones, with a total of two dozen Biblical, Book of Mormon and even Native America spiritual names dominating its unusual landscape.

Surprisingly, Ogden City, though it is some 350 miles from Zion, has a strong connection to at least two and possibly three of the Park’s most famous landmarks – The Great White Throne, Angels Landing and the Three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And, this trio of names didn’t originate from a Mormon either. Frederick Vining Fisher, an Ogden resident and former pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Ogden, named these rock monuments during a visit there in 1916 (or perhaps even earlier in 1914, as one early Zion Park brochure from the late 1930s claims.)

Fisher, actually an early non-Mormon apologist, made a trip up Zion Canyon (then called either “Little Zion,” “The Heavenly City of God,” or “Mukuntuweap,” meaning “Straight Canyon” to the Southern Paiute Indians). Fisher was accompanied by two locals, Rockville LDS Bishop David Hirschi and his son, Claude Hirschi.

Frederick Vining Fisher.  Utah State History photo.

The afternoon sun gloriously illuminated the Great White Throne and inspired Fisher to reportedly say: “Never have I seen such a sight before. It is by all odds America's masterpiece. Boys, I have looked for this mountain all my life but I never expected to find it in this world. This mountain is the Great White Throne.”

Dr. Fisher (then going by an educational, rather than a religious title) also noticed a large rock formation on the opposite side of the narrow canyon, just northwest of the Great White Throne, and once again made a religious connection. He surmised that angels would never land on the nearby Great White Throne — that was a seat for deity — but would instead reverently perch on a nearby footstool to pay their obeisance. Hence, the Angels Landing name and what is today one of the most popular and exciting hikes in the National Park.

       The summit of Angels Landing with The Great White Throne in the background.

                                                                            Photo by Roger Arave.

The Three Patriarchs’ name origin is indefinite. Some accounts say Fisher named it and others point to Claude Hirschi.

Fisher had lived in Alaska prior to coming to Ogden and he had also visited other outdoor gems -- Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Still, he referred to Zion as a “wonderland of nature” and gave frequent lectures during the 1910s across the nation highlighting Utah as “the Crown Jewel of the Continent” with its outdoor treasures.  Fisher also often spoke in the Ogden LDS Tabernacle and was good friends with David O. McKay, then an LDS Apostle.

Overall, Zion is indeed an unusual National Park where most visitors are provided with a brief Biblical and Book of Mormon education whether they want it or not, because of the many religious titles there.

Ride the shuttle buses in Zion and the audio recordings will recite some of this religious history as the heavenly landmarks along the way are pointed out.

(Ironically, Temple Square in Salt Lake City and Zion National Park are by far the top two tourist attractions in the Beehive State and both are religious oriented.)

Local Native Americans had for centuries known of and revered Zion Canyon, a dark and narrow place where they often feared entrance.

Mormon settler Nephi Johnson was the first non-Indian known to visit Zion Canyon in 1858. A Joseph Black visited the canyon in 1861 and called it "Joseph's Glory," after the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith. 
Another Mormon pioneer, Isaac Behunin constructed a log cabin at today’s Springville in January of 1862. By the summer of 1863, he had built another cabin and farm, this one near where today’s Zion Lodge resides. Behunin promoted the “Little Zion” name for the area and supposedly proclaimed, “A man can worship God among these great cathedrals as well as in any man-made church – this is Zion.”
Behunin was also reputed to say: "Why go to Zion (Salt Lake City) and worship in a temple when he have God's own temples here? This is as much Zion as Salt Lake. We'll call it little Zion."
Behunin used to sit in front of his cabin and admire the spectacular canyon walls.
The name "Little Zion" took hold for a time.
However, LDS Church President Brigham Young hearing of this, later stressed to early settlers in the Springdale area that the canyon was not Zion, despite their heavenly descriptions.

Some of the settlers then began sarcastically calling the area "Not Zion.”

(Behunin Canyon, northwest of the Emerald Pools, is named in the pioneer’s honor.)

Joseph S. Black, still another Mormon pioneer, was so excited by the Canyon’s beauty that he provided what others considered to be unbelievable descriptions of the place. Some skeptics then sarcastically dubbed the area "Joseph's Glory."

                          Another view of Angels Landing.

 
Here are some of the other religious names in Zion National Park:

-Kolob Canyons and Kolob Arch get their titles from the Pearl of Great Price, an LDS book of scripture, that mentions a star, Kolob, as nearest the residence to God.
-Mount Moroni is named for a Book of Mormon prophet. Orderville Canyon was named for the nearby town of Orderville and the LDS Church’s 19^th Century United Order plan.
-Zion, the park's overall name, too has roots in both the Bible and other LDS scriptures. Zion is a Hebrew word referring to a place of safety or refuge.

-There's also Tabernacle Dome, The Organ (originally “The Great Organ”); Church Mesa; the North and South Guardian Angels; Tabernacle Dome; the Altar of Sacrifice; The Pulpit; Cathedral Mountain; and Canaan Mountain.

- Explorer John Wesley Powell visited Zion in 1872 and applied the Indian names, like "Mukuntuweap" to the North Fork of the Virgin River and "Parunuweap" ("Water that Roars") to the East Fork.
Yet even Powell felt spiritual there, since he named the East and West Temples.

-The Virgin River was either named by Spanish explorers in honor of Mary, the Mother of Jesus; or for a mountain man, Thomas Virgin, who traveled with the legendary explorer Jedediah Smith.

-The Temple of Sinawava was named by Douglas White of the Union Pacific Railroad to honor “Sinawava, the Paiute’s Coyote god or spirit. Mount Kinesava is named for another Paiute deity.

REFERENCES: Ogden Standard-Examiner Archives; “A History of Southern Utah and Its National Parks,” by Angus M. Woodbury; Utah Historical Quarterly, Fall 1987; www.nps.gov/zion; Zionpark.org; “Utah Place Names,” by John W. Van Cott; and various Zion Park and quadrangle maps; Deseret News Archives.

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net