When the Zion Tunnel was proposed as a separate National Monument; Plus, more historical tidbits

THE Zion Mt. Carmel Canyon Tunnel was an engineering marvel for its age and was the longest non-urban tunnel in the nation when it opened at 1.1 miles.

In fact, the tunnel was proposed to be its own separate national monument. According to the Salt Lake Telegram of Dec. 30, 1929, Utah Governor George H. Dern suggested the tunnel have national monument status, though the official designation never occurred.

Governor Dern also wanted the road around and through the tunnel also renamed the Stephen T. Mather Highway, in honor of the former director of the nation’s national parks. That name designation also didn’t happen.

Although some listings on the Web put the tunnel’s construction cost as low as $503,000, that was only the cost of tunnel itself and not including the connecting roadways. The Telegram of July 4, 1930 stated the total cost of the tunnel project was $1.5 million (or more than 22.5 million in today’s dollar values).

According to the Iron County Record newspaper of Oct. 26, 1929, survey crews spent two years climbing the mountain and evaluating the best tunnel route.

When the tunnel opened on July 4, 1930, it shortened the distance from Zion to Bryce National Park by some 62 miles, from 149 miles to 88 miles. It also gave the area a better year-round route, from east to west.

At least three workers were injured during the tunnel’s construction. The Telegram of Nov. 8, 1928 reported that a premature dynamite explosion seriously injured one worker. The Washington County News of Jan. 1, 1928 stated that minor injuries happened when one worker was struck by an ice block and when another man fell 10 feet off a ledge.

-The Ogden Standard Examiner of July 21, 1927 stated that the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway and tunnel were also part of a sweeping plan to secure national park land and enhance access to them.

“Utah gives up its Bryce land,” was the Standard headline. Utah gave up ownership to 20 acres it owned at Bryce and the Union Pacific Railroad also deeded over its land holdings there, to help create Bryce as a national park.

The story also stated the Utah Governor Dern said that a Bryce name change was highly objectionable, given the current title’s fixation. Some wanted the Bryce renamed Utah National Park, because technically the area is not a canyon.

MORE HISTORY:

-How much does Mount Timpanogos weigh? “B.Y.U. graduate student fixes weight of Timpanogos at sixty billion tons” was a June 25, 1935 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram.

            Bighorn sheep just below Timpanogos Peak.                               Photo by Ray Boren

Harrison J. Merrill made the calculation as part of his thesis for a master’s degree at the school. Merrill used two pendulums, the law of gravitation and numerous mathematical formulas to make his approximation of the mountain’s total weight. BYU physics and mathematics professors all agreed with his findings.

-Mount Timpanogos was often climbed from the east side by thousands of hikers. However, it wasn’t until 1910 that the mountain was first climbed from the southwest. The Salt Lake Tribune of Aug. 7, 1910 stated that the husband-wife team of C.F. Knott and E.B. Yoams of Salt Lake City were the first climbers from the direction in the summer of 1910.

-“Coed falls 360 feet, lives” was a May 9, 1919 headline in the Salt Lake Herald Republican newspaper. Franc Jennings, a student at the University of Utah, “crashed over an ice-capped precipice in Dry Canyon, narrowly missed being dashed to death by trees at the bottom, but suffered only minor bruises,” the newspaper stated.

The story, written by Uarda McCarty, also said that Jennings was on Black Mountain when the accident occurred. A crest of snow caved in and she tumbled down into Dry Canyon. She was rendered unconscious by the fall and lay at the bottom of the canyon for 30 minutes before her companions could reach her. An eventual X-ray exam was suggested for her legs to ensure no bones were broken.

Changes in geographical feature names in Zion National Park; Plus, more history

                                                  A 1919 map of Zion Canyon.
HERE's a look at some of the natural feature names that have changed at Zion National Park, since its earliest days of the pioneers:

-RASPBERRY BEND: This was the original name for the "Big Bend" in Zion Canyon.

                                                Looking down on today's "Big Bend," from above.


-EL GOBERNADOR: This was the earliest of titles for the Great White Throne.

-WYLIE CAMP: This was the name of the first public camping place in Zion. This was essentially a tent camping resort and is approximately located where the Zion Lodge is today.

-THE THREE PATRIARCHS: This name has been modified over the decades and today the Court of the Patriarchs in the most common title for the area.

-THE STREAKED WALL and THE BROWN WALL: The "desert varnish of colors in the rock walls of Zion were originally labeled as this. The Streaked Wall was on the west side of the canyon and the Brown Wall was on the east. These were located between today's Zion Lodge on the north and the East and West Temples on the south.

(SOURCES: Comparing a 1919 Zion map from the Ephraim Enterprise newspaper of Nov. 22 that year, with modern maps.

-MORE HISTORY: The Zion Tunnel was constructed from 1927-1930. This 1.1-mile-long tunnel shortened the distance between Zion and Bryce national parks by some 70 miles. The tunnel was dedicated on July 4, 1930, but had to be closed just over two years later because of a significant rock fall. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Sept. 28, 1932, the tunnel was closed for three days when 12,000 cubic feet of rock fell between the west portal and the first gallery. Engineers actually set off the blast that cause the rock fall while they were enlarging the size of the tunnel to make room for reinforcements.
Besides regular maintenance closures, a sandstone pillar in the tunnel unexpectedly collapsed in 1958 and caused a three-week closure. Since then, according to the National Park Service, the tunnel is now monitored 24 hours a day to look for such problems.

-BEFORE 1930, there was no good road from Utah to Flagstaff, Arizona. Taking the railroad there was still the easiest option. By the spring of 1930, Arizona had created a good road from Flagstaff to Cameron. The road from Fredonia/Kanab to Jacob's Lake was in the works and the road down from there to Cameron was also in the works. This was according to the Salt Lake Tribune of April 20, 1930.

-Eden Park was the a short-lived resort in Bountiful, created by Simon Bamberger, before he moved his Farmington resort, "Lakeside," eastward to become today's Lagoon. The Salt Lake Herald newspaper of June 15, 1894 reported that Fred W. Milverton and A.H. Stewart of Salt Lake City submitted the winning name for the new resort as "Eden." It opened on June 16 that year, with music, dancing and bowery. Passenger trains accessed the resort for 35 cents roundtrip for adults and 20 for children.
The Davis County Clipper of June 28, 1894 reported that the resort had 2,000 visitors the second weekend it was open and that it also had a "rustic bridge." 
On July 24, Pioneer Day, of 1894, the Salt Lake Herald stated that the resort hosted a baseball game and had prizes for the winners in a men's foot race, a boy's foot race, a fat men's race, a wheelbarrow race and a sack race. There were also prizes for the best recitations, both comic and serious. There was also a dance contest and fireworks.
The main reason that Eden Park only lasted about one year and was closed by the mid-summer of 1895, was listed in the Salt Lake Herald of May 8, 1910:
 Eden Park had no water or boating and so Bamberger looked further north for a desirable location and found what he wanted in Lagoon at Farmington.
This Herald article also stated that there had been plans to pump salt water from the Great Salt Lake to Lagoon for a special briny bathing feature, but that never happened.

-KILLING wolves was normal in 1894 Utah. The Davis County Clipper of June 28, 1894 reported that Harvey Sessions, 15, and a younger brother, plus Joseph Garrett, 8, were hunting in Birch Hollow of Mill Creek Canyon, east of Bountiful. They came up six young wolverines. They shot and killed three of them and wounded another.

-FROM Hooper to Kaysville, there was nothing in between from the 1850s until the start of the 20th Century. The Utah Mining Gazette newspaper of Salt Lake reported on Sept. 27, 1873, that a man tried to jump a train between Hooperville (early Hooper name) and Kaysville, but slipped and the train wheels crushed his foot.
The Salt Lake Evening Democrat newspaper of May 9, 1887 stated, "Your Ogden scribe took a pleasant and interesting trip to the salt works between Hooper and Kaysville on Sunday ..." Before the 20th Century, there was Ogden, Hooper and Kaysville, with no other towns in between. There was no Layton, Syracuse, West Point, Clinton, Clearfield, Sunset or Roy. They all came later.