in the region to survey the possibility of establishing settlements on the Mormon frontier. The party returned with glowing reports of a mild climate and exceptional farmland, and Mormons were soon called upon by their leaders to settle the region.
During the early 1860s, a few Virgin River valley settlers began looking toward Zion Canyon in search of farmland. When Joseph Black visited the canyon during those years, he was impressed not only by the stark magnificence of the landscape, but also by the possibility of its cultivation.
As time passed, more settlers began to look toward Zion Canyon, not only for home sites but for its resources as well. Isaac Behunin is credited with bestowing the name “Zion” upon the canyon. Having endured Mormon persecution from the time the Mormons were driven from New York to their arrival in the proposed State of Deseret (Utah), he recognized the canyon as a final, safe refuge from harassment and persecution—hence the name Zion, “peaceful resting place.”
Following the exploration of Zion and Parunuweap canyons by Major John Wesley Powell in 1872, the virtually unknown region was finally put on the map, and that sparked interest in its unusual and spectacular landscape. But travel was difficult in those days, and only a handful of hardy travelers made the trek to Zion.
During the early years of Mormon settlement along the Virgin River, homes were built of stone supplemented by wood hauled in from northern Arizona. Extensive forests of ponderosa pine were near at hand atop the cliffs of Zion, but were virtually inaccessible. Brigham Young, the Mormon prophet, visited the Virgin River settlements in 1863 and proclaimed that one day a means would be discovered to transport timber from the plateaus to the valley below “like a hawk flies.”
The Draw Works atop Cable Mountain
After a youthful foray onto the plateau from Zion Canyon near Springdale, young David Flanigan and his three companions explored the forests of the plateau. With the knowledge of Young’s prophecy, Flanigan was to set in motion a series of events that would ultimately fulfill Young’s declaration and provide much-needed lumber to the Mormon settlements. Bales of wire were carried to the rim, and David Flanigan, with the help of his brother, began the long trial-and-error process of laying the wire for a lumber cable, attaching it to pulley structures at both the top and the bottom of the cliff. A year later they began sending loads down from the plateau via the cable.
The cable fell into disuse for lumber hauling between 1901 and 1904, but soon thereafter, Flanigan purchased a sawmill and moved it to the East Rim Plateau, probably near Stave Spring. During the following two years, 200,000 board feet of lumber were sawed on the plateau and transported over the cable to the canyon bottom. This lumber helped build structures along the Virgin River from Springdale to St. George, including the original Zion Lodge and its cabins. The cable was finally removed in 1930, and with the completion of the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel that same year, the cable works became obsolete.
After the turn of the century, Zion gained increased attention, and the idea spread of preserving it for future generations as a showcase of exceptional scenic and scientific value. First, Mukuntuweap National Monument was established on June 25, 1909. Soon after the establishment of the National Park Service in 1917, an automobile road, improving upon the old wagon road, was constructed as far as The Grotto. Finally in 1919, a bill was signed by President Wilson that changed the unpopular name of Mukuntuweap National Monument to Zion National Park and enlarged the area to 120 square miles. In 1937 the Kolob Section was established as Zion National Monument, and in 1956 it was added to the Park.
The road to Temple of Sinawava was completed in 1925, as were a number of foot trails. One problem remained—that of linking Zion by road with other scenic wonders in southern Utah and northern Arizona, including Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon. The 1.1-mile long Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, truly a great engineering feat, was completed in 1930, cut just inside the Navajo Sandstone cliff face. Five galleries in it allowed early travelers to stop and enjoy rock-framed vistas of incomparable beauty, but today, stopping inside the tunnel is not allowed, for safety reasons.
Plants and Animals of Zion
Zion is home to 670 species of flowering plants and ferns, 95 species of mammals, 30 species of reptiles, and 125 species of birds. This vast array of life in Zion helps dispel the myth that a desert is barren and lifeless. True, the region is semiarid, with annual precipitation ranging from slightly more than 15 inches in the canyon to an estimated 21 inches atop the plateaus. But despite searing summer heat, Zion more than any other Utah national park has a relative abundance of water. More than a dozen canyons boast perennial streams, many nurtured by springs that issue from the Navajo Sandstone, a thick and porous layer that is a virtual stone reservoir. Not only do these streams provide delightful haunts for hikers, but their presence promotes the diversity of plant and animal life.
Elevations in the Park range from 3666 feet to 8740 feet, so a wide range of vegetation is represented. A life zone contains the plant communities that are typically found within its range of elevation and precipitation. For example, the Transition Life Zone in Zion contains the ponderosa-pine and mountain-brush plant communities, and occasionally members of the fir and aspen communities as well. Life zones often overlap altitudinally because particular combinations of soil cover, and exposure to sunlight, create microclimates here and there. Within the altitudinal range of the Park, plant communities range from sparse desert shrubs to cool forests of pine, fir and aspen. Blackbrush, yucca, and various species of cacti, mostly prickly-pear and beavertail cactus, dominate the shrublands in the Lower Sonoran Zone.
The Upper Sonoran Zone is widespread on drier sites, mostly in the lower-to-mid-elevations of the Park. Singleleaf pinyon and Utah juniper distinguish the pinyon-juniper woodland, and are the dominant tree species in this zone, well adapted to heat and drought. Two-needle pinyon and juniper dominate on mid-elevation slopes, and typical shrubs in this zone include buffaloberry, Utah serviceberry, squawbush, broom snakeweed, rabbitbrush, and shrub live oak. Littleleaf mountain mahogany, very similar in appearance to blackbrush, grows almost exclusively on slickrock in the upper limits of the zone. Gambel oak often mixes into the pinyon-juniper woodland, and it forms oak woodlands in wetter, protected sites in the canyons as well as extensive thickets atop the plateaus in the Transition Zone.
The Transition Zone is dominated by stands of ponderosa pine, frequently mixing with Gambel oak on the plateaus. Dominant shrubs here are greenleaf manzanita, alderleaf mountain mahogany, snowberry, and big sagebrush. Bigtooth maple is common in some areas, its foliage turning red or orange after the first autumn frosts. On well-drained sites, Rocky Mountain juniper is found mixing into the pine forests. Poorly drained sites on the plateaus contain mountain meadows, and even wetter sites have groves of quaking aspen.
The Canadian Zone is limited to well-watered slopes in the Park’s higher elevations, particularly near Lava Point and the buttes rising above the Kolob canyons. Ponderosa pine is present, but in lesser numbers than in the Transition Zone. The dominant tree here is white fir, while Douglas-fir occurs in the coolest, most protected sites. These trees are also found on sheltered sites far below on canyon walls where cooler microclimates prevail.
In most of the Park’s life zones, riparian vegetation occurs along streams, including the North Fork Virgin River, and in isolated patches along washes where water lies close to the surface. Fremont cottonwood is the dominant tree, and adding diversity to the riparian woodland are velvet ash, boxelder and netleaf hackberry.
Chipmunk
Hanging gardens, found growing on moist cliffs throughout Zion, are unusual sylvan oases in desert areas. Due to abundant seeps and springs, they are more widespread in Zion than in any other Utah national park. (For more about hanging
