The Geologic Story of Canyonlands National Park

Lohman, S.

doi:10.3133/b1327

On September 12, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed an act of Congress establishing Canyonlands as our thirty second national park, the first addition to the park system since 1956. The birth of Canyonlands National Park was not without labor pains. In the 1930's virtually all the vast canyon country between Moab, Utah, and Grand Canyon, Ariz., was studied for a projected Escalante National Park. But Escalante failed to get off the ground, even when a second attempt was made in the 1950's. Not until another proposal had been made and legislative compromises had been worked out did the park materialize, this time under a new name—Canyonlands. Among the many dignitaries who witnessed the signature on September 12 was one of the men most responsible for the park's creation, park superintendent Bates E. Wilson, who did the pioneer spade work in the field. The newborn park covered 400 square miles1 at the junction of the Green and Colorado Rivers in Utah. It included such magnificent features as Island in the Sky, The Needles, Upheaval Dome, and the two great stone formations, Angel Arch and Druid Arch. On November 16, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon signed an act of Congress enlarging the park by 125 square miles in four separate parcels of land, so the area now totals 525 square miles, all in southeastern Utah, as shown on the map (fig. 1). The northern boundary was extended to include parts of Taylor and Shafer Canyons. The addition at the southeast corner takes in the headwaters of Salt and Lavender Canyons and part of Davis Canyon. The largest addition, at the southwest corner, includes grotesquely carved areas bearing such colorful names as The Maze, Land of Standing Rocks, The Fins, The Doll House (fig. 36), and Ernies Country (named after Ernie Larson, an early-day sheepman). The fourth parcel lies about 8 miles west of the northwest corner and encompasses much of Horseshoe Canyon, whose walls are adorned by striking pictographs (fig. 2).