On February 26, 1919, a substantial portion of the Grand Canyon was designated a US National Park by Woodrow Wilson. On the same day in 1929, the Grand Tetons would follow suit as the result of Calvin Coolidge signing a bill that had passed both houses of Congress whereby Grand Teton National Park was established in Wyoming.
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Theodore Roosevelt can claim credit for bringing the Grand Canyon to America's awareness. Upon first sighting it in 1903, he stated: "The Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It is beyond comparison ... beyond description; absolutely unparalleled throughout the wide world ... let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness. You cannot improve on it. But what you can do is to keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see."
What many think of as Grand Canyon National Park in its entirety in reality refers to its central feature, the vast gorge or canyon left by the power of Mother Nature as she excavated the Colorado River and its tributaries across the centuries. The beginnings of the the Canyon have been dated as going back 17 million years. The gorge is 277 miles long, runs a mile deep into the earth and is up to18 miles at its widest point. The National Park proper covers 1,217,262 acres. It was named a World UNESCO Heritage Site in 1978 and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World.
Long before these "modern day honors", the Grand Canyon was occupied by various tribes of Native Americans. Members of the Pueblo tribe considered it a holy site; those who didn't live there made pilgrimages to it. Europeans first came to the Grand Canyon circa 1540 ... specifically as part of an expedition of explorers under the command of Spanish conquistador Coronado. The first "white man" to explore it stem to stern was American geologist John Wesley Powell in the mid 1800s. It was he who popularized the name "Grand Canyon". He traveled its length by rowboat! The Grand Canyon is home to 500 animal species and 1,500 plant species. Attempts to have it designated a National Park, beginning in 1882 and advocated by then Senator Benjamin Harrison, would fail for almost forty years. Finally, in 1919, the Grand Canyon became the nation's 15th National Park. It receives 5,000,000 visitors annually. It is even the site for dramatic ... extreme ... marriage proposals. A former roomate of yours truly received her engagement ring on the floor of the Canyon after a romantic dinner and surprise helicopter ride. Good thing she said "yes". Teddy Roosevelt would be well pleased.
The American explorer to bring the mountains of the Grand Tetons to the attention of the American public was John Colter who traveled with Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Coast. On the way home, in 1807, he decided to continue his adventure, strike out on unknown paths to the west of the Missouri River in the company of fur trappers, ultimately finding his way to modern day Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the base of the snowy peaks of the Tetons. John Colter is considered America's first true "Mountain Man".
It was French-Canadian fur trappers who gave the the jagged peaks of the mountain range their name: Grand Tetons .... meaning "Big Breasts"! The literal translation for Grand Teton: "The Big Tit". Who knew? Grand Teton is the largest peak in the range and at 13,770' remains a "rite of passage" for American mountain climbers. Permanent settlers taking the form of cattle ranchers didn't arrive in the area until the 1880s. Tourists followed and the ranchers supplemented their incomes by hosting the "dudes" who came to see "the scenery" and experience "the American West" and her cowboys.
In 1916, Horace Albright, the director of the newly created National Park Service, suggested incorporating the Grand Teton region into Yellowstone National Park only 10 miles away. That notion didn't sit too well with the ranchers. These lands represented their homes and their livlihoods. Political jockeying would ensue for better than a decade until the day in 1929 when just the mountain range and a narrow strip of land was designated as the Grand Teton National Park. John D. Rockefeller, philanthropist extraordinaire, would buy up acres and acres of land in the Jackson Hole area and donate it for incorporation into the Park's acreage which today totals approximately 310,000 acres. 2.8 million visitors enjoyed the beauty of Grand Teton National Park in 2014, making it a record year.
It is obvious that Ameria is loving her National Parks!
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