Zion National Park - Paiutes and Pioneers

The soaring cliffs and streamside woodlands of Zion have long been known to humans. From A.D. 500 until about A.D. 1200, small bands of Anasazi Indians, the "Ancient Ones" of the Navajos, dwelt in the canyon, where they lived by hunting game, gathering wild foods, and tending small garden plots. Relics of their presence, scattered petroglyphs, storage bins, the crumbling remains of cliff dwellings, and other artifacts, speak of the simple, peaceful way of life of these vanished people.

After the Anasazi, for unknown reasons, abandoned the Zion area, groups of Paiute Indians visited from time to time. Ioogoon, "the arrow quiver," is what the Paiutes called the canyon. This figure of speech, which to them meant "you go out the same way you go in," suggests the sense of awe and trepidation that the canyon inspired in their minds.

According to their beliefs, unseen spirits sometimes hurled stones down from the canyon walls, and the moody god Kinesava was apt to start mysterious fires, lightning, on heights no human can reach. The evil Wynopits, moreover, caused the canyon's river to rise suddenly in flash floods that killed unlucky Paiutes. Clearly the canyon was not a place for lingering. Today the memory of their legends still lives; the unpredictable Kinesava and the coyote-god Sinawava are commemorated in the names of a mountain and a beautiful natural temple in the depths of the canyon.

One thing remains certain: people of all nationalities and origins find the canyons of Zion at once fascinating and inspirational. In modern times it has fallen to European explorers and settlers to map and call the world's attention to the area's spectacular array of natural features. Two Spanish priests, Fathers Velez de Escalante and Domínguez, explored the southern reaches of present-day Utah in 1776. Although they did not discover Zion Canyon, they did cross the Virgin River some 20 miles downstream. They or later Spaniards may have been the first to call it Rio Vírgen, in honor of the Virgin Mary.

More secular explorers, 16 mountain men in search of beaver pelts, roamed through the area under the leadership of Jedediah Smith in 1826. They also found the river, which they named the Adams for President John Quincy Adams, but probably missed the canyon. On a later trip, however, the Americans began to call the stream the Virgin River, possibly because they had learned of the previous Spanish name or perhaps because they wanted to honor one of their companions, Thomas Virgin, who had been wounded by Indians. Or it may simply have been that the coincidence of names appealed to the mountain men's sense of humor.

The first American definitely known to have entered Zion Canyon was a Mormon, Nephi Johnson, who had been sent by his leader, Brigham Young, to explore the upper Virgin River valley for potential farm sites in 1858. By 1860, small Mormon settlements, along with their orchards and cotton fields, were sprouting beside the Virgin, and by 1863 crops were being cultivated on the floor of Zion Canyon itself.

One of the pioneering farmers was Isaac Behunin, a longtime Mormon who had suffered great persecution before joining Brigham Young on his flight to the wilderness of Utah in 1846, 47. It was amid the steep and protecting canyon walls along the Virgin River that Isaac Behunin finally found a place of peace and refuge, and so it seemed natural for him to call it Zion.

Other names more particular to the Mormon faith dog the map of the park. Mount Moroni is named for the angel who, it is believed, revealed the Book of Mormon on golden tablets to the founder of the religion, Joseph Smith. The brilliant red cliffs of the Kolob Terrace are named for the star in Mormon literature that shines brightly near the seat of God.

The intrepid explorer of the Colorado Plateau, Maj. John Wesley Powell, took in the sights of Zion in 1871. Other government explorers followed and made the glory of the place known to the American public by way of eloquent words and spectacular photographs. One of them, Clarence E. Dutton, named the East and West temples in an 1882 report. But natural barriers of desert and mountain prevented all but a few hardy tourists from visiting Zion until well into the 20th century.

One early visitor was a Methodist minister, Frederick Vining Fisher, who was also an avid traveler and photographer. Having heard of Zion's glories, he prevailed upon local Mormons to guide him into the canyon in 1916. Overwhelmed by the impact of the place, he began applying religious names to prominent features on every hand. The Three Patriarchs, the Organ, and the Great White Throne firmly established the tradition of strewing inspirational titles across the map of Zion.

That Zion touches a universal spirituality in mankind is demonstrated by the fact that Paiute and preacher, Mormon farmer and government explorer, all independently perceived a divine presence in the place. Given their common cultural heritage, Mormon and Methodist could be expected to have had such a reaction to the stupendous architecture of Zion. But Paiutes had no temples or alters in their religion. So it must be more than massive monoliths that accounts for the mood of the place.

Perhaps it is the constantly changing play of light on the colors of rock and leaf in the frequently shadowed depths of the canyon. Or maybe it is the lush streamside vegetation that contrasts so vividly with the surrounding desert. Drops of water that drip like tears from seemingly solid rock contribute to the mysterious aura of Zion, as do the undulating contours of petrified dunes that now stand revealed in natural sandstone sculptures. The list could go on infinitely and never total the reasons or completely explain the secret essence of Zion. Such is the nature of this majestic place that so clearly transcends the frail and transient handiwork of man.