--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Porter, Elizabeth Cannon collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 31 number: 1 published: 1927-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Elizabeth Cannon Porter, “The Great Out-Doors: The Empire of Southern Utah,” *Improvement Era* 31, no. 1 (November 1927): 47–55." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3101unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera3101unse start_page: 47 end_page: 55 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1927-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3101unse publication_year: 1927 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1927, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Great Out-Doors: The Empire of Southern Utah The Great Out-Doors. The Empire of Southern Utah By Elizabeth Cannon Porter The Magical City of Bryce THE traveler stops in a natural park, as trim and orderly as Liberty, in Salt Lake City, walks over to the rim, and in a mammoth bowl beholds the wonder city of Bryce. In the gorgeousness of its coloring, varying from shell pink to rich russet, inset here and there with alabaster, — well, as in its fluted columns and minarets it is like an Arabian city. But it is a silent city from which the inhabitants have fled. Here are all the forms conjured up in the fertile brain of Scheherazeda with which she beguiled the Sultan while he kept his head on her own lovely shoulders. There are the magic carpet (an ancient airplane that transported people instantaneously), Aladdin's genii, Ali Baba's forty jars, and all the strange monsters of the land and sea that combated Sindbad the Sailor. All of these reliquiae are done in eternal stone with Nature as the sculptor and winds and water and frost as the chisels. Because of its color it is no bloodless hall of statuary, but rather a monster Madame Tousaud's waxworks where the historian may pick out his favorite scenes: Cleopatra's purple barge luring Mark Antony; the Lorelei singing on her rock; Mary Queen of Scots and her stairs; Queen Victoria in her garden picking roses for the young Jew Disraeli; Napoleon's sunken road; the Chinese palace, with a row of Buddhas; a Cossack Guard; a German machine gun. Children can find all of their favorite stories in the fairy city of Bryce. There is the glass mountain of the unobtainable Princess; the brown gnomes that proved the Nemesis of lovely Snow White; the Wall of Windows where Sister Ann might have watched for the redoubtable bluebird; the bier of the Sleeping Beauty; the ballroom of Cinderella. So the music lover could imagine here the scenes of his favorite operas, but in their pristine freshness, lacking the tarnish of opera house scenery. There is the bandit's castle of Rigoletto; the moun- tain retreat of Carmen; the Parisian attic of La Boheme; the gypsy camp of Trovatore; the balcony of Romeo and Juliet; the ship of Tristan and Isolde. 48 IMPROVEMENT ERA Photo by Courtesy D. S. Spencer, U. P. System The Cathedral Shadowy Statuary in Dim-Lit Alcoves, Bryce THE GREAT OUT-DOORS 49 The walled city of Bryce is a theater wherein are vast movie sets which differ from the manufactured ones in that they are not "all front and no back." When the sun goes down and darkness wipes out the color it is the dead city of Bryce. Cedar Breaks The Colossal "In vastness, in variety of color, in wild grandeur, Cedar Breaks is the greatest of Utah's painted amphitheatres." In fact it is six or seven great amphitheatres, 2,000 feet deep and covering sixty square miles. Its floor is 8,000 feet above sea level. Anyone suffering Photo by courtesy D. S. Spencer. U. P. System Cedar Breaks Is rose merging into russet, and capped with sheerest alabaster. from enlarged ego need only walk along its edge to shrink to the dimensions of a fly, so overwhelming is it. Its rim is edged with forests of pine. The stupendous chasm itself is rose-colored. An artist, however, has counted sixty tints here including terra-cotta, mulberry, red, orange, yellow, white, lavender and purple. Cedar Breaks is in the Sevier National Forest. Its formations have been cut by the river in the Pink Cliffs at the summit of the 50 IMPROVEMENT ERA Markagunt plateau. The edge of the abyss is etched into Blowhard mountain and other eminences. The volcanic crest of Brian Head, nearly a thousand feet higher, affords a panoramic view of Southern Utah, Nevada, and northern Arizona. Within its yawning labyrinths are Gothic and Teutonic castles, whole countries of them. There is a grimness and power about them not found in the delicate tracery of Bryce. They are medieval mostly, built to withstand alike the Roman soldiery and the bar- barian onslaughts of the Huns. The river, gleaming silver amid its greenery at the bottom, is the moat. The imagination can easily pick out drawbridges and watch towers, walls of citadels, battering rams and catapults, towers of refuge and island retreats, buttresses and fortifications. Sans inhabitants, the visitor can people it to suit himself. He might pick out the court of Ferdinand and Isabella where the humble Genoese formulated his theory; there is the Great Wall of China the lecture hall of Abelard; the castle of William the Conqueror the stronghold of Richard the Lion Hearted; the Castle on the Rhine La Guillotine; aye, the window in the tower from which the Lady of Shallot peered at Sir Lancelot, which indiscretions led to such disastrous results — the smashing of her mirror. Actually Cedar Breaks is given over to the cougar and the eagle. It is so terrible that it is liable to haunt a man's dreams for nights. Transcendant Zion Zion canyon is Egyptian in the conformation of its rocks; in their dull, red coloring shading into slate. It suggests the countries of northern Africa skirting the Mediterranean. Its cumbersomeness belongs to Moloch; its gayer glints to Solomon. Tourists find a spiritual quality in Zion — they look up instead of down. Early settlers waxed enthusiastic in its praise. A Brother Black talked so much of the canyon that for a while it was referred to as "Black's Glory." A few families located there in the early days (its tillable acres are few). The Saints prevailed on Brigham Young to go there on one of his trips to the south. The road was so bad that the party turned back. The great leader exclaimed "This is not Zion." So in the first maps it was indicated as "Not Zion." However, there is a good road today that extends seven miles up the canyon, from the entrance flanked by the Watchman and the West Temple of the Virgin, to the natural amphitheatre known as the Temple of Sinawava. Like an Indian's quiver, the motorist comes out the same way that he goes in. Above this is the Narrows where the great rock walls of the canyon almost come together. From the bottom of the gorge which THE GREAT OUT-DOORS 51 can be spanned at places by a couple of Boy Scouts, the stars may be seen in the day time in the narrow strip of sky up above. Here, in grassy alcoves in the tremendous walls, deer give birth to and nurture their young. The Mukuntuweap river, a muddy stream, flows through the canyon. Indians had a superstitious awe of the place. That some of them sought sanctuary there is evidenced by the ruins of the Cliff dwellings found near Cable mountain. The sinister looking walls, orange, blood-red, black, are gar- landed with graceful foliage, — the tender green of willows, the trail of the wild grape, ferns snuggling beside tiny water falls. Being lower, Zion canyon is warmer than Utah's other "sights." The awe that the canyon inspires is reflected in the names of the places recalling Palestine, Algeria, Tunis. One begins with the "Old Man of the Mountain" and ends with the "Mountain of Mystery." Brooding over the entire canyon, and seen from almost any angle, is the "Great White Throne" unscalable, shadowy, in- explicable. The "Altar of Sacrifice" drips with carnelian. The "Mountain of the Sun" is yellow-headed. There are natural bridges and a Spear Head, Castle Dome, Sentimental Peak, a Streaked Wall. "The Three Patriarchs" are hoary peaks in a row. Further on are Cathedral Mountain, Angel's Landing, and the Great Organ. The entrance to the lovely Temple of Sinewava is flanked by black obelisks. Zion canyon, like a charming person, grows on one and becomes more interesting the better one knows it. It is more friendly than the Grand. The Movies Discover Utah's Scenic Wonderland The pictorial value of Utah's rugged rocks has been discovered by the producers with the result that her majestic scenery will soon be shown to the world via the moving pictures. Recently two com- panies almost came to blows at a point in Cedar Breaks, over who should photograph its vast fan-shaped formations first. One of them was filming the story of "Ramona," and perhaps had chosen this as the hill-top retreat for Alessandro when he fled from his enemies. It is a long way from here across the Nevada desert to Old Town, San Diego, the purported marriage place of the Indian lovers. Further on, between Toquerville and Rockville. where the Rio Virgin spreads out between its painted terraces, Paramount was filming a Zane Grey story with Betty Bronson and a new western star, Lane Chandler, in the leads. The latter, in chaps and a five 52 IMPROVEMENT ERA Photo by Courtesy D. S. Spencer. U. P. System Angel's Landing in the Foreground "The grim Egyptian outlines of Zion are softened with the tracery of foliage." THE GREAT OUT-DOORS 53 gallon hat, rode a white horse. Other features were a herd of lean, white-faced cattle, a fist fight and a tumble over a cliff, and ice cream cones for all the perspiring company. Further on, on a flat island in the river, Hoot Gibson, of Universal, dogged a steer in a rustic stockade built of birch boughs. Not until the eye of the camera sees color will this region be really shown. Many of its cliffs are blood-red. Like the silver Photo by courtesy D. S. Sp:nccr. U. P. System From Point Sublime North rim of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado approached from Utah. soil of the Salt Lake valley or the gold soil of California, this copper-colored soil of southern Utah is wonderfully prolific. Life In the Empire of Southern Utah, its tiny cultivated spaces are few and far between. With the development of water, there are enough natural resources to support literally millions of people. Its vast spaces are eloquent in answer to those misanthropes who fear an over-population of the world — those militarists who ad- vocate war as a means to keep down the surplus population. 54 IMPROVEMENT ERA Soon man, the master creature, will be winging his way via aeroplane between Bryce and the Grand Canyon. The valleys between the quaking aspen are occupied by sheep, waxing fat on luscious grass. Black crows circling above a space indicate where one per- haps has met its fate. Woodchucks dart out of their holes, and beg, with their fore- paws held high like kangaroos. On the desert are lizzards and chipmunks that turn gray to match the soil. Where formerly prospectors left their bones and those of their pack animals, bleaching on the sands, the modern derelict leaves his automobile. The road is strewn with the wreckage of autos all along the way — Royce and Ford reduced to a common fate. Where the ground is cultivated, how lovely it is: witness the semi-tropical St. George with red pomegranates gleaming amid the foliage. Outings Fathers and Sons' outing, Logan Square Branch, Northern States mission. Held in the forest preserve, on the Des Plaines river, Aug. 27, 1927. Vernal's Fathers and Sons' Outing There were 62 people made the trip. We had a very fine time, with plenty of fishing, and lots of sport for all. Our numbers were reduced to at least one- fourth by the heavy storms we had iust before the outing and the people didn't have their hay up. We didn't feel it wise to postpone on account of so many other things coming. President Calder and Con- gressman Colton were with us. — Pontha Calder, Superintendent. THE GREAT OUT-DOORS 55 Oquirrh Stake Climbs Mt. Timpanogos The 4th annual Fathers and Sons' Out- ing of the Oquirrh stake, held on August 5 and 6, was successful and gratifying to both those who participated and to the Y. M. M. I. A. officers in charge. Some 200 fathers and sons listened with intense inter- est to the numbers on the campfire pro- gram. Keen competition was encountered by the entrants in the harmonica contest. A daddy finally emerged victorious. The biggest feature of the outing, was the climb up Mt. Timpanogos from the THE WILD ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT American Fork Canyon side; 94 fathers and sons made the top of "Old Timp" and were thrilled with the beautiful sights pre- sented from such a lofty peak. The slide down the glacier was exceptionally good this year, furnishing plenty of excitement for both participants and spectators. Fathers and Sons' outings are always successful in Oquirrh stake. They are "talked up" long before they happen, and "talked of" long after. — Y. M. M. I. A. Superintendency, A. C. Nielsen, O. J. Mc- Donald, Geo. L. Paul. The Great Out-of-Doors Hidden away in Nature's breast is food for the hungry soul: The faulted cliff, the cataract, the verdant mountain sod, The rainbow spray o'er the ouzel's nest, the flowers at his feet, Inspire man's soul to a higher goal And draw him nearer God. The crimson west, the starry heav'ns, Aurora's bursting morn, The teeming life of land and stream — the handiwork of God, Sink deep in the heart of Nature's guest — a richer life is born, The pilgrim feet in Nature's retreat On holy ground have trod. E. Cecil McGavin.