THE STORY OF OUR PUBLIC DOMAIN 75 



attempting to force their way into the National 

 Parks System by use of political clubs. 



Scenically, the Public Domain reaches its cli- 

 max in the Plateau Country of Southern Utah and 

 her adjoining states. Geologically, also, this coun- 

 try, which is a part of the drainage basin of the Col- 

 orado River and the upper portion of that part of 

 it of which the Grand Canyon is the scenic and ero- 

 sional climax, has extraordinary importance. From 

 the Wasatch Mountains it falls in great steps, miles 

 in breadth, to the Colorado gorge. Each step in- 

 cludes one or more of many strata of sandstone, 

 limestone and shale highly and variously colored, 

 each named usually for its particular color. 



High in the series is the Pink Cliff in which is 

 located famous Bryce Canyon National Monument. 

 Lower down, cut in the White and Vermilion Cliffs, 

 is Zion National Park, the "rainbow of the desert." 

 The foundation stratum of Zion, known as the Kai- 

 bab limestone, is the identical stratum upon which 

 one stands, miles southward, to look down into the 

 gorgeous depths of the Grand Canyon, most cele- 

 brated natural spectacle of any kind in the world. 



If we should refer this gigantic basin's moun- 

 tain origin back of the Wasatch Range to the crest 

 of the main Rockies in Colorado, of which the Wa- 

 satch is but a spur, thereby including the immense 

 erosional plateau in which is carved Mesa Verde Na- 

 tional Park, the huge natural bridges of Utah and 

 the Navajo Indian Reservation of Arizona with its 



