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Zarahemla
ZARAHEMLA, a settlement founded by the Latter-day Saints in Lee County, Iowa, in 1839, was situated on the uplands about a mile west of the Mississippi River, or immediately back of Montrose, opposite Nauvoo, Ill. Besides purchasing the town of Nashville (see Nashville), with 20,000 acres of land adjoining it, in June, 1839, the Church, through Bishop Vincent Knight, about the same time, bought an extensive tract of country lying west of Montrose, on which Joseph the Prophet advised that a town should be built and called Zarahemla. In March, 1841, this was sanctioned by revelation. (Doc. & Cov. Sec. 125, Verse 3.) Consequently a townsite was surveyed by George W. Gee under the direction of the Prophet Joseph, and the saints began to gather in considerable numbers. At the general conference held at Commerce, Hancock Co., Ill., Oct. 5, 1839, it was voted that a branch of the Church be organized in Iowa with John Smith as president, and Alanson Ripley as Bishop. A High Council was also organized. When Elder Ripley moved to Nauvoo, Elias Smith was ordained a Bishop in his stead July 18, 1840. At a conference held Aug. 7, 1841, at Zarahemla, 750 members of the Church were represented in Iowa, namely, 326 in Zarahemla, 67 in Siloam, 80 in Nashville, 109 in Ambrosia, 65 at the Mecham settlement, 13 in Keokuk, 50 in Augusta, 11 in Van Buren township, and 30 on Chequest Creek, Van Buren County. It was intended that Zarahemla should embrace Montrose and become a sister city to Nauvoo in size; but for some reason [p.972] or other the town did not grow very fast. Only about 30 small houses were built on the townsite, and of these only one was standing in 1888. Since the saints left the country in 1846, Zarahemla has been lost sight of, and Montrose built up in its stead.
Zion National Park
ZION NATIONAL PARK, Washington Co., Utah, is one of the most famous natural parks of America. It consists of Zion Canyon and vicinity, the canyon being a spectacular gorge 14 miles long, between cliffs of gorgeous multicolored rock. The south entrance to the canyon is located about a mile north of Springdale, Washington County.
Joseph S. Black was the first L. D. S. settler to draw attention to the natural wonders of the locality and, on account of his enthusiastic description, the place became known about 1862 as “Joseph’s Glory.” Later, Isaac Behunin (the first settler of Ephraim, Utah) took up land there in the canyon and he, enthused with the grandeur of the scenery, called the district “Zion” and it is thus named on some of the early maps of Utah. In 1913 Hon. Wm. Spry, governor of Utah, and a party visited Zion Canyon and were so pleased with the magnificent scenery that they reported their findings to Senator Reed Smoot in Washington, D.C., through whose influence an appropriation of $15,000 was made by the federal government to build a road from the nearest main thoroughfare to the entrance of the canyon. In 1917 a summer camp was established at the base of the so-called “Mountain of the Sun” by Wm. W. Wylie, who for many years had operated camps in Yellowstone Park. As the wonders of Zion Canyon became more widely known, tourists in large numbers came to see it, and in 1919 the district was set apart as a National Park by the United States Government and officially opened to the public by Gov. Geo. H. Dern May 15, 1925. Since that time splendid roads have been constructed, connecting the canyon with great highways between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, and camps and hotels have been constructed in the very shadows of the gigantic cliffs. A number of well kept foot and horse trails lead to the various points of vantage from which to view these natural wonders.