KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS,
1920-1940
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region. The economic impact in this case is not as great as it is from Zion National Park, however, as the p o r t i o n of Bryce Canyon National Park in Kane County is only accessible by m o t o r vehicle from within the park through Garfield County. Such scenic attractions of the park as Yovimpa Point, Rainbow Point, and Ponderosa Canyon are located in Kane County, which benefits from general tourist visitation to the area; many who visit one of the great national parks of the region continue on to visit the others. Bryce Canyon gained increasing attention and consideration as either a state park or national m o n u m e n t beginning in the 1910s—a process that had accelerated by the early 1920s. In 1916 Reuben C. Syrett homesteaded near the entrance of what would eventually become Bryce Canyon National Park. By 1920 Ruby a n d Minnie Syrett had built tourist facilities in the canyon. In 1919 the Utah State Legislature asked Congress to consider making Bryce Canyon a national m o n u m e n t , and this was accomplished by declaration of President Warren G. Harding in 1923. The m o n u m e n t initially was under jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, and increased national attention focused on the area. By 1924 Congress passed a bill to establish the canyon as a Utah National Park after all private and state holdings in the area were eliminated. In the process of fulfilling the conditions, Utah officials worked to change the proposed name of the park to Bryce Canyon, and on 25 February 1928 Congress formally authorized Bryce Canyon National Park, almost doubling its size from the earlier authorization, including land in Kane County, which could now boast of having a national park within its boundaries. 5 5 Soon, after the expansion of Zion National Park, Kane could claim portions of two national parks. E.T. Scoyen, superintendent of Utah's national parks, spoke to the Lions Club of Kanab in January 1931 about the important tradition of protecting the wilderness and the public domain for future generations. Scoyen said that the interest in national parks had accelerated in the years after World War I. National parks visitation in the country had increased from an average of 450,000 a year to 2,800,000 per year. He articulated the government's attitude toward federal involvement in the protection of the country's public areas:
