people stopped at the hotels that were built near the railway line to the Grand Canyon, those people ... Grand Canyon Fo
February 26, 1919 Grand Canyon National Park is Established As pioneers moved west after the Mexican American War, there were many who began settling around the Grand Canyon area. Some areas were used for cattle ranches, some for shepherds, and some for lumbering. There were also prospectors who went below the rims of the canyon to try to find riches. There were deposits of lead, zinc, silver, and copper found, but rarely enough to justify the cost of shipping the ore out of the area. Because of acts passed by the government such as the Homestead Act and the Timber Culture Act, pioneers found it easy to obtain land in the new areas acquired by the United States as it grew. Roads were built along wagon trails and after some time, the railroads came. The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad across northern Arizona was begun, but the company went bankrupt. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroads picked up where the Atlantic & Pacific had left off and completed the railroad. New towns grew up along the railroad line and travel became faster, more convenient, and less costly. The Grand Canyon itself was a challenge to many. However, there were some pioneers who settled the area, building roads to the rim of the canyon and trails down into the canyon. Even at this early stage, there was an effort to attract visitors to see this natural marvel. As tourism grew with the railroads coming through, a special line was put in to take people to the Grand Canyon. This put many of the smaller wagon, stage, and livery companies out of business. As people stopped at the hotels that were built near the railway line to the Grand Canyon, those people who owned businesses farther away and had depended on wagons and stages to bring people to them, found they did not have as much business. Some of the pioneers fought the larger businesses taking over the tourism trade, but many sold their land, sometimes selling it to the government. There was so much fighting over who owned rights to areas of the Grand Canyon, that court cases were often being filed. Finally, on January 11, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared a part of the Grand Canyon to be the Grand Canyon National Monument. This protected a certain amount of the area. Other parts were protected because some of the forest area had been proclaimed the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve many years earlier. Finally, on August 25, 1916, the National Park Service was created. After much political arguing, the Grand Canyon was declared a National Park on February 26, 1919. It was seventeenth National Park in the nation. Try your hand at the writing prompts on the following pages.
©2016 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
Writing Prompt #1 Imagine you are a bird flying over the Grand Canyon. You look down at the Canyon; what do you see?
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Writing Prompt #2 Imagine you are a burro carrying tourists on one of the trails through the Grand Canyon. What do you think about while you are on the trail? _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ ©2016 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
Writing Prompt #3 Imagine you are the Grand Canyon. What do you want people to think when they see you? How do you want them to feel? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ Photo courtesy of the National Park Service https://www.flickr.com/photos/grand_canyon_nps/ collections/ ©2016 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
