A legislative and administrative history on the social, cultural, and intellectual significance of the national park idea. Originally published in 1961

The Grand Canyon is one of America’s loveliest landmarks. That’s a pretty noncontroversial statement, right? Wrong — at least if you lived 100 years ago. Teddy Roosevelt, the Wild West-loving wanted the Grand Canyon to be a national park — an untarnished natural beauty that every American could have the chance to admire. Yet a lot of people just didn’t think the Grand Canyon was that charming. The isolation and barrenness appalled some early visitors. What was pretty about the jagged cliffs and bare rock with their garish colors and terrifying abysses? It wasn’t just aesthetics that made the Grand Canyon’s path to becoming a national park rocky. Minors wanted to keep searching for potential fortunes in the nooks and crannies of the canyon. A handful of independent-minded settlers, who had made makeshift houses near the rim to enjoy the peace and solitude, weren’t excited about the prospect of tourists. Railroads had already built their own hotels and didn’t want the National Park Service to benefit from an influx of visitors. But somehow these hurdles were overcome, because the Grand Canyon became a national park on February 26, 1919.