Capitol Reef Timeline

December 18, 2021 is the 50th Anniversary of Captiol Reef National Park. One hundred years before, local supporters first advocated for protection of this geologic wonderland. Travel through the years as people worked to preserve and protect Capitol Reef for the education, enjoyment, and inspiration of this and all future generations.

 

 

L: Governor Dern with Julia Hickman's Fruita School class in 1925, gathering to celebrate Wayne Wonderland State Park.
R: Mr. Cass Mulford and Mr. Cowell along route of proposed trail to [Hickman] bridge; looking south across Fremont River toward Capitol Wash, in 1935.

NPS

Advocating to Protect Capitol Reef

• 1921—A local advocacy group is formed by Joe Hickman, principal of the county high school, and Ephraim Pectol, a Torrey merchant, to promote Wayne Wonderland, a term attributed to Pectol.
• 1925—Hickman, now a state legislator, helps pass a bill to create the Utah Board of State Park Commissioners, but no funding is allocated.
• July 19, 1925—Utah Governor, George H. Dern, comes to Fruita to celebrate proposed “Wayne Wonderland State Park.”
• July 24, 1925—A week after Dern’s visit, Hickman drowns in Fish Lake, and momentum for the creation of a park is lost.
• 1931—The first National Park Service (NPS) consultation with local boosters occurs when Zion Superintendent Thomas Allen Jr. meets with interested citizens.
• October 19, 1932—Yellowstone Superintendent Roger Toll begins to investigate proposed Wayne Wonderland National Park or Monument.
• 1933—The Utah legislature passes a resolution urging fast federal action to create a Wayne Wonderland National Park or Monument.
• 1935—Pectol and Toll settle on the name “Capitol Reef” for the capitol-like white Navajo sandstone domes and the difficult to traverse terrain. A reef is a barrier to travel.

 

The first Ranger Station was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. This photograph of it is from 1950.

NPS/Natt N. Dodge, Charles Kelly, and Paul R. Franke

Early Days of the Monument

• August 2, 1937—Capitol Reef National Monument (37,711 acres) is established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Presidential Proclamation 2249.
• 1938—Park visitation was 1,500.
• 1938-1942—Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) works in Capitol Reef, including building a ranger station and working on trails.
• 1944—Charles Kelly is hired as nominally paid custodian and is the first official employee of Capitol Reef.
• May 1, 1950—Capitol Reef National Monument is officially activated and a budget of $6,500 is authorized by the NPS.
• 1951—Charles Kelly becomes first park superintendent.
• February 1953—A special permit from the NPS to the Atomic Energy Commission (pdf) officially opens Capitol Reef to uranium mining.
• 1951-1954—Jurisdiction over Capitol Reef switches from Zion National Park to Southwest Regional Office and back again.
• 1957—State Route 24 is paved from Torrey to Fruita.
• July 2, 1958—Presidential Proclamation 3249 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower enlarges Capitol Reef by 3,040 acres.
• February 1959—Special permit to the Atomic Energy Commission expires, ending the “uranium boom” at Capitol Reef.

 

L: The newly paved State Route 24 in 1963.
R: Pouring cement into the "concrete aprons" along the Scenic Drive, near Capitol Gorge.

NPS/ William T. Kreuger

Mission 66 and Park Improvements

• 1960-1966—Many improvements made to current park trails. New trails including the Golden Throne Trail were created.
• 1962—State Route 24 is paved through Fremont River canyon. The Fremont River was re-routed in the process, creating an oxbow wetland supporting rare plant species and leopard frogs. The oxbow dried up by the late 1990s.
• August 1962—Capitol Gorge, the original road through the park, is officially closed to through traffic and becomes a hiking trail.
• 1964—Loops A and B of the Fruita Campground are built and opened for visitor use.
• June 1965—New Mission 66-style visitor center opens.
• January 20, 1969—Presidential Proclamation 3888 by President Lyndon B. Johnson expands the park by 215,056 acres. This expansion encompasses Cathedral Valley to the north and Halls Creek Narrows to the south.
• 1969—Dewey and Nell Gifford, the last residents of Fruita, move to Torrey.
• 1969-1972—Southern Utah Group of NPS oversees Capitol Reef.
• 1971—Park visitation is 225,500.
• December 18, 1971—Capitol Reef National Park is established by an Act of Congress, Public Law 92-207, signed by President Richard Nixon. The 1969 boundary was again adjusted to the park's current 243,921 acres.
• 1984-1985—About 30 Desert Bighorn Sheep are reintroduced to the Red Slide area of Capitol Reef from Canyonlands National Park.
• 1986—The last mining claims within Capitol Reef were declared null and void after the claim holders failed to file notices of intent to continue to mine.
• 1987—Loop C is added to the Fruita Campground.
• 1989—The Scenic Drive is paved to its present length.

 

The Milky Way above the west entrance sign.

NPS Artist-in-Residence Zolt Levay

1990s to Present Day

• 1996-1997—Forty more Desert Bighorn Sheep are reintroduced to Capitol Reef from Canyonlands National Park.
• 1996—The Gifford House opens to the public as a museum with a few sale items.
• 2000—Park visitation is 612,656.
• 2006—The Gifford House begins selling locally made pies.
• 2011—Park staff begin planning new visitor center exhibits.
• 2013—Leah McGinnis becomes first woman superintendent of Capitol Reef.
• 2015—Capitol Reef designated International Dark Sky Park (Gold Tier) by the International Dark Sky Association.
• 2016—Park visitation breaks 1 million (1,064,904). National Park Service Centennial.
• 2020-2021—Visitor center rehabilitation and orchard rehabilitation projects begin.
• 2021—What will the future hold for Capitol Reef National Park?