Discovery of Zion Canyon

In 1858 the Mormon scout Nephi Johnson rode to the mouth of this canyon with Southern Paiute guides who knew the place and chose not to enter it. Johnson went on alone, up the river to the cold, shadowed Narrows where the sun rarely reaches, and turned back at dusk. When settlers later stood beneath the great sandstone spires, one called them God's first temple and gave the canyon the name Zion. The Daughters of Utah Pioneers set this marker in 1938. The canyon Johnson entered alone is now Zion National Park.

What the plaque says

In 1858, Nephi Johnson, one of Brigham Young's scouts, with a party of Indian guides arrived at the mouth of the canyon. Due to superstition, the Indians refused to enter the canyon. Nephi Johnson, alone, followed up river to the Narrows, a place "where the sun is seldom seen," returning to the mouth at nightfall. Isaac Buhannin, an early settler, seeing the spires remarked, "Surely this is God's first temple and should be called Zion." William Heaps helped to build homes for the early settlers in the canyon.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Springdale — steps away
  Zion's south-entrance gateway town, wedged between the Watchman and the Virgin River
• Zion–Mount Carmel Tunnel — 3.5 mi
  A mile-long tunnel blasted through Zion's sandstone in 1930, with windows cut in the cliff for light
• Canyon Overlook Trail — 3.6 mi
  A short, exposed hike just east of the tunnel to a thousand-foot view down into Zion Canyon
• Grafton Ghost Town — 4.3 mi
  A photogenic ghost town used in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

More markers nearby

• Historic Irrigation Ditch — 0.3 mi
• Birth of a Park — 1.0 mi
• Zion Mt. Carmel Tunnel and Highway — 2.4 mi
• Rockville Bridge — 3.0 mi