Stephan Mather Marker

The plaque honors Stephen Mather, the borax millionaire who became the first director of the National Park Service in 1917 and, in a dozen restless years, knit a scattering of parks into a coherent system before his health broke. After his death in 1930, the Park Service cast a standardized bronze tablet in his memory and placed copies across its sites; this is one of them. It reads, in part, that there will never come an end to the good he has done — a rare federal monument to an administrator, set among the parks he made.

What the plaque says

Stephen Tyng Mather July 4, 1867 Jan. 22, 1930 He laid the foundation of the National Park Service, defining and establishing the policies under which its areas shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good that he has done.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Golden Spike National Historical Park — steps away
  Where East met West — the spot that connected America by rail
• Spiral Jetty — 14 mi
  Robert Smithsons iconic land art masterpiece on the Great Salt Lake

More markers nearby

• Promontory Monument (4) Markers — steps away
• Golden Spike - Joining of the Rails — steps away
• Competition, 1869 — steps away
• The Big Fill & The Big Trestle — 4.0 mi