The Grand Canyon
of the Colorado River in northwestern Arizona is one of the earth's
greatest natural wonders. It became a national park in 1919. So
famous is this landmark to modern Americans that it seems surprising
that it took more than thirty years for it to become a national
park. President Theodore Roosevelt visited the rim in 1903 and exclaimed:
"The
Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It is beyond comparison--beyond
description; absolutely unparalleled throughout the wide world ....
Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing
to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness. You cannot improve
on it. But what you can do is to keep it for your children, your
children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great
sight which every American should see."
Despite Roosevelt's
enthusiasm and his strong interest in preserving land for public
use, the Grand Canyon was not immediately designated as a national
park. The first bill to create Grand Canyon National Park had been
introduced in 1882 and again in 1883 and 1886 by Senator Benjamin
Harrison. As President, Harrison established the Grand Canyon Forest
Reserve in 1893. Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon Game
Preserve by proclamation in 1906 and Grand Canyon National Monument
in 1908. Senate bills to establish a national park were introduced
and defeated in 1910 and 1911; the Grand Canyon National Park Act
was finally signed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. The National
Park Service, which had been established in 1916, assumed administration
of the park.
Before the middle
of the nineteenth century, very little was known about the geography
of the Grand Canyon. Because of its remote location, the area in
and around the canyon was not explored or mapped in detail by Europeans,
although it was probably visited in 1540 by the Spanish expedition
of Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, who searched with Vasques de Coronado
for the seven legendary cities of Cibola. In 1776, two Spanish priests,
Francisco Dominguez and Silvestre de Escalante, crossed the Colorado
River while exploring the area, but little knowledge of the region
was passed down in written form to later generations. The primary
source of information about the magnificent canyon was an oral tradition
sustained by the reports of fur trappers and traders and so-called
"mountain men," most of whom were escorted through the
rugged terrain by Native American guides.
This CD is the
Atlas of the Tertiary History of the Grand Cañon District
in its entirety in MrSid format. This
format allows you to see the entire map on your computer screen
or drill down to see the smallest details. The original maps are
often quite large, as much as 36" long or larger and quite
detailed. With the MrSID software, you can manipulate the map to
print the entire map in great detail or zoom into a portion of the
map in full detail for viewing or printing. You could even bring
the images to a local print shop to have the maps reprinted in their
full size. (MrSID software is included on the CD.)
To
give you a sample of the detail you can expect in these maps, here
is an example based on a panoramic map of Washington, DC.
The
table below shows the description and a small image of each map
on this fascinating Grand Canyon history CD.
Title page
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Index
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sheet II - Western part of the Plateau Province
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sheet III - Western part of the Plateau Province
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sheet IV - The Temples and Towers of the Virgen
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sheet V - Looking up the Toroweap from Vulcan's Throne
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sheet VI - The Grand Canon at the foot of the Toroweap-Looking East
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sheet VII - Map of the Uinkaret Plateau
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sheet VIII - Map of the Uinkaret Plateau
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sheet IX - Views looking East and South from Mt. Trumbull
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sheet X - Views from Mt. Trumbull and Mt. Emma
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sheet XI - The Southern part of the Kaibab Plateau
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sheet XII - The Southern part of the Kaibab Plateau
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sheet XIII - The Grand Canon in the Kaibab Plateau
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sheet XIV - The Southern part of the Kaibab Plateau-Head of the
Grand Canyon (see also ct000216)
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sheet XV - Panorama from Point Sublime
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sheet XVI - Panorama from Point Sublime
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sheet XVII - Panorama from Point Sublime
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sheet XVIII - The Transept, Kaibab Division, Grand Canyon
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sheet XIX - Views from the Marble Canon Platform from the Eastern
Brink of the Kaibab
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sheet XX - The South-Western portion of the Mesozoic Terraces
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sheet XXI - The Mesozoic Terraces of the Grand Canon District
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sheet XXII - The Kanab, Kaibab, Paria and Marble Canon Platforms
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sheet XXIII - The Colorado Plateau and San Francisco Mountains
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This is a
must have collection for any map history buff!
To use this
software, you must install the free ExpressView MrSid software
which is included on the CD. This is a 30 second process and will
allow you to view and manipulate/print all the maps in this CD
collection in full detail. There is a version for both Windows
platforms and Macintosh platforms and full installation instructions
are included on the CD.
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