Park Enlargement Map Designations, 1956-74

Map designations for changes to Grand Canyon NPS boundaries. 

  ("blueprint" or Xerox copies in my files)

1950's

NP,M-GC 7100    Jun 1956/Jan 1957   NPS     S. 693 Goldwater/Hayden

NP,M-GC 7100A  Apr 1963                   NPS     no bill

  Same as 7100 except that the s.e.1/8 section of the Hull addition is not included.

1966

No official map        Mar 1966   Saylor et al. for the Sierra Club. HR 14176

90th Congress

1967  

LNPSW-1000-GC, Jan 1967   Saylor    HR 1305

  n.a.                      Feb 1967   Aspinall et al.    HR 6132, S 1243

LNPSW-1004-GC, Mar 1967   Administration by Jackson    S 1300

LNPSW-1006-GC, May 1967  Case et al.    S 1686

LNPSW-1007-GC, Jul 1967     Saylor    n.a.

    The only difference from 1000 is going to Lees Ferry rather than to the bridge.

91st Congress

1969

LNPSW-1008-GC, Jan 1969   Saylor    HR 7615 (25 Feb)

113-91,000,  Mar 1969          Goldwater (16 Apr), intro 12 Jun 1969

113-91,001,  Jun 1969           Sierra Club proposal; intro by Sen Case 1 Oct 1969

Sierra Club, Jul 1969             The Grand Canyon   A Master Plan

113 20,000 Nov 1969            Boundary Proposal, GCNP Master Plan (SSC) 

1970

113-91,002,   Mar 1970          

113 20000-A  Aug 70            Boundary Proposal, GCNP Master Plan  897,935 ac.

labelled by EPDWSC, until May 1973

92nd Congress

1971

113 20000-B    Jan 71            (Current boundaries)

113 20000-C    Mar 71         Boundary Proposal, GCNP Master Plan 1,164,705 ac.

113 20000-D    Jul 71          Boundary Proposal, GCNP Master Plan    948,725 ac.

113 20004       Jul 71           Boundary Map  GCNP

113 20000-E    Aug 71         Boundary Proposal, GCNP Master Plan    953,725 ac.

93nd Congress

1973

113 20000-G Feb 73 Boundary Map, GCNP  Goldwater 1,196,925 ac.

Havasuapi Reservation (HIR)  169,000 ac.

113 91,003 May 73 Identical to 20000-G, but HIR 144,740 ac.

113 20000-H May 1973 Boundary Map, GCNP 1,239,795 ac

(maps now labelled DSC, Denver Service Center;

lines redrawn. show townships)

113 20011 May 1973  Boundary Map, GCNP, Case (S 2017, 19 Jun)

113 20012 May 1973  Wilderness Lands GCNP, Case. same as 20012

113 91,004? June 1973 Boundary Map GCNP, outline of Park. slight diff. w/ May

113 20000-i Nov 73  }     (shows deletions for HIR that did not happen)

113 20000-J Dec 73  } These 3 maps are related to the bill as it passed the Senate in

113 20000-K Oct 74  } Aug 1973, 1,294,098 ac.  In Oct 74, it would be to show the

differences with the House-passed bill.

113 20019 Jan 74 Udall bill draft with additions to Paria, Kanab, Parashant-Andrus, 

Whitmore areas; on section lines;

Note: House bills do not show acreages

113 20020 Mar 74 Udall bill, plus Shivwits area minus Marble east, add'ns on rims; 

mislabelled as approved by Senate; actually House Subcommittee

on Parks

113 20020A May 74 As in March, but now passed by Subc. No reference to river bdy

113 20020B Jul 74 Labelled as approved by Subc, March 1974; "on South Bank"

113 20021 Jul 74 GCNP w/ add'ns, plus proposed HIR & Use Lands; 2 versions;

second is outline of boundary. House passed Oct 74.

113 20021B Dec 74 Conference. As passed & signed: Public Law 93-620

A Complete Park: II. Competing Visions 1967-8

With the closing of the 89th Congress (1965-6), a tumultuous period in the political history of the Grand Canyon also ended. The massive, desperate effort to construct kitchen-sink legislation that would satisfy all the Colorado Basin states foundered in the House of Representatives, in some part because of Californian anxieties aroused by uncertainties as national opposition to the dams grew. The main signal that the party had moved on, however, came after Congress closed, as Interior Secretary Udall ordered Reclamation to study dozens of alternatives to the dams. But the alternatives were limited: No longer were they to be grand cash cows to provide for bringing new water to Los Angeles; the Secretary only wanted ways to pump water to Central Arizona while maintaining the water project's financial feasibility. 

A Complete Park: I. Foundations, 1966

In a last gasp of the 1950's fix-a-boundary mode, in April 1963 NPS produced map "NP,M-GC 7100A"  "Boundary Status Map Grand Canyon National Park and Monument". It was exactly the same as in 1956. (See my 26 May 2011 entry.) 

The next month, a bold, new, re-conceptualization was formally launched, when on 4 May 1963, in the first action of this kind, the Sierra Club Board of Directors voted a resolution recommending that "the Grand Canyon National Park and Monument be extended to include the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River between Lee's Ferry and the Grand Wash Cliffs, or that the area be protected by other suitable means, to preserve unimpaired this outstanding scenic part of the river in its natural state, and the Sierra Club opposes any further dams or diversions in this area". According to the cover letter sent by the Club President to the NPS Director, this resolution was passed following "prolonged discussion and lively debate".

In 1966, from my viewpoint as the new, and first, Southwest Representative of the Club, the question of protecting the Grand Canyon and enlarging the National Park was posed not just as a new chapter in a long history, but as opening a new book: From now on, we friends & advocates of a dam-free, wild & natural, Grand Canyon would be championing a Grand Canyon National Park built on the principle of a complete Park, one that came as close as possible to encompassing all the Canyon, its side canyons, and the plateaus into which it was dug. Between the Paria (or Lees Ferry, sometimes) and the Grand Wash Cliffs, we wanted to include all the land that drained into the Canyon. 

On the Edge XIII: Maps are meaningful

This photo is of a billboard that used to be at the Mather Point parking lot, where millions of people saw it in the 1960's and 70's. 

It was maybe 3' high by 5' wide. with a glass front, entitled "GRAND CANYON DIMENSIONS". (I dont know who the "ghost in the glass" is.) For years and years, this display misled Mather Point visitors about the Canyon's length.

The Canyon is not 217 river miles long. It is 277 river miles long.