Bryce Canyon

 Ebenezer Bryce was born in Dunblane, Scotland in 1830. He trained to become a ship’s carpenter. At seventeen, he met missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was the only member of his family to join the church. Ebenezer married Mary Park in Salt Lake in 1854. They were sent to Pine Valley in southern Utah, where he designed and built the oldest LDS chapel in continuous use today. He ran a sawmill that provided lumber for the St. George temple. The Bryce family then moved to Paria Valley, where they built a ranch, a lumber road and an irrigation canal. Newcomers to the area called it “Bryce’s Canyon,” but it isn’t a canyon at all. It’s actually a collection of natural amphitheaters. Bryce himself called it “a helluva place to lose a cow.” It was designated “Bryce Canyon National Monument” in 1923, “Utah National Park” in 1924, and “Bryce Canyon National Park” in 1928.