Theodore Roosevelt designated 800,000 acres of the Grand Canyon as a National Monument on this date 107 years ago, placing the area under federal protection from mining and other development on January 11, 1908. As a New Yorker who had fallen in love with the West’s natural wonders during his travels as a young man, he dedicated much of his energy as president to preserving those wonders for future generations. And arguably none of the areas he placed under federal protection have inspired as much awe as the 277-mile gorge carved through Arizona over millions of years by the Colorado River.

The canyon had been a sacred site for Native Americans for over 3,000 years before being discovered by Europeans in the 16th century, and Roosevelt made his feelings on it clear: “Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. … 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."

Standing in the way was a slow-moving Congress which had been putting off granting the canyon National Park status since 1882. Landholding and mining interests hoped to exploit the area’s resources for profit, which no doubt contributed greatly to gumming up the works in Congress. Faced with this barrier, Roosevelt did the next best thing, using his executive powers under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to declare the Grand Canyon a National Monument as an “object of scientific interest” on this date.

One mining claimant complained that Roosevelt had overstepped the intent of the Antiquities Act by protecting an entire canyon. He sued the president, and the issue went all the way to the Supreme Court, who decided unanimously that a 277-mile gorge carved over millions of years, with 3 millennia of sacred history for Native Americans, indeed qualified as an “object of historic or scientific interest."

The Grand Canyon was eventually upgraded to National Park status in 1919, in an act approved by Congress and signed by Woodrow Wilson. Today the Grand Canyon attracts around five million visitors a year, who make their way around by foot, raft, mule, or helicopter, or just peer over the rim at one of nature’s masterpieces, one which Teddy Roosevelt knew could never be improved by the hand of man.

http://www.travelphotoadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/The-Beautiful-Grand-Canyon-by-Michael-Matti.jpg