Here It Is!

Hurray! It is finally out in print! We saw our first real copy a week ago at an antique show and had to buy a copy. Our author copies haven't arrived yet, and we didn't want to wait. It took me a week to pin John down long enough to take this picture. He has been carrying this copy around with him everywhere and showing it to anyone who shows the slightest interest. I think he might be excited.

It Is Almost Here

The U of U Press sent off the final manuscript off to the printer this week. All the pre-press work is done. It has been exciting to see our work get closer and closer to reality. We can't wait to get the final product into our grubby little hands! This week John discovered that the book has made it onto Amazon.com. It can now be pre-ordered. The released date has been set for April 30. The U of U Press also has their spring/summer catalog out with a nice write up on it.

Soon I will post a little about the men who came along on the trip.

Here are some links:
U of U Press
Amazon.com

It Is Done!

Today we are finally handing over the book to the University of Utah Press. We spent a couple of late nights getting some last minute improvements made. Now its up to the press to finish it. John did a great job designing it cover to cover! We can't wait to see it in print. We hope it will be out in April 2010, just in time for the 90th anniversary of the event. Huzzah!

So What Is It About?

So, after all that rambling on for the last three posts, what is this book actually about?

Well, Zion became a national park in November 1919. At that time the park facilities for tourists were closed for the season and wouldn't open again until the following spring. Th Union Pacific Railroad saw this new national wonderland as a opportunity to get more people riding their trains. How were they going to do this? Eyre Powell, a press representative and photographer for the railroad, organized an event to celebrate the opening of the park for its first official tourist season as a park. The event would include lots of photos that could be used to promote the park and the use of the railroad to get there in newspaper across the country. What looks better in photos than pretty girls? With the help of Chauncey Parry, who ran the automobile stage from the train station in Lund, Utah, the railroad gathered up a group of six girls, mostly from the University of Utah, who were willing to spend a week in the park having fun and getting their picture taken in the grandeur of Zion Canyon. They would become Zion National Park's first official tourists as a national park.

Our book is about that week that those intrepid girls spent in the canyon in May 1920. The photos are the ones taken by Eyre Powell and then used by the Union Pacific Railroad to promote travel to the new national park. The stories in the book come from the newspapers of the time and some of the personal journals of the girls involved. There are daring escapes, breathtaking heights, music, dancing and camp pranks. The story is rounded out by some history of transportation and tourism surrounding the park. We also included biographies on all the girls because by the time you are done with their adventure, you will want to know what else happens to these unique ladies.

Our Book (part 3)

Why did we decide to write a book? Well, what else could we do when so much was practically given to us? This story was begging to be told, and I don't think that we could have done otherwise and felt good about it. Here was a story that anyone that we asked in Zion National Park about, had never heard about it. All the history books on Zion, that we could find, never even hinted at it. In fact very little was ever said about any park history between Zion becoming a national park at the end of 1919 and the opening of the lodge in 1925 except the dedication ceremony. Most of the wonderful photos hadn't been published since the early 1920s. Here was a chance to tell a story that hasn't been told for 90 years. How often does that happen? The closest thing that we could find was an article written by a daughter of one of our girls in 1973 for the Salt Lake Tribune. While researching the story, information kept falling into our laps like it was just waiting for someone to take a little notice. John, who has done a lot of research for his automobile histories, said that none of his other research ever came this easily. We received encouragement from all sides, and the families of the girls that we found were so thrilled to help us out. We always came away from those visits with renewed enthusiasm. John had collected related park items and maps over the past 10 years that fit perfectly with the story to fill it out visibly even more, and it helped that John is a graphic artist who could do all the design work. He created a ''mock up" version of the book to send to potential publishers including the University of Utah Press who responded quickly saying they wanted to publish it for us. What all of this means is that we wrote the book because it was a great unknown story with great photos that was practically pushing us to produce it. I just don't know that we had any other choice. For all we know, one of those six girls might have started to haunt us if we had just tucked the photo albums away in a box.

Please note that the text of the book was written by my husband John and not by me. He is much better at writing this story than I am. I am afraid that my enthusiasm gets in the way of my writing skills.

The above photo is just one of the great photos found in the photo albums. That is Dora Montague doing a flying dutchman over the cliffs in Zion. I don't think that girl was scared of heights.