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A Key Figure

Ephraim Portman Pectol and his brother-in-law, Joseph S. Hickman, were two of the earliest and most active advocates for protecting the Waterpocket Fold area for posterity. It is fitting, then, that Pectol's Pyramid (showcased here) is best seen from the Hickman Bridge Trail, as the main route through Capitol Reef National Park, Utah Highway 24, passes between them in the deeper Freemont River canyon.

 

Natives of nearby Torrey, Utah, they wrote articles and sent photographs promoting the region to newspapers in Utah, after Pectol's election to the state legislature in 1928. This attention eventually led to President Franklin Roosevelt setting aside just over 37,000 acres as the Capitol Reef National Monument in 1937. President Richard Nixon signed the Act to Establish Capitol Reef National Park in the State of Utah into law in December 1971.

 

Recognition:

Selected for Display - FEB 2022, National Parks of the United States (online gallery) by R Gallery + Wine Bar in Boulder, Colorado

 

Accepted for Display - JAN 2020 Darkroomers Photographic Club, San Diego

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Uploaded on June 10, 2019
Taken on June 4, 2018