Protection of the area’s spectacular landscape started long
before the Grand Canyon became a national park. It was made a
national forest reserve in the 1890s by President Benjamin
Harrison and a national game preserve and national monument by
President Theodore Roosevelt, who said, “Leave it as it is. You
cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it and man
can only mar it.” The Grand Canyon was designated as a national
park in February 1919. “This place really does have a
fascinating and sometimes complicated history,” Grand Canyon
Superintendent Dave Uberuaga said. A “birthday party” for the
park will be held at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center on the
South Rim at 11 a.m. on Feb. 26. Cake will be served for all in
attendance, followed by a contest to test people’s park
knowledge. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, averages 10 miles
across and its walls rise nearly a mile above the Colorado
River. It is not only a national park but a World Heritage site
as well. In 2012, 4.5 million people visited