Where Is Arizona?
The year was 1903. President Theodore Roosevelt was taking a three-month journey through the American Southwest aboard a special train. On the morning of May 6, the president arrived in what is now Arizona. It was the first time he had ever been to the area. That’s when he saw a breathtaking sight—the Grand Canyon.
The Grand Canyon is a deep, massive valley with steep rock sides in northwest Arizona. Twisting and turning for 278 miles, it features layers of rock in all sorts of colors, such as red, orange, golden brown, and pink. Roosevelt was overwhelmed by the views from the canyon’s rim, or edge.
Before he left, Roosevelt made a now-famous speech to the crowd that had gathered. “Keep this great wonder of nature as it now is,” he said. “You cannot improve on it. . . . What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American . . . should see.”
After Roosevelt left, the image of the Grand Canyon remained vivid in his mind, and his desire to protect it grew stronger. In 1908, he declared the Grand Canyon a national monument. But it wasn’t until 1919 that the Grand Canyon finally got the full protection Roosevelt had dreamed of. On February 26 of that year, President Woodrow Wilson passed a law making the Grand Canyon the country’s fifteenth national park. A national park is a special wilderness area protected by the US government.
Today, the Grand Canyon is the third most-visited of the sixty-three US national parks. Nearly five million people visit it each year! The Grand Canyon is also considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Carved out over millions of years by the mighty Colorado River, the world-famous canyon and the river that made it shaped much of Arizona’s landscape.
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