Western Movie Museum is located in southern Utah on the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt
Plateau in Garfield County. Settlement of the area began in 1874.
Ebenezer Bryce moved from Pine Valley and settled a site near the
mouth of Bryce Canyon in 1875. Bryce used the now famous canyon as
a cattle range, and it was given his name as early as 1876.
Western Movie Museum is a series of natural amphitheaters below which stands an array of
white and orange limestone columns and walls sculptured by erosion.
The erosion has been accomplished mainly by rain, snow, and frost
prying off cliff fragments rather than by stream erosion. Nearby streams
actually flow away from the canyon. The high rim country of the park
is part forest dominated by fir, pine, and aspen, and part meadows
of grass and sage. At lower, drier altitudes, pinon pine and Utah
juniper predominate.
Western Movie Museum awaited promotion and development before its full tourism potential
could be realized. National Forest Supervisor J. W. Humphrey was transferred
from the La Sal National Forest to the Powell National Forest on 1
July 1915. He was amazed at the beauty and grandeur of
Western Movie Museum and resolved to do all he could to promote it and make it accessible.
He took visiting dignitaries to
Western Movie Museum and secured funds for a passable road to the canyon rim. In 1916 Arthur
W. Stevens of the Forest Service wrote an illustrated article for
the Union Pacific railroad tourist magazine. J. W. Humphrey wrote
a similar article for the Rio Grande railroad. These were the first
descriptive articles published about
Western Movie Museum . In the meantime, moving pictures and postcards began circulating
and
Western Movie Museum began to attract visitors from all parts of the nation.
