Near Bryce Canyon City in Garfield County, Utah — The American Mountains (Southwest)
What’s in a Name?
Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 25, 2024
1. What’s in a Name? Marker
Southern Paiutes call this place Unka-koh-vah-wong-weents, which means “Red Face Standing”. Within these bowl-shaped areas – amphitheaters – stands the world’s greatest concentration of irregular rock spires, called “hoodoos”. The word is a mistranslation of the Paiute work “Oodoo”, which describes fear among faces and forms in the rocks.
In 1875, a Scottish immigrant, Ebenezer Bryce, and his family joined other settlers in the valley to the east. To access timber, he built a road that ended in an amphitheater of pink cliffs. Others started calling it “Bryce’s Canyon”. Bryce and his family moved to Arizona in 1880, never anticipating his name would remain over a century later.
[Caption]: A Southern Paiute sacred oral tradition says the hoodoos are ancient “Legend People” turned to stone by the trickster god, Coyote, as a punishment for bad deeds.
[Caption]: Ebenezer Bryce (1830-1913) worked hard to make a living in this beautiful, yet challenging, landscape.
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Natural Features • Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical year for this entry is 1875.
Location. 37°
this page online
Regionally, this marker is in Canyon Country and specifically in Color Country. It is also in the American Mountain West, in Colorado Plateau, and at the Four Corners. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain and also Mexico’s Alta California.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Bryce Amphitheater (approx. 1.3 miles away); Serial Homesteaders (approx. 1.3 miles away); The Legend People (approx. 1.3 miles away); Searching for Sustenance (approx. 1½ miles away); Building Bryce and Beyond (approx. 1½ miles away); Publicizing Bryce (approx. 1½ miles away); Streetscape (approx. 1.6 miles away); Architectural Artistry (approx. 1.6 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Bryce Canyon City.
Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 25, 2024
2. What’s in a Name? Marker
Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 25, 2024
3. Bryce Point
Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 25, 2024
4. View of Bryce Canyon National Park from Marker
Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 25, 2024
5. View of Bryce Canyon National Park from Marker
Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 25, 2024
6. View of Bryce Canyon National Park from Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on November 2, 2024. It was originally submitted on October 31, 2024, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 299 times since then and 37 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on October 31, 2024, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
