George L. Beam's Scenic Rails of the West

National Parks

Unique in the world, the Grand Canyon's awe inspiring views and explicit visual record of the millennia was a frequent subject of the George Beam lens. The area became a National Monument in 1908, and a National Park in 1919.

The sculptured rock scenery of Arches National Park and Natural Bridges National Monuments near Moab, Utah, always popular for sightseers, is loved today also by off-road bikers and rock climbers. Spires, pinnacles, fins, balanced rocks, and 1,500 cataloged sandstone arches create a multi-colored, other-worldly landscape that stretches for miles.

Southern Colorado's Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is home to some 30 square miles of 750 foot high dunes at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The area became a National Monument in 1932, and a National Park and Preserve in 2000. The Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area was established in 1993.

Bryce and Zion National Parks are "must see" stops on the Utah tour. Bryce, Zion, and Grand Canyon are parts of the "Grand Staircase Formation" that extends for hundreds of miles north and south as part of the Colorado River drainage. Like stair steps, the geological layers are exposed one by one as the river carves its meandering path to the Gulf of California.

Fabled Yellowstone was our nation's first National Park, its wonderland of natural beauty and geothermal oddities amazing crowds of sightseers year after year. The 2 million acre preserve was set aside in 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant, and became the pilot project for National Parks everywhere in the United States. Automobiles were first allowed into the park in 1915, and most of Beam's images of this area were made soon after that time.