pbsthisdayinhistory:

On this day in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid outdoorsman, designated the Grand Canyon as a National Monument. Nine years later, it was made into a fully protected National Park. 

In 1905, on a tour of the West, President Roosevelt had briefly visited the Grand Canyon. He had never before seen it and was overwhelmed by the sight. 

Here is a selection of a few remarks he made to the crowd that had gathered to greet him:

“I want to ask you to do one thing in connection with it, in your own interest and in the interest of the country. 

Keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar 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 that every American, if he can travel at all, should see.”

Click on the image or go here to watch an excerpt of Ken Burns’s National Parks documentary.