The Grand Canyon is a mile-deep gorge carved by the Colorado River, stretching 270 miles long and up to eighteen miles wide through northern Arizona. First protected as a forest reserve in 1893 and a national monument by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, it became a national park in 1919 and now draws nearly 6 million visitors a year.
Details
Designed by and exclusive to: White House Holidays
Material: Solid brass
Origin: Made in the USA
How do I cross to the other side? Wingsuits and motorcycles are the preferred method of some, but we don't recommend either
What the ornament celebrates
The first Europeans reached the Grand Canyon in the 1540s, guided there by the Hopi. It wasn't until 1858 that another explorer, Joseph Christmas Ives, arrived on a mapping expedition of the Colorado River. President Benjamin Harrison granted the canyon its first federal protection as a forest reserve in 1893.
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid hunter and outdoorsman, visited the Grand Canyon and was so struck by its beauty that he wanted it kept pristine for future generations. Portions became a federal game reserve, then a national monument. The Grand Canyon achieved national park status in 1919, three years after the National Park Service itself was created under President Woodrow Wilson.
The canyon is full of life as well as beauty: more than ninety species of mammals live here, the largest such population in North America, though most, including many of its bighorn sheep, mule deer, and elk, stay out of sight, nocturnal or tucked deep within the canyon. On the South Rim stands the Desert Watchtower, a National Historic Landmark built in 1932 by architect Mary Colter and inspired by the structures of the Ancestral Puebloan people, offering a singular view of the canyon's eastern reaches.
Today an estimated 5.9 million people visit the Grand Canyon every year, making it the second most popular national park in the country.