- Location
- Colorado
- Current protection
- Royal Gorge Park (City of Cañon City); Bureau of Land Management lands
- Status
- No active campaign
- Tier
- Tier 3 · Smaller national site
- In the book
- Not featured in Undiscovered America
Why should it be a National Park?
Near Cañon City, the Arkansas River cuts a granite gorge more than a thousand feet deep, spanned since 1929 by a bridge that was long the highest in the world.
It is one of the most dramatic river canyons in the Rockies. A National Park would put the gorge itself ahead of the attractions built around it.
The history of National Park Campaigns
Royal Gorge appeared on the Park Service's list of proposed areas before a 1935 memorandum removed it. Local interests revived the proposal in 1940, but after a hearing in Cañon City that November the Service found it unsuitable for National Park status.
- Distinct National Park attempts
- 2 (before 1935; 1940)
- Other designation attempts
- 0
Sources
- National Park Service, Suggested Areas Resumes (1957)
- Wikipedia, List of proposed National Parks of the United States
- 1935
A Park Service memorandum removes Royal Gorge from the permanent list of proposed areas.
- 1940
Local interests revive the National Park proposal.
- November 9, 1940
After a hearing at Cañon City, the area is found unsuitable for National Park status.