The first known Europeans to enter the area are believed to have been Franciscan missionaries in 1776. Trapper Jedediah Smith explored some of the area in 1825 while working for the American Fur Company. Then in 1847, Mormon farmers from the Salt Lake area began to settle in the area around the Virgin River. They named the area Kolob, which is the heavenly place closest to God in Mormon scripture. In 1863, Isaac Behunin established a home on the floor of the Zion Canyon where he farmed corn, tobacco, and fruit. He is credited with naming the area Zion, after the place of peace in the Bible. Additional families soon followed and the floor of the canyon continued to be farmed until 1909. John Wesley Powell’s expedition traveled through the area in 1869, and he returned again in 1872. He named the canyon Mukuntuweap, which he thought was the Paiute name. This helped to increase knowledge and interest in the area. Then in 1904, paintings of the canyon by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh were displayed at the St. Louis World’s Fair. The following year an article in Scribner’s Magazinegave the area even more national attention. The combination of paintings, photographs, and this article, led President William Howard Taft to declare the area the Mukuntuweap National Monument on July 31, 1909.