When President Harding Came to Zion

On June 27, 1923, the president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, came to Zion National Park. The townspeople had a grand celebration. All were happy, but it led to an unhappy conclusion for Carnelia Gifford Crawford, who had homesteaded land at the park entrance for 60 years. Times were changing. The president’s visit put Zion on the national map, but it necessitated the removal of the old houses and barns that belonged to Carnelia and her children. A few years later, her sons sold the land to the park. It was good for her family and for the park, but it was a very sad day for 80-year-old Carnelia Gifford Crawford.

When President Harding came to Zion
He rode high up on his horse
Through my green fields and pastures
While their plan was in the works
It’s a poor government drives an old lady from her home

When President Harding came to Zion
My sons, they shook his hand
Said my old ways were dying
So they sold off my land
It’s a sad day when an old lady leaves her home

     Thirty-two chauffeured cars brought him down our dusty road
     Thirty-two willow baskets brought him fruit we could have sold
     Thirty-two dirt-brown horses brought him past my house that day
     Only one small grandmother standing in their way

My sons said mother, don’t you worry
We’ll get you another place
But every sign I’d ever lived there
Would soon be erased
It’s a poor government drives an old lady from her home

     Thirteen blessed babies all drank from my breast
     Eighty-six grandchildren these green fields have fed
     Three hundred acres, I’d nursed all my life
     Why can’t they let me live here ’til I die, ’til I die

I have sowed and I have reaped
On that hard dirt and sand
When President Harding came to Zion
My sons, they shook his hand