Hagen Canyon was named for German immigrant Rudolph Hagen, who acquired land in the area by buying mining claims and established a small outpost in the Ricardo Campground area with a diner, bar, primitive lodging, and post office. He operated Red Rock Canyon as a private park, offered maps of the rock formations, and named most of them, helping begin tourism to Red Rock. After his death, the land passed within his family until it became a State Park in 1969. The landscape was once underwater at the bottom of a massive lake ten million years ago, where sediment from the Old Sierra Mountains was deposited in layers. Time and pressure turned layers of sand and mud into huge rock beds, and plate tectonic movement uplifted the valley floor and dried the lake. At the Garlock Fault, one mile south, one plate was driven upward, exposing layers deposited millions of years ago. Wind and water erosion then created the formations seen throughout Red Rock Canyon State Park. The layers now lie at a 17 degree angle, and harder red sandstone protects softer layers beneath from rainfall erosion. The bright red color comes from high iron content in some sediment layers, and when the iron oxidizes, rust-colored sediment can wash down in heavy rain so the cliffs appear to be bleeding.