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Enos A. Mills and Laurence F. Schmeckebier
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Title: Your National Parks
With Detailed Information for Tourists
Author: Enos A. Mills
Laurence F. Schmeckebier
Release Date: March 3, 2013 [EBook #42248]
Language: English
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By Enos A. Mills
YOUR NATIONAL PARKS. Illustrated.
THE STORY OF SCOTCH. Illustrated.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN WONDERLAND. Illustrated.
THE STORY OF A THOUSAND-YEAR PINE. Illustrated.
IN BEAVER WORLD. Illustrated.
THE SPELL OF THE ROCKIES. Illustrated.
WILD LIFE ON THE ROCKIES. Illustrated.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
YOUR NATIONAL PARKS
[Illustration: JOHN COLTER, THE DISCOVERER OF YELLOWSTONE PARK]
A Guide to the National Parks
YOUR
NATIONAL PARKS
BY
ENOS A. MILLS
WITH DETAILED INFORMATION
FOR TOURISTS
BY
LAURENCE F. SCHMECKEBIER
_And with Illustrations and Maps_
[Illustration]
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY ENOS A. MILLS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_Published June 1917_
TO
GEORGE W. PERKINS
AND
WILLIAM A. WELCH
WHOSE STATESMANSHIP, ENERGY, IDEALS, AND COURAGE ARE MAKING THE
PALISADES INTER-STATE PARK "THE GREATEST PARK IN THE WORLD"
PREFACE
St. Louis had a memorable "flag day" a little more than a century ago.
Within twenty-four hours the yellow and red flag of Spain was run down
and the tricolor run up; this hauled down and the Stars and Stripes
run up. The Louisiana Territory thus became a part of the United
States. In a flash, the western boundary of this country was changed
from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.
Scarcely were the Stars and Stripes flying, before Lewis and Clark
were on their way to explore the vast and mysterious Louisiana
Territory--the West. Theirs was one of the most comprehensive and
successful exploring expeditions on record--one of the greatest of
outdoor expeditions. There were adventures and hardships, but after
two years the party returned to civilization with the loss of only
one man. The resources of the great West were definitely placed before
the world.
This expedition revealed the extraordinary resourcefulness of Lewis
and Clark and brought out also two other characters who are worthy of
a place in American literature and whose achievements might well be a
source of inspiration in American life. These are John Colter, who
afterwards discovered the Yellowstone, and Sacagawea, the "bird
woman." Sacagawea was the one woman of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
She rendered remarkable service, and her name will be forever
associated with exploration, with woodcraft, and with the
National-Park wildernesses.
Just before the returning Lewis and Clark expedition reached St.
Louis, it met trappers starting up the river--going into the great
West. This was the real beginning of the trapping industry, which for
nearly two generations was the dominating influence of the West.
The West was thoroughly explored by the trappers. In a number of
States they formed the first permanent settlement. The trappers
harvested the furs of lakes and streams throughout the mountains and
built up the "Commerce of the Prairies." We are indebted to them for
the Oregon and Santa Fé trails. All history shows no more picturesque
or resourceful character than the trapper. Among them were such great
men as John Colter, James Bridger, and Kit Carson.
The trapper was followed by the prospector. The trapper did not search
for gold. The prospector did not look for furs or fertile lands. In a
different way the prospector exploited the same territory as the
trapper and thus placed the resources and the romance of the West
before the public.
Closely following the trapper and prospector was that rugged and
aggressive character, the cowboy. He had a definite part in the
forward movement of the frontier. The cowboy cared nothing for furs,
or gold, or fertile lands. He was interested in the rich grasses for
his cattle. He, too, had his short day. These characters--the cowboy,
the prospector, and the trapper--tarried for a brief moment on the
frontier when the farmer, the first lasting settler, arrived. All
these armed and vigorous people, the wearers of buckskin, were people
of individuality and power. They made great changes throughout the
West, and hastened its final development.
Pioneer men and women are among the great and influential figures in
history. They were human, they were honorable, and we do honor them.
They did not want or need sympathy. They were getting much, perhaps
the most, from life; they were happy. We think of theirs as being a
life of sacrifice, but it really was a life of selection. They were
away from the crowd--from the enemies of sincerity and individuality.
Of all people they were most nearly free. But the pioneers are gone.
The frontier no longer exists, and the days of the wilderness are
gone forever. Yet, in our magnificent National Parks we still have a
bit of the primeval world and the spirit of the vigorous frontier. In
these wild parks we may rebuild the past, and in them the trapper, the
prospector, the cowboy, and the pioneer may act once more their part
in the scenes that knew them.
These wilderness empires of our National Parks have been snatched from
leveling forces of development. They are likely to prove the richest,
noblest heritage of the nation. Here the world is at play, here are
scenes ever new and that will greatly help to keep the nation young.
In the words of John Dickinson Sherman: "It is as if Nature in these
places had in self-defense devoted all her energies to scenery,
proclaiming to the nation, 'Here I will make playgrounds for the
people. Here is nothing for commerce or industry. Here is natural
beauty at its wildest and best. Elsewhere man must live by the sweat
of his brow. Here let him rest and play. Here I will rule supreme for
all time.'"
There are seventeen National Parks. New ones will early be made and
there are at least twenty other scenic regions which should at once be
added. No nation has ever fallen for having too much scenery. Scenery
is, indeed, one of our most valuable resources, and these Parks will
enable us to build up a scenic industry of magnitude. Already they are
being developed with roads and trails, and before long there will be
in all of them hotels and camps for visitors of every taste, together
with special camps and provision for school-children.
I have tried to describe a few of the wonders of the Parks and to
suggest the larger, fuller use of them. Through most of the Parks
described I have had happy excursions afoot, alone and unarmed. Not
only do the Parks contain some of the world's sublimest and most
beautiful scenes, but each Park is a wild-life reservation, a place
where guns are forbidden. Thus protected, these wildernesses will
remain forever wild, forever mysterious and primeval, holding for the
visitor the spell of the outdoors, exciting the spirit of exploration.
Within them will survive that poetic million-year-old highway, the
trail. Among their pathless scenes wild life will be perpetuated.
Chains of mountain-peaks will ever stand--"the silent caravan that
never passes by, the caravan whose camel backs are laden with the
sky"--with purple forests, mountain-high waterfalls, vast and broken
cañons, wind-swept plateaus, splendid lakes, and peaks and glaciers
often touched with cloud and sunshine.
Our National Parks will continue for generations to come to be the
No Man's Land, the Undiscovered Country, the Mysterious Old West,
the Land of Romance and Adventure. My great hope and belief is that
they will become a marked factor in public education. Surely, these
wonderlands mean much for the general welfare, and will help to
develop greater men and women--to arouse enthusiasm for our native
land, and for nature everywhere.
E. A. M.
CONTENTS
I. THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 3
1. A CAMP-FIRE THAT MADE HISTORY 3
2. THE DISCOVERY OF THE YELLOWSTONE 10
3. THE GEYSERS, LAKES, AND STREAMS 28
4. AGES OF FIRE AND ICE 38
5. THE PETRIFIED FORESTS 45
6. AREA; TREES, FLOWERS, AND ANIMALS 51
7. ENTRANCES 53
8. ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY 54
9. LOST IN THE WILDERNESS 58
II. THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 65
1. ICE-KING TOPOGRAPHY 70
2. TREES AND FORESTS 76
3. PLANT LIFE 79
4. THE REALM OF FALLING WATER 83
5. SEEING YOSEMITE 88
6. HISTORY OF YOSEMITE 93
III. THE SEQUOIA AND THE GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARKS 99
THE BIG TREES 104
IV. MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK 116
1. THE SPLENDID WILD-FLOWER GARDEN 122
2. GLACIERS OF MOUNT RAINIER 130
V. CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK 137
VI. GLACIER NATIONAL PARK 148
HISTORY OF GLACIER NATIONAL PARK 157
VII. MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 161
VIII. ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 175
IX. THE GRAND CAÑON 190
X. LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK 211
XI. HAWAII NATIONAL PARK 221
XII. THREE NATIONAL MONUMENTS
1. THE OLYMPIC NATIONAL MONUMENTS 230
2. THE NATURAL BRIDGES AND RAINBOW
BRIDGE NATIONAL MONUMENTS 236
3. MUKUNTUWEAP NATIONAL MONUMENT 239
XIII. OTHER NATIONAL PARKS 242
1. WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK 242
2. SULLY'S HILL PARK 244
3. CASA GRANDE RUIN RESERVATION 245
4. HOT SPRINGS RESERVATION 246
5. PLATT NATIONAL PARK 248
6. MOUNT MCKINLEY NATIONAL PARK 248
XIV. CANADIAN NATIONAL PARKS 251
1. JASPER PARK 252
2. ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK 254
3. YOHO PARK 256
4. WATERTON LAKES PARK 258
5. REVELSTOKE PARK 260
6. THE ANIMAL PARKS 260
7. ST. LAWRENCE ISLANDS PARK 261
8. FORT HOWE PARK 262
XV. PARK-DEVELOPMENT AND NEW PARKS 264
XVI. THE SPIRIT OF THE FOREST 282
XVII. WILD LIFE IN NATIONAL PARKS 296
XVIII. IN ALL WEATHERS 317
XIX. THE SCENERY IN THE SKY 340
1. TIMBER-LINE 340
2. ABOVE THE TIMBER-LINE 345
3. THE WORK OF THE ICE KING 351
4. HIGH PEAKS 356
XX. JOHN MUIR 360
XXI. NATIONAL PARKS THE SCHOOL OF NATURE 366
XXII. WHY WE NEED NATIONAL PARKS 378
XXIII. THE TRAIL 388
APPENDIX
_A._ ACT OF DEDICATION OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 397
_B._ THE NATIONAL PARKS AT A GLANCE 400
_C._ PROPOSED NATIONAL PARKS 403
_D._ NATIONAL MONUMENTS 405
_E._ DOMINION NATIONAL PARKS OF CANADA 412
BIBLIOGRAPHY 415
GUIDE TO THE NATIONAL PARKS
INTRODUCTION 425
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 433
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 444
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK 455
GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARK 459
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK 460
CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK 470
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK 475
MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 488
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 491
THE GRAND CAÑON 495
LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK 500
HAWAII NATIONAL PARK 502
MOUNT MCKINLEY NATIONAL PARK 505
HOT SPRINGS OF ARKANSAS 506
MINOR NATIONAL PARKS
CASA GRANDE RUIN 508
WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK 508
PLATT NATIONAL PARK 509
SULLY'S HILL PARK 509
NATIONAL MONUMENTS 510
CANADIAN PARKS
ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK 515
YOHO PARK 516
GLACIER PARK 517
JASPER PARK 518
REVELSTOKE PARK 518
WATERTON LAKES PARK 519
BUFFALO PARK 519
ELK ISLAND PARK 520
ST. LAWRENCE ISLANDS PARK 520
FORT HOWE PARK 520
INDEX 521
ILLUSTRATIONS
JOHN COLTER, THE DISCOVERER OF YELLOWSTONE PARK _Frontispiece_
_From a drawing by E. S. Paxson_
MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF THE NATIONAL PARKS AND
NATIONAL MONUMENTS 1
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 30
_From a photograph by George R. King_
OLD FAITHFUL GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 34
_From a photograph by Haynes, St. Paul, Minn._
GRAND CAÑON FROM ARTIST POINT, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 42
_From a copyright photograph by Haynes, St. Paul_
PETRIFIED FORESTS IN AMETHYST MOUNTAIN, YELLOWSTONE
NATIONAL PARK 46
_Adapted from an illustration of the United States
Geological Survey_
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF YOSEMITE VALLEY 66
HALF DOME, YOSEMITE 70
_From a photograph by George R. King_
UPPER AND LOWER YOSEMITE FALLS 84
_From a photograph by the Pillsbury Picture Company_
LAKE TENAYA, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 88
_From a photograph by the Desmond Company_
THE FOUR BROTHERS, SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK 104
_From a photograph by Lindley Eddy, Ranger, Cal._
STAGE ROAD, MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK 118
_From a photograph by Curtis & Miller, Seattle, Wash._
MOUNT RAINIER FROM PARADISE VALLEY 124
_From a photograph by Curtis & Miller_
CRATER LAKE AND WIZARD ISLAND 138
_From a photograph by the Kiser Studio_
PHANTOM SHIP, CRATER LAKE 144
_By permission of the National Park Service_
MCDERMOTT FALLS AND GRINNELL MOUNTAIN, GLACIER NATIONAL PARK 150
_From a photograph by Haynes, St. Paul_
SPRUCE TREE HOUSE, MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 166
_From a photograph by Arthur Chapman_
ESTES PARK AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 176
_From a photograph by Enos A. Mills._
LOCH VALE, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 180
_From a photograph by W. T. Parke, Estes Park, Colo._
FERN LAKE, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 188
_From a photograph by H. T. Cowling_
LOOKING WEST FROM NORTH SIDE OF GRAND CAÑON, SHOWING POINT
SUBLIME AND ISIS TEMPLE 192
_By permission of the Department of the Interior_
LASSEN PEAK IN ERUPTION 214
_From a copyright photograph by B. F. Loomis_
MOUNT ST. HELENS FROM THE TIMBER-LINE TRAIL ON MOUNT RAINIER 234
_From a photograph by A. H. Barnes_
RAINBOW NATURAL BRIDGE, RAINBOW NATIONAL MONUMENT 238
_From a photograph by the Geological Survey_
ILLECILLEWAET VALLEY, WITH MOUNT SIR DONALD IN THE DISTANCE,
GLACIER PARK, CANADA 252
_From a photograph taken for the Commissioner of Dominion
Parks_
TETON MOUNTAIN REGION: PROPOSED ADDITION TO YELLOWSTONE PARK 266
_From a photograph by J. E. Stimson_
MOUNT BAKER FROM THE WEST 270
_From a copyright photograph by W. H. Wilcox, Port Townsend,
Wash._
MOUNT ST ELIAS FROM EAST SIDE OF AGASSIZ GLACIER, ALASKA 274
_From a photograph by J. C. Russell_
ON THE ROAD TO SHERMAN TREE, GIANT FOREST, SEQUOIA NATIONAL
PARK 282
_From a photograph by George F. Belden_
ELK IN JACKSON HOLE 296
_From a photograph by S. N. Leek_
BLACK BEAR CUBS, SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK 304
_From a photograph by Lindley Eddy_
LONG'S PEAK, FROM CHASM LAKE, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 320
_From a photograph by Enos A. Mills_
ABOVE THE TIMBER-LINE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK,
SHOWING LONG'S PEAK 346
_From a photograph by H. T. Cowling_
JOHN MUIR IN MUIR WOODS 360
_From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason_
TRAIL NEAR TIMBER-LINE, INDIAN HENRY'S PARK, MOUNT RAINIER 388
_From a photograph by Curtis & Miller_
MAP OF YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 436
MAP OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 446
MAP OF GLACIER NATIONAL PARK 476
MAP OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 492
_The maps and bird's-eye view are used by permission of the
National Park Service, Department of the Interior._
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF NATIONAL PARKS AND NATIONAL
MONUMENTS, 1917
_By permission of the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior_]
YOUR NATIONAL PARKS
YOUR NATIONAL PARKS
I
THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
1. A CAMP-FIRE THAT MADE HISTORY
On September 19, 1870, a number of men were chatting around a
camp-fire in the wilds of northwestern Wyoming. They had been
exploring the Yellowstone wonderland. They had seen the
geysers,--little hot-water volcanoes,--the pools of boiling colored
mud, the great petrified forest, and the golden cañon of the
Yellowstone, into whose colored depths the snowy river leaps. The
exploration was over, and the men were about to start for their homes.
A group were discussing how they might secure the ownership of this
scenic empire. A monopoly of this wonderland would mean a fortune.
The discussion was interrupted. Cornelius Hedges arose before the
camp-fire. He said that private ownership ought never to be
considered. This region, he thought, should be set aside by the
Government and forever held for the unrestricted use of the people.
The magnificent National-Park idea was thus born by a camp-fire in the
wilds. The views of this statesman prevailed, and it was agreed that
the park project be launched at once and vigorously pushed. And this
was done. A few enterprising, aggressive men championed the measure so
earnestly that the Park became a reality in less than two years after
the idea originated.
This celebrated camp was near the junction of the Gibbon and Firehole
Rivers, at the foot of what now is National Park Mountain. In 1891 I
made a reverent pilgrimage to this historic spot. I am grateful to
every one who helped establish the Yellowstone Park. I am glad that
the idea of a National Park was a camp-fire thought.
The Helena (Montana) "Herald" of November 9, 1870, had an article by
Cornelius Hedges, containing what is probably the first published
reference to the park project. Honor must be given to David E. Folsom
and a number of other individuals for publicly suggesting,
independently, a similar idea. These suggestions, however, were barren
of results.
In the course of that autumn a bold park campaign was begun by
Nathaniel P. Langford, Cornelius Hedges, and William H. Claggett, who
had just been elected Delegate to Congress from Montana. Langford
lectured in behalf of the project before interested audiences in
Minneapolis, Washington, New York, and elsewhere; and he and Walter
Trumbull published magazine articles on the subject. Copies of
Langford's article in "Scribner's Magazine" were placed in the hands
of every Member of Congress.
Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, of the United States Geological Survey of the
Territories, became interested in the cause, and rendered invaluable
service. During the summer of 1871 he explored the Yellowstone region
and took scores of photographs. In coöperation with others, he drew
the bill for Congressional enactment, and marked the boundary lines of
the Park. This bill was introduced in the House by William H.
Claggett, December 18, 1871. Senator Pomeroy, of Kansas, immediately
introduced the identical measure in the Senate. Claggett, Hayden,
Langford, and others made a thorough canvass. Each Member of Congress
was personally interviewed. The enthusiasm, intelligence, and
sincerity of these advocates produced winning results. The question
came to a successful vote in the Senate, January 30, 1872. Senator
Cole, of California, opposed.
In the House, the Committee on Public Lands reported the bill
favorably. Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, championed the measure.
It reached a vote, February 27, 1872, with the following result:
yeas, 115; nays, 65; not voting, 60. The bill was signed by President
Grant, March 1, 1872.
It is a remarkable fact that Congress should have thus created the
Yellowstone National Park. Through the ages the privileged classes
have had almost exclusive enjoyment of scenic empires. The campaign
which brought about the creation of this Park was brief, intense, and
unique. It was a genuine and epoch-marking achievement.
The National-Park idea has gone round the world. All leading nations
now have national parks and are planning more. Time is likely to stamp
our original legislation as one of the important acts of
statesmanship. A few public-spirited men of vision began a revolution
and triumphed. The anniversary of this event may some day be observed
with world-wide celebration. People progress in the improvement of
their playgrounds no less than in the ordering of their workshops.
Concerning this National-Park legislation, General Hiram M.
Chittenden, author of "The Yellowstone National Park," makes the
following comment:--
Perhaps no act of our National Congress has received such general
approbation at home or such profuse commendation from foreigners
as that creating the Yellowstone National Park. The lapse of time
only serves to confirm and extend its importance, and to give
additional force to the sentiment so well expressed by the Earl of
Dunraven when he visited the Park in 1874: "All honor then to the
United States for having bequeathed as a free gift to man the
beauties and curiosities of 'Wonderland.' It was an act worthy of
a great nation, and she will have her reward in the praise of the
present army of tourists, no less than in the thanks of the
generations of them yet to come."
It was a notable act, not only on account of the transcendent
importance of the territory it was designed to protect, but
because it was a marked innovation in the traditional policy of
government. From time immemorial privileged classes have been
protected by law in the withdrawal, for the exclusive enjoyment,
of immense tracts for forests, parks, and game preserves. But
never before was a region of such vast extent as the Yellowstone
Park set apart for the use of all the people without distinction
of rank or wealth.
It has been well said that "history is geography set in motion." And
"Geography," says Kant, "lies at the basis of history." The peculiar
geographic environment of the Yellowstone tract had a definite and
striking influence on the early history of the region. It attracted
few visitors and no settlers. To the pioneer and the Indian it offered
few necessities, and these were almost inaccessible owing to climatic
discomforts and difficulties of communication. Even to-day, for
commercial use, the Yellowstone country would support only a sparse
population.
But what formerly repelled now attracts. Time has brought changes.
Congested population, the necessity for outdoor life, the destruction
of most of the wild outing-places--these conditions have given to this
and to other scenic mountain places a high economic value; likewise
what may be called a nobler or higher value. Reserved and used as a
recreation park by the public, it has become an economic asset of
enormous importance. And through park use it conveys benefits to
thousands.
Yesterday the Yellowstone environing factor arrested, deflected, and
retarded the movement and the development of society. To-day it
attracts, arouses, energizes, and ennobles a multitude.
2. THE DISCOVERY OF THE YELLOWSTONE
In the Yellowstone National Park--the first national park in the
world--are so many natural wonders, of such unusual character, that
not until the tract was discovered the sixth time were the American
people convinced of its existence. Sixty-three years elapsed from the
time of its first discovery to that of its recognition as an
actuality.
The first two discoveries--they were made by trappers a generation
apart--were laughed at and soon forgotten. The third, by prospectors,
led to a successful private exploring expedition from Montana. This
was followed by a larger and semi-official expedition, which also
achieved its object. The sixth and last was an official discovery by
the United States Government.
The Indians of the Yellowstone region knew of the present Park tract.
They had a north-and-south trail across it, also one from east to
west. To them it was the "Top of the World," the "Land of Burning
Mountains," and the "Yellow Rock." But its wonders appear to have
produced little or no impression on the Indians; there is an absolute
dearth of myths, legends, and even of superstitions concerning it. To
me this is remarkable. From every point of view the natives regarded
the Yellowstone with indifference. Lewis and Clark daily questioned
Indians concerning the character of the country, but the explorers
heard nothing of the Yellowstone wonderland, although they passed and
repassed within a few miles of it.
The Indians made scant use of this territory. In an average year the
passes into it are blocked with snow for nine months of the twelve.
Besides, it is mostly covered with a tangle of forests. In earlier
days, living in it or traveling through it was difficult. Though
filled with big game during the summer, at no time of year was it
equal to the surrounding country as a hunting-ground.
John Colter, who first discovered the Yellowstone region in 1807, was
a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was a hunter and
trapper, a master of woodcraft, and an outdoor man of the first class;
at the time of the discovery he was thirty-five years of age, nearly
six feet tall, and an athlete who could hold his own in the games of
the trappers' rendezvous. His endurance, courage, and resourcefulness
were marvelous. Neither wilderness nor hostile Indian had terrors for
him. The five years that he spent in the Yellowstone region were so
crowded with wilderness adventure that his name is immortal in the
history of the American frontier. He obtained his release from the
Lewis and Clark exploring party at a point on the Missouri River, some
distance below the mouth of the Yellowstone, in August, 1806. He had
served with the expedition more than two years.
With two trappers, Colter that year proceeded up the Missouri and
spent the winter somewhere on its headwaters. The following spring he
left his companions and started for St. Louis. After a solitary
journey of about two thousand miles, he met Manuel Lisa, the
celebrated trapper and trader, who, with a large party, was on his way
to found a trading-post somewhere on the headwaters of the Missouri.
Lisa persuaded Colter to turn back with him.
Strong is the lure of the wilderness. Although Colter had been away
from civilization three years, and a triumphant welcome awaited his
return, he again postponed the enjoyment of all that old friends and
city attractions could offer, to resume the adventurous experiences of
a trapper's life among hostile Indians in the wilds.
Lisa built a trading-post, Fort Manuel, at the junction of the Big
Horn and Yellowstone Rivers, about two hundred miles southeast of the
Yellowstone Park. From here, with a thirty-pound pack and rifle,
Colter set off alone on a thousand-mile journey into the wilderness to
tell the surrounding Indian tribes of this new trading-post.
He traveled a few hundred miles to the southwest without notable
adventure. We now marvel at the results of this journey, for its
discoveries put Colter in the front rank of geographical explorers on
the American continent. He discovered the Wind River Range, Union
Pass, Jackson Hole, Teton Pass, Pierre's Hole, and the Grand Teton. He
was the first to see the headwaters of those two great rivers the
Green Fork of the Colorado and the Snake Fork of the Columbia. These
discoveries might well have been enough for any one man, but his
greatest discovery was still before him.
Colter was with a band of Crows near Pierre's Hole when it was
attacked by marauding Blackfeet. Of necessity Colter fought with the
Crows, who were victorious. The Blackfeet blamed Colter for their
defeat, and from this incident may have arisen the long-continued
hostility of the Blackfeet tribes against the whites.
Again alone, Colter set forth from Pierre's Hole, St. Anthony, Idaho,
and traveled straight across the mountains to Fort Manuel. A wound in
the leg, which he had received in the fight with the Blackfeet, was
not yet healed. The direct route that he took for his return may have
been chosen as the shortest, but most probably was selected in order
to avoid the Blackfeet.
The crowning achievement of this remarkable journey was the discovery
and traversing of the Yellowstone wonderland. His course took Colter
diagonally, from southwest to northeast, across what now is the
Yellowstone National Park. He probably passed along the west shore of
Yellowstone Lake, and may have followed the Yellowstone River from the
lake to the falls. He saw numerous geysers, hot springs, paint-pots,
and possibly Sulphur Mountain. He noted that numerous rivers had their
sources in the Park and flowed from it in all directions, thus
justifying the Indian name for the region, "Top of the World." After
crossing Mount Washburn he probably forded the river near Tower Falls
and then followed the east fork of the Yellowstone.
Colter arrived safely at Fort Manuel after a journey of about three
hundred miles from Pierre's Hole and a round trip of about eight
hundred miles. Aside from its geographical value, this was a
remarkable wilderness achievement.
A little later came the most extraordinary chapter of Colter's
adventurous life. In 1809, with a companion named John Potts, he was
trapping beavers near the Three Forks of the Missouri. They were
rowing up a small stream that flowed into the Jefferson River, the
most western of the forks. At a point on this stream about five miles
from the Jefferson, they heard a great trampling. High banks and
brushwood shut off their view.
Presently about five hundred Blackfeet appeared on the banks and
ordered them to come ashore. Escape was impossible. The two men had
the hardihood to throw the beaver-traps overboard, hoping to recover
them later. As the canoe touched the shore, an Indian snatched Potts's
rifle from him. Thereupon Colter sprang ashore, wrested the rifle from
the Indian, and handed it to Potts who immediately pushed off into the
stream. Colter told him to come back and not to try to escape. An
arrow whizzed by Colter, and Potts fell back in the canoe, crying out,
"I'm done for!" as he shot an Indian dead. In an instant his body was
filled with arrows.
The Blackfeet seized Colter and stripped him naked, then discussed
methods of torturing him to death. They decided to set him up for a
target, but the chief interfered--that was not exciting enough for
him. Seizing Colter by the shoulder, he asked him if he could run
fast. The question was greeted with howls of delight by the Blackfeet.
The chief led Colter out on the prairie about three hundred yards from
the band, pointed in the direction of the Jefferson River, told him to
save himself if he could, and cast him loose. Colter ran, the
Blackfeet whooped and pursued, and the race for life was on.
The ground was thick with prickly pears that pierced Colter's bare
feet. Nevertheless, he kept ahead of his pursuers. When about half the
five miles to the Jefferson had been covered, he ventured to look
back. The Indians were much scattered, and he had gained on the main
body; but one Indian, carrying a spear, was close upon him.
Colter exerted himself to the utmost, and by the time he came within a
mile of the Jefferson he was exhausted and blood from his nostrils had
covered the front of his body. He stopped suddenly, turned, and spread
out his arms. The Blackfoot, almost upon him, but also exhausted,
attempted to stop and throw his spear, but he fell and the spear
broke. Colter sprang upon him, seized the spear-head, pinned him to
the ground, and ran on.
The foremost of the remaining Indians stopped by the fallen runner.
When others came, they all set up a whoop and resumed the chase.
Colter gained the river-bank in advance of all his pursuers, just
where there happened to be a large beaver house, standing partly
against the bank and partly in the water. Knowing that the entrance to
the house was at the bottom, under the water, he dived and succeeded
in forcing his way to the floor just above the water-level.
Man fleeing from man has hidden in strange places, but it may be
doubted whether one ever before sought safety in a beaver house of
brush and mud!
Soon the Blackfeet were searching all over the place, "screeching like
so many devils." They made search for the naked white man all the rest
of the day. Apparently even their savage cunning never suspected the
beaver house. Although they frequently clambered over it, they did not
disturb it.
When night came and Colter could no longer hear the Indians, he swam
downstream, gained the prairie, and headed for Fort Manuel, some two
hundred miles away. Naked, with bleeding feet, he walked over prickly
pears on the prairie and through snow in the mountains, which he
crossed above the timber-line. The sun blistered him. Part of the
time, he traveled by night and lay hid by day. He appears to have
lived chiefly on the Indian-turnip (_Psoralea esculenta_).
Colter arrived at Fort Manuel in terrible shape. At first the men did
not recognize him. He had been eleven days in making the distance
between Three Forks and the fort.
That winter Colter had the courage to go back alone to the scene of
his capture to recover his beaver-traps. Before he reached them he was
ambushed by Blackfeet, but escaped. He returned to the fort, and the
following spring he was with Pierre Menard at Three Forks when the
place was successfully attacked by Blackfeet. Colter was among the few
who escaped.
Pierre Menard wrote a four-page letter to his brother-in-law, Pierre
Chouteau, and Colter started with it for St. Louis. With a companion,
"Mr. William Bryant," he made the three-thousand-mile journey by canoe
in thirty days. Upon his arrival at St. Louis, he reported to his old
commander, William Clark; told him the story of his journeys,
discoveries, and adventures, and gave him much material for his
forthcoming map of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Clark traced on
the map the route of Colter's Yellowstone Park journey and gave it the
legend "Colter's Route of 1807."
There is nothing incredible about any of Colter's stories. His
accounts of the Yellowstone region appear to have been remarkably true
to fact. His escape from the Indians, and his various journeys, are
experiences within the range of human achievement. His hiding in a
beaver house is easily possible. His race and his naked journey across
the mountains show the courage and hardihood of the frontiersman of
the day. I have been over the place where he ran for his life from the
Blackfeet and have followed his trail across the mountains.
Henry M. Brackenridge, the author of "Views of Louisiana, together
with Journal," secured Colter's story at first hand, and he does it
justice. John Bradbury, author of "Travels into the Interior of North
America," did much important work in the Mississippi and Missouri
Valleys in the years 1809-11. He also got Colter's story from Colter
himself, and gives a careful account of the race for life with the
Blackfeet. The account given by General Thomas James, in "Three Years
among the Indians and Mexicans," is a third first-hand story of
Colter's activities. Washington Irving was too good a literary
craftsman to overlook Colter's story. In "Astoria" he retells the
escape from the Blackfeet. General Hiram M. Chittenden gives full
appreciation to Colter in his "History of the Early Western Fur Trade"
and "The Yellowstone National Park," both standard works.
Nevertheless, St. Louis did not believe Colter. He told his travels,
discoveries, and adventures, and the people laughed in derision. For
two generations St. Louis mockingly referred to the Yellowstone
wonderland as "Colter's Hell."
Colter married and went to live near Daniel Boone at La Charette. He
declined to join the Astoria expedition, and this is the last heard
of him. He may have died shortly afterwards; or it is possible that,
because of unjust public opinion, he may have moved into seclusion. At
any rate, the later years and the burial-place of the first discoverer
of the Yellowstone National Park are unknown.
Colter's story is a wilderness story of supreme character. It is full
of the vigor and independence of outdoors. Colter is an heroic and
picturesque figure in national history. I wish every boy and girl in
the land could read his adventures.
The second discovery of the Yellowstone site was also made by a
trapper. James Bridger, of Fort Bridger fame, was there in 1830, but
his description of its wonders was laughed at as "just another of old
Jim Bridger's good yarns." Between 1830 and 1843 the region was
visited by many trappers and traders, and its wonders were common
knowledge to the plainsmen of the Missouri Valley. Some accounts got
into print. Nevertheless, the Yellowstone was no more real to the
American of that generation than was "Colter's Hell" to the generation
before.
Trapping began to fall off. The Mexican War and the California gold
excitement led public attention away from the Yellowstone country, and
by the beginning of the Civil War it was as completely forgotten as if
it had never been known.
It was the prospector who gave the Yellowstone tract to the world for
the third time. By 1865, reports of its wonders had been spread far
and wide by prospectors attracted to the region by the Montana gold
excitement. At last Montana became mildly curious over these reports.
In 1869, David E. Folsom, C. W. Cook, and William Peterson visited the
region. They told enough to bring about the organization of a large
semi-official expedition.
This Yellowstone expedition (1870) is known as the "Washburn-Doane
Expedition," and from it dates the latter-day history of the Park.
Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane, Second Cavalry, U.S.A., with a sergeant
and four privates was detailed from Fort Ellis to escort the
expedition. Among its nine civilians were General Henry D. Washburn,
Surveyor-General of Montana; Nathaniel P. Langford, author of
"Vigilante Days and Ways" and first superintendent of the Park;
Cornelius Hedges, who first proposed setting apart the region as a
National Park; and Samuel T. Hauser, president of the First National
Bank of Helena, and later Governor of Montana.
So skeptical was this party that when the steam of Old Faithful was
first seen through the woods it was believed to be a forest fire.
Mr. Hedges subsequently said, "I think a more confirmed set of
skeptics never went out into the wilderness than those who composed
our party, and never was a party more completely surprised and
captivated with the wonders of nature."
Through the press and lecture-platform, the Washburn-Doane expedition
spread the knowledge of its discoveries broadcast over the country.
The direct result of its work was that the United States Government
sent an official expedition to the Park the next year. This was a
joint expedition made up from the Engineering Corps of the Army and
from the United States Geological Survey of the Territories. The
official United States Government expedition of 1871 officially put it
on the map, with official scientific notes and photographs. Thus the
sixth discovery of this wondrous region, after two generations of
unbelief, convinced the people that it existed!
During these two generations the unexplored wilderness of the
Louisiana Purchase had been formed into seven new States of the Union,
containing more than five million people. And "Colter's Hell," when
its existence had been finally and officially established, was within
two hundred and fifty miles of a transcontinental railroad.
3. THE GEYSERS, LAKES, AND STREAMS
Water in numberless pleasing forms is one of the attractive features
of the Yellowstone Park. There are snowy waterfalls that leap in
glory. There are geysers--transient, towering, fluted--with white
columns draped with steam. Both the geysers and the waterfalls bring
the rainbow to them; or, the prismatic springs go to the rainbow for
their colors. The cascades have all the excitement of ocean breakers.
The lakes mirror the clouds, and their placid bosoms reflect the stars
that are "in the quiet skies." There are streams that wind and linger,
and brooks that go on forever. There are hot springs and cold, large
springs and small, each with its own attractive setting. Many burst
through the roofs of caves; others gush from grottoes; still others
pour forth from mounds and columns.
The quiescent springs and prismatic pools have a delicate, exquisite,
gemlike beauty unlike anything else in the world of nature or of art.
The waters are soft blue. Changing lights tinge the water with
iridescence; touch its surface with soft luminosity; give to moulded
and sculptured basins a refinement of coloring that transcends belief.
Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden gives this glowing description:--
The wonderful transparency of the water surpasses anything of the
kind I have ever seen in any other portion of the world. The sky,
with the smallest cloud that flits across it, is reflected in its
clear depths, and the ultramarine colors, more vivid than the sea,
are greatly heightened by constant, gentle vibrations. One can
look down into the clear depths and see with perfect distinctness
the minutest ornament on the inner sides of the basin; and the
exquisite beauty of the coloring and the variety of forms baffle
any attempt to portray them either with pen or pencil.
These waters repose in basins that have in miniature all the beauty of
the Mammoth Cave. The basins and their rims are formed of
minerals--mostly of silica--deposited by the water. The rims are
fittingly beautiful; the lines of internal construction are
harmonious. Many springs have built up their basins with precipitated
minerals until they rest on mounds. All these are picturesque, and
some are beautiful.
Morning-Glory Spring is like a gigantic morning-glory set in the
earth. The Firehole, with a black fissured bottom, has at times
flamelike colors which create such an illusion that the fiery interior
of the earth appears to be on exhibition.
Prismatic Lake, a spring large enough to be called at least a lakelet
or pond, is a combination of the artistic and the spectacular. It has
built up for itself a rounded mound, and down the gently curving
slopes flow its waters in thousands of interlacing rivulets. Over the
pool hangs a cloud of steam, often tinted red by reflection from the
waters below.
[Illustration: MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK]
At Mammoth Hot Springs, close to Fort Yellowstone, the water bursts
from the mountain-side with an enormous mineralized flow. Here lime
in solution is quickly precipitated, forming basins and terraces and
slopes of exquisite design, the whole adorned with intricate and
fantastic fretwork of pink, brown, yellow, and white.
While the deposits here are chiefly lime or travertine, those of the
geysers and of the other hot springs are silica. The two kinds of
deposits differ greatly. The Mammoth Hot Springs' deposits are soft
and frequently change their form. The silica deposits of the geysers
are hard as flint. Without this hardness, the geyser action would be
impossible, as the lime and travertine formations would not withstand
the explosive violence. A curious fact in this connection is that the
color in and around the geysers and hot springs is in part due to the
presence of algæ, a minute vegetable growth.
The geyser is one of Nature's strangest freaks. These in the
Yellowstone Park are the largest, most spectacular, and most artistic
in the world. The geyser may be described either as a large
intermittent hot-water fountain or as a small water-and-steam volcano.
There are scores of these eruptive springs in the Yellowstone, and
their irregularities form part of their fascination. The place and
method of applying the heat, the diameter and shape of the tube, and
the point of inflow and the quantity of the water are all matters
affecting their activities. Apparently they, as well as the springs in
general, have no underground interconnection, since the play of one
geyser has no effect upon others close by.
The eruptions are irregular as to intervals. Black Warrior and
Hurricane do a continuous performance. Constant pauses from twenty to
fifty-five seconds between gushes. Grand is active at intervals of
from one to four days, and Turban plays intermittently for twenty-four
hours following Grand. Giantess rests from five to forty days at a
time. Lioness played once in each of the years 1910, 1912, and 1914.
Splendid, which formerly threw a ten-minute gush to a height of two
hundred feet, has not played since 1892.
There is equal variation in the duration of the gush. The Minute Man's
activity lasts but from fifteen to thirty seconds. Giant stops work
promptly at the end of an hour. Giantess, after her long rest, plays
from twelve to thirty-six hours.
The quantity of water erupted varies from a few gallons in the small
geysers to thousands of barrels in the large ones. The water is
generally thrown vertically, though some of the tubes lie at an angle.
The Fan, as its name suggests, throws its water in a fan-like shape.
Geysers vary in the height of their gush as in everything else, and
the gush of each is seldom twice the same. Jewel varies from five feet
to twenty, and Great Fountain from seventy-five to one hundred and
fifty feet.
The highest stream is thrown by Giant, which has a minimum of two
hundred and a maximum of two hundred and fifty feet. Excelsior, which
sometimes threw its water three hundred feet into the air, has not
played since 1888.
This geyser action is novel, picturesque, and weird. It appeals to the
imagination. It goes on day and night, summer and winter, throughout
the years. While many of the geysers are comparatively new, others are
centuries old. Some may have been playing since prehistoric times.
Old Faithful, in the Upper Geyser Basin, is in most respects the most
wonderful geyser in the Park. Its action is almost uniform; its usual
interval is seventy minutes. It plays for four minutes and sends its
water up from sixty to one hundred and twenty feet. It gives ample
warning before each play and gets into action by sending its water
higher and higher with graceful ease.
[Illustration: OLD FAITHFUL GEYSER
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK]
But in some particulars Great Fountain, in the Lower Geyser Basin, may
be put at the head of the geyser list. Its waters issue from a vast
low mound, and the basin has attractive ornamentation. It spouts an
enormous volume of water, sometimes to a height of one hundred and
fifty feet, and plays from forty-five to sixty minutes, at intervals
of eight to eleven hours.
Castle Geyser, in the Upper Geyser Basin, throws only a moderate gush
about seventy-five feet in height, but it has built up a most imposing
crater. It is quiet for from four to seven days; it then plays three
or four times at half-hour intervals.
Other geysers that the visitor may well see are Grand and Beehive,
both in the Upper Geyser Basin. Grand plays for about an hour at
intervals of from one to four days and throws a column of steaming
water smoothly to a height of two hundred feet. Of all the geysers,
Beehive perhaps approaches nearest to artistic perfection. From a
small, beehive-like mount it sends up a slender column of water
vertically and symmetrically two hundred feet.
Yellowstone Lake lies at an altitude of 7741 feet above sea-level. Its
area is about one hundred and thirty-nine square miles, and its
irregular shore-line has a length of one hundred miles. In places the
lake is three hundred feet deep. There are thirty-six other lakes, of
which Shoshone, Heart, and Lewis are the largest. Each has its own
peculiar and delightful wilderness boundary and beauty.
There is a close network of streams, of which one hundred and
sixty-five have names. Among the more important are Yellowstone,
Lamar, Snake, Gardiner, and Firehole Rivers. There are numerous
waterfalls and cascades. The extensive water-flow abundantly supplies
the headwaters of the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Snake Rivers. In Two
Ocean Pass, among other places, is a lakelet upon the very summit of
the Continental Divide whose waters flow to both the Atlantic and the
Pacific. The altitude here is 8150 feet, and the lakelet completes a
continuous waterway of nearly six thousand miles from coast to coast.
A map that I carried showed Two Ocean Pond on the Continental Divide
to the west of the Thumb. There is a Two Ocean Pond on the Divide at
that place as well as one to the south of the lake. But my map did not
show that the Divide was horseshoe-shaped, and it located the pond on
the wrong arm of this horseshoe. Consequently I had a long search
before I found the pond, and much confusion with the topography and
watersheds after I had discovered it.
One day in 1891 I had the good fortune to come upon General Hiram M.
Chittenden. He was directing the cutting of trees at a place that has
since become famous as Lake View, from which, perhaps, the best view
of Yellowstone Lake is to be had. General Chittenden spent many years
in the Park and developed its existing scenic road system. He was the
first to propose that the excess of elk and other game in this and
other parks be distributed over the country at cost.
What is the greatest feature in this wonderland whose history began at
a camp-fire? The Lower Falls thrilled me more than any other waterfall
I ever have seen. The Yellowstone Cañon may be called the greatest
attraction in this Park. But to me the supreme attraction is the
petrified forests.
4. AGES OF FIRE AND ICE
The Yellowstone plateau is a vast lava-deposit. Its material is mostly
volcanic, but its landscape--its architecture--is largely glacial. In
ages remote, this realm became the scene of volcanic activity.
Intermittent outpourings went on through long periods of time.
Volcanoes in and near the Park threw forth quantities of ashes, lava,
and cinders, which built up a plateau region three or four thousand
feet thick. Rhyolite and other forms of lava were last spread over
the region. This volcanic activity appears to have ended before the
last ice age. No eruption has occurred for centuries. The ice age
wrought vast changes in the volcanic landscape. The ice smoothed wide
areas, shaped cañons, and rounded mountain-sides, produced and spread
soil, and gave the entire region the flowing, attractive lines of
glacial landscape.
On the rim of the Yellowstone Cañon, about three miles below the
falls, an enormous glaciated granite boulder reposes upon
lava--rhyolite. It measures about twenty-four by twenty by eighteen
feet. It was transported to this resting-place from mountains more
than thirty miles away. Here we have a stone foundation laid by
volcanic fire, and upon it a stone, shaped, transported, and placed by
glacial ice.
There are about three thousand geysers, hot springs, and mud-and-water
springs in the Park; and as many other vents of steam, acid, and gas.
That the geysers have been active in this region for thousands of
years is shown in the deep deposits of silica and travertine that
overspread extensive area. During the ice age many of these deposits
were eroded and others were piled with boulders. It is plain that
steam and hot water had been at work long before the last ice age
came. During the ice period, a wild conflict probably took place
between the deep outspread ice and the insistent eruptions of steam
and hot water.
The surface of Yellowstone Lake once stood about one hundred and
eighty feet higher than it is at present. Its outlet was then through
the Snake River to the Pacific Ocean. The Continental Divide then
passed over the summit of Mount Washburn. Unwritten as yet is the
splendid geological story of this change, which may have been caused
by earthquake upheaval or by subsidence. It appears to have occurred
about the close of the last glacial epoch. Possibly ice dammed the
narrow gorge of Outlet Creek, through which the waters of the lake
formerly flowed to the Snake River. Whatever the cause, its outlet
waters changed and eroded the now famous and splendidly colored cañon
of the Yellowstone.
This is the most celebrated cañon in the Park, and its colors make it
one of the most gorgeously startling in the world. At bright noonday,
it is adorned with all the hues of the sunset sky. Its precipitous
walls are comparatively free from vegetation and are broken with
pinnacles and jagged ridges. About fifteen hundred feet below the
edge, the rushing waters of the Yellowstone River take on various
shades of blue and green between accumulations of gray foam.
Into the upper end of this cañon the river, about seventy feet wide,
makes a sheer leap of three hundred and ten feet. From the near-by
rim, this wonderful waterfall appears like an enormous, fluffy,
endless pouring of whitest snowflakes. The magnificence and wildness
of its setting combine to make it one of the most imposing waterfalls
in the world.
The paint-pots are the curiosities of the Park. They are craters, or
irregular-shaped ponds, in the earth, filled with brightly colored
mud, thick and hot, of fine texture, and in appearance resembling
kalsomine or paint freshly mixed and colored. The mud in many pots is
red or pink; that in others is lavender, blue, orange, or yellow.
Occasionally a rugged vat of this mud is found boiling away--very
suggestive of slaking lime. In other cases, plastic mud throbs and
undulates as steam-jets now and then escape through it. Here and there
this bright steamy mud opens like a full-blown lily. The paint-pots
near the Fountain Geyser, those east of the road in Gibbon Meadows,
and those close to the lake at the Thumb are the more attractive.
[Illustration: GRAND CAÑON FROM ARTIST POINT
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK _Copyright by Haynes, St. Paul_]
John Muir, in "Our National Parks," says of the Yellowstone:--
Beside the treasures common to most mountain regions that are wild
and blessed with a kind climate, the Park is full of exciting
wonders. The wildest geysers in the world, in bright, triumphant
bands, are dancing and singing in it amid thousands of boiling
springs, beautiful and awful, their basins arrayed in gorgeous
colors like gigantic flowers; and hot paint-pots, mud springs, mud
volcanoes, mush and broth caldrons whose contents are of every
color and consistency, plash and heave and roar in bewildering
abundance. In the adjacent mountains, beneath the living trees the
edges of petrified forests are exposed to view, like specimens on
the shelves of a museum, standing on ledges tier above tier where
they grew, solemnly silent in rigid crystalline beauty after
swaying in the winds thousands of centuries ago, opening marvelous
views back into the years and climates and life of the past. Here,
too, are hills of sparkling crystals, hills of sulphur, hills of
glass, hills of cinders and ashes, mountains of every style of
architecture, icy or forested, mountains covered with honey-bloom
sweet as Hymettus, mountains boiled soft like potatoes and colored
like a sunset sky.
I had lively scrambles and saw much petrified wood in the rough
mountainous country at the northwest corner of the Park. But the
roughest and most scenic section visited was around Sylvan Pass. This
rugged, narrow pass cuts through high, crowding mountains. To the
north, Hoyt Mountain and Avalanche Peak rise precipitously; to the
south, Grizzly and Top Notch Peaks. Sylvan Lake, whose peculiar wild
beauty is unexcelled, is near this pass. The tree-sprinkled, grassy
section near the Lamar River, in the northeast corner of the Park, was
the most charming and parklike section visited.
The Grand Teton, a peak of towering, bold individuality, looms
imposingly as seen from various points in the Park. Its appearance
across Yellowstone Lake, from a point near the outlet, is magnificent.
Another excellent view of it is obtained from the stage-road midway
between Upper Geyser Basin and the Thumb.
The Grand Teton territory might well be added to the Park; likewise a
stretch of the rugged, mountainous territory lying along the
southeast corner, and the mountainous tract immediately west and north
of the northwest corner of the Park. All these belong to reserved
government lands, and could without difficulty be administered as a
part of this wonderland.
5. THE PETRIFIED FORESTS
Volcanic outpourings have ended the life of many extensive Yellowstone
forests. In Amethyst Mountain are twelve forests, one above the other,
buried at different periods by volcanic eruptions. On top of this
mountain the pines and spruces are merrily growing, unmindful of the
buried past--of the tragic tree history beneath. Nature forgets. Ages
ago, the lowest of these entombed forests grew on the mountain plateau
in the sunlight. But a flow of volcanic mud and heavy showers of ashes
overwhelmed and buried it, with the trees standing erect.
This volcanic material added a layer to the plateau. In the new
surface above the buried and forgotten forest, another tree growth
flourished and towered. But the volcanoes only slept. Again their fire
and ashes filled the sky, and again the forest was overwhelmed. Thus
through the ages--through "a million years and a day"--each time the
volcanoes slept the pines peeped up, and again their shadows fell upon
the desolate lava landscape.
At last, twelve or more forests were buried, each as it had stood upon
the mountain, and in a layer by itself. The material in these numerous
fateful volcanic outpourings raised the summit two thousand feet.
It may be that the topmost of these petrified forests was overwhelmed
by the Ice King, but a volcano entombed the others. All were
petrified, fossilized, or opalized. During the ages that went by, the
Lamar River and other factors eroded a wide valley and excavated the
edges of these forest ruins.
[Illustration: PETRIFIED FORESTS IN AMETHYST MOUNTAIN
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK]
This reveals one of the most appealing geological stories ever
uncovered--twelve illustrated but unwritten chapters of
world-building.
The strata of these twelve forests, story above story, show their
edges in the precipitous northern face of Amethyst Mountain. Thousands
of logs and stumps still partly buried jut and bristle.
Apparently there is an enormous area of these buried fossil forests in
the northeast part of the Park, and perhaps numerous areas elsewhere
in the region. They are also known to exist near the northwest
boundary of the Park.
Mineralized water circulated through and gradually fossilized the
buried trees, changing many to opal. In due time the mud and ashes
that buried these trees also turned to stone. Limbs and tops of trees
were broken off by the ashes, cinders, and mud that buried each
forest. Many tree-trunks were overthrown, but great numbers were
entombed as they stood. They are from one to ten feet in diameter, and
some were of great height. Many of the remaining stumps project forty
feet.
Much of the opalized wood is very beautiful. The change brightened and
intensified the former texture of the wood. In most of these stone
trees and logs the annual rings show clearly. They distinctly reveal
the age of the tree and its rapidity of growth. In many cases the
species is readily determined. Strange stories are told by the fallen
logs, in many of which old worm-holes show. The half-decayed logs were
preserved in their original form, and in the process of fossilization
their hollow interiors were filled with beautiful rosettes and
crystals.
Each of the buried forests contained some trees of different species
from those in the forest just beneath it. Altogether, more than eighty
kinds have been recognized. Many of these would grow only in a mild or
subtropical clime, so the former climate of this region must have been
warmer than at present. Among the trees were redwood, cottonwood,
walnut, pine, oak, sycamore, fig, magnolia, and dogwood.
Ancient Troy was nine ruined cities deep. But here in a national
playground of our own country are twelve tree cities in ruins, one
above another, and topped with a city of living trees. Like the
excavated ruins of Pompeii, these ruined forests set one's mind to
exploring the realm of imagination. Here in a subtropical clime,
possibly a million years ago, was a luxuriant forest. Beneath was a
crowded undergrowth of plants, of shrubbery and waving ferns. Gay
butterflies may have flitted here in the golden sunshine. Trees
enjoyed the storms and lifted their heads serenely into the light.
Then came the tragic end. Twelve times or more was this impressive
drama reënacted.
Trees, like men, often rear their structures upon the ruins of those
that have gone before. This is an old, old world. In the words of
Omar,--
"When You and I behind the Veil are past,
Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last."
Is the volcanic curtain once more to fall upon the forests of this
magic scene?
In "Our National Parks" John Muir comments eloquently upon the fossil
forests and the telling background of most Yellowstone landscapes. He
says:--
Yonder is Amethyst Mountain, and other mountains hardly less rich
in old forests, which now seem to spring up again in their glory;
and you see the storms that buried them--the ashes and torrents
laden with boulders and mud, the centuries of sunshine, and the
dark, lurid nights. You see again the vast floods of lava, red-hot
and white-hot, pouring out from gigantic geysers, usurping the
basins of lakes and streams, absorbing or driving away their
hissing, screaming waters, flowing around hills and ridges,
submerging every subordinate feature. Then you see the snow and
glaciers taking possession of the land, making new landscapes. How
admirable it is that, after passing through so many vicissitudes
of frost and fire and flood, the physiognomy and even the
complexion of the landscape should still be so divinely fine!
6. AREA; TREES, FLOWERS, AND ANIMALS
The Yellowstone Park is about equal in area to Delaware and Rhode
Island combined. It has 3300 square miles. The average altitude is
7500 feet, while numerous peaks rise from 1000 to 3000 feet higher.
Forests cover 85 per cent of the area.
The largest parklike grassy space in this forested realm lies to the
northeast of Mount Washburn, along the valleys of the Yellowstone and
Lamar Rivers. This open space is about twenty-five miles long and from
five to ten miles wide. The second largest area of grassy country,
Hayden Valley, lies several miles to the north of Yellowstone Lake.
Among other open spaces are Swan Lake Flat, Gibbon Meadows, Pelican
Valley, and the small ragged areas around the Firehole Geyser Basin
and Shoshone and Lewis Lakes.
Among the trees are the quaking aspen, Douglas spruce, Engelmann
spruce, and subalpine fir. The overwhelming proportion of these
forests, however, consists of that interesting tree, the lodge-pole
pine. It bears seed every year, beginning while young and small. It
hoards its seeds by keeping its tightly closed cones. When fire sweeps
through a forest of lodge-pole pine, it kills the trees and melts the
sealing-wax of the cones, releasing the seeds. These seeds fall upon
shadeless, ash-covered ground, under conditions most favorable to
their germination and growth. The lodge-pole pine is Nature's selected
agent for reforestation.
The Yellowstone is a wild-flower garden. Wander where you will, you
have the ever-new charm, the finishing touch, the ever-refreshing
radiance of the wild flowers. Many are brilliantly colored. There are
species of gentians, lupines, and pyrolas. The columbine is there in
all its graceful beauty. The wild rose abounds. The Indian paintbrush
perhaps is most abundant. The pentstemon is common. There are two
species of orchids.
The Yellowstone is the greatest elk-range in the world. It has a
numerous grizzly-bear population. In fact the park has so large and
varied a population of birds and wild animals that in most respects it
is the greatest wild-life preserve in the world.
7. ENTRANCES
To the Yellowstone wonderland there are four entrances. The Northern
Pacific touches the northern entrance at Gardiner, Montana. This route
is through the Gardiner Cañon to the Mammoth Hot Springs at Fort
Yellowstone.
The western entrance is from the Union Pacific at Yellowstone. This
route takes the visitor directly to the central geyser basin of the
Park.
The eastern entrance is from the Burlington at Cody, the road passing
the Shoshone Dam, crossing the Absaroka Range at Sylvan Pass, and
making connection with the Park routes at the Lake Hotel.
The southern entrance is from the Jackson Lake and Teton Mountain
region and makes connection with the Park routes at the Thumb.
The present Park road-system, though incomplete, touches most of the
Yellowstone's greater and more lovely attractions. This system will be
extended from time to time on a comprehensive plan. Supplementing
these roads is a system of trails, which needs to be greatly extended,
especially in the more mountainous parts of the Park.
The Yellowstone is at present the largest of our sixteen National
Parks, and as the oldest of our scenic parks, it is entitled to head
the imposing list. As a natural wonderland of varied attractions there
is nothing like it in the whole world.
8. ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
The early administrative history of the Yellowstone National Park, and
that of the celebrated Yosemite State Park of California, are records
that no real American will ever read without a sense of shame. Both
these splendid regions were long neglected by the public and by
legislators. In those days scenery had no standing and few friends. It
was treated as an outcast.
The act of dedication for the Yellowstone National Park made it a
reservation "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." The aim was
to preserve its natural curiosities, its forests, and its game, and to
make such development of the Park that the people might conveniently
and freely see and enjoy it. For several years Congress failed to
provide adequate appropriations either for the development of the Park
or for its protection. It was given over to the administration of the
Secretary of the Interior. Unfortunately, the act that created the
Park contained no code of laws, did not define offenses, made no
provision for the handling of legal cases or for the punishment of
offenders. It failed to provide even the legal machinery necessary to
enforce the regulations written by the Secretary of the Interior. The
history of the Yellowstone for twenty-two years after its creation is,
as Helen Hunt said of our treatment of the Indian, a tale of dishonor.
The first Superintendent of the Park was Nathaniel P. Langford, who
had rendered distinctive services in having it created. With his hands
tied he endured the position for five years, and did heroic work in
trying to suppress license, start development, and lay a broad
foundation for the future welfare of the enterprise. The interests
fought him, and the public condemned him for inefficiency for which
the public itself, and not he, was to blame.
Hunters invaded the Park and slaughtered game. One company almost
secured leaseholds on extensive land-areas which would have given them
a dangerous monopoly of all the leading attractions. A water-power
company almost obtained title to Yellowstone Falls. Many attempts were
made to run a railroad through the Park. A few people, at enormous
sacrifice and through heroic and efficient efforts, saved it in its
primitive naturalness. Among those who splendidly helped was George
Bird Grinnell. At last Congress became interested, and in 1883-84
helpful legislation was passed.
On August 20, 1886, came a change for the better. The Secretary of the
Interior availed himself of legislation that Congress had recently
passed and called upon the War Department for assistance. Captain
Moses Harris, with the title of Acting Superintendent, became the
first military commander of the Park. Reforms were inaugurated, and
development was begun. This military control has continued for twenty
years, and for the most part the results have been satisfactory.
General Chittenden, of the Engineer Corps of the Army, developed the
present road-system. The character of the various military
superintendents of the Park has been good, and the achievements of
these men have won the praise even of those who are against the use
of soldiers or military regulations in the Park government. I am
particularly impressed with the work of the last commander, Colonel L.
M. Brett. The honor, ability, and peculiar characteristics of these
military commanders have enabled them to do excellent work. On October
1, 1916, all troops were withdrawn from the Park and a force of
civilian rangers was organized.
9. LOST IN THE WILDERNESS
The Washburn-Doane Expedition of 1870, which proved a large factor in
the creation of the Yellowstone National Park, was marked by one of
the most extraordinary incidents in the annals of the American
frontier.
Truman C. Everts, a former United States Assessor for Montana, was a
member of the party. On September 9, he became separated from it and
for thirty-seven days wandered in the Yellowstone wilderness.
Everts was wholly unfit to take care of himself in the wilderness. He
was a city man, without experience in the wilds, timid, unresourceful,
and very near-sighted. The first day he lost his glasses. The second
day, while he was dismounted, his horse took fright and ran away with
his traveling equipment. He tried for hours to capture the horse, but
failed. Everts was left alone on foot in the rough country south of
Yellowstone Lake, without food, gun, axe, blankets, or matches.
He went back to where he had fastened notes upon trees; but these had
not been seen by his companions. By this time it was mid-afternoon.
Toward evening he realized that he was completely lost.
Without food, fire, or shelter, he passed the night in the depths of a
forest. There was a hard frost. Coyotes howled, and lions cried. His
overwrought imagination conjured up endless terrors and dangers from
the strange and ever-changing sounds of the wilderness.
On the third day out, Everts started off to follow, as he supposed,
the direction taken by his companions, but took the opposite
direction. He passed near numbers of animals. Finally he came to a
small lake around which were many hot springs. In the water were many
wild-fowl. He was starving, but had nothing with which to kill game.
Fearful as he was of Indians, hunger led him to hope that he might
meet them.
The loss of his eyeglasses was calamitous. Out in the lake he saw what
he took for a boat coming to land, and he joyfully hastened to the
shore to meet it. But when his "boat" took wings and transformed
itself into a huge pelican, he was unnerved and almost lost hope.
At this lake he fortunately discovered a species of thistle with large
edible roots, and these formed his principal sustenance for weeks. He
took up the uncertain fight for primitive necessities. At the lake he
became afraid, imagining that a mountain lion was near. He climbed
into a tree and remained there most of the night. When at last he
descended, half frozen, a heavy September snowstorm was coming on.
To avoid freezing to death, he built a rude shelter of boughs over one
of the hot springs. In the boiling water he cooked his thistle-roots.
For several days he remained in this shelter; then, realizing that if
he stayed longer he might perish in another storm, he traveled on.
Day after day, Everts hoped that his companions would find him. During
two weeks they searched diligently, leaving small deposits of food at
places where they thought he might pass. They fired guns, put up
signs, and lighted fires on the heights; but the rough, wooded nature
of the country, and Everts's near-sightedness, made these efforts
unavailing. Reluctantly his friends gave up the search and went on;
but when they reached a settlement they sent back a rescue party.
Necessity stimulates thought. The only thing remaining in Everts's
pockets was a little field-glass. Remembering that a lens would
concentrate the sun's rays, he concluded that with his glass he might
start a fire, and in this he succeeded.
Onward he traveled. If a day came with the sky overcast, he had to
camp at night without a fire. To relieve the discomfort of this, for
several days he carried a brand, but this burned his hands and smoked
his eyes so severely, and so often went out, that at last he abandoned
it and depended entirely upon the lens. One afternoon he stopped with
the intention of building a fire. But the lens was missing. Almost
exhausted, he dragged himself back to his last camp, and there,
fortunately, the lens was found.
During a storm a benumbed bird fell into his hands, and he devoured it
raw. In vain he tried to catch fish. As he stood on the margin of
Yellowstone Lake, a gull's wing drifted ashore. This supplied his only
satisfying meal. It was instantly stripped of its feathers, pounded
between stones, and boiled in a tin can which Everts had found.
Hastily devouring the unsalted soup, he lay down and slept for several
hours.
He had resolution and will-power, and greatly needed them. His stomach
rebelled at thistle-roots. His mind wandered. He lost track of time.
But his determination drove him on, though he was growing weaker each
day. During the thirty-seven days he had traveled in a northerly
course from south of Yellowstone Park to the summit of one of the
bluffs, several miles to the east of Mammoth Hot Springs. Here, barely
alive, he was rescued by two men of the final searching party sent out
by his companions.
Everts not only recovered, but lived for thirty-one years after his
terrible experience, dying at the age of eighty-five. One of the peaks
in the Park, Mount Everts, is named for him.
The adventures of Colter and Everts are inspiring achievements. They
give thrilling views of primitive life, and are striking instances of
men, empty-handed, successfully combating Nature. The stability, the
will-power, the insistent, tenacious hopefulness of these men were
extraordinary. Courageously they met and mastered the swiftly coming
obstacles and afflictions that fate thrust thick and fast upon them.
Their deeds are a part of our helpful heritage in the Yellowstone
wonderland.
II
THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
On the western slope of the Sierra, about one hundred and forty miles
east of San Francisco, lies the Yosemite National Park, with an area
of 1124 square miles. It is slightly larger than Rhode Island. Its
lower sections on the west have an altitude of about 3000 feet. From
this elevation it rises through bold terraces into the High Sierra.
Mount Lyell has an altitude of 13,090 feet; Mount Dana, 13,050 feet.
Gibbs Mountain and a number of other peaks have slightly lower
altitudes. The elevational range, then, of this one Park runs through
10,000 feet, or nearly two vertical miles.
It is one of the scenic wonders of the world. Within it are many
attractions, each great by itself, and all more impressive in their
splendid grouping.
Its glacial landscapes are magnificent and startling. Here the Ice
King, the great landscape engineer, did work immensely bold and
enchanting. An array of stupendous rock sculpture remains almost
untarnished. Scores of lovely alpine lakes in solid rock lie open to
the sun. The wild-flower population numbers more than a thousand
varieties. It has scores of varieties of wild birds and many kinds of
wild life. World-famous are its waterfalls.
Two of the greatest of mountain rivers rise in the Park and cross it
from east to west. Each of them falls several thousand feet within the
Park. Crossing centrally through the northern section is the Tuolumne.
Passing miles of alpine rock and meadow, it roars through the rugged
Tuolumne Cañon, and when well across the Park it sweeps through the
majestic gorge known as the Hetch-Hetchy Valley.
[Illustration: BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF YOSEMITE VALLEY LOOKING EASTWARD
TO THE CREST OF THE SIERRA NEVADA
1. Clouds' Rest.
2. Half Dome.
3. Mount Watkins.
4. Basket Dome.
5. North Dome.
6. Washington Column.
7. Royal Arches.
8. Mirror Lake and mouth of Tenaya Cañon.
9. Yosemite Village.
10. Head of Yosemite Falls.
11. Eagle Peak (the Three Brothers).
12. El Capitan.
13. Ribbon Falls.
14. Merced River.
15. El Capitan Bridge and Moraine.
16. Big Oak Flat Road.
17. Wawona Road.
18. Bridal Veil Falls.
19. Cathedral Rocks.
20. Cathedral Spires.
21. Sentinel Rock.
22. Glacier Point.
23. Sentinel Dome.
24. Liberty Cap.
25. Mount Broderick.
26. Little Yosemite Valley.
_By permission of the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior_]
Paralleling this stream at the distance of about ten miles is the
intense Merced. This and its tributaries are signally rich in lakes
and waterfalls, and they flow among stupendous and astounding glacial
landscapes. At last the Merced flows serenely through the world-famous
valley, the matchless Yosemite Gorge.
No name can suggest the amazing combinations of vastness and beauty
seen in this rocky passage; the name "valley" is altogether lacking in
significance. It may be described as having gorge walls with a valley
floor. The walls have unshattered solidity, great height, and almost
true verticalness. They bear the marks of individuality, and the
valley-like floor shows original character.
The Yosemite Valley is obviously the greatest, as it is the most
celebrated, scene in the Park. It is about seven miles long,
approximately one mile wide, and about three fourths of a mile deep.
The floor is nearly level and lies at an altitude of four thousand
feet. It is well grassed, adorned with trees and groves, and glorified
from end to end by the Merced River. The nearly vertical walls rise
mainly in smooth, substantial masses from twenty-five hundred to
nearly five thousand feet. Waterfalls from the heights above make the
wild plunge over the rim down to the floor of the valley.
This gorge is countersunk into a plateau. It extends from east to
west. The western and open end has an impressive entrance. On the
left, El Capitan raises his colossal figure thirty-three hundred feet
in smooth and simple massiveness. On the right, over the front face of
the mountain wall opposite, flutter several hundred feet of Bridal
Veil Falls. Then in order, on the right south wall, Cathedral Spires
rise high above the valley; then Sentinel Rock; then stupendous
Glacier Point. Farther east on the south wall, Half Dome stands up
forty-five hundred feet, the most impressive figure on the valley rim.
Farther along, on the right or south side of the valley, is the
celebrated Clouds' Rest. On the left or north wall stand the Three
Brothers. By these the snowy stream of the Yosemite Waterfall comes
down. About halfway up the valley on the left are the Washington
Column and the Royal Arches. Then, along the left or north wall in
succession, rise North Dome, Basket Dome, and Mount Watkins. The upper
part of the valley divides into three depressions or gorges. The north
one is Tenaya Cañon, the central one is Little Yosemite Valley, and
from this branches the southerly one, Illilouette Cañon. Each of these
cañons is a wonder by itself.
Following is one of the most descriptive and eloquent tributes ever
paid to this unrivaled array of stupendous nature statuary:--
Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life. Some lean back in
majestic repose; others, absolutely sheer or nearly so for
thousands of feet, advance beyond their companions in thoughtful
attitudes, giving welcome to storms and calms alike, seemingly
aware, yet heedless, of everything going on about them. Awful in
stern, immovable majesty, how softly these rocks are adorned, and
how fine and reassuring the company they keep: their feet among
beautiful groves and meadows, their brows in the sky, a thousand
flowers leaning confidingly against their feet, bathed in floods
of water, floods of light, while the snow and waterfalls, the
winds and avalanches and clouds shine and sing and wreathe about
them as the years go by, and myriads of small winged
creatures--birds, bees, butterflies--give glad animation and help
to make all the air into music. Down through the middle of the
valley flows the crystal Merced, River of Mercy, peacefully quiet,
reflecting lilies and trees and the onlooking rocks; things frail
and fleeting and types of endurance meeting here and blending in
countless forms, as if into this one mountain mansion Nature had
gathered her choicest treasures, to draw her lovers into close and
confiding communion with her. (John Muir, in "The Yosemite.")
1. ICE-KING TOPOGRAPHY
The splendid scenic endowment of the Yosemite Valley, its stupendous
architecture and vast sculpturing, its natural landscape engineering,
are largely triumphs of the ice age. Many theories have been
advanced to account for the origin and the extraordinary features of
this valley, especial prominence being given to subsidence, uplift,
explosion, with earthquake modifications and influences of violent
cataclysmic nature. Stream erosion has been strongly urged. All these
theories attribute minor influences to one or more other factors.
[Illustration: HALF DOME, YOSEMITE]
The theory now generally accepted gives ice the leading part in the
scooping of the valley and the creation of its wondrous forms. There
is much evidence to support this conclusion. The ice theory is
championed by John Muir, by Clarence King, and by F. E. Matthes.
Matthes and Muir probably have made the most careful and exhaustive
studies of the geological history of the valley.
This famous depression is of varying width. Examination of its walls
shows that in the wider places it is composed of fissured rock that
was more readily carried away by the ice than the adjoining unfissured
rock-sections. These resisting unfissured places jut into the valley.
Erosion by ice probably was preceded and somewhat guided by stream
erosion. But this ice sculpture, the rock-forms and features wrought,
must have been determined in a marked measure by the rock-structure.
That is to say, the dense quality of the rock, the number and the
position of the cleavage joints, or their absence in the rock, were
factors that helped determine the rock-forms of Yosemite. Other
factors since the ice age have altered or modified this glacial
topography.
It is certain that a vast ice-stream poured over the walls and forced
through this valley. This is shown in the rock-groovings and perched
boulders high on the walls, and also by the massive moraine which dams
the outlet of the valley. It appears certain that this must have been
left when the ice vanished; and apparently it formed a lake that
filled the entire valley nearly to the height of the dam. The lake
finally filled with sediment and sand, its surface corresponding
approximately with the present surface of the valley. The valley floor
is noticeably smooth, and its margins along the bottoms of the walls
are comparatively free from rock-débris.
The landscape of the entire Yosemite National Park is preëminently
glacial. Ice-polished mountains and hundreds of sculptured figures of
vast size are a part of the matchless exhibit of the ice age in this
wonderland. Polished domes predominate. Much of the rock-surface was
dense granite comparatively free from cleavage lines, soft materials,
or stratification. The forms made by the ice in these have endured.
Since the ice age the softer and more fissured rocks have been far
more changed by the various erosive forces than the more resistant
rock of the domes and other sculptured forms.
Little Yosemite Valley is essentially similar to the Greater Yosemite
in features and also in the manner of creation. Its walls are from
fifteen hundred to two thousand feet high, its length is about three
miles, its width one half-mile. Its floor, like that of the Greater
Yosemite, was for a time a lake. In origin and history, the
Hetch-Hetchy Valley, too, is almost identical with the Yosemite.
Nature often changes the scene, often puts on a new landscape. The
forces of erosion are steadily at work; most of them work slowly, but
sometimes a change is wrought suddenly.
When the Sierra was first upheaved it was more or less tilted,
terraced, and fissured. The surface was uneven. The present topography
is the product of a long and complicated series of events. It has been
wrought out by many erosive forces. It probably has been acted upon by
two or more ice ages, but the last age shaped the splendid topography
of the Yosemite that is attracting the world to the scene.
The eroding power of ice is determined by its thickness, that is to
say, by its weight. The small, shallow glaciers wear much more slowly
than the deep ice-streams that bear heavily upon the surface passed
over. The ancient glaciers of the region took on vast proportions. An
enormous and deep ice-field accumulated from the snows of Mounts Dana,
Lyell, Gibbs, McClure, Conness, and other peaks. Flowing westward, it
came in contact with Mount Hoffman, against which it divided. The
right section flowed down into the Tuolumne; the left, a branch about
two miles wide, swept upward, climbing about five hundred feet over
the pass and descending upon the Lake Tenaya region.
Apparently, five glacier streams united in the Yosemite Valley. They
not only filled it but deeply overflowed the highest points on its
walls. Passing out of the lower end of the valley, the united glacier
was forced to climb upward several hundred feet.
About twenty-five small glaciers still remain in the Yosemite National
Park. There are about two hundred and fifty glacier lakes, mostly
small. Others have filled with sediment and are hidden and forgotten.
Lake Tenaya, the Lake-of-the-Shining-Rocks, has a surrounding of dense
rock-masses that still show the rounded form and the high polish given
by the ice.
2. TREES AND FORESTS
The tree growth and the forest arrangement in the Yosemite National
Park are among the grandest of such features on the globe, and they
form one of the chief attractions of this heroic realm. The trees grow
to enormous size and are distributed and grouped with crags, meadows,
terraces, cañons--all in unmatched wild, artistic charm and sublimity.
Though some areas are covered with growths tall and dense, they are
free from gloom, and everywhere one may walk freely through them. They
are broken and brightened with numerous sunny openings. This splendid
landscape gardening extends over the greater portion of the Park.
The sequoia, the largest and most imposing tree, is found in the lower
reaches of the Park. Other characteristic trees are the sugar pine,
king of the pines; the Douglas spruce, king of the spruces; and the
hemlock, one of the loveliest trees upon the earth.
The Park has three groves of Big Trees (sequoias)--the Mariposa Grove,
the Tuolumne Grove, and the Merced Grove, all of the species _Sequoia
gigantea_. The Merced and Tuolumne groves are near the western
boundary of the Park, several miles north of El Portal Station, while
the Mariposa Grove is in the southwestern corner, about fifteen miles
southeast of El Portal. The Tuolumne Grove has but about thirty-five
trees, and the Merced Grove fewer than one hundred.
The Mariposa Grove contains about five hundred and fifty trees. Among
these is the Grizzly Giant, which, according to the computation of
Galen Clark, is six thousand years old. It has a diameter of nearly
thirty feet and a height of two hundred and four feet. Evidently it
was once much taller; its top probably was wrecked by lightning.
Through the Wawona tree a roadway has been cut. A great number of
these trees are between two hundred and twenty-five and two hundred
and seventy-five feet in height. A few rise above three hundred feet.
In this Park are about thirty species of trees besides those above
mentioned. Among them are a cedar and a juniper; two silver firs;
yellow, lodge-pole, and six other species of pines. Among the
broad-leafed trees are the oak, maple, aspen, laurel, and dogwood.
There are forests of firs and lodge-pole pines.
The sugar pine grows to enormous size and has a noble appearance. Its
cones are the largest produced by any conifer, occasionally reaching
the length of nearly two feet. The yellow pine rivals the sugar pine
in size and grows from four to ten feet in diameter and from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred and twenty-five feet high. Among the
flowering shrubs are the dogwood, manzanita, California lilac, wild
syringa, chokeberry, thimbleberry, and California laurel.
I have seen the trees diminish in number, give place to wide
prairies, and restrict their growth to the border of streams; ...
have seen grassy plains change into a brown and sere desert; ...
and have reached at length the westward slopes of the high
mountain barrier which, refreshed by the Pacific, bear the noble
forests of the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range, and among them
trees which are the wonder of the world. (Asa Gray.)
3. PLANT LIFE
The Yosemite ferns, forests, and flowers are growing almost
exclusively in glacial soil. Nearly all of the soil in the Park is
rock-flour that was ground by glaciers, and in part distributed by
them. Landslides and running water distributed most of the remainder.
The Park has an altitudinal range of nearly two miles, with them any
climates, and consequently numerous varieties of flora. These are
encouraged by varied life zones that result from combinations of sunny
and shady mountain-sides, unevenly distributed moisture, and the
different temperatures that prevail between the altitudes of three
thousand and thirteen thousand feet.
Here and there in the Park wild flowers may be found in bloom every
month of the year. Among the common flowers of the middle and lower
sections are seen the shooting-star, evening-primrose, tiger lily,
yellow pond-lily, Mariposa lily, black-eyed Susan, lupine, paintbrush,
yarrow, and snow-plant. There are violets, blue and red, a number of
pentstemons, the lark-spur, golden-rod, several orchids, and the wild
rose.
Many of the showy, crowded gardens of luxuriant wild-flower growths
are in the moist fir forests. Among the tall flowers in these gardens
are columbines, larkspurs, paintbrushes, lupines, and one of the lily
families. The famous, fragrant Washington lily brightens the open
woods; in places it grows to the height of eight feet.
The snow-plant is a curiosity and attracts by its brilliancy of color.
The plant and bloom are blood-red, but this herb is as cold and rigid
as an icicle. It is not a parasite, but is isolated and appears to
hold itself aloof from all the world. When caught by late snows it
makes a startling figure, but it does not grow up through the snow.
In the alpine heights are many healthy plants: the lovely arctic
daisy, phlox, gentian, lupine, potentilla, harebell, mountain
columbine, astragalus, and numerous other bright flowers. They grow in
clusters and in large ragged gardens, and in places are low-growing
and extremely dwarfed.
Besides its wild small plants and the blooming shrubbery the Park has
a glorious wealth of tree blossom. The hemlocks, pines, firs, and
spruces have a jeweled wealth of blue, purple, red, and yellow bloom.
May and June are the months most crowded with blossoms, but many come
in the autumn, mingling serenely with the calm, sunny days, the
evergreen groves, the tanned grass, and the masses of red and yellow
leaves. In May and June the waterfalls are at their best, and the
birds are most songful.
The Yosemite National Park is perhaps the most delightful region
in all the world for the study of plant life. The wide variety of
conditions here found, ranging from the hot and desiccated slopes
of the brush-clad foothills to the cold, bleak summits above
timber line, the abode of glaciers and perpetual snow, gives to
the flora an exceedingly diverse and interesting character.
Innumerable springs, creeks, rivers, ponds, and lakes provide
suitable habitats for moisture-loving plants. Rocky outcroppings,
enormous cliffs, and gravelly ridges accommodate species adapted
to such situations. The irregular topography yields southward
facing slopes which receive the full effect of the sun's rays, as
well as northward slopes where the sun's rays are little felt,
where it is therefore cool, moist, and shady. The altitude ranges
from two thousand five hundred feet in the foothill belt to
thirteen thousand and ninety feet along the crest of the Sierra
Nevada. All of these factors conspire to produce a remarkably
varied and interesting vegetation.
The richness of this flora is indicated by the nine hundred and
fifty-five species and varieties here described. The total number
represented in the Yosemite National Park is considerably greater,
since the grasses, sedges, and rushes are here omitted. Including
an estimate for these, it is safe to assume that the number of
species and varieties of flowering plants and ferns to be found
within the one thousand one hundred and twenty-four square miles
of the park is not less than about one thousand two hundred. ("A
Yosemite Flora," by Harvey Monroe Hall and Carlotta Case Hall.)
4. THE REALM OF FALLING WATER
The Yosemite National Park is enlivened and splendidly enriched with
mountain-high waterfalls and with wildly coasting and cascading
streams. These world-famous falls gain an added attractiveness through
the magnificence of the walls over which they plunge. In places the
walls, clean-cut and smooth, rise sheer for more than one thousand
feet. Here and there the line of a wall is broken with a vast niche or
columnar buttress.
A number of mountain streams and rivers in the Yosemite deliberately
make their way to the brink of a vast gorge that has its brow in the
sky, and there, in full self-control, they plunge over.
Jutting rocks, and smooth steep inclines throw streams into wild,
uncontrolled excitement. But where a vertical river drops its
fluttering current against a magnificent mountain-wall, everything is
harmonious and controlled, and the stream appears to have the sublime
composure of a Big Tree.
In a stream-channel water goes forward with crowding intermittent
rushes. These, in plunging over a brink, break up into numerous
closely falling rockets or comet-like masses, each tailed with spray.
These in turn separate and divide into other such masses, with spray
and water-dust.
[Illustration: UPPER AND LOWER YOSEMITE FALLS
Total fall 2600 feet]
In a drop of several hundred feet a mass of water is likely to expand
to several times its width at the brink. This expansion varies with
the volume of water, the height of the drop, and the direction and
speed of resisting wind-currents.
Swaying and bending are further attractions of waterfalls. Bridal Veil
Falls often swings and sways gently from side to side. This movement
is sometimes accompanied by lacy flutterings at one or more places on
the spray-wreathed white fall. Numerous falls in the Yosemite are high
and spread widely in descending, and frequently the fall dances
splendidly as its white, airy mass keeps time to the changing
movements of the wind.
Many of these high falls are accompanied at times by a fluttering of
numerous rainbows. These flaunt, shift, and dart like great
hummingbirds. At the Lower Yosemite, Bridal Veil, and Vernal Falls
these rainbows sometimes momentarily form a complete circle of color.
By these, too, the moon produces similar though softer, stranger
effects. Perhaps the most pleasing, delicate, and novel effects in
lunar rainbows are to be had about the foot of Yosemite Falls.
The slender Ribbon Fall has a vertical drop of twenty-three hundred
feet; the Upper Yosemite, about sixteen hundred feet. Nevada Falls is
about six hundred feet high. Vernal Falls is one hundred feet wide at
the top and drops three hundred feet. The Vernal and Nevada Falls are
in the midst of magnificent and novel rock scenery. The Illilouette
Fall is about six hundred feet high and is one of the most beautiful
in the Park.
The Tueeulala and Wapama Falls in Hetch-Hetchy have their own
individual setting and behavior. The Wapama, though lacking the
verticality of the Upper Yosemite Falls, carries a greater volume of
water. Yosemite Creek is a true mountain stream. In its first ten
miles it goes through a number of zones, passes a variety of plant
life, and makes a descent of six thousand feet. One third of this
descent is in the Falls of the Yosemite.
John Muir tells us that one windy day the Upper Falls was struck by an
upward wind pressure that bent and drove the water back over the brow
of the cliff. The wind held back the water so that the fall was cut
entirely in two for a few minutes. But more wonderful than this was
one day when the wind struck the Upper Falls at a point about halfway
down and there stopped and supported its falling waters. For more than
a minute the water piled up in an enormous conical accumulation about
seven hundred feet high. All the while the water poured over steadily
from above, and the entire mass rested upon the elastic but invisible
air. Then came a wild collapse.
At the foot of some of these waterfalls vast ice-cones are sometimes
formed. Occasionally these spread out over a large area and rise to
the height of several hundred feet.
Among the numerous cascades in the Park, one of the most precipitous
is the Sentinel, which endlessly comes tumbling down over a steep
rough incline of thirty-two hundred feet. In the upper end of the
Tuolumne Cañon the Tuolumne River rushes over inclined rocks and forms
one of the most scenic rapids in the world.
5. SEEING YOSEMITE
I wish that all who visit the Yosemite National Park would have a view
from the top of Mount Hoffman. I wish also that they might see
Tuolumne Meadows, wander over the near-by alpine moorlands, and stand
in the center of Hetch-Hetchy Valley.
Even the most flying visit to the Yosemite Valley should include a
visit to Lake Tenaya, Little Yosemite, Nevada, and Vernal Falls, and,
last, and in some respects most important, a view across and down into
the valley from Glacier Point on the south side, and also from the
summit of Eagle Peak on the opposite side.
[Illustration: LAKE TENAYA
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK]
From the first, John Muir called Hetch-Hetchy the Tuolumne Yosemite
and considered it a rival of the Yosemite Valley and "a wonderfully
exact counterpart of the Merced Yosemite." It is less than half the
size of the Yosemite, and its walls are about a thousand feet lower.
Two immense rocks stand at the entrance. On the south wall is Koloma,
a massive rock twenty-three hundred feet high. On the north wall is an
almost sheer front of rock that rises eighteen hundred feet. Over this
plunges Tueeulala Falls with a drop of ten hundred feet. This fall is
somewhat like Bridal Veil, but excels it both in beauty and in height.
Over the same wall, a short distance eastward, tumbles Wapama Falls,
carrying a greater volume of water than the Yosemite Falls.
Like the Yosemite Valley, Hetch-Hetchy is a combination of stupendous
rock-walls that rise from a quiet grassy valley which is beautiful
with trees and groves and a clear mountain stream.
The Parsons Memorial Lodge at Soda Springs is an excellent
stopping-place from which to explore the alpine scenes of the Yosemite
National Park. It is owned by the Sierra Club, and was built in honor
of Edward T. Parsons, who for years was one of the club's leading
members. The Lodge is situated on the edge of the celebrated Tuolumne
Meadows, by the Tioga Road, and is within a few miles of many
celebrated scenes and view-points. It is about twenty-five miles
northeast of the Yosemite Valley.
At Soda Springs, John Muir often had a central camp. He long ago
recommended the place for an excursion center. It lies at an altitude
of about nine thousand feet. One cannot too often see the near-by
smooth, wide Tuolumne Valley with its surrounding world of
mountain-peaks. It is in the very heart of the Yosemite High Sierra.
By it is an extensive and splendid alpine zone. Here are lakes, moory
spaces, polished pavements and domes, and, in its lower regions,
cañons, waterfalls, cascades, groves, and wild alpine gardens colored
and made charming by dainty brilliant flowers. To the north lies Mount
Conness; eastward, Mounts Dana, Lyell, Gibbs, Mammoth, and McClure;
southward, the Cathedral Range; and westward ice-polished Mount
Hoffman.
Surely the Parsons Memorial Lodge will become a world-celebrated
rendezvous for mountain-climbers and for those who desire to see
mountain scenery where it is peculiarly lovely and sublime. A number
of trails converge at this point. It will be interesting to follow the
future of the Lodge and to observe the thousands of enthusiastic
people who will enjoy the surrounding scenes.
About twelve miles to the west of it is Mount Hoffman, which rises
near the center of the Park and is probably the most commanding
view-point in it. This is one of the places that visitors to the Park
should not fail to enjoy.
Only a few miles to the southwest of the Lodge is Cathedral Peak. This
imposing ice-burnished structure is one of the most celebrated pieces
of nature statuary in the Park. Near by is Cathedral Lake. About
fifteen miles to the south of the Lodge is a region of burnished
rocks, numerous lakes, cañons, and moraines--a wonderful array of
glacial stories. This region is several miles southwest of Mount
Lyell.
Mountain-climbers will find Dana Mountain, to the east of the Lodge,
an excellent view-point. To see a sunrise from it is a rare enjoyment.
From its summit one looks down on the Mono Desert, the lake, and the
craters. It is an easy one-day journey from the Lodge across Tioga
Pass to Mono Lake.
At the door of the Lodge are the magnificent Tuolumne Meadows. There
are a series of them, the lower one being about four miles long and
about half a mile wide. Its meadowy expanse is in places attractively
sprinkled with trees, and across it, with beautiful folds and
hesitating bends, lingers the Tuolumne River.
The wonderful rapids in the upper end of the cañon of the Tuolumne are
perhaps the greatest in the world. The white and rushing river is
intensely impressive. Some distance below the Lodge begins the Big
Tuolumne Cañon. It is eighteen miles long and terminates in the
Hetch-Hetchy Valley. A journey through this is a joy for the
mountaineer. The cañon is comparatively narrow for its depth, which in
places is one mile. There are a few romantic parklike openings along
the way, and at some points the statuary is stupendous and
magnificent.
6. HISTORY OF YOSEMITE
Indians formerly called the Yosemite Valley _Ah-wah-nee_, meaning
"grassy valley." Early one morning a young brave started for Mirror
Lake to spear fish. On the way he encountered a huge grizzly bear. He
fought the beast with his spear and a club. After a long and furious
battle, in which he was badly wounded, the bear was killed. For this
exploit the Indian was named Yosemite, which means a full-grown
grizzly bear. This name was transmitted to his children and eventually
given to the entire tribe of Indians inhabiting the valley.
The Yosemite Valley was first made known to the public by Major James
D. Savage and Captain John Boling, who discovered it in 1851. Joseph
R. Walker, frontiersman and explorer, claims to have discovered the
valley in 1833.
Tourist travel to the valley began in 1857. It became a state park in
1864, and in 1890 a National Park was made around it. In 1905 the
boundaries were changed, and in 1906 a vigorous state and national
campaign was waged, under the leadership of John Muir, the Sierra
Club, and Robert Underwood Johnson, which resulted in the entire
region becoming a National Park.
John Muir enjoyed telling of the experience of an English gentleman
who years ago made a trip to the valley. Journeying from the railroad
on horseback, he missed the way and spent a long day descending into
gulches and cañons, then climbing out upon the high ridges. At last,
late one evening, he arrived on the rim of the Yosemite. After a swift
glance down into the valley, he exclaimed, "Great God! have I got to
cross this too?"
John Lamon, a roving Westerner, was the first settler in the Yosemite
Valley, where in 1859 he built a cabin, made a garden, and planted
fruit-trees. He was so charmed with the scenery and the climate that
he quit his roving life and here made his home till his death in 1876.
The Hetch-Hetchy appears to have been discovered in 1850 by a hunter
named Joseph Screech. In 1903 the San Francisco supervisors applied
for permission to make commercial use of the valley by building a dam
and making of it a reservoir. John Muir and the Sierra Club led the
opposition to this. The fight went on for ten years with uncertain
results. At times it was intense and bitter. Congress finally decided
in favor of San Francisco, but up to this date San Francisco has not
complied with the conditions imposed.
In 1915 plans were made for the improvement of the Yosemite Village.
In the same year occurred an event of greater importance for the Park.
Chiefly through the efforts of Stephen T. Mather, the disused Tioga
Road became a part of the Yosemite road-system. This road has been
reopened and will be a great advantage and convenience to Yosemite
visitors. It extends across the Park from east to west, passing near
the Big Trees, the Parsons Memorial Lodge, and Tuolumne Meadows,
invading the High Sierra, and crossing the range through Tioga Pass.
Henceforth automobilists from the East may leave the main continental
highway in Nevada and reach the Yosemite Park _via_ Mono Lake and this
road.
The name of Galen Clark is pleasantly interwoven with the history of
the Yosemite National Park. John Muir thus described the man: "The
best mountaineer I ever met, and one of the kindest and most amiable
of all my mountain friends.... His kindness to all Yosemite visitors
and mountaineers was marvelously constant and uniform."
Galen Clark enjoyed showing people of all ages the various wonders of
Yosemite Valley, never tired of answering questions, and endeavored
carefully to explain the facts concerning each point of interest.
Thousands of visitors to the valley came to know him intimately. He
came to the Park to live in 1857, and for more than fifty years it was
his permanent home. For twenty-four years he was a member of the
Yosemite State Park Commission. The Indians of the valley were fond of
him, and from them he gathered much interesting information. His
serene disposition and his almost constant outdoor life kept his body
and mind normal to the day of his death. After he reached the age of
ninety, deciding to become an author, he wrote and published three
little books relating to the Indians and to the natural wonders of the
Yosemite National Park.
III
THE SEQUOIA AND THE GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARKS
The Sequoia National Park has a crowded luxuriance of wild flowers. It
abounds in varied bird-life and has a number of wild sheep, bears,
deer, and other animals. It has lakes, cañons, and glaciated
mountains. But the supreme attraction of this and the neighboring
General Grant Park is the sequoia or Big Tree. Nowhere else on earth
are trees found that are so large or so imposing. In places the Big
Trees are attractively mixed with other forest trees. Besides the
large aged trees, there are middle-aged ones, young trees, and
seedlings.
The General Grant Park has a sequoia that is thirty-five feet in
diameter. This Park, like the Sequoia, was established principally to
preserve Big Trees. Both became National Parks in 1890, chiefly
through the efforts of George W. Stewart. The General Grant Park has
an area of four square miles, the Sequoia Park of two hundred and
thirty-seven square miles.
The proposition to enlarge the Sequoia National Park should meet with
early consummation. The region would then embrace about twelve hundred
square miles, including the present General Grant and Sequoia Parks
and Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the United States, exclusive of
Alaska. Near Mount Whitney are a number of other peaks. In fact, the
region is the highest and most rugged section of California.
Says Gilbert H. Grosvenor, editor of "The National Geographic
Magazine":--
Switzerland, the playground of Europe, visited annually (until
1915) by more than one hundred thousand Americans, cannot compare
in attractiveness with the High Sierra of central California.
Nothing in the Alps can rival the famous Yosemite Valley, which is
as unique as the Grand Cañon. The view from the summit of Mount
Whitney surpasses that from any of the peaks of Switzerland. There
are no cañons in Switzerland equal to those of the Kern and the
King Rivers, which contain scores of waterfalls and roaring
streams, any one of which in Europe would draw thousands of
visitors annually. Many of the big yellow and red pines, of the
juniper and cedar, eclipse the trees of Switzerland as completely
as these pines are eclipsed by the giant redwoods.
And then, as to birds and flowers, the High Sierra so excels the
Alps that there is no comparison. Never will the writer forget the
melodies of the birds and the luxuriance of the meadows passed in
the marches from Redwood Meadow to Mineral King, and then up over
Franklin Pass; the fields of blue, red, yellow, orange, white, and
purple flowers, all graceful and fragrant, or the divine dignity
of the great Siberian Plateau, nearly eleven thousand feet above
the sea, and yet carpeted from end to end with blue lupine and
tiny flowers.
From the educational point of view, the High Sierra so surpasses
the Alps that again no comparison can be made.
Magnificent is the King's River Cañon. The Kern River Cañon is seven
thousand feet deep; this is equal, if not superior, to the depth of
the Grand Cañon of the Colorado. Here is the celebrated Tehipitee
Dome. There are numerous lakes, streams, waterfalls, and meadows. This
was the original home of the golden trout. Besides the King's and Kern
Rivers, there is the Kaweah.
The glaciation of this region is on a stupendous scale and is of
extraordinary interest. The peculiar topography, the heavy snowfall,
and the character of the rocks all combined to cause the Ice King to
execute wonderful works in this Park and to leave behind a splendid
record. From the summit of this high region one looks into Death
Valley, less than one hundred miles away, which is the lowest point in
the United States, a section of it being three hundred to four hundred
feet below sea-level. This region includes the southern extension of
the High Sierra in California, is near the Nevada line, and is about
one hundred miles north of Los Angeles.
Clarence King, the distinguished geologist and first Director of the
United States Geological Survey, had a number of mountain-climbing
experiences in this Greater Sequoia region. These are tellingly
related in that classic volume, "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada."
John Muir also wrote of this region, and it seems fitting that this
enlarged reservation should be called the "Muir National Park."
Here the skies and the weather are great changing attractions, and the
big wild folk are alert neighbors. Here are forests made up of trees
each of which is an heroic giant! Here the Ice King left vast and
splendid stories. Here is perhaps the deepest gorge in this round
world, and here the highest peak within the bounds of the States of
the Union--a peak that commands vast and varied scenes. The streams
and lakes are of the greatest. The variety of wild flowers is probably
not equaled in any other park or territory. The birds, too, are
numerously and abundantly represented.
If I were sentenced to end my days in a National Park of my choosing,
without the least hesitation I should choose the region now proposed
for the Greater Sequoia or Muir Park.
THE BIG TREES
The General Sherman is the largest tree on earth, and it may be the
oldest living object that has a place in the sun. It is thirty-six and
one-half feet in diameter and two hundred and eighty feet high. Nearly
as large are the General Grant and the Grizzly Giant. A number of
veteran sequoias are more than thirty feet in diameter and nearly
three hundred feet high. Many are more than twenty feet in diameter,
and thousands have a diameter of ten feet or more.
[Illustration: THE FOUR BROTHERS
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK]
The Big Tree (_Sequoia gigantea_) is scattered in thirty-two groves
along the western slopes of the Sierra for a distance of two hundred
and sixty miles. Most of the trees are between the altitudes of five
thousand and eight thousand feet. There are gaps of miles between
groves. The southern extension has a continuous forest for seventy
miles, except where it is cut in two by cañons, and it contains a
majority of all Big Trees. There are three Big-Tree groves in the
Yosemite National Park, one in the General Grant, and twelve in the
Sequoia. One of these twelve is the famous Giant Forest.
The Sequoia and General Grant National Parks have more than a million
Big Trees. Of these, more than twelve thousand are ten or more feet in
diameter. A few of these trees are upwards of three hundred feet high,
but the majority are about two hundred and fifty feet.
Galen Clark, who made a long and careful study of the Big Trees,
expressed the opinion that the Grizzly Giant was at least six thousand
years old. A number may be four thousand or more years of age, but the
majority probably are less than three thousand. Careful counts of the
annual rings of trees that have been felled show that a number of
these had lived more than three thousand years. One had more than
four thousand annual rings. W. L. Jepson, author of "The Trees of
California," believes that the general tendency is to exaggerate the
age of the living Big Trees.
These trees bear seeds each year. In a fruitful year a Big Tree may
produce one million seeds. These are exceedingly small and light. The
tree blooms in late winter, while the earth is still covered with
snow. The flowers are pale green and pale yellow. The cones are bright
green and are about two and one-half inches in length. They shed their
seeds as soon as they are ripened, but the cones sometimes cling to
the trees for months. If the seeds alight on freshly upturned soil or
soil recently burned over, they usually sprout and grow vigorously.
They do best in the sunlight. But if the seeds fall upon a grass- or
trash-covered forest floor, they fail to sprout.
With branches nearly to the earth, the outline of a young tree is that
of a slender pyramid. As the tree ages, the lower branches fall off.
In middle-aged trees, the trunk commonly is free of branches from
fifty to one hundred and fifty feet above the ground. The tiptop of
aged trees usually is a dead snag, surrounded by living, up-curved
side branches from the trunk. The original tops of nearly all old
trees have been smashed by lightning.
Usually in young trees the bark is almost purplish; in old ones it is
cinnamon-color. This bark is fire-resisting, is from one to two feet
thick, and is good protection to the vitals of the tree. The roots are
short, but the base of the trunk is heavily, artistically buttressed.
Living or dead, the Big Tree has extraordinary durability. It has
exceptional vitality and recuperative power. Its long life probably is
due to the fact that it is almost immune from insect pests, the most
deadly enemies of all other kinds of trees. Men, fire, and lightning
are the worst enemies of the Big Tree. Most of the old ones have had
their heads shattered by lightning again and again, but they still
insist on living and will produce a new top even though the old one is
entirely smashed off. These trees appear to be almost immortal. Unless
they starve or meet a violent death, they live on and on.
John Muir says that the wood in the Big Trees has an endurance almost
equal to that of granite, and gives the following illustration. He cut
a piece of sound wood from the trunk of a fallen monarch that had been
lying upon the earth several hundred years. In falling, the trunk of
this Big Tree was cracked across in a number of places. Into these
cracks fire ate its way each time a forest fire swept the locality.
Each of these fires probably was separated from the following one by a
number of years, and it probably took a great many burns to cut this
slow-burning wood into sections. But at last this was done. Between
the ends of two of these sections a fir tree took root and grew. After
all these years, and after the fir tree had lived three hundred and
eighty years, the sections of the Big Tree still lay upon the ground,
apparently as sound as the day the tree fell.
All Big-Tree groves appear to have gone through forest fires. It is
probable that most of these groves have been repeatedly fire-swept.
Many of the trees show fire-scars that cannot be entirely healed for
centuries.
The Big Tree has been called the noblest of a noble race. Its enormous
size, its excellent proportions, its serenity, its steadfastness, its
age, make it the most impressive living object. John Muir, in
commenting on the imperishable nature of the sequoia, says he feels
confident that if every one of these trees were to die to-day,
numerous monuments of their existence would remain available for the
student for more than ten thousand years.
But the Big Tree is not verging toward extinction. Its greatest danger
is from general destruction by man. The Big-Tree area has not
diminished, but probably has slightly increased in the last few
thousand years. Seeds sprout readily and young trees grow vigorously.
John Muir thus comments concerning the tree and its distribution:--
The Big Tree (_Sequoia gigantea_) is Nature's forest masterpiece,
and, so far as I know, the greatest of living things. It belongs
to an ancient stock, as its remains in old rocks show, and has a
strange air of other days about it, a thoroughbred look inherited
from the long ago--the auld lang syne of trees. Once the genus was
common, and with many species flourished in the now desolate
arctic regions, in the interior of North America, and in Europe,
but in long eventful wanderings from climate to climate only two
species have survived the hardships they had to encounter.
The Big Trees probably were discovered by General John Bidwell in
1841. John Muir studied them for years, and then gave to the world an
accurate account of them.
The Big-Tree groves, he says, are growing in the soil-areas off which
the ice first melted at the close of the ice age. The wide gaps
between the various sequoia groves were areas occupied by the large
and long-enduring glaciers. The topography of the mountains plainly
shows that the areas where the groves are were places protected from
the ice-flows of the heights. The gaps would naturally have received
the main ice-flows from the heights.
In the south the Big-Tree forests are in the areas that were
effectively buttressed and shielded from ice-flows. Consequently these
areas were early opened at the close of the ice age. The
forty-mile-wide gap between the Stanislaus and the Tuolumne Groves was
a channel filled with a glacier probably long after the groves to the
north and the south started to grow.
Did the sequoia endure the long ice age in these few places where the
groves are now growing? The pine, fir, spruce, and other forest
species in the Sierra may have been planted with seeds from trees that
survived in the south. But as the sequoia is found nowhere else, the
question arises, did it survive somewhere near the localities in
which it is now growing?
An acquaintance with the Big Trees, an understanding of them, gives us
one of the most impressive and lasting ties to be had in nature. These
trees ever impress one with a nobility of character. Seen at midday,
or at early morning when their lengthened shadow gives strange tones
to the scene, or in the serene, strange moonlight, or when, wrapped in
restless mist, they loom vast and mysterious, or in a storm, they are
ever marvelously steadfast and calm. Long may they live!
At the Big Trees, the first act of Horace Greeley, the celebrated
editor, was to take out a pencil and figure on the lumber contents of
one. These veteran trees have a higher value.
Lincoln, in his lecture on Niagara Falls, said: "The mere physical
fact of Niagara Falls is a very small part of the world's wonder. _Its
power to incite reflection and emotion_ is its greatest charm."
Lincoln might have calculated the mule-power of the Falls if
ruined--changed from the higher value of a scenic spectacle to common
commercialism. Why tell how many hovels or how many feet of sewer
might be constructed out of the Library of Congress; or the number of
cobblestones that could be manufactured from the Washington Monument?
As well tell the number of forts that might have been built with the
marbles and the energy that were put into statuary and the inspiring
arts, as to consider or measure Big Trees in lumber terms.
The sequoia is one of the monumental wonders of this round world. It
is the oldest settler--the pioneer of pioneers. Each venerable giant
numbers his years by centuries. Each was already old when nations of
the present were born. Gone and forgotten are the nations that
were--gone the flags that waved in the wind when these trees began to
cast their shadows.
And it may be--for nations with all their pomp and pride are
short-lived--that every flag that now flaunts the sky, that every
nation now on earth, will pass out of existence long before these
patriarchal trees lie down at last upon the mountains. Some of these
trees have already out-lived more than fifty generations of mankind.
Some of them are likely to look upon a score or more of passing
generations of the human race. These trees might tell a thousand
stirring stories to the one possessed by the Sphinx. The Sphinx is of
lifeless stone. These trees are alive. They have lived through
countless changing scenes. But which shall be accounted the more
striking and wonderful, the passing pictures in the centuries they
have looked upon, or the moving, changing scenes in the centuries that
they are yet to see?
These Big Trees have endured fire, flood, lightning, landslide, gale,
drought, and earthquake, but have never hauled down their evergreen
banners. They have triumphed over the changes of ten thousand
seasons; watched and waved through centuries of sunlight and storm.
Countless times the sun has projected a silhouetted shadow of their
stupendous plumes against the mountain side. They have worn monumental
robes of snow flowers; they have stood silent in the light of
thousands of autumn moons; and they are still upon the heights to
inspire us with their steadfastness and their splendor.
The landmark and the heritage of the ages are these splendid trees,
these immortal evergreens. Their historic lore and unequaled grandeur
give them amplitude and poetry enough to kindle and enrich the
imagination. Let them live on; they will bless those who make the
sacred pilgrimage to see them, and they will be a "choir invisible" to
all who simply know that upon the sublime Sierra they still wave
grandly.
IV
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK
Mount Rainier is one of the noblest and most imposing mountains in the
world. It stands isolated. Around it are countless peaks, but these
are so small that they but emphasize the colossal bulk and towering
height of majestic Rainier. It is 14,408 feet high. The altitudinal
sweep of the Park is ten thousand feet. Only Mount Rainier territory
is in the Park. The area is three hundred and twenty-four square
miles--about eighteen miles square. Yet so vast is this mountain that
an extensive part of it is outside the Park boundaries. Its outline is
intensified by the extraordinary make-up of black and white which
characterizes it. The upper half of it is strangely white with masses
of snow and ice. The lower slopes are purplish black with dense
coniferous forests. Between the snow and the forest is a magnificent
belt of wild flowers.
Mount Rainier is a sleeping volcano. Beneath its shell of stone is a
heart of fire. Upon this shell are snow-fields and glaciers, rushing
rivers, a stupendous forest, wild-flower gardens in which millions of
"bannered blossoms open their bosoms to the sun."
Additional territory is needed to protect scenery not now in the Park,
and especially for Park road development. At a number of points along
the southern boundary the road winds outside the Park. A similar
condition will exist on the eastern side when the eastern road-system
is built. Much good would result from starting at the southeast corner
of the Park and adding a six-mile strip twelve miles long on the south
and another strip of equal size on the east.
Mount Rainier lies about sixty miles eastward from Seattle and Tacoma.
An excellent automobile road enters the southern boundary and extends
into the Park, passing the snout of the Nisqually Glacier. The
road-plan of the Park embraces an encircling scenic highway around the
mountain on the lower slopes. This road is to be united with entrance
roads from the north, south, east, and west. A trail about fifty miles
long circles this peak near timber-line. It penetrates fifty miles of
unexcelled beauty and splendor. It touches a thousand different scenes
and ever commands the world of light and shade that lies far below and
far away.
Small inns are to be built along this wilderness way. What a poetic,
scene-crowded way to travel! Every boy and girl might well plan to
walk round mighty Rainier on this commanding circle pathway.
[Illustration: STAGE ROAD, MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK]
The uppermost edge of Rainier's dark primeval forest ends at
timber-line in peninsulas, bays, and islands. Between the ragged edges
of the forest and the broken edges of the ice and snow is a
magnificent wild-flower scenic belt, or zone, a mile or two in
width. Mingling are ice, snow, broken groves, brilliant wild flowers,
streams, crags, meadows, and a thousand cascades. Through this scenic
zone lies the timber-line trail.
Steam is constantly issuing from the craters in the summit. During the
last century, there were a number of slight eruptions, the most recent
one occurring in 1870. Indian legends tell of a great cataclysm during
which the summit of the mountain was blown to pieces and scattered
afar. Apparently the peak, before this explosion, was about two
thousand feet higher than at present. The shattered summit indicates
the reality of this traditionary explosion and previous height. It is
three miles across the summit. A part of the great crater-rim still
remains, and Liberty Cap and Peak Success strongly testify to former
elevation and grandeur.
Often this splendid peak wears a vast wreath or belt of clouds or
mists. Visitors to the middle slopes frequently have the delightful
experience of being above the clouds. François E. Matthes, the
well-known geologist, thinks this mountain a wonderful source of
inspiration and wishes that it were possible for all people to share
it. He says, "No doubt the time will come when a pilgrimage to Mount
Rainier shall be esteemed among the most precious joys, the most
coveted privileges which a citizen of this country may hope to realize
for himself or for his fellows."
George Vancouver, the explorer, discovered Mount Rainier in 1792. It
was named in honor of Peter Rainier, an English admiral. Theodore
Winthrop, author of that classic book of travel, "Canoe and Saddle,"
visited the region in 1853. He was an ardent advocate of the original
Indian names of conspicuous objects of interest. The Indian name for
this peak was Tahoma. It is encouraging that the people of Seattle and
Tacoma may early unite to ask that this name be adopted. Said Mr.
Winthrop in "Canoe and Saddle":--
Let us, therefore, develop our own world. It has taken us two
centuries to discover our proper West across the Mississippi, and
to know by indefinite hearsay that among the groups of the Rockies
are heights worth notice.
Farthest away in the West, as near the western sea as mountains
can stand, are the Cascades. Sailors can descry their landmarked
summits firmer than a cloud, a hundred miles away.... Kulshan,
misnamed Mount Baker by the vulgar, is an irregular, massive,
mound-shaped peak.... South of Kulshan the range continues dark,
rough and somewhat unmeaning to the eye, until it is relieved by
Tahoma.
Mount Tahoma was first climbed in 1870 by General Hazard Stevens and
P. B. Van Trump. The first woman to climb it was Miss Fay Fuller, who
went to the summit in 1890. The Indians appear not to have climbed
above the snow-line. They had little occasion to go higher, and they
believed that the god of the mountain forbade their ascending farther.
In 1883, Henry Villard, president of the Northern Pacific Railroad,
sent a large party to enjoy the scenes on the slopes of Mount
Rainier. Among those in the party were James Bryce, afterward British
Ambassador to the United States, and Bailey Willis. These two
gentlemen appear to have discussed the importance of having this peak
set aside as a National Park. On the completion of this excursion,
James Bryce and others recommended to Henry Villard that efforts be
made to have this Park created. Later, similar requests were made by
individuals and organizations, and a recommendation to this effect was
made in writing by the National Academy of Sciences. In 1899 the Park
was established.
1. THE SPLENDID WILD-FLOWER GARDEN
The triumphant glory of Mount Rainier National Park is seen in its
wild flowers. It is doubtful whether anywhere else on earth is to be
found so extensive and luxuriant a growth of such brightly colored
flowers amid such scenes of supreme wildness and grandeur.
A vast broken flower-belt encircles the peak between the ragged lower
edge of the large ice-fields and the ragged upper limits of tree
growth. A flower-belt fifty miles long, covered and crowded with
flowers, mile after mile! It is most showy and splendid at and just
above the limits of tree growth. Masses of color; myriads of blossoms,
each of clean and vivid hue! This vast and splendid garden is crossed
with streams and cañons, adorned with crags, green meadows, forested
peninsulas, and islands of groves. This encircling flower carnival
expands into numerous connected and disconnected alpine parks. Each
park is a superb flower-garden with a splendid precipitous alpine
back- and sky-ground. Among the more striking of these are Paradise
Park, Indian Henry's Hunting Grounds, Spray Park, and Summerland.
In the open upper reaches of the forest, the fragrant twin-flower
covers and crowds wide places. There are thousands of cream-white
mountain lilies--bear-grass--with tall, slender blooms. The
shooting-star, a near relative of the cyclamen, is as thick upon the
earth as stars up in the sky. Thousands of purple asters are found
upon stalks two feet high. A dogtooth violet, commonly called
avalanche lily, is abundant. The western anemone, with its exquisite
leaves, its purple bloom and decorative seed plumes, adorns many a
wild garden. Many of the plants in the high altitude grow rapidly,
bloom briefly, and seed quickly. Summer is short.
Acres of valerian with four-foot stalks thrust their pungent blooms
beneath one's nose. The blue mertensia crowds moist places with a
thicket of stalks three feet high. A lavender-colored arctic lupine
grows in decorative masses. The white dock, sometimes called wild
buckwheat, nods on its slender stalks two feet above the earth. The
wild hellebore carries its greenish-white flowers upon stalks as high
as one's head.
[Illustration: MOUNT RAINIER FROM PARADISE VALLEY]
Many of the yellow or golden flowers bloom close to the earth. There
are golden asters and golden-rods, a mountain dandelion, a
low-growing yellow buttercup called the monkey-flower, the
gold-touched arnica, and yellow potentilla. These fill many wide,
ragged places with a blaze of yellow glory.
Low-growing lavender-colored phlox appears in masses, and Cusick's
speedwell forms large patches of low-lying blue. Epilobiums cover
acres of earth with pink petals.
A species of blue gentian grows in showy clusters, and meadows are
filled with the brightest painted-cups in red and crimson. The
heather, the heather! There are rich, deep masses of red, white, and
yellow heather. The white heather is the lovely cassiope that adorns
the snow edges of thousands of mountains from Mexico to the Arctic
regions.
Endless are the ranks of the saxifrage family in white; countless the
numbers of the pink family. Here the spring beauty blooms in summer
and the rose-crimson _Pentstemon rupicola_ makes a showy appearance.
Also above the limits of tree growth are other little plant people:
the ever-cheerful kinnikinnick; a dainty, tiny fern; numerous members
of the figwort family; Lyall's lupine, with its brilliant bloom of
purple flowers; the evening-primrose; and a most pungent polemonium.
Growing far up the slopes is an attractive member of the dock family
that is tufted with purplish-yellow bloom. A yellow mustard (_Draba
aureola_) and another member of the mustard family with creamy-white
flowers carry and maintain this wonderful wild-flower garden farthest
above the clouds, highest up into the snow-fields and the sky.
One day I found a tiny tuft of bloom in a bit of soil on the very
summit of Rainier. It was in a niche of lava, surrounded with ice and
snow, but warmed by the steadily escaping steam. Brave, cheerful
little fellow creature! In a steamy, ice-rimmed volcano's throat on a
desolate top of the world!
Of all the fire-mountains which, like beacons, once blazed along
the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest in form.... Its
massive white dome rises out of its forests, like a world by
itself.... Above the forests there is a zone of the loveliest
flowers, fifty miles in circuit and nearly two miles wide, so
closely planted and luxuriant that it seems as if Nature, glad to
make an open space between woods so dense and ice so deep, were
economizing the precious ground, and trying to see how many of her
darlings she can get together in one mountain wreath.... We wade
knee-deep and waist-deep, the bright corollas in myriads touching
petal to petal.... Altogether this is the richest subalpine garden
I ever found, a perfect floral elysium. (John Muir, in "Our
National Parks.")
The forests of this park are a splendid attraction. The trees are tall
and of noble proportions. The forest floor has a tangled undergrowth
of vines and shrubbery, a luxuriant carpet of ferns, mosses, and
flowers. Many areas are crowded with trees from two to eight feet in
diameter, from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet high.
Cedars, spruces, and hemlocks number their years by centuries. A few
are perhaps a thousand years of age. Theodore Winthrop wrote of these
forests:--
Long years of labor by artists the most unconscious of their skill
had been given to modelling these columnar firs. Unlike the
pillars of human architecture, chipped and chiselled in bustling,
dusty quarries, and hoisted to their site by sweat of brow and
creak of pulley, these rose to fairest proportions by the life
that was in them and blossomed into foliated capitals three
hundred feet overhead.
The forest is gloomy with luxuriant greenness. Many trees are shrouded
with a pendent lichen, _Usnea_. This hangs in long, threadlike tufts,
while beneath it, mingling with the flowers among the towering trees,
are forests of far-spreading ferns.
Around the foot of the mountain are the Indian-pipe and the pyrola, of
the wintergreen family; and there is still another delightful member
of this family, whose generic name means "delight." The dogwood
(_Cornus canadensis_), the forest anemone, the dainty calypso are also
here. All these and numbers of other brilliantly colored species
brighten and in places illuminate the somber forest floor like touches
and dashes of sunlight.
On the lower slopes Douglas spruce and Western hemlock predominate,
with red cedar along the streams. Above the altitude of three thousand
feet, noble and silver firs are found singly and in solid groves.
Ascending, we find a scattered growth of lodge-pole, growths of
Engelmann spruce, and a few white-bark pines.
The timber-line may be given as about sixty-five hundred feet, or at
the same altitude as in the Alps. The extreme height of the tree
growth is about one thousand feet greater. Most of the timber-line
growth is crushed, flattened, and oppressed. The timber-line grouping
is most poetical and picturesque. In places the trees are both
dwarfed and distorted with wind and snow. The trees are mountain
hemlock, alpine fir, Engelmann spruce, and white-bark pine. These
stand singly, in groups, and in ragged groves. Commonly they stand in
green meadows or brilliant wild-flower gardens. Here and there they
are separated with the green tracks of permanent snowslides.
The Mount Rainier National Park has its full share of bird and animal
life. Here are numerous warblers and woodpeckers; chickadees,
black-hooded jays, dainty hummingbirds, ptarmigans, thrushes, and
trustful water-ouzels.
Among the animals is that audacious climber, the mountain goat. There
also are deer, elk, bears, and other alert wild folk.
2. GLACIERS OF MOUNT RAINIER
Mount Rainier has the largest and the longest glacier in the United
States. This is the Emmons. It is about six miles long and has an
area of about eight square miles. It is on the eastern slope of the
peak. The ice-area on Rainier covers one seventh of the Park, or about
fifty square miles.
Rainier has a magnificent glacial system. There are a dozen large and
twice as many small glaciers. The peak is an enormous cone with a
blunt, broken top. A majority of the large glaciers begin two thousand
or more feet below the summit and extend in a comparatively straight
line toward the bottom. Though a number unite in continuous ice-fields
well up the slope, down the slope each generally is separated from its
neighbors. The glaciers are separated by narrow ledges called
cleavers, or by each occupying its own deep cañon. Near the terminus
many are separated by moraines or flowering meadows.
The Nisqually Glacier, which ends just below the altitude of four
thousand feet in Paradise Park, is five miles long. In the summer-time
it moves forward at the rate of about sixteen inches per day. This,
and in fact all glaciers, have periods of advance and retreat. During
the last twenty-five years this glacier has retreated about one
thousand feet. That is to say, the present point where it melts
entirely away is one thousand feet farther up the slope than it was
twenty-five years ago. In comparatively recent times, as the cirques,
lakes, and moraines far down the slopes show, the glaciers on this
peak were deeper and larger, and reached much farther down the slope
than at present.
The Nisqually Glacier has continuous connection with the snow deposits
upon the summit of the peak. At one point this snow comes down a
precipitous cascade and tumbles perhaps two thousand feet. This and
all other glaciers are clean and snowy at the upper end, but the lower
end is greatly darkened with rock-débris and earthy material that have
mixed with it. The last half-mile of the Nisqually Glacier has the
appearance more of a rock glacier than an ice glacier. Its front is a
dark chocolate color.
The Paradise Glacier is one of several on the southerly slope. It is
formed by the union of a number of ice-streams which originate at
about nine thousand feet. They do not receive snow from the slopes
above, but quantities of snow are brought to them by the wind. Near
the lower end, this glacier divides into a number of lobes or streams.
The Carbon Glacier descends the northerly slope. It originates in the
large cirque or ice-made cañon on the peak. This is a mile and a half
across, and its terminal wall rises precipitously thirty-six hundred
feet. Its snow supplies fall upon it from the clouds, are swept to it
by the winds, and rushed to it by avalanches.
The Winthrop Glacier is on the northern slope. Among its interesting
features are ice-cascades, glacier tablets, and the ice flowing over
high mounds in its main channel.
The Tahoma glaciers on the southwest slope exhibit a glacier island.
The Kautz Glacier on the southern slope is long, narrow, and winding.
It has an enormous medial moraine. Pyramid Rock commands an excellent
view of this and other scenes.
Many admirable names have been selected for the objects of interest on
Rainier. In this connection, some one is to be thanked for
substituting "cleaver" and "wedge" for "arrête."
The snowfall on the peak is heaviest on the lower slopes. This
diminishes with altitude and is lightest on the upper slopes and the
summit. This is typical of mountain snowfalls. From long experience in
the Rocky Mountains, I am able to say that the snowfall there is much
less on the high peaks than on their middle slopes. The same fact
applies to the Sierra Nevada of California, to the Andes of South
America, and to the Himalayas and the Alps. It is common for a
storm-cloud to be comparatively close to the earth. The height of it
is determined more by the height of near-by plateaus and passes than
by that of the peaks. It is certain that during many of the lowland
storms the mountain peaks thrust up into the sunshine through the
silver lining of the clouds.
Wind is an interesting factor in the distribution of the snowfall. It
sweeps snow off exposed ridges and accumulates it in vast quantities
at places where a glacier starts or where the snow avalanches to a
glacier. Columbia's Crest--the summit--appears to be in a large
measure formed by snow that the wind carries up to it from the slopes
far below. Thus, to snows that fell on these slopes the height of the
peak and its white top are in a measure due.
A score of turbulent streams radiate from this mountain. Apparently
its volcanic material is easily eroded. The streams are heavily laden
with gravel and sediment. Though the peak is comparatively young, the
cañons made by ice and water are large. Vast portions of the mountain
have already been carried away by the erosive forces of ice and
running water.
V
CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK
The supreme attraction in Crater Lake National Park is the vivid blue
lake that sleeps in the rugged and magnificent crater of a dead
volcano--Mount Mazama.
One golden September afternoon I climbed alone upon the rim of the
crater near Eagle Point. There was no wind, and everything lay
broodingly silent in the sunshine. In an instant the scene became
unreal. The lake, mysteriously blue--indigo blue--lay below. Barren,
desolate mountain walls of a desert strangely surrounded it. Was I
exploring the topography of the moon?
A second look at most new scenes, and there comes to me a feeling of
acquaintance--of having been there before. But this scene made no
advance; if it had known me, it desired to forget. I had not seen it;
it was as indifferent to my presence as though I existed not. But it
was enchanting and it was eloquent. In common with all other visitors
to Crater Lake, I received profound and lasting impressions.
The splendid ruin of the ashen-gray walls, the intense and refined
blue of the lake, arouse the imagination. What graphic, dramatic,
world-building story is locked in these bold scenes?
It is probable that this vast blue-bottomed caldron was once covered
with a volcanic peak. This vanished volcano is named Mount Mazama. The
geological story is that the upper half of the peak collapsed. There
was volcanic violence. But it did not, like Mount Rainier and Mount
Baker, explosively blow its summit to pieces. A mile or more of the
upper half simply collapsed and dropped into the crater. Had an
explosion hurled the enormous fragments of the top afar, they must
have been found scattered about. But only small fragments of pumice
have been discovered.
[Illustration: CRATER LAKE AND WIZARD ISLAND]
This collapse appears to have been preceded by a rupture of the base,
allowing the lava to escape. This lava had filled the crater and
supported its walls, and the collapse followed its removal. The upper
part of this peak that apparently dropped into the crater must have
been six thousand or more feet high, with a basal diameter of about
six miles. Its bulk was equal to, or greater than, the whole of Mount
Washington, the highest peak in New England.
An early impression that this lake crater gave me was that it had been
formed by breaking off an enormous conical and hollow volcanic peak
which was inverted and jammed, small end downward, into the earth.
This caldron remains. It is now a jagged, gigantic central opening in
the deep surrounding lava-beds. These exhibit the former fiery
flooding activity of Mazama.
The volcano was active at intervals in the glacial period. This is
shown in the glaciated rock-surfaces of the rim that are covered with
layers of pumice and rhyolite. The lake is encircled by about twenty
miles of precipitous walls that rise from five hundred to two thousand
feet above the surface of the water. The lake-level is 6177 feet. The
surface fluctuates a few feet each year.
The water is deep, much of it from twelve hundred to nineteen hundred
feet. In a few places it is less than three hundred feet deep, with
near-by surroundings several hundred feet deeper. Are these shallow
spots above the tops of other volcanic cones or lava-masses?
The lava-beds in the surrounding outer slopes of the crater overlie
one another at an angle that indicates that the lava was poured to
them from a central point above. Extend the slopes upward from the rim
on the angle of the slopes below, and the outline of the former peak
is restored. This would make a peak about the size of Mount Shasta.
At the altitude of the crater rim, about eight thousand feet, the
diameter is about six miles, the same as that of Mount Shasta at the
same altitude. As both peaks are composed of like kinds of lava, we
may safely assume that Mount Mazama before it collapsed was about the
size and height of Mount Shasta (14,380 feet).
Glacier records furnish additional evidence of the former height and
magnitude of Mazama. On the rim and on the outer slopes just below it
are a number of glacier grooved and planed rock-surfaces. The lines of
these extend downward, so the ice must have come from above. Then,
too, there are a number of moraines that show they were deposited by
glaciers from upper slopes. Apparently glaciers flowed down all sides
of this mountain from a central high point. Two ice-eroded cañons
begin in the southern rim and extend down the slope. Plainly these
were formed by ice-streams that came down from above. Thus the angle
of the lava-built slopes, and the lines of glaciation, testify to the
former existence of a high central summit.
On its slopes the Fire King and the Ice King appear to have wrought
and to have clashed. Both have vanished from the scene; but here
remains a volcanic landscape slightly sculptured by ice. The Mazama
story appears a spectacular one.
This scene is a favorite with geologists. They come to it from all
over the world. Crater lakes are common. There are numbers of dead
craters filled with water in South America, Asia, and elsewhere. But
this is an extraordinary crater lake. The marvelous blueness is only
one feature. The rare geological exhibit makes a strange appeal.
Joseph S. Diller, of the United States Geological Survey, closes his
excellent monograph on the "Geological History of Crater Lake, Oregon"
with the following words:--
Aside from its attractive scenic features, Crater Lake affords one
of the most interesting and instructive fields for the study of
volcanic geology to be found anywhere in the world. Considered in
all its aspects, it ranks with the Grand Cañon of the Colorado,
the Yosemite Valley, and the Falls of Niagara, but with an
individuality that is superlative.
No streams flow into this lake, and there is no visible outlet. It is
probable that subterranean waters empty into it and flow from it. The
annual precipitation, together with the enormous quantities of snow
that are blown into it, greatly exceeds the amount of water
evaporated. The water is clear and cold. It is so clear that a plate
may be seen upon the bottom through fifty or more feet of water. Fish
may be distinctly seen swimming about at great depths.
Many alpine lakes are blue under some lights. The deep blueness of
this lake may possibly be due to mineral which the water holds in
solution; or also in part to its high surrounding walls and to its
enormous depth. Seen from the rim, a narrow margin of the water along
the walls is sea-green. Yet a glassful is as clear as the clearest.
A few days spent upon the rim and in a launch upon the lake will give
glimpses of world-building features and nature-history. Morning is a
good time for a journey around the lake. At no point is there a beach.
The steep walls descend and plunge into the water.
In the lake near the west shore is Wizard Island. It is a perfect
little volcano--a crater within a crater. Although a few pines are
growing upon it, the island's lava and ashes appear as if just cast
from the internal furnace. It probably was formed after the collapse
of Mount Mazama. Lava, cinders, and tiny water-filled crater appear
strange mimicry. The island rises several hundred feet above the
lake-surface, and its crater is eighty feet deep. The island is a good
view-point at noon, at evening, or when the blue cold crater glows
and sparkles with the reflected fires of a million fiery worlds.
[Illustration: PHANTOM SHIP, CRATER LAKE
_By permission of the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior_]
Phantom Ship, near the southeast shore, is a volcanic island masted
with rock-spires. It has scattered trees. From a number of points of
view it has the appearance of a ship, but under certain lights it
blends so completely with the walls behind it that it vanishes.
The forests are magnificent. Among the trees on the rim and on Wizard
Island are noble fir, alpine fir, mountain white pine, Douglas spruce,
alpine hemlock, and lodge-pole pine. Sheep-pasturing in former years
wrought havoc with the wild flowers, of which there are numerous
varieties. There are many kinds of wild birds and wild life. While
there are other scenic attractions, the supreme one must ever be the
lake of marvelous blue and its rugged, fire-tinted walls. In the
ruined caldron where red fire and black smoke wildly mingled, blue
water lies in repose.
On June 12, 1853, a number of prospectors, led by John W. Hillman,
discovered Crater Lake. Though not interested in scenery, they were
aroused by this gigantic blue gem in its rough volcanic setting.
In 1885, William G. Steele began the campaign which finally won this
National Park. This campaign went through numberless vicissitudes and
lasted seventeen years, the Park having been established in 1902.
In 1888, Steele carried a number of trout in a can upon his back for
more than forty miles. These trout were placed in the lake and grew
rapidly. Since then it has been repeatedly stocked by the Government.
Nowhere else that I know of can a fisherman catch a trout and clearly
watch its every effort many feet under the water, as it tries to run
away with or escape from the cruel hook.
This Park is in the heart of the Cascade Mountains in southern Oregon,
a short distance north of the California line. It has an area of about
two hundred and forty-nine square miles. Mount Thielson, Diamond
Lake, and other near-by attractive features might well be added to the
territory of the Park.
VI
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
Lakes--splendid intermountain lakes--are an unrivaled attraction in
the Glacier National Park. Here, too, are other striking
features--glaciers, peaks precipitous and stupendous, forests, and
streams. The rugged Alplike mountains are of first magnitude. The
forests that crowd the lower elevations of the park are primeval and
grand. The vigorous streams are set in magnificent scenery. But I feel
that the lakes are entitled to first rank among the scenic attractions
in this park.
There are two hundred and fifty of these, of different sizes, each of
individual outline and with an original alpine setting. Some repose in
the depths of the forest. Others have a shore-line half forest and
half the abrupt wall of a towering peak. Still other lakes have a wild
shore of snow-fields, glaciers, forests, meadows, and mountains.
Waterfalls out of the mountain sky drop into many; cascading streams
rush from the outlets of others.
Many of the lakes are strikingly long for their narrow width. Lake
McDonald is about ten miles long and one mile wide. Waterton Lake is
about twelve miles long, with an average width of perhaps half a mile.
Bowman Lake is about six miles long by half a mile wide. Avalanche
Lake, which lies in Avalanche Basin, is hemmed in on all sides, except
at the outlet, by precipitous mountains. It is a beautiful ellipse
about one mile long. Iceberg Lake is on the north side of Wilbur
Mountain, which towers three thousand feet above the surface of the
water. The Blackfeet name for this is "Fly-around-in." McDermott and
Altyn Lakes are beauty spots. The outlet of McDermott is a series of
spectacular cascades. Its shore is open, and around it one moves about
easily. Altyn Lake is only a quarter of a mile distant from
McDermott. These lakes lie between Grinnell Mountain and Allen
Mountain and are a part of one of the grandest scenes in the Park.
Grinnell Lake lies one mile above Altyn Lake, at the foot of the
tremendous cliffs of Gould Mountain. The lower end of the lake is open
and parklike, while at the upper end cliffs rise about four thousand
feet. This lake receives the waters from Grinnell Glacier. These pour
over high cliffs at the upper end of the lake and form a beautiful
spectacle. The scenes which unite around Grinnell Lake are unsurpassed
in the park.
These lakes are glacier lakes. That is, the basin of each was gouged
or eroded by the movement of glacial ice. There are a few exceptions
where the lake is due chiefly to a morainal dam, or a dam that was
formed by a landslide.
The highest peak in the Park is Cleveland Mountain, 10,438 feet above
sea-level. Several others rise more than ten thousand feet, and a
great number more than nine thousand feet. Many of these peaks are
connected with sharp pinnacled ridges, and most of them rise steeply
into the sky. Precipices, nearly vertical, that measure between two
thousand and four thousand feet are common. Thus it will be seen that
these two hundred and fifty lakes have a mountainous setting.
Distribute these lakes on terraces among the peaks and fit in about
one hundred glaciers, have the forests everywhere in the lower
altitudes, cut these with clear streams, and we have the scenic
make-up of the Glacier National Park. Considered as a whole, it is
unexcelled mountain architecture.
[Illustration: McDERMOTT FALLS AND GRINNELL MOUNTAIN
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK]
The Blackfeet Glacier on the Continental Divide is the largest in the
Park. Mount Jackson towers red above it. It has an area of about three
square miles and lies between the altitudes of six thousand and seven
thousand feet. The much-visited Sperry Glacier, which is easily
reached from Lake McDonald, has a little more than one square mile of
ice-area. Grinnell Glacier is about the size of the Sperry.
Altogether there are about one hundred glaciers in the Park. Most of
these have an area of less than one square mile. The majority of them,
of course, are mere remnants of vast glaciers. In many cases their
small size is an advantage to the student. Carrying, as most of these
do, the characteristics of larger glaciers, and being in a small
compass and surrounded with various kinds of glacial work--moraines,
lakes, and smooth rock-surfaces--they place before us, in one scene,
the story of the ice age.
On every hand is evidence of glacier work. The glaciers themselves in
many instances are placed in a manner that explains their mobility.
You can see that they have moved and are moving. You can see the
effects of their moves, and the results of the movements of the
stupendous prehistoric glaciers that have vanished.
The Glacier National Park has an endless variety of small game, and in
it numerous varieties of large animals are fairly abundant. Most
important of all is the grizzly bear. Black bears are common. So, too,
are elk; and there is a scattering of moose, lions, deer, and
antelopes. In some localities bighorn sheep and mountain goats are
abundant. Trout abound in many lakes and streams.
There is a goodly array of suggestive outdoor names, many of which are
of Indian application. Red Eagle Mountain, Pass, and Valley, Rising
Wolf Mountain, Two Medicine Lake, Avalanche Lake, Swift Current River,
are a few of the vigorous, spirited names. Many of the old picturesque
and descriptive Indian names have been discarded, however, for names
that are utterly unfit or meaningless.
There are scores of varieties of flowers. These brighten the woods,
stand along the streams, border the lakes, and crowd close to the
glaciers. They climb above the limits of tree growth. Grinnell Lake
has a grand wild-flower garden on its shores. Among the many kinds are
bluebell, queen's-cup, violet, water-lily, and wild hollyhock.
The summit slopes of these mountains are above the timber-line. All
the lower slopes and spaces in the Park not occupied and glorified by
lakes, streams, and cliffs are crowded with forests, green and grand.
Much of the old glaciation is covered with forest growths. Many
moraines are crowned with spruces, and numerous glacial amphitheaters
are now filled with splendid forests.
The visitor to the summit of Swift Current Pass will find himself
monarch with great scenes to survey. Below, around, and above are
lakes, streams, peaks, waterfalls, snow-fields, glaciers, cañons, and
mountains. These are splendidly grouped and combined; gradually they
fade into mysterious horizons.
St. Mary's Lake--"Good Spirit Woman Lake"--is crescent-shaped, with
miles of spruce-walled shores. It has a length of ten miles in the
Glacier Park and is a queen among queens of mountain lakes. Kingly
peaks stand waiting around the shores. Red Eagle Mountain, Fusillade
Mountain, and Going-to-the-Sun Mountain are a part of the magnificence
in which this lovely lake reposes. Mount Jackson, one of the highest
summits in the Park, is often reflected in its waters.
The mountains of this Park are broken and have towering walls. On the
east they rise abruptly from the peaceful plains. Nowhere in the
country can be found such an array of high and nearly vertical walls.
Many of these mountains and peaks are enlivened with color. Yellow,
red, and green are distributed on a magnificent scale.
The very name "Two-Ocean Pass," in the Yellowstone Park, led me
through the pathless forest for days in search of it. There was a
fairyland novelty in the lure of the name. As soon as I heard of a
glacier in the Glacier National Park whose waters were divided between
the Arctic and the Pacific Oceans, I wanted to see it. A part of the
water of a glacier on Vulture Peak goes to the Pacific through Logging
Creek and the Columbia River. The remainder goes to Hudson Bay through
the Little Kootenai Creek. Some one has wisely proposed the name
"Two-Ocean Glacier" for this ice-field.
Triple Divide Peak is another place that has a peculiarly wild,
romantic appeal. This sharp-pointed peak is 8001 feet above the sea.
Close together in its summit slopes, surrounded by a maze of alpine
mountains, three streams start almost from a common source, each to go
on its separate, scenic way to the ocean.
The Red Eagle travels towards the North Pole through the north country
and empties into that vast ice-formed basin, Hudson Bay. The waters of
the Cut Bank choose the channel of the Missouri in which to travel the
long journey to the inland sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and perhaps from
this to flow north into the Gulf Stream. The Nyack goes to the
Pacific through the crooked international channel of the scenic
Columbia River.
HISTORY OF THE GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
George Bird Grinnell was a loyal and helpful friend to the Yellowstone
National Park during its trying years. He also rendered the public the
distinguished service of originating the Glacier National Park idea
and helping to bring about its realization. In 1885, accompanied by
James Willard Schultz, he visited a number of its now famous lakes and
glaciers. On his return he published a series of articles entitled "To
the Walled-in Lakes." A peak, a glacier, and a lake have been named in
his honor. Year after year he returned to this region to enjoy the
scenery and to study the language and customs of the Blackfeet Indian.
In 1891, accompanied by Harry L. Stimpson, he discovered the Blackfoot
Glacier, the largest in the Park, and a little later he wrote an
article concerning it. In an article entitled "The Crown of the
Continent" he gave a good account of the region.
James Willard Schultz lived for years with the Blackfeet Indians and
spent a number of years with them in this territory. He says that Hugh
Monroe was the first white man to see the Glacier National Park
region. This was in 1815. Grinnell states that James Doty visited it
in 1853. The same year, apparently, A. W. Tinkham, a government
engineer, crossed through Cut Bank Pass. The American and British
boundary-line survey commissioners visited the region in 1861.
I had a few weeks in the region in the autumn of 1896. For most other
National Parks I have recommended enlargements, feeling that some
adjacent and important scenic territory had been left outside the Park
lines. But with the vast Glacier National Park no additions appear to
be needed.
Grinnell says:--
In an old notebook, under date of September 17, 1891, I found not
long ago the following remark: "How would it do to start a
movement to buy the St. Mary country, say thirty by thirty miles,
from the Piegan Indians at a fair valuation, and turn it into a
national reservation or park?"
This idea, in the course of the next ten years, grew in my mind.
It was, I think, the first suggestion, in words, of the Glacier
National Park. About the year 1893 indications of copper were
found in the foothills. It was believed that the country contained
mines, and before long strong pressure was brought to bear on
Congress to purchase the land from the Indians and throw it open
to settlement. The mountain region was not used by the Indians.
They lived on the plains. In 1895, Secretary of the Interior Hoke
Smith sent out Commissioners W. C. Pollock, George Bird Grinnell,
and W. M. Clements, to treat with the Blackfeet for this
territory, and a majority of the commission went into the
mountains and made a hasty inspection of the region. An agreement
was made with the Indians, and was ratified by Congress, and about
two years later the territory was thrown open to settlement....
Soon after 1902 I spoke to Senator T. H. Carter about setting
aside this recently purchased tract as a National Park, and found
that he was disposed to favor the suggestion. I then took up the
matter with friends in Montana, and induced them to write to
Senator Carter about the project. The result was that a little
later he introduced a bill, which passed the Senate once or twice,
and at last, in 1910, passed both houses, and was signed by
President Taft, May 12, 1910, and the Glacier National Park became
a fact.
Certainly the most striking fact in the history of this Park is the
rapidity with which it has been developed and opened to travelers. L.
W. Hill has given this region a large share of his time, and in it has
spent enormous sums of money. There is more than commercialism behind
his work. It has been done with happy hands. He has made this a part
of his life-work. He has endeavored to create on artistic lines. What
he has done for this Park has stimulated interest in the other Parks
and will greatly help to bring about their development.
VII
MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK
Weirdness, romance, and mystery dominate the Mesa Verde National Park.
Towering high and dry above the surrounding country, carrying in
places squatty, scattered growths of piñon pines and cedars, it stands
silently up in the sunlight. Combined with these things, the deserted
prehistoric cliff dwellings give to the Mesa a strangeness and
peculiar appeal. These monuments of a departed race tell but little of
the story of their builders. They are the ruins of an ancient
civilization that stood its day and vanished; that--
"Like snow upon the desert's dusty face,
Lighting a little hour or two--is gone."
Who were the cliff dwellers? It is probable that they were Indians. No
one knows where they came from, how long they remained on the Mesa,
nor why they left; how long since they went away, where they went to,
nor what has become of them. Several hundred ruins of the structures
they reared still remain. These are mysterious and thought-compelling,
but they tell little more than is told by the Sphinx.
The Mesa Verde National Park covers seventy-seven square miles in
southwest Colorado, near the corners of four States. It is in the
"Land of Little Rain." The table-like summit of this steep-walled Mesa
is eight thousand feet above the sea, and nearly two thousand feet
above the surrounding country. Looking from the summit, one sees
strange "Ship Rock" far away in New Mexico. This appears to be an
enormous ship in full sail upon the sea. It adds to the unreal and
mysterious air of the region.
Numerous cañons are countersunk deeply into this sunny sky plain. Many
of the cañons are corniced with a heavy overhanging stratum of rock.
Beneath this, in cavelike hollows in the cañon walls, the cliff
houses are found. Here ages ago the cliff dwellers lived in large
communities and probably under organized government--the oldest and
most fully realized civic-center scheme in America. Long before their
mesa country was invaded by the men of recorded history, these people
of the Southwest vanished, leaving buildings, tools, clothing, and
pottery to tell of their odd and interesting Indian civilization.
When the name Indian is mentioned, the average individual usually
thinks of a savage. But at the time Columbus discovered America, there
were millions of civilized Indians in the Western world, living under
organized government. It is true that their civilization was different
from ours of to-day, and happily different from the European
civilization of that time.
These early civilized Indians lived chiefly in well-built houses. Many
of them traveled good roads. They possessed a keen sense of right and
wrong, and in ethics they may have averaged higher than the European.
Among the tribes that were civilized were the Mayas, the Aztecs, and
the Incas.
The cliff dwellers were an agricultural people, and they cultivated
corn, beans, cotton, and squash. They appear to have grown crops by
means of irrigation. They wove cloth of cotton and of the
century-plant fibers. Probably they domesticated the turkey.
The finger-prints in their adobe mortar indicate that women built the
stone walls. Among the Indian tribes of the Southwest, it was common
for the men to quarry, dress, and carry the stones, while the women
built them into walls. Women, too, appear to have made the pottery.
The men probably were the weavers. The women ground the corn and most
likely carried the water in jars from the springs. Were there more
springs in the days of these people than now? Perhaps. Apparently they
had numerous reservoirs.
These people did not possess a written language, and their ways of
recording their thoughts or preserving their experiences were poor.
They made pictographs on stone walls and placed symbols on their
pottery and in their weaving. Much of their pottery is attractive in
form and of ornamental pattern. There are food-bowls, water-jars,
cooking-utensils, and numerous jugs and mugs.
They appreciated the beautiful. Their art, though mostly primitive,
was art. It was generally symbolical. Although many of their pottery
decorations were of geometric design, others represented objects of
beauty in which flowing lines were required. Their basketry showed
good taste. Their architecture was good. Although their buildings
followed varied types, a number of them displayed lines of beauty and
constructive skill.
Well-preserved mural paintings on many of the walls of their
structures indicate that they had a good knowledge of dye-stuffs as
well as a primitive skill in picturing. Remains of figures of men,
animals, cacti, and rain-clouds form a kind of frieze visible on three
sides of the so-called painted room in one of these houses. These
paintings are believed to indicate that this room was used for a
ceremony akin to the New Fire ceremony of the Hopi.
Although nearly everything which they fashioned showed many elements
of skill and beauty, they did not have many tools. Stone axes and
hammers, scrapers, knives, and awls of bone were the common implements
of use.
It may be that at one time the Mesa had a population of many
thousands. It is possible that the Sun Temple was built jointly by the
inhabitants of the Spruce Tree House, the Cliff Palace, and other
houses of the region.
[Illustration: SPRUCE TREE HOUSE, MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK]
But few things which they left enable one to judge of their
characteristics. They appear to have had the typical qualities of
human beings. They had their superstitions, their weaknesses, and
their strong points. But they are gone.
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."
It is true that we know but little of the people who formerly
inhabited these buildings. Surely we can learn more through study.
Thus far there has been almost no systematic study, and but little
careful excavation or attempt to preserve the various objects found in
the ruins. A school of archæology might well be established in this
Park for the purpose of securing information about the cliff dwellers
and giving it to the world.
In his report on his recent excavation and repair of the Sun Temple,
Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes, of the Smithsonian Institution, says:--
The Mesa Verde is unique in its educational importance. It is
destined ultimately to be a Mecca for all students of the
prehistoric of the Southwest and an object lesson to all visitors
who wish to see the best preserved buildings of pre-Columbian
times in our country. It is self-evident that the excavation and
repair of all the ruins in this park cannot be accomplished in a
few years, even were it desirable to attempt it; the work means
many years of arduous devotion, intelligently directed, and a
large sum of money. It is desirable to open up these precious
remains of antiquity carefully, following a definite plan,
availing ourselves of methods acquired by experience. The work
should be done with care, and it will be an additional attraction
if visitors can see how the work is done. Work on the group will
reveal important architectural features, and add much to our
scientific information.
Prehistoric ruins abound throughout the Southwest. Many show
considerable skill in construction and also suggest that the buildings
were the work of a people who had organized government.
Mrs. Gilbert McClurg, who visited the Mesa Verde ruins years ago,
appears to have been the first to conceive the idea of saving these
prehistoric places for the public--of preserving them in a National
Park. After a campaign of a few years, led chiefly by Mrs. McClurg,
supplemented by the work of organizations and individuals, the Park
was established in 1906.
In what is now this Park, a Spanish exploring party discovered cliff
houses in 1541. At that time the buildings had been abandoned for
generations. No one knows how many centuries or millenniums had then
elapsed since the Mesa was deserted. The age of these cliff houses has
been estimated from five hundred to five thousand years. Modern
discovery of the region appears to have been made by a government
geological party in 1874.
A few years later Baron Nordenskjöld, a Swedish explorer, spent many
weeks with these ruins, and later wrote a volume concerning them. He
carried away from them several carloads of pottery and other products.
The first white discoverers were either religious fanatics or people
of the pot-hunter type who were looking for plunder. They were not
interested in the preservation of any of the ruins discovered, nor of
any of the equipment that had no commercial value. For years some of
the early settlers and adventurers made it a business to search for
prehistoric buildings in order to obtain the pottery and other
treasures which they sometimes contained. Often these pot-hunting
treasure-seekers utterly wrecked the buildings which they found. In
all probability many objects of interest or information concerning the
Mesa Verde cliff dwellers have been lost.
In the autumn of 1904 I visited the ruins for the purpose of taking
photographs and found a party of three pottery-hunters camped near the
Balcony House. A part of their firewood that evening consisted of
precious beams from this ancient house.
For many years the visitors to the Mesa Verde noticed a huge
tree-grown mound on the rim of the cañon-wall, directly opposite the
Cliff Palace. A few dressed stones, apparently the corner of a wall,
thrust above the surface of this mound. Probably there was a building
beneath it. Behind and enveloping it lay a forest of low-growing and
limby piñon pines and cedars. Over all was the ever-present and
brooding mystery of the deserted Mesa Verde.
In July, 1915, Dr. Fewkes put a crew of men to work excavating the
mound. As a result of their labors, a prehistoric stone building now
stands in the sunshine. It is the shape of the capital letter D. Its
straight front, which faces southward, measures one hundred and
thirty-two feet; its semicircular back, two hundred and forty-five
feet.
Plainly, it was built to a preconceived plan. There was no patchwork,
no inharmonious combination. Precisely midway in the south wall was a
recess. In another recess near the southwest corner was a fossil palm
leaf. This strikingly resembles the rays of the sun, and together with
a figure of the sun in the floor, suggests that the building was a Sun
Temple. There is nothing to indicate that it was used or intended to
be used as a dwelling-place.
The masonry is the best thus far found on the Mesa. It was laid with
mortar of tough, enduring clay. The stones of the walls and partitions
were small and were cut, many polished, and a few decorated. The
figures on a number of these decorated stones consist of triangles,
and one is the outline of a typical cliff-house doorway. The outer
walls are double. None have outside openings. Perhaps the entrances to
the building were either through the roof or by means of subterranean
passageways from the face of the cliff just in front and beneath.
In the mound upon the ruins of this building was found a living tree
that was more than three hundred and sixty years old. A long period,
perhaps several hundred years, must have been required for the earthen
mound to accumulate upon the ruins, and then three hundred and sixty
years for the tree to grow. Apparently the Sun Temple must have been
abandoned several hundred years ago, perhaps about the year 1300. It
appears never to have been occupied, and probably was in process of
being completed when it was abandoned.
The so-called Cliff Palace in Cliff Cañon is centrally located in the
Mesa Verde National Park. This was a stone structure more than three
hundred feet long and with more than two hundred rooms. It appears to
have been built in sections or installments, not to any consecutive
plan. As a result, in this one building there are a number of types of
architecture. In one section there is a huge square tower four stories
high; in an adjoining section, a large well-built round tower. This
building probably was a home for scores of people. There were mill
rooms in which corn was ground, storerooms, ceremonial rooms, probably
rooms used in religious worship, and other rooms called "kivas," which
appear to have been used much of the time by the men as
lounging-places. Fireplaces were scattered throughout the building.
Many of the walls were of cut stone, and some were plastered and
adorned with paintings. Paint still shows on a number of walls.
This park contains other large stone structures and hundreds of
smaller cliff ruins. Among the buildings, besides the Cliff Palace,
are the Spruce Tree House, the Balcony House, the Tunnel House, and
numerous buildings upon the surface. Near Mummy Lake are a number of
large, tree-grown mounds, similar to the recently excavated one that
covered the Sun Temple. Beneath each of these is a buried stone
structure. Here, apparently, is a buried city.
VIII
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
Magnificent mountains in the sky, peak after peak along the
horizon,--an inspiring skyline,--such is the setting of the Rocky
Mountain National Park. In this playground is a twenty-five-mile
stretch of the most rugged section of the Continental Divide. Here are
fifty peaks with summits more than two miles high. From one hundred
miles distant, out on the plains of Colorado or Wyoming, these snowy,
rugged mountain-tops give one a thrill as they appear to join with the
clouds and form a horizon that seems to be a part of the scenery of
the sky.
Splendidly grouped with these peaks and mountains are cañons,
moorlands, waterfalls, glaciers, lakes, forests, meadows, and wild
flowers--the Rocky Mountains are at their best.
On approaching the Park by the east entrance, through the long-famed
Estes Park region, even the dullest traveler is thrilled with the
first glimpse, and those who frequently behold it find the scene as
welcome as a favorite old song. From the entrance, one looks down on
an irregular, undulating, green mountain meadow, miles in extent. This
is Estes Park. Great pines are scattered over it, singly and in
groves; rocky points and cliffs rise picturesquely in the midst; and
the Big Thompson River, sweeping in great folds from side to side,
goes majestically across. High, forest-walled mountains surround it,
and the great jagged snowy range stands splendidly above.
[Illustration: ESTES PARK AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK]
The Rocky Mountain Park is glorified with transcendent forms of the
beautiful and the sublime. In it bees hum and beavers build; birds
give melody to the forest depth, and butterflies with painted wings
circle the sunny air. Mountain sheep in classic poses watch from the
cliffs, eagles soar in the blue, speckled trout sprinkle the clear
streams, and the varied voice of the coyote echoes when the afterglow
falls. From top to bottom the park is beautified with dainty,
exquisite wild flowers of brightest hues; they crowd the streams, wave
on the hills, shine in woodland vistas, and color snow-edges
everywhere.
This Park has an area of about three hundred and sixty square miles.
Its terraced alpine heights are about equally divided between the
Atlantic and the Pacific slopes. It is twenty-five miles long, from
twelve to twenty miles wide, and about one mile high from lowest to
highest altitudes.
The greater part of the Park lies above the altitude of nine thousand
feet. Its southeast corner is within forty miles of Denver; the
northeast corner about the same distance from Cheyenne. A number of
railroads run close to it, and the Lincoln Highway is about twenty
miles away. The Park is only thirty hours from Chicago, and its
accessibility adds to its invitingness as a playground.
Side by side in it are two dominating peaks. These are Long's Peak,
14,255 feet high, and Mount Meeker, 14,000 feet above the sea. These
great summits were a landmark for the primitive red man who saw them
from the plains. For generations the plains Indians spoke of them as
the "Two Guides."
Viewed as a whole from a neighboring mountain-top, either on the
eastern or the western side, the Park presents an imposing appearance.
My favorite near-by view-point is the summit of the Twin Sister Peaks.
In commenting on the appearance of the eastern slope Dr. Ferdinand V.
Hayden, the celebrated geologist, wrote as follows:--
Not only has Nature amply supplied this with features of rare
beauty and surroundings of admirable grandeur, but it has thus
distributed them that the eye of an artist may rest with perfect
satisfaction on the complete picture represented. It may be said,
perhaps, that the more minute details of the scenery are too
decorative in their character, showing, as they do, the irregular
picturesque groups of hills, buttes, products of erosion, and the
finely moulded ridges--the effect is pleasing in the extreme.
Mountain-climbers will find a number of towering view-points. Long's
Peak is the superior one, and the most dominating single feature in
the Park. It is a mountain of striking individuality and peculiar
ruggedness, though not extremely difficult to climb. Standing a little
apart from numbers of other peaks, it is placed so as to command
rugged near-by views as well as wonderful far-reaching vistas that
vanish in the light and shadow of distance. Among the other peaks that
climbers would do well to stand upon are Mount Meeker, Hague's Peak,
and Specimen Mountain. Among the lower peaks that command magnificent
scenes, I would name Meadow Mountain, at the southern end of the
Park, as one of the best. Among other excellent views are those from
Flat-Top Mountain, Gem Lake, Echo Mountain, near Grand Lake, and a
number of places along the summit of Trail Ridge.
The topography of the Park is one big glacial story, which in places
is of unusual interest. This fascinating story left by the Ice King is
for the most part well preserved and forms one of the Park's chief
attractions. Nowhere in America are glacial records of such prominence
more numerous, accessible, and easily read.
A few small glaciers remain--one on the eastern slope of Long's Peak,
and Andrews, Sprague's, and Hallet Glaciers in the north half of the
eastern slope. These glaciers are mere remnants, but none the less
interesting.
[Illustration: LOCH VALE
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK]
Altogether there are more than one hundred lakes and tarns in the
Park. Most of these are small, but each has its peculiarly attractive
setting. With few exceptions, these lakes repose in basins of solid
rock that were excavated for them by glacial action. In the Park
are also many stupendous moraines.
Each year more than a thousand varieties of wild blossoms give color
and charm to this favored spot. They are to be counted among the four
chief attractions, the other three being Long's Peak, the glaciation,
and the timber-line. Of the brilliantly colored wild flowers many take
on large and vigorous form, while in the alpine moorlands numerous
species are dwarfed and low-growing. A few bright blossoms jewel the
summits of the highest peaks. Flowers grow wherever there is a bit of
soil for them to live in.
On the summit of Long's Peak, nearly three miles up, in a number of
places I have seen bright primroses and polemonium, blue mertensia and
lavender-colored phlox. There are ragged wild gardens of alpine
flowers nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea. More than one
hundred varieties of flowers brighten the ledges of the cliffs,
fringe the snow-piles, and color the moorlands of the heights above
the limits of tree growth. The alpine blooms that live in dry or
wind-swept places are dwarfed and flattened. They keep their beauty
close to the earth. Many of these little flowering people are so
greatly dwarfed that the plant with its leaf and blossom does not rise
a quarter of an inch above the earth. Among these are the phlox,
harebell, and the columbine.
The Mariposa lily's, perhaps, is the most classic petal in the Park.
Among its conspicuous neighbors are the fringed gentian, the
silver-and-blue columbine, the elaborate calypso orchid, and the
graceful harebell. Among the other abundant and beautiful blossoms are
violets, daisies, asters, black-eyed Susans, paint-brushes,
rock-roses, pasque-flowers, which Helen Hunt called Maltese kittens,
tiger lilies, golden pond-lilies, and anemones. Many of these flowers
are perfectly formed and carry petals of cleanest, deepest color.
There are many kinds of wild life in the Park. Mountain sheep probably
number several hundreds. Elk are increasing in number; so, too, are
deer, which are already common. There are a number of black bears,
possibly a few remaining grizzlies, and a few foxes, wolves, lions,
and coyotes. The beaver population is numerous, and in many places are
extensive beaver colonies with dams, ponds, and houses.
Among about one hundred and fifty species of birds are found a few
golden eagles. These nest in the heights. The rose-finch and the
ptarmigan live the year round near the snow-line above the limits of
tree growth. Among the common birds most frequently seen are the
robin, bluebird, blackbird, hummingbird, pine siskin, goldfinch,
magpie, white-crowned sparrow, house wren, and Rocky Mountain jay.
During the flower-filled, sun-flooded days of June, while the evening
shadows are crossing the openings, the song of the hermit thrush is
often heard, its beautiful silvery notes mingling strangely with the
wild surroundings. In June, too, the ever-cheerful water-ouzel carols
most intensely by his chosen home along the alpine streams. Likewise
in this month the marvelous solitaire sings among the crags far up the
slopes, close to where the forest ends and the alpine moorlands begin.
Here are primeval forests, torn by cañons and pierced by crags and
rock ridges. Among the more common trees are the lodge-pole pine and
the Engelmann spruce. Other species are the alpine fir, Douglas
spruce, limber pine, and Western yellow pine. The aspen is found in
groves, groups, and scattered growths in the moister places all over
the woodland.
The timber-line in the Park is one of the most picturesque and
interesting in the world. It is strangely appealing and
thought-compelling. This is the forest-frontier. Its average altitude
is about eleven thousand five hundred feet above the sea. Timber-line
in the Alps is only about sixty-five hundred feet. Thus it will be
seen that the climate of this Rocky Mountain section is far more
friendly to wood growth than that of the Alps.
The trees persistently try to climb upward, and their struggle for
existence becomes deadly. The wind blows off their arms, and cuts them
with flying sand. The cold dwarfs them, and for nine months in the
year the snow tries to twist and crush the life out of them. Many have
limbs and bark on one side only; others are completely stripped of
bark. They seldom grow over eight feet high, and numbers grow along
the ground like vines. In the drier places at timber-line the limber
pine has sole possession, while in the moister places the Engelmann
spruce predominates, and is sometimes accompanied by dwarfed aspen,
birch, subalpine fir, and willow. Above the timber-line are crags,
snow-piles, and alpine-flower meadows.
Traveling along the eastern slope of the Park, one encounters a number
of prominent attractions.
In the south, Wild Basin, a splendidly glaciated realm of several
square miles, almost completely surrounded with high peaks, contains
lakes, forests, moraines, and gorges. It retains many wild glacial
records of peculiar interest. North of it is the Long's Peak group,
consisting of Long's Peak, Mount Meeker, Mount Lady Washington, Chasm
Lake and Gorge, and Mills Moraine. This moraine is one of the most
interesting in the park. Chasm Lake, at the foot of the precipitous
eastern slope of Long's Peak, has the wildest setting of all the many
Park lakes.
To the east of Long's Peak lies Tahosa Valley, and just beyond this
rise the Twin Sister Peaks. Between Long's Peak and the Range is
Glacier Gorge, a deep glaciated cañon. At the end of this, in the
Continental Divide, is the Loch Vale region. Here the terraced floor
is varied with tarns, waterfalls, flowery meadows, grassy spaces, and
storm-battered trees. Around it and rising above it are stupendous
cliffs and precipices of glaciated rock. Above it to the west is
Andrews Glacier. Eastward from it lies the Bierstadt Moraine, named
after Albert Bierstadt, whose pictures gave fame to the region. A
trail crosses the Continental Divide from Flat-Top Mountain, which is
approximately in the center of the Park.
To the north of Flat-Top Mountain lie Fern and Odessa Lakes. They are
the best-known and most popular lakes in the Park, but there are a
number of others of somewhat similar character and with equally scenic
surroundings. Beyond these is Sprague's Glacier; also Forest Cañon,
above which extends the scene-commanding Trail Ridge. Again beyond,
the Fall River automobile road crosses the Continental Divide.
In the northeast corner of the Park lies the Mummy Range, the highest
peak being Hague's. On its northern slope is Hallet Glacier. A bill
now (1917) before Congress provides that Deer Mountain, Gem Lake, and
the Twin Sister Peaks be added to the Park.[1]
[1] This bill passed after the above was in type. See map of
the Park.
On the western slope, at the south end, is a combination of lovely and
magnificent scenes. The great feature on the west side is Grand Lake,
the largest lake in Colorado. It is the source of the Grand River, and
furnishes a part of the water that roars through the Grand Cañon of
the Colorado in Arizona. The North Inlet and the East Inlet are scenic
gorges through which streams rush from the heights down into Grand
Lake. The East Inlet region, between Shoshone Peak and Grand Lake, has
a remarkable glacial story of its own.
[Illustration: FERN LAKE
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK]
In the northwest corner of the Park stands Specimen Mountain, an
excellent view-point. This is probably a sleeping volcano. It is the
most famous mountain-sheep range in the Park. Its grassy slopes and
summit contain spaces of salty ooze that attracts them. Many times I
have seen a flock of one hundred or more in the crater.
IX
THE GRAND CAÑON
John Muir strongly urged that a National Park be made of the Grand
Cañon of the Colorado. In commenting on this Titan of cañons, he
said:--
No matter how far you have wandered hitherto, or how many famous
valleys and gorges you have seen, this one, the Grand Cañon of the
Colorado, will seem as novel to you, as unearthly in the color and
grandeur and quantity of its architecture, as if you had found it
after death, on some other star; so incomparably lovely and grand
and supreme is it above all the other cañons.
It is hoped that Congress will early create a Grand Cañon National
Park. The territory most seriously considered embraces a hundred-mile
stretch of the cañon with a narrow bit of each rim. This would extend
about fifty miles up and an equal distance down the river from Grand
Cañon Station. It would thus include only about half the length of
the Grand Cañon, and no part of any other cañon. I should like to see
it extended another hundred miles up the river. It would then embrace
not less than two hundred miles of the river, and would include Marble
Cañon and a part of Glen Cañon. But, whatever its length, it should
include a broad forest border all the way, on both rims of the cañon.
To enable the public to see this titanic gorge in the most comfortable
manner and from the best points of view, it is necessary to have more
public roads and trails. There is great need that this unmatched
wonder have National Park protection and development. At present the
main trail to the bottom of the cañon is a private toll trail!
Visitors to almost any great scene are wont to compare it with some
other scene; it reminds them of this place or that place. But when one
first views Crater Lake, or while one is in the presence of the Big
Trees for the first time, memory is suspended; and when one first
beholds the Grand Cañon, it does not remind him of this or that--it
completely possesses the observer, sweeps other scenes and places out
of mind. Presently comes desire for a thousandfold capacity of feeling
and comprehension. The thing is too vast and splendid for ordinary
faculties.
I have boated in many of the cañons of the Colorado and have camped
and tramped along their rims. Often I have looked down into them when
they were filled with mists; when broken clouds hung over them; when
sunshine or moonlight illumined their depths, from which I have looked
forth under like conditions. But to me, whether in summer or when snow
piles the rim, the Grand Cañon never loses its intense impressiveness.
[Illustration: LOOKING WEST FROM NORTH SIDE OF GRAND CAÑON
Point Sublime to right in distance. Isis Temple on left.
_By permission of the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior_]
The Walhalla Plateau is an extraordinary cañon view-point and is
likely to become one of the most famous places on the earth. This
narrow plateau thrusts ten miles out into the vast, deep, airy
Grand Cañon. It extends from the north rim, between Bright Angel Cañon
and the inside bend of the main cañon opposite the Cañon of the Little
Colorado. A most commanding peninsula it is, with wide and enormous
depths sweeping almost entirely around it. Other commanding
view-points on the north rim are Point Sublime and Bright Angel Point.
Three excellent view-points on the south rim are Grand View, Hopi
Point, and the El Tovar. Grand View is a few miles up the river from
the El Tovar Hotel, and opposite Cape Royal of the Walhalla Plateau.
The Colorado River in Arizona flows through a series of twenty vast
cañons that have a length of about one thousand miles. Most of them
are end to end with only a mere break between. Of these, the Grand
Cañon is the cañon of cañons. Counting downstream, it is the
eighteenth of the series; counting upstream, the third. The cañon is
from seven to fifteen miles wide, and from four thousand to six
thousand feet deep. It is an enormous gulf two hundred miles long, in
solid rock. Less than one thousand feet across at the bottom, and
eight to ten miles across at the top, it may be called a rough
V-shaped gorge; or, together with its tributary cañons, it might be
called an inverted hollow mountain-range. This range, if turned out
upon the plateau, would measure in places more than two hundred miles
in length and nearly forty miles in width, with summits rising nearly
seven thousand feet; and it would be diversified with ridges, gorges,
plateaus, spurs, and peaks.
The Grand Cañon of the Colorado is a masterpiece of erosion--a
wonderful story carved in rock. It was excavated and washed out by the
river. It is not an ordinary mountain cañon, for it lies in a
comparatively level plain or plateau. During the ages, the
débris-laden water sliding over its inclined bed of solid rock dug,
sawed, and cut the cañon to the bottom. The river not only carried
away all the material worn from the bottom, but the thousandfold more
that tumbled into it from the ever-caving walls.
Here is color in magnificent array. Most of the strata are perfectly
horizontal and of great thickness, and each has an individual color.
Many of the walls are brown or red, and there are strata of gray,
yellow, grayish brown, and grayish green. All these are massed and
arranged in vast and broken color pictures and landscapes, some of
which are a mile high and several miles in length.
The top, or rim, of the cañon is in an extensive arid region. Water is
extremely scarce; in a number of places not a drop is available within
miles. If a boatman is wrecked in the cañon, he has little opportunity
of escaping. If he should manage to climb out on the desolate, almost
uninhabited plateau, he would be likely to perish for lack of water.
The cañon has a climate of its own. In the bottom, the temperature
frequently shows a range of one hundred degrees inside of twenty-four
hours. Its great depth and peculiar wall exposure give it a climatic
variety. The walls that face the north are much cooler than those
facing the south. The temperature at the top differs from that at the
bottom, and midway on the walls is a temperature distinct from either
of the others. On the rim at El Tovar it may be a winter day; you
descend to the river and there find a mild climate, with birds singing
and flowers in bloom. The six thousand feet of descent to the river
gives a climatic change that approximates a southern journey of two
thousand miles. This plateau is forested and on the northern rim of
the cañon the tree-growth is heavy.
Flowers bloom in the cañon every month in the year. In the niches and
on the terraces are the columbine, lupine, stonecrop, kinnikinnick,
dandelion, thistle, and paintbrush. Sagebrush and greasewood occur in
many places. The Douglas spruce is found upon the southern wall, the
cottonwood and willow in the bottom. Beavers, a few deer, many
rabbits, wildcats, and wolves are found in a few places in the bottom
of the cañon, and sheep and lions upon the terraces. But the larger
part of the unbroken and terraced walls is barren and lifeless.
Among the birds that gladden this gorge are the mockingbird, piñon
jay, robin, quail, hummingbird, kingfisher, swallow, and owl. Here,
too, you will hear that melodious and hopeful singer the cañon wren.
Over this vast gulf butterflies with daintily colored wings float in
lovely laziness.
In a number of the cañons, ruined cliff houses are numerous, and a few
of these are found far north in Glen Cañon. The walls, in places, are
marked with picture writing. This probably was the work of the cliff
dwellers or of the Indians.
Much of the cañon region may well be called the "No Man's Land" of the
continent. In it are a numerous and assorted lot of men with unknown
histories. Mingling with these are Indians, miners, health-seekers,
and strange and interesting characters, among whom are aged trappers
and prospectors and real cowboys who have survived the days of
adventures.
Water is the great sculptor of the face of nature. The gentle raindrop
grapples with mountains of solid rock, and with never-ending
persistence drags them piecemeal into the sea. Here the material is
redeposited in sedimentary strata, and this may emerge into the light
in the ages yet to be.
A narrow ditch in the earth will widen by the caving-in of its sides.
If the ditch be deepened, the caved-in matter being removed, it will
continue to widen. And so it is with this cañon; the weathering or the
caving-in of these walls goes ever on. The sharpness of the walls, and
many of their striking features, are due to the peculiar climatic
conditions that exist in this region--the short rainy seasons and long
dry periods. Had there been a more even and abundant precipitation,
it is probable that more vegetation would have been produced, which
would have had a marked influence upon the walls, giving them a more
rounded and less interesting form.
The cañon broadens with the years. Cut narrow by the river, it has
gradually widened by the caving-in of the walls. If it had remained as
the river cut it, it would now be as narrow at the top as it is in the
bottom--a cañon about a mile deep, only a few hundred feet wide, and
with perpendicular walls. As it is, the walls rise through a series of
shattered inclines, precipitous slopes and terraces, with here and
there a vertical section.
Well may the Cañon of the Colorado be called the greatest inanimate
wonder in the world. Written in the exposed and remaining rock-strata
through which the river has cut its way is a wonderful story of the
past, a marvelous and splendid romance. At an enormously remote time
the Grand Cañon plateau rose from the primeval sea. After long
exposure and great weathering it sank back, remained submerged for
ages, and thousands of feet of strata were deposited upon it. Again it
emerged, was exposed "a million years and a day," during which æon
thousands of feet of strata were eroded away. Again it went down into
the sea, and upon it were piled thousands of feet of additional
strata. A fourth time it rose slowly above the water. As this plateau
was rising, its surface was acted upon by the elements. The part of
the plateau surrounding the Grand Cañon proper was the scene of
repeated volcanic action and earthquake disturbance. Here the strata
have been subjected to repeated faultings, heavings, tiltings, and
lava-flows. This uplift imprisoned an enormous Eocene lake that
occupied much of what is now the Colorado River basin. This lake the
river drained. The drainage was quite probably caused by the fact that
the eastern part of the territory was uplifted higher than the
western. The drainage-system of the Colorado River, as we now know it,
began at that time to take on form and its waters started to cut the
cañon. This crude outline covers cycling ages, and probably represents
millions of years.
Through several thousand years the plateau slowly rose, and all this
time the river was gradually cutting its way down into it. Finally the
plateau ceased to rise and long remained at a standstill. After
cutting down to its first base level, the river had so little fall
that its waters, overladen with débris, ceased deepening the channel.
The widening of the cañon went steadily on. Again the plateau slowly
rose, perhaps two thousand feet. This uplift increased the fall of the
river and again set it to deepening its channel, a work it is still
doing.
The waters of the Colorado River are heavily laden with sediment.
During the ages it has transported an inconceivable bulk of eroded
material to the ocean. Much of this has come from its three hundred
thousand square miles of mountainous drainage basin and all the
material which formerly occupied the vast spaces of its numerous
cañons. Continual caving of the walls compels the river to spend most
of its time and energy in breaking up this débris and carrying it
forward to the sea. This condition has existed for thousands of years.
It should be borne in mind that the transporting capacity of running
water varies as the sixth power of its velocity. Therefore when a
stream doubles its velocity it is competent to move particles
sixty-four times greater than before. If its rate of flow is trebled,
its transporting power is increased seven hundred and twenty-nine
times. This goes to explain the frightful havoc of streams at times of
flood.
The tributary streams of the Colorado come from arid regions and from
the deserts, and are subject to sudden violent cloud-bursts and
enormous floods. Though these are of short duration, they are of
tremendous force. Earthy matter, rocky débris, and ofttimes hundreds
of trees are swept along by the waters that rush in from side cañons
like an awful avalanche. Lodged driftwood over one hundred feet above
normal river-level tells of the magnitude of these wild floods.
Where a stream has all the load of any given degree of fineness that
it is capable of carrying, the entire energy of the descending water
is consumed by the transportation of the water and its burden, so that
none is applied to erosion. If it has an excess of load, its velocity
is thereby lessened and its power to transport is diminished;
consequently a part of its load is dropped. If it has less than a full
load, it is in a condition to receive more, which it eagerly does.
Thereby its bed is swept clean, and then only does erosion become
possible. Thus it is seen that the work of transportation may at times
monopolize the entire energy of a stream to the exclusion of erosion;
or the two works may be carried forward at the same time.
The rapidity of erosion depends upon the hardness, size, and number of
the fragments in the flowing water, upon the durability of the
stream-bed, and upon the velocity of the current, the element of
velocity being of double importance, since it determines not only the
size but the speed of the particle with which it works. Transportation
is favored by an increased water-supply as much as by increased
declivity, because when a stream increases in volume the increase in
its velocity outruns the increase in volume, and its transporting
power is correspondingly augmented. It is due to this that a stream
which is subject to floods--periodical or otherwise--has a much
greater transporting power than it could possess were its total
water-supply evenly distributed throughout the year.
During one period of volcanic activity the focus of lava-flows into
the cañon was at Lava Falls. A number of lava-streams burst directly
into the cañon through the walls, while several flows poured their
fiery floods over the brink. What a wild and spectacular condition
existed while the river, deep in the cañon, received these tributaries
of liquid fire! When the flow ceased, the cañon for sixty miles was
filled with lava to the depth of about five hundred feet. The lava
cooled, and in time was eroded away. The records of this spectacular
story are still easily read.
Through these thousand miles of cañon, more than one fifth of which is
the Grand Cañon, the river has a fall of about five thousand feet,
unevenly divided. There are long stretches of quiet water, but in the
Lodore, Cataract, Marble, and Grand Cañons are numerous and turbulent
currents flowing amid masses of wild, rocky débris. There are about
five hundred bad rapids and many others of lesser power. Most of these
rapids are caused by rock-jams--dams formed by masses of rocky débris
that have fallen from the walls above or have been swept into the
main cañon by tributary streams. A few rapids are caused by ribs of
hard, resistant rock that have not been worn down to the level of the
softer rock.
The cañon was discovered by Spaniards in 1540. A government expedition
visited it in 1859. The report of this expedition, printed in 1861, is
accompanied with a picture of an ideal cañon. It is shown as narrow,
with appallingly high vertical walls. Lieutenant Ives, who was in
charge, thus closes his account:--
Ours has been the first and will doubtless be the last party of
Whites to visit this profitless location. It seems intended by
Nature that the Colorado River, along the greater portion of its
lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and
undisturbed.
Ten years later Major John W. Powell explored the series of cañons
from end to end. Hundreds of expeditions that have attempted to go
through them have failed. Of the half-dozen that succeeded, one was
organized and conducted by Julius F. Stone, a manufacturer of
Columbus, Ohio.
"Why," I asked Mr. Stone, "did you take the hazard and endure the
acute hardship of this expedition?" His reply was:--
To photograph consecutively the entire cañon system of the Green
and Colorado Rivers, which, so far as the upper cañons are
concerned, had not yet been done. We also wished to determine the
accuracy of some statements heretofore made which seemed
reasonably open to question.
Mr. Stone went all the way through the cañon, took hundreds of
photographs, and made numerous measurements. He made a thorough study
of this cañon, added greatly to our knowledge of it, and corrected a
number of misconceptions concerning it.
But [continued Mr. Stone] it was also to get away from work! For
the fun of the thing! Year after year the voice of many waters had
said: "Come join us in our joyous, boisterous journey to the sea,
and you shall know the ecstasy of wrestling with Nature
naked-handed and in the open, as befits the measure of a man." It
takes on many forms and numberless variations, this thing called
play. Its appealing voices come from far and near, in waking and
in dreams; from quiet, peaceful places they allure with the
assurance of longed-for rest; from the deeps of unfrequented
regions they whisper of eager day- and night-time hours brimming
with the fullness of heart's desire, while bugle-throated, their
challenge sounds forever from every unsealed height.
I presume it is quite true that the chance of disaster (provided
we consider death as being such) followed us like the eyes of the
forest that note every move of the intruder but never reveal
themselves. But somehow or other the snarling threat of the rapids
did not creep into the little red hut where fear lives, and so
burden our task with irresolution or the handicap of indecision;
therefore, whatever dangers may have danced invisible attendance
on our daily toil, they rarely revealed themselves in the form of
accident, and never in the shape of difficulties too great to be
overcome, though sometimes the margin was rather small.
Looking back now at the chance of our having been caught, a shade
of hesitation flits over the abiding desire to see it all again,
but the free, buoyant life of the open, unvexed by the sedate and
superfluous trifles of conventionality, the spirit of fair
companionship vouchsafed by the wilderness, and the river that
seemed to take us by the hand and lead us down its gorgeous aisles
where grandeur, glory, and desolation are all merged into
one--these still are as a voice and a vision that hold the
imagination with singular enchantment.
Any one interested in the geology of the Grand Cañon will find much in
the books of Powell and Dellenbaugh, but best of all are the recent
reports of the Geological Survey. For glimpses of the interesting
characters who frequent this region, and for a sober account of an
array of Grand Cañon adventures, nothing equals the narrative in
"Through the Grand Cañon from Wyoming to Mexico," by Ellsworth L.
Kolb.
Professor John C. Van Dyke, author of "The Desert," has most ably
summed up the Grand Cañon in three monumental sentences: "More
mysterious in its depth than the Himalayas in their height.... The
Grand Cañon remains not the eighth but the first wonder of the world.
There is nothing like it."
The land of form, the realm of music and of song--running, pouring,
rushing, rhythmic waters; but preëminently a land of color: flowing
red, yellow, orange, crimson and purplish, green and blue. Miles of
black and white. This riot and regularity and vast distribution of
color in continual change--it glows and is subdued with the shift of
shadows, with the view-point of the sun.
X
LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK
An active volcano is the imposing exhibit in the Lassen Volcanic
National Park. The fiery Lassen Peak rises in the midst of telling
volcanic records that have been made and changed through many thousand
years.
This Park is in northern California. It is about one hundred and fifty
miles south of the Crater Lake National Park. The territory embraces
the southern end of the Cascade Mountains, the northern end of the
Sierra, and through it is the cross-connection between the Sierra and
the Coast Range. The area is about one hundred and twenty-five square
miles. The major portion of the Park lies at an altitude of between
six thousand and eight thousand feet, the lowest part being about four
thousand feet, while the highest point, the summit of Lassen Peak, is
10,437 feet above the level of the sea. The Park is reached by
automobile roads. It is easily accessible from the Southern Pacific
Railroad in the upper Sacramento Valley, and from the Western Pacific
Railroad on the Feather River.
The scientific and scenic merits of this territory were of such
uncommon order that in 1907 they were reserved in the Mount Lassen and
Cinder Cone National Monuments. Both these reservations are now merged
into the Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Lassen Peak is one of the great volcanoes of the Pacific Coast. Most
of the material in it, and that of the surrounding territory, appears
to be of volcanic origin. It is in the margin of one of the largest
lava-fields in the world. The lava in this vast field extends
northward through western Oregon and Washington and far eastward,
including southern Idaho and the Yellowstone National Park. It has an
area of about two hundred and fifty thousand square miles, over parts
of which the lava is of great depth.
Lassen is the southernmost fire mountain of that numerous group of
volcanoes that have so greatly changed the surface of the Northwest.
Among its conspicuous volcanic companions are Crater Lake, formerly
Mount Mazama, Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mount Baker, and Mount
Rainier. Until Lassen Peak burst forth in 1914 it had slumbered for
centuries, and was commonly considered extinct. It has probably been
intermittently active for ages. Many geologists think that this
activity has extended through not less than two million years. Just
how long it may show its red tongue and its black clouds of breath is
uncertain; and just how violent and how voluminous its eruptions may
become are matters of conjecture.
All about Lassen Peak are striking exhibits of vulcanism--fields of
lava, quantities of obsidian or natural glass, sulphur springs, hot
springs, volcanic sand and volcanic bombs, and recent volcanic
topography, including Snag Lake.
Two of the imposing cañons here are Los Molinos and Warner Cañon.
These and other changes in the sides of Lassen Peak illustrate the
old, ever-interesting, and eternal story of erosion. Both these cañons
are wild places which have cut and eroded deeply into the ancient
lavas of Mount Lassen. Frost and water have reshaped the work of fire.
The mountain's sides show that it withstood the latest visits of the
Ice King. What appear to be the distinct records of glacial erosion
mark many spaces of its slopes.
[Illustration: LASSEN PEAK IN ERUPTION
_Copyright, 1914, by B. F. Loomis_]
The eruption of May 19, 1915, produced many changes. A volume of
super-heated gases burst out beneath the deeply snow-covered northeast
slope. The snow was instantly changed into water and steam. The mighty
downrush and onrush of water wrecked the channel of Lost Creek for
several miles. Meadows were piled with boulders, rock fragments, and
finer débris. Trees were uprooted or broken off, carried downward, and
left in piles of fierce confusion.
The hot gases played havoc with the forests. A stretch from a quarter
of a mile to nearly a mile wide and about ten miles long was killed by
the heat of the sweeping hurricane. Thousands of trees were instantly
killed and their green changed to brown. Others were charred. Forest
fires were started in a number of places.
The spectacular ruins which this left behind--the trees, wreckage,
slides, the changes made by ashes--may now be viewed with ease and
safety. It is probable that for years to come this volcanic wreckage
will be seen by thousands of visitors annually.
Fiery Lassen Peak is snow-crowned. One may ride to its summit on
horseback. From the top one has magnificent views of the mountains to
the north, the distant Coast Range, and the mountains eastward by the
Great Basin. On the whole, the surrounding mountain distances are
hardly excelled for grandeur in the entire country.
Cinder Cone is about ten miles to the northeast of Lassen Peak. It has
an altitude of only 6907 feet. It appears to have been built up
chiefly during the last two hundred years and for the most part by two
eruptions. One of these occurred nearly two hundred years ago. It
originated Stump Lake and ejected and spread materials over
considerable territory. The more recent eruption appears to have taken
place less than a century ago. In the summer of 1890 I found in the
crater a lodge-pole pine that was about eighty years of age.
Cinder Cone is a strikingly symmetrical small crater formed of cinders
and other volcanic products. It stands in a lava-field that has an
area of about three square miles. Its base measures about two
thousand feet in diameter, its truncated cone seven hundred and fifty
feet, and it is about six hundred and fifty feet high. Its
well-preserved crater is two hundred and forty feet deep and is nicely
funnel-shaped.
The Indians of the region had a popular tradition of the intense
activity of this cone about three centuries ago. This tradition was
that for a long time the sky was black with ashes and smoke. Thousands
of acres of forest were buried or smothered. The world appeared to be
coming to an end. But finally the sun appeared, red as blood. The sky
cleared, and volcanic activity ceased.
A number of the hot springs are agitated almost enough to be called
geysers. Cold and mineral springs abound. There are a number of lively
streams and plunging waterfalls.
The lake-area is twenty-three hundred acres. The largest of the lakes
is Lake Bidwell. Cinder Cone stands between two lakes which appear to
have been formerly one. The eruption of this cone probably extended a
lava-flow across the lake, dividing it into two parts. An outpouring
of volcanic material apparently made a dam, which formed a reservoir,
now occupied by Stump Lake. This filled with water and drowned a
forest growth. Through the surface of this lake still thrust numerous
tree-trunks of the drowned forest. The outburst of Cinder Cone that
formed this lake and overwhelmed the forest probably took place nearly
two hundred years ago. Other lakes are Juniper, Tilman, and Manzanita
Lakes.
The greater portion of the Park is forested. Among the more common
species of trees are Jeffrey pine, red fir, mountain hemlock,
lodge-pole pine, white fir, and incense cedar. In places among the
forests are beautiful mountain meadows.
There are scores of varieties of wild flowers. Most of these grow
under favorable conditions; have warmth, moisture, and rich soil; and
they show bright, clean blossoms. The district has its full share of
bird and animal life. In a number of streams fish are plentiful.
The Lassen Volcanic National Park was created chiefly through the
efforts of Congressmen John E. Raker and William Kent.
The varied objects of interest in this Park, especially those
associated with topography and geology, make it not only a place with
curious features, but a region affording unusual opportunities for the
gathering of fundamental facts concerning our resources. Here also are
scenes to inspire the souls of such as can be moved by the beauty and
grandeur of Nature and by the awful manifestations of her power.
Says J. S. Diller, of the United States Geological Survey, "With its
comfortably active volcano, inviting cinder cones and lava fields,
vigorously boiling hot springs, mud lakes and 'mush pots' for the
vulcanologist to study, and the glaciated divides and cañons for the
physiographer, in a setting of lovely scenery and attractive camps,
for the tourists all easily accessible, the Lassen Peak region affords
one of the most alluring and instructive spots for a National Park."
XI
HAWAII NATIONAL PARK
A volcanic exhibit unrivaled in the world is embraced in the Hawaii
National Park, which was created in 1916. This Park consists of two
volcanic sections in the Hawaiian Islands, with a total area of one
hundred and seventeen square miles. Within this territory are two
active volcanoes, Kilauea and Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaii; and
one sleeping volcano, Haleakala on the island of Maui.
The celebrated and unequaled Hawaiian volcanoes are a national scenic
asset, unique of their kind and famous in the world of science.
Apparently, the ocean has been filled in and the entire group of
Hawaiian Islands built by the lava-outpourings of volcanoes. In this
National Park we may see volcanic topography in the course of
construction; some landscapes just cast in the process of cooling;
others that are beginning to show the erosion of the elements; also
those which vegetation is just possessing.
The Hawaii National Park has about the same latitude as the City of
Mexico. There are about a dozen islands in the group, with a total
area of seventy-five hundred square miles. Honolulu, the capital city,
is on the island of Oahu, near the middle of the island chain, which
extends from northwest to southeast. From San Francisco it is about
twenty-one hundred miles to Honolulu.
Kilauea is more than two hundred miles southeast of Honolulu, and
thirty miles inland from the port of Hilo. Twenty miles to the west
from Kilauea is Mauna Loa. The crater of Haleakala is on a different
island from Kilauea and Mauna Loa, about midway between these and
Honolulu.
The active rim of Kilauea is four thousand feet above the sea. The
slopes of this volcano have an exceedingly flat grade. It is the most
continuously active of the three volcanoes in this Park. It has a pit
in which the molten lava rises and falls and is boiling all the time.
For a century Kilauea has been almost continuously active with a lake
or lakes of molten lava. The crater of Kilauea is not a steep
mountain-top, but a broad, forested plateau, beneath which is a lava
sink three miles in diameter, surrounded by cliffs three hundred feet
high. Several times during the last century the active crater was
upheaved into a hill. In a little while it collapsed into a deep pit
with marvelously spectacular avalanches, fiery grottos, and clouds of
steam and brown dust. Through many years the crater was overflowing.
Frequently large pieces of the shore fall into the molten lake,
forming islands.
The magnificent spectacle of the lake of lava at Kilauea is
indescribable. Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard
University, visited the crater and pronounced it the most wonderful
scene he had ever watched. It is a lake of liquid fire one thousand
feet across, splashing on its banks with a noise like the waves of the
sea. Great high fountains boil up through it, sending quantities of
glowing spray over the shore. There are fiery, molten cascades,
whirlpools, and rapids, with hissing of gases, rumbling, and blue
flames playing through the crevices. It is ever changing, and
the record of these changes is being kept from day to day,
photographically and otherwise, by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Mauna Loa is an active crater, 13,675 feet above sea-level. It is an
enormous mountain mass, covering a wide area with its very gentle
slopes. This volcano erupts about once every decade. Of the three
volcanoes in the Park, Mauna Loa is the most productive of new rock,
which it pours out on the surface of the land. Its activities start
with outbursts on the summit and culminate after a number of years in
a flow which floods the whole country for many months.
Perpetual snow crowns Mauna Loa, and ice may be found in cracks even
in summer. In the winter-time there is a variety of climate from
sea-level to the summit--from the warmth of the tropics to arctic
blizzards on the mountain-top.
An interesting and somewhat amusing story is told in regard to an
eruption of Mauna Loa in 1881. The flow of lava at that time was so
heavy that it seriously threatened to wipe out the town of Hilo. When
the lava ran down to within a mile of the place, the natives urged
their Princess Ruth to go and conjure the goddess of the volcano,
Pele, to stop the flow. She went--so the tales goes--with all her
retinue, and threw into the crater some berries, a black hen, a white
pig, and a bottle of gin, as sacrifices. The lava-flow stopped, and
the natives believed their escape due to the odd offering, although
some people have expressed the opinion that such a collection of
stuff thrown into an active volcano's crater would make the eruption
more violent, if it had any effect at all.
Mauna Loa forces columns of liquid lava hundreds of feet into the air,
and every few years pours forth billions of tons of lava in a few
days. There is a wonderful rift-line, from which eight or ten flows
poured forth during the last century. These burst out on the slopes of
the mountain, not from the summit crater. After the first explosion at
the summit, a period of quiet intervenes, and then the rifts open and
lava flows down.
The lava cools quickly and changes through colors of red, purple,
brown, and gray as it cools. Areas of each of these are seen at one
time, with red-hot liquids showing in the cracks of the lava. Trees of
lava are formed at one place by the flow of lava rushing through a
forest and congealing around the trunks. Fields of "Pele's
hair"--lava--are blown out by the wind, like spun glass, as the fiery
spray is dashed into the air on the surface of the molten lake. In the
large craters are numerous smaller ones with endless lava forms,
colors, and volcanic structures.
The crater of Haleakala, ten thousand feet high, is near the middle of
the island of Maui. It is eight miles in diameter and three thousand
feet deep. While Haleakala has not erupted for two hundred years, the
entire crater is sometimes full of active fire fountains, and the
fiery glow mounts to the clouds like an immense conflagration.
Professor Thomas A. Jaggar says, "The crater of Haleakala at sunrise
is the grandest volcanic spectacle on earth."
No photograph can give any adequate idea of the view from its summit,
often above the clouds. It is a good place from which to see the sun
come up through the clouds in the crater. This event has been
described as being like the birth of a new world. From here one can
look down on the island and on the sea, and see the neighboring
island of Oahu.
Sidney Ballou says: "A number of people who have been to the top of
Haleakala pronounce the sensation there, although somewhat indefinable
and indescribable, as the chief scenic attraction of the world. Men
like John Muir, who have been all over the world, go up there and say
that it is the greatest spectacle in the world."
In addition to the variety of volcanic displays and lava landscapes,
the Hawaiian Park contains splendid tropical groves and forests of
sandalwood and magnificent Hawaiian mahogany trees with trunks over
twenty feet in circumference. There are forests of tree ferns up to
forty feet in height, with single leaves twenty feet long; tropical
jungles with scores of varieties of the most exquisite and delicate
ferns and mosses, many of them found nowhere else in the world. There
are numerous song-birds of brilliant hues, many of them found nowhere
but in Hawaii, and nearly extinct except in this Park. There are
rolling grassy meadows, dotted with tropical trees, shrubs, and ferns,
giving a parklike effect. Many of the trees are botanical treasures,
known only in this Park region, and of great rarity.
The views from the slopes and summits of the volcanic peaks are a
mingling of wild magnificence and tropical splendor. The craters
themselves are weird spectacles that awe visitors into silence as they
watch the wonderful action of the liquid fire fountains, boiling
lakes, flaming lava, and other demonstrations of the Fire King.
L. A. Thurston, of Honolulu, appears to have first proposed this Park,
and he did much toward its acquisition.
XII
THREE NATIONAL MONUMENTS
1. THE OLYMPIC NATIONAL MONUMENT
The territory embraced in the Olympic National Monument is now
proposed for use as a National Park. It occupies the extreme northwest
corner of the United States, a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and
Puget Sound. It is dominated by the precipitous and heavily
snow-capped Olympic Mountains. These snowy summits attracted the
attention of the explorer Vancouver, who named the mountains the
Olympics. Their lower slopes are heavily forested with gigantic trees,
and beneath these there is an undergrowth of almost bewildering
luxuriance. This undergrowth is a jungle in itself. Many of the trees
are heavily and picturesquely roped and bearded with moss. The
openness which characterizes the Sierra or Rocky Mountain forests is
absent. Gigantic tree-trunks lie scattered over the forest floor. Many
of these fell centuries ago and are water-soaked, half-rotten, and
covered with moss a foot thick. Here and there a living tree, a
century or more of age, is standing upon a fallen one. Others are lost
in the tangle of vines, huge ferns, and vigorous wild flowers that
crowd the floor of the woods. Even at midday the forest reposes in
twilight.
The region is extremely difficult to penetrate and explore. The
streams, even during the period of low water, are almost too swift for
boats, and the tangled jungle-growth, produced by abundant moisture
and a mild climate, compels the explorer to chop every foot of the way
he advances. Until recent years trappers, who were supposed to go
everywhere, were content to work around its outskirts. Even the
adventurous prospector passed it by, and searched the earth over for
gold before seeking in the heart of the Olympics. Through the
combined efforts of government agents, individuals, and organizations,
the region has at last been pretty well explored. Both in exploring
this Olympic region and in endeavoring to have a part of its primeval
scenes saved in a park, the Mountaineers Club of Seattle has taken an
aggressive part.
Up to the altitude of about four thousand feet the mountains are
wrapped in dense green and heavy forest gloom. Then come the scattered
grassy, flowery, snowy openings. Timber-line, kept low by the
excessive snowfall, is at about fifty-five hundred feet altitude, one
thousand feet lower than in the Alps, and six thousand feet below the
forest frontier on the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The summit slopes
are a broken array of snow-fields, ice-piles, and glaciers. Above the
timber-line, vast, deep snow-fields cover much of the area. These
white summits show from far out at sea.
Mount Olympus, with an altitude of 8250 feet, is the highest peak.
Among the other commanding peaks are Meany, Cougar, and Seattle.
The climate, tempered by the warm sea, is mild. Probably no other
region in the United States has a heavier rainfall and snowfall. From
sixty to one hundred feet of snow is deposited over it each winter.
The only comparatively rainless months are July and August. The rain,
and the water from the ice- and snow-fields, supply numerous steeply
inclined streams, which descend in roaring waterfalls and in long,
leaping wild cascades.
This region excels in the number and crowded conditions of large tree
growth, and the impenetrable luxuriance of undergrowth. Hemlock,
cedar, spruce, and fir predominate. While the hemlock is the most
common tree here, the cedar is the most striking. The latter is a
strangely stiff and mysterious tree of rather stocky growth. In this
moist, mild clime it finds conditions for development almost ideal.
The two kinds of cedar are the Alaska and the red. Thousands of acres
here may be seen crowded with tall trees that will average five feet
or more in diameter and one hundred and fifty feet in height. Trees
twelve feet in diameter are not uncommon, and the United States
Geological Survey reports one with a diameter of twenty-eight feet!
Thousands of acres of red fir trees may also be found in which the
average height of the trees is two hundred and forty feet!
Wild flowers are everywhere. They edge the snow-fields, cover the
breaks in the cliffs, line the streams, and bank with bloom the fallen
forest patriarchs. Among the common blossoms are the lovely
cassiope,--white heather,--mountain anemone, phlox, and "Indian basket
grass."
[Illustration: MOUNT ST. HELENS
From the Timber-Line Trail on Mount Rainier]
This is the home of the gigantic Olympic Roosevelt elk, and among the
other common animals are the bear, deer, wolf, fox, lynx, otter, and
beaver. The streams are simply crowded with trout. Bald eagles are
found, and there is an array of flickers, woodpeckers, warblers,
jays, sparrows, and hummingbirds. The solitudes of this sylvan park
are cheered with the melody of the water-ouzel, the Alaska hermit
thrush, and the winter wren.
But the mountain summits are significant as view-points. From them one
commands the sea, islands, and the broken shore of the Pacific. Bright
Puget Sound, with a scattering of dark islands and ragged edges, fills
the foreground. Looking toward the southeast across the darkly
forested mountains through which rolls the Columbia, one enjoys a view
vast and imposing. The dark forest cover is pierced by three
snow-laden and steaming sleeping volcanoes. The most impressive one of
these is Mount Rainier, with a score of enormous glaciers covering
head and shoulders. Another one is Mount Adams. But the most
exquisitely beautiful of all the peaks which the summits of the
Olympics command is Mount St. Helens. The head and shoulders of this
mountain rise a perfect snowy cone above the purple forest robe and
stand as perfectly poised as a Greek statue of marble.
The Olympic National Park should include about three hundred square
miles. What a splendid attraction if this area of primeval scenes and
forests were kept in a state of nature!
2. THE NATURAL BRIDGES AND RAINBOW BRIDGE NATIONAL MONUMENTS
Utah has the four grandest natural bridges in the world. Three of
these are in the Natural Bridges National Monument, and the fourth in
the Rainbow Bridge National Monument. There are natural bridges
elsewhere in Utah, and in the Yellowstone and the Mesa Verde National
Parks; also in Virginia and various other places. But so far as known,
the four in these two National Monuments excel all others in size, in
impressiveness, and in wildness of setting.
These National Monuments embrace desert regions in southeastern Utah
which are made up mostly of rock-formations. Standing out on the
strange desert, the fantastic forms and weird sandstone figures
exhibited give the whole region a peculiar impressiveness. There are
countless statuesque forms and groups that are surprisingly faithful
in their resemblance to figures of birds, animals, humans, and
temples; and all are of heroic size.
The bridges in the Natural Bridges Monument are known as the Sipapu or
Augusta Bridge, the Kachima or Caroline Bridge, and the Owachomo or
Little Bridge. The former of each of these names is of Indian origin
and is the official one.
These three bridges are all within a small area. The Sipapu is 260
feet long on the bottom; the span is 157 feet high and 22 feet above
the creek-bed. Its road-bed width is 28 feet. The Kachima Bridge has a
span of 156 feet, a total height of 205 feet, and a width across the
top of 49 feet. The Owachomo Bridge has a light, graceful structure.
Its span is 194 feet and its surface 108 feet above the bottom. The
arching part has a thickness of only 10 feet.
The Rainbow Bridge, whose official name is Nonnezoshie, is more of a
magnificent rainbow arch than a bridge. It has splendid and striking
proportions. Its great graceful arch is 308 feet high and 274 feet
long.
[Illustration: RAINBOW NATURAL BRIDGE
RAINBOW NATIONAL MONUMENT]
These bridges are of sandstone of reddish cast, stained in many places
with blackish or greenish lichens and rust. Like any other rock-forms,
they are the product of various erosive forces--illustrating the
survival of the fittest. Their material, being slightly more durable
than that of the now vanished rocks, or possibly less severely tested,
has endured while the other material has been dissolved and worn away.
In the fashioning of the surface of the earth Nature sometimes makes
beautiful and imposing statuary. She has done so here. In the
surrounding country are turrets, cisterns, wells, conelike and
dome-like caves and caverns, and nearly complete arches. In fact,
arches and bridges showing every degree of completion and past prime
condition may be seen. Near by are numerous deserted cliff dwellings.
These unusual structures leave a lasting impression on every visitor.
Plans are already under way to make these wonders easily accessible to
the public.
3. MUKUNTUWEAP NATIONAL MONUMENT
The Mukuntuweap National Monument, Utah, has as spectacular a cañon,
and as stupendous an array of vast rock-forms, as is to be found
anywhere in the world. This territory is often spoken of as "The
Little Zion River Region." The Mukuntuweap Cañon has some of the forms
shown in the Grand Cañon, and an array of colors not equaled in any
other cañon known. In width it varies from half a mile to only a few
rods across. It does not all tend in a straight direction. It curves.
The cañon walls in places are sheer and rise from two thousand to
three thousand feet. One of its most startling features is shown in
the overhanging walls, which the water has undercut so that in places
the walls prevent a person in the bottom from seeing the sky.
In a recent report on this cañon, T. E. Hunt, of the Department of the
Interior, wrote:--
At the south end, the cañon is about twelve hundred feet wide, but
gradually narrows for a distance of seven miles, until a point is
reached where with outstretching arms the finger tips touch the
walls on either side. In a number of places the walls of this
cañon rise vertically to a height of more than two thousand feet,
thus exhibiting a plain surface of extremely hard, pink sandstone.
The vast barren areas of the walls are broken by figures in relief,
and statuary on the summits--all the carving of Nature. On the
terraces and in the niches are growths of ash and oak, maple and
spruce and other trees. In a number of places these walls are further
enlivened and glorified by waterfalls that plunge grandly over them
into the cañon. We thus have in this region an unexcelled variety of
the best-known cañon effects--the vast sweep of vertical walls, the
walls that are undercut so that they appear to lean, and extreme
narrowness between the walls.
But, enlivening and glorifying all these, is the color! Here you will
find immense spaces of chocolate, red, crimson, magenta, and maroon,
with touches of silver and gold. It is doubtful if Nature has anywhere
covered such immense areas with such deep and contrasting colors as in
this cañon.
This region is little known, but probably in a short time it will be
easily accessible. It was made a National Monument in 1912. The people
of Utah now want it for their National Park.
XIII
OTHER NATIONAL PARKS
1. WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK
The Wind Cave National Park consists of about sixteen square miles of
pine-covered hills in the southwestern corner of South Dakota. It is
about twelve miles north of the town of Hot Springs and about the same
distance southeast of Custer. The altitude is between four thousand
and five thousand feet. It was created in 1903. The scenery is typical
of the picturesque Black Hills region, which the Indians especially
loved.
The Park's special attraction is a large natural cavern. This has
recesses said to have been traced for ninety-six miles, but never
thoroughly explored. Its name is due to the strong air-currents
noticeable at the entrance, which sometimes blow one way and sometimes
another. Bridges, stairways, landings, and paths through the cave's
mysterious passageways permit visitors to reach its natural splendors,
which are seen by the light of burning candles or magnesium ribbon.
The cave was discovered in 1881. Its temperature varies only between
forty and forty-seven degrees the year round. Some of its known
passages are almost five hundred feet below the surface of the earth,
and wind over, under, and around one another. The formations are
mostly of limestone. Among the features of this interesting
underground world are a spring and a miniature lake, beautiful calcite
crystals, exposed geodes, boxwork forms, and other attractive natural
formations.
The Park is the permanent home of a herd of buffaloes, presented to
the Government by the American Bison Society. Herds of elk and
antelope are also found in an inclosed section. Many white-tailed deer
running wild in the region annually seek shelter within the Park from
the attacks of hunters. Grouse and quail are increasing in numbers
under National-Park protection.
2. SULLY'S HILL NATIONAL PARK
Sully's Hill National Park was established in 1904. Its area is only
seven hundred and eighty acres. It is on the south shore of Devil's
Lake, in northeastern North Dakota, near Fort Totten.
Lack of an appropriation for the care and protection of the Park makes
it necessary (1917) for the Superintendent of the Government
Industrial School for Indians, which is about one mile east of Fort
Totten, to act as Superintendent of the Park. It is badly in need of
conveniences--as roads, trails, clearings, etc. Although money has
been appropriated for the establishment and maintenance of a game
preserve on the tract, not a cent has ever been set aside for
development and improvement.
It is well wooded and has many rugged hills, including Sully's Hill.
Another of its natural beauties is Sweet Water Lake. The Park is
popular as a picnic-ground and Devil's Lake affords a good
bathing-beach and fine opportunities for yachting. It is one of the
beauty-spots of North Dakota, and its scenery is of the restful and
delightful character.
3. CASA GRANDE RUIN RESERVATION
The most important prehistoric Indian ruin of its type in the
Southwest is now protected and preserved, for the study and enjoyment
of the people, in the Casa Grande Ruin Reservation. This contains four
hundred and eighty acres, set aside in 1892. It is near Florence,
Arizona, about eighteen miles northeast of Casa Grande railroad
station. The ruins are of undetermined antiquity. A Jesuit missionary
discovered them in 1694. As excavated so far, a great house built of
puddled mud moulded into walls and dried in the sun is the main
structure of the group. As it is of perishable character, the walls
have been gradually disintegrating, and a corrugated iron roof has
been put over the ruins to protect them from the elements so far as
possible. Considerable more repair and protection work is needed.
The main building was originally five or six stories in height and
covered a space fifty-nine by forty-three feet. Surrounding Casa
Grande proper is a rectangular walled inclosure. A number of buildings
or clusters of rooms have been excavated in this, and others as yet
unexcavated are known to be there. One hundred rooms with plazas and
surrounding walls now open on the ground floor of the reservation.
These ruins are of great historic and scientific interest, and have
strong claims for archæological study, repair, and preservation.
4. HOT SPRINGS RESERVATION
Although the Yellowstone was our first scenic National Park, the honor
of being the oldest national recreation place falls to the Hot
Springs Reservation, in the mountains of central Arkansas. It was
created in 1832. Forty-six springs of hot water possessing radioactive
properties, and also some cold-water springs of curative value, are
embraced within the tract of nine hundred and twelve acres, fifty
miles west by south from the city of Little Rock. The waters flow from
the sides of Hot Springs Mountain. Rheumatism and other bodily ills
are relieved or remedied by the waters. Eleven bathhouses on the
reservation, and a dozen more within the little city of Hot Springs,
are under government regulation.
As early as 1804 the power of the waters was known to white men, and a
settlement had already begun there at that time. Tradition says that
the Indians knew of the springs long before the Spanish invasion, and
that they warred among themselves for their possession. Finally a
truce was made, and thereafter all the tribes availed themselves of
the healing waters.
5. PLATT NATIONAL PARK
The Platt National Park contains many sulphur and other springs
possessing medicinal value. It includes one and a third square miles
in southern Oklahoma, and was created in 1906.
6. MOUNT McKINLEY NATIONAL PARK
The Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska, was established early in
1917. It is in the approximate center of Alaska and embraces
twenty-two hundred square miles. Mount McKinley is known to many
Indians as "The Great One." Its summit is 20,300 feet above sea-level.
On the north this stupendous mountain is exceedingly precipitous and
rises 18,000 feet in a distance of thirteen miles. It is doubtful if
there is a peak in the world that rises so high above the limits of
tree growth. And no mountain that I know of has slopes so completely
snow-covered. Its snow-line is at the altitude of 7000 feet, and from
this altitude upward only a few crags and rocky ridges show. The
upper 14,000 feet of steep slopes appears a vast towering white mass
of glaciers and snow. The largest glacier is the Muldrow. It is
thirty-nine miles long. The summit of this peak and a part of its
slopes are embraced in the Mount McKinley National Park.
This Park is a wild-life refuge. Its slopes are the greatest known
big-game range on the continent. Here are mountain sheep and caribou
by the thousand. Moose are common. Beaver are plentiful. And there are
grizzly, brown, and black bear. Many kinds of birds use the region for
their summer nesting-land. Brilliant wild flowers abound. Spruce,
birch, cottonwood, and willow are the more common trees, but none of
them grow large.
In 1902, D. L. Raeburn, of the Geological Survey, explored this
territory and brought out much valuable information concerning it. Mr.
Raeburn determined most of the boundary-line of the present Park. In
1903, James Wickersham attempted to scale the peak. It was first
conquered in March, 1913. The creation of this Park was brought about
chiefly through the efforts of Charles Sheldon. When completed, the
Alaskan railroad will be within fifteen miles of the Park
boundary-line.
XIV
CANADIAN NATIONAL PARKS
The Dominion, or National, Parks of Canada possess a wealth of
snow-capped peaks and majestic mountains, magnificent glaciers,
luxuriant forests, and peaceful, sunny valleys. These Parks are gemmed
with crystalline lakes and glorified by hundreds of gardens of rare
and brilliant wild flowers; they rival and surpass the celebrated
scenes of Europe. Travelers who are visiting the scenic world will
find in the Canadian parks a number of places of the most inspiring
character and of original composition. Mental pictures of the earth's
great scenes are incomplete without the masterpieces of Canada.
The Canadian people are to be congratulated on their splendid scenic
inheritance. I thank them for the statesmanlike appreciation of this
noble resource. They realize that scenery is a rich asset, and--what
is more important--that every one needs outdoor life and great views.
The Canadians already have comprehensive plans for fuller use of
scenery. These include not only the saving of other scenic places and
getting these ready for visitors, but also plans that will assist
large numbers of their own people to visit the Parks.
1. JASPER PARK
Jasper Park, the continent's largest national playground, was created
in 1907. It contains forty-four hundred square miles and comprises all
the ranges east of the Divide in northern Alberta. It is reached by
two transcontinental railroads.
This part of the Great North country suggests adventure, romance, and
history, and brings back to mind the power, the strangeness, and the
picturesqueness of the earlier days of the Hudson's Bay Company. The
storied Athabasca flows through it, a band of silver in a
flower-strewn valley of meadow and park land, hemmed in by
glistening mountains. An important fur district a century ago, its
trading-posts now are tourist resorts with railroads and hotels.
[Illustration: ILLECILLEWAET VALLEY
Mount Sir Donald in distance. Glacier Park, Canada]
Yellowhead Pass, of historic associations, is the western entrance.
Two grim peaks guard the eastern portal. Roche Miette, which dominates
the surrounding country, was formerly a favorite Indian hunting-ground
for mountain sheep. Perdrix or Folding Mountain has strange folds and
angles in its strata.
Many roads and trails reach the beauty spots of this park. Fiddle
Creek Cañon is in places only twenty feet wide, but the roaring,
rushing waters are two hundred feet below. On the same road are the
celebrated Miette Springs and Punch-Bowl Falls, a geological
curiosity. Maligne Lake is a scenic jewel, and its river cañon
displays wonderful erosion. The Park abounds in minerals.
Administration headquarters are at Jasper.
2. ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK
Indian stories of remarkable and curative hot springs probably led to
the creation of the Rocky Mountains Park, the oldest and
best-developed of the Dominion's national playgrounds. With
statesmanlike foresight, the Government determined to retain the
springs region in a National Park as a permanent health and pleasure
ground for all the people. In 1889, two hundred and sixty square miles
were thus set aside, and the Park has since been enlarged to eighteen
hundred square miles. It lies on the east slope of the Rockies in
Alberta, adjoining Yoho Park.
The springs rise in Sulphur Mountain, near Banff, the geographic and
chief tourist center. On this mountain-side the Government conducts
public baths. The region is a winter as well as a summer resort.
The Banff district also possesses notable scenery. It has an
invigorating atmosphere and the peaceful serenity of a lovely
mountain valley, with bare, rocky summits and dark, forest slopes.
This was a celebrated Indian hunting-ground, and the legends and
traditions of the aborigines will ever touch it with the spell of
adventure and romance. Here is beautiful Lake Minnewanka. Beyond lies
the strange valley of the Ghost River. It is a limestone cañon, into
which a number of streams fall, but from which none are known to flow.
An undiscovered subterranean outlet is supposed to account for this
phenomenon.
Banff has an excellent Government museum, containing complete
collections of the mountain flora and fauna, also a zoo,
buffalo-corral, and moose-pasture. The town-site is owned and
controlled by the Government, which makes regulations, leases ground,
and issues permits for competitive business.
Laggan, another railway station in the Park, is the center for the
celebrated Lake Louise district. Near are snow-capped peaks standing
thickly together, with countless tumbling streams and leaping
waterfalls.
High among the mountains are exquisite blue or emerald lakes, set like
sparkling gems in the bold surroundings of peaks and glaciers. Chief
of these is the famous Lake Louise.
Brilliant wild flowers in luxuriant profusion and of many varieties
are one of the Park's chief charms. Delicate twin-flowers,
adder's-tongue, false heather, and dainty blossoms of every hue are
included in these wild alpine meadow displays.
A transmountain automobile road from Calgary runs through the Rocky
Mountains Park and into the Yoho Park. Its route includes points of
great scenic interest. This road will be extended to the Pacific.
3. YOHO PARK
Scenic allurements are numerous in Yoho Park, which embraces five
hundred and sixty square miles of the west slope of the picturesque
Rocky Mountains, in eastern British Columbia. Fantastic shapes and
sharp points characterize it. The vegetation is rich and verdant. Many
wonderful views and interesting districts in it are easily reached.
Yoho Valley in this Park was not discovered until 1897, but its
unusual beauty at once attracted numerous visitors. Takakkaw Fall is
the thunderous spray-shrouded leap of eleven hundred feet of a glacier
torrent. The Indian name means "It is Wonderful." This valley also
possesses other beautiful falls, a remarkable ice region, and other
interesting alpine features.
Emerald Lake, admired by artists and nature-lovers, is said to have
twenty shades of green, but never one of blue, in its crystalline
mirror depths. It is reached by a straight road through dark fragrant
firs that meet overhead. A dazzling white mountain at the end of the
vista gave rise to the name Snowpeak Avenue.
The Natural Bridge is not far from Field, the main-line railway town
that serves as a center for this national playground. The Kickinghorse
River forces its way through a narrow gap in a solid wall of rock.
Rocks remaining above this boiling, seething mass of water and cloud
spray make a natural passageway across and give the formation its
name.
Millions of trilobites have been found in the extensive fossil-bed of
Mount Stephen. This probably was once the bed of an ocean. This
massive, round-topped mountain, 10,523 feet high and with curiously
marked sides, is probably the most frequently climbed peak in Canada.
It seems to rise directly over the town, is not difficult to ascend,
and affords wonderful views of the "frozen sea" of snow peaks to the
north and west.
4. WATERTON LAKES PARK
Waterton Lakes Park, in southern Alberta, is notable chiefly for its
glacier lakes. Although one of the smallest, it is one of the most
beautiful of the Canadian scenic reservations. Since sixteen square
miles were set aside in 1895, it has been enlarged to four hundred and
twenty-three square miles.
For about twenty miles this Dominion playground adjoins the Glacier
National Park of the United States. The two will be linked by a motor
road, so that visitors to one may also enjoy the other. An enlargement
of the Waterton River forms the main chain of lakes. The upper one,
nine and a half miles long, extends three miles into the United
States.
Prehistoric glaciers gouged out the main valleys, leaving them carved
in massive proportions. Beautiful streams rush down cañons, plunge in
shining cascades, or remain dammed up as superb lakes. The lower
valleys are clothed with forests. Columnar peaks, fantastic rock
formations, and unscalable precipices complete the imposing effects.
Fishing is a leading attraction. The Park contains many Rocky
Mountain goats and bighorn sheep. Grizzly and black bears and mountain
lions also are frequently found.
5. REVELSTOKE PARK
Revelstoke Park is a natural park on Mount Revelstoke's summit, near
the city of Revelstoke in British Columbia. This mountain's rolling
uplands are studded with beautiful groves, dainty flowers, and
exquisite lakes. The wonderful views include unnamed and unclimbed
peaks, wild forests, streams and falls, and a great ice-field. A motor
road to reach this summit panorama is being completed. The Park has an
area of ninety-five square miles. It is well adapted to ski-jumping
and kindred sports.
6. THE ANIMAL PARKS
To protect its large wild animals and prevent their threatened
extinction, the Canadian Government has gone to enormous expense and
trouble. Two animal parks have been established: Elk Island Park of
sixteen square miles, near Lamont, Alberta; and Buffalo Park of one
hundred and sixty square miles, near Wainwright, Alberta. The former
contains many elk and deer, as well as moose, buffaloes, birds,
wild-fowl, and water-folk. Buffalo Park makes a natural home for over
two thousand wild bisons, the largest pure-blooded herd in the world.
The original seven hundred of these were bought from a Montana Indian.
Both parks produce their own forage, and are well fenced and
fire-guarded. They have many scenic lakes, woods, hills, and valleys.
Visitors are admitted to study the wild life under natural conditions.
7. ST. LAWRENCE ISLANDS PARK
As a National Park for summer use by fishermen, campers, picnickers,
and excursionists, the Dominion Government has a dozen islands among
the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence River. Eleven of these were
purchased from Indians and the twelfth was donated for park purposes.
(Other islands in the vicinity are part of the New York State park
system.)
8. FORT HOWE PARK
Fort Howe National Park is the first of a new kind of Canadian parks
that will preserve historic places. An old British fort site at St.
John, New Brunswick, comprises the first of these historic parks. It
covers nineteen acres. Here a resort will be established, and
memorials of important events connected with the spot will be erected.
Responsibility for the creation and the administration of Canadian
National Parks rests upon the Minister of the Interior. Under his
direction is a Commissioner of Dominion Parks, with a staff. This is
absolutely separate from the Canadian Forest Service. This bureau is
charged with responsibility for the administration of all park
matters, under one head. The head office plans the work and the
several superintendents carry it out under the inspection of the chief
superintendent. Park appropriations are voted each year by Parliament
in one lump sum, on estimates prepared by the Parks Bureau. Each
superintendent is furnished every month with an amount sufficient to
cover the cost of the work planned for the month ensuing. This system
means uniformity of administration; expenditure based on a proper
perspective of the needs of the several Parks; a comprehensive scheme
of development; and flexibility to meet changed conditions.
Further information concerning these Parks may be had from the
Commissioner of Dominion Parks, Ottawa, Canada.
XV
PARK-DEVELOPMENT AND NEW PARKS
A platform for park-promoters:--
1. Immediate appropriations for every National Park.
2. Early enlargement of a few of the Parks.
3. Prompt creation of a number of new Parks.
4. The National Park Service needs the help of your eternal
vigilance and sympathy. Keep the National Park Service absolutely
separate from the Forest Service or any other organization.
5. Concessions are a bad feature in any Park. The Palisades
Inter-State Park is run without concessions. Why should private
concerns reap profits by exploiting the visitors to National
Parks?
6. A Board of National Park Commissioners is needed. These
commissioners should act as a Board of Directors, as do the
Inter-State Park Commissioners, and have absolute control over the
National Parks.
No nation has ever fallen through having too many parks. We may have
too many soldiers, too many indoor functions, too many exclusive
social sets, but the United States Government, or any other, will
never fall for having too many national parks.
Nearly all the large nations of the earth now have national parks or
are planning to create them. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are
especially thoughtful in park matters. Switzerland has a number, and
is planning new ones. A number of South American countries are making
investigations with the view of establishing national parks.
National parks are an institution intimately allied with the general
welfare. You need this institution, and it needs your help. Every one
ought to be glad to help better and beautify our land. Whittier was
once asked by a young man for advice as to how best to succeed. The
poet told him to attach himself to a noble and neglected cause and to
stay with it till he won. The Park field greatly needs the help of
young men and young women who are willing to serve a noble cause. In
connection with National Parks you can be exceedingly helpful in
furthering the following work:--
A number of new Parks should be at once created. A number of the old
Parks need to be enlarged. Appropriations are greatly needed for the
development of all. You can help the National Park Service. It is in
danger of being crippled by the lack of appropriations. A number of
the National Monuments should at once be made National Parks. Among
these are the Grand Cañon, the Olympic, the Mukuntuweap Cañon, and
others. The Sequoia and other National Parks need enlargement; and
the Mount St. Elias and other scenic regions, especially the Mount
McKinley region, are most worthy of early consideration for park
purposes.
The Yellowstone Park needs to have the Grand Teton region added;
Rainier, about twenty square miles at the southwest corner; Crater
Lake, a few square miles on the west and north; Yosemite, mountainous
country on the east and southeast; Rocky Mountain, small areas--east,
west, north, and south; and the Sequoia, Mount Whitney and the
King's-Kern region.
[Illustration: TETON MOUNTAIN REGION, PROPOSED ADDITION TO
YELLOWSTONE PARK]
One of the most deserving of National Park projects, as well as one of
the most unique, is that which centers about the Jamez Plateau, in New
Mexico. Upon this plateau in prehistoric times stood a metropolis of
Indian civilization, and the magnificent ruins which remain make this
place priceless, and throw over it one of the most fascinating
mysteries in the realm of archæology. A number of the buildings were
stone structures of excellent and artistic architecture, and contained
hundreds of rooms. The pottery and other records left by this vanished
people indicate that they were a people of culture and refinement.
While the opposition is delaying the making of this Park, the
despoilment of the region goes on. In this connection Dr. Jesse W.
Fewkes makes this significant statement:--
Too strong language cannot be used in deprecation of the
butchering of the architectural features of our Southwestern ruins
by pot-hunters, either private individuals for gain or
representatives of institutions under the name of scientific
research.
The Cook Forest in western Pennsylvania, the greatest existing
primeval growth of white pine; a splendid redwood forest near Eureka,
California; the Dunes on the shore of Lake Michigan in northern
Indiana; the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky; the Luray Caverns in Virginia;
and a stretch of the seashore in eastern North Carolina,--all ought to
be public property, though now privately owned. These places might be
saved for the people for all time in State Parks, but their unique and
splendid characteristics justify their becoming National Parks.
Nearly all proposed National Park areas are of territory in the public
domain--still owned by the Government. The privately owned areas that
are proposed for National Parks are places admirably fitted for park
purposes, and are located close to millions of people.
It is important that the remaining scenic areas in the country be at
once made into State or National Parks. Fortunately there still are a
number of these wild places, but it will require effort to save them.
Each Park proposed will have powerful and insidious opposition. The
insidious opposition to National Parks will say, "There is a feeling
in Congress that we should not have any more National Parks at this
time"; or, "We should wait until present ones are improved."
Scenery is perishable--is easily ruined. The better parts of scenery
are birds, flowers, and trees. These are easily despoiled. No work, no
public service, is more noble than that of the Park extension and
improvement which now presses us. Every National Park needs
appropriations. It is the duty of every one to ask and urge Congress
at once to make adequate appropriations.
Much is to be gained and nothing to be lost in acting promptly. It is
important that new Parks be created now, a working plan made for all,
and the development pushed. When all our National Parks are ready for
travelers, we shall not need to shout, "See America First."
The phrase "See America First" may have done a little good, but it is
now obsolete. A plain condition now confronts us. Scenic America is to
be made ready to be seen. Only a small percentage of the area of our
National Parks is really ready for the traveler.
Congress should not be blamed for this condition; neither should we
severely blame ourselves. But we ought promptly to see that these
Parks receive adequate appropriations. If we do this, in a short time
the National Park Service, through its Director, will say, "Your
National Parks--our matchless wonderlands--are now entirely ready for
millions of travelers."
[Illustration: MOUNT BAKER FROM THE WEST
Mount Baker is likely to be a National Park
_Copyright, 1900, by W. H. Wilcox, Port Townsend, Wash._]
The plan for the development of National Parks includes three types of
hotels, the luxurious, the popular-priced, and inns or shelter cabins
that are clean and comfortable, and that give simple entertainment at
the lowest possible cost. And all buildings should be of an
architecture that harmonizes with the landscape.
Guides in Parks should be of the highest type of culture and
refinement, naturalists who can impart information. Of course they
must be masters of woodcraft. The wilderness is destined to have a
large and helpful place in the lives of the people. This is to be
partly brought about by guides and Park rangers. There should be
guides of both sexes.
The ultimate development should embrace a scenic road-system, roads
built so as to command scenery and to be for the most part on
mountain-sides and summits. They should touch the greatest and most
beautiful spots, and should follow, not the lines of least resistance,
but those of greatest attraction. In places along the forested roads,
openings might be cleared so as to expose near scenes and to enable
travelers to see the game which may come to these openings.
Many roads should be paralleled by trails for people afoot or on
horseback. Of course trails should be made to numerous high or wild
places not reached by roads.
Many persons do not realize the difference between a forest reserve
and a National Park. A forest reserve is primarily used for
cattle-grazing and saw-mills, while a National Park is a region wholly
educational and recreational for your children and yourselves. A
forest reserve is a commercial proposition, while a National Park must
be estimated by higher values. In a paper on the conservation of
scenery, in "The Rocky Mountain Wonderland," I have said:--
We need the forest reserve, and we need the National Park. Each of
these serves in a distinct way, and it is of utmost importance
that each be in charge of its specialist. The forester is always
the lumberman, the park man is a practical poet.... The forester
must cut trees before they are over-ripe or his crop will waste,
while the park man wants the groves to become aged and
picturesque. The forester pastures cattle in his meadows, while
the park man has only people and romping children among his wild
flowers. The park needs the charm of primeval nature, and should
be free from ugliness, artificiality, and commercialism. For the
perpetuation of scenery, a landscape artist is absolutely
necessary. It would be folly to put a park man in charge of a
forest reserve, a lumbering proposition. On the other hand, what a
blunder to put a tree-cutting forester in charge of a park! We
need both these men; each is important in his place; but it would
be a double misfortune to put one in charge of the work of the
other.
In this connection Stewart Edward White recently wrote:--
If the public in general understood the difference between a
National Park and a National Forest, there could be no doubt as
to the opinion of any intelligent citizen. The distinction is so
simple that it seems that it should be easy to get it within the
comprehension of anybody. A National Park is an open-air museum
set apart by Congress either to preserve from commercial
development beautiful scenery, trees, natural monuments, or some
of the forests that are being cut commercially both in private and
national forests. The idea is not commercial development along
even conservative and constructive lines, but absolute
preservation in a state of nature. Once this distinction is
grasped, no one can doubt that these two institutions demand
entirely different management. It would be as sensible to put men
with the same training in charge of both National Park and
National Forest, as it would be to place the same men with the
same training in charge of a busy shoe factory and a museum of
archæology.
[Illustration: MOUNT ST. ELIAS FROM EAST SIDE OF AGASSIZ GLACIER,
ALASKA]
Says Frederick Law Olmsted:--
Why should there be a distinction between National Forests and
National Parks? If the public is at liberty to use both as
recreation grounds, why should they not all be under one
management, in the interest of a more economical administration?
The National _Forests_ are set apart for economic ends, and
their use for recreation is a by-product properly to be secured
only in so far as it does not interfere with the economic
efficiency of the forest management. The National _Parks_ are set
apart primarily in order to preserve to the people for all time
the opportunity of a peculiar kind of enjoyment and recreation,
not measurable in economic terms and to be obtained only from the
remarkable scenery which they contain--scenery of these primeval
types which are in most parts of the world rapidly vanishing for
all eternity before the increased thoroughness of the economic use
of land. In the National Parks direct economic returns, if any,
are properly the by-products; and even rapidity and efficiency in
making them accessible to the people, although of great
importance, are wholly secondary to the one dominant purpose of
preserving essential esthetic qualities of their scenery
unimpaired as a heritage to the infinite numbers of the
generations to come.
Because of the very fact that in the Parks, as well as in the
Forest, considerations of economics and of direct human enjoyment
must both be carefully weighed in reaching decisions, and because
the physical problems are much the same in both, the fundamental
difference in the points of view which should control the
management of the National Parks and that of the National Forests
can be safely maintained only by keeping them under separate
administration.
John Nolen says:--
The minor purposes of forests may correspond somewhat with the
major purposes of parks, and _vice versa_; but the main and
essential purposes of each are altogether different from the main
and essential purposes of the other and any confusion of them is
sure to lead to waste and disappointment.
Scenery is our most valuable and our noblest resource.
It is of utmost importance that each of these reservations be managed
separately. Those who have distinguished themselves by appreciating
the importance of National Parks and by helping them in every way,
have been clear and emphatic in urging that National Park management
be utterly separate from the management of National Forests. Among
those who have taken this stand are John Muir, J. Horace McFarland,
John Nolen, Mrs. John D. Sherman, and in fact every one that I know
of who is an authority on parks. The National Academy of Science also
made a similar recommendation in 1897.
A Park should stand alone, and stand high. If we think of the Parks
separately, keep them free from the dominion of commercialism, of
interests, and of organizations, we may hope in a short time to
receive the best use of them.
The courts have recently made a number of excellent decisions
concerning the conservation of scenery, and have gone definitely on
record recognizing its higher values. In a decision concerning a
waterfall, Judge Robert E. Lewis said in part:--
It is a beneficial use to the weary that they, ailing and feeble,
can have the wild beauties of Nature placed at their convenient
disposal. Is a piece of canvas valuable only for a tent-fly, but
worthless as a painting? Is a block of stone beneficially used
when put into the walls of a dam, and not beneficially used when
carved into a piece of statuary? Is the test dollars, or has
beauty of scenery, rest, recreation, health and enjoyment
something to do with it? Is there no beneficial use except that
which is purely commercial?
This decision is epoch-marking. It emphasizes the importance to the
Parks of having a management that is in no way tied up with any other
work.
From the time of the creation of the Yellowstone Park till 1914 there
was no official head to the National Parks, but that year Secretary of
the Interior Franklin K. Lane used his right and appointed the first
Superintendent, Mark Daniels.
The year 1915 was memorable in National Park history. In that year
Secretary Lane appointed Stephen T. Mather Assistant to the Secretary
of the Interior, with authority to do all that he could for Parks. Mr.
Mather, a business man, sympathetic, well acquainted with the Parks,
saw their extraordinary possibilities. Having the administrative
charge of these National Parks, he at once set to work upon the
extremely difficult task of bringing them out of chaos into order. In
the short time that he has had charge of them, he has made a
remarkable advance in securing for them a working plan of development,
and a simplified and businesslike management.
In 1915 Superintendent Daniels was superseded by Robert B. Marshall,
former Chief Geographer of the United States Geological Survey. Mr.
Marshall worked enthusiastically but resigned in December, 1916. Mr.
Mather became Director of the National Park Service in March, 1917.
Automobiles were first admitted to all National Parks in 1915, and
that year, too, a number of educative publications concerning them
were issued.
In September, 1911, what may be called the first National Park
Conference was held in the Yellowstone Park. This was called by
Secretary of the Interior Walter L. Fisher. In his opening remarks at
this conference Mr. Fisher said that the purpose of the conference
was to "discuss the matter of the present condition of the National
Parks and what can best be done to promote the welfare of the Parks
and make them better for the purpose for which they were created."
This brought together a large gathering of men of affairs and
distinctly furthered the creation of the National Park Service.
The National Park Service is one of the subdivisions of the Department
of the Interior. The Service was created by an act of Congress in
1916, after a campaign that lasted for seven years. At its head is a
Director. It gives the Parks an official standing and the care and
development and administration needed.
All National Parks and twenty-one of the National Monuments are in
charge of the National Park Service. As Monuments are scenic and
educational reservations, it is plain that all these Monuments might
well be in charge of the National Park Service. Then, too, the name
"Monument" might well be changed to "Park."
Considering the far-reaching influence of the Parks on the general
welfare, in a few years they might be placed under a cabinet officer
who could appropriately be called the Secretary of National Parks.
XVI
THE SPIRIT OF THE FOREST
The supreme forest of the world is in the Sequoia National Park. The
Big Trees have attained here their greatest size and their grandest
development. Here is the forest's most impressive assemblage. In these
groves at the southern end of the splendid Sierra is all the eloquence
of wooded wilds--the silence of centuries and the eternal spirit of
the forest. This forest is to be guarded and saved forever.
[Illustration: ON THE ROAD TO SHERMAN TREE
GIANT FOREST, SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK]
How happily trees have mingled with our lives! Ever since our lowly
ancestors crawled from gloomy caves, stood erect in the sunlight,
wondered at this calm, mysterious world, and at last made homes
beneath the hemlock and the pine--ever since then, down through the
ages, through the dim, sad centuries, all the way from cave to
cottage, the forest has been a mother to our good race. How
different our history had this wooded and beautiful world been
treeless and lonely! Groves stand peaceful and prominent on every
hill, in every dale of history that encourages or inspires. If we
should lose the hospitality of the trees and the friendship of the
forest, our race too would be lost, and the desert's pale, sad sky
would come to hover above a rounded, lifeless world. The trees are
friends of mankind.
The forest that you see on the heights across the valley, that stands
so steadfast upon the billowed and broken slopes, that drapes the
dales and distances with peaceful, purple folds, and makes complete
with grace and grandeur a hanging garden of the hills--this is the
forest that sheltered our ancestors through the past's slow-changing
years.
The trees have wandered over the earth and prepared it for our race.
Their low green ranks encircle the cold white realm of Farthest North;
they grow in luxuriance beneath the equatorial sun; they have climbed
and held the heights though beaten and crushed with storm and snow;
they have dared the desert's hot and deadly sand; they stand
ankle-deep in bayous wrapped in tangled vines; they have breasted the
surf and pushed out into the surges of the ocean; they have conquered
and reclaimed the rocks on continents and islands; they have plumed
with palms the white reefs of the blue and billowed sea; their
triumphant masses stand where the Ice King rules; and in volcanoes'
throats they have given beauty for ashes. Their banners wave under
every sun and sky. Wherever our race has gone to live, the trees have
given welcome and shelter.
The picturesque woodsman with his axe has helped to build nations and
to improve and sustain them after they were built. He will play his
part in the future. An axeman at work in the woods makes even a more
stirring and romantic picture than does the reaper in his harvest
home on autumn's golden fields. It is good to hear the sounds of the
axe as they echo and reëcho among wooded wilds and then fade away, a
melody amid the forested hills. The echoes of the axe suggest the old,
old story--tell of a love-touched dream come true, of another home to
be. When under the axe an old tree falls, it is the end of a life well
lived, the end of a work well done. But this tree may rise, helped and
shaped by happy hands, and become the most sacred place in all this
world of ours--a home where lovers live--a cottage with hollyhocks and
roses by the door.
But we are leaving the low-vaulted past. These trees are not to fall.
They are to stand. In parks, we have provided for trees a refuge with
ourselves. They are to live on, and with them we shall build more
stately mansions for the soul.
Trees have trials. They know what it is to struggle and grow strong.
With hardship they build history, adventure, pathos, and poetry.
Every tree has a life full of incident. Aged trees are stored with the
lore of generations, carry the character of centuries, have
biographies, stirring life-stories. A sequoia is an impressive wonder.
As the oldest settler upon the earth--the pioneer of pioneers--it
knows the stories of centuries. At the dead lips of the Sphinx you
listen in vain, but beneath a Big Tree the ages speak and the
centuries shift their scenes. The Big Trees carry within their
untranslated scrolls that which may enrich the literature of the
world. Within a Big Tree's brave breast are more materials of fact and
fancy than in the ocean's coral cove, or in the murmuring sea-shell on
the shore.
In the forest, around the foot of a tree, rages an endless and
ever-changing struggle for existence. Here from season unto season a
thousand forms of life feed and frolic, live and love, fight and die.
Here Nature's stirring drama is playing on and always on. Here are
trials and triumphs, activity and repose, and all the woodland scenes
upon the wild world's stage amid the splendors and the shadows of the
pines. At this place Nature smiles and sings, and here, at times, the
lonely echo seems to search and seek in vain.
I never see a little tree bursting from the earth, peeping confidingly
up among the withered leaves, without wondering how long it will live,
what trials or triumphs it will have. I always hope that it will be a
home for the birds. I always hope that it will find life worth living,
and that it will live long to better and to beautify the earth.
In spring, summer, autumn, and winter, the broadleaf forest is a
picture gallery, a fine-arts hall. In winter, abloom with snow flowers
or in penciled tracery against the sky, how trustfully it sleeps!
Confidently and in perfect faith, it awaits the supreme day of spring,
when, amid the buzzing of bees, the songs of mating birds, and the
unfolding of green and crumpled leaves, comes the glory-burst of
bloom. In leaf-filled summer the woodlands are a realm of rich
content. But in reflective autumn, when the plaintive note of the
bluebird has Southland in its tones, when the hills are golden, then
the work of the leaves is done and they come out in garments of glory
to die--to die like the sunset of a splendid day. Color is triumphant
when autumn, the artist, touches the trees, for then the entire
temperate zone encircling this rounded world is a wreath of glory.
This wreath fades or falls away; and the little golden leaf that casts
its lot upon the breeze and floats off in the midst of mysteries is
upon a journey just as dear as when, amid the mists of sun and spring,
it did appear.
The woodland world of the mountains in National Parks is a grand
commingling of groves and grass-plots, crags and cañons, and rounded
lakes with forest frames and shadow-matted shores that rest in peace
within the purple forest. Here, in Nature's mirrors, pond-lilies, all
green and gold, rise and fall on gentle swells, or repose with
reflected clouds and stars. Here, too, are drifts of fringed gentians,
blue flakes from summer's bluest sky. Here young and eager streams
leap in white cascades between crowding crags and pines. In these
pictured scenes the birds sing, the useful beaver builds his
picturesque home; here the cheerful chipmunk frolics and never grows
up; and here the world stays young. Forests give poetry to the prose
of life and enable us to have and to hold high ideals.
In almost every forest is the quaking aspen, the most widely
distributed tree in the world. In autumn its golden banners encircle
the globe and adorn nearly one half the earth. Though this tree has a
constitution so tender that it is easily killed by fire or injury, it
is one of the greatest pioneer trees in the forest world. Through the
ages the restless aspen leaves appear to have attracted the attention
of mankind. Unfortunately the old myths and legends concerning this
merry, childlike tree told of fear or sorrow, but now every one
catches the hopeful spirit of the aspen. Aspens are youth, eternal
youth. Endlessly their dancing leaves proclaim youth. They are romping
children. Their bare legs, their mud- and water-wading habits, their
dancing out of one thing into another, are charmingly, faithfully
childlike.
Every tree has the ways of its race. The willow in its appointed place
is ever leaning over watching the endless procession of waters. Does
it wonder whence and whither? The birches are maidens, slender, white,
and fair. The maple has its own excuse for being. The elms arch the
woodland world with cathedral art. Beautiful is the lone silver spruce
lingering among the grand golden lichened crags. The sturdy pines
stand in ever green contentment. The straight spruces and stately firs
point ever upward and never cease to call "Excelsior!" nor to climb
toward their ideal. The oak, full of character, welcomes all seasons
and all weathers. Within the forest, up toward the heights, stands a
tree that wins and holds the heart like a hollyhock. This tree, the
hemlock, is a poem all alone. It is the heroine, the mother spirit of
the woodland world, handsome, richly robed, symmetrical, graceful,
sensitive, and steadfast. She, more than any other tree, appeals to
the eye and the heart. In her upcurving arms and entire expression
there is a yearning. When the world was young she may have been the
first tree to shelter our homeless, wandering race. To-day, when the
wild folk of the outdoors are most beset with cold or storm, they go
trustingly and confidingly to nestle in the hemlock's arms. And
rightly the sequoia is the nobleman of all the forest world.
That sweet singer, the solitaire, is the chorister of the forest. He
puts the woods in song. Hear his woodnotes wild and the Spirit of the
Forest will thrill you! Meditations and memories will throng you. His
matchless melody carries echoes of Orpheus and good tidings from
distant lands where dreams come true. Far away, soft and low, the wood
itself seems to be singing a hopeful song, a rhythm of ages, that you
have heard before. Pictured fairyland unfolds as you listen. In it is
the peace, the poetry, the majesty, and the mystery of the forest.
Go to the trees and get their good tidings. Have an autumn day in the
woods, and beneath the airy arches of limbs and leaves linger in paths
of peace. Speak to the jostling little trees that are so pretty and so
eager. Stand beneath the monarchs, rugged and rich in character. Lie
down upon the brown leaves, and look far away through the slowly
vanishing vistas full of forest, of columns that are filled with
kindest light. Leaves of red, bronze, and gold will rest in the
sunlight, or be falling back to earth without a fear.
The brook will murmur on; around, the falling nuts may patter upon the
fallen leaves; the woodpecker may be tip-tapping; the birds will be
passing for the Southland; the squirrels will be planting for the
ages. Though there are stirring activities and endless fancies, your
repose will be complete. Here where the lichen-tinted columns of gray
and brown are rich and beautiful in the mellow light, you will be at
your best--your own will come to you--with the Infinite you will be in
tune. Stay till night, and from the edge of the woods see the sun go
down in triumph. While all is hushed, watch the castled crag and the
gnarled pine on the hilltop blacken against the golden afterglow. In
the reflective twilight hour you may catch the murmur and the music of
the wind-touched trees.
I wish that every one might have a night by a camp-fire at Mother
Nature's hearth-stone. Culture began by a camp-fire in the forest.
Ages and ages ago, lightning one rainy evening set fire to a dead tree
near the entrance to a cave. The flames lured some of our frightened
ancestors from their cheerless lair, and as they stared at the burning
wood, they pushed back their long tangled hair, the better to watch
the movements of the mysterious flames. Around this fire these
primitive people gathered for the first social evening on the earth.
When in the forest one sits within the camp-fire's magic tent of
light, amid the silent, sculptured trees, thrilling through one's
blood go all the trials and triumphs of our race. A camp-fire in the
forest marks the most enchanting place on life's highway wherein to
have a lodging for the night.
Weird and strange are the feelings that flow as winds sweep and sound
through the trees. Now the Storm King puts a bugle to his lips, and a
deep, elemental hymn is sung while the blast surges wild through the
pines. Soon Mother Nature is quietly singing, singing soft and low,
while the breezes pause and play in the pines. From the past one has
been ever coming, with the future is destined ever to go, when with
centuries of worshipful silence one waits for a wind in the pines.
Ever the good old world grows better, both with songs and with
silence, in the pines.
One touch of forest nature makes the whole world kin. A tree is the
flag of Nature, and forests give a universal feeling of good will. In
the boundless forest the boundary-lines of nations are forgotten. Some
time an immortal pine may be the flag of a united and peaceful world.
In the forests' fairyland are still heard "the horns of Elfland
faintly blowing." There--
"Echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow forever and forever."
Kinship is the spirit of the forest.
XVII
WILD LIFE IN NATIONAL PARKS
Hunters are excluded from National Parks, and within these wonderlands
all shooting is prohibited. All National Parks are wild-life
sanctuaries, places of refuge for birds and animals. There the wild
folk are not pursued, trapped, or shot. Nearly all the principal birds
and beasts of North America are to be found in these Parks. Here may
be seen the lively, merry play-pranks of young bears, young birds, and
young beavers. Each Park is thus a wild-life paradise where the
animals are safe, free from the fear of being killed by man. These
Parks are ideal places in which to enjoy the animals and to study
their character; and they are a happy hunting-ground for the hunter
who carries the camera. Recreation in these wonderlands is thus
absolutely separated from the butchering business. What a glorious
exchange! All this should help the good old world to grow better.
Making a wild-animal place of refuge is equivalent to making a
park-place of refuge for ourselves.
[Illustration: ELK IN JACKSON HOLE]
One day, in what is now the Rocky Mountain National Park, I came upon
a luxuriously equipped camping-party, in which were at least a score
of people. They had a splendid outfit and bore evidence of culture and
refinement. I came upon their camp just at the close of a day that
they had devoted to a hunting-contest. I do not recall the prize that
the winning side secured, but all members of the party, young and old,
men and women, had engaged in the contest. They had taken sides, and
each side had endeavored during the day to kill more animals than the
other. Every living thing was allowable. Piled up against a log near
the camp were two heaps of dead wild folk--squirrels and chipmunks,
grouse and hummingbirds, water-ouzels, ptarmigans, bluebirds, a robin,
a wren, a snow-shoe rabbit, and I know not how many others.
People who engage in this kind of sport have characters that I cannot
understand. These people, with all the advantages of culture and
refinement, were out in the wild, lovely, splendid scenes. They had
forgotten all other forms of recreation or enjoyment and had sunk back
into barbaric blood-shedding "sport."
Man has appeared to the furred and feathered wilderness people as a
wanton murderer. Animals have been constantly in danger, and nowhere
nor at any time were they safe. Too often animals have been called
cowards. They have grown shy and wild from necessity. Their life has
depended on keeping out of the way of man. Along with the getting of
food, their chief concern is "safety first." This requires that they
be eternally vigilant to flee from the near presence of man. The
invention of the long-range repeating rifle added a large element of
fear and consequent shyness to the life of the wild people.
But now our National Parks are reforming man. The wildest of animals
quickly become half-tame in any place that is safe. During the past
few years thousands of excellent photographs have been made of big
game in National Parks. Elk, antelopes, and mountain sheep have been
photographed singly and in groups at the distance of only a few yards.
"It is better to let the wild beast run
And let the wild bird fly;
Each harbors best in his native nest,
Even as you and I."
None of the big animals in the United States are ferocious. In parks
it is men, not animals, who are on their good behavior--his hand
restrained, man temporarily becomes as inoffensive as the animals. It
may be, if we quit shooting animals on one side of a Park
boundary-line, that in due time we shall become sufficiently civilized
to stop killing people on the other side of a national boundary-line.
That the habitual wildness of birds and animals is the result of
experience, rather than instinct, was forcefully illustrated to me by
a surprise that I enjoyed with wild mountain sheep in a side cañon of
the Colorado River in Arizona. Bighorn sheep are proverbially alert
and wild. Imagine my astonishment when two or three of a flock of
bighorns walked up and touched me with their noses! Evidently they had
never before seen man. Trustfully they approached to satisfy their
native curiosity.
For a number of days I was close to this flock, and several times I
walked among them. They showed no excitement; they had nothing to
fear. Without doubt, they had not been fired upon, chased, or even
approached by man before. When I started for other scenes, one of the
ewes of this wild herd followed me for more than an hour. Here were
wild animals in a truly natural state! The abundance of easily
watched bird and animal life in these numerous Parks affords a
splendid opportunity to learn how these so-called wild people live and
who they are.
Our greatest animal is the grizzly bear. In the Parks we may make his
acquaintance. The story of "Ben Franklin," who was reared by James
Capen Adams, "Grizzly Adams," an early mountaineer and hunter of
California, tells of a noble grizzly bear.
While hunting in the Yosemite in 1854, Adams killed a mother grizzly
and captured two tiny cubs. A greyhound suckled them, and Adams kept
one of the cubs--Ben Franklin. Ben was never chained, but followed his
master everywhere through the mountains with a devotion equal to that
of a faithful dog. Adams always treated him with kindness and
understanding, and trained him to carry huge packs. Ben also rendered
other startling services.
One day, while returning from a hunt with Ben at his heels, Adams
suddenly came upon a mother grizzly and three cubs in the close
quarters of a thicket. The unexpected encounter probably caused the
big bear to defend her cubs, and she sprang upon Adams before he could
fire his rifle. He was knocked down and seriously wounded. Though
still a youngster, Ben was grandly loyal and brave; he instantly
sprang at the huge bear's throat and put up a courageous fight. This
distracted the big bear's attention and gave Adams a chance to spring
out of harm's way and shoot her. Little Ben was terribly bitten. So
grateful was Adams that he dressed Ben's wounds before he attended to
his own. Both Adams and Ben survived, and ever after they were close
companions.
For brain-power, prowess, and sheer force of character the grizzly is
the king of the wilderness. He knows it, and therefore is the
aristocrat of the wilds. With real intelligence, and, if kindly tamed,
with wonderful loyalty and devotion, he is an outdoor citizen of high
type, and does not merit the extermination that threatens him.
A grizzly is ever alert, vigilant, and cautious, unless his
well-developed bump of curiosity temporarily hypnotizes him and
betrays him into momentary dullness and forgetfulness. He is not a
coward, but simply believes in preparedness and safety first, and so
seldom blunders into trouble. He is popularly believed to be
ferocious. Two or three generations ago he may have been fierce, but
he is not so now. He uses his keen wits to avoid man, and never
attacks wantonly nor fights if he can avoid it. But he is a masterful
fighter, with strength, endurance, courage, mentality, and prompt
action in emergencies.
There is little that the grizzly or the black bear will not eat. Fresh
meat or carrion, honey, grasshoppers, ants, grubs, fish, mice and
others pests, grass, fruits, berries, bark, roots, leaves--all may be
included in the bill of fare of this omnivorous feeder. The grizzly
appears more inclined to belong with vegetarians than with the
Carnivora. He hibernates from three to five months each winter. The
latitude, altitude, snowfall, weather, and the peculiarities and
condition of the bear determine the length of his hibernation. Before
entering a cave or opening to spend his hibernating sleep he fasts for
a few days. In the spring, for several days after he emerges he eats
little.
Except the Alaskan bear, the only other kind we have is the black
bear. His habits are similar to the grizzly's, but he is smaller than
the grizzly. The color of bears varies widely in the same family as
well as in the two species and numerous subspecies. Color has nothing
to do with the kind of bear: either the black or the grizzly may be
black or cinnamon. The black bear is much more playful, and he climbs
trees as readily as a cat. The grizzly does not climb into trees.
[Illustration: BLACK BEAR CUBS, SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK]
The black bear is a playful bluffer. One day, as I was seated on the
edge of Yellowstone Lake, several feet above the water, a young
black bear came ambling by. In passing, he leaped at me with a wild
"woof." His bluff was effective. I shrank back, and tumbled into the
lake.
The creation of the Yellowstone National Park, for "the benefit and
enjoyment of the people," was one of the great achievements for
mankind. It also was a great event in the world of wild folk. The
Yellowstone is one of the greatest wild-life sanctuaries in the world.
In its thirty-three hundred square miles are numerous varieties of
wild animals. Each summer as many as sixty thousand elk feed in it,
and there are also buffaloes and antelopes, and flocks of sheep and
herds of moose. Black bears are on every hand, and grizzly bears are
often seen near by.
The caribou of the North make a long north-and-south migration with
the seasons. The deer and the elk of the mountain parks, like many
birds, simply migrate up and down the heights, spending summers in
the high altitudes and winters in the foothills.
On the thousand hills, meadows, crags, and moorlands of the National
Parks are herds, flocks, and bands of elk and moose and deer and the
agile mountain sheep. There are more than five hundred kinds of birds.
A census of wild-life folk in all National Parks would show a numerous
population: possibly a hundred thousand elk, half as many deer,
several thousand sheep, a few thousand goats, several hundred
antelopes, a few hundred moose, a thousand or so of bears, many
thousand beavers; minks, conies, marmots, and muskrats in uncountable
thousands; and birds in untold millions.
The antelope is a strange, isolated species. Formerly it ranged widely
over the plains, but now it is almost exterminated. It has no dewclaw.
It can erect and depress its fluff of white tail at will; this is a
means of signaling. Of all big game, the antelope perhaps is the
fastest runner. This animal sheds the outer part of the horns each
year, retaining the spikelike core.
The gray wolf, coyote, fox, lynx, otter, skunk, and porcupine are
numerous in the Parks. The porcupine, even at his wildest, shows the
least signs of fear and is the dullest-witted animal in the woods.
Glacier Park probably excels in the number of mountain goats. Here
they are to be seen in one of the most picturesque and precipitous
ranges, in topography which goats enjoy. The Rocky Mountain Park
probably excels in the number of bighorn sheep.
Along the streams the picturesque beaver, a permanent home-builder,
lately almost exterminated, is reëstablishing himself and restoring
the scenes that were known to the pioneers.
The food of the beaver is the bark of aspen and willow trees. He does
not eat fish or meat. Instead of hibernating in winter, beavers
harvest a quantity of food-supplies in the autumn and store them for
winter use. These are piled in the water beside their house. After
gnawing down trees, cutting them into sections, and eventually eating
the bark, they use the wood in constructing dams and houses.
Besides taking thought for the morrow, they build permanent homes, and
keep them clean and in repair. They skillfully construct dams and
canals to insure a constant water-supply in which to live, work, play,
and travel. These give a charm to landscapes, and are a benefit to
mankind. Beavers were the world's first engineers and the first
conservationists. They have industry, patience, and persistence,
combined with mental power.
They live in colonies or communities. Evidently they know the wisdom
of the old saying "All work and no play," etc., for they often play as
well as work, and also take a long summer vacation. Excellent workers
as they are, they avoid unnecessary labor and do less of it than any
other animal I know. There were civic centers in the animal world
long before man conceived such an idea for himself.
The mountain lion is one of the slyest and most elusive animals in the
woods. Rarely is it seen, although its keen curiosity leads it to come
close to camping-parties and to follow individuals through the woods.
On the lower slopes of most Parks a few snakes are found, but they are
wholly absent from the middle and the higher slopes.
In most of the Park streams trout are found--Western brook trout,
Eastern brook trout, and California rainbow trout.
Among the more prominent birds common in a number of the Parks are
eagles, grouse, ptarmigans, Clarke crows, camp-birds,--Rocky Mountain
jays,--robins, bluebirds, blackbirds, song sparrows, white-crowned
sparrows, cañon wrens, solitaires, and water-ouzels. In several of the
National Parks a number of species of hummingbird are found.
Each spring many species of birds migrate up the mountain-slopes,
where they nest in the alpine heights. The mountain migration,
requiring a flight of only an hour or two, gives them climatic
conditions similar to that of the Arctic Circle, to reach which would
cost them a journey of several thousand miles.
Some species bring forth two broods each summer. The first is raised
in the lowlands, where the young are fed while flower life in the
lowlands is at its best. As soon as the young birds are able to care
for themselves, the parent birds move up the mountain-side into the
very heart of summer. Here they nest again. How romantic is every
habit and custom in Bird World! The second nest of children is thus
reared on the alpine slopes. This enables the old birds to bring up
each brood in the midst of an abundant food-supply. The white-crowned
sparrow and two or three species of hummingbird do this.
A closer study of birds and animals will probably reveal the fact that
numbers of them mate for life. My experience has led me to believe
that wolves and foxes, bluebirds, wrens, eagles, and other kinds of
wild life do this.
Of all the birds in the West, or in the world, the one most hopefully
eloquent is the solitaire. The song of the hermit thrush has a touch
of sadness--it subdues and gives to one a touch of reflective
loneliness; but the song of the solitaire stirs one to be up and
doing; it gives the spirit of youth. Its song comes from ages of
freedom under peaceful skies, from a mingling of the melody of winds
and waters and of all rhythmic sounds that murmur and echo through
Nature's wonderlands.
High up in the mountains of the National Parks lives the ptarmigan,
the largest bird resident of the snowy heights. It spends the entire
year in the alpine zone, rarely descending below timber-line. Even the
summits of the peaks are visited by this sky-high dweller. Its dress
changes with the seasons; in winter it is pure white, stockings and
all; in midsummer it is grayish brown. These changing colors resemble
those of the landscape and thus help protect the ptarmigan from its
enemies, the weasel, fox, bear, eagle, and mountain lion. Although
smaller than the grouse, it reminds one of that bird. It eats grasses
and insects and the seeds and buds of alpine plants. Much of the
winter-time is spent by these birds in the shelter of deep holes or
runs beneath the compressed snow of the heights. Though far from the
Arctic Circle, they are close relatives of the ptarmigan that dwells
in the realm of the polar bear.
One of the best-dressed and best-mannered bird families that visit
National Parks is that of the waxwing--cedar and Bohemian. These birds
usually travel in flocks. At a small watering-place they drink in
routine, moving forward in an orderly manner. When a number of them
are resting upon a limb, if one catches an insect, he is quite likely
to pass it to his neighbor, and the neighbor in turn to pass it to
the next neighbor. Their dress is quiet, refined, and attractive to a
marked degree. It is an interesting fact that these birds, so dainty
of dress, so refined of manner, do not sing.
The cañon wren is a beautiful singer. So, too, is the water-ouzel, a
bird of the alpine brooks in the mountains of the West that has been
immortalized by John Muir. But few species of birds sing every day in
the year. One of those that do is the water-ouzel.
Most birds and animals appear to desire human society. Birds will
leave the seclusion of the forest to build by the roadside where
people pass. Some kinds of little feathered folk have deserted old
nesting-scenes and now nest by human homes. Robins, wrens, and
bluebirds confidingly raise their families in the scenes where
children romp and play.
They may do this for better food opportunities and increased safety
from enemies, but it is also plain that many birds come chiefly to
satisfy their desire for human society. It has been often demonstrated
that shy, well-fed birds and animals are hoping and waiting for
friendly advances on our part. Wild neighbors are glad of the
opportunity to call on us, whether we break bread or not. They are
also glad to have friendly calls returned. Birds and animals have
individuality. Food and kindness, and speaking to animals in the
universal language--friendly tones--are all means of promoting
acquaintance.
In the past we have greatly underrated the mental powers of animals.
An intimate association with wild life in the Parks will probably
convince most people that wild animals have the power to think and
reason. It may also acquaint people with the fact that animals as well
as human beings possess the traits of love, hatred, jealousy, anger,
and revenge. Any one who associates much with wild life will discover
the exceptional keenness of animal senses. In most animals scent is
amazingly developed, and probably is the first of the senses to warn
them of danger.
Most animals may be spoiled by excessive or improper feeding. In the
Yellowstone Park the bears, which are omnivorous feeders, have free
access to the garbage-dumps and eat all sorts of unwholesome
abominations. This improper eating is bound to have a bad influence
upon their habits, and is already spoiling their disposition. Beasts
of prey in the Parks are held in check by the Government. Lions,
lynxes, and other animals that become numerous and destructive, or
bears that develop killing habits, are disposed of by the Government.
The excess of big game and birds in the Parks overflows and stocks the
territory outside. Each year, too, hundreds of elk and other big
animals are shipped from Yellowstone to many parts of the country.
Well might these Parks supply city zoos, or, better still, big
wild-life reservations, with all available kinds of animals needed.
As well ship deer, moose, bears, beavers, and antelopes as to ship
elk. Here is a large field for the distribution of wild life all over
the United States. The general restocking of state and government
wild-life reservations may enable cities to cease maintaining their
animal prisons--the zoos.
XVIII
IN ALL WEATHERS
The seasons for visiting National Parks are spring, summer, autumn,
and winter! Morning, noon, the sunset hour, under the stars and with
the moon--all times, each in its way, are good for rambling in these
places of instruction and delight. I have climbed numerous peaks by
moonlight and starlight, and have stood on the summit of the
Continental Divide with the winter moon. Nature is good at all times.
Rainy days, gray days, windy days, all have something for you not
ordinarily offered. So, too, have the sunny winter days when upon the
dazzling snow fall the deep-blue shadows of the pines. Forget the
season and the weather; visit the Parks when you can stay there
longest.
One day heavy clouds rested upon the snowy earth around my cabin, nine
thousand feet above sea-level. In these, and in the falling snow, I
started up the Long's Peak trail, in what now is the Rocky Mountain
National Park. I wished to measure the storm-cloud's vertical depth
and to observe its movements. Only a ravine and instinct enabled me to
snow-shoe through the blinding, flying snow and almost opaque
sheep's-wool cloud. The cloud was three thousand feet thick.
Suddenly, at twelve thousand feet, the depth of snow became markedly
less. Within a few rods I burst through the upper surface of the cloud
into brilliant sunshine! Not a bit of snow or cloud was there above
this upper level.
From a high ridge I watched the top surface of the storm-cloud as it
lay before me in the sun--a silvery expanse of unruffled sea, pierced
by many peaks. Half a mile above towered vast, rugged Long's Peak.
Like a huge raft becalmed in a quiet harbor, the cloud-sea moved
slowly and steadily, almost imperceptibly, a short distance along the
mountains; then, as if anchored in the center, it swung in easy
rotation a few degrees, hesitated, and slowly drifted back.
Occasionally it sank, very slowly, several hundred feet, only to rise
easily to its original level.
With wonder I long watched this beautiful sunny spectacle, finding it
hard to realize that a blinding snow was falling beneath it. Later I
learned that this snowfall was thirty inches deep over several hundred
thousand square miles; but it fell only below the altitude of twelve
thousand feet and not on the high peaks.
Mountain-tops have more sunshine and fewer storms than the lowlands.
The middle slopes of a peak regularly receive heavier falls of rain
and snow than does the summit.
The rugged mountains in all Parks are wonderful in the snow. Snowshoe
excursions, climbs, skiing--all the sports of winter--may be enjoyed
in these magnificent wilds. Mountains in winter hold splendid
decorations--sketches of black and white, ice architecture, rare
groups that form a wondrous winter exhibition. Forests, cañons,
meadows, plateaus and peaks, where hills of snow and gigantic snow
cañons form dazzling structures and new topography, are marvelous
exhibitions. The thousand and one decorations of frost and
snow-flowers are treasures found only under the winter sky.
During a high wind one winter, as I fought my way up Long's Peak,
above timber-line I was pelted with gravel and sand till the blood was
drawn. The milling air-currents simply played with me as they swept
down from the heights. I was knocked down repeatedly, blown into the
air, and then dropped heavily, or rolled about like some giant's toy
as I lay resting in the lee of a crag. Standing erect was usually
impossible and at all times dangerous. Advancing was akin to swimming
a whirlpool. At last I reached the buzzing cups of an air-meter I had
previously placed in Granite Pass, twelve thousand feet above
sea-level. This instrument was registering the awful wind-speed of one
hundred and sixty-five miles an hour! It flew to pieces later during a
swifter spurt.
[Illustration: LONG'S PEAK FROM CHASM LAKE
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK]
Although I intended going no farther, the wild and eloquent elements
lured me to keep on to the summit of the peak, nearly three thousand
feet higher. All my strength and climbing knowledge were necessary to
prevent me from being blown into space. Gaining each new height was a
battle. Forward and upward I simply wrested my way with an invisible,
tireless contestant who seemed bent on breaking my bones or hurling me
into unbanistered space.
In one rocky gully the uprising winds became so irresistible that I
had to reverse ends and proceed with feet out ahead as bracers and
hands following as anchors. There was no climbing from here on: the
blast dragged, pulled, and floated me ever upward to the sunny,
wind-sheltered Narrows. The last stretch was a steep icy slope with a
precipice beneath. Casting in my lot with the up-sweeping wind, I
pushed out into it and let go. Sprawling and bumping upward, I had
little else to do but guide myself. At last I stood on the top and
found it in an easy eddy--almost a calm compared to the roaring
conditions below. Far down the range great quantities of snow were
being explosively hurled into the air, then thrown into spirals and
whirls that trimmed the peak-points with gauzy banners and silky
pennants, through which the sunlight played splendidly.
Stirring and wild, wonderful scenes are encountered during storms on
mountain-tops, by the lakeshore, and in cañons. The dangers in such
times and places are fewer than in cities. Discomforts? Scarcely. To
some persons life must be hardly worth living. If any normal person
under fifty cannot enjoy being in a storm in the wilds, he ought to
reform at once.
In the intensity and clash of the elements there is a vigorous
building environment. The storms furnish energy, inspiration, and
resolution. There are no substitutes "just as good," no experiences
just as great.
One rainy June day I started up a dim steep trail toward the
headwaters of the river St. Vrain, near timber-line in what is now the
Rocky Mountain National Park. While enjoying the general downpour and
its softened noise through the woods, I was caught in a storm-center
of wrangling winds and waters, and was almost knocked down. Like a
sapling, I bowed streaming in the storm. Later, as I sat on a sodden
log, reveling in the elemental moods and sounds, a water-ouzel began
to sing, but I heard little of his serene optimistic solo above the
roar of the wind and stream.
The storm raged louder as I approached timber-line. Clouds dragged
among the trees. I could see nothing clearly. Every breath was like
swallowing a wet sponge. Then a wind-surge rent the clouds and let me
glimpse the blue sun-filled sky. I climbed an exceptionally tall
spruce. A comic Frémont squirrel scolded in rattling, jerky chatter as
I rose above the sea of clouds and trees. Astride the slender
tree-top, I felt that the wind was trying hard to dislodge me, but I
held on. The tree quivered and vibrated, shook and danced; we charged,
circled, looped, and angled. Nowhere else have I experienced such
wild, exhilarating joy. In the midst of this rare delight the clouds
rose, the wind calmed, and the rain ceased. Then suddenly a blinding,
explosive crash almost threw me from my observatory. Within fifty feet
a tall fir was split to the ground. Quickly climbing back to earth, I
eagerly examined the effects of the lightning-stroke. With one wild
blow, in a second or less it had wrecked a century-old tree.
Although I have rarely known lightning to strike the heights, I have
frequently experienced peculiar electric shocks from the air. I have
never known such electrical storms to prove fatal nor to leave ill
effects; and they may be beneficial. The day before the famous Poudre
Flood, in May, 1904, I was traveling along the Continental Divide
above timber-line near Poudre Lakes. While resting I was startled by
the pulsating hum, the intermittent _buzz-z-z-z_ and _zit-zit_ and the
vigorous hair-pulling of electricity-laden atmosphere.
Presently my right arm was momentarily cramped, and my heart seemed to
lurch several times. These electric shocks lasted only about two
seconds, but recurred every few minutes. The hair-pulling,
palpitation, and cramps seemed slightly less when I fully relaxed on
the ground. When I tried to climb, I found myself muscle-bound from
the electricity. Points of dry twigs momentarily exhibited tips of
smoky blue flame, and sometimes similar flame encircled green twigs
below the lower limbs.
Later that day I came to North Specimen Mountain. There the electrical
waves weakened or entirely ceased while I was in shadow, but they
remained quite serious in the sun. I breathed only in gasps, and my
heart was violent and feeble by turns. I felt as if cinched in a steel
corset. After sundown I was again at ease and free from this strange
electrical colic, which often worries or frightens strangers the first
time they experience it. I soon forgot my own electrical experiences
in the enjoyment that night of the splendidly brilliant electric
effects beneath the enormous mountain-range of cloud-forms over the
foothills. Its surface shone momentarily like incandescent glass, and
occasionally down the slopes ran crooked rivers of gold.
I have had the good fortune to see geysers by sunlight, by moonlight,
during gray stormy days, and also while the earth around them was
covered with snow.
By moonlight the mountainous National Parks are enchanted lands.
There is a gentleness, a serenity, and a softness that is never known
in daylight. Many a time I have explored all night long. The trail is
strangely romantic when across it fall the moon-toned etchings of the
pines. The waterfalls, crags, mountain-tops, forest glades, and alpine
lakes have marvelous combinations of light and shade, and they stir
the senses like music. I wish that every one might see in the
moonlight the Giant Forest in the Sequoia National Park, or
timber-line in the Rocky Mountain National Park. By moonlight the Big
Trees will stir you with the greatest elemental eloquence. Those who
go up into the sky on mountains in the moonlight will have the
greatest raptures and make the highest resolves.
Miss Edna Smith is one of the most appreciative outdoor women I ever
have known. Years ago I urged her to know the mountains at night. Here
is one of her accounts of a night experience:--
At supper-time the chances seemed against a start. It was raining.
Later the rain stopped, but the full moon was almost lost in a
heavy mist and the light was dim. Mr. S. N. Husted, the guide,
thought an attempt to ascend Long's Peak hardly wise. At eleven
o'clock I went to Enos Mills for advice. He said, "Go." So we
mounted our ponies and started, chilled by the clammy fog about
us.
After a short climb we were in another world. The fog was a sea of
silvery clouds below us and from it the mountains rose like
islands. The moon and stars were bright in the heavens. There was
the sparkle in the air that suggests enchanted lands and fairies.
Halfway to timber-line we came upon ground white with snow, which
made it seem all the more likely that Christmas pixies just within
the shadows might dance forth on a moon-beam.
Above timber-line there was no snow, but the moonlight was so
brilliant that the clouds far below were shining like misty lakes,
and even the bare mountainside about us looked almost as white as
if snow-covered.
As we left our ponies at the edge of the Boulder Field and started
across that rugged stretch of débris spread out flat in the
brilliant moonlight, we found the silhouette of Long's Peak thrown
in deep black shadow across it. Never before had that bold
outline seemed so impressive.
At the western edge of Boulder Field there was a new marvel. As we
approached Keyhole, right in the center of that curious nick in
the rim of Boulder Field shone the great golden moon. The vast
shadow of the peak, made doubly dark by the contrast, made us very
silent. When we emerged from Keyhole and looked down into the
Glacier Gorge beyond, it was hard to breathe because of the wonder
of it all. The moon was shining down into the great gorge a
thousand feet below and it was filled with a silvery glow. The
lakes glimmered in the moonlight.
Climbing along the narrow ledge, high above this tremendous gorge,
was like a dream. Not a breath of air stirred, and the only sound
was the crunch of hobnails on rock. There was a supreme hush in
the air, as if something tremendous were about to happen.
Suddenly the sky, which had been the far-off blue of a moonlit
night, flushed with the softest amethyst and rose, and the stars
loomed large and intimately near, burning like lamps with
lavender, emerald, sapphire, and topaz lights. The moon had set
and the stars were supreme.
The Trough was full of ice and the ice was hard and slippery, but
the steps that had been cut in the ice were sharp and firm. We
had no great difficulty in climbing the steep ascent. We emerged
from the Trough upon a ledge from which the view across plains and
mountain-ranges was seemingly limitless.
As we made our way along the Narrows the drama of that day's dawn
proceeded with kaleidoscopic speed. Over the plains, apparently
without end, was a sea of billowy clouds, shimmering with golden
and pearly lights. One mountain-range after another was revealed
and brought close by the rosy glow that now filled all the sky.
Every peak, far and near, bore a fresh crown of new snow and each
stood out distinct and individual. Arapahoe Peak held the eye
long. Torrey's Peak and Gray's Peak were especially beautiful. And
far away, a hundred miles to the south, loomed up the summit of
Pike's Peak. So all-pervading was the alpine glow that even the
near-by rocks took on wonderful color and brilliance.
Such a scene could last but a short time. And it was well for us,
for the moments were too crowded with sensations to be long borne.
Soon the sun burst up from the ocean of clouds below. The lights
changed. The ranges gradually faded into a far-away blue. The
peaks flattened out and lost themselves in the distance. The
near-by rocks took on once more their accustomed somber hues. And
in the bright sunlight of the new day we wondered whether we had
seen a reality or a vision.
On the summit all was bright and warm. Long we lingered in the
sunlight, loath to leave so much beauty, but at last we began the
descent leisurely. It was a perfect trip. It seemed as if the
stage were set for our especial benefit. It was an experience that
will live with me always. At first I felt as if I could never
ascend the peak again, lest the impressions of that perfect night
should become confused or weakened. But I believe I can set this
night apart by itself. And I shall climb Long's Peak again.
To enjoy the Parks, we need but to go to them realizing that these
wilderness realms are the greatest places of safety on the earth. The
thousand dangers of the city are absent; the altitude of high
mountains is not harmful but helpful--the air is free from dust and
germs; and even the wildest and most tempestuous weather within them
will bear acquaintance.
The animals in the wilderness are not ferocious, and they wisely flee
from the coming of Christian people. Extraordinary skill is required
to get close to any wild animal. Even the camera will put the biggest
wild folk to flight! They attack only in self-defense, only when
cornered and assailed by the hunter. The animals that have survived
and left descendants are those which used their wits for flight and
not in ferocity. The grizzly constantly uses his wits to keep out of a
locality where human beings are. Wolves may once have been ferocious,
but at present the aggressive ones are those in the jungles of
nature-faking; wolves keep apart from civilization, and travelers are
not likely to go out of their way to find them. In story-books the
mountain lion crouches upon the cliff or lies in wait upon a tree-limb
to spring upon human prey; but real lions do not do this sort of
thing.
Each year thousands of people scale peaks in the Rockies, the Sierra,
and the Selkirks, or spend a less strenuous vacation in the heights,
up several thousand feet above the sea. From anæmics who stay at home
they hear the common superstition that altitude is harmful! But the
travelers return to their homes in high hopes and in vigorous health.
The heights are helpful, and the outdoors is friendly at all times.
These are splendid sources of hopefulness. They "knit up the raveled
sleave of care." They arouse new interests, give broader outlooks.
They are great blessings that every one needs.
There is a growing appreciation of the safe and sane outdoors. People
are rapidly realizing that vacations in the Parks and wild places are
needful first aids to impaired health, and also that outdoor life is
absolutely necessary for sustained or increased efficiency. From the
wilderness the traveler returns a man, almost a superman. Its
elemental songs, pictures, and stories are a language of eloquent
uplift. Go to the wilderness and get its good tidings! The wilderness
is democratic and is full of ideas. It gives efficiency and sympathy.
The mingling of all classes in the Parks is a veritable blessing; it
is one of the greatest means of preventing internal strife and also of
averting international war.
Nature is an educational stimulus of rare force. The crumbling cliff,
the glacial landscape, the wild, free clouds, birds, and trees, compel
children--old and young--to observe and to think. They bring
development and sympathy. They build the brain. They increase courage
and kindness. Scenes and sunsets, cloud and storm, the stars and the
sky, the music of wind and water, the purple forests, the white
cascades, the colored flowers, the songs of birds, the untrimmed and
steadfast trees, the shadows on the ground, the tangled grass, the
round, sunny hills, the endless streams, the magic rainbow, and the
mysterious echo--all these arouse thought, wonder, and delight in the
mind of every child; and they have been the immortal nourishment of
the great souls who have come from Mother Nature's loving breast to
bless and beautify the world.
"The robe doth change the disposition." During summer vacations, the
all-important rainy-day costume will save endless disappointment and
worry. Rainy days will bear acquaintance--if you have clothes for the
occasion. Cheerfulness and rainy days are united by waterproofs. One
simply cannot cheerfully face a rainstorm in clothes that water will
ruin. Hats or shoes that go to pieces in a downpour, skirts with
colors that run--these mean the Waterloo of some one when the rain
comes down. But an inexpensive hat, strong boots, and a raincoat--then
let it rain!
When one is in the woods, the foremost thing to remember is the
direction back to camp. In a general way this is answered in the
familiar caution: "Stop, look, and listen!" A traveler through the
woods should occasionally stop and make sure of the direction in which
he is traveling. At every important bend in his course he should look
ahead and notice the most conspicuous landmark directly in front of
him; then, about face for a look at the most important point or
landmark that he has passed. He would thus be able, if he doubled on
his own trail, to be guided by familiar objects, just as if he had
traveled over it before in the same direction, with eyes open. Then,
too, he should look to right and left for prominent or peculiar trees,
cliffs, or other objects.
Keeping eyes thus open and mind alert is not a burden; it adds to the
pleasure along the way. Any one who has thus traveled through strange
woods should have taken a mental picture of what he has seen as he
went on, and should be able to sit down and make a rough sketch of the
locality and of his trail, showing the location of camp, the course he
has traveled from it, and the prominent objects on both sides. A fair
knowledge of woodcraft will enable any one to determine the points of
the compass. While this is important, it is of less importance than
remembering the direction to camp.
If a person gets lost, he would do well at once to climb into a
tree-top, or to the summit of the highest near-by place, and from the
commanding height survey the surrounding country. This may enable him
to see a familiar landmark. If he fails to recognize any point, let
him make a comparatively small circle with the purpose of picking up
his trail. He should be careful to avoid aimless wandering, to which
often lost people are so prone. This he may do by following along the
summit of a ridge, or down the first brook or stream he can find. Of
course, he will keep downhill in looking for running water. A few
hours, or at most a few days, of stream-side travel will bring him
where some one lives.
One is not likely to starve to death in the wilds. Starving is a slow
process, and experiences show that a fast of a few days may be
beneficial. Then, too, roots, berries, fruit, mushrooms, and tree-bark
are to be found. With nothing but these, I have repeatedly lived for
two weeks or longer, even at times when I was most active in
exploring or mountain-climbing.
If a man is hopelessly lost, and if he knows that his companions are
sure to look for him, he should stop right where he is when he finds
that he is lost, and should camp and light two signal fires, giving a
call at intervals.
Go into the Parks and get their encouragement. Among the serene and
steadfast scenes you will find the paths of peace and a repose that is
sweeter than sleep. If you are dulled and dazed with the fever and the
fret, or weary and worn,--tottering under burdens too heavy to
bear,--go back to the old outdoor home. Here Nature will care for you
as a mother for a child. In the mellow-lighted forest aisles, beneath
the beautiful airy arches of limbs and leaves, with the lichen-tinted
columns of gray and brown, with the tongueless eloquence of the
bearded, veteran trees, amid the silence of centuries, you will come
into your own.
Some time the grizzled prospector will lead his stubborn burro down
the mountain and cease the search for gold; some time the miner will
lay down his pick, blow out his lamp or his candle, and leave the
worked-out mine; some time eternal night will come upon the gas- and
coal-oil lamp; but our sunny hanging wild gardens--our Parks--are
immortal; they will give us their beauty and their inspiration
forever.
XIX
THE SCENERY IN THE SKY
This big round world carries in its heights four strange, marked
features: the vast records of the Ice King; timber-line, the alpine
edge of the forest; the mountain-top regions above timber-line; and,
over-rising these, the high peaks. Each of these features has scores
of stories and pictures. All four of them are seen at their best in
some of the National Parks.
1. TIMBER-LINE
The most telling timber-line that I have seen is on the slope of
Long's Peak in the Rocky Mountain National Park. This is a wild place
during a winter gale. It is a stirring place at all times and seasons.
One day I went up to timber-line on Long's Peak with a number of
children. They were interested, and even excited, by the dwarfed and
strangely shaped trees. We found a dead pine that had lived two
hundred and fifty-eight years, yet it was so small that a boy easily
carried it about on his shoulder. Several little girls stood by a
living spruce. Every child was taller than the little tree, yet the
spruce had been growing when each of their great-grandmothers was
born. All timber-line trees are undersized. Most of their ranks are
less than eight feet high.
One autumn a grizzly that I was following dug up a number of dwarfed
trees at timber-line. I carried these home for careful examination.
One of them was a black birch with a trunk nine tenths of an inch in
diameter, a height of fifteen inches, and a limb-spread of twenty-two
inches. It had thirty-four annual rings. Another was truly a veteran
pine, though his trunk was but six tenths of an inch in diameter, his
height twenty-three inches, and his limb-spread thirty-one inches. His
age was sixty-seven years. A midget that I carried home in my vest
pocket was two inches high, had a limb-spread of about four inches,
and was twenty-eight years of age.
Timber-line is one of Nature's most interesting regions. Its location
and also its marked characteristics are determined by climatic
conditions--by cold, snow, wind, moisture, and drought. Wind is a most
influential factor. The position of thousands of miles of timber-line
is determined by it. At timber-line the Storm King says, "Thus far and
no farther." The trees do not heed, but persistently try to go on, and
the struggle for existence becomes deadly. They appear like our
unfortunate brothers whom fate has chained in the slums. The trees try
to stand erect and climb onward and upward, but in vain. The elements
are relentless. The wind blows off their arms and cuts them with
flying sand. The cold dwarfs them, and for nine months in the year the
snow tries to twist and crush the life out of them. Some become
hunchbacks; others are broken, bent, and half-flayed; while a few
crouch behind the rocks. Many stretches of timber-line are so
battered by the wind that the trees have the appearance of having been
recently swept by a cyclone, or overthrown by a giant roller.
What a weird scene! Here for ages has been the line of battle between
the woods and the weather. At most timber-lines the high winds blow
chiefly from one direction. Many of the trees possess a long, vertical
fringe of limbs to leeward, being limbless and barkless to stormward.
Each might serve as an impressive symbolic statue of a wind-storm.
Permanently, their limbs stream to leeward together, with fixed bends
and distortions, as if cast in metal at the height of a storm. Many
present an unconquerable and conscious appearance, like tattered
pennants or torn, triumphant battle-flags of the victorious forest!
Some trees are several inches in diameter and only a few inches in
height; others are creeping away from the direction of the storms,
retreating from life's awful battle. All beauty and nobleness of
appearance are lost. But the trees have done their best.
Timber-line is not stationary. In most places it is advancing,
climbing the heights. This advance is confined mainly to moist
territory. In a few dry places the ranks are losing ground--are being
driven back down the slopes; but these advances and retreats are
extremely slow.
The altitude of timber-line varies with locality. On Mount Orizaba, in
Mexico, it is a little over thirteen thousand feet; in the San Juan
Mountains, in Colorado, a little above twelve thousand; in the Sierras
and the Rockies, between eleven thousand and thirteen thousand; in the
Cascades and the Alps, about sixty-five hundred feet; on Mount
Washington, at forty-five hundred feet. It is lower with increased
distance from the Equator, and at last is only a stone's throw above
sea-level, finally showing its line in the lowlands of the Farthest
North. Among the trees that maintain the front ranks at timber-line
are pines, spruces, firs, aspens, birches, and willows.
Many beautiful flowers are found at timber-line, along with bees,
butterflies, birds, chipmunks, and foxes. Timber-line is a strangely
interesting, arousing place. As I have said in "The Rocky Mountain
Wonderland":--
The powerful impressions received at timber-line lead many
visitors to return for a better acquaintance, and from each visit
the visitor goes away more deeply impressed; for timber-line is
not only novel and strange, it is touched with pathos and poetry
and has a life-story that is heroic. Its scenes are among the most
primeval, interesting, and thought-compelling to be found upon the
globe.
2. ABOVE THE TIMBER-LINE
The treeless moorlands and the crags that fill the sky above the
limits of tree-growth form an extensive mountain-top world all by
itself, a realm of plateaus and sky prairies, which only a few have
explored. These regions stand out like islands in the sky; they are
singular treeless expanses above the surrounding forest sea.
This realm is not barren and lifeless. For a number of species it is
home. The ptarmigan and the rose finch, the cony and the bighorn, live
in the heights the year round. Many migrating birds and animals use
the region for a nursery and a summer resort. Here, early in the
autumn, Nature produces her last berries. Here assemble birds from the
lowlands, and flocks from the North stop to feed and frolic while
migrating to the Southland.
Here, too, along with peaks and moorlands, meadows and wild-flower
gardens, are crags, plateaus, cañons, lakes, glaciers, and
snow-fields. Countless small, clear streams originate in these island
heights and from them start merrily down to the far-off seas. Singly
and in clusters, with areas large and areas small, these sky islands
are a feature of most of the National Parks.
[Illustration: ABOVE THE TIMBER-LINE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL
PARK
Long's Peak on extreme left]
In the Rocky Mountain National Park a few flowers bloom on the highest
peaks more than fourteen thousand feet above sea-level. They are
visited by numerous winged insects, even by butterflies. Let a cloud
come over the sun, or a breeze start, and the butterflies, and perhaps
other winged insects above timber-line, fold wings and drop and remain
motionless till the sky clears. Evidently this is "safety first" from
the short-lived but violent gales.
It is believed that the Arctic-alpine plants in these heights were
brought to them from the Arctic region on the great ice flow. They
bloom in both these zones at about the same date. Among the bright
blossoms in the polar mountain-top gardens are the columbine, gentian,
aster, daisy, shooting-star, bluebell, a few kinds of phlox, and that
dearest of the heath blossoms, the cassiope. Numbers are dwarfed to
unbelievable smallness. Think of bluebells perfectly formed and
colored and yet so fascinatingly small and dainty that a half-dozen
could be sheltered in the upper half of a thimble!
The alpine wild-flower garden on Mount Rainier is one of the most
striking on the globe. Just above the timber-line and below and among
the glaciers, colored flowers grow in tall and crowded luxuriance.
They color broken distances for miles. It is doubtful if the world can
show another hanging garden in which wild flowers so splendidly mingle
their lovely hues with the broken picturesque forests, wild crags, and
the grandeur of glaciers.
In the Rocky Mountain National Park there is an accessible empire in
the mountainous sky, up more than two miles above the wide plains of
the sea. Mountain-climbers pass through these scenes on their way up
peaks into the sky without stopping to see the wonders. They have at
best only an introduction, or a hurried traveler's impression, of a
strange and varied exhibit.
A few centuries ago it was a common belief that high mountains were
peopled with monsters and demons. Those demons are gone from the
popular imagination; but there still exists a most unfortunate
superstition, commonly believed, that altitude is harmful! Yet it has
a thousand benefits for the visitor.
In the heights dwell a bigness, a strangeness, a friendliness not felt
in the earth's lower scenes. Altitude is ever refreshing. The
dust-filled, noise-crowded air is far below. From these scenic
mountain heights one commands a new world of mountainous cloud-scenery
in the sky. Grand, deep, blue gorges lie open in the cloud plateaus
and mountains. To the enraptured eye the shifting clouds sometimes
become continents and islands, real lands where people live,
landscapes upon whose sunny hills and forested mountains shadows of
other clouds fall, and across whose expanding plains many winding
rivers run. Often the largeness of view enables one to see vast
cloud-pieces moved into place, shifted elsewhere, and others arranged.
Often a number of these movements are seen at once. Here, too, the
sunrise comes grandly before one, and from these mountain-rims the
painted sky of evening is most intense and vivid. Cloud and color
often mingle in paintings of undreamed vastness and glory.
Up here one appreciates the solemnity and the splendor of the
moonlight. The lonely silver moon appears a wandering planet, almost
within hailing distance. You call, and a hundred cliffs call with you.
You listen, but there is only the murmur of a far-off waterfall, or
the receding, echoing crash of some falling cliff. Everything is in
half-tone. The chasm is concealed; peaks along the sky-line are
suggested; the valleys lie in subdued and mellow light; strangely,
from the silken shadow folds, the pinnacles peer at the moon. Through
the clean, clear air, the infinite sky becomes a near, inverted field,
crowded thick with stars.
This is a region worthy of multitudes of visitors, yet it has only a
few. Most people do not dream of its existence. Some time throngs
will come to these strange island shores in the sky as freely as now
they crowd to the beach and the breakers of the sea.
3. THE WORK OF THE ICE KING
With his glaciers the Ice King ground most of the soil in which now
stand the forests, the grasses, and the flowers. In producing this
soil he sculptured from the solid rock of the earth much of the
scenery, shaped many of the flowing landscapes, and formed the
excavations in which ten thousand lakes now rest in beauty. Long ice
periods have had their sway, then vanished. Most of the earth appears
to have been ice-covered a number of times. Then, after ages, the ice
has returned. These periods appear to have alternated with others
whose climatic conditions were similar to those now holding sway. The
remaining glaciers, the world over, are growing smaller and smaller.
A glacier is a slow-moving mass of ice. It may be as small as an
average steamship; it may be less than a mile wide and several miles
long; or it may cover hundreds of square miles. It may be less than a
hundred feet, or a thousand feet or more, in thickness. It may move
only an inch or two a day, or it may move several feet. Commonly it
moves downward, but occasionally one moves upward. The movement is due
to gravity and to the plasticity or rubbery nature of the ice when
under sufficient pressure or weight. In a large glacier the weight of
the superimposed icy stratum is immense; it is greater than the bottom
layers can support. Under the enormous pressure the bottom layers
crawl or flow from beneath like pressed dough. This forced mass moves
outward in the direction of the least resistance--commonly down the
slope.
Glacier ice is formed by snow accumulating at a given point more
rapidly than it melts. This is due chiefly to wind, snowslides, and
heavy snowfall. The glacier, heavy and powerful, planes, polishes, and
reshapes the surface over which it travels, or the walls with which it
comes in contact. Most of the lake-basins were gouged out by glaciers.
Mountain-ranges have been worn down to hills or plains; cañons and
depressions have been filled, and extensive areas overlaid with
ground-up rocky material. The gentle snowflake has been the earth's
chief maker of scenery and soil. Snowflakes, working _en masse_ and
through long periods of time, have formed glaciers and as such have
wrought wonders.
A moraine is an embankment or delta of boulders and crushed rock
deposited by a glacier or ice river. Though commonly at the end, it
may be both along the side and at the end of a glacier, or of the
channels which the glacier once filled. All the mountainous National
Parks have important glacial records or ruins that almost entirely
cover them. These are moraines, soil-deposits, glaciated cañons, and
lake-basins.
Vast is the quantity of material picked up and transported by
glaciers. Mountains are moved piecemeal, and are ground to boulders,
pebbles, and rock-flour in the moving. Besides the material the
glacier gathers up and excavates, it carries the wreckage thrown down
upon it by landslides, and also the eroded matter poured upon it by
streams from the heights. Most of the material that falls upon the top
of the upper end of the glacier gradually works its way to the bottom.
At last, with the other gathered material, it is pressed against the
bottom and sides and used as a cutting, rasping, or grinding tool till
worn to pebbles or powder.
A part of the rocky material gathered is carried to the end of the
glacier, where the melting of the ice unloads and releases it. This
accumulation at the end is called the terminal moraine, and
corresponds to the delta of a river. For years the bulk of the ice may
melt away at about the same place; thus at this point accumulates an
enormous amount of débris. An advance of the ice may plow through
this and repile it, or the retreat of the ice, or a changed direction
of its flow, may pile débris elsewhere. Many of these terminal
moraines are an array of broken embankments with small basin-like
holes and smooth, level spaces.
Many of the lakes have been filled with sediment, and in them and on
them forests now flourish. The glacier lakes were slowly created. Most
of them are being slowly filled. Those most favorably situated may
still live on for thousands of years, but an avalanche may extinguish
one in a single day. Eventually all must be filled and lost. They come
into existence as a part of the work of the glacier. For a period they
lie beautiful in the sunlight; then they are gone forever.
The extensive glacial records that show the past triumphs of the Ice
King sometimes make the mind restless, and it wants to know: "Will the
Ice King come again? Will mountains of white and silent snow again
pile upon a lifeless world?"
4. HIGH PEAKS
Those who go up into the clouds and sky on high mountains will find a
variety of lofty and magnificent peaks in the National Parks. These
peaks rise amid and above wildernesses of superb scenes, splendid
combinations of peaks, streams, lakes, passes, forests, and moorlands.
My three favorite peaks in the United States are Mount Rainier, Long's
Peak, and the Grand Teton, which is near Jackson's Hole, Wyoming.
In many respects Mount Rainier is the noblest mountain in the world.
It is high, and to reach its summit is to make a journey that requires
preparation and care. Much ice work is necessary in order to attain
the top. Once there, the climber looks down upon extensive landscapes
of forests and sea, islands and rivers, and snowy peaks.
Long's Peak is a rugged, vast monolith of granite 14,255 feet high.
Usually it is almost entirely free of both ice and snow. It is a rock
climb. It stands not in but immediately in front of the Continental
Divide, whose near-by ruggedness is tremendously impressive. Far away
one looks out over seas of mountains and on ocean plains. Standing
side by side with Long's Peak, and of almost equal height, is Mount
Meeker, also a rock climb that reveals scenes of unusual interest.
The Yellowstone has three excellent mountain-top view-points: Mount
Washburn, Mount Sheridan, and Electric Peak. One can motor to the top
of Mount Washburn, and the climbs to the tops of the other two are not
extremely difficult.
In the Yosemite, Mount Hoffman, not the highest peak, but centrally
located, commands the extraordinary scenes of the Park. Of the higher
peaks, Mount Lyell is an excellent example.
It is probable that Mount Whitney will become a part of the Sequoia
National Park. It is comparatively easy of ascent and commands great
views of the higher peaks of the Sierra. It is the highest peak within
the bounds of the Union, being 14,501 feet high.
Among a wilderness of rugged mountains and lakes of the Glacier
National Park are scores of peaks well worthy of the climber. To me
Going-to-the-Sun Mountain and Mount Cleveland are two of the better
ones.
Exercising in the heights quickly disinfects and reënergizes the
system. A mental uplift, a broadening of the view, and a general
lasting exhilaration come from the effort of mountain-climbing,
together with the intimate human association and the soul-stirring
scenes which it brings. Climbing a worthy peak ought to be listed
among the proudest of our yearly accomplishments.
In "The Canoe and the Saddle" Theodore Winthrop thus translates the
good tidings of the mountains:--
Exaltation such as the presence of the sublime and solemn heights
arouses, we dwellers eastward cannot have as an abiding
influence. Other things we may have, for Nature will not let
herself anywhere be scorned; but only mountains, and chiefest the
giants of snow, can teach whatever lessons there may be in vaster
distances and deeper depths of palpable ether, in lonely grandeur
without desolation, and in the illimitable, bounded within an
outline. Therefore, needing all these emotions at their maximum,
we were compelled to make pilgrimages back to the mountains....
Mountains have been waiting, even in ancient worlds, for cycles,
while mankind looked upon them as high, cold, dreary, crushing--as
resorts for demons and homes of desolating storms. It is only
lately, in the development of men's comprehension of nature, that
mountains have been recognized as our noblest friends, our most
exalting and inspiring comrades, our grandest emblems of divine
power and divine peace.
XX
JOHN MUIR
John Muir arrived in San Francisco by boat from Panama in 1868. He was
thirty years old. This was in the days of adventure. San Francisco Bay
was alive with strange ships from every part of the globe. The city
was filled with adventurers. On every hand were heard exciting tales
of colonization and wealth in South America, Siberia, and Australia,
stories of fabulous fortunes made in the islands of the South Seas,
and rumors of rich strikes by the "Bonanza Kings" in the mines of
Nevada. These things did not interest Muir. He became the Nestor of
National Parks.
[Illustration: JOHN MUIR AT THE FOOT OF A DOUGLAS SPRUCE IN MUIR
WOODS]
The second day after reaching San Francisco, he wandered away alone
into the wilderness. He heard Nature's bugle-call and was led on and
on. He wandered far into the flower-filled distances, threaded the
forests, and climbed the heights where wild cataracts leaped and where
the glaciers had left their story.
For forty years he spent the most of his time camping and exploring
and studying in the wilderness along the Pacific Coast, chiefly in the
Sierra of California. He neither fished nor carried a gun. He
frequently went hungry; many times was without bedding; often he was
entirely alone for weeks. These were glorious years!
He rambled through parts of Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and British
Columbia, and made five trips to Alaska. He also made visits to
Australia, India, Switzerland, Sweden, South America, and Africa. Long
and intimately he associated with Nature in the Yosemite National
Park.
He married in 1879, and for ten years devoted a part of his time to
business, amassing a fair fortune. But in each of these years he
managed to have several weeks in the wilderness.
He had a large share in arousing the public interest that led to the
creation of forest reserves. For years he splendidly led the movement
for National Parks. His work and his writing glorified the scenic
outdoors.
In his Autobiography he says, "When I was a boy in Scotland I was fond
of everything that was wild, and all my life I've been growing fonder
and fonder of wild places and wild creatures." In his boyhood
Wisconsin home he was so enraptured with Nature that, as he says, he
could hardly believe his senses except when he was hungry or his
father was thrashing him.
In another case he says, "Every wild lesson a love lesson; not whipped
into us but charmed into us." Commenting on leaving college, he
declares, "I was only leaving one university for another, the
Wisconsin University for the University of the Wilderness." Stevenson
wrote, "There should be nothing so much a man's business as his
amusements." John Muir's amusements occupied the major part of his
life, and the result is an inspiring and ennobling influence on the
world. More than anything else, his work is likely immeasurably to
help the human race by getting us outdoors.
While ever enjoying the beauty of Nature, he was continually searching
for facts. He had the poetic appreciation of Nature. He was the
greatest genius that ever with words interpreted the outdoors. No one
has ever written of Nature's realm with greater enthusiasm or charm.
He once said, "In drying plants, botanists often dry themselves." He
also felt that "dry words and dry facts will not fire hearts." Much
that he wrote is prose poetry or is enlivened with the poetic fire of
his genius.
His writings contain a wealth of National Parks material, and I wish
that every child might know of them. His books are: "The Mountains of
California," "Our National Parks," "Stickeen," "My First Summer in the
Sierra," "The Yosemite," "The Story of my Boyhood and Youth,"
"Travels in Alaska," and "A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf."
In December, 1914, the grandest character in National Parks history
and in nature literature vanished into that mysterious realm into
which all trails inevitably lead. He had rendered mankind a vast and
heroic service. His triumphs were of the very greatest. They were made
in times of peace for the eternal cause of peace. We are yet too close
to the deeds of this magnificent man to comprehend their helpfulness
to humanity. His practical labors and his books are likely to prove
the most influential force in this century for the profitable use of
leisure hours.
He has written the great drama of the outdoors. On Nature's scenic
stage he gave the wild life local habitation and character--did with
the wild folk what Shakespeare did with man. He puts the woods in
story, and in his story you are in the wilderness. His prose poems
illuminate the forest, the storm, and all the fields of life. He has
set Pan's melody to words. He sings of sun-tipped peaks and gloomy
cañons, flowery fields and wooded wilds. He has immortalized the Big
Trees. His memory is destined to be ever associated with the silent
places, with the bird-songs, with wild flowers, with the great
glaciers, with snowy peaks, with dark forests, with white cascades
that leap in glory, with sunlight and shadow, with the splendid
National Parks, and with every song that Nature sings in the wild
gardens of the world.
XXI
NATIONAL PARKS THE SCHOOL OF NATURE
Why not each year send thousands of school-children through the
National Parks? Mother Nature is the teacher of teachers, these Parks
the greatest of schools and playgrounds. No other school is likely so
to inspire children, so to give them vision and fire their
imagination. Surely the children ought to have this extraordinary
opportunity.
The percentage of children aroused and started to greatness by schools
of prison-like policy is small indeed. The proper place for at least a
part of every child's schooling is the great outdoors. In our great
National Parks we have an unrivaled outdoor school that is always
open; in it is a library, a museum, a zoölogical garden, and a type of
the wilderness frontier. In this school-children are brought into
contact with actual things, and become personally acquainted with
useful facts, instead of merely reading about them. No better
surroundings can be devised for developing common sense.
Learning under such conditions is delightful, yet it is discipline--a
discipline that develops, not mere drudgery that discourages.
Education cannot be separated from enjoyment. "Let us live for our
children," said Froebel, the early exponent of the school of Nature.
It is doubtful if we could do more for our young folk, for the nation,
and for humanity than to have ample National Parks and opportunities
for the children to enjoy them.
If each boy or girl--or any traveler--were to follow a particular line
of nature-study during vacations, and give most of his time to one
species of tree, flower, bird, or to the characteristic scenic feature
of the region visited, each would return with a new and pleasant
resource, and would have something definite and worth while to report
to his friends.
One of the greatest inheritances of each individual is imagination.
The child instinctively believes in fairies. Unfortunately, the
imagination too often is stifled and extinguished in childhood. It is
imagination that "bodies forth the forms of things unknown," and makes
all objects interesting. It lights the path of education and throws
changing color and romance over every act and scene in life. It gives
a magic spell to existence. This matchless torch may be set blazing by
a visit to the wonderland of a National Park where wilderness is
king--where the fairies live.
Often, the chief incentive that starts a child toward the acquiring of
an education is interest in this fairyland of Nature. Interest is the
highroad to education. Interest the mind and it will grow like a
garden. The National Parks have, through this fact, an educational
value which entitles them to be ranked among the strongest potential
forces of our pedagogical system.
I have never known any one who had enjoyed the pleasure that comes
from even a little knowledge of natural history to sink into the
empty-headed pastime of trying to see crude forms in Nature's
story-book. Usually, an individual given to this, when on an outing,
is a bore to his companions. I simply cannot understand how people
find pleasure in trying to discover animal forms, or various
zoölogical figures, in the geological formations of the mountains,
while the beholders are in the midst of a thousand objects of real
interest. Such an exercise may be called humbug imagination.
Playing in the outdoors--especially when there is intimate association
with birds and flowers, trees and waterfalls, mountains and storms--is
one of the best ways of training the senses. The study of geology and
glaciology, of the manners and customs of the beaver and the bear,
gives physical and mental and spiritual development of the best
possible kind. The outdoors gives originality and individuality, and
develops that master quality called the creative faculty, with which
usually are found associated courage and wholesome self-reliance.
Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard University, says:--
The best part of all human knowledge has come by exact and studied
observation made through the senses of sight, hearing, taste,
smell, and touch. The most important part of education has always
been the training of the senses through which that best part of
knowledge comes. This training has two precious results in the
individual besides the faculty of accurate observation--one the
acquisition of some sort of skill, the other the habit of careful
reflection and measured reasoning which results in precise
statement and record.
The pioneer men and women, and the children of pioneers, had few
books, but they were wide-awake people and made excellent neighbors.
Scores of great men and women with character as well as intelligence
have known little of books, but they had the ability to think--they
had individuality. They had courage and kindness.
Mother Nature is ever ready to train the growing child. By using our
wonderful National Parks for schools, we may give the boys and girls
of to-day even better nature training than the pioneers received from
their environment. Huxley says, "Knowledge gained at second hand from
books or hearsay is infinitely inferior in quality to knowledge gained
at first hand by direct observation and experience with Nature."
Many of the noblest pages of history were made by grand men and women
whom Nature inspired. A poet says that all grand and heroic deeds were
conceived in the open air. A nation composed of park-using people is
prepared for the emergencies of war and also for the finer
achievements of peace. Park life will keep the nation young.
Some of our thoughtful people are saying, "Better playgrounds without
schools than schools without playgrounds." The Parks used as a part
of the school system should develop, enrich, and equip with happy,
helpful material the growing mind of man.
In "The Training of the Human Plant," Luther Burbank says:--
Any form of education which leaves one less able to meet every-day
emergencies and occurrences is unbalanced and vicious, and will
lead any people to destruction.
Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, waterbugs,
tadpoles, frogs, mud-turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries,
acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb, brooks to wade in,
water-lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals
to pet, hayfields, pine-cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes,
huckleberries, and hornets; and any child who has been deprived of
these has been deprived of the best part of his education.
By being well acquainted with all these they come into most
intimate harmony with nature, whose lessons are, of course,
natural and wholesome.
A fragrant beehive or a plump, healthy hornet's nest in good
running order often become object lessons of some importance. The
inhabitants can give the child pointed lessons in punctuation, as
well as caution and some of the limitations as well as the grand
possibilities of life; and by even a brief experience with a good
patch of healthy nettles, the same lesson will be still further
impressed upon them. And thus by each new experience with homely
natural objects the child learns self-respect and also to respect
the objects and forces which must be met.
The wild gardens of Nature are the best kindergartens. The child who
breathes the pure air among the pines, and plays among the birds and
flowers, has the greatest of advantages. The child stirred with ideal
hopes to-day will create nobly to-morrow. Children from Nature's Book
and School stand highest in the examinations of life and carry life's
richest treasures: health, individuality, sincerity, wholesome
self-reliance, and efficiency. Touched with nature, they are natural
and, like Tiny Tim, they love everybody. Nature wins the heart of
childhood. Children playing and dreaming in outdoor fairylands make
one of the sweetest, dearest stories lived or learned on Nature's
loving breast.
One of the best lessons gained from the wholesome atmosphere of the
Parks is the duty of preserving natural beauties. We need Parks to
prevent the extermination of our friends the wild flowers. A few years
ago the following simple appeal for the wild flowers was written for
me by Maud Gardner Odel:--
What will you with our bodies,
Rude Ravishers of flowers,
Despoiler of our loveliness
To please your idle hours?
The life you pluck so gayly
Will perish in a day;
The form you praise so lightly,
Turn swiftly to decay;
But leave us on our hillside
With wind and bird and bee,
Insure us our inheritance
Of immortality,--
Your sons shall know our fragrance,
Your daughters feel our charm.
Oh, Friend of Future Ages,
Do not the Wild Flowers harm!
Columbine,
Gentian,
Iris, and Others.
Photographs made in National Parks could be used in homes, schools,
hotels, etc.; they might well displace many of the pictures now in
use. These photographs should embrace the grander scenes and the
lovelier landscapes. Among the subjects handled would be the Big
Trees, Yellowstone Falls, Yosemite Falls, the Grand Cañon, wild
flowers and glaciers on Mount Rainier, the lakes in Glacier National
Park, timber-line in the Rocky Mountain National Park, Crater Lake,
and the ruins in the Mesa Verde. Among the animals pictured would be
the grizzly bear, the mountain sheep, the mountain goat, the antelope,
and the beaver; among the birds, the water-ouzel, the solitaire, the
cañon wren, the eagle, the hummingbird, and the ptarmigan.
We need to know our country. Purposeful travel is educational. Our
National Parks should stimulate travel, and a trip to them is an
educational advantage to any one making it. One can hardly be
especially interested in any single feature of these Parks without
also becoming acquainted with others.
Each year every city should honor itself by sending a number of
individuals to study one or more of these Parks. Each school should
send its brightest pupil; chambers of commerce might send
representatives; women's clubs, D.A.R. organizations, and even the
Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. might well be represented in such a delegation.
This custom would give us nation-wide knowledge and sympathy.
It appears impossible to exaggerate the importance of knowing our
wilderness lands--the frontier of yesterday.
During all the years--the long centuries between cave and cottage--our
good ancestors ever traveled among Nature's inspiring pictured scenes.
With interest and with awe they watched the silent movements of the
clouds across the sky; they heard with speechless wonder the
mysterious echo that lived and mimicked in the viewless air; they
puzzled over the strange, invisible wind that shook the excited trees
and whispered in the rustling grass. They saw the wondrous sunrise;
the light of day; the darkness; the fireflies in the forest; the
lonely, changing moon. They heard the echoing crash of thunder.
Lightning,--the branched golden river in the cloud mountains of the
sky,--the clouds themselves, and the silken rainbow, were woven into
beautiful myths. Thus, through changing seasons and the passing years,
these splendid facts and fancies in Mother Nature's school fired the
imagination with poetic wonder-tales and built the brain for our
restless, triumphant race. The pathway to the Heroic Age lies out with
Nature.
XXII
WHY WE NEED NATIONAL PARKS
The Piute Indians have a legend which says that just at the close of
creation the woman was consulted. She at once called into existence
the birds, the flowers, and the trees. That is the kind of a woman
with whom to start a world. We still need park places full of hope and
beauty, with birds, flowers, and trees, that with their help we may
live long and happily and harmoniously upon a beautiful world.
Scenic parts of this poetic and primeval world--parts rich in
loveliness and grandeur--are saved for us in our National Parks. The
National Parks and Monuments are filled with Nature's masterpieces,
and contain splendid scenic and scientific features not elsewhere to
be seen. The traveler might spend a lifetime in them without
exhausting even their best attractions.
A National Park is an island of safety in this riotous world. Splendid
forests, the waterfalls that leap in glory, the wild flowers that
charm and illuminate the earth, the wild sheep of the sky-line crags,
and the beauty of the birds, all have places of refuge which parks
provide.
A National Park is a fountain of life. It is a matchless potential
factor for good in national life. It holds within its magic realm
benefits that are health-giving, educational, economic; that further
efficiency and ethical relations, and are inspirational. Every one
needs to play, and to play out of doors. Without parks and outdoor
life all that is best in civilization will be smothered. To save
ourselves, to prevent our perishing, to enable us to live at our best
and happiest, parks are necessary. Within National Parks is
room--glorious room--room in which to find ourselves, in which to
think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve.
Nature, like our best friends, will have us do our best. King Lear
led the typical purposeless indoor life. He was surrounded with pomp
and senseless ceremony. He was in the midst of enemies of sincerity
and individuality. He decayed. He was turned outdoors. Across the
stormy moor he wandered, followed by his faithful Fool. At the door of
the hovel he hesitated. Urged by the Fool, he agreed to take shelter
inside. In a brief time with Nature on the moor he had become
acquainted with himself and had developed universal sympathy. Standing
in the storm at the entrance to the hovel, he uttered this noble cry
of compassion:--
"Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these?"
National Parks provide climate for everybody and scenery for all. If
we play in the scenes where fairies live, for us all will be right
with the world. Parks give purpose, noble purpose, to life. They are
the "Never-Never-Land" in which we shall ever be growing, but never
grow up.
The great peaks with age-old ice and snow, the mountain-high
waterfalls that rush and roar, the waveless lakes that show the cloud
and the blue, the waves of wind that shake the steadfast trees, the
songs of birds that ring through the wilderness, the many-colored
flowers and glorious sunsets--these waken and inspire us. We are glad
to be living, and life's duties are done with happiest hands. We need
these enchanted places. I am thankful to the pioneers who saw the
wilderness scenes and were thoughtful enough to save the National
Parks for us.
Robert Louis Stevenson says, "A man's most serious business is his
amusements"; and some one else has said:--
We need more plain pleasures, for recreation rightly used is a
resource for the common purposes of daily life that is entitled to
rank with education, with art, with friendship. It is one of the
means ordained for the promotion of health and cheerfulness and
morality. Vice must be fought by welfare, not restraint; and
society is not safe until to-day's pleasures are stronger than its
temptations. Amusement is stronger than vice and can strangle the
lust of it. Not only does morality thus rest back on recreation,
but so does efficiency. One half of efficiency and happiness
depends upon vitality, and vitality depends largely upon
recreation, especially the simple recreation of the open air.
How and where people play determines the character of individuals and
the destiny of their country. Success in life-work depends upon play
and relaxation. Blue Monday did not originate outdoors. It is doubtful
if any other influence produces so many good habits as a park. Parks
keep a nation hopeful and young.
The better and stronger nation of the future will be a park-using
nation. Many wrecked nations have tried to get along without outdoor
parks and recreation-places. It is but little less than folly to spend
millions on forts and warships, on prisons and hospitals, instead of
giving people the opportunity to develop and rest in the sane
outdoors.
The population of the United States now numbers a hundred millions and
is growing with amazing rapidity. The harassing, exacting life of
to-day makes outdoor life more important than ever before. Even in the
country, more play places are needed. Most of the parklike places in
the country have fallen into private hands to the exclusion of the
public, but in every State in the Union a number of scenic places are
available. These might well be secured by the public and made into
city and county, state and national parks.
The intensity of love for native land depends chiefly upon the
loveliness of its landscapes--upon its scenery. The great scenic
places of a land should be owned by the public and often seen by the
public. We cannot love an ugly country. Beauty satisfies the world's
great longing. Hatred and prejudice may be taught, but the love of
land must be inspired--and inspired by the scenic loveliness of that
land. "The beautiful is as useful as the useful." Some time a
Secretary of Parks and Recreation may be the most honored member of
the President's Cabinet.
Develop National Parks, and there is no danger that the people will
fail to use them. They will help us to build a vast travel industry.
In each of the years immediately preceding the European war, more than
half a million Americans went to Europe. Each individual spent not
less than a thousand dollars, a total of five hundred million
dollars--this exclusive of large sums spent for works of art, jewelry,
and clothing. Why should not such vast expenditures be made in our own
country instead of in foreign lands? Scenery is an asset, and parks,
multiplied and properly managed, would greatly help to keep our money
at home as well as to educate and refine our people.
The existing National Parks--and there will be others--are a vast
undeveloped resource of enormous potential value. They are a golden
field that will grow the more with reaping! The Parks have the power
to change and better the habits of a nation. They may arouse in us the
desire to spend most of our spare time, and lead to the fashion of
holding most of our social gatherings, outdoors.
Lack of national unity is perilous. A nation divided against itself is
not strong. Internal strife sometimes is worse than foreign war. The
people of the United States are united in name, but are they doing
good team-work? The mingling of people from all quarters in their own
great National Parks means friendly union. The Westerner ought to know
the Easterner; the Easterner should be acquainted with the Westerner,
and he ought also to see the magnificent distances in the West. Travel
to National Parks will promote such acquaintance in the happiest
circumstances. Greatly it would help the general welfare of the nation
if the citizens of the United States were better acquainted with
their own country, its resources, its people, and its problems. The
debates on various public measures in Congress show a lack of national
unity that arises from a lack of national information. A people united
is a nation well prepared.
I sometimes think that getting really acquainted with some person, or
with some fact, is a great event. There is nothing like acquaintance
for promoting friendship, sympathy, and coöperation. To bring the
capitalist and the laborer--all classes--together in the Park's august
scenes, is bound to encourage acquaintance and to prevent
misunderstandings. All this means unity, friendship, and will keep war
drums in the background.
He who feels the spell of the wild, the rhythmic melody of falling
water, the echoes among the crags, the bird-songs, the wind in the
pines, and the endless beat of wave upon the shore, is in tune with
the universe. And he will know what human brotherhood means; will
understand the heart of the democratic poet who declares, "A man's a
man for a' that."
In Nature's ennobling and boundless scenes, the hateful boundary-lines
and the forts and flags and prejudices of nations are forgotten.
Nature is universal. She hoists no flags of hatred. Wood-notes wild
contain no barbaric strains of war. The supreme triumph of parks is
humanity. And as I have said elsewhere, some time it may be that an
immortal pine will be the flag of a united and peaceful world.
John Muir felt that National Parks were the glory of the country and
should make this country the glory of the earth. I feel certain that
if Nature were to speak she would say, "Make National and State Parks
of your best wild gardens, and with these I will develop greater men
and women."
XXIII
THE TRAIL
National Parks will insure the perpetuation of the primitive and
poetic pathway, the Trail.
The trail is as old as the hills. In every wild corner of the world it
is the dim romantic highway through "No Man's Land." Ever intimate
with the forest and stream, this adventurous and primitive way has an
endless variety. Its scenes shift and its vistas change. It has the
aroma of the wilderness. It always leads to a definite place over a
crooked and alluring way. With eager haste it may go straight to some
poetic point, but usually it winds with many a delightful delay. I
think of it as watching the white cascades, listening to the echoes,
delaying by the lonely shore, spending hours in the forest primeval,
leisurely crossing the grassy, sun-filled glades, skirting the
time-stained crags and vanishing into the heights, looking down into
the valley, and tarrying where artists would linger. Somewhere it
leads to a lake.
[Illustration: TRAIL NEAR TIMBER-LINE, INDIAN HENRY'S PARK,
MOUNT RAINIER]
At the primitive beaver house it takes a look as it crosses the
expanded brook upon the beaver dam. A fallen tree gives it a way
across the river. In a gorge it hears the ouzel from the rocks pour
forth his melody--joyous notes of happy, liquid song.
It crosses a moraine to examine the useful débris that the Ice King
formed while he was sculpturing the mountains and giving lines to the
landscape. Clouds bound for definite ports in the trailless sky adorn
its realm with floating shadows. It passes a picturesque old landmark,
a pine of a thousand years. In this one spot the ancient pine has
stood, an observing spectator, while the seasons and the centuries
flowed along. His autobiography is rich in weather lore, full of
adventures, and filled with thrilling escapes from fires, lightning,
and landslides. During his thousand years, strange travelers and
processions have passed along. He often saw victor and victim and the
endless drama of the wilderness.
The trail is followed by wild life, and along it the wild flowers fill
the wild gardens. It has the spirit of the primal outdoors. It extends
away ever to the golden age. Many a night this way across the earth is
as thick with fireflies as the great Milky Way across the sky with
stars. The moon, the white aspens, and the dark spruces pile it with
romantic shades, and on a sunny day it is often touched by the
fleeting shadow of an eagle in the sky.
This old acquaintance would have you carry your own pack, and, like
your best friend, expects your best on every occasion. The trail
compels you to know yourself and to be yourself, and puts you in
harmony with the universe. It makes you glad to be living. It gives
health, hope, and courage, and it extends that touch of nature which
tends to make you kind. This heroic way conducted our ancestors
across the ages. It should be preserved. It has for us the inspiration
of the ages.
A dim trail led our wandering primeval ancestors out from the
twilight. It was a trail ever winding, shadowy, and broken, but ever
under the open sky and ever from "yesterday's seven thousand years."
It had its beginning in the walks of beasts that prowled the solemn
primeval forests. Over it our half-lost ancestors painfully advanced.
A fallen tree was their first bridge and a floating log their first
boat. They wondered at the strange alternating day and night at which
we still wonder. With joy they watched the shining dawn, and with fear
and dread they saw the dusk of dying day. They learned the endless
procession of seasons. The mysterious movements of wind and water
aroused their curiosity, and with childlike interest they followed the
soft and silent movements of the clouds. The wide and starry sky
appealed strangely, strongly, to their imagination, and in this
luminous field of space their fancy found a local habitation and a
name for the thousand earthly fears and factors of their lives. They
dared the prairie, climbed the hills, but long kept close to the
forest.
After hard and fearful ages--after "a million years and a day"--the
camp-fire came at last. This fragment of the Immortal Sun conquered
the cold and the night, and misery and dread gave way to comfort and
hope. No more the aspen trembled. It became a dancing youth, while the
strange, invisible echo was a merry hiding child. The fireflies
changed to fairies, and Pan commenced to pipe the elemental melody of
the wild.
Nature ever showed her pictures and interested her children in
fairylands. Winter, cold and leafless; spring, full of song and
promise; the generous wealth of summer; and autumn with its harvest
and color, came and disappeared, and came again through all the
mysterious years. Lightning, the echo, with roar and whisper of the
viewless air, the white and lonely moon, the strange eclipse, the
brilliant and fleeting rainbow,--Nature's irised silken banner,--the
mystery of death, these seeds of thought bloomed into the fanciful,
beautiful myths and legends that we know.
Once, like a web of joy, trails overspread all the wild gardens of the
earth. The long trail is gone, and most others are cut to pieces and
ruined. The few broken remnants are but little used.
The traveler who forgets or loses the trail will lose his way, or miss
the best of life. The trail is the directest approach to the fountain
of life, and this immortal way delays age and commands youth to
linger. While you delay along the trail, Father Time pauses to lean
upon his scythe. The trail wanders away from the fever and the fret,
and leads to where the Red Gods call. This wonderful way must not be
buried and forgotten.
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
A
ACT OF DEDICATION OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
AN ACT TO SET APART A CERTAIN TRACT OF LAND LYING NEAR THE
HEADWATERS OF THE YELLOWSTONE RIVER AS A PUBLIC PARK.
_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled_,--That the tract of
land in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming lying near the
headwaters of the Yellowstone River and described as follows, to-wit:
Commencing at the junction of Gardiner's River with the Yellowstone
River and running east to the meridian, passing ten miles to the
eastward of the most eastern point of Yellowstone Lake; thence south
along the said meridian to the parallel of latitude, passing ten miles
south of the most southern point of Yellowstone Lake; thence west
along said parallel to the meridian, passing fifteen miles west of the
most western point of Madison Lake; thence north along said meridian
to the latitude of the junction of the Yellowstone and Gardiner's
Rivers; thence east to the place of beginning, is hereby reserved and
drawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the
United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or
pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people; and all
persons who shall locate, or settle upon, or occupy the same or any
part thereof, except as hereinafter provided, shall be considered
trespassers and removed therefrom.
SEC. 2. That said public park shall be under the exclusive control of
the Secretary of the Interior, whose duty it shall be, as soon as
practicable, to make and publish such rules and regulations as he may
deem necessary or proper for the care and management of the same. Such
regulations shall provide for the preservation from injury or
spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities or
wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural
condition.
The Secretary may, in his discretion, grant leases for building
purposes, for terms not exceeding ten years, of small parcels of
ground, at such places in said park as shall require the erection of
buildings for the accommodation of visitors; all of the proceeds of
said leases, and all other revenue that may be derived from any source
connected with said park, to be expended under his direction in the
management of the same and the construction of roads and bridle-paths,
and shall provide against the wanton destruction of fish and game
found within said park and against their capture or destruction for
the purpose of merchandise or profit. He shall also cause all persons
trespassing upon the same after the passage of this act to be removed
therefrom, and generally shall be authorized to take all such
measures as shall be necessary or proper to fully carry out the
objects and purposes of this act.
_Approved March 1, 1872._
Signed by:
JAMES G. BLAINE, _Speaker of the House_.
SCHUYLER COLFAX, _Vice-President of the United States
and President of the Senate_.
ULYSSES S. GRANT, _President of the United States_.
B
THE NATIONAL PARKS AT A GLANCE
ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY IN THE ORDER OF THEIR CREATION
(Number, 17; total area, 9776 square miles)
----------------+------------+----------+--------------------------------
| | _Area in |
_National | _Location_ | square | _Distinctive
Parks_ | | miles_ | characteristics_
----------------+------------+----------+--------------------------------
| | |
Hot Springs | Middle | 1-1/2 | 46 hot springs possessing
(1832) | Arkansas | | curative properties--Many
| | | hotels and boarding-houses--
| | | 20 bathhouses under public
| | | control.
| | |
Yellowstone | North- | 3348 | More geysers than in all rest
(1872) | western | | of world together--Boiling
| Wyoming | | springs--Mud volcanoes--
| | | Petrified forests--Grand
| | | Cañon of the Yellowstone,
| | | remarkable for gorgeous
| | | coloring--Large lakes--Many
| | | large streams and waterfalls--
| | | Vast wilderness inhabited
| | | by deer, elk, bison, moose,
| | | antelope, bear, mountain
| | | sheep, beaver, etc.,
| | | constituting greatest wild
| | | bird and animal preserve in
| | | world--Altitude 6000 to
| | | 11,000 feet--Exceptional
| | | trout-fishing.
| | |
Yosemite (1890) | Middle | 1125 | Valley of world-famed beauty--
| eastern | | Lofty cliffs--Romantic
| California | | vistas--Many waterfalls of
| | | extraordinary height--3
| | | groves of Big Trees--High
| | | Sierra--Large areas of snowy
| | | peaks--Water-wheel falls--
| | | Good trout-fishing.
| | |
Sequoia (1890) | Middle | 252 | The Big Tree National Park--
| eastern | | 12,000 sequoia trees over 10
| California | | feet in diameter, some 25 or
| | | 36 feet in diameter--Towering
| | | mountain-ranges--Startling
| | | precipices--Fine
| | | trout-fishing.
| | |
General Grant | Middle | 4 | Created to preserve the
(1890) | eastern | | celebrated General Grant
| California | | Tree, 35 feet in diameter--
| | | 6 miles from Sequoia National
| | | Park and under same
| | | management.
| | |
Mount Rainier | West | 324 | Largest accessible single
(1899) | central | | peak glacier-system--28
| Washington | | glaciers, some of large
| | | size--48 square miles of
| | | glacier, 50 to 500 feet
| | | thick--Wonderful sub-alpine
| | | wild-flower fields.
| | |
Crater Lake | South- | 249 | Lake of extraordinary blue in
(1902) | western | | crater of extinct volcano, no
| Oregon | | inlet, no outlet--Sides 1000
| | | feet high--Interesting
| | | lava-formations--Fine
| | | trout-fishing.
| | |
Mesa Verde | South- | 77 | Most notable and best
(1906) | western | | preserved prehistoric cliff
| Colorado | | dwellings in United States,
| | | if not in the world.
| | |
Platt (1906) | Southern | 1-1/8 | Many sulphur and other
| Oklahoma | | springs possessing medicinal
| | | value, under Government
| | | regulation.
| | |
Glacier (1910) | North- | 1534 | Rugged mountain region--250
| western | | glacier-fed lakes--60 small
| Montana | | glaciers--Peaks of unusual
| | | shape--Precipices thousands
| | | of feet deep--Fine
| | | trout-fishing.
| | |
Rocky Mountain | North | 400 | Heart of the Rockies--Snowy
(1915) | middle | | range, peaks 11,000 to 14,250
| Colorado | | feet altitude--Remarkable
| | | records of glacial period.
| | |
Hawaii (1916) | Hawaiian | 117 | Vast volcanoes--Craters--
| Islands | | Tropical plants and birds.
| | |
Lassen Volcanic | Northern | 123 | Active volcano, volcanic
(1916) | California | | records, lakes, hot springs,
| | | and forests.
| | |
Mount McKinley | Central | 2200 | "The Great One"; highest peak
(1917) | Alaska | | in North America, 20,300
| | | feet; vast big-animal range;
| | | enormous glaciers; wild
| | | flowers.
----------------+------------+----------+--------------------------------
Other National Parks are:--
Sully's Hill (1904) North Dakota Wooded hilly tract on Devil's Lake.
Wind Cave (1903) South Dakota Large natural cavern.
Casa Grande Ruin (1892) Arizona Prehistoric Indian ruin.
For National Park booklets and other Park information address
The Director, National Park Service, Department of the Interior,
Washington, D.C.
C
PROPOSED NATIONAL PARKS
-----------------+---------------+------------------------------------
_Region_ | _Location_ | _Characteristics_
-----------------+---------------+------------------------------------
| |
Grand Cañon | Arizona | The Grand Cañon.
| |
Mount Evans | Near Denver, | Magnificent peak, primeval
| Colorado | forests, lakes, and alpine flora.
| |
Mount Baker (the | Northwestern | Extinct or sleeping volcano;
Indian Kulshan) | Washington | thirty square miles of glaciers,
| | forests, and wild flowers.
| |
Sawtooth | Central Idaho | Precipitous mountains, alpine
Mountains | | lakes, heavy forests, flowery
| | meadows, clear streams.
| |
Ozark Mountains | Northern | Rare river and mountain
| Arkansas | landscapes.
| |
Mount McGregor | Northeastern | Rare combination of river, hill,
| Iowa | forest, bluff, and plains.
| |
Pajarito Cliff | Pajarito | Many vast prehistoric ruins of
Cities | Plateau, near | wonderful Indian civilization.
| Santa Fé, New |
| Mexico. |
| |
Mount Mitchell | Western North | Highest peak east of the Rockies,
| Carolina | 6711 feet high; quiet scenery of
| | the South Appalachians.
| |
Pike's Peak | Central | The most frequently climbed
| Colorado | 14,000-foot peak in the world;
| | excellent view-point, rising
| | abruptly from the plains.
| |
Dunes | Northern | Lake Shore; extraordinary
| Indiana | aggregation of plants from warm,
| | cold, wet and dry zones.
| |
San Juan | Southwestern | Magnificent mountains, individual
| Colorado | in form and color, with large
| | scene-commanding plateaus.
| |
Grand Mesa | Western | Lake-dotted plateau that towers
| Colorado | near splendid horizons.
| |
Bighorn | Northern | A towering, rocky, scenic
Mountains | Wyoming | alpine-island area in the sea
| | of plains.
| |
Niagara Falls | International | Stupendous waterfall; might well
| Park between | become an international park.
| Canada, and |
| New York near |
| Buffalo |
| |
Mount Shasta | Northern | Highest peak in northern
| California | California; alpine flowers;
| | lava deposits; scenery.
| |
Mount Hood | Northern | Volcanic peak; icefields and
| Oregon, near | forests.
| Columbia River|
| |
Roosevelt | Arizona | Enormous dam; vast reservoirs;
Project | | desert areas; cactus park;
| | historic ground.
| |
Cañon de Chelly | Arizona | Towering monolithic rocks; high
| | vertical colored cañons; cliff
| | dwellings.
| |
Sierra Madre | Near Los | Sierra Madre mountains; rare plant
| Angeles, | life; commands unusual scenes.
| California |
-----------------+---------------+------------------------------------
D
NATIONAL MONUMENTS
ADMINISTERED BY THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT
----------+----------+---------+--------+--------------------------------
_Name_ |_Location_| _When |_Area | _Description_
| |created_ |(acres)_|
----------+----------+---------+--------+--------------------------------
| | | |
Devil's | Wyoming |Sept. 24,| 1152 |Remarkable natural rock tower,
Tower | | 1906 | | of volcanic origin, 1200 feet
| | | | in height.
| | | |
Montezuma | Arizona | Dec. 8, | 160 |Prehistoric cliff dwelling ruin
Castle | | 1906 | | of unusual size, situated in a
| | | | niche in face of a vertical
| | | | cliff; of scenic and
| | | | ethnological interest.
| | | |
El Morro | New | Dec. 8, | 160 |Enormous sandstone rock eroded
| Mexico | 1906 | | in form of a castle, upon
| | | | which inscriptions have been
| | | | placed by early Spanish
| | | | explorers; contains cliff
| | | | dweller ruins; of great
| | | | historic, scenic, and
| | | | ethnological interest.
| | | |
Chaco | New | Mar. 11,| 20,629 |Contains numerous cliff dweller
Cañon | Mexico | 1907 | | ruins, including communal
| | | | houses in good condition
| | | | and but little excavated.
| | | |
Muir Woods|California| Jan. 9, | 295 |Contains one of the most noted
| | 1908 | | redwood groves in California;
| | | | was donated by Hon. William
| | | | Kent, Member of Congress;
| | | | located seven miles from San
| | | | Francisco.
| | | |
Pinnacles |California| Jan. 16,| 2080 |Contains many spirelike rock
| | 1908 | | formations, 600 to 1000 feet
| | | | high, which are visible for
| | | | many miles; also numerous
| | | | caves and other formations.
| | | |
Tumacacori| Arizona |Sept. 15,| 10 |Contains ruins of Franciscan
| | 1908 | | mission dating from sixteenth
| | | | century, until recent years
| | | | in fair preservation, but now
| | | | rapidly disintegrating.
| | | |
Mukuntuweap| Utah | July 31 | 15,840 |Contains magnificent gorge,
| | 1909 | | depth from 800 to 2000 feet,
| | | | with precipitouswalls and many
| | | | waterfalls. Of great beauty
| | | | and scenic interest.
| | | |
Shoshone | Wyoming |Sept. 21,| 210 |Cavern of considerable extent,
Cavern | | 1909 | | located near Cody.
| | | |
Natural | Utah |Sept. 25,| 2740 |Contains three natural bridges,
Bridges | | 1909 | | among largest examples of
| | | | their kind. Largest bridge is
| | | | 222 feet high, 65 feet thick
| | | | at top of arch; arch is 28
| | | | feet wide; span 261 feet;
| | | | height of span 157 feet. Other
| | | | two are only slightly smaller.
| | | |
Gran | New | Nov. 1, | 160 |One of the most important of
Quivira | Mexico | 1909 | | earliest Spanish mission ruins
| | | | in the Southwest. Monument
| | | | also contains Pueblo ruins.
| | | |
Sitka | Alaska | Mar. 23,| 57 |Park of great natural beauty
| | 1910 | | and historic interest as scene
| | | | of massacre of Russians by
| | | | Indians. Contains 16 totem
| | | | poles of best native
| | | | workmanship.
| | | |
Rainbow | Utah | May 30, | 160 |Unique natural bridge of great
Bridge | | 1910 | | scientific interest and
| | | | symmetry. Height 309 feet
| | | | above water; span is 278 feet,
| | | | in shape of rainbow.
| | | |
Lewis | Montana | May 16, | 160 |Immense limestone cavern of
and | | 1911 | | great scientific interest,
Clark | | | | magnificently decorated with
Cavern | | | | stalactite formations. Cavern
| | | | now closed to public because
| | | | of depredations by vandals.
| | | |
Colorado | Colorado | May 24, | 13,883 |Contains many lofty monoliths
| | 1911 | | and is wonderful example of
| | | | erosion; of great scenic
| | | | beauty and interest.
| | | |
Petrified | Arizona | July 31,| 25,625 |Contains abundance of petrified
Forest | | 1911 | | coniferous trees, one of which
| | | | forms a small natural bridge.
| | | | Is of great scientific
| | | | interest.
| | | |
Navajo | Arizona | Mar. 14,| 360 |Contains numerous pueblo or
| | 1912 | | cliff dweller ruins, in good
| | | | preservation.
| | | |
Papago | Arizona | Jan. 31,| 2050 |Contains splendid collection
Saguaro | | 1914 | | of characteristic desert flora
| | | | and numerous pictographs.
| | | | Interesting rock formations.
| | | |
Dinosaur | Utah | Oct. 4, | 80 |Contains deposits of fossil
| | 1915 | | remains of prehistoric animal
| | | | life of great scientific
| | | | interest.
| | | |
Sieur de | Mount | July 8, | About |Beautiful island scenery,
Monts | Desert | 1916 | 5000 | mountains, lakes, meadows,
| Island, | | | numerous varieties of birds
| Maine | | | and plants. Historical
| | | | Associations.
| | | |
Capulin | Northeast| 1916 | 681 |Magnificent specimen of a
| Corner | | | volcanic cinder cone, 8000
| New | | | feet high; crater 1500 feet
| Mexico | | | in diameter, cone-shaped;
| | | | numerous "blister cones."
----------+----------+---------+--------+--------------------------------
ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
----------+----------+---------+--------+-----------------------------
_Name_ |_Location_| _When | _Area | _Description_
| |created_ |(acres)_|
----------+----------+---------+--------+-----------------------------
| | | |
Gila Cliff| New | Nov. 16,| 160 |Contains numerous cliff
Dwellings| Mexico | 1907 | | dweller ruins of much
| | | | interest and in good
| | | | preservation.
| | | |
Tonto | Arizona | Dec. 19,| 640 |Contains numerous cliff
| | 1907 | | dweller ruins of much
| | | | interest and in good
| | | | preservation.
| | | |
Grand | Arizona | Jan. 11,|806,400 |Contains the most wonderful
Cañon | | 1908 | | portion of the Grand Cañon
| | | | of the Colorado.
| | | |
Jewel Cave| South | Feb. 7, | 1280 |Contains a limestone cavern
| Dakota | 1908 | | of much beauty and
| | | | considerable extent, limits
| | | | of which are as yet unknown.
| | | |
Wheeler | Colorado | Dec. 7, | 300 |Of much interest from
| | 1908 | | geological standpoint as
| | | | example of eccentric erosion
| | | | and extinct volcanic action.
| | | | Of much scenic beauty.
| | | |
Oregon | Oregon | July 12,| 480 |Extensive caves in limestone
Caves | | 1909 | | formation of much beauty.
| | | | Magnitude not entirely
| | | | ascertained.
| | | |
Devil |California| July 6, | 800 |Spectacular mass of hexagonal
Postpile | | 1911 | | basaltic columns, like an
| | | | immense pile of posts. Said
| | | | to rank with famous Giant's
| | | | Causeway, in Ireland.
| | | |
Mount |Washington| Apr. 17,|299,370 |Contains many objects of
Olympus | | 1912 | | great and unusual scientific
| | | | interest, including many
| | | | glaciers. Is summer range
| | | | and breeding-ground of
| | | | Olympic elk.
| | | |
Walnut | Arizona | Nov. 30,| 960 |Contains cliff dwellings of
Cañon | | 1915 | | much scientific and popular
| | | |interest.
| | | |
Bandelier | New | Feb. 11,| 18,000 |Contains vast numbers of
| Mexico | 1916 | | cliff dweller ruins, with
| | | | artificial caves, stone
| | | | sculpture and other relics
| | | | of prehistoric life.
----------+----------+---------+--------+-----------------------------
ADMINISTERED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT[1]
-------------+-----------+-----+--------+-----------------------------
Big Hole | | | |
Battle-Field | Montana | | |
| | | |
Cabrillo | California| | |
-------------+-----------+-----+--------+-----------------------------
[1] "Lincoln National Park or Reservation" in Kentucky, Abraham
Lincoln's birthplace, was established in 1916 and is administered
by the War Department. It might well become a regular National
Park.
E
DOMINION NATIONAL PARKS OF CANADA
(Number, 11; total area, 7945 square miles)
----------+----------+---------+--------+-----------------------------
| |_Date of |_Area in| _Distinctive
_Name of |_Location_|creation_| square | characteristics_
park_ | | | miles_ |
----------+----------+---------+--------+-----------------------------
| | | |
Rocky | Alberta | 1886 | 1800 |Scenic park; Banff Hot
Mountains| | | | Springs; Hoodoos; Lake
Park | | | | Louise; Victoria and Lefroy
| | | | Glaciers; Lakes in the
| | | | Clouds; Mount Temple, 11,626
| | | | feet; Valley of the Ten
| | | | Peaks; Mt. Assiniboine,
| | | | 11,860 feet; Bow River
| | | | Valley.
| | | |
Yoho | British | 1886 | 560 |Yoho Valley; Lakes O'Hara and
Park | Columbia | | | MacArthur; Takakkaw Falls;
| | | | Twin Lakes; Emerald Lake;
| | | | Natural Bridge; President
| | | | Range and Glacier;
| | | | Kickinghorse River,
| | | | Ottertail Range and Valley;
| | | | Fossil Beds.
| | | |
Glacier | British | 1886 | 468 |Mount Sir Donald and highest
Park | Columbia | | | peaks of the Selkirks; great
| | | | Illecillewaet and Asulkan
| | | | Glaciers; Nakimu marble
| | | | caves; Marion Lake, Rogers
| | | | Pass.
| | | |
Revelstoke| British | 1914 | 95 |Mount Revelstoke;
Park | Columbia | | | Clach-na-coodin Range and
| | | | Ice-Field; Automobile Road
| | | | building to summit of Mount
| | | | Revelstoke; Lake Eva.
| | | |
Jasper | Alberta | 1907 | 4400 |Athabasca River and Valley;
Park | | | | Yellowhead Pass; the oldest
| | | | route across the Rockies;
| | | | historic associations;
| | | | Maligne Lake and Cañon;
| | | | Fiddle Creek Cañon;
| | | | Punchbowl Falls; Mount
| | | | Robson, 13,036 feet, and
| | | | highest peaks of the
| | | | Canadian Rockies; Miette
| | | | Hot Springs.
| | | |
Waterton | Alberta | 1895 | 423 |Waterton Lakes; Cameron
Lakes | | | | Falls, Bertha and Beaver
Park | | | | Lakes; beautiful Wilson
| | | | Range; exceptional fishing;
| | | | great game preserve.
| | | |
St. | Ontario | 1905 | 140 |Among the Thousand Islands
Lawrence | | | acres | of the St. Lawrence;
Islands | | | | especially for summer
Park | | | | campers.
| | | |
Fort Howe | New | 1913 | 19 |Historic park; old fort;
Park | Brunswick| | acres | memorials of United Empire
| | | | Loyalists, French régime,
| | | | Lady Latour.
| | | |
Buffalo | Alberta | 1907 | 162 |Animal park; home of the
Park | | | | Canadian government buffalo
| | | | herd, numbering over 2000
| | | | head.
| | | |
Elk Island| Alberta | 1899 | 16 |Animal park; established for
Park | | | | the protection of the elk,
| | | | moose, deer; also herd of
| | | | buffalo.
| | | |
Maple |Saskatchewan| 1914 | 19 |Animal park; established for
Creek | | | | the preservation of the
Antelope | | | | antelope.
Reserve | | | |
----------+----------+---------+--------+-----------------------------
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NATIONAL PARK PUBLICATIONS ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
(To be had from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing
Office, Washington, D. C.)
Geological History of the Yellowstone National Park _Arnold Hague_
Geysers _Walter Harvey Weed_
Geological History of Crater Lake, Oregon _Joseph S. Diller_
Some Lakes of Glacier National Park _M. J. Elrod_
Sketch of Yosemite National Park and an account of the
origin of the Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy Valleys _F. E. Matthes_
Origin of the Scenic Features of the Glacier National
Park _Marius R. Campbell_
The Secret of the Big Trees _Ellsworth Huntington_
Glaciers of Glacier National Park _William C. Alden_
The Glacier National Park; A Popular Guide to
its Geology and Scenery _Marius R. Campbell_
Excavation and Repair of Sun Temple, Mesa Verde
National Park _J. Walter Fewkes_
Fossil Forests of the Yellowstone National Park _F. H. Knowlton_
Mount Rainier and its Glaciers _F. E. Matthes_
Forests of Mount Rainier National Park _G. F. Allen_
Features of the Flora of Mount Rainier National Park _J. B. Flett_
Forests of Yosemite, Sequoia and General Grant National
Parks _C. L. Hill_
Forests of Crater Lake National Park _J. F. Pernot_
The National Park Service, Interior Department, is constantly issuing
special publications that deal with particular phases of one or more
National Parks. A bibliography may be had from the Department of the
Interior giving a pretty complete list of all books, pamphlets, and
magazine articles which contain information concerning any one or all
National Parks. There are also a number of government publications
which touch upon special phases of plant and animal life and geology.
All issues of the _Sierra Club Bulletin_, _Mazama_, and _The
Mountaineer_, contain more or less interesting matter that pertains to
one or more National Parks.
BOOKS CONCERNING MANY NATIONAL PARKS
_Nature and Science on the Pacific Coast_
Wild Animals at Home _E. T. Seton_
Our National Parks _John Muir_
Western Wild Flowers _Margaret Armstrong_
Flora of Colorado _Rydberg_
Mountain Wild Flowers of America _Julia Henshaw_
Rocky Mountain Wild Flowers _Clements_
Handbook of Birds of Western United
States _Florence Merriam Bailey_
Wild Animals at Home _E. T. Seton_
The Mammals of Colorado _Warren_
The Adventures of James C. Adams _Hittel_
In Beaver World _Mills_
Manual of the Trees of North America _Sargent_
Field-Days in California _Torrey_
Trees of California _Jepson_
Three Wonderlands of the American West _Thomas D. Murphy_
BOOKS CONCERNING THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
The Yellowstone National Park _Gen. H. M. Chittenden_
Catalogue of the Flora of Montana and the Yellowstone National
Park. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, vol. 1 _Rydberg_
Our National Recreation Parks _Nicholas Senn_
Southern California, Grand Canyon of the Colorado River,
Yellowstone National Park. Lectures, vol. 10 _John L. Stoddard_
U. S. Geological Survey, Monograph 32, part 2. Descriptive Geology
Petrography, and Paleontology of the Yellowstone National Park.
BOOKS CONCERNING THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains _Bird_
Wild Life on the Rockies _Mills_
The Spell of the Rockies _Mills_
In Beaver World _Mills_
The Story of Estes Park _Mills_
Rocky Mountain Wonderland _Mills_
BOOKS CONCERNING THE MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK
Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde _G. Nordenskiöld_
The Land of the Cliff Dwellers _Chapin_
Government publications:
Antiquities of Mesa Verde National Park, Bulletin Nos. 41 and 51,
together with Excavations and Repair of Sun Temple.
BOOKS CONCERNING THE GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
The Ascent of Chief Mountain, in _Hunting in Many
Lands_, edited by Theodore Roosevelt and George
B. Grinnell. _Henry L. Stimson_
Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park _Schultz_
BOOKS CONCERNING YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
Indians of the Yosemite Valley _Galen Clark_
In the Heart of the Sierras _Hutchins_
Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada _Clarence King_
The Yosemite _John Muir_
My First Summer in the Sierras _John Muir_
Three Wonderlands of the American West _Thomas D. Murphy_
A Yosemite Flora _Hall_
BOOKS CONCERNING MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK
The Mountain that was God _Williams_
Mount Rainier _Meany_
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE DOMINION NATIONAL PARKS OF CANADA
Through the Heart of the Canadian Rockies _Frank Yeigh_
Canada's West and Farther West _Frank Carrel_
The Fair Dominion _R. E. Vernede_
The New Garden of Canada _F. A. Talbot_
Among the Canadian Alps _Lawrence J. Burpee, F.R.G.S._
Climbs and Explorations in the Canadian
Rockies _Norman Collie, F.R.S._
The Canadian Rockies _Prof. A. P. Coleman_
In the Heart of the Canadian Rockies _Sir James Outram_
Among the Selkirk Glaciers _W. S. Green_
The Selkirk Range _A. O. Wheeler, F.R.G.S._
The Selkirk Mountains; A Guide for Mountain
Climbers _A. O. Wheeler, F.R.G.S._
PUBLISHED BY THE DOMINION PARKS BRANCH, DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, OTTAWA
Glaciers of the Rockies and the Selkirks
_Prof. A. P. Coleman, F.R.G.S._
Handbook to the Rocky Mountains Park Museum
_Harlan I. Smith, Geological Survey, Ottawa_
Geology of the Canadian National Parks
_Charles Camsell, Geological Survey, Ottawa_
Nakimu Caves
Fish and Their Habitat in the Rocky Mountains Park.
GUIDE TO THE NATIONAL PARKS
BY
LAURENCE F. SCHMECKEBIER
Introduction
The National Parks of the United States are in process of great
development as regards the building of roads and trails and the
operation of hotels and camps. It is likely that from year to year
additional trips will be scheduled and new camps established. The
rates given are from the latest data available and may be considered
stable, although they are likely to vary slightly from year to year in
sympathy with general fluctuations in prices.
Railway rates are given for side trips to all the Parks from the main
transcontinental lines, and through rates are given to the important
Parks from the principal gateways. The rates are the latest ones in
effect and are quoted in order to give the reader a general idea of
the cost. The latest rates and combinations of tours may be obtained
at any coupon ticket office or from the passenger representatives
of the roads tributary to the Parks. There is given on pages 427-31
a schedule showing the cost of side trips on the regular
transcontinental tours.
Railroads to the National Parks and the Grand Cañon
YELLOWSTONE PARK: Northern Pacific to Gardiner, Montana; Oregon
Short Line to Yellowstone, Montana: Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
to Cody, Wyoming.
YOSEMITE PARK: Yosemite Valley to El Portal, California.
SEQUOIA PARK: Southern Pacific or Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé to
Visalia, California.
GENERAL GRANT PARK: Southern Pacific to Sanger, California.
MOUNT RAINIER PARK: Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul to Ashford,
Washington.
CRATER LAKE PARK: Southern Pacific to Medford or Kirk, Oregon.
GLACIER PARK: Great Northern to Glacier Park or Belton, Montana.
MESA VERDE PARK: Denver & Rio Grande to Mancos, Colorado.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN PARK: Union Pacific to Fort Collins or Greeley,
Colorado; Colorado & Southern to Boulder, Loveland, Longmont, or
Fort Collins, Colorado; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy to Longmont
or Lyons, Colorado; Denver & Salt Lake to Granby, Colorado.
GRAND CAÑON: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé to Grand Cañon, Arizona.
LASSEN VOLCANIC PARK: Southern Pacific to Red Bluff or Westwood,
California; Western Pacific to Keddie, California.
HAWAII PARK: Steamer service from Honolulu, Hawaii.
MOUNT MCKINLEY PARK: No railroad connection until government
railroad across Alaska is completed.
HOT SPRINGS RESERVATION: Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; St. Louis
Iron Mountain & Southern; and Memphis, Dallas & Gulf to Hot
Springs, Arkansas.
CASA GRANDE RUIN: Southern Pacific to Florence or Casa Grande,
Arizona.
WIND CAVE PARK: Chicago & Northwestern or Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy to Hot Springs, South Dakota.
PLATT PARK: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé or St. Louis & San
Francisco to Sulphur, Oklahoma.
SULLY'S HILL PARK: Great Northern to Devil's Lake, North Dakota.
Railroads to Canadian Parks
ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK: Canadian Pacific to Banff or Laggan,
Alberta.
YOHO PARK: Canadian Pacific to Field, British Columbia.
GLACIER PARK: Canadian Pacific to Glacier, British Columbia.
JASPER PARK: Grand Trunk Pacific or Canadian Northern to Jasper,
Alberta.
REVELSTOKE PARK: Canadian Pacific to Revelstoke, British Columbia.
WATERTON LAKES PARK: Canadian Pacific to McLeod or Pincher Creek,
Alberta.
BUFFALO PARK: Grand Trunk Pacific to Wainwright, Alberta.
ELK ISLAND PARK: Canadian Pacific to Lamont, Alberta.
ST. LAWRENCE ISLANDS PARK: New York Central to Clayton, New York;
Grand Trunk to Kingston, Ontario.
FORT HOWE PARK: Canadian Pacific to St. John, New Brunswick.
Cost of Side Trips on Trans-Continental Tours
ROUTE A. PRINCIPAL NATIONAL PARKS:--
To Seattle or Tacoma via Great Northern, Northern Pacific, or
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; to Portland via Northern Pacific,
Great Northern, or Oregon & Washington Railroad & Navigation
Company; to San Francisco via Southern Pacific; to Ogden via
Southern Pacific or Western Pacific; to Denver via Union Pacific
or Denver & Rio Grande; any road to starting-point. Round trip
from Chicago, $90. Round trip from St. Louis, $87.50. Round trip
from Kansas City, $89.57.
ROUTE B. PRINCIPAL NATIONAL PARKS AND THE GRAND CAÑON OF THE COLORADO:--
To Seattle or Tacoma via Great Northern, Northern Pacific, or
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; to Portland via Northern Pacific,
Great Northern, or Oregon & Washington Railroad & Navigation
Company; to San Francisco via Southern Pacific; to Denver via
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé; any road to starting-point. Round
trip from Chicago, $90. Round trip from St. Louis, $87.50. Round
trip from Kansas City, $89.57.
YELLOWSTONE PARK--side trips from ROUTES A and B:
On tickets via Northern Pacific: From Livingston, Montana, via
Northern Pacific to Gardiner, northern entrance, and return,
$3.00.
On tickets via Great Northern: From Havre, Montana, on west-bound
tickets and from Shelby, Montana, on east-bound tickets via Great
Northern and Northern Pacific to Gardiner, northern entrance, and
return, $15.70.
On tickets via Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul or Northern Pacific:
From Butte, Montana, via Oregon Short Line to Yellowstone,
Montana, western entrance, and return, $12.25.
On tickets via Burlington to Billings, thence via Northern Pacific
or Great Northern to Seattle or Tacoma, there is no charge for
side trip via Cody, Wyoming, to eastern entrance.
On tickets via Northern Pacific: From Billings, Montana, via
Burlington to Cody, Wyoming, and return, $6.90; stage fare to Park
entrance extra.
YELLOWSTONE PARK--side trip from ROUTE A only:--
All tickets on this route read via Ogden, Utah; side trip via
Oregon Short Line to Yellowstone, Montana, western entrance, and
return, $12.25.
GLACIER PARK--side trips from ROUTES A and B:--
On tickets reading via Great Northern, stopover may be obtained at
Belton or Glacier Park Stations without extra charge; no side trip
necessary.
On tickets reading via Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul: From Butte,
Montana, via Great Northern to Belton or Glacier Park Stations,
and return, $13.35.
On tickets reading via Northern Pacific: From Butte or Helena,
Montana, via Great Northern to Belton or Glacier Park Stations,
and return. From Butte, $13.35. From Helena, $13.15.
MOUNT RAINIER PARK--side trips from ROUTES A and B:--
Tacoma via Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul to Ashford and return,
$4.00; stage fare Ashford to Paradise Valley and return, $5.00.
CRATER LAKE PARK from ROUTES A and B:--
Stopover allowed at Medford or Kirk on Southern Pacific without
extra charge. Stage fare: Medford to Crater Lake and return,
$16.50; Kirk to Crater Lake and return, $6.00; Medford to Crater
Lake, thence Kirk or vice versa, $11.25.
LASSEN VOLCANIC PARK from ROUTES A and B:--
Stopover allowed at Red Bluff on Southern Pacific without extra
charge; stage fare to Park $10.00 in each direction.
LASSEN VOLCANIC PARK from ROUTE A only:--
On tickets reading via Southern Pacific: From Fernley, Nevada, via
Southern Pacific to Westwood, California, and return, $6.85; stage
fare[1] to Park $6.00 round trip.
On tickets reading via Western Pacific stopover allowed at Keddie,
California, without extra charge; stage fare[1] to Park $14.00
round trip.
[1] No regular service on stage line.
YOSEMITE PARK--side trip from ROUTE A:--
San Francisco via Southern Pacific or Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé
to Yosemite Village, round trip, rail and stage, $23.00.
YOSEMITE PARK--side trip from ROUTE B only:--
Merced via Yosemite Valley Railroad to Yosemite Village, round
trip, rail and stage, $18.50.
SEQUOIA PARK--side trip from ROUTE A:--
San Francisco via Southern Pacific or Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé
to Visalia and Giant Forest, round trip, rail and stage, $24.00.
SEQUOIA PARK--side trip from ROUTE B only:--
Visalia to Giant Forest, round trip, rail and stage, $13.30.
YOSEMITE AND SEQUOIA PARKS--side trip from ROUTE A:--
Tourists should buy ticket to Giant Forest, stopover at Merced in
one direction, and buy side trip to Yosemite. San Francisco via
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé or Southern Pacific to Giant Forest
and return, round trip, rail and stage, $24.00. Merced to Yosemite
Village, round trip, rail and stage, $18.50.
GENERAL GRANT PARK--side trip from ROUTE A:--
San Francisco to General Grant Park and return, rail and stage,
$20.00.
GENERAL GRANT PARK--side trip from ROUTE B only:--
Stopover at Sanger may be obtained without extra charge; stage
fare to Park, round trip, $8.00.
GRAND CAÑON--side trip from ROUTE B only:--
From Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé at Williams to Grand Cañon, round
trip, $7.50.
MESA VERDE PARK--side trip from ROUTES A and B:
Denver via Denver & Rio Grande to camp in Park, round trip,
$35.00.
MESA VERDE PARK--side trips from ROUTE A, and only on tickets reading
via Denver & Rio Grande:--
From Grand Junction to camp in Park, round trip, $33.30. From
Montrose to camp in Park, round trip, $28.90. From Grand Junction
to camp in Park, thence to Denver via Antonito and Alamosa,
$30.00.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN PARK--side trip from ROUTES A and B:--
Denver to Estes Park and return, rail and stage, $9.60.
Equipment
As all the scenic Parks are in high mountain country, the tourist
should be sure to wear warm clothing suitable for rough outdoor use.
Woolen trousers or riding-breeches are desirable, not only because of
their warmth, but also because they offer better protection in rainy
weather. Woolen underwear is recommended because it prevents the body
from becoming chilled when a rest is taken when the climber is
perspiring; nothing is more uncomfortable or dangerous than cotton
underwear wet with perspiration. Women who expect to climb should wear
riding-breeches, as bloomers get caught on bushes and offer too much
resistance to the wind. A flannel middy blouse allows free use of the
arms and body and is far superior to the shirt-waist. A felt hat is
best for both men and women; it may be pulled over the eyes as a
protection from the sun, and it is far superior to a cap during a
rainstorm. Heavy, comfortable shoes and woolen socks or stockings are
essential for those who are going to tramp. Wet shoes may be worn if
the socks are dry; the shoes will feel cold and clammy at first, but
a little brisk tramping will soon make the feet warm and comfortable.
Motorists should bear in mind that the high altitude causes a marked
reduction in the power of the engine, so that much more gasoline will
be required than at sea-level. Care should be taken that the engine
does not become heated on long grades.
Yellowstone National Park
Location: Northwestern Wyoming, southern Montana, and eastern
Idaho. Area: 3348 square miles. Season: June 20 to September 15.
Address of supervisor: Yellowstone Park, Wyoming.
Railroad Connections
YELLOWSTONE PARK is reached by railroads on three sides--on the north
by the Northern Pacific, on the west by the Oregon Short Line, and on
the east by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
The following rates apply to all entrances or entering via one
entrance and leaving via another: Chicago, $47.50; St. Paul, $39.50;
St. Louis, $44.50; Kansas City, $37.00; Seattle, $33.15; San
Francisco, $66.25.
The Northern Pacific Railway reaches the Park at Gardiner, the
northern entrance, by way of a branch leaving the main line at
Livingston, Montana. Side trip from Gardiner, $3.00.
The Oregon Short Line reaches the Park at Yellowstone, Montana, the
western entrance. This line makes connection with transcontinental
roads passing through Salt Lake City or Ogden, and with the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul at Butte, Montana. Round trip in connection with
through tickets Salt Lake City or Ogden or Butte to Yellowstone,
$12.25. Connection may also be made at Butte with the Northern Pacific
Railway.
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy reaches Cody, Wyoming, 63 miles from
the eastern entrance by a good automobile road. All tickets from
eastern points on the Burlington system are honored via Cody to the
Park boundary without extra charge.
Tourists holding transcontinental tickets via the Great Northern may
make the side trip to Yellowstone Park for $15.70 (see p. 428)
additional.
Tickets including transportation to Denver, Yellowstone Park, and
Glacier Park are sold at the following rates: Chicago, $58.00; St.
Louis, $55.00; Kansas City, $47.50.
Coupon tickets may be purchased covering railroad transportation,
accommodation at hotels or camps, and automobile transportation in the
Park.
Automobile Routes
From the Lincoln Highway the Park may be reached by two routes--on the
east from Cheyenne, Wyoming, and on the west from Ogden, Utah. The
route from Cheyenne passes through Chugwater, Wheatland, Douglas,
Casper, Lost Cabin, Thermopolis, Worland, Basin, and Cody to the
eastern entrance, the total distance being 541 miles. From Ogden the
route leads through Pocatello and Idaho Falls to Yellowstone, Montana,
the western entrance. The distance by this route is 324 miles.
From the Yellowstone Trail the Park may be reached from Billings via
Cody to the eastern entrance (175 miles); Livingston to Gardiner,
northern entrance (55 miles); Bozeman to Yellowstone, western entrance
(93 miles); Butte to Yellowstone, western entrance (170 miles).
Automobiles entering the Park are required to pay $7.50 for a single
trip or $10.00 for a season permit. Speed limits range from 8 to 20
miles per hour.
Hotels and Camps
The Yellowstone Park Hotel Company operates hotels at Mammoth Hot
Springs (Mammoth Hotel), Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful Inn),
Yellowstone Lake (Lake Hotel), and Grand Cañon (Grand Cañon Hotel). It
also maintains a lunch-station at Pahaska on the road to Cody. The
rates at the hotels are $6.00 per day for rooms without bath. The
Fountain Hotel at Lower Geyser Basin is not open.
The Yellowstone Park Camping Company operates permanent camps at
Mammoth Hot Springs, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Lake, Grand
Cañon, and Tower Falls. The rate at the camps for the regular 5-day
trip through the Park is $18.00. Rates per day range from $3.25 to
$4.00, according to the class of tents.
Transportation
The familiar Concord coaches that were for so many years a feature of
travel in the Yellowstone have been discontinued and transportation is
now by means of automobile stages. All the transportation is furnished
by one corporation, the camping companies no longer operating coaches
as was the practice before the consolidation. The automobiles will
make the circular tour in 2 days, but this allows no time for seeing
anything at the hotels or camps. Coupon tickets covering hotel and
transportation within the Park are not sold for less than a 5-day
trip.
The regular tour of the Park by the automobile stages costs $25.00.
Surreys may be obtained for drives at the important points, but it is
far more satisfactory to walk, as the distances are not great.
The hotels will furnish guides for $5.00 per day and saddle horses for
$3.50 per day. The camps will supply saddle-horses for $3.00 per day,
and guides for $4.50.
[Illustration: TRAVEL-GUIDE MAP OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
WYOMING-MONTANA-IDAHO
_By permission of the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior_]
Principal Points
The places generally visited are Mammoth Hot Springs, the Upper Geyser
Basin, Yellowstone Lake, the Grand Cañon of Yellowstone River, and
Mount Washburn. All these points lie on the main road system that is
traversed by the automobile coaches. The distances along this route
are as follows:--
_Points of interest and distances on circular tour on main road from
Gardiner, Montana, northern entrance_
_Miles_
Mammoth Hot Springs (Mammoth Hotel,
permanent camp) 5
Hoodoos and Silver Gate 8
Golden Gate and Rustic Falls 9
Swan Lake 10
Willow Park 14
Apollinaris Spring 15
Obsidian Cliff 17
Beaver Lake 17-1/2
Roaring Mountain 20-1/2
Twin Lakes 21
Bijah Spring 22
Fryingpan 23
Norris Geyser Basin 25
Elk Park 27
Gibbon Meadows 28
Artists (Gibbon) Paint Pot 29
Gibbon Cañon 29-1/2
Beryl Spring 30
Soda and Iron Springs 33
Gibbon Falls (80 feet) 33-1/2
Cañon Creek 34
Road to western entrance 35
Cascades of Firehole River } 39-1/2
Road to western entrance }
Nez Percé Creek 43
Lower Geyser Basin 45
Excelsior Geyser 48
Biscuit Basin 51
Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful Inn,
permanent camp) 54
Kepler Cascade 56
Lone Star Road 57-1/2
Continental Divide 62-1/2
De Lacy Creek 63-1/2
Shoshone Point 64-1/2
Continental Divide 69-1/2
Lake View } 72
Duck Lake }
Thumb of Yellowstone Lake 73
Arnica Creek 78-1/2
Natural Bridge } 84-1/2
Bridge Creek }
Yellowstone Lake (Lake Hotel permanent camp) 89
Lake outlet 90
Mud Volcano 96-1/2
Grotto Springs 97
Hayden Valley 100
Alum Creek 102
Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone River (Cañon
Hotel, permanent camp) 105
Dunraven cut-off 112
Top of Mount Washburn 116
Tower Falls Road 119
Tower Falls (132 feet) 125-1/2
Permanent camp 127-1/2
Petrified trees 128-1/2
Blacktail Deer Creek 140
Lava Creek, Undine Falls (60 feet) 143
Mammoth Hot Springs 148
Gardiner 153
_Distances from Yellowstone, Montana, western entrance, to main road_
_Miles_
Via Cañon Creek:--
Ranger Station 3
Junction of Gibbon and Firehole Rivers 13
Cañon Creek, main road. (This point is 35 miles
from Gardiner; for distances beyond this point
see table of distances from Gardiner) 17
Via Firehole River:--
Cascades of the Firehole River direct via road up
Firehole River. (This point is 39-1/2 miles from
Gardiner; for distances beyond this point see
table of distances from Gardiner) 15-1/2
_Points of interest and distances from Cody, Wyoming, via eastern
entrance to main road_
_Miles_
Eastern entrance 63
Sylvan Pass 71
Sylvan Lake 72
Cub Creek 76
Turbid Lake 83
Lake outlet, main road. (This point is 90 mile
from Gardiner; for distances from this point
see table of distances from Gardiner) 91
_Points of interest and distances from Jackson, Wyoming, via southern
entrance, to main road_
_Miles_
Southern entrance 25
Lewis Falls (upper, 80 feet; lower, 50 feet) 34
Lewis Lake, south end 36
Trail to Shoshone Lake 41
Continental Divide 43-1/2
Thumb of Lake, main road. (This point is 73 miles
from Gardiner; for distances beyond this point
see table of distances from Gardiner) 48
Mammoth Hot Springs
Here are located the famous terraces, the Mammoth Hotel, the abandoned
army post of Fort Yellowstone, and the headquarters of the Park
Supervisor. The terraces are near the hotel, and the tourist will have
no difficulty in finding his way over them. The principal ones are
Minerva, Mound, Pulpit, Jupiter, Angel, Cleopatra, and Hymen. Near the
southwest end of the terraces is the Devil's Kitchen--a cave which may
be visited. Another peculiar rock formation beyond the Devil's Kitchen
is the mass of travertine known as the White Elephant.
Upper Geyser Basin
The Upper Geyser Basin contains more active geysers than all the other
geyser regions in the world. Several days might well be spent roaming
among the geysers and observing the varied phenomena.
The more important ones are listed in the table on page 439.
------------+--------+---------------------+-----------------------------
_Geyser_ |_Height_| _Duration of | _Interval_
|(_feet_)| eruption_ |
------------+--------+---------------------+-----------------------------
Artemisia | 50 | 10 to 15 minutes | 24 to 30 hours
| | |
Bee Hive | 200 | 6 to 8 minutes | 3 to 5 times at 12-hour
| | | intervals following
| | | Giantess
| | |
Castle | 50-75 | 30 minutes | 24 to 26 hours: quiet 4 to
| | | 7 days, then plays 3 or 4
| | | times at intervals stated
| | |
Cub, large | 60 | 8 minutes | With Lioness
| | |
Cub, small | 10-30 | 17 minutes | 2-1/2 hours
| | |
Daisy | 70 | 3 minutes | 85 to 90 minutes
| | |
Fan | 15-25 | 10 minutes | Irregular
| | |
Giant |200-250 | 60 minutes | 6 to 14 days
| | |
Giantess |150-200 | 12 to 36 hours | Irregular; 5 to 40 days
| | |
Grand | 200 | 15 to 30 minutes | Irregular; 1 to 2 days
| | |
Grotto | 20-30 | Varies | 2 to 5 hours
| | |
Jewel | 5-20 | About 1 minute | 5 minutes
| | |
Lion | 50-60 | About 2 to 4 | Irregular; usually 2 to 17
| | minutes | times a day
| | |
Lioness | 80-100 | About 10 minutes | Irregular
| | |
Mortar | 30 | 4 to 6 minutes | Irregular
| | |
Oblong | 20-40 | 7 minutes | 8 to 15 hours
| | |
Old Faithful|120-170 | 4 minutes | 60 to 95 minutes
| | |
Riverside | 80-100 | 15 minutes | 6 hours
| | |
Sawmill | 20-35 | 1 to 3 hours | Irregular; usually 5 to 8
| | | times a day
| | |
Spasmodic | 4 | 20 to 60 minutes | Irregular; usually 1 to 4
| | | times a day
| | |
Turban | 20-40 | 10 minutes to 3 |
| | hours | Irregular
------------+--------+---------------------+-----------------------------
The following springs are well worth a visit:--
Black Sand Spring (about 55 by 60 feet).
Chinaman.
Emerald Pool.
Morning Glory.
Punch Bowl.
Sponge.
Sunset Lake.
Grand Cañon
The tourist would do well to spend some time at the Grand Cañon, as
its wonderful beauty cannot be grasped in a short time.
If the cañon is to be viewed from the northern rim a high, steel
bridge is crossed over Cascade Creek. At the east end of the bridge a
path leads to the right down the edge of the gulch to Crystal Falls, a
lovely little falls, that is often overlooked in the presence of the
larger attractions. This path can be followed to top of the Lower
Falls of the Yellowstone, 308 feet high, but dangerous. Another path
from the end of the bridge leads to the left; this is a short cut to
the Cañon Hotel. The main road winds up the hill, affording here and
there glimpses of the Grand Cañon. At the top of the hill are the
stairs to the Lower Falls. A few hundred feet farther the branch road
to the hotel and to Mount Washburn turns out to the left.
On the road about 1 mile from Cañon Junction is Lookout Point, reached
by walking a hundred feet out to the right of the road. Down the gulch
to the right of Lookout Point is a rather steep trail leading to Red
Rock, a fine point from which to view the Lower Falls. Grand View and
Castle Ruins are other good points from which to view the cañon.
But better yet is Inspiration Point, at the end of this road. This
point, Artist's Point, Lookout Point, and the edge of the Lower Falls
are the best places from which to view the wonders of the Cañon. The
view from each is different from the others, and each merits a careful
inspection from the tourist. This cañon is some 20 miles in length,
but it is only the first 3 miles below the Lower Falls that carry the
wonderful colors.
Side Trips
Some of the best scenery in the Park lies off the regular lines of
travel and many interesting side trips may be taken if the time is
available.
FROM MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS
Around Bunsen Peak via Buffalo Corral, Middle Gardiner Cañon,
Sheepeater Cliffs, Osprey Falls, and Golden Gate; distance, 12 miles;
guide not necessary.
Summit of Bunsen Peak. Distance, 7 miles in each direction; saddle
horses may be ridden to the top; guide not necessary.
Electric Peak (11,100 feet). This is the highest mountain in the Park
and a fine view is obtained on all sides. The distance is 10 miles in
each direction, 8 miles of which may be done on horseback; as the path
over the remaining 2 miles is difficult and somewhat dangerous, a
guide should be employed.
Mount Everts. Saddle-horses may be ridden up from either end and over
the top; total distance is about 15 miles, and no guide is needed.
Buffalo herds. A small herd of buffalo is kept about 1 mile south of
Mammoth Hot Springs, on the road to Bunsen Peak. The main herd is kept
on Lamar River, about 30 miles to the east and about 12 miles from the
Wylie Camp at Tower Falls.
Specimen Ridge and the Fossil Forest are 24 miles southeast by a good
wagon road; thence 4 miles by trail. A guide will be needed by all
tourists except experienced campers.
Northeastern portion of Park. A trip could be made to include the
petrified trees, Tower Falls, main buffalo herd, Specimen Ridge and
Fossil Forest, and some of the best fishing in the Park in Yellowstone
River in vicinity of Tower Falls, Lamar River and Slough Creek.
Permanent camp near Tower Falls provides accommodations after Mount
Washburn Road is opened in the spring. There is a wagon road to Tower
Falls, Slough Creek, and Soda Butte, but other points would have to be
reached by trail, and guide and pack-train would be needed. Excellent
camping places in abundance on this trip.
Fishing trips. One-day fishing trips from Mammoth Hot Springs may be
made with rig, saddle-horse, or even on foot by good pedestrians, as
follows: South on main road to Obsidian Creek, Indian Creek, Upper
Gardiner and branches, and Glen Creek, for small Eastern brook trout;
distance, 4 to 10 miles. East to Lava Creek, 5 miles, for small native
or Eastern brook trout, or to Blacktail Deer Creek, 8 miles, for small
native or rainbow trout. East or northeast to main Gardiner River for
whitefish, native, Loch Leven, and Eastern brook trout. North, 6 miles
to Yellowstone River for whitefish and native trout.
FROM UPPER GEYSER BASIN
From Upper Geyser Basin an interesting side trip is to Shoshone Lake
and Geyser Basin. The route is 4-1/2 miles by road via Lone Star
Geyser, thence 8 miles by trail. This trip offers good fishing for
Loch Leven, lake, and Eastern brook trout. A guide is needed.
FROM LAKE HOTEL
From the Lake Hotel interesting trips may be made by motor boat to the
region around the lake, which is not reached by roads.
Camping Trips
As the distance between the regular stopping-places are too long for
any except the most active and hardened trampers, the tourist who
desires to see the Park leisurely should travel on horseback, by
wagon, or in his own automobile. Camping outfits and supplies may be
obtained at Gardiner, Yellowstone, and Cody. The names of outfitters
may be obtained from the Park Supervisor. There are general stores in
the Park at Mammoth Hot Springs, Upper Geyser Basin, and at the outlet
of Yellowstone Lake.
Public automobile camps are provided at Mammoth Hot Springs, Upper
Geyser Basin, outlet of Yellowstone Lake, and the Grand Cañon. At
these places there are fireplaces that may be used in common by the
tourist and there are designated areas for tents and for parking.
Clothing
The tourist making the ordinary trip on the automobile stage will not
need any special clothing except a sweater or overcoat or other warm
clothing for cool days. Heavy shoes or rubbers should be worn on
trips through the geyser basins. A linen duster will prove very
useful; dusters may be rented at the hotels and camps. Persons camping
out in the Park should be provided with woolen riding-breeches or
trousers, flannel shirts, light woolen underwear, felt hats, ponchos,
and stout shoes. Women should wear middy blouses and cloth skirt or
riding-breeches; a waterproof cape may be substituted for the poncho.
Fishing
There is good fishing in almost all of the many streams for
cut-throat, Eastern brook, Loch Leven, Von Behr, rainbow, and lake
trout and whitefish. The best fishing is, of course, in the streams
farthest from the roads. The best fishing near the roads is in
Yellowstone Lake and River, Firehole River, Madison River, Lamar Creek
and Slough Creek. The fish in Yellowstone Lake are not very game and
the quality is likely to be poor. The fly-fishing is best after August
1, but on the higher portions of some of the streams it is good in
July. Flies and tackle of all kinds can be bought or rented in the
Park. The flies generally used are the following: march brown (early
fishing); black gnat; grizzly king; professor; brown hackle; cow dung,
dark; cow dung, light; gray hackle, yellow body; abbey; coachman;
royal coachman; Parmacheene belle; queen of waters; Jock Scott; silver
doctor; white miller (for late evening).
A fishing license is not required.
Yosemite National Park
Location: Middle eastern California. Area: 1125 square miles.
Season: May 1 to November 1. Address of Supervisor: Yosemite,
California.
For many years the name YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK has been considered
synonymous with Yosemite Valley, because only within the last year has
it been possible for any one except an experienced mountaineer to
enjoy the beauties of the wonderful area of mountains and forest that
lies beyond the great Valley. Only a part of it is now supplied with
permanent camps, but it is expected that more of these will be
established and that more and more of this beautiful Park will be
accessible every year. Yosemite is the only great Park that is
accessible throughout the year. The season extends from May 1 to
November 1, but the hotel in Yosemite Valley is open during the winter
for those who desire to see the Park in its winter dress of snow. In
winter, however, the higher portions of the Park are accessible only
to hardened and experienced mountaineers.
Railroad Connections
The Yosemite Valley Railroad reaches the western border of Yosemite
Park at El Portal. This road connects with the Southern Pacific and
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroads at Merced, where stopovers
may be obtained on tourist tickets, and excursion ticket to Yosemite
Village may be purchased for $18.50 for the round trip. Through
sleeping and parlor cars are also operated from San Francisco to El
Portal by way of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The round-trip fare
from San Francisco to Yosemite Village is $23.00. During the season
the Park may also be reached by automobile stage from Fresno or Merced
on the Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroads. The
latest automobile rates from these points by way of the Yosemite Stage
and Turnpike Company are as follows:--
_Automobile stage fares from Fresno or Merced to_--
Yosemite via Mariposa Big Trees, Wawona, and Inspiration Point,
in each direction $14.25
Yosemite via Mariposa Big Trees, Wawona, and Inspiration Point,
including side trip Chinquapin to Glacier Point and return,
in each direction 19.25
Yosemite and return to either point via Mariposa Big Trees,
Wawona, and Inspiration 24.00
Yosemite and return to either point via Mariposa Big Trees,
Wawona, and Inspiration Point, including side trip
Chinquapin to Glacier Point and return 29.00
Wawona, in each direction 8.50
Wawona and return to either point, including side trip to
Mariposa Big Trees 15.00
Wawona and return to either point, without side trip to
Mariposa Big Trees 14.00
Automobile Routes
The motorist approaching California over the Lincoln Highway should
turn south at Ely and reach the Tioga Road at the eastern border of
the Park near Mono Lake; distance about 200 miles. There are two
routes from San Francisco: via Stockton, Modesto, and Coulterville,
210 miles; or via San José, Gilroy, Los Baños, Fresno, and the
Mariposa Grove of Big Trees, 280 miles. The best route from Los
Angeles is by way of Saugus, Neenach, Bakersfield, Tulare, Fresno,
and Mariposa Grove of Big Trees; distance 365 miles.
The entrance fee for an automobile is $5.00 for a single trip, or
$8.00 for a season permit. Speed limits range from 8 to 20 miles per
hour. On account of the snow the Tioga Road is generally not open
before July 15 or after October 1, the Big Oak Flat Road not before
May 15 or after November 1, the Wawona Road not before May or after
November. Motor-cycles are not allowed in the Park.
Hotels and Camps
At Yosemite Village in the Valley a new modern hotel is now under
construction, but accommodations are now furnished by the old Sentinel
Hotel, which has been refurnished, and by a number of camps.
_Hotel and Camps in Yosemite Valley_
Operated by Desmond Park Service Company:--
Sentinel Hotel, per day $4 to $5
Yosemite Falls Camp, wooden bungalows, per day 3.50
El Capitan Camp, wood frames covered with canvas and
wood floors, per day 2.50
Camp Lost Arrow, operated by W. M. Sell, Jr., per day 2.50
Camp Curry, operated by Curry Camping Company, per day 2.50
Camp Ahwahnee, operated by W. M. Sell, Sr., per day 3.75
At Glacier Point, above the Valley, the Desmond Park Service Company
operates the New Glacier Point Hotel, with a uniform rate of $4.00 per
day.
At Tenaya Lake, Tuolumne Soda Springs, and Merced Lake the Desmond
Park-Service Company operates permanent camps known as lodges. These
lodges have wood frames covered with canvas and wood floors. The rate
at all of the lodges is $3.00 per day, with an additional charge of
$1.00 when the lodge is occupied exclusively by one person.
Eight miles from the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees, but outside the
Park, is the Wawona Hotel at Wawona; rates are from $4.00 to $5.00 per
day.
[Illustration: TRAVEL-GUIDE MAP OF THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
CALIFORNIA
_By permission of the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior_]
Tours
The main roads in Yosemite National Park are the Tioga Road, which
crosses the Park in an east-west direction almost in its center; the
Big Oak Flat Road, by which Yosemite Valley may be reached from
Modesto and Stockton; the Coulterville Road, by which Yosemite Valley
may be reached from Merced; El Portal Road, between the terminus of
the Yosemite Valley Railroad and Yosemite Valley; the Wawona Road,
connecting Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees; and
the Glacier Point Road, extending from the Wawona Road to Glacier
Point. Travel between points in the Park that are not contiguous to
these roads must be made on foot or horseback over the many trails
that connect the principal points of interest.
Yosemite Village is the center of all activities in the Park and
practically all the trips radiate from this point. Every variety of
trip may be taken, ranging from a single day excursion to the peaks
surrounding the Valley to a 9-day tour of the High Sierra.
Arrangements may be made for extended or special trips, but the tours
and trips listed below include the more important points of interest.
All of these trips are under the supervision of the Desmond Park
Service Company and are made on horseback unless otherwise noted. The
rates include transportation only. Meals and lodging may be obtained
at Glacier Point Hotel and at the lodges at the regular rates.
One-day trips:--
Vernal and Nevada Falls, round trip $3.00
Vernal and Nevada Falls, Glacier Point and return,
continuous, round trip 3.00
Vernal and Nevada Falls and Clouds Rest, round trip 3.00
Glacier Point and Sentinel Dome via Union Point
(short trail), round trip 3.00
Yosemite Point, round trip 3.00
Eagle Peak, round trip 3.00
Pohono Trail to Fort Monroe, thence by automobile from
Fort Monroe via Wawona Road to Valley 5.00
North Dome via Mirror Lake, and return via Yosemite Falls,
or _vice versa_ 3.00
Lake Tenaya via Tenaya Cañon, round trip 3.00
Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome, and Fissures via Union Point
(short trail) and return 3.00
Two-day trips:--
Happy Isles, Vernal and Nevada Falls, Glacier Point Hotel,
Sentinel Dome, Taft Point, Dewey Point, and Inspiration
Point 8.00
Mirror Lake, Tenaya Lake Lodge, Nevada and Vernal Falls 6.00
Three-day trips:--
Happy Isles, Vernal and Nevada Falls, Merced Lake Lodge,
Merced Soda Springs, and Washburn Lake 9.00
Mirror Lake, Tenaya Lake Lodge, Nevada and Illilouette
Falls, and Glacier Point Hotel 9.00
Four-day trips:--
Mirror Lake, Merced Lake Lodge, Merced Soda Springs,
Washburn Lake, Nevada and Vernal Falls 12.00
Mirror Lake, Tenaya Lake Lodge, White Cascades, Le Conte,
California, Nevada, and Illilouette Falls, and Glacier
Point Hotel 12.00
Five-day trips:--
Mirror Lake, Tenaya Lake Lodge, Tuolumne Meadows, Soda
Springs, Tuolumne Soda Springs Camp, Donohue Pass,
Mount Lyell, Glen Aulin Falls, Magee Lake, Eagle Peak,
and Yosemite Point 15.00
Six-day trips:--
Mirror Lake, Tenaya Lake Lodge, White Cascades, Le Conte,
and California Falls, Soda Springs, Tuolumne Soda
Springs Camp, Tuolumne Meadows, Donohue Pass, Mount
Lyell, Eagle Peak, and Yosemite Point 18.00
Seven-day trips:--
Mirror Lake, Tenaya Lake Lodge, White Cascades, Le Conte
and California Falls, Tuolumne Meadows, Soda Springs,
Tuolumne Soda Springs Camp, Donohue Pass, Mount Lyell,
Nevada and Illilouette Falls, and Glacier Point Hotel 21.00
Eight-day trips:--
Mirror Lake, Tenaya Lake Lodge, White Cascades, Le Conte
and California Falls, Tuolumne Meadows, Soda Springs,
Tuolumne Soda Springs Camp, Donohue Pass, Mount Lyell,
Merced Lake Lodge, Merced Soda Springs, and Washburn Lake 24.00
Nine-day trips:--
Mirror Lake, Tenaya Lake Lodge, Cascades, Le Conte and
California Falls, Tuolumne Meadows, Soda Springs, Tuolumne
Soda Springs Camp, Tuolumne Pass, Mount Lyell, Merced Lake
Lodge, Merced Soda Springs, Washburn Lake, and Glacier
Point Hotel 27.00
Automobile trips to points reached by road may be made at the
following rates:--
From Sentinel Hotel or any of the permanent camps:--
To or from Happy Isles or Mirror Lake, one way $ .75
Round trip to Happy Isles or Mirror Lake 1.25
To Bridal Veil Falls, one way 1.00
To Bridal Veil Falls, round trip 1.75
To Happy Isles, Mirror Lake, the Village, Cathedral
Rocks, Bridal Veil Falls, El Capitan, round trip 3.25
To Happy Isles, Mirror Lake, the Village, Cathedral
Rocks, Bridal Veil Falls, El Capitan, Artist and
Inspiration Points, round trip 4.50
To Artist and Inspiration Points, round trip 3.00
From Yosemite Valley:--
To Wawona, one way 5.50
To Wawona, round trip 9.50
To Mariposa Big Tree Grove and return to Wawona 7.75
To Mariposa Big Tree Grove, round trip 11.25
To Mariposa Big Trees and return via Inspiration
Point and Wawona, including side trip Chinquapin
to Glacier Point and return 16.25
To Glacier Point, one way 5.50
To Glacier Point, round trip 9.50
To Tuolumne Big Trees, one way 2.50
To Tuolumne Big Trees, round trip 4.25
To Tenaya Lake via Tuolumne Big Trees, one way 8.75
To Tenaya Lake via Tuolumne Big Trees, round trip 15.25
To Soda Springs via Tuolumne Big Trees, one way 10.00
To Soda Springs via Tuolumne Big Trees, round trip 17.50
From Glacier Point:--
To Mariposa Big Tree Grove and return to Valley
or Glacier Point 11.25
To Wawona, one way 5.50
To Wawona, round trip 9.50
The automobile rates from Yosemite Village to El Portal, Fresno, and
Merced are given in connection with the account of the railroad
connections.
Principal Points of Interest
_Distances from Yosemite Post-Office to Principal Points
in Yosemite Valley_
_Miles_
Basket Dome (top of) 9.0 Northeast
Camp Ahwahnee 1.0 West
Camp Curry 1.0 East
Camp Lost Arrow .5 North
Clouds' Rest 11.0 East
El Capitan 3.5 West
Glacier Point 4.5 South
Glacier Point Hotel and Camp 4.5 South
Half Dome (foot of) 3.0 East
Happy Isles 2.5 East
Liberty Cap 5.5 East
Mirror Lake 3.0 East
Mount Watkins (top of) 9.0 East
Nevada Falls 6.0 East
North Dome (top of) 11.0 Northeast
Sentinel Rock 1.0 West
Tenaya Cañon 4.0 East
Union Point 3.0 South
Vernal Falls 5.0 East
Yosemite Falls .5 North
Mariposa Big Tree Grove
SIZES OF BIG TREES IN MARIPOSA GROVE
[_All dimensions are in feet_]
----------------------+------+------------+--------+------------+--------
|_Girth|_Approximate| _Girth |_Approximate|
| at | diameter | about | diameter |
_Trees_ | base_| at base_ | 10 feet| about |_Height_
| | | above | 10 feet |
| | | ground_| above |
| | | | ground_ |
----------------------+------+------------+--------+------------+--------
Grizzly Giant | 93 | 29.6 | 64.5 | 20.5 | 204
Faithful Couple | 94 | 29.9 | 63 | 20 | 244
Michigan | 55.5 | 17.7 | 40 | 12.7 | 257
Fresno | 63 | 20 | 38.5 | 12.2 | 273
Columbia | 80.5 | 25.6 | 52 | 16.5 | 294
Old Guard (South Tree)| 45 | 14.3 | 31 | 9.9 | 244
Lafayette | 92.5 | 29.4 | 53 | 16.9 | 273
Nevada | 48.5 | 15.4 | 35 | 11.1 | 278
General Sherman | 63 | 20 | 41.5 | 13.2 | 267
General Grant | 67 | 21.3 | 42 | 13.4 | 271
General Sheridan | 76 | 24.2 | 51 | 16.2 | 263
Philadelphia | 61.5 | 19.6 | 50.5 | 16.1 | 275
St. Louis | 73 | 23.2 | 51 | 16.2 | 269
Lincoln | 72 | 22.9 | 54.5 | 17.3 | 258
Washington | 92 | 29.3 | 65 | 20.7 | 235
William McKinley | 70 | 22.3 | 46.5 | 14.8 | 243
General Logan | 76 | 24.2 | 49.5 | 15.7 | 259
Galen Clark | 59.5 | 18.9 | 47 | 14.9 | 238
Pittsburgh | 53.5 | 17 | 41 | 13 | 242
Vermont | 47 | 14.9 | 38 | 12.1 | 257
Wawona (26 feet | | | | |
through opening) | .. | .. | 60.5 | 19.2 | 227
New York | 52 | 16.5 | 45.5 | 14.5 | 237
Forest Queen | 53.5 | 17 | 38 | 12.1 | 219
Boston | 58 | 18.4 | 47 | 14.9 | 248
Chicago | 57 | 18.1 | 40.5 | 12.9 | 223
Whittier | 62 | 19.7 | 47 | 14.9 | 268
Longfellow | 51.5 | 16.4 | 43 | 13.7 | 273
Captain A. E. Wood | 52 | 16.5 | 40 | 12.7 | 310
Mark Twain | 53 | 16.9 | 41 | 13 | 331
Mississippi | 54.5 | 17.3 | 37.5 | 11.9 | 269
Stonewall Jackson | 53 | 16.9 | 38.5 | 12.2 | 265
Georgia | 48 | 15.3 | 35 | 11.1 | 270
South Carolina | 74 | 23.5 | 54.5 | 17.3 | 264
-----------------------------+------------+--------+------------+--------
Principal Points reached from the Camps
All the places listed below may be reached on horseback and return
made to camp in one day:--
From Merced Lake Lodge:--
Merced Soda Springs.
Washburn Lake.
From Tenaya Lake Lodge:--
White Cascades.
Le Conte Falls.
California Falls.
From Tuolumne Soda Spring Lodge:--
Donohue Pass.
Mount Lyell.
Tuolumne Meadows.
Tuolumne Pass.
Height of Summits in Yosemite Valley
_Height above pier near
_Name_ Sentinel Hotel_[1]
(_feet_)
Artist Point 739
Basket Dome 3,642
Cathedral Rocks 2,591
Cathedral Spires 2,154
Clouds' Rest 5,964
Columbia Rock 1,071
Eagle Peak 3,813
El Capitan 3,604
Glacier Point 3,254
Half Dome 4,892
Leaning Tower 1,903
Liberty Cap 3,112
North Dome 3,571
Old Inspiration Point 2,643
Panorama Point 2,264
Profile Cliff 3,543
Pulpit Rock 765
Sentinel Dome 4,157
Stanford Point 2,699
Washington Column 1,952
Yosemite Point 2,975
[1] This pier is 3962 feet above sea-level.
Height of Waterfalls in Yosemite Valley
_Feet_
Yosemite Falls 1,430
Lower Yosemite Falls 320
Nevada Falls 594
Vernal Falls 317
Illilouette Falls 370
Bridal Veil Falls 620
Ribbon Falls 1,612
Widow's Tears Falls 1,170
Clothing and Equipment
As the best trips are made afoot or on horseback the tourist should
carry only such extra clothing as may be transported in a haversack or
rucksack. If additional material is carried it is necessary to hire a
pack-horse at additional expense. The best outfit for men consists of
woolen riding-breeches, flannel shirt, stout shoes, sneakers, woolen
army socks, light weight woolen underwear, a felt hat, a sweater, and
a pair of smoked glasses. As it seldom rains in the summer it is not
necessary to carry a poncho. If many trips are made in automobiles a
linen duster is advisable. Women should wear riding-breeches, woolen
middy blouse, and woolen stockings, with puttees or leggings, a man's
felt hat, and other clothing as described for men.
Camping outfits may be obtained from the store of the Desmond Park
Service Company at Yosemite Village, and provisions may be obtained at
the Tenaya Lake, Tuolumne Soda Springs, and Merced Lake Lodges.
Tourists desiring to rent camp equipment should make the necessary
arrangements before their arrival in the Park. Prices for regular
outfits are as follows:--
_Price List for Camping Outfits_
----------------+---------+----------+----------+-------------
_Persons in | _One | _Two | _Three | _One month_
party_ | week_ | weeks_ | weeks_ |
----------------+---------+----------+----------+-------------
One | $5.00 | $6.50 | $7.50 | $8.00
Two | 7.50 | 9.00 | 9.50 | 10.00
Three | 9.00 | 10.50 | 11.50 | 12.00
Four | 11.00 | 12.00 | 13.00 | 14.00
Five | 13.00 | 14.00 | 15.00 | 16.00
Six | 15.00 | 16.00 | 17.00 | 18.00
----------------+---------+----------+----------+-------------
Fishing
There is good fishing in almost all the streams for Eastern brook,
rainbow, cutthroat, and Loch Leven trout. The flies most commonly used
are the black gnat, royal coachman, alder, king of the waters, and
gray hackle; but other standard flies are used. Flies and tackle may
be obtained at the general store at Yosemite Village. All fishing must
be done in conformity to the laws of California, both as regards open
season and limit of catch, and size of fish. Every man fisherman over
18 years of age must have a fishing license, which may be obtained
from any County Clerk or from the offices of the State Board of Fish
and Game Commissioners at San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and
Fresno. The license fee is $1 for citizens of the United States who
are _bona-fide_ residents of California, and $3.00 for citizens of the
United States who are not _bona-fide_ residents of California and for
persons not citizens of the United States.
Sequoia National Park
Location: Eastern California. Area: 252 square miles. Season: June
15 to September 15. Address of Supervisor: Three Rivers,
California.
Railroad Connections
SEQUOIA PARK is best reached from Visalia on the Southern Pacific and
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroads; thence by Visalia Electric
Railway to Lemon Cove, and thence by automobile stage of the Sequoia
National Park Transportation Company to Camp Sierra in the Giant
Forest. The distance from Lemon Cove to the Giant Forest is 40 miles.
Heretofore the stages have left Lemon Cove on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays; and have made the return trip from the Giant Forest on
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. It is probable that daily service
will soon be established. The round trip fare from Visalia to Camp
Sierra is $13.30; from San Francisco to Camp Sierra, $24.00.
Automobile Routes
Sequoia Park may be reached from San Francisco by way of San José,
Gilroy, Los Baños, Fresno, Goshen Junction and Visalia; distance 291
miles. From Los Angeles the route is by way of Bakersfield, Tulare,
and Visalia; distance 307 miles. From Yosemite Park the shortest route
is by way of Wawona, Fresno, and Visalia; distance 191 miles.
Motorists are required to pay $2.00 for a single round trip through
the Park, or $3.00 for each machine for a season permit. Eastbound
automobiles may use the road to Giant Forest between 7 A.M. and 5.30
P.M.; no automobile will be allowed to leave the Giant Forest for the
western boundary later than 6 P.M. The speed limit is from 8 to 15
miles per hour.
Camp
A camp is operated at Giant Forest Post-Office by Walter E. Kenney, at
the following rates:--
Board and lodging:--
1 person, per day $3.25
1 person, per week 18.00
1 person, 4 weeks 68.00
2 persons, per day, each 3.00
2 persons, per week, each 16.50
2 persons, 4 weeks, each 60.00
Meals without lodging:--
Breakfast and lunch, each .75
Dinner 1.00
One night's lodging 1.00
Baths .35
Trips
No regular tours are scheduled for this Park, but the following rates
are in effect for short trips:--
Carriage trips only from Giant Forest:--
Parker Group, Moro Rock, and return:--
1 person $1.00
4 or more, each .75
Admiration Point and return:--
1 person 3.00
4 or more, each 1.50
General Sherman Tree, and return:--
1 person 1.00
4 or more, each .50
General Sherman Tree and Wolverton Creek:--
1 person 2.00
4 or more, each .75
Five-seated carriage, with 2 horses,
1 full day 5.00
All carriage trips include services of driver.
Rates for short horseback trips are as follows:--
To Sherman Tree and return $2.00
To Sherman Tree, Wolverton, and return by Circle
Meadow 3.00
To Moro Rock and return 2.00
To Moro Rock and return by Crescent Log and
Huckleberry Meadows 2.50
To Alta and return 3.00
To Twin Lakes and return 3.50
To Admiration Point and return 3.00
To Moro Rock, Crescent Log, Huckleberry Meadows,
Wolverton, and Sherman Tree 3.50
Chester Wright, Giant Forest, California, will furnish pack- and
saddle-animals at $1.50 per day each, but in all cases guide must
accompany animal, at $3.00 per day, the guide taking charge of packing
and relieving tourists of responsibility for animals. All animals will
be equipped with riding- or pack-saddles.
Parties wishing to make long trips will be furnished with special
rates.
The dimensions of some of the principal trees are as follows:--
GIANT FOREST GROVE
General Sherman, height 279.9 feet; diameter, 36.5 feet.
Abraham Lincoln, height 270 feet; diameter, 31 feet.
William McKinley, height 291 feet; diameter, 28 feet.
MUIR GROVE
Dalton, height, 292 feet; diameter, 27 feet.
GARFIELD GROVE
California, height, 260 feet; diameter, 30 feet.
Clothing and Equipment
If the tourist makes only a short trip to the Giant Forest, no extra
clothing will be necessary except a light overcoat and a sweater. If
an extended stay is made and excursions are made to the other groves
or the High Sierra, the following equipment is recommended: For men,
woolen riding-breeches, woolen underwear, woolen army socks, flannel
shirt, stout shoes, a felt hat, leggings or puttees, sweater, and
coat. As there is little rain in the summer it is not necessary to
take a poncho. Women should wear riding-breeches, flannel middy
blouse, woolen stockings, a small felt hat, and other clothing as
recommended for men.
Fishing
There is good fishing in Sequoia Park for rainbow, golden, cutthroat,
Eastern brook, and Loch Leven trout. The royal coachman is the fly
generally used, but often the brown and gray hackle with peacock body
meets with success. Flies and other tackle may be purchased at the
Giant Forest.
In this Park all fishing must be in conformity with the laws of
California as regards season, size of fish, and limit of catch. Every
fisherman must have a sporting fishing license, which may be obtained
from any County Clerk or from the offices of the State Board of Fish
and Game Commissioners at San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and
Fresno. The license fee is $1.00 for citizens of the United States who
are _bona-fide_ residents of California, and $3.00 for citizens of the
United States who are not _bona-fide_ residents of California and for
persons not citizens of the United States. Persons under 18 years of
age do not require a license.
General Grant National Park
Location: Eastern California. Area: 4 square miles. Season: June
15 to September 15. Address of Supervisor: Three Rivers,
California.
GENERAL GRANT PARK is best reached from Sanger on the Southern Pacific
Railway; thence by stage 46 miles to the Park. There is daily stage
service to the park; round-trip fare, $8.00.
Tourists traveling in their own automobiles will follow the routes to
Sequoia Park given on page 455 as far as Visalia. The Park is 45 miles
from Visalia. Permit to take an automobile into the Park costs 50
cents for a round trip or $2.50 for the season. Speed limits range
from 8 to 15 miles per hour.
Rates for saddle- and pack-horses are $1.50 per day; for guides, $3.50
per day.
There is a camp in the Park operated by Mrs. Mattie Decker (address,
General Grant National Park, California), with rates as follows:--
Board and lodging:
Per day $2.50
Per week 16.00
Per month 60.00
Lodging, 1 night 1.00
Single meal .75
At this camp there are also telephone station, general store,
feed-yard, photograph gallery, and post-office.
The principal attraction of this Park is the grove of big trees.
Fishing is not very attractive.
Clothing and equipment should be similar to that used in Sequoia
National Park.
Mount Rainier National Park
Location: West-Central Washington. Area: 324 square miles. Season:
June 15 to September 15. Address of Supervisor: Ashford,
Washington.
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK includes a single great mountain and its
approaches, but the Reservation offers unlimited variety and enjoyment
for every class of tourist. An automobile road extends to the very
edge of the glaciers; trails lead through the fragrant woods and
wild-flower meadows; rocky outliers of the great mountain afford
endless opportunities for climbing; and the great snow-covered peak
flings his defiance to those that are strong of wind and limb. As the
glaciers are only four hours' ride by automobile from Tacoma a glimpse
of these rivers of ice may be obtained in a two-day trip, but many
days might well be spent in seeing the beauties of nature that are
grouped in an area that is relatively small.
Railroad Connections
The southern portion of the Park--the only part developed at
present--is reached from Ashford, 6-1/2 miles from the Park, on the
Tacoma Eastern Railroad, a branch line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul. The round-trip fare from Tacoma to Ashford is $4.00. From
Ashford automobile stages of the Rainier National Park Company run to
the principal points on the south side--Longmire Springs, 6-1/2 miles
from the Park entrance; the camp at Nisqually Glacier; and the new
hotel and camp at Paradise Valley, in the very shadow of the mountain.
This company also operates public automobiles from Seattle and
Tacoma.
_Automobile transportation rates_
Seattle to Longmire Springs and return $9.50
Seattle to Paradise Valley and return 12.50
Tacoma to Longmire Springs and return 7.00
Tacoma to Paradise Valley and return 10.00
Ashford to Longmire Springs and return 2.00
Ashford to Paradise Valley and return 5.00
The northern portion of the Park is reached from Fairfax and Enumclaw,
on the Northern Pacific Railway. The round-trip fare from Tacoma is
$2.50 to Fairfax, and $2.00 to Enumclaw. There are no transportation
lines that operate on this side of the Park and arrangements must be
made for pack-horses and camp outfits.
Automobile Routes
There is a good automobile road from Tacoma and Seattle to Ashford,
and thence through the National Forest to Longmire Springs, Nisqually
Glacier, and Paradise Valley. For 28 miles from Tacoma the road runs
at the base of huge timbered bluffs, traverses the Ohop Valley, and
reaches the Park by way of the Nisqually Cañon. The distance from
Tacoma to Longmire Springs is 57 miles; from Seattle, 96 miles.
Automobilists are required to obtain a permit from the Park Supervisor
at Ashford. The fee for an automobile is $4.00 for a single round trip
through the Park or $6.00 for a season permit. The fee for a
motor-cycle is $1.00 for the season. The regulations provide that
automobiles and motor-cycles may use the road from the boundary of the
Park to Longmire Springs only between 6 A.M. and 9 p.m.; but no car or
motor-cycle is allowed to enter the Park or leave Longmire Springs in
the direction of the western boundary later than 8.30 P.M. Automobiles
and motor-cycles may use the road from Longmire Springs to Paradise
Valley only between 6 A.M. and 9.30 P.M.; but no machine is allowed to
leave Longmire Springs in the direction of Paradise Valley later than
7.30 P.M. or depart from Paradise Valley in the direction of Longmire
Springs before 6 A.M. or later than 7.30 P.M. The speed limit ranges
from 8 to 15 miles per hour.
Regular automobile service between the Park and Seattle and Tacoma is
rendered at the rates given on page 461.
Hotels and Camps
At Longmire Springs, 6-1/2 miles from the entrance to the Park, are
the National Park Inn and Camp and the Longmire Springs Hotel. The
rates at the National Park Inn are $4.00 and $4.50 per day in the
hotel, and $3.75 and $4.00 in the camp. The rates at Longmire Springs
Hotel are $2.50 per day.
The Rainier National Park Company has a new modern hotel (Paradise
Inn) in Paradise Park, within easy access of the glaciers. The same
company also operates a lunch pavilion at Paradise Park and camps at
Paradise Park, Indian Henry's Hunting Ground, and Nisqually Glacier.
Paradise Inn is operated on both the American and European plan at the
following rates:--
American plan:--
Meals at Inn and bed in tents $3.50
Meals and room at Inn $3.75 to 6.25
European plan:--
Tents $.75 to $1.00
Rooms 1.00 to 3.50
Meals _à la carte_.
A discount of 20 per cent is allowed persons remaining one week or
more.
There is also a camp at Paradise Park at which tents may be obtained
for 50 cents per day. These tents are all floored and contain a double
bed, spring, mattress, washstand, bowl, pitcher, and chair. Blankets
and sheets, pillows, pillow-cases, and towels may be rented, or the
tourist may bring his own equipment. Meals may be obtained at an _à la
carte_ lunch pavilion or they may be prepared at outdoor cook furnace
at the camp. Staple supplies may be purchased.
Rates at camp at Indian Henry's Hunting Ground are: bed, $.75; meals,
$.75; board per week, $15.
Rates at camp at Nisqually Glacier are $.75 and $1.00 per day; meals
_à la carte_.
Free public camping grounds are provided at Hausen's Camp, Kautz
Creek, Longmire Springs, Van Trump Park, and Paradise Valley. Firewood
and running water are available at all these places, but the camper
must bring his own equipment.
Trips
The only road in this Park is the one extending from the entrance past
Longmire Springs and Nisqually Glacier to Paradise Park. All other
trips are made on horseback or on foot over the network of excellent
trails that have been cut through the forest. There are no regular
tours scheduled as in some of the other Parks, but special
arrangements have to be made for guides and horses at the established
rates.
Transportation service within the Park is rendered by the Rainier
National Park Company, which operates automobiles on the road along
the south side of the mountain and has horses for hire at the hotels
at Longmire Springs and Paradise Valley and the camp at Indian Henry's
Hunting Ground.
_Transportation rates_
Automobile, Longmire Springs to Nisqually Glacier and return $1.00
Automobile, Longmire Springs to Paradise Valley and return 3.00
Horses, per day 3.50
The same company also furnishes guides free of charge for parties of
five or more; if there are less than five persons in the party the
charge for guide is $3.50 per day.
The places listed below by no means exhaust the attractive spots of
this reservation, but are given for the benefit of the person whose
time is limited. There is a good trail encircling the mountain and the
circuit may be made in about a week. Pack-animals and guides may be
obtained from the Rainier National Park Company. Camping outfits
should be secured in Seattle or Tacoma.
On the southern side of the Park Paradise Park, Indian Henry's Hunting
Ground, and Van Trump Park are the most easily reached and
consequently the most frequented places. As the trails to these places
are well defined, guides will not be needed.
Indian Henry's Hunting Ground, 6-1/2 miles from Longmire Springs, is
reached by trail only. This trip may be made afoot, or ponies may be
secured at Longmire Springs where the most frequently used of the
three trails leading to this resort begins. A tent camp is located in
Indian Henry's Hunting Ground.
To reach Van Trump Park the same Indian Henry's Hunting Ground trail
is taken, branching off to the right after about 1 mile of travel.
This Park is also reached by a trail starting from the Government road
at Christine Falls, about 4 miles above Longmire Springs, and
following up Van Trump Creek. This is one of the most picturesque
trails in the Park. From it can be seen beautiful glimpses of a deep
cañon and a succession of cascades or falls.
Ramparts Ridge, 1-1/4 miles north of Longmire Springs, from which a
fine view is obtained, is a very popular trip. The climb of about 1000
feet can be made in about one hour.
Eagle Peak (elevation 5955 feet), 3-1/4 miles east from Longmire
Springs, is also a popular trip. A good foot trail leads directly to
the summit, which commands a magnificent view of the south side of
Mount Rainier and the surrounding country. Parties making this trip
usually take lunch along, and spend several hours at the summit.
The Ohanapecosh Valley, with its beautiful Silver Spring Falls, is
reached by trail only from Longmire Springs. This is a trip filled
with interest, but should be taken only by good riders or pedestrians
who are accustomed to long, hard walks.
The glaciers may be reached from the hotel in Paradise Park and the
camp at Nisqually Glacier. The glaciers should not be crossed without
a guide or unless shoes are properly calked. The charge for guide to
snow-fields and glaciers is $1.50 per person. This charge includes
clothing and equipment. The minimum charge for guide service is $8.00.
There are no hotels or camps in the northern portion of the Park, and
persons visiting this region must have complete camping outfits and a
supply of provisions. Pack-horses may be secured by engaging them in
advance from H. A. Loss, Carbonado, Washington, or from Curtis White,
Enumclaw, Washington. The entire northern side is a wonderful region
of mountains and valleys that has been visited by only a few tourists.
A trip to Pinnacle Peak and return may be made from Paradise Park in
from 6 to 8 hours. The charge for a guide is $4.00 per person with a
minimum charge of $12.00. Clothing and equipment are furnished without
extra cost.
Climbing the Mountain[1]
[1] The paragraphs quoted are from an article by Mr. François
E. Matthes, of the United States Geological Survey.
The ascent of the mountain should be attempted only by those who have
the necessary endurance and who are able to climb in the rare air of
such an altitude. Unless the tourist is hardened from recent outdoor
life, he should train himself on the peaks of the Tatoosh Range, just
to the south, or on the other summits that are bare of ice. Above all,
no person should ever attempt the ascent unless accompanied by an
experienced guide. There is no record of any person having perished
when accompanied by a guide, but the mountain has taken its deadly
toll from those who dared to make the trip alone.
"The guide is there not merely to show the way, but to tell the
tourist how to climb, how fast to go, when to rest and to take
nourishment, and to take care of him in case he is overcome with
exhaustion or is taken with mountain sickness.
"Finally, account must be taken of the exceeding fickleness of the
weather conditions on the mountain. Only guides familiar with
Rainier's many moods can presume to foretell whether the day will turn
out favorable for a climb or not. What may look to the uninitiated
like harmless, fleecy vapors on the summit may be the forerunners of a
sudden snowstorm which no one could hope to live through. A majority
of those who have perished on the mountain have been overcome by
blizzard-like storms. Such storms may occur even in midsummer, and on
the summit are always attended by fierce gales against which it is
impossible to hold one's footing."
The ascent is generally made from Paradise Park over the rocky ridge
known as Gibraltar. Paradise Park lies near timber-line at an altitude
of 5500 feet; as the altitude of the summit is 14,408 feet, the total
climb is a little over 8900 feet in a distance of about 7 miles. The
start is generally made about 1 o'clock in the morning in order that
the return may be made before dark; it is also advisable to climb
beyond the snow-fields before the surface becomes softened by the sun.
By sunrise one may expect to reach the base of the Cowlitz Cleaver at
an altitude of 10,000 feet.
"The ascent of the Cowlitz Cleaver is quite taxing, being mostly over
rough, angular lava blocks. By 8 o'clock, as a rule, the base of
Gibraltar Rock is reached. A narrow ledge is followed along the face
of the cliff, part of the way overhung by rock masses and huge
icicles, and this ledge leads to the base of a narrow chute between
the ice of the upper Nisqually Glacier and the body of Gibraltar. This
chute offers the most serious difficulties in the ascent. Ropes are
usually suspended from the cliffs, whereby one may assist himself
upward. It is wise to move one at a time, as there is ever danger of
the persons above starting rock débris and ice fragments that may
injure those below. The ascent and descent of the chute are therefore
inevitably time-consuming. Ordinarily the saddle above Gibraltar
(12,679 feet) is not reached until 10 o'clock.
"From Gibraltar on there remains only a long snow-slope to climb, but
this snow-slope is often exceedingly fatiguing. Huge, gaping crevasses
develop in it which must be skillfully avoided by détours. Freshly
fallen snow may be so deep that one plunges into it to the waist, or
else the snow may have melted out into tapering spines and so-called
honeycombs many feet high, among which one cannot travel without
considerable exertion.
"The rim of the south crater is usually reached about 11 o'clock. It
is always bare of snow, and shelter from the high gales may be found
behind the great rock blocks on the crest. Metal cases are left here
in which the tourist may inscribe the record of his ascent.
"The crater is always filled with snow and may be traversed without
risk; only one should be careful near the edges, as the snow there is
melted out in caverns by the steam jets which rise from beneath it in
many places. Those having the strength may go on to Columbia Crest,
the snow dome that constitutes the highest summit of the mountain. The
return to the camp is easily made in from five to six hours."
The climber should wear woolen underwear, flannel shirt,
riding-breeches, leggings or puttees, woolen army socks, stout shoes
well calked, a felt hat, sweater, and short warm coat. Women should by
all means wear riding-breeches, as skirts or bloomers offer too great
resistance to the wind. Women will generally find woolen Boy Scout
stockings best adapted for a trip of this kind; leggings or puttees
may be worn over them as desired. Both women and men should tie their
hats firmly under the chin, in order that the tramper may not be
hampered by the necessity of holding the hat if the wind is strong.
Other things needed, which may be procured at the camp in Paradise
Park, are: alpenstocks, amber glasses, calks, hobnails, and actor's
paint to protect the face from sun-burn.
"Before starting on the ascent, do not eat such articles as fried
eggs, fried potatoes, hot cakes, or heavy pastry. Abstain from coffee
and tobacco, if possible. Spirituous liquor of any kind is taboo,
except as a stimulant in case of collapse. Beef tea, lean meat, all
dry breakfast foods, cocoa, sweet chocolate, crackers, hardtack, dry
bread, rice, raisins, prunes, dates, and tomatoes are in order. The
simpler the diet, on the whole, the more beneficial it is likely to
be. Never eat much at a sitting during the ascent, but eat often and
little at a time. These are rules well known to mountaineers. The more
faithfully one complies with them the higher one's efficiency will be
and the keener the enjoyment of the trip."
Guides to the summit of Mount Rainier will be supplied at the rate of
$10.00 per person in parties of not less than 5 persons, or minimum
charge of $50 for each ascent. An assistant guide will accompany the
party when it consists of more than 8 tourists. There is an additional
charge of $2.50 per person for furnishing complete suits of clothing,
shoes, glasses, alpenstocks, and other necessary equipment.
Clothing and Equipment
Rough and warm clothing should be carried by all persons who expect to
do much tramping. Suggestions are given elsewhere regarding clothing
to be worn on a climb to the summit. The equipment here described is
for the climber who travels the trails and climbs the rock ridges.
The best equipment for men consists of medium-weight woolen underwear,
flannel shirt, woolen riding-breeches, leggings or puttees, woolen
army socks, sweater, poncho, and heavy shoes; if rock-climbing is to
be done, the shoes should be well supplied with hobnails. Women should
wear light-weight woolen underwear, flannel middy blouse, sweater,
small felt hat, woolen riding-breeches, poncho, woolen stockings,
puttees or leggings, sneakers, and stout shoes with hobnails if
rock-climbing is to be done. Many women object to the poncho because
of the difficulty of getting it over the head; a good substitute is a
Boy Scout cape. Felt hats should be worn by men and women in
preference to cap, as the hat offers better protection from the rain.
A man's felt hat makes the best headgear for a woman.
Camping outfits must be obtained in Seattle or Tacoma. Provisions may
be purchased at Ashford, Longmire Springs, Fairfax, Carbonado, and
Enumclaw.
Fishing
Cutthroat trout are the only fish caught in this Park. The fish are
not large, but are fairly plentiful. Salmon eggs or angle worms are
used exclusively for bait. In summer the fishing is not good in the
streams that flow from glaciers, as they are generally muddy at this
period. A fishing license is not required.
Crater Lake National Park
Location: Southwestern Oregon. Area: 249 square miles. Season:
July 1 to September 30. Address of Supervisor: Crater Lake,
Oregon, during season, and Medford, Oregon, during the remainder
of the year.
Railroad Connections
CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK may be reached from Medford, Oregon, on the
main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad between Portland and San
Francisco, or from Kirk, Oregon, on a branch line of the Southern
Pacific that leaves the main line at Weed, California. Crater Lake is
80 miles from Medford and 30 miles from Kirk. During the season
passengers holding through tickets over the Southern Pacific Railroad
between Portland and San Francisco may stop over at Medford and resume
journey at this point; southbound passengers may stop over at Medford,
cross the Park, and resume journey at Kirk; northbound passengers may
take branch line from Weed to Kirk, cross the Park, and resume journey
at Medford. Passengers desiring to make the circuit trip should notify
the conductor and see that their tickets are properly endorsed.
From Kirk and Medford a tri-weekly automobile service to the Park is
given by the Crater Lake Company. Passengers stopping off on through
tickets must pay for their transportation to Crater Lake in accordance
with the following tariff:--
Medford to Crater Lake and return $16.50
One way (either direction) 9.00
Kirk to Crater Lake and return 6.00
One way (either direction) 3.50
Medford to Crater Lake, thence to Kirk, or _vice versa_ 11.25
Automobiles leave the Hotels Medford and Nash, Medford, at 9 A.M.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; stop for lunch at Prospect, and reach
Crater Lake in time for 6 o'clock dinner. Returning, leave Crater Lake
at 9 A.M. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, reaching Medford in time to
connect with the outgoing evening trains.
Automobiles leave Crater Lake for Kirk at 10 A.M. Monday, Wednesday,
and Friday, connecting with the local Southern Pacific train from
Klamath Falls. Returning, leave Kirk at 1 P.M. the same day, and reach
Crater Lake in about 2 hours.
The round-trip fare between San Francisco and Crater Lake via Kirk is
$33.50, including both rail and automobile stage transportation.
Automobile Routes
Motorists southbound from Portland will traverse the Pacific Highway
through Oregon City, Salem, Albany, Eugene, Roseburg, and Grant's Pass
to Medford, a distance of 312 miles. From Medford the distance to
Crater Lake is 80 miles. Instead of returning to Medford, the tourist
may reach the Pacific Highway by way of Klamath Falls, a distance of
116 miles. From this point the Pacific Highway is again followed to
San Francisco, passing through Hornbrook, Yreka, Montague, Dunsmuir,
Delta, Redding, Chico, Gridley, Marysville, Sacramento, and Stockton;
distance 485 miles.
All motorists entering the Park must pay $2.00 for a round-trip permit
for each automobile, or $3.00 for a season permit; motor-cyclists must
pay $1.00 per machine for a season permit. The speed limits range from
10 to 20 miles an hour.
Trips
There are no regular tours in this Park; the favorite trips being
tramps along the rim and to the water's edge or launch and row-boat
excursions on the lake. There are a number of other points that are
well worth visiting, the most important of which are listed below:--
_Distance from Anna Spring Camp (elevation 6,016 feet) to principal
points in Park_
-------------+----------+---------+--------------+--------------------
|_Distance | | |
| and | _Elev- | |
|direction | ation | |
_Name_ |from Anna | above | _Best means | _Remarks_
| Spring | sea- | of reaching_ |
| Camp_ | level_ | |
|(_miles_) |(_feet_) | |
-------------+----------+---------+--------------+--------------------
Crater Lake | 5 N.E | 6177 | Auto or wagon| Beautiful scenery;
| | | | good fishing
| | | |
Wizard Island| 7 N.E | 6940 | Auto and boat| Extinct volcano;
| | | | crater in summit
| | | |
Phantom Ship | 8 N.E | 6339 | Auto and boat| Columns of rock
| | | | 162 feet high,
| | | | resembling ship
| | | |
Pinnacles | 15 E | .. | Auto or wagon| Many pinnacles;
| | | | fine scenery;
| | | | good camping
| | | |
Anna Creek |0 to 8 S.E| 5000 to | Auto or wagon| 500 feet wide, 500
Cañon | | 6116 | | feet deep; creek
| | | | in bottom; good
| | | | scenery
| | | |
Anna Creek | 6 S.E | 5480 | Auto or wagon| Waterfall, 60 feet;
Falls | | | | good scenery
| | | |
Garden of the| 1-1/2 S.E| 6000 | Auto or wagon| Waterfall, meadows;
Gods | | | | creek in bottom;
| | | | good scenery
| | | |
Union Peak | 5 S.W | 7698 | Horseback | Fine peak; good
| | | | scenery
| | | |
Victor Rock | 5 N | 7200 | Auto or wagon| One of the best
| | | | view-points of
| | | | lake
| | | |
Watchman | 9 N | 8025 | Wagon or | Fine scenery
Peak | | | horseback |
| | | |
Glacier Peak | 10 N | 8156 | Wagon or | Fine scenery
| | | horseback |
| | | |
Garfield Peak| 6 N.E | 8060 | Auto and on | Fine scenery
| | | foot |
| | | |
Scott Peak | 12 N.E | 8938 | Horseback | Highest peak in
| | | | Park
| | | |
Dewey Falls | 1-1/2 E | 6000 | Auto road | Beautiful falls
| | | | and magnificent
| | | | cañon of solid
| | | | rock
-------------+----------+---------+--------------+--------------------
The rates for the transportation that is available are given below:--
Automobile fare between Anna Spring Camp and Crater Lake Lodge:--
One way $.50
Round trip 1.00
Automobile transportation, 10 cents per mile within
the Park.
Saddle-horses, pack-animals, and burros, per hour .50
Saddle-horses, pack-animals, and burros, per day 5.00
Launch trip, Wizard Island and return, per person 1.00
Launch trip around Wizard Island and Phantom
Ship and return (about 15 miles), per person 2.50
Launch trip around the lake 3.50
Rowboats, per hour .50
Rowboats, per day 2.50
Rowboat, with boat-puller, per hour 1.00
Rowboat, with detachable motor, per hour 1.00
Rowboat, with detachable motor, per day 5.00
Hotel and Camp
A hotel (Crater Lake Lodge) on the rim of the lake and a camp (Anna
Spring) five miles below the rim are operated by the Crater Lake
Company.
_Hotel and Camp Charges_
Crater Lake Lodge:--
Board and lodging, each person, per
day (lodging in tents) $3.00
Board and lodging, each person, per
week (lodging in tents) 17.50
Board and lodging, each person, per
day (hotel) $3.50 and 4.00
Board and lodging, each person, per
week (hotel) 20.00 and 22.50
Baths (extra) .50
Fires in rooms (extra) .25
Single meals 1.00
Anna Spring Tent Camp:--
Board and lodging, each person, per day 2.50
Board and lodging, each person, per week $15.00
Meals: Breakfast or lunch, 50 cents;
dinner, 75 cents.
Fires in tents (extra) .25
Children under 12 years, half rates at
lodge or camp.
Clothing and Equipment
If the tourist is going to spend all his time on the rim of the lake,
ordinary outing clothing with light-weight woolen underwear will be
sufficient. If much climbing and tramping is to be done, heavy shoes
with hobnails should be worn. Women should wear short skirts,
bloomers, or riding-breeches.
If the tourist expects to camp in the Park, he should obtain
pack-horses, guides, and equipment at Medford. Provisions and general
supplies of all kinds may be obtained at the general store at Anna
Spring Camp and the branch store at Crater Lake Lodge.
Fishing
Originally the lake contained no fish, but it has been stocked with
rainbow trout and is now one of the best fishing places on the West
Coast. The best fishing is by fly-casting from the shore. Flies used
are the Jock Scott, black gnat, yellow-bodied cow dung, professor,
queen of waters, royal coachman, brown hackle, and gray hackle. No
fishing license is required in this Park. All fish less than 8 inches
in length must be returned to water.
Glacier National Park
Location: Northwestern Montana. Area: 1534 square miles. Season:
June 15 to October 1. Address of Supervisor: Belton, Montana.
Railroad Connections
GLACIER PARK is the only National Park that is on the main line of a
transcontinental railroad--the Great Northern. Areas east of the
Continental Divide are reached from Glacier Park Station, while the
portion of the Park west of the Divide is accessible from Belton.
Stopovers are allowed at Glacier Park Station and at Belton during the
season on all tickets reading through these points. Stopovers are also
permitted on through sleeping-car tickets. Round-trip excursion rates
in effect during the season are as follows: Chicago, $48.00; St.
Louis, $45.00; Kansas City, $37.50; Denver, $35.00; Seattle, $26.95;
San Francisco, $60.90. Tourists' tickets from Denver and points east
of that city may be purchased to include Yellowstone Park for $10.00
in addition to the fares quoted above. All tickets from eastern points
may be made to read via Denver in one direction without extra charge.
Tourists holding transcontinental tickets reading via Northern Pacific
Railway should obtain stopover at Helena or Butte and purchase
excursion tickets to Glacier National Park via Great Northern Railway.
Fare, Helena to Glacier Park and return, $13.15; Butte to Glacier Park
and return, $13.35.
Tourists holding transcontinental tickets reading via Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway should obtain stopover at Butte and
purchase excursion ticket to Glacier National Park via Great Northern
Railway.
Automobile Routes
Tourists traveling on the Yellowstone Highway may reach Belton, the
western entrance to Glacier Park, from Missoula, Montana. The total
distance is 167 miles. From Yellowstone Park the following routes may
be taken to Glacier Park: From Gardiner (northern entrance) through
Livingston, Butte, and Missoula; total distance 509 miles. From
Yellowstone, Montana (western entrance), through Butte and Missoula
(482 miles), or through Bozeman, Butte, and Missoula (519 miles).
Hotels and Camps
In Glacier Park are camp and hotel accommodations that range from the
teepee to the modern steam-heated hostelry. Two hotels--the Glacier
Park and the Many Glacier--are operated by the Glacier Park Hotel
Company, whose address is Glacier Park, Montana. The Glacier Park
Hotel is located at Glacier Park Station, while the Many Glacier Hotel
is on the shore of Lake McDermott, 55 miles to the north by automobile
road. Both these hotels have been constructed within recent years and
are modern in every respect. The rates range from $4.00 and $4.50 per
day, without bath to $5.00 and $7.00 per day, with bath. On the shore
of Lake McDonald is the new Glacier Hotel, owned by J. E. Lewis, Lake
McDonald, Montana; connected with it are 20 log cabins which furnish
comfortable accommodations. Rates range from $3.00 to $5.00 per day.
Other places on Lake McDonald are The Park Hotel, address, Belton,
Montana; rates $2.00 to $3.00 per day; and the National Park Cabin
resort, address Belton, Montana; rates $2.00 to $3.00 per day. The
hotels on Lake McDonald are reached by stage from Belton to the lake,
thence by launch. The National Park Cabin resort is at the foot of the
lake and the launch trip is not necessary. Chalets are maintained by
the Glacier Park Hotel Company at or near Two Medicine Lake, Cut
Bank River, the lower end of St. Mary Lake (St. Mary Chalets), the
narrows of St. Mary Lake (Going-to-the-Sun-Chalets), Lake McDermott
(Many Glacier Chalets), Granite Park, Sperry Glacier, and Belton
Station. Rates at the chalet groups are uniformly $3.00 per day. Each
of these chalet groups consists of log or stone buildings,
attractively grouped, in the vicinity of a central structure used for
a dining- and lounging-room. Most of the dormitory chalets have one or
more attractive lounging-rooms, equipped with large stone fireplaces.
The service is less conventional than at the hotels, the aim being to
furnish clean, comfortable beds, plain food, well cooked, plenty of
it, and served in family style.
[Illustration: TRAVEL-GUIDE MAP OF THE GLACIER NATIONAL PARK MONTANA
_By permission of the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior_]
Teepee camps are maintained by the Glacier Park Hotel Company at or
near Two Medicine Lake, Cut Bank River, lower end of St. Mary Lake,
narrows of St. Mary Lake, and Lake McDermott. All these teepee camps
are near the chalets in the same locality; the rates are uniformly 50
cents a person a night.
All teepee camps are equipped with cookstove and cooking-utensils and
dishes for serving meals. Food may be purchased at reasonable prices
at the near-by chalets, the tourist being permitted the free use of
the range, cooking-utensils, and dishes.
All teepees are wooden floored and each equipped with two single cot
beds and bedding. They will be found very comfortable by those who
desire to enjoy an inexpensive outing.
The only place in the extreme western portion of the Park where
accommodations may be obtained is at Adairs, on Flathead River, about
2 miles south of Logging Creek.
Rooms with bath and bathing facilities for tourists occupying rooms
without baths are provided at the Glacier Park Hotel and Many Glacier
Hotel. There is a large plunge pool at the Glacier Park Hotel.
Detached shower and tub baths are provided at Two Medicine, St. Mary,
Going-to-the-Sun, Many Glacier, and Belton Chalets, for which a charge
of 50 cents per bath is made.
The distances between the hotels and chalets are as follows:--
_Miles_
Glacier Park Hotel to
Two Medicine Chalets, road 12
Two Medicine Chalets, trail 11
Cut Bank Chalets, road 22
St. Mary Chalets, road 32
Many Glacier Hotel, road 55
Two Medicine Chalet to
Glacier Park Hotel, road 12
Glacier Park Hotel, trail 11
Cut Bank Chalets, trail 18
Cut Bank Chalet to
Glacier Park Hotel, road 22
Two Medicine Chalets, trail 18
St. Mary Chalets, trail and road 16
St. Mary Chalets to
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets, launch 8
Cut Bank Chalets, road and trail 16
Many Glacier Hotel and Chalets, road 23
Many Glacier Hotel and Chalets, trail 16
Glacier Park Hotel, road 32
Many Glacier Hotel and Chalets to
St. Mary Chalets, road 23
St. Mary Chalets, trail 16
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets, trail 22
Granite Park Chalets, trail 9
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets to
St. Mary Chalets, launch 8
Many Glacier Hotel and Chalets, trail 22
Sperry Chalets, trail 17
Sperry Chalets to
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets 17
Glacier Hotel on Lake McDonald, trail 7
Glacier Hotel, on Lake McDonald, to
Sperry Chalet, trail 7
Granite Park Chalets, trail 18
Granite Park Chalets to
Many Glacier Hotel and Chalets, trail 9
Glacier Hotel, on Lake McDonald, trail 18
Tours
From Glacier Park Station an automobile road leads to St. Mary Chalets
and Many Glacier Hotel and Chalets, with side roads to Cut Bank and
Two Medicine Chalets. From Belton there is an automobile road to the
foot of Lake McDonald. There is also a wagon road along Flathead River
from the foot of Lake McDonald to the northern border of the Park.
There is no road across the Continental Divide, and all trips in the
mountain region must be by trail.
Transportation between Glacier Park Hotel, Two Medicine Chalets, Cut
Bank Chalets, St. Mary Chalets, and Many Glacier Hotel and Chalets is
by automobile. There is launch service on St. Mary Lake between the
St. Mary and Going-to-the-Sun Chalets and on Lake McDonald between the
foot of the lake and the hotels near the head. There is also a trail
between Going-to-the-Sun and St. Mary Chalets, on Lake St. Mary, as
well as between the foot of Lake McDonald and the hotels at the head
of the lake. Trails furnish the only means of communication between
the other chalet groups and between the chalets and the hotels on Lake
McDonald. On the trails the only transportation is on horseback or
afoot. The following rates are authorized in the Park:--
_One way_
Automobile fare between--
Glacier Park Hotel and St. Mary Chalets $3.50
Glacier Park Hotel and Many Glacier Hotel 6.50
St. Mary Chalets and Many Glacier Hotel 3.00
Glacier Park Hotel to Two Medicine Chalets 1.50
Belton and Lake McDonald .50
There is no regular automobile service to Cut Bank Chalets; a rate of
$5.00 for the round trip is made for a minimum of 4 fares.
Launch rates are as follows:--
Between chalets on St. Mary Lake $.75
Between points on Lake McDonald .75
Guides, saddle- and pack-horses can be secured from the Park
Saddle-Horse Company, at Glacier Park Station, Many Glacier Hotel,
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets, Glacier Hotel, and Lake McDonald at the
following rates:
_Per day_
Parties of 1 to 5 people:--
Saddle- and pack-horses, each $3.00
Guides, including horse and board 5.00
Parties of 6 or more people:--
Saddle- and pack-horses, each 3.00
Guides, including horse and board 3.00
Park rules require 1 guide for every 10 persons or fraction of 10.
Pack-horses are not needed for short one-day trips, but are necessary
for long trips of several days. One pack-horse will carry the dunnage
of 10 people.
All saddle-horses are required to be equipped with waterproof
slickers, which outfitters supply free.
Glacier National Park contains many beautiful camping-spots, and
camping tours independent of hotels or chalets are popular for
tourists who like to "rough it." The Park Saddle-Horse Company will
furnish complete outfits at following prices for trips of 10 or more
days:--
_Rates for complete camping tours_
_Cost per day per person_
1 person $25.00
2 persons 15.75
3 persons 12.65
4 persons 12.40
5 persons 11.30
6 persons 10.60
7 persons 10.00
8 persons 9.70
9 persons 9.60
10 persons or more 9.50
The above rates include the necessary guides, cooks, saddle-horses,
pack-horses, provisions, tents, cooking-utensils, stoves, and
everything except blankets. Tourists are advised to bring their own
blankets or bedding, or they can rent blankets from the outfitters at
$1.00 per pair.
The rates below are for the most popular trips that are taken. In all
cases meals and lodgings will be extra at the hotels, chalets, or
teepees at the regular rate:--
One-day trips:--
Glacier Park Hotel to Two Medicine Chalets by
automobile, and return $3.00
Glacier Park Hotel to Going-to-the-Sun Chalets by
automobile and launch, and return 8.50
Glacier Park Hotel to Mount Henry and return,
horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
Many Glacier Hotel to Iceberg Lake and return,
horseback 3.50
Many Glacier Hotel to Grinnell Lake and return,
afternoon trip, horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 3.50
Many Glacier Hotel to Grinnell Glacier and return,
horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
Many Glacier Hotel to Cracker Lake and return,
horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
Many Glacier Hotel to Granite Park Chalets and
return, horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.50
Many Glacier Hotel to Ptarmigan Lake and return,
horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 3.50
Many Glacier Hotel to Morning Eagle Falls and
return, horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
Many Glacier Hotel to Going-to-the-Sun Chalets
via Piegan Pass, horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
St. Mary Chalets to Red Eagle Lake and return,
horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets to Roe's Basin and return,
horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets to Sexton Glacier and
return, horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 3.50
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets to Gunsight Lake and
return, horseback (minimum 3 persons) 4.00
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets to Many Glacier Hotel
via Piegan Pass, horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
Head of Lake McDonald to Sperry Glacier and
Sperry Chalets and return, horseback (minimum,
3 persons) 4.00
Head of Lake McDonald to Lincoln Peak and return,
horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
Head of Lake McDonald to Avalanche Basin and
return, horseback (minimum, 3 persons) $4.00
Head of Lake McDonald to Snyder Lake and return,
horseback (minimum, 3 persons) 4.00
Two-day trips:--
Glacier Park Hotel to Many Glacier Hotel and St.
Mary and Going-to-the-Sun Chalets, and return,
automobile, and launch 14.50
Glacier Park Hotel to Two Medicine Chalets via
road or Mount Henry trail, and return (minimum,
3 persons) 8.00
Many Glacier Hotel to Granite Park Chalets and
return, horseback 8.00
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets to Glacier Hotel on Lake
McDonald, horseback (minimum, 5 persons) 8.00
Head of Lake McDonald to Going-to-the-Sun Chalets,
horseback (minimum, 5 persons) 8.00
Three-day trips:--
Glacier Park Hotel to St. Mary Chalets, Many
Glacier Hotel, Iceberg Lake, and Going-to-the-Sun
Chalets and return, automobile, horseback,
and launch 18.00
Glacier Park Hotel to Two Medicine Chalets,
Mount Morgan Pass, Cut Bank Chalets, Triple
Divide Peak, Red Eagle Lake, and St. Mary
Chalets, horseback (minimum, 5 persons) 13.25
St. Mary Chalets to Glacier Park Hotel, reverse of
preceding trip (minimum, 5 persons) 13.25
Four-day trip:--
Glacier Park Hotel to St. Mary Chalets, Many
Glacier Hotel, Iceberg Lake, Granite Park Chalets,
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets, St. Mary Chalets
and return to Glacier Park Hotel, automobile,
horseback, and launch 22.50
Five-day trips:--
Glacier Park Hotel to Many Glacier Hotel, Iceberg
Lake, Granite Park Chalets, Going-to-the-Sun
Chalets, St. Mary Chalets, and return to Glacier
Park Hotel, automobile, horseback, and launch 26.00
Glacier Park Hotel to Two Medicine Chalets,
Mount Morgan Pass, Cut Bank Chalets, Triple
Divide Peak, Red Eagle Lake, St. Mary Chalets,
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets, Piegan Pass, and
Many Glacier Hotel, horseback (minimum, 5
persons) $18.00
Many Glacier Hotel to Glacier Park Hotel, reverse
of preceding trip (minimum, 5 persons) 18.00
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets to Piegan Pass, Many
Glacier Hotel, Swift Current Pass, Granite Park
Chalets, Garden Wall Trail, Glacier Hotel on
Lake McDonald, Sperry Glacier, Sperry Chalets,
Gunsight Pass, and return to Going-to-the-Sun
Chalets (this trip cannot be taken until the
completion of the new trail over the Garden
Wall, about August 1, 1917; minimum, 5 persons) 20.00
Many Glacier Hotel over route described above
and return to Many Glacier (minimum, 5 persons) 20.00
Hotels at head of Lake McDonald over route
described above and return to head of Lake
McDonald (minimum, 5 persons) 20.00
Six-day trip:--
Glacier Park Hotel to St. Mary Chalets, Many
Glacier Hotel, Iceberg Lake, Granite Park
Chalets, Going-to-the-Sun Chalets, Sexton
Glacier, and return to Glacier Park Hotel;
automobile, launch, and saddle-horse 30.70
Seven-day trip:--
Glacier Park Hotel to Many Glacier Hotel, Iceberg
Lake, Granite Park Chalets, Cracker Lake,
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets, Sexton Glacier, and
return to Glacier Park Hotel, automobile,
saddle-horse, and launch 34.70
Points of Interest
_Miles_
Reached from Glacier Park Hotel:--
Mount Henry, trail 7
Reached from Two Medicine Chalets:--
Trick Falls, road 2
Upper Two Medicine Lake, trail or boat and trail 4
Bighorn Basin, trail 4
Dawson Pass, trail 6
Mount Henry, trail 4
Reached from Cut Bank Chalets:--
Red Eagle Lake, trail 16
Cut Bank Pass, trail 7
Triple Divide Peak, trail 8
Reached from St. Mary Chalets:--
Red Eagle Lake, trail 8
Red Eagle Pass and Glacier, trail 16
Reached from Going-to-the-Sun Chalets:--
Roe's Basin, poor trail 6
Sexton Glacier, trail 4
Piegan Pass, trail 12
Reached from Many Glacier Hotel:--
Appekung Basin, trail 4
Iceberg Lake, trail 7
Cracker Lake, trail 7
Grinnell Lake, trail 5
Footpath to Grinnell Glacier 2 miles from
Grinnell Lake.
Piegan Pass and Garden Wall, trail 10
Swift Current Pass, trail 7
Ptarmigan Lake, trail 7
Morning Eagle Falls 5
Reached from Glacier and Park Hotels at Head of Lake McDonald:--
Paradise Cañon, trail; 4 miles from Glacier Hotel,
2 miles from Park Hotel.
Avalanche Basin, trail; 9 miles from Glacier
Hotel, 7 miles from Park Hotel.
Trout Lake, trail; 8 miles from Glacier Hotel,
9 miles from Park Hotel.
Stanton Mountain, trail to the summit; 7 miles
from Glacier Hotel, 5 miles from Park Hotel.
Snyder Lake, trail; 4 miles from Glacier Hotel,
6 miles from Park Hotel.
The Glaciers
The most accessible glaciers are the Blackfeet and the Sperry, both of
which are on the trail leading from St. Mary Lake to Lake McDonald.
Blackfeet Glacier is 2 miles by trail from Gunsight Lake. This is the
largest glacier in the Park, having an area of 3 square miles. The
glacier is especially dangerous in the vicinity of the upper cascades.
Visitors are not allowed to go upon it unless accompanied by
competent guides, who should be supplied with ropes, belts, creepers,
alpenstocks, and emergency equipment. Each visitor to the glacier
should have an alpenstock or stout stick 6 or 7 feet long. The
alpenstock should be used to sound for blind crevasses, and in case a
person breaks through the ice the alpenstock should be thrown across
the crevasse in order to prevent a fall to the bottom.
Sperry Glacier is 2 miles by trail from Sperry Chalets. While the
trail is steep, horses may be used to the foot of the escarpment under
the south rim of the glacier; walking is recommended. The escarpment
may be climbed by means of an iron ladder bolted to the rock, or by
way of zigzag goat trails. Whichever method of ascent is attempted,
visitors should be accompanied by competent guides provided with
ropes. While this glacier is less broken than Blackfeet Glacier,
explorations should not be attempted without a guide.
Clothing and Other Equipment
As the most beautiful portions of Glacier Park are reached only by
traveling on horseback or afoot, it is imperative that the tourist
limit his equipment to the articles absolutely necessary for comfort.
Trunks and other heavy equipment should be left at Glacier Park
Station or Belton, as only one piece of baggage, weighing not over 20
pounds, is carried free on the automobile stages. As the altitude is
high, the tourist should be prepared for cool weather. The following
equipment is recommended: Woolen riding-breeches, flannel shirts,
medium- or light-weight woolen underwear, woolen army socks, good
walking-shoes, leggings or puttees, sneakers, gloves, saddle slicker,
and a felt hat (a hat is preferable to a cap for use in rainy
weather); a poncho or other waterproof coat should be taken if the
tourist is going to walk; slickers are provided with the horses. The
best equipment for a woman consists of flannel middy blouse, woolen
riding-breeches, woolen Boy Scout stockings, a man's felt hat, and the
other articles listed above. Women that object to the poncho because
of the difficulty in getting it over the head will find a Boy Scout
cape a good substitute.
Essential articles of clothing, including boots, shoes, haversacks,
slickers, blankets, camping equipment, provisions, etc., may be
purchased at commissaries at Glacier Park Station and at St. Mary and
Many Glacier Chalets. The Glacier Park Hotel Company, which operates
these commissaries, also makes a practice of renting, at a nominal
figure, slickers, riding-breeches, mackinaw coats, and other
overgarments.
Stores carrying a similar general line of articles most useful in
making Park trips are located at Belton, Montana, the western entrance
to the Park, and at Glacier Hotel (Lewis's), at the head of Lake
McDonald. A stock of clothing, general merchandise, and camp equipment
is carried at Adair's, on the Flathead River, about 2 miles south of
Logging Creek.
The Glacier Park Hotel Company operates a laundry at Glacier Park
Hotel, at which complete laundry facilities are provided for guests.
Tourists at Many Glacier Hotel, Many Glacier, St. Mary and
Going-to-the-Sun Chalets can, if they desire, have their laundry sent
out to Glacier Park Station.
Fishing
There is fine fishing in almost all the streams and lakes of Glacier
Park, the gamest fish being the cutthroat trout, also known as the
black-spotted and native. The rainbow, Dolly Varden, mountain, and
Eastern brook trout are also found in the waters of the Park. The best
fishing is in Two Medicine Lake and River, Cut Bank River, Red Eagle
Lake and Creek, St. Mary Lake and River and the tributary streams,
Cracker Lake, Cañon Creek, McDermott Lake, and tributary streams,
Swift Current River below McDermott Falls, McDonald Lake and Creek,
Avalanche, Bowman, Logging, Trout, and Arrow Lakes, and Flathead River
and its tributaries. The flies generally used are the black gnat,
professor, brown and gray hackle, royal coachman, queen of waters,
Jock Scott, and silver doctor. The trout rise to the fly during June,
July, and August; July and August being the best months. Early in June
and in September spinners with meat bait or salmon eggs are used.
Flies and tackle may be purchased at Glacier Park Hotel, Many Glacier
Hotel, and Glacier Hotel on Lake McDonald.
The Mackinaw or lake trout are found only in Lake St. Mary. They are
caught with a spoon or with a combination of spoon and bait, as they
seldom rise to the fly.
A fishing license is not required.
Mesa Verde National Park
Location: Southwestern Colorado. Area: 77 square miles. Season:
June 15 to September 15. Address of Supervisor: Mancos, Colorado.
Railroad Connections
MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK is on the narrow-gauge division of the Denver
& Rio Grande Railroad, and is best reached from Mancos, Colorado, 31
miles from the camp in the Park. Although this Park is farther from
the main transcontinental railroad lines than any of the other Parks,
the railroad route through the San Juan Mountains is one of great
scenic beauty. The routes and fares from Denver are as follows:--
Denver to Mancos via Alamosa, and Antonito, returning same route,
or returning via Telluride and Gunnison, $25.00.
Denver to Mancos via Alamosa and Antonito, returning via Durango,
Silverton, Ouray Toll Road, Ouray, Montrose, and Gunnison, $30.40.
The automobile fare from Mancos to the camp is $10.00 for the round
trip.
The trip from Denver to Mancos requires about 40 hours, one night
being spent on the road and one night in Durango, or Telluride, or
Montrose.
Passengers holding transcontinental tickets via Denver & Rio Grande
Railroad may obtain stopovers at Grand Junction on the standard-gauge
line, or at Montrose on the narrow gauge line, and make side trip to
Mancos at the following rates:--
Grand Junction to Mancos and return via Telluride, $23.30.
Montrose to Mancos and return via Telluride, $18.90.
Passengers holding transcontinental tickets via Denver & Rio Grande
Railroad may make the trip between Denver and Grand Junction by way of
Mancos on payment of $20.00 additional.
Automobile Routes
From Denver the best route is by way of Colorado Springs, Pueblo,
Walsenburg, Alamosa, South Fork, Durango, and Mancos; distance, about
400 miles. Permit for an automobile costs 50 cents for a single trip
or $2.00 for the season. The speed limits range from 10 to 15 miles
per hour.
Camp
There is only one camp in Mesa Verde National Park, at Spruce Tree
House. This camp is maintained by O. L. Jeep, and the rates are $3.00
per day. Guides and camping outfits may be obtained at Mancos.
Trips
There are no regular tours in this Park, as trips to the ruins are
made on foot from the camp near Spruce Tree House. The distance to the
important ruins are as follows:
_Distance and direction_
Spruce Tree House 1/4 mile W.
Cliff Palace 2 miles S.E.
Balcony House 2-1/2 miles S.E.
Community House 2 miles S.E.
Poole Cañon 4 miles S.
Peabody House 3 miles S.W.
Long House 2-3/4 miles S.W.
Tunnel House 6 miles S.
Sun Temple 2 miles S.
The three principal ruins are Spruce Tree House, Cliff Palace, and Sun
Temple.
Clothing
Ordinary clothing may be worn, as there are no extended trips or hard
climbs. As the nights are cool, a sweater or light overcoat will be
convenient. As the auto stages carry only 50 pounds of baggage free,
arrangements should be made to store all heavy pieces at Mancos. Such
pieces may be taken to the Park by special arrangements with the auto
stage company.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Location: North-central Colorado. Area: 358 square miles. Season:
June 1 to October 1. Address of Supervisor: Estes Park, Colorado.
Railroad Connections
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK is the easternmost of the great scenic
Parks and the most accessible to persons in the East, as its eastern
border is only a few hours from Denver.
The town of Estes Park, which is just east of the National Park, and
which is the starting-place for all points in the eastern portion of
the Park, may be reached from Denver by automobile or by train and
automobile. The trip may be made by motor in one direction and by
railroad and automobile in the other. The fare is $9.60 for the round
trip by any of the routes. The railroad routes are by the Union
Pacific to Fort Collins or Greeley, thence by automobile; by the
Colorado & Southern to Boulder, Loveland, Longmont or Fort Collins;
and by the Burlington by way of Longmont or Lyons. The western portion
of the Park may be reached from Granby, on the Denver & Salt Lake
Railroad. Round trip from Denver, $8.10. From Granby stages run to the
town of Grand Lake, which is just outside the Park. Round trip fare
from Granby, $3.50.
Tourist rates to Denver are as follows: From Chicago, $32.50; from St.
Louis, $27.50.
Automobile Routes
From the Lincoln Highway the best route is by way of Greeley and
Loveland. Distances: Cheyenne to Greeley, 55.2 miles; Greeley to
Estes Park, 54.5 miles. There are two routes from Denver--via Longmont
and Lyons, 69.3 miles, and via Boulder, Boulder Cañon, and Lyons,
73.3. The best scenery is along the Boulder route.
[Illustration: MAP OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
Prepared by R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey
Eastern boundary corrected to include addition in 1917]
Hotels
All the hotels in the Park are along the eastern boundary near the
town of Estes Park; there are also other hotels outside the Park and
near the town. The camps within the Park and the rates are as
follows:--
Lawn Lake, Bradley & Patrick $3.25 a day
Bear Lake, A. E. Brown 2.50 a day
Glacier Basin, A. E. Sprague 2.50 a day
Fern Lodge, F. W. Byerly 2.50 a day
On Thompson River, Byerly and Rogers 2.50 a day
At timber line on trail to Long's Peak, Enos A. Mills 3.25 a day
The address of all these camps is Estes Park, Colorado.
The rates at the hotels near Estes Park are as follows:--
Brinwood Hotel $2.50 to $3.50 a day; $12 to $20 a week
Brown Tea Pot Inn $2 to $4 a day; $12 to $25 a week
Columbines Hotel $3 a day; $14 to $20 a week
Elkhorn Lodge $3 a day and up; $16 a week and up
Fall River Lodge $2.50 to $4 a day; $12 to $25 a week
Forks Hotel $2 a day; $10 a week
Hewes-Kirkwood Ranch $2 to $3 a day; $14 to $18 a week
Horizon Hotel $2 to $3 a day; $12 to $18 a week
Horseshoe Inn $2.50 to $4 a day; $12 to $25 a week
Hupp Hotel $3 a day; $12 to $15 a week
Lester Hotel $2.50 to $3.50 a day; $12 to $20 a week
Lewiston Hotel $3 to $5 a day; $20 to $35 a week
Long's Peak Inn $3.50 to $6.50 a day; $15 to $40 a week
Moraine Lodge $2.50 a day; $12 to $20 a week
Park Hotel $2 to $3.50 a day; $10 to $20 a week
Rockdale Hotel $2 to $3 a day; $11 to $20 a week
Stanley Hotel $4 a day and up
Stead's Ranch and Hotel $11 to $16 a week
The Crags $2.50 to $5 a day; $14 to $35 a week
The following hotels are at Grand Lake near the western boundary of
the Park:--
Lehman's Hotel $2.00 a day
Langles Hotel 2.00 a day
Kauffman House 2.50 a day
Narwata Hotel 2.50 a day
The Rapid Hotel 2.50 a day
Trips
There are no scheduled trips in this Park and special arrangements
must be made. Horses cost $2.50 a day. The most important trips are
the following:--
_Miles_
From Estes Park to
Hallett Glacier 11.25
Lawn Lake 8.8
Specimen Mountain 20.2
Fern Lake 10.25
Sprague Glacier 13.5
Bear Lake 8.5
Black Lake 12.0
Flat-Top Mountain 11.2
Loch Vale 10.5
Glacier Gorge 10.2
Long's Peak 15.5
Chasm Lake 13.4
From Grand Lake to
East Inlet (Lake Verna) 7.5
Flat-Top Mountain 12.5
Specimen Mountain 16.5
Nanita Lake 8.25
Fishing
There is good fishing for native, Eastern brook, and rainbow trout in
the lower portions of all the streams and in some of the lakes,
although the fish are small. The best lakes are Lawn, Fern, and
Odessa. Early in the season during high water the fish will take worms
only. The flies generally used later are the coachman, royal
coachman, brown hackle, and gray hackle. Grasshoppers are used when
they can be obtained. Fishermen must obtain Colorado fishing license
costing $1 for residents of the State and $2 for non-residents.
Licenses may be obtained in Estes Park.
The Grand Cañon
Location: Northern Arizona. Area of reservation: 1260 square
miles. Season: Throughout the year. Address of Supervisor of
Tusayan National Forest: Williams, Arizona.
Railroad Connections
THE GRAND CAÑON is reached by a branch line of the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fé Railroad extending from Williams, Arizona, to Grand Cañon
Station, almost at the edge of the plateau. The round-trip excursion
fare from Williams is $7.50; stopovers being allowed on both railroad
and Pullman tickets. Some trains carry through sleeper to the Cañon.
Round-trip fares are as follows: From Chicago, $80.00; from St. Louis,
$72.00; from Kansas City, $60.00; from Denver, $55.00.
Automobile Routes
The Grand Cañon may be reached by automobile from Flagstaff and
Williams. Westbound tourists turn north at Flagstaff, reach the Cañon
at Grand View Hotel, follow the rim to El Tovar, and reach the main
road at Williams. Distances: Flagstaff to Grand View, 71.5 miles;
Grand View to El Tovar, 13.2 miles; El Tovar to Williams, 63.4 miles.
Hotels and Camps
El Tovar is located at the railroad terminus, not far from the head of
Bright Angel Trail. Rates are $4.00 and $4.50 a day, without bath, and
$6.00 and upwards a day, with bath. Bright Angel Cottages, adjacent
to the hotel, are operated on the European plan, and rates for rooms
are $1.25 to $1.50 a day; meals may be obtained à la carte at the
café. In summer several large tents are used in addition to the
cottages.
Trips
As the Grand Cañon is not a National Park there is no way to license
the individuals offering horses for hire. Tourists are advised to
arrange with the transportation department of El Tovar Hotel for all
trips into and near the Cañon. By doing this the tourist is assured of
good service and responsible guides.
A fine road has been built along the rim of the Cañon from El Tovar
Hotel westward for about 7-1/2 miles to the head of the Hermit Trail.
There is also a road running 2 miles eastward along the rim from El
Tovar to Yavapai Point. A third road runs eastward 13 miles to Grand
View; the western half of this road is through the forest, while the
eastern end is along the Cañon rim. There are three trails into the
Cañon--Bright Angel Trail, starting near El Tovar Hotel; Hermit Trail,
starting 9 miles to the west, and Grand View Trail, 13 miles to the
east.
The following trips by coach are made daily from El Tovar:--
To Hopi Point on Hermit Rim Road, 2 miles to the west and return:
10 A.M. and 2 P.M., $1.00; sunset trip, $1.50.
To Mohave Point on Hermit Rim Road, 3 miles to the west and
return: 9 A.M. and 2 P.M., $2.00. Hopi Point is passed on this
drive.
To head of Hermit Trail on Hermit Rim Road, 7-1/2 miles to the
west and return: 9 A.M. and 2 P.M., $3.00. Stops are made _en
route_ at Hopi, Mohave, and Pima Points. From October 1 to May 1,
the afternoon trip starts at 2.30, and the rate is $4.00 on
account of the additional time spent at Hopi Point to view the
sunset.
To Yavapai and Grandeur Points, 2 miles to the east: 10.15 A.M.,
$1.00
Bright Angel Trail starts near El Tovar Hotel and extends to the
river, 7 miles distant. There is also a branch leading to the plateau
at the top of the granite wall, 1272 feet above the river. There are
three distinct trips made on the Bright Angel Trail: To the river,
8.30 A.M., round trip, $5.00; to the Plateau, 10.30 A.M., round trip,
$4.00; to the river and Plateau, 8 A.M., round trip, $6.00. If less
than three persons make the trip, there is an additional charge of
$5.00 for a guide for the party. All three trips are made on muleback,
accompanied by a guide, and each trip requires an entire day.
Hermit Trail is a new path that extends from Hermit Rim Road to the
Colorado River. At present horses can be used only as far as Hermit
Camp on the plateau at the head of the granite wall, but there is a
footpath from the camp to the river. The following trips may be made
to points on the Hermit Trail:--
One-day trip:--
El Tovar to Santa Maria Spring on Hermit Trail, round
trip $7.00; guide extra.
Two-day trip:--
El Tovar to Hermit Camp, round trip $15.00, which includes
guide, horse, accommodations, and supper, breakfast and
lunch at camp. The return trip may be made by way of
Bright Angel Trail for $7.00 additional for each person.
Boucher Trail is west of and opposite Hermit Trail. This trip is on
horseback or by wagon on the Hermit Rim Road as far as the head of
Hermit Trail, then on horseback to Boucher Trail and down that trail
to Boucher's Camp at Dripping Springs, 900 feet below the rim. The
Boucher Trail continues to the river, but it is not possible to make
the round trip to a point farther than Dripping Springs, when lunch is
eaten: El Tovar to Dripping Springs and return, $4.00 each for three
or more persons; if there are less than 3 persons, an extra charge of
$5.00 is made for a guide.
The following regular trips may be made by automobile:--
Grand View, 13 miles, 9.30 A.M. and 2 P.M., round trip
$4.00.
Desert View, 32 miles, 8 A.M., $30.00 for one to three persons;
each person over three, $10.00 additional.
Many camping trips into the Cañon and along the rim may be taken if
time is available. From October to April, camping should be confined
to the Cañon itself, but from April to October camping trips may be
planned to include both the rim region and the Cañon. The rates for
camping trips range from $10.00 to $15.00 a day for one person with
$6.00 to $8.00 a day extra for each additional person. The rates
quoted are for guides, animals, and camp equipment: Three-day trip
down Hermit Trail and up Bright Angel Trail, distance 34 miles, rate
$14.00 a day for one person, $8.00 a day extra for each additional
person. Provisions are extra.
Another three-day trip is to the Havasupai Indian Village in Cataract
Cañon. The distance is about 50 miles in each direction, 35 miles by
wagon and 15 miles on horseback. The round trip from El Tovar costs
$15.00 a day for one person and $5.00 a day extra for each additional
member of the party. These rates include all services as well as horse
feed, but do not include provisions or lodging at the village for
members of party and guide, for which an additional charge of $2.00 a
day is made. For parties of 3 to 6 persons an extra guide is needed at
an additional cost of $5.00 a day, besides his board and lodging at
the Indian Village.
A three-day trip may be made by way of Bright Angel and Boucher
Trails, a total distance of 52 miles. The route follows Bright Angel
Trail to the Plateau, which is followed westward for 30 miles along
the Tonto Trail. Camp is made on Monument Creek the first night and on
Hermit Creek the second night. The return is made by Boucher Trail to
the rim of the Cañon. The rate for this trip is $12.00 a day for one
person and $6.00 extra for each additional person; guide and camp
equipment are included, but provisions are extra.
A trip by way of Bright Angel and Grand View Trails, a distance of 55
miles, may be made in three days. This route follows Bright Angel
Trail to the Plateau, which is followed eastward for 30 miles along
the Tonto Trail. The return is made by way of Grand View Trail to the
rim and then to El Tovar. The rates for this trip are $12.00 a day for
one person and $6.00 a day extra for each additional person; guide and
camp equipment are furnished, but provisions are extra.
An easy two-day trip is the one to Desert View, 32 miles east of El
Tovar, by wagon. On this trip Grand View Point is passed and camp is
made on the rim at Desert View 16 miles beyond Grand View Point. The
rate is $10.00 a day for one person, and $5.00 a day extra for each
additional person; guide and camp equipment are furnished, but
provisions are extra.
Clothing
No special equipment is required unless the tourist expects to indulge
in tramping or camping. For the one-day trips ordinary clothing will
suffice, as women's divided skirts, men's overalls, linen duster, and
straw hats may be rented at El Tovar Hotel. If much tramping is to be
done appropriate shoes should be worn.
Lassen Volcanic National Park
Location: Northern California. Area: 124 square miles. Season:
June 1 to September 30. Address of Forest Supervisor temporarily
in charge of Park: Red Bluff, California, October 16 to May 14;
Mineral, California, May 15 to October 15.
Railroad Connections
The best routes to Lassen Park region are from Red Bluff on the San
Francisco-Portland line of the Southern Pacific, from Fernley, Nevada,
on the San Francisco-Ogden line of the Southern, and from Keddie, on
the main line of the Western Pacific. Stopovers may be obtained on
through tickets reading through these places. The best stopping-place
is Drakesbad, which is near the base of Lassen Peak. The round-trip
fare from San Francisco to Red Bluff is $6.00; from that point the
route is by automobile stage, 72 miles, to Drakesbad; stage fare,
$15.00 for round trip. From Fernley, Nevada, a side trip to Westwood
via Susanville may be obtained for $6.85 for the round trip. From
Westwood the route is by automobile stage 35 miles to Drakesbad; stage
fare, $6.00 for round trip. Westwood may also be reached from San
Francisco; round trip, $20.00. There is a through sleeper from San
Francisco to Susanville, where direct connection is made with train to
Westwood. Keddie, on the Western Pacific, is 71 miles from Drakesbad;
there is no regular stage line. Round-trip fare from San Francisco to
Keddie is $12.25. The Park may be reached also from Redding, on the
San Francisco-Portland line of the Southern Pacific, but there are no
hotels or camps on this route within less than 15 miles of the Park;
this route is feasible only for campers.
Automobile Routes
The Park is reached from Red Bluff on the main highway between San
Francisco and Portland. Red Bluff is 260 miles from San Francisco and
72 miles from the Park.
Hotels and Camps
The only stopping-place within the Park is at Drakesbad, where there
is a camp. Rates are $3.00 to $3.50 a day. South of the Park
accommodations may be secured at Lee's Camp at Chester, 12 miles from
Lassen Peak, 70 miles from Red Bluff, 27 miles from Westwood; rates
$2.00 a day.
Trips
There are no scheduled trips in this Park; there has not been time to
develop this class of service. Guides and horses may be obtained at
Drakesbad for $2.50 a day. The most important trip is to the volcano
of Lassen Peak, 7 miles from Drakesbad. Another interesting trip is to
Cinder Cone, Snag Lake, and Twin Lake; distance, 22 miles for the
round trip.
Other trips are as follows: Boiling Lake, 1 mile; Devil's Kitchen,
1-1/2 miles; Bumpas Hell, 6 miles.
Fishing
There is good trout-fishing in Grassy and Snag Lakes. The fishing is
much better in the region south of the Park, especially in Feather
River, near Chester; Warner Creek; Mill Creek, near Morgan Springs;
Battle Creek, near Mineral; and in Lake Alamanor. The flies generally
used are royal coachman, brown and gray hackle, dusty miller, salmon
fly, queen of the waters, black gnat, and professor.
A fishing license is required for all persons over 18 years of age.
The fee for resident of California is $1.00; for non-residents, $3.00.
Licenses may be obtained from the Supervisor at Red Bluff.
Hawaii National Park
Location: On Hawaii and Maui islands, Territory of Hawaii. Area:
118 square miles. Season: Throughout the year.
THE HAWAII NATIONAL PARK consists of two tracts on the island of
Hawaii and one tract on the island of Maui. The tracts on the island
of Hawaii include the volcano of Mauna Loa and the active crater of
Kilauea on the slope of Mauna Loa. The tract on the island of Maui
includes the extinct volcanic crater of Haleakala.
Mauna Loa and the crater of Kilauea are reached from Hilo, a town of
10,000 inhabitants, which is 192 miles by sea from Honolulu.
The crater of Kilauea is at an altitude of 4000 feet and is easily
reached by automobile. As Kilauea is more active and more accessible
than Mauna Loa, it is visited more frequently than the peak, which has
an altitude of 13,675 feet. The distance from Hilo to Kilauea is 31
miles.
There is steamship service twice a week between Hilo and Honolulu.
Tourists may leave Honolulu Wednesday morning, arrive at Hilo Thursday
morning, and reach Kilauea by noon. The return may be made to Hilo
early Friday morning in time to catch the steamer, which leaves at 10
o'clock, and which arrives in Honolulu early Saturday morning. The
steamer also leaves Honolulu Saturday afternoon and reaches Hilo
Sunday morning. It leaves Hilo on the return trip Monday afternoon and
reaches Honolulu Tuesday morning.
The Interisland Steamship Company sells coupon tickets from Honolulu
to Kilauea and return, including automobile trip and hotel
accommodations at the following rates:--
3 days $28.50 and $30.00
6 days $37.80 and $45.00
9 days $49.00 and $58.00
There are 2 hotels at the crater: Volcano House, $6.00 a day; and
Crater Hotel, $3.50 a day.
Another route is by steamer from Honolulu to Kailua or Honuapo, thence
by automobile to the crater, 101 miles from Kailua; 36 miles from
Honuapo. The return to Honolulu may be made by the same route or by
way of Hilo. Three-day trips cost from $34.50 to $36.00.
The trip to the summit of Mauna Loa is made from the crater of Kilauea
and requires 4 days. It is necessary to make special arrangements for
this trip. Full information may be obtained at the office of the
Hawaii Promotion Committee in Honolulu. As the summit is nearly 14,000
feet above the sea and the trip is made on horseback and on foot, it
should be undertaken only by those physically qualified.
The extinct volcano of Haleakala (elevation 10,032 feet) is best
reached from Lahaina, on the island of Maui; time from Honolulu to
Lahaina, 6 hours; distance 75 miles; fare $5.00 in each direction.
From Lahaina the route is by automobile to Wailuku and Olinda, thence
on horseback to the summit. The cost of the trip is as follows:--
Automobile, Lahaina to Wailuku in each direction:--
1 passenger $4.00
2 or 3 passengers, for party 5.00
4 to 6 passengers, each person 1.50
Automobile, Wailuku to Olinda, round trip:--
1 to 3 passengers, for party 20.00
4 to 6 passengers, for party 25.00
Horses, guide and blankets:--
Each horse 7.50
Guide 5.00
Blankets at Rest House 1.00
Time required to make the ascent and descent is as follows:--
_Hours_
Auto from Lahaina to Wailuku 1-1/4
Ascent by automobile from Wailuku to Olinda 3-1/2
Ascent on horseback from Olinda to Rest House at Summit 3-1/2
Descent on horseback from Rest House to Olinda 3
Descent by automobile from Olinda to Wailuku 2
Auto from Wailuku to Lahaina 1-1/4
As the crater of Haleakala is seen at its finest at sunrise and
sunset, the best way to view it is to leave Wailuku in the afternoon,
spend the night at the summit, and return the next morning. The
automobile waits over night at Olinda for persons wishing to spend the
night on the summit.
The hotels at Wailuku are the Maui, $3.00 to $4.00; the Wailuku,
$2.50; and the Grand, $3.50 and $4.00. At Lahaina the only hotel is
the Pioneer, $2.75.
The visitor to the crater of Kilauea will need only an overcoat in
addition to the light summer clothing worn at sea-level throughout the
year. For trips to the summits of Mauna Loa and Haleakala, the visitor
should wear woolen underwear and other warm clothing.
There is no fishing in the Hawaii National Park, but there is
excellent surf and deep-sea fishing along the coast of the islands.
Honolulu is reached in 6 days from San Francisco; fare, $65.00 and
upward in each direction.
Mount McKinley National Park
This Park is in south-central Alaska and includes Mount McKinley, the
highest mountain in North America, and the surrounding country. The
Park was created by the act of February 26, 1917, and as the region is
unsettled and undeveloped, there are no roads or accommodations for
tourists. The Park may be reached by a 150-mile trip by means of a
pack-train from Nenana or Fairbanks in the interior of Alaska. Guides
and outfits can probably be secured from the Northern Commercial
Company, Fairbanks, Alaska. The government railroad will pass near the
eastern border of the Park, but the road will probably not be operated
to a point near the Park until the summer of 1919.
Hot Springs of Arkansas
Location: Central Arkansas. Area: 911 acres. Season: Throughout
the year. Address of Supervisor: Hot Springs, Arkansas.
HOT SPRINGS is reached by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the St.
Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, and the Memphis, Dallas & Gulf
Railroads. There is through sleeping-car service from St. Louis and
Memphis.
The Reservation is immediately adjacent to the city of Hot Springs,
which has a population of about 14,000 and which is a municipality and
is not under government control.
The only hotel on the Reservation is the Arlington, where the rates
are $5.00 a day and upward. There are hotels of every class in the
city, the principal ones being the Eastman, Majestic, Moody, and Como.
Some of the bathhouses are on the Reservation and some are in the
city, but the water is the same in all, the range in prices being due
to the equipments and accommodations provided. The rates are as
follows:--
_Scale of Rates for Baths at Different Bathhouses receiving Water
from the Hot Springs Reservation_
_Bathhouse_ _Single baths_ _Course of 21 baths_
Arlington $0.65 $12.00
Fordyce 0.65 12.00
Buckstaff 0.60 11.00
Maurice 0.60 11.00
Imperial 0.55 10.00
Eastman 0.55 10.00
Majestic 0.55 10.00
Hale 0.50 9.00
Moody 0.50 9.00
St. Joseph's Infirmary 0.50 9.00
Superior 0.50 9.00
Lamar 0.45 8.00
Rector 0.45 8.00
Rockafellow 0.45 8.00
Ozark Sanatorium 0.45 8.00
Magnesia 0.40 7.00
Ozark 0.40 7.00
Alhambra 0.40 7.00
Pythian Sanatorium (colored) 0.25 4.00
Visitors are advised not to take the baths without the advice of a
physician, as the waters are not beneficial in all diseases and in
some are harmful. Visitors should not patronize doctors who are
recommended by unknown or irresponsible persons, as in the past there
has been considerable soliciting on behalf of certain physicians. A
list of registered doctors may be consulted at the office of the
Supervisor of the Reservation.
Golf and horseback riding are the favorite forms of exercise. Visitors
from the North should bear in mind that spring is a little earlier in
this region and that fall is a little later.
Minor National Parks
CASA GRANDE RUIN
Location: Southern Arizona. Area: 480 acres. Season: Throughout
the year. Address of Custodian: Florence, Arizona.
This Reservation is situated near the left bank of the Gila River
about 12 miles from Florence, Arizona. It can be conveniently reached
by carriage either from the town of Florence or from Casa Grande
Station on the Southern Pacific Railroad. The route to the ruin via
Florence is slightly shorter than that from Casa Grande Station,
enabling one to make the visit and return in a single day. There is a
hotel and a livery stable in each town, but the visitor should provide
for his own refreshment at the ruin.
WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK
Location: Southwestern South Dakota. Area: 16 square miles.
Season: Throughout the year. Address of supervisor: Wind Cave, via
Hot Springs, South Dakota.
This Park is about 12 miles from Hot Springs, South Dakota, on a
branch line of the Chicago & Northwestern and the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy Railroads. The fare from Hot Springs to the Cave and return
is $2.50.
There are no hotels or camps in the Park, but ample accommodations may
be obtained at the town of Hot Springs. The only attractions of the
Reservation are the Cave and the buffalo in the game preserve.
Visitors are permitted to enter the Cave at 9 A.M. and 2 P.M. A
charge of 50 cents is made for entrance to the Cave, the trip being
made under the supervision of guides provided by the Government.
PLATT NATIONAL PARK
Location: Southern Oklahoma. Area: 848 acres. Season: Throughout
the year. Address of Supervisor: Sulphur, Oklahoma.
This Park is immediately adjacent to Sulphur, a city of 3600
inhabitants, on branch lines of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé and
the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroads. There are no hotels in the
Park, but accommodations may be obtained in Sulphur. There are no
scenic features to attract the visitors from a distance.
SULLY'S HILL PARK
Location: Northeastern North Dakota. Area: 780 acres. Address of
Supervisor: Fort Totten Indian School, Devil's Lake, North Dakota.
This Park may be reached from Devil's Lake, about 10 miles distant, on
the Great Northern Railway. There are no hotels or camps within the
Reservation and the tract is entirely undeveloped. There are no scenic
attractions.
National Monuments
The National Monuments are generally not developed and there are no
regular camps or established transportation rates. The name of the
custodian is given if one has been appointed. If there is no custodian
the railroad agents can generally give information regarding persons
who will furnish transportation.
BANDELIER, NEW MEXICO. Area: 22,075 acres. The Reservation is 18 miles
northwest of Santa Fé and is near Buckman Station on the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad. The Custodian is the Supervisor of the
Santa Fé National Forest, Santa Fé, New Mexico.
BIG HOLE, MONTANA. Area: 5 acres. Nearest railroad station is Divide,
Montana, thence by stage 45 miles to Gibbon, Montana, which is near
the Reservation.
CABRILLO, CALIFORNIA. Area: 21,910 square feet. On Point Loma, within
the military reservation at Fort Rosecrans, which is 6 miles from San
Diego and which may be reached by electric railway.
CAPULIN MOUNTAIN, NEW MEXICO. Area: 680 acres. Six miles southwest of
Folsom on the Colorado & Southern Railway and 3 miles north of Dedham
on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway. The Custodian is Mrs. H.
W. Jack, Folsom, New Mexico.
CHACO CAÑON, NEW MEXICO. Area: 20,629 acres. Sixty-five miles south of
Farmington on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, 75 miles north of
Gallup, and 65 miles north of Thoreau, on the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fé Railway.
COLORADO, COLORADO. Area: 13,883 acres. Near Grand Junction, Colorado,
on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The Custodian is John Otto,
Fruita, Colorado.
DEVIL POSTPILE, CALIFORNIA. Area: 800 acres. May be reached from Laws
on the Southern Pacific Railroad, then by stage to Mammoth, and by
saddle-horse to the Monument. The Custodian is the Supervisor of
Sierra National Forest, Northfork, California.
DEVIL'S TOWER, WYOMING. Area: 1152 acres. Near Tower, Wyoming, which
is 32 miles from Moorcroft on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Railroad.
DINOSAUR, UTAH. Area: 80 acres. May be reached from Mack, Colorado, on
the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, then 65 miles by railroad to Watson,
then 72 miles via Vernal by automobile.
EL MORRO, NEW MEXICO. Area: 160 acres. Forty miles from Thoreau and 55
miles from Gallup on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway.
GILA, NEW MEXICO. Area: 160 acres. Fifty miles northwest of Silver
City, New Mexico, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway. The
Custodian is the Forest Supervisor, Gila National Forest, Silver City,
New Mexico.
GRAN QUIVIRA, NEW MEXICO. Area: 160 acres. Twenty-four miles from
Mountain Air, New Mexico, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway.
The Custodian is the Supervisor of the Manzano National Forest,
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
GRAND CAÑON. See pages 495-499.
JEWEL CAVE, SOUTH DAKOTA. Area: 1280 acres. Twelve miles from Custer,
South Dakota, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway. The
Custodian is the Forest Supervisor, Harney National Forest, Custer,
South Dakota.
LEWIS AND CLARK CAVERN, MONTANA. Area: 160 acres. Near Cavern,
Montana, on the Northern Pacific Railway. The Cavern is closed, as
there is no resident custodian. It is under the supervision of the
Chief of Field Division, U.S. Land Office, Helena, Montana.
MONTEZUMA CASTLE, ARIZONA. Area: 160 acres. Fifty-four miles from
Prescott, on the Santa Fé, Prescott & Phoenix Railroad.
MOUNT OLYMPUS, WASHINGTON. Area: 299,370 acres. The southern boundary
of the Monument is about 60 miles from Olympia, Washington, which may
be reached by railroad, steamer, or automobile from Seattle or Tacoma.
The Supervisor of the Olympic National Forest, Olympia, Washington,
will furnish information regarding best methods of reaching the many
points of interest.
MUIR WOODS, CALIFORNIA. Area: 295 acres. Eighteen miles from San
Francisco. It is reached by way of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad
to Mill Valley, thence by the Mill Valley & Muir Woods Railway. The
Custodian is Andrew Lind; address care of Chief of Field Division,
U.S. Land Office, San Francisco, California.
MUKUNTUWEAP, UTAH. Area: 15,840 acres. Nearest railroad station is
Lund on San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad. From Lund an auto
stage runs to Hurricane, 85 miles. At that place horses may be
obtained for the trip to the Reservation, which is 26 miles distant.
NATURAL BRIDGES, UTAH. Area: 2740 acres. The best route is from
Thompson's Station, Utah, on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, then 95
miles by stage to Monticello. At this point guides and equipment may
be hired for the trip (60 miles) to the bridges. Another route is from
Dolores, Colorado, on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, then 125 miles
via McElmo, Colorado, and Aneth and Bluff, Utah.
NAVAJO, ARIZONA. Area: 360 acres. Nearest railroad stations are
Flagstaff and Gallup, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad.
Both these places are about 125 miles from Kayenta, which is 24 miles
from the ruins. The Custodian is John Wetherill, Kayenta, Arizona.
OLD KASAAN, ALASKA. Area: 38 acres. May be reached by motor-boat from
Ketchikan, Alaska. The Custodian is the Forest Supervisor, Tongass
National Forest, Ketchikan, Alaska.
OREGON CAVES, OREGON. Area: 480 acres. Thirty-six miles from Grant's
Pass, Oregon, on the Southern Pacific Railway. The Custodian is the
Forest Supervisor, Siskiyou National Forest, Grant's Pass, Oregon.
PAPAGO SAGUARO, ARIZONA. Area: 2050 acres. Nine miles from Phoenix,
Arizona, on Santa Fé, Prescott & Phoenix Railroad.
PETRIFIED FOREST, ARIZONA. Area: 25,625 acres. There are three acres
of petrified logs, 2-1/2, 6, and 13 miles south of Adamana on the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway. The Custodian is Chester B.
Campbell, Adamana, Arizona.
PINNACLES, CALIFORNIA. Area: 2080 acres. Twelve miles from Soledad and
14 miles from Gonzales, on the Southern Pacific Railway.
RAINBOW BRIDGE, UTAH. Area: 160 acres. Sixty-five miles from Natural
Bridges National Monument.
SHOSHONE CAVERN, WYOMING. Area: 210 acres. Four miles from Cody,
Wyoming, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway.
SIEUR DE MONTS, MAINE. Area: 5000 acres. Two miles from Bar Harbor,
Maine. Custodian, George B. Dorr, Bar Harbor, Maine.
SITKA, ALASKA. Area: 57 acres. One mile from steam-boat landing at
Sitka.
TONTO, ARIZONA. Area: 640 acres. Forty miles from Globe, Arizona, on
the Arizona Eastern Railway. The Custodian is the Forest Supervisor,
Tonto National Forest, Roosevelt, Arizona.
TUMACACORI, ARIZONA. Area: 10 acres. Seventeen miles north of Nogales,
Arizona.
WALNUT CAÑON, ARIZONA. Area: 960 acres. Eight miles southeast of
Flagstaff, Arizona. The Custodian is the Forest Supervisor, Coconino
National Forest, Flagstaff, Arizona.
WHEELER, COLORADO. Area: 300 acres. Seventeen miles from Wagon Wheel
Gap, on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The Custodian is the Forest
Supervisor Rio Grande National Forest, Monte Vista, Colorado.
Canadian Parks
ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK
Location: Western Alberta. Area: 1800 square miles. Season: June
to October. Address of Superintendent: Banff, Alberta.
ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK is along the main line of the Canadian Pacific
Railway and has two gateways--Banff and Laggan (Lake Louise).
Excursion rate, round trip, Chicago to Banff, $60.30; to Lake Louise,
$63.10.
At Banff the principal hotel is the Banff Springs Hotel, 1-1/2 miles
from the station, operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway; rates,
$4.00 and upward. Other hotels in the town of Banff are the Alberta,
$2.50 and upward; the Alpine, $1.50, European plan; Grand View Villa,
$2.50 and upward; Hot Springs Hotel, $2.00 and upward; Mount Royal
Hotel, $2.50 and upward; King Edward Hotel, $2.50 and upward.
The popular carriage trips from Banff are given below. The lower rate
is for 2 or 3 persons, the higher rate for 4 or 5 persons:--
To Lake Minnewanka and return: 4-hour trip, $6.75 and $8.75;
9-hour trip, $9.00 and $15.00.
To Loop, Cave and Basin and Sun Dance Cañon and return: 4-hour
trip, $6.75 and $8.75.
To Tunnel Mountain, Buffalo Park, Cave and Basin and return:
4-hour trip, $6.75 and $8.75.
Guides may be obtained for $4.00 a day.
At Lake Louise the only hotel is the Château Lake Louise, 2-1/2 miles
from Laggan Station, operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company; rates $5.00 and upward. There is a small camp at Moraine
Lake, 9 miles from Lake Louise.
The principal short trips from Lake Louise are by carriage to Moraine
Lake, $2.50; or on horseback to Lakes Mirror and Agnes, $1.50; Mount
St. Piran, $3.00; Victoria Glacier, $2.00; Saddleback, $2.50;
Saddleback, Sheol Valley, and Lower Paradise Valley, $3.00; Ptarmigan
Lake, $3. Guides may be obtained for $4.00 a day and pack-horses for
$2.50 a day.
As there are no permanent camps in remote portions of this Park,
arrangements must be made for pack-animals and equipment. The Brewster
Transport Company, Banff, Alberta, will furnish complete outfits at
the following rates: $15.00 a day for one person; $25.00 a day for a
party of two; $10.00 a day for each person for a party of three or
more. This charge includes guide, cook, horses, tents, provisions, but
no blankets.
There is said to be good fishing for whitefish and cutthroat, lake,
brook, Dolly Varden, and bull trout.
YOHO PARK
Location: Western Alberta and eastern British Columbia. Area: 560
square miles. Season: June to October. Address of Superintendent:
Field, British Columbia.
YOHO PARK is reached from Field, on the main line of the Canadian
Pacific Railway. Excursion rate, round trip from Chicago, $64.70. The
following hotels are operated by the railroad company: Mount Stephen
House, at Field, $4.00 and upward; Emerald Lake Chalet, 7 miles from
Field, $4.00 and upward; and Takakkaw Falls camp, 11 miles from Field,
$4.00 a day.
The popular short trips from Field are listed below. The lower rate is
for 2 or 3 persons; the higher rate for 4 or 5 persons:--
To Emerald Lake and return: 4-hour trip, $6.00 and $7.50; 9-hour
trip, $9.00 and $15.00.
To Emerald Lake, one way: $3.00 and $5.00.
To Ottertail Bridge and return: $5.25 and $7.50.
To Takakkaw Falls and return: $9.00 and $15.00.
To Natural Bridge and return: $2.25 and $3.75 for first hour,
$1.50 and $2.50 for second hour, and $0.75 and $1.25 for
subsequent hours.
To Fossil Beds and return: horseback, $2.00 for each person.
Persons desiring to camp in this Park may obtain outfits from the
Brewster Transport Company, Field, British Columbia, at the same rates
given for Rocky Mountains Park.
GLACIER PARK
Location: Eastern British Columbia. Area: 468 square miles.
Season: June to October. Address of Superintendent: Field, British
Columbia.
GLACIER PARK is on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway and
is reached from Glacier Station. Excursion fare, round trip from
Chicago, $64.70. The Glacier House, $4.00 a day and upward, operated
by the railroad company, is at the station. The principal short trips,
made on horseback are as follows:--
Great Glacier and return $1.00
Asulkan Glacier and return 2.00
Marion Lake and return 1.50
Mount Abbot and return 3.00
Caves of Nakimu and return 3.00
Horses may be obtained for $3.00 a day, and guides for horseback trips
may be employed for $4.00 a day. Swiss guides for mountain-climbing
and glacier trips may be obtained for $5.00 a day. The guides provide
rope and ice axes, but the tourist must be equipped with stout shoes
and proper clothing. Persons desiring to camp in this park may obtain
outfits from S. H. Baker, Glacier, B.C.; the rates are about the same
as those quoted for camping trips in the Rocky Mountains Park.
JASPER PARK
Location: Western Alberta. Area: 4400 square miles. Season: June
to October. Address of Superintendent: Jasper Park, Alberta.
JASPER PARK may be reached from Jasper Station on the Grand Trunk
Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways. Excursion fare from Chicago,
round trip, $65.30.
The only established stopping-place is Jasper Park Camp, Lake Beau
Vert, 2 miles from Jasper Park Station. Rates, $3.00 a day or $18.00 a
week. The regular trips are to Pyramid Lake, $7.00 for 4 persons;
Maligne Cañon, $7.00 for 4 persons; Mount Fitzhugh, $5.00; and Goat
Mountain, $5.00. Saddle-horses may be obtained for $3.00 a day. Guides
cost $5.00 a day. Special arrangements for extended camping trips may
be made with Brewster and Moore, Otto Brothers, and Donald Phillips,
Jasper, Alberta.
REVELSTOKE PARK
Location: Eastern British Columbia. Area: 95 square miles. Season:
June to October. Address of Superintendent: Field, British
Columbia.
REVELSTOKE PARK is on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway
and is reached from Revelstoke Station. There is a hotel at the
station operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway (rates, $3.00 a day
and upward), and there are other hotels in the town of Revelstoke.
The principal short trip is by automobile to the summit of Mount
Revelstoke, 15 miles in each direction. Automobiles holding four
persons may be hired for $3.50 per hour. There are no hotels or
permanent camps in the Park; for extended trips arrangements must be
made with outfitters in Revelstoke.
WATERTON LAKES PARK
Location: Southern Alberta, immediately north of the United States
Glacier Park. Area: 423 square miles. Season: June to October.
Address of Superintendent: Waterton Mills, Alberta.
WATERTON LAKES VILLAGE is 60 miles from McLeod and 40 miles from
Pincher Creek on the Crowsnest Division of the Canadian Pacific
Railway. There is an automobile road from both places, but the longer
route from McLeod is said to be the better. There is also a wagon road
from the northern boundary of the United States Glacier Park to
Waterton Lakes Village. The only stopping-place at Waterton Lakes
Village is Hazzard's Hotel and Camp; rates $2.00 a day.
BUFFALO PARK
Location: Eastern Alberta. Area: 160 square miles. Season: June to
September. Address of superintendent: Wainwright, Alberta.
BUFFALO PARK is immediately south of Wainwright, on the Grand Trunk
Pacific Railway. There are two hotels in Wainwright--The Wainwright
and The Park--with rates of $2.50 a day. This Park has no special
scenic attraction, its chief feature of interest being the herd of
2400 buffalo. About 75 buffalo are kept in a paddock about two miles
from the town, but it is said that a large number may be seen in a
day's drive.
ELK ISLAND PARK
Location: Eastern Alberta. Area: 16 square miles. Address of
superintendent: Lamont, Alberta.
ELK ISLAND PARK is 3 miles south of Lamont on the Canadian Pacific
Railway. The nearest hotel is in the town of Lamont. The Park is
strictly an animal reservation and has no scenic features.
ST. LAWRENCE ISLANDS PARK
Location: Southern Ontario. Area: 140 acres. Season: May to
October.
ST. LAWRENCE ISLANDS PARK is located among the Thousand Islands of the
St. Lawrence River and consists of a number of small islands. It is
reached from Clayton, New York, on the New York Central Railroad, and
from Kingston, Ontario, on the Grand Trunk Railway. Some islands on
the New York side of the international boundary are owned by the State
of New York and maintained as public reservations. The principal
hotels in the Thousand Islands are at Clayton, Thousand Island Park,
and Alexandria Bay, all in New York.
FORT HOWE PARK
Location: Adjacent to the city of St. John, New Brunswick. Area:
19 acres. Season: Throughout the year.
FORT HOWE PARK was created solely for historic purposes and contains
an old fort, memorials of the Canadian Loyalists, and relics and
exhibits of the old French régime.
INDEX
INDEX
Adams, James Capen, 301.
Altitude, not harmful, 331, 333, 349.
Altyn Lake, 149, 150.
Amethyst Mountain, petrified forests in, 45-50.
Andrews Glacier, 180, 187.
Anemone, Western, 124.
Antelope, 306.
Arapahoe Peak, 330.
Artist Point, Yosemite, 452.
Aspen, 290.
Asulkan Glacier, 412.
Athabasca River, 252.
Augusta Bridge, 237.
Avalanche Basin, 149.
Avalanche Lake, 149.
Ballou, Sidney, quoted, 228.
Bandelier National Monument, 411, 510.
Banff, 254, 255.
Basket Dome, 69, 452.
Bear, black, color and habits, 304;
a bluffer, 304, 305.
Bear, grizzly, 341;
a tame grizzly, 301, 302;
characteristics, 302, 303;
food, 303;
hibernation, 304;
color, 305.
Bears, disposition spoiled by improper feeding, 315.
Beaver, 307, 308.
Beaver Lake, Alberta, 413.
Bertha Lake, 413.
Bidwell, Gen. John, 110.
Bierstadt, Albert, 187.
Bierstadt Moraine, 187.
Big Hole Battlefield, 411, 510.
Big Thompson River, 176.
Big Tree (_Sequoia gigantea_), 77, 78, 99, 100;
size, 104, 105;
groves, 104, 105;
age, 105, 106;
flowering and fruiting, 106;
habit, 106, 107;
bark, 107;
roots, 107;
durability, 107-09;
the most impressive living object, 109;
area not diminishing, 109;
of ancient stock, 110;
discovery, 110;
habitat, 110, 111;
effect on persons, 112-15;
thoughts suggested by, 286;
table of dimensions in Mariposa Grove, 451;
dimensions in Sequoia Park, 457.
Big Tuolumne Cañon, 93.
Bighorn. _See_ Sheep, mountain.
Bighorn Mountains, 404.
Birds, of Rocky Mountain National Park, 183, 184;
of the Grand Cañon, 197;
of the Olympic Mountains, 234, 235;
of the National Parks, 309-14;
mountain migration, 309, 310;
mating for life, 310, 311;
appear to desire human society, 313, 314.
Bison, 243, 261, 441, 519.
Blackfeet Glacier, 151, 157, 484, 485.
Blackfeet Indians, 15, 17-21, 157-59.
Boling, Capt. John, 94.
Bow River Valley, 412.
Bowman Lake, 149.
Brackenridge, Henry M., 22.
Bradbury, John, 22, 23.
Brett, Col. L. M., 58.
Bridal Veil Falls, 68, 85, 453.
Bridger, James, 24.
Bright Angel Cañon, 193.
Bright Angel Point, 193.
Bryant, William, 21.
Bryce, James (Lord Bryce), 122.
Buckwheat, wild, 124.
Buffalo, 243, 261, 441, 519.
Buffalo Park, 261, 413, 519.
Bunsen Peak, 440.
Burbank, Luther, quoted, 372, 373.
Cabrillo National Monument, 411, 510.
Cameron Falls, 413.
Camp-fire, the, 293, 294.
Canada, Dominion Parks of, description, 251-62;
creation and administration, 262, 263;
guide to, 515-20.
_Canoe and the Saddle, The_, quoted, 120, 121, 128, 358, 359.
Cañon de Chelly, 404.
Cañon of the Little Colorado, 193.
Cape Royal, 193.
Capulin National Monument, 409, 510.
Carbon Glacier, 133.
Caroline Bridge, 237.
Carter, T. H., 159, 160.
Casa Grande Ruin Reservation, description, 245, 246;
guide to, 508.
Cataract Cañon, 205.
Cathedral Lake, 92.
Cathedral Peak, 92.
Cathedral Rocks, 452.
Cathedral Spires, 68, 452.
Chaco Cañon, 405, 510.
Chasm Lake, 186.
Chittenden, Gen. Hiram M., 23, 37, 57;
quoted, 8.
Chouteau, Pierre, 21.
Cinder Cone, 216-18.
Clach-na-coodin Range, 412.
Claggett, William H., 5, 6.
Clark, Galen, 78, 96-98, 105.
Clark, William, 21, 22.
Clements, W. M., 159.
Cleveland Mountain, 150.
Cliff Cañon, 173.
Cliff dwellers, of Mesa Verde, 163-74.
Clothing, for rainy days, 335;
for use in the Parks, 431.
Clouds' Rest, 68, 452.
Cole, Cornelius, 6.
Colorado National Monument, 408, 511.
Colorado River, and the Grand Cañon, 199-209.
Colter, John, 12-24.
Colter's Hell, 23.
Columbia Rock, 452.
Columbia's Crest, 135, 467.
Continental Divide, 186, 187, 436.
Cook, C. W., 25.
Cook Forest, 268.
Crater Lake, first impressions, 137, 138;
origin, 138, 139;
description, 140-45;
discovery, 145, 146;
trout-fishing, 146.
Crater Lake National Park, 137-47;
founding, 146;
location and area, 146;
proposed additions, 147;
in table, 401;
guide to, 470-74.
Cut Bank Pass, 158.
Cut Bank River, 156.
Dana Mountain, 65, 92.
Daniels, Mark, 278, 279.
Dawes, Henry L., 6.
Death Valley, 102.
Deer Mountain, 188.
_Desert, The_, by John C. Van Dyke, quoted, 209, 210.
Devil Postpile, 410, 511.
Devil's Lake, 244, 245.
Devil's Tower, 405, 511.
Diamond Lake, 147.
Diller, Joseph S., quoted, 142, 143, 219.
Dinosaur National Monument, 408, 511.
Dipper, _or_ water-ouzel, 313.
Doane, Lieut. Gustavus C., 25, 26.
Dock, white, 124.
Doty, James, 158.
Dunes, in Indiana, 268, 404.
Eagle Peak, Mt. Rainier, 464.
Eagle Peak, Yosemite, 88, 452.
Eagle Point, 137.
Echo Mountain, 180.
El Capitan, 68, 452.
El Morro National Monument, 405, 511.
El Tovar, 193.
Electric Peak, 357, 440, 441.
Electrical storm, 324-26.
Eliot, Charles W., 223;
quoted, 370.
Elk, 53, 305, 306.
Elk, Roosevelt, 234.
Elk Island Park, 261, 413, 520.
Emerald Lake, 257.
Emmons Glacier, 130, 131.
Equipment, 431, 432.
Erosion, in the Grand Cañon, 194, 198-206.
Estes Park, 176.
Eureka, Cal., 268.
Everts, Truman C., 58-64.
Fall River automobile road, 187.
Falls of the Yellowstone, 38, 41, 42.
Fern Lake, 187.
Fewkes, Dr. Jesse Walter, 171;
quoted, 167, 168, 268.
Fiddle Creek Cañon, 253.
Field, B. C., 258.
Firehole, 30.
Firehole River, 436.
Fisher, Walter L., 279, 280.
Fishing, 441-43, 454, 458, 469, 474, 486, 487, 493, 494, 501, 504, 516.
Flat-Top Mountain, 180, 187.
Flowers, of Yellowstone Park, 52;
of Yosemite Park, 79-83;
of Mt. Rainier, 122-30, 348;
of Rocky Mountain Park, 181, 182, 347;
of the Olympic Mts., 234;
of Rocky Mountains Park, Canada, 256;
of mountain-tops, 347, 348.
Folding Mountain, 253.
Folsom, David E., 25.
Forest, the, spirit of, 282-95. _See also_ Trees.
Forest Cañon, 187.
Forest reservations, 272-76.
Forests, petrified, 45-50.
Fort Howe Park, 262, 413, 520.
Fort Manuel, 14, 15, 16, 20.
Fort Totten, 244.
Fossils, 258, 412.
Franklin Pass, 101.
Fuller, Miss Fay, 121.
Fusillade Mountain, 155.
Garfield Grove, 457.
Gem Lake, 180, 188.
General Grant National Park, 99, 100, 105;
in table, 401;
guide to, 459.
Geysers, of Yellowstone Park, 26, 28-35, 438, 439.
Ghost River, 255.
Giant Forest, 105.
Giant Forest Grove, 457.
Gibbs Mountain, 65.
Gila Cliff Dwellings, 409, 511.
Glaciation, 351-55;
in Yosemite Park, 70-76;
in Sequoia Park, 102, 103;
at Crater Lake, 141, 142;
in Glacier National Park, 152.
Glacier Gorge, 186.
Glacier National Park, lakes, 148-50, 154, 155;
mountains, 150, 151, 155, 156;
glaciers, 151, 152, 155, 156;
game, 152, 153;
place-names, 153;
wild flowers, 153;
streams, 156, 157;
history, 157-60;
motor road to Waterton Lakes Park, 259;
in table, 402;
guide to, 475-87.
Glacier Park, Canada, 412, 517.
Glacier Point, Yosemite, 68, 88, 452.
Glaciers, of Mt. Rainier, 117, 118, 130-34;
of Glacier National Park, 151, 152, 155, 156, 484, 485;
of Rocky Mountain Park, 180;
of Mt. McKinley, 249;
speed, 352;
formation, 352, 353.
Glen Cañon, 191, 197.
Goat, mountain, 306, 307.
Going-to-the-Sun Mountain, 155, 358.
Gould Mountain, 150.
Gran Quivira, 407, 511.
Grand Cañon National Monument, 410.
Grand Cañon of the Colorado, proposed National Park, 190, 191;
first impressions, 191, 192;
views, 192, 193;
description, 193-95;
formation, 194, 198-206;
climate, 195, 196;
plant life, 196, 197;
animal life, 197;
history, 206-08;
books about, 209;
a land of form and of color, 210;
guide to, 495-99.
Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone, 38, 39, 41, 439, 440.
Grand Lake, 188.
Grand Mesa, 404.
Grand River, 188.
Grand Teton, 44, 266.
Grand View, 193.
Gray, Asa, quoted, 79.
Gray's Peak, 330.
Greeley, Horace, 112.
Grinnell, George Bird, and Yellowstone Park, 57;
and Glacier Park, 157-60;
quoted, 159, 160.
Grinnell Glacier, 150, 151.
Grinnell Lake, 150, 153.
Grinnell Mountain, 150.
Grizzly Giant, 77, 78, 104, 105, 451.
Grosvenor, Gilbert H., quoted, 100, 101.
Hague's Peak, 179.
Haleakala, 222, 227, 228, 503, 504.
Half Dome, 68, 452.
Hall, Harvey Monroe, and Carlotta Case Hall,
_A Yosemite Flora_, quoted, 82, 83.
Hallet Glacier, 180, 188.
Harris, Capt. Moses, 57.
Hauser, Samuel T., 26.
Hawaii National Park, location and area, 221, 222;
volcanoes, 221-29;
forests and birds, 228, 229;
views, 229;
origin, 229;
in table, 402;
guide to, 502-04.
Hayden, Dr. Ferdinand V., and the founding of Yellowstone Park, 5, 6;
quoted, 29, 178, 179.
Hayden Valley, 51.
Heart Lake, 36.
Heather, 125.
Hedges, Cornelius, 4, 5, 26;
quoted, 26.
Hellebore, 124.
Hetch-Hetchy Valley, 66, 74, 86, 88;
description, 89;
history, 95, 96.
Hill, L. W., 160.
Hillman, John W., 146.
Hilo, 225.
Honolulu, 222.
Hopi Point, 193.
Hot Springs Reservation, description, 246, 247;
in table, 400;
guide to, 506, 507.
Hunt, T. E., quoted, 240.
Hunting-contest, a, 297, 298.
Husted, S. N., 328.
Iceberg Lake, 149.
Illecillewaet Glacier, 412.
Illilouette Cañon, 69.
Illilouette Falls, 86, 453.
Indian Henry's Hunting Grounds, 123, 464.
Indians, and the Yellowstone region, 11, 12;
Colter's adventures with, 15, 17-21;
legend of Yosemite, 93, 94;
in Glacier National Park, 157-59;
tradition about Cinder Cone, 217;
legend of woman, 378.
Indian-turnip, 20.
Irving, Washington, 23.
Ives, Lieut., quoted, 206.
Jagger, Thomas A., quoted, 227.
James, Gen. Thomas, 23.
Jamez Plateau, 267.
Jasper, Alberta, 253.
Jasper Park, description, 252, 253;
in table, 413;
guide to, 518.
Jefferson River, 18-20.
Jepson, W. L., 106.
Jewel Cave, 410, 512.
Johnson, Robert Underwood, 94.
Kachima Bridge, 237.
Kautz Glacier, 134.
Kaweah River, 102.
Kent, William, 219, 406.
Kern River Cañon, 101.
Kickinghorse River, 258.
Kilauea, 222-24, 502, 504.
King, Clarence, 71, 102;
his _Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada_, 103.
King's River Cañon, 101.
Kolb, Ellsworth L., 209.
Koloma, 89.
Kuishan, 403.
La Charette, 23.
Laggan, 255.
Lake Bidwell, 217.
Lake Eva, 412.
Lake Louise, 256, 515, 516.
Lake MacArthur, 412.
Lake McDonald, 149.
Lake Minnewanka, 255.
Lake O'Hara, 412.
Lake Tenaya, 76.
Lakes, crater, 142.
Lakes in the Clouds, 412.
Lamar River, 46.
Lamon, John, 95.
Lamont, Alberta, 261.
Lane, Franklin K., 278.
Langford, Nathaniel P., 5, 6, 26, 56.
Lassen Peak, 211-16.
Lassen Volcanic National Park, location, area, and altitude, 211, 212;
origin, 212, 219;
description, 212-17;
Indian tradition, 217;
springs and streams, 217;
lakes, 217, 218;
trees, flowers, and animal life, 218, 219;
attractions, 219, 220;
in table, 402;
guide to, 500, 501.
Lava, 38, 39, 139-41, 204, 205, 213, 214, 216, 218;
a huge field of, 212, 213;
in Hawaii National Park, 223-29.
Lava Falls, 204, 205.
Leaning Tower, 452.
Lefroy Glacier, 412.
Lewis, Judge Robert E., decision quoted, 277, 278.
Lewis and Clark Cavern, 408, 512.
Lewis Lake, 36.
Liberty Cap, Mt. Rainier, 199.
Liberty Cap, Yosemite, 452.
Lily, Washington, 81.
Lincoln, Abraham, quoted, 112.
Lincoln National Park or Reservation, 411.
Lion, mountain, 309.
Lisa, Manuel, 13, 14.
Little Bridge, 237, 238.
Little Kootenai Creek, 156.
Little Yosemite Valley, 69, 73, 74.
Little Zion River Region, 239.
Loch Vale, 186.
Lodore Cañon, 205.
Logging Creek, 156.
Long's Peak, 178-81, 356, 357;
above a snowstorm on, 318, 319;
in a high wind, 320-22;
moonlight and sunrise on, 328-31;
timber-line on, 340, 341.
Los Molinos, 214.
Lost Creek, 214, 215.
Lost in the wilderness, 58-64, 337, 338.
Luray Caverns, 268.
McClurg, Mrs. Gilbert, 168.
McDermott Lake, 149.
McFarland, J. Horace, 276.
Maligne Lake, 253.
Mammoth Cave, 268.
Mammoth Hot Springs, 30, 31, 436.
Maple Creek Antelope Reserve, 413.
Marble Cañon, 191, 205.
Marion Lake, 412.
Mariposa Grove, 77, 78;
sizes of Big Trees, 451.
Marshall, Robert B., 279.
Mather, Stephen T., 96, 278, 279.
Matthes, François E., 71;
quoted, 120, 465-68.
Mauna Loa, 222, 224-27, 502-04.
Meadow Mountain, 179.
Menard, Pierre, 21.
Merced Grove, 77.
Merced River, 66, 67, 70.
Mertensia, 124.
Mesa Verde National Park, interest of, 161, 162;
location, area, and altitude, 162;
view from, 162;
ancient inhabitants, 163-67;
ruins, 167-74;
establishment, 168;
history, 169-71;
in table, 401;
guide to, 488-90.
Miette Springs, 253.
Mills Moraine, 186.
Mineral King, 101.
Mirror Lake, 93.
Mono Desert, 92.
Mono Lake, 92.
Monroe, Hugh, 158.
Montezuma Castle, 405, 512.
Moonlight, 326, 327;
ascent of Long's Peak by, 328, 329.
Morning-Glory Spring, 30.
Motorists, advice to, 432.
Mt. Adams, 235.
Mt. Assiniboine, 412.
Mt. Baker, 121, 403.
Mt. Cleveland, 358.
Mt. Cougar, 233.
Mt. Dana, 65, 92.
Mt. Evans, 403.
Mt. Everts, 63, 441.
Mt. Gibbs, 65.
Mt. Haleakala, 222, 227, 228, 503, 504.
Mt. Hoffman, 88, 91, 357.
Mt. Hood, 404.
Mt. Jackson, 151, 155.
Mt. Lady Washington, 186.
Mt. Lyell, 65, 357.
Mt. McGregor, 403.
Mt. McKinley, 248-50.
Mount McKinley National Park, description, 248-50;
in table, 402;
guide to, 505.
Mt. Mauna Loa, 222, 224-27, 502-04.
Mt. Mazama, 137-42.
Mt. Meany, 233.
Mt. Meeker, 178, 179.
Mt. Mitchell, 403.
Mt. Olympus, 232.
Mount Olympus National Monument, description, 230-35;
in table, 411;
guide to, 512.
Mt. Rainier, size and altitude, 116;
a volcano, 117, 119;
a source of inspiration, 120;
discovery and exploration, 120-22;
timber-line, 129;
glaciers, 130-34;
snowfall, 134, 135;
streams and erosion, 135, 136;
climbing, 356, 465-68.
Mount Rainier National Park, area, 116;
additions suggested, 117, 266;
roads and trails, 117, 118;
creation, 122;
wild-flower garden, 122-30, 348;
trees, 129, 130;
animal life, 130;
in table, 401;
guide to, 460-69.
_See also_ Mt. Rainier.
Mt. Revelstoke, 260.
Mt. Robson, 413.
Mt. St. Elias, 266.
Mt. St. Helens, 235.
Mt. Seattle, 233.
Mt. Shasta, 404.
Mt. Sheridan, 357.
Mt. Sir Donald, 412.
Mt. Stephen, 258.
Mt. Tahoma. _See_ Mt. Rainier.
Mt. Temple, 412.
Mt. Thielson, 147.
Mt. Washburn, 357.
Mt. Watkins, 69.
Mt. Whitney, 100, 101, 357, 358.
Mountaineers Club, 232.
Mountains, higher regions of, 340-51;
high peaks, 356-59.
Muir, John, 71, 87, 90, 103, 276, 313, 387;
quoted, 42, 43, 50, 69, 70, 89, 97, 110, 127, 190, 362;
his story of an Englishman at Yosemite, 94, 95;
and the Hetch-Hetchy fight, 95;
on the Big Tree, 108-10;
sketch of, 360-65.
Muir Grove, 457.
Muir National Park, proposed, 103.
Muir Woods, 406, 512.
Mukuntuweap Cañon, 239-41.
Mukuntuweap National Monument, description, 239-41;
in table, 406;
guide to, 512.
Muldrow Glacier, 249.
Mummy Lake, 174.
Mummy Range, 187.
Nakimu marble caves, 412.
National Academy of Science, 277.
National Monument, Mount Olympus, 230-35;
Mukuntuweap, 239-41;
Natural Bridges, 236-39;
Rainbow Bridge, 236-39.
_See also table and data_, 405-11, 510-14.
National Monuments, administration, 280, 281;
table of, 405-11;
data concerning the several, 510-14.
National Park, Casa Grande Ruin, 245, 246, 402, 508;
Crater Lake, 137-47, 401, 470-74;
General Grant, 99, 100, 105, 401, 459;
Glacier, 148-60, 402, 475-87;
Hawaii, 221-29, 402, 502-04;
Hot Springs, 246, 247, 400, 506, 507;
Lassen Volcanic, 211-20, 402, 500, 501;
Mesa Verde, 161-74, 401, 488-90;
Mount McKinley, 248-50, 402, 505;
Mount Rainier, 116-36, 401, 460-69;
Platt, 248, 402, 509;
Rocky Mountain, 175-89, 402, 491-94;
Sequoia, 99-115, 401, 455-58;
Sully's Hill, 244, 245, 402, 509;
Wind Cave, 242-44, 402, 508;
Yellowstone, 3-62, 400, 433-43;
Yosemite, 65-98, 401, 444-54.
National Park Mountain, 4.
National Parks, origin, 3, 4;
needs, 264;
advantages, 264, 265;
new Parks proposed, 266-69;
development needed, 269-72;
as distinguished from National Forests, 272-77;
importance of separate management, 277, 278;
administrative history, 278-80;
and the National Monuments, 280, 281;
as wild-life sanctuaries, 296-316;
physical, mental, and moral benefits from, 333, 334, 338;
immortal, 339;
educational value, 366-77;
our need of, 378-87;
table of, 400-02;
table of proposed Parks, 403, 404.
Natural Bridge, Yoho Park, 257.
Natural Bridges National Monument, description, 236-39;
in table, 407;
guide to, 513.
Navajo National Monument, 408, 513.
Nevada Falls, 86, 453.
Niagara Falls, 404.
Nisqually Glacier, 118, 131-33.
Nolen, John, 276;
quoted, 276.
Nonnezoshie Bridge, 238.
Nordenskjöld, Baron, 169.
North Carolina, 268.
North Dome, 69, 452.
North Specimen Mountain, 326.
Nyack River, 157.
Obsidian Cliff, 436.
Odel, Maud Gardner, poem, 374.
Odessa Lake, 187.
Ohanapecosh Valley, 465.
Old Inspiration Point, 452.
Old Kasaan National Monument, 513.
Olmsted, Frederic Law, quoted, 274, 275.
Olympic Mountains, 230-36.
Olympic National Monument. _See_ Mount Olympus National Monument.
Olympic National Park, proposed, 230, 236.
Oregon Caves, 410, 513.
Ottertail Range, 412.
Ottertail Valley, 412.
Owachomo Bridge, 237, 238.
Ozark Mountains, 403.
"Paint-Pots," in Yellowstone Park, 42.
Pajarito cliff cities, 403.
Panorama Point, 452.
Papago Saguaro National Monument, 408, 513.
Paradise Glacier, 133.
Paradise Park, 123, 131, 464-66.
Parsons, Edward T., 90.
Parsons Memorial Lodge, 90-93
Peak Success, 119.
Perdrix Mountain, 253.
Peterson, William, 25.
Petrified Forest National Monument, 408, 513.
Phantom Ship, 145.
Pierre's Hole, 15.
Pike's Peak, 330, 403.
Pine, lodge-pole, 52.
Pine, sugar, 78.
Pine, yellow, 78, 79.
Pinnacles National Monument, 406, 513.
Piute Indians, legend, 378.
Platt National Park, 248, 402, 509.
Point Sublime, 193.
Pollock, W. C., 159.
Pomeroy, Samuel Clarke, 6.
Porcupine, 307.
Potts, John, 17.
Poudre Lakes, 325.
Powell, Major John W., 206.
President Range, 412.
Prismatic Lake, 30.
Profile Cliff, 452.
Ptarmigan, 311, 312.
Puget Sound, 235.
Pulpit Rock, Yosemite, 452.
Punch-Bowl Falls, 253.
Pyramid Rock, 134.
Raeburn, D. L., 249.
Railroad routes and fares, 425-31.
Rainbow Bridge, 238.
Rainbow Bridge National Monument, description, 236-39;
in table, 407;
guide to, 514.
Rainier, Peter, 120.
Rainstorm, joy in a, 323, 324.
Raker, John E., 219.
Ramparts Ridge, 464.
Red Eagle Mountain, 155.
Red Eagle River, 156.
Redwood Meadow, 101.
Reservation, Casa Grande Ruin, 245, 246, 402, 508;
Hot Springs, 246, 247, 400, 506, 507.
Revelstoke Park, description, 260;
in table, 412;
guide to, 518, 519.
Rhyolite, 38, 39, 140.
Ribbon Falls, 86, 453.
Roche Miette, 253.
Rocky Mountain National Park, character, 175-77;
area and altitude, 177;
mountains, 178-80;
glaciation, 180, 181;
lakes, 180, 187, 188;
wild flowers, 181, 182;
animal life, 183, 184;
trees, 184;
timber-line, 184, 185;
points of interest, 186-89;
addition in 1917, 188 and note;
a hunting-contest in, 297, 298;
bighorn in, 307;
flowers on highest peaks, 347;
regions above timber-line in, 348;
in table, 402;
guide to, 491-94.
_Rocky Mountain Wonderland, The_, quoted, 273, 345.
Rocky Mountains Park, Alberta, description, 254-56;
in tables, 412;
guide to, 515, 516.
Rogers Pass, 412.
Roosevelt Project, 404.
Royal Arches, 69.
St. Anthony, Idaho, 15.
St. John, N.B., 262.
St. Lawrence Islands Park, 261, 413, 520.
St. Mary's Lake, 154, 155.
St. Vrain River, 323.
San Juan Mountains, 404, 488.
Savage, Major James D., 94.
Sawtooth Mountains, 403.
Scenery, value of, 277, 278.
Screech, Joseph, 95.
Schultz, James Willard, 157, 158.
Selkirk Mountains, 412.
Sentinel Dome, 453.
Sentinel Falls, 88.
Sentinel Rock, 68.
Sequoia. _See_ Big Tree.
Sequoia National Park, area and topography, 99-103;
the Big Trees of, 104-15, 282, 286;
in table, 401;
guide to, 455-58.
Sheep, mountain, 188, 189, 306, 307;
a case of tameness, 300.
Sheldon, Charles, 250.
Sherman, Mrs. John D., 276, 277.
Ship Rock, 162.
Shoshone Cavern, 406, 514.
Shoshone Lake, 36.
Siberian Plateau, 101.
Sierra Club, 94.
Sierra Madre Mountains, 404.
Sierra Nevada. _See_ Yosemite National Park _and_ Sequoia National Park.
Sieur de Monts National Monument, 409, 514.
Sipapu Bridge, 237.
Sitka National Monument, 407, 514.
Smith, Miss Edna, quoted, 327-31.
Snag Lake, 214.
Snow, banners of, 322.
Snowpeak Avenue, 257.
Snow-plant, 81.
Snowstorm, climbing above a, 317-19.
Soda Springs, 90-93.
Solitaire, 291, 292, 311.
Specimen Mountain, 179, 188, 189.
Specimen Ridge, Yellowstone Park, 441.
Sperry Glacier, 151, 485.
Sprague's Glacier, 180, 187.
Spray Park, 123.
Springs, hot, of Yellowstone Park, 28-32, 39, 439;
of Lassen Volcanic Park, 217, 219.
Stanford Point, 453.
Steele, William G., 146.
Stevens, Gen. Hazard, 121.
Stevenson, Robert Louis, quoted, 362, 381, 382.
Stewart, George W., 100.
Stimpson, Harry L., 157.
Stone, Julius F., 207;
quoted, 207-09.
Stump Lake, 216, 218.
Sully's Hill, 245.
Sully's Hill National Park, description, 244, 245;
guide to, 509.
Sulphur Mountain, 254.
Summerland, 123.
Swift Current Pass, 154.
Sylvan Lake, 44.
Sylvan Pass, 44.
Tahoma, Indian name for Mt. Rainier, 120.
Tahoma Glaciers, 134.
Tahosa Valley, 186.
Takakkaw Fall, 257.
Tehipitee Dome, 102.
Tenaya Cañon, 69.
Terraces, in Yellowstone Park, 438.
Teton Mountains, 44.
Thousand Islands, 261, 262, 520.
Three Brothers, 68.
Three Forks, 17, 21.
Thurston, L. A., 229.
Timber-line, 340-45;
in Rocky Mountain National Park, 184, 185;
the regions above, 345-51.
Tinkham, A. W., 158.
Tioga Pass, 92.
Tioga Road, 90, 96.
Tonto National Monument, 409, 514.
Torrey's Peak, 330.
Trail, the, 388-93.
Trail Ridge, 180, 187.
_Training of the Human Plant, The_, quoted, 372, 373.
Trees, of Yellowstone Park, 51, 52;
of Yosemite Park, 76-79;
of Sequoia Park, 104-15;
of Mt. Rainier, 129, 130;
of Crater Lake Park, 145;
of the Olympic Mts., 233, 234.
_See also_ Forest _and_ Timber-line.
Triple Divide Peak, 156.
Trumbull, Walter, 5.
Tueeulala Falls, 86, 89.
Tumacacori National Monument, 406, 514.
Tuolumne Cañon, 93.
Tuolumne Grove, 77.
Tuolumne Meadows, 88, 90, 92.
Tuolumne River, 66, 88, 93.
Tuolumne Valley, 90.
Twin Lakes, B.C., 412.
Twin Lakes, Yellowstone Park, 436.
Twin Sister Peaks, 178, 188.
Two Ocean Glacier, 156.
Two Ocean Pass, 36, 155.
Two Ocean Pond, 36, 37.
Upper Geyser Basin, 438.
Usnea, 128.
Valerian, 124.
Valley of the Ten Peaks, 412.
Vancouver, George, 120, 230.
Van Dyke, John C., quoted, 209, 210.
Van Trump, P. B., 121.
Van Trump Park, 464.
Vernal Falls, 85, 86, 453.
Victoria Glacier, 412.
Villard, Henry, 121, 122.
Volcanoes, in Yellowstone Park, 38, 39, 45, 46, 50;
Mt. Rainier a sleeping volcano, 117, 126, 127;
Mt. Mazama, 138-44;
Lassen Peak, 211-15;
Cinder Cone, 216-18;
Kilauea, 222-24;
Mauna Loa, 222, 224-27;
Haleakala, 222, 227, 228.
Vulture Peak, 156.
Wainwright, Alberta, 261.
Walhalla Plateau, 192, 193.
Walker, Joseph R., 94.
Walnut Cañon, 411, 514.
Wapama Falls, 86, 89.
Warner Cañon, 214.
Washburn, Gen. Henry D., 26.
Washburn-Doane Expedition, 25, 26, 58.
Washington Column, 69, 453.
Water-ouzel, _or_ dipper, 313.
Waterton Lake, 149.
Waterton Lakes Park, description, 258-60;
in table, 413;
guide to, 519.
Waterton River, 259.
Wawona tree, 78.
Waxwings, 312, 313.
Wheeler National Monument, 410, 514.
White, Stewart Edward, quoted, 273, 274.
Wickersham, James, 250.
Widow's Tears Falls, 453.
Wilbur Mountain, 149.
Wild Basin, 186.
Wind, pressure on waterfalls, 87;
a high wind on Long's Peak, 320-22.
Wind Cave, 242, 243.
Wind Cave National Park, description, 242-44;
guide to, 508.
Winthrop, Theodore, 120;
quoted, 120, 121, 128, 358, 359.
Winthrop Glacier, 133.
Wizard Island, 144, 145.
Wood, petrified, 45-50.
Woodcraft, suggestions, 335-38.
Yellowhead Pass, 253.
Yellowstone Cañon, 38, 39, 41.
Yellowstone Lake, 36, 40.
Yellowstone National Park, origin, 3-8;
discoveries and explorations of the region, 10-27;
Indian names for region, 11;
geysers and springs, 28-35, 39;
lakes, 36;
streams, 36, 37;
greatest attractions, 38;
geology, 38-50;
John Muir on, 42, 43;
petrified forests, 45-50;
area, 51;
trees, 51, 52;
wild flowers, 52;
animal life, 53;
entrances, 53;
road-system, 54;
administrative history, 54-58;
experience of Truman C. Everts, 58-64;
as a wild-life sanctuary, 305;
improper feeding of bears in, 315;
shipments of animals from, 315;
act of dedication, 397-99;
in table, 400;
guide to, 433-43.
Yellowstone River, 38, 41.
Yoho Park, description, 256-58;
in table, 412;
guide to, 516, 517.
Yoho Valley, 257.
Yosemite Creek, 86, 87.
Yosemite Falls, 69, 85-87, 453.
_Yosemite Flora, A_, by H. M. and C. C. Hall, quoted, 82, 83.
Yosemite National Park, area and topography, 65;
general features, 65-70;
geology, 70-76;
trees, 76-79;
shrubs, 79;
wild flowers, 79-83;
waterfalls, 83-88;
what to see in, 88-93;
history, 93-98;
in table, 401;
guide to, 444-54.
Yosemite Point, 453.
Yosemite Valley, 67-73, 75, 88, 94, 95, 97, 100.
Yosemite Village, 96.
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS
U . S . A
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