DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Proceedings of the National Park Conference Held at the Yellowstone National Park September 11 and 12, 1911

AFTERNOON SESSION, SEPTEMBER 12.

The SECRETARY. We would be glad to hear from Mr. Hopkins on the subject of insect infestation—the damage done to trees by insects in the national parks. Mr. Hopkins is connected with the Department of Agriculture.

INSECT DAMAGE TO STANDING TIMBER IN THE NATIONAL PARKS, BY A. D. HOPKINS, Expert in Charge of Forest Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

CHARACTER OF THE DAMAGE.

The damage by insects to the living trees of the forests and ornamental grounds of the national parks consists of injuries to the foliage, branches, or the entire tree, which mar or destroy their attractive, educational, and historic features and diminish or destroy their commercial value.

Throughout the forests of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific slope, including the national parks, a large percentage of the timber has died during the past half century. The old standing and fallen dead trees, the red foliage of those that died last year, and the fading tops of those dying now bear evidences of the work of insects and are conspicuous examples of a great waste of forest resources. In some localities a few scattering trees die each year within a township or section; in others, clumps of trees, or whole forests, die within a single year.

The conifers, which are the predominating trees of this western part of the country, are subject to a high death rate from insect attack. The pines, the spruces, the Douglas fir, the balsam firs, the hemlock, the cedars, and the Sequoias, have one or more destructive enemies.

In the fall, spring, and early summer the dying and recently dead trees are conspicuous on account of their fading, yellowish-red, and reddish-brown foliage, as if injured by fire. When they are in large patches, or extend over a considerable area, their death is often attributed by the casual observer to forest fires.

EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE.

The extent of the damage to the forests by insects through the accumulation of dead timber and the dying of matured trees over large areas is vastly greater than the general observer would suppose. In fact, the dead and fallen timber is so common in all forests that it has heretofore been recognized as a natural and inevitable condition. Large areas of insect-killed timber have been charged to fire without further thought or examination to determine the real cause. Fallen timber has been attributed to storms and scattering dead trees to old age.

During the present year a reconnoissance was made of typical sections in one of the national forests, where there was no evidence that destructive forest fires had occurred during the past 20 years. It was found that the standing and fallen dead yellow pine that had died within that period amounted in board feet to nearly half as much as that which was then living, and of the sugar pine and Douglas fir there was one-fourth as much dead as was then living, and every dead tree examined in the estimate showed evidence that it had been killed by insects.

In the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota over one-half of the timber died within about 10 years. In Oregon and Montana nearly all of the larger pine died within a few years on areas of a few hundred to 100,000 acres or more. These, together with many other examples of extensive dying of timber, have been investigated and found to be caused primarily by insects. These investigations have demonstrated beyond question that a vast amount of timber is killed by insects every year within the forested area of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific coast regions. Furthermore, the accumulation of this dead timber and fallen debris is a menace to the living, because they furnish fuel for destructive forest fires. The losses from insect depredations are thus augmented by fires.

The extent of damage to the forest and other trees of the national parks has not been estimated, and, with the exception of investigations conducted in the Yosemite and Glacier Parks, we do not have much direct information as to the damage already done. It is plain to us, however, that the general conditions are not different from those which prevail throughout the regions in which the parks are located and in which the destructive species of insects are known to occur.

The amount of damage in the parks must be considered not only on the basis of the commercial value of the forest resources, but on that of the aesthetic and educational value of the virgin forest of typical examples of tree species. The loss of a section of the forest which forms the attractive feature in a landscape and is the only remaining example of the original type of forest growth of that region is far greater than that represented by the commercial value of the timber, as is also the loss of notable veterans and giants of the different species. These old forests and old trees are at present one of the attractive and instructive features of the timbered areas of some of the national parks, and if they are protected from their insect and other enemies they will be even more attractive features in coming centuries. Under present conditions these old trees of the virgin forest are in greater danger of being killed by insects than are the younger trees. Indeed, many of them have been killed within recent years.

The three giant sugar pines on the trail from Wawona to Glacier Point and the Yosemite Valley are examples. Two of them were dead and the other was dying when I saw them in June, 1904, and there was conclusive evidence that their death was caused by the mountain pine beetle. The veteran sugar pine known as "Uncle Tom " was being attacked at the same time by the same species of beetle, and I am informed that it died next year. The loss of these four giants of the species is irreparable.

The Sequoias are supposed to be immune from depredating insects, but they are not. They are more resistant than other species, and that is one reason they have lived so long. However, each species has a bark-beetle enemy which under favorable conditions is capable of killing the largest and finest specimens. I saw one of the large redwoods in the vicinity of Eureka, Cal., that had been killed by its bark-beetle enemy, and when in the Matriposa Grove in 1904 I discovered the bark-beetle enemy of the big tree in the living bark of a storm-broken limb.

THE PRINCIPAL DEPREDATORS.

The mere mention of the names of the thousands of species of insects, each of which causes some peculiar injury during the life of the different tree species, would occupy more time than is allotted for this paper. Therefore we must consider the more important of those which are directly responsible for the death of the trees.

The little genus of Dendroctonus beetles, or tree-killing beetles, is represented in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific slope regions by a few species which are more destructive to the conifers of western North America than all other forest insects combined. They are a constant menace to the pine, spruce, and Douglas fir of the national parks. They are certain to be present in every park in which there are forests of their host trees, and have doubtless caused far greater damage than the park officials have realized.

The species, in the order of their destructiveness, are the mountain pine beetle, the western pine beetle, and Engelmann spruce beetle, the Jeffrey pine beetle, and the red turpentine beetle. All but the Jeffrey pine beetle of the Sierras are common to the northern Rocky Mountains and the Pacific slope. Those common to the central and southern Rocky Mountains are the Black Hills beetle, the Engelmann spruce beetle, the Douglas fir beetle, and the red turpentine beetle. There are three other species common to the southern Rocky Mountains and northern Mexico which are of less importance in causing the death of trees.

These insects are small, stout, black to reddish-brown beetles, ranging in length from about 2 to 9 millimeters, or 0.08 to 0.32 of an inch. They fly in the period from April to October and attack the main trunks of the living healthy trees by boring into the bark and excavating long winding or nearly straight egg galleries between the bark and the wood. In this manner they completely girdle and thus cause the death of their victims. As soon as the bark begins to die the eggs deposited by the beetles hatch, and the young grubs or larval forms complete the destruction of the inner bark. All of the broods develop into the adult stage within a year and emerge from the bark to fly in search of new victims. Each species has its peculiar habits in the choice of host trees, method of attack, and period of development.

THE MOUNTAIN PINE BEETLE.

The mountain pine beetle attacks the mountain or silver pine, sugar pine, western yellow pine, lodgepole pine, and evidently all other pines of the northern Rocky Mountains and the Pacific slope. The adult beetles fly in the period from July to October, inclusive. When abundant they concentrate their attack on clumps and patches of trees. Their long, nearly straight egg galleries and radiating larval mines soon kill the bark on the main trunks, but the foliage of the infested trees remains green and apparently healthy until the following May and June. It then begins to change to a pale green and later to yellowish and brown. By the time all of the foliage is dead, about the 1st of July, the overwintered broods of beetles begin to emerge. By the middle of August most of them are out of the dead trees and have entered the living ones.

This is by far the most destructive insect enemy of the pine within its range, and under present conditions is a constant menace to the forests of matured or merchantable sized timber. It can be controlled by felling the infested trees and by removing the infested bark from the main trunks without burning the bark or tops. This work must be done during the period between the 1st of October and the 1st of July to destroy the broods of the beetle before they emerge. Whenever the timber can be utilized the product will pay all expenses. If it has no commercial value it will cost on an average of 50 cents a tree for the required treatment. After an outbreak is under control the living timber can be easily protected from further depredations by giving prompt attention to the felling and barking of any clumps of dying trees found during May and June. Rangers or fire patrolmen can be instructed so that they can do this and anything else that is required to maintain control.

THE WESTERN PINE BEETLE.

The western pine beetle attacks the western yellow pine, the sugar pine, and the Jeffrey pine. The beetles fly in late June to October, inclusive, and usually attack scattering individual trees, often selecting the larger and older examples. The adults excavate winding egg galleries between the inner living bark and the wood and the larvae transform to the adult stage in the outer bark. The beetles begin to fly and attack the trees in June and continue the attack until October or November. The first generation develops and emerges in August to November, and the second generation passes the winter in the trees that are killed by it in the summer and fall.

The foliage of the infested trees begins to fade and turn yellow in a few weeks after the trees are attacked by this beetle. The summer broods of the first generation leave the trees by the time the foliage is reddish brown, but the overwintered broods do not emerge until the following May and June, in some cases several months after the foliage is brown.

This species is next in importance to the mountain pine beetle as a destructive enemy of the pine, and the two species often combine in their attack. In this combined attack the western pine beetle is a secondary enemy of the trees because it follows the attack of the other species. When it is the primary enemy it is responsible for the death of a few scattering trees each year throughout the forest which results in the accumulation of dead timber. In the aggregate, this accumulative loss is very extensive, involving as it does the largest and best trees.

It can be controlled and the living timber protected from its ravages by felling the infested trees during the period between the 1st of October and the 1st of June and removing the bark from the main trunks and burning it. It is necessary to burn the bark because the broods of this species transform in the outer bark. They are not destroyed by simply exposing the inner bark as is the case with the mountain pine beetle.

THE JEFFREY PINE BEETLE.

The characteristic habits of the Jeffrey pine beetle are similar to those of the mountain pine beetle and therefore it requires the same treatment.

THE DOUGLAS FIR BEETLE.

The Douglas fir beetle attacks the Douglas fir, the big-cone spruce, and the western larch. The beetles fly in April and May and enter the living bark on healthy trees and on trees that have been injured by fire and those that have been recently felled. In habits of attack and general characteristics the Douglas fir beetle is similar to the mountain pine beetle, except that the former begins to fly earlier in the season and the foliage of the infested trees begins to die in the fall. It is very destructive to the Douglas fir throughout the Rocky Mountain region from British Columbia to Mexico but is much less so on the Pacific slope and especially toward the coast. It can be controlled by felling the infested trees during the period between the 1st of September and the first to middle of the following April and removing the infested bark from the trunks without burning.

THE RED TURPENTINE BEETLE.

The red turpentine beetle is the largest species of the genus Dendroctonus. It begins to fly in April and is active until October and November. It attacks the pine and rarely the spruce, but as a rule confines its operation to the base or basal portion of the trunks. While its normal habit is to breed in the bark of stumps and logs of newly felled trees, it often infests the bark on healthy trees. It rarely kills a tree, but is the cause of a large percentage of the basal wounds known as "cat faces" and fire wounds, so commonly met with in the pine. This is a far more difficult species to control than the others because it breeds in the stumps of felled trees and the base of those killed by the other species or by fire. Valuable individual trees can be protected by cutting the beetles out of the bark as soon as their presence is indicated by masses of exuding resin mixed with reddish boring dust.

Wherever there is continued lumbering operations, the red turpentine beetle confines its attack to the stumps, but in the national parks and private grounds, where a limited amount of timber is cut, or where the ravages of the mountain pine and western pine beetles have been controlled, it is likely to cause more or less extensive damage to the living timber for a year or two after.

In combating the other beetles in the national parks care should be taken to remove the bark from the stumps whenever they are found to be infested with this pest.

THE ENGELMANN SPRUCE BEETLE.

The Engelmann spruce beetle attacks the Engelmann spruce, blue spruce, and any other species of spruce found within its range, but does not attack the pine, Douglas fir, or balsam fir. It flies in the period from June to August and attacks the bark of the main trunks of the older or matured trees. Its habits are similar to those of the mountain pine beetle, except that it flies earlier in the spring. When the trees begin to die the needles fade to a pale green and fall before they change to yellow or brown, but the bare twigs present a grayish-brown appearance. The infested trees are easily located in the fall and early spring by the fallen needles and the bare twigs of the tops.

This species occurs from British Columbia to Mexico, and at times is very destructive to the Engelmann spruce forests. It can be controlled by felling the infested trees and removing the bark from the main trunks during the period beginning with the 1st of October and ending by the middle to last of May.

THE BLACK HILLS BEETLE.

The Black Hills beetle is by far the most destructive insect enemy of the pine of the central and southern Rocky Mountains and the Black Hills of South Dakota. Its habits are similar to those of the mountain pine beetle, and the same methods are adopted for its control.

FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR THE BEETLES.

There are certain conditions in the administered, as well as in the natural forests, which contribute to the multiplication and destructive work of these Dendroctonus beetles. One of the most favorable conditions is an extensive forest of matured and old trees of pine or spruce, because in the beginning of an invasion such trees are more often the first to be attacked and killed. Trees in such a forest injured by lightning or storms often form centers of infestation, in which the beetles increase to sufficient numbers to enable them to kill a few trees, and then the invasion is started, year after year increasing in force until a large percentage or all of the timber is killed. They then attack the young trees, and often waste their energies on saplings, in which the broods fail to develop.

DROUGHT.

It is a common belief that severe droughts weaken the trees and thus contribute to favorable conditions for the attack of the beetles. We have made pretty thorough investigations of this subject and are led to conclude that exceptionally dry seasons are more unfavorable for the developement of the beetles than are moderately humid ones, and that, therefore, droughts do not contribute to their multiplication.

FOREST FIRES.

Forest fires contribute, to a limited extent, to the multiplication of certain species which breed in fire-scorched trees, but as a rule forest fires kill more beetles than they protect.

COMMERCIAL CUTTING.

Commercial cutting of timber may contribute to the multiplication of certain species which breed in the stumps and tops, but if the cutting is continuous the insects confine their attack to the cut-over areas and do not invade the living timber. Sporadic summer cutting, however, is dangerous. The odor of the cut wood attracts the flying beetles to the locality. This contributes to their concentration, and when the cutting is stopped they invade the living timber.

SECONDARY ENEMIES.

The secondary enemies of the trees consist of numerous species which attack the bark and wood as soon as the trees become weakened and are dying from other causes. The Dendroctonus beetles are the primary enemies or leaders in the attack. The secondary enemies are to a certain extent their allies, and when very abundant may contribute to favorable conditions for rapid advance in the destructive movement, but more often they are dependents and scavengers, merely utilizing the dead and waste material. With rare exceptions these secondary enemies are not capable of killing trees on their own account.

UNFAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR THE BEETLES.

The unfavorable conditions for the destructive work of these Dendroctonus beetles are to be found in administered forests, where the ripe or matured timber is utilized and where the young timber is protected by the prompt disposal of any clumps of dying trees during the fall, winter, and spring months.

In other words, systematic forest management, based on a knowledge of the principles of silviculture and forest entomology, will soon present conditions so unfavorable for the Dendroctonus beetles that they can no longer exist as agents of destruction and waste.

NATURAL ENEMIES.

The natural enemies of the beetles serve as a repelling force against the progressive development of an invasion. Indeed they are among the principal factors which have prevented the extermination of certain of the more important forest tree species. These natural enemies consist of parasites and predatory insects, which feed on all stages of the barkbeetles, and birds, which feed on the adults and young of the barkbeetles. Were it not for the fact that birds also feed on the predatory and parasitic insect enemies of the barkbeetles, and that they are so limited in numbers, they might render the great service that is so commonly credited to them. Insect diseases in the form of epidemics sometimes serve to bring an invasion under complete control. Unfavorable climatic conditions have been known to exterminate a species of Dendroctonus beetles within an area of thousands of square miles. Under natural conditions successive generations of the older trees are killed, but the invaders are checked or repelled by their natural enemies. Generations of younger trees take the place of their ancestors, and the forest as such is perpetuated.

NATURAL CONTROL THE MOST EXPENSIVE.

In the national parks, national forests, and private forests where the resources have a commercial value this natural control of the insect depredators on the timber is the most expensive and wasteful. Our friends, the enemies of the beetles, can not be depended upon to operate for the best interest of the Federal or private owner. They can, however, be made to render efficient service as the allies of the owner in an aggressive warfare by him against the invaders. They are indispensable in the defense against renewed attacks and in the maintenance of conditions which will insure the future protection of the living timber.

GENERAL METHODS OF CONTROL.

It is through a knowledge of the habits and seasonable history of the various species of depredating insects, and the various complex factors operating for and against them, that forest entomologists are enabled to advise methods of procedure in practical control operations either to reduce or eliminate the favorable conditions for the multiplication of the beetles or to promote and utilize the factors that are unfavorable for their existence.

It is also through a knowledge of the characteristic evidences of their presence in the living and dying trees that we are enabled to give instructions to an experienced timber cruiser, forest ranger, or fire patrolman, which will enable him to readily detect an infestation and report upon its character and extent.

Experiments with and demonstrations of methods of control have furnished up-to-date information on the essential requirements in conducting active control operations, which enables us to advise the most economical and effectual method to be adopted for each species of beetle, each species of tree, and each locality where an infestation prevails.

Therefore, if the symptoms are accurately described and information is furnished as to the local facilities for utilizing the infested timber or for treatment at direct expense, specific recommendations for successful control can be made without an examination by an expert.

The presence in any national park of quantities of dying pine, spruce, or Douglas fir that has not been caused by recent fires is evidence of the presence and destructive work of one or more species of the Dendroctonus beetles. An examination of the bark of the main trunks of some of the dying trees will usually furnish conclusive evidence, for if the trees are infested the characteristic work in the bark, as illustrated in the bulletins of the Bureau of Entomology, will be easily recognized.

The next thing to do is to determine the extent of the infestation, the kind of trees involved, and the facilities for disposing of the timber by sale, free use, or direct expense. Then the superintendent should report the facts to an expert and ask for advice and recommendations. If he will then proceed without delay to dispose of the infestation according to instructions given him, success in checking or completely controlling the pest is almost certain to follow.

If upon locating an infested area, it is found to extend beyond the park boundary into adjacent privately owned timber or the national forests, cooperation, or at least concerted action is required, because an important center of infestation is a menace to the living timber within a radius of 10 to 20 miles.

If the timber of a national park is healthy, and centers of infestation are found in adjacent forests within a radius of 10 to 20 miles, the park superintendent should notify the owners. If, for any reason, the owners can not dispose of the infestation the park officials should help do it just as they would help in fighting a fire that was threatening the park. In a like manner the Federal and private owners of healthy timber adjacent to a park should help dispose of any extensive infestation in the park, because it may be more of a common menace than a forest fire.

If this policy of cooperation for the general good is adopted, and the essential requirements for successful control are strictly adhered to for a few years by the officials of the national parks, the national forests, and the principal private owners, the damage to living timber on the parks and adjacent lands will be reduced to a minimum, and ultimately thousands of dollars in commercial and aesthetic values will be saved for every dollar of public or private money expended.

The SECRETARY. If there is any discussion of the paper just read by Mr. Hopkins, now is the time for it. If not, we will proceed to the next subject, and we will ask Mr. Bond, chief clerk of the General Land Office to address us on "Administration of national monuments."

THE ADMINISTRATION OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS, BY FRANK BOND, Chief Clerk, General Land Office.

The act entitled "An act for the preservation of American antiquities," approved June 8, 1906 (34 Stat., 225), was the final result of a concerted effort of archaeologists, scientists, and others, active both within the public service and in unofficial fields. Long prior to 1906 the slow, cumbersome, and ineffective process of creating reservations by special acts of Congress had been tried, and with few exceptions had failed. Briefly, these efforts were ineffective, not because the Members of Congress were opposed to the preservation of historic and prehistoric ruins, but largely, I think, because these ruins occupied tracts far too insignificant in area, and the ruins themselves were not believed to be of sufficient national importance to warrant for each, or for each little group even, the creation of so important a reservation as a national park. More than one effort, however, was made by the friends of new legislation before a general measure, in the main satisfactory to those actively interested, was finally agreed upon and later enacted into law. At first the preservation of historic and prehistoric ruins was alone considered, but the great value to the people, as a whole, of the widely scattered evidences of nature's handiwork in the form of great caverns, extraordinary examples of mountain formation, due to volcanic activity or to surface or subsurface erosion, forced the conclusion that a law authorizing the protection of historic and prehistoric ruins would be seriously deficient unless it also provided for a public guardianship of these treasures of nature—a guardianship which would permit their free study for the extension and diffusion of knowledge and their inspection and observation for the pleasure of the people. So the purpose of the proposed act was greatly enlarged and extended by the insertion therein of the word "scientific."

The intent of the act as finally passed has been broadly and, I feel, properly and wisely interpreted in the very great majority of appeals since made to its authority. We have now monuments created by man, such as the pueblos, the cliffs ruins, and the sepulchers of nameless and unknown peoples, often most extraordinary as to location, character, and size; we have mission churches of the earliest period of Spanish conquest in the Southwest, and also lofty rock towers and cliffs upon which were carved over 300 years ago, with the daggers of the commanders, the names, dates, and other records of their visits and activity there. We have cinder and lava mountain forms, exemplifying geologically recent volcanic activity. We have extraordinary canyons and caverns, lofty piles and monoliths, and natural bridges, magnificent and impressive almost beyond description, the products of erosion. We have also, as a monument, a magnificent Pacific coast redwood forest, a grove of sequoia which, as hardy seedlings, spread their ever-green leaflets to the warming sun almost before man began the written record of his birth and achievements. The great majority of these monuments were made possible because the objects preserved have great scientific interest; but I have at times been somewhat embarrassed by requests of patriotic and public-spirited citizens who have strongly supported applications to create national monuments out of scenery alone. In many persons the artistic and scientific powers are happily blended, but the terms of the monument act do not specify scenery, nor remotely refer to scenery, as a possible raison d'être for a public reservation. Reserves of this character may be created by special acts of Congress; however, the existence of magnificent scenery within the boundaries of proposed monuments has not, to my knowledge, acted as a deterrent in their establishment. The creation within a national forest of the Grand Canyon National Monument, containing over 800,000 acres, is a case in point.

NUMBER, LOCATION, AND JURISDICTION OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS.

There are now 28 national monuments, distributed by States as follows:

Of these monuments 17 are under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, as follows: Eleven created out of the public lands—the Devils Tower, El Morro, Montezuma Castle, Petrified Forest, Natural Bridges, Lewis and Clark Cavern, Mukuntuweap, Shoshone Cavern, Gran Quivira, Sitka, and Colorado; two, the Navajo and Rainbow Bridge, are in Indian reservations; one, Muir Woods, was a gift under the terms of the act; two, Tumacacori and Chaco Canyon, were partial relinquishments of entered homesteads under the terms of the act; and one, the Pinnacles, was excluded from a national forest. The remaining 11, embracing Lassen Peak, Cinder Cone, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Tonto, Grand Canyon, Jewel Cave, Wheeler, Mount Olympus, Oregon Caves, Big Hole Battlefield, and Devils Postpile, being within national forests, are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture.

A supplemental proclamation has been issued in the cases of three of the monuments, for the following reasons, viz: In the case of the Natural Bridges, Utah, to definitely locate and identify with an official survey and to include prehistoric ruins and prehistoric cave springs whose existence was unknown before the survey was made; in the case of the Lewis and Clark Cavern, to definitely locate in accordance with subsequent official survey; and in the case of the Petrified Forest, to readjust the boundaries and reduce the area from about 95 square miles to 40 square miles.

A modification of the Navajo National Monument will be asked as soon as certain necessary surveys therein are completed.

MONUMENTS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

>DEVILS TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument was created September 24, 1906, and was the first after the passage of the act. It is located in T. 53 N., Rs. 65 and 66 W., of sixth principal meridian, Crook County, Wyo. It embraces 1,153.91 acres of forested, mountainous, and grazing lands, in the approximate center of which is situated the magnificent rock pile of great height, with walls so precipitous that they have seldom or never been scaled, for which the monument was named. The tower is entirely the effect of surface erosion, its rock being much harder than the average country rock surrounding it. The pile covers an area of 20 acres or more, and its lofty height, over 1,300 feet above the river near its base, makes it visible for long distances and from all directions. On this account it was used as a guidepost by early explorers and trappers and by the Indians of the Plains long before them.

The first steps toward its reservation from private entry and possession were taken on February 19, 1892, when a temporary forest reservation embracing 60.5 square miles was created. Two-thirds of this tract was restored to entry on June 27 following, and the remaining 11,974 acres were included in a bill to create "The Devils Tower Forest Reserve or National Park." The bill failed of passage, however, but the reduced tract stood withdrawn until the national monument was created 14 years later. The Devils Tower is in no danger from tourists, souvenir hunters, or even professional vandals, but its natural forests, undergrowth, and grassy environment add much to its natural beauty, and they should be carefully preserved. To make this monument of value to visitors an iron stairway, winding if necessary, and securely anchored to the face of the vertical wall, should be constructed to the top of the rock.

The magnificent panorama of mountain and plain spread out on all sides below and extending for hundreds of miles in all directions would amply repay the visitor for the toil of the climb. The rock would then be a watchtower, as well as a guidepost of the past.

EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This interesting monument was created December 8, 1906. It is located in T. 9 N., R. 14 W., New Mexico principal meridian, Valencia County, N. Mex., about 35 miles east of the Zuni pueblos. It is composed of a colossal, towering cliff at the extreme end of a high and grotesquely eroded, varicolored sandstone wall of a mesa which marks one boundary of a lava-strewn valley draining into the Zuni River. Upon the top of this rock are prehistoric pueblo ruins. The cliff is not only beautiful in color, but most majestic and imposing because of its great height and its isolation. Its sheer walls are marked often with brilliant stratification bands of red, yellow and brown, and brownish gray, with here and there a projecting stratum of harder stone which protects the softer wall below. Upon these faces and in many places the early Spanish adventurers, possibly even those seeking De Vaca's mythical "seven cities of Cibola," and others who came after them and followed this well-known trail to the Zuni, Moqui, Navajo, and other Indian lands, left records of their presence carved plainly and permanently upon these rocks, their names, the objects of their expeditions, and their successes, as well as the dates of their passage. The legible dates vary between 1629 and 1737. Many are doubtless much older, but are partly illegible from the erosion of wind blown sands and other natural agencies. These inscriptions are of great historical interest, and every reasonable effort should be made to protect them from the encroachments of the modern name writer and other vandals in public places who barbarously deface so many public buildings and monuments the world over.

The section of land upon which El Morro is located was temporarily withdrawn from settlement, entry, sale, or other disposal by the Secretary of the Interior June 14, 1901, and remained withdrawn until after the creation of the national monument, embracing a reduced area of 160 acres, in 1906.

MONTEZUMA CASTLE NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument is located in T. 14 N., R. 5 E., Gila and Salt River meridian, Arizona. It reserves and protects from private entry a strip of high cliffs, 40 chains wide by 1 mile in length, in the face of which are a number of cliff-dwelling ruins. Of these, and one of the most important in the Southwest, is "Montezuma Castle," for which the monument was named. The monument was created December 8, 1906.

This noted prehistoric ruin is located upon a ledge which is about 55 feet above the talus at the base of the cliff. It is in a recess at a bend in the rock wall, and is further protected from the ravages of time and the elements by an overhanging ledge of harder rock above. This ledge forms the only roof of the smaller top story. The ruin, as it now stands, is 48 feet high, has 5 stories, and contains 21 rooms, generally in a remarkable state of preservation. The castle's base was reached by ladders which extended from the base of the cliff to several narrow ledges in succession. Curio hunters prior to the creation of the monument had excavated under the foundations at the right-hand corner and the same had given way, and had used dynamite to break down an inner wall in the hope of finding relics.

The Arizona Antiquarian Society has made some very necessary repairs to protect the walls of some of the outer rooms, where the original roof had fallen, by the use of corrugated iron roofing.

PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument was created by proclamation December 8, 1906. It is located in Tps. 16 and 17 N., Rs. 23 and 24 E., Gila and Salt River meridian, Arizona. The silicified forest remains of the district are not all confined within the boundaries of the reserve but are scattered, in more or less abundance, over a territory embracing nearly a hundred square miles. These deposits were the object of considerable commercial activity as early as 1884. Several companies were organized to exploit the alleged limitless fields of jasper, agate, amethyst, and chalcedony, more abundant, more magnificent, and more valuable than all of the Siberian jaspers, Pyrenees marbles, Chinese jades and Russian malachites together. Possession and ownership were sought through the location of placer mining claims, of which one hundred and seventeen 20-acre tracts were located largely with dummy entrymen, as appears from the reports, and among the finest and most abundant petrifactions. But these efforts to secure title were abandoned when the nonmineral bearing character of the stone was established and the high cost of manufacturing it into ornaments was learned by experiment. A stamp mill also was erected on the Santa Fe Railroad near the depostis, not to manufacture the petrifactions into useful forms but to pulverize them for abrasive purposes. This adventure is said to have failed because of excessively high freight rates. Several carloads of the smaller fragments were sent to Sioux Falls, S. Dak., and St. Paul, Minn., for manufacturing purposes, but the records fail to show whether or not the ventures were financially successful.

As already mentioned herein, the Petrified Forest Monument, created in 1906, contained about 95 square miles, and this large area was reserved because the most desirable and necessary tracts could not be determined in advance of a geological survey of the district. The boundaries were, therefore, temporary and were to stand until a geological survey could be made. Such survey was made in May, 1911, by Dr. George P. Merrill, geologist of the Smithsonian Institution, who, on request of the Secretary of the Interior, was detailed to visit the monument, make a survey of its deposits of silicified woods and report thereon with such recommendations for reducing the area as in his judgment the situation would warrant. The result of his work was a second proclamation signed July 31, 1911, modifying the boundaries of the monument and reducing its area to 40 square miles, or less than one-half the original reservation. It is now believed that the monument contains all of the petrified wood and all the land that the public interest requires. The most important deposits both as to size of logs and character are reserved and to properly restrict and control collectors, two tracts within the mounment have been set aside for their use. An effective custodianship will confine the operations of all authorized persons to these tracts.

Effort had been made to largely increase the area of the monument by adding to the original tract of 95 square miles, an approximately equal area north of the railroad, but the fact that the north side attractions were chiefly, if not wholly, scenic in character, was disclosed by correspondence, and I did not feel justified, under the terms of the monument act, in supporting the plan for enlargement.

CHACO CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument was created March 11, 1907. It embraces five separate tracts containing, approximately 20,629 acres of land, lying chiefly in Chaco Canyon, T. 21 N., Rs: 10 and 11 W., New Mexico meridian, San Juan County, N. Mex.

On May 1, 1900, the Santa Fe New Mexican, a newspaper of Santa Fe, published an item to the effect that Richard Wetherill was exploring and excavating remarkable prehistoric communal dwellings in Chaco Canyon. On the 8th of the month a special agent of the General Land Office at Santa Fe was instructed by wire to proceed at once to the locality to investigate, and if the alleged depredations were verified to lay the facts before the United States attorney. The agent wired that the excavations had been carried on for two years and the relics and entire rooms of the largest pueblo were being sent to the American Museum, New York City, the funds therefor being furnished by J. L. B. and F. E. Hyde, of the latter place. In April and May, 1901, another agent of the General Land Office visited the ruins, and in June recommended withdrawal of all lands in 40 townships from settlement to prevent entry of those occupied by the ruins. The lands were withdrawn by direction of the Secretary of the Interior April 4, 1905, four years later, and after the tracts upon which the three or four principal ruins were located had been entered under the land laws by Wetherill as a homestead. Subsequent examinations of this homestead entry were made in 1905 by another special agent and while he did not attempt to decide upon the actual purpose of Mr. Wetherill in entering a homestead that seemed at the time of entry to be chiefly valuable for prehistoric ruins located thereon, did show that the entryman had several buildings in value not less than $5,000, 60 acres in corn, 5 acres in wheat, and 2 acres in vegetable garden, all being raised without artificial irrigation. Also 5,000 sheep, 200 horses, 400 chickens, range stock, etc. It was apparent that a cancellation for fraudulent entry would be difficult and probably unjust; that instead of excavating the ruins the entryman was protecting them, and that he was willing to relinquish to the Government, under the terms of the monument act, the tracts within his entry upon which the great ruins were located. This he did on receipt of formal papers January 14, 1907, and about two months later, or March 11, 1907, the monument was established. Prior to Wetherill's relinquishment his homestead was carefully surveyed by an examiner of surveys and the ruins and the tracts upon which they were located finally determined.

The Wetherill relinquishment embraced four lots containing in the aggregate 47 acres of land, and was the first surrender of entered land under the act.

The Chaco Canyon prehistoric pueblo ruins are in many respects the most important of those in the Southwest. Pueblo Bonito, which was partially excavated by Wetherill, and also by the Hyde Exploration Expedition for the American Museum, New York City, is reported as having originally had 1,200 rooms, was 4 stories high, and covered a large area. This ruin, together with Chettro Kettle and del Arroyo, was relinquished for the monument. From the excavated part of Bonito great quantities of turquoise beads, pieces of pottery, and some human bones were taken, but the report states that the actual field of research is barely touched, since not only much the greater part of Bonito is yet virgin soil, but numerous other ruins within the monument limits have not yet been marked by a spade or pick. There are at least 17 important communal dwelling ruins within the reserved tracts.

MUIR WOODS NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This is one of the most attractive of the national monuments made possible because of its great scientific interest, although the chief of the objects it protects and preserves are giant redwoods 18 feet in diameter at the base and 300 feet high. It is located about 7 miles northwest of San Francisco and is visited annually by thousands of people, who may almost step over from the crowded streets of a great modern city into a wilderness where nature reigns supreme and appalls with the magnitude of her works. The monument tract embraces 295 acres, covered with a virgin forest of which three-fourths are giant redwoods, with much fir and the common hardwoods of the coast country. It is a part of Rancho Sausalito, an old Spanish grant. This magnificent possession of the people was the gift of a public-spirited citizen of San Francisco and Chicago, William Kent, who placed a market value on the redwoods alone at $150,000, but who believed that as the attractive and impressive feature of a national monument they would be priceless. The deed to the United States of America is dated December 26, 1907, and the monument proclamation followed on January 9, 1908, two weeks later. At the request of the donor the monument was named in honor of John Muir, of California. It is certain in the years to come that this unique and accessible national monument will be visited and appreciated by a growing army of nature-loving people. The custodian estimates that 50,000 people visited it the past year.

PINNACLES NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument was created January 16, 1908, and lies within what was the Monterey National Forest, California. It is a small reservation containing about 2,080 acres of land, and the monument, owing to the recent elimination from the national forest, is now under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. It is located in Tps. 16 and 17 S., R. 7 E., Mount Diablo meridian.

The pinnacles is a monument of lesser importance. The objects reserved are groups of peculiar rock formations, the effect of erosion, I believe, accompanied or underlain by a series of caves of scientific as well as popular interest.

NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument was created April 16, 1908.

Three gigantic natural bridges with horizontal span were discovered in southeastern Utah, in 1895, probably by Emery Knowles, a cowboy, and later in that year were visited by three cowmen, one of whom acted as guide to a prospector named Long, in 1903. Long gave to the world, through the Century Magazine of August, 1904, photographs and descriptions of the bridges. For several years thereafter nothing more definite as to the geographic location of the bridges could he learned than that they were situated in White Canyon and its tributaries, more than two days' ride easterly from Dandy crossing of the Colorado River. In May, 1908, the General Land Office instructed W. B. Douglass, an examiner of surveys, to make an examination and survey of the bridges, which was done that month. On June 8 following a cave spring at the head of the South Fork of Fish Creek and a cave spring on the head of Road Canyon were withdrawn from settlement on receipt of telegram from Douglass, via Dolores, Colo. Later Mr. Douglass filed the field notes and plat of his location survey of the bridges.

The proclamation of April 16, 1908, did not definitely locate the bridges with reference of one to the other, nor as to their geographical location on the map. It did, however, reserve a 40-acre tract around each bridge. A much larger tract was surveyed, because of the cliff dwellings and other prehistoric ruins located on the walls of the canyons, which the bridges crossed. The two prehistoric cave springs with pictographs on their walls, which were withdrawn from entry June 8, were added with 160 acres surrounding each. The total area of the monument as provided in the second proclamation of September 25, 1909, was 2,740 acres. These three magnificent natural bridges together with the Rainbow Bridge, discovered later, are unique and unprecedented both as to height and spans. No other known natural bridges equal or even approach them in their awe-inspiring grandeur.

LEWIS AND CLARK CAVERN NATIONAL MONUMENT.

Two proclamations, as already noted, have been issued covering this monument, the first on May 11, 1908. At this time the land was unsurveyed, and the reservation was made in order to prevent entries that might be embarrassing later, and with the intention of asking a second proclamation after an official survey had fixed the definite location.

For some years prior to the creation of the monument a portion of the tract was covered by a mineral location, which was finally held invalid by the General Land Office and the Department of the Interior. The official survey, however, developed the fact that the cavern, and the 160-acre tract which centered on the cavern's entrance, were in an odd-numbered section, which became the property of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co., according to the terms of its grant from the date of the passage of the act. This company formally deeded the land to the United States, February 14, 1911, with the understanding that title would immediately revert to the grantor in case the tract was abandoned for monument purposes, and the latter would be entitled to immediate possession. A second proclamation was then issued by the President, definitely fixing the boundaries of the monument with reference to the public surveys. This proclamation was of date May 16, 1911.

This limestone cavern is located in T. 1 N., R. 2 W., Montana principal meridian, Montana. It has been partially explored to a depth of many hundred feet, and as appears from reports on file is superbly decorated with stalactites and stalagmites and all manner of curious drip formations of great interest. Eight or ten chambers have been explored, the largest of these being 105 by 135 feet, and about 100 feet high. Many of the stalactitic formations in this chamber are over 20 feet long, and of almost indescribable beauty.

TUMACACORI NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This little monument, containing but 10 acres of land, affords protection to an old Spanish Mission Church, located in T. 31 S., R. 13 E., Gila and Salt River meridian, Arizona. It was built by early Jesuit monks, who burned the bricks therefor. Its walls in some places are 12 feet thick, and the old burying ground lies to the rear with the ruins of an old fort therein. The cemetery and mission are inclosed by a high brick wall. This old mission was on the rejected Tumacacori land grant, and has suffered much from neglect as well as vandalism. Portions of old paintings within the chancel have been knocked off and carried away, and the names of many of these vandals are written inside the nave. The land upon which the mission stands was entered as a homestead by Carmen Mendez, who fully appreciating the desirability of preserving the ruin, showed the faith that was in him by relinquishing the necessary 10 acres of his claim to the Government, June 30, 1908.

>NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT.

The present monument reservation was created March 20, 1909, for the purpose of preventing unauthorized excavations of several very important prehistoric pueblo ruins located within the Navajo Indian Reservation, but whose exact geographical location was unknown. For this reason all of these ruins within a large tract were reserved, together with a 40-acre tract surrounding each. This still stands for the reason that we have not yet been able to definitely locate one of the most important ruins on Navajo Creek by a careful traverse line connecting it with some established public survey corner. This ruin, however, is of exceeding interest. It was visited by examiner of surveys, W. B. Douglass, who not only found an important and astonishingly well preserved ruin, but discovered written upon the walls of some of the rooms a record, for the most part easily legible, of the visit of an early Spanish expedition with names, dates, etc.

The principal ruins at the head of Laguna Creek are along the walls of its canyons on the south side of Skeleton mesa. One of these contains about 150 rooms. There are in all four groups of ruins in the neighborhood of Bubbling Spring. One of these groups contains five separate ruins, having about 40 rooms each. Of the Bubbling Spring group perhaps Keet Seal and Betata Kin are two of the most important. These have been connected by traverse with an Arizona-Utah boundary monument and a second proclamation might have been issued some time ago greatly reducing the area and the number of ruins of these groups reserved by the Navajo monument proclamation, but for the fact that we wish to add to and make a part of this monument the important ruin on Navajo Creek containing the Spanish inscription and discovered by Douglass.

MUKUNTUWEAP NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument was created July 31, 1909. It is located in southwestern Utah, in Tps. 40 and 41, S., R. 10 W., Salt Lake meridian, and is upon unsurveyed land. It contains approximately 15,840 acres, which lie, in the main, within one of the most striking canyons of the Rocky Mountain States. The canyon has smooth, perpendicular walls varying in height from 800 to 2,000 feet, which are, with the exception of one trail, unscalable within the monument limits, and this trail is so dangerous that only unburdened animals are permitted to use it. Parallel with the canyon walls and midway between them is a long ridge high enough to cut off all view from either side of the canyon to the opposite canyon wall, thus dividing the canyon into two parts equally important. The North Fork of the Rio Virgin, a stream over 20 feet wide and 18 inches deep, flows through the canyon. The United States deputy surveyor who closed his lines upon the canyon walls reports that the climate in the bottom of the canyon is tropical while the regular mountain temperatures prevail immediately adjoining and beyond the rims. At intervals along the west walls several streams plunge over the edge of the chasm forming magnificent falls 800 to 2,000 feet high. Some of the views into the canyon are only surpassed in grandeur by those offered by the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. From the descriptions on file, however, I think this canyon is, in many ways, similar to the Yosemite Valley, California, now in a national park, whose vertical walls, while considerably higher in places are not continuously perpendicular, and whose highest waterfall, the Yosemite, has a drop of 1,600 feet.

SHOSHONE CAVERN NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This little monument was created September 21, 1909. For the purpose of preventing entry and to determine by examination the character of this cavern and the tracts of land which might be needed for its protection, two sections of land were withdrawn February 16, 1909. In April following a mineral inspector of the General Land Office visited the cavern and reported in substance as follows: That it was discovered by Mr. Ed. Frost, of Cody, in 1908, who chased a mountain lion into it and, after vainly trying to smoke out the animal, concluded to explore. A mining claim was soon located on the cave, but no evidence whatever of mineral was found, either in the limestone of the cavern or in the surrounding country. The entrance to the cavern is on the north face of Cedar Mountain about one-quarter mile south of Shoshone River, 3 miles east of the Great Shoshone Dam of the Reclamation Service, and 4 miles west of Cody, Wyo. It has been explored about 1 mile and found to be adorned with many beautiful drip formations including in places an entire encrustation of beautiful and sparkilng crystals. There are holes and pits in the cavern of unknown depth and other attractive features which, considered as a whole, were worthy of a small reservation. The monument contains 210 acres of land, and is in T. 52 N., R. 102 W., of the sixth principal meridian, Wyoming.

GRAN QUIVIRA NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This small monument, covering 160 acres, was created November 1, 1909. It covers the ruins of what in the early Spanish régime was doubtless an important mission. It is located upon a commanding eminence about 200 feet above a broad valley to the west, and from it panoramas of mountain ranges are in view in several directions. The walls of the church are from 12 to 20 feet high and 2 to 4 feet thick. Inside, the church measures 30 feet in width by 100 feet long, was located almost due east and west, and has a transept near the west end. There is to the east and north of the church the heaped up piles of rectangular stone, covering several acres and evidently all that remains of a once great Indian pueblo. A portion of these remains are within the monument, but the great majority are within a patented homestead which is believed to have been fraudulently obtained; no cultivation, because of the desert character and lack of water, and no homestead having been established. No one lives upon the tract now, and there is no evidence whatever that anyone ever did live upon it.

SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This is a small monument containing about 57 acres only, and was created March 23, 1910, for the purpose of protecting the burying ground of Russian soldiers killed at this spot in the last battle with the natives in their struggle to maintain their independence. Here also are numerous totem poles, some of great size and splendid carving, which give, by quaint and monstrous figures in relief, the Indian history of the clan to which each belongs.

RAINBOW BRIDGE NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This interesting monument was created May 30, 1910. It embraces 160 acres of land lying about 4 miles northwest of Navajo Mountain in the Navajo Indian Reservation, extreme southern Utah. In the center of this tract and for whose protection the land was reserved is, in some respects, the most remarkable natural bridge in the world. The first white man to see and describe it was W. B. Douglass, an examiner of surveys, who, after surveying out the Natural Bridges National Monument, was sent to locate a bridge which a Paiute Indian, called "Mike's boy," stated he knew of and had seen. If found worthy for a national monument, it was to be surveyed. This natural bridge spans a canyon and small stream which drains the northwestern slopes of Navajo Mountain, a lofty and well-known landmark. Among the known natural bridges of the world it is unique in that it is not only a symmetrical arch below, but presents a curved surface above, thus roughly imitating the arch of the rainbow for which it is named. Its height above the surface of the water in the creek below is 309 feet, and its span 278 feet. It is well worth a place among the national monuments created because of their scientific interest, and, like the Natural Bridges Monument with its group of three lofty and most magnificent horizontal spans, this arched bridge will some day be on some regular line of travel followed by both the student and the archaeologist and the increasingly numerous seekers after recreation.

COLORADO NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument was created May 24, 1911. More than four years ago the people of Mesa County, Colo., began a petition campaign to have certain tracts of land reserved as a national park. These lands embraced two striking canyons, known as Monument and Shackelton Canyons, which nature had carved out of the highly colored country rock and ornamented with magnificent and impressive columns, spires and towers in great numbers. These canyons meet within the proposed park. On request of the governor and auditor of the State of Colorado certain lands were withdrawn from all forms of entry, pending legislation to create a national park, on July 15, 1907; and on December 24, 1909, additional tracts were withdrawn on request of Senator Guggenheim, who stated that he would introduce a bill in the Senate for park purposes, which he did. Congressman E. T. Taylor also introduced a similar bill in the House, but for the general reasons already stated herein, both failed of passage. Petitions were then presented through Mr. Taylor to have the tract proclaimed a national monument. Before a monument proclamation was prepared, the General Land Office sent two of its field mineral inspectors to make a geologic and mineral examination of the lands and report, with recommendation for the reservation of the least area of land necessary to accomplish the end sought. This report was received May 1, 1911, and on May 24 the President signed the proclamation creating the Colorado National Monument, as stated above. The monument is in T. 1 N., R. 2 W., Ute meridian; T. 11 S., Rs. 101 and 102 and T. 12 S., R. 101, all west of the sixth principal meridian.

MONUMENTS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE.

LASSEN PEAK AND CINDER CONE NATIONAL MONUMENTS.

These monuments were created within the Lassen Peak National Forest, Cal., May 6, 1907. They are located in Ts. 31 N., Rs. 4 and 6 E., respectively, of the Mount Diablo meridian, and contain the Lassen Peak, 1,280 acres, and Cinder Cone 5,120 acres. As illustrating the most recent volcanic activity south of Alaska, they are of great scientific interest. The eruptions from these peaks occurred not more than 200 years ago, as shown by trees killed at the time, which are still standing. Within the reserved tracts, also, are hot springs which show continued volcanic activity and may not now be entered under the mining or other laws, but are reserved for the benefit and enjoyment of all, and there are also reserved a number of small lakes of great interest, and characteristic of the region, being formed, in the case of Snag Lake, by the lava which flowed across and dammed the little valley in which the lake lies. The stumps of many trees drowned at the time the water rose are still standing therein.

The efforts first made to reserve these geologic features were directed toward a national park, but it was found upon examination that in order to include the desirable objects it would be necessary to reserve a large tract and one which would include districts much more valuable for other purposes. The proposed park contained about 3,634 square miles. The proposition was abandoned after a careful examination had been made and the several small monuments within the district created instead.

These monuments are administered by the regular forest officers in charge of the forest in which they are located.

GILA CLIFF DWELLINGS NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument was created by proclamation dated November 16, 1907, and is located within the Gila National Forest, in T. 12 S., R. 14 W. of New Mexico principal meridian, New Mexico. The monument consists of a group of hot springs and cliff houses in the Mogollon Mountains, neither very large nor very important, but are located within a district in which few prehistoric ruins are found. The reserved tract contains 160 acres of land.

TONTO NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument was created December 19, 1907, and is located in T. 4 N., R. 12 E., Gila and Salt River meridian, Gila County, Ariz. It consists of two cliff dwellings about 2 miles south of the Tonto Reservoir of the Reclamation Service and about 5 miles southeasterly from the town of Roosevelt. The principal ruin is within the high flaring entrance to a large, shallow cavern, is three stories high, approximately 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep, and contains 14 or more rooms. The ruins are not of the first class, but they are located so close to what is fast becoming a large urban and agricultural population that their reservation as a monument was believed to be in the public interest. They are within the Tonto National Forest and centrally located within a small but rough mountainous tract of 640 acres.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument lies within the Grand Canyon National Forest in northern Arizona, is upon unsurveyed lands, and contains upward of 800,000 acres. It was created January 11, 1908, and is one of the monuments which, in spite of its great size and the difficulties in the way of giving it a thorough examination, is being visited annually by a large and increasing number of people. The railroad north from Williams on the Santa Fe to the canyon makes the monument easily accessible. A statement that it embraces the most attractive portion of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is all the description it needs. But there are practically no facilities for getting down into the canyon except upon the back of a burro and no possibility of traveling about to view the sublime effects of stream erosion after one gets to the bottom. However, a visit to the ruin where at one's feet is spread out the most extraordinary and magnificent panoramas in the world is ample compensation for the time and cost. This monument should be developed and made accessible to the public. Roadways should be constructed to the bottom of the canyon and on or near the bottom, both up and down stream, and competitive hotels erected and controlled near the canyon rim, but not within the monument boundary lines. If the boundary line on the southeasterly side of the monument were moved near the rim, I believe the change would be in the public interest, for then adequate and very desirable electric railways could be given a right of way and would soon be constructed near the rim, but outside of the monument, to the great advantage of those who travel long distances to view the canyon. An electric railway running both easterly and westerly from the end of the steam railroad near the canyon's rim would from one end to the other place before the visitors an ever-changing panorama of a gorge which of all the world Arizona alone possesses.

JEWEL CAVE NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This little monument reserve was created February 7, 1908. It contains 1,200 acres of land and lies in the Black Hills National Forest, in Tps. 3 and 4 S., R. 2 E., Black Hills meridian, South Dakota. The objects sought to be preserved are two caverns known as Jewel and Jasper Caves, which were discovered by Albert and F. M. Michaud, who heard the noise of wind coming out of Jewel Cave through a hole in the ground. After enlarging the opening they located the ground as a mining claim, and held it for the jasper and manganese found in the cavern. They spent three years developing the cave and followed the main wind passage for a mile and a half and 600 or more feet vertically below the surface. The cave is evidently an old subterranean water course through the limestone. The "Jasper" is a similar wind cave and was discovered a mile and a half west of Jewel cave, and, like the latter, was located by miners as a mining claim.

In both of these caverns the wind currents blow inwards and outwards, the periods in the Jewel Cave averaging about 15 hours each way. The Michaud Bros. attempted to exploit the caves but their patronage was too small. An effort was then made by many interested persons to have a national game preserve containing 60 square miles created by Congress, but a justification for same was not apparent and so a national monument was created, the same reserving only so much of the land as was necessary to protect the caves.

WHEELER NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument, embracing 300 acres of land, is in T. 42 N., R. 2 E., New Mexico principal meridian, Colorado. It lies within the Cochetopa and Rio Grande National Forests and was created December 7, 1908. The objects reserved from entry are striking examples of erratic surface erosion.

MOUNT OLYMPUS NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This large monument lies within the Olympic National Forest, Oregon, and contains 576,000 acres of land lying on the summits and high slopes of the lofty Olympic Mountains. This region is of great scientific interest because of the existence of numerous small glaciers, and because the Olympic elk, a species which has been reduced in numbers so rapidly as to carry fears of its extermination, appears to be making on these lofty summits, scarred with ever present ice, his final struggle for existence. This is their summer range and breeding ground, and all hunting or collecting is absolutely prohibited.

OREGON CAVES NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument lies within the Siskiyou National Forest, Oregon, and reserves 480 acres in T. 40 S., R. 6 W., Willamette meridian. These lands were withdrawn from all forms of entry August 5, 1907, on request of the Secretary of Agriculture, and were created a national monument July 12, 1909.

The Oregon Caves were discovered by Elijah Davidson in 1874, and were partially explored in 1877, when four floors or levels were opened up in part. The caves are below a limestone peak, commonly called Cave Mountain, which seems to be honeycombed with caverns of various sizes that extend for miles in the form of galleries and chambers hung with stalactites. It is believed that the caves run under and entirely through the mountain connecting with openings on the other side. Numerous streams of water meander through the several levels and larger bodies of water can be heard in pits too deep to be sounded by a 300-foot rope. Strong currents of wind race through some of the galleries. No doubt when these great caverns can be explored and made accessible and safe this monument will be among the most popular of the cave monuments created.

The Forest Service has improved the trails leading from each side of the divide to the caves, making the latter more accessible than formerly. But little work has been done within and much should be done. Vandals already have broken off and carried away many of the beautiful drip formations which abound in the caverns, and parties of explorers are changing the snow-white crystals to a dingy yellow.

DEVILS POSTPILE NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument embraces about 800 acres of land and was created July 6, 1911. It is located within the Sierra National Forest and within what was formerly a part of Yosemite National Park. The principal object protected by the monument is a series of fine basaltic columns, which have in part toppled over, making a large pile of prismatic log-like sections which, from a distance, strikingly resemble a pile of posts. This formation is deemed worthy of protection because it is the best example of columnar basalt within the United States, as far as known.

BIG HOLE BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT.

This monument contains 5 acres and embraces the Big Hole Battlefield in T. 2 S., R. 17 W. Beaverhead County, Mont. It is within the Big Hole National Forest.

ADMINISTRATIVE CONDITIONS.

With the single exception of the Muir Woods National Monument, of the monuments created out of public lands or out of relinquished lands, the protection afforded to reserved objects is practically confined to the restraining qualities of an official notice, warning the public of the fact of a Government reservation and of the penalties for violation of the regulations adopted for its protection. These have a sufficient restraining influence when the visitor is honest, or when the danger of discovery is so great as to make carelessness, appropriation, or vandalism dangerous. Because of a total lack of funds protective make-shifts have been adopted in some cases, but in the majority the warning notice, with its threat of prosecution, has had to do. Under these conditions, so far as the caverns, the pueblos, cliff and other ruins, and the prehistoric sepulchres are concerned, it is only a question of time when they will be secretly attacked and pillaged piecemeal, until there is nothing left to preserve; and, it seems to me, that if they are not to be developed and made accessible and their treasures uncovered, the sooner monuments which may be despoiled or destroyed are turned over to private ownership and exploitation, the better, because we will then be relieved of a responsibility which we now feel but can not make effective. And as for the monuments like the Devils Tower, the Colorado, Mukuntuweap Pinnacles, and others, if they are not going to be accessible for study and recreation by Government aid, it were better that they be turned over to private ownership, because in the latter case they would soon be made available at a price, which would be much better than not available at all. Those who had the price would be able to see, the rest would neither gain nor lose. But no monument should be turned over to private development and exploitation under contract, agreement, lease, or otherise. Such arrangements are not only certain of being unsatisfactory, productive of scandal, and prolific of complaint, but they would necessarily, and at once, negative the purpose of the monument act; that is, to preserve for all time and without price these extraordinary heritages. It would, I think, be unpatriotic to advocate the abandonment to private speculation of any one of them.

PRESENT PROTECTION.

The Muir Woods National Monument is within easy reach of San Francisco, a large city with a large transient population. Owing chiefly to this fact, but also to the origin of the monument and the ease with which its chief attractions could be ruined, this monument has a real custodian, one who is paid an annual salary and who is on duty all the time. Roadways have been constructed, fire guards maintained, and visitors to the giant redwood forest controlled, to the end that no living thing within the monument, bird, beast or plant, is harmed and the danger of fire is reduced to a minimum if not a negligible quantity. This custodian was the custodian employed by the former private owner and his official appointment was an admirable thing, but he is paid out of a fund which the Comptroller of the Treasury advises is available, although intended when asked of Congress for another and very different object.

The Devils Tower should have some one in charge during the summer season to prevent fires and unauthorized grazing, and to make trails and act as guide, as well as care for such improvements as are indicated herein to be necessary in the development of the reservation. A small salary for actual service would, I think, secure a satisfactory custodian.

The extreme isolation of El Morro will render attempts to protect it adequately difficult. Since all of the inscriptions made during the nineteenth century are reported undesirable, while many are positively bad, I think, possibly, it would be well to remove them and post conspicuous warning notices that thereafter every effort would be made to arrest all offenders for similar acts of vandalism. This method of preservation of these most unique of all historical records would, of course, necessitate regular visits to the monument; and I think the early erasure of all new names, after noting them for punitive purposes, would discourage the practice.

For Montezuma Castle a resident custodian at a small salary could, I think, be easily secured, but better and more permanent means of access to the ruins are greatly needed, and vandalism in the past has made repairs necessary in some places.

The Petrified Forest has a custodian, who lives at Adamana, the railroad station nearest the monument. He was formally appointed at a nominal salary of $1 per month. I have heard no complaint of neglect of duty, but I am informally advised that his chief business is that of guide to the forest. I can see no serious objection to this under present conditions, except that his charges should be regulated by the department, and a strict observance of the regulations governing the reservation should be required of him. The great difficulty encountered here is that of requiring observance of strict regulations from an individual who is paid nothing for his services. To properly administer this extraordinary national monument, which is worthy both of a fostering care and such development as will make it easily accessible and at a minimum cost to visitors, the custodian should be paid a reasonable salary, not large, but large enough to demand and require an effective guardianship in exchange. He should be equipped by the Government with means for transportation of visitors, and if an annual appropriation for the maintenance of same were denied, then a round-trip charge from the nearest railroad point, sufficient to meet the cost of maintenance only, should be maintained.

No custodian has yet been appointed for Chaco Canyon, but there should be one as soon as funds are available. No large salary would be required here, but some money will be needed to repair falling pueblos. The custodian should be on the ground to warn off unauthorized explorers who would excavate without permits, and fail, in the absence of supervision, to strengthen walls made dangerous by their labors or to restore those damaged thereby. If many of these ruins shall be found incapable of restoration, which is extremely probable, he shall keep them intact until exploited by authority and their treasures disposed of for the public good.

No custodian has been appointed for the Pinnacles, which was transferred from the Forest Service, and I think it very doubtful if one will be needed. Certainly none is needed at the present time. However, should the locality become more easily accessible and better known, development work would become necessary and the appointment of someone to administer the reserve will naturally follow.

I know of no reason why anyone should harm the Natural Bridges. No sane person would attempt such a feat, and it is certain, because of their isolation, that it will be a long time before they can be visited by any but hardy horseback riders familiar with the desert and the toll it collects. The name carver is the only vandal to be feared, and his records should be obliterated as fast as discovered.

For the Lewis and Clark Cavern a proper and effective administration is greatly needed. Few things tempt the vandal more than the beautiful stalactites which dame nature hangs in the caverns she digs far from the light and the heat of the sun. Some of these ornaments in the Lewis and Clark Cavern have been broken down and removed, but the great majority remain and should be protected. The cavern is reached by one of the great transcontinental railroads, and visitors may be plentiful soon. No opportunity should be given the curio hunters to knock down and carry away these drip formations, which are the cavern's principal charm. There should be a resident custodian at a moderate salary to develop the roads and trails, build and keep in repair stairways, and pilot parties through the cavern. To prevent access without a guide, the entrance to the cavern should be closed and kept locked, as at present, and provision for artificial lighting, without smoke, should be made.

The old Spanish mission Tumacacori should have a custodian at a modest salary. No doubt the entryman who relinquished the ground for the monument would make a good custodian and be satisfied with a salary of $20 a month or less. The old mission church, however, should be restored as far as possible and kept in repair, and the myriad vagabond names and writings removed from its walls.

The Navajo Monument needs a custodian as soon as its final boundaries are established. Reports testify that some of the ruins have been visited and much pottery uncovered and carried away. With the reduction of this monument to three or four 160-acre tracts, as is now contemplated, there will still remain almost an unlimited virgin field for exploitation by colleges, museums, and associations armed with the necessary permits to excavate and remove treasures. In this connection I wish to state that I am of the opinion that all excavating and all restorations of ruins protected by national-monument proclamations should be done by and under the authority of the Government, and that the collections made therein should be placed primarily in the Smithsonian Institution; those which are typical and of greatest interest and importance to remain there on exhibition for the benefit of students and seekers after knowledge, and for the pleasure and enjoyment of others. I believe that a legitimate objection does not lie against the adoption of this policy, because the ratio of reserved ruins to those not protected by monuments is very small indeed.

I have been advised by those who know best, that the fruitful field for archaeological research in the Southwest has in fact neither metes nor bounds.

The Mukuntuweap Monument will need a custodian at a small salary as soon as the advent of a railroad brings it within reach of the people. Roads and bridges will have to be built and kept in repair, and transportation facilities within the magnificent canyon maintained. It is in no danger now, not even from name vandals.

The Shoshone Cavern under present conditions does not seriously need a local custodian. Prior to its creation the mineral inspector found that many low-hung stalactites had been broken off and carried away, but much better facilities for reaching the cavern must be provided before many people will visit it. A stairway one hundred or more feet high, permitting access to the entrance by way of the Shoshone Canyon road, and safe trails and by-paths through the cavern itself are greatly needed.

The Gran Quivira appears to be in no danger of unauthorized exploitation and does not, I think, need a custodian at any price at the present time. These ruins are not believed to be of sufficient value as to warrant efforts at restoration on a large scale, but thorough excavations might reveal very valuable relics of the people who dwelt there long before the Spanish conquest and make restoration a very desirable policy.

The Sitka Monument is in little danger from vandalism, because it is so far away and the difficulties of transportation are so great that the principal objects preserved, the totem poles, could not be easily removed.

The Colorado Monument needs a custodian, not so much to protect the monument from vandalism as to develop roads and trails and make all parts of the reservation easily accessible. A custodian could act as guide also. Mr. John Otto, of Fruita, Colo., who has freely expended his own time and money in making trails through the canyon and over impassable places for years, was appointed superintendent and caretaker of the monument on June 7 last at a nominal salary of $1 per month.

ADMINISTRATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS.

As far as I am advised the Forest Service has not appointed local custodians, superintendents, or caretakers for the monuments in its charge. This responsibility is assigned to the district supervisors of national forests and other field assistants, and I assume that the actual protection given by them is similar to that afforded in the Interior Department by the chiefs of field divisions and by the local land officers of the General Land Office. All of these officials, by virtue of their positions of authority, can threaten punishment for offences committed and they may make good, but what we want for most of the monuments is protection from damage, not punishment afterward. The value of the services of national monument custodians will depend upon their immediate presence and personal supervision, supplemented, of course, by that watchfulness and devotion to duty characteristic of the good public servant everywhere. We need this, but we need something more. Under existing conditions two departments are charged with jurisdiction over national monuments, and three may be. Responsibility is divided. There can be no uniformity in administration under such conditions unless there is uniformity in letting the monuments alone. The chiefs of field divisions and the local land officers have now all they can do if they efficiently discharge the regular duties imposed by law and the regulations thereunder. I assume it is the same with the officers of the Department of Agriculture. If this is not true, it were better to reduce the personnel than to attempt to require of the supernumeraries a long distance service which they are unable to perform. I believe, therefore, that not only should we have effective local custodianship, but the administration of all national monuments of whatever character or wherever located, or however secured, should be consolidated and the responsibility for their developement, protection, and preservation placed where it can be made effective.

It is possible that 28 national monuments, or that portion of them which needs development, do not form a sufficiently weighty trust to warrant a separate administrative unit to develop and administer them. If this be true, why not consolidate a little further? Create an administrative unit for the national monuments and national parks together. The method of creating these reserves is different, but after creation there is no evident difference between them. They are as like as two peas in a pod. Furthermore, with the exception of the ruins, any general plan of development which may be adopted for the one will be equally applicable to the needs of the other. Experience shows that there can be no effective administration for either under present methods and regulations, because the time given to them is largely stolen from that assigned to other work. As a whole they receive only incidental consideration when the public interest is great enough, and the reservations are important enough to demand a sympathetic and energetic effort directed exclusively toward solving the problems of development and administration they present.

The SECRETARY. I am sure you will appreciate all the interesting information which Mr. Bond. has given us on a subject which, as stated by Mr. Bond, is very little understood.

We have another matter of administration connected with the national parks which has been mentioned to me by a number of individuals here at this conference as being in their judgment important, and we will ask Mr. Sunderland to present a paper on "Architecture and engineering, its relation to isolated Government improvements."

ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING: ITS RELATION TO ISOLATED GOVERNMENT IMPROVEMENTS, BY E. M. SUNDERLAND.

Mr. Secretary and gentlemen: It is not my intention in my talk upon the subject assigned me to give a lecture upon archaeology or statics, but I do wish to hang out a danger signal, or if not permitted to do this, to put up the green flag, which, as you all know, in railroading signifies caution. In the past two years and a half I have been intrusted by the Department of the Interior with several commissions for architectural and engineering work upon Government reservations. During this time I have seen many buildings and engineering works which remind me of the comment made on the mermaid, "The mermaid is too much of a fish to hug, and too much of a woman to fry." Many of the Government improvements are structurally too good to be dismantled and abandoned, but still in design are poor. Many of you are intrusted with the developing of reservations and parks which are in their infancy, I have in mind two of these reservations which I have recently visited, and upon which practically no improvements have been made. I sincerely trust that those of you who have charge of such reservations and the developing of same will give most careful consideration to the following:

SITES, CONSTRUCTION, ARCHITECTURE, SANITATION, FIRE PROTECTION, AND TEMPORARY WORK.

In selecting sites for a building, those should be selected which appeal to you from a picturesque standpoint, the site that only needs a building to complete the picture. This of course is conditional as to whether water supply, drainage, and approaches are obtainable. It often happens that the site most desired for a building from a picturesque standpoint becomes impractical for the reasons that water supply, sewerage, and approaches can not be economically constructed.

In the construction of buildings and engineering work stability should be the first consideration. If anything is to be sacrificed for economic reasons, do not sacrifice the construction; rather, sacrifice the architecture. I mean by this that your buildings can be well designed in massing, but the ornamentation and elaboration can be limited. The first cost of any work should not be such as to cause the overhead charges to be too great; I mean by this, your annual expense for up keep.

In the selection of the style and type of architecture the same should be governed by the location, climate, and surroundings. A building of the Mexican Mission or the Spanish Renaissance style would not be appropriate in a park of such character as Glacier National Park, nor the chalet or chateau here except in the higher altitude. In the design of a building the massing is what catches the eye. There may be handsome columns and capitals and the detail elaborate, but if the eye is not attracted to the building by its general pleasing outlines, the detail will never be appreciated, because to persons passing the completed picture is what attracts the eye.

Many of you are intrusted with large propositions, as I have stated before which are in their infancy, for instance Glacier National Park and Platt National Park. It seems to me that in parks of this character a careful study should be given to a definite layout for the entire park and the contemplated improvements. If there had been a definite scheme adopted for the Hot Springs, Ark., the many sore thumbs of architecture would not exist; the hodgepodge there is pitiful. There we have the Romanesque, Greek, Gothic, and Renaissance within one hideous grouping, and it seems to me that conditions such as this is an ample warning to those of you who have in charge the development of new propositions.

In designing buildings for my private practice, I have found that if I gave my clients plenty of heat, good plumbing, and tight roofs, that they would put up with a great deal in the way of the lack of the ornate. In this connection I wish particularly to emphasize the necessity of a well-designed and constructed sanitary layout, especially as to the ventilation, sewerage disposal, heating, and water supply.

As to temporary work, it has been my experience that where appropriations are inadequate for the improvements contemplated, those in charge will say, "We will do this work only temporarily, only for a year or two until we can get Congress to appropriate more money." This is a dangerous practice, for the work in most instances becomes a permanent fixture and is extravagant and deceiving in the end.

I have heard to-day many remarks about the natural beauties of our parks in comparison with those of Europe. American tourists returning from Europe not only comment upon the beauties of the landscapes but invariably are enthusiastic over the architecture and its harmony with the natural beauties of the landscapes. Here we are starting out with a new country, developing new parks, and we should be careful not to mar the natural beauties of nature with inappropriate and poorly designed architecture.

The SECRETARY. Is there any general discussion on the subject of architecture in the parks, sanitation, or the other subjects touched by Mr. Sunderland?

We will now hear from Mr. Schmeckebier on publicity. Mr. Schmeckebier is in charge of the publicity work in the Department of the Interior.

PUBLICITY IN ITS RELATION TO NATIONAL PARKS, BY L. F. SCHMECKEBIER, Clerk in Charge of Publications, Department of the Interior.

Publicity regarding the national parks may be accomplished in three ways: (1) By means of news items or specially prepared articles given to newspapers or magazines; (2) by means of handbooks giving detailed information regarding each park; (3) by means of exhibitions of photographs, lantern slides, and moving pictures. The department has already taken steps to disseminate information by each of the methods mentioned, but the active and hearty cooperation of the park superintendents is needed to get the best results.

First let us consider the newspaper field. This class of work is readily divided into special descriptive articles and news items. Descriptive articles are generally sent out for the Sunday editions of the papers in the large cities, while the news items are given to the press associations and the newspaper correspondents. As a rule such articles will be prepared in the Washington office, but there is no reason why the field men should not contribute materially if they have the time and opportunity.

The best field for the activities of the park officials is in regard to news items, which should be forwarded to the Washington office from each park as often as possible. Now what constitutes an item of news? Too many people think that only sensational matter constitutes news. As a matter of fact much of the sensational matter is no news at all, being simply the manifestation of an active imagination. In reality everything that happens is news and the things that are undertaken in the regular work of developing a park make the very best of news items.

The entire process of development, such as trail and road work, building bridges, and the discovery of new points of interest form the foundation for numerous items of news. For instance, if you are starting to build a road or trail, that fact should be given publicity, but do not rest content merely with a statement that a road or trail has been started. The item should indicate the place held by that particular work in the general development of the park. You should state where the road begins, whither it leads, and what points of interest will be made more available. Perhaps the road may lead to a glacier, a grove of big trees, or a mountain from which a magnificent view may be obtained, or it may cross some stream in which the trout abound, or it may traverse some beautiful valley that offers fine opportunities for camping; it may reach to a section of the park that has been difficult of access or it may materially shorten the distance. Give the course of the road in a general way, indicating whether it is along the shore of a lake, whether it goes through forest, or whether it is in open country from which extended veiws are obtained, and if the work of construction is especially difficult give the particulars. After you have let the public know that your road is started do not abandon it for news purposes. If the work is delayed by a rock slide or a forest fire another opportunity is offered for publicity, and the completion of any unit or of the entire road gives the publicity man a chance to tell the whole story over again. What has been said with regard to the road applies to all the work of man and nature in the park, because nature will furnish you with many a unique item of news. In this park any unusual action of the springs and geysers or the discovery of new phenomena constitutes items of great interest to the public. In other parks glaciers, caves, springs, or waterfalls may be discovered or some new information regarding them may be available, Forest fires in or near the parks should be reported, with a statement of the damage done, and if the fire has not done any appreciable damage that fact should be brought out. You are not expected to present this material in shape for the press. Write the facts clear, mark it "news item," sign your name and forward it to the Washington office.

You might ask, "What is the purpose of all this?" In the first place these parks are public institutions supported and maintained by the Government, and the people are entitled to know what is going on and what is being done. It is true a report is made each year, but the number of persons reached by the report is very limited, and they are reached only once a year; while items given out to the press reach people who do not know that there is such a publication as an annual report. Then it is only just to the superintendents who are charged with the management of these parks that the work being done should be given as much publicity as possible. The people that have been to the parks and others that know of the parks see that you are on the job and that you are getting results. Most important of all we want to get people interested in the parks because the continued development of the parks must necessarily depend on the interest of the public. We want people to see the names of the parks in the papers, to realize that there are such things as national parks, and to feel that these great national pleasure grounds are being developed for their use and benefit. To a man who has been to one of the parks a little item in the papers concerning it is like shaking hands with an old friend. We want to keep the good will of this man who has been to the park, to call back to him the pleasant days he has spent within its borders, and to remind him that a better park awaits him on his return.

Every year millions of dollars are spent in Europe by American tourists who have seen nothing of their own country, but at present there is a well-defined movement in this country to have our people see America first before seeing the sights of the Old World. We want to take advantage of this movement, and have our people realize that they are the owners of great pleasure grounds, which are not surpassed by anything that Europe can offer.

Thousands of people have heard of the beauties of these national wonderlands, and every time they see an item of news their desire to see the parks is stimulated and they are brought a step nearer to our gates.

I have discussed these items in some detail because men who have had no experience with publicity work do not realize what an abundance of material there is around them. I have known this for some time, but it was never brought to my attention more forcibly than during the past summer, when the publicity work for the parks was first started. Early in the summer a call was sent to the parks for news items, and the result of that call has been one item contributed by the superintendent of this park. Now, I do not mention this by way of criticism, because I realize that the publicity work is something which had not been attempted before and which perhaps did not appear of much importance. But I want to impress upon you that the publicity work is of great importance in the future of the parks, and I want you to realize that what is routine and perhaps commonplace in your regular work is novel and interesting to the public.

Now, let us consider what literature to aid the traveler should be issued by the Government. Heretofore we have issued practically nothing. As the annual report must necessarily be of an administrative character, it is of little value to a person knowing nothing of the park. Furthermore, I was surprised to find that many of the handsome and attractive booklets issued by the railroads contain little specific information. Practically all of these are issued for a special purpose and contain general descriptive matter, and the items that affect the business of the person or company issuing the publication.

Each of the superintendents of the larger parks has already been requested to submit the data for a handbook, which it is intended shall give all necessary information to a person that knows nothing about the park. It is not intended to give a great amount of detailed description, as this can be obtained easily from other sources. It is proposed, however, to give a list of all the important features in the park, a brief characterization of each feature, its distance from some central point, and the manner of reaching it. This will enable persons to intelligently plan a trip through the park. A list of such places in the Sequoia and General Grant National Parks was given in the annual report on those parks for 1909, and it is proposed to follow the plan of that list if no better one is suggested. The handbook will contain a brief statement of how to reach the park. This statement will be confined to the names of railroads that are immediately tributary to points near the park.

The handbook should also contain a section on the method of transportation through the parks and a list of permanent hotels or camps. This portion is regarded as of great importance in cases where there are two transportation lines in the park or where there are several systems of hotels or permanent camps. The Government will, of course, express no preference for any system of hotels, permanent camps, or transportation. The pamphlet will give the locations of hotels and camps, the addresses of managers, and all rates that are authorized and sanctioned by the department. In several of the parks the hotels are located on patented land, and there may be some question regarding the listing of such hotels. As these hotels are located within the exterior limits of the park, I am of the opinion that they should be listed in the same manner as the hotels that hold concessions, as these hotels are necessary to the people that visit the park, and none of them, I believe, compete with hotels that hold concessions.

The handbook should pay particular attention to information needed by campers. It should tell particularly at what points guides, cooks, horses, outfit, and provisions may be procured, and the approximate cost of all these items should be given if practicable. I should be glad to have expressions of opinion as to whether it is desirable to publish the names of guides, persons who have horses for hire, and dealers in campers' supplies. In publishing such a list it will be necessary to exercise strict impartiality in the selection of names, but care should be taken to include only the names of persons that are known to be trustworthy. As it is proposed to issue a new edition of the handbook each season, the department could strike from its list any guide who had been guilty of misbehavior or any dealer who made a practice of overcharging. Such a procedure would be an incentive to all persons to act fairly in the treatment of visitors.

The department should also issue small handbooks giving an account of the natural features of each park. For the Yellowstone, Crater Lake, Mount Rainier, and Yosemite parks there should be issued a small pamphlet giving their geologic history in such terms that the publication will be understood by the intelligent tourist. For this park there should be an account of the geysers, the hot springs, the fossil forests, and other phenomena of peculiar interest. For the California parks there should be issued a general pamphlet on the big trees. For all the parks there should be compiled lists and descriptions of the birds, game, and flowers. A lot of material for these publications is available; its publication is only a matter of the time necessary to reassemble it in proper shape. Such publications not only will add to the pleasure of the tourist, but their education value is almost incalculable.

The department has already published a list of magazine articles on the national parks and reservations, and hopes to compile a list of books and articles in books. In the handbook on each park will probably be reprinted the list of books and magazine articles on that park. These lists will be compiled at the department, as it is impossible to do this work in the field.

The last phase of publicity work that I care to discuss is the pictorial side. The department has made arrangements for assembling a collection of pictures of the scenes in the parks for exhibition in public libraries next winter. This exhibit is being assembled through the cooperation of the various railroads that are tributary to the parks. The cordial help being extended by the railroads will result in a collection of great interest and value.

The department hopes to obtain some lantern slides showing scenes in the parks, but the details of this matter have not been worked out.

The department desires to acquire as many views as possible of scenes in the parks. These pictures should be on hand so that they will be available for publicity work as well as for reference and for use before the committees of Congress.

As new opportunities for publicity are presented the department will endeavor to take advantage of them. The field I have outlined is extensive enough for the small force that is available in the Washington office. The success of the plans formulated depends on the enthusiastic cooperation of the superintendents of all the parks, and I have not the slightest doubt but that this cooperation will be forthcoming.

The SECRETARY. I can only add this to what Mr. Schmeckebier has said; that is, that his suggestions are intended for practical application. We expect to keep a check on the steps taken by the officers in charge of the parks to comply with these suggestions, and we will have something to say about the men who carry out the suggestions, and perhaps something to say about those who do not. This is intended as an invitation, not a warning or a threat.

We will now have remarks on the general question of park administration before taking up some of the more detailed matter, and would be glad to hear from Mr. R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer of the Geological Survey, on the subject.

PARK ADMINISTRATION, BY R. E. MARSHALL, Chief Geographer, United States Geological Survey

It is an honor and a real pleasure to be present at this, the first conference of the acting superintendents of the national parks. Much good must come from such a gathering of men, all of whom are doing everything in their power for the good of their parks. I can not help but feel that Secretary Fisher's idea in calling you together is the best step toward getting first-hand information regarding each of the national parks, as well as being a definite move toward the betterment of our national playgrounds.

It was my pleasure recently to listen to Mr. Fisher in Denver, and the plain, personal way in which he talked to his audience leads me to believe that from you he wants to hear every phase of your work discussed, and that any suggestions you may have to offer may be freely given without a thought of fear or favor. We of the Geological Survey have found, even in the few months that Mr. Fisher has been our secretary, that he is always willing to listen, that he weighs facts, and when he has given his approval it means get at it at once; and I am sure his first and ever-prevailing thought is that of the people, and in this conference the administration of the national parks for the people, the whole people, is what should be the guiding principle.

I shall speak very frankly to you, giving my point of view as I see it, and I ask you to accept my brief notes in the spirit in which they are given. If I say anything regarding your park in the way of criticism please do not think that I wish in any way to reflect upon you or your administration. I believe each of you are honestly doing all you can under present conditions. It is these same conditions that I will talk about.

It has been my good fortune during some 20 years in the Geological Survey to have topographically surveyed three and visited seven of the principal national parks, and my point of view has always been, is the public, the great mass of the people, getting the greatest benefit from the parks, and, if not, how can conditions be improved to make the parks more attractive so that more people will go to them and will stay in them longer than they now do? A natural park, preserved in all its beauty and at the same time made accessible to the public for all time, is as grand a heritage as it is possible to leave to future generations, and too much thought and care can not be given to its development and preservation, at the same time providing for its fullest use by the people of to-day. In 1910 in the 11 principal parks there were only about 200,000 visitors, less than one-fourth of 1 per cent of our 90,000,000 people. There should have been 1,000,000. The question is, what can be done to increase the number of visitors over that of 1910? Naturally, we must turn to the administration of the parks for an answer. What is it?

Let us take the Yosemite, for instance. First of all, Congress has given practically no money for the development of the park. Therefore there could be adopted no comprehensive plan of development, no definite policy could be inaugurated by the department. The result is that this wonderful park, the finest in the world, is practically in no better condition to-day than it was in 1890 when established. Many of the roads and trails are in worse condition—the same old dust is there, where there is more water than could possibly be used in sprinkling. Only one miserable hotel now, where in 1890 there were two, one of which, the Stoneman House, destroyed by fire years ago, was fairly good. The underbrush over all the park, and especially in the valley, has increased to such an extent that if a fire should once get a good headway we would lose one of the principal attractions of the park, its magnificent forest. The present shack of a hotel was only a makeshift when first built. The location is the worst imaginable. Even the Indians did not chose this site for their tepees. There are no walks or driveways over which one may travel without getting smothered in dust. There are no attactions save an unkept nature's wonderland. There are any number of people who would travel miles for the pleasure of golf, tennis, open-air concerts, skating, skeeing, sleighing, and similar attractions in the wonderful Yosemite. Such civilized attractions would add much to the physical pleasure to thousands of the people of California alone, to say nothing of the people from other States, or even the world. I believe the Secretary would be tempted to forget the affairs of state and make at least one trip a year to the Yosemite for a chance to put a ball over the bunker, El Capitan, with a Mono Indian for a caddy.

But it will take money to improve our national playgrounds and I, for one, am firmly of the opinion that the grown-up children of the nation would be willing to pay for the improvements. If they are once aroused to a full appreciation of the needs of the parks, by a well-planned national park organization, Congress will be forced to respond and authorize a few millions to be spent where the people will get the direct benefit, and, mark me, there will not be one word of criticism of Congress for any money that it allows to be spent in improvements in our national parks.

Therefore, I say, Mr. Chairman, the first step to take is to put the parks on a permanent civil service basis, with a general superintendent of national parks at the head and superintendents and assistants in each park. Have them formulate plans for your approval and start a campaign of publicity to let our people know that they possess such wonderful unimproved property. Let us have a national park magazine, for free distribution, filled with photographs and live human-interest stories. I am confident that such men as John Muir, John Burrows, Olmstead, Burnham, Chase, White, and many other of our out-door writers, would gladly contribute, making an official magazine that would do more good than can be estimated, in arousing the people, who want to help but don't know how to go about it.

You may say that I am a national park enthusiast. I am, but who could have lived in nature's wonderlands for 20 years and be otherwise? I know you who have lived in the national parks must feel the same sense of affection as I for nature's handiwork, and you must spread the enthusiasm. Make it more contagious. Play the game for all it is worth, until the people will come in such numbers and will have such a personal interest in the parks that there will be no need for the soldier or the ranger, or the sign "keep off the boulder."

But I am drifting, losing the trail, getting too deep in the gardens, nature's paradise.

To come back out of the woods to administration.

I fully agree with the statement in the annual report of the Secretary of the Interior for 1910, that some effort should be made to turn the tide of tourist travel from the mountains of Europe, where millions of dollars are spent annually that should be spent in our own national parks. Our parks are as beautiful in every respect as any to be found in the older countries. Their accommodations for visitors, however, are perhaps the least attractive and at the same time the most expensive to be found anywhere. It can not be expected that the tourist will go to the parks in our own country when the cost of such trips is more than that of a European trip. The railway companies should and must cooperate by reducing their transportation charges. They should give to the tourists from any point a round-trip rate equal to the present rate for the single trip. The resulting increase in travel in the long run will yield greater profit than is now derived from the small number of tourists at existing rates. The same general view should be taken by the local transportation companies, and by the hotels and camps, in the treatment of tourists after they reach the park. The present policy is to tax them all they will stand. This attitude prohibits those who most need the benefits of the parks from visiting them. Therefore the transportation companies—unintentionally perhaps—discourage rather than encourage the fullest use of the parks for the purposes for which they are created. Unless the present attitude is materially changed it is a question whether it is worth while to spend so much time and money in park improvement for the very few who can now afford the trip, especially as those few do not need the outing as much as those who are denied this great benefit solely because of the rates charged by the transportation companies. In reality, these companies are having improved at Government expense localities from which they, more than anyone else, derive profit.

We have 13 national parks, containing more than 4,000,000 acres. We should have 50, but even the 13 deserve administration by a separate bureau. The direction of the work involved will surely require a man of large experience, and he should receive liberal compensation for his services.

There should be created a bureau of national parks, with a director in charge. He should be an engineer who has had experience in the mountains and the woods, who knows the country. He should be a man who has had actual and not merely theoretical experience with conditions in the national parks. His office in Washington need not be large; in fact, it should be a field-service bureau. There should be for each park or group of parks a civilian superintendent, who should be an engineer, or at least have a general knowledge of engineering, and rangers or guards for patrol duty, all of whom, including the director, should be appointed under civil service. These appointments should be entirely divorced from politics, and the positions should be held for indefinite periods. In that way only can first-class results be accomplished, for the officers and men should be thoroughly familiar with all conditions in the parks and such familiarity can only be acquired by years of experience and observation.

But there is a long step between the recommendation that a bureau of national parks be established and the actual creation of such a bureau by Congress, but in the meantime the above plan of administration should be put into effect so far as it can within the law, and thus start the organization, so as to provide for the public convenience in every possible way until Congress shall create the Bureau of National Parks.

And I suggest that any bill providing for the creation of a bureau of national parks shall carry all appropriations in lump sums, which shall include all salaries to be paid in connection with the administration of the parks. In grading the salaries of professional and other skilled employees under the Government cognizance should be taken so far as practicable of the value of similar services in private work. Almost without exception the salaries paid by the Government for such services are much lower than those paid in private work, many specialists receiving only one-half or one-third of the compensation they would receive outside of the Government service.

Being a topographic engineer, I am fully convinced that a topographic map is absolutely necessary in planning any engineering development. Without it millions must be spent in preliminary work in connection with development interprises, whereas, with a topographic base map in hand, costing about $20 a square mile, or 3 cents an acre, the engineer may sit in his office and plan practically all his work without going to the field, thereby dispensing with the costly preliminary surveys. Therefore, when I began the topographic survey of the Yosemite National Park in 1893 I was impressed with the importance of having a first-class topographic map for administrative and development purposes to take the place of the crude maps accompanying the superintendent's annual report. I worked in every way I knew how to put my scheme into effect, both with the Geological Survey and the department, but it took time and patience. They say all things come to him who waits—anyway, in 1909, 16 years later, with the assistance of Maj. H. C. Benson at that time acting superintendent of the Yosemite National Park, the department authorized the preparation by the Geological Survey of administrative topographic maps of the Yosemite, Sequoia, General Grant, and Platt National Parks; in 1910, of the Yellowstone, Glacier, and Crater Lake National Parks, and during the season of 1910-11 field surveys were begun of the Mesa Verde and Mount Rainier National Parks, which it is expected will be completed during the present field season. Therefore, by 1912 my dream of 1893 will have come true and there will be available first-class administrative topographic maps of nine of the largest national parks. I have here copies of six of these administrative maps for your inspection.

The Wind Cave and Hot Springs maps can be prepared whenever the department desires them from data already in the Geological Survey, leaving only Sullys Hill and Casa Grande ruin to be surveyed.

I hope these maps will prove to be worth to you for administrative purposes all that I have claimed for them. I would also like to have a folded edition in the hands of each tourist visiting the parks. Being now directly responsible for the accuracy and appearance of the topographic maps of the Geological Survey, I shall welcome any criticism from any and all of you, that the maps may be made of more service to the department and to you in your work, as well as to the public, which I hope will be constant users of them.

I believe that all work of improvement and construction in the national parks should be done directly by the Department of the Interior and that all funds created by Congress for that purpose should be placed directly under the control of the Secretary of the Interior, to be expended by him, the work not being delegated to the Chief of Engineers, as has been the practice in the past in the improvement of national parks. There should be no division of authority and responsibility in the improvement and administration of the parks, such as necessarily results when two coordinate branches of the Government have equal authority over two pieces of work which, although apparently independent of each other, are as a matter of fact parts of one project, between which no distinct line can be drawn.

The manner in which the work of improvement is carried out must, of necessity, depend largely on the appropriations made by Congress for that purpose and the revenue derived from concessions granted within the parks. Experience has shown that it is impracticable to limit to a specified sum the expenditure in any one area or on any particular piece of work. No single piece of work included as an item in general estimates for improvement of a national park could be completed within its estimated cost if done independently of other work. The preliminary expenditures for equipment, etc., would more than equal the estimated cost of the single piece of work. Only if Congress at the outset provides a certain appropriation for an entire project, to be made available annually in lump sums, can the best results be attained. This is the plan under which in 1900 was adopted the project for the recently completed system of roads and trails in the Yellowstone National Park, and I wish to quote from the 1901 report of Capt. H. M. Chittenden (Brig. Gen., United States Army, retired), of the Corps of Engineers, who was in charge of that work for several years:

The sum appropriated (act of Mar. 3, 1901) largely exceeded any former appropriation. It was made immediately available. It was in a lump sum, thus giving more latitude in using it where most needed. It designated what proportion should be applied to works of improvement and what to administration and protection. The advantage of these liberal provisions is already apparent in the season's operations. More work has been accomplished at this date (July 11) than is ordinarily by the 1st of September. The appropriation will yield 20 per cent larger results, dollar for dollar, than has been possible under any previous appropriation.¹

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¹Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, 1901, pt. 5, pp. 3785-3786.

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Again, I quote from Capt. Chittenden's report for 1903:

The money has been applied to the work most needed, and the quality of the work has depended upon the funds at the time available. The whole system is being progressively developed, and every new contribution made by Congress is applied where most needed, and all tends toward the final results.²

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²Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, 1903, pt. 4, p. 2462.

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The protection of the enormous timber resources of the national parks from destruction by fire is one of the most important considerations in their administration and maintenance. As most of the parks are surrounded by or border on national forests, there should be the fullest cooperation in the administration of the two. Most of the acts creating the parks provide that the Secretary of the Interior "shall sell and permit the removal of such matured or dead or down timber as he may deem necessary or advisable for the protection or improvement of the park." Steps should be taken toward accomplishing this cleaning up at the earliest practicable date. All underbrush and rubbish should be properly burned off. It is recognized that the humus found on the ground in all forests is in reality the fertilizer which is necessary to the life of the trees, and that if this humus is entirely destroyed the trees will suffer; but the large amount usually found in uncared-for forests is wholly unnecessary and when it remains undisturbed the danger from fire is greatly increased. If this humus is burned off at the proper season—early spring or late fall—there will still remain sufficient for the nourishment of the trees.

A complete and adequate fire-protection service should be established in each of the parks. The numerous high peaks, by reason of their location in all parts of the parks, are admirably adapted to serve as fire-signal stations. The parks should be divided into fire districts radiating from the signal stations, and a network of firebreaks should be cut over the entire area, sufficiently close to control all possible fires. An adequate telephone system should be constructed, connecting the administrative headquarters with each of the fire-signal stations. A competent ranger or guard should be placed in charge of each station during the dry or fire season, and it should be his duty to keep constant watch for fires in the hills and valleys below his station. Immediately on discovering a fire in his district or the surrounding country he should notify administrative headquarters by telephone, and guards should then be dispatched at once to the danger point.

The points for fire-signal stations should be selected, made accessible, and the service inaugurated at the earliest practicable date. The station buildings themselves may be of very simple character, but should be substantial and permanent. Preferably they should be built of stone, with window on each side and circular tower on top for look-out in all directions. Each station should be equipped for living purposes, and be provided with a good observation instrument and maps, so that the observer can locate a fire and report at once to the superintendent.

My belief is that many thousand head of cattle could be pastured each season in the various national parks with no resulting damage. If given 5-year leases the cattlemen would be glad to pay a reasonable fee per head a month, which would create a large fund to be used in general improvement of the parks. The cattle would keep the trails open and eat the underbrush. The interest of the cattlemen in conserving the feed for their cattle would induce them to become an organized fire-fighting ally. In addition, such a policy would remove much of the present attitude of criticism against the Government for withdrawing these lands from use of any kind save as pleasure grounds.

A uniform system of providing hotel accommodations should be adopted for all of the national parks. At the present time such accommodations, as a general rule, are entirely inadequate. Concessions should be granted for a period of years sufficiently long to warrant and encourage the construction of first-class hotels. All plans for hotels should receive the approval of a board of architects, which should also approve the selection of sites, in order that the hotels may be properly located and so constructed as to meet prevailing climatic conditions as well as to be architecturally attractive and in harmony with the surrounding country. Recently I heard that a concession was to be granted for a hotel in the Giant Forest, but the location proposed is the worst that could be selected. It is in the heavy timber, where no sun will reach it; it is damp and not surrounded by attractive scenery, whereas if a site were selected on the bluff, 3,000 feet above Kaweah River near Moro Rock, there would be constant sunshine, a wonderful stretch of magnificient scenery in plain view for 180°, with Sequoias all around. Such mistakes in the selection of sites would not be made if all plans were subject to approval by a board of architects. All hotels and camps in one park should be either under one management or so controlled that the public will not be subjected to annoyances by runners or stage drivers, bewildering the tourist by urging him to go to this or that camp or hotel.

In calling attention to a few specific conditions, I have hoped to make them appear to you in their real light, as I see them—conditions which I believe would not have been allowed to exist for one minute if there had been some one person charged with the duty of looking out for all the parks. Therefore, I can not too strongly urge, Mr. Chairman, the establishment at once of an organization of some kind whose sole duty it shall be to administer the national parks.

The Sequoia National Park should be enlarged, as outlined in Senate bill No. 10895, introduced at the last session of Congress by Senator Flint, of California.

The boundary line, as shown on the map which I have here, and as defined by Senator Flint, is a natural one, and right here I want to urge in the strongest possible way that all park boundaries be made to conform to natural lines wherever practicable.

I believe that in the improvement of the Glacier National Park, which is in all of its virgin beauty and affords a splendid opportunity for the Government to carry out an ideal plan of improvement profiting by its abundant experience in the management of the other national parks, the cooperation of the Great Northern Railway should be encouraged to the greatest possible extent. Applying this more broadly, I believe that the fullest cooperation should be encouraged of any railroad reaching a national park. The development of the park will enhance the general attractiveness of the entire region and will give a distinct impetus to travel. Undoubtedly, therefore, the railroad company would be desirous of aiding in the work in every way possible, in order that it may satisfy the large tourist business that will surely come as soon as accommodations can be established. I believe that the Government, in order to confer upon its people full and early enjoyment of the privileges of the Glacier National Park may with propriety accept the assistance of the Great Northern Railway. It seems to me that this would be a good business principle for the department to establish in behalf of the people.

I want to say just a word about the Mesa Verde National Park, which I I visited during the past July. There is nothing in this park to make it of national importance save the cliff dwellings. There is no opportunity for camping; the scenery is common to many of the Western States and needs no protection. The inaccessibility of the park, the long distance, and the miserable railroad accommodations make it, I think, out of the question to make this park popular to any degree in comparison with the other parks. The road which is under construction, particularly along the north face of the cliff, although of scenic value, is in the worst place possible to maintain it. It will, I estimate, require $50,000 to put these few miles in good order, and because of the slide rock and other material through which it passes that $10,000 a year will be none too much to keep it in safe condition.

There is practically no water within the park, and until water can be found the department is taking a big chance of wasting public money in building roads and accommodations where they may not be used by the public on account of lack of water. The nearest water supply in any reasonable quantity is 40 miles distant and 3,000 feet below the top of the mesa.

The present boundary of this park must be changed on the north and east if the mesa ruin is to be entirely within the boundary, and on the south if that for which the park was created is to be protected—that is, the cliff dwellings. The present boundary does not include a single ruin. My recommendation would be to create a national monument of small acreage around the ruins—say each canyon containing the cliff houses, and have the area around all the canyons converted into a national forest.

The question of whether or not troops should be stationed in the parks and monuments is a mooted one. The present policy of stationing Federal troops in the parks for brief periods is shortsighted, and the system is entirely inadequate for proper protection. The tendency appears to have been to continue and even to extend this policy. It is questionable whether troops should be stationed in the parks at all; but if they are they should be detailed for guard duty only and for periods of at least five years, and then not all changed at the same time. It requires at least one year of experience for a man to become at all familiar with the conditions in any one of the national parks. In this connection I wish to quote from the annual report for 1904 of Capt. George F. Hamilton, United States Army, acting superintendent of the Sequoia and General Grant National Parks:

Administration and guarding of the parks.—I believe the present system of administration and guarding of the parks to be entirely wrong and quite unsatisfactory in its workings. The parks should be entirely under civil control, with a permanent superintendent and 6 to 10 rangers carefully selected, one being a head ranger. Soldiers should not be sent here. The system which I propose would give a more fixed policy of administration and would secure the continual presence of a superintendent. The parks would be much better and more efficiently patrolled and protected by this ranger force than by soldiers. During the short time that soldiers are on duty here the officers and men can not become familiar with the geography of the park and the location of trails. They are, under the present system, placed in detachments at important points about the park and patrol from these stations as far and as often as practicable, but can not patrol and investigate nearly so well and efficiently as rangers would. It takes some time for soldiers to become familiar with their duties here. They can not be expected to take the interest in the park and in the enforcement of all the regulations which rangers would take. The soldiers sent here are not for the time being available for military duties; they have no drill; they are performing the duties of civil guards. The entire expense of maintaining two troops of cavalry here, including the cost of supplying them, is properly chargeable to the guarding of the parks and is borne by the War Department, whereas it should be borne by the Department of the Interior.

* * * * * *

Altogether the present system of guarding the park entails hard work upon officers and men, great expense to the Government, and is very unsatisfactory in its results.

The following statement is taken from the Chittenden report on the Yosemite National Park:¹

Moreover, at present the authority of the military is intermittent. They arrive in the spring and leave in the fall, before the troops have learned their duties and become sufficiently familiar with the country to guard it effectually. The next spring new troops are sent, and these in turn are relieved before they can obtain a satisfactory knowledge of the country.

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¹Senate Document No. 34, Fifty-eighth congress, third session, page 18.

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I also wish to quote from the report for 1907 of Gen. S. B. M. Young, United States Army, retired, superintendent of the Yellowstone National Park:

The enlisted men of the Army are not selected with special reference to the duties to be performed in police patrolling, guarding, and maintaining the natural curiosities and interesting formations from injury by the curious, the thoughtless, and the careless people who compose a large percentage of the annual visitors in the park, and in protecting against the killing or frightening of the game and against forest fires. It is quite obvious that any man assigned to duty in any capacity in the park should possess special qualifications for the proper discharge of that duty, and he should be by natural inclination interested in the park and its purposes. In addition, every man should be an experienced woodman, a speedy traveler on skees, an expert trailer, a good packer, who, with his horse and pack animal could carry supplies to subsist himself for a month alone in the mountains and forests, and besides he should be of a cool temperament, fearless, and independent character, and handy with his rifle and pistol to enable him to find and overcome the wily trapper and the ugly large-game head and teeth hunter. He should be well informed in the history of the park and thoroughly cognizant with all the curiosities and points of interest therein; he should also be qualified to pass a reasonable examination in zoology and ornithology. A visiting tourist should always be favored by an intelligent and courteous answer on any subject pertaining to the park from any guard interrogated. Inattention or discourtesy should subject the guard to proper discipline or dismissal from the park, when, in the judgment of the superintendent the discipline of the park service would thereby be promoted. Divided responsibility and accountability as to police control and management seldom produce the best results, and should no longer obtain in the Yellowstone Park. Under existing conditions the superintendent is answerable to the Secretary of the Interior, while at the same time the troops acting as park guard are held to accountability and discipline as is contemplated and provided for in the United States Army.

The pay of enlisted men in the Army is too meager to attract capable men who can fill these requirements, and the duties are too onerous for the remuneration. It requires a year for new troops arriving in the park to become familiar with the duties required of them, and during that year many of the enlistments expire and the vacancies are filled by raw recrults. At the expiration of three years, or at most four years, these troops are ordered elsewhere and new troops take their place. The proper and necessary military instruction and training can not be carried on, and thorough discipline can not be maintained. The troopers can not be examined and made subject to such tests of efficiency as good service in the park requires.

Civil guards, on the contrary, would be selected by examination with reference to their special fitness, their interest in the work, and their capacity to perform it; they would at the same time be subject to appropriate tests for efficient park service and subject to dismissal on failure to meet such tests. By continuous service efficient civil guards would soon become thoroughly familiar with the park, its topography, roads, byroads, pack trails, game trails, game habitats of winter and summer, and likewise with the haunts and methods of the poachers who are constantly seeking profit by invading the park to shoot game for heads and teeth and to trap for furs. The troops assigned from time to time for guard duty in the park can scarcely all become familiar with its topography and trails ere a just regard for the proper maintenance of organization and discipline and a fair division of duties, foreign and domestic, require their withdrawal. And so continuity of service can not be had from the Army except at intolerable expense to Army organization and discipline.

Men whose continued employment is guaranteed during good behavior and efficient work would render the task of developing as near as possible a perfect system of protection and control reasonably easy, and the service would be more efficient and very much less expensive to the Government.

The policy of harassing the persons who have private holdings within the national parks in taking their stock to and from their patented lands is shortsighted and unwise. Let us remember, gentlemen, that these claims were taken up before the parks were established, the range was open and had been for all time before, and practically every person who took up a claim felt assured from past experience that he would justly be entitled to a certain range. Otherwise, his 160-acre mountain meadow would be of no value at all, and now to fence it will cost more than the feed is worth. It does not make any difference if the land has changed hands—the general principle remains the same. As an example of the restrictions placed upon the owners of private lands within some of the parks, take the following extract from the written authority of one of the park superintendents to a landowner within the reservation to take his stock to his lands and graze it.

You are required before taking any stock to such lands to present for file in this office satisfactory evidence of title thereto and have the metes and bounds thereof plainly marked and lands fenced. When these conditions are fully complied with, you will be granted a permit to carry your stock onto the lands under military escort, which will meet you at the park boundary upon due notification to this office of the precise date and place. Similar notification must be made with request for permission to carry your stock out of the park. You will be held responsible that all your stock is kept within the bounds of the lands controlled by you, and you are hereby notified that all stock found outside the bounds will be driven out of the park and not be permitted to return.

Conditions of this character amount practically to a prohibition.¹

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¹Chittenden Report on Yosemite, Senate Document 34, Fifty-eighth Congress. third session, page 6.

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All private holdings within the national parks should be eliminated by purchase as soon as possible, but in the meantime the private rights should be given every consideration within the requirements of the law. I believe the public is generally willing to obey the laws, but if the strictest interpretation of the law is always to be enforced, with no allowance for years of custom or no appreciation of any other than the administrative point of view, it will surely create enmity, and the people so affected and their friends will antagonize the administration to the point of constant irritation. I think there can be no better policy pursued than to reason with the settlers, be one of them, so to speak, let their friends be your friends, encourage them to appreciate the value of the parks and to be glad to have their homes near the boundary, as is always the case in cities, where homes are more valuable if abutting on a park. There has always been a noticeable effect in the betterment of conditions generally when a park superintendent has appreciated the public's point of view in contrast to one who has literally interpreted the law.

Personally, I would much prefer to allow a few cattle to stray into a park or to have a few trees cut inside the boundary line, rather than to have the settlers damning the administration and the parks because of these restrictions.

We all make mistakes, and we invariably think the other fellow's point of view is worse than ours. Let us be charitable and remember always that we are working for these same people, they are paying our expenses and it is the common people that need protection and assistance far more than the few with whom one seldom comes in contact. The rich can take care of themselves—the average man needs all the assistance we can give him. One can not rise to success or achieve greatness and hold it by tramping underfoot his fellow beings; but, by being generous, kind, considerate for the good of all, anyone, and especially the Government, may rule indefinitely, and this, from my point of view, should be the ruling thought in any policy inaugurated by the department.

The SECRETARY. It occurs to me that there may be some things in Mr. Marshall's paper on which divergence of view may exist, and we will be glad to have any discussion of it. I am sorry Mr. Marshall failed to get his expected "rise" out of Mr. McFarland because of his suggestions as to the utilization of the resources of the parks.

Mr. MCFARLAND. I see no objection to what Mr. Marshall has said as to using the mature timber and permitting grazing. They are matters of administration which can be worked out; the whole subject is being thrashed out here in the best possible manner. Any legitimate and proper usage of the advantages and resources of the parks and monuments is bound to be beneficial. All that is advanced by this conference is sure to be useful, whatever may be the means or under whatever department the work may be done, in making the parks serve in the best possible way the purposes for which they were created.

The SECRETARY. Mr. Sunderland, is it your idea that before any improvement work is done the scheme for the whole should be definitely laid out?

Mr. SUNDERLAND. There should be a definite scheme for the development of the entire park and it should be carried out as money becomes available.

The SECRETARY. Should not those receiving concessions be subject to that scheme?

Mr. SUNDERLAND. They necessarily would be.

Maj. FORSYTH. Mr. Secretary, there are two points in Mr. Marshall's paper on which I would like to say a few words. I thought at first I would wait until my paper was read, but perhaps it would be best to touch upon them now. The question of cattle in the parks is the most vexatious one with which we have to deal. The Chittenden report from which Mr. Marshall read is six years old. Mr. Marshall did not consider one point of view. It is that of the people who are going to clamor against cattle wandering over the best meadow lands in Yosemite. From three to six or eight hundred people camp in Yosemite Park, using their own transportation, pack and saddle animals and occasionally a wagon, and they depend entirely for forage of their stock on the little meadows that would be destroyed by grazing cattle in the park. He did not mention that point in connection with the grazing of cattle. Another thing which struck me was that he assumed that the park superintendent had authority to exercise his discretion about the cattle question. The superintendent must obey orders. The regulations prohibit cattle roaming in the parks and the superintendent keeps them out. That is all I wanted to say.

Mr. MARSHALL. I am very glad to have my good friend, Maj. Forsyth, call me to time. I did not mean that we should let the cattle go through the park and destroy the pasture, because I want to go through the park again myself. It would be a very easy matter to segregate certain areas and have the cattle kept in certain stations. When it comes to the superintendents carrying out the orders of the department, I venture the opinion that no one carries them out any better than does Maj. Forsyth.

The SECRETARY. Would you suggest that these areas be fenced?

Mr. MARSHALL. I think it would be a good policy to do so. I think it would be better to fence the meadows.

The SECRETARY. I have not been to Yosemite and can not express an opinion as to that park. Would you suggest that we permit pasturage of cattle here in Yellowstone?

Mr. MARSHALL. I do not think the cattle would hurt anything. There are a number of bears here though, and they might hurt the cattle.

The SECRETARY. The two would certainly conflict.

Mr. MARSHALL. The men who own the cattle would look out for that part of it.

The SECRETARY. I think it would be rather expensive and unprofitable to have to look after the cattle in that way. Do you think the rental which they could afford to pay would make it worth while to fence in certain portions here? Would not that interfere with the campers?

Mr. MARSHALL. The campers go to certain areas.

The SECRETARY. But many of the people who camp do not follow the ordinary paths.

Mr. MARSHALL. I think you will find that the area they cover distinct from the regular circuit is very small.

Mr. SUNDERLAND. I have been out in Oklahoma on a forest reservation where the cattle roam at large—at the Fort Sill Reservation. I have heard of one case where a calf was carried off. I have seen bear, but the animals which do damage to the small stock are the coyote and timber wolf. Fifty cents a head is paid for them. I was out one day and what worried me most was the masculine gender of cattle. I judged them to be masculine from their actions. There are thousands of cattle there.

The SECRETARY. We have one large reservation quite different from the others—Hot Springs of Arkansas. That reservation is more of a health resort. There has recently been constructed on that reservation some bath houses and the question of the administration of those bath houses has been taken up, especially from a sanitary point of view and we have asked Mr. W. G. Maurice, of Hot Springs, to present a paper on that.

MR. WM. T. S. CURTIS. Mr. Maurice is not present and with your permission I will read his paper.

BATHHOUSES ON THE HOT SPRINGS, ARK., RESERVATION: THEIR PROBLEMS FROM THE STANDPOINT OF PRACTICAL ADMINISTRATION, BY W. G. MAURICE.

In order that you may fully understand the cause of many of the problems that confront us, I must ask you to go back with me to the early days when the Interior Department first assumed control of these great hot springs.

Since boyhood I have been directly connected with the bathhouse interests and have seen the bathhouse advance from the wooden shack, equipped with wooden tubs, to which the water was conducted in wooden troughs laid on top of the ground, to the palatial houses that are now in process of construction.

Charles E. Maurice, my father, was one of the original lessees at the time the commissioners made the Hot Springs Mountain a permanent reservation. For many years there was very little improvement or change in the bathhouses.

The first house of any consequence was built by Fordyce & Maurice and was christened "Maurice's Palace." It was situated on Central Avenue, opposite the present Bathhouse Row. This was a very primitive affair, yet in those days was considered all that its name signified—a palace.

When the order was issued by the department that all bathhouses should be upon the permanent reservation, and that the waters should not be piped therefrom, this house was abandoned as a bathhouse, and the same firm built the present palace, which was at that time considered a very complete plant. Later, in 1879, the Ozark was built, and as the patronage to the resort increased other houses followed, but no attention was paid to sanitation and all hygienic appointments were unknown.

The department paid very little attention to the hot springs, and the superintendents of the reservation paid less up until within the last 10 years.

Drumming for doctors, bathhouses and hotels flourished unmolested by the department or the city of Hot Springs. This traffic in human ills was carried to such an extent that it kept many visitors from our resort. I have personally known many cases where drummers received $2 a head from the bathhouse and $1 from the negro attendant, for their "fruit," as they termed the visitors. This, in some cases, was 50 per cent of the money received by the bathhouses for the 21 baths.

Many houses were forced to do this in order to get any business at all. There were also many doctors who had to be taken care of financially by the bathhouses, and all hotel and boarding houses expected free baths for their familes and employees.

Spasmodic efforts were made to suppress this traffic by the different superintendents, but with no assistance from the city officials, nothing was accomplished. This condition was deplorable. A lessee with thousands of dollars invested in a bathhouse was dominated by a drummer who did not even pay a poll tax. It was almost an impossibility to build up a legitimate business, and many lessees were forced to pay the drummer in order to make a living.

To these conditions was due, to a great extent, the poor equipment and services furnished by the bathhouses. There was no competition upon legitimate lines and no incentive to give proper care or attention to the invalid; the payment to the drummer was deemed sufficient.

The department was not entirely blameless for such deplorable conditions, because the leases were not just or equitable, inasmuch as they contained the "One year cancellation clause," which placed the lessee in the position of a tenant at the will and mercy of the department. On this account the lessees would only expend what was absolutely necessary to keep their houses together.

The department later issued leases to hotels off the reservation. In consequence all hotels of the first class, and many of the second class enjoy this great privilege of using the hot waters. This placed the reservation bathhouses in a position where they can only expect the patronage of the cheaper hotels, rooming and boarding houses. This class naturally seek the cheaper houses on the reservation. Instead of this condition, the reservation should be the main attraction for all visitors to Hot Springs, and should rival the beauties of the great European "spas."

Nature has been very lavish in her gifts to Hot Springs. The greatest and most wonderful healing waters in the world are there, combined with beautiful scenery and a delightful climate, yet the reservation, the show place of the world, which should be the mecca for the elite, is patronized only by the cheaper element of our visitors.

So you see the department as well as the lessee is to blame for the condition that existed until recently.

To offset the very great advantage enjoyed by the hotel bathhouses, we must offer to the visitor bathhouse accommodations superior to the hotels with comforts and conveniences. We must give that which will appeal to the better class, with a view of putting our beautiful reservation upon a higher and better plane; with a view of making it what it should be—the most beautiful in the world.

Upon the appointment of Mr. Harry Myers as superintendent of the Hot Springs Reservation a change for the better was soon noticed. He at once commenced a systematic fight against the drumming evil and waged a relentless war upon the drummers, with the result that at the present time there is little, if any, bathhouse drumming being done.

Following close upon the appointment of Mr. Myers came that of Maj. Harry M. Hallock as medical director. I am sure that his heart grew faint when he made his first inspection and realized all too well the material he had to work with.

Gentlemen, there was not a bathhouse in the city that made any pretensions to sanitation or ventilation.

The equipment in many of them was old and out of date. The attendants for the most part were ignorant, uneducated and, naturally, unclean. He has since his appointment accomplished a great deal of good in bringing order out of chaos and realizing an almost perfect state of affairs.

Many new rules have been issued for the betterment of the service and the improvement of the sanitary conditions of the houses.

A little over a year ago we were visited by Mr. Clement S. Ucker, chief clerk of the Interior Department. I believe he saw at once the great possibilities of this resort. During my conversation with him he delighted and encouraged me when he spoke of "A Greater Hot Springs," and of his ideas of greatly improving conditions at the Springs, and urged the earnest cooperation of all the lessees in the policy of the department. He predicted that we would have bathhouses that would rival those of the Old World. I told him then, as I have just told you, the obstacles in our way. Those obstacles were removed, and to-day one can see the result of his visit.

Two palatial bathhouses, at a cost of over $200,000, are now under construction. In beauty and equipment they will surpass those of Europe. Another house is being rebuilt and remodeled at a cost of over $40,000, and next season the department will be able to point with pride to, and be justly proud of, its bathhouses. Next year, too, will see others just as magnificent erected. With the new and beautiful fountains and spring pavilions on the reservation, the department can point with pride to its own resort.

I feel that we have just started on the upgrade. Since the department has realized that the United States Government, of which it is such an important factor, has the most wonderful health resort in the world, and with broad-minded and progressive men in the department to help us develop it, the officials may expect in the future the most hearty cooperation from all the bathhouse lessees, as well as the strict observance of all rules for the betterment of the service and improved condition of our houses.

When I allow myself to ponder over what Hot Springs should be, my enthusiasm, ambition, and love for the resort starts me "day dreaming," and in fancy I picture a beautiful city under Federal control. This city of my dreams has everywhere that vital requisite—clean streets. It is a sanitary resort in every sense of the word. Its parks are part of the natural beauty of the city itself and a delight to both residents and visitors. I see Hot Springs, Ark., so improved that its citizens can, to the thousands who go to Europe each year, shout from the house tops: "See America first. Come to us. Visit Hot Springs. We have the best."

And, gentlemen, we can say this now in reference to our bathhouses, but are still lacking in civic improvement, and, much as I regret to admit it, I am afraid that it will be ever thus under our present system of city government.

Like so many cities of its kind, Hot Springs has been torn asunder, patched up and rent and "doctored" again by the prolonged war of disgruntled and dissatisfied factions in the past. Though it may not be necessary to open for your inspection the leaves of its history of years gone by, in order that you may fully understand some of the obstacles that have prevented the city's advancement, a reference to that contention is not foreign to my subject. Individuals seemed to strive for their own aggrandizement, regardless of their actions where the city proper was concerned. God gave to its people wonderful opportunities and set the seal of the Infinite on our picturesque resort that nestles so snugly in the very lap of the historic Ozarks when He caused to burst forth from the dark and unexplored caverns of the earth those hot and healing waters, the fame of which is known wherever the germ of disease is found. Commercialism, however, in the past o'ershadowed a proper appreciation of that gift, until its citizenship realized that it must first cleanse itself before it could hope to give confidence to the world that treatment in Hot Springs was all that God intended it should be.

I believe that an entirely new system of bathing should be introduced, following as closely as possible the system in vogue in Carlsbad, Germany.

This new system will do away entirely with the objectionable helper and the constant "tipping" of two or three persons in order to get the needed service. It gives to each attendant a stated task. To each and every bather is given a specified hour for his or her bath. I will introduce this new system, and if it is successful—and I see no reason why it should not be so in Hot Springs as well as in other resorts—I hope to see it adopted by the department.

And now, gentlemen, in closing I will also suggest the following:

(1) A more simple system of reports to the superintendent, if possible, as at present it necessitates an extra clerk to keep them.

(2) A rule requiring the manager or bath superintendent to have regular inspection of the bathhouse and help at stated hours twice each day. (The medical director could inspect each house at inspection hours, which would assist him very materially.)

(3) A rule discontinuing the use of germ-bearing rugs, carpets, curtains, etc., and to discontinue the use of all wooden furniture in bath departments, substituting for all such enameled steel.

(4) A rule that all towels, robes, sheets, etc., furnished by the bather must be of a white material.

(5) That rule No. 6 be changed to read that all persons be required to have an attendant, instead of reading "It shall be optional with the bather whether he employs an attendant or not." The rule in its present condition works a great hardship upon the bathhouses. The attendants are not paid by the houses, but by the visitors, and they are expected to fix the bath, clean the tub and room after the bather is finished, and the regular patrons are discommoded. The rates are graded so that a person can get a bath as cheap as 35 cents, including attendant, towels, etc.

I would be lacking in appreciation if I permitted these remarks to be concluded without some statement from me as to the honor and pleasure I feel in being requested to speak on this subject, and I rely upon you as coworkers, and your generosity, to give me credit for being both proud and delighted to be here. I can not but express my enthusiasm over this meeting, and feel that the department has inaugurated a policy in bringing together for consultation the men to whom its treasures in wonderlands have been intrusted, something that will redound to its great good in the future; something that will make its citizens in every State, when the "wanderlust" possesses them, realize that the Old World has no treasures more priceless than those over which floats the "Stars and Stripes;" that there are no wonders across the seas but what can be duplicated and excelled in many places right here within the broad domains of their own great and glorious country.

REMARKS BY MR. WILLIAM T. S. CURTIS.

Mr. Secretary and gentlemen of the conference: Representing, as I do as counsel, the various bathhouse lessees upon the permanent reservation at Hot Springs, Ark., and the Arlington Hotel, which is also situated upon said reservation, I desire to add a few suggestions to the clear and able presentation of the various features and conditions of Hot Springs submitted by the superintendent, Mr. Myers, and the medical director, Maj. Hallock, and that submitted by Mr. William G. Maurice, of the Maurice Bath Co., in his paper, which, at his request, I have just had the pleasure of reading.

One feature of the discussion upon which I desire to lay particular stress is that relating to the proposed establishment in your department of a bureau of parks and reservations, to be under the immediate charge at Washington of a bureau chief familiar with these reservation interests, who would be able, by his undivided consideration, to give proper and personal attention to the multitude of questions which daily arise, and which will yearly increase, especially when the features of our wonderful resources and the beauties of our parks and reservations and the healing efficacy of the waters of Hot Springs are brought more prominently to the public attention, which they undoubtedly will be as the outcome of this conference which we are now holding.

Such a bureau if created would have under its control the many details of administration, subject, of course, to the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, and would relieve to a large extent your already overburdened immediate office.

Listening as I have to the proceedings of this conference and to the remarks and suggestions that have been made by the representatives of the great transportation companies and by those connected with and so well informed as to the conditions in our parks and reservations, I am impressed with the idea that the business attending all of these many public interests is fully entitled to the dignity of recognition by the creation of a separate bureau in your department on the same lines as that which has been given to the subjects of mining, education, public lands, and other kindred subjects, each of which, as we know, has a bureau of its own.

Now, speaking of Hot Springs, Ark., you have heard what has been said and recommended by the other gentlemen who have preceded me on this interesting subject, and it is exceedingly difficult for me to add anything of interest thereto, but I do venture to hope that as the outcome of this conference and the publication of the proceedings and the publicity which will be given to it by your department and the press the general public will be better advised as to the wonders of our land, the marvelous scenic beauties such as are shown in this beautiful park, with its unsurpassed falls, canyon, and geysers, and in the Glacier Park, Mont., whose mountain lakes, forests, glaciers, and crags are unsurpassed, the Yosemite, Mount Rainier, and others, and with the further fact that at Hot Springs, Ark., within easy access to all parts of our land, are springs and waters unsurpassed by those in this or any other land, and that it is useless and absolutely unnecessary to cross the sea in order to seek restoration to health.

Twenty years ago the conditions at Hot Springs in the matter of transportation were somewhat inferior and difficult, and the bathhouse and hotel accommodations in many cases not of the best; and all these facts, taken in connection with the old system of drumming, which has now, I am glad to say, been abolished, had the effect of diverting many of those seeking health to foreign resorts, such as Carlsbad, Weisbaden, etc., but now these conditions have entirely changed, and, Mr. Secretary, if you would only go to Hot Springs, which I hope you will do at a very early date, in order that you may see for yourself and be cognizant with conditions, I am sure you will find that the springs rival, if not excel, those of any health resort abroad.

The Arlington Hotel, which I have the honor to represent as counsel, is prominently located upon the permanent reservation front, bearing the same relation to Hot Springs as this magnificent house, the Cañon, does to the Yellowstone, and can well be spoken of as one of the wonders to be seen, and it is an inducement to those visiting the Springs to linger for a prolonged stay. No finer house than the Arlington can be found in any section of the country. It was erected at a cost, including appointments, in the neighborhood of $800,000, and the accommodations to be found there are all that the most exacting patrons can demand. It was constructed and built on its present extensive scale, at the request and under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, the idea being to give to the visiting public at Hot Springs a hotel as fine as could be found in the land.

Now as to the bathhouses, the same remarks can apply, and after the present houses, which are now under construction, are finished, together with the others that are upon this reservation, and which are run so well by the lessees in accordance with governmental regulations, and under the direct supervision of the superintendent and medical director, Hot Springs can well be the Mecca for the multitude of our public who are afflicted, and who require treatment such as is obtained at these springs.

I am pleased, Mr. Secretary, to say that the progressive and public-spirited policy of your department, such as has been applied to Hot Springs, and which has been so marked within recent years—yes, I might say within the last couple of years—has met with the hearty approval of those whom I represent. They have been, and are now only too anxious to uphold your hands in any movement that will better serve the public. They have willingly expended their money and energies in adding beauty to the springs, and placing thereon buildings and improvements that will be a monument to their good faith, knowing and believing that your department will, by a continuation of a broad and conservative policy, recognize and encourage their efforts in that direction, and in doing so, you will thus better serve the public, and such encouragement from your department will be an incentive to the lessees for expending their money in better improvements, and in better service. If your department did not, by such a broad and liberal policy, encourage these lessees holding concessions upon the national parks and reservations, how could it, from a business standpoint, be expected that such improvements as these which we see here in this Cañon Hotel, or those at the Arlington and in the bathhouses at Hot Springs, would have been made? These lessees who, with so much public spirit, have expended their money in making such extensive improvements, had confidence in the good faith of the Government, knowing that whoever should occupy the position of Secretary, would be broad and liberal, and appreciative of their efforts, and would do nothing whatever that would tend to jeopardize their interests or lessen their assurances of the hearty cooperation and support of the Federal Government.

I do hope, Mr. Secretary, that in your next annual report to Congress and in your official conferences with Senators and Members, in relation to future appropriations, you will bring prominently to their attention these questions to which I have referred, and that, as far as appropriations are and may be available, you will use the same toward exploiting and bringing to the attention of the public these great national resources, the hot springs and parks, thus giving to the efforts in that direction of those interested, the moral and active support of the National Government. Such a seal of approval, I am sure, will go far toward diverting from abroad the streams of travel to our own land, and to such health resorts as Hot Springs.

Mr. Secretary, if I may be permitted while I am on my feet, I would like to make a few remarks also about the latest acquisition by the Government, namely, the wonderful and unexcelled Glacier Park in Montana, which has been spoken of to-day during the discussion of park matters. It was my good fortune a week or so ago to take a trip through this park with a party in which were the Assistant Secretary, Mr. Thompson, and Maj. William R. Logan, the superintendent. The memories of that trip will never be forgotten by me. Long will I remember the impressions I received in viewing its mighty crags and peaks, capped with eternal snow, the unbroken and virgin forests reflected in lakes nestling below like ermeralds, and above all the mighty glaciers lending added beauty to the scene.

The wisdom of Congress in setting aside this storehouse of grandeur for the public, will be more and more appreciated, I am sure, as the years roll by, and taken in connection with the Yellowstone, the Yosemite, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and the other parks, form a series of attractions that should induce our citizens to see America first rather than continue their annual pilgrimages abroad.

I would feel remiss should I not refer to the impression made upon my mind when I saw the wonderful progress made by the department and of the work performed by Maj. Logan, the superintendent, who, within only a few months, through the aid of his earnest rangers and men, has constructed with a mere pittance of an appropriation several miles of magnificent macadamized road, leading from Belton, on the Great Northern Railway, to the foot of Lake McDonald, which is the natural western gateway of the park, and also over the wildness of the mountains and the Continental Divide, has built scores of miles of horse trails and paths, making it possible to reach many of the most interesting sections, and if Congress will but give additional appropriations, I am sure that in another year, under his guidance, every portion of the park will be accessible either to the foot tourist or on horseback.

I may be considered an enthusiast. I admit the fact, and, like Mr. Marshall of the Geological Survey, believe that I have a malignant type of enthusiasm, but what I saw in the Glacier Park was enough to make any man as enthusiastic as myself.

I have seen much of this world, but to my mind Glacier Park is the central jewel, and I hope that the American public, as the result of this conference, will be better, properly, and fully advised of what nature has stored up for them in this direction.

To be fully appreciated, these wonders must be seen and visited.

The SECRETARY. Gentlemen, before calling upon the park superintendents, I think it would be well to discuss the last remaining general topic that we have. As most of you know, we maintain a force of special inspectors in the Department of the Interior, whose duties are to go about as directed to supervise and to investigate these parks and other branches of the service, so that they may report on special matters sent them for investigation as well as on general conditions. Their work is most important. It is important that they should understand the work from their point of view as inspectors and also from the point of view of the people they are investigating. I will ask one of the older, if not the oldest, inspectors in the service, Mr. E. B. Linnen, to present his views on this very important subject.

GENERAL INSPECTION WORK RELATING TO NATIONAL PARKS, BY E. B. LINNEN, Inspector, Department of the Interior.

It has been my pleasure in the performance of my official duty to inspect, on several occasions, a number of our national parks, and while the duties of the Secretary's inspectors have been confined more largely in other channels, such as the inspection of Indian reservations, Indian schools, United States land offices, offices of United States surveyors general, and matters pertaining to the public lands, still I deem it a matter of much importance that at least annual inspections should be made of our various national parks. These inspections should be general and so complete and thorough in their character as will acquaint the Secretary fully with the conditions as they exist in each of our national parks.

We have 13 national parks and 28 reservations for the preservation of antiquities and national monuments, containing over 5,000,000 acres, situated in 15 different States and Territories. These national parks have been set aside by the Government for the whole people, because of the great natural beauty, scenic grandeur, and special features created by nature which make them worthy of preservation, governmental supervision, and such improvements, protection, and general management as will make them specially inviting to our sight-seers who delight in the beauties of nature.

These national parks contain wonderful and picturesque scenery, hot springs, geysers, lakes, streams, gigantic redwoods, mammoth trees in vast forests, cliff dwellers' ruins, beautiful driveways, grand mountain scenery, and other special features of interest, all of which have been created by nature, and which have been set apart by our Government because of their splendid natural beauty.

This inspection should embrace the books, accounts, and finances of the superintendent. It should be shown that the Government funds are being properly handled and accounted for; that each appropriation is being used for the specific purpose for which it was made, and the inspection in this regard should be so complete and thorough as to develop any irregular use or waste of Government funds. There should be a uniform system of keeping the books and records, time books, property accounts, etc., to show each fund, cash balance, balance of each appropriation, etc.

In the course of a recent inspection of one of our national parks it developed that Government funds were being wrongly used, and covered by vouchers made in the names of certain parties who performed no services as laborers, park rangers, or in any other capacity. Large sums were spent in the purchase of property without calling for competitive bids, even though active local competition in these articles existed. Payrolls were padded and falsified and other irregularities developed, which clearly demonstrate the necessity for at least annual inspections of national parks.

In the preservation of these national parks, and in order that they may be accessible to the sightseer and lover of nature, it is necessary that certain improvements be made by the hand of man. Thus one of the most important features is the question of good roads.

These roads should be laid out by competent engineers with a view to making it possible to get to the various points of interest to be visited, and to showing the scenic beauties in each park to the greatest advantage. Such roads should be laid out and constructed with regard to their permanency and the protection and safety of the traveling public.

Generally, I believe that roads, bridges, and other improvements as may be found necessary to be constructed within our national parks should and can be constructed more economically under the contract system than by laborers employed under the jurisdiction of the superintendent.

It is especially desirable that suitable accommodations be provided in the parks for the many visitors where they may be lodged and fed. Good hotels or other suitable accommodations should be maintained by or under the jurisdiction or proper supervision of the Government, and conducted in a manner suitable and satisfactory to the Government. It should be possible for the traveler who visits our national parks to have equally as good accommodations as can be found in our cities, and to be served at prices not greatly in excess of those which obtain in the cities. The traveler and sightseer who has the time and means sufficient to visit our parks delights in good accommodations, and hostelries conducted in our various parks should be not only a credit to the management but to the General Government, the duty of whose officers it is to see to it that such accommodations, reasonable prices, and satisfaction is meted out to the traveling public.

There should be a uniform policy adopted for the supervision, maintenance, and improvements in our national parks. The inspector should carefully inquire into all concessions, and all persons to whom special concessions have been granted should be checked up, and it should be shown that they are paying therefor an amount commensurate with the value of their privileges; that they are not abusing same, and that they are conforming to the rates, rules, and regulations. The construction of public works of whatever character should be carefully looked into and checked up by the inspector. Suitable office quarters for administrative purposes should be provided, telephones and telegraph lines should be constructed, good pure water should be supplied, sanitation and sanitary conditions should be looked into and insisted upon, the patrol by a guard to prevent forest fires, trespass of stock, killing of game, etc., should be carefully looked into.

The means of transportation in our national parks should be given consideration and attention; accommodations for traveling in our parks should be by means of comfortable conveyances, vehicle, automobile, or otherwise, as appears best in each individual park, which should supply ample room for the traveler and his baggage. These conveyances should be covered as a protection to the traveler against heat and storms. The prices should be reasonable and regulated by the Government, as should also be the prices in the various hotels and lodging houses in our parks. The natural beauties and works of nature in whichever manner they may obtain should be carefully preserved and guarded by the Government officers whose duty it is to look after each national park, and the inspector should see to it that the superintendent, park rangers, and other employees are performing their various duties in a competent, faithful, and painstaking manner, that they are obliging and courteous to the general public, and that each employee is performing his specific duty in a proper manner. The protection of the game in our national parks is well worthy of attention, and great care must be given to this particular feature if the game is to be preserved. It has occurred to me that it might be wise for the Government to fence, with high strong wire fences, certain of its national parks which contain large quantities of game, for their preservation. This particular feature has been strongly brought to my attention by reason of the fact that in this Yellowstone National Park large numbers of elk, which make it their natural feeding ground during the summer months, go south during the fall and winter months to the Jackson Hole country, where some are slaughtered and many hundreds die from hunger each winter.

Wolves, mountain lions, and coyotes should be killed to safeguard the young antelope and fawns and prevent their extermination.

Some of the many beauties which nature has provided in a majority of our national parks are their splendid forests and timber, containing, as some of them do, gigantic redwoods, pines, and some of the finest forests in the world. Ample and adequate protection should be made to prevent the destruction of these magnificent forests by forest fires and the timber beetle. A wide fire guard should be constructed at the outer edge of these parks to prevent forest fires; likewise it should be the duty of the park rangers to see to it that campers within our national parks observe strictly the regulations to prevent forest fires occurring. The ground should be cleared of rubbish and worthless undergrowth where possible, to prevent fires and improve its appearance. Too much attention can not be paid to this feature of fire protection.

At least two of our parks contain the prehistoric ruins of the ancient cliff dwellers. Several cities or villages of these old cliff dwellers' ruins are still in a very fair state of preservation. These ancient ruins are particularly interesting to the archaeologist and student of nature, and they should be protected and preserved in the best possible manner.

Each of our national park superintendents who will take a special interest in his work can always find plenty to do in the matter of laying out and accomplishing further necessary improvement, whether they be additional roads and bridges, additional hostelries, or additional fire protection, beautifying the grounds or something that will attract the visitor and preserve the natural beauties within the park. The inspector should make such a general inspection of all the matters herein enumerated as will qualify him to report with certainty to the honorable Secretary and acquaint him with conditions as they really exist, and also make such suggestions for the improvement and betterment of conditions as he believes necessary.

Each of our national parks possesses some special feature, differing from the others, and this is especially true of the Hot Springs Reservation at Hot Springs, Ark. This national park is one which is visited by many thousands of our people annually, who go there to receive the benefits from the curative properties contained in these famous health-giving waters. This, aside from the glorious climate and natural scenic beauties in said reservation. This national park contains the famous hot springs, which waters contain wonderful curative powers and from which the Government derives a revenue of $5 per month for each bathtub located in each bathhouse or hotel using the water. Likewise the Government derives a revenue of ground rental from several of the various hotels and bathhouses situated on the reservation, the moneys derived from these sources of revenue being employed for the maintenance of said national park and its management. One of the evils which had to be contended with at this point was the drumming system, which has heretofore obtained to an alarming extent and which has been the cause of much criticism on the part of the general public, and a matter which the Government was called upon to handle with much tact and firmness. Drumming was largely practiced on behalf of certain doctors, hotels, and rooming houses. They had their runners interviewing visitors and patients in the city of Hot Springs, also on the trains leading into Hot Springs, and they imposed upon and grafted the unsuspecting health seeker and traveler and gave Hot Springs a had name by reason thereof. I am pleased to say that under the present management this drumming evil has been nearly stamped out, and while it still exists to a small extent our people can now visit Hot Springs with the assurance of courteous treatment and Government protection which formerly did not obtain.

Our national parks, rich in their natural beauty, should be a source of pride and delight to all our people. They have been set apart by our Government because of the wonderful works of nature and their scenic and awe-inspiring beauties. Some have until quite recently been in a measure neglected by our Government. The wonderful grandeur and beauties of nature are now being brought to the attention of our department, whose duty it is to preserve them, and steps are now being taken along the lines herein indicated with the object in view of the adoption of a uniform policy of administration; for the construction of good roads, comfortable hostelries, adequate means of transportation, protection against forest fires, preservation of the game, the preservation of primeval forests, prehistoric ruins, and antiquities. Our whole people are becoming interested in our national parks. Many thousands visit them each year. The lavish manner in which nature has endowed our parks has made them second to none in the world, and it should not be necessary for our people to visit foreign countries in their search of nature's attractions, wonderful mountains, and places of natural beauty, for here, in these parks, nature has provided wonders which are the never-ending delight of the visitor. To the lover of nature there is poetry in every beautiful scene. I am of opinion that this department might well give a little more attention to the national parks and their improvement, and that it would be wise if a bureau of national parks were created for such purpose.