NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Glimpses of our National Parks

XVII
OTHER NATIONAL PARKS

THREE national parks which Congress created before the recognition of the modern definition of a national park as a considerable area of supreme scenic or other importance may be briefly mentioned for completeness of record.

PLATT NATIONAL PARK

Sulphur and other beneficent springs, hot and cold, which gush plentifully from an area of 1-1/2 square miles in southern Oklahoma, was the reason for the creation of the Platt National Park in 1902. It lies in a high country of great beauty and delightful climate and is locally extremely popular. Approximately thirty-five thousand persons visit these springs annually.

WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK

The following year Congress made a national park of a remarkable limestone cavern in the Black Hills of southwestern Dakota, not far from one of Custer's famous battle fields. Its name, Wind Cave, comes from a current of air which passes in and out of its mouth intermittently. The walls, ceilings, and floors of the many large and involved passages and chambers are elaborately and magnificently decorated with the fantastic formations usual in limestone caves.

The park has a surface area of 16 square miles, a part of which is maintained as a national game preserve for bison, elk, and antelope.

SULLY'S HILL NATIONAL PARK

Local demand for national parks during this period resulted also in the establishment of a national reservation in North Dakota under the name of the Sully's Hill National Park. It is a rugged tract of picturesque forested hills bordering a lake. It is a wild-animal preserve and has historic associations.

EL CAPITAN FROM THE EAST, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK