The Yellowstone National Park Part 16

But this impression was very evanescent. No one now goes to the Park because of its mineral waters. Nevertheless, it would be wholly premature to a.s.sume that there is no medicinal virtue in them.

Certainly there is in the Park almost every variety of mineral spring; there are abundant and luxurious waters for bathing; and it is not at all improbable that the opportunities afforded in this region may yet be utilized to the great advantage of the public.

But for health-giving qualities, the Park will never be dependent on its mineral waters. Its true value lies in other and more potent influences. The pure water of its snow-fed streams, the exhilarating atmosphere, the bracing effect of alt.i.tude, the wholesome fatigue of daily rambles over the rough, mountainous country, the fragrant odor of the pine boughs which every-where pervades the atmosphere, and, above all, the beautiful and varied scenery, which exalts the mind and diverts the attention from cares that are too often the real cause of physical ills--these are the true virtues of the Yellowstone Park as a health resort.

CHAPTER X.

ROADS, HOTELS, TRANSPORTATION.

The Park, as is well known, is a very extensive tract of country, and its various points of interest are widely separated from each other.

The question of ways and means for getting comfortably through it is an all-important one. If the roads are bad, the hotels ill-kept, or the transportation uncomfortable, no amount of grandeur of natural scenery can compensate for these defects. In making a tour of the Park, the visitor travels not less than 150 miles, sometimes considerably more, and remains in the Park about one week. He is thus quite at the mercy of those who have the management and control of those matters which form the subject of this chapter.

The road system of the Park, when completed, will comprise a belt line, connecting the princ.i.p.al centers of interest; approaches, by which access may be had to the Park from different directions; side roads, leading from the main route to isolated points of interest; and trails, by which pack outfits can reach desired points to which regular roads will never be built.

The belt line includes Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, Lower Geyser Basin, Upper Geyser Basin, the Yellowstone Lake, the Grand Canon, and Junction Valley. A cross-road pa.s.ses from Norris to the Grand Canon.

The approaches are not all yet selected, but in time there will be at least one on each side of the Park.

Trails are important adjuncts of the Park road system. They were long ago selected and opened up, and they are of great importance in patroling the Park. They are also much used by those tourists who remain for a considerable time.

The mileage of the completed road system will be about as follows:

Belt line 163 miles.

Approaches 105 "

Side roads 22 "

--- Total mileage of Park system, exclusive of trails 290 "

In regard to construction, it is hardly necessary to say that nothing but the best macadamized roads should be built. The inherent difficulties of the work are great. The soil in many places is of the most wretched character. The country is exceedingly rough. The streams are almost without number. The snow lies on some of the roads until the middle of June. The mud in the wet season is bad, and the dust of the dry season is worse. The soft volcanic rocks, which so generally prevail, make poor road metal. But all these difficulties can be overcome, if Congress will but provide for a systematic completion of the project. At present, the annual allowance is too small to promise any thing like good work, and it will be many years before the hopes of the government engineers in the matter will be realized.

The work itself is as attractive as ever falls to the lot of the road engineer, and it is doubtful if another opportunity exists to develop a road system which, if properly done, will reflect so much credit upon the government building it. It is used by visitors from all lands. It pa.s.ses through every variety of scenery. It presents every known problem of road engineering. In short, it combines all the elements to make it, when complete, one of the noted highways of the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_Terry Engr. Co._ _Gandy._

Kingman Pa.s.s. (Showing roadway along side of cliff.)]

It is not impossible that the tourist may yet be carried by boat from the west sh.o.r.e of the Lake to near the head of the Falls, nor that a bridge worthy of its surroundings--an arch of the native rock so studied as to simulate a natural bridge--will span the river near the Upper Falls and give access to the many splendid views from the right bank of the Grand Canon.

The tourist transportation of the Park is done mostly by coach, ordinarily with four horses each. Surreys and saddle horses are also provided when desired. The present system is the result of long development, and is very satisfactory. With proper roads, it would be all that could be desired.

Electric transportation in the Park has often been suggested, but there are certain grave objections, to be discussed in a later chapter, which will probably always prevent its introduction.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_Terry Engr. Co._ _Haynes, Photo., St. Paul._

Yellowstone Park Coach.]

When the hotel system of the Park is complete, there will be no fewer than seven good houses and three lunch stations along the belt line and approaches. The hotels will be at Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, Lower Geyser Basin, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Lake, Grand Canon, and Junction Valley. The present management of the hotels has developed into a very efficient system. It is conducted by a single company whose business headquarters is at Mammoth Hot Springs, from which point all supplies are shipped. A telegraph line connects it with points in the interior and with the outside world.

The manager of each hotel knows in advance the number of guests he must provide for, and the convenience of the tourist is thus carefully arranged beforehand. With a reasonable extension and development of the present system, the Park will be admirably equipped in this respect.

Besides the regular tourists--those who make the usual trip, stopping at the hotels--there are hundreds who pa.s.s through the Park with camping outfits. During the months of July and August and early September, this is by no means an undesirable method. It is less comfortable, to be sure, than the ordinary method, but at the same time it is less expensive and more independent. In the latter part of August, the Park fairly swarms with these camping parties. They give the authorities plenty to do, for the danger of forest conflagrations from their camp fires is very great.

CHAPTER XI.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE PARK.

The administration of the Park is a.s.signed by law to the Secretary of the Interior, who delegates his authority to a local Superintendent.

By statute, also, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to call upon the Secretary of War for such details of troops as may be necessary to protect the Park. Owing to the failure of Congress to provide for a civilian Superintendent and police force, since 1886, the Secretary of the Interior has found it necessary to avail himself of this second statute, so that the present working of the Park administration is on this wise:

An army officer, commanding the troops of the Park, is the representative of the Secretary of the Interior, and is called the Acting Superintendent of the Park, on the a.s.sumption that the old _regime_ of civilian Superintendents is only temporarily suspended.

The Superintendent is charged with the enforcement of the rules and regulations provided for the government of the Park. As to all such matters, he receives his instructions direct from the Secretary of the Interior, and he annually submits to that official a report upon the condition of the Park. For a police force, he has two troops of cavalry, which he stations throughout the Park as necessity requires.

He has also one civilian scout, paid for from the appropriation for the army, whose duty it is to patrol the 5,000 square miles, more or less, in the original reservation and the forest reserve![AY]

[AY] A portion of the latest appropriation for the Park is authorized to be expended in the employment of additional scouts. This policy ought to be continued.

The specific duties which form the burden of the Superintendent's work are:

1. To see that all leases and privileges granted by the Secretary of the Interior to private parties are strictly observed, and that all business conducted in the Park is in pursuance of government authority and in accordance with specific conditions and limitations.

2. The protection of the Park from vandalism. This is a very important matter. The pardonable desire to carry off specimens from the beautiful formations, and the unpardonable craze to cover them with individual names, would, if unrestrained, soon quite destroy what nature, through long ages, has so laboriously produced.

3. The protection of game. All around the Park are hordes of law-breakers, who let pa.s.s no opportunity to destroy the surviving species. To avert this calamity requires the utmost vigilance of the Park police.

4. The preservation of forests. This has always been the most onerous and trying duty of Park officials. The importance of the forests is so far-reaching that their destruction would be a public calamity. No exertion can be considered too great which may prevent it.

5. The construction of roads and bridges in the Park.

Other functions which the Superintendent fills are the social duties of his position, which at certain seasons exact much of his attention.

Official visitors depend upon him entirely for pilotage through the Park. Private parties bring letters soliciting favors, and on the whole he finds his time well occupied with these pleasant, though sometimes onerous, duties.

The office building of the Superintendent, who is also commanding officer of Fort Yellowstone, is at Mammoth Hot Springs. A pretty little garrison is built upon the white formation opposite the hotel, and in winter, the whole military force, except small detachments in various places, is gathered at that point.

At Mammoth Hot Springs are also located the post-office and jail, and at this point the judicial officers of the Park hold court to try offenses against the Park statutes and regulations.

CHAPTER XII.

A TOUR OF THE PARK.