The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-02-22
Senator PomerOy's proposed Ma
tiOnal lPark-ssThe Wonders of
the West

the West"
Mr.. Pomeroy, of Kansas, has intro
duced bill in the United States SEN
ate, which, we hope, under proper re-
strictions will become a lava bill
setting apart the wonderful valley and
its strange and magnificent surround
ings at the head of the Yellowstone
River, in the Rocky Mountain Terri
tory of Wyoming, as national park,
to the extent of forty-four miles by
forty. Mr.. Pomeroy desires to have
this region of unparalleled wonders
dedicated to the nation at once, i'll or
der to prevent its falling into the
hands of squatters and unscrupulous
land spectators. This is beautiful
idea and while there are yet no squat
ters on the ground Congress ought to
secure the district indicated to the
whole people of the United States and
their descendants forever. There is
no such grouping anywhere else in
the world of the beautiful, the mag
nificent, the grand, the sublime and
wonderful in nature as we have them
in this marvellous PlutonIc region of
Yellowstone; and, as the giant cedars
of Mariposa and the glorious noun
tain walls and dome of Yosemite haye
been given to the State of California,
80 should this Yellowstone region be
given to the people of the United
States, to prevent its designation by
squatters and spectators, with their
t'gin-mills." saw-mills and chemical
factories, and in order to make it q ma
tional park which will invite stran-
gers to the contemplation of its inde-
scribable attractions from all parts OF
the world. Even in business point of
view this is the best use to which this
district can be applied for the people
and for the national Treasury.
Here, with their wild strange and
sublime surroundings, we have water
falls which make even Niagara tame
affair. and a lake, the circuit of which
is nearly two hundred miles, more at
tractive than the lakes of Switzerland.
Here we have a river which, in its
deep canyon for thirty miles, is even
during the brightest day mostly in
the dark. Here we have towering
river walls, painted by the action of
the air and water upon their mineral
deposits in all the colors of the rain
bow. Here, on the mountain sides,
we have clusters of hot springs, dis
charging their water from terrace to
terrace in numerous pools, the ter
races and the pools, from their miner
al coating, having all the appearances
of alabaster, or of marble of different
colors. Here we have fountains dis
charging black and red mud, and foun-
taias eff water white as milk; and
here in the "Fire Hole Basin," we
have geysers which eclipse those of
Iceland in their numbers and strength
"a most astonishing sight-one of
them discharging a column of water
twelve feet in diameter to height of
over two hundred feet. And clouds
of steam rise from this basin as the
smoke from city in flames. Here
we have natural domes. spires, castles,
towers turrets and fortifcations, in
fantastic forms, and the
widest groupings of mountain peaks
and pinacles and ridges, rising from
ten to twelve thousand feet above the
sea- In short, here, including the
most beautiful virgin forests of pines,
we have a wilderness of wonderful
things with which nothing can be pro-
duced for comparison on the face of
the globe.-N. Y. Herald.