Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-02-01
THE PARK CONTROVERSY.
What Rufus Hatch Said to Inspire
the Spirited Rejoinder of Gov
ernOr Crosby.

Extract form n Y. World Special of Jan. ST.
WASHINGTON, January 5.-The bill re-
ported from the committee on Territories to
the Senate to-day by Mr.. Vest, which in
cludes clause to prohibit leases granting
exclusive privileges in Yellowstone Park
has been talked about more than any other
of to-day's events. There has been no can
vass Of the Senate yet upon the bill, and in
consequence no forecast is yet possible with
regard to it. The purpose of its trainers is
frankly avowed to be antagonistic to the
project with which the name of Mr. Rufus
Hatch has been lately identified.
Mr.. Hatch, on being asked tonight how
the bill would affect the improvement COM
pany's work, replied: Il am no politician,
and know little about the ins and outs of
legislation in Washington, nor do l care
much about it. l have spent two or three
months in endeavoring to organize body
Of representative gentlemen to undertake
the management of the National Park as a
place Of resort and enjoyment for the people
not only of the United States but of all
countries. In so doing my object has been
to make it worthy of the national character
it should bear and to fully carry out the idea
of its name as National Park The park was
dedicated to public uses in 1872, and for ten
years until took the matter in hand no
effort whatever, private or governmental,
has been made to render it accessible and
provide it with suitable accommodations for
visitors
When was in the Northwest in August
last met some friends, Messrs. Hobart and
Douglas, who had conferred with the Inter-
ior Department on the subject of opening the
Park and had obtained a contract for some
leases of grounds as hotel sites. They got
me interested in the matter to an extent that
l never dreamed of at the outset. did not
think then there was much money to be
made by keeping hotels out in Wyoming.
But everything that | do | always do fairly
and ON top of the table. l tell you now, as
| have told other people, that upon looking
into it | supposed | might run some cattle
ranches in connection with the hotel enter
prise ON property somewhere near the Park
in Montana. Dakota or Wyoming. l had no
idea that it could be done inside the Park,
although lot of gentlemen who believe they
know more about my purposes than do
myself, have lately spread rumOrs broadcast
over the country that / and the gentlemen
associated with me were engaged in a Wall
street scheme to grab the National Park and
that We intended to run a lot of cattle ranches
inside the Park boundaries, and that we
were lot of monopolists. The fact is, that
as early as last August, at Winnipeg, talked
with General Hammond, who was a well
known officer on General SheImans staff and
is familiar with all the Western Territories,
about the advisability of starting an exten-
tensive ranch in Montana, close by the Park.
That was before | became interested in the
Park scheme. Lately, however, General
Sheridan, who has just returned from an ex-
tensiye tour Of the Park, made at govern
ment expense, has, without any knowledge
of the character or extent of the leases | was
seeking, attacked the scheme and prompted
an inquiry into its character by committee
of the Senate. 1t occurs to me that it is
somewhat strange that General Sheridan,
who has had this park within his military
jurisdiction for ten years, ever since 1t was
dedicated, should never before have dis
played any zeal Of public interest in the
opening or improvement of that reservation,
Notwithstanding that he has almost yearly
made his excursions through it, and that now,
just as private persons OF ample character,
responsibility, and capital, are taking the
matter in hand, he should come to the front,
and with loud outcry proclaim that the
Park is in danger of being absorbed in the
MOST monstrous way, so that the government
and the people will soon possess neither right
nor interest in it.
Colonel Crosby, who was formerly on
Sheridans staff, and has lately returned from
Florence, Italy, to assume the Governorship
Of Montana, has written letter from General
Sheridan's headquarters in Chicago in which
he poses as one OF the newly fedged reform
ers in the interest of the National Park. 1t
may or may not interest that gentleman to
know that more than two months ago |
wrote letter from Chicago to the Secretary
OF the Interior, which was signed by Messrs.
Douglass Hobart and myself, and is on file
in the Interior Department, asking the Sec
retary to use his influence at the present ses-
sion of Congress to the fullest extent to pre-
serve the Park. We pointed out to him that
great damage had been inflicted on the Park
during the past summer, not only by tourists
and hunters, but by United States troops,
and by referring to these troops we meant,
though we did not say so, the troops that
formed part of General Sheridan's escort in
August last. We can prove, if necessary, that
his escort, by careless or reckless manage
ment Of their camp-fres, destroyed from 1O,-
900 to 900 acres of timber lands, and that
some of his men, using the trunks of trees
for battering-rams, destroyed some of the
geyser cones to secure crystals as souvenirs
of their trip Sheridan's appearance here as
the protector Of the Park after dreaming on
it and picnicing oyer it for ten years, appears
to me somewhat of stupendous joke. The
truth of the matter is whether General
Sheridan is directly concerned in it or not
cannot say, there is a military ring that is
actually lusting after the control of the Ma
tional Park. l could mention names in con-
nection with this statement, and may do SO
should it assume the shape of a controversy.
However, am now in the enterprise and
am going to see it through. The bill which
Senator Vest introduced to-day will not pre-
vent us from continuing our work and COM
pleting our hotels. We have nearly 100 men
at work in the park for two or three months
past, assuming, Of course, that we were to
have leases granted to us in the shape
originally expected. The bill which Senator
Vest has framed is meant to deprive us of
the exclusive right to own these hotels, but
with the advantage we hold from being the
first to enter the park and with the start
we have gained, we think we can hold our
own and do little more than that against
all who, under the provision of Mr.. Vests
bill, may seek to build and run hotels in
competition with us. This enterprise re-