Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-25
TIE LEASE OF YELLcwsroNE PARK

Q
struction or spoliation, and to prevent the
requirement of private interests inimlcal
! to the complete enjoyment of the sublime
natural scenery of the region by the public.
II ia quite useless to inquire into the de-
tails of the proposed lease. Il is enough
to know, in general terms, that the propo.
sition provides for turning over the park
to private company, for the purpose of
obtaining profit from hotels to be erected
on the reservation and constructing trails
for the accommodation of tourists. No
matter what restrictions may be written
into the lease, the result will be that the
park will become disgrace and by
word, for the inevitable impositions upon
the tourists will follow. Every corceiv.
able device for bleeding the tourist which
greed can inspire or cunning invent will
be practiced. He will be in no posi-
ton to complain, and even should he
venture to make remonstrsnce it will not
be listened to by the Government
The experience gained in the case of the
Yosemite Valley reservation, in this State,
should furnish sufficient warning and ex.
ample. The history of that valley presents
constant recurrence of acts constituting
public wrongs The private rights &C.
quired by Hutchings and others in the val
ley were purchased at many times their
value. The vicious policy of allowing private
parties to build trails and collect tolls fer
period of years was adopted. Under this
reprehensible system, access to every OBJ
iect of interest in or about tie valley was
INSTRUCTED by toll. gate. Many times the
cost of the trails was collected from the
public, and at last it caused the State the
expenditure of large sum OF money to
extinguish the title of the rspacious trail
owners, in order to remove the shame and
disgrace of collecting tolls from strangers
at every step in this valley of natural
wonders. That has now been achieved
but through the steps by which it has been
accomplished there was exposed record
of wrong and imposition for which the
State should blush. What is true of the
trails is repeated in exaggerated form in
the history of the hotels, saddle train priv.
ileges, and all other accommodations of the
valley. Upon some fimsy pretense
suuatter builds a cabin in the val
ley; he may or may not have lease;
his cabin is an eye.sore rather than an i'm
provement but sooner or later, he pre-
sents Z" claim against the Managing
Commission, and, with scarcely an excep-
ton, he wins his case, obtains his money,
and thus, by small investment and effort,
obtains comparatively large reward for
his venture. This vice extends to stage.
roads and turnpikes built within the limits
of the grant. Claims of this kind are now
pending before the Legislature. Some of
| them have decided merit. Bat, all ques-
tions Of merit aside, these claims arose out
of bad management, and should have no
existence. The terms by which lease priv
ileges are terminated appear to be bidding
upon no one but the State. Some fern of
claim will arise concerning all Of them.
The only apparent way TO extinguish them
If the experience of Yosemite may be
trusted-is to buy them cut at the valu-
alton of the owner. The Commission that
refuses to do this is vilifed and abused,
and the public sympathy is always, in such
cases, with the claimant-for the individ-
ual, as against the State or the
Government In vulgar contemplation,
the consideration that the Government is
rich, and the individual comparatively poor,
outweighs all greater considerations as to
the equity of the claim asserted. There
never was, and perhaps never will be,
Board of Commissioners formed which will
be able to successfully resist all this species
OF imposition and even if they are sue
cessfully resisted, appeal will be taken to
the Legislature or Congress, and the claim.
ant win in the end.
If the lease of the Yellowstone Park is
consummated, the lessees will surely
acquire all the rights, practically, that
could be bestowed on them as pur-
chasers. They will build hotels,
roads, trails, ladders, and establish
saddle train and carriage privileges, for
the purpose of obtaining "backsheesh
from the people of the world, whom we
invite to visit that great natural wonder.
They will exact license for hunting on
the reservation, or, if is denied them by
the terms of the lease, they will kill and
destroy all the game or they will sell
ammunition. rent horses and dogs, require
the employment of guides end hunters at
extortiouate charges, and at the end of the
lease term they will present demands for
amounts in excess of the original cost of all
improvements made by them, and Congress
will pay handsomely to extinguish claims
which have expired by the most unmis-
taxable terms Of the lease. In short, the
terms. conditions and limitations of the
proposed lease will scarcely cut figure in
the matter, Once let this pretended I'M
provement Company get possession, and
the work Of turning the park over to its
unregulative control will have been COM
plete.
DEATH OF. D0RE.