The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-04-27
Preparations for the Coming Tour
list Season in the Greatest Of
Wonderlands.
Thousands of Dollars to Be Elk
pended in improvements
This Year.
A Fine New Steamboat to Run on Yellow.
stone Ln~kc-Another Stage Line
Through the Park.

LIVINGSTON, April 25.-[Special. AS the
tourist season again approaches interest
begins to be shown i'll the doings i'll the
Yellowstone National park. Indeed, the
coming season promises to be the most
e~ventful one in the history of the national
reserve. The appropriation for road work
by congress is larger than i'll any former
year, and a large sum which became avail
able too late for use last year must be ex-
pended this. From Col. f. Lamartine, who
has charge of the government work i'll the
park, it is learned that twenty-five miles of
new wagon road will be built by contract
from the Grand canyon to Yellowstone
lake, and along the lake to the west thumb
of Lake Shore geyser. In addition to the
above, $4,000 will be expended for labor to
build additional wagon roads at various
places throughout the park. A new two
company military post is to be constructed
this season at Mammoth Hot Springs. to
cost not less than 100000, and
sealed bids for this work are
to be opened in st. Paul to-day,
work to Immediately. No par
ticular limit is placed upon the expendi-
lures for military purposes at Mammoth
Hot Springs and elsewhere in the park.
Complete water works are to bs pu. in at
the new post, md the Geyserite plateau,
now a mass of fine white dust, deposits of
the boiling springs, will be entirely covered
with good soil and made into beautiful
grounds. New cottages, complete for the
use of government officers and employees,
will also be constructed this season. The
old postofice building at the springs, sta
bles of the Park Transportation company,
and other old and unsightly buildings will
be destroyed to make room for the new i'm
provements. All this will necessitate the
expenditure of large sums of money IN ad-
dition to the cost OF the military post
proper. The Yellowstone Park association,
it is said, will not be far behind the govern
ment in the matter of improvements.
Three large new hotels commenced last
year, one at Yellowstone lake outlet, one at
the Grand canyon, and the other at the
Fountain Geysers are to be completed and
ready for the accommodation of guests by
the first day of July, 1t is but fair to say
that the Yellowstone Park association is
making every effort to properly accommo
date tourists the coming season. During
the past winter Messrs. Huntley and Clark,
we'll known Montana horsemen, secured a
franchise from Secretary Noble, and viii!
run a line of stages through the park this
season in opposition to the old Park Trans
portation company. 1t is understood that
tourists having Northern Pacific coupons
can select either stage line they choose.
This will probably result in the betterment
of the stage services.
Among the new attractions in the park
this year will be the new large and elegant
steamboat run on the Yellowstone lake by
the Lake Boat company, of which
Col. Il. G. Waters, of this city.
is president. Yellowstone lake is
conceded to be one of the finest if not the
finest body of water on the American con-
tinent, and the new steamboat making reg
ular trips will give every tourist an oppor-
tunity to visit remote points not heretofore
visited but by a few who had ample time
and money to spend. The boat was built
in the east and shipped in sections by rail
to Cinnabar and from thence transported
by wagon to the lake. 1t was a big under
taking and necessltated an enormous out
lay of money. The boiler alone weighed
six tons or over and required twenty mules
to haul it from Cinnabar to the lake, a dis
lance of over sixty miles. Ihe boat has
been remodeled under the supervision of a
government inspector and steel compart-
ments built in the hull. Besides the steam
er the company will have ready for use be-
fore the tourist season begins, twenty new
sail and row boats, and mate
rial is already on the ground to
build new boat houses and a new
dock for the steamer. The prices charged
by the company should be moderate, as
they must in all cases be approved by the
oCCICtdly W th0 llUeIlOTs
Captain Anderson, Company I, Seventh
cavalry, will be the new superintendent in
the park this year. He will have under his
command three troops of cavalry to enforce
his orders and protect the game and pre-
vent tourists from defacine the formation.
On troop will be stationed at the lower
geyser basin and the other two in squads at
different points throughout the park. In
Livingston a good season ia expected, Sit
uated at the gateway of the park, the ex-
penditure of such large sums and the regu-
lar tourist travel, which has increased each
year, aids materially in the upbuilding of
this city. Road work in the park is ex-
pected to be commenced about Nav 5, and
travel to wonderland about a month later,
Owing to the high altitude the snow dis.
appears slowly, and the earliest visitors do
not attempt to go further than Mammoth
Hot springs before June / to Il. w. j.
johnson. the manager of the association
hotels. is now at the springs getting things
in order, and in about five weeks or less
trains will run daily on the park branch
railroad instead of the tri-weekly trips
made now.