Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-23
LUXURY IN THE W|LOS
improvements Planned for the
National Parks.
BIG, YELLOWSTONE HOTEL
Unique Building to Go Up Near the
Mammoth Spring.
ANOTHER IN YOSEMITE VALLEY
Government Permits Granted for
Huge Caravansaries That Will
Have Every Convenience.
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

cost half a million dollars both IN the
Yellowstone and in the Yosemite. 1t has
been the policy of Secretary Garfield. and
We can all hope that his successor will be
of the same mind, to make our national
Fairgrounds SO accessible and SO comfort
able that the people Of the United States
can spend their summers there instead of
allowing them to remain, as they have
been in the past, mere one-day stops for
hurried personally conducted excursions
There is every reason why thousands of
tired Americans should spend their vaca-
tons in the stimulating atmosphere and
the sublime scenery of the Yellowstone.
the Yosemite. Crater Lake and other ma
tional reserves which have been set aside
by Congress for this purpose. There is
nothing to equal them in Europe. There
is no place in the world where a worm
out business man or society woman can
recover their health and vitality as rapid
ly or as fully as among the big trees of
California. the geysers Of the Yellowstone
or the Grand canyon OF the Colorado.
| The difficulty heretofore has been the
lack of accommodations, which have not
| been such as TO tempt the visitor to re-
| main In either place for more than a
| few days. But that defect is soon to be
corrected. Harry w. Child, president o,
has been here this week, and submitted
plans which received the prompt and en-
thusastic approval of the Interior De-
partment. and a concession has been
| granted to Frank \. Miller, proprietor of
the Red Lands Hotel at Riverside, Cal,
for edthousand- dollar hotel
in the valley of the Yosemite, where such
| accommodations have been very much
| needed Neither hotel will be finished for
the present season. but it is expected that
both will be ready to receive guests in the
summer of 1910.
The plans submitted by Mr.. Child are
| the most unique ever devised for such
purpose. and the new hotel Of itself will
| be great attraction for tourists 1t is
to be located directly in front OF the
present mammoth Hot Springs Hotel
near the entrance to the park from the
! Northern Pacific railway at Gardner.
| The contractors now own and control
| the existing hotels and coaching facili-
| ties from that entrance.
| The new hotel will be 700 feet long and
| so feet wide, with an irregular height
| of three and four and five stories. The
| contract calls for 500 rooms, with 200
| baths, electric light, steam heat and all
| modern luxuries, so that people can re-
main there comfortably during the en-
tile season in pursuance of the plan to
! make the Yellowstone a summer resort.
The hotel will be three times larger than
the largest now in that section Of the
country. The chief feature will be a
central rotunda, with balconies, for an
office and lounging room. 1t will be 200
by 100 feet in size and so feet high, the
roof being supported by natural trees.
with trunks four feet in diameter and
their branches and foliage untouched.
Between these trees on all four sides the
walls of the rotunda will be made of
plate glass extending from the floor to
the ceiling, and it will be set between
the trunks and the branches of the trees.
so that the effect will be the same as
looking into a forest.
A unique feature of the exterior will be
immense columns of rock, irregular in
shape and height, rising at the corners OF
the rotunda and the wings of the hotel.
This will make the front look as If the
building had been erected between mass
i've lodges and the idea will be carried
out along the entire facade. The plans
as approved by the Secretary Of the In
terror are quite startling in their original
ity, and Mr.. Reislng, the architect, is evil
IDENTIFY genius
The contract requires that the work of
construction shall begin at once, and al
lows only two years for its completion:
but MIR. Child thinks 1t can be done in
even less time.
The same company has signed a con-
tract for another hotel OF unique design to
be erected of solid rock at the Grand
Canyon of the Yellowstone The design
is medieval. and the principal features of
the exterior are copied from ancient cas-
ties in the vicinity of Nuremberg, Ger
with a large number Of connecting bath
rooms. electric light. steam heat and other
comforts, cOnvenences and luXuries,
which will make en- attractive resort
where people can spend the entire season. |
There is a new hotel at 'Old Faithful
geyser. which is built Of logs in the |
Swedish style. the central feature being |
room 100 feet square and ~ feet high, |
is the most modern and comfortable hotel
ever erected in the park. 1t has 16O
rooms many of them with baths and |
other modern conveniences.
The roads i'm the Yellowstone have been |
extended a good deal during the last year. |
the most important being forty miles long |
from the Canyon Hotel. over the top of |
Mount Washburn, at an altitude OF 10000 !
feet to Yanceys and Tower Falls, and |
thence into Mammoth Hot Springs. The |
journey can be made in one day by coach. |
There is a new entrance to the park |
from Butte on the north and Salt Lake |
City on the south, by way OF branch OF |
the Oregon Short Line, which has re- |
Gently be0n completed Passengers con-
meet by stage at new town called Vel
lowstone.
Owing to the exposition at Seattle an
unusually large number of visitors are
expected during the coming summer, ex-
ceeding even the record of 1905, the year
of the Portland exposition, when o6.1sS
were registered. In 1905 the total fell to
17,1S2; in 1907, chiefly owing to the San
Francisco earthquake. there were only
1915 people in the park. but in 1903 the
total rose to 1852. This year prepara-
lions are being made to take care OF
$4,000 or more.
The Yosemite valley now belongs to the
national government, having been receded |
by the state of California in May, 1908.
II was accepted by Congress that year
i'm clause inserted in the sundry appro-
preparation bill, but some of the Califor-
mia state commissioners who had been
opposed to the recession refused to sur
render the property until formal reso-
luton of acceptance had been passed by
Congress, June II, 1905. Even then they |
insisted in retaining possession until the
end Of the season, when Maj. Harry G.
Benson OF the army took possession as
representative of the Interior Depart |
ment. Since that date many improve |
ments have been made, but many more |
are imperatively needed before the public |
can visit the park with comfort. The |
Secretary of the Interior year after year
has urged Congress to make liberal APP |
preparations so that roads can be built |
and the dust kept down and a sufficient |
water supply furnished.
He needs x125.OW fer water system; |
$4,000 for new roads; 100000 to buy up |
private property within the park: $4,000 |
for facilities to sprinkle in the roads in |
the dry season to keep down the dust. but |
Congress has refused to appropriate |
more than 10000 year. Last year |
Secretary Garfield asked for $685. and I
get $4,000. This year he has asked for |
1895. 500. and il remains to be seen how
much Congress will be willing to give |