Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-22
Favored Spots Sought by Utahns
For Summer Camping
Places.
OUTDOOR LIFE is POPULAR
Great Increase I'm Camping Population
Many Beautiful Resorts In Noun
tains Mt City's Very Door.

BY Robert v. r. Reynolds, Forest ST.
pervisor U. S. Forest Service.
In the days when there was frontie
in the west, when there were flesh
and blood bad men, cowboys and In
dlans, picturesque of garb and roman
tically chronicled in the cheap prints
there was little thought OF recreation Ii
the prosaic modern sense. Men wer
too busy living the strenuous outdoor
life forced upon them to care to tak'
their pleasure in that way.
They did not need TO tone up jadet
nervous systems. and besides. the es'
Sence of any recreation. no matter how
strenuous il may be. Is that there Is
no compulsion in the matter. Living
out doors was forced on most people a,
the time. He who had a good house
was an envied man and he usually ap-
preciated the fact and stayed near
enough to his hearthstone to enjoy its
comfort to the full. and at the same
time distinguish himself from the COM
mon herd who slept on the ground or
In wagons and sizzled their bacon. year
in and year out, over an open fire.
When his pent-up youthful enthu-
siasm needed more safety valve than
labor In tho open provided, your west
erner was human enough not to yearn
for diversion lying I'm his regular line
of business. Hence the 'double-roll,"
and the shooting out of the saloon
lights and certain historic pastimes
performed upon the shrinking persons
OF Inquisitivc easterners prospered
amaIn liz the land, and all whisky was
good, but some was better than others.
AT this time the westerner was a child
of nature. The devastating hand OF
civilization had touched him but light
ly. What he needed was not toning
up. but toning down-a sedative rather
than a tonic.
FRONTIER DISAPPEARS.
And as time passed by he got It, The
frontier disappeared, Villages grew IN
10 cities. more immigrants came from
the east, almost everybody who was
anybody had a house to live in. and
pennies began to circulate. Civilization
had cone-the west was the east, or
largely composed of it. Business COM
petition became strong, the doctors and
druggists began to thrive.
Now this was an old story to the
casterner. Fifty or rs years before his
father and grandfather had gone
through the same experience. OF chang
ing from life of action, out of doors,
to the cramping, anaemic, dyspeptic
bondage of the shop and the office. His
changes from the tent to the log cabin,
from the log cabin to the frame house.
from the frame house to the fiat and
the towering office building had taught
him the sovereign remedy for dark
brown tastes and the all pervadlns
crouch.
He had found that to the closely con-
fined business man a vacation out OF
doors Is not a luxury but necessity. 1t
cannot be counted as time lost from
business, for 1t greatly Increases eff
fciency for the remainder OF the year
So when he worried needlcssly and lost
weight and saw visions of whirling pin
wheels he put on a pair of overalls.
slammed the office door and took the
first available train for Maine. OF the
Adirondacks. or the seaside. there to
exercise in the fresh air, forget hts
worries. cat we'll and catch up his
sleep.
VACATION HABIT.
Only a few Jumps behind the frontier
as ii passed on its way west came the
vacation habit. Once tasted. like a GER
taine famed remedy. the children cried
for It. The habit got foothold and
grew, and is still growing apace. The
people are relying more and moro upon
the hunting. fishing. tramping, noun
tain climbing and camping as recrea-
tion during the pleasant months.
Nature has kindly provided Salt Lake
City with a magnificent playground at
her very doors in the great gorGes of
the Wasatch mountains. These are
ruggedly picturesque. full OF dashing
streams, grass and firewood and we'll