Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-04-22


lean continent The actual area of the park
is to be more than 1,4OS,OOO acres. 1t will
almost equal 5000 quarter-section farms, and
will cover space twice as large as the state
large as Yellowstone National park, twice
as large as the Yosemite and the Big Tree
reservation of California combined, and five
or six times the size of the Rocky Mountain
park, which congress created last year.
Moreover, there is mountainous region to
the south of it which is so wild and rugged
that it can never be used for anything else
except as a tourist resort or national hum
ing ground, SO that altogether the park will
be as large as, if not larger than, any under
Uncle Sans flag.
Heretofore this region has been practical
ly inaccessible to the ordinary traveller. 1t
is situated far back of the coast across
great range of mountains, and the usual way
of reaching it has been to land at Sitka,
thousand miles north of Seattle, and take
the railroad which goes from there to the
headwaters of the navigation of the Yukon
at White Horse, in Canada. From there
steamers will take you in about week down
the Yukon to the mouth of the Tanana, and
you can ascend that stream to the mouth
of the Nenana, where big railroad town is
now building. You can go up the Nenana
river by several days voyage on boats of
one kind or another, and you will then be
not far from the edge of the park. In the
past the only other means of access has been
by crossing the Kenai peninsula from Sew
ard, or steaming around through Cook inlet
to the site of Anchorage, and then making
your way up the Susitna and over the coast
range to the foothills on the northern slope
of the mountain. The southern slope is so
rough as to be almost prohibitive, and the
mountain can be climbed only from the
north.
By the building of the new railroad the
region has become quite as easy to reach as
any Of Our national parks. The engineers
are now working on line north and south
of the mountain, and they have laid out the
route so that great part of it will be in
sight of Mount Mckinley. At one place
the trains will pass within IS miles of the
park. Moreover, the foothills of the north
ern slope of the mountain are such that road
ways can be easily made up one little valley
after another, so that wagons or automo-
biles will take the tourist right to the foot OF
the mountain, and that through one of the
greatest wild game preserves of the CONT
nent.
I have seen Mount Mckinley from the
hills of the Tanana valley near Fairbanks
1t is visible in many parts of Alaska and
when the new railway is completed it will
become as well known as Fujiyama, Mount
Blanc or Pixies Peak 1t will rank as one of
the scenic wonders of the world and will
be known as the grandest mountain on earth.
Mount Mckinley is the highest peak on the
North American continent. If you will take
an aeroplane and shoot straight up for four
miles, you will be on level with it; and
when you stand on its slope at the end of
the road where the automobile will land
you after leaving the cars you will have a
mountain view which cannot be equaled in
the Alps, the Andes or the Himalayas.
have travelled through all of these regions.
They each have their own features of scenic
grandeur, but none can show the stupendous
height of Mount Mckinley. The north side
Of the mountain rises almost precipitously
and, standing on the northern foothills, it
gives an unobstructed view of 1900 or 49,
GOO feet. Measuring from the line of per-
pctual snow, you can see more of it than
any other great mountain, and its height is
not dwarfed by other mountains between
the peak and your eyes.
r 4 - II \