The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-07-10

Yellowstone our oldest and most famous
tona, park-the first national park in the WORLD
never had been a success a playground The
truth is 1t is a wOnderhOuse of freak scenery
geysers boiling springs, volcanic curioslties ana
the Yellowstone Falls. Also it has It's semi
domesticated bears and its wonderful big game. In
the old DAYS of the stage coach the regulation trip
took five days. After that the tourist was ready
to leave And he seldom returned to see the
mark second time. Now that the automoDhe
has taken the place of the COACH the time or the
regulation trip has been cut In two; otherwise
the same conditions obtain. The Yellowstone at
tendance figures tell the story In 1919, the
attendance was 1895; in 1915 it was 3oS49; In
1917 il was 80 400; in 1918 1t was 2l.2F5; In 1919
II was 62261 BY way of contrast take the cor
responding attendance at Rocky Mountain Natloh-
al park which is play ground PARK "here peo-
nile stay their entire vacation time and there are
thousands of regulars" who go every year: 81
600 and n OOO and 1171S6 and 1O1 497 and 169.-
49o Rocky mountain has no freak scenery, but
;+s scenic magnificence wears well and large
nronortion of its visitors regard 1t as their sum-
mer home.
Tn consequence the national park service is pro-
noting the project of adding about a Thousand
square miles to the south end of Yellowstone IN
Guiding the Teton range, Grand Teton. Mount
Moran Jackson lake and the Jackson Hole region
and rho beadwaters of the Yellowstone. This ad-
dition will give the Yellowstone the kind or seen
erv if lacks Moreover, plans Tor the 1arther ue-
volonment of the Yellowstone include large auto
mobile camps golf links. tennis courts and the en-
courapement of fishing, mountain climbing and rid
;no Tn short the Yellowstone is to be made
nIevpround sufficiently attractive to hold the tour
;s+ for a time and to induce him to return
Anotber example of needed enlargement Is Sc
ouoia National park in California. This park was
created in 1890 and contains 252 square miles.
II was created largely for the purpose OF preserv-
ing the Big Trees (Sequoia gigantea)-tne Dig
eest and oldest living things on the earth. Inc
General Sherman tree. for example, Is ABOUT 30
feet in diameter and is approximately o,ooo years
old Congress with an eye to the big trees only,
emf the park boundaries arbitrarily and left out
q magnifcently scenic area which lies contiguous
Features of this contiguous the canyons of
the Kings and Kern rivers and the summit OF
Moupt Whitney G4,501), the highest mountain In
continental United States. 1t is now purposed 10
add about thousand square miles OF this con-
tipuous area to Seduoia and to change its name
to Roosevelt, making the enlarged park ma
tfonal outdoor memorial to the DEAD statesman
Here again the public playground idea Is the Dasic
proposition.
No dissertation can do justice to Crater lake
itself. Uncle Sam, however, has done a good Job
under the circumstances in booklet issued last
season by the United States railroad admiIsstra
ton And this booklet says among other Things :
All ofsour great national Fairgrounds have their
distinctive beauties each is different in great
measure in the sublimity and attractiveness or
its national grandeur but Crater lake stands
alone in this: that all likeness to any familiar
landscape here ceases.
Other lands have their crater lakes-ltaiy, In
diA and Hawaii-and there are some craters In this