Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1920-08-10

which $4,000 was expended last winter Prop
ably there's nothing finer of its kind in the coun-
try. Yet Rocky Mountain makes a gap; you can
get in by motor on the east, south and west, but
you can't get through the park until the FAIL River
rOat across the continental divide is finished
possibly this fall.
From Rocky Mountain it's easy travelling straight
north to Cheyenne, Wyo., on the Lincoln highway.
Here you go northwest on the Yellowstone high
way via Casper ThermOpolis and Cody to the east
entrance of Yellowstone.
There are 800 miles of automobile highway in
Yellowstone, with exits all four sides of the
square. Mr.. Westgard will go in at the east and
go out at the north. From Gardner he will head
north for Glacier in the northwest corner OF Mon
tana, up against the Canadian line.
And so it goes all around the 4000-mile circle
easy travelling here, hard going there and every
now and then sap. There's one of these gaps
in Mount Rainier and another in Crater Lake
that is, E1r Westgard drive into both, but
can't drive through until projected roads are built
He will be lucky if he gets into Lassen Volcanic
at ALL Congress established this park in 1916
but with its usual hapzard national park policy has
appropriated money for it yet. The roads into
the other three California parks are excellent
and more being built
From California the Santa Fee trail will take
the pathfinder back to Denver. via Zion, Grand
Canon and Mesa Verde.
Director Mather of the national park service
is an enthusiast He gets u salary of $4,000 a
year and has already spent than 100000
on the parks out of his pocket. And of
his particular national park enthusiasms is this
National ParktOPark highway. Last summer he
did over 1000 miles of pathtnding in his own car.
In his 1919 report he has considerable to say on
the question of inter-park tourist travel by auto
mobile Here some of the things he says:
1.-The prospects for the establishment of the Ma
tional ParktO-Park highway a great system of
in hrphtpr
almost daily since the opening of the past touring
season. There is now wide demand for the
highway where prior TO this year it's Importance
was seen by relatively few communities, most of
which were direct routes to the national parks,
and had unusual opportunities to observe its
growing volume of motor travel.
Many OF the sections of any nerpark highway
system are of course, situated to naturally
require no special designation and in such cases
the roads are either being repaired or plans for
their improvement under way. On the other
hand, in several states there are numerous routes
that might be selected sections of the system,
and it is necessary to choose or two routes
for special attention if the funds available are
not to be spread thinly and ineffectvely over all
such roads.
Il should point out again the fact that some
links, of any complete parktopark system of high
ways may have to be constructed by the federal
government without state cooperation. In GER
tam states through when the highway would run
most of the land belongs to the federal govern
ment. In such cases, particularly where the road
would be used principally by motorists en- route
to the national parks from all parts of the United
States, it would seem that the federal government
would be under the obligation of defraying the
cost of such sections of the interpark system"
Last spring. long before his noIvination at Chi
cago Senator Harding was in Denver and in an
address at a Mile High club luncheon March 10
he said in part:
Il ike the slogan See America First We
ought to link our national parks with the best of
motor highways. l shall never be content until
l can motor from this reckoning gateway to glor-
ious America, portrayed in her national parks
over circuit of our national parks We are so
vast, so varied, so physically beyond compare, that
it is good to think of America first and know
America first and do the practical things which
prosper America first