The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1920-06-03

Yellowstone, our oldest and most famous ma
tiona park-the first national park IN the "orio
never had been a success playground Inc
truth Is it is a wOnderhouse of freak scenery
geysers boiling springs volcanic curiosties ana
the Yellowstone Falls. Also it mas It's senll-
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
park a second time Now that the automobile
has taken the place Of the coach, the time OF the
regulation trip has been cut In two; othef"lso
the same conditions obtain. The Yellowstone at
tendance figures tell the story. In 1919, the
attendance was 51,s95; in 1916 1t was S3's49; IN
1917 it was IS, 400; in 1918 it was 2l215; IN 1917
it was 62261. BY way Of contrast take the cor
responding attendance at Rocky Mountain Natlon-
al park, which is play ground park "here peo-
nle stay their entire vacation time and there are
thousands Of REGULARS" who go every year: b.
600 and 81 900 and 1886 and 1O1497 and l69-
4oo. Rocky mountain has no freak scenery, but
its scenic magnifcence wears well anu large
nroportion Of it's visitors regard 1t rs their sum-
mer home.
motirg the project Of adding about thousand
sou,re miles to the south end of Yellowstone, in
Guiding the Teton range. Grand Teton, Mount
Moran Jackson lake and the jackson Hole region
and the headwaters of the Yellowstone. Ihls ad-
dition will give the Yellowstone the KIND or seen
erv It lacks Moreover, plans for the farther de-
veonment of the Yellowstone include large auto
mobile camps, golf links, tennis courts ana the en-
coura cement of fishing, mountain climbing ana rid
tho In short, the Yellowstone Is to be made q
n,ovrround sufficiently attractive to hold the tour
ie+ for a time and to induce him to return.
Another example of needed enlargement is Sc
ouoia National park in California. This park was
cro,+od in 1890 and contains 252 square miles.
II was created largely for the purpose OF preserv-
ing the Big Trees (Sequoia gigantea)-the big
rest and Oldest living things on the earth. The
General Sherman tree for example, is about 36
feet in diameter and is approximately 5000 years
old CONGRESS-, with an eye to the big trees only
emf the park boundaries arbitrarily and left out
q masnifcenty scenic area which lies contiguous.
Features of this contiguous are the canyons OF
the Kings and Kern rivers and the summit OF
Mount Whitney (14,5O1), the highest mountain in
continental United States. It is now purposed to
add about thousand square miles of this con-
tguous area to Sequoia and to change Its name
to Roosevelt, making the enlarged park ma
tional outdoor memorial to the dead statesman.
Here again the public playground idea is the basic
proposition.
No description can do justice to Crater lake
itself. Uncle Sam, however. has done good JOB
under the circumstances in a booklet issued last
season by the United States railroad administra-
ton. And this booklet says among other things:
All of our great national Fairgrounds have their
distinctive beauties; each is different in great
measure in the sublimity and attractiveness OF
its national grandeur, but Crater lake stands
alone in this :: that all likeness TO any 1amlliar
landscape here ceases.
dia and Hawai-and there are some craters In this