The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-04-02

AA0 WA = VI 00A v0y Auk tuG OO4uH-
aries Of Mount Mckinley National
park, which Is said to be the most
remarkable Of all the areas which
the United States government has
set aside for the purposes Of coh-
servation and public pleasure. is
to begin this spring. These bound
aries will enclose a great area VI
primitive wilderness, teeming with
game, in which it will be unlawful
to, kill that game except for min
ers and prospectors who are actu-
ally dependent upon it for . liy-
ing.
ltis hard at present to arouse
popular interest ina national park
in Alaska because 1t seems SO far
away. Yet the new government
railroad in Alaska will bring
Mount Mckinley within three weeks
Of New York city, and you can
travel all the way, except the last
f20 mileA, by boat and rail. This
means that Mount Mckinley will
be no harder for the tourist TO
reach than is Hawaii. which in re-
cent years has attained such . wide
popularity. 1t will soon be- pos
sible to 60, on q summer vacation
Of a few months. from the most
popul0us city in the world to one
Of its most remote places, where
wild life exists in the abundance
of pro Coluv, hio,, dauc This 10 n
opportunity which the American
tourist will not miss. 1t is said
that plans are already under way
for big hotel there to accommo-
date him. 1t is probable, too. that
the National Park Service will in
due course install there the shell
tiers for travellers which it has in
other parks. Here, as in all ma
tional parks and forests, everything
will be open to all. II you cannot
afford hotel, you can take your
own outfit and camp, or build your
own cabin il you want to stay
longer.
1t is the prospect of this move
ment of tourists to Alaska which
has prompted the government 20
set aside Mount Mckinley as a ma
! tional park. The prime purpose in
creating the park is to protect the
big game herds within it, and the
reason for this is that game is an
absolute necessity to the develop
| ment of Alaska. The exploring,
prospecting and surveying which
are the necessary preliminaries Of
civilization in such country, can
not be carried on unless men can
live off the country as they go
along. Our own west could not
have been opened up without the
great herds of bison and antelope
that covered the prairies and the
deere and elk that abounded in the
mountains. No protection was
ever afforded these wild herds, but
they were not finally destroyed un-
til they had served their purpose
The west was SO far away from
civilization that it was not men
aced by tourists.
Conditions in Alaska.
The case of Alaska is different
1t is rapidly being made accessible
to the civilization which owns it
| If sportsmen and tourists are al
lowed to slaughter the game. soon
there will be none left for the
men who actually need 1t. The
| Alaskans are said fully to realizf
this and therefore to favor the IS.
Enlistment of the park. BY pre-
venting the shipment of game from
it, and the carrying of arms into
it by tourists. the game can with
out much expense be given all the
protection it will need for years
to come. The region will in this
way serve as a reservoir from
which game will overflow in all
directions, keeping the country
stocked.
The northern slope of Mount
Mckinley is said to be one of the
finest game regions in the world. A
great variety of game and fur-bear'
ing animals exist there in abund'
ance, but the most valuable ones
from the standpoint of food supply
are the mountain sheep. or big
horn, the moose and the caribou
The mountain sheep, which is else.
where a rare animal, here exist:
| in great numbers. The caribOu
range in enormous herds that ar
so tame they trot alongside the
packtrains that enter the country
fascinated by the curious spec
tacle. Moose are found on the low
er slopes in great abundance. There