The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-12-01
NEW NATIONAL
PARK in MONTANA
PROPOSED PLAYGROUND LIES
WEST OF DILLON AND
SOUTH OF BUTTE

to Set Aside Magnificent Scenic
i Section for Park Purposes, and
Small Reservation Already Has
Been Made.
1t is possible that within the next
two years Montana will have another
national park to be known as the
Elkhorn National park, which will
lie entirely within the borders of the
Treasure state and which will contain
scenery second to none of the nation
, al parks now in existence. The plan
is now being worked out by a num-
Der of the representative citizens of
!; the southern section of the state and
several Influential members of con-
gress have expressed themselves as
in favor of the proposed park, which
will lie in what is now an almost in
accessible mountain country 80 miles
west of Dillon and 60 miles south of
Butte and Anaconda.
The idea first had its inception
several years ago when Frank B.
Felt, a well known mining man of the
Elkhorn country, and Judge Joseph
C. Smith of Dillon, together with a
/ II VI lulluCIlt1dl SltlLCuo vi tAC
GrasshOpper country, gathered con-
tributions for the development of
Elkhorn Hot Springs, one of the two
hot springs in the entire country
which remain as government proper
ty, and directly under government
control. The springs, known for
their medicinal quality since the
earliest history of the white man in
this country and before that used by
the Indian tribes for untold ages,
had fallen into disuse and accommo-
dations were of such nature and the
roads were so impossible that it ne
cessitated a pioneering instinct to
spend a few days at the healing wa
tiers.
Land Set Aside
Contributions poured into the COM
mittee and the United States govern
ment, represented here by the Bea-
yerhead national forest, in which the
springs are located, set aside $40
acres as a reserve and constructed a
road which is a model of highway
building and which stretches for a
distance of two and a half miles down
G~rasshOpper creek to a junction with
the old county road to the mining
country. A plunge was constructed
of concrete, 20 by 40 feet, which in
less than a year proved to be entirely
inadequate and which was supple
mented by a second plunge seven feet
at it's greatest depth and three times
as large as the first concrete tank.
Dressing rooms were built in a rustic
building facing upon the plunge and
villa sites which rent for a nominal
sum each year were laid out by the
forest service under the direction of
Supervisor Summers. The place
proved immensely popular and today
more than a dozen summer cottages,
the magnificent p%lunges, a good road
and one of the best camping grounds
in the state show what the energy :
and foresight of a few private citizens
will do in bringing a natural scenic
wonder to the attention of both gov
eminent and public. A register kept J
at the springs by the Beaverhead ma {
tional forest shows that during the ;
past year residents of all but three
least at the government resort. :
For Disabled Veterans s
Much remains to be done but first {
in the minds of the men most res
ponsible for the improvements is the '
establishment of the place as a hos J
pital site for disabled service men. f
The waters, as shown from the tradi- 7
of the Indian tribes and borne
out by the early settlers of the coun- v
try, have remarkable curative prop t
critics and it is the dream and hope a
that the government, in the pure, dry f
air of Elkhorn canyon with the an
healing springs piped to baths :
Ind plunges, will see fit to establish
/ service mans hospital which will
back disabled veterans to their
ore-war efficiency. The movement is
being fathered by Beayerhead post of
he American Legion and it has the
packing of every port in this and in
other states to whom the plan has
preached by letters and person.
Il visits.
It present the reservation has but
240 acres but it is planned to ask
to make a national park
our or five miles in width and from
10 to IL miles east and west, which II
will take in some of the widest .
mountain scenery in the entire state. 4
The reservation SO planned would in E,
dude Mount Torrey, lilo feet; n
Iount Tweedy, 1900; Comet noun 4
ain, Alturas mountain, which has j
'een scaled but a few times since its i
discovery, and a number of other h
leaks which are covered on their y,
over slopes by heavy forests of pine y,
nd spruce and which tower far above ~
he lesser peaks surrounding and de- o,
reasing to the parks and open places e.
5here the trout streams purl and halt
their way to the rivers. The so :
r 70 square miles embraced in the
e~servation would be a refuge for
anne and even now boasts of the
nest mountain sheen and goat hunt