Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1922-11-08
Government Activities Analysed


national parks and monuments from
he year 1906. when Lewis and Clark
missed discovering the Yellovetone ny
lbou, 30 miles. % the creation vi inc
National Park Service in 1916. and tho
addition Of the latest Of the nhtioflai
parks--Hot SprIngs--oniy lset year.
Oldest National Psrk.
Incidentally the monograph sottles
the old dispute Of whether Hot Springs
or the Yellowstone n the oldest = the
| national parks Hot Springs vae set
/ aside as a reservation In 1892, and "
vac 40 years later that the Yellowstone
| National Park was created by Act OF
| Congress Yet the latter vas the first
! true national park IN the sense that
- was 10 be a region developed for
the pleasure Of the public. Hot Springs
vas merely reserved n prevent ne
| medicinal waters from being exploit
| cd by private ownership.
The establishing ~ Yellowstone Va
| tional PARK was a romantic ep!sode.
Tho marvels q that region we're DE-
covered n 1907 By John Golfer, hun
'cr who mad been attached 70 the I>oFls
and Clark Expedition. r vas the fate
Iof Golfer and the other white men
| who went into me Yellowstone ds-
trict during the next half century %
b. dlsbeIeved when they told their
stories Of he spouting water and mud
r. IN the geysers IN fact. the region
vas ~ first der.slvely caIied "Colter's
He'll.
IN 1859 a reliable expedition IL Non
tanans explored the Yellowstone, Yeri-
fed the preceding reports Of il, and
published the discoveries Ths vas
/ followed the next year By the explo-
ration made by the Washburn Doane
expedition. which took N a military
escort detailed by the War Depsr-
/ ment. This expedition brought about
/, the creation Of the park. and gave
birth 20 the nati,nal park idea which
I, has since worked out in the national
park system ~ we know g to-day.
When the members n the Wasa-
burn -Doane expedition saw the Won
ders NJ the Yellowstone, tley diecuss-
cd among themselves ne suggestion
= that T. would be profitable - pick I'D
y ownership n the !aud surrounding tina
- geyeers and other phenomena and ex-
! plot the place az 4 commercial VEN
ture. Such an act would not have
been regarded 50 reprehensibIe then
az Il would now. But ono ~ the mem
:, bers II the party expressed the opinion
that such wonderland ought never
% be allowed % paes into privat.
.. ownership az all but should be held
: in perpetuity FOR the whole population
a" The others agreed - this IT once. and
the members Of the expedition latel
took the lead IN the movement which
= resulted in the creation Of the Yellow.
stone National Park IN 1872
No other parks we're added 20 n.
system until 1890, when the Yosemite
- Sequo!a. and General Grant parks il
. California were taken over ny IA
- Government. Then followed rhe ere
{. alton Of me Mount Rainer Park il
a. 1893. Since the year 1900 The Gov
eminent has created Il national parks
- so that the total number Of them q
W. now 70. The parks did rot altar
great popularity with the travelin.
public until after me outbreak Of ~
:, war in Europe. That fact. shutt!rl
~ off ocean travel. added 70 the develop
rnent Of automobile roads in the West
- and turned a food OF tourists into n
:" parks. Whereas before 1918 only abou
=, 100000 persons visited the parks eac
4 year. last year the tourists numbere
~ over 1000 00e