The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-06
Frederick | askin's Letter
Government Activities Analysed

reau Of education. women, ~.
eau, children's bureau and ~.
national park service. .oe
While the monographs prim.,u.
are not intended for popular Gov
sumption but are written fo- >v .s-
guidance of legislators and adm,r e
istrators, they are distinctly rs.s
able, and most Of them ara :,
broad general interest. The ns~
one on the national park servsc.
sketches the history of the nation
al parks and monuments from ~.
year 1906. when Lewis and C,s,s
missed discovering the Yellov
stone by about SO miles, to the "a.
alton Of the national park seryic.
In 1916, and the addition Of H.
latest OF the national parks-Ho,
Springs-only last year.
Oldest National Park.
Incidentally, the monograph ~.
ties the old dispute of whether Hat
Springs or the Yellowstone il n.
Oldest Of the national parks Hos
Springs was set aside as a ressr.
walton in 1882. and it was 40 wear.
later that the Yellowstone national
park was created by act Of CON.
gress. Yet the latter was the Hr,,
true national park in the sense
that it was to be region devotion.
ed for the pleasure of the publir
Hot Springs was merely reserved
to prevent the medicinal waters
from being exploited by private
ownership.
The establishing of Yellowstone
national park was a romantic epi.
sode. The marvels of that region
were discovered in 1907 by John
Golfer, a hunter who had been at.
tached to the Lewis and Clark eY.
petition. 1t was the fate of Col
ter and the other white men who
/ went into the Yellowstone district
during the next half century to be
disbelieved when they told their
stories of the spouting water and
mud from the geysers. In fact, the
region was at first derisively call
| ed Golfers He'll"
! In 1869 a reliable expedition Of
! Montanans explored the Yellow
stone, verified the preceding re-
ports of it, and published the dis
coveries. This was followed the
next year by the exploration made
by the Washburn-Doan expedition,
which took in a military escort de-
| tailed by the war department. This
expedition brought about the Gre
alton of the park. and gave birth
to the national park idea which has
since worked out in the national
park system as we know it today.
When the members of the Wash
burn-DOane expedition saw the
wonders of the Yellowstone, they
discussed among themselves the
suggestion that it would be prof.
table to pick up ownership to the
land surrounding the geysers and
other phenomena and exploit the
place as a commercial venture
Such an act would not have been
regarded so reprehensible then As
1t would now. But one of the MEM
bers of the party expressed the
opinion that such a wonderland
ought never to be allowed to pass
into private ownership at all but
should be held in perpetuity for the
whole population. The Others
agreed to this at once, and the
members of the expedition later
took the lead in the movement
which resulted in the creation OF
the Yellowstone national park u
1872.
No other parks were added to the
system until 1890, when the Yo-
semitic, SequOia, and General Grant
parks in California were taken
over by the government. Then iol.
lowed the creation of the Mount
Rainier park in 1899. Since the
year 1900 the government has ere
ated IA national parks, so that Inc
total number Of them is now ~
The parks did not attain great
popularity with the travelling pup-
lie until after the outbreak OF tne
; war in Europe. That fact, shut
ting off ocean travel, added TO me
development Of automobile roads 10
the west, and turned 1000 ol
. tourists into the parks. whereas
before 1915 only about 250,o9 per
sons visited the parks each year
over | 900 600.