Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-09-13
EDUCATIONAL BUILDING I'M GLACIER PARK
WOULD AID VISITORS, SAYS M. j. ELR0D


cier national park, preferably at
Many Glacier, was the proposal made
by M j. Elrod OF Missoula, director
of the Nature Guide service and pro-
fessor OF geology in Montana state
university, at the recent annual meet
ing of the commercial club secretar-
les of Montana. which was held In
Glacier park.
Glacier park into five classes:
ID The parties of SO or more,
Fastening through. anxious to get to
the next place, stopping but a day or
perhaps over night.
I'D The old, the feeble, the more
or less crippled and infirm, and those
with troubles which make physical
exertion dangerous or impossible.
(3) The rank and file of young
people ~hubbling ever with energy
ready to tackle anything. wanting to
know everything but not knowing
how to get at IT,. keen, alert, the
pride and hope of the country.
Cd The sober, steady hard-work-
ed business or professional men and
women, who see in a vacation not a
physical OF mental rest, but change|
of action.
Cd The scientific person who In
his home region has only a railroad
right of way for prairie. an open
pasture for forest, a muddy creek
bank for a flower bed, and who has
had~1ittle chance TO study the earth'sI
surface as 1t was in the beginning.
Two years of patient and thought
ful work in the Park Nature Guide
service" says Professor Elrod, leads
TO the firm conviction that the great
majority of Glacier national park
visitors will joyfully grab at any bit
of helpful information.
T give greatest educational bene-
fit to the increasing number of peo-
pie there should be established at
some center, where the largest num-
OF people will tarry for a time,
a building devoted to educational
purposes, with facilities and i~nstruc-
tional help for those who wish TO do
scientific work OF any kind, from ele-
mentary study to investigation of
unknown problems.
Should Have Museum
Many Glacier seems to be the logf-
place for such a building. It
should be built from federal funds.
II should be open, under reasonable
restrictions, to all. IL should have a
room to accommodate as
many as 300. 1t should have rooms
md tables where work OF various
may be undertaken without in
eruption or distraction. 1t should
a V a museum which should contain
representatives OF the fauna and flora
If the park. The geological strata :
various formations and minerals !
ihould be represented In the rock r
collections. =
Before making this recommended Q
ion to the commercial club s~ecre- :
OF the state, Professor Elrod :
eviewed the history of Glacier park =
nd told something OF the glacial for
nations, its mountains, lakes and =
He said in part: ,
The park owes its existence in ?
part TO the fact that the noun u
aims we're believed to contain much q
mineral wealth. The boundary line \
I the Blackfeet Indian reservation ),
'as formerly marked by the Contin- q
ntal divide, thus including a large q
art OF what is o the park; never =
neless there was still much pros :,
Purchase of the mountains
ithin the reservation from the :,
lackfeet was brought about through :.
work of a commission. Ii
Prospecting for mineral continued :,
,r 10 years. Thousands of dollars =,
ent into holes in the ground and in -,
the old Cracker mill at Cracker =
Ike. The prospects were abandoned -
No hp nn0 ThArA ~1~.o4. 80 ~
me, so far as the writer knows, but VI
miners tent, about which grazes -
lone horse, on a shelf high up on :.
Ie side OF Stark point OF Grinnell "
ountain. 2,
The Cracker Jack is abandoned. the a.
'ad to the mill has gone to ruin, ~
e mill is but a source OF wonder ~
ent and questions for tourists, and :.
e old town of Allyn has long since a.
dragged away, log by log, until :.
but a single cabin remains. Two "a
lies at Iceberg lake tell OF abandon -
hopes. The old Bull Head mine -
Mt. Wilbur is fallen in. The ~
'~itchbacks leading over the cliffs at 80
'pekunny falls to the mines above q
e fallen In and almost impossible. as
lere was and is no mineral. ~
The population departed. leaving ~
beautiful mountains ito their own an
litude and to the occasional hunter
10 had the hardihood or temerity to
ter their peaceful domain. The re,
ind OF the pick and hammer chang far
to the sound of the gun. The ass
untry was reckoned and recognized pr,
the hunters paradise for big game bel
as deer, moose, mountain goats. els
'untain sheep and bear. For trap for
there we're the smaller fur-bear- Ger
!, animals Ito
Grfnneu Conceived Park Idea Mt
To George b. Crinnell came the Ho
ppy thought of making this won mo
full region OF majestic mountains, the
.es, glaciers and game animals a MIA
-ionaI park, where all the people OF mo
nation could have the chance OF asc
ing what heretofore was only for fic,
strong and, rugged, the wealth mo
king, or the seeker for big game. {
lers may have had a part in the spe
king OF the park. but Grinnell is wis
with the big idea. cha
the act of May IL, 1910. the hig
n ~.~~ .~x-AIx~A-I ~--fx-x-- No. -