The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-06-08

~ E& started ON ltS way. ho-
THAEe venweep lies on both
sides of the boundary
line between Colorado and Utah. near
the only spot in the United States
where four states touch, and is re-
served because of its prehistoric tow
ers and other impressive masonry
structures. Palm Canyon is in south
ern California and contains many fine
specimens of native American palms.
From now on much will appear in
print about these two national monu.
ments-which will be variously de-
scribed as national parks, national for
ests. national reservations and ma
tional monuments, with indiscrim-
mate references to their control by
the national park service and the for
est service. So what follows seems
advisable in order to explain the CON-
plications which congress neglects to
straighten out.
There are now nineteen national
parks with total of 1882 square
miles, There is one group of twenty
six national monuments (including the
two new mes) containing about 1900
square miles. These national parks
and monuments are under control of
the national park service, a bureau of
the Interior department.
There are seven national military
and other" parks-such as Shiloh, Get
tysburg and Lincoln's Birthplace-ad-
rhinistered by the War department,
which also controls two national mon
uments-Big Hole Battlefield and
Cabrillo.
There are the national forests, with
an approximate area of 155,OOO,OOO
acres. under the charge of the forest
service, a bureau Of the Department
of Agriculture. There is a group of
eleven national monuments containing
$40 square miles In charge of the for
est service.
The national parks and the national
forests are the exact opposite of each
other. The national parks are vii.
derness areas Of majestic beauty set
aside for purely recreational purposes
public Fairgrounds for the people.
The national forests are industrial and
commercial purely-areas set apart for
scientific numbering for a profit and
for grazing for profit.
Some day, it is hoped, congress will
straighten out the tangle by putting
the national military and other
parks" and all the national monu-
ments in charge of the national park
service, leaving the national forests to
the forest service.
President Harding created the Ho-
venweep National Monument by proc
lamation March 2, under the act OF
1906 for the preservation of American
antiquities, and DR.. Hubert Work, the
new secretary of the interior, has now
taken over the area in the name of the
federal government. Hovenweep is
the Indian equivalent for Deserted
Valley" and contains about 300 acres.
The Square Tower and the Twin Tow
ers. pictured herewith, can be com.
fortably reached by automobile. DR..
J. Walter Fewkes, head of the bureau
of ethnology of the Smithsonian In
stitution, recommended the area to
the President for a national monu-
ment. Doctor Fewkes says of the
area and its prehistoric relics:
"Hovenweep contains three groups
of structures. the first group called the
Square Tower cluster. Some of the
flnest of all the structures are in this
group, the most picturesque of them
being Hovenweep castle, the standing
walls of which are over fifty feet high.
A second group lies three miles to the
north, in Holly canyon, and contains
some Of the most remarkable prehis-
toric masonry in the United States.