The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-08-31

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grounds set apart by congress for the use OF me
peop!e forever. That official declaration or au'
ministration policy was nothing less than apsolute
protection Of the national park system against
commercial invasion and exploitation.
Or. John Wesley Hill, chancellor OF Lincoln
Memorial university, made the declaration. lie
officially represented President Harding and Sec
retary of the Interior Work at the Yellowstone
opening. His statement was prepared, caretui
and emphatic. 1t contained the following:
"And we are here today to celebrate the
annual opening of Yellowstone park, the largest
and most far-famed of our national parks, a wooded
wilderness Of three thousand three hundred square
miles, containing Incompatible waterfalls, more
geysers than are found in the res. of the world all
put together, irrigated by rivers like miniature
lakes, and beautiied by lakes like inland seas.
carved by canyons Of %sublimity, decorated with
colors ~defying the painters art, punctured with
innumerable boiling springs whose steam mingles
with feecy clouds, succeed with vast areas OF
petrifed forests, q sanctuary of safe retre0t for
f~eathered songsters and wild beasts. a 1Pnder-
land, playground. sanitarium and university all
in one, where the eye feasts upon the riotous
colors of flowers, ferns and rocks; the ear Is
surged with the symphony Of melodiOus sounds;
the mind is stated with a thousand revelations Of
truth and beauty, anG the jadec body, weary With
the trudge of thought and toll and travel. unGirds
for song and dance beneath the shadows of the
everlasting hills.
Yellowstone history is replete with crises
where the friends of the park and the park idea
have had to fight with a hercism worthy its ex-
plorcrs and discoveries to retain it intact against
the bold and presumptuous claims of the advo-
Gates OF special privilege. determined to CONNER
cialize this land of wonder. TO build railroads
through it, tunnel its mountains. dam It's lakes
and streams. and secure stranglehold monopolies
with small compensation TO the government and
total loss TO the people.
"And regardless Oh all facts and figures, appeals
and threats, therefore, any plan. however meri-
torious on its face, for the commercial exploita-
ton of parks must by the very nature Of it's
aims and purposes be Immediately doomed to
failure.
Good projects. bad projects, Indifferent prof.
ects, all must lace the same fate, for It is at last
established policy Of the government that our
national parks must and shall forever be main
tanned in absolute, unimpaired form. not only for
tn" present, but for all time to come, 6 policy
vi ich has the unqualified support Of President
ID riding.
This is the fixed policy oe the administration
an I can assure you 1t will not be modified. 1t
wi not be swerved a hairs breadth by any :nfu-
,nre, financial, political or otherwise.
IF rights are granted to one claimant. others
must follow. so a precedent must not be estab-
tshel IT would inevitably ruin the entire national
park SYSTEM"
Doctor Hill might have been more definite in
the matter of the attacks by commercial interests
mon Yellowstone. Since early In 1920 it has
required increasing vigilance and aggressive or
ganized effort on the part Of the vast army Of
national park enthusiasts to defeat these attacks.
During the winter and spring of 1920 the Sixty.
sixth congress nearly passed the Smith bill Gre
atIlg a commercial irrigation reservoir in the
southwest corner of for the benefit Of
Ideho. And it did pass the water power bill
grs nting to q commission power to ease public
waters, including those of the national parks and
monuments, for water power.