The Winslow mail., 1925-08-18
CONDITION At
THE CANYON
IS SUBJECT Of
INVESTIGATION

OAAS'A y ~ Inv OA' ms LtlC
tration of the Grand Canyon ma
tional park and other federal lands
IN Arizona were made public last
week by representative of the
senate committee on public lands.
which is soon to begin an investi-
cation of the public land problem.
The charges are based on an inVes-
tigation made by Senators Ashurst
and Cameron, of Arizona, who were
delegated to hold hearings by the
committee. The investigation was
preliminary to the field hearings
which the committee will start i'm
Salt Lake City next week in which
every phase of the problem involv-
ing the public domain of 431 900 900
acres will be gone into
In the report it is asserted that
the concessions in the Grand Can
yon national park have been mo-
nopoliZed, that the tourist camp is a
disgrace to the service, that money
has been squandered in the matter
OF roads, and that conflicts between
private land owners and the federal
authorities are frequent.
Various other allegations more or
less grave are made. Against the
Indian administration it is charged
that the governments tribal herd"
policy has resulted, not, as the gov
ernment expected, in the Indian
himself, but the white Indian agent,
going into the cattle business.
The preliminary report of the
Arizona investigation, which is ad-
dressed to Senator Stanfield, of
Oregon, chairman of the committee,
says, in part:
The committee made personal
inspection of the park. The COM
mittee found that the accommoda-
tions for tourists coming by auto
mobile and not stopping at a hotel
were very sbad. Only one camp is
provided for such tourists, and
tourists are not permitted to camp
elsewhere. This camp is located
long way from the rim of the
canyon, the chief attraction of the
park. 1t is located near a railroad
and near an open sewer, and near
the place for disposing of garbage.
No shelter is provided for these
tourists. No tents can be rented in
the park. The ground is bare of
grass. Fuel is furnished by the
park. The only water available
must be purchased from the Santa
Fe railroad.
'The park service does not oper-
n fo oi1ifinc rrNuidinor 60 h..
care of visitors. The only conces-
sion of any Importance in the park
is the Fred Harvey concession. He
has twenty-year concession of all
park facilities providing for the
care of visitors, with the exception
of small general store and a
small photograph shop. Thus he
has the hotel, lodging house, meet
ing house and transportation con-
ceSsionS
"The park superintendent testi-
fled that he had not made an in
spection of the books, records or
accommodations of the Harvey
company; he knew of no inspection
that had been made by anyone; he
was not familiar with the rates
charged by the Harvey company.
The Harvey company has a hotel
with seventy rooms that is well
managed In addition to the hotel
the company has number of tent
houses. These cost about $225.
They are very unsightly. They con-
sist of plain pine boards inclosing
one room.
"The cottages will hold three
persons, at a charge of Sc a day.
No housekeeping facilities are pro-
vided in these cottages and the
tourist must eat at the hotel. The
cottages accommodate 400 people.
There are provided for these 400
people four baths and four toilets.
Nowhere in the park are there any
accommodations for tourists who
desire to camp in the park, or to
keep house there who have not
brought the necessary equipment
There are more people now coming
to the park by automobile than by
train.
More than 100000 has been
spent by the park since it's creation
in 1919, in the building and i'm
proving of roads and trails. The
park has only four miles of surfaced
roads. All the roads were laid out
and partially improved prior to the
creation of the park. No new roads
have been built by the park. The
roads in the park are in wretched
condition
"In the last two years practi-
ca1ly all the appropriations for
roads and trails have been spent in
trails below the rim of
the canyon. The records show that
not more than 10 per cent of the
people who visit the park go below
the rim thereof There are now six
or seven trails leading down into
the canyon. Only about two Of the
trails are used, yet the park recent
ly spent more than $4,000 in the
building of new trail.
There is regulation providing
that employees dismissed by the
Santa Fe, the Fred Harvey COM
pany or the park will not be en-