Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1925-06-11

49, Yellowstone June IS; and Crater Lake (Ore
gon) and Mount Mckinley (Alaska) July l. In
most Of the national parks the visitor viii find I'M
proEements In roads and trails and auto camps.
This Is important, tnasmuch as approximately
threefourths of the visitors travel in their
and large proportion uses camps.
1925 visitors, however will find a vast amount
of Improvement. Under the National Park High
why's act OF 1924 authorizing the appropriation OF
$7,5OO,000 for the carrying out of a three-years'
road and trail construction program. $25O0,OOO Is
available this season and work will be pushed In
Rocky Mountain which has been allotted SF405OO,
six projects will be benefited; the Fall River Road
and the High Drive will get most Of the money.
The former road which crosses the Continental
Divide the Roof Of the World" at an elevation
OF 11,707 feet, is the highest automobile highway
In the national park system and possibly the most
scenic on earth. Glacier gets $453O00 and Of this
$4,000 is to be spent the Transmountaln Road
over the Continental Divide. This road Is badly
needed. since there is no road through the park
and to get from the East Entrance to the West En-
trance rail shipment OF cars Is necessary long
detour by way Of Helena. Mont. All the national
parks share in the appropriation. In addition the
secretary Of the Interior Is authorized to approve
projects and made additional contracts to the ex-
tent OF $1OO0,OOO.
The situation as TO the proposed national parks
in the Appalaehans Is briefly this A commission
appointed by Secretary Work reported last Deem
Der approving areas IN the blue hlOge mountains
OF Virginia and the Great Smoky mountains OF
Tennessee and recommending the former as the
more accessible Several national park bills were
thereupon introduced. Congress then passed bill
providing for a more complete survey Of these two
areas and Of Mammoth Cave and Its surroundings.
and for recommendations by the secretary as to
boundaries. Appropriation OF $4,000 was made
for expenses, options. etc Secretary Work APP
pointed commission which Is at work this sum-
mer This action by congress does not commit It
to the establishment of any OF the three proposed
parks. but would seem TO indicate its Willingness
to consider departure from the previous policy OF
refusal to purchase land for national park pur-
poses All three are privately owned; the
cost OF each would be at least a million dollars.
The existing national parks except Lafayette lido
nated), have been created from the public domain
and from the national forests
The Geological Society OF America has asked
congress to establish national park In the Glacier
Ray region OF southeast Alaska. An ecologist is
sort of botanical evolutfonist who wants to know
how nature adapts itself to circumstances. In the
Glacier Bay region there Is eternal warfare be-
tween ice and forest. A glacier overwhelms a for
est new forest springs up In the destruction
left behind In this region IL the Muir glacier with
sea front 800 feet high and more than mile
long II throws down fragments as big as sky
seraper and the waves rock a big steamer mile
away. Why not Muir National park-if the ecOo-
glsts are granted their reQuestf In the meantime
President Coolidge has created the Glacier Bay Ma
tional monument OF nearly 1000 square miles
The Redwoods OF California. first cousins of the
Big Trees are safe from extinction even II the
proposed Redwoods National park Is not created.
Save the Redwoods League has raised more than
s76OOO0 for the purchase Of virgin redwood groves
al North and South Dyervie Flats and Bull Greek
Elat. These groves are intended to be a part OF
the Humboldt State Redwood park. The groves
contain many trees more than 2,000 years old $50
feet In height and nfteen feet In diameter
President Coolidge has made national monu-
ment OF the Carlsbad Cave ID the southeast cor
ner Of New Mexico near the Texas state line. Con-
grsss had made an appropriation for the driving Of
q shaft into the cave; access Is now by rope-and-
bucket through a hole In the roof Moving pic
lures Of it's Interior revealed BY explorers with
torches show an underground world unbelievMbly
fantastic The cavern seems to be in class By
Itself 10 extent size OF chambers and richness OF
One chamber is nearly mile long
and approximately 600 feet wide, with roof OF I'M
known height. ANY estimate Of the extent OF the
cavern Ia purely guesswerk