Evening star., 1946-11-03
raveIer>s Notebook
By Jacques Futrelle, Jr.
The Stor's Trovei Editor

years. during which their operations
were reduced to minimum OF
were discontinued entirely. Neither
they nor the National Park Service
were satisfied with these operations
but we feel certain that all did
the best they possibly could to pro-
vide satisfactory accommodations,
meals and transportation"
AS matter of fact, the situation
could have been worse. The Park
Service, appropriately. feared at
tendance would climb to staggering
total, somewhere between $4,000, 600
and 24,000,000 For the season end
ing September 80 it fell somewhat
short of the lower figure. The previ-
GUS record total for the 27 national
parks and the 142 other areas was
21,O5O,4 Last summers crowds
topped that by 632,35
The parks alone, with 9,351 ,973
visitors, broke the previous high
mark of 1941 by an attendance in
crease of 963,064. The 1916 national
park influx almost equaled visits in
1945 to all 169 areas under jurisdic-
ton of the service.
The Great Smoky Mountains Ma
tional Park, in North Carolina and
Tennessee, was the most popular at
traction. 1t drew 1,147,377 visi-
tors, outstripping Yellowstone, Oldest
member of the system, by about
100000. Yellowstone, however, gained
in popularity over the 194l figure.
It's 814,907 visitors exceed the previ-
GUS mark by more than 233 900.
High attendance in the Great
Smokes during the year ended Sep
tember 80 also served to popularize
the Blue Ridge Parkway, which links
Shenandoah National Park. in Vir-
ginia, with the North Carolina park.
Although not yet completed, the
parkway was used by l,095.7 per-
sons and climbed to second place
among all the areas. Visits to Shen-
andoah showed a decline from the
1941 high, recording 786,247, COM
pared to more than 100000. Post
season visitors to Shenandoah are
pulling it up toward the previous
record, however. The park superin-
tendent's Office at Luray reported
that last Sunday was the second
largest day of the year. Conces-
sioner-operated accommodations on
Skyline Drive were to close this
week end, however.
oy.trc c6 HI i~l1
creases in visitors were Mount Rainier,
in the Northwest, which gained
nearly $4,000 for a total of 758,504,
and Yosemite, in California, which
had 641,767 visitors compared to
581, ,761 in 1941.
The Boulder Dam Recreational
Area, operated by the Park Service
for the Bureau of Reclamation, sur
passed all other service administered
tracts in visitors for the travel year.
Neatly 1.l82,000 persons were checked
in.
The home of Franklin D. Roose-
welt, classified by the Park Service
as national historical site, drew
361 ,694 visitors.
X "
With the opening up of foreign
travel not too far distant the Ameri-
can Automobile Association has an
nounced formation of a world wide
travel service for its members, with
Washington as one of the key Offices
in the setup. a.
While still primarily concerned
with the traveller who takes his bust
ness and vacation trips by car, the
AAA enters the field of well-estab-
lished agencies in handling foreign
and domestic Journeys of all kinds.
Such services include advising on
routes, schedules and accommoda-
tions; obtaining reservations for
transportation and at resorts and
hotels; arrangements for tours,
cruises and excursions; assistance in
obtaining passports and visas; ar
rangements for accident and bag
gage insurance and for obtaining
hunting and fishing licenses, rental
of cars, furnishing of guides-in
short, taking care of all details in
volVed in a trip.
Before the war the AAA de-
veloped on a broad scale a system
.of handling cars for members motor
ing or sailing to foreign countries
In explaining this special phase of
travel, the AAA announcement OF
its service says:
'It will issue international Gus
toms and driving documents. If the
traveller has the club ship his car,
the AAA port agent at the point of
entry will seethat it gets ashore and
through customs, will obtain per-