GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE YELLOWSTONE PARK. 151 



cubic foot per second ])or square mile. For tlie ] (reservation and regu- 

 lation of this water supply tlie forest, wliicli covers the mountains, 

 valleys, and table-lands, and everywhere borders upon the lake sliores, 

 is of inestimabh^ value. Of the jtreseut park area about 84 per cent is 

 forest clad, almost wholly made up of coniferous trees. The timber is 

 by no means of the finest <|uality, but foi- tlie i»uri)osc of water protec 

 tion it meets every jjossible requirement. IMucli has been said of Iiit«' 

 years by scientilic and ex])erienced i)ersons of the great necessity ot 

 preserving the forests near the sources of our great rivers. It is mainly 

 for the forest i»rotection that the proposed <'nlargement is demanded 

 by the public welfare. In my oi>inion no region in tlie Kocky JMount- 

 ains is so admirably adapted lor a forest reservation as tlie Yellowstone 

 National Park. 



