Protection of the Yellowstone Park 



ture there was only one man left here familiar 

 with the Park and its needs, and that was Ed. 

 Wilson, the scout. He had been a trapper 

 himself, and was thoroughly familiar with ev- 

 ery species of game and its haunts and habits. 

 He was brave as Csesar, but feared the mys- 

 terious and unseen. He preferred to oper- 

 ate alone by night and in storms ; he knew 

 every foot of the Park, and knew it better 

 than any other man has yet known it; he 

 knew its enemies and the practical direction of 

 their enmity. He came to me one morning 

 and reported that a man named Van Dyck 

 was trapping beaver near Soda Butte ; that he 

 spent his days on the highest points in the 

 neighborhood, and with a glass scanned every 

 approach ; and that the only way to get him 

 was to go alone, by night, and approach the 

 position from the rear, over Specimen Moun- 

 tain. To this I readily assented, and at 9 

 that night, in as bad a storm as I ever saw, 

 Wilson started out for the forty -mile trip. 

 He reached a high point near the one occu- 

 pied by Van Dyck, saw him visit his traps 

 in the twilight and return to his camp, where 

 at daybreak the next morning Wilson came 

 upon him while sleeping, photographed him 



385 



