The National Park Service * * # * 135 



want all the service that money can buy. They consult the ranger at 

 the ranger station. 



"Yes, sir, there certainly is a good hotel in this park," he tells them, 

 "you can have all the comforts of home, including a bath. Meals are 

 fine, American plan, yes, sir. That's where you want to go." 



Probably the ranger has never had a meal at the fine hotel, but he 

 knows the kind of people who do have them there. That is his business. 

 Then there are the Dudes. The New York Dudes, you know, with the 

 trunk full of hiking clothes, riding clothes, morning clothes, afternoon 

 clothes, lounging clothes, and evening clothes. They are headed for the 

 hotel. The Dude from Oshkosh who had been teaching school all winter 

 to save up a couple of hundred dollars for a vacation in a national park 

 is something else again. She wants good value for her money. She goes 

 to the camps. But everybody gets what he wants. That is the national 

 park policy. 



And where does the ranger live? 



He has a bunk in a cabin, or a rangers' clubhouse, but he doesn't use 

 it much except when he is asleep. After the Dudes and Sagebrushers 

 have been directed to the camps, lodges, or hotels, the ranger has to see 

 that the water supply is plentiful and pure, that the electric light plant 

 is going, that the wild animals are protected, that the telephone and 

 telegraph lines are working, that the vandals are rounded up and 

 brought to justice, that the roads and the bridges are kept in repair, that 

 the forest fires are put out, that the sanitary system is working, that 

 the fish are planted in the lakes and streams, that the trails are rebuilt, 

 that nobody is lost in the mountains anywhere, that the geysers are 

 working, that nobody carves his initials on the big trees, that the museum 

 is kept open, that the stages run on time, that the traffic moves in the 

 right direction, and after that well, there isn't much of anything to do 

 until tomorrow. 



"What do rangers do all winter?" Dudes and Sagebrushers are al 

 ways asking that question. There seems to be an idea that rangers must 

 pine away for want of something to do. As a matter of fact, the rang 

 ers have plenty of work all winter long. In the evenings they are ready 

 for rest. They are great readers, not merely of popular magazines 

 alone, but of the so-called quality magazines. Many of them are good 

 writers, and contribute frequently to magazines and Sunday newspapers. 

 Some of them are studying, through correspondence courses. Ranger 

 James V. Lloyd of Yosemite has completed an education interrupted 

 when he was obliged to go to work as a boy, finishing courses in for 

 estry, writing, photography, and various other subjects. He has become 

 the most frequent ranger contributor of articles and photographs on the 

 national parks to the newspapers and magazines of the West. 



