24 DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL PARKS. 



ing for enlarging Sequoia National Park to include the Kings and 

 Kern Canyons and several miles of the crest of the Sierra Nevada, 

 including Mount Whitney, are now pending in Congress and will be 

 considered in the short session which convenes in December. The 

 early enactment of this legislation can not be too strongly urged. 



The public land proposed to be added to Sequoia National Park 

 by these measures will never be valuable for any other than park 

 purposes. Cattle are grazed on the mountain meadows during part 

 of the year, but the administration of these meadows as part of the 

 park will not interfere with the exercise of grazing privileges for 

 many years to come. Small tracts of land here and there will be 

 fenced for pasturage of live stock used by tourists. 



Sequoia Park now has the giant sequoia trees as its one attraction, 

 but if enlarged as proposed it will become a scenic park of as much 

 distinction as that possessed by any other park in the system. Fur- 

 thermore, it will become a game sanctuary of as much importance as 

 the Yellowstone National Park. 



GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARK. 



General Grant National Park had a 50 per cent increase in the 

 number of visitors this year. There has been a remarkable increase 

 in travel to this park since 1914. In that season 3,735 visitors reg- 

 istered in the park, last year the number jumped to 10,523, and this 

 year to 15,360 ; 8.612 people entered this year in automobiles. 



The fees from automobiles so increased the revenues of this park 

 that it may now be administered without appropriations by Congress. 

 However, a Federal appropriation will be needed for an adequate 

 water system, for a new ranger station, and for other improvements 

 that are absolutely essential to its proper development. 



HEAVY TRAVEL TO ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK. 



Rocky Mountain National Park was visited this year by more peo- 

 ple than any other large scenic park. The village of Estes Park 

 just outside of its boundaries, and large resorts situated near the 

 park, were taxed to their maximum capacity throughout the season. 

 There was a scarcity of accommodations of all kinds. Automobile 

 service appears to have been the only necessary service which was 

 adequate to meet all demands, and it is understood that the transpor- 

 tation company operating this service out of Denver, Boulder. Love- 

 land, Longmont, Lyons, and other cities on numerous occasions was 

 compelled to decline to carry passengers to the park because of insuf- 

 ficient hotel and camp accommodations in Estes Park and in Rocky 

 Mountain Park itself. I am reliably informed that, prior to the 

 opening of the 1917 season, large additions to several of the larger 



