12 DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL PAEKS. 



than his average stay in previous years. Indeed the average period 

 spent in touring this park this year was probably as long as the 

 average stay of tourists in any other national park. 



It is also significant that numerous visitors were men and women 

 who had spent one or more previous seasons within its boundaries. 

 Several of them had spent in the park part of every summer since its 

 creation, and I know of one or two parties who have made as many 

 as 11 visits to this wonderful scenic reservation. 



Glacier, therefore, was a very popular park this past season, and 

 its popularity was of the sort that endures and grows with the years. 

 It is this sort of popularity that every park should enjoy. Others, 

 Rocky Mountain, Mount Rainier, and Yosemite, particularly, enjoy a 

 similar popularity, but it is not quite so genuine as Glacier's popu- 

 larity seems to be. Of course, accommodations for the care of the 

 tourist in Glacier Park have been the most potent factor in in- 

 fluencing this growth of popular sentiment. 



Previous to this season hotel and camp accommodations were ade- 

 quate in just two parks, Yellowstone and Glacier, and I have already 

 explained that no effort has ever been made to encourage visitors to 

 return year after year to Yellowstone. 



Glacier, then, at the beginning of this season had on the east side 

 of the Continental Divide the splendid new Glacier Park Hotel and 

 Many Glaciers Hotel, five inviting chalets, and several tepee camps, 

 all owned and operated by the Glacier Park Hotel Co., under the 

 efficient management of Mr. Howard A. Noble ; and on the west side 

 of the divide there were two more chalets belonging to the east side 

 system and Mr. John E. Lewis's hotel on Lake McDonald, ideally 

 situated, unique in sylvan architecture, and first class in all its 

 appointments. 



NEW ENTERPRISES PLANNED. 



The faith of the Glacier Park Hotel Co. and of Mr. Lewis in the 

 genuineness of the popularity of the park and its consequent growth 

 in tourist travel is convincingly illustrated by their plans for ex- 

 tensive improvements in their properties and the construction of new 

 hotels and chalet groups. I am informed by officers of the Glacier 

 Park Hotel Co. that it contemplates the construction of a fine new 

 hotel in the beautiful Red Eagle country, provided the Federal Gov- 

 ernment will construct a road up the valley to make this hotel acces- 

 sible. Such a road should be built in the near future. The hotel 

 company also plans extensive improvements in its Going-to-the-Sun 

 Chalet group on Lake St. Mary, and further additions to its Lake 

 McDermott enterprises. 



On the other side of the park Mr. Lewis has already initiated con- 

 struction work on a large addition to his Lake McDonald Hotel, and 



