YOUR NATIONAL PARKS 



BY STEPHEN T. MATHER 

 DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 



'T'HE National Parks belong to you as well as to all 

 " the American people; they are being developed to 

 make them accessible to the greatest possible number of 

 their owners. The best means of transit are provided 

 for those who come by railroad and the way is smoothed 

 for those who come by private motor car, by wagon, afoot 

 or by horseback ; hostelries are provided to fit every taste 

 and purse. No longer has the person who has formerly 

 made the scenic spots of Europe his choice an excuse 

 for saying there are no adequate living facilities provided 

 in the National Parks. 



For the man who has learned the joy of the open road 

 a welcome camp site is found in a National Park, where he 

 may park his car and pitch his tent. Clear, cool, sparkling 

 water and firewood are near at hand and sanitary facil- 

 ities add to his comfort. In the larger camp grounds in 

 the Yellowstone combined ranger stations and community 

 centers are to be erected where the park rangers will 

 furnish authentic information regarding the wonders and 

 beauties of the park and where in the evenings the travel- 

 ers from Maine to California and from Florida to Minn- 

 esota can gather around the open hearth fire in true 

 community spirit. 



A system of roads in each of the Parks spreads out 

 before one their scenic grandeur. Yellowstone has a 

 complete road system; construction of a transmountain 

 road, which will place Glacier Park on the direct line of 

 the most northern of our transcontinental highways, will 

 be started this year; the Fall River road, crossing the 

 Continental Divide at an elevation of over 11,000 feet 

 above sea level, was completed last year in Rocky Moun- 

 tain National Park by the State of Colorado; work on 

 the new Carbon River road in Mount Rainier, giving 

 access to its wonderfully scenic northwest section, will 

 be started this year ; the Round-the-Rim road in Crater 

 Lake Park gives fascinating glimpses of the marvelously 

 blue waters lying 1,000 feet below; Yosemite has its 

 Tioga road, giving a new approach to California from 

 the East, and a new all-year road is soon to be constructed 

 leading to its world-famed Valley ; a new approach road 

 to Giant Forest in Sequoia Park is to be hewn into the 

 steep sides of the valley of the Middle Fork of Kaweah 

 River below Moro Rock; and the Rim road, bordering 

 the tremendous chasm of the Colorado is being widened 

 and improved in Grand Canyon National Park. Zion 

 in southwestern Utah, our newest National Park, is being 

 made easily accessible for motor cars by the State. 



The National Park-to-Park Highway links up the 

 Parks in a grand circle tour with radiating highways 

 stretching in each direction offering innumerable smaller 

 circle trips to the motorist who has not time to complete 

 the grand circle tour. The good roads movement every- 

 where is receiving added impetus through motor travel 

 to the National Parks. 



As the hotel has been developed to care for the train 

 traveler, so will the public camp grounds be developed 



for the motorist. Many cities and towns are already 

 providing these camp grounds, vying with one another 

 in offering the most attractive sites and the best conven- 

 iences. These camps have been found to have a definite 

 economic value and the States have opportunity to fur- 

 ther their broader development through the establishment 

 of systems of State parks. 



The Park road systems give access only to portions of 

 the Parks and are like windows through which one can 

 obtain a glimpse into nature's treasure houses. To those 

 who desire to enter into the treasure houses and pene- 

 trate the fastnesses, easy trails that lure one stretch away. 

 Afoot or on horseback, away from the beaten path, 

 Nature reveals her innermost secrets. Glacier is es- 

 sentially a trail Park ; around the shores of Yellowstone 

 Lake over Big Game Ridge the trail traveler is afforded 

 an intimate view of Yellowstone's wild life; Yosemite 

 offers over 600 miles of trails ; in Grand Canyon a trail 

 trip to Cataract Canyon affords an interesting study of 

 the primitive life of the Havasupai Indians and exhibits 

 a series of exceptionally beautiful waterfalls, and on the 

 completion of the suspension bridge across the Colorado 

 River in the bottom of Canyon, the north rim with its 

 fine vegetation and magnificent stands of Yellow pine 

 intermingled with groves of aspen will be open to trail 

 travel. 



The fisherman has not been neglected in the National 

 Parks. Through cooperation with the Federal Bureau of 

 Fisheries and the several State fish commissions fish 

 hatcheries are maintained in a number of the Parks, and 

 each year the Park streams are stocked with fish. The 

 Parks are fast becoming famed for their excellent fishing. 

 A nature guide service has been inaugurated in Yosem- 

 ite in cooperation with the State Fish and Game Com- 

 mission, and children and adults are taught to read the 

 trailside as they would an open book. A study of 

 Nature's manifestations, as exhibited by geological form- 

 ations and geyser action, is conducted also in Yellowstone. 

 Through co-operation with the Bureau of American Eth- 

 nology the cliff dwellings and ancient temples of pre-his- 

 toric people in the Mesa Verde are being revealed by 

 excavation and restoration. 



In the elimination of private holdings from the Parks 

 an opportunity for splendid giving exists for generous 

 public-spirited citizens and organizations. In this manner 

 many giant trees in Sequoia Park that were in imminent 

 danger of destruction have already been preserved to 

 the people for all time. Opportunities for this public- 

 spirited work are many and widespread, Yellowstone be- 

 ing the only National Park where no private holdings 

 have ever existed. 



Know your National Parks. 



Through intimate association with Nature, exemplified 

 in the highest degree in our National Parks, new 

 inspiration and ideals are formed, tired bodies are re- 

 freshed, health restored and joy in living is assured. 

 The National Parks welcome you. 



