Rocky Mountain National Park 



Ms Mark Daniels 

 Former Superintendent of National Parks 



THERE arc many who consider the name "Rocky 

 Mountain National Park " as nothing short of an 

 inspiration, and I know that any criticism of this 

 title of one of our national playgrounds will make the 

 hair on the aesthetic necks of those who had much to do 

 with the naming of this Park bristle with antagonism. 

 Not that the name has much to do with the Park, for, 

 after all, what's in a name? And if those who named a 

 lake " Round Lake " because it was round, " Red Peak," 

 because it was red, and " Gray Peak," because it was 

 almost g r a y. 

 have continued 

 to draw their 

 inspirat ion 

 from the same 

 inexhaustible 

 source, who 

 should criticise 

 them for nam- 

 ing the Rocky- 

 Mountain Na- 

 tional Park as 

 they did, be- 

 cause it i-- in 

 the Rocky 

 M ountains ': 

 Such consist- 

 ency deserves 

 compliment 

 rather than 

 criticism. 

 Nevertheless it 

 would seem 

 that something 

 more specific 

 than the partic- 

 ular cognomen 

 selected might 

 have been in- 

 troduced which 

 WOtdd indicate 

 either that this 

 National Park 

 did not extend 

 from the Gulf 

 of Mexico to 

 t h c Canadian 

 Inirdcr or that 

 it was located 

 where it was 

 for some spe- 

 cific purpose. 

 724 



Mount Rainier National Park is definitely indicated 

 by its name; Glacier National Park is more or 

 less described by its name, and so with Mesa Verde, 

 Sequoia and most of the others. They might have 

 called it " The Rocky Mountain-Colorado-Sixty-Miles- 

 from-Denver-National Park" without, in the minds of 

 many, having detracted materially from the euphony of 

 the name selected. 



I have heard the arguments in favor of this name and 

 they are many. For example, it is contended that the 



mind of the 

 sweating hus- 

 bandmen of the 

 sultry east, 

 whose thoughts 

 at eve turn 

 from heating 

 labors to the 

 long coveted 

 trip to the cool 

 and snowy 

 heights, lights 

 automatically 

 and without 

 mental effort 

 upon the magic 

 phrase " Rocky 

 Mountains." 

 What more log- 

 ical, therefore, 

 than a Rocky 

 Mountain Na- 

 tional Park ? 

 But can it .not 

 also be said that 

 while we are 

 thus saving the 

 tired business 

 man the labor 

 of taking down 

 his geography 

 t o determine 

 where the par- 

 ticular national 

 park he may 

 read of is lo- 

 cated, we are, 

 by this very 

 saving of ef- 

 fort, failing to 

 broaden his 

 knowledge of 



BSTBS PARK VILLAGE. ESTES PARK. COLORADO 

 This vilUxe ncillti at the base of the Continental Divide in one of the most beautiful valleys in the Rocky Moun- 

 1.!.\|J aZ' ,""lh , T.V77L l0 e bca f ou ;, th,: statement in the Government bulletin to the effect that it is 

 U, despite the fact that the Stanley Hotel has done a great deal to lift the village out of the class of 



