3 o8 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



COOK AND BEAR. 



who has the right powers and enough 

 time to make a complete study of the 

 life and history of the Yellowstone 

 bears. Indeed, nothing better could be 

 done by some of our outdoor faunal 

 naturalists than to spend at least a year 

 in the Yellowstone, and to study the life 

 habits of all the wild creatures therein. 

 A man able to do this and to write 

 down accurately and interestingly what 

 he has seen would make a contribution 

 of permanent value to our nature liter- 

 ature. 



In May, after leaving the Yellow- 

 stone, I visited the Grand Canon of 

 the Colorado and spent three days camp- 

 ing in the Yosemite Park with John 

 Muir. It is hard to make comparisons 

 among different kinds of scenery, all of 

 them very grand and very beautiful ; 

 yet personally to me the Grand Canon 

 of the Colorado, strange and desolate, 

 terrible and awful in its sublimity, 

 stands alone and unequaled. I very 

 earnestly wish that Congress would 

 make it a national park, and I am sure 

 that such course would meet the appro- 

 bation of the people of Arizona. As to 



the Yosemite Valley, if the people o 

 California desire it, as many of then 

 certainly do, it also should be taken bj 

 the national government to be kept a: 

 a national park, just as the surround 

 ing country, including some of th< 

 groves of giant trees, is now kept. 



John Muir and I, with two packer; 

 and three pack mules, spent a delight 

 ful three days in the Yosemite. Th< 

 first night was clear, and we lay in th< 

 open on beds of soft fir boughs amon< 

 the giant sequoias. It was like lyin^ 

 in a great and solemn cathedral, fa 

 vaster and more beautiful than an} 

 built by the hand of man. Just a 

 nightfall I heard, among other birds 

 thrushes which, I think, were Rock) 

 Mountain hermits the appropriat< 

 choir for such a place of worship. Nex 

 day we went by trail through the woods 

 seeing some deer, which were not wild 

 as well as mountain quail and blue 

 grouse. In the afternoon we struct 

 snow, and had considerable difficult} 

 in breaking our own trails. A snow 

 storm came on toward evening, but we 

 kept warm and comfortable in a grove 



