48 



HUNTING AND FISHING IN MONTANA 



Mountain Sheep on Upper Madison Near Beaver Creek 



the portraits in that circle of bearded men, now that you know their 

 names. They sat with their hands on their knees, or crouched on the 

 grass, or leaned against their saddles. They sat, I fancy, with heads 

 dropped forward, silent. They turned their eyes toward Cornelius 

 Hedges when he spoke his words about heirlooms, words about things 

 sacred, never to be parted with. After he had finished, I presume for 

 the most part they nodded their assent. Then they had made a law, 

 d law such as was decreed in their old miners' meetings in Alder Gulch 

 when Montana was no man's land. That was when the Yellowstone 

 Park began 



Langford, in his diary, describes this extraordinary scene in his 

 customarily simple fashion: 



"Last night, and also this morning in camp, the entire party had a 

 rather unusual discussion. The proposition was made by some mem- 

 ber that we utilize the result of our exploration by taking up quarter 

 sections of land at the most prominent points of interest, and a general 

 discussion followed. One member our party suggested that if there 

 could be secured by preemption a good title to two or three quarter 

 sections of land opposite the lower fall of the Yellowstone and extend- 

 ing down the river along the canyon, they would eventually become a 

 source of great profit to the owners. Another member of the party 

 thought that it would be more desirable to take up a quarter section of 

 land at the Upper Geyser Basin, for the reason that the locality could 

 be more easily reached by tourists and pleasure seekers. A third sug- 

 gestion was that each member of the party preempt a claim, and in or- 

 der that no one should have an advantage over the others the whole 

 should be thrown into a common pool for the benefit of the entire 

 party. 



Crealinj; the First I'ark 



"Mr. Hedges then said that he didn't approve of any of these plans, 

 that there ought to be no private ownership of any portion of that 

 region, but that the whole of it ought to be set apart as a great Na- 

 tional Park, and that each one of us ought to make an effort to have 

 this accomplished. His suggestion met with an instantaneous and 

 favorable response from all except one of the members of our party, 



