WILDERNESS RESERVES 



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spoke volumes for the patriotic good sense of the citizens 

 of Montana. At times the antelope actually cross the 

 Park line to Gardiner, which is just outside, and feed 

 unmolested in the very streets of the town; a fact which 

 shows how very far advanced the citizens of Gardiner 

 are in right feeling on this subject; for of course the 

 Federal laws cease to protect the antelope as soon as they 

 are out of the Park. Major Pitcher informed me that 

 both the Montana and Wyoming people were cooperat- 

 ing with him in zealous fashion to preserve the game 

 and put a stop to poaching. For their attitude in this 

 regard they deserve the cordial thanks of all Americans 

 interested in these great popular playgrounds, where 

 bits of the old wilderness scenery and the old wilderness 

 life are to be kept unspoiled for the benefit of our chil- 

 dren's children. Eastern people, and especially Eastern 

 sportsmen, need to keep steadily in mind the fact that the 

 westerners who live in the neighborhood, of the forest 

 preserves are the men who in the last resort will deter- 

 mine whether or not these preserves are to be permanent. 

 They cannot in the long run be kept as forest and game 

 reservations unless the settlers roundabout believe in 

 them and heartily support them; and the rights of these 

 settlers must be carefully safeguarded, and they must be 

 shown that the movement is really in their interest. The 

 Eastern sportsman who fails to recognize these facts can 

 do little but harm by advocacy of forest reserves. 



It was in the interior of the Park, at the hotels beside 

 the lake, the falls, and the various geyser basins, that 

 we would have seen the bears had the season been late 



