A NEW NATIONAL PARK 



MISSION RIDGE, MONTANA: GEOLOGICAL SURVEY TRIANGULATION PARTY 

 In high mountain regions, October snows are likely to be from two to four feet deep 



THE PARADISE OE BIG GAME 



The whole park is inhabited by wild 

 animals and birds, and the streams and 

 lakes abound in many kinds of fish. In 

 the higher barren rock areas the white 

 goat is foimd in great numbers, while on 

 the slightly lower ridges, where some 

 protection is afforded by stunted timber 

 growth and brush and jagged slopes, the 

 Rocky Mountain sheep, or "bighorn," 

 has his haunts. In the valleys and on 

 the lower spurs are many white-tail and 

 black-tail deer and moose ; in places a 

 few elk are found, and over the whole 

 area, from high glacier and snow-field 

 to huckleberry-bush region of valley and 

 flat, roams the giant grizzly bear. 



All the game animals use the higher 

 mountain districts for summer range 

 only, as the area is too high and the 

 snowfall too heavy to permit of winter 

 use. As in the case of the other national 

 parks, these game animals, protected by 



law from interference, will increase to* 

 such an extent as to furnish in the over- 

 flow from the park a tempting supply to- 

 sportsmen for all time ; on the other 

 hand, without such protection of a breed- 

 ing ground, many of the animals, espe- 

 cially the bighorns and the white goats^ 

 will soon become practically extinct. 



There are numerous passes through 

 the higher ranges. Across these the game- 

 trails lead from valley to valley. Fol- 

 lowing the game came the Indians ; the- 

 hunter and the trapper, looking for easy 

 routes of travel, followed the Indians;, 

 then came the government engineers 

 exploring and mapping, and finally the- 

 hardier of the tourists and lovers of 

 nature. Most of these passes are closed 

 for many months of each year by snow ; 

 some of them are available only after the- 

 use of the axe to give footing on the- 

 hard ice of glaciers lying close to the 

 Continental Divide, but across one or two- 

 of them wagon roads may be built by 



