NATIONAL MONUMENTS SYSTEM 285 



the United States to be National Monuments, and 

 may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the 

 limit of which in all cases shall be confined to the 

 smallest area compatible with the proper care and 

 management of the objects to be protected." 



The American Antiquities bill was enacted in 

 June, 1906, and later in the same year the Secretary 

 of the Interior sent to the White House for Presi- 

 dential signature proclamations covering four Na- 

 tional Monuments, the first group of what after- 

 ward became a noble system. They were Devil 

 Tower in Wyoming, El Morro in New Mexico, and 

 Montezuma Castle and the already famous Petrified 

 Forest in Arizona. 



For several years thereafter, monument-mak- 

 ing was rapid. In 1907, three were created, and in 

 1908 seven. Six were created the following year. 

 Of these early twenty, eight were Agricultural De- 

 partment monuments and twelve Interior Depart- 

 ment monuments. The first War Department monu- 

 ment, Big Hole Battlefield in Montana, was made in 

 1910. The largest number in any one year was 

 eight in 1924, of which five were War Department 

 creations. None were made in 1912, 1920, 1921, 

 1926 and 1927. Including the early winter of 1928, 

 in which this chapter is written, fifty-eight national 

 monuments have been created, of which thirty-two 

 are administered by the Interior Department, fifteen 

 by the Agricultural Department, and eleven by the 



Department. 



