XVIII LETTER TO THE SECRETARY. 



ate of the United States by Hon. S. C. Pomeroy. At about the same 

 time a similar bill was presented to the House of Eepresentatives by 

 the Hon. William H. Claggett of Montana. This bill was referred to 

 the Committee on Public Lands in both houses and was reported upon 

 favorably. In due time it passed both houses with very little opposi- 

 tion, and by the signature of the President became a law. In the An- 

 nual Eeport for 1871 the report and the law are printed in full, and are 

 also repeated in Dr. Peale's report in this volume. I will here add tbe 

 report prepared by the writer, at the request of the Secretary of the 

 Interior, for the use of the Committees on Public Lands : 



THE YELLOWSTONE PARK. 



Mr. Bunnell, from the Committee on tlie Public Lands, made the followiug report: 



The Committee on the Public Lands having had under considei'ation Mil R. B. 764, would 



report as follows: 



The bill now before Congress has for its object the withdrawal from settlement, 

 occupancy, or sale, under the laws of the United States, a tract of land 55 by 65 miles, 

 about the sources of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, and dedicates and sets it 

 apart as a great national park or pleasure-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the 

 people. The entire area comprised within the limits of the reservation contemplated 

 in this bill, is not susceptible of cultivation with any degree of certainty, and the 

 winters would be too severe for stock-raising. Whenever the altitude of the mountain 

 districts exceeds 6,000 feet above tide- water, their settlement becomes problematical 

 unless there are valuable mines to attract people. The entire area within the limits 

 of the proposed reservation is over 6,000 feet in altitude, and the Yellowstone Lake, 

 which occupies an area 15 by 22, or 330 square miles, is 7,427. The ranges of mountains 

 that hem the valleys in on every side rise to the height of 10,000 and 12,000 feet, and 

 are covered with snow all the year. These mountains are all of volcanic origin, and it is 

 not probable that any mines or minerals of value will ever be found there. During the 

 months of June, July, and August the climate is pure and most invigorating, with 

 scarcely any rain or storms of any kind ; but the thermometer frequently sinks as low 

 as 26°. There is frost every month of the year. This whole region was, in compara- 

 tively modern geological times, the scene of the most wonderful volcanic activity of 

 any portion of our country. The hot springs and the geysers represent the last stages — 

 the vents or escape-j)ipes — of these remarkable volcanic manifestations of the internal 

 forces. All these springs are adorned with decorations more beautiful than human art 

 ever conceived, and which have required thousands of years for the cunning hand of 

 Nature to form. Persons are now waiting for the spring to open to enter in and take 

 possession of these remarkable curiosities, to make merchandise of these beautiful speci- 

 mens, to fence in these rare wonders, so as to charge visitors a fee, as is now done at 

 Niagara Falls, for the sight of that which ought to be as free as the air or water. 



In a few years this region will be a place of resort for all classes of people from all 

 portions of the world. The geysers of Iceland, which have been objects of interest for 

 the scientific men arid travelers of the entire world, sink into insignificance in com- 

 parison with the hot springs of the Yellowstone and Fire-Hole Basins. As a place of 

 resort for invalids, it will not be excelled by any portion of the world. If this bill fails 

 to become a law this session, the vandals who are now waiting to enter into this 

 wonder-land will, in a single season, despoil beyond recovery these remarkable curi- 

 osities, wMch have required all the cunning skill of Nature thousands of years to 

 prepare. 



We have already shown that no portion of this tract can ever be made available 



