164 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



The withdrawal of this tract, therefore, from sale or settlement takes 

 nothing from the value of the public domain, and is no pecuniary loss 

 to the Government, but will be regarded by the entire civilized world 

 as a step of progress and an honor to Congress and the nation. 



Departjment of the Interior, 



Washington, D. C, January 29, 1872. 



Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communi- 

 cation of the 27th instant, relative to the bill now i)ending in the House 

 of Eepresentatives dedicating that tract of country known as the Yel- 

 lowstone Yalley as a national park. 



i hand you herewith the report of Dr. F. Y. Hayden, United States 

 geologist, relative to said i^roposed reservation, and have only to add 

 that I fully concur in his recommendations, and trust that the bill 

 referred to may speedily become a law. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



0. DELANO, 



Secretary, 

 Hon. M. H. DuNNELL, 



House of Representatives. 



The committee, therefore, recommend the passage of the bill without 

 amendment. 



[General nature — ^o, 16.] 



AN ACT to set apart a certain tract of land lying near the bead-waters of the Yellow- 

 stone River as a public park. 



Be it enacted hy the Senate and Hoxise of Representatives of the United 

 States of America in Congress assembled, That the tract of land in the 

 Territories of Montana and Wyoming, lying near the head-waters of the 

 Yellowstone River, and described as follows, to wit, commencing at the 

 junction of Gardiner's River with the Yellowstone River, and running 

 east to the meridian passing ten miles to the eastward of the most east- 

 ern x>oint of Yellowstone Lake ; thence south along said meridian to the 

 parallel of latitude passing ten miles south of the most southern point 

 of Yellowstone Lake; thence west along said parallel to the meridian 

 passing fifteen miles west of the most western point of Madison Lake; 

 thence north along said meridian to the latitude of the junction of the 

 Yellowstone and Gardiner's Rivers; thence east to the place of beginning, 

 is hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale 

 under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a 

 public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the 

 people ; and all persons who shall locate or settle upon or occupy the 

 same, or any x)art thereof, except as hereinafter provided, shall be con- 

 sidered tresspassers and removed therefrom. 



Sec. 2. That said public park shall be under the exclusive control of 

 the Secretary of the Interior, whose duty it shall be, as soon as practi- 

 cable, to make and publish such rules and regulations as he may deem 

 necessary or proper for the care and management of the same. Such 

 regulations shall provide for the preservation, from injury or- spoliation, 

 of all timber, mineral dei)Osits, natural curiosities, or wonders within 



