22 THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 



ian use to which it may be applied. It is not only an asset for 

 those adjacent states but for the whole country, and will attract 

 people to that section always, and Congress and the people in 

 the country should do everything in their power to preserve 

 it in the best possible state as a national asset. 



And what I feel about Yellowstone is my view about all 

 these parks. 



Secretary Fall on June i, 1921, wrote as follows to the 

 Chairman of the Senate Committee on Irrigation and Re- 

 clamation : 



I am in receipt of your request for report upon S. 274 and 

 27s, proposing to authorize the State of Montana, or irriga- 

 tion districts authorized by the State, to build a dam across 

 Yellowstone River at a point not more than three miles below 

 the outlet of Lake Yellowstone, for the regulation of the waters 

 of the Lake for irrigation purposes. This construction would 

 be within the limits of the Yellowstone National Park. 



I can not favor the enactment of the measure. I do not 

 believe it would be advisable for Congress to permit private 

 interests to develop irrigation or power sites within the limits 

 of existing national parks. These parks were created by Con- 

 gress for the preservation of the scenery, forests, and other ob- 

 jects of beauty and interest in their natural condition, and they 

 are created and maintained for general and national purposes 

 as contradistinguished from local development. 



If cases be found where it is necessary and advisable in the 

 public interest to develop power and irrigation possibilities in 

 national parks, and it can be done without interference with 

 the purposes of their creation, I am of the opinion that it 

 should only be permitted to be done, whether through the use 

 of private or public funds, on specific authorization by Con- 

 gress, the works to be constructed and controlled by the Fed- 

 eral Government. 



Local feeling on this question is illustrated by the action 

 taken by the Idaho legislature at its 1921 session.^ For many 

 years the park officers both in Washington and at the several 

 parks, have urged state legislation creating large game pre- 



^ Idaho Senate Bill 173, approved March i, 1921. 



