32 THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 



provision for a superintendent or assistant, threw the entire 

 administration and protection of the parks into the hands of 

 the military, there being nothing for the Secretary of the In- 

 terior to do but call on the Secretary of War for a detail of 

 troops. This practice was thereupon continued from year to. 

 year, and the commanding officer of Fort Yellowstone was des- 

 ignated as acting superintendent reporting to the Secretary of 

 the Interior. The soldiers, thereafter, were used not merely 

 for purposes of protection but for general administrative pur- 

 poses, serving practically as rangers. 



After 1888, up to and including 1901, the park appropria- 

 tions were made directly through the War Department, but 

 expenditures from the park revenues were made by the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior. After the act of March 2, 1895 (28 

 Stat. L., 945), under which the War Department appropria- 

 tions covered protection as well as improvement, expenditures 

 from the revenues could be made for managerial purposes only. 

 Beginning with the act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. L., 1169), 

 small appropriations were again made through the Interior 

 Department for administration and protection, out of which 

 clerical help was furnished to the acting superintendent and a 

 few scouts and other additional employees paid. 



But the great landmark in Yellowstone legislation, second 

 only to the organic act, was the act of May 7, 1894 (28 Stat. 

 L., 73) which put teeth into the earlier law and enabled the 

 park authorities to enforce the regulations and give the park, 

 and its wild life a protection never enjoyed before. The pas- 

 sage of this act was brought about by the capture of a poacher 

 who slaughtered several buffaloes, well knowing that if caught, 

 removal from the park would be the extent of his punishment. 

 This resulted in immediate action by Congress, which passed 

 a law that provided, among other things, for the appointment 

 of a resident United States Commissioner with power to try 

 for misdemeanors, and to issue process and commit in the case 

 of felonies; for summary arrest in case of open violation of 

 the regulations ; for the erection of a jail; and for the appoint- 



