8 THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 



within its scope other objects of historic or scientific value, 

 natural as well as artificial. The first monument created, as 

 a matter-of-fact, was the Devils Tower, in Wyoming, a 

 natural formation. 



Some confusion has arisen as to the difference between 

 parks and monuments. It has been asked, for example, why, 

 of two reserved areas, the basic reasons for the reservation in 

 each case being the preservation of a natural wonder, one 

 should be a park and the other a monument. 



The simplest way to answer this question is to say what has 

 been said above in speaking of the setting-aside of Hot 

 Springs. The object of a monument is the preservation from 

 destruction or spoliation of some object of historic, scientific, 

 or other interest. The object of a park is that and something 

 more; namely, the development of the area reserved for its 

 more complete and perfect enjoyment by the people. It might 

 be said that a monument is park raw material, because many 

 of the existing monuments, in all probability, will receive park 

 status when their development as parks is practicable. Sev- 

 eral of the present parks of the system originally had monu- 

 ment status, notably Grand Canyon, Lafayette, and Zion Parks. 



The Parks and Monuments Prior to 1916. From the set- 

 ting-aside of the Yellowstone Park in 1872 imtil 1890 no new 

 parks were added to the park system. Sequoia, Yosemite, 

 and General Grant parks were added in 1890, and by the 

 time the National Park Service was created in August, 1916, 

 the system totalled sixteen parks and eighteen monuments. 

 This includes the Hot Springs Reservation, and one park, Casa 

 Grande, which was given monument status in 1918. 



The history of the parks and monuments during this period 

 is almost altogether a history of individual rather than group 

 development. New parks and monuments were created from 

 time to time and became, thereupon, so many new individual 

 problems rather than parts of a general problem. No note- 

 worthy legislation of a general nature applying to the park 



