56 THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 



that no structure of importance, whether for the Service or the 

 public operators, can be erected until the approval of the Land- 

 scape Engineer has been secured, both as to location and de- 

 sign. The Landscape Engineering Section also devotes con- 

 siderable attention to the removal of snags and dead timber 

 from lakes and streams. 



In a number of the parks the Service has established light 

 and power plants, to supply both its own needs and those of 

 the concessionaires, to whom light and power are sold at fixed 

 rates. The most important of these plants was completed in 

 the Yosemite in 19 17 at a cost of $150,000. Water supply- 

 systems are also maintained by the Service at the principal 

 parks, the water being piped to the free camping sites as well 

 as to the buildings of the Service and the hotels of the public 

 operators. 



Sewer systems and sanitary control schemes are also main- 

 tained by the Service with the cooperation of the United States 

 Pubhc Health Service, which details experts to study the prob- 

 lems involved and to make recommendations. 



The activities mentioned above are all direct activities. A 

 large amount of improvement work has also been done in the 

 parks indirectly, through the medium of public operators or 

 concessionaires. The system of hotels established in Glacier 

 Park by the Great Northern .Railway has already been men- 

 tioned. The Yosemite National Park Company, composed of 

 citizens of Los Angeles and San Francisco, is performing 

 a similar work in the Yosemite. A Seattle-Tacoma syndi- 

 cate is spending large sums in the creation of a hotel system 

 in the Mt. Rainier Park. The policy of the Service with re- 

 gard to concessions is to grant a monoply of all principal serv- 

 ice requirements, such as hotel service and transportation, to 

 one responsible concern, retaining the right to supervise the 

 rates charged. It has been found that the elimination of com- 

 petition has given the public a better grade of service. 



Rate supervision extends also to the regulation of charges 

 for gasoline, groceries, oil, etc. The superintendents fre- 



