36 RECONNAISSANCE FROM CARROLL, MONTANA, 
retary of the Interior; but, unfortunately, the act provides no further practical measures for its 
improvement than authorizing the making of small temporary leases (the revenues from which should 
be devoted to the proper management and improvement of the park) and the promulgation of 
regulations mainly looking to the preservation of the game. Iam not informed as to whether any 
such leases have been made; but it is certain that no expenditures have been made for the improve- 
ment of the park, nor even for its proper protection. Of the preservation of the game I will men- 
tion some facts further on. The park remains in the same wild, secluded condition in which it was 
discovered, a few squatters and hunters inhabiting it. The number of visitors is not great, but is 
yearly increasing, and is mainly made up from the inhabitants of the Montana towns. Until some 
railroad facilities shall make the journey less expensive and fatiguing, the people at large can 
eee oes hardly avail themselves of the “pleasuring ground” so provided. Meanwhile, 
fev ae Canons in however, those who from propinquity are able to do so are entering upon the pos- 
session of their privileges, and abusing them by the wanton destruction of what 
was intended to be for the edification of all. 
The treasures of art and beauty, cunningly contrived by the hand of nature, are in process of 
removal to territorial homesteads, and the proportion of material destroyed to that carried off is 
as ten to one. Hunters have for years devoted themselves to the slaughter of the 
game, until within the limits of the park it is hardly to be found. I was credi- 
bly informed by people on the spot, and personally cognizant of the facts, that during the winter 
of 1874 and 1875, at which season the heavy snows render the elk an easy prey, no less than from 
1,500 to 2,000 of these, the largest and finest game animals in the country, were thus destroyed 
within a radius of fifteen miles of the Mammoth Springs. From this large number, representing 
an immense supply of the best food, the skins only were taken, netting to the hunter some $2.50 
or $3 apiece; the frozen carcasses being left in the snow to feed the wolves or to decay in the 
spring. A continuance of this wholesale and wasteful butchery can have but one effect, viz, the 
extermination of the animal, and that, too, from the very region where he has aright to expect 
protection, and where his frequent inoffensive presence would give the greatest pleasure to the 
greatest number. 
The cure for these unlawful practices and undoubted evils can only be found in a thorough 
mounted police of the park. In the absence of any legislative provision for this, recourse can most 
readily be had to the already existing facilities afforded by the presence of troops in the vicinity and 
by the transfer of the park to the control of the War Department. Troops should 
be stationed to act as guards at the lake, the Mammoth Springs, and especially 
in the Geyser Basin. A couple of signal-sergeants might profitably be employed in keeping 
meteorological and geyser records, which would be of great interest and value. 
In time, with faithful supervision, the park could easily be made self-supporting. Franchises 
and leases will be valuable, and properly administered would furnish a revenue sufficient to pro- 
ceed gradually with all the improvements required. But meanwhile, and before any improvements 
can be judiciously undertaken, an indispensable preliminary would be a thorough and accurate 
topographical survey, which, having been completed, would serve to indicate where roads and 
bridle-paths could best be opened or most improved. The boundaries of the park could at the 
same time be run and laid down upon the ground. 
For this a small annual appropriation of from $8,000 to $10,000 should be made, and the survey 
might properly be under the charge of an engineer officer, who, while making his survey and map, 
might at the same time be turning his attention and devoting perhaps a certain sum to the selection 
and construction of better routes of travel. While it would not be possible at once to make the park 
practicable for vehicles, the pack-trails could be vastly improved at slight expense; the survey indi- 
cating the best routes. An observatory on Mount Washburne, with a wire to Bozeman, could be 
constructed cheaply, and furnish a starting-point whence all the higher peaks, and from them the 
intervening country, could be mapped. Rough bridges could be constructed where needed, and 
the worst portions of the trail corduroyed. This preliminary work accomplished, and about two 
seasons’ work would be required for it, the yearly appropriation being continued, the roads could 
by degrees be made practicable for wagons and carriages. Lodging-places could be constructed at 
Slaughter of game. 
Recommendation. 
