miles of the east park line. On leaving 

 Seattle one can then plan to reach Sew- 

 ard or Anchorage within a week, spend a 

 single day on the railroad to the park 

 station, and in another day or two, by 

 saddle-horse, penetrate well into the park 

 and into the midst of its game herds. 



With a completed wagon road built 

 from the railway, it should be an easy 

 half day's journey of 80 miles by auto- 

 mobile fr'om the railroad to the center of 

 the park, the whole route traversing 

 mountains of wonderful scenic beauty 

 and teeming with big game. 



At the western terminus of the wagon 

 road there will some day be a hotel for 

 the accommodation of tourists and moun- 

 tain climbers. There, below the terminus 

 of Muldrow Glacier, in constant view of 

 the mighty snow-clad monarchs to the 

 south, one will be able to find complete 

 rest in the grandest of natural surround- 

 ings, or will have close at hand tasks of 

 mountain-climbing that will tax the re- 

 sources of the sturdiest. Few regions 

 offer the inducements to the mountaineer 

 that can be found here. 



The highest point of Mount McKinley, 

 the lord of the range, has been scaled but 

 once, and only one route on that vast ice- 

 dome has been explored. Mount Fora- 

 ker, only less majestic than McKinley and 

 17,000 feet in elevation, is still uncon- 

 quered, and associated with Foraker and 

 McKinley there are many peaks that rise 

 from 4,000 to 8,000 feet above the line of 

 perpetual snow (see pictures, page 70). 



All this great group of noble moun- 

 tains, until now so remote as to be im- 

 possible of attack except by elaborately 

 prepared expeditions, will be easily ac- 

 cessible to even the modestly equipped 

 explorer. The main highway of travel 

 through the park will pass within 20 or 

 30 miles of the highest mountains. Thus 

 that bugbear of the climber in so many 

 regions — the task of getting within strik- 

 ing distance of his chosen peak — is here 

 a matter of no great difficulty. 



So much for the park itself — its mar- 

 velous advantages as a national reserve, 

 its unequaled scenic beauty, and its abun- 

 dance of big game. I have tried to tell 

 something of what is there for the people 

 of the United States, to be had merely 

 for the taking. The question may be 

 asked, "How necessary is it that this park 



Photograph by Curtis & Miller 

 AN EDUCATED BEAR AT ST. MICHAEL 



should be reserved immediately, rather 

 than at some indefinite date in the future ? 

 Is there any danger that the park will not 

 keep, even if not reserved?"" 



The answer is plain and admits of no 

 argument. The scenery will keep indefi- 

 nitely, but the game will not, and it must 

 be protected soon or it will have been de- 

 stroyed. 



WIEE it PAY? 



Considered as a purely business meas- 

 ure, without taking account of the es- 

 thetic value of such a permanent national 

 reserve in its influence on the develop- 

 ment of the American people, the Mount 

 McKinley National Park will be a tre- 

 mendous financial asset to the territory 

 of Alaska and to the United States as a 

 whole. 



Prodigal as nature has been in endow- 

 ing us with unrivaled scenery, we have 

 until recent years been blind to the money 

 value of this resource. Other nations not 

 so blessed with fertile soils, vast forests, 

 and mines of almost fabulous value have 



83 



