426 



RECREATION. 



district with an area of nearly 3,500 square 

 miles, over which the underbrush is so 

 thick that in summer it is almost impossible 

 to force a passage away from the beaten 

 trails, and which in winter is covered with 

 4 to 20 feet of snow ! Two scouts to pro- 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY S K- FISHEL. 



MULE DEER. 



tect from man and beast the 50,000 elk and 

 thousands on thousands of other living 

 creatures that inhabit the waters, forests, 

 mountains and valleys of this vast terri- 

 tory ! 



"I can take you," said Scout Peter Holt 

 to me last winter, "where a good trapper 

 can make $50 a day catching beaver, and 

 never a soul be the wiser ; and I can take 

 you to a thicket over along Pelican valley 

 where a first-class marksman with a Mau- 

 ser or a Savage can pick off the whole herd 

 of buffalo in 2 or 3 days. The heads are 

 worth $300 to $500, to say nothing of the 

 hides, and he would stand a good chance 

 of getting them out and away without being 

 caught. I have covered on skis over 2,000 

 miles this winter," he continued, "and Mor- 

 rison has done as much more, and it was 



AND ANOTHER. 



months between the times we would be at 

 some of the outlying points. There's that 

 part of the Park bordering on the Jackson 

 Hole country. They kill elk down there, 



both in and out of the Park, just for the 

 tusks, these passing as legal tender, in 

 trade or in gambling, at $5 a pair. There's 

 only one soldier stationed on that side of 

 the divide, and he can't begin to look 

 after all that territory. There should be at 

 least 10 scouts, and twice as many could be 

 used." 



To assist in the work of protection, there 

 are, of course, the soldiers stationed at 

 Fort Yellowstone and at the 9 summer and 

 6 winter stations at various points through 

 the Park; but their work, while effective 

 in its way, is not to be compared with 

 that of the scouts who have spent a dozen 

 or more years in the Park, as have those 

 now on duty. Changed, as they have been, 

 on an average of once in 9 or 10 months, 

 the soldiers have neither the opportunity nor 

 the incentive to learn the lay of the coun- 

 try, the haunts and habits of the game, and 

 the districts most accessible and profitable 

 to the poacher, as has the scout who is 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY L. R. FREEMAN. 



YOUNG PELICAN ON TELICAN LAKE. 



hired for a long term of years. _ Then, too, 

 the scout is a picked man, especially adapt- 

 ed to the work in hand. The soldier may 

 or may not be. Each has his own line. 

 The scout may be likened to the detective, 

 useful in locating the criminal ; the soldier, 

 to the policeman, useful in securing the 

 criminal when located. 



Along with the disappointing announce- 

 ment of the small appropriation for pro- 

 tection came also the news that no action 

 had been taken on a matter that has been 

 most earnestly and persistently urged by 

 every acting superintendent for the last 5 

 years ; that of restraining the Transporta- 

 tion Company from cutting hay or pastur- 

 ing its stock within the limits of the Park. 

 Here we come to the root of the evil ; 

 political influence used for the further- 

 ment of private ends. The Transportation 

 Company, not satisfied with the valuable 

 privileges granted it by the Government, 

 which have made it by long odds the best 

 paying business in the Park to-day, must 



