THE NEEDS OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 
U. 8S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 
Washington, December 27, 1887. 
Str: During your visit to the Yellowstone Park last summer you ex- 
pressed so warmly your keen appreciation of the region as a forest res- 
ervation that I desire to call your attention to some of the more salient 
features of the country, and to point out what I consider the important 
reasons for not only maintaining the national park, but for enlarging its 
boundaries. In the arid and sparsely timbered regions of the eastern 
ranges of the Rocky Mountains few areas equal and none surpass the 
Yellowstone Park in its advantages to the nation as a forest reservation. 
While much may rightly be said in favor of the maintenance of the park, 
based upon sentimental grounds, the necessity of protecting the scien- 
tific curiosities, the advantages of the place as a game-preserve, and the 
benefits to be derived from it as a health resort, the object of first im- 
portance is the preservation of its timber. The park is a natural res- 
ervoir, adapted by geographical position to receive a copious snow and 
rain-fall, and by its topographical structure to store up the waters which 
it receives. 
In its broader physical features the Yellowstone Park is an elevated 
voleanic plateau shut in on the south, east, north, and northwest by 
mountains rising from 2,000 to 4,009 feet above the general level of the 
jnclosed table-land. It presents a broken, roughly undulating surface, 
varying from 7,000 to 8,500 feet above sea-level, with an average ele- 
vation of about 8,000 feet. 
The Gailatin Range, with Electric Peak a culminating point, shuts in 
the park on the west and north. To the northeast the Snowy Range, 
deriving its name from the white-capped summits, towers high above the 
plateau. Along the eastern side of the park for more than 80 miles 
stretches the Absaroka Range, which rises asa bold, unbroken barrier 
above the table-land, many of the mountain tops reaching elevations 
varying from 10,000 to 11,500 feet above sea-level. To the southward 
the plateau is rimmed in by the Grand Tetons and Wind River Range. 
All these surrounding mountains, covered with snow the greater part 
of the year, are constantly pouring immense volumes of water into the 
plateau region. The continental water-shed enters the park near its 
southeast corner, crosses the summit of Two Ocean Plateau, and with 
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