302 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 18, 1886. 



gun must be heard, let it speak to a stump or a tossed chip, 

 either as difficult a target as he, and let the poor harmless 

 little heron live. Uncouth as he is, he comes in well in the 

 picture of such a watercourse, that has done with the worry 

 of turning mills, left far behind with their noise and bustle 

 on foaming rapids among the hills, and crawls now in lazy 

 ease through wide intervales, under elms and water maples 

 and thickets of willows. 



In some States, too, the hare is unprotected by any law, 

 and it is the common custom to hunt it even so late as April, 

 for the mere sake of killing, apparently, or perhaps the 

 charm of the hound's music, which makes the butchery of 

 Adirondack deer so delightful a sport to some, adds a zest to 

 the slaughter of these innocents — though, be it said, there is 

 no comparison in the marksmanship required. Alive, the 

 northern hare is one of the most harmless of animals; dead, 

 he is, in the opinion of most people, one of the most worth- 

 less. So worthless that hunters frequently leave the result 

 of all their day's "sport" in the woods where they were 

 killed. Yet the hare is legitimate game, and should be 

 hunted as such, and only in proper seasons, and not be 

 ruthlessly exterminated. A woodland stroll is the pleasanter 

 if one sees "Br'er Rabbit" there in his brown summer suit, 

 or white as the snow about him in his winter furs. 



Where there are no statute laws for the protection of game 

 and harmless creatures not so classed, an uuwritteu law of 

 common sense, common decency and common humanity 

 should rule sportsmen, and be powerful enough to protect al 

 these. The fox is an outlaw; it is every one's legal right to 

 kill him whenever and however he may, and yet wherever 

 the fox is hunted with any semblance of fair play, whether 

 in New England with gun and hound, or elsewhere with 

 horse and hound, the man. who traps a fox, or kills one un- 

 seasonably, or destroys a vixen and her cubs, bears a reputa- 

 tion but little better than a sheep stealer's. 



A sentiment as popular and as potent ought to prevail to 

 protect those that, though harmless, are as unshielded by 

 legislative enactments as the fox, and much less guarded by 

 natural laws and inborn cunning. The truest sportsman is 

 the most merciful, and is never a wanton slayer. 



Wild Pigeons have been nesting in the woods of Forest 

 and Warren Counties, Pa., this year, and the netters and gun- 

 ners have been reaping an unexpected spring harvest. When 

 the birds appear all the male inhabitants of the neighborhood 

 leave their customary occupations, as farmers, bark-peelers, 

 oil-scouts, wild-catters, and tavern loafers, and join in the 

 work of capturing and marketing the game. The Pennsyl- 

 vania law very plainly forbids the destruction of the pigeons 

 on their nesting grounds, but no one pays any attention to 

 the law, and the nesting birds have been killed by thousands 

 and tens of thousands. Formerly the usual market demand 

 has been augumented by a large demand for live birds to be 

 shot, for purpose of game protection, by State game pro- 

 tective associations, but of recent years, the birds being un- 

 attainable, the demand for them has ceased, and now the 

 consumption of nesting pigeons is confined to the markets. 

 Had some of our State societies been told of the Pennsylvania 

 nesting, there is no reckoning the tremendous impetus that 

 might have been given to game protection by another Coney 

 Island spring pigeon killing tournament. 



The New York Game Protectors.— The bill before the 

 New York Legislature creating the office of chief of the 

 game protectors passed the Assembly last week almost unani- 

 mously. The bill in its present shape fixes the salary at 

 $1,200 per year with an allowance of $600 for traveling ex- 

 penses. This accords more nearly with the views of Gen. 

 R. TJ. Sherman, secretary of the N. Y. Fish Commission, 

 upon whose shoulders the burden of supervising the game 

 protectors has fallen, and whose request to be relieved from 

 this labor has been heeded. It is well understood that Mr. 

 A. N. Cheney, of Glens Falls is pressed by his numerous 

 friends for the position, and we do not know of a better 

 man. We hope that the bill may become a law, and that 

 the Governor may appoint Mr. Cheney. 



"Piseco. "— Capt. L. A. Beaidslce, of the U. S. S. Pow 

 hatan, has just returned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard after 

 six months of West India service. Capt. Beardslee's last 

 communication to the Forest and Stream, it will be 

 remembered, was a relation of the Powhatan's rescue of the 

 maroons of Roncador. Soon after that Capt, Beardslee was 

 engaged in the relief of the homeless citizens of Key West 

 at the time of the great conflagratien; and the efficiency with 

 which he performed the difficult task has won for him much 

 praise from the press. 



"Public Opinion" is a new Washington weekly which 

 gives the collected opinions of the press of the country on 

 current events and the questions of the day. The journal 

 starts out well and promises to be a success. It is under the 

 management of Mr. Jerome Burnett and associates. 



Thirty-Two Pages.— Owing to the demand for space in 

 our advertising columns this week, the present issue con- 

 sists of thirty-two pages. The business-like character of the 

 advertising pages of this journal affords a fair indication of 

 the condition of the trade to-day. 



THE REPORT ON THE PARK RAILROAD. 



VIEWS of the minority. 



MR. MANDERSON, from the Committee on Territories, 

 submitted the following views of the minority, to ac- 

 company S. 980 : 



The undersigned beg leave to dissent from the views of 

 the majority of the Committee on Territories, in reference to 

 S. 980, granting the right of way to the Cinnabar and Clark's 

 Fork Railroad Company. 



* * * Instead of the distance through Yellowstone 

 Park traversed by this projected railroad being from ten to 

 twenty five miles, it will be seen, by reference to the letters 

 hereto attached, from those having full knowledge of the 

 facts, that the distance traversed is from forty to sixty miles, 

 and that the probabilities are that the length of the projected 

 railroad Will be about fifty-six miles. 



The undersigned, believing that the construction of this 

 road would be decidedly injurious to the purposes for which 

 the Park was established, and that there are other routes 

 over which a railroad can he constructed from points on the 

 Northern Pacific road to the Clark's Fork mining district, 

 repoit adversely to the bill, and urge that it be indefinitely 

 postponed ; and in suppost of this view call careful attention 

 to letters from the Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the In- 

 terior; Lieutenant-General Sheridan, Major J. W. Powell, 

 Director of Geological Survey; W. H. Phillips, Esq., special 

 agent for investigating Yellowstone Park, of the Interior 

 Department; Prof. Arnold Hague, of the Geological Survey; 

 Lieut. Dan. C. Kingman, Corps of Engineers, United States 

 Army, and others having knowledge of the facts. A careful 

 reading of these letters from gentlemen who have personal 

 knowledge of the facts will, wc believe, quite conclusively 

 show that it is extremely undesirable that a railroad, as pro- 

 jected, should be permitted to be built. 



We first attach the letter of the Secretary of the Interior, 

 and the accompanying documents, all of extreme value in 

 the consideration of this bill: 



Department of the Interior, I 

 Washington, April 22, 1886. f 

 Sir —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of vour commu- 

 nication of tUe 3d inst.. inclosing Senate bill 980, and report No. 204, 

 in relation to "granting the way to the Cinnabar and Clark's Fork 

 Railroad Company'" through Yellowstone Park reservation, with re- 

 quest that this Department will furnish for the use of the Committee 

 on Territories all of the data and information in its possession. The 

 delay in responding is explained by the inclosed documents, which 

 were obtained mainly through correspondence incident to your in 

 quiry. 



The Park, as you are aware, was established by act of Congress, 

 March 1, 1872, and in the language of that enactment (sec. 2474 R. S.) 

 '•dedicated and set apart as a public Park or pleasure ground for the 

 benefit and enjoyment of the people; and all persons who locate or 

 settle upon, or occupy any of the land thus set apart as a public 

 Park, except as provided in the following section, shall be considered 

 trespassers and removed therefrom. 



"Sec. 2475. Such public Park shall be under the exclusive control 

 of the Secretary of the Interior, whose duty it shall be, as soon as 

 practicable, to make and publish such regulations as he may deem 

 necessary or proper for the care and management of tbe same. Such 

 regulations shall provide for the preservation from injury or spolia- 

 tion of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders, 

 within the Park aud their retention in their natural condition. Tne 

 Secretary may, in his discretion, grant leases for building purposes 

 for terms not exceeding tea years of small parcels of ground at such 

 places in the Park as may require the erection of buildings for the 

 accommodation of visitors; * * * he suall provide against the 

 wanton destruction of the fish and game found within the Park ; * * 

 he shall cause ali trespassers upon the same to be removed there- 

 from, and generally is authorized to take all such measures as may 

 be necessary or proper to fully carry out the objects and purposes of 

 this section." 



In the second session of the Forty -seventh Congress (see p. 625, 

 vol. 22, Statutes at Large) the following legislation looking to the 

 preservation of the Park in its "natural state" was had. 



* * * -Two thousand dollars to be paid annually to a superin- 

 tendent of said Park, and not exceeding $900 annually to each of ten 

 assistants, all of whom shall be appointed by the Secretary of the In- 

 terior, and reside continuously in the Park, and whose duty it shall 

 be to protect the game, timber and objects of interest therein ; the 

 balance of the sum appropriated [$40,000 was the total amount] to be 

 expended in the construction and improvement of suitable roads and 

 bridges within said Park, under the supervision and direction of an 

 engineer officer detailed by the Secretary of War for that purpose. 



"The Secretary of the Interior shall lease small portions of ground 

 in the Park, not exceeding ten acres in extent for each tract, on which 

 may be erected hotels and necessary outbuildings, and for a period 

 not exceeding ten years: but such lease shall not include any of the 

 geysers or other objects of curiosity or interest in said Park, or ex- 

 clude the public from the free and convenient approach thereto; or in- 

 clude any ground within a quarter of a mile of any of the geysers or 

 the Yellowstone Falls, nor snail there be leased more than ten acres 

 to any one person or corporation; nor shall any hotel or other build- 

 ing be erected within the Park until such lease shall be executed by 

 the Secretary of the Interior, and all contracts, agreements, or ex- 

 clusive privileges heretofore made or given in regard to said Park or 

 any part thereof are hereby declared to be invalid; nor shall the Sec- 

 retary of tbe Interior, in any lease which he may make and execute, 

 grant any exclusive privileges within said Park, except upon the 

 ground leased. 



"The Secretary of War, upon the request of the Secretary of the 

 Interior, is hereby authorized and directed to make the necessary 

 detail of troops to prevent trespassers or intruders from entering the 

 Park for the purpose of destroying the game or objects of curiosity 

 therein, or for any other purpose prohibited by law, and to remove 

 such persons from the Park if found therein." 



A similar appropriation was made by the Forty-eight Congress, 

 second session (see Statutes at Large, vol. 23, p. 499): "For every pur- 

 pose and object necessary for the protection, preservation and im- 

 provement of the Yellowstone National Park." 



I quote, tbe statutes in this connection to show the spirit of thelegis 

 lation had in regard to the Park, and that the dominant idea in Con 

 gress in reference to the matter has been tbe preservation of the 

 wilderness of forests, geysers, mountains, etc., so to speak, and the 

 game common to that region, in as nearly the condition in which we 

 found them as possible, with a view to holding for the benefit of 

 those who shall come after us something of the original "Wild West" 

 that shall stand while the rest of the world moves, affording to the 

 student of nature and the pleasure tourist a restful contrast to the 

 busy and progressive scenes that the story of the past American en- 

 terprise gives assurance will ere long be repeated in the growth in 

 population and civilizing influences of the Territories of Idaho, Wyo- 

 ming and Montana, that now border on the Park, and that even now 

 are aspiring to the dignity of Statehood. 



The data of surveys in this Park and the region immediately north 

 of It is too meager to enable this Department to answer with any de- 

 gree of positiveness your inquiry as to whether there is any other 

 practicable route for the proposed road except the one comprehended 

 in the provisions of the bill in question, but I would respectfully sug- 

 gest in this connection that the line proposed by the "Cinnabar and 

 Clark's Fork Railroad Company" is a creature of the draughtsman 

 rather than of the engineer, and is not, so far as I can ascertain, a 

 deduction from instrumental survey, supported by notes of topog 

 raphv and levels, and estimates of excavation, fill and grade. 



Several other routes are suggested by military and scientific au> 

 thorities of high repute, whose letters and reports upon tbe subject 

 I send you, as practicable and feasible, and though these lines have 

 not been subjected to the test of instrumental scrutiny, they are at 

 least as familiar to engineers, geologists and border hunters as the 

 one seeking recognition in Senate bill 980, and while longer and per- 

 haps more expensive in the demands of construction, I do not think 

 that that question should have consideration in view of the aims and 

 objects of Congress in the legislation of 1872 and subsequent years, 

 and the hopes engendered in the hearts of the lovers of science and 

 nature bv that legislation, that at least "one brand should be saved 

 from the- burning" of a restless civilization, before whose relentless 

 advance the forests, tbe plains, and even the mountains in their wild 

 aspect, are disappearing, particularly when for the purposes of tn in- 

 legacy to posterity a reservation was made of rushed rocks, bitter 

 waters, inaccessible forests, boiling fountains, arid plains, and on 

 the whole a region that, but for its selection by the Government for 

 the people of to-day and the future, would have been rejected by all 

 men and corporations animated by thirst for gain or the selfish 

 frenzy of speculation. 

 The Lieutenant-General commanding the army, uj a communica- 



tion that I inclose, says: "The railroad from Cinnabar to Cooke City, 

 following, the route proposed, will traverse about 45 miles of the Park 

 and be at the road's most southern point, the junction of Soda Butte 

 Creek with tbe East Fork, about 12 miles south of the north line of 

 the Park. Except near the Mammoth Hot Springs, the road will not 

 pass in the immediate vicinity of any of the objects of public inter- 

 est, but it would pass through some of the best grazing and meadow 

 lands in its northwestern corner," 



The General, in the above frank recital, gives some good reasons 

 for the company's anxiety to secure a line through the Park, and ex- 

 cellent reasons, in my opinion, for rejecting the application. The 

 fact of the line penetrating 13 miles south of tbe northern border, its 

 passing in the vicinity of the Mammoth Hot Springs, and its virtual 

 capture of some of the best grazing and meadow lands, are all strong 

 arguments against the granting of its application if the theory that 

 suggested the reservation still holds good, and comprehends the 

 maintenance of its original and present characteristics. 



The conclusion of General Sheridan's letter shows that he also 

 holds this opinion, for he says: "A railroad through any portion of 

 the Park is, however, not in harmony with the objects for which this 

 reservation was created, and if permitted in this case, will, I much 

 fear, be used as a precedent by the advocates of the various other 

 roads already projected through different sections. Under the present 

 circumttances the objects of the Park are being well fulfilled. The 

 game is collecting in large numbers, and, if not disturbed, will prob- 

 ably continue to do so in the future. These conditions should then, 

 as far as possible, be maintained. With reference to other lines of 

 communication, that by Boulder Creek mav prove possible. This 

 route was traversed by an officer of the army in 18?3, who then re- 

 ported that he deemed a railroad by this route practicable.'' 



Lieut. Daniel C. Kingman, first lieutenant of Engineer.*, United 

 States Army, in charge of preparing roadways, bridges, and Govern- 

 ment improvements generally, at Yellowstone National Park, in a 

 letter under date of March 25, replying to a communication from the 

 editor of Forest anp Stream, expresses surprise that his report of 

 1883 "should be quoted in any way favoring the construction of rail- 

 roads for any purpose whatever within the Yellowstone Park." "I 

 have," he says, "always been opposed to the construction of railroads 

 in the Park. I have given this subject the most careful thought and 

 study, and I should regard their introduction as the most serious 

 injury that could be inflicted on the Park, and the construction of the 

 Cinnabar and Clark's Fork Railroad would be especially deplorable, 

 because it seems so unnecessary, There is every reason to believe 

 that the route of the Stillwater (lying wholly outside of the Park) is a 

 better one for a railroad to the mines than that via the Yellowstone 

 River and Soda Butte Creek." 



Under date of April 10, 1886, Maj. J. W. Powell, Director of the 

 United States Geological Survey, forwarded a communication to this 

 Department, which I inclose herewith, replying to some of the 

 inquiries suggested by your letter of the 3d instant. * * * Com- 

 menting upon the various xoutes, and reasoning from the meager 

 engineering data at hand, Major Powell says: "Altogether the 

 Yellowstone Park route is shorter; can be constructed more cheaply 

 per mile; has less elevation to overcome, and could be maintained 

 and operated at much less expense than either of the other routes." 



These conclusions would have force and weight if addressed by a 

 chief engineer, employed on preliminary survey, to the board of 

 directors of a company contemplating an economical investment in 

 railroad construction between given points, but they are not entitled 

 to consideration in this connection, where but two questions, it seems 

 to me, present themselves: First, the protection of tbe people's her' 

 itage, the Park, from an intrusion that threatens its destruction; 

 and. second, the furtherance of the interests of speculators, individual 

 and corporate; and if I understand the object of tbe inquiry sub* 

 mitted by your honorable committee to this Department, it is to 

 ascertain the possibility of meeting the wishes of the railroad pro- 

 jectors who have in view certain mining possibilities, or probabilities, 

 without trenching upon the precincts of the Park, heretofore so care- 

 fully hedged and guarded by Congress and this department. In this 

 connection it seems to me we have no right to consider the questions 

 of distance, grade, or cost, particularly as instanced here, where all 

 are within feasible bounds. Such surveys and data as we have— and 

 the information is as meager in regard to one route as another— 

 demonstrate the practicability of connecting the Clark*s Fork mining 

 district with the Northern Pacific Railroad without traversing by rail 

 any portion of the Park; and, this being the case, it is not for the 

 Department to make estimates of relative cost or consider tbe matter 

 of relative speed as dependent upon ease of grades, in an instance 

 where speed is not a consideration, and the grades are not excessive 

 as compared with those of many mining and commercial lines in 

 mountain countries, being about 56 feet to the mile on the "Stillwater 

 Route," and about 33 feet to the mile on the "Clark's Fork Route," 

 while it would average about 38 feet to the mile on the "Yellowstone 

 Park Route." It must be observed, also, that the distance for the 

 Park route is estimated as nearly as possible upon air line assumptions, 

 while in respect of the others, wide latitude is taken to cover deficits 

 in information and exploration. Further, if we consider the fact that 

 the Park route extends for all its length, except about 15 miles, 

 through a country where "the road would be of easy construction," 

 and yet obtains in an estimated 55 miles an altitude of 2,100 feet, the 

 inference of enormous grades to be accepted, somewhere, suggests 

 itself. 



In answer to your inquiry, transmitted through this office as to the 

 importance of the mining district in question, Major Powell says: 

 "No thorough information exists in this office relating to the im- 

 portance of the mining region at Cooke City. It is known that 

 mineral lodes have been discovered in this district of country and 

 have been worked to some extent. None of the workings have been 

 extended to great depths, but many small workings have been made, 

 and it is believed that much ore is now piled upon the ground. But 

 the exploitation of the region seems not yet to be sufficient to war- 

 rent expression of opinion in relation to the ultimate extent of the 

 mining industries that may be developed therein. 



It will be seen that the importance of the mining interests in this 

 district are far from being demonstrated by any data in the posses- 

 sion of either the military or scientific authorities of the Government, 

 and that doubt is expressed by both as to the ultimate importance of 

 Cooke City as a mining town in the event of the most favorable out- 

 come or the pending " prospecting"; but admitting its importance 

 and future greatness, is it not possible that the researches of the 

 near future may disclose like deposits of mineral wealth in the 

 Territory of Idaho immediately bordering on the west line of the 

 Park, aiid in Wyoming territory near its south and east lines, and will 

 not the demands that now come up to Congress in behalf of the 

 " Clark's Fork mining district," in Senate bill 980, if favorably con- 

 sidered, be annually echoed from other mineral districts with equal 

 claim to recognition, until the Park shall be, if equal justice be done 

 to all petitioners, webbed with the arteries of intercourse and com- 

 merce, and cease to exist as the creature of the legislation of 1672, 

 that "dedicated and set apart as a public park and pleasure ground, 

 for the benefit and enjoyment of the people," this rugged, romantic, 

 beautiful wilderness and wonderland? 



In connection with other documents forwarded herewith, I send you 

 a number of extracts from a representative journal of the American 

 lovers of field sports and studeuts of forestry, the Forest and Stream, 

 to show the deep interest that is being taken in the question under 

 discussion by an immense class of our most thoughtful and intelligent 

 fellow- citizens, and the anxiety and suspicion with which they re- 

 gard the overtures and representations of the corporations now be- 

 sieging Congress for authority to penetrate the Park with railroads. 



In the event, however, that the judgment of your committee shall 

 so far incline to the repeal or amendment of the legislation of 1873 

 and subsequent Congresses as to favor the granting of the right of 

 way proposed in Senate Bill 980, 1 would respectfully suggest that the 

 grant be restricted to such limits as are absolutely essential to road- 

 bed and slopes of "cuts" and bases of "fills." * * * * 

 This amendment is suggested rather in the interest of timber preser- 

 vation than economy ot land, and with a view to guarding against 

 that appearance of utter desolation usually incident to a forest right 

 of way from which the timber has been cut or culled for a distance 

 of a hundred feet on either side. w 



If the grant is to be made upon the simple ground of aff ording an out- 

 let for the products of the mines of the Clark's Fork district, there is 

 no apparent necessity for stations at intervals more frequent than 

 ten miles, and I would respectfully suggest amendment in this par- 

 ticular, and that the grant of land at stations be limited to sites for 

 depot buildings, wood or coal sheds and water tanks. * * * And 

 that the structures erected by said railroad company within the Park 

 shall not in any instance include machine shops, repair shops, supply 

 stations, hotels, retaurants, eating houses, stores or any building 

 except a depot, including telegraph or telephone office, residence for 

 station agent and one building for residence of section hands: and 

 said right of way and locations for depot grounds shall not in any in- 

 stance iDclude objects designated as natural curiosities or matters of 

 interest to tourists, or be surrounded or inclosed by fences, walls or 

 hedges that shall obstruct the view of any contiguous objects, or bar 

 the passage to them of pedestrians or vehicles. 



If the purpose of the projectors of this enterprise is fully disclosed 

 in bill 980 their object is not in any degree thwarted by acceptance 

 of amendments suggested in the interest of the people and m fur- 

 therance of the views expressed so forcibly in the legislation creat- 

 ine the Park But the property grants asked for naturally excite dis- 

 trust as those usually sought* and [accorded in the interest of local 

 trade, progressive enterprise and the aggregating populati on— three 

 conditions that antagonize the letter and spirit of the law estaohsh- 



1D ff ^righto? way 1 "' should be granted, I respectfully suggest that it 



