448 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



f July 1, 1886. 



first thine: is to cajole him or buy him, and if that can not 

 be done the next thing is to destroy him. I do not expect to 

 be personally exempt from the ordinary fate of public life, and 

 I mention this only to emphasize my statement that these ex- 

 traordinary means to pass this most extraordinary bill with 

 a route already fixed upon the face of it, come and come 

 nlone from the idea that they want not to carry out the ore 

 from thece mines but to carry passengers into the Park. 



Mr. President, I said, and I said it deliberately, that the 

 construction of this railroad meant the destruction of that 

 park, and I repeat it distinctly. 1 do not mean to say, that 

 the construction of this railroad will immediately frighten 

 away all the game from the park and burn the forests and 

 close up the geysers hermetically, but 1 do mean to say that 

 the construction of this or any other railroad within its terri- 

 torial limits breaks down the purpose and object for which 

 that park was created and it ceases to be a park. 



The original idea was that this National Park should re- 

 main in original condition exempt from the ordinary mer- 

 cantile and commercial interests of this great couutry. Once 

 let in this railroad, the agent of commerce, and you destroy 

 the park. Afterward the number of railroads that go into 

 the park amounts simply to nothing, for the idea upon which 

 the park was based will have been destroyed and destroyed 

 forever. If this railroad be constructed in the most beauti- 

 ful portion of the park, it will be a very few months until 

 another bill will be proposed to construct a railroad from 

 Green River upon the Union Pacific up to Lewis Lake and 

 connecting with the Northern Pacific. Three years ago 

 when I passed on horseback along this route the survey had 

 been made up to the park, and I saw the pegs which the 

 engineers had driven for the projected road of which I now 

 speak. A bill was pending here in the last Congress for the 

 •onstruction of this road by Lewis Lake, pressed I do not 

 know in what interest, but 1 very much suspect in the same 

 interest as the bill now pending before this body. Construct 

 this road and then road after road will demand admission 

 from every direction into the Yellowstone Park, and that is 

 the end of the idea upon which it was originally organized, 



Mr. President, I shall indulge in no rhetoric m speaking 

 of the wonderful scenery, of the geysers, of the Yellowstone 

 Falls. I shall leave that to others if they see proper to ad- 

 dress the Senate on a subject which admits of the largest 

 amount of descriptive power without going beyond the 

 truth. But leaving aside the sesthetical idea of a park for 

 tke people, for the preservation of the great game of this 

 continent, and appealing only to the mercenary idea, let me 

 say to the Senate that the construction of this railroad 

 means the destruction of the timber upon the headwaters of 

 the Missouri River, thereby affecting the whole Southern 

 country to the mouth of the Mississippi. It goes without 

 saying that the existence of those forests to-day is the most 

 potent agency toward preventing overflows in the lower and 

 Southern country. The forests in their primeval condition, 

 with their ferns and mosses and leaves and verdure, absorb 

 the heavy and enormous raius which periodically fall in that 

 portion of our country and prevent their sweeping down 

 over a bald surface until they press to satiety the lower 

 rivers and cause the overflows which are so destructive to 

 property in some of the Southern States. 



Mr. Vorhees— May 1 ask the Senator what is the pro- 

 posed length of this road in the Park ? 



Air. Vest— There is no survey, as I have said ; but the ac- 

 counts as to distance differ. My own personal knowledge 

 leads me to say that this road will run lrom 60 to 65 miles 

 inside the National Park. The Senator from South Carolina 

 [Mr. Butler] says no. Here is the evidence so complete and 

 conclusive tnai no human being can doubt it. Here is the 

 testimony of General Sheridan and of Mr. W. Halleit Phil- 

 lips aud an officer of the Geological Survey, Mr. Hague, all 

 of whom make substantially the same statement. 



It has been said— and I will read these statements at leisure 

 if any Senator desires to hear them or I will have them read 

 — it has been said by some of these witnesses that the dis 

 tance is 46 to 50 miles; but 1 assert from what 1 know of 

 the country between Cinnabar, on the route proposed, up 

 the Yellowstone River, and then up the East Fork, and 

 then up Soda Butte Cnek to the Clark's Fork mines, that it 

 is nearer 65 than 46 miles. 



Mr. Ingalls— Do you mean 65 miles south of the northern 

 boundary? 



Mk. Vest— I mean 65 miles on this proposed route. 



Mr. Ingalls— Not 65 milts south of the northern bound- 

 ary of the Park. 



Mr. Vest — No; the most extreme point south of the north- 

 ern boundary is about 11 miles; that is, a direct line lrom 

 the northern" boundary of the Paik to the most extreme poiut 

 on this proposed route; but I am speaking now of the longi- 

 tudinal distance from where it enters the Park on the north, 

 near Cinnabar, which is the terminus ot the branch of the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad nearest the Park, up the Yellow- 

 stone River to its eastern fork and the Soda Butte Creek to 

 the Clark's Fork mines. That I say is 65 miles or in that 

 viciuity. 



Mr. 'Voorhees— I do not wish to interrupt the Senator, 

 but as this subject is somewhat new to me 1 should like to 

 have bis comment on this part of the report accompanying 

 the bill. The report says : 



This company was organized under the laws of the Territory of 

 Monti ua to construct a railroad from Cinnabar, the terminus of 1he 

 Livingston branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad, on the \ellow- 

 stone River, about live miles north of the northern boundary of the 

 Paik to reach Clark's Forks mining; district, in Southern Montana, 

 lying a few milts north of the northeast corner of the Park. 



E tch end of this road, according to this report, is outside 

 the Park. , 



Mr. Vest— That is true. But if the Senator from Indiana 

 will simply look at the map of the Yellowstone Park which 

 I have here, and which has the railway marked on it, he 

 will see exactly where that route runs. 



For General Sherman 1 have very great regard, and how- 

 ever much we may differ from him in regard to his conclu- 

 sions, he is always frank and honest in their utterance. 

 When General Sherman was in the Park, the year belore I 

 was there the first time, he came to the conclusion that the 

 game could never be preserved in that Park, and that the 

 idea that the great game of this country, the bison, the elk, 

 and the black tail deer, could be preserved at all was simply 

 Utopian and ideal ; but to one who has been accustomed to 

 field sports and the habits of game it is not difficult to con- 

 ceive how a preserve could be created, with even imperfect 

 guardianship, which would very soon induce the large game 

 to congregate there and consider themselves safe from all 

 assault. Instinct far surpasses intellect when we consider 

 the wonderful intelligence of animals in selecting localities 

 in which they are safe from the pursuit of the huntsman. 



Let there be, as there has been upon the Potomac River, a 

 preserve like that of the Woodmont Club, with 10,000 acres 



of land only, and with only three gamekeepers. In less 

 than eighteen mouths after that preserve was created the 

 deer from all the adjacent mountains, finding this a com- 

 paratively safe refuge, when started from their covers im- 

 mediately made this preserve the objective point, until to-day 

 there are more deer found upon that 10,000 acres, 1 under- 

 take to say, than on any other 10,000 acres in the Eastern 

 States. 



Now, let me read, if the Senator pleases, while upon this 

 idea, a letter coming from a practical hunter and woodsman 

 whose opinion and testimony is worth all the rhetoric and all 

 the appeals that may be made in this Chamber within the 

 next five hours. When in the Yellowstone Park I made the 

 acquaintance of Mr. Hofer, one of those men fast disappear- 

 ing now from the frontier, who live in the forest — men who, 

 like Daniel Boone and Kenton, when their cattle mingled 

 with those of a neighbor twenty-five miles distant, thought 

 the towns and cities Were encroaching upon the domain 

 which they loved so well, and immediately moved further 

 west. This man Hofer lives in the mountains. He knows 

 by iustinct almost equal to that of the animals themselves 

 their habits. Here is his testimony in regard to the result 

 of even the imperfect guardianship which we have been 

 enabled under an act of Congress to put over this splendid 

 park. Mark you, it is a part of 3,300 square miles, with 

 such rivers and mountains and lakes and waterfalls, to say 

 nothing of the wonderful geysers, as the whole world beside 

 does not furnish. Mr. Hofer, writing to Mr. Hallett Phillips, 

 says, speaking of the proposed railroad: 



The country which they propose to go through is about all the 

 ground that is used as a winter range or feeding ground for elk, 

 bison and antelope, within the limits of the Park. If it is cut off and 

 a railroad run through, you may as well kill off the game at once, for 

 it will be. driven off. " The idea that teams, etc., frighten off the game 

 is foolish. All winter elk have fed in sight and close to the wagon 

 road. I have the Government stock now on the east fork of Gardiner. 

 Often the elk come down among the mules and horses and leed with 

 them. All winter elk, antelope and mountain sheep have heen with 

 our stock. It is the shooting and loud noises that scare off the game. 

 A thousand teams would be hauling freight to Cook all winter and 

 the game never leave on their account; so long as they do not shoot 

 at them, so long will the game have no fear of teams. It is in winter 

 that the game wants to be protected. In summer tbey can go any 

 where, but in winter there is only a small portion of the Park where 

 they can stay. The railroad would take that from them. I have 

 been here long enough to know how it will work. All of you who are 

 interested in the Park know it only in summer. You should know 

 that the snow is so deep in winter, through the Park, that game must 

 come out to live. 



He then shows that the country through which the rail- 

 road would penetrate is the only locality where the game 

 comes out to feed. He concludes by saying that the objection 

 to a railroad across the Snow Mountains on account of the 

 depth of snow, is untenable, that all the narrow gauge rail- 

 roads in Colorado run through more snow than ever falls in 

 the Snow Mountains; the snowfall in Colorado being from 

 five to ten feet more. 



Mr. President, that letter may be roughly written, but it 

 comes from a huntsman, a man who has lived|in those moun- 

 tains for years, who has had charge of the Government stock 

 during the last winter, who testifies now that the elk and the 

 antelope and the bison and the deer come down to feed with 

 his stock. That is worth all the declarations of these specu- 

 lators that could be piled on these tables until they reached 

 the ceiling. 



It is said here that the wagon-roads scare off the game. 

 Under the present administration in that Park the game has 

 increased and more than doubled within the last two years, 

 a change for the better which is almost beyond description. 

 But now if this railroad is constructed all that has been done 

 for the preservation of the game goes for nothing. Every 

 Senator who has been in the vicinity of that Park or within 

 its territorial limits knows that for twelve and fourteen and 

 fifteen months at a time not one single drop of rain falls. 



In traveling on horseback from the Union Pacific to the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad, as I did three years ago, we 

 traveled for days over fallen timbers, intertwined, ihrown 

 there by the fires which originated from a single spark, per- 

 haps from the carelessness of some camper or huuter who 

 had left his camp-fire burning and gone on his next day's 

 journey. During these terrible seasons of drought the for- 

 ests become like tinder and a single spark starts a conflagra- 

 tion vhich destroys hundreds of miles of magnificent timber. 

 Is it necessary for me to call the attention of the Senate to 

 the danger that would be a thousand times multiplied by the 

 construction of a railroad through such a country as that? 



Mark you, sir, this proposed route goes up the Yellow- 

 stone River, through the most beautiful forests in that whole 

 park. It is almost impossible now, with ten assistant superin- 

 tendents, all mountaineers, to keep the fires from destroying 

 all the timber on the headwaters of the Missouri and Colum- 

 bia rivers. Now are we, without a preliminary survey, under 

 the influence— 1 will not say the influence, but under the 

 persistent labor of these speculators and their attorneys— to 

 put this railroad through that park, have this timber de- 

 stroyed, and give up the idea on which the park was origi- 

 nally constructed, and for what? Upon the assertion that 

 they desire to reach some undeveloped mines of enormous 

 wealth, according to their statement, and yet they are not 

 willing to furnish fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars 

 with which to make a survey of a route to them. I must 

 be excused if 1 doubt the statement that they desire to carry 

 out the ore; I must be excused if I further doubt the state- 

 ment that there is no other route by which they can reach 

 those mines . I have here a letter from Lieutenant Bailey, of 

 the United States Army: 



Headquarters Fifth United States Infantry, 



Fort Keogh, Mont , May 31, 1884. 



Senator— I am in receipt of a letter from Colonel Gregory, of 

 General Sheridan's staff, iuforming me that you are interested m 

 affairs concerning the Yellowstone Park and desirous of obtaining in- 

 formation relative to the practibility of building a railroad from the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad into Cook City [which is the Clark s Jork 

 murine distiu-t] bv way of Boulder Creek. [That does not touch the 

 Yellowstone Park' at all.l In reply thereto 1 have the honor to inform 

 you that in the fall of 1-7S I marched up that creek to near its Dead 

 with wagons and had scouts maae from my camp to the head or the 

 creek. From recollection - my notes having been lost or destroyea- 

 1 am of the opinion that a railroad can oe built up Boulder Creek to 

 its head and that a pass can be found over the divide through which 

 it would be practicable to build a railroad. After eroding the divide 

 bv skirting along the foot of the mountains, a gradual descent into 

 Cook City can be obtained. From aoout 6 miles above the Natural 

 Bridge dense timber will be encountered on Boulder Creek, but a 

 r. ad way could easily be opened and. the timber utilized in many 



W My opinion is based not only upon my own observations and the 

 reports of my scouts, but also upon the statement of oiy guide, who 

 halt hunted through that region for years, that if it became neces- 

 sary for me to go into the Park by that route, he could take me 

 there bv crossing the divide at the head of Boulder Creek, aud then 

 down either Hell Roaring or Soda Butte Creek, the latter affording 

 the most easy passage of the two. I was informed belore going into 

 Boulder Creek; by men who claimed to have a thorough knowledge 

 of the Snow Mountains, that there were only two passes over them, 

 one bv Boulder Creek, the other hy Clark's Fork, and the passes 

 shown on the accompanying map confirni their statements. I return 

 herewith the map sent me by Colonel Gregory with my proposed 

 route marked thereon in red ink. If more definite and accurate in- 



formation is desired, I am willing to make a survey of the route 

 Trusting that information contained herein may be of service to you, 

 I am, Senator, your obpdient servant, H. K. Bailey, 



First Lieutenant and Adjutant, Fifth Infantry. 

 Hon. George G. Vest, United States Senate Chamber, Washington, 

 D. C. 



There is the statement of an Army officer who has been 

 over the Boulder route, and who says it is practicable for the 

 construction of a railroad. But, Mr. President, there is a 

 feature in this bill to which I ask the attention of the Senate. 



Mr. Allison— May I ask the Senator a question before he 

 proceeds further? 



Mr. Vest— Certainly. 



Mr. Allison— I ask whether this bill is recommended 

 either by the Interior Department or War Department? 



Mr. Vest— It is not; and upon the contrary the Secretary 

 of the Interior has laid before the Senate in a report here, 

 which covers every detail of this measure, his opposition to 

 it and his reason for that opposition. 



I am authorized to say that the Secretary of "War is 

 opposed to it, and the commanding General of the Army, 

 General Sheridan, who is familiar with that country and has 

 been over it time and time again, is also opposed to it, and 

 his letter is here before the Senate. 



Mr. Butler— I think it should be stated in that con- 

 nection that the present Secretary of the Interior as a Sena- 

 tor and a member of the Committee on Railroads reported 

 in favor of this identical bill. 



Mr. Allison — I see by the original act that the Secretary 

 of the Interior is charged with the control and care of this 

 park. 



Mr. Vest— He is. The Secretary of the Interior has con- 

 trol of this park uuder the law. 



In reply to the Senator from South Carolina [Mr. Butler] 

 I have simply to remark that while the Secretary of the 

 Interior was a member of that committee as a Senator, I 

 undertake to say now, for I have it from him, that he knew 

 nothing about this bill, that he paid no attention to it, that 

 there were personal and family circumstances then existing 

 which prevented his attention to it. 



Mr. Butler — I am only governed by the record. 



Mr Vest— I will explain that record, and I put against 

 that record the official statement of the Secretary of the In- 

 terior to-day, when he is acting as Secretary of the Interior, 

 and by virtue of that office is custodian of this park. He 

 opposes this measure in every way postible. I undertake to 

 say that every man who knows anything of the park and is 

 interested in its preservation is opposed to it. Mr. W. Hallett 

 Phillips, who was sent there as agent of the Interior Depart- 

 ment, gives his reasons in opposition to it. Mr. Hague, 

 whom I met in the park as a member of the Geological 

 Survey, gives his reasons at length against it. The p'ark 

 superintendent is against it; and old Jack Barronet, the 

 father of the guides in the West, has written me in opposi- 

 tion to this railroad. I stand here to day and say from my 

 own personal knowledge of that country and of the Park 

 that the construction of this railroad is absolutely the de- 

 struction of the Park itself. 



Now, Mr. President, a few words as to the extraordinary 

 provisions of this bill. Section 4 provides: 



That if said road shall not be constructed and in running order within 

 three years from and after the passage of this act, the right of way 

 hereby granted shall thereupon be forfeiied, and this condition is 

 expressly understood to be a condition precedent as to all rights 

 granted hereby; and in case of a breach of the condition of this sec- 

 tion, all rights granted hereby shall revert to the United States by 

 operation of th's provision, without the necessity of any action by 

 Congress: Provided. That the grant hereby shall not be held or con- 

 strued as exclusive, so as to prevent the allowance of the locating 

 other roads along the valley or route adopted under this act, under 

 such grants and regulations as Congress may make and provide and 

 the courts equitably administer. 



Why is that provision put in this bill? Why was it neces- 

 sary to suggest that other roads might be coastructed along 

 this same river? Why is the idea sedulously inculcated in 

 this provision of the bill that this shall not be the only rail- 

 road that goes into the Park? 



As I said before, there was a bill pending here in the last 

 Congress for the construction of a road from Green River on 

 the Union Pacific up by Lewis Lake to Cinnabar. That bill 

 has not been presented at this session. It is held in abeyance 

 and reserve; but just so soon as the present bill is enacted 

 into a law, this other set of speculators will come to Congress 

 and we are estopped from denying them the right to enter 

 the Park because we have given the privilege to the gentle- 

 men now asking it. If we once break up the idea of this 

 being a Park exclusively, that is the end of the act of 1878, 

 and for myself I have no more concern with that Park or 

 anything pertaining to it. 



Mr. President, 1 have spoken earnestly. I have no interest 

 in this matter except as a citizen and a Senator. 1 have no 

 feeling except the feeling of one who knows the truth of 

 what he says and desires to impress it upon his fellow Sen- 

 ators. I impute no motive other than a proper one to any- 

 body. I indignantly repudiate the ascription of any improper 

 motive to myself. 



I do not propose to urge upon the Senate that they shall 

 interfere with the commerce of the couutry, that they shall 

 break up the great railroad system of the country in order to 

 preserve the wild game of the West, or in order to preserve 

 the geysers and lakes and waterfalls and mountains of that 

 wonderful region. , 



I do not believe this railroad is necessary. I believe it is 

 certain that the real purpose is not put upon the face, of this 

 bill. It was said two years ago when this bill was first 

 brought here that they were willing: to put a provision in it, 

 and the then Commissioner of Railroads, who was a stock- 

 holder in the mines, stated to various Senators, myself in- 

 cluded, that they were willing to put in a provision, that 

 nothing bet freight should be carried upon the cars of this 

 projected company. But, sir, the bill is changed; it now 

 provides for freight and passengers, with depots at each ten 

 miles. It proposes to run to the Soda Butte Springs, the 

 most wonderful mineral springs in the whole of the Western 

 States aud Territories. It is a passenger road. The idea is 

 to get into the Park, and then when the main line is con- 

 structed up the Yellowstone River it follows as a corollary, 

 as a logical sequence, that branches are to be constructed 

 and run down the geysers, to the Yellowstone Lake, and to 

 the falls of the Yellowstone. 



Once put a railroad of that sort m the Park, and 1 tor one 

 will vote to throw the whole park into the public domain 

 and let the first and fastest man enter Old Faithful for laun- 

 dry purposes and take the great falls of the Yellowstone for 

 a mill I would not give one farthing for that Park if this 

 bill become a law. I would not entertain the idea of wasting 

 one hour of my time hereafter upon the Park if this legisla- 

 tion is once had and this entering step is once taken by this 

 Conexesss. . T 



Mr. Butler— Mr. President, I am very sorry that I can 



