National Park Notes 



lOI 



season. It is also planned to have appropriate gateways placed at the dif- 

 ferent entrances of all the parks, and the Department will welcome any 

 suggestions for any specific entrance. It is our purpose to have these 

 gateways harmonize with the particular park for which they are in- 

 tended. At the present time there are only two gateways of any dignity; 

 one the Gardiner entrance to Yellowstone National Park, and the other 

 the great gateway of cedar logs which marks the southern entrance of 

 Mount Rainier National Park. Stephen T. Mather 



Extracts From the Annual Report of the Secretary of the 

 Interior (191 5.) 

 Places of Beauty as an Asset 



In casting up the assets of the United States as a landed proprietor 

 I have made no mention of one of the most delightful of our national 

 enterprises. To build a railroad, reclaim lands, give new impulse to en- 

 terprise, and offer new doors to ambitious capital — these are phases of 

 the ever-widening life and activity of this Nation. The United States 

 does more ; it furnishes playgrounds to the people which are, we may 

 modestly state, without any rivals in the world. Just as the cities are 

 seeing the wisdom and the necessity of open spaces for the children, so 

 with a very large view the Nation has been saving from its domain the 

 rarest places of grandeur and beauty for the enjoyment of the world. 



And this fact has been discovered by many only this year. Having an 

 incentive in the expositions on the Pacific Coast, and Europe being 

 closed, thousands have for the first time crossed the continent and seen 

 one or more of the national parks. That such mountains and glaciers, 

 lakes and canons, forests and waterfalls were to be found in this coun- 

 try was a revelation to many, who had heard but had not believed. It 

 would appear from the experience of this year that the real awakening 

 as to the value of these parks has at last been realized, and that those 

 who have hitherto found themselves enticed by the beauty of the Alps 

 and the Rhine, and the soft loveliness of the valleys of France, may find 

 equal if not more stimulating satisfaction in the mountains, rivers, and 

 valleys which this Government has set apart for them and for all others. 



It may reconcile those who think that money expended upon such 

 luxuries is wasted — if any such there are — to be told that the sober- 

 minded traffic men of the railroads estimate that this year more than a 

 hundred million dollars usually spent in European travel was divided 

 among the railroads, hotels, and their supporting enterprises in this 

 country. 



During the year a new national park of distinction and unusual ac- 

 cessibility has come into existence. It crosses the Rockies in Colorado 

 at a point of supreme magnificence ; hence its title, the Rocky Mountain 

 National Park. Through it, from north to south, winds the Continental 



