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Sierra Club Bulletin 



istered during 1914 and 1915 constitutes the best index of the sound, 

 substantial growth of the park's popularity. The records indicate that in 

 1914, 673 cars entered the park; in 1915, 3895; and in 1916, prior to Oc- 

 tober 12, 3938, This season 14,166 tourists entered the park in private 

 machines. It is generally understood that automobile parties remain in 

 the park a longer time than any other class of tourists. This is par- 

 ticularly true of those who visited the floor of the valley in their cars. 



It has been indicated that the removal of restrictions on motor traffic 

 is one of the important factors that has influenced park development 

 during the season of 1916. Prior to this season no private machines 

 were ever allowed to run on the floor of the valley, but the opening this 

 season of these roads was largely responsible for the great influx of 

 private cars and the extraordinary length of time spent by motorists in 

 the park. Next season it is expected that motor travel will be double 

 that of this season. This is a conservative estimate. 



It is inevitable that for several years Yosemite Park will be just as 

 popular with the motorists as Yellowstone, and yet the roads in this 

 park are so inferior to those of Yellowstone that it is useless to compare 

 them. Appropriations should be made at once to extensively improve 

 the Tioga road and Big Oak Flat road, and to continue the regrading of 

 the El Portal road. These highways should be put in as good condition 

 as the state highways with which they connect. The Wawona road 

 should also be improved, but this is a toll road, and until private interest 

 in the same is extinguished and it becomes a public highway its recon- 

 struction cannot be undertaken. The Wawona and Chinquapin toll roads 

 are the only remaining roads in the national parks that are not under 

 the control of the National Park Service. They constitute a constant 

 source of administrative difficulty, and their private control is inconsis- 

 tent with the best interests of the park. The additional cost of using this 

 road, which the tourist traveling in his own conveyance has to bear, dis- 

 courages travel via Fresno and Merced and other cities in their vicinity. 



Dignified gateways should be constructed at the several entrances, par- 

 ticularly at the points where the Wawona, El Portal, and Tioga roads 

 enter the park boundaries. 



MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK 



The Rainier National Park Company was granted a comprehensive con- 

 cession, including the privilege of operating hotels, camps, transportation 

 service, stores, and garages. A first-class hotel camp is under construc- 

 tion in Paradise Valley, and will be opened up for the season of 1917. 

 This company also operates an automobile service between Tacoma and 

 Seattle and various points in the park. On account of the exceedingly 

 heavy winter, the season opened very late in the park last year. It is 

 highly desirable that other sections of the park be opened up so as to 

 make accessible the incomparable Spray and Moraine parks lying on the 

 northern slope of the mountain. A road up the Carbon River would ac- 

 complish this purpose, and a survey has already been made. 



