National Park Notes 



365 



no funds whatsoever were made available for the following National 

 Parks recently established: Hawaii National Park in the Territory of 

 Hawaii, Lassen Volcanic Park in California, Mount McKinley National 

 Park in the Territory of Alaska. . . . 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 



The Rocky Mountain National Park enjoyed a larger tourist patron- 

 age during the 1917 season than any other National Park. The organic 

 act creating this park contained the following inhibition on appropria- 

 tions for its protection, improvement, and maintenance : 



Provided, That no appropriation for the maintenance, super- 

 vision, or improvement of said park in excess of $10,000 annually 

 shall be made unless the same shall have first been expressly au- 

 thorized by law. 



On account of this provision no more than $10,000 a year has been avail- 

 able, and as this amount has been just about sufficient to properly protect 

 the park,it has been impossible to undertake any improvement project. The 

 fact is, the appropriation of $10,000 is barely sufficient for protective 

 purposes now. The act of February 14, 1917, added to the park the re- 

 gion mentioned above as the Estes Park area, the Twin Sister Moun- 

 tains, and other territory, in all 25,265 acres, thus increasing the area to 

 be protected to 254,327 acres, and adding problems of traffic control, 

 camp supervision, sanitation, and a multitude of other similar problems 

 requiring an increase in the ranger force and the assumption of other 

 financial obligations. There was no part of the appropriation available 

 for improvement purposes this year, and yet the obligation remained to 

 care for all visitors to the region. Our records show that prior to Oc- 

 tober 12, 117,186 visitors entered the park boundaries. . . . 



YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 



The reorganization of the concession system of the park was the most 

 important accomplishment of the year. There had been numerous cor- 

 porations and individuals engaged in furnishing transportation service, 

 hotel and camp accommodations, photographic supplies, etc., and many 

 of them had for years rendered indifferent service to the public. . . . 

 There naturally followed constant friction among so many groups of 

 concessioners. This was particularly true of the transportation compa- 

 nies. Many of the concessions in the park were operated in an uneco- 

 nomical manner, and the cost of this inefficiency in management was , 

 borne by the traveling public, not in the form of exorbitant charges for 

 service, but in unsatisfactory and insufficient service. . . . 



The department finally concluded to grant a single transportation con- 

 cession. The grounds upon which this decision were based were : 



First. Because it would be uneconomical to permit the establishment 

 of more than one transportation line on the Yellowstone roads with each 

 touching the same point, just as it would be uneconomical to run more 

 than one street-car line on a single street; also because each would re- 



