National Pa/rks. 



practical means of preserving their wild grandeur from human 

 desecration; "specimens of the best of nature's treasures have 

 been lovingly gathered here and arranged in simple, systematic 

 beauty within regular bounds." 



Of the national parks that have been created by congressional 

 action, the following are entitled to rank as worthy of being 

 called national institutions : The Yellowstone, the Yosemite, the 

 Sequoia, the General Grant, the Mount Rainier, the Crater Lake, 

 the Glacier, the Mesa Verde, and there should be added the 

 Grand Canon of the Colorado, for the creation of which a bill 

 is now pending in Congress. The areas of these and other 

 parks, together with dates of establishment, are shown in the 

 following table : 



Date of Establishment and Area of National Parks. 



Date of estab- 

 lishment. 



Area. 



Yellowstone in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Mar. i, 



Yosemite, in California Oct. i, 



Sequoia, in California Sept. 25, 



General Grant, in California Oct. i. 



Mount Rainier, in Washington Mar. 2, 



Crater Lake, in Oregon May 22, 



Wind Cave, in South Dakota Jan. 9, 



Sullys Hill, in North Dakota Apr. 27, 



Piatt, in Oklahoma { ^p?. 21^ 



Casa Grande Ruin, in Arizona Mar. 2, 



Mesa Verde, in Colorado June 29, 



(Five-mile strip for protection of ruins) do. 



Hot Springs Reservation, in Arkansas June 16, 



Glacier, in Montana May 11, 



Total 



1872 



1890 



1890 



1890 



1899 



1902 



1903 



1904 



1902 \ 



1904 J 



1889 



1906 



1880 

 1910 



Acres. 

 2,142,720.00 

 719,622.00 

 161,597.00 

 2,536.00 

 207,360.00 

 159,360.00 

 10,522.00 

 780.00 



848.22 

 480.00 

 42,376.00 



175,360.00 

 911-63 



981,681.00 



4,606,153.85 



The interest of the public in the parks has been greatly aug- 

 mented of recent years, as is evidenced by the increased amount 

 of travel thereto and the many demands for literature relating 

 to these reservations. The interest in these national parks is not 

 confined to the people of the United States, but extends to 

 foreign countries. The Swiss Government, at its request, has 

 been supplied with reports of the superintendents in charge and 

 laws and regulations governing the various national parks. 

 Similar information has been furnished the forestry branch of 

 the department of the interior of Canada ; also the Verein 

 Naturschutzpark of Stuttgart, Germany, an association the object 

 of which is the establishment of parks or reservations for the 

 preservation and protection of the game, fauna, and flora of 

 Germany and Austria, to be modeled after the Yellowstone 

 National Park, though on a smaller scale. Information on the 

 subject of the Yellowstone Park in particular has been furnished 



