National Parks. 



2Ss 



Senator Smoot, who introduced the bill, says that each of these 

 national parks would become an exhaustless gold mine if their 

 wonders were made accessible to the public. The American Civic 

 Association has shown an especial interest in this matter, and as 

 President J. Horace McFarland of the association pointed out, 

 the preservation of the scenic places in America is doubly im- 

 portant. They will develop a love of country, and, if used as 

 places of recreation, will increase the health and efficiency of the 

 people. Both the Sierra Club of California and the Appalachian 

 Club of Boston have endorsed this measure. — American Civic 

 Association Press Clipping Sheet. 



A Bill Affecting the Yosemite National Park. 



At a recent meeting of the Board of Directors of the Sierra 

 Club the following resolution was unanimously adopted: 



''Resolved, That the Sierra Club is strongly opposed to H. R. 

 Bill No. 21,954, providing for a change in the western boundary 

 of the Yosemite National Park and the exclusion from the park 

 of nearly 50,000 acres which is an essential part of this great 

 wonderland, containing as it does splendid forests, meadows and 

 streams and admirably adapted to camping, especially for those 

 who are traveling by way of the Tioga Road and the trails 

 which lead to the famous Tuolumne Meadow region. This whole 

 situation was carefully canvassed and the present boundary de- 

 termined after due deliberation by the commission specially 

 appointed for that very purpose, and to alter the boundary as 

 now proposed would be in our opinion a grievous mistake ; and 

 the Secretary of this Club is instructed to communicate this 

 resolution to our Senators and Representatives in Congress and 

 urge them to oppose any change in the boundaries and to request 

 that in lieu thereof legislation be enacted whereby the present 

 private holdings within the park may be acquired by an exchange 

 for public lands or timber situated without the present park 

 boundaries. 



The following is a summary of reasons for retaining in the 

 Yosemite Park the area of over fifty thousand acres proposed to 

 be eliminated by H. R. Bill No. 21,954: 



I. Because this area contains some of the finest specimens of 

 coniferous trees to be found anywhere in the world. John Muir, 

 who is strongly opposed to the elimination of this area, says of 

 this very land that its noble forest is made up of two silver firs 

 and the yellow and sugar pines, "which here seem to reach their 

 highest pitch of beauty and grandeur. . . . Here, indeed, is the 

 tree-lover's paradise. The dullest eye in the world must surely 

 be quickened by such trees as these." (See "My First Summer 

 in the Sierra," by John Muir, pp. 123-142.) Some of the forest 

 area is included in private holdings, but much of it is still 



