64 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



Great Northern Railway to the Canadian border. The eastern boundary 

 is the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and the western boundary is formed 

 by the Flathead River. The park, which is irregular in shape^ has an 

 area of approximately 915,000 acres. Its greatest length in a north- 

 westerly-southeasterly direction is about 60 miles, with a maximum 

 width approaching 40 miles. 



Within its borders are attractions for the scientist, nature lover, and 

 tourist unsurpassed in any country in the world, tourists of world-wide 

 experience pronouncing it the Switzerland of America. The elevations 

 in the park range from 3,100 feet to over 10,400, The central portion of 

 the area on the northwestern-southeastern axis is high and rugged and 

 in sharp comparison with the open plains of the east and the valley of 

 the North Fork of the Flathead River on the west. Within its confines 

 are 60 active glaciers, these ice sheets being the sources of beautiful 

 cascades and roaring mountain streams flowing into innumerable, clear, 

 placid lakes for which the park is famed, the most noted of these being 

 Lake McDonald, Lake St. Marys, Lake Louise, Iceberg Lake, Red Eagle 

 Lake, Kintla Lake, Bowman Lake, Waterton Lake, Logging Lake, 

 Quartz Lake, Harrison Lake, and Two Medicine Lake. Lake McDonald, 

 the southern end of which is situated 2^ miles from Belton, a station 

 on the main line of the Great Northern Railway, is one of the most 

 beautiful lakes in America. It is about 3,150 feet above sea level, 

 nearly 10 miles long, two miles wide, and surrounded by mountains 

 covered with virgin forests of western larch, cedar, white pine, Douglas 

 fir, spruce, and hemlock. Upper Lake St. Marys is on the eastern side 

 of the mountains, about 32 miles northwest of Midvale. It is about 10 

 miles long, with a maximum width of one mile, and toward the upper 

 end the mountains rise in rugged walls not far from the water'^s edge. 

 Its elevation is about 4,470 feet above sea level. The principal glaciers 

 in the park are Blackfoot, Grinnell, Harrison, Pumpelly, Red Eagle, 

 Sperry, Kintla, Agassiz, and Chaney, and there are areas in which the 

 "hanging" glacier type is well illustrated. In most of the lakes of the 

 park there is excellent fishing at certain times of the year, and at others 

 many of the streams afford fine sport with hook and line. Within the 

 park boundaries there are many varieties of game which are indigenous 

 to this section of the country, such as bear, elk, moose, deer, big-horn 

 sheep, mountain goat, mountain Hon, as well as the smaller furred ani- 

 mals of the forest. On April i, 1912, a carload of elk was received from 

 the Yellowstone National Park and turned loose in the park at Belton, 

 the western entrance. ' 



From May 2, 1912, to October i, 1912, 6,257 visitors entered the park. 



I concur most emphatically in the recommendation of my predecessor 

 that Congress comply with the request of the State of Montana con- 

 tained in the act of the State Legislature ceding jurisdiction and formally 

 notify the Governor of Montana that its tender is accepted. 



R. H. Chapman, 

 Acting Superintendent. 



