202 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 6, 1887. 



the state of things then existing there, yet the interests of 

 the public were to be considered before anything else; 

 that if the travel to the Park was to continue to any large 

 extent, adequate accommodation must be afforded travel- 

 ers, and that the Department should see that privileges 

 within the Park were accorded to persons of such finan- 

 cial standing that they could carry out at once any agree- 

 ments that they might make with the Government for 

 the accommodation of the public. 



~On the third of October, 1885, Frederick Billings, of 

 Vermont; J. D. Perry, of St. Louis: J. C. Bullitt, of 

 Philadelphia; C. Gibson, of St. Louis; T. B. Casey, of 

 Minneapolis; M. D. Carrington, of Toledo; and C. B. 

 Wright, of Philadelphia, applied to the Department for a 

 lease of ten acres of land in the Park; These persons 

 were most, or all, of them men of large wealth and were 

 officers of, or largely interested in, the Northern Pacific 

 Railroad. They asked for two acres of land in the Norris 

 Geyser Basin, two acres in the Upper Geyser Basin, west 

 of Old Faithful, one acre on the shore of the Yellowstone 

 Lake, west of south of the Assistant Superintendents' 

 building, and two acres at the Grand Canon. The re- 

 mainder of the land they did not then designate, but 

 proposed to locate it at some time in the near future. 

 Their apphcation was approved by the Superintendent of 

 the Yellowstone National Park. 



In a letter dated Jan. 18, 1886, C. Gibson, in whose 

 hands the management of the aff airs of the concern seems 

 to have been from the beginning, states that an accurate 

 description of the sites will soon be furnished, and on 

 March 12 of the same year surveys were filed for the 

 sites at Norris Geyser Basin, and at the Grand Canon 

 and Mammoth Hot Springs, three of the four locations 

 made in the apphcation. On March 20, 1886, a lease was 

 executed by the Secretary of the Interior, granting to 

 Charles Gibson and his associates for a period of ten 

 years, four sites, the descriptions corresponding with the 

 surveys filed for the Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Gey- 

 ser Basin, Grand Canon and Yellowstone Lake, but it was 

 provided that the lease at the Yellowstone Lake was not 

 to take effect until the site had been definitely located 

 and the plans of the building had been approved by the 

 Department, that the plans for buildings at other sites 

 should be approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and 

 that these buildings should be completed by January 1, 

 1887, except that at the Grand Canon, which was to be 

 completed by October 1, 18S6. 



The only building construct ed under this lease up to the 

 present time was that at the Norris Geyser Basin, which 

 has since been burned to the ground. 



In 1886, the Department learned that the lessees had 

 purchased the hotel erected at the Mammoth Hot Springs 

 by the defunct Yellowstone Park Improvement Company, 

 and that the same interest had also obtained by purchase 

 the hotel at the Lower Geyser Basin, said to have been 

 erected on the Marshall lease by parties claiming under 

 Marshall. They also purchased from Hobart and others 

 the hotel erected by the latter^it the Upper Geyser Basin. 

 The lessees had erected at the Grand Canon a temporary 

 building. Information came to the Department in Sep- 

 tember, 1S86, that the lessees had assigned their inter- 

 ests in the Park to the Yellowstone Park Association, a 

 corporation organized under the laws of Minnesota, with 

 a capital stock of $300,000, the board of directors being 

 C. Gibson, N. C. Thrall and J. C. Bullitt. This assign- 

 ment the Department has never approved, and it has no 

 official knowledge of the Yellowstone Park Association, 

 to which it has granted no rights of any kind in the Park. 



The Department was now requested by Mi - . Gibson to 

 ratify the purchase at the Upper and Lower Geyser Basin. 

 Change of location was asked from that granted to the 

 lessees at the Grand Canon, the new site being nearer to 

 the Canon than the original one. This request was re- 

 fused, the lessee being given to understand that he would 

 not be allowed to build nearer the Canon or Falls than 

 the site granted by the lease. 



On the first of January, 1887, the Secretary addressed a 

 letter to Mr. Gibson. He called his attention to the fact 

 that the hotel at the Mammoth Hot Springs, which he 

 desired to have substituted for the one required to be 

 built under his lease, was not on the ground leased to the 

 Yellowstone Park Improvement Co.; that if the new 

 lessee had purchased it, the Department could not ratify 

 this purchase until a correct survey had been made of the 

 site occupied by the buildings, and the formal request 

 made that the new lease be modified to embrace this land, 

 instead of that which had been granted. He also re- 

 marked that the new lessee had been operating the hotel 

 at the Upper Geyser Basin, which hotel was not built on 

 leased land, and calls his attention to the fact that his 

 lease did not include any site at the Upper Geyser Basin, 

 but that, appreciating the need of the public for accom- 

 modation at that point, the Department would not be un- 

 willing, upon proper application, to grant authority for a 

 building there. In connection with an application to this 

 end, in view of the unlawful location of the building and 

 that it is poorly constructed and inadequate to accommo- 

 date the public travel at that point, it would be 

 necessary to consider whether or not it is practicable to 

 remove it beyond the prohibited distance from the Geysers. 

 The letter says, as to the Lower Geyser Basin, that Mr. C. 



D. Davis had submitted to the Department for approval 

 an assignment to him of the Marshall lease; that the 

 Department had not approved this assignment because it 

 had been represented that the purchase was really in the 

 interest of the lessees (Yellowstone Park Association), and 

 with a view to having all the hotels at the various points 

 under one management. If such were the fact, the ap- 

 proval of the assignment to Mr. Davis would result in an 

 evasion of the spirit of the act of March 3, 1883, which 

 prohibited the leasing of more than ten acres to any one 

 person or corporation, as seven acres had already been 

 leased to them. That in the lease to him and his associ- 

 ates it was agreed that the hotel at the Grand Canon 

 should be finished by Oct. 1, 1886; that during the season 

 of 18S6, at the request of the lessees, the Department had 

 consented to the erection of a temporary building to be 

 built at that point to be removed by Aug. 1, and that the 

 permanent building had not been erected nor the tem- 

 porary one removed; that the present state of uncertainty 

 cannot be allowed to continue. The Department must be 

 satisfied as to the lessees' right to occupy the buildings 

 erected by the Yellowstone Park Improvement Company, 

 and must also have some assurance as to what they pro- 

 pose to do in regard to other matters wherein the terms 

 of their lease have not been lived up to. . The letter con- 

 cludes by asking that the compliance with the requests of 

 this letter may be prompt and complete, otherwise the 

 Department may feel constrained to give the lessees the 

 formal notice provided for in Article 10 of their lease, in 

 case of default on their part in the observance of the 

 covenants of the lease. 



Mr. Gibson replied August 2, 1887, that, as to the 

 Mammoth Hot Springs, the hotel there had been pur- 

 chased by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company under 

 a foreclosure of mortgage, and that there was an agree- 

 ment that it should be sold to the Yellowstone Park Asso- 

 ciation, and that that agreement had been complied with 

 and title papers would be sent on and the approval of the 

 Department asked. That as to the Upper Geyser Basin 

 Mr. Davis had bought the lease for the Yellowstone Park 

 Association for the sum of $6,000; that Hobart claimed 

 some interest in the building, but his claim was unfounded. 

 That as to the Lower Geyser Basin hotel, this had also 

 been bought by Mr. Davis for the Association, for the sum 

 of $6,000, and that a new lease would be submitted to the 

 Department for its approval, embracing the new improve- 

 ments. About the Grand Canon he writes: "I have had 

 surveys made of the sites leased to me and Hobart and as 

 to all the proposed sites for the new hotel at this point, 

 they are within quarter of a mile of the Canon, and are 

 therefore obnoxious to the prohibition contained in the 

 bill passed by the Senate last winter. The parties I sent 

 to survey have selected what they call the compromise 

 site. They affirmed that it is clearly one-quarter of a mile 

 beyond the Falls by any survey that can possibly be made, 

 and that it is as perfectly unobtrusive and harmless as 

 the site leased to me, or any of the sites suggested by any 

 one." ' 'As I understand it the compromise site is only a little 

 way (perhaps two hundred yards down the hill) from the 

 site leased to me." He adds that they must have a 

 place to get water. He further says that the cost of the 

 hotel at Norris which was burned was over fifty thousand 

 dollars, and that the insurance was only eighty-five hun- 

 dred. That he did not desire to build at the Cafion this 

 season, and proposes to erect a hotel after the season is 

 closed. That the fire at Norris proves that it is undesir- 

 able to build large hotels, and that there is great danger 

 to the lives of visitors from such large wooden houses. 

 "I am convinced that it is better for all parties to build a 

 good dining room, kitchen and parlor in one house, with 

 good cottages near by on the old Southern plan. I desire 

 therefore to change the plans at Grand Canon, and also 

 for a new hotel at Norris, and am having plans prepared, 

 and will submit them for your approval." In a subse- 

 quent letter Mr. Gibson excuses his failure to build be- 

 cause the Government had not constructed roads to the 

 localities where the leases were situated. This is of 

 course nonsense, as there was no provision in the lease 

 that such roads should be built. 



Such is the history of the Yellowstone Park Associa- 

 tion in the National Park from the beginning up to the 

 present time. It appears clear from this, all of which 

 can be established by documentary evidence now on file 

 in the Interior Department, that this Association has not 

 kept faith with the Department, notwithstanding the fact 

 that every allowance has been made for the difficulties 

 which might beset a new lessee. It is clear that if the Asso- 

 ciation — Mr. Gibson and those whom he represents — wish 

 to retain then rights in the Park they must cany out the 

 contract which they have made. 



The first thing to be done by this Association to give 

 themselves a legal standing with the Department is to 

 prove their title to the lands and buildings which they 

 occupy, and to request the approval by the Department 

 of all purchases and leases by which they have acquired 

 rights of any nature from other companies or individuals. 

 Until they have done this the Yellowstone Park Associa- 

 tion, as such, has not a vestige of right in the Park and is 

 a mere trespasser. The Government ought not to approve 

 an assignment by a lessee who has not himself complied 

 with the terms of Ms lease. If this is done it opens the 



way to speculation in Park privileges, and a lessee may 

 do nothing and sell his 3 ight merely to make a profit out 

 of it. 



Taking up the different sites mentioned in the letters 

 above quoted, it must be considered that the hotel at 

 Mammoth Hot Springs is large enough to accommodate 

 travel, and there seems no reason why the Yellowstone 

 Park Association should not be allowed to retain it instead 

 of building the one specified in their lease, providing 

 they show their title to the hotel they have purchased. 

 As to the Lower Geyser Basin, there is no reason wdiy 

 the suggestions of the Secretary of the Interior should not 

 be followed. The law provides that but ten acres shall 

 be leased to one individual or company, and if all the 

 Davis purchases are ratified, the Yellowstone Park Asso- 

 ciation will have more than this. We cordially approve 

 the determination of the Department not to aUow any 

 monopoly in the Park. It is true the confirmation of the 

 purchases made by the new lessees would only give them 

 title to the sites and buildings purchased, and would not 

 prevent the Department from granting additional leases 

 in their vicinity to other parties, still it would be a wise 

 policy not to permit any one person or corporation to own 

 hotels at all the points of interest. The Department 

 should encourage competition as much as possible. 



If the Yellowstone Park Association can show title to 

 the hotel at the Upper Basin they should be allowed to 

 retain it, but they should certainly make extensive im- 

 provements, if they are allowed thus to take advantage 

 of the work already done by others. At the Yellowstone 

 Lake, unless they at once build as required, their lease 

 should be forfeited. 



At the Grand Canon they should not be allowed to 

 come nearer the Falls or the Grand Canon than the lease 

 granted to them. No buildings must be erected within 

 one-quarter of a mile of any of the objects of interest or 

 the natural curiosities of the Park. Moreover, they must 

 build there at once or else then lease should be forfeited. 

 The hotel at the Norris Geyser Basin recently burned 

 should be rebuilt this winter, so as to be ready for occu- 

 pancy by the opening of travel next season. 



All this may seem hard to the Yellowstone' Park Associa- 

 tion, but it is just. They have received certain valuable 

 rights from the Government for a merely nominal sum, and 

 must fulfill their part of the contract. No one can ex- 

 pect to go into the Park under a lease from the Govern- 

 ment unless prepared to make such expenditures as shall 

 be sufficient for the accommodation of travel, and erect 

 and keep in repair such buildings as the Department can 

 approve. One reason — and the principal one — why the 

 Yellowstone Park Improvement Company came to grief 

 was that it failed to five up to the agreements which it 

 had made with the Government, and the present lessees 

 should take warning by the fate of their predecessors in 

 the Park. 



Considering the high position and financial standing of 

 the present lessees, the Government and the public have 

 a right to expect from them better things than they 

 have given us since the Yellowstone Park Association 

 took hold. There has been in many particulars an im- 

 provement in the accommodation of travelers in the Park, 

 but much yet remains to be done. We have already 

 waited too long, and the Department should see that a 

 change is made without further delay. 



In his report for 1887, noticed elsewhere, Capt. Harris 

 says in relation to these leases : ' 'The rights and privileges 

 conferred by the lease to Mr. Gibson are exercised by a 

 corporation known as the Yellowstone Park Association, 

 and this company is also occupying ground and buildings 

 at the Lower and Upper Geyser Basins. The unsatis- 

 factory condition of matters connected with Mr. Gibson's 

 lease and the operations of the Yellowstone Park Associ- 

 ation, as related in my last report and as you have since 

 been fully informed by letter, still continues; but pending 

 the action which has been taken by your Department 

 further comment on this subject is thought to be unneces- 

 sary. The other lease-holders in the Park have complied 

 with the requirements of then- leases in all essential par- 

 ticulars." 



The meet of the American Coursing Club at Great 

 Bend, Kas., Oct. 17, promises to draw a goodly attend- 

 ance. It is a great pity that some of the crack bench 

 show winners, owned in the East, should not have an 

 opportunity to pit their skill against the greyhounds of 

 the West. Some of these bench show dogs have made 

 capital records in England, but on this side of the big 

 pond their only exercise has been on the treadmill, and 

 they would doubtless rejoice ^o catch a glimpse of live 

 game again. , . , 



T Adirondack landlord whose treatment of campers 

 has been criticised by correspondents is by no means 

 alone. It is a characteristic trait of North Woods hotel 

 keepers to be disobliging and over-reaching in their deal- 

 ings with persons who are not guests. They regard the 

 Adirondacks as created expressly for their own individual 

 aggrandizement; and that they do not manifest alacrity 

 to be fairly decent to the independent camper may per- 

 haps be ascribed to the weakness of human nature. 



