PROGRESS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS 

 By Stephen T. Mather, Director of National Parks 



THE Sierra Club has been so closely identified with the na- 

 tional park development that I am particularly glad to 

 avail myself of the opportunity to present to its members an 

 account of the past year's progress and a survey of some of 

 the more pressing problems that confront us. In doing so I 

 shall confine myself to matters that involve the National Park 

 Service as a whole and those parks that lie nearest to the mem- 

 bership of the club. A more complete discussion of these mat- 

 ters, as well as those concerning the other parks and national 

 monuments, will be found in the annual report of the Director 

 of the National Park Service for the year 1919. 



The past season was remarkable for the large increase in 

 travel to the national parks. The total number of visitors to 

 all parks during the past three years was as follows : 



1917 — Previous record year . . . 488,268 



1918 — Decrease due to war conditions . 451,691 



1919— t . . 756,027 



This sudden increase taxed the accommodations and the ad- 

 ministrative capacities to the utmost. Every effort was made 

 by the National Park Service to meet the varied demands, but 

 in some instances the facilities at its disposal were entirely in- 

 adequate. The result of last year's travel shows very clearly 

 the pressing need for larger appropriations to provide such 

 imperative necessities as new roads, improved roads, trails, 

 bridges, public camping facihties, water supply and sewerage 

 systems, and the expansion of supervision and service. 



Although the travel was varied in character and an astonish- 

 ing increase appeared in every mode, the most remarkable in- 

 crease was in the number of private automobiles entering the 

 parks. In 1917 and 1918 there were approximately fifty-five 

 thousand cars a year, whereas in 1919 there were over one 



