THE NEEDS OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 



U. S. Geological Survey, 



Washingto7i, Becemher 27, 1887. 

 Sir : During your visit to the Yellowstone Park last summer you ex- 

 pressed so warmly your keen appreciation of the region as a forest res- 

 ervation that I desire to call your attention to some of the more salient 

 features of the country, and to point out what I consider the important 

 reasons for not only maintaining the national park, hut for enlarging its 

 boundaries. In the arid and sparsely timbered regions of the eastern 

 ranges of the Eocky Mountains few areas equal and none surpass the 

 Yellowstone Park in its advantages to the nation as a forest reservation. 

 While much may rightly be said in favor of the maintenance of the park, 

 based upon sentimental grounds, the necessity of protecting the scien- 

 tific curiosities, the advantages of the place as a game-preserve, and the 

 benefits to be derived from it as a health resort, the object of first im- 

 portance is the preservation of its timber. The park is a natural res- 

 ervoir, adapted by geographical position to receive a copious snow and 

 rain fall, and by its topographical structure to store up the waters which 

 it receives. 



In its broader physical features the Yellowstone Park is an elevated 

 volcanic plateau shut in on the south, east, north, and northwest by 

 mountains rising from 2,000 to 4,000 feet above the general level of the 

 inclosed table-land. It presents a broken, roughly undulating surface, 

 varying from 7,000 to 8,500 feet above sea-level, with an average ele- 

 vation of about 8,000 feet. 



The Gallatin Eange, with Electric Peak a culminating point, shuts in 

 the park on the west and north. To the northeast the Snowy Eange, 

 deriving its name from the white- capped summits, towers high above the 

 plateau. Along the eastern side of the i^ark for more than 80 miles 

 stretches the Absaroka Eange, which rises as a bold, unbroken barrier 

 above the table-land, many of the mountain toi)s reaching elevations 

 varying from 10,000 to 11,500 feet above sea level. To the southward 

 the plateau is rimmed in by the Grand Tetons and Wind Eiver Eange. 

 All these surrounding mountains, covered with snow the greater part 

 of the year, are constantly pouring immense volumes of water into the 

 plateau region. The continental water-shed enters the park near its 

 southeast corner, crosses the summit of Two Ocean Plateau, and with 

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