486 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Bsc. 8, 1893. 



deposit and the ore had a value of fifty or sixty dollars a 

 ton, we would have made an effort to get a railroad 

 there, but there is nothing there for a railroad. That is 

 my judgment." 



And it is the judgment, be it noted, of a shrewd busi- 

 ness man, in whose calculations sentiment found no 

 place, but who was ready to build through the Park pro- 

 vided he had anything to build for. 



(3) Still more convincing is the argument that comes 

 from the fact that Cooke City is still without a railroad. 

 Does any one for a moment suppose that, when railroads 

 have subdued all manner of engineering difficulties in 

 the great mining regions of the "West, they would pause 

 before the very tame obstacles that bar the entrance to 

 Cooke City if they had a tolerable inducement to build 

 there? Enterprise invades every profitable field, but it 

 has always shaken the dust of Cooke City from its feet. 



II.— Accessibility. 



"Bat," it will be said, "the obstacles that bar the en- 

 trance to Cooke City are by no means tame— they are 

 very serious. There is but one practicable route and that 

 is through the National Park." 



Let us see. The only expert testimony quoted in the 

 Committee's report is that of Gen. Ander- 

 son, at the time chief engineer of the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad. Even he 

 bases his conclusions upon "information 

 derived from Army officers who have had 

 occasion to pass through the country." 

 Railroad companies do not ordinarily 

 decide upon the practicability of routes 

 from such meagre information as this. 

 But Gen. Anderson virtually admits that 

 a railroad could be brought into Cooke 

 City from outside the Park on grades not 

 exceeding 150 feet to the mile, or three 

 feet to the hundred. Now what are some 

 of the actual grades on Western rail- 

 roads? The following are found in the 

 Union Pacific system : 



MAXIMUM GRADE TO THE MILK. J'l. 



Denver to Graymont, Col ..185 



Denver to Central City, Col 171 



Elcho to Park City 180 



Wallace toBurke, Idaho 311 



Pendleton to Spokane,Wasli .158 



The following pertains to the Northern 

 Pacific system: 



MAXIMUM OBADE TO THE MIt,E. FT. 



Elkhorn Branch 211 



Helena and Northern 327 



Drummond and Phillipsbarg Extension. ...211 



Coeur d'AI6ne Branch 211 



Wallace to Burke 248 



It has been demonstrated by actual 

 surveys over one route and by recon- 

 noissances over another that a railroad 

 can reach Cooke or its immediate vicinity 

 without exceeding any, except possibly 

 the least, of the above grades. 



Fortunately we are no longer in the 

 dark upon this subject. A complete rail- 

 road survey has been made from Cooke 

 City north to Stillwater on the Northern 

 Pacific Railroad, a distance of 75 miles. 

 The "profile of graded line of definite 

 location," as determined by this survey, 

 shows no grade exceeding 3^ per cent, or 

 185 feet to the mile. 



A preliminary survey via Clark's Fork 

 from Cooke City to Red Lodge, Montana, about 75 miles, 

 where the Northern Pacific has already extended a 

 branch line, shows no grade exceeding 2i per cent, or 132 

 feet to the mile. 



A careful barometric reconnoissance by Capt. W. S. 

 Staunton, U. S. Eogineers, in 1881, over the Clark's Fork 

 route, shows even lighter grades than the above. 



It may once for all be taken as demonstrated that rail- 

 roads can reach Cooke City from outside the Park by 

 several routes, none of which present difficulties of con- 

 struction or operation that are not far exceeded on exist- 

 ing lines in other parts of the West. 



But how is it in regard to the Yellowstone route? It 

 seems hitherto to have been accepted as by common con- 

 sent that this line is an easy and practicable raikoad 

 route. The fact, however, is quite otherwise. Not only 

 are there several excessive grades, but for 15 miles after 

 crossing the boundary of the Park the route passes 

 through a canon of the Yellowstone where lofty vertical 

 walls of rock abut directly upon the river. To pass this 

 canon would under any circumstances be a problem of 

 grave difficulty. But if the railroad is restricted to the 

 right bank— as it is in the Segregation BiU— the difficul- 

 ties would be practicably insuperable; no railroad could 

 afford to surmount them. If the railroad is allowed to 

 cross and recross she river— as it is in the Right of Way 

 Bill— its construction is open to special objections of a 

 very serious nature, which wiU be considered in a subse- 

 quent paragraph. 



Looking at the question of distance, we may assume 

 that the object of any branch line to Cooke wiU be to 

 give an outlet to the great railroad system to the north. 



Now the distance to the Northern Pacific by the Park 

 route will be about 110 miles; by the Stillwater route 

 only 75 miles; and by the Clark's Fork route about 136 

 miles. But the Park route for half its length lies through 

 the National domain where the railroad would not be 

 permitted to take up or lay down a pound of freight. 

 No way traffic is here possible. The other lines lie en- 

 tirely through territory which may be developed and 

 made a source of revenue to the railroad. 



III.— Injury to the Park. 



Injury to the Park will follow the passage of the 

 pending bill in three ways. 



(1) Change in the Park Boundary.-~The Mends of the 

 Segregation BUI raise the point that the location of the 

 present boundary is unknown, never having been sur- 

 veyed and marked; that the new line wDl be a natural 

 boundary, the bed of a stream, the precise location of 

 which everyone will know. As to this point it may be 

 said that the present boundary, although unmarked (a 

 defect easily remedied by legislation), is only too well 

 known to please that very class of people who are so 

 much exercised about its exact location. It is itself a 

 natural boundary, the most perfect that can be found 



National TVyK BonuSanj 

 Vtopoeed' n .■! 

 RivK "Road/ System/ 



YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 

 Showing change of boundary proposed in Honse BiU 23rd. 



this side of the ocean. It passes along a range of inac- 

 cessible mountains. No settlers can inhabit there. 

 Poachers and law breakers cannot ply their obnoxious 

 trades over this impassable barrier. But place the 

 boundary along the beautiful valley of the Yellowstone 

 and its principal tributary, and a regiment of soldiers 

 could not patrol it sufficiently to protect the Park. The 

 present boundary is the best possible for the National 

 Park, for it is simply a huge, impassable, protecting wall 

 of mountains. The propose boundary is the worst possi- 

 ble, for it allows an undesirable population to locate on 

 its very borders. It is worthy of note that, with the 

 friends of these bills, the "natural boundary" argument 

 seems to have no value except as to this particular por- 

 tion. For 350 of the 275 miles of boundary an artificial 

 line seems good enough. 



(3) Natural Features.—It is constantly urged by the 

 advocates of these measures that there is nothing in this 

 portion of the Park the loss of which would be a serious 

 detriment. Let us examine this a little. In this sec- 

 tion, and but a short distance from the proposed route 

 are the famous petrified and fossil forests in which 

 80 much interest is taken. The northeast portion of the 

 Pai'k, notably the valley of Soda Butte Creek, is acknowl- 

 edged with absolute unanimity by those who have seen 

 it to be incomparably the filnest in natural scenery in the 

 entire reservation. It is the only place where the moun- 

 tain scenery approaches in sublimity that of Colorado 

 or British Columbia. It is destined to be the great 

 scenic route of the Park. In other places the attractions 

 are the geysers, the hot springs and the Grand Cafion; 

 but here, and here alone, is a coaching tour which can- 



not be excelled elsewhere in this country. A railroad 

 will so monopolize this route as to ruin it for tourist 

 travel. If it can cross to the south bank wherever en- 

 gineering difficulties render it desirable, it will appro- 

 priate all the available road space to itself. In narrow 

 gorges there is rarely room enough to build a road by 

 the side of a railroad and even if it were possible the 

 close proximity of the two would be a never ending 

 source of accidents from fright to teams. Congress has 

 probably never thought that, in passing either of the 

 above bills, it is forever tying the hands of the Govern- 

 ment in its efforts to provide the Park with an adequate 

 system of roads. 



(3) Game in the Park.— The preservation of game is 

 something in which nearly every one takes an interest, 

 as is evidenced by the universality of game laws. There 

 is an abiding desire on the part of the people that the 

 native fauna of the country shall not become extinct, _ 

 but that there shall remain in some secure retreat rep- 

 resentatives of those species which once with the red 

 man held possession of this continent. There is no in- 

 stitution in this country more directly instrumental in 

 promoting this end than the National Park. It is there- 

 fore a matter of first importance to inquire in what man- 

 ner the proposed bill will affect the pre- 

 servation of game. There are two prom- 

 inent game feeding grounds in the Park, 

 One is the Hayden Valley above the Falls 

 of the Yellowstone; the other is in the 

 valley of the lower Yellowstone and the 

 East Fork. They are shown in the shaded 

 portions of the map. Their areas are 

 about 40 and 160 square miles respec- 

 tively. The valley of the Yellowstone 

 and the East Fork is, beyond compari- 

 son, the finest winter pasturage for game 

 in the Park. It is doubtful if a finer 

 one exist in all the mountains. The grass 

 is thick and luxuriant; the snows are 

 moderate in depth and early in disap- 

 pearance. It is in all respects an ideal 

 game preserve and is magnificently now 

 answering this purpose. Thousands of 

 elk, antelope and deer winter there, to- 

 gether with an abundance of other 

 species. Even buffalo have been recently 

 seen, and with proper protection will 

 soon become abundant. 



If the Segregation Bill becomes a law 

 this game pasturage must inevitably be 

 ruined. 



The boundary line and the railroad 

 will practically pass through the center 

 of it. Poachers, the staunchest friends of 

 the bill, can and will settle all along the 

 valley. They will quickly drive away 

 the game no matter what precautions 

 are taken to prevent. The sparks from 

 locomotives will surely burn the district 

 to a crisp. Soda Butte Creek would be 

 no security whatever against the spread 

 of a prairie fire; the East Fork would 

 be but partial security, and the Yellow- 

 stone itself would be far from a perfect 

 barrier. If the railroad is allowed to 

 cross to the left bank, of course even this 

 partial security will disapapear. Said 

 the Superintendent of the Park, Captain 

 George S. Anderson, Sixth U. S, Cavalry, 

 in his evidence before the investigating 

 committee, speaking upon this very point: "I think it 

 [the Park] would be burned off as black as your hat in 

 six months. * * * I do not believe it will be possible 

 to protect the Park at all in such a case." 



And again he says in his last Annual Report on the 

 Park: "Continued observation has convinced me that 

 the north line of the Park should remain exactly where it 

 is. * * * To make the Yellowstone, Lamar and Soda 

 Butte rivers the line would be to destroy 35 and perhaps 

 50 per cent, of the game in the Park, as this valley is the 

 most extended winter range." 



This fact is fully recognijied by all who know anything 

 of the situation— even by the friends of the bill. It is im- 

 portant for every person interested in the preservation of 

 our native species fully to recognize the fact that with 

 the passage of the pending bills the National Park, as a 

 game preserve, receives its death-blow. 



IV.— Increase in Area. 

 It will of course be said that although a portion of the 

 Park is being cut off, a large area is being added. That 

 is true. Under the Segregation Bill the Park loses about 

 800 square miles and acquu-es about 1,000 square miles, a 

 gain of 200 square mUes. The committee in their report 

 also state that the Park can afford to lose a little land, 

 being now larger than the States of Rhode Island and 

 Delaware combined. Such arguments show how little 

 the real merits of the case are understood. Extent of 

 area is a matter of entirely minor importance. Half the 

 Park could be spared better than a single acre at Upper 

 Geyser Basin. So with the case in hand, the bill takes 

 a-ay that which no exchange can make.auj equal bar 



