70 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
SIX WEEKS’ TOUR OF OUR NATIONAL PARKS 
At the annual meeting of the American 
Civic Association, held in Washington last 
January, there was an enthusiastic discus- 
sion on the needs and possibilities of our 
great national parks. It was soon evident 
that one of the greatest needs was that 
of getting acquainted with them. There 
are fourteen national parks now. Few who 
read these words have visited more than 
one of them or could name more than six. 
.A.nd yet here are great playgrounds within 
our own borders where Nature has lav- 
ished her marvels and has provided scenes 
of beauty and sublimity, in some cases ab- 
solutely unique in all the world. 
The suggestion was made at Washington 
that the Civic Association plan another 
great conference on national parks that 
should meet in the national parks them- 
selves. The suggestion was received with 
enthusiasm and the association has or- 
ganized a national parks tour to cover the 
leading parks by special train and to last 
from June 22 to August 5. 
The American Civic Association extends 
a cordial invitation to all who are interest- 
ed to come and learn to know the scenic 
resources of our own land. It now seems 
probable that this invitation will meet with 
wide response. Numbers will be strictly 
limited to the capacity of one special train. 
This number can be comfortably cared for 
everywhere, without confusion. 
The Civic Association undertakes this 
plan in the belief that it will not only pro- 
mote intelligent interest in the national 
parks, but will make for a broader, better 
citizenship on the part of every participant. 
The business management of the tour has 
been placed in the hands of the Bureau of 
University Travel of Boston, which had 
charge of the successful European tour of 
the American Civic Association in 1913. 
All communications regarding business de- 
tails should be addressed to the National 
Parks Tour of the American Civic Asso- 
ciation, 31 Trinity Place, Boston, Mass., 
and an interesting booklet giving full de- 
tails will be sent on request. 
Following is the itinerary of the tour: 
June 22: Leave Chicago in the morning. The 
afternoon in Madison. The Madison Board of 
Commerce, in conjunction with other Madison or- 
ganizations, tias extended a cordial invitation to 
the Association to be their guests w'hile in the 
city. They have arranged a dinner at which 
Persident Van Hise of the University of Wiscon- 
sin. and others, will address us. 
June 23: St. Paul. Minneapolis. The State Capi- 
tol with its notable examples of mural decora- 
tion, the new Minneapolis Art Gallery, the splendid 
park system. Minneapolis is one of the few cities 
♦f the country owning and maintaining an acre 
or more of parks for each hundred of population. 
Evening conference on “Tbe Problem of the Ru- 
ral School and Minnesota’s Solution of It.” Ad- 
dress by Dean L. D. Coffman of the University of 
Minnesota. 
June 24: Sleeper to Omaha. A short stop en 
route at Denver. A drive about the city. Leave 
in the evening of June 25. 
June 27 to July 2: The Yellowstone National 
Park. Enter and leave by the Gardiner Gateway. 
Five and one-half days coaching trip thi*cugh the 
Park. Accommodations provided at the excellent 
Park hotels. 
The Yellowstone, established in 1872, is the old- 
est, largest, and best knowm of the National Parks. 
It contains more and greater geysers than all the 
rest of the world together. Akin to these hot- 
water volcanoes are the hot springs with their ter- 
races of many coloi*s. Each park has its own 
peculiar charm. The hot-water formations make 
the Yellow’Stone unique, but it is quite worthy of 
distinction for other reasons also. Its petrified for- 
est is unexcelled in America. Its Grand Canyon 
is a spectacle of beauty and grandeur surpassed 
only by the incomparable ‘‘Titan of Chasms” in 
Arizona. Its 3,300 square miles of mountain, val- 
ley and lake form the largest wuld-animal pre- 
serve in the w’orld. Here thousands of elk, moose, 
deer, and antelope live without fear of the hunt- 
er’s gun, while the bear — brown, black, cinnamon 
and even the giant grizzly — show no signs of feroc- 
ity, but rank as inoffensive and highly respected 
citizens of this animal paradise. 
The first recorded visit to the Y'ellowstone W’as 
in ISIO, wdien a trapper, fleeing the Indians, hap- 
pened upon it. Even as late as ISOO, after a 
government expedition had charted the region and 
had proved the wmnders to be fact, not fancy, 
it was hard to find a believing audience. Nowa- 
days no one questions the facts, yet none com- 
prehend them except those who have seen for them- 
selves. 
•July 3: En route via Helena, Montana. 
July 4 to Jul.v 7: Glacier National Park. Au- 
tomobile by way of Lake St. Mary to Many Glacier 
Hotel. Restful afternoon at this beautiful spot. 
Next day a horseback trip to Iceberg Lake. The 
third day by horseback over Piegaii Pass to Going- 
to-the-Sun Chalets. The fourth day down Lake 
St. Mary by boat and thence by automobile to 
Glacier Park Hotel. This program is possible for 
all and does not require experience in horseback 
riding. Many delightful alternatives are available, 
if preferred. Here for the first time we come 
in close contact with primitive Indian life in the 
encampment of the Blackfoot tribe. 
Glacier National Park was established in 1910 and 
is the newest, save one, of all the p'arks. It is 
1..534 square miles in extent and gets its name 
from the sixty mighty rivers of ice within its 
lK>rders. Yet these are by no means its only, pex’- 
haps not even its chief, attraction. It is said that 
nowhere else in the world is Alpine beauty found 
in such diversity and luxuriance. 
July S: Spokane. Nearly 150,000 people now live 
where there w^ere none less than forty years ago! 
The day will be spent in driving about the city, 
followed by a conference in tlie evening on “City- 
Planning” with special reference to the “Develop- 
ment of a Park System” in a new and rapidly 
growing municipality. Among the speakers will 
be W. S'. McCrea, President of the Spokane Cham- 
ber of Commerce, and L. A. White, member of 
the Board of Park Commissioners. 
July 9 to July 10: Seattle. Hotel Washing- 
ton. Sunday will be spent quietly without pro- 
gram. Next day we shall visit the University of 
Washington and inspect the harbor developments, 
the park system, etc. An address by Professor 
Edmond S. Meany, of the University of Washing- 
ton, on “Journeys of Other Days- — the Lewis and 
Clark Expedition and Its Results.” 
July 11 to July 12: Rainier National Park. A 
tw’o days’ excursion from Tacoma. An interest- 
ing four-hour auto ride brings us within the con- 
fines of the Park. This w^as established in 1809. 
The mountain, of course, dominates everything, 
tow^ering nearly three miles above the sea, and 
nearly two miles above its immediate base. It 
possesses the most extensive and impressive glacier 
system in the United States. Fourteen great ice- 
rivers flow down from its ancient crater. 
Less than an hour from the entrance to the 
Park and we are in Paradise Valley, at the Camp 
of the Clouds (6,000 feet), up to the snow-line. 
The great Nisqually Glacier, said to be the finest 
south of Alaska, is just at hand. There is op- 
portunity to explore this and to indulge in all 
sorts of “winter” sports, while those less strenu- 
ously inclined find enjoyment quite as keen, as 
they rest upon a thick carpet of wild flowers and 
gaze at the superb spectacle of the mountain in 
its various moods. 
July 13 to July 14: Portland. Hotel Mult- 
nomah. Excursion by automobile over the new 
Columbia Highw^ay, destined to rank among the 
famous scenic highways of the world. 
July 15: En route for San Francisco, an 800- 
mile sail on one of the large fast boats of the 
Great Northern Steamship Company. Those who 
prefer may make this trip by rail via the Shasta 
Route. Such preference must be expressed at the 
time when final payment is remitted for the tour. 
The extra cost will be $10, 
Crater Lake National Park. A limited number 
may substitute the excursion to Crater Lake for 
the days in San Francisco. The extra cost will 
be $15. Such preference must be expressed not 
later than the date of making final payment for 
the tour. 
July 16 to July. 20: San Francisco. Hotel 
Bellevue, room for two, with private bath. Drive 
alK>ut the city and to Golden Gate Park. Excur- 
sions to Berkeley and Palo Alto. There will be 
a conference in the famous Greek Theater at 
Berkeley, at which Dean Walter Morris Hart, of 
the University of California, and others will speak; 
theme, “Conservation.” 
July 21 to July 24: The Yosemite. The Yo- 
seiuite Valley is world-famous. Measured in terms 
of miles, it does not seem impressive. The valley 
is 7 miles long and about 1 mile wide. But this 
relatively limited floor-area only makes the sheer 
imnifnsity of the granite walls the more imposing 
as they tower from 3,000 to 6s000 feet above our 
heads. 
Aeons ago Mother Nature decided to fashion a 
“Land of Enchantment First she crack.ed the 
hard Sierra granite and then sent grinding glaciers 
and rushing torrents along the seam, gouging out 
a valley. Joyously she hastened her task. Mother 
Nature hastens slowly. S’he was countless millen- 
niums at the work, yet the valley grew so much 
more rapidly than the little valleys that came to 
meet it on either side that they soon found them- 
selves hanging high up on the granite cliffs at 
the meeting place, and to this day the sti'eams 
that made them must take great flying leaps, 690, 
1.000. 1,600 feet, into the deeper valley below. 
The glory of the Yosemite is its waterfalls. 
The lowest of the eight great ones is twice the 
height of Niagara. 
The valley, though the best known portion, is 
but a very small part of the Yosemite National 
Park. There are three groves of big trees within 
its borders. These great Sequoias are the oldest 
living things in the world. Many were large 
trees when the Greeks built the Parthenon. 
We shall have four full days in the valley, with 
headquarters in one of the comfortable camps that 
are so popular. The excursion to the Mariposa 
Grove is included. Other excursions are optional. 
July 2.5: Leave the Yosemite. 
July 26 to July 27: Los Angeles. Hotel Alex- 
andria. Excursions to Pasadena. Catalina Island, 
and the Asphalt Springs of Rancho La Brea. 
These springs have been for centuries the most 
effective natural animal trap known, and thousands 
have been caught in their sticky pools. The 
skeletons of elephants, camels, sloths, saber-toothed 
tigers, bears and myriads of smaller animals are 
being gradually dug out. 
July 23 to July 29: San Diego. Hotel U. S. 
Grant. The Exposition with its charming grounds 
and quaintly beautiful buildings is even more at- 
tractive than last year. The Director, Mr. Hewett, 
will welcome us. At an evening conference prom- 
inent San Diego members of the Association will 
describe the actual working of the commission form 
of government now in force in that city. 
July 30: En route across deserts, barren but 
interesting, to the cool plateau of Arizona. 
July 31 to August 1: Grand Canyon. There is 
nothing in the world like the Grand Canyon of the 
Colorado. Where standards of comparison are 
wholly lacking, attempts at description are futile. 
Mr. Robert Yard says: “It constitutes one of the 
most astonishing phenomena in nature and one of 
the mose stupendous sights in the world.” 
A large tract along the south rim has been set 
apart as a national monument. The chief differ- 
ence between a “national monument” and a “na- 
tional park” is that in the former case the gov- 
ernment protects the region but does not undertake 
its development by means of roads, etc., as it does 
in the case of the national parks. 
Meals will be provided at the El Tovar. The 
Rim Drive is included. The descent into the 
Canyon, which some will not care to under- 
take, is not included. There will be ample time 
