410 
FOREST AND STREAM 
to the dam that the Government is building at 
the end of the lake, which construction work was 
hurting the business of the summer camps about 
the lake, but was said to be the cheapest water 
supply for the least money of any of the jmany 
recent irrigation projects undertaken by the 
National Government. 
But the magnificent site at Jackson’s Lake is 
not the dam built by man, but the mountains 
reared by Nature, for across the moderate 
stretch of water there arose abruptly from the 
shores of the lake a range of peaks of classic 
grandeur—the Tetons—towering 6,000 feet above 
the surrounding valley and overtopping the ocean 
level by 13,000 feet. The sky outline of the 
mountains is sharp and rugged and certainly 
would afford attractive rock work for any am¬ 
bitious Alpine climber who had the hardihood 
to tackle the forbidding slopes. When the party 
had taken a last, lingering look at the Tetons, 
the guide sounded a retreat, for we had reached 
the extreme end of our journey and now the 
horses’ heads were pointed North toward Yel¬ 
lowstone and then to Cody homeward bound. 
There was a little excitement in camp the next 
morning, for in driving the horses into the corral 
several slipped away and the horse wrangler had 
a chase after his wayward steeds, but man with 
the aid of a horse is master of the horse, and 
by skillful driving can bring back to the corral 
his mutinous mustangs. When once in the cor¬ 
ral the ever ready weapon of the cowboy is the 
rope—not the pistol—and the way he can lasso 
a nag and then bridle and saddle him is one of 
the treats that an Eastern man gets in taking a 
Western horseback trip. With horses conquered 
the day’s march was first along the shore of 
Jackson Lake away from the roads and even 
trails. It was a ride through timber, along the 
shore over the sage brush plain and then onto 
the road to again camp at Snake River, just 
south of the southern entrance. 
Wishing to tarry at some of the restful points 
in the park the writer stopped off at the Wylie 
Camp on the lake to continue the balance of the 
return journey by wagon. The lake camp is con¬ 
sidered one of the most peaceful stopping points 
in the park, and what a contrast in travel it was 
to see the regular touring tourists come in by 
the hundreds into the camp at nightfall—have 
one evening at the campfire, and at seven the 
next morning off to another camp—a daily rush ; 
though they were not traveling with an uneasy 
automobile, but by the regular park coach. A 
joy it was to tarry, watch the scenery, go out 
and catch twenty good-sized trout (the legal 
daily limit), in an hour or so of fishing, and 
then watch the bears and other animals that can 
be found in the Yellowstone region. And the 
animals seem to have a fairly happy life, pro¬ 
tected as they are from animal-killing man. The 
trout are abundant because the Government is 
continually stocking the park waters and during 
the past year has cast half a million fry into the 
nearby streams. 
Another great joy was to be out of hearing 
and danger from the shrieking automobiles, from 
the clanging trolley car, from the roaring rail¬ 
road, but even this freedom from the pursuit of 
the murderous automobile is threatened by the 
automobile interests, who are said to be work¬ 
ing with all of their moneyed power to get their 
mechanical machines into the park. 
Captain King, U. S. A., one of the park com¬ 
mands, explained to the writer some of the rea¬ 
sons why he believed that automobiles and rail¬ 
roads should never be allowed to enter the park. 
First, it has taken a number of years for the 
game to get accustomed to the regular stage 
coaches; now the big game do not mind them 
and as a result visitors have a chance to see 
wild life in its natural surroundings. Autos 
would scare the game so that no one would get 
a sight of the animal life as they whizzed by in 
a machine. 
And as Captain King remarked, “What was 
the sense of whizzing past the beautiful scenery 
of the Yellowstone region, when they could whiz 
about everywhere else?” The Captain had been 
on duty in the park many years and every time 
he rode or drove through he sighted something 
new, something worth seeing again. 
Then the introduction of automobiles would be 
for the benefit of the few instead for the rights 
of the many. People from the surrounding 
country could not drive with any safety or com¬ 
fort as well as those who came from a distance. 
One of the sights of the park is the numerous 
variety of wheeled vehicles. It seems as if 
every conceivable style of carriage is represented 
from a one-horse cart to a six-horse coach, and 
from a rich man s nobby rig to the poor man's 
prairie schooner—men and women from all 
walks of life, walking, riding, driving through 
the park and without the fear of being run down 
by the modern engine of death. 
So after a real outing in the park anyone is 
inclined to shout, “Long live the horse”—may he 
reign forever in the Yellowstone. 
From the eastern entrance to the park the 
traveler again returns over the Cody road, and 
though an automobile can now bring him to and 
from this entrance, the way to enjoy the splen¬ 
did scenery of the Cody road is to travel by sad¬ 
dle or wagon. If by the latter without a camp¬ 
ing party delightful stops may be made at 
Pahaska Tepee, and Frost and Richards’ ranch, 
both places of which cater to tourists. The 
Tepee was built by “Buffalo Bill,” and is a fine 
example of rustic log construction. It contains 
many of Mr. Cody’s famous trophies and no one 
should pass on without a visit to the retreat of 
the last of the great scouts. Frost and Rich¬ 
ards ranch is situated on a wide valley of the 
North Fork of the Shoshone with magnificent 
views up and down the river plain. The house 
contains a notable collection of trophies of the 
hunt and also has very comfortable accommoda¬ 
tions, more comfortable in fact than anyone 
would expect in a ranch country. 
From this last wayside inn it is an easy day’s 
journey to Cody, and by taking the time to travel 
with horses there is ample opportunity to drink in 
all of the sights at Roosevelt Dam (highest dam 
in the world), and the canyon of the Shoshone, 
which is now one stream after the junction of 
the North and South Forks and is bounding 
through the channel which for centuries it has 
cut in the rocks. 
Jogging down the Cody road behind a buxom 
span of horses in an ancient wagon resembles 
the prairie schooner days of the early settlers, 
while straddling a cow-pony through the Yellow¬ 
stone region recalls the adventuresome days of 
the plainsmen, before the wild buffalo, the wild 
Indian and the bad man of the plains had van¬ 
ished. These phantoms of the past can be read 
about in that masterpiece on the early days of 
the frontier—Richard Irving Dodge’s book on 
“The Plains of the Great West.” The adven¬ 
turesome cavalry days can be studied with de¬ 
light by reading Elizabeth Custer’s book, “Boots 
and Saddles.” And the reservation Indian 
of to-day can be seen rear the site of 
A Subject for Protective Legislation. 
the Custer battlefield at the Crow Agency. 
The remnant of the buffalo can be found in 
Yellowstone Park. 
How thankful everyone should be that there 
are parts of our country which are retained in 
their primitive state and ‘hat they are protected 
from the destructive blight that comes with civil¬ 
ization. I believe that the influence of “Civilized 
Progress” on the western plains is expressed 
nowhere so fittingly as in Dodge’s book of the 
seventies in which he sums up the pleasures of 
life on the plains as he knew them and then 
laments over their future. Says Dodge: 
“To a fascination of a life of freedom from 
all conventional restraints of constraint and ad¬ 
venture, was added that other fascination far 
stronger to many natives—the desire to penetrate 
the unknown. 
“Now all is changed. There is no longer an 
unknown. Railroads have bared the silent mys¬ 
teries of the plains to the inspection of every 
shopboy. Civilization like a huge cuttlefish has 
passed its arms of settlements up almost every 
stream grasping the land, killing the game, driv¬ 
ing out the Indian, crushing the romance, the 
poetry, the very life and soul out of the plains 
and leaving only the bare and monotonous 
carcass.” 
Fortunately for the modern generation the 
Government has left a little meat on the “car¬ 
cass” by setting aside for the benefit of all the 
people National parks and reservations and they 
may still be visited in the style of the romantic 
days of the plains, viz., in the saddle. 
Therefore let every effort be made to keep wild 
what little wilderness is left and let wagon and 
horse, lasso and lariat, boots and saddles reign 
supreme for all time on the last stray bits of 
primeval mountain and prairie land. 
