The Yellowstone Park

The Great Nbrthera Wonderland ia uso now exciting a lively public intrest. Heinmed in by mountain ranges whoso crests glitter with perpetual now, the marvels of this volcanic basin vero unknown until within a few -earg, and although Congress wisely et it apart and dedicated it to the leople as a park f orever, it has been so remóte and inaccessible that com)aratively few visitors have yet ex)lored it. Last autumn, however, Seneral Sheridan reported that too many tourists and hunters had been there airead y, and that the work of defac'tng the park and murdering tt ' game had been most industriou:. arosecuted. It waa recommended that an added arta of forest land should be embraced vvithin the park boundary as a game preserve, and that the whole ae policed by the arny to prevent further depredations. General Sheiidan's report occasioned some discussion and people began to think how ;heir priceleas possepsion might be preserved. The resoiction of enquiry now before ( ;he Senatu in regard to leasing certain tiotel and other privileges in the park has again brought the matter before the people. A. ootnpany of gentlemen including Mr. Rufus Ilatch and Iloscoe Conkling lias been incorporated under tha laws of Ne'-'-Jersey, with its principal ofiice at the city of Elizabeth, under the style and tule of the stone rarlí lmproveincnt Uoinpany. By the ternas of its charter this tompany ia organized for ( be purpose of keepiüg hotels and runniug stages iu the park - as well as of raising catt' 3 and hogs and making itself active in a good many direction3. This cumpany claims alrf ady to have a leaso from the öeeretary of the Interior. Messrs. Ilatch, Conkling & Co. agree with General Sheiidan that tourists have wantonly disfigured and rnutilated sotne of the most beautiful features of the park, and that the butehery of elk and other game in this región ha3 been frightful. ïhe company covenants ir its proposed lease to protect the Park from inarauders and tnurderers, and its friends assert that General Sheridan's troopera were themselvos agrant of. fenders in this regard. It is alleged that thousands of acres of forest were then burned over, and that the Generai's camp-fnes kindled the eouñagration. The soldiers, too, it is stated, cut down trees and U3ed them as battering ratns to break down the geyser cones, so that the crystals could be carried off as mementos. General Brisbin is another citizen who ia deepl}' interested in the park in general, and "the navigation of Yellowstone Lake in particular, which privilege for ten years he estimates as worth $1,000,000,0000. He naturally objects to have mybody else "hog the whole park." Now it is eertain that within a short time a branch road will ruusoutbward from the Northern Paciflc, while another will extend northward from the Union Facific to the park. As soon as visitors can reach the confines of tlns basin, with lts gloomy canons, ana river3 plunging into their depths, ifcs )oiliug springs and mud voléanos and spouting geysens, without leaving tbeir xirlor cars, the región will be throngd. Some provisión for their comfort and eniertainment will be needed. Preparatlon for this purpose must be nade too, within the park, for i te present boundaries contain some 2,500 aquaie miles. But of course great cauion should be exercised ia granting exclusive privileges. The first thing to be cared for is the park itself. The elemental f orces whirh mude the world lare display themelves as they are not manifested lú any other part of the eartli's surface. The scenery, too, has a unique iinpressiveness, as if some distinct preparatiou had been made for this heart uf the Contiaent, from which water flows to Uie Gulf of California, the Pacific, and the Atíantic ihrough the Gulf of Mexico. The preservation of thi won Ierland as it is, in all its original grandeur, should hfi tliR rime condition exacted from any or all who ure granted privileges from the Government. A'id this protection should mean more than simply guarding the forests frcm üre and the geyser coiies from being battered down. The danger from "improvements" is quite as serious a3 any threateued by the wantonness or thonghtlessness of visitors. The most sublime scenery, when sacarificed by a brutal engineer, may lose all ite impressiveness, and the obstrusive ugliness oL some misplaced hotel can disiigure the nobleat landscape. Not a road should be graded nor a singla structure erected in Yellowstona Park uu til plaus have been submitted to aome artist of recogaized taste. Provisión against the vulgar intrusión of distracting aud incongruous objects should be another condition in any lease of park privileges.