On May 2, 1922, during the second session of the 67th Congress, Senator Norbeck introduced the first bill (S. 3541) for making the Badlands area a national park. Entitled “A bill to establish the Wonderland National Park in the State of South Dakota,” it proposed to set aside and withdraw from entry “all public lands lying and being within townships two and three south, ranges fifteen and sixteen east of the Black Hills meridian, and township three south, ranges seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen east of the Black Hills meridian.”[74] The proposal provided that the Secretary of the Interior might add to the park from time to time any lands which may be donated to the United States for such purposes. It also stated that the Secretary of the Interior may authorize exchange of non-federal lands in the park for certain public lands of equal value outside the park. Finally, the bill provided that a sum not exceeding $5,000 annually be appropriated by Congress for the maintenance and improvement of the park, if the State of South Dakota made an equal contribution. After the bill was read, it was referred to the Committee of Public Lands and Surveys.[75] On the same day, Congressman Williamson introduced a bill (H.R. 11514) in the House of Representatives, identical to the first one submitted by Norbeck in the Senate. This bill was referred to the Committee on the Public Lands and ordered to be printed.[76] No further action was taken on either the Norbeck or Williamson bills in the 67th Congress. However, in October 1922 President Harding issued an executive order temporarily withdrawing all public lands in the seven townships to be included in the proposed park for the purpose of classifying them “pending enactment of appropriate legislation.”[77] The total area within the seven townships was about 161,000 acres, of which 35,410 were classified as vacant.[78] On March 3, 1923, Congressmen Christopherson and Williamson presented memorials from “the Legislature of the State of South Dakota urging Congress to set aside the Bad Lands as a national park....”[79] In December 1923, in the 68th Congress, Williamson again introduced a bill (H.R. 2810) to establish Wonderland National Park. This proposal was identical to the one he and Norbeck introduced in the preceding Congress.[80] Like the earlier bill it, too, died in committee.