The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and DescriptiveChittenden, Hiram Martin
History
The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive
Chittenden, Hiram Martin
Yellowstone National Park
Closely related to this general subject is that of building an
electric line for tourist transportation within the Park. It is at
once apparent that the objections to such a railroad are much less
formidable than to one operated by steam locomotives. The danger of
fire is eliminated. The unsightly character of an ordinary railway
outfit is exchanged for attractive tourist cars. The power plant,
being located in cañons and operated by water, would give no outward
evidence of its existence. There being no long trains of cars, no
smoke, no screeching of locomotives, the game would not be much more
frightened by it than by the stage coaches. In winter, traffic would
be suspended and the game would be undisturbed on the ranges. The
line, by its greater speed, would be a convenience to tourists having
but a short time at their disposal, and also to those, infirm in
health, who find the long stage rides fatiguing.
Such are the merits of an electric railway for tourist transportation
in this country. If the people really desired it, and if it could be
built and operated by the government, so as to exclude as far as
possible all corporate management of Park business, there would be no
serious objection to the project. Of course it should never be
permitted, as some times proposed, to use the present wagon roads.
These must not in any event be interfered with.
The question then is, Do the people desire this kind of
transportation? Fortunately we can answer this question with
authority. In 1892, a vote upon it was obtained from the tourists of
that season. The result was a majority of more than five to one
against it. In giving their votes, tourists frequently went beyond the
specific question at issue to express their emphatic disapproval of
the construction of any kind of railroad in the Park. The whole result
was a gratifying proof of the deep-seated interest of the people in
this Reservation, and of their unalterable wish that it remain forever
free from the handiwork of man. In fact, to almost every body in these
days, a coaching tour like that through the Yellowstone, is a decided
novelty. There is no other place in this country, probably not in the
world, where one approaching it can be had. The people enjoy it. They
would prefer to see it developed and perfected, rather than replaced
by the noisy car, to get away from which they have come so far.
In the long and fruitless struggle to secure rights-of-way for
railroads, the promoters of these projects have resorted to various
indirect methods the most noteworthy of which is a proposal to change
the boundary line of the Park. We have elsewhere explained how this
boundary was originally determined. For a random line, which of
necessity it largely was, it was a most excellent one. No one would
have been dissatisfied with it were it not that it was subsequently
found to stand in the way of certain private enterprises.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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