The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and DescriptiveChittenden, Hiram Martin
History
The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive
Chittenden, Hiram Martin
Yellowstone National Park
Thus far, the Park has never been lacking in such friends; and there
is no more encouraging fact in its history than this, that some one
has always been on guard against any thing which might work to its
injury. Men like Senator Vest in official position, or William Hallett
Phillips in private life, and journals like _Forest and Stream_, have
stood for years, in a purely public-spirited manner, without
remunerative inducement of any sort, and often in face of the
bitterest vituperation and abuse, against the designs of selfish and
unscrupulous schemers. In like manner, government officials connected
with the Park have always, with one or two exceptions, earnestly
opposed these dangerous projects. It is plain to any one who is
familiar with its inside history, that, but for the agencies just
mentioned, there would not be to-day any Yellowstone Park at all. It
is equally plain, that so long as friends like these are forthcoming,
the Park has little to fear from its enemies.
In still another respect, the Park has been unfortunate where it had a
right to expect better things. Prior to the admission of Montana,
Wyoming, and Idaho into the Union of States, its interests were looked
after in Congress, particularly in the Senate, by a few members who
took great pride in promoting its welfare. But when the above
territories were admitted to the Union, these gentlemen very naturally
turned over the charge, which they had voluntarily assumed, to the
members from the new States, as being thereafter its proper guardians.
It was, of course, believed that in them, if in any one, the Park
would find needed championship and protection. It is a matter of great
regret that these very reasonable expectations have not been realized.
A glance at the list of bills pertaining to the Yellowstone National
Park, which have been presented to Congress in the past six years,
will show that nearly every objectionable measure has been fathered by
the very men whose first duty would seem to have been to oppose them.
In a speech opposing the Segregation Project, delivered in the Senate
in the winter of 1892-3, Senator Vest referred to this subject with
justifiable indignation. He said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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