National Reports
NETBOY, ANTHONY
National Reports San Francisco: Frank Mankiewicz. Minneapolis: Sam Romer. Chicago: Albert N. Votaw. Boston: Courtney Sheldon. Dallas: Bicknell Eubanks. New Orleans: John Carmichael. St. Louis:...
...Apart from the thermal phenomena??duplicated only in Iceland and New Zealand, on much smaller scales??the park itself is a vast and often impressive wilderness, lying a mile or more above sea level...
...But the sad truth is that our Government has fearfully neglected this scenic masterpiece...
...Richmond: Lawrence King...
...Wild animals abound...
...No wonder so many thousands from the flat midlands and the deforested Eastern seaboard wend their way to Yellowstone and suffer all the hardships which a visit to the park entails for those who cannot stay at the few luxury hotels...
...I tried to discover why the Government permits the company that operates these concessions to foist such primitive conditions on the public...
...But it seems to me that, at the snail's pace of current modernization, it will be a century before Yellowstone offers civilized facilities to the tourist who cannot afford the luxury hotels...
...the roads were narrow, and many sections were in such a poor state of repair that visitors were constantly complaining...
...The scenic marvels which moved Congress to set the region apart in 1872 are still there in an unimpaired state...
...About 1,300,000 persons passed through its portals in 1953, and the same number will have visited it this year before the great snowstorms block its entrances...
...In addition to the numerous bears, you can see the lithe and graceful antelope, the shaggy buffalo (here protected for all time), a large variety of song and game birds, and in places the eye-catching buttes, transfixed with an alpine glow at sunset...
...Perhaps this situation could be corrected if the millions who visit our wonderful national parks stand up and tell their Congressmen about their experiences...
...The company itself says that it is rehabilitating and modernizing accommodations as fast as circumstances will permit...
...Yellowstone is our most popular park...
...By Anthony Netboy Yellowstone is our first national park...
...the pink mud-pots, forever bubbly and forever forming vivid patterns...
...Louis: William Wyant Jr...
...It was created by an act of Congress in 1872 as a "pleasure-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and for "the preservation, from injury or spoliation, of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities or wonders and their retention in their natural condition...
...Certainly the situation needs a quick remedy...
...the terraces of geyserite that are pushed up from the volcanic earth...
...the bubbling springs, blue as azure or tinted with multi-colored algae...
...There are basaltic cliffs, a mountain spouting warm water, petrified trees standing upright, and other unusual rock formations...
...If the company cannot afford to tear down the eyesores and erect better cabins immediately, then the Government must step in...
...From this small kernel grew our present vast national-park system, and the idea has been copied by many nations...
...What's Wrong with Yellowstone Park...
...The late Senator Hunt of Wyoming, visiting Yellowstone in the summer of 1952, was so outraged by its deterioration that he wrote to President Truman: "Frankly, I was appalled at the crowded and congested conditions in the park...
...The several one-way bridges on the main park loop were originally built for stage-coach traffic and are a safety hazard for modern automobile traffic...The lack of accommodations for visitors in the park is such that many of them had to sleep in their cars or on the ground along the roadside...
...the tremendous falls of the canyon of the Yellowstone River, dropping its enormous burden down yellow-and-pink cliffs??these are the cynosure of the throngs who come to Yellowstone from all ends of the nation and from foreign countries...
...I have recently returned from an extensive tour of the Northwest, including Yellowstone...
...Most visitors who do not carry camping equipment must seek shelter in ancient, decrepit cabins that remind one of the hillbilly shacks in the back country of North Carolina or Kentucky...
...Atlanta: Joseph Fiszman...
...I was told that it is unable to raise adequate capital, that its profits are uncertain, that the National Park Service will not guarantee it a perpetual monopoly, etc...
...Prices for these cabins, which do not have running water, soft chairs, decent cooking stoves or toilet accommodations, are equivalent to charges for the modern, sometimes palatial tourist houses just outside the park...
...This was a milestone in the history of civilized nations, for none had ever before thought enough of its natural wonders to set them aside for the people's enjoyment without private exploitation...
...The restless geysers, shooting their warm, foamy water into the air...
Vol. 37 • October 1954 • No. 41
