park and the transaction of the business of the hotels and transportation lines, especially the saddle-horse enterprise, a good telephone system is essential. In Glacier Park our system is exceedingly poor. It should be rebuilt, and it is particularly advisable to build a line along the railroad from Belton to Glacier Park in order that communication may be had between the two sides of the park. Telephone lines should also be built to Waterton Lake and Belly River region.

ADMINISTRATION SITE SUGGESTIONS.

Further improvement of the administrative site at Belton is needed. A headquarters building and more quarters for employees are among the important requirements. Likewise the installation of an adequate water system should be undertaken in the early future. The pending deficiency bill contains an item of $12,000 for a new bridge over the Flathead River at Belton, and this structure will be erected before the beginning of the next season.

IRRIGATION WORKS IN OPERATION.

The dam at the lower end of Sherburne Lakes is completed and the level of the lakes was raised considerably this season, backing up the water into the timber and creating a scene of havoc that was expected by all who have watched the progress of this irrigation project. It is almost too late to cut the trees and brush that will be killed by the raising of these lakes, but I reiterate that this work should have been done either as a part of the execution of the project or as a separate proposition under authority of Congress. The scenic beauty of the approach to the Swiftcurrent Valley and Many Glacier Hotel will be seriously impaired, and it is not unlikely that the road will be undermined and destroyed in places on account of this flooding, all to the detriment of the park. The only satisfaction that one can gain from the situation is that it becomes a glaring example of what is to be avoided in all of the national parks having lakes still untouched, and hence may serve some good purpose in national park protection.

It is possible that Lower Two Medicine Lake may be raised next year, thus injuring the approach to the main Two Medicine Valley and the chalet group. As the fire burned over part of the area that will be flooded, this valley is not likely to suffer as much from the water as the Sherburne Lakes region, but the fire devastation, combined with the action of the water, will make a situation just as unsightly to the park visitor.

WILD ANIMALS FLOURISHING.

In cooperation with the Biological Survey, during the past year, very satisfactory progress was made in destroying predatory animals. As a result, the deer of the park have become more numerous and other animals are in better condition on this account.

I am much interested in establishing a small herd of buffalo on the east side of the park, which is an old range of this animal. However, funds for this project are not available now, and it can not be undertaken.

Fishing is becoming better each year, and it is evident that the hatchery established last year at Glacier Park station is successfully performing a great public service.

DESIRABLE PARK EXTENSION.

For some years difficulty in protecting the wild life of the park and regulating traffic on the sections of the park road in the Indian Reservation have prompted the raising of the question whether or not the park lines ought to be extended eastward to include the road. This would give the elk and deer winter and early spring range within the park boundary, and would make it possible to regulate the speed limit of the private cars and otherwise protect automobile travel, and at the same time the road improvements.

This land, of course, must be purchased from the Blackfeet Indians, but it is necessary to the proper administration of the park, and will have to be acquired some time. It would be better to acquire it now, before it is allotted or opened to general settlement, than in the future, when much more trouble and expense will be involved in securing it. During the past year the constant trespassing of cattle on the roads has been a source of unending annoyance to tourists.

CONNECTING YELLOWSTONE AND GLACIER.

Definitely associating Yellowstone with Glacier National Park in this report is simply following the general trend of events of the summer in the Northwest, and especially in Montana.

Early in the spring Montana entered upon a road improvement campaign that was probably as successful as any similar campaign ever undertaken. Led by Mr. H. W. Child, of the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co., and Mr. G. L. Ramsey, of Helena, a group of citizens toured the State in the yellow cars of the transportation company advocating road development in anticipation of a great influx of motorists during the summer.

So effective was this work that the entire State threw itself into the work of road repair. In some towns all business houses were closed, while their owners worked on the highways. Many road bond issues were passed upon favorably by the voters, and conditions were bettered everywhere.

The prospects of heavy tourist travel that prompted this movement were founded, of course, on the relation of Glacier and Yellowstone Parks to Montana. It was natural, then, that special attention was given to highways connecting or leading to these parks. Such attention was given to these roads in great abundance with the result that the interpark routes via Helena and Choteau and via Missoula and the Flathead Valley were in excellent condition except the portion of the Helena route that crosses the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

In this connection it should be recorded that the "Geysers to Glaciers Highway" was organized and promoted during the season. It takes its course through Livingston, Bozeman, Three Forks, Helena, and Choteau, and is a very scenic route. The signs of this trail are very striking and effective.

THE YELLOWSTONE-GLACIER BEE-LINE HIGHWAY.

The Yellowstone-Glacier Bee-Line Highway, which goes through Livingston, White Sulphur Springs, Great Falls, and Choteau, traversing the Little Belt Mountains, was not completed for traffic this year, but will be open next season and will be a popular route between the parks, not only because it will be a short route, but because it will be scenic. A convention of the Yellowstone-Glacier Bee-Line Highway Association was held in Livingston on August 15 and 16,

1919.

INTERPARK AUTO SERVICE.

Another exceedingly interesting development of the season was the operation of an automobile passenger service between the parks via the "Geysers to Glaciers" route. Cars of the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. carried passengers to Helena from Yellowstone Park, where they were transferred to cars of the Glacier Park Transportation Co. and taken northward; likewise service was rendered in the other direction with Helena the transfer point. The line will be operated again next year.

To care for this and the great volume of other tourist travel that it enjoys, Helena is planning the construction of an enormous resort hotel.

INTERPARK TRAIN SERVICE ADVISABLE.

An immense number of tourists also visited Yellowstone and Glacier, using train service between these parks. In fact, so many people made this trip between the parks that I regard this travel as an established business which warrants the use of a through sleeper between Gardiner and Glacier Park, and I believe the Northern Pacific and Great Northern lines should jointly arrange for this service. It would be a great convenience to the traveling public and would serve to bind together even more closely the common interests and destinies of the two great national parks.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.

Thronged with thousands of happy vacationists from late spring to the end of the summer season, Yosemite National Park in the year 1919 has attained a new record of usefulness in the life of the Nation. Vastly more people toured the park this year than ever before, and it is especially worthy of note that the upper reaches of this great scenic playground were more popular with visitors this year than during any past season.

Travel to the park began earlier than usual, and, what is more remarkable, the volume was sustained at a high level long after the falls of the famous valley had spent their flood waters and subsided to their normal summer flow, thus indicating that the scenery of the park aside from the falls and the unsurpassed opportunities for rest and recreation that it offers to the visitor have at last made their appeal felt, bringing a public response that will soon result in the use of every nook and corner of this beautiful mountain region.

THE NEW YOSEMITE.

This broader understanding and appreciation of the park became general even faster than we had dared to hope, although for years we have been looking forward to the time when the people would come to the realization that the Yosemite possesses vastly more charms than those of the great valley and its waterfalls, spires, and towering cliffs. We had anticipated a slower growth of the new conception, and this expectation was shared by the business interests of the park who, in common with our administration, found all facilities for accommodating the travel hardly adequate to render satisfactory service. However, our future course is now definitely marked for all of us, and likewise the time limits within which necessary improvements must be made have been indicated. Funds must be provided by the Federal Government for extensive development of roads and trails and sanitation systems, while the enterprises engaged in furnishing accommodations of various kinds must enlarge their establishments and better prepare to meet the ever-increasing demand for every type of service.

YOSEMITE VALLEY MORE POPULAR THAN EVER.

Travel in the Yosemite Valley this year was astounding, as many as 6,000 people enjoying its attractions at one time. Fully half of these visitors were accommodated in the great public automobile camps which have become one of the most popular features of the park.

Accommodations in the big permanent camps and in the hotel were particularly strained during the period of the convention of the Native Sons of the Golden West, which was responsible for bringing to the park more than 1,800 visitors in addition to the usual general tourist travel. This convention assembled on June 1 and continued for five days. During this time the schoolhouse and other available public buildings had to be utilized for sleeping quarters.

TUOLUMNE MEADOWS CAMPERS' PARADISE.

In the high Sierra, especially in the Tuolumne Meadows on the Tioga Road, camps were maintained throughout the summer. Here, too, the Sierra Club made its headquarters for its summer outing. I also had an opportunity to experience the pleasures of camping in this charming mountain vale. This is a section of the park that John Muir so often referred to in enthusiastic terms, and in my little outing there I came under the same spell that prompted Muir's enthusiasm.

The motorist may be expected to utilize to the fullest extent its natural resort possibilities. In fact, with the fast spreading interest in the upper portions of the park, we may reasonably expect to find it necessary to soon establish regular automobile camps in the Tuolumne Meadows, in order to avoid insanitation and similar evils that might naturally follow too large an influx of tourists in this section. Thus the automobile camp in the mountain districts of this park becomes a problem demanding immediate solution just as it does in Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, and other parks where the private

camping outfit is becoming the most popular means of enjoying a vacation in the great out of doors.

EMERGENCY IMPROVEMENTS NECESSARY THIS YEAR.

No extensive improvements were made by the business enterprises of the park during the past year, although Camp Yosemite was very much bettered by the practical reconstruction of the dining room and by extensive enlargement of kitchen facilities. These improvements were finished by June 1 and helped the Yosemite National Park Co. very materially in caring for its share of the tourist crowds that thronged the valley. These betterments, however, were necessarily temporary, as the plans for the new camp call for a new location. In fact, the new building program means a radical change in the layout of the entire camp.

Some improvements were made in the Sentinel Hotel, the only hotel on the floor of the valley, and a large number of visitors were accommodated there. If the plans of the Yosemite National Park Co. are carried out during the coming year this old landmark, which has far outgrown its usefulness, will be replaced by a new hotel in the valley to accommodate at least 600 people. The new structure will be located on a site selected three years ago, when the future administrative village was planned.

BIG DEVELOPMENT COMING.

The directors of the Yosemite National Park Co., which, it should be noted, is composed of a group of far-seeing business men of San Francisco and Los Angeles, headed by Mr. A. B. C. Dohrmann, realize that the travel to Yosemite has increased to a point where improvements must be made on a scale which it was expected would not be needed for at least five years. Their preliminary plans, formulated only a short time ago, contemplated improvements to the extent of about $300,000, but Mr. Dohrmann now estimates that to care for the travel which is certain to come to Yosemite National Park next year improvements should be made at an aggregate cost of at least $1,500,000. This contemplates the construction of the new hotel on the floor of the Yosemite Valley; the building of the new Camp Yosemite; further developments in the sanitation system and water supply of the Glacier Point Hotel; and the building of a camp in the Tuolumne Meadows, where the tourist is already clamoring for accommodations and where at present there are no facilities except for the private camper who brings his own equipment and supplies. The establishment of such a camp at Tuolumne Meadows in connection with the camps already maintained at Merced Lake and Tenaya Lake will greatly increase the accommodations for the tourist in the back country.

The establishment of a lunch camp by the same company in the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees has been a considerable help to tourists and will be still more valuable next year. Many of the motorists reaching the park by way of the big grove feel the need for hotel accommodations at that point before passing on to the heart of the park.