Your National Parks, with Detailed Information for Tourists

By Enos A. Mills
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY Boston and New York
YOUR NATIONAL PARKS

JOHN COLTER, THE DISCOVERER OF YELLOWSTONE PARK
A Guide to the National Parks
WITH DETAILED INFORMATION FOR TOURISTS BY LAURENCE F. SCHMECKEBIER And with Illustrations and Maps
BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY ENOS A. MILLS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published June 1917
TO GEORGE W. PERKINS AND WILLIAM A. WELCH WHOSE STATESMANSHIP, ENERGY, IDEALS, AND COURAGE ARE MAKING THE PALISADES INTER-STATE PARK THE GREATEST PARK IN THE WORLD
St. Louis had a memorable flag day a little more than a century ago. Within twenty-four hours the yellow and red flag of Spain was run down and the tricolor run up; this hauled down and the Stars and Stripes run up. The Louisiana Territory thus became a part of the United States. In a flash, the western boundary of this country was changed from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.
Scarcely were the Stars and Stripes flying, before Lewis and Clark were on their way to explore the vast and mysterious Louisiana Territory—the West. Theirs was one of the most comprehensive and successful exploring expeditions on record—one of the greatest of outdoor expeditions. There were adventures and hardships, but after two years the party returned to civilization with the loss of only one man. The resources of the great West were definitely placed before the world.