Parks.
—The great National parks are being used more each year by automobile tourists. Good hotel and camping facilities are available. These parks are set aside by the Government for the preservation of marvelous natural beauty and grandeur, and the government desires that they be used to the utmost by the citizenry. Perhaps 100,000 people will visit the Yellowstone National Park this (1922) season, of which 75 per cent will come by private automobile. Naturally the larger number come from the nearby states, but last year practically all states were represented. Montana sending 2892 and Maine 1. The patronage is likely to continue and grow. Other National parks and the United States Forest Reserves will also receive their share.
Several states are beginning to recognize the need for play and recreational grounds. New York has built a magnificent automobile road up the Bronx River Parkway Drive and through the Adirondacks, and the State Conservation Commission has built along these highways many stone fireplaces for the special use of motorists. Colorado is building an automobile road up Mount Evans, thus heading off private parties who wished Government permission to build a toll road. Michigan will develop tourist roads to attract the summer traveler. The field secretary of the State Good Roads Association maintains that such roads will bring an annual revenue to Michigan of $75,000,000 to $100,000,000 annually through the resort trade. Scarcely a state but has some attraction to the tourist; it would be well to make its advantages known to the public that they might be enjoyed to their fullest extent.