These wilderness empires of our National Parks have been snatched from leveling forces of development. They are likely to prove the richest, noblest heritage of the nation. Here the world is at play, here are scenes ever new and that will greatly help to keep the nation young.

In the words of John Dickinson Sherman: "It is as if Nature in these places had in self-defense devoted all her energies to scenery, proclaiming to the nation, 'Here I will make playgrounds for the people. Here is nothing for commerce or industry. Here is natural beauty at its wildest and best. Elsewhere man must live by the sweat of his brow. Here let him rest and play. Here I will rule supreme for all time.'"

There are seventeen National Parks. New ones will early be made and there are at least twenty other scenic regions which should at once be added. No nation has ever fallen for having too much scenery. Scenery is, indeed, one of our most valuable resources, and these Parks will enable us to build up a scenic industry of magnitude. Already they are being developed with roads and trails, and before long there will be in all of them hotels and camps for visitors of every taste, together with special camps and provision for school-children.

I have tried to describe a few of the wonders of the Parks and to suggest the larger, fuller use of them. Through most of the Parks described I have had happy excursions afoot, alone and unarmed. Not only do the Parks contain some of the world's sublimest and most beautiful scenes, but each Park is a wild-life reservation, a place where guns are forbidden. Thus protected, these wildernesses will remain forever wild, forever mysterious and primeval, holding for the visitor the spell of the outdoors, exciting the spirit of exploration. Within them will survive that poetic million-year-old highway, the trail. Among their pathless scenes wild life will be perpetuated. Chains of mountain-peaks will ever stand—"the silent caravan that never passes by, the caravan whose camel backs are laden with the sky"—with purple forests, mountain-high waterfalls, vast and broken cañons, wind-swept plateaus, splendid lakes, and peaks and glaciers often touched with cloud and sunshine.

Our National Parks will continue for generations to come to be the No Man's Land, the Undiscovered Country, the Mysterious Old West, the Land of Romance and Adventure. My great hope and belief is that they will become a marked factor in public education. Surely, these wonderlands mean much for the general welfare, and will help to develop greater men and women—to arouse enthusiasm for our native land, and for nature everywhere.

E. A. M.

CONTENTS

I.The Yellowstone National Park[3]
1. A Camp-Fire that made History[3]
2. The Discovery of the Yellowstone[10]
3. The Geysers, Lakes, and Streams[28]
4. Ages of Fire and Ice[38]
5. The Petrified Forests[45]
6. Area; Trees, Flowers, and Animals[51]
7. Entrances[53]
8. Administrative History[54]
9. Lost in the Wilderness[58]
II.The Yosemite National Park[65]
1. Ice-King Topography[70]
2. Trees and Forests[76]
3. Plant Life[79]
4. The Realm of Falling Water[83]
5. Seeing Yosemite[88]
6. History of Yosemite[93]
III.The Sequoia and the General Grant National Parks[99]
The Big Trees[104]
IV.Mount Rainier National Park [116]
1. The Splendid Wild-Flower Garden[122]
2. Glaciers of Mount Rainier[130]
V.Crater Lake National Park[137]
VI.Glacier National Park[148]
History of Glacier National Park[157]
VII.Mesa Verde National Park[161]
VIII.Rocky Mountain National Park[175]
IX.The Grand Cañon[190]
X.Lassen Volcanic National Park[211]
XI.Hawaii National Park[221]
XII.Three National Monuments
1. The Olympic National Monuments [230]
2. The Natural Bridges and Rainbow Bridge National Monuments[236]
3. Mukuntuweap National Monument[239]
XIII.Other National Parks[242]
1. Wind Cave National Park[242]
2. Sully's Hill Park[244]
3. Casa Grande Ruin Reservation[245]
4. Hot Springs Reservation[246]
5. Platt National Park[248]
6. Mount McKinley National Park[248]
XIV.Canadian National Parks[251]
1. Jasper Park[252]
2. Rocky Mountains Park [254]
3. Yoho Park[256]
4. Waterton Lakes Park[258]
5. Revelstoke Park[260]
6. The Animal Parks[260]
7. St. Lawrence Islands Park [261]
8. Fort Howe Park[262]
XV.Park-Development and New Parks[264]
XVI.The Spirit of the Forest[282]
XVII.Wild Life in National Parks[296]
XVIII.In All Weathers[317]
XIX.The Scenery in the Sky [340]
1. Timber-Line[340]
2. Above the Timber-Line[345]
3. The Work of the Ice King[351]
4. High Peaks[356]
XX.John Muir[360]
XXI.National Parks the School of Nature[366]
XXII.Why We need National Parks[378]
XXIII.The Trail[388]
[APPENDIX]
A. Act of Dedication of the Yellowstone National Park[397]
B. The National Parks at a Glance[400]
C. Proposed National Parks[403]
D. National Monuments[405]
E. Dominion National Parks of Canada[412]
[BIBLIOGRAPHY][415]
[GUIDE TO THE NATIONAL PARKS]
Introduction[425]
Yellowstone National Park[433]
Yosemite National Park[444]
Sequoia National Park[455]
General Grant National Park [459]
Mount Rainier National Park [460]
Crater Lake National Park[470]
Glacier National Park[475]
Mesa Verde National Park[488]
Rocky Mountain National Park[491]
The Grand Cañon[495]
Lassen Volcanic National Park [500]
Hawaii National Park[502]
Mount McKinley National Park[505]
Hot Springs of Arkansas[506]
Minor National Parks
Casa Grande Ruin[508]
Wind Cave National Park[508]
Platt National Park [509]
Sully's Hill Park [509]
National Monuments[510]
Canadian Parks
Rocky Mountains Park[515]
Yoho Park[516]
Glacier Park[517]
Jasper Park[518]
Revelstoke Park[518]
Waterton Lakes Park [519]
Buffalo Park[519]
Elk Island Park[520]
St. Lawrence Islands Park[520]
Fort Howe Park[520]
[INDEX][521]