From the immediate vicinity of the Third Cañon, the road crosses the plateau of Black Tail Deer Creek to the valley of the East Gardiner. The tour terminates at Mammoth Hot Springs.
PART III.—The Future.
HOSTILITY TO THE PARK.
From what has been thus far set forth the reader can not have failed to observe how fortunate have been the events, both in prehistoric and in recent times, which have made the Yellowstone National Park what it is to-day. In the course of long ages Nature developed this region into its present attractive form, and filled it with wonders which will never fail to command the admiration of men. She placed it upon the very apex of the continent, and made of it an inexhaustible reservoir of water for a perennial supply to the parched and rainless desert around it. She interspersed among its forests an abundance of parks and valleys, where the native fauna of the continent, elsewhere fast passing away, may find protection in all future time. With infinite foresight she made it unfit for the gainful occupations of men, so that every motive to appropriate it for private use is removed.
For many years after the white man first looked within its borders, a rare combination of circumstances prevailed to keep it from becoming generally known until the time had arrived when the government could effectually reserve it from settlement. Finally, since its formal erection into a public park, the same good fortune has attended it, in spite of many adverse influences, until it has become thoroughly intrenched in the good opinion of the people.
So fully has the experience of the past quarter century confirmed the wisdom of setting apart this region for public uses, that it ought no longer to be necessary to say a word in favor of its continued preservation. To most people it will seem impossible that there should be any one who would seek the mutilation or destruction of this important reservation. Unfortunately there are many such. No session of Congress for twenty years has been free from attempted legislation hostile to the Park. The schemes to convert it into an instrument of private greed have been many, and strange as it may seem, they are invariably put forward by those very communities to whom the Park is, and must ever remain, the chief glory of their section. It is a lamentable proof of the dearth of patriotic spirit that always betrays itself whenever the interests of individuals and of the public come into collision. Nevertheless it is a great satisfaction to know that this spirit of hostility is confined to an infinitesimal portion of the whole people. Excepting a few mine owners and their following, a handful of poachers, one or two railroad corporations, and a few greedy applicants for special franchises, the people of the country are a unit in favor of the strictest preservation of this great national pleasure ground. No better proof of this can be had than the fact that the Park has successfully withstood for so long a period every attack that has been made upon it.
It will not do, however, to assume that, because these schemes have hitherto failed, they will always continue to fail. Since they have their origin in speculative ventures, they will be put forward so long as they offer the least pecuniary inducement. The certainty of this, and the danger of their ultimate success, justify the assignment of a brief space to a consideration of this subject.