ble spots were
unspoiled, that forests were falling, that the game was almost gone.

I set out to see what could be done about it. I found others as
concerned as I. Not only those in the immediate vicinity, but men of
vision far removed from the scene. It seemed that similar conditions
had arisen elsewhere and that far-sighted men had evolved a remedy.
Back in 1872, Congress had set aside the Yellowstone region as a
national park, guaranteeing the preservation of its wonders for all
time. Not only that, but the harassed and hunted game in the country
surrounding it had by some subtle instinct sensed its immunity to
hunters, and had fled to it for sanctuary--grizzly bears migrated to it
from long distances and found refuge. I recalled how scarce the
beavers were when first I searched the valleys for them, and how, after
the State had passed laws for their protection, they had multiplied.
Here was the solution of the problem--protection; and the most
permanent and effective protection could be procured by getting the
government to preserve it as a National Park. But, just as nearsighted
and self-interested individuals opposed and tried to thwart the
building of the first transcontinental railroad, so there were persons
who could see no reason for setting aside this region as a National
Park, men who had for years cut government timber without restriction,
or who had grazed livestock without hindrance, or who still hoped to
strike rich mineral deposits in the proposed area to be reserved.

Fortunately, the men of vision prevailed, and in 1915, Congress created
the Rocky Mountain National Park, setting aside 400 square miles of
territory, most of it straddling the Continental Divide, and as wild
and primitive as when the Utes first hunted in it. Thus the
snow-capped peaks and the verdant valleys, the deep-gashed canyons and
the rushing rivers, the age-old glaciers and the primeval forests are
preserved forever from exploitation.

In administering the National Parks, the government takes into
consideration that they are the property of the whole people, not just
of those residing in adjacent or near territory. Not only does it
consider them as belonging to the present generation, but to posterity.
With this in mind, it has formulated certain general principles of
administration applicable to all parks and has adopted special policies
adapted to the peculiar needs of individual parks. For instance, it
has found th