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Show W(H)MO)SlS (M! Mil xf, v - ' - ' VERY Jear the Sreat resorts of m Europe are visited by thousands i " of tourists who apparently have ( no knowledge of the great na tional parks which have been created by congress for the benefit of the people and in which there are natural features and views that cannot can-not be surpassed. , If the traveler seeks Alpine glaciers he has only to go to the Glacier National Na-tional Park, where there are more glaciers In the same area than In Switzerland; if he desires to travel in comfort over finely built roads that rival those of France, Switzerland and" Germany, the Yellowstone Park extends ex-tends its invitation to him. If he is attracted to Europe by the mystery of the Black Forest, he can find more majestic and impressive forests on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, Ne-vada, in the Yosemite, Sequoia and General Grant porks. If his thoughts turn to the clear blue lakes of Swit-lerland, Swit-lerland, he can find their counterparts In the Glacier and Crater lake national parks. Should he be anxious to risk his life In scaling snow-clad peaks, he has only to repair to Mount Ranier in Washington, whose 6teep slopes and Ice-covered top will furnish sport exciting ex-citing enough for the most daring of mountaineers. If he Is interested in the ruins of prehistoric people, the Casa Grande ruin in Arizona and the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado Colora-do will show him bow the aboriginal inhabitants of America lived hundreds of years before Us discovery by Europeans. Euro-peans. Yellowstone Is Best Known. The Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming is the oldest and the best known of all the parks and reservations. It was created by an act of congress in 1872. and ever ince that time the government has been constructing roads and cutting trails, until now the park Is in a high state of development and all parts of it are accessible to the traveler. In' the park may be seen natural phenomena the like of which Is found nowhere else in the world. Here are guysers that throw jets of steam and hot water into the air, great terraces formed from deposits of mineral mat ter in tha water thrown up by the geysers, and the great falls of Yellowstone Yel-lowstone river which traverses a beautiful beau-tiful multi-colored canyon that is sec ond only to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. In this park may be seen the deer, the bear, the antelope and the bison on their native range, because hunting hunt-ing is prohibited and the bands of deer and antelope roam through the valleys and over the slopes as they did years before they were practically exterminated in the greater part of the west. The Glacier National Park in northern north-ern Montana on the Canadian border is the newest of the parks controlled by the federal government This park "has an area of about 915,000 acres and has a maximum length of sixty miles. Yoserrite In Class by Itself. When one spenks of California the Yosemite Park naturally comes to mind. As long ago as 1S64 an act of congress granted the Yosemite valley val-ley and the Mariposa big tree grove - . i r" ; M ! - X&X ' ' , ; v- v ! r '? i f ; Falls of the Yellowstone. to the State of California for public use and recreation. The legislature of California by the act approved March 3, 1905, re-ceded the jurisdiction jurisdic-tion and ownership of this tract to the United States, and only since June 11, 1906, has the management of the Yosemite National Park been under the control of the federal government. The entire park has an area of about 36 by 40 miles. The Yosemite valley, which Is the most frequently visited place Is about 7 miles long and mile wide. In the center of ttis valley is a level, parklike mead- ow, through which runs the Merced river, while on either side the mountains moun-tains rise steep and precipitous to a height of 4,000 feet above the floor ol te valley. Numerous 6treauis drop from the eoge of the cliff to the valley below. The first of these as the tourist enters en-ters the valley Is the Bridal Veil Falls. A stream fully thirty feet wide falls a distance of 600 feet, then rushes over a sloping t.ile of debris, and then drops perpendicularly 300 feet more. The great waterfall In this park, however, is the Yosemite Falls This Is a stream thirty-five feet wide, and In the spring and early summer when the snow Is melting upon the high Sierra Its roar can be heard all over the valley, and the shock of the descent de-scent rattles the windows a mile away. This fall Is conceded by all critics to be one of the most wonderful and beautiful cascades in the world. Its first fall is about 1,600 feet x sheer drop, then come a series of cascades partly hidden In which the fall is over GOO feet, and finally a vertical drop of 400 feeL. From the cliffs surrounding the valley val-ley the scene is oue of remarkable inspiration and beauty. At the foot o fthe traveler lies the valley floor the green trees and meadows and the winding river giving the effect of a rich velvet carpet ever which a line of silver has been drawn; here and there one gets glimpses of the foam ing white waters hurling themselves to the valley below; on both sides ol the valley rise the great walls ol rock, sculptured by the elements Intc various fantastic shapes and figures. Trees Twenty Centuries Old. In the Yosemite the Sequoia and the General Grant National parks are found the groves of big trees the Hk of which are seen nowhere else in the world. These trees grow to a helghl of 340 feet and have a circumference of over 100 feet at the base, the bark sometimes exceeding 40 inches Ie thickness. The ring3 In the trunks of these trees show that many of them are over 2,000 years old. Cathedrals and castles have been built and fallen Into decay, empires have come and gone, but these grizzly giants of the western slopes still raise their hoary heads and spread their grateful shade as they did In the days of the Caesars. The largest glacial system In the world radiating from any single peak is situated on Mount Ranier In western west-ern Washington. The Mount Ranier National Park includes the mass of this great mountain and all the approaches ap-proaches to It. The Crater Lake National Park in Oregon has within its borders a lake that Is unique among the natural wonders of the world. This lake. Into which no streams flow and which has no visible outlet, lies in what is left to the caldera of a great mountain that rose to an elevation of over 14,-000 14,-000 feet above the sea. It Is almost forty years since congress con-gress laid the beginning of the great national park system by passing the act creating the Yellowstone National Park, approved March 1, 1872. Other parks have been created since, until at present the area embraced in these pleasure grounds of the people amounts to over 4,000,000 acres. The policy of establishing national parks has resulted In preserving from private exploitation and gain great areas which are characterized by magnificent mag-nificent scenery and which are used as vacation resorts by thousands of people. Merely a Temporary Disadvantage. The widow had just announced her engagement. "P.ut, my dear Maria," said her friend, "you don't mean to tell me that you ."xitend marrying a man you've only known for two weeks?" "Oh, yes," said the happy widow. "I can easily overcome that objection in time. I hope to know him tolerably well after we have been married a ;ouple of years." Harper's Weekly. |