ROADS, HOTELS, TRANSPORTATION.
The Park, as is well known, is a very extensive tract of country, and
its various points of interest are widely separated from each other.
The question of ways and means for getting comfortably through it is
an all-important one. If the roads are bad, the hotels ill-kept, or
the transportation uncomfortable, no amount of grandeur of natural
scenery can compensate for these defects. In making a tour of the
Park, the visitor travels not less than 150 miles, sometimes
considerably more, and remains in the Park about one week. He is thus
quite at the mercy of those who have the management and control of
those matters which form the subject of this chapter.
The road system of the Park, when completed, will comprise a belt
line, connecting the principal centers of interest; approaches, by
which access may be had to the Park from different directions; side
roads, leading from the main route to isolated points of interest; and
trails, by which pack outfits can reach desired points to which
regular roads will never be built.
The belt line includes Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, Lower
Geyser Basin, Upper Geyser Basin, the Yellowstone Lake, the Grand
Cañon, and Junction Valley. A cross-road passes from Norris to the
Grand Cañon.
The approaches are not all yet selected, but in time there will be at
least one on each side of the Park.
Trails are important adjuncts of the Park road system. They were long
ago selected and opened up, and they are of great importance in
patroling the Park. They are also much used by those tourists who
remain for a considerable time.
The mileage of the completed road system will be about as follows:
Belt line 163 miles.
Approaches 105 "
Side roads 22 "
---
Total mileage of Park system, exclusive of trails 290 "
In regard to construction, it is hardly necessary to say that nothing
but the best macadamized roads should be built. The inherent
difficulties of the work are great. The soil in many places is of the
most wretched character. The country is exceedingly rough. The streams
are almost without number. The snow lies on some of the roads until
the middle of June. The mud in the wet season is bad, and the dust of
the dry season is worse. The soft volcanic rocks, which so generally
prevail, make poor road metal. But all these difficulties can be
overcome, if Congress will but provide for a systematic completion of
the project. At present, the annual allowance is too small to promise
any thing like good work, and it will be many years before the hopes
of the government engineers in the matter will be realized.
The work itself is as attractive as ever falls to the lot of the road
engineer, and it is doubtful if another opportunity exists to develop
a road system which, if properly done, will reflect so much credit
upon the government building it. It is used by visitors from all
lands. It passes through every variety of scenery. It presents every
known problem of road engineering. In short, it combines all the
elements to make it, when complete, one of the noted highways of the
world.
[Illustration:
_Terry Engr. Co._ _Gandy._
Kingman Pass. (Showing roadway along side of cliff.)]
It is not impossible that the tourist may yet be carried by boat from
the west shore of the Lake to near the head of the Falls, nor that a
bridge worthy of its surroundings--an arch of the native rock so
studied as to simulate a natural bridge--will span the river near the
Upper Falls and give access to the many splendid views from the right
bank of the Grand Cañon.
The tourist transportation of the Park is done mostly by coach,
ordinarily with four horses each. Surreys and saddle horses are also
provided when desired. The present system is the result of long
development, and is very satisfactory. With proper roads, it would be
all that could be desired.
Electric transportation in the Park has often been suggested, but
there are certain grave objections, to be discussed in a later
chapter, which will probably always prevent its introduction.
[Illustration:
_Terry Engr. Co._ _Haynes, Photo., St. Paul._
Yellowstone Park Coach.]
When the hotel system of the Park is complete, there will be no fewer
than seven good houses and three lunch stations along the belt line
and approaches. The hotels will be at Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris
Geyser Basin, Lower Geyser Basin, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone
Lake, Grand Cañon, and Junction Valley. The present management of the
hotels has developed into a very efficient system. It is conducted by
a single company whose business headquarters is at Mammoth Hot
Springs, from which point all supplies are shipped. A telegraph line
connects it with points in the interior and with the outside world.
The manager of each hotel knows in advance the number of guests he
must provide for, and the convenience of the tourist is thus carefully
arranged beforehand. With a reasonable extension and development of
the present system, the Park will be admirably equipped in this
respect.
Besides the regular tourists--those who make the usual trip, stopping
at the hotels--there are hundreds who pass through the Park with
camping outfits. During the months of July and August and early
September, this is by no means an undesirable method. It is less
comfortable, to be sure, than the ordinary method, but at the same
time it is less expensive and more independent. In the latter part of
August, the Park fairly swarms with these camping parties. They give
the authorities plenty to do, for the danger of forest conflagrations
from their camp fires is very great.