In an old notebook, under date of September 17, 1891, I found not
long ago the following remark: "How would it do to start a
movement to buy the St. Mary country, say thirty by thirty miles,
from the Piegan Indians at a fair valuation, and turn it into a
national reservation or park?"
This idea, in the course of the next ten years, grew in my mind.
It was, I think, the first suggestion, in words, of the Glacier
National Park. About the year 1893 indications of copper were
found in the foothills. It was believed that the country contained
mines, and before long strong pressure was brought to bear on
Congress to purchase the land from the Indians and throw it open
to settlement. The mountain region was not used by the Indians.
They lived on the plains. In 1895, Secretary of the Interior Hoke
Smith sent out Commissioners W. C. Pollock, George Bird Grinnell,
and W. M. Clements, to treat with the Blackfeet for this
territory, and a majority of the commission went into the
mountains and made a hasty inspection of the region. An agreement
was made with the Indians, and was ratified by Congress, and about
two years later the territory was thrown open to settlement....
Soon after 1902 I spoke to Senator T. H. Carter about setting
aside this recently purchased tract as a National Park, and found
that he was disposed to favor the suggestion. I then took up the
matter with friends in Montana, and induced them to write to
Senator Carter about the project. The result was that a little
later he introduced a bill, which passed the Senate once or twice,
and at last, in 1910, passed both houses, and was signed by
President Taft, May 12, 1910, and the Glacier National Park became
a fact.
Certainly the most striking fact in the history of this Park is the
rapidity with which it has been developed and opened to travelers. L.
W. Hill has given this region a large share of his time, and in it has
spent enormous sums of money. There is more than commercialism behind
his work. It has been done with happy hands. He has made this a part
of his life-work. He has endeavored to create on artistic lines. What
he has done for this Park has stimulated interest in the other Parks
and will greatly help to bring about their development.