Bears of all kinds that inhabit the northern Rocky Mountains are found
in the Park. The natural conditions of the country--a dense pine forest;
a soil producing a variety of wild fruits, berries, and roots; a slowly
decaying vegetation upon which flourish grubs and ants, delicate morsels
to Bruin--all tend to furnish an environment suitable to the omnivorous
bear. Black bears are the most common, but silver-tips abound, many of
them of great size and strength. They are undoubtedly increasing in
numbers, but unless attacked are harmless; and of the thousands of
visitors to the Park every year I have yet to learn of one injured by
them.
Of the smaller animals, such as the different kinds of the
_Felidae_,--including mountain-lions,--foxes, wolves, porcupines, nothing
need be said, save that they find within the reservation the essential
conditions of a home. Two animals, however,--the wolverene and the
beaver,--demand more than mere mention: the former on account of its
rarity in the Rocky Mountains, and the consequent danger it runs of
extermination, and the latter on account of the never-failing interest
which they excite in the tourist, and the frequency with which their
dams and habitations may be seen along the traveled routes. The
wolverene is now seldom, if ever, reported from the country south of
the Park, and must be considered one of the rarest of animals within its
borders. Its predatory nature renders it a most undesirable animal near
settlements, but this is no good reason why it should not be protected
in the mountains. It is a stealthy, cautious animal, moving about
without the least noise. I have seen but four, and these on meadow-lands
underlaid by a deep soil. As they are supposed to live largely on
rodents, they were doubtless seeking food among the burrowing animals.
Although they are regarded as great robbers, in the hundreds of camps I
have pitched within the Park my attention has never been called to the
tracks of a prowling wolverene.
The numerous broad, flat valleys, cut into the plateaus and mountains,
are singularly well fitted for the home of beaver. The meadows filling
these valleys, the clear streams flowing through them, and the seclusion
which they offer, are exceptional inducements and are all necessary
requirements for their haunts. With the growth of population it is
probable that a very considerable amount of trapping was carried on in
early days, and their numbers greatly reduced. Of late years, special
vigilance has been exercised to prevent the trapping and molestation of
the Park beaver, but it has been by no means easy to accomplish this, on
account of the remoteness of many of the best-stocked streams, and the
high price of the skins, which tempts the cupidity of the trapper.
Captain George S. Anderson, the present superintendent of the Park,
believes the beaver are steadily increasing, and this is no doubt the
fact, in view of the efforts that he has made to stop all trapping.
Innumerable streams flowing from the mountains to the central plateau,
magnificent lakes, the sources of grand rivers, and a river system
divided into four drainage basins, make the region singularly well
suited for fish life. Exploration soon developed the fact that, while
many of these rivers and lakes abounded in trout, others, above the
waterfalls which form so characteristic a feature of the streams between
the plateau and the lowlands, were wholly destitute of fish. In the
spring of 1887 I addressed a letter to the late Professor Baird,
calling his attention to the importance of stocking these waters, more
especially Shoshone Lake, for the benefit of the people. At that time it
was not considered feasible to take up the matter. Since then these
waters have undergone careful investigation, and, as a result, have been
stocked with fish under the supervision of Professor B. W. Evermann, of
the United States Fish Commission, who reports that the different
species of trout planted are doing well, so far as can be told at this
early date. Six varieties--brook, lake, mountain, rainbow, Loch Leven,
and Von Behr trout--have been placed in one or the other of the
different drainage basins. In Shoshone and Lewis lakes both the common
lake trout and the Loch Leven variety were planted. The Yellowstone Park
is destined to rank as one of the favorite resorts of the
angler,--fishing, under the proper regulations, becoming one of the many
attractions of the place.
Nearly all birds common to the northern Rocky Mountains resort to this
region during certain portions of every year. Migratory birds, like
ducks and geese, live for months upon many small lakes dotted over the
Park, rearing their young without the least fear of molestation.
Pelicans find a home around the shores of Yellowstone Lake and the
bottom-lands of its tributaries. That graceful creature and rare bird,
the white swan, may frequently be seen on Yellowstone Lake, and on three
separate visits to that secluded sheet of water, Riddle Lake, I have
never failed to find several of them paddling about in its quiet waters.
Eagles, fish-hawks, and ospreys soar above the forest, building their
nests upon the summits of the crags and pinnacles in the wildest and
most inaccessible places. It is always an impressive sight to see that
magnificent bird, the bald-headed eagle, flying high over the lakes,
crossing and recrossing the wooded continental watershed, equally at
home among the sources of the Mississippi and Columbia, undisturbed by
his only really dangerous enemy, rifle-bearing man.
The preservation of animal life, as it exists to-day under natural
conditions within a government reservation, may be purely a matter of
sentiment; but surely this grand possession must be worth every effort
to preserve it, even at considerable cost of time and money. With the
encroachments of civilization, the demands of those seeking to use the
Park for their own selfish ends must in the nature of things steadily
increase. Pressure for timber and water privileges, and rights of way
for railroad purposes, will constantly arise. The larger part of the
timber reservation should become an integral part of the Park, as much
of the game, and its best breeding-grounds, lie within this reservation.
Let Congress adjust the boundaries in the best interests of the Park and
the needs of traffic, clearly defining them in accordance with the
present knowledge of the country, and then forever keep this grand
national reservation intact. After this is done, the Park can be
maintained only by the constant vigilance of enthusiastic friends, who
realize its value for economic reasons, and believe in the purposes of
the organic act setting it apart forever as a pleasure-ground for the
people.
_Arnold Hague._