station on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad in California, near the summit of the continental divide, at an elevation of 11,500 feet. The fantastic forms, resulting from the erosion of rock and soil, make the spot of exceptional beauty. The numerous winding canyons and pinnacles form striking picturesque effects such as are seldom found elsewhere. Historic interest attaches to the place because an expedition led by General John C. Fremont was overtaken by disaster in that immediate vicinity. Skeletons of mules, bits of harness and camp equipage have been discovered near the spot. The Devil's Tower is a conspicuous landmark in the form of a monster obelisk, composed of lava and granite, rising 1,100 feet on the banks of the Belle Fourche river, in the Black Hills, in southeastern Wyoming. The obelisk is 376 feet wide at the top and 796 feet wide at the base. It is associated with many Indian legends and more than one fierce battle has been fought around it by the

savages.

The Petrified Forest near Flagstaff, Arizona, is well known. It is a few miles from the tracks of the Sante Fe railroad and covers a large area which is strewn with the trunks and limbs of trees that have been turned into stone by some mysterious process of nature. It is unique among the freaks of nature.

Montezuma's Castle is an enormous ruin situated about 600 feet above the bed of a creek forty-eight miles south of Flagstaff, Arizona, and 125 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. It contains. twenty large and eight small rooms, besides a number of closets and alcoves evidently used for storerooms. What the original dimensions of the building were is purely conjectural, but the structure remaining measures forty-eight feet from the base to the summit, being five stories in height, and about one hundred feet long. Other ruins of smaller dimensions are found in the same locality which were built and occupied by an extinct race that had considerable knowledge of mechanics and an advanced civilization. When and how it vanished from the earth is unknown, but it is conceded by archeologists that this is the oldest ruin in the southwest and that it was deserted long before 1540, when Coronado made his expedition from the City of Mexico in search of the fabulous cities of Cibola.

El Moro, or Inscription Rock, is another important landmark, fifty-five miles east of the Zuni pueblo, and fifty miles south of the

Sante Fe road, near Wingate station. It is a quadrangular mass of white sandstone, nearly a mile in length and more than two hundred feet in height. Upon its weather-beaten surface are numerous inscriptions in Spanish, some of them deeply and beautifully engraved, and dated as far back as 1506. These inscriptions contain brief records of the visits of explorers and Spanish soldiers on the march of conquest, or early Franciscan friars penetrating the wilderness to convert the heathen. A special agent of the Land Office says that the Inscription Rock "is one of nature's most unique obelisks, wrapt in the profound silence of the desert. It is hard to realize that 500 years ago these same walls echoed the clank of steel harness and coats of mail and that with the implements of Spanish conquest the pathfinders of the new world were carving historic records upon the eternal rocks."

Chaco Canyon is another collection of cliff dwellings of great interest. Muir Woods is a wonderful natural forest in California. The Tuma Cacori national monument is the ruins of a church and monastery built by the Jesuit missionaries during the time of Spanish domination, two miles south of Tubar station near the Southern Pacific Railway in Arizona. The walls are of burnt brick twelve feet thick and only partially preserved. Portions of mural paintings still remain on the walls of the chancel.

The natural bridges in eastern Utah and north of the Navajo Indian Reservation are not accessible to the public because there are no roads to reach them, but that country is developing quite. rapidly and means of transportation will ultimately be provided. The bridges are more lofty and have greater spans than any other natural bridges known to exist. Besides them the Natural Bridge of Virginia, which is associated in every child's history with an incident in the youth of George Washington, is a mere miniature. The Utah natural bridges were created by the erosion of streams which worked their way through them years ago. They have been seen and described by members of the Geological Survey, agents of the Land Office and other scientists, who estimate them as among the greatest wonders of the world.

The Lewis and Clark Cavern is a limestone cave of enormous dimensions, containing a number of large vaulted chambers. It is situated one mile from Limespur station on the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana. It has two entrances which are about one

hundred yards apart in the walls of a deep canyon of the Jefferson river about five hundred feet below the rim and overlooks for a distance of fifty miles the trail of Lewis and Clark on their expedition to Oregon. The vaults of the cavern have never been fully explored, but those that are known are magnificently decorated with stalactites and stalagmites of great variety in size, form and color, similar to those of the Luray Caves of Virginia.

The area covered by the park system of the District of Columbia covers 773 acres, divided into 317 separate reservations, varying in size from 250 square feet to 301 acres. Of this area 117 plots of 361 acres are highly improved; 125 of 324 acres are partially improved, and eighty-seven of about eighty-eight acres remain unimproved. What is known as Potomac Park, west of the railroad embankment, contains a little more than three hundred acres exclusive of water surface.

In treating of this subject it is impossible to overlook the recent gift of Mrs. E. H. Harriman to the State of New York, of a tract of ten thousand acres of land and one million dollars cash for its improvement; and the accompanying gift of $1,625,000 cash from seventeen patriotic men and women of New York City to be used in purchasing adjoining land. The intention is to make a park sixty miles long, varying from 1,200 feet to twelve miles wide, upon the rim of the Palisades and along the west bank of the Hudson River from the boundary line of New Jersey to the city of Newburg, above West Point. It is understood also that the family of the late Abram. S. Hewitt intend to make a similar gift of eight or ten thousand acres south of the boundary to the State of New Jersey, provided the legislature of that state makes an appropriation for its care and improvement. When this scheme is completed it will be in several respects the most notable playground in the world, embracing a total area of 45,000 acres along the bank of a great thoroughfare and immediately accessible to three or four million people.

The United States is beginning to take care of its property. Our people are beginning to realize the value of their possessions, and are providing for their care and protection. If the present administration's policy had been applied to the national domain fifty years ago it would have made an enormous difference in our national wealth, but it is more important to look after future conservation than to waste tears over what we have lost.

NATIONAL FORESTS AS RECREATION GROUNDS

BY TREADWELL CLEVELAND, JR.,

U. S. Forest Service, Washington, D. C.

In extent, in variety of attractions, and in availability to the people of the country, the national forests form as a whole by far the greatest national recreation grounds in the world. Some of them, especially those near large centers of population, draw tens of thousands every season. Altogether, some 400,000 persons visit the forests annually for recreation. Most of these come from nearby cities and towns, but many come from other states and even from other countries. Moreover, the use of the forests for recreation has only fairly begun. It is increasing very rapidly—at least ten per cent a year on the average, and in some cases one hundred per cent a year.

The national forests are maintained to conserve the vast natural resources of wood and water. These resources are located on the slopes, crests, and peaks of the Rockies and the Coast Ranges, which are the most picturesque and healthful regions in the United States. Thus, by geographic necessity, they include the highest peaks, the finest glaciers, the most interesting geological formations, and much of the best virgin forests in the United States. They are, as a rule, supplied with pure water in great abundance. They contain much of the best hunting and fishing country. Within them are many of the most striking and important historic and prehistoric landmarks, as well as natural wonders which do not suffer by comparison with those of the national parks. An endless variety of landscape and every natural charm are included in their boundaries.

Recreation in the national forests usually takes the form of summer outings devoted simply to camping out. Individuals and small parties, or clubs, come in by stage or wagon-in some cases, by automobile-bringing with them provisions for a longer or a shorter visit, make camp, and shift for themselves with true western independence and skill. Doing without many conveniences is not regarded as privation. In comparison with this western way of enjoying nature, the usual eastern summer vacations spent at boarding

houses and hotels, or in camps which are camps in little more than name, appear highly artificial. In the national forests enjoyment of recreation is largely based on the absence of conditions which less sincere and capable lovers of outdoor life find quite as indispensable in the woods as in the towns. This fact explains much of the very wide use of national forests for recreation, in regions which are largely pure wilderness.

Summer cottages and hotels within the forests accommodate a large number of seekers after recreation. Many of the cottages are owned by city people who spend the summers in them. Others are rented. Railways which are interested in developing their summer business are doing much to attract visitors by providing and encouraging hotels and cottages in the forests. To mention but a single case in point, the Great Northern Railroad is developing the attractions of the Lake McDonald region, in the Blackfeet Forest. It has established a hotel on the Flathead River as headquarters for visitors, and has begun the erection of a series of Swiss chalets and cabins from point to point.

Besides just "camping out," the visitors do a great deal of fishing in a very energetic sort of way. In some forests they spend most of the season in fishing on almost a professional scale. Mountain climbing, boating, and riding are favorite pursuits. In the autumn, in the forests where game is plentiful, hunting is the chief sport. A detailed account of the attractions for recreation in the national forests is, of course, out of the question in this paper. Some slight idea of their variety may, however, be indicated briefly.

Scenery. Almost every type of landscape may be found in the forests. For ruggedness and grandeur the forests of Washington and Oregon are probably unsurpassed. From the top of Goat Mountain in the Rainier National Forest, nothing can be seen but snow-capped peaks and crests in all directions; the landscape is Alpine in character. The view from Cone Peak in the Oregon National Forest, though somewhat softened by stretches of forest and by lakes, is of the same sort. The Olympic Forest lies in a region which has been called the "Alps of the United States." Chelan Forest includes three-quarters of the famous Lake Chelan, which is said to rival in impressiveness any lake in the Old World. These northwestern forests, besides the high peaks and crests, include some of the most notable glaciers in the country.