CHAPTER XI.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE PARK.

The administration of the Park is assigned by law to the Secretary of the Interior, who delegates his authority to a local Superintendent. By statute, also, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to call upon the Secretary of War for such details of troops as may be necessary to protect the Park. Owing to the failure of Congress to provide for a civilian Superintendent and police force, since 1886, the Secretary of the Interior has found it necessary to avail himself of this second statute, so that the present working of the Park administration is on this wise:

An army officer, commanding the troops of the Park, is the representative of the Secretary of the Interior, and is called the Acting Superintendent of the Park, on the assumption that the old _régime_ of civilian Superintendents is only temporarily suspended. The Superintendent is charged with the enforcement of the rules and regulations provided for the government of the Park. As to all such matters, he receives his instructions direct from the Secretary of the Interior, and he annually submits to that official a report upon the condition of the Park. For a police force, he has two troops of cavalry, which he stations throughout the Park as necessity requires. He has also one civilian scout, paid for from the appropriation for the army, whose duty it is to patrol the 5,000 square miles, more or less, in the original reservation and the forest reserve![AY]

[AY] A portion of the latest appropriation for the Park is authorized to be expended in the employment of additional scouts. This policy ought to be continued.

The specific duties which form the burden of the Superintendent's work are:

1. To see that all leases and privileges granted by the Secretary of the Interior to private parties are strictly observed, and that all business conducted in the Park is in pursuance of government authority and in accordance with specific conditions and limitations.

2. The protection of the Park from vandalism. This is a very important matter. The pardonable desire to carry off specimens from the beautiful formations, and the unpardonable craze to cover them with individual names, would, if unrestrained, soon quite destroy what nature, through long ages, has so laboriously produced.

3. The protection of game. All around the Park are hordes of law-breakers, who let pass no opportunity to destroy the surviving species. To avert this calamity requires the utmost vigilance of the Park police.

4. The preservation of forests. This has always been the most onerous and trying duty of Park officials. The importance of the forests is so far-reaching that their destruction would be a public calamity. No exertion can be considered too great which may prevent it.

5. The construction of roads and bridges in the Park.

Other functions which the Superintendent fills are the social duties of his position, which at certain seasons exact much of his attention. Official visitors depend upon him entirely for pilotage through the Park. Private parties bring letters soliciting favors, and on the whole he finds his time well occupied with these pleasant, though sometimes onerous, duties.

The office building of the Superintendent, who is also commanding officer of Fort Yellowstone, is at Mammoth Hot Springs. A pretty little garrison is built upon the white formation opposite the hotel, and in winter, the whole military force, except small detachments in various places, is gathered at that point.

At Mammoth Hot Springs are also located the post-office and jail, and at this point the judicial officers of the Park hold court to try offenses against the Park statutes and regulations.