A Few Words About This Book 6 Shaping The

Us ing This B o o k This book tells the story of the evolution of the US . National Park 1 System , the first of its kind in the world . In Part , Bureau Historian Barry Mackintosh discusses the origins of the System and describes ’ the complexity of the System s designations . In Part 2 he chronicles the step- by- step growth of the System from its beginnings to its 357 3 areas at the beginning of 1 99 1 . Part contains maps showing the extent of the System , a listing of areas outside but affiliated with the System , and a list of all National Park Service directors with their tenures . An x Sha in the S s tem inde completes the book . This revised edition of p g y , 1 985 which was first published in , is produced on the occasion of the - 75th 1 9 1 6 1 99 1 . anniversary of the National Park Service , Library of Co ngress Ca taloging in Pu blicatio n Da ta Mackintosh , Barry. The national parks . Includes index . I2 2 P2 . : 9 . : 3 3 Supt of Docs . no . / — 2 . 1 . United States . National Park Service History. National parks — — and reserves United States History. I . United States . National Park Service . Division of Publications . II . Title . 4 A4M24 1 984 84- 600068 SB 82 . Introd uction 4 A Few Words About This Book 6 Shaping the System 8 Before the National Park Service 1 0 1 9 1 6 1 933 1 8 Forging a System , to The Reorganization of 1 933 24 From the New Deal to War and Peace , to 1 95 1 44 66 Mission and the Environmental Era , to 1 972 62 1 973 1 990 Rounding Out the System , to Ideals Into Reality 1 06 Appendix 1 1 0 Affiliated Areas 1 1 2 hdaps 1 1 4 The Natio nal Park System G rowth of th e Natio nal Park System National Park Service Directors 1 20 Index 1 22 A Few Words About this Book When did the National Park System begin $ The usual response is 1 872 , when an act of Congress set aside Yellowstone National Park , the first area so titled . Like a river formed from several branches , however, the System cannot be traced to a single source . Certain — ’ later additions the parks of the Nation s Capital , Hot Springs , parts of Yosemite —preceded Yellowstone as parklands reserved or estab $ $ lish ed by the Federal Government . And there was no real system u of national parks ntil a federal bureau , the National Park Service , 1 9 1 6 was created in to manage those areas then assigned to the US. Department of the Interior. The establishment of a systematic park administration within Inte rior paved the way for the annexation of comparable areas from 1 3 . 9 3 other federal agencies In a government reorganization , the National Park Service acquired the War Department ’ s national mili ’ tary parks and monuments , the Agriculture Department s national m monu ents , and the national capital parks . Thereafter the Service would be the primary federal agency preserving and providing for ’ public enjoyment of America s most significant natural and cultural properties in a fully comprehensive National Park System . ’ Fam il Tree the Na ti n l Park S s tem . o o a Ronald F Lee s y f y , pub lished by the Eastern National Park and Monument Association in 1 72 ’ 9 u . , chronicled the System s evol tion to that date Its usefulness led the Service to issue a revised and expanded account titled The Na tio nal Parks : Shaping the Sy s te m in 1 985 . The present edition has ’ been further revised and updated for the Service s 75th anniversary in 1 99 1 . The nomenclature of National Park System areas is often confus 2 . 0 ing Units now bear some titles besides national park , which commonly identifies the largest , most spectacular natural areas . Other designations such as national seashore , national lakeshore , national river, and national scenic trail serve useful descriptive purposes . In — contrast , the national monument title applied impartially to natu ral areas as vast as Death Valley and cultural sites as small as the — Statue of Liberty says little about a place . For no obvious reason , some historic forts are national monuments and others are national historic sites , while historic battlefields are variously titled national Barry M ackinto sh B ureau Histo rian Natio nal Park Se rvice , a milit ry parks , national battlefields , and national battlefield parks , among other things . All these designations are rooted in the System ’ s legislative and administrative history. Where distinctions in title denote no real dif ferences f in character or management policy, the dif ering designa tions usually reﬂect changes in fashion over time . Historical areas u u that once wo ld have been named national mon ments , for exam ple , more recently have been titled national historic sites , if small , or national historical parks , if larger. Regardless of their titles , all units of the System are referred to generically as parks , a practice followed in this book . The dates used here for parks are usually those of the earliest u laws , Presidential proclamations , or departmental orders a thorizing or establishing them . In some cases these actions occurred before the areas were placed under National Park Service administration 1 97 and thus in the National Park System . In 0 Congress defined the System as including $ any area of land and water now or hereafter administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the National Park Service for park , monument , historic , parkway, recreational , or $ other purposes . This legal definition excludes a number of national historic sites , memorials , trails , and other areas assisted but not admin $ $ istered by the Service . These affiliated areas are listed in the x Appendi . ’ Famil Tree its Lee s y , with chronological listing of park additions and concise discussion of significant examples , developments , and a trends , was an indispensable orient tion and reference tool to Ser vice personnel and others tracking the System’ s growth to Yellow ’ Sha in stone s centennial year. It is hoped that this revised edition of p g ’ the S s tem y , still owing much to Lee s work , will serve the same pur pose as the Service celebrates its diamond anniversary. Before the N ational Park Service — N ational Parks The national park idea the concept of large — scale natural preservation has been credited to the artist George Catlin , best known for his paintings of American Indians . On a trip a 1 832 to the Dakot region in , he worried about the destructive effects ’ of America s westward expansion on Indian civilization , wildlife , and $ wilderness . They might be preserved , he wrote , by some great pro ’ m a n i cent ar tecting policy of government in a g fi p k . A natio n s ark and p , containing man beast , in all the wild$ness $and freshness of their nature’ s beauty $$ Catlin’ s vision of perpetuating indigenous cultures in this fashion was doubtless impractical , and his proposal had no immediate effect . u Increasingly, however, romantic portrayals of nat re by writers such as James Fenimore Cooper and Henry David Thoreau and painters like Thomas Cole and Frederick Edwin Church would compete with older views of wilderness as something to be subdued and exploited . As appreciation for unspoiled nature grew and as spectacular natu z ral areas in the American West were discovered and publici ed , notions of preserving such places began to be taken seriously. u V One s ch place was Yosemite alley, where the national park idea came to partial fruition in 1 864 . In response to the desires of various gentlemen of California , gentlemen of fortune , of taste , and of refine $ ment , Senator John Conness of California sponsored legislation to transfer the valley and the nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state so that they might $ be used and preserved for the benefit of mankind . The act of Congress , signed by President Abraham Lin 30 coln on June , granted California the lands on condition that they would be held for public use , resort , and recreation inalienable for all time . The geological wonders of the Yellowstone region , in the Montana 1 869 -7 1 and Wyoming territories , remained little known until , when successive expeditions led by David E . Folsom , Henry D . Washburn , V and Ferdinand . Hayden traversed the area and publicized their remarkable findings . Several members of these parties suggested the possibility of reserving Yellowstone for public use rather than allow ing it to fall under private control . The park idea received inﬂuential s support from agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, whose projected main line through Montana stood to benefit from a major tourist destination in the vicinity. Yosemite was cited as a precedent , but differences in the two situ atio ns required different solutions . The primary access to Yellow a stone was through Montana , and Mont nans were among the leading park advocates . Most of Yellowstone lay in Wyoming , however, and neither Montana nor Wyoming was yet a state . So the park legisla 1 87 1 l tion , introduced in December by Senate Pub ic Lands Commit tee chairman Samuel C . Pomeroy of Kansas , was written to leave Yellowstone in federal custody. The Yellowstone bill encountered some opposition from congress $ men who questioned the propriety of such a large reservation . The geysers will remain , no matter where the ownership of the land may be , and I do not know why settlers should be excluded from a tract of land forty miles square in the Rocky mountains or any other place , complained Sen .

Load more