vicinity, besides being a great accommodation to tourists who desire to leave a portion of their luggage while they visit the lake, the Grand Cañon, and the Great Falls of the Yellowstone. We have a strong door on the storeroom, and one window in the same; also an outside door, and two windows in the front room.

The blacksmith shop is similar in construction, 20 by 20 feet, with a door and two windows. Convenient to the shop is a coal-house, 10 by 15 feet, in which I have a quantity of charcoal left over after the season's business, from a pit that we burned early in the season. The buildings are all carefully chinked on the inside and daubed on the outside, and thoroughly covered with dirt roofs, which we consider stormproof, and will probably answer the purpose for which they were constructed, for many years.

Mr. Secretary, I would gladly have consulted you in regard to these buildings before they were begun, but the demand was so urgent, and it takes so very long to communicate by mail, in these far-off mountains, with your office, that I ventured on my own judgment to proceed without specific authority, trusting that what I might do would receive your sanction and approval.

After the buildings were completed I sent the men who had been there employed with a pack-train and outfit over to the falls to improve the trails and bridle-paths around them and the Grand Cañon, also to open a new and better bridle-path from the falls along the base of Mount Washburn, via Tower Falls, to intersect the Clark's Fork wagon road near Barronett's bridge, thus enabling tourists to make a complete circuit of the Park, and to see most of the marvelous wonders of nature that so abound in this our nation's great play-ground, and which I am assured by eminent travelers are not to be found elsewhere on the globe.

It is September. Our bridle-paths are finished; our grades along the banks of the Yellowstone are completed; and the gathering snows on the distant mountain tops admonish us that we must soon seek a lesser altitude. We therefore take a parting glance at the Great Falls, the Grand Cañon, and the glorious snow-crowned mountains, and all depart for our summer headquarters in the Lower Fire-Hole Basin. Arrived there we still find plenty of work that requires our attention, notably the building of three foot-bridges, two of them across the Great FireHole River, and the other across the Little Fire-Hole, near our storehouse. The bridges across the larger river are 130 feet in length, and the one across the lesser stream is 50 feet long. These bridges are built by hewing long timbers flat, and placing two pieces side by side upon strong benches standing in the river, and securely fastened together, then putting up a hand-rail along one side, enabling any person to cross with ease and safety. These foot-bridges have long been a necessity, and will prove a great convenience to ourselves as well as the public.

September 14 I took my departure for the Mammoth Hot Springs, to give attention to my office work, which I confess I had too long neglected. But (as I have before written you), deeming it of the first importance that the money appropriated by Congress for the improvement of the Park be judiciously and properly expended, I felt it to be my first duty to remain in the field to direct and supervise the work. Before leaving, I directed Captain Topping with his party to work back over the road to the Mammoth Hot Springs, and repair some crossways that had become badly demoralized by the heavy military trains and others passing over them during the summer. I left Mr. Graham and

my son with their men to finish the foot-bridges, to take an inventory of the stock and tools to be left there, to close up and lock the buildings, and then to come to the springs and construct a bridge across the Gardiner River, which had recently been destroyed by a devastating fire that had swept over a large tract of the Park in the immediate neighborhood of headquarters. I spent a few days in my office, and then took stage for Bozeman, Mont., to settle with the merchants of that bright and busy mountain city for the supplies that they had so generously advanced me for the use of the government during the season. I was thus occupied there for several days, when I again took the stage for Virginia City, Mont., another trade center in these mountains, to whose liberal merchants I was under like obligations for the same kind of favors. I closed my business here, and returned by the same route, reaching home in time to see the last plank fastened down upon our new bridge across the Gardiner. The bridge is a splendid one of the kind, and is constructed after the pattern before described. I then settled with the few men that had still stuck to the work until it was finished, which was on the 25th day of October.

The snow was now getting deep all over the Park. The bell had summoned all ashore who were not going to sail, and, not desiring to be blockaded here all winter, I bade farewell to my assistant, Mr. G. L. Henderson, and his son, whom we left in charge, and myself and wife made our escape down the valley of the Yellowstone to the North Pacific Railroad, and thence to the green fields of Iowa, our home.

Mr. Secretary, I desire to say, in concluding this prosy report, that we do not claim to have written our names upon the mountain tops here, and will be content if you shall approve, and the great public, from whose verdict there is no appeal, shall concede, that we have left our mark upon the roads, trails, and bridle-paths of this great National Park.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
P. H. CONGER,
Superintendent Yellowstone National Park.

THE PARK.

I consider the man entitled to all honor who first had the foresight to propose to the Congress of the United States the project of setting apart this wonderful country for all time for the use and pleasure of the people. So grand an idea could emanate only from the brain of a wise and far-seeing statesman. No nation on earth has ever bequeathed to its people a nobler gift. Its area is not accurately known, but enough is known to be certain that it contains more square miles than either of two of the States in this Union. The donation was a grand one, made upon a truly American scale, and the people of this country will demand of their representatives that this great Park be opened and improved, so that the present generation may enjoy it. In this connection I would call the attention of members of Congress to the fact that heretofore the annual allowance for all purposes in the Park has been only $15,000; and I beg them to inquire of themselves how far this sum would go toward building and repairing the roads in their State or district, and also to bear in mind that this Park is on the top of the Rocky Mountains, and that everything that enters into use there costs at the least twice as much as the same would cost in almost any of the States.

VANDALISM IN THE PARK.

I have hardly the patience to discuss this subject without passion. The most of the depredations committed seem to me so entirely purposeless that I am unable to conceive the cause that impels men and women to wantonly destroy, purely for destruction's sake. What are we to think of a man that will pack long poles, as heavy as he can carry, a great distance, for the purpose of thrusting them into the cone and down the throat of these great geysers, when the only possible effect must be to obstruct their flow and mar their beauty? This is done repeatedly, although I have neglected no opportunity to warn, admonish, and entreat all tourists whom I have met in the Park not on any account to do so. I have also by published order, forbidden the collection of any specimens and cautioned all persons having occasion to build a fire in the Park to be certain to extinguish the same before leaving camp. But, notwithstanding all this, tourists go into the Park with iron bars and picks secreted in their wagons, with the express intent to disregard the law and defy the superintendent. The cones of the great geysers are already badly defaced, and vast tracts of the beautiful forests that adorn this Wonder-Land are laid waste by fire annually through the wanton carelessness and neglect of visitors.

Another source of great annoyance is the hunters in the Park. I am sure you will agree with me that it is not possible for a single gamekeeper to guard so vast a territory as the National Park and prevent the breach of the laws in regard to the killing of game. When we consider the temptation, and the opportunity which these vast solitudes afford, we need not wonder that the laws are broken, and the orders disobeyed. But I leave it for the superior wisdom of the honorable Secretary of the Interior to suggest some remedy for these evils.

VISITORS TO THE PARK.

Many eminent people have visited the Park the past summer, both from our own and foreign lands. A few among the more prominent names I will mention:

United States Senator Bayard, of Delaware; Commander Gorringe, of the United States Navy; Lloyd S. Bryce, of New York City; Mr. Fuller, of London, England; and Mr. Merrill, of Philadelphia, with a cavalry escort, composed the Senator's party.

General P. H. Sheridan, Col. M. P. Sheridan, General Anson Stager, of New York City; Mr. John McCullough, the great actor; General D. B. Sackett, U. S. A.; Col. James F. Gregory, U. S. A.; Mr. H. R. Bishop, New York; Mr. Charles D. Rhodes, Chicago; General W. E. Strong, Chicago; Capt. W. P. Clark, U. S. A.; Capt. J. U. Wheeler, commanding escort, with 150 men and 300 horses and pack-mules.

Mr. Edw. Massicott, a great traveler, Paris, France.

B. A. Coloma, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Bishop Hurst, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Iowa.
Rev. C. H. Fowler, New York.

Joseph Moore, jr., esq., Philadelphia, a great traveler in foreign lands, and eminent author.

Captain Gibson and Lieutenant Spellman, Seventh United States Cavalry, with large party.

Dr. Sanderson, U. S. A.

Major Gordon and family, Fort Ellis, N. Y., with escort.
Major Hughes, Saint Paul, Minn.

A large party from the Omaha Board of Trade, headed by their presi dent, Mr. Clark (a number of them having their families with them), Mr. Fitch, of the Omaha Bee, and many others.

Prof. S. C. Armstrong, Hampton, Va.

Henry W. Foote and Arthur Lyman, Boston, Mass.

Rev. Geo. Comfort and wife, with. a large party of friends from Bozeman, Mont.

Dr. J. H. Warren, Janesville, Wis.

M. V. Nichols, Osage, Iowa.

Lord S. George Littledale and lady, England.

Mr. J. O. Hussey, with a large party, White Sulphur Springs, Mont.
Samuel Mallory and wife, with friends, Montana.

Alanson Trask, esq., with family and friends, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Hon. J. C. Burrows, M. C., Michigan.

Earl Hope, of Hopeton, Scotland, with cousin and large retinue of servants.

A. T. Argens, Copenhagen, LL. D. and envoy of the King of Denmark. We had also a German count, and many other people of distinction whom I must omit to name.

We had on our register at headquarters on the 15th of October 815 names, and we estimate that not one-tenth part of the visitors to the Park the past season came to headquarters at all. Taking this estimate as a basis, there could not have been less than ten thousand people there the past season. Indeed, it has seemed that the people of our own country are just beginning to find out that there is such a place as the Yellowstone National Park, while it has attracted the attention of European scientists and travelers ever since it was first known. The distinguished travelers of our own country who have been there the past summer have told me that they felt compelled to visit the Park, so that they might be able to answer the thousands of inquiries that are made of them concerning this great Wonder-Land, wherever they go, in all parts of the earth. From this I think it safe to predict that as soon as the great railroads are completed to the borders of the Park, and the roads in the Park made comfortable by grading and bridging, it will speedily become the most popular summer resort in this or any land.

LINES OF TRAVEL LEADING TO THE PARK.

The tourist desiring to visit the Park, who may be, we will say, at Chicago, has his choice of either of the great Pacific railroads. The Union Pacific via Omaha to Ogden, thence by the Utah Northern to Beaver Cañon, where he takes stage or private conveyance up the valley of the Snake River to the Lower Fire-Hole Basin, a little over 100 miles from the railroad. Or he can take the northern route via Saint Paul and the North Pacific to Livingstone (Benson's Landing), from whence a branch road is to be built, I am informed, early next season, to the borders of the Park near my headquarters, 65 miles from Livingstone. In this connection I will also say, that active operations are already in progress to build and have ready for the accommodation of the public a number of elegant hotels at the points of greatest interest throughout the Park, so that tourists will not be compelled, as heretofore, to carry their own supplies, and camp on the ground. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, P. H. CONGER.

REPORT

OF

THE UTAH COMMISSION.

OFFICE OF THE UTAH COMMISSION,

Salt Lake City, Utah, August 31, 1882.

DEAR SIR: The commission appointed by the President, under the ninth section of "An act to amend section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes," approved March 22, 1882, respectfully report: That all the members of the commission met, by request of the chairman, at the city of Chicago, on the 17th of July, 1882, and remained in session several days. James R. Pettigrew, of Arkansas, a member of the commission, was appointed temporary secretary. After consultation and an examination and consideration of the laws of the United States and of the Territory of Utah pertaining to our duties, it was determined that nothing could be done in regard to the registration of voters and the conduct of any election in Utah until the necessary appropriation bills then pending in Congress should be passed. Accordingly, the commission adjourned to meet at Omaha, Nebr., on the 15th day of August, where the commissioners met, and on the following day commenced their journey to this city, arriving here on the evening of the 18th instant.

On the day following a session was held for the transaction of business, Arthur L. Thomas, secretary of the Territory, and ex officio secretary of the commission, being present, and one or more sessions have been held each day since. A strong disposition with some of the nonMormon citizens against preparing for the election of a Delegate in Congress manifested itself before the work of preparation therefor was commenced. But upon investigation as to the condition of affairs, and an examination as to the state of the law and the duty of the commission thereunder, the following preamble and resolution was adopted: Whereas it is provided by the Revised Statutes of the United States (section 1862) that every Territory shall have the right to send a Delegate to the House of Representatives of the United States, and as it is further provided (section 25) that such election shall be held in all the Territories of the United States on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1882: Therefore,

Resolved, That in order to prepare for such election in the Territory of Utah on the day so established the commission will proceed forthwith to appoint registration officers to revise the registration lists, now on file in the office of the clerks of each of the several counties, in the manner required by law.

In pursuance of this resolution the commission proceeded with great care and deliberation to prepare "rules and regulations" for the guidance of the registration and election officers to be appointed. This was a difficult and delicate task, because of the necessity of framing the rules and regulations governing the registration of voters and the con