NATIONAL PARKS AND MONU MENTS. The former are large tracts of pub lic lands in the central and western parts of the United States retained, maintained and im proved by the Federal government for such purposes as are mentioned in the National Parks Service Bill, creating in the Department of the Interior ga service to be called the National Park Service, which shall be under the charge of a director who shall be appointed by the Secretary.' That service *shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and res ervations,' the object being "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unim paired for the enjoyment of future genera tions.' National monuments, on the other hand, are defined in an act approved 8 June 1906, entitled °An act for the preservation of American antiquities' as historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon lands owned or controlled by the government of the United States.
There are at present 16 national parks. The oldest, Hot Springs, was created in 1832; the most recently created, the Hawaiian and the Lassen, date from 1 Aug. 1916 and 9 Aug. 1916, respectively. The following list gives, beside the name of each, its location, date of creation, area in square miles and distinctive characteristics: Hot Springs, 1832, middle Arkansas, l4 square miles. There are 46 hot springs pos sessing curative properties; many hotels and boarding-houses; 20 bathhouses under public control.
Yellowstone, 1872, northwestern Wyoming, 3,348 square miles. A greater number of gey sers than in all the rest of the world; also boiling springs, mud volcanoes, petrified for ests; grand canyon of the Yellowstone, re markable for its coloring; large lakes, streams and waterfalls; wilderness inhabited by deer, elk, bison, moose, antelope, bear, mountain sheep, beaver, etc.— the greatest wild animal
and bird preserve in the world; altitude, 6,000 to 11,000 feet.
Yosemite, 1890, middle-eastern California, 1,125 square miles. The valley is famous for its beauty; there are high cliffs, waterfalls, three groves of big trees, high sierra, large areas of snowy peaks, the "waterwheel° falls; and here, as in several other national parks, good trout fishing.
Sequoia, 1890, middle-eastern California, 237 square miles. The big tree national park, con taining 12,000 sequoia trees over 10 feet in diameter; mountains and precipices.
General Grant, 1890, middle eastern Califor nia, 4 square miles. 'This was created to pre serve the °General Grant tree,' 35 feet in diam eter; it is six miles from Sequoia National Park and under the same management.
Casa Grande Ruin, 1892, Arizona, 4 square mile, a prehistoric Indian building.
Mount Rainier, 1899, west-central Washing ton, 324 square miles. The largest accessible single-peak glacier system, containing 28 gla ciers, some of large size, 50 to 500 feet thick; also sub-Alpine wild-flower fields.
Crater Lake, 1902, southwestern Oregon, 249 square miles; the lake, extraordinarily blue, lying in the crater of an extinct volcano. The sides are 1,000 feet high; the lava formations are interesting.
Wind Cave, 1903, South Dakota, 1654 square miles, a natural cavern with passages or gal leries 90 miles in aggregate length.
Sully's Hill, 1904, North Dakota, square miles, a wooded hilly tract on Devil's Lake.
Mesa Verde, 1906, southwestern Colorado, 77 square miles; most notable and best pre served prehistoric cliff dwellings in the United States.
Platt, 1906, southern Oklahoma, ly, square miles; sulphur and other springs possessing curative properties.
Glacier, 1910, northwestern Montana, 1,534 square miles. This is a rugged mountain re gion of Alpine character. In it are found 250 glacier-fed lakes of romantic beauty; 60 small glaciers; peaks of unusual shapes and precipices of great height.