The Creationof the Parks

-How the parks came to be-Spirits Sighting-Puzzles-Letters to the Editor-Who Helped Parks More?-East vs. West-Pictures of Parks-A Watery Grave

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What’s Inside

A Watery Grave 7Sightings of Spirits 8The History 10Letters to Ty 14Who Helped Parks More? 15Crossword 16John Muir 17Pictures of Parks 18Presidents’ Parks 22Eastern Establishment 25

Letter from your NPM editor

The Thrill of it All!This month’s issue of National Park Magazine is

about the thrills that you will experience when you visit our national parks. It touches on sto-ries about people who went over Niagara Falls in barrels and people that have gotten lost and died in the parks. It also has exciting stories about how the fi rst national parks came to be, the interesting publicity of the national parks in the beginning, and thrilling stories about the the pioneers who discovered these amazing places in the west and east that became out parks. You will read about many of the parks and where they are located in the crossword puzzle section of this magazine. All of our parks have exciting, thrilling stories of how they came to be national parks. You will also learn about key people and dates involved with the national parks and the conservation effort involved in preserving these lands, from the world’s very fi rst national park, Yellowstone, through the most recent parks.

NatPar May 2010 5

for more informationGo to www.national parks giveaway.com

On October 1, 1995, Robert Over-cracker rode his jet ski off of Niagara Falls. He claimed he was doing this to raise awareness for homelessness. He planned to open his parachute half-way down and glide the rest of the way to the bottom. However, neither his parachute nor his backup para-chute opened up on the way down. He was crushed by the hundreds of pounds of pressure created by the falls. He also landed onto sharp rocks. His body was never seen again. Although he was not the fi rst to go over the falls, he was one of the fi rst doing it for a good cause.

On October 24, 1901, Annie Taylor was the fi rst recorded person to travel over Niagara Falls in a barrel. After she climbed into her barrel, it was then pumped to 30 psi to ensure she had enough air to last the trip. The air was pumped into the barrel with an

ordinary bike pump. Although Annie was badly bruised, she successfully made the trip and lived to tell about it. She thought that her adventurous trip would bring her fame and for-tune. Sadly, her dream did not come true, she died in poverty.

Throughout history there have been fi rsts for very dangerous ideas: landing on the moon, Flying the fi rst fl ight, traveling to the New World, and speaking out to say that the earth was not fl at. For these brave adven-turers, going over Niagara Falls was a very dangerous task that they felt someone had to master. Because humans’ curiosity made it necessary for someone to eventually go over the falls and if we failed the fi rst time, someone else would try it until he or she eventually succeeded in harness-ing nature in this dashing way.

The power of water is so strong it can carve canyons. It is also strong enough to kill. Through-

out the entire century people have dared to go over waterfalls. Niagara Falls is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the United States. Many people have gone over the falls in barrels. Many have not lived through the experience. A number of the people have crashed on the rocks at the bottom.

A Watery Grave

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There are many parks in our park system that is haunted. Some are battlefi elds of unsettled spirits. In the warm summer nights of July there is one vast cemetery where mutilated dead bodies were once strewn everywhere. The site is Get-tysburg National Park. There are hundreds of tales of ghosts roam-ing the grounds. On Chamberlain Road, a major road that goes into the town of Gettysburg, you can hear the sounds of moans from half-dead soldiers, the creeks of wagons carrying the soldiers to their bloody graves. The Battle of Gettysburg took place from July fi rst to third 1n 1863. On those

nights, those very nights, July fi rst through third, still almost 150 years later, if the night is calm and still you can hear the sounds of restless spirits.

In Grand Canyon National Park, visitors can hear a woman weep-ing. Sometimes if it is a cloudy day, you may see a faint outline of a woman wearing a white dress. People say that she is weeping and calling over the edge of the canyon to her son and husband who fell into the canyon. There have been many deaths over the years of people falling into the vast canyons.

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway, in November 1891, a four year old, Ottie Powell, was sent into the woods by his parents to col-lect fi rewood. Ottie was never seen again. When people hike the Appalachian Trail, they occasion-ally feel the presence of someone, but there is no one around. There is one spot is haunted by the ghost

of Ottie. If you sleep there, he will wake you up in the night and keep waking you up. Many hikers have experienced something tugging on their shirt, they turn around and nothing is there. There are many more parks that are haunted and can be frightening at times. If you like the outdoors and want to enjoy a creepy time visit one of the many haunted national parks.

Sightings of Spirits

8 May 2010 NatPar

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TRACE THE PATH OF THE POWELL EXPEDITION

William Henry Jackson’s photograph Castle Geyser and Crested Pool, Upper Geyser Basin, 1871

The United States of Amer-

ica’s National Park System

holds the true beauty,

history and ingenuity of the entire

country. From the cascading wa-

terfalls of California’s Yosemite to

the swampy marshes of Florida’s

Everglades to an urban open grassy

mall in the District of Columbia,

it is easy to see how the country’s

parks are as spectacular and as di-

verse as its citizens. It is important

to learn and know the history of

our country’s national parks be-

cause of all that they represent. The

National Park System is an organi-

zation that began with the dream

of a few individuals who saw

that special places in our country

needed to be protected and recog-

nized. The dream began with one

park in the west and has exploded

into almost 400 national parks,

national monuments, recreation

areas, memorials, historic sites and

battlefi elds that span all fi fty states

and its territories. The national

parks are great to read about and

even better to visit.Continued on next page

The National Parks System: Our Heritage

NatPar May 2010 11

The Early History of National ParksYellowstone, the United States’ fi rst

national park, was started by Ferdinand

Vandeveer Hayden and William Jackson.

Hayden went on a geological survey at

Yellowstone along with Jackson, a pho-

tographer. Before they went, the geysers

were just myths, no one knew if they really

existed or were tall tales. When Hayden

and Jackson, along with their group of

scientists and topographers, came back

and showed paintings and photos of the

geysers to the American public, everyone

liked them so much they wanted the site

to be an offi cial park. They showed the

paintings and photographs to congress,

congress then appropriated funds to buy

one of the paintings for $10,000, this

meant that the congress liked the sight of

the geysers so much they might turn it into

a park. Hayden suggested that the gov-

ernment turn Yellowstone into a national

park because these beautiful lands needed

to be protected from development. He

convinced Congress by saying that there

was no value in it, it was not fl at enough to

farm on and it was volcanic so there would

not be any use for mines. He also claimed

that people were already marking claims

for property there and if they did not act

quick enough it would be the next Niagara

Falls. Niagara Falls was very commercial;

there were many vendors that made the

falls seem a lot less powerful than they

really were. If there were not laws protect-

ing the Yellowstone then it may have also

became very commercial.

Some might say that when the District

of Columbia was established on July 16,

1790, which included the White House,

the National Capital Parks and the Nation-

al Mall, those were the fi rst national parks

instead of Yellowstone. Even though parts

of Washington D.C. could be credited with

being the fi rst national park, rather than

Yellowstone.

Yellowstone (Wyoming), the fi rst national

park, was designated and signed into law

on March 1, 1872 by President Ulysses S.

Grant and the United States Congress. All

national parks are signed into law before

they become a part of the National Park

Service. Sequoia National Park (Califor-

nia) was the second national park in the

United States. Sequoia was established on

September 25, 1890. The fi rst national park

east of the Mississippi River was Acadia

National Park (Maine). Acadia became a

national park on July 8, 1916. Although

many national parks had been created

before Acadia, it was important because

it was the fi rst park established east of the

Mississippi River. The fi rst park east of the

Mississippi River was important because it

united the entire country in protecting our

natural open spaces and monuments.

How Parks Become ParksA park gets to be a park when a bill is

created by a legislator, gets argued, voted

on and passed by both the senate and

the house and the president signs it. Parks

can only be created by acts of the U.S.

Congress. If the government owns the

land, the president is allowed to create

a national monument. The secretary of

the interior is permitted to make national

historic sites. President Franklin Delano

Roosevelt signed the most bills creating

the most parks. Roosevelt created national

parks and monuments such as the Lincoln

Memorial and many Civil War battlefi elds.

Because the National Park Service is

a government run program, most of the

money used to maintain and buy land for

parks comes from tax dollars. Money also

comes from donations. The Conservation

Fund is partnered with the National Park

Service to raise money and awareness

about the parks and the need to conserve.

The National Park Service is a government

run program dedicated to the conserva-

tion land, plants and animals; the National

Park Service also dedicates monuments,

battlefi elds and cemeteries to honor our

country’s past, present and future.

The United States was a pioneer in

creating national parks. The United States

inspired other countries to create their

own national parks. Now, most countries

around the world set aside land in beauti-

ful and unique places to protect it from

development and to protect the animals

that live on it.

Paintings and photos like these inspired Congress to pass laws that would create national parks like the Grand Canyon.

An Arizona Sunset Near the Grand Canyon, 1898 by Thomas Moran (left)

William Henry Jackson: Tower Falls, Yellowstone National Park, c.1892. Albumen print (right)

12 May 2010 NatPar

Parks During The Great DepressionIn the United States during the 1930’s,

the Great Depression made more than

20% of people in the United States

unemployed. The country quickly lost

money and became in debt. To make

jobs, the government hired hundreds of

people to build national parks. When

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt came

into offi ce he wanted to protect wildlife

while helping the country. As a result

many people gained jobs and many new

national parks were created.

Lodges played a large role in the attrac-

tion and publicity of national parks. It was

thought that lodges would attract many

people to the national parks. The lodges

are upscale hotels that are owned by the

National Park Service. Every national park

in the country has a lodge associated with

it. The fi rst national park lodge was at

Yellowstone. Old Faithful Inn was built in

three parts, the original part was con-

structed in 1903, the east wing was built

in 1913, and the west wing was built in

1927. The architect was Robert Reamer.

Wildlife plays an important part in the

world today. There have been many parks

that have been created to protect wild-

life. One reason Everglades National Park

(Florida) was created to protect the hunters

from killing alligators then taking their

skin. Other national parks were created to

protect land. Grand Canyon National Park

(Arizona) was created so people would not

throw garbage or waste into the canyons.

Most of the national parks were created

to protect the land that was symbolic of

our country and freedom. In the vast, open

air of the national parks you feel free. If

the land was covered in trash it would not

have the same effect on people.

The future of national parks can be

very unpredictable. There will be many

more national parks created every year.

Throughout times people have found

new, interesting places, with new explora-

tion and new territories, there is sure to

be many more parks in the future. Each

park will be different. Some parks will be

mountainous ranges or volcanoes, or just

about any place you can imagine.

A national park can be a very interesting

place to visit with your family, friends, or

by yourself. Many parks have hiking trails,

climbing faces, swimming and camping.

National parks can help you grow as an

adventurer but only if you help them grow

by visiting them. Visiting our national parks

will make all Americans and our guests be

proud of our beautiful, free country. No

matter what your interests are, there is a

park for you. Our parks are just as diverse as

the people in the United States.

July 1877 Pictures of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories under the direction of Ferdinand Vanderveer Hayden [1829-1887]. Photograph taken by William Henry Jackson [1843-1942] at La Veta Pass, Colorado. From the archives of the Gray Herbarium

Thomas Moran’s painting, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1872, made Congress interested in turning Yellowstone into the fi rst national park.

Thomas Moran’s next painting, The Chasm of the Colorado 1873-74 also contributed to Congress’ interest in national parks.

NatPar May 2010 13

Ty, I am planning on visit-ing Denali National Park in Alaska. I have heard that it is very bear-infested and that many people have been killed by bears there. What are ways to keep from getting killed while hiking?

- Jack

Dear Jack, it is simple not to be shredded to pieces by bears. First of all, there is a test you must take to go hiking in De-nali National Park. To pass the test you must purchase or rest a special container to keep all of your food and trash in. If you are camping there in the summer, it is recommended to have a 20 degree sleeping bag. T here are to main types of bears in Denali, black and grizzly. If a black bear is fol-lowing you, make lots of noise and fl ail your arms. Black bears are very shy creatures, so if you make noise they will be scared away. If a grizzly bear is coming toward you, get into a ball and play dead. T he griz-zly bear will not be interested in you. If you mix the two up your life will be in serious threat. Have fun, be safe and thanks for writing.

- Ty

LETTERS

TO TYAdvice About the Great Outdoors

14 May 2010 NatPar

I n the 1930’s, the United States of America fell into a deep depression. When President Her-bert Hoover did not do anything to help the depression get better, he was not re-elected.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in-stead. Roosevelt had made many parks to help create jobs for people. Many people believe that because Roosevelt made the parks he should get all the credit for the creation of those parks. People could argue that a lot of that credit could go to Hoover. It was Hoover that drove our country into such a mess that it was necessary to have someone step in and create all those parks, for the jobs. It is apparent that it was Roosevelt’s idea to make many parks; he was forced to do something because of the damage that Hoover created in America’s economy.

Franklin Roosevelt established four parks during his presidency. He created Great Smokey Mountains, Olympic, King’s Canyon and Isle Royale national parks. He also expanded Grand Teton. He also es-tablished many national monuments as a part of the National Park Service such as Joshua Tree, Capitol Reef, Dry Tortugas, and the Channel Island, which later became a national park. During the Great De-pression, almost 25% of people in the United States were unemployed. When Roosevelt made those parks and monuments, he also created many jobs. His rela-tive, Theodore Roosevelt also a president of the United states, also worked to establish national parks. Five national parks were established thanks to Teddy Roos-evelt’s efforts.

Top Right-President Franklin Delano RooseveltBottom Left- President Herbert Hoover

Who Helped Our National Parks more?

NatPar May 2010 15

Across 2. Great Smoky Mountains

4. Glacier

6. Black Canyon of the Gunnison

9. Biscayne, Dry Tortugas, Everglades

11. Mammoth Cave

12. Isle Royale

16. Mount Rainier, Olympic, North Cascades

18. Big Bend

20. Yellowstone (In 3 States)

21. Denali, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay

22. Acadia

24. Great Sand Dunes

25. Hot Springs

26. Great Basin

Down 1. Voyageurs

3. Carlsbad Caverns

5. Grand Canyon

7. Cuyahoga Valley

8. Grand Teton

10. Crater Lake

13. Channel Islands

14. Theodore Roosevelt

15. Arches

17. Haleakala

19. Shenandoah

23. Badlands

Can You Name the Locations of our National Parks?

Check next month’s issue for the answers to this puzzle.

16 May 2010 NatPar

John Muir, Our ParksPioneer“No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite.... it is the grandest of all special temples of Nature.”

If you admire our national parks, then you are sure to admire their hero, John Muir. John Muir was a Scottish-

born American naturalist. He was born on April 21, 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland, and died on December 24, 1914 (age 76) in Los Angeles, California. Muir was credited for ideas and saving the land for many of the national parks such as Yosemite and Sequoia. He also founded the Sierra Club, one of the most important clubs in the United States. The Sierra Club visits many national parks and helps raise money and preserve the parks. Muir had many other jobs other than a naturalist; he was also a writer, engineer, and botanist.

In 1899 Muir wrote a strongly worded bill to Con-gress asking them to pass Yo-semite and Sequoia National Parks into being national parks. John Muir wrote books about the beauty of nature and how it can affect people in powerful ways. One of the most famous hiking trails in the United States, John Muir Trail, was named after him. It is a 211 mile trail that is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Top: John Muir admiring Yosemite Falls; bot-tom left, President Roosevelt and John Muir in Yosemite; John Muir Wilderness covers more than 584,000 acres in the Sierra National Forest in California.

NatPar May 2010 17

There are three major people who were involved with using art in the development, publicity and funding of National Parks. At one point many people did not believe

that the places and incredible landforms of current national parks existed; many people thought they were just myths. When these artists took a picture of a place and showed it to people or con-gress, they then believed that that place existed. It was important to have photographs of the parks because in paintings or draw-ings it was easy to over exaggerate the places, whereas in photography you get exactly what you would see.

Pictures of Parks

18 May 2010 NatPar

William Henry Jackson

William Henry Jackson was born on April 7, 1843 and died on June 30, 1942. He was a photographer and a painter. Jackson worked with the Union-Pacifi c railroad to take pictures of the scenery along the train’s route to use in their ad-vertising. He then worked with the Hayden Geological Survey, which went to Yellowstone to do surveys of the land and document it. When they got back they brought the pic-tures and paintings to congress and suggested they turn it into the fi rst national park in the world. Congress agreed.

Monument Valley by William Henry Jackson

Timothy O’Sullivan

Timothy O’Sullivan was born in 1840 and died January 14,1882. When he was younger he took many pictures of the Civil War. After that, he took pictures of “unseen” places; those places soon became national parks. One of his many jobs was to work with Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Paral-lel and photograph the West so it would attract pioneers and settlers as a part of manifest destiny. He later worked in Washington D.C. as a full time photographer for the treasury department and the U.S. Geological Survey.

White House Ruins by Timothy O’Sulicvan

Ansel AdamssAnsel Adams was born February 20, 1904 and died April 22, 1984 (age 82). Adams took black and white pictures of nature. Many of his most famous works were taken in Yosemite National Park. His fi rst solo art exhibit was in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., 1931. The show included 60 black and white prints all taken in the High Sierras. This showed politicians how interesting places were in the West and they then wanted to create them into national parks and set aside this wilderness for future generations of Americans.

BridalVeil Falls by Ansel Adams

NatPar May 2010 21

Great Basin National Park was created in 1987 during President Ronald Reagan’s presidential term. It was the fi rst national park in the United States created in 15 years. Great Basin is located in central-east-ern Nevada. The Great Basin is important because it is one of the largest watersheds in the world. It is important to protect it because water in that area fl ows into the Pa-cifi c Ocean. If there is trash, the water will collect trash, fl ow into the ocean, and harm animals. This is an example of how national parks help take care of the environment and shows one reason the government funds the National Park Service.

The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve was created as an act of Congress in September 2004. President Bill Clinton signed this bill into law. This is an important place to preserve because it has the tallest sand dunes in North America. There are many streams that fl ow near the dunes causing constant erosion to the dunes. The heavy constant wind causes steady renewal of the dunes. Every few minutes you see a surge in the water due to a dam-like pile of sand in the water. These natural monuments are located in the eastern most area of Colo-rado. The dunes were originally formed from deposits of the Rio Grande River. The wind is still blowing new particles of sand

from this river and the dunes are still grow-ing. Over 70 types of rare animals live in this park. One of the main reasons this was turned into a national park was to protect the aquifer that runs under the dunes and in the nearby Baca Ranch. This large aquifer sustains the life of the plants and animals in the park. The aquifer may have been drained for large developments in the area if not adequately protected. The Nature Conservancy along with the government stepped in and bought the ranch lands and saved this fragile ecosystem and the beauti-ful dunes for all to enjoy.

In November of 2004, George W. Bush signed the bill that made The Lewis and Clark National Park. This was the 59th

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The Great Sand Dunes National Park

22 May 2010 NatPar

The Great Falls of the Passaic River

Great Basin National Park

The Great Falls of the Passaic River

national park congress made into law. This park is unique because it is a project between two states, Oregon and Washington and the federal government. It is also unique because it is not one big park but many smaller parks that are stops along Lewis and Clark’s route heading west, looking for the Pacifi c Ocean.

In March of 2009, President Barack Obama singed into law the creation of the most recent national park, The Great Falls of the Passaic River in northern New Jersey. It has one of the country’s largest waterfalls. These waterfalls were part of the industrial develop-ment of New Jersey at our country’s birth. The waterfalls are sometimes called “The Cradle of American Industry.”

NatPar May 2010 23

Eastern Establishments

Acadia National Park(Maine) is the fi rst national park east of the Mississippi River. It was established in February 26, 1919. Charles Elliot, a landscape architect, is credited with the idea for Acadia becoming a national park. It obtained federal status when President Woodrow Wilson was in offi ce. Before Acadia was a national park, it was a national monument. It became a national monument on July 8, 1916. From 1915 to 1933, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. funded, organized, designed and oversaw the construction of Acadia National Park.

Acadia National Park contains more than 120 miles of historic hiking trails. A lot of them were made by local "village improvement societies" in the late 1800s and early 1900s. You can still see much of the historic features such as stonework, are still visible.

For a thrill, hike the Precipice Trail. It is on a cliff that overlooks the ocean. Watch out for rogue waves that have been known to knock people into the water and take them out to sea never to be seen again.

Acadi has a number of ghost stories people tell. Here are a few.

Soames Sound The site around Jesuit Springs is supposedly haunted by the eight Jesuit missionaries who were killed there in 1613, by English artillery. Their white shapes are seen at night, boats disappear (last reported: 16' skiff of the Colby family, 1975), and a man in brown robes carry-ing a cross has been seen in a ghostly boat nearby.

(Source: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 107.)

Wreck Island - four miles SW of Friend-ship Harbor Lights, and the forms of people outlined in light, are seen at Wreck Island at night. They are the eleven pas-sengers of the Winnebec which went down in a December 1768 storm. They may have drowned before washing ashore, or been killed by some fi shermen for their belong-ings. It is said that the fi shermen each expe-rienced the sensation of being strangled, shortly after the 1768 disaster, and many of them said their attackers were people in drenched clothing, surrounded by white light.

(Source: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 57.)

NatPar May 2010 25

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