. Diary of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers in the year 1870. d charge visitors an admissionfee. To have permitted this would have defeated the pur-pose of the act of dedication. In many instances the appli-cants made earnest pleas, both personally and through theirmembers in Congress, to the Interior Department and tomyself for an approval of their applications, offering tospeedily make improvements of a value ranging from |100,-000 to 1500,000. I inyariably reported unfavorably uponthese alluring propositions, and in no instance was my rec-ommendation overruled
. Diary of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers in the year 1870. d charge visitors an admissionfee. To have permitted this would have defeated the pur-pose of the act of dedication. In many instances the appli-cants made earnest pleas, both personally and through theirmembers in Congress, to the Interior Department and tomyself for an approval of their applications, offering tospeedily make improvements of a value ranging from |100,-000 to 1500,000. I inyariably reported unfavorably uponthese alluring propositions, and in no instance was my rec-ommendation overruled by Secretary Cowen, to whom Sec-retary Delano had given the charge of the whole matter,and to Judge Cowens firmness in resisting the political andother influences that were brought to bear is largely due thefact that these early applications for concessions were notgranted. A time should never come when the Americanpeople will have forgotten the services, a generation ago,of Judge Cowen, in resisting the designs of unscrupulousmen in their efforts to secure possession of the most impor-. / ImMAA/MiG^vu^^Xv-c^.w^ Introduction. xxv tant localities in the Park, nor the later services of GeorgeBird Grinnell, William Ilallett Phillips and U. S. SenatorGeorge Graham Vest, in the preservation of the wild gameof the Park and of the Park itself from the more determinedencroachments of private greed. The second year of my services as superintendent, some ofmy friends in Congress proposed to give me a salary suffi-ciently large to pay actual expenses. I requested them tomake no effort in this behalf, saying that I feared that somesuccessful applicant for such a salaried position, giving lit-tle thought to the matter, would approve the applicationsfor leases; and that as long as I could prevent the grantingof any exclusive concessions I would be willing to serve assuperintendent without compensation. Apropos of my official connection with the Park a thirdof a century ago, is the following
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