Thanks Teddy Roosevelt...and Napoleon

View from road in Glacier National Park

"Thanks Teddy Roosevelt," I said gratefully as we drove through gorgeous Glacier National Park in northern Montana. 

Julie asked what I meant, and I said I thought T.R. had pretty much single handedly invented national parks, based on some vague memories from our visit to New York's Museum of Natural History and books I read long ago.  When I did some research upon returning home, I found the reality to be a bit more complex.

Trail of the Cedars at Glacier National Park

The National Park movement definitely hit high gear under Republican President Teddy Roosevelt's administration. The "Conservationist President" loved hunting and exploring nature as part of "the strenuous life" he advocated, making him a natural choice to expand the system of National Parks and National Monuments.

It was actually his successor, Republican William Taft, who signed the bill in 1910 that made Glacier our countries' tenth National Park.  I think it is fair to say that Roosevelt, who was President from 1901 to 1909, lit the fuse to make that happen. 

Teddy Roosevelt, however, did not invent national parks.

Waterfall by Trail of the Cedars

In the 1800s, a few visionary artists, writers and statesmen began toying with the idea of protecting some regions of natural beauty for posterity, both in Europe and in America, but it was the democratic, freedom-loving United States that actually had the political will to make that happen officially by setting aside land for public enjoyment. 

In 1864, Republican President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill that ceded what eventually became Yosemite National Park to the state of California "upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation; (which) shall be inalienable for all time."

Considering Abe had a few other things on his mind, like winning the Civil War and freeing the slaves, that was quite a remarkable accomplishment.  He must not have spent too much of his Presidency on fundraising and golfing.



Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

In 1872, another Republican President who as  Lincoln's best general had a hand in winning the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant, signed the law that made glorious Yellowstone the first National Park in the world.

Although Montana is celebrating its 150th anniversary of being split from the Idaho Territory to become the Montana Territory, it didn't become our 41st state until 1889, so the national government had no state to appoint to delegate authority over the park, hence "National Park." 

The Yellowstone River

It's interesting to note that while conservationists and politicians played their parts, it was big business that made the establishment of Yellowstone National Park happen.  The Northern Pacific Railroad, which owned the train route through Montana, recognized how beneficial this tourist attraction would be to their enterprise and threw their considerable weight behind the project. 

We recently hiked around the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (not to be confused with the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona), a glorious way to exercise and enjoy nature.  The park is laid out to make the highlights easily accessible from a series of parking lots as an alternative to a more strenous approach.  It's a very egalitarian system.  For only $80, you can buy an Interagency Annual Pass which admits you and a carload of friends and family to all of our national parks, forests and recreation areas.

Julie on Trail of the Cedars boardwalk

Glacier National Park is similarly extremely accessible, although the narrow roads and steep drop-offs seemed to give Julie heart palpitations.  The hiking trails at Glacier National Park include boardwalks to make walking easier.

On the Trail of the Cedars, we found an easy path to paradise, and for the uphill climb through snow-covered ground at Logan Pass, the wooden steps made difficult terrain less so.  At Logan Pass, we encountered lots of goats, marmots and a few other small woodland creatures.  From its parking lot, we could see longhorn sheep on the hillside.  As we returned back from hiking to beautiful Hidden Lake, we saw one longhorn sheep in the parking lot dodging cars and tourists.

Hungry Horse Dam

Before enterring Glacier National Park, we had stopped at Hungry Horse Dam.

Julie's dad John worked on the dam as one of his first jobs as an engineer after serving as a paramedic in World War II.  It's another example of American engineering, in the vein of the Panama Canal, which you may recall was another Teddy Roosevelt project.  Democratic President Harry Truman threw the switch to begin hydroelectric power generation at the dam on October 1, 1952, almost exactly a year before I was born.

Hidden Lake at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park

How did our government devolve into one that spends trillions and sometimes seems to create nothing but problems?

Thomas Jefferson really puts our recent politicians to shame.  Not only did this Founding Father write the Declaration of Independence and then champion democracy, republicanism and individual rights during his Presidency, his administration negotiated the Louisiana Purchase of 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River, which became all or part of fifteen states, including Montana, for fifteen million dollars. 

Here is an elaborately staged reenactment of that historic event from the play, "The Adventures of Lewis and Clark."

There's no doubt that "fifteen million bucks" proved to be an incredible deal.

Thanks Napoleon.