NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Report of the General Superintendent and Landscape Engineer of National Parks to the Secretary of the Interior 1915

WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED.

The work in this office has been distributed among the parks, giving attention where it seemed to be most needed.

One of the first steps taken after the creation of this office was the laying out of organization charts for the office of the general superintendent and a typical organization chart for the Yosemite National Park. Three charts were drawn—one for the office of the general superintendent, one organization chart for the Yosemite National Park, and a functional organization chart making a complete and detailed analysis of the functions of the various officers in Yosemite National Park.

Suggested organization for supervision of national parks
(click on image for a PDF version)

INSTALLATION OF COST-KEEPING SYSTEM IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.

With these organization charts well in mind, a system was devised which will enable the department to keep a close and accurate record of the operations in the parks where the system was adopted. This system was installed in the Yosemite National Park, and the records and information shown in the monthly reports therefrom enable this office to make many material reductions in the cost of operation. For example, the report of May, 1915, showed a cost of $1.66 per mile for sprinkling roads. The analysis given in the report enabled us to find the leaks and losses, and the monthly report for August, 1915, after repairs had been made to the sprinkling system, showed a cost of 72 cents per mile for sprinkling roads. Similar reductions were made possible in other departments.

This system of cost keeping comprises two general divisions, namely, statistical reports and financial reports. Copies of the monthly reports are forwarded to the department, showing clearly the operations of the month.

Before this system could be installed it was necessary to take an inventory of the physical assets, such as buildings, bridges, power plant, materials on hand, etc. This inventory was made, and disclosed the astounding fact that there were in the Yosemite National Park on April 30, 1915, $23,625.34 represented by materials and supplies on hand. The inventory further showed that the assets in the park in the form of construction work done, utilities, etc., amounted to $613,635.03, apportioned in the following manner:

The items that go to make up this inventory are segregated, showing fully what has been expended on each piece of work, and it is proposed hereafter to keep a record so that the department will have on file the amount of money spent on each road, trail, bridge, and every other feature in the park that demands an expenditure of money. It is considered that only in this way will it be possible to carefully check the expenditures. Further than this, it is only by resorting to a unit cost-keeping system that the department will be able to segregate accurately the moneys for maintenance from those expended for improvements and betterments.

PURCHASE OF SUPPLIES.

This office, since the 1st of April, 1915, has been purchasing all supplies for Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks and for the other parks where it was practicable to do so. It was found that a better quality of goods could be obtained and a better price could be had by making a personal inspection of the supplies purposed to be furnished.

It has been the custom in the past for the local supervisor or superintendent to purchase the supplies direct. The parks are so situated that they are usually quite a distance from a market, and this custom resulted in loss of time in sending proposals back and forth. When the goods arrived, they were often found to be of inferior quality and not exactly what the supervisor or superintendent desired. San Francisco has a factory representative of practically every line of manufacture in this country, and the purchase of supplies for the national parks can be done here on the same basis as though the purchasing agent visited each factory and made a personal investigation of samples of the supplies to be furnished. Shipping these supplies over bond-aided railroads to the various parks places the local dealers in the vicinity of the parks (who have heretofore had this business) in direct competition with the manufacturers and wholesale dealers of supplies required in the operation of the parks. This new system of purchasing from this office from factory representatives and wholesale dealers has resulted in a great saving to the department.

The superintendent or supervisor of each park makes a requisition on this office for material and supplies that he desires purchased. This office then submits proposals to the various dealers, makes personal inspection of the goods to be supplied, and makes the award, whereupon the supplies are shipped to the park, thereby saving a great deal of time as well as money.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSPORTATION, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.

Starting on June 1, 1915, the Yosemite Stage & Turnpike Co. placed in operation between the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees and the village of the Yosemite Valley an automobile service for the transportation of tourists between these points. This service replaced the old horse-drawn stages, which were uncomfortable and slow, requiring at least four hours and a half between Yosemite Village and the Wawona Hotel and an additional hour and a half between the Wawona Hotel and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees, and with this service it was not possible for tourists to go from the village in the valley to the Mariposa Grove without stopping at least one night at the Wawona Hotel. The new service provided a schedule that enabled the tourists to leave the valley in the morning and spend one hour and a half at the Mariposa Grove and return to the valley in the evening in time for 6 o'clock dinner.

This service has proven very satisfactory to the traveling public, especially the summer just past, as it would have been a physical impossibility to handle the volume of travel that went over this road with the old horse-drawn stages.

ACQUISITION OF ROADS.

The department has acquired title to that portion of the Tioga Road lying within Yosemite National Park. This road has been rehabilitated this summer and was formally opened on the 28th of July to the public. The opening of this road makes accessible that portion of the park known as the High Sierras and has opened up a section that is extremely beautiful and traverses the park in an easterly and westerly direction. The department's acquiring the Tioga Road has met with great public favor, and when same has been put in good condition it will be the most popular pass for transcontinental tourists through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, as well as being a favorite trip for local automobiles.

The department has also acquired title to that portion of the Big Oak Flat Road lying within Yosemite National Park, and improvement of same is now in progress. In the past this road has been operated by private owners as a toll road. Its acquisition by the Government makes this a free road and is one of the shortest and most practical, as well as being one of the easiest grades, of any road entering Yosemite Valley.

ROAD AND TRAIL MAPS.

During the year 1914 a topography map was started by the surveyors from the Office of Public Roads of the Agricultural Department, under the charge of Mr. T. Warren Allen; showing the topographical conditions on a section of the floor of Yosemite Valley. This survey was made so as to show buildings, trails, roads, and bridges on a scale that could be used for working drawings in planning further improvements. This map was compiled in this office.

It became evident during the first days of the life of this office that a comprehensive plan for the road and trail development of all of the national parks was an essential, to the end that the habit of building disconnected bits of roads and trails might be stopped. Plans for the complete road and trail systems for each of the five national parks were then drawn in preliminary form. The parks thus covered were Yosemite, Crater Lake, Rainier, Glacier, and Sequoia.

THE VILLAGE PLAN FOR YOSEMITE.

Using the topographic map above referred to, an exhaustive study was made of conditions on the floor of Yosemite Valley with the intention of relieving the congested condition around the present village. As a result, three plans were drawn in the course of the studies made.

In addition to the village plan, studies were made for the new hotel to be constructed on the floor of the valley. Plans were also drawn for the new hotel to be constructed at Glacier Point, together with tentative studies for 12 village buildings.

In conjunction with the work done on the replanning of the village, an entire new plan of operation for the concessions in Yosemite National Park was considered. This plan contemplated the granting of a concession to a large operator who would build a hotel of sufficient size to accommodate the demands on the floor of the valley, a smaller hotel at Glacier Point, and 15 mountain inns in the High Sierra in the park, to be built at the rate of three inns each year. Several attempts have been made in the past to secure a concessionaire who would perform this service, but all had been unsuccessful, due to the fact that certain terms could not be agreed upon. The terms considered in this plan were on a profit-sharing basis, the concessionaire under the terms of this arrangement to receive a permit of 20 years' duration and to share the net profits of his concession with the Federal Government. This plan of sharing profits will overcome the difficulty of establishing a graduated scale of charges, thereby making it possible to grant a long-term permit.

With a large hotel on the floor of the valley, a new one on Glacier Point, and a chain of mountain inns throughout the park so spaced that they will be within easy walking distance of one another, it will be possible for those of small financial means to see the entire park to an extent that is now denied them.

In addition to this, the adoption of the village plan will do away with the unsightly buildings that now mar the scenery and will establish a village properly planned, comprising buildings of carefully studied architecture.

The above paragraphs have dealt with work originating in this office. The remainder of the work done in this office will be segregated under the headings of the parks for which the work was done.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.

In addition to the work above outlined, plans and specifications for the new El Capitan Bridge over the Merced River were prepared in this office, and the bridge constructed under contract for the sum of $2,965.

Plans were also drawn for a new bridge over the Merced River in the vicinity of the present village, which plans are now being considered by bidders.

Plans and specifications were drawn for ranger cabins in the Yosemite National Park, three of which were built at a total cost of $2,990.

In December, 1914, new regulations for the park ranger force were drawn and promulgated by the Secretary. In conformance with these regulations a uniform was designed and insignia of the officers selected. The park rangers in Yosemite National Park are now uniformed according to regulation, and the organization of the park ranger force under the new regulations has been perfected and has demonstrated the merits of the steps taken.

CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK.

Plans were begun on the new village for Crater Lake National Park in the year 1915. The work done under this plan comprised studies in architectural character, together with an investigation of the most feasible method of laying out roads for the circulation of traffic.

In addition to this work, a tour of inspection was made, together with a study of the road and trail system in this park.

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK.

A tour of inspection was made of this park in the late summer of 1914, and the needs of roads, trails, and other developments carefully considered. Plans and specifications were drawn for a ranger cabin to be built of stone in the vicinity of the ruins of Spruce Tree House.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK.

The work in this office on this park has been confined to the purchasing of materials and planning of the road and trail system which followed as a result of a more or less prolonged inspection of the park.

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK.

Trips of investigation have been made to Sequoia National Park, and a system of roads and trails planned. A survey has also been made (finished in June, 1915) of the Mineral King Road, which traverses the park, together with a survey and location of the proposed changes necessary to make this road practical and passable to motor-propelled and other vehicles.