Excerpt from The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive; Illustrated With Maps, View and Portraits In submitting to the public this second revision of "The Yellowstone," reference to the author's official connection, now permanently severed, with the region to which it relates may not be out of place. It has proven a rule almost without exception that those who have been assigned to duty in the Park, whether in public or private capacity, have become enamored of the service there and have accepted its termination with feelings of affectionate regret. Such was emphatically the author's experience. A two years' detail (1891-92) as assistant to the officer in charge of road construction, developed an interest in that region which has never since diminished. The first edition of "The Yellowstone" (1895) was an outgrowth of that early acquaintance. Later, in 1899, after the close of the Spanish-American war, the author was again sent to the Park, this time in exclusive charge of the road work. By a fortunate combination of circumstances Congress was induced to give upward of a million dollars for the work during the next seven years and thus to make possible the development of a really comprehensive system of highways. This work, which embraced the construction, more or less complete, of about four hundred miles of mountain roads, was of absorbing interest, and it is a matter of no especial credit that the author should have given to it, from beginning to end, the utmost of his time and abilities. It was in the fullest sense a labor of love and to an unusual degree one of direct personal supervision. Disappointment there was, as in all similar work, in the never-ceasing, but rarely successful, effort to bridge completely the chasm between an ideal result and that which available resources permit. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.