I take occasion here to refer to my personal connection with the Park.  Upon the passage by Congress, on March 1, 1872, of the act of dedication, I was appointed superintendent of the Park.  I discharged the duties of the office for more than five years, without compensation of any kind, and paying my own expenses.  Soon after the creation of the Park the Secretary of the Interior received many applications for leases to run for a long term of years, of tracts of land in the vicinity of the principal marvels of that region, such as the Grand Canon and Falls, the Upper Geyser basin, etc.  These applications were invariably referred to me by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Hon. B.R.  Cowen.  It was apparent from an examination of these applications that the purpose of the applicants was to enclose with fences their holdings, and charge visitors an admission fee.  To have permitted this would have defeated the purpose of the act of dedication.  In many instances the applicants made earnest pleas, both personally and through their members in Congress, to the Interior Department and to myself for an approval of their applications, offering to speedily make improvements of a value ranging from $100,000 to $500,000.  I invariably reported unfavorably upon these alluring propositions, and in no instance was my recommendation overruled by Secretary Cowen, to whom Secretary Delano had given the charge of the whole matter, and to Judge Cowen’s firmness in resisting the political and other influences that were brought to bear is largely due the fact that these early applications for concessions were not granted.  A time should never come when the American people will have forgotten the services, a generation ago, of Judge Cowen, in resisting the designs of unscrupulous men in their efforts to secure possession of the most important localities in the Park, nor the later services of George Bird Grinnell, William Hallett Phillips and U.S.  Senator George Graham Vest, in the preservation of the wild game of the Park and of the Park itself from the more determined encroachments of private greed.

[Illustration:  Hiram M. Chittenden]

The second year of my services as superintendent, some of my friends in Congress proposed to give me a salary sufficiently large to pay actual expenses.  I requested them to make no effort in this behalf, saying that I feared that some successful applicant for such a salaried position, giving little thought to the matter, would approve the applications for leases; and that as long as I could prevent the granting of any exclusive concessions I would be willing to serve as superintendent without compensation.

Apropos of my official connection with the Park a third of a century ago, is the following letter to me, written by George Bird Grinnell.  This personal tribute from one who himself has done so much in behalf of the Park was very gratifying to me.

New York, April 29th, 1903.