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Robber barons.The name says it all.These entrepreneurs of the late nineteenth century allegedly robbed the public of their money and their natural resources.Timber,oil,railroad,and mining executives who operated the companies that dominate the history of the American frontier are portrayed as profitmongers interested in acquiring wealth as fast as possible without any concern for either people or the environment.As history generally portrays them,these men lacked the vision and soul for preserving our natural heritage.Had the robber barons been left to their own devices without governmental regulation and control of lands,places like Yellowstone National Park would have been laid to waste.Saving such places required a few unselfish visionaries who revered the grandeur of nature and recognized the value of preserving natural resources not for the sake of profits but for future generations.Capturing this may be especially difficult if the resource will continue to create value for future generations.However,before dismissing a positive role for profit seekers in amenity protection,we must ask whether they did not take on the task because of market failure or because of differences in scarcity then and now.Debates over resource scarcity are endless,but substantial evidence suggests that in the nineteenth century,most natural resources were abundant and were not becoming more scarce.1 In this setting,preservation made little sense for either private entrepreneurs or politicians trying to do good.Moreover,throughout most of the nineteenth century,virtually everyone viewed wilderness as an area to be tamed to support the safe expansion of human habitat.It was not until the late nineteenth century that people with free time,wealth,and transportation began seeking wilderness experiences.Only at that point would we expect to see entrepreneurial radars locking onto the provision of environmental amenities.Indeed,this is what happened.Because of his unbelievable descriptions of geysers spewing steam and canyons cutting deep into the earth,the region was branded ’Colter’s Hell.’In 1834 Warren Angus Fergus became the first real tourist to visit the region.Fascinated rather than frightened by the descriptions of trappers,he made the trip with two Indians and reported in great detail the wonders of geysers,mud pots,and thermal springs.In the early 1860s,prospectors followed the fur traders and trappers.Nevertheless the prospectors added to the growing knowledge of the region’s special features and to its reputation as a unique place worth visiting.The first consisted of three Helena,Montana,residents,David Folsom,Charles Cook,and William Peterson,who left Helena with five horses in early September and returned five weeks later.They visited Tower Falls,saw the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,the upper and lower falls,and spent time in the thermal areas.Langford,who later became the first superintendent of Yellowstone Park.Much publicity came from this expedition,as several members gave lectures about their experiences,and magazines and newspapers published stories about the wonders of the area.Geological and Geographical Survey in the territories,petitioned Congress to fund an official exploration of the region.Congress appropriated $40,000 for the expedition,excluding the Army’s costs of providing mounts and equipment.The Union Pacific Railway provided free transportation for survey personnel to Ogden,Utah.Thus it is reasonable to conclude that while Langford did not intentionally distort his recollections,they magnified over time in response to the growing popularity of the national park idea.Hayden also claimed that ’So far as I know,I originated the idea of the park.William Henry Jackson believed his photographs,widely distributed in the Congress prior to the passage of the legislation,made the difference.Though the precise origin of the idea of preserving the amenity values in the Yellowstone region as a national park is not known,it is clear that these values were recognized almost immediately.This recognition suggests that there might have been competition by private entrepreneurs to capture the value inherent in Yellowstone’s natural wonders.Unfortunately sufficient records do not remain to determine whether the toll bridge or toll road generated large profits,but that Baronett contemplated building a second bridge across the Lamar River,after the government purchased his first bridge,suggests that there must have been some profits in the venture.Josiah Perham,the entrepreneur responsible for its founding,originally planned to take the railroad across the center of the nation but the Union Pacific and Central Pacific beat him to that route.He therefore moved his route to the north.In 1869 Jay Cooke and Company joined in financing the venture,obtaining a majority interest and operating control of the company.Interestingly,the northeast gateway to the park,Cooke City,was named for the financier because he promised to build a railroad through Yellowstone to the gateway.Given Yellowstone’s distance from population centers,the railroad was in a good position to capitalize on the amenity value of the park.Vacationers in those days did not lightheartedly pack a sandwich and a thermos of coffee and mount saddle horses or drive buggies to resorts,spas,or playgrounds for an afternoon’s recreation.Later,the railroad solicited Hayden to lobby on behalf of the legislation to establish the national park.In addition to seeking support from Langford and Hayden,the Northern Pacific took advantage of the talents of noted landscape painter Thomas Moran.There is little doubt from their early investments that the owners of the railroad recognized the unique features of Yellowstone from the outset and that,because they provided the only major transportation for tourists,they were in anenviableposition of capturing most of the tourist dollars.Private ownership of Yellowstone by the railroad might have been the most secure way of capturing the amenity values,but the land laws at the time worked against such an approach.The Homestead Act of 1862 required that land be farmed,and other lands laws required mining and logging to establish private ownership.All of these requirements would have reduced the values that the railroad thought important,and none of the laws provided for establishing ownership of amenities.For the railroad with a virtual monopoly on transportation to the region,the best alternative was to preserve the region intact as a scenic national park.In a letter to Hayden dated 27 October 1871,Jay Cooke’s publicity man states that Congress should ’pass a bill reserving the Great Geyser Basin as a public park foreverjust as it has reserved that far inferior wonder the Yosemite Valley and the big trees.This proposal came from Judge William Darrah Kelley,a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania and business associate of Cooke.Sheridan have both telegraphed that the report will be a splendid one from the expedition at this end.Hayden in his report to Congress that the Geyser region around Yellowstone Lake shall be set apart by government as park,similar to that of the Great Trees &other reservations in California.Would this conflict with our land grant,or interfere with us in any way?Please give me your views on this subject.It is important to do something speedily,or squatters and claimants will go in there,and we can probably deal much better with the government in any improvements we may desire to make for the benefit of our pleasure travel than with individuals.’Your October thirtieth and November sixth rec’d.We do not want to see the Falls of the Yellowstone driving the looms of a cotton factory,or the great geysers boiling pork for some gigantic packing house,but in all the native majesty and grandeur in which they appear today,without,as yet,a single trace of that adornment which is desecration,that improvement which is equivalent to ruin,or that utilization which means utter destruction.Their efforts on behalf of the park were immediately successful.It is little wonder that the bill passed quickly with only token opposition.Similarly,the profit motive for railroads emerged in the establishment of other early national parks in the nineteenth century.They were profit motivated,but their actions resulted in the preservation of cornerstones in our national park system.These were the ’amenities’provided by early dude ranch entrepreneurs.Whether they were native Westerners who had started as cattle and horse ranchers,or eastern ’dudes’who returned to the West to live forever the life they had first experienced as guests on someone else’s ranch,they brought with them their own unique interests,attitudes,and background.As they developed their holdings,each ranch began to reflect the special personality of its owners.The dudes came to recognize these differences and selected their ’own’ranch accordingly.After many treks west,Howard,the eldest,headed for the Dakota Badlands to start a cattle ranch,and his brothers soon followed.The spread they acquired by squatter’s rights became known as the Custer Trail Ranch.In addition to being a successful cattle and horse operation in the late 1870s,the ranch was a place for the Eatons’friends from the East to enjoy ranch life.As their guest list grew beyond their immediate circle of friends,they began charging for the services of the ranch.In 1879,the Eatons moved their cattle and dude ranching operation to the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming because the setting provided more scenery and opportunities for recreation.Others were also capitalizing on the market for ranch life and preserving the associated amenity values.The adventuresome earl settled near Estes Park,Colorado,for the purpose of establishing a cattleoperation.’’Herbage was plentiful,and cattle could feed all winter,for the snow never lay.From 1874 to 1880,the earl acquired 8,200 acres of land.His efforts to acquire the entire 20,000 acres of Estes Park were eventually stymied,however,by other entrepreneurs who wanted to capitalize on the dude ranching potential of the area.With elk hunting and trout fishing,plus cattle ranching,the earl’s property offered guests a grand spectacle of the American West.’’A hundred people living at a lodge create less confusion,less muss and fuss,than a hundred camping out.’In removing the historic buildings,the National Park Service has lost a partof the cowboy culture,but at least much of the natural environment preserved by the dude ranching entrepreneurs remains intact.A Forest RetreatLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 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