CONCESSIONS. The following concessions were held in the Sequoia and General Grant National Parks under leases and permits during the season of 1915: Concessions, Sequoia and General Grant National Parks. Name of concessioner. Privilege granted with date of issue thereof. Contract. Mount Whitney Power & Electric Co. Modification. Permits. Walter E. Kenney.. Sequoia National Park Mattie Decker..... H. E. Roberts........ SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK. Construction and operation of power plants and lines, Lower plant completed (upper plant in course of con- On June 22, 1915, secs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the contract If yearly payment does not aggregate following mini- Tourist camp and transportation of passengers. Is- Photographic privilege, including sale of supplies. GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARK. General store, hotel, and feed yard. Issued Feb. 11, 1 Issued for indeterminate period. 136 automobiles (round trip), at $5. 90 automobiles (round trip), at $2.50. 1 automobile (season permit), at $10. The past season was a dry one; there was no rain on the area of the parks after May 28. The weather was generally clear, and the atmosphere cool and pleasant. EMPLOYEES. The park rangers, Messrs. C. W. Blossom, John G. von Grunigen, Carl W. Keller, as regular rangers, and Messrs. H. T. Britten, I. D. Mullenix, Frank P. Dorr, G. W. Hankins, H. H. Higgins, H. Y. Alles, John M. Ball, R. F. Dillon, as temporary rangers of Sequoia Park, Milo S. Decker, as regular ranger of General Grant Park, and Mrs. Bessie O. MacKinnon, as clerk to the office of superintendent, are all zealous, capable, and well fitted for the duties they occupy. COMPLAINTS. No complaints have been made to this office as to the treatment received or the conduct of any park officer or concessioner. RECOMMENDATIONS. I desire to renew my recommendations of last year: (1) That United States Congress be requested to provide measures whereby title to the deeded land within the Sequoia and General Grant National Parks be acquired by the United States Government; (2) that the principles of compensation to injured employees be applied to those employees of the Sequoia and General Grant National Parks: (3) that the State of California be requested to cede to the United States Government entire jurisdiction of the Sequoia and General Grant National Parks. Very respectfully, The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, WALTER FRY, Superintendent. Washington, D. C. RULES AND REGULATIONS. SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK. General Regulations of March 30, 1912. 1. By act of Congress, approved September 25, 1890, the tract of land in the State of California described in township 18 south and ranges 30 and 31 east, and also sections 31, 32, 33, and 34, in township 17 south and range 30 east, and by act of Congress approved October 1, 1890, the adjoining tract described as townships 15 and 16 south, ranges 29 and 30 east, and also township 17 south, range 30 east, except above-mentioned sections 31, 32, 33, and 34, have been set apart for a public park, and the same shall be known as the Sequoia National Park. 2. The park by said act is placed under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior, and these rules and regulations are made and published in pursuance of the duty imposed on him in regard thereto. 3. It is forbidden to injure or disturb in any manner any of the mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders on the Government lands within the park. 4. It is forbidden to cut or injure any timber growing on the park lands. Camping parties will be allowed to use dead or fallen timber for fuel. 5. Fires shall be lighted only when necessary and completely extinguished when not longer required. The utmost care must be exercised at all times to avoid setting fire to the timber and grass. 6. Hunting or killing, wounding, or capturing any bird or wild animal on the park lands, except dangerous animals when necessary to prevent them from destroying life or inflicting an injury, is prohibited. The outfits, including guns, traps, teams, horses, or means of transportation used by persons engaged in hunting, killing, trapping, ensnaring, or capturing such birds or wild animals, or in possession of game killed on the park lands under other circumstances than prescribed above, will be taken up by the superintendent and held subject to order of the Secretary of the Interior, except in cases where it is shown by satisfactory evidence that the outfit is not the property of the person or persons violating this regulation and the actual owner thereof was not a party to such violation. Firearms will only be permitted in the park on written permission from the superintendent thereof. 7. Fishing with nets, seines, traps, or by the use of drugs or explosives, or in any other way than with hook and line, is prohibited. Fishing for purposes of merchandise or profit is forbidden. Fishing may be prohibited by order of the superintendent of the park in any of the waters of the park, or limited therein to any specified season of the year, until otherwise ordered by the Secretary of the Interior. 8. No person will be permitted to reside permanently or to engage in any business on the Government lands in the park without permission, in writing, from the Secretary of the Interior. The superintendent may grant authority to competent persons to act as guides and revoke the same in his discretion, and no pack trains shall be allowed in the park unless in charge of a duly registered guide. 9. Owners of patented lands within the park limits are entitled to the full use and enjoyment thereof; the boundaries of such lands, however, must be determined, and marked and defined, so that they may be readily distinguished from the park lands. While no limitations or conditions are imposed upon the use of such private lands so long as such use does not interfere with or injure the park, private owners must provide against trespass by their stock or cattle, or otherwise upon the park lands, and all trespasses committed will be punished to the full extent of the law. Stock may be taken over the park lands to patented private lands with the written permission and under the supervision of the superintendent, but such permission and supervision are not required when access to such private lands is had wholly over roads or lands not owned or controlled by the United States. 10. Allowing the running at large, herding, or grazing of cattle or stock of any kind on the Government lands in the park as well as the driving of such stock or cattle over same, is strictly forbidden, except where authority therefor has been granted by the superintendent. All cattle or stock found trespassing on the park lands will be impounded and disposed of as directed in regulations approved March 30, 1912. 11. The sale or use of intoxicating liquors on the Government lands in the park is strictly forbidden. 12. Private notices or advertisements shall not be posted or displayed on the Government lands within the reservation, except such as may be necessary for the convenience and guidance of the public. 13. Persons who render themselves obnoxious by disorderly conduct or bad behavior, or who may violate any of the foregoing rules, may be summarily removed from the park and will not be allowed to return without permission, in writing, from the Secretary of the Interior or the superintendent of the park. 14. The superintendent designated by the Secretary is hereby authorized and directed to remove all trespassers from the Government lands in the park and enforce these rules and regulations and all the provisions of the act of Congress aforesaid. Instructions of March 30, 1912. 1. Interference with or molestation of any bird, bird's nest, or wild animal on the park lands in any way by any person not authorized by the superintendent is prohibited. 2. The wanton destruction of wild flowers, plants, or shrubs growing on the park lands is forbidden. 3. Fires. The greatest care must be exercised to insure the complete extinction of all camp fires before they are abandoned. All ashes and unburned bits of wood must, when practicable, be thoroughly soaked with water. Where fires are built in the neighborhood of decayed logs, particular attention must be directed to the extinguishment of fires in the decaying mold. Fire may be extinguished where water is not available by a complete covering of earth well packed down. Care should be taken that no lighted match, cigar, or cigarette is dropped in any grass, twigs, leaves, or tree mold. 4. Camps.-In selecting a camping ground its location should be sufficiently distant from the water source, stream, or spring as not to be objectionable to those who may wish to camp in the vicinity and use the same water source at the same time. Blankets, clothing, hammocks, or any other article liable to frighten teams must not be hung near the road. Camp grounds must be kept in sanitary and neat condition at all times, and upon their abandonment all kitchen refuse, cast-off wearing apparel, tin cans, paper boxes, etc., must be deposited in a pit provided for the purpose. When camps are made at unusual places where pits may not be provided, all refuse must be hidden where it will not be offensive, to the end that the site will be suitable for use by future campers. 5. Bicycles.-The greatest care must be exercised by persons using bicycles. On meeting a team the rider must stop and stand at side of road between the bicycle and the team-the outer side of the road if on a grade or curb. In passing a team from the rear, the rider should learn from the driver if his horses are liable to frighten, in which case the driver should halt and the rider dismount and walk past, keeping between the bicycle and the team. 1 6. Fishing. All fish less than 8 inches in length should at once be returned to the water with the least damage possible to the fish. Fish that are to be retained must be at once killed by a blow on the back of the head, or by thrusting a knife or other sharp instrument into the head. No person shall catch more than 20 fish in one day. 7. Dogs and cats.-Cats are not permitted on the park lands, and dogs only to those persons passing through the park to the territory beyond, in which instances they must be kept tied while crossing the park. This rule does not apply to trained dogs used by Government employees in extermination of predatory wild animals, or to those used by cattlemen holding permits from the Department of the Interior to assist in driving their herds on Mineral King Road. 8. Dead animals.-All domestic animals that may die on the park lands at any tourist camp, or along any of the public thoroughfares, must be immediately removed to a point not nearer than one-fourth mile from such camp or thoroughfare, and there be buried at least 2 feet beneath the ground by the owner or person having charge of such animal. 9. Driving on roads of park.—(a) Drivers of vehicles of any description when overtaken by other vehicles traveling at a faster rate of speed, shall, if requested to do so, turn out and give the latter free and unobstructed passageway. (b) Vehicles in passing each other must give full half of the roadway. This applies to freight outfits as well as any other. (c) Freight, baggage, and heavy camping outfits will take the outer side of the road when being passed by passenger vehicles in either direction. (d) Transportation companies and all other parties and persons using the park roads will be held liable for violations of these instructions. (e) Mounted men on meeting a passenger team on grade will halt on the outer side until the team passes. When approaching a passenger team from the rear warning must be given, and no faster gait will be taken than is necessary to make the passage; and if on a |