The Crusade to Save Oregon's Scenery

Abstract

IN THE LATE SUMMER Of 1919 Stephen T. Mather and Madison Grant, two leaders in the nascent struggle for the preservation of America's scenic beauty, came to the west coast. Mather was director of the National Park Service, a bureau he had helped create. More than any other man he was responsible for vitalizing the administration of the scenic preserves established by Congress.' Grant, though destined to be remembered primarily for his anti-immigration work, was just as dedicated to saving America's beauty from despoilation. As a respected amateur naturalist, president of the Bronx Parkway Commission, chairman of the executive committee of the New York Zoological Society, and prominent New York citizen, Grant came west with Mather not as a subordinate, but as a co-worker.2 Their visit presaged a turning point in the conservation movement on the Pacific coast.