Eleanor took a deep breath to settle the nerves dancing in her stomach. Goodness, she had spoken before crowds larger than this. What need was there to worry?
She gave the women a bright smile and plunged ahead. “I’m happy to be with you today. As Mrs. Ashbury has pointed out, my father and I are in the process of settling down here. And as she also told you, my father is the well-known conservationist Stewart Briggs. He and George Grinnell have been longtime friends and are working together to make the world a better place.”
Two women seated at the front of the parlor exchanged glances, eyebrows raised.
What was that about?
Eleanor tore her gaze away from them. Best not to get distracted. “I have long admired my father’s work and after losing my mother ten years ago, I joined him in his work—primarily his mission to see public lands set aside and private land ownership decreased. By seeing the land set aside for the public, we can be assured that it will remain untouched and natural for the remainder of our lives and the lives of those to come.”
The familiar speech tumbled out of her, but it felt ... hollow. As if ...
Did she even believe what she was saying anymore?
The Brunswicks cared for the land they owned. In fact, all of the ranchers and farmers they’d met on their expedition here seemed to have that same passion about cultivating and caring for the earth’s resources and beauty.
Eleanor took a breath.Stop it! This is not the time to figureout how you feel about private and public land ownership. You are here on behalf of Father and his work.
So chastised, she brightened her smile at the ladies. “So far there are only a few national parks. In fact, there are only six, and not even a proper department in the government to oversee them. The oldest is, of course, Yellowstone. It was created in 1872 and set aside lands in what is now Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. The others are, in order of their inception, Sequoia and Yosemite, both in California, Mt. Rainier in Washington, Crater Lake in Oregon, and Wind Cave. Wind Cave was just formed last year and is in southwest South Dakota.”
Several of the ladies turned and murmured to one another. What were they saying? Perhaps they were impressed by the growing acreage of land saved by the government.
She pressed on. Had any of her previous talks taken this long? Her cheeks were beginning to hurt with the fake smile she had pasted on her face. “We’re hopeful that a new national park will be approved to protect land not far from here. Just to the northeast of Kalispell, in fact. There are thoughts to call this new park Glacier National Park after the more than ninety small glaciers that remain in the more than one million acres of land they’d like to see set aside.”
“More than a million acres ...”
Eleanor smiled and nodded at the woman who’d murmured the comment. “Yes. One million acres and over 130 cataloged lakes, and it is thought that there are more than one thousand different species of plants and trees and one hundred different kinds of anim—”
“Is any of that land being taken from ranchers or farmers?” This from a woman wearing a hat bursting with feathers.
Eleanor blinked. She had no idea and admitted as such. “However, I will be sure to talk to Mr. George Grinnell and get back to you as soon as I have that information. Speaking of Mr. Grinnell—”
“See that you do. I’ll be checking in with you next week, Miss Briggs.” The feathers moved with each nod of the older woman’s head. “It’s imperative that the government remembers it is workingforthe people. Not takingfromthem.”
Several women murmured their approval of the woman’s sentiment. Eleanor didn’t disagree with her but wanted to finish her speech before someone else followed suit and interrupted her.
“I look forward to speaking to you again, Mrs. ..?”
“Mrs. Howard Brown.”
“Mrs. Brown.” Taking one more fortifying breath, Eleanor started again. “As I was saying, Mr. Grinnell is the architect of this latest national park.”
She related the statistics she’d heard her father share over the last few years. “As conservationists, my father and Mr. Grinnell are determined to see the land kept free from factories and building projects that would corrupt the land and bring death to the animals and vegetation that exists. Back east, there are already so many problems with theair and water. We see vast amounts of damage done to the land because of people tearing it apart to build a variety of things, as well as giving little regard to the elimination of garbage and waste.”
Mr. Hill’s Swiss-chalet hotel design floated into her mind. Wasn’t she being a little hypocritical touting conservation when he wanted to do the very thing she was sayingwouldn’thappen? Maybe there was another way to appease the demanding public. His accommodations were the antithesis of what she was sharing right now.
“In ...” She shook the thought away. “In setting aside land to become a national park, we hope to see as little building and change to the land as possible. There are some who desire to have roads put in so that visitors can one day drive themselves through the park, but in our area, there is already a train route that passes through and is more than enough, in my estimation, to bring in viewers.”
Eleanor concluded by explaining that public support was imperative and asked the women to think about all the good that could be done in saving such a magnificent part of Montana for the future. She asked them, as her father had bid her to do, to encourage their husbands to speak to their politicians and to put their support, in whatever manner they could, behind the building of national parks. In particular, Glacier National Park.
Mrs. Ashbury came forward as Eleanor ended her talk and put her arm around her. “Eleanor would be happy to answer a few questions if you have any.”
One woman raised her hand and Marvella gave her a nod. The woman stood. “How can they possibly keep things natural and untouched when other parks such asyou mentioned have hotels and concessions built, as well as housing for those who work for the national park? I’ve been to Yellowstone and stayed at their hotels. One was an abominable place painted bright yellow. They had bears that we fed and places for us to eat as well. I didn’t feel that they did enough to preserve it.”
Exactly what she’d pointed out—and what got her banished from the room. Still, it was good to know others felt as she did. “I can well understand. I’ve been to Yellowstone myself and thought much the same. However, with more and more people taking an interest in the park and voicing their thoughts on how things should be done to preserve the land and animals, I believe we will see better results.”
Another woman got to her feet. “How will such places pay for themselves?”
“There have been fundraisers and donations taken up for the parks. Many of our wealthiest families in America have a heart for conservation. They realize just how quickly the natural lands are disappearing.”
