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Camping in the Yellowstone "Tex" Holm's Camping & Transportation Co. ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Beginnings of the Holm Camping Tours Aron Holm was born in Sweden in 1870, but moved with his family to America in 1883, settling in Nebraska. Aron reportedly traveled around the West, working horses in Texas, joining the Alaska gold rush, and prospecting for gold in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. There he met, and married, Susan Katharine Powers in 1897, who had previously been twice married. They later moved to Cody to join his father John, who had moved to what would become Park County, Wyo. in 1898, and had taken up work as a carpenter. Prior to the unofficial opening of the road over Sylvan Pass in 1903, "Tex" Holm and his wife Katharine began transporting small camping parties to Yellowstone in 1901.The excursions into the park were of 2-3 weeks duration. They went on horseback with pack animals over Dead Indian Pass north of Cody, down the precipitous mountainsides to the Clark Fork River and trekked through the wilds of Sunlight Basin, through the mining town of Cooke City and the northeast entrance of Yellowstone. Aron "Tex" Holm and wife Katharine, at Holm Lodge, ca1912. [Courtesy Park Co. Wyo. archives , Buckingham Folder, #86-P001] Late in 1903 they began using the new although uncompleted, east entrance road over Sylvan Pass to Yellowstone Lake. In 1906 'Tex' Holm and F.H. Welch were permitted to conduct camping parties through the park using wagons and saddle horses. The company was headquartered in Cody, with rail access from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR. They offered 14 and 18-day camping trips in covered surreys or ‘wagonettes’ built with extra good springs for mountain service. Saddle horses were available for those who desired them. Canvas-bottomed tepees were used for sleeping and were complete with mattresses, blankets, and comforters. A private ‘toilet tent’ was set up for the ladies at each camp. Women cooks prepared meals in a covered cook wagon, using canned goods, smoked meats, fresh vegetables and trout. Expansion of the company followed these early successes and by August 1905 newspaper ads touted a newly named company: The Yellowstone Park Camping Co. Park Guides and Outfitters. Personally Conducted Tours Through Yellowstone National Park, from Cody, Wyo. Yellowstone Park Camping Co., with A. Holm, F.H Welch, & H. Dahlem. [Cody Enterprise, 15Jun1905] Letterhead, Yellowstone Park Camping Co., with A. Holm, F.H Welch, & H. Dahlem. 23Sept1905 [YNP Archives, Doc. #6375] Officials of the new company consisted of Aron Holm, Frank H. Welch, and Henry Dahlem. Camping parties went out every two to three weeks, with the last one leaving in early October. In 1906, the Yellowstone Park Camping Co. incorporated as the Yellowstone Park Camping and Transportation Co., with Tex Holm as president, Dahlem as vice-president, and Welch as secretary-treasurer. Typically fifteen days on the trail would cost fifty-five dollars or a twenty-one day trip would run sixty-three dollars. The first night was spent at Wapiti, half-way between Cody and the east entrance. The next camp was near the East entrance and then Sylvan Lake atop Sylvan Pass. Nightly camps would be made near all the popular tourist sites in Wonderland. By 1910 business was such in May of 1910 Tex Holm embarked on a huge investment of time and money when he began construction of Holm Lodge, located along scenic Libby Creek about seven miles from the east entrance of the park. The rustic log building quickly took shape and on June 8, 1910 the Park County Enterprise proudly proclaimed, “The Holm Lodge is Now Open – This Famous Mountain Resort for Tourists, Anglers and Hunters is Now in Shape to Accommodate Guests in Pleasant Manner.” Early view of Holm Lodge (pre-1913 fire). [Courtesy the Stanley Museum , Kingfield, Maine] Undoubtedly construction continued throughout the summer putting finishing touches on the various facilities. The main lodge consisted of a large dining room and another “amusement room” used for kitchen services and dancing parties. Guests slept in 12’x14’ tent houses that consisted of board floors and partial woods walls topped with canvas tent-tops. Iron beds, Ostermoor mattresses, stove, dresser, chairs, and wash-stands completed the furnishings. The “houses” were scattered amongst the woods for privacy with a centrally-located log bathing pavilion sporting porcelain bathtubs and offering hot and cold running water. The “grub” consisted of “fresh fruits and vegetables and garden truck of every description, eggs laid by our own chickens, plenty of fresh milk from our own cows.” Guests who wished to spend extended periods at the lodge were charged $100 a month, which included meals, saddle horse, and guide service on short camping trips. Laundry facilities were available, along with telephone service to Cody. Two views of the original Holm Lodge, showing the rear section and scattered guest tents. [Buffalo Bill Historic Center , Cody, Nos. P21-0503-11 & 12] Chicago Geographic Society 1909 and 1910 were busy years for Tex Holm. Among other travelers, he hosted a large group from the Chicago Geographic Society in both years, in early July - his first big trip for each season. The 1910 trip was said to coast $120 for society members, including all expenses. A wonderful set of photographs were made available to the author from the trip. The following is a newspaper notice about the 1909 trip from the Chicago Tribune: Second Night's camp, located just west of Pahaska Lodge. [Chicago Geographic Society , 1909] GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY PLANS CAMP IN YELLOWSTONE PARK. Forty Chicagoans Will Leave on July 6 for Three Weeks’ Outing Under “Tex” Holm, Roosevelt Guide. Equipped with camping utensils, guides, books, and the works of botanical, geological, and physiographical authorities, forty members of the Chicago Geographic society will leave the city July 6 for a three weeks' camping tour of Yellowstone Park. They will go to Cody, Wyo., in special coaches on the Burlington railroad and from there will take the trail under the guidance of “Tex” Holm, the veteran guide, who accompanied Theodore Roosevelt on a similar expedition several years ago. The route from Cody lies across the Shoshone national forest, through the mountains of the Absaroka range, and into the park through the southeast entrance. Jesse Lowe Smith, the president, will lead the expedition. A. Holm Camp Wagon with four men, perhaps rivers and camp tenders. [1905 glass slide, courtesy Brigham Young University Libraries ] Top Pair: Struggling get through a snowbank on top of Sylvan Pass in early July, 1909. the wagons had to be unloaded and reloaded after the drift. Middle Pair: Holm wagon, for unknown reason labelled: Peaches & Cream (cola) Coach. Names of lead horses?? Bottom Left: Mr & Mrs. Holm. katharine Holm was an active participant of the camping tours, although she rarely seemed to get proper credit for her work. Thanks to Walter Keats, Executive Director of the Geographic Society of Chicago (GSC) for many of the wonderful photos on this page. The GSC was founded in 1889 and in 1909 and 1910 members of the Society came out to Yellowstone to explore this vast Wonderland. They were guided by Aron Holm and his camping company. It is believed the photos were taken by Miss Meta Mannhardt, a member of the GSC, who gave her album of pictures to the GSC in the 1950's. Reproduction or use of these photos is not permissable, without written permission from GSC. Photo Credits: Owner/Publisher - Geographic Society of Chicago; Photographer - Meta Mannhardt. “To good guide Aron Holm and Mrs. Holm, his wife, whose sweet song charmed our nightly circle around the camp fire . . . to all whose faithfulness followed us day and night through the valley of the Shoshone, Sylvan Pass, and the Yellowstone, these pages are joyfully dedicated.” Charles Heath penned these poignant words in the dedication of his book, A Trial of a Trail, an account of his visit to Yellowstone National Park and Cody, Wyoming in 1905. He came west from Chicago to spend two weeks camping in Yellowstone and the beautiful Wapiti Valley, located between Cody and the east entryway to Yellowstone. Holm's Lodge & Camp located on Sylvan Pass, near the edge of Sylvan Lake. A 1910 Holm brochure described locations of the various campsites along the usual route: Wapiti, Holm Lodge, Sylvan Lake, Yellowstone Lake, Craig Pass, near Riverside Geyser, Lower Geyser Basin, Obsidian Cliff, East Gardiner Creek [Lava Cr.], Tower Falls, Grand Canyon, Turbid Springs, Camp Beautiful [near East Entrance] and repeating the route back to Cody. Campers could exit at Gardiner if desired, for a slightly shorter tour. The cost for this wonderful excursion was $4.00 per day. Big game hunting parties were offered from Holm Lodge into the surrounding National Forests areas as were trips to Jackson Hole on horseback with pack outfits. These trips lasted from 25-30 days, covering about 200 miles. Experienced guides and cooks accompanied each party. The route traversed the "wildest and most rugged parts of the Rockies, away from civilization, making many side trips into parts which have never been visited by other parties." The cost of this adventure was $250, which covered all the expenses from Cody and the return trip. In 1910 Tex Holm also received a permit from Yellowstone authorities to establish a permanent camp at serene Sylvan Lake, atop Sylvan Pass. Plans were immediately set in motion to create Holm Lodge No. 2 (Sylvan Lake Lodge), which would be similar to the main lodge, except without the luxury of bathing facilities, unless one was venturous enough to dip into the chilly waters of the lake. A log lodge was constructed at Sylvan Lake that served as lobby and dining room and was surrounded by Holm’s characteristic tepee-shaped canvas sleeping quarters. Wide-angle view Holm's Lodge & Camp located on Sylvan Pass, near the edge of Sylvan Lake. Buffalo Bill Historic Center , Cody, No. P21-1861] With anticipation of continued growth in tourism, Tex Holm moved forward with his business expansion. On October 28, 1911, the Park County Enterprise (Cody, WY) announced, “Holm Incorporates New Tourist Company – Local Parties Said to be Backing the New Concern.” The Yellowstone Park Camping and Transportation Company was dissolved and the assets were absorbed into the new “Holm Transportation Company.” The Tex Holm Livery Company, a livery business established by Tex in Cody, also merged into the new outfit. This fledgling organization, incorporated in Wyoming October 23, 1911, was capitalized for $75,000, divided into 750 shares and was managed by a board of directors consisting of Aron Holm, Louis Gokel, J.M. Schwoob, W.L. Simpson, and W.J. Deegan. The goals of the company were lofty. In addition to the purpose of engaging in general livery, transportation, hotel, and merchandise business, the company’s objectives included purchasing, leasing, or building hotels, lodges, camping outfits, and roads and bridges as necessary to conduct business. Holm Transportation Co. Letterhead, 1912. [YNP Archives, Holm Transportation Holm Transportation Co. Logo [From a mailing envelope, pm1913] Tex Holm & Shwoob traveled to Washington to gain permission to transport customers to the other hotels and camps, along with requesting permission to establish permanent camps in the park, much as the Wylie Company had done. The men conferred with the Secretary of Interior and Wyoming’s representatives to Congress. After what were no doubt strenuous negotiations, the Holm Transportation Company was finally granted a transportation concession in Yellowstone. It was, however, at the expense of not being able to establish permanent camps or construct hotels. Schwoob later reported that he was satisfied with the compromise that relieved HTCo of having to expend many thousands of dollars in order to establish new camps or other lodging facilities. Continuing, Schwoob related that, “what the company really secured was the privilege of having their tourists boarded at the Park hotels and the Wiley [sic] camps on the same terms which are given visitors who are conveyed thru [sic] the park by the old transportation company and the Wylie outfit.” Disaster struck when front page headlines of the Park County Enterprise on Saturday, November 15, 1913 proclaimed: “Main Building at Holm Lodge Completely Destroyed by Fire. Beautiful Resort is Scene of Disastrous Conflagration Last Wednesday Evening.” Luckily Tex Holm was onsite, and with the assistance of men from a nearby road crew, managed to rescue most of the interior furnishings, but nothing could be done to save the lodge. Tex was devastated. Unwilling and perhaps unable to borrow money to rebuild, Tex sold his prized Holm Lodge to William “Billy” Howell, an investor in his company who had managed Holm’s pack outfits for the past few years. The deal closed in early May for an undisclosed purchase price, but there was speculation that Holm gave the lodge to Howell in exchange for debts owed. Howell, who terminated his employment with HTCo, formed an association with Hillis Jordan, whereby Howell would run the lodge and Jordan, an experienced packer, would guide parties into the park independent of the Holm operation. Howell built a new and bigger lodge on the same site, retaining the same name. The next year, Tex Holm housed his guests at the nearby Pahaska Tepee, as his lodge was gone. When Howell completed the new lodge, Holm agreed to house his Yellowstone guests at Holm Lodge instead of Pahaska Tepee. Howell later went into a partnership with Cody schoolteacher Mary Shawver and together they managed Holm Lodge until 1947. Top Left: Holm Lodge, probably the rebuilt version after the fire. [Tammen 91671 Real-Photo postcard] ​ Top Right: Interior of Holm Lodge, undated Real-Photo postcard. ​ Bottom Left: Holm Lodge, probably rior to the building of the log lodge. Guest stayed in tents, touring wagons in foreground. [F.J Hiscock Photo, undated, Buffalo Bill Historic Center, #P211-201. Top of photo has been cropped] Beginning of the end . . . Holm Transportation Company was granted the security of a three-year lease beginning March 31, 1914. Expecting business to increase even more than it had in 1913, the directors of HTCo raised the corporate capitalization from seventy-five thousand dollars to three hundred thousand dollars to handle anticipated increases in business and expenses. Little did they realize that 1914 travel in Yellowstone would be down more than twenty per cent from the previous season. Well into the 1914 season, Holm was having some financial difficulties. With reduced visitation, excessive debts incurred during expansion, and financial problems suffered by their banking partner, the company barely made it through the year and prospects for the 1915 operation looked dim. Although Holm expected that the increased business from traffic to and from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco would save his business. But when private autos were allowed into Yellowstone in August of 1915, it was another blow to Holm’s enterprise, but he temporarily revived and continued service through the 1915 season. However, by that time the company had gone bankrupt and was unable to operate the following season, leaving no service provider from Cody and the east entrance into Yellowstone. To alleviate this situation, the Park Service authorized the creation of the Cody-Sylvan Pass Motor Co. for the 1916 season. This company became the first commercial motorized transportation concern allowed into the park and it journeyed from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad depot in Cody to Lake Hotel where passengers were loaded onto Yellowstone Park Transportation Co stagecoaches for travel into the interior of the park.The following year the stagecoaches were retired and all commercial travel was by auto stages, with YPTCo being the carrier from Cody into Yellowstone. Top Left: Holm Coach in front of the Buffalo Bill monument in Cody. It seemed to be a popular photo op for tourists heading to Yellowstone. [Real-Photo postcard, undated] ​ Top Right: Tex Holm Ready for a Dude Party, Cody, Wyoming [Postcard #D8800, postmarked prior to 1910] . Bottom Left: The Pioneer Yellowstone Guide - "Tex" Holms, Cody Wyo. Holm Transportation Company and the Stanley Steamers In an attempt to modernize his business and reduce travel time from Cody to Holm Lodge, Tex Holm purchased two 5-passenger EMT30 autos from local dealer Jake Schwoob in 1911. Dissatisfied with the performance of the vehicles that year, Tex Holm bought a 12-passenger Stanley Mountain Wagon in 1912 to transport his customers on the 100-mile round-trip journey to the east entrance of Yellowstone. The shiny new red steamer arrived in mid-June with William S. Stanley, nephew of the Stanley brothers, at the helm. The Park County Enterprise (Cody) newspaper claimed the auto was “practically noiseless. It has immense pulling power and is claimed to be the simplest constructed car on the market.” Happy with the Stanley Steamer and its performance on the rugged and primitive mountain roads, Holm purchased three more in 1913. The new vehicles performed admirably for three seasons until the financial stability of Holm Transportation Company crashed in 1915. The Holm company went bankrupt after the 1915 season and the Stanley Steamers went on the auction block in March of 1916 to help pay off the debts incurred by the company. The fate and whereabouts of these historic steamers remains to be discovered. "Stanley Steamers ???? on Barrel Creek on Cody Road to Yellowstone, 1914-15 - Joe Paine." Joe Paine was hired in 1914 to drive one of Holm's Stanley Steamers to and from the East entrance of Yellowstone. Automobiles were not allowed in Yellowstone until August 1915. [Uncredited newspaper photo, Park Co. Wyo. Archives , Buckingham Files] SOMETHING NEW IN YELLOWSTONE Camps Co. Introduces Horseback Tours as 1922 Feature Four Tours this Summer Yellowstone can always be depended on for something new! This year the Camps Company, in addition to its other enterprises, offers an innovation in the form of "14-Day Personally Conducted Horseback Tours." These tours will leave Mammoth Hot Springs (Mammoth Camp) on four dates during 1922 season: July 1st, July 15th, August 1st and August 15th. Each tour will be identical in leadership, equipment and schedule. This arrangement offers such a wide range of starting dates that men and women who have been looking for this sort of tour can fit their vacation into one of those schedules. "Tex" Holm, The Leader. The Camps Company knows from long experience and observation that no inconsiderable part of the success of horseback tours is leadership. For those tours, they have engaged "Tex" Holm to guide and manage each tour. "Tex" Holm has been conducting parties through Yellowstone for over 20 years and knows every foot of the trails and highways. Of equal importance he is fitted by disposition to amalgamate the elements of a party into one harmonious whole. Each tour will be strictly limited in number so that the members will have all the freedom of a private party with a private guide. The tour will appeal to persons who desire to get away from an ordinary tourist experience and revel in healthful exercise, live in the open, and enjoy a scenic adventure of the first order. A big factor is the duration of the trip. The average visitor, who take the regular automobile tour, stays in the park for four and a half days. This is too short. Many guests at the permanent camps stay over for a day or a week. The saddle horse tours will be on the trails and highways for 14 days. Of course, members of these tours will see three times as much as the average tourist, not only because they are in the park three times as long but also because they will visit many places far from the automobile highways. Fourteen Eventful Days. Looking at these tours from the standpoint of healthful recreation, they wil appeal to many as the ideal vacation. Think of 14 days in the saddle and 14 nights in the open! The rides at first are short and grow grdually longer as the tour progresses. The first day's ride is 7 miles. The average for the entire tour is only 12 miles per day. Member of the party will be provided with individual tents and individual beds. All tents, bedding and equipment are new and of the first quality. The cost oif these tours is $196.00 each. This charge includes all expenses for the 14 days beginning and ending at Mammoth Camp. Members of the party will use any railroad they desire to the park and pay their own expenses to Mammoth Camp. Further details will be supplied on application. ​ The Yellowstone News, May 1922, Volume V - No. 5. Newspaper of the Yellowstone Park Camps Co. "Horseback Tours Through Yellowstone Park" Led by Aron 'Tex' Holm Yellowstone Park Camps Co. brochure, 1922

Yellowstone's Supporting Railroads ​ Union Pacific RR Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. The Union Pacific Railroad - Yellowstone's Western Access A Pictorial History of the Early Days Union Pacific Railroad - Beginnings . . . In 1862 President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act that named and directed two companies to construct a transcontinental railroad. The companies would be known as the Union Pacific and Central Pacific. The Act authorized land grants along the rail routes for the railroads as incentive for construction. The Ames brothers, whose shovel business flourished during the ‘Gold Rush’ years, provided the much needed immediate financing. The Central Pacific began construction in 1863 at Sacramento, California and headed east. Union Pacific started at Omaha, Nebraska to head west. The two lines connected in 1869 on May 10 at Promontory, Utah and the famous ‘Golden Spike’ was driven as the official last spike. The company fell into bankruptcy and was sold to a group of investors in 1897 that included railroad tycoon E. H. Harriman. It was Harriman that made the decision in 1905 to run tracks accessing the West entrance of Yellowstone. The Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern . . . The Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern came about in 1897 through a reorganization of the Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern RR. That railroad resulted from a merger between the Utah & Northern RR and other small ‘short lines’ in 1889. The Utah & Northern Railway was organized in April 1878 by Union Pacific interests to own and operate the bankrupt Utah Northern Railroad, with the intent to build a rail line from existing tracks in Northern Utah to the gold mines of Montana. Construction began the following year at Brigham City, Utah on a narrow gauge line. The tracks reached Butte on December 26, 1881, after a long lull in construction resulting from the ‘Panic of 1873’ Right Top : Utah Northern bridge at Eagle Rock (Idaho Falls) ca1880 Right Bottom : Union Pacific train crossing trestle enroute to West Yellowstone, undated. Yellowstone Historic Center. The Bassett Brothers began stage service that year to Yellowstone from Beaver, Idaho. Stage service to the park from the Monida station, located along the Montana-Idaho, border began in the 1890’s. The St. Anthony RR began building tracks from the main line at Idaho Falls to St. Anthony in 1899. Six years later UPRR President Harriman decided to open a line from St. Anthony to the west entrance of Yellowstone. The line was completed in November 1907 and the 1st scheduled passenger train arrived in the town of Riverside (now West Yellowstone) on June 11. The Oregon Short Line took over legal ownership of the line from St. Anthony RR in 1911 and in 1935 merged with the Union Pacific RR. Union Pacific provided much of the financing for these ventures Monida ​ The small town of Monida was located along the Montana-Idaho border where Interstate I-15 currently passes through between Dillon, MT and Idaho Falls. The old stage route also passed along that route, along with the Union Pacific RR. There was a post office there between 1891-93 and 1896-1964. The Bassett Brothers continued to haul their stage passengers from Beaver into Yellowstone, while FJ Haynes’ Monida & Yellowstone Stage Co. began hauling tourists into Yellowstone from Monida in 1898 and continued until 1907, when the UPRR extended their lines to the west entrance of the park. The old route to the park roughly followed Montana Route 509 through the Centennial Valley and past Henry’s Lake. It skirted the Centennial Valley, Red Rock Lakes, passed through Alaska Basin and crossed the Divide to Henry Lake; then over Targhee Pass to the west entrance of the park. Left Top : Town of Monida, Real-Photo PC postmarked 1908. Right Top : Summit Hotel in Monida, from 1902 brochure. Right Bottom : Railroad depot at Monida, from undated glass slide. Where Gush the Geysers Cover page from the UPRR pamphlet, "Where Gush the Geysers" published in 1899. This was the first year for this publication and it was produced to publicize not only the Oregon Short Line's route into Yellowstone through the West entrance, but the firm of the Monida-Yellowstone Stage Co. This company began providing reliable stage service from Monida to Yellowstone the previous year, and was viewed as more professional and better financed than the Bassett line. The brochure contained full-color pictures of various park wonders, along with descriptions of the features. Each page was decorated with elaborate and delicate scroll art work. It also included information on the four major hotels available at that time: Fountain, Lake, Canyon and Mammoth. The tour lasted for eight days. Beginnings of West Yellowstone The town was originally called Riverside upon its founding October 23, 1908, even though the town site was two miles from the river. The site was located on Forest Service lands and permission was required for any homesteaders. The first residents were issued permits for stores and homes late in the fall of 1907, but did not actually own the land. Prior to 1908 the area was referred to as ‘the Boundary’, or ‘at the Boundary’. To avoid confusion, the name was changed to Yellowstone on Jan 31, 1910. Confusion continued for years with the town named the same as the park, so the name was changed again in 1920 to West Yellowstone. Above : West Yellowstone depot, from 1910 UPRR brochure. Below Left : Yellowstone Special, undated. Union Pacific’s first passenger train rolled into West Yellowstone in 1908, It has been noted in many history books that the original train arrival was on June 10, but according to Paul Shea of the Yellowstone Historic Center, a rock slide across the tracks delayed the train until the 11th. That day is now celebrated as Train Day. The train became known as the ‘Yellowstone Special’ after WWI, and was equipped with sleeping cars and would arrive in town early in the morning, where passengers could have breakfast before starting their journey into the park. It ran one trip daily during the summer season until the end of the 1960 season when declining passenger numbers could no longer support the service. A second train, the Yellowstone Express began service in 1922 and ran for 20 years. Union Pacific Depot ​ The depot was built in 1909 at West Yellowstone and replaced a rail car that had been used temporarily. Soon after its construction, the Union Pacific described the depot as “built of stone, very substantial, spacious, and artistic. It is electric heated by steam, and provides large waiting rooms, an individual dressing room for ladies, two large fireplaces, drinking fountains, etc. In it are the usual ticket and Pullman offices and the office of the Monida and Yellowstone Stage Co. The trains approach on the south side while the stages receive and deliver passengers under the porte-cochere on the north side.” (From the UPRR Collection of the Yellowstone Historic Center) Tourists were loaded onto stagecoaches of the Monida & Yellowstone Stage Co. to tour through the park until 1913, when the service became known as the Yellowstone-Western Stage Co. Beginning in 1917, White Motor Co. auto stages of the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. replaced the stagecoaches. The depot was donated to the town of West Yellowstone in 1969, and a private museum opened up in the old depot in 1972. In 2000, the Yellowstone Historic Center leased the depot from the Town of West Yellowstone and spearheaded many major repair and restoration projects. The depot now is the home of the Yellowstone Historic Center Museum. Top Left : Depot, colorized lantern slide by J.P. Clum, 1908. YNP Slide File Top Right : Depot, undated. YP 39 Bloom Bros. postcard. Bottom Left : UP Dining Lodge, Real-Photo postcard. Bottom Right : UP Dining Lodge Interior, Real-Photo postcard. Dining Lodge The first eatery was a crude tarpaper and wood frame building in 1908. It was replaced by the 'Beanery' in 1911 and in 1925 UP had the ‘Dining Lodge’ constructed near the depot. It was a grand structure of stone and timber designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood. Visitors by train would arrive early in the morning and partake in breakfast prior to starting their journey into the park. Diners would be seated in the Mammoth Room, a massive dining room with a 45-foot ceiling, large windows, and a fireplace large enough for a man to stand in. Several hundred people could be seated at one time. Visitors returning from the park could have supper there before they started their train ride home around 6:30 p.m. The Dining Lodge closed, probably during the mid-late 1950’, due to declining visitation. The lodge was donated to the town of West Yellowstone in 1969 and is currently used as an event center, serving as a venue for weddings, gatherings, celebrations, and more. ​ For additional information, visit the Yellowstone Historic Center website. Gilbert Stanley Underwood Underwood became associated with the National Park Service, the UPRR and other park concessionaires in the early 1920’s. He was trained in the California Arts & Crafts movement in 1910-11. Using those concepts he designed buildings that utilized natural and native materials, such as rock and logs, to blend the buildings in with their environment. He designed a multitude of buildings in the western United States including: the Dining Lodge at West Yellowstone; Old Faithful Lodge; lodges at Zion, Bryce, and Cedar Breaks; the Grand Canyon Lodge; Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite; Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood, Oregon; Sun Valley Lodge in Idaho; and the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton. He also designed many other railroad depots for the Union Pacific. ​ G.S. Underwood, ca1925. NPS photo The Union Pacific Bears . . . ​ Walter Oehrle, a commercial artist was hired by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1923 to illustrate the covers of a promotional pieces announcing the opening of Yellowstone each June. The subject was always bears. The UP bears were drawn to look cute, silly, and anthropomorphic. The most common theme of the illustrations is of performance and entertainment. Of the 92 bear illustrations, 37 depict the bears being either mischievous or inept, like clowns. A number of them show the bears performing as artists, or in films, circuses, parades, or beauty pageants. The bears are presented as happily performing for their human visitors.” ​ Images of these happy-go-lucky bear were published in a small pamphlet that was given away by the Yellowstone Park Company. They were later rendered into woodcuts, which graced the inside of the Bear Pit Lounge at Old Faithful Inn for many years. A couple of these woodcuts are still on the walls of the Old Faithful Inn Snack Shop. During a recent remodeling, the images were redone in cut glass,

Hotels in the Yellowstone Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel The National Hotel was built Mammoth Hot Springs by the Yellowstone Park Improvement Co. It partially opened for business in August 1883 with 141 rooms and was designed by architect L.F. Buffington. This was the first high-class hotel built in the park and was the first stop for visitors coming to the park via the Northern Pacific RR. Six-horse stages brought guests from the Northern Pacific RR rail depot in Cinnabar (Gardiner in 1903 and after) to the hotel. Top Right: Coaches Coming into Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel from Gardiner. From 1903 Wonderland, NPRR. Left: Construction of interior of hotel 1883. FJ Haynes stereoview. Bottom: Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel , 1883. T.W. Ingersoll stereoview #1119 Button Top Left: National Hotel at Mammoth under construction, Spring 1883. F.J. Haynes Stereoview Top Right: Final construction of exterior of National Hotel, Spring 1883. C.E. Watkins Cabinet Photo #D221. A carpenter’s strike in 1884 delayed the completion of the hotel until 1886.The hotel company suffered financial problems in 1884 and went into receivership and was taken over by the new Yellowstone Park Association (YPA) in 1886. The building was 414' long and 54' wide, with four stories, and painted green with a red roof. Electric lights were installed at the end of the 1887 season, but by the end of 1888, they had not been actually hooked up. Top Left: Hotel National Park, LJ Buffington, Archt, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minn. 1888, Architect's drawing, FJ Haynes card. Top Right: Mammoth Hotel Lobby, 1923. Haynes postcard #23310. Left: Haynes photo stand inside of the National Hotel (Mammoth Hotel). Haynes photo, undated. The old National Hotel underwent major reconstruction in 1913 when most of the 4th floor was removed and the roof flattened. The four-story North Wing was added with 124 rooms (right of building) with 28 private baths, and 8 public baths. By this time the Mammoth Hotel could entertain 600 guests. ​ According to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Historic Structures Report, put together by A&E Architects, “The hotel company built the new wing for the Mammoth hotel with day labor and without the benefit of construction drawings. According to W. M. Nichols, President of the YPHC, “Reamer does much better to build as he goes along rather than to draw up a set of specifications and be tied down to them.” No construction drawings for the remodel of the old Mammoth Hotel have been found, indicating that Reamer may have followed the same procedure for that part of the 1913 work." Top Left: Newspaper article about the proposed renovations of the Mammoth Hotel. The room & bathroom count was slightly exaggerated . [Yellowstone Monitor , 3Apr1913] ​ Right: View of the "Boy's Dorm," 1917. Later known as Juniper Dorm, it remains in use. Many sources date it 1936, but that would be incorrect. It looks much the same as it did over 100 years ago. YNP Archive records date its construction in 1914. [Haynes Photo, 1917 NPS Bldg Survey] Bottom Left: View of the newly-remodel Mammoth Hotel and the new North Wing at right. [YNP #50780] Bottom Right: Postcard view of the remodeled Mammoth Hotel, 1923. [Haynes postcard #23298] The New Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel & Cottages Good-Bye to the old National Hotel . . . ​ The old hotel was torn down in 1936 and a new complex of buildings was constructed under the direction of Robert Reamer, architect for the Old Faithful Inn. Lumber and other materials from the old hotel were saved and reused as much as possible to save on construction costs. The North Wing (left of structure) was retained and is currently the only existing remnant of the original hotel. A two-story building was built in front of the old wing that would house the lobby, lounge, hotel offices, telegraph and telephone divisions, news and cigar stands, and other public services. Right: News article regarding the razing og the old Mammoth Hotel. [Indianapolis Star, Ind., Aug. 30, 1936] Bottom Left: Demolition of the old Mammoth Hotel, Sept. 1936. [YNP #185333-361] Bottom Right: Demolition of the old Mammoth Hotel, Oct. 1936. [YNP #20772] Bottom Left: View of the Mammoth Hotel complex prior to razing in 1936. The North Wing (1913) at upper left, was retained, while the rest of the hotel was demolished. Juniper Dorm (1914) was retained (center left), while the dorm on lower right also remained. Both are currently in service. [YNP #185333-358] Bottom Right: View of the hotel commissary , located directly behind the North Wing. It was also demo'ed in 1936. [YNP #30500] A separate two-story building was erected across the road from the hotel wing and utilized some of the original hotel foundations. A restaurant and coffee shop occupied the 1st floor, while the 2nd floor was made into small apartments for office staff housing. Numerous service buildings behind the original hotel, including warehouses, print shop, laundry, tailor shop, and garages were either completely razed or remodeled to fit into the overall design Right: The new restaurant and coffee shop at Mammoth, located upon the foundations of the old hotel in 1939. The top floor rooms housed hotel office staff. [YNP #1546] Top Left: 1939 postcard view of the newly-remodel Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel (right), restaurant (left center), Rec Hall complex (center behind hotel portico), and the cabin area (rear at base of hills). [Haynes #39036] Top Right: Late 1950s postcard view of the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. The North Wing can be seen abovethe lobby building. [West Yellowstone Postcard Co. #73143] In 1937 Robert Reamer designed and assembled a giant map of the United States, made with 15 different types of wood, with 2500 individual pieces. It was fabricated from January 2 to June 1 in Seattle and assembled on site on the south wall of the hotel lounge. It is just over 10' tall and over 17' long. In 1963, the hotel lounge was converted to a meeting room and lobby and became known as the Map Room. A new entry was cut between the lobby and lounge. The map was moved to the west wall. Top Left: 1953 postcard view of the lounge area of the hotel, now called the Map Room. The wood map designed by Robert Reamer was later moved to the right wall when a new doorway was installed on the left side of the map. [Haynes #53K353] Right: Article about the Reamer map from the Billings Gazette, 3Jul1937. ( Click to enlarge) Bottom Left : the famous wooden map designed by Robert Reamer. It was removed in 1917 for conservation work and returned to service. (Click to enlarge) In 1936-38, a complex of 97 cabins was erected along the edge of the hill for the ever-growing number of auto tourists, consisting of single and double units with a capacity of 200 guests.The individual cabins are simple wood-framed, gable-roofed structures with front porches; they have a less rustic design than their counterparts in other park locations in order to integrate with the appearance of the hotel. Top Left: New cabin area directly behind the recreation hall and fountain bldg, Aug. 1939. [YNP #185327-425] Bottom Left: View of the back cluster of guest cabins, Aug. 1939. [YNP #185327-426] Top Right: Fountain, Cocktail Lounge, Gift Shop, Beauty & Barber Shop, and Rec Hall, fall 1939. [YNP #185327-402] Also constructed behind the hotel was a recreation hall that had café with fountain services available at the opposite end of the building. Recreational features included an octagonal sunken dance floor — on wood joists, cocktail lounge/soda fountain, and a stage with dressing room. Additional facilities included a Gift Shop, Beauty Shop, Barber Shop, restrooms, print shop, laundry, linen room, dispensary, and nursing room. Despite the number and variety of public spaces, a single door provided entry to the recreation hall, thus preventing draughts that would be "a source of annoyance to those seated at tables." In later years the café and fountain were converted into office space for the accounting department and another doorway was installed that led from the lobby to the cabin area. The new Mammoth recreation hall was officially dedicated on June 25, 1937. The recreation room in connection with the Mammoth Hotel was completed during July of 1937 and opened to the public, while some: of the cabins in the new Mammoth group were ready for occupancy when the Mammoth Hotel opened about the middle of June. Around 1950 the hotel became known as the Mammoth Motor Inn and the Terrace Grill was renamed the Terrace Coffee Shop. Mammoth Motor Inn opened for the winter season in 1966, but it lasted only through the 1969 season. In the winter of 1981-82, the hotel again opened for the winter season to serve snowmobilers, snowcoach tours, and cross-country skiers. Snowmobiles were rented at Mammoth and the snowcoaches provided transit to the Grand Canyon and Old Faithful. Guests were housed in the Aspen Lodge that was used as an employee dorm during the summer season. Around that time the old telegraph room in the corner of the Hotel lobby was converted to a gift shop. A new lounge/bar is built in the former kitchen storeroom, to the right of the entry of the restaurant. The hotel and cabins are currently operated by Xanterra Parks & Resorts Mammoth Lodge - 1917-1940 Mammoth Lodge was built on the flats south of Capitol Hill in 1917 by the Yellowstone Park Camping Co. It replaced the camps previously located at Swan Lake Flats and Willow Flats that were closed after the 1916 season. It was often referred to as Mammoth Camp in the early years. A swimming pool was built in 1920 and the main lodge building was built in 1922-23, along with a laundry, kitchen, dining room, dance hall, recreation hall, and offices. A dedication service for the new $100,000 lodge was held in July, 1923. Additional cabins were added in 1927. Undated Real-Photo postcard of Mammoth Camp, located across from the Mammoth Terraces. (Click photo to see enlarged version) Upper Left: The new Mammoth Lodge, undated photo. [YNP #185327-424] Upper Right: Real-Photo of entrance to Mammoth Lodge, undated. ​ Lower Left: The Great Hall dining room at the Lodge in 1923. It was a popular venue for conventions. [Haynes PC #23307] Lower Right: The 'Plunge.' It was always a popular feature at the Lodge. [YNP #9550] Mrs. J.B. parks of Nebraska toured Yellowstone in 1927 and comment about Mammoth Lodge . . . ​ “we stayed [at the lodge] our first night in the park. There they have hundreds of little cabins equipped with stove, bed and bedding; neat and sanitary as a home, for tourists, who don’t care to stay at the Mammoth Hotel, a more elaborate place. Mammoth Lodge is a real rustic building, built of the natural pine logs, and has a bureau of information, office, curio shop, and checking room, a large reception and rest room with easy chairs, and writing tables, and large fireplace, where pine logs were burning. They have large dining rooms and kitchens; the meals are all served American style, and the work is done by student girls and boys.” [1Sep1927 Ashland Gazette, Neb] Upper Left: Tourist Cabin Office, undated. [YNP #47117] Upper Right: Interior view of one of the wooden cabins, 1923. [Haynes PC #23405] ​ Lower Left: The early cabins were 'tent cabins', with wood floors and half-walls. [Real-Photo PC] Lower Right: One of wooden cabins at the Lodge in 1923. [Haynes PC #23404] The original cabins featured wood floors and partial wood walls. The rest was covered with tent canvas. Later on they were converted to hard-top wood cabins. A large complex of cabins was erected between the main lodge and the swimming pool. Seventy of the cabins were moved to Roosevelt Lodge in 1937-1938. Mammoth Lodge and other facilities in the park closed in 1940 due to WWII. Many reopened after 1945, but Mammoth Lodge did not. Close to 100 cabins had been built at Mammoth Hotel 1937-1939, and apparently the lodge facilities were not needed. The main lodge and other buildings were razed in 1949-50. The 1950 Annual Superintendent’s report noted the following: ​ MAMMOTH LODGE RAZED On November 17, 1949, a crew for the Yellowstone Park Company started tearing down the Mammoth Lodge, which was constructed in 1922. The dismantling of the interior of the lodge had been in progress for several weeks prior to that date. The laundry in this building will be allowed to remain until the new laundry in connection with the Mammoth Hotel is constructed.

Prospecting in Paradise The Early Gold Seekers ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. While this page is under construction, please visit my old Prospecting in Yellowstone page at Geyserbob.org http://geyserbob.org/Home-Prospecting_Yellowstone.html Visit my Home Page to see which of my pages are completed and available. It's a long trip . . . Thanks for your patience. ​

Camping in the Yellowstone R.C. Bryant Camping Co. ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. The Bryant Camping Company was formed by Rev. Robert Collins Bryant in 1903 and first operated as the Bryant-Spence Tours, with offices in the Monadnock Building, Chicago Illinois. By 1903 there were a number of other companies operating camping tours in Yellowstone National Park that successfully competed with the more expensive hotel tours. These including the Wylie Camping Co ., Shaw & Powell , Tex Holm , the Lycan Company, Blankenship Co., Marshall Bros, and others. Most of these others used the North entrance at Gardiner due to the easy railroad access by the Northern Pacific RR. The Sylvan Pass road from Cody, WY to Yellowstone Lake opened in 1903 allowing easier access from that direction and rail service by the Chicago, Burlington, Quincy & RR . His summer headquarters were moved to the town of Yellowstone at the West Entrance in 1908, later renamed West Yellowstone . He conducted the camping tours with moveable nightly camps and continued yearly through 1912. Downtown Chicago in 1898. The Monadnock Bldg is in the upper right. Robert C. Bryant was born in Brooklyn, NY Feb. 13, 1870. He attended Lafayette College in Easton PA in 1891 and in 1891-95 attended Union Theological Seminary and Auburn Seminary in NYC, a Presbyterian school. He was ordained as a Pastor at the Binghamton Presbyterian church June 4, 1895. Apparently having made himself a career and perhaps feeling more financially responsible, he married Margaret “Maggie” Tims on July 3 of that year. She was a native of Binghamton NY born ca1869. About two years later their son Robert Alfred was born. In 1901 the family moved to Rockford Illinois where Rev. Robert C. Bryant, began his duties as Pastor of the Church of the Christian Union, a Unitarian Universalist church built in 1888. In 1908 the family moved to Chicago, where by at least 1918 he was the pastor of the Green Olive Grove Baptist Church. No doubt many of his early customers on his camping ventures came from within the congregations of the churches at which he served. He passed away 1959 in Southern California, and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery. The West entrance area of Yellowstone prior to 1908 was called Riverside and was accessed by stagecoach from Monida or Beaver Canyon on the Union Pacific RR’s main line from Brigham City, UT to Butte, MT. It required about a day and a half stage ride from Monida, located on the Idaho-Montana border, to get to the west entrance. It would not be until 1908 that the UP extended a branch line to the fledgling town that was christened Yellowstone, eliminating the long coach ride from Monida. At that time business seemed to pick up considerably for Bryant and advertisements for his services in national newspapers and periodicals become more prominent. Union Pacific Depot at Yellowstone in 1908. [J. Clum Glass Slide] In 1908 Bryant produced a brochure that advertised “The Bryant Way,” an obvious takeoff on his successful competitor the “Wylie Way.” Even though he was widely advertising his services by this time, he apparently neglected to obtain camping permits from the Interior Department during several previous seasons. When he tried to apply in July 1908 he was turned down, probably for this very reason. During those years a number of complaints were filed against his operation and it is said that he sometimes sold tour tickets and then pawned the unsuspecting tourist off on other operators. Nonetheless, Bryant was somehow able to obtain a permit for the 1909 season to resume his business. By this time he now operated a hotel on Park Street in [West] Yellowstone along with a stagecoach line. The hotel was located on Park St., about a block east of the UPRR depot, directly along the route of travelers going into or from Yellowstone Park. Left: "The Inn at the Gate"in 1914. [1914 traveler's account, Univ of Wyo] Right: Main street of Yellowstone ca1916. The Inn at the Gate, behind the horses, became the Shaw & Powell Hotel after 1912. [Real-Photo Postcard] Campbell Guide "The Bryant-Spence Yellowstone Camping Company has an established reputation, gained through six years' service, for the completeness and excellence of camp equipment, the good quality of the table and service, the thoroughness of the sightseeing. The Bryant-Spence Company has its offices in the Monadnock Building, Chicago, with camp headquarters at Yellowstone, Montana, where all tours start. Special arrangements may be made to start from Gardiner, North Gate. The camps are movable, not permanent; each day, as the party travels, camp is broken in the morning and made at another point in the afternoon. Comfortable coaches and saddle horses are provided for the members of the parties. Special wagons carry provisions, baggage, tents, cots, blankets, tables, chairs, stoves, everything to make camp life comfortable. A professional cook accompanies each party, and abundant help to do all the camp work." [Campbell's New Revised Complete Guide and Descriptive Book of the Yellowstone Park, 1909 by Reau Campbell] From the 1909 Bryant "Delightful Camping Trip" brochure: PERSONALLY CONDUCTED TOURS Two circuit tours from Chicago and the East, via Yellowstone, the new western entrance to the Park, and Lander, and through the Yellowstone National Park, are being arranged under the auspices of the Bryant Yellowstone Camping Company. Each of these tours provides for twenty days' camp life in one of the most beautiful regions of high plateaus and ranges of splendid mountain peaks in America. In this region the Wind River, the Gros Ventre and the beautiful Teton Mountains form, day after day, a background for extensive plains, brilliant hued buttes, and a dry air that carries with it tonic properties of untold worth. . . One of these personally conducted parties will leave Chicago via the Chicago, Union Pacific & North Western Line, Monday, July 5th, via the electric-lighted Los Angeles Limited to Salt Lake City, and the Yellowstone Special to Yellowstone, the new western entrance to the Park. Arriving at Yellowstone, the party will make a camping tour of the Park, stopping each day at Bryant camps, and returning leave the Park via the Thumb, thence down the Snake River. ITINERARY OF PERSONALLY CONDUCTED TOURS [1909] The first personally conducted party will arrive at Yellowstone, the new western entrance to the Park, via the Yellowstone Special at 7.00 A. M., July 8th, and at 9.00 A. M. the twenty days' camping trip will begin: First Day . Drive through Christmas Tree Park and along the Madison River to the Lower Geyser Basin. Visit Mammoth Paint Pots, Fountain Geyser, Excelsior Geyser, Firehole Lake, Prismatic Lake, etc. Second Day. Drive to Upper Geyser Basin and spend the day there, visit Old Faithful, Giant Castle, Riverside, Grotto and many others. Return to Lower Basin Camp. Third Day. Drive through Gibbon Canyon to Norris Basin, then north to Apollinaris Spring, passing the Devil's Frying Pan, Beaver Lake, Obsidian Cliff, etc. Fourth Day. Drive through Golden Gate and Silver Gate to Mammoth Hot Springs Fifth Day. Drive twenty miles east to Tower Falls, visiting Yancey's, the Petrified Trees the Lower Canyon, etc. Sixth Day. Drive to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The entire party with carriages and horses will climb to the top of Mount Washburn, 10,300 feet above the sea. Seventh and Eighth Days. Spend visiting the Grand Canyon, the most wonderful, gorgeous natural spectacle in the world. Artist's Point Lookout, Inspiration Point, Falls of the Yellowstone, etc. Ninth Day. Drive to the Lake Hotel, passing Sulphur Mountain, Mud Volcano, etc. Tenth Day. Drive along the shore of the lake [Yellowstone] to the West Thumb, visit the Fishing Cone and the Paint Pots. The road here leaves the stage route, turning south. Camp on Lewis Lake. . . [From that point the tour went into the Jackson Hole country for 10 days before arriving at Lander WY for the rail trip home.] The Bryant Permanent Camp on Jackson Lake A permanent camp has been established on the east shore of Jackson's Lake under the management of Mr. Robert C. Bryant, of the Bryant Yellowstone Camping Company. This camp is ideally located. Directly across the lake are the Teton Mountains. There is a medicinal hot spring on the shore of the lake not far from the camp. The fishing on Jackson’s Lake is unsurpassed and mountain trout are often taken that weigh from five to ten pounds each. Good boats may be had at the camp and a naptha launch will be available. Carriages and saddle horses may be had at reasonable prices and guides for mountain trips or other excursions. The camp will provide a good table and comfortable rooms with every possible convenience. Rates $2.50 per day. Jackson’s Lake is twenty miles south of the Yellowstone National Park. It is reached either from Yellowstone Station at the western boundary of the Park or from Lander, the terminus of the North Western Line. Arrangements may be made for carriages from either of these points by addressing Bryant Tours, 457 Monadnock Block, Chicago, previous to July 1st, and after this date either the above address or Mr. Robert C. Bryant, Yellowstone, Mont., via Ashton, Idaho. [Delightful Camping Trip, 1909 Brochure] Incorporation The business was incorporated as the R.C. Bryant Company on March 2, 1911 in Salt Lake City, Utah with $50,000 capital and they maintained an office in Salt Lake City. The transaction was reported in the March 3, 1911 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune. Officers listed were: R.C. Bryant, president & director; Rodney T Badger, vice-president and director, along with Bryant’s wife M.T. (Margaret Tims) Bryant as a director. According to the 1911 National Park Conference Proceedings held in Sept in Yellowstone, Bryant claimed he had taken 800-900 tourists on his tours through the park that season. ​ The Final Days Sometime in 1912, Robert Bryant sold out his “Bryant Way” camp and hotel operations to the Shaw & Powell Co. Perhaps he was no longer able to effectively compete with Shaw & Powell or Wylie, who by this time had established permanent camps throughout the park. The hotel became the Shaw & Powell hotel, which now gave them lodging facilities at both West Yellowstone and the north entrance at Gardiner. This enabled them to better provide for tours that came in one entrance and departed through another. According to US Federal Census figures, Robert and his wife and son were still living in Chicago in 1920. By 1930 Robert was boarding in San Diego, CA, and although he was listed as “Married,” Margaret was not living with him at the time of the census. Whether by death, divorce, or some other reason is unknown at this time. But in 1934 Robert Bryant, age 64, married Martha Wood Blake, age 49, in Los Angeles. The 1940 census shows the pair living together in Los Angeles. On Oct 26, 1959, Robert Collins Bryant passed away in the Los Angeles area at about age 89. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Yellowstone Storekeepers - Jenny Henderson Ash Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. The Henderson family moves to Yellowstone . . . ​ George L. Henderson of Iowa was appointed Assistant Park Superintendent and moved to Yellowstone in May of 1882. He was accompanied by five children - Walter, Helen, Barbara, Jennie, and Mary. Barbara soon became Postmistress and in 1883 opened the post office in one of James McCartney's old hotel buildings. Sister Jennie soon began assisting her, and began selling 'coated specimens' and mineral specimens provided by local entrepreneurs. The business became known simply as 'The Post Office Store.' Jennie became Postmistress in April of 1884, and married John Dewing. However, she lost (or gave up) her position in the fall of that year. She again became Postmistress in the fall of 1888, taking over the Post Office Store. By 1889 she was selling photographic views, stationary, tobacco, toiletry items, fruit, and some clothing items. She married George Ash in 1893 and began construction on a new store and residence in 1895. The Post Office Store, circa 1880. The second building from the left has a sign above the door reading “Post Office.” The first building on the left may have been used as a residence. The building were located at the base of what is known as "Kite Hill" at Mammoth. The old road to gardiner passes above that area. YNP #945 The new store . . . ​ The new store opened up in 1896 and was referred to as 'Ash & Henderson' on their business letterhead, although generally still referred to as the Post Office Store. Additions were built on the property in 1897 and 1902. Although George had been Postmaster since 1893, the business correspondence for the store was generally all in Jennie's name. The store sold a wide variety of dry goods, clothing, tourist supplies, and curios, in addition to the items previously mentioned.. Later on Indian goods, furs and game heads were added to the stock. George died in 1900 from an undisclosed illness, leaving Jennie in charge. Various family members assisted in the operation of the store over the years, particularly after the death of her husband. Alexander Lyall, who was married to Jennie's sister Barbara, became Postmaster in 1906 and also a partner in the business. Jennie began having problems with her health and spent more time in Southern California, where most of her family maintained residences. In 1908 she sold the business to Alexander and her brother Walter Henderson. Below: 1906 Advertisement for the Jennie Henderson Ash store at Mammoth. YNP #6282 Lyall & Henderson take over . . . ​ Alexander Lyall and Walter Henderson officially took over the lease in April of 1908, changing the name to 'Lyall & Henderson'. The men soon applied to Interior for permission to build an addition to the store, but the project became mired down in red tape. The Yellowstone Park Association, who owned the nearby National Hotel, was planning on building a grand new hotel at Mammoth. The proposed building would have extended onto the lot of the general store, requiring the store to be moved. YPA eventually shelved the hotel plans due to the excessive cost, and settled on remodeling the existing hotel. The addition to the store was never completed. By 1913 the men both maintained homes in Southern California and spent much of the year away from their families. They sold out the operation to George Whittaker, former Army soldier and scout in March of 1913. Whittaker operated the store for almost 20 years, selling to Pryor & Trischman in 1932. General Store at Mammoth in 1917. The front section was expanded considerably in 1914. [Courtesy Montana Historical Society] Click here to read my article Yellowstone’s First General Store A Legacy of Jennie Henderson and Her Family Published in Yellowstone Science, Spring 2005 Next - Ole Anderson & Andy Wald

Yellowstone Storekeepers - Haynes Photo Shops ​ ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Frank Haynes and the Haynes Photo Shops - 1884 to 1967 Frank Haynes discovers Yellowstone . . . . Frank Jay Haynes was known as the "Official Park Photographer" for many years in Yellowstone. He was the parks' most famous photographer and he and his family operated the Haynes Photo Shops for 83 years. He was born in Michigan in 1853 and opened his first photo studio in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1876. He later moved to Fargo, ND and eventually to St. Paul Minnesota, where he maintained a studio for many years. The Northern Pacific RR employed him in 1875 to take promotional pictures along their new route from Minnesota to the West Coast. During these tours he discovered Yellowstone Park on a visit in 1881 with park superintendent Philetus Norris. He returned in ensuing years on photographic jaunts, and was appointed Official Photographer of the Yellowstone Park Improvement Co. He opened up his first photo studio at Mammoth in 1884. Thus began his memorable career in Wonderland. Left: the Haynes Photo Shop at Mammoth Hot Springs, ca1890. ​ Right: Business card for "F. Jay Haynes & Bro." in St. Paul, Minn., ca1883. His "Bro" was Fred E. Haynes, official photographer for the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway Co. Top Left: The Haynes Photo Shop at Mammoth Hot Springs, 1898, after addition at right new paint job. Note the antler fence. [Courtesy Montana Historical Society .] ​ Top Right: Haynes rented studio space in the lobby of the National Hotel at Mammoth in 1886. [YNP #14325] Palace Car Studio Haynes bought a railroad car from the Northern Pacific RR in 1885, and had it outfitted as a traveling photographic studio, complete with darkroom. NPRR hauled the car over their lines from Minnesota to the West Coast so that Haynes could take pictures of the towns and countryside for promo tional purposes. He named it the Haynes Palace Car and operated it until 1905 when he sold it back to the railroad. The Haynes Guidebook In 1890 Haynes began publishing the 'Haynes Guidebook', an authoritative manual describing the many wonders of the park. Included were mile-by-mile travel logs, maps, information about camping, animals, geology, history, roads and, of course, the hot springs and geysers. These books, which were produced almost every year until 1967, were profusely illustrated. The year 1900 began the era of 'picture post cards' in Yellowstone when Frank, also known as F. Jay, began issuing postcards of Yellowstone. These cards became very popular with the tourists and hundreds of thousands of them were produced over the years. ​ Haynes' Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Deliveries . . . In 1929, Jack Haynes arrived at the Montana Cycle and Supply motorcycle dealer in Billings to buy five new Harley-Davidsons with sidecars. Haynes wanted drivers of the olive drab painted motorcycles, equipped with sidecars, to pick up tourists’ film and race it to his processing lab where the film would be developed and printed overnight. The next morning the riders would carry printed photographs back to Haynes’ other Photo Shops so tourists could have their photographs the next day, a quick turnaround in 1929. The Harleys purchased were the JDH model, “which could hit 85 mph and get 80 miles to the gallon. The motorcycle had a 74 cubic inch V-twin engine and sold for less than $400. That price is equivalent to almost $6,000 today.” He hired 4-5 drivers, had them trained, and they were off. The timing of purchase and service was unfortunate, as the Great Depression soon hit the country. But J.E. Haynes struggled through the economic crisis successfully. Over the ensuing years, more of his photo shops were equipped with photo processing plants and the unique Harley service was no longer needed. [Info from the Billings Gazette, 7July2019, retrieved online 20July2020] Top Left: Interior of the Haynes Palace Car, a photography studio that rode the rails. See the Car exterior at top of page. ​ Top Right: Cover of a Haynes Guide, 1927. Author's Collection ​ Bottom Left: One of the five Harley Motorcycles purchased by Jack Haynes in 1929. Photo by Don Devore, Billings Gazette, 7Jul2019 The Haynes Store Elk Fence From the Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 10, 1897 A FENCE OF ELKHORNS - MOST PICTURESQUE AND ONLY ONE EVER BUILT Three Hundred Antlers Used - Three Hundred More Needed to Complete It - Located in Yellowstone Park More than Three hundred elks have unwillingly contributed their magnificent antlers to beautify the inclosure [sic] around the studio of F. Jay Haynes, at Mammoth Hot Springs, in Yellowstone park. It is believed to be the only fence made of elk horns in the world. Mr. Haynes, with three of his men, collected and carefully selected these trophies; they all have twelve points, and many have the royal fourteen. From twenty to twenty-five thousand elk winter in Yellowstone park, and the greater percentage of these are males. About the 1st of April is shedding time, and it is easy enough to gather the shed horns, if one but ascertains the whereabouts of the animals at that time . . . . No one is allowed to remove these specimens from the park, as it is a National reservation, unless permission be granted by the superintendent. Mr. Haynes obtained a permit for the collection used for his fence with the proviso that they are to be kept in the park. Although there are now three hundred horns in this unique fence, as many more have to be added to complete it around the enclosure Early expansion of the business . . . . In 1897, F.J. Haynes built a log cabin studio across from the front of the Henry Klamer general store. That studio was used until 1930 when it was abandoned and later moved to another location where it was converted into a photo-finishing plant. A new photo shop was erected in 1927 at the tourist cabin area between the Hamilton Upper Store and Old Faithful Geyser. It was moved in 1974 to a spot near the old Snow Lodge (in front of what would later become the new Snow Lodge.) The Photo Shop in front of the new Snow Lodge was later moved, renovated and relocated to a spot between the new visitor center and OF Lodge for use as a museum for the Yellowstone Park Foundation. ​ At Old Faithful, Jack Ellis Haynes constructed a working model of Old Faithful Geyser in 1916 that erupted hot water to a height of 3 feet every 3-4 minutes. Reportedly six other units were built and sent to the Northern Pacific RR and other places for advertising purposes. A few years later a siren was installed at the shop that announced the impending eruption of the real Geyser. Top Left: The Haynes Photo Shop at Old Faithful, across from the Klamer General Store, 1913. It measured 50'x24' and was expanded in 1911 and remodeled in 1923, ​ Top Right: Diagram for Old Faithful Jr. mechanical geyser built by Jack Haynes for display at his studio. From 1916 Haynes Guide. ​ Left: Albumen print of the Old Faithful studio, ca1890s. ​ Bottom Left: OF photo shop, located in the tourist cabins area, 1951. It was moved in 1974 - see photo to right. ​ Bottom Right: Fires of 1988 threaten the entire Old Faithful village. A few cabins were burned at the rear, but luckily no significant buildings burned. When the new Snow Lodge was constructed in 1997-98, the old Snow Lodge was razed and the back section of the photo shop removed. Changes at Mammoth . . . . F.J. Haynes opened up his first photo studio at Mammoth in 1884 and in 1896 leased space for a small studio in the lobby of the National Hotel. In 1903 he moved his Mammoth Photo Shop to the base of Capitol Hill where an addition was built in 1910. A new facility was erected in 1920, and enlarged in 1923. A new photo shop studio and office were built in 1927-28 at the base of Capitol Hill. The original house/studio, along with the elk horn fence were torn down. A garage and darkroom were added in 1929. The old shop of 1920 was converted into a residence (currently used as Xanterra management residence Top Left: T he Haynes Picture Shop at Mammoth in 1920. This new building replaced the 1884 shop built across from the National Hotel. The structure is currently used as housing for Xanterra Parks & Resorts management personnel. J.E. Haynes Postcard #20118 ​ Top Right: Haynes Photo Shop at Mammoth. This building replaced the earlier store at Mammoth and opened in 1929. The old shop nearby, was converted into a residence. Haynes Postcard #34059 ​ Bottom Left: Picture shop at the Mammoth Auto Camp. It was established in 1927 and remodeled in 1934. Haynes Guide, 1936 ​ Bottom Right: The Picture shop was at the far left of the large Cafeteria building, which was run by Pryor & Trischman at that time. 1939, YNP #185327-414 The Picture Shops at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Top Left: Picture Shop at Canyon Auto Camo, Haynes Guide 1922. Top Right: Interior of 1922 Picture Shop. Haynes Guide 1922 Middle: 1924 Picture Shop relocated to near the Brink of the Falls. Haynes Guide 1924 In 1895, Frank Haynes opened a small studio inside of the 2nd Canyon Hotel. It presumably closed when the new hotel opened in 1911. F. J. Haynes secured a lease for one acre of land in 1914 at or near the Grand Canyon for building a picture shop, but this lease was apparently never used. A picture shop was established in 1917 in a small government building at Canyon until the building collapsed under heavy snow in early spring 1922. A new store opened that June at the auto camp. A new store was built in 1924 on the site of the old log Soldier Station, closer to the Brink of the Falls. The store was remodeled and a photo-finishing lab added in 1929. A temporary employee dorm was built the next year. The photo shop was remodeled in 1938, and the photo-finishing lab removed. The store remained until 1957 when modern facilities were constructed at the new Canyon Village complex. From the 1927 Haynes Guide, "Haynes Picture Shop at Grand Canyon is situated at the right of the road beyond the platform and stairway leading to the brink of the Upper Pall. Pictures, post cards, films, developing and printing service, and books of the park, are available here. This shop, the newest and largest of all, was completed before the opening of the 1924 season, and replaces the former shop situated in the public automobile camp." Top Left: Picture Shop at the new Canyon Lodge in Canyon Village, 1957. {Haynes Studios Inc. postcard, #K57040] Top Right: The new Haynes Picture Shop in Canyon Village, 1962. [Haynes Studios, Inc. postcard # K62006] In 1957, at the behest of the NPS and the Mission 66 plan, all of the concession operations at the old Canyon Junction [current Upper Falls parking lot area] were moved to the new Canyon Village. Construction had begun in 1956 and by July 1, 1957, the new Canyon Lodge and a portion of the guest cabins were opened, along with the Hamilton' Store. Construction on the new Haynes Picture Shop was delayed until its opening in 1960. From 1957-1959 a small Haynes photo shop served the public in the new lodge building. In 1968 Isabel Haynes, widow of jack Haynes, sold the Hanes Picture Shops to Hamilton Stores and the Haynes name disappeared from the park. The Picture Shops at Fishing Bridge & West Thumb Top Left: Haynes Picture Shop at Fishing Bridge, 1929. YNP #29904. Jack Haynes constructed a building 60x60 feet in size at Fishing Bridge auto camp to house Haynes’ picture shop, mess and photo finishing plant. Top Right: Fishing Bridge Picture Shop in 1936. Haynes Guide 1936. This building was absorbed into the Hamilton Store operation in 1967, still as a photo shop, and was removed in 1990. ​ Bottom Left: Cabin being hauled to West Thumb from Fishing Bridge for a new Picture Shop. It was moved in 1938 to a spot near the road junction, and again in 1943 to a location near the ranger station. YNP Photo. Bottom Right: West Thumb Photo Shop in 1951. YNP #51-419 The Picture Shops at Tower and Roosevelt Top Left: Jack Haynes opened up a new photo shop at Tower in 1917 in the former Yellowstone-Western stage building that was greatly remodeled and enlarged in 1927-28 and replaced with a new studio in 1932. Haynes PC #22625 ​ Top Right: The Picture Shop at Tower was remodeled and greatly enlarged in 1927. The building was described as: log trimmed, 1-story shop (2,000 sqft) and living quarters (1,960 sqft); dimensions 90'x44'. It featured a 12-foot marble soda fountain and 2,000w Kohler electric light plant. 1951 Photo, YNP #51-430. ​ Left: A family of visitors to the Tower Photo Shop in 1935. Keystone-Mast Stereoview. Bottom Left: Picture Shop at Roosevelt, 1936. Bottom Right: Picture Shop at Roosevelt, 1951. YNP #51-528 The Family Due to his failing health, Frank Jay Haynes passed the business on to his son, Jack Ellis Haynes in 1916, after 32 years of operation. F. Jay, Yellowstone’s premiere photographer, lived only for five more years, and passed away in 1921 at age 68 from heart disease. ​ Jack, later known as "Mr. Yellowstone", successfully managed the business for about 45 years. The operation underwent continual expansion and improvements throughout the years. Due to the consolidation of the transportation and camping companies for the 1917 season, the Haynes were forced to sell their shares of the Wylie Camps and Yellowstone-Western stage company. Upon the death of Jack Haynes in 1962, his wife Isabel ran the business until 1967, when she sold the entire operation to Hamilton Stores. By the time the business was sold in 1967, there were 13 photo shops in the park. In 1970 Isabel Haynes donated the Haynes collection of photos, negative, equipment, ledgers, etc. to the Montana Historical Society. Personal and business papers not related to the studio were donated to Montana State University Library in Bozeman, MT. Left: Frank Jay Haynes, ca1920 ​ Right: Jack Ellis Haynes, 1935. Haynes Photo #36372, Univ. of Montana, Bozeman. For Information on the F.J. Haynes stagecoach operations, Monida-Yellowstone and the Yellowstone-Western companies, please check out my Stagecoach Pages ​ For information on F.J. Haynes financial involvement in the Wylie Camping Company, please visit my Camps Pages .

Gateways to Wonderland ​ Jardine, Mont. Gold Mining on the Edge of Yellowstone ​ ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Undated photo of the Bear Gulch Mining District - Jardine, Montana. Note the row of houses along Bear Creek at far right. Mineral Hill is center, with the main mill below . The quaint small village of Jardine, Montana, was never considered a Gateway to Yellowstone National Park by any means. However, it was an important part of local history, and an economic boom for Gardiner , Cinnabar , and the Northern Pacific RR .The mining history is quite complicated and involved, so only the basics are discussed in this narrative. More extensive information may be obtained from the sources at the bottom of the page. "and finding also a hairless cub, called the gulch Bear.” ​ Eugene S. Topping , in his Chronicles of the Yellowstone, a classic and important history of the greater Yellowstone Valley written in 1885, claimed that in 1863 a group of thirty miners lead by George Huston prospected their way up the Yellowstone River from the mining community of Emigrant Gulch and continued past Soda Butte toward what later became the New World mining district. Attacked by Indians who ran off all their horses, the prospectors cached their excess supplies and continued afoot toward Clark’s Fork with one lone jackass. Finding a few prospects, but no pay, they returned back along the Yellowstone. Topping related that, “On the way they found fair prospects in a creek on the east side of the Yellowstone, and finding also a hairless cub, called the gulch Bear.” Even though today the creek goes by the name Bear Creek, the name Bear Gulch, also referred to as the Sheepeater District, still identifies the classic mining areas around the town of Jardine, Montana. Left : Eugene S. Topping, author of "Chronicles of the Yellowstone." Center : Joe Brown , one of the discoverers and developers of gold in Bear Gulch. Right : George A. Huston, one of the discoverers of gold in Bear Gulch, and a founding Father of Cooke City. Sporadic prospecting around Bear Gulch continued uneventfully the next few years after Huston’s journey until Joe Brown and partners John Zimmerer, Dan Royer, and an unknown man struck rich, gold-bearing gravel in 1866 on a bar at the mouth of Bear Gulch, as it empties into the Yellowstone River. They staked a claim and reportedly took out $8,000 in gold. News traveled quickly in the mining communities and in 1867, Lou Anderson, A.H. Hubble, George W. Reese, Caldwell, and another man discovered gold in a crevice at the mouth of the first stream above Bear Gulch, and named it Crevice Gulch. That same year George Huston returned to the area and built a cabin on Turkey Pen Flats across the Yellowstone River from Bear Gulch. Living on land that later became part of Yellowstone National Park, Huston’s cabin is believed to be the first white residence in Yellowstone. Historic illustrations of early gold mining. At top is a rocker that separated the gold flakes from the gravel, which was afterward panned out. At bottom is an arrastra that used a mule to drag a heavy stone over the ore to crush it, which could then be panned or separated from the host rocks. Meanwhile, placer mining was conducted on gravel bars along the creek, or in ancient channel deposits accessed by tunnels or drifts into the hillsides. During the years 1875-77, Joe Brown and other miners built over 3000 feet of ditch to carry water to the various gravel bars they were working. In either 1870 or 1874, depending on sources, Joe Brown and James Graham discovered quartz gold deposits in upper Bear Gulch on a hill later known as Mineral Hill. Although not developed for several years, the Bozeman Times reported in July 1877 that Wm. Heffner, Joe Brown, and James Graham were successfully crushing ore with a crudely-built, mule-drawn device known as an arrastra, based on a primitive design from the early Spanish and Mexican miners. The paper also noted that George Huston and Stoker Henderson would have their arrastra operating by October. Hard rock mining digs in . . . Hard rock mining escalated in 1878 when Z.H. “Zed” Daniels and three other men began working a quartz lead on Bear Gulch and built an arrastra to process their ore. In July the Bozeman Times reported that George Huston, Jimmy Dewings, and Joe Brown discovered a “fine gold lead . . . [that] panned out one dollar to the pound of rock.” A later article described a 9-foot vein with free gold running through it; a 4-ton run through the arrastra yielded $50 per ton. In 1879 the following mines were recorded at Bear Gulch: Legal Tender (Joe Brown); The Wonder of the World (Beattie, Anderson, and Lovely); The James Graham Lode; Joe Brown & Graham; The Monitor; The Mountain Bride; The Coan & McCauley Lode; The Mountain Chief (Geo. Huston); The Champion Lode; The Summit Lode; The Great Western; Mountain Chief (Brown, Huston, & Graham); and the Home Stake. Various newspapers touted the richness and auspicious future of both Bear Gulch and Crevice Gulch, where similar successes and operations were occuring. The Bismarck Tribune in May of 1879 claimed, “The belief is that erelong Bear Gulch is destined to become one of the richest camps in the Territory.” In April of that year a new town site was being laid out with corner lots going up, a harbinger of anticipated stability and prosperity. Outside investors were now beginning to see the potential of Bear Gulch and as a sign of things to come, George Huston and Dewings sold a third of one of their claims for $3500. Huston went on to concentrate his efforts in the New World Mining District, amassed dozens of claims, and became one of the original founders of Cooke City . Article from the Bozeman Avant-Courier, 22May1879, touting the wonders of the riches of the Bear and Crevice Gulches Major Eaton and the Bear Gulch Placer Co. ​ In 1882 Major George O. Eaton and a man named Sturgess formed the Bear Gulch Placer Co. and filed articles of incorporation in Gallatin County with capital of $40,000. Eaton bought out Brown’s Legal Tender mine and over the next few years purchased other mining properties. His crews tunneled into the canyon walls following old river channels in search for placer gold. Eaton also began hydraulic mining in 1884 on Joe Brown’s 40-acre placer claim on Bear Creek; about three miles below what would later become the town of Jardine. Installing equipment served by 1200 feet of 12-inch pipe with a vertical drop of 400 feet through a six-inch nozzle, it was reported to be the most powerful hydraulic placer operation in the world. Blasting away huge sections of the canyon walls in the quest for auriferous bounty, Eaton realized few riches from his efforts and left a scarred landscape, still visible to this day. Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold. Hydraulic mining developed from ancient Roman techniques that used water to excavate soft underground deposits. Its modern form, using pressurized water jets produced by a nozzle called a "monitor", came about in the 1850s during the California Gold Rush in the United States. Though successful in extracting gold-rich minerals, the widespread use of the process resulted in extensive environmental damage, such as increased flooding and erosion, and sediment blocking waterways and covering farm fields. "Placer Mining in Bear Gulch, Montana. Scenery Along the Northern Pacific Railroad F. Jay Haynes , Publisher, Fargo, D.T." The inscription reads: "Compliments Eaton His Mines(?) The little Giant engine My Father and I visited the scene" (Author unknown) To watch a fascinating video about hydraulic mining, click on this YouTube link. View of Bear Gulch in 1884. The town grew up along both sides of Bear Creek. [Courtesy Montana Memory] Changing direction, Eaton built the first quartz mill in Bear Gulch, a five-stamp combination mill to process the oxidized ores from the various lode claims. The mill operated successfully for about two years, but shut down around 1886 due to internal company dissention and the difficulty in hauling ore to the Cinnabar railhead. Minimal organized mining efforts occurred until 1890 when the firm of E.D. Edgerton and W.E. Jewell of Helena took over the operation and added five stamps to the mill. Operating successfully for three years, the operation was shutdown during the Panic of 1893 and the resulting economic depression. Changing direction, Eaton built the first quartz mill in Bear Gulch, a five-stamp combination mill to process the oxidized ores from the various lode claims. The mill operated successfully for about two years, but shut down around 1886 due to internal company dissention and the difficulty in hauling ore to the Cinnabar railhead. Minimal organized mining efforts occurred until 1890 when the firm of E.D. Edgerton and W.E. Jewell of Helena took over the operation and added five stamps to the mill. Operating successfully for three years, the operation was shutdown during the Panic of 1893 and the resulting economic depression. A new town takes shape . . . ​ By 1895 a few businesses had been established, including a hotel, sample room, general store, and four log cabin residences belonging to George Welcome and two other men. In 1895 a new post office was been established at Crevasse with Mrs. M.E. Cowell as postmistress and on Dec. 9, 1898 the community of Bear Gulch became known as Jardine, when the post office was established with J. B. McCarthy as postmaster. This gentleman also had a general store, while other businesses in town included a hotel, saloon and barber shop. Additional business enterprises followed later in the summer. The hotel in Bear Gulch went into bankruptcy in 1896 and was purchased by Cinnabar businessman W.A. Hall . It came into the possession of John Jervis at some point and was known as the Jervis Hotel. The Anaconda Standard reported on Oct. 31, 1898 that, “John Jervis, a recent arrival from Victoria, B. C. secured a license, Tuesday, to open a saloon at Bear Gulch. Mr. Jervis is interested with Helena parties in mining property in that district.” Walter Hoppe leased the Bear Gulch Hotel from Jervis in September 1899, and operated the hotel until about 1905, whereupon it reverted back to Jarvis. Top Right : Ad for the Bear Gulch Hotel in Jardine ca1900. [R.L. Polk Directory] ​ Bottom Right : "Hotel of Walter M. Hoppe, Bear Gulch," ca1899. [Livingston Enterprise Souvenir, 1Jan1900] Left : Bear Gulch Hotel in Jardine ca1903. [Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR] ​ Right : Bear Gulch Hotel, ca1903. [Underwood & Underwood stereoview] A correspondent writing from the town about the middle of October 1907, stated that 100 buildings were then in existence or in course of construction, and that the mining company contemplated the erection of thirty more cottages. At its peak the town boasted of a population of 500-600 souls. A Cultural Resource Survey of the area conducted in 1982 claimed that, “Within a year [1898-99] there were 130 new buildings, including two hotels, three mercantile establishments, office buildings, a mine company office, a guest house, a school and work started on a new mill. A water system and telephone service soon followed.” A hydroelectric dam was built on Bear Creek in 1903 near the mouth of the creek that produced electricity to the mines, businesses and residents of the Jardine area until 1948. A correspondent writing from the town about the middle of October 1907, stated that 100 buildings were then in existence or in course of construction, and that the mining company contemplated the erection of thirty more cottages. At its peak the town boasted of a population of 500-600 souls. A Cultural Resource Survey of the area conducted in 1982 claimed that, “Within a year [1898-99] there were 130 new buildings, including two hotels, three mercantile establishments, office buildings, a mine company office, a guest house, a school and work started on a new mill. A water system and telephone service soon followed.” A hydroelectric dam was built on Bear Creek in 1903 near the mouth of the creek that produced electricity to the mines, businesses and residents of the Jardine area until 1948. F. Jay Dean Bear Gulch Lodge No. 76, A.O.U.W. Jardine, Mont., 1901 [Author's Collection] Left : Ad for George Welcome, with stores in H orr, Aldridge, & Jardine. [Gardiner Wonderland , 21Aug1902] ​ Right : Ad for the F.J. Dean general merchandise store in Jardine [Gardiner Wonderland , 17Jul1902] A New Mining Era Begins - 1899-1948 . . . By 1895 a few mines and two stamp mills were again in operation. In the midst of the mining operations, despite promising discoveries by Uncle Joe Brown and others, the community remained relatively quiet until 1898, when the arrival of Harry Bush, a native of England and active in the South African mines, arrived and inaugurated a new era in Bear Gulch. Backed in part by Canadian capitalists, he secured a lease on the Legal Tender mine and the Edgerton & Jewell properties on Mineral Hill. Bush organized the Bear Gulch Mining Company in August, 1898, and began buying additional claims that included the Sowash mine on the same vein as the Legal Tender, the Revenue from George Phelps, and five mines from George Welcome. Bush enlarged the Eaton mill to twenty stamps, attracted additional investors, and laid out the townsite of Jardine. New businesses developed and the mining district boomed. With the beginning of the 20th Century close in sight, a new epoch was emerging that would experience the cyclic triumphs and failures, joys and sorrows, so typical of the mining industry. "In March of 1899, Bush laid the foundation for his Revenue (Red) stamp mill, with a ground area of 93 x 120 feet and a height of 103 feet. The foundation of this building contained six hundred perch (perch = 1 cu.yd.) of stone and required 400,000 feet of lumber . . . a five hundred foot tramway ran from the mine to the mill and discharged into a Cammett crusher which pushed it into a 500-ton pocket. The ore was then fed into eight batteries of five stamps each by eight automatic feeders. Eight plates then caught the free gold. This mill was finished in December of 1899 and Bush celebrated with a Christmas party at which 700 guests were entertained by a twelve piece orchestra and fed roasted buffalo.” [Cultural Resource Inventory and Evaluation Project – Jardine, 1982] “[Bush] resolved to give Jardine a Christmas which would linger in the minds of those who attended for years. Accordingly, arrangements were made for a grand banquet in the Revenue Mill on Christmas Day. Mrs. Bush was given charge of the arrangements, and the success which attended the affair is a splendid commentary upon the ability of Mrs. Bush as an entertainer and is a fact showing that Hurry Bush is not the only person in Bear Gulch who makes no mistakes in laying plans.The scene of the banquet was the machine shop of the Revenue Mill, the room being vacant on account of the machinery not yet having arrived. The room was decorated in a manner that rendered it a perfect bower of loveliness. The roof was a solid bank of evergreens, dotted hene and there with electric lights of various hues. Bunting of national colors swung in graceful folds around the room, and the most exquisite cut flowers lent their delightful perfume and beauty to the scene. Harry & Ada Bush [Livingston Enterprise Souvenir , 1Jan1900] The tables were laid for 100 persons and were profusely decorated. At 6 o'clock the banquet began, and it was 10 o'clock before the guests who had assembled to enjoy the hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Bush … The menu abounded in delicacies, and every luxury in the line of edibles that could be found in the market graced the tables. As a reminder of early days in Montana, a buffalo had been purchased by Mr. Bush. The juicy steaks and tender roasts of the monarch of the plains in days gone by contributed a share of the feast. Elk and deer, fowl of every description, and products of the salt seas and of the clear waters of the Yellowstone River w ere there in generous abundance. The best of everything was none too good for the guest assembled at the banquet, and it is safe to say that no greater enjoyment was ever had by any crowd than was furnished Christmas Day to the assemblage at Jardine. After the banquet was over, an orchestra of eleven pieces furnished music for the promenade and, as the first strains of the grand march swelled forth, the entire machinery of the Revenue Mill was set in gentle motion. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Bush led the march and, to the dropping of the stamps, the host of guests were conducted through every floor of the vast structure, winding the various rooms until the starting point was again reached: then a quadrille was formed. The remainder of the evening was most pleasantly spent and the breaking up of the assembly marked the close of the greatest social event ever held in Montana.” [Anaconda Standard, 31Dec1899] “However, during this period, Harry Bush struggled with problems obtaining ore with sufficient value to run since his most productive mines were tied up in litigation. He continued to process low-grade ore in his mill and problems with other members of the Bear Gulch Mining Company developed. A split in the Bear Gulch Mining Company developed and Bush broke away and formed the Revenue Mining Company, incorporated in Helena on June 21, 1899 . . . By the summer of 1899, Bear Gulch, now renamed Jardine, had two distinct mining groups operating in opposition to each other. These were the old Bear Gulch Mining Company, still under the direction of A. C. Jardine, and the new Bush Company.” [Cultural Resource Inventory and Evaluation Project – Jardine, 1982] In early 1900 creditors began to press Bush for payments on his huge debt load. After much wheeling and dealing, and many negotiations Bush was forced into bankruptcy. On August 18, 1900, Bush's properties including the Revenue Mill, 72,000 shares of Bear Gulch Mining Company stock, 275,000 shares of King Solomon Quartz and Placer Company stock, electric light plant, water plant, guest house and mine office buildings, were sold at auction in Livingston, with the First National Bank of Butte the new owner. The short reign of 'King Harry' rapidly came to an end. In the fall, new directors of the Bear Gulch Mining Company were elected with A.C. Jardine, B.C. VanHouten, and Andrew J. Davis representing Montana, while Alfred C. Blair, W.H. Barnaby, and W.G. Merritt from St. John, New Brunswick and mining and milling resumed. Top Left & Right : Construction of the Revenue stamp mill in Jardine. ​ Bottom Left : Construction of the Revenue Mine Tramway. Bottom Right : Completed construction of the Revenue Stamp Mill [All photos ca1899, from Livingston Enterprise Souvenir , 1Jan1900]] Meanwhile, a collection of local Bear Gulch mining people created a new mining company, as per the Anaconda Standard, Jan. 26, 1903. “NEW COMPANY IN BEAR GULCH Will Carry On a General Mining and Milling Business, Says Articles of Incorporation. The Livingston Post says that a new mining company has been organized for the purpose of operating in the Sheepeater district of Park county. It is known as the Bear Gulch company , the incorporators being Alex Livingston of Livingston and George Welcome, John Jervis, Frank Ackelmire and H D. Andrews of Jardine. These gentlemen are also the directors. The company has a capital stock of $500,000, divided Into 500,000 shares at a par value of $1 each. Of this stock only a small number of shares has so far been subscribed for, the present holders being Messrs. Livingston, Ackelmlre, Welcome, Andrews, Jervis, A.J. Campbell of Butte, and S.H. Crookes of Livingston. The stock is non-assessable.” ​ By March, the new operation was bought out by the Kimberly-Montana Gold Mining Company, operated by a syndicate from Chicago. It was reported that a new 40-stamp mill was being constructed in concert with the soon-to-be completed cyanide plant operation, bringing a total of 80 stamps under the company’s direction. The new management consisted of: P. L. Kimberly, William H. Barnaby, John H. Thompson, Moise Dreyfus, H. M. Ryan, Samuel Deutsch and Miles Finlen. Cyanide Mill in Jardine, 1908 [University of Montana, Missoula] Scene in Bear Gulch, 1899 [Montana Memory Project] Jardine Cyanide Mill Burns [Billings Gazette ,14May1948] The Jardine Gold Mining & Milling Co. takes over . . . In 1914 the Jardine Gold Mining & Milling Co. was formed to take control of the Jardine gold mines and was renamed the Jardine Mining Co. in 1921. By 1906 tungsten was being mined and milled by the various mining properties. The mineral was found in scheelite, a combination of tungsten and lime, occurring mostly in pockets. Wolframite is tungsten and iron, occurring in regular veins. Tungsten ore ran between $1000 to $1200 per ton, making it more valuable than silver. Mining activity was interrupted by an extended period of litigation from 1909 to 1916 and the mines operated continuously from 1923-26 and 1932-36 producing gold, arsenic and tungsten, but tended to operate off and on until 1948. Operations were temporarily suspended in 1942 because of the Federal restrictions on gold mining, but increasing war demands for arsenic led to the reopening of the mines in 1944, which operated until May 8, 1948, when fire destroyed the cyanide plant and the mines closed down in July. High shipping costs of arsenic ore were claimed as a reason for the mining shutdown. About 90 men were abruptly thrown out of work. Production figures from 1899 -1942 indicate that over 155,000 ounces of gold, 27,000+ ounces of silver, 4,000+ ounces of copper, 765,000+ pounds of tungsten and 12,615,000 tons of arsenic were produced. Perhaps an additional 40,000 ounces of gold were produced 1944-48. News article about the closing of the Jardine Mine. [Butte Montana Standard , 5Aug1948] Downtown Jardine, ca1930s [Montana Memory Project] The Mine Office in Jardine, ca1940s. The building still stands and was used as the mine office during the Mineral Hill Mine era in the 1980-90s. [Library of Congress] Entering the modern age of gold mining . . . In 1988 a new era in gold production began when TVX Gold, Inc. of Canada began mining efforts with tunnel/adit development, mill and crusher construction and pre-production activities such as erection of administrative and lab facilities. After much controversy regarding potential environment hazards of a mine so close to Yellowstone and potential pollution of the Yellowstone River fromm Bear Creek, permitting was finally approved and gold production officially began in September of 1889 at the 556-acre Mineral Hill site. The mine operated successfully until early Sept. 1996, when problems of access to new ore bodies dwindling ore supplies from existing workings caused the facility to close and about 130 workers were permanently laid off. Since closure, TVX has removed surface buildings and attempted to restore the area to a natural condition. Treatment of water draining through the tailings pile and from the tunnels continues to be processed to this day. The mine was located two miles from Yellowstone's boundary, five miles by road from Gardiner and produced about 40,000 ounces of gold a year for an approximate total of 260,000 ounces. ​ Today the community supports a small population of about 50 souls and and a few businesses such as outfitting, fishing & hunting guides, and vacation rentals. It is a popular area for hiking, biking, horse riding, skiing, and snowmobiling enthusiasts. Commemorative belt buckle given to employees to celebrate the opening of Mineral Hill Mine on September 26, 1989 [From the author's collection] Left : Article discussing the opening of Mineral Hill Mine in September 1989. [Great Falls Tribune , 23Sep1989] ​ Top : The closing down of TVX Mineral Hill Mine in September 1996, after only about 7 years of operation. [The Missoulian , 5Sep1996] ​ Below : Current view of Bear Gulch and Jardine looking toward Yellowstone Park. ​

Hotels in the Yellowstone Yancey's - Roosevelt Lodge ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Yancey's Hotel in Pleasant Valley 1882-1906 Uncle John F, Yancey ​ This colorful character, the sixth of ten children, was born in Barren County, Kentucky in 1826. Described as the weakly child of the family, he outlived them all. He moved with his family to Missouri while he was still a boy. He journeyed to California in 1849, no doubt following the Gold Rush and later spent time on the Santa Fe Trail. Yancey returned east and fought for the cause of the South in the Civil War. After the war he removed to the Bozeman area and Crow country in 1866 and was employed by the government much of the time. Sensing opportunity in the Yellowstone Park, he made arrangement to settle himself along the road from Mammoth Hot Springs to Cooke City. Jack Baronett built a bridge over the Yellowstone River, that was located near Yancey’s site. John Yancey settled into Pleasant Valley in 1882 and built a cabin and mail station to serve the stages and miners enroute to the mines of Cooke City. The area was located near the junction of the Lamar and Yellowstone Rivers, not too far from Baronett's Bridge. The mail route from Gardiner to Cooke City generally took two days in good weather, and mail carriers used Yancey’s as the overnight stop. Yancey had reportedly received verbal permission from Supt. Patrick Conger to establish the mail station to accommodate traffic to Cooke City. Left: Bridge built by Jack Baronett in 1871 over the Yellowstone River, just above its junction with the East Fork of the Yellowstone (Lamar River). [F. Jay Haynes Stereoview] ​ Right: Sketch of John Yancey made by Ernest Thompson Seton in 1897. [From Recreation Magazin e, "ElkLand," Vol. 7, 1897] Yancey received a 10-year lease on 10 acres of land on which to construct his hotel and mail station. He opened the "Pleasant Valley Hotel" in 1884 with a 1-1/2-story log cabin measuring 30' x 50'. It could supposedly accommodate 20 guests in the upstairs bedrooms at a rate of $2/day or $10/week. Yancey erected a 1-1/2-story saloon nearby in 1887 that measured about 20’x20.’ The story goes that his whiskey glasses were undefiled by the touch of water. Yancey knew all the good fishing holes and had plenty of tall tales to amuse people. His establishment attracted fishermen, hunters, and others interested in this quiet part of the park. ​ By 1885, $25,000 had been spent on the construction of a road from the Yellowstone Falls via the east trail over Mount Washburn to Yancey's on the Mammoth Hot Springs road. This road allowed traffic to and from Yancey’s into the heart of Yellowstone, providing addition business traffic. To deal with the increased business, Yancey enlarged his hotel Above Right : Yancey's Hotel & saloon, ca1896. From Burton Holmes Travelogues Below : Yancey's Hotel, undated stereoview, photographer unknown. One Acting Superintendent described Yancey as a “peculiar and interesting old character . . . popular among a large class of people in this section, and also has a few powerful friends in the east . . .” It was also noted that Yancey’s place had “attractions, for a number of people, probably for the very reason of its roughness, and because it is a typical frontier establishment.” Of course that roughness did not appeal to everyone and superintendent Pitcher commented in 1902 that “it is so wretched as to prevent many people from going to his place who [would] do so if he would furnish [them] with a fairly decent fare." ​ Owen Wister ​ That same year, Owen Wister, who later authored The Virginian , was in Yellowstone on a sheep and goat hunting trip. He stopped by Yancey’s and was treated to one of Uncle John’s special elixirs. Wister described the old man as one, ​ “of that frontier type which is no more to be seen; the goat-bearded, shrewd-eyed, lank Uncle Sam type. He and his cabins had been there a long while. The legend ran that he was once a Confederate soldier, and had struck out from the land of the Lost Cause quite unreconstructed, and would never wear blue jeans because blue reminded him of the Union army. He was known as Uncle John by that whole country . . . And then Uncle John led me across the road to—not his wine, but his whisky cellar. Handsome barrels. I came to know it well. He had some sort of fermented stuff made from oranges, which he obtained from California. Mingled properly with whisky, the like of it I have never elsewhere tasted.” Burton Holmes Travelogues ​ World traveler Burton Holmes expressed a similar opinion in his Yellowstone Travelogue during a visit in 1896: “A visit to “Uncle John Yancey’s” ranch is an experience that will be remembered but which will not be repeated. A comic writer might find food for profitable study in the peculiarities of Uncle John, but the ordinary traveler will find neither palatable food nor decent accommodations while at the old man’s “Hotel.” The tenderfoot should not remark the unwashed condition of the two historic glasses into which the proprietor pours the welcoming libation of “Kentucky tea,” for it is Yancey’s boast that his whisky glasses have never been polluted by the contact of so alien a liquid as water. That water is not held in good repute at Yancey’s is evidenced by the location and condition of the “bathing establishment” maintained for the inconvenience of guests who are so perverted as to require more than a pail that serves the needs of the habitués of the primitive caravansary. On the whole it is wiser to leave the park with the impressions of its glories undimmed by memories of Yancey’s Ranch.” Somehow, despite Holmes' unfavorable review, he did devote a fair bit of space to Yancey in the Yellowstone Travelogue, along with a wealth of photos not found elsewhere. Yancey's "dough-wrangler" and all-around helper cooking "Grub," and John Yancey in his corral ca1896. Yancey maintained a small herd of horses, beef and milk cows to help maintain the operation. [ From Burton Holmes Travelogues] I n 1897 Ernest Thompson Seton, sometimes Ernest Seton Thompson, and his wife traveled to Yellowstone and rented and fixed up one of Yancey’s cabins. They spent the next few months studying wildlife nearby Yancey’s Hotel and then ventured through Yellowstone to see and photograph other wildlife. That visit formed the basis on some of his many books. ​ [Recreation Magazine , December 1898] Uncle John traveled to Gardiner in late April to attend the dedication of the new stone arch near the Northern Pacific RR depot. “Teddy” Roosevelt was on hand, along with numerous other dignitaries, and dedicated the arch on April 24. It came to be known as the Roosevelt Arch and still proudly stands today on the edge of Gardiner. ​ John Burroughs, in his Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt , remarked that during Roosevelt’s trip through Yellowstone in 1903 with Burroughs and others, “We spent two nights in our Tower Falls camp, and on the morning of the third day set out on our return to Fort Yellowstone, pausing at Yancey's on our way, and exchanging greetings with the old frontiersman, ​ Yancey took sick after attending the dedication of the new arch in Gardiner in 1903. The Anaconda newspaper reported on May 6 that, “Word was received late Monday night, first by telegraph and later by telephone, that "Uncle John” Yancey, pioneer in the Yellowstone park, having lived there more than 30 years . . . was dying. Both messages were directed to Assistant County Attorney Daniel Yancey, nephew of the pioneer. The telegram stated that '‘Uncle John" was sick, confined to bed, but the word over the 'phone was urgent and to the effect that the old settler was sinking fast.” Yancey passed away the next day, on May 7th at age 77. Above Right: John F. Yancey Photo taken at the C.E. Finn photographic studio in Livingston, Mt. [YNP #939] ​ Left: Photo of Yancey's headstone in Gardiner's Tinker Hill Cemetery. [Photo by the author] Right: Headline from the Butte Miner, May 8, 1903. The Gardiner Wonderland reported on the 14th, that the funeral procession was the largest ever seen and most of the businesses had closed their doors for the funeral and procession. At the funeral service held at Tinker’s Hill cemetery, where the Rev. E. Smith of Livingston, offered a prayer and eulogy. The minister expressed the generally held opinion that, “The esteem in which “Uncle John” Yancey was held in this community [Gardiner] where he was best known, was shown in the very great concern of people who paid a last tribute to his memory. From everywhere around came those who had known him in life, until the procession was much the largest ever seen here. Nearly all business houses closed and as the procession filed by the government and railroad works, all business was suspended.” Described as among the class of men renowned as “pioneers, first settlers, old timers, etc. . . [they lived a] hardy, rugged, rough and ready life . . . [where] the hardships born; the stalwart purposes developed can not be too extravagantly spoken of. All of this has brought peace, comforts, and prosperity to this present generation and insures the same to succeeding generations.” The End is Near for Yancey's Hotel ​ On April 16, 1906 fire destroyed the hotel building. The Butte Daily Post reported soon after that; “A fire originating in a defective flue is reported to have completely destroyed the old Yancey hotel property in the Yellowstone park Monday night. Uncle John Yancey built and opened the hotel over twenty years ago, and it was a very popular resort for park tourists. The loss is about $5,000. Dan Yancey, who succeeded to the ownership and management of the hotel upon the death of Uncle John, says a new hotel will be built on the site of the old [one] this summer, and tents will be used in the interim for the accommodation of travelers.” The following year Dan applied for permission to continue the business at a location closer to where a new road was being constructed. Permission was denied and the original lease was revoked in November of that year. However, a lease was issued to the Wylie Permanent Camps Co. to establish a camp nearby. The camp was located at the junction of the Mammoth-Cooke City-Mt Washburn/Canyon roads. the camp became the Roosevelt Lodge in the 1920s. The saloon and remaining buildings were razed in the 1960's. Camp Roosevelt & Roosevelt Lodge 1917 - Present Wylie Camping Company ​ Roosevelt Tent Camp was established by the Wylie Permanent Camping Co. in 1906. A bathhouse was built at nearby Nymph Spring, which had been used since at least the 1870s as a bathing/soaking spring by early pioneers and explorers. The guest accommodations were wood-floored tents covered with red and white candy-striped canvas and furnished with simple, rustic furniture. The camp could handle up to 125 guests. A communal dining tent served family-style meals. The area appealed to those who desired a more isolated area and catered to fisherman, wildlife enthusiasts, and horseback riders. Above: Roosevelt Lodge in 1923, surrounded by a combination of tent cabins and wooden cabins. [Yellowstone Park Camps Co brochure, 1923, courtesy Univ of Wyoming Library] Right: Wylie Camping Co., Camp Roosevelt, ca1907. [Underwood & Underwood stereoview] Camp Roosevelt ​ Camp Roosevelt was originally named by the Wylie Camping Co. to honor President Theodore Roosevelt, who was rumored to have camped on the site during his camping trip in 1903. The actual camp site was located at the old Tower Soldier Station, about one and a half miles south of the camp and the Roosevelt Lodge. The rustic log lodge show above was built on the site of the former Wylie Camp in 1919-20 by the Yellowstone Parks Camps Co. and was originally known as Camp Roosevelt. Construction began in the fall of 1919 and was completed the following year. The 1-story building rested on a rubble-stone foundation and utilized unpeeled logs for the walls. It measured 90’ by 50’ with an “L” extension of 29’ by 59’. A covered porch extended across the front of the building and wrapped around the southeast side. In 1924, Vernon Goodwin bought the camp from Howard Hays and Roe Emory in 1924, retaining the same company name. Around 1927 Goodwin renamed the company the Yellowstone Park Lodge & Camps Co. The "Camps" at Mammoth Hot Springs, Lake, Canyon, OF and Roosevelt became 'Lodges.' Left: Camp Roosevelt, ca1920, Real-Photo postcard. Right: Camp Roosevelt, 1922. [Haynes PC #22738] The lodge featured two stone fireplaces, a dining room lounge, kitchen and rustic furnishings. Roosevelt Lodge was not a part of the standard tour package and tourists had to pay extra to include that area in their trip. Therefore visitation here was never as great as in other locations, but was a favored location for fishermen and horseback riding. Left: Camp Roosevelt, interior and stone fireplace, 1922. [Haynes PC #22740] During the years 1920-29, 37 cabins and 26 tent cabins were constructed, along with other utility buildings. By 1929, three groups of tourist cabins had been established at Camp Roosevelt. These included: six log cabins and one "rustic-frame” cabin located south southeast of the Lodge; 18 board-and-batten, rustic-frame, tent cabins located southeast of the lodge, and 18 rustic-frame cabins located northeast of the Lodge. In the 1920s, bathroom and shower facilities were added to the Camp Roosevelt complex. Two bathrooms were constructed adjacent to the southeast and northeast cabin groups. These were simple buildings, of frame construction with wood-shingled gable roofs. They also served as a public wash room for transient guests — people who come in only for lunch and did not have a cabin. Left: Log & board rustic cabins at Camp Roosevelt. Facing the lodge, these would have been somewhere to the right side. [Undated Real-Photo postcard] Right: Tent and wooden cabins located to the left of the lodge, 1925. Note the larger bench surrounding the "Roosevelt Tree." [ YNP #36505] Upper Left: The "Roosevelt Lodge" name appears on this Haynes postcard in 1927. [Haynes PC #27468] ​ Lower Left: Roosevelt Lodge ca1930, with the local bear entertaining two young ladies. Note the log bench has again been changed. [ YNP #185328-270] ​ Right: Article from the Anaconda Standard , June 1, 1919, describing the naming of "Camp Roosevelt." This was an official government name now, as opposed to the corporate name from the Wylie days. Click to enlarge. The lodge was closed in 1933-34 due to the Great Depression and the housekeeping cabins at the Tower campground were closed in 1934. A few years later about 70 cabins were moved in to Roosevelt from Mammoth Lodge. By 1939 running water was provided to all of the cabins. World War II again closed the lodge from 1943-46. The southeast section of the lodge building was removed around 1947. ​ All of the tent cabins were removed by 1950 and in 1962 thirteen cabins from Old Faithful Lodge were hauled in. The lodge and about 97 cabins units are still available for guest use and are operated by Xanterra Parks & Lodges. Yellowstone Forest and Trail Camp for Boys and Young Men ​ This camp was established in 1921 at Roosevelt to provide outdoors’ skills to young boys. It opened July 1 for a seven-week term. Alvin G. Whitney of Syracuse University of New York was the Director. The staff was composed of naturalists, foresters, and artists who instructed the students in photographing wild game, studying the fauna and flora, fishing, and mountain climbing. Informative auto tours were conducted to study the many park features and wildlife. The camp was designed for boys 12 to 18 years of age and emphasized character building. Meals were served in the Camp Roosevelt Lodge. There were tent cabins, simple wooden cabins, council house, shower baths, and a swimming pool. The boys were expected to provide for themselves, pocket kodak, flashlight, small sheath-knife, binoculars, knapsack, canteen, hand lens, compass, pocket notebook, fishing tackle, hatchet, and waterproof matches, in addition to a proscribed collection of varied clothing and boots.. A brochure from 1921 made the pitch that, “Every boy should have the opportunity to experience the simple and elemental in wild nature at the most imaginative and plastic age, while life-long interests are being developed. During that golden period of altruism a deepening interest in nature may well serve to mould his character and direct his pleasures permanently in the noblest channels.” Although the project seemed to be a noble venture, it unfortunately was short-lived and after the 1923 season, it closed due to financial losses. Upper Left: Boy's Camp main lodge building. [YNP #31831] ​ Lower Left: Advertisement for the Forest and Trail Camp. Click to enlarge [ Newspaper ad from 1921, author's collection] ​ Upper Right: Boy's Camp lodge building with tent cabins. [YNP #193429-75] Stage Rides & Cookouts The now famous stagecoach rides and steak cookout at Yancey’s Hole n Pleasant Valley began in the summer of 1959. An article from the Spokesman Review of Spokane Wash. proclaimed, “For the first time in many years, old-fashioned stagecoaches and tallyhos (horse-drawn sightseeing carriages) will operate in Yellowstone park from Roosevelt lodge to Pleasant valley. Morning and evening rides to Yancey s Hole will be featured where breakfasts arid barbecue dinners will be served.” A Yellowstone Park Co. brochure from the early 1960s invited guests to, “Clamber aboard a stagecoach for an exciting jaunt into the past . . . The sturdy Concord coaches, luxurious vehicles at their time, [1886-1916] may in the softness of the present seem like Roosevelt rough riders.” At that time, a mere $1.75 allowed one to step back into Yellowstone’s past. By 1966, five bucks would gain one a coach ride with steak, French fries, a vegetable and coffee at the historic Yancey’s Hole. The Boston Globe that year waxed, “Barbecue smoke and the aroma of coffee hang heavy on pine-scented air while the sun falls behind the nearby Rockies. Later the stage rattles home, fording a stream, trailing a cloud of dust that glows red in the dying light of day.” The Concord Tally-Ho ruled the road there for many a year, but in later times rubber-wheeled wagons did most of the hauling of guests. They were safer and easier for less-experienced wranglers to drive. The days when a jehu who knew how to wield the ribbons of four or six horse teams and expertly crack the whip had rapidly faded. Although in recent years a replica Talley Ho was built in the Xanterra garage/shop for use at Roosevelt. ​ One visitor in 1966, who seemed to have enjoyed his journey into the past, related his impressions: ​ At Roosevelt Lodge we climbed aboard a yellow stagecoach for a steak fry in the peaceful surroundings of Pleasant Valley. The 30-minute ride with steak, French fries, vegetable, coffee and dessert comes to $5. Children go for half price. Barbecue smoke and the aroma of coffee hang heavy on pine-scented air while the sun falls behind the nearby Rockies. Later the stage rattles home, fording a stream, trailing a cloud of dust that glows red in the dying light of day. [24Jul1966 Boston Globe ]

Gateways to Wonderland ​ West Yellowstone & The Union Pacific RR ​ ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. The Early Days . . . . The West Entrance of Yellowstone was used by many of the earliest tourists to Yellowstone. Gilman Sawtelle, probably the area's earliest settler, homesteaded a ranch in the Henry's Lake area in 1867. The following year he built a road from his ranch to Virginia City. Five years later he was instrumental in constructing the first road from Virginia City into Yellowstone through the West Entrance. The road was known as the Virginia City and National Park Free Wagon Road. In the 1880's travel to the park was also accomplished by the UP's line that extended from Brigham City, UT. to Butte MT. The train stopped at Beaver, near the Idaho and Montana border, and there stagecoaches made the trip through the West Entrance. The route traveled through Centennial Valley, past Henry's Lake, with an overnight stop at Dwelle's Inn. The passengers arrived at the Fountain Hotel the following day in time for lunch The jump-off point was later moved to Monida, where the Monida-Yellowstone Stage Line began service in 1898 and traveled a more direct route to the west entrance of Yellowstone. In 1905, E.H. Harriman, President of Union Pacific RR, made plans to extend their rail line to the west entrance of Yellowstone. The line was completed in Nov. of 1907 and the following June the line was open for regularly scheduled train traffic. Right Top: Dwelle's lodge, later known as the Grayling Inn. In 1884 he established Dwelle’s Stage Stop to service the Bassett Bros. stages that were running to the park from Beaver, Idaho. In 1898, Dwelle’s Inn became an overnight stop for the Monida & Yellowstone Stage Co. that transported tourists to the park from Monida until 1908. [Montana Historical Society] Right Bottom: Gilman Sawtelles cabin in 1872, when he hosted F.V Hayden Expedition Hayden standing to right and Sawtelle sitting on the right. Photo by Wm. H. Jackson. Bottom Left: The Sawtelle Ranch in 1872. Photo by Wm. H. Jackson. The Union Pacific RR Moves in . . . The UPRR incorporated the Yellowstone Park Railroad Company on September 12, 1905 to build a line from St. Anthony, Idaho to the west entrance of Yellowstone. Construction began October 3, 1905 and was completed November 12, 1907. The line was almost immediately closed by winter snows, but was ready to provide service the following June. The town at the Boundary was founded in 1908 with the name of Riverside, even though the town site was two miles from the Madison River. The UP began providing passenger rail service to the town on June 11, 1908. A road was cut through the forest in 1907, to the Madison River two miles distant, where the Wylie Permanent Camping Company and the Monida and Yellowstone Stage Company built barns and other facilities required by their stages engaged in transporting the tourists into the Park from the Union Pacific RR depot. The townsite was located on Forest Service lands and permission was needed for any homesteaders. The original settler was Joe Claus, who built a cabin in what is now the townsite during the winter of 1906-1907, probably in the hope of profiting from construction of the railway. The first residents were issued permits for stores and homes late in the fall of 1907, but did not actually own the land. They were Charles A. Arnet, Sam P. Eagle, and L.A. Murray. A Forest Service survey in June 1908 created a town site consisting of 6 blocks and the town was officially named Riverside on Oct. 23, 1908. Prior to that time the area was referred to as ‘the Boundary’, or ‘at the Boundary'. ​ Yellowstone Hotel ​ Hotel Yellowstone, usually referred to as the Yellowstone Hotel, or Yellowstone Inn in later days, was a 2-story hotel was built around 1907-08 by L.A. Murray. Adjacent buildings were a small pool hall and a corner barber shop run by Osh Hedgecoach in the early years. I believe it came into possession of the Bryant Way, a camping outfit that toured Yellowstone. Around 1913, Shaw & Powell Camping Co. bought the hotel for use by their guests. After reorganization of the camping companies in Yellowstone in 1917, it came into possession of the Yellowstone Park Camping Co. In 1926, the property was sold to Sam Hurless, who constructed a cabin camp on the lot. T op Left: Hotel Yellowstone, photo taken perhaps soon after construction. Top Right: Yellowstone Hotel with the pool room at right and barber shop on far right. Bottom Right: The Inn at the Gate: The Yellowstone Hotel, ca1914 when used by the Shaw & Powell Camping Co. [Photo from University of Wyoming] Eagles Store, ca1910 ​ Samuel Peter Eagle, then in partnership with Alex Stuart, opened a general store in 1908 which operated for two years, after which the Stuart family went into business for themselves. On November 17, 1909 Sam Eagle was appointed Postmaster, taking over from Chas. Arnet. The store was enlarged in 1913. [Photo from Images of America - West Yellowstone , by Paul Shea] The Town's Beginnings . . . The name Riverside had already been applied to an area 4-5 miles east of the park entrance in the 1880’s, where a mail and stagecoach station and a soldier station were located. To avoid confusion, the name was changed to Yellowstone on Jan 31, 1910. Confusion continued for years with the town named the same as the park. The name was changed for the last time in 1920 to West Yellowstone. In 1913 and 1919 lands were removed from the Forest Service jurisdiction for use as the town site and residents were then able to actually own their land. In 1920 additional areas were surveyed and platted, enlarging the town. The original blocks were renumbered and 22 additional blocks created. Charles Arnet, one of the original founders, built the Yellowstone Store, around 1907-08. It was the first store in town and located in the middle of Park Street. It also housed the first post office. He sold out to Alex Stuart in 1910. L.A. “Dick” Murray built the Yellowstone Hotel in 1909, located across the street and west of the Eagle Store. It later became the Yellowstone Inn, and then the hotel for the Shaw & Powell Camping Co. Around the same time, Sam Eagle also operated a general store with Alex Stuart. When Stuart bought the Yellowstone Store, Eagle and his wife continued their operation. In the late 1920's they built a new 'Eagle Store'. The Eagle family continues to operate the store to this day. Early Street Views of "Yellowstone" T op Left: Real-Photo postcard with Hotel Yellowstone behind the horses, probably pulling a Monida & Yellowstone Stage Co., undated. ​ Top Right: Park St. in 1912. Alex Stuart's General Merchandise Store. ​ Bottom Right: Street view ca1917 showing buses of the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. Behind are the madison Hotel (left) and Madison Cafe to its right. The building on the right advertises Park Tour and Permanent Camps, no doubt an old Shaw & Powell Camping Co. building. [Yellowstone Historic Center, #2016.4] Union Pacific Depot The depot was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood and opened in 1909 by the UPRR, replacing temporary facilities. The Union Pacific RR described it as, “built of stone, very substantial, spacious, and artistic. It is electric heated by steam, and provides large waiting rooms, an individual dressing room for ladies, two large fireplaces, drinking fountains, etc. In it are the usual ticket and Pullman offices and the office of the Monida and Yellowstone Stage Co. Upon the railroad's arrival to West, the Monida-Yellowstone Stage Line moved their operations from Monida to an area a few miles inside the park's boundary called Riverside. They picked up passengers from the depot and took them on the tour around the park. In 1972, major changes were made throughout the depot to convert its use to a privately-operated museum. The building currently houses the Yellowstone Historic Center Museum ​ Union Pacific Dining Lodge The Dining Lodge was built in 1925 by the UPRR with Gilbert Stanley Underwood as architect. The dining hall incorporated a large central eating space (the Mammoth Room) with a massive, arrowhead-shaped fireplace, a kitchen large enough to prepare over 1,000 meals per day; a large service wing containing the employee dining hall, a bakery, butcher shop, scullery, linen room, coal room, manager’s office, and walk-in refrigerators and freezers. Visitors would arrive in the morning and have breakfast prior to their journey into the park. Diners were served in the Mammoth Room, a dining room with 45' ceilings, large windows, and a fireplace large enough for a man to stand in. Several hundred people could be seated at once. Visitors returning from the park would have supper before boarding the train for their trip home. T op Left: The Beanery, built in 1911 to replace the original crude facility. [Photo from Images of America - West Yellowstone , by Paul Shea] ​ Top Right: Mammoth Room in the new UP Dining Lodge, constructed in 1925, replacing the Beanery. [Real-Photo postcard, author collection] ​ Middle Right: The Depot with the Yellowstone Special in front. [Postcard Bloom Bros. #4270, Author collection] ​ Bottom Right: Early view of the Union Pacific Depot. [Real-Photo postcard] ​ Bottom Left: Trackside view of the Union Pacific Dining Lodge (left), Baggage Bldg., and the Depot, late 1920s, Tammen Postcard #4520 Early Businesses Stuart's Garage Alex Stuart, one of towns founding pioneers, started out in business with Sam Eagle. Stuart bought Arnet's Yellowstone Store in 1910 and started a general merchandise store. They incorporated as the Stewart Mercantile Co. in 1915. According to the Butte Miner, Oct. 24, 1915, “The Stuart Mercantile company, organized to conduct a general retail merchandise business at Yellowstone, in extreme southern Gallatin county on the Park boundary, has been Incorporated by papers filed with the county clerk and recorder last Thursday. The capital stock is $25,000. The directors are Matthew A. Stewart and Emma Stewart of St. Paul. Minn., and Alex Stuart and Laura Stuart of Yellowstone. [See stereoview of the store on the "Street Views of Yellowstone above) Right: Stereoview of Stuart's General Merchandise Store, 1912. With the advent of the 'horseless carriage' in Yellowstone, he entered into an agreement with the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. to service their new White Motor Co. buses beginning in 1917. He built Stuart's Garage, selling gas, tires, oil, and other automotive supplies. He obtained the service contract in 1917 for the White Motor Co. touring buses of the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. YPTCo took over operations from the Yellowstone-Western stagecoach company when motor cars began ruling the roads in Yellowstone in 1917. Alex’s son Walt, reportedly the first baby born in West Yellowstone (1909), began working at the station in 1919, purchased it in 1936 and eventually sold it in 1977. Alex Stuart died in 1961. Top Right: Colorized postcard of Alex Stuart's Service, undated. Top Left: Walt Stuarts Texaco after rebuilding/remodeling, ca1940s. Real-Photo postcard. Madison Hotel Built by Jess Pieman in 1912, the Madison Hotel is the only remaining early hotel in West Yellowstone. This rustic log hotel was soon after purchased by Charles M. "Roxy" and Dolly (Bishop) Bartlett. It was conveniently located across from the UPRR depot. There were originally 6 rooms upstairs with a downstairs lobby. Fourteen more rooms and a card room were added in 1921 and running water a few years later. Eventually the Hadleys bought the operation in 1959, adding a large gift shop. The business is still open during the summer season. Top Right: Ad for the Hotel Madison in 1915. [Road Logs Salt Lake City to Yellowstone Park, 1915] Bottom Right: Lobby of the Madison Hotel, undated. [Real-Photo postcard, author collection] Bottom Left: Madison Hotel, located across from the UP Depot, ca1920. [Real-Photo postcard, author collection] Kennedy Bldg - Menzel’s Curio The Kennedy Building was built in 1911 on a lot owned by Madison Basin Forest Ranger Louis J. Kennedy. It originally served as a dance hall in the town that would become West Yellowstone. Equipped with a piano, the building hosted Saturday night dances for the entertainment of tourists, railroad employees, and locals. It then housed a summer restaurant from 1913 to 1916, and in 1919, local students used its lofty space as a basketball court. Sam Eagle, one of the town’s founders, acquired the building in 1933 and opened a curio shop managed by his daughter, Rose. In 1941, Rose married Herm Menzel who promptly went off to war. Upon Herm’s return in 1946, the store became Menzel’s Curio Shop. The building still stands on Yellowstone Avenue today. Top Left : Kennedy Building, that later housed Menzel's Curio Shop in 1933. Rose Eagle managed the business until 1946, when she married Herm Menzel. [Real-Photo postcard, probaby ca1933.] ​ Top Right : Later view of Eagle's Curio Store, ca1940s ​ Bottom Right : 1981 view of Menzel's Curio Store. It is still in business to this day. It is one of the few original businesses in town remaining from the 1910s era. [NPS Photo #284] Eagle Store Samuel Peter Eagle, then in partnership with Alex Stuart, opened a general store in 1908 which they operated for two years, after which the Stuart family went into business for themselves. On November 17, 1909 Sam Eagle was appointed Postmaster, taking over from Chas. Arnet. Eagle took over the actual operation of the post office in January of 1910, which was the beginning of his 25 years of tenure. The West Yellowstone Post Office was housed in the store from 1910 until 1935. Also, a soda fountain was added to Eagle’s Store in 1910. The store was rebuilt/enlarged in 1913. The present 3-story building was built in the years between 1927 and 1930. Sam purchased Joe Claus’ cabins in the early 1920s and used them as employee housing. Small shops to the side of the store were replaced by a store addition in 1966. The Eagle Family has continued to operate at 3 Canyon Street in its original location to this day. Top Left: 1913 view of the early Eagle Store. [Photo from Images of America - West Yellowstone , by Paul Shea] Top Right: View of the Eagle Store after it was rebuilt in 1927-30. [Schlechten Photo] Tepee Inn The Tepee Inn (also Tee Pee Inn) was built by Paul & Dorothy Strieder in 1919. It was a large two-story log structure that housed a bar, dance floor, cafe, and rooms. Paul died in the early 1920s and later Dorothy married Val Buchanan, and continued to operate the hotel. J.H. Venable sold the Tepee to A.K. Clawson in 1952. A fire caused by a burning grease trap burned the Tepee in 1965, but the exterior rock wall and interior back-bar survived the fire. The building was rebuilt as a single story structure, and Clawson added the Tepee Motel to the building. ​ Right: Lobby of the TePee Inn, 1934. [Schlechten Photo] Bottom Left: The Tepee Inn, ca1920. Real-Photo postcard. Bottom Right: The Tepee Inn, alte 1920s after the Inn was greatly enlarged. Real-Photo postcard. Doc’s Bar - Doc’s Club Horace G. “Doc” Bartlett was the brother of Roxy Bartlett, who opened the Madison Hotel. Doc opened a grocery store called the Log Store around 1920. A few years later he opened Doc’s Bar, later called Doc’s Club. Gambling was not unknown in the bar and occasionally newspapers, somewhat unfavorably, reported on the matter. In the late 1930s, Doc was involved in the startup of the Chalet Theater. In later days the club featured the Starlite Lounge, for drinks, dinner and dancing. It was listed for sale in newspapers in 1956 and 1968. Above: Newspaper ad for Doc's Club, from the Idaho State Journal in 1959 ​ Left: View of Yellowstone St., late-1930s. Doc's is in between the two cafes on the left. [Photo from, Images of America - West Yellowstone , by Paul Shea ​ Smith & Chandlers ​ Transcription of sign from the West Yellowstone Historic Walking Tour "In 1927, two pioneering entrepreneurs from Las Vegas, Nevada, Carl Smith & Ken Chandler, built a large general mercantile across the street from the Union Pacific Depot. Train passengers walked across the dirt street for their group photos. Tour bus riders bought western hats and dusters. Auto travelers picked up postcards and curios. “Smith & Chandler Indian Traders” brought Navajo, Zuni and Hopi jewelry makers and rug, blanket and basket weavers to the store for decades. Alice Chandler was quite a memorable sight, too. She dyed her hair a bright red and was dressed in the finest western dresses and boots. She graced the store with her style and presence for 50 years. By 1972, the Smiths and Chandlers had retired and sold the store to the Hamilton/ Povah family. In March of 1973, suspected static electricity and leaking propane gas sparked a tremendous fire. Without the help from modern fire hydrants to extinguish the flames, the store and adjoining coffee shop burned to the ground. The family quickly built this new store and kept the same name" Bottom Right: Postcard view of the Smith & Chandler store in West Yellowstone, ca1940s. They also produced many postcards, many of which were Real-Photo postcards of the "Yellow Buses" filled with tourists heading into Yellowstone. Top Right: Early view of Smith & Chandler [Schlechten photo, Museum of the Rockies, #x80-6-3098] The Town Grows Up . . . This area collects tremendous amounts of snow in the winter and spring and the business season here is typically very short. The railroad shut down service during the winters. Many residents left the area for the winter, and the few that stayed were generally snowed-in for the duration. It was not until 1936 that the road to Bozeman was kept open through the winter. The area’s first airport opened in 1935 on forest lands south of town, cleared by Yellowstone pioneer George Whittaker. Private-owned snowplanes entered the park through the West Entrance in 1948-49. Private snowmobiles were 1st allowed into Yellowstone in the 1963-64 seasons and the area has since developed into a very popular winter resort area for snowmobiling, snowcoach tours into Yellowstone and cross-country skiing. Snowmobile rental businesses have begun using snowmobiles with 4-stroke engines that pollute less and are quieter. Although the Park banned individual snowmobile travel in Yellowstone, there are vast areas that be explored outside of the Park. ​ Regularly scheduled railroad passenger service ended in 1960, but a new airport was built in 1963-64, allowing for larger aircraft to bring visitors into the area. The town was incorporated in in 1966 and three years later the UPRR donated the Depot, Dining Lodge, and other service buildings to the town. Postcard Views of Motels of 1930s -1950s T op Left: The Hayward cabins and gas station, built by former Yellowstone storekeeper George Whittaker in the 1930s-40s. ​ Top Right: The Stagecoach Inn, built in 1948. A Sanborn Real-Photo postcard. ​ Middle Left: The Sleepy Hollow Motel. ​ Bottom Left: Circle R Motel, ca1940s. ​ Bottom Right: THerk's Modern Cabins, ca1940s. Street Views T op Left: View from near Park entrance looking east. From the right: Collette's Coffee Shop, Old Faithful Tavern, barber shop, drug store, cafe, Smith & Chandler's, and Madison Hotel & Gift Shop to the left. Ca1940s. YNP #185327-497. ​ Bottom Left: Looking north, Purdy's Frontier Club and Knotty Pine Coffee Shop ​ Click to enlarge photos Top Right: Yellowstone St., looking west from the corner with Stuart's Texaco gas station on right. A cafe is to the right of the Texaco, then the Frontier Club. A Sanborn postcard. ​ Bottom Right: Looking north from near Yellowstone St. A Pegasus/Mobil Oil gas station on right, Peterson's on left, with the Log Store and a Tavern next to it. A Linen-Style postcard, ca1940s. Click to enlarge photos Off to Wonderland . . . Be sure to visit the highly-rated Yellowstone Historic Center Museum, now the Museum of the Yellowstone, on your next visit to West Yellowstone

Yellowstone Trade Cards ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. While this page is under construction, please visit my Trade Cards Page that has been saved at Archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20091027051039/http://geocities.com/geysrbob/Trade_cards1.html Visit my Home Page to see which of my pages are completed and available. It's a long trip . . . Thanks for your patience. ​

Yellowstone's Supporting Railroads ​ Chicago & NorthWestern RR Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. The Chicago & North Western Railroad Yellowstone's Southern Rail Access - Lander, WY “Where Rails End and Trails Begin.” The Chicago & North Western Railroad The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad (C&NW) has complicated origins in the Midwest, but essentially formed from the ruins of the bankrupt Chicago, St. Paul, & Fond du Lac railroad. The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad (C&NW) began its dominating railroad business when it was chartered by the states of Wisconsin and Illinois in 1859. After acquiring multiple other railroads, completing connections mostly north and west from Chicago, C&NW gained controlling interest of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway, also known as the Omaha Road. Real-Photo postcard of the Lander Depot, ca1910 The railroad reaches Lander, Wyoming The Chicago & Northwestern extended their rail lines to Lander, Wyoming in 1906, which would be the farthest west the railroad would venture, despite earlier plans. Construction on the extension of the C&NW Railroad from Casper to Lander, commenced Monday, May 2, 1905. and was completed October 17, 1906. Regular passenger train service was soon established, covering a distance of 148.1 miles. The C&NW RR served many small communities between Chicago and Lander with branch lines off of the Union Pacific main line to Ogden, Utah. After suffering through or approaching a couple of bankruptcies, the Union Pacific RR ultimately acquired control of C&NW on April 24, 1995 in a $1.2 billion stock takeover. From the Wind River Mountaineer, Friday, Oct. 12, 1906 ​ The railroad has at last reached Lander. After waiting for thirty-five years some of our citizens have at last seen the steel rails laid into our beautiful city and valley, and not only have their hopes been realized but something has come to pass that many believed would not be. The steel was laid to the depot site, or within one half block of Main street on Wednesday evening . . . Wednesday, October 17th, has been fixed by the mayor and committee; on arrangements as the day on which to celebrate the completion of the Wyoming & Northwestern railroad into Lander, and ail arrangements are now being made to entertain the large crowd who are expected here at that time. ft is now expected that a special train will arrive here from Denver at noon on that day with the excursionists, and will leave at 6 o’clock on the following morning . . . A grand free ball will be held at the Opera House in the evening, during which time refreshments will be served, and the following evening the Eagles will give a free dance and refreshments. “Lander is the western terminus of the Chicago & North Western Ry.—“Where Rails End and Trails Begin.” It is midway on the new Rocky Mountain Highway, running by the most direct route from Denver, via Ft. Collins, Laramie, Rawlins, and Lander, across the historic Shoshone Indian Reservation, through the famous big game country of Upper Wind River, past Brooks Lake, over Togwotee Pass in the Absarokas, around Jackson Lake at the foot of the Tetons, and into Yellowstone Park through the too-little known Southern Entrance. Whichever way you choose to enter or leave the Park, one way you must explore this new and greatest route. Through no other route can you prepare yourself so fully, so truly get into the spirit of the West, as via Lander.” [1923 Lander Transportation Co. brochure] Rocky Mountain Highway Highway to Be Officially Opened Sunday---Many Will Take Part "An Auto Caravan left early yesterday morning [17th] en route for Yellowstone Park over the Rocky Mountain Highway. The summit of Two-gwo-tee Pass will be the stopping place on Sunday and appropriate opening ceremonies will be held. Three kinds of bear meat, all varieties of mountain trout, and many other delicious morsels will be served free at the banquet. All tourists are invited to join the caravan." [Jackson Hole Courier, 18Aug1921] "Two-Gwo-Tee Pass was dedicated as the southern entrance to Yellowstone National park at 1 o’clock Sunday afternoon. A thousand people from Wyoming. Colorado, Idaho, Montana and the mountain west, from far away Florida, from California and from states to the east, the west, the north and the south witnessed the ceremony on the green carpeted slope of the continental divide 115 miles northwest of Lander, where in the spring the melting snows feed streams that flow to the two oceans, where the Teton and Washakie national forests adjoin, and the Fremont and Lincoln county lines meet. The hundreds who gathered there were more than witnesses they were active participants in the dedication, for in a seemingly endless chain of automobiles they had journeyed especially for this occasion distances ranging from a score to hundreds of miles." [23Aug1921, Casper Star-Tribune] Top Left: Shoshone chief invited to the 1921 Two-Gow-Tee Pass highway opening celebration. The author believes this to be Dick Washakie, son of the great Chief Washakie (ca1804/1810 – 1900 [Photo courtesy YNP Archives #57783] ​ Bottom Left: Lander-yellowstone Transportation Co. decal featuring Chief Dick Washakie. [Author Collection] ​ Top Right: Jack Haynes photo showing the 1921 highway celebration [Photo from 1923 C&NW RR brochure, author collection] The new Rocky Mountain Highway over Two-Gow-Tee Pass to Yellowstone ​ In 1921 rail passengers at Lander could visit Yellowstone by automobile on the newly built Rocky Mountain Highway. The travelers commenced at Lander, journeyed past Fort Washakie, to Dubois, and stopped for lunch. Afterwards, they proceeded over the mountains through Togwotee Pass to Brooks Lake Lodge for the night, where they could relax, fish or boat. The next morning they proceeded to Moran Junction for lunch at Amoretti Inn. From Moran tourists could travel south to Jackson Hole or north through the south entrance of Yellowstone. The Lander-Yellowstone Park Transportation Company provided auto stage service from Lander to Moran, where visitors were transferred to Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. buses for the trip into Yellowstone, arriving at Lake Hotel for dinner. Top Left: Two-Gwo-Tee Inn on the Pass, also known as Brooks Lake Lodge. It was the overnight stop on the trip from Lander to Yellowstone. [Wyoming State Archives , RAN430] ​ Top Right: Amoretti Inn at Moran, in sight of Jackson Lake. A lunch stop enroute to the tetons or to Yellowstone. [Wyoming State Archives, Stimson Collection #4541] ​ Bottom: Amoretti Inn and other businesses at Moran, 1920s. The are later became the Jackson Lake Lodge. [ Rockefeller Archives] Amoretti Inn - Jackson Lake Lodge The hotels along the route from Lander to Yellowstone were built and maintained by the Amoretti Hotel and Camp Company, incorporated in April 1922, "for the object of operating hotels, providing and conducting stores, commissaries, camps and other facilities and equipment, for the conveyance, entertainment and convenience of the tourists." The hotel company was the idea of Eugene Amoretti, long-time area resident and prominent Lander businessman. The Amoretti Inn was built in 1922 and included a large, central building that primarily held a dining room and groups of cabins for travelers stopping on their way to Yellowstone National Park. Located 25 miles from the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park, The Amoretti Inn was situated on a bench overlooking Jackson Lake, and from its spacious porch and lobby, one could view the lake and the Teton Mountains. The area was a favorite haunt of John D. Rockefeller beginning as early as 1924. By that time, the Inn began being called the Jackson Lake Lodge. The Jackson Hole Courier noted on July 26, 1930 that, “A deal was consummated last week whereby the Jackson Lake Lodge [former Amoretti Inn] at Moran passes from the hands of local and Casper men into the hands of the Teton Investment Company, a Salt Lake concern, which has also bought Sheffields [Teton Lodge] and other resorts In that section. The deal was for virtually $75,000. The new owners expect to spend a lot of money on the lodge and make it an attraction for the new Teton Park . . . they virtually have a monopoly of all hotels and recreation places there.” In later days the Lodge was rebuilt beginning in 1953 to become the new Jackson Lake Lodge. According to the Jackson Hole Courier, May 14, 1953, “Ground will be broken this month on the Jackson Lake Lodge, about 25 miles south of the Yellowstone National Park boundary and 35 miles north of Jackson. The Jackson Lake lodge will have a two-story stone faced central lodge with a capacity of 200 guests that will be surrounded by cabins accommodating 800 more vacationers. The main lodge will he constructed on a bluff overlooking Jackson lake with picture windows offering a commanding view of the 13,000-foot Tetons to the west.” Brooks Lake Hotel the massive hotel complex was built in 1922 as part of a program to provide accommodations for tourists arriving via the Lander-Yellowstone Transportation Company and was operated by the Amoretti Hotel and Camp Company. Eugene Amoretti was a businessman in Lander who was alleged to be the first European born in South Pass City in 1871. The Brooks Lake hotel was one of two operated by Amoretti on the road to Yellowstone; the other was at Moran. The hotel was built quickly, started in April 1922 and completed by July 1. The hotel charged $6 per person daily or $35 weekly, and it flourished for a couple of years, but by 1926 it was bypassed by buses. That year it was reorganized by investor Jim Gratiot as the Diamond G Ranch, which offered a dude ranch experience. [Wikipedia] ​ The success of Brooks Lake Hotel was short-lived, however. Apparently the bus trip from Lander to the Lake Hotel took too much time, and the overnight stop at the Inn was discontinued. In an effort to keep the complex solvent, Jim Gratiot, one of the original five corporate directors of the Amoretti Hotel and Camp Company, took over the complex and renamed it the Diamond G Ranch, operating it as a dude ranch. Strictly speaking, the Diamond G was not a true dude ranch because it had never been a working ranch, but it catered to the same clientele as the working dude ranches: well-to-do Easterners [U.S. Depart. of the Interior, NPS, National Register of Historic Places—Nomination Form Brooks Lake Lodge, 1982] Amusing Anecdote about the 1st train to roll into the Lander Depot THE STORY OF LANDER By Harold Rogers Here is an amusing story told of the arrival of the first passenger train in Lander in 1906. The railroad officials had advertised this momentous event throughout the county as the grand opening of the C & N W Railroad and its advent into the Lander Valley and Fremont County. Citizens of South Pass, Pinedale, Jackson "Hole, Dubois and the Shoshone Reservation gathered at the new Lander depot. The engineer of this first passenger train was an Irishman who loved to pull his jokes or shenanigans on the unsuspecting crowds. He had a good head of steam up. When a large crowd of spectators had gathered around to gaze at the iron horse he let off a big head of steam to watch the crowd scatter and yell. He poked his head out the cabin window when it was time to pull up the train, swung his arm in a sweeping circle and yelled, “Look out, you hill billies. I’m going to turn her around.” Most of the spectators ran for the side streets, thinking the train was going to turn around right there. The engineer and his train crew had a good laugh at the expense of the pioneers. [Annals of Wyoming , April 1968, Vol. 40, No. 1]

Gateways to Wonderland ​ Cooke City Mont. - Northeast Entrance Brief History of the Early Days ​ ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. "Cooke City, on the Red Lodge Highway to Yellowstone National Park. Insert shows Pilot and Index Peaks" [E.C. Kropp Co. postcard, #20291N] The Founding of Cooke City . . . . ​ Cooke City is located at the northeast entrance of the park in the rugged environs of the Beartooth Mountains. Due to its remote location and being surrounded by high mountain peaks and passes, the only year-round road access is from Gardiner, Montana and through the northern tier of Yellowstone Park and the beautiful Lamar Valley. Road access from Red Lodge over Beartooth Pass and Cody over Dead Indian Pass are seasonal, opening late in the spring and closing very early in the winter Mines in the West were generally located in remote and unpopulated locations. It was mining that fueled the engines of settlement and "civilization" in the West. But even by those standards, Cooke City was remote - it was over 130 miles from Cooke to the closest settlement - Bozeman, Montana. It was not until 1883 that the Northern Pacific Railroad came through Montana and drove a spur line south to the boundary of Yellowstone Park, where the small burgs of Gardiner and Cinnabar sprang up. Even then, it was still 60 miles of rough trails from Gardiner to Cooke City. The area never experienced the huge population booms that other mining town experienced. The area was relatively unknown to white men until the late 1860's when gold miners prowled through the area prospecting for the elusive bane of Midas. Bart Henderson , Adam Miller, Ed Hibbard, and James Gourley were the first known miners to discover gold in the area in 1869-70. In 1871 the first mining claims were filed on Miller and Henderson mountains. The same year, prospector and explorer John H. “Jack” Baronett (or Baronette) built the first bridge over the Yellowstone River near the junction of the Yellowstone and Lamar River (then known as the East Fork of the Yellowstone. He charged a toll for men and animals and saved many a man from a wet and potentially dangerous river crossing. Baronett's Bridge in 1871, photo by Wm. Henry Jackson One factor that negatively influenced growth and expanded mining opportunities was the fact that the area was a part of the Crow Indian Reservation. The Crow spent little time in the area and the miners were somewhat free to conduct their mining and prospecting operations. But, they could not file any legal claims to their land or prospects. This of course, led to a certain amount of claim-jumping and the miners had to be on their watch to make sure they, or a worthy representative was physically in the area to protect their claims. Map of SW Montana showing the Crow Reservation Boundaries. The dotted lines are from the 1868 treaty, The cross-hatch lines were ceded to the whites in 1882. In 1880 Jay Cooke Jr. came to the area with the idea of investing in the rich potential of some of the mines. He and his cohorts examined the prospects carefully and believed the mines would be a grand investment. However, due to the legal ambiguity of the mining and land claims, he eventually ended up backing out of the deal. However, in the meantime, the local miners were ecstatic with the prospect of having someone with deep pockets buying their claims and filling their pockets with cold cash. In anticipation of what they thought would be their financial salvation, they decided to name their town Cooke City, in honor of who they thought would be their benefactor. Even though Jay Cooke bailed out, they kept the name, hoping perhaps when the lands came into the public trust he would return. Finally in 1882 a treaty was made with the Crow and the land on which they squatted became public land, upon which they could finally file legal claims. This they did, along with making formal surveys and creating a legal townsite with lots that could be bought and sold in a normal fashion. Jay Cooke Jr., undated. 1845-1912 [Photo courtesy Find-a-Grave] “Meanwhile, in June 1880, the miners held a meeting and Trustees were elected to be in charge of having their new town surveyed and platted. The town site was to be a 1/4 mile wide, lying along Soda Butte Creek in the narrow defile between Miller and Henderson mountains on the north and Republic Mountain on the south. Corner lots initially sold for $20 with inside lots going for $10. A letter from a resident of Cooke City to the Bozeman Avant-Courier reported that there were “about 35 men and one woman in the new town of Cooke City. Every man has staked one or two lots in town . . . Two substantial log houses have been built on Main Street and work is progressing on more houses.” Miners that intended to purchase property included George Huston , Jack Baronett , P.W. Norris , Adam Miller , X. Beidler, J.W. Ponsford, James Gourley , and Bart Henderson . When the 1882 treaty was signed, the new town lots and mining claims became legal, after properly filing claims. The stage was set - businesses were established and homes built to form a permanent Montana town.” [From "Pack Trains and Pay Dirt in Yellowstone", p148-150, by Robert V. Goss, 2007] Pack Trains and Pay Dirt in Yellowstone , book written by the author. George Huston was an important founding father of Cooke City. He maintained mining operations in the nearby mountains until his death in 1886. Copies of this booklet are still available from the author. Email for details. Early Street Views of Cooke City Top Left: Street view of Cooke in 1883 looking East. The Cosmopolitan Hotel at left w/half-round false front. [YNP #1714] Top Right : View in 1887 looking West. [YNP #8217] Bottom Left : Aerial view of Cooke City ca1887. Difficult to identify buildings, but Cooke City Store may be center left. [YNP #8221] Bottom Right : Street view ca1930s. On right: Cole Drug, Mary's Cafe, and Shell gas station. Cooke City store at left. [Sanborn postcard #Y1319] Top Left: "Main Street" Gas station on right, with White House Hotel center right. [Richardson Curios postcard] ​ Top Right : Main Street view in 1939. [YNP #24176] ​ Bottom Left : Main Street view in 1939. [YNP #24176c] Early Cooke City Businesses Cooke City Store The ground on which the Cooke City Store was built was originally part of the "Cache of Ore Millsite," owned by George A. Huston , the earliest known prospector in the region. By the spring of 1886, John Savage and John Elder had purchased the site and were hauling milled lumber from the lower elevations around Cooke City to begin construction of their store. By the late 1880's Savage and Elder's was providing supplies for the community and area miners, but also had competition from Bause and French's mercantile store. By the summer of 1889, Savage and Elder had sold their store to Wm. Nichols and Hiram Chittenden for $800. On Nov. 14, 1895, the court authorized the sale of the store to Sophia Wetzstein for $600. She and her husband owned other property in Cooke City and were involved in the wholesale liquor business in Livingston. George Allison, leased the Wetzstein's Cooke City Store in 1906 for $300 a year for use as a general store and began an extensive remodeling of the building. In the spring and summer of 1907, the store was enlarged to about twice its length and a basement built under that section, and sided with decorative pressed metal. Allison operated the store for two years, but encountering financial problems sold the store In July 1908, to Nels and Elizabeth Soderholm for $3,000 with $500 as a down payment, and $500 per year for five years at 6% interest. Nels was Postmaster in Cooke for many years and with his death in 1939, his wife Elizabeth was appointed to take his place. She passed away Nov. 17, 1959. ​ Ralph and Sue Glidden purchased the store in 1979 and ran it until 2003 when they sold it to employees Troy and Beth Wilson. The Cooke City Store remains in operation and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Early views of Cooke City Store. Above : Late 1800s. Below : 1920-30s Real Photo postcard Cosmopolitan Hotel The Cosmopolitan Hotel and saloon in Cooke City was built in 1883 and opened the following year by John “Jack” P. Allen. It has been said that during the boom times, up to 150 people a night stayed at the hotel. Sometimes called the Allen Hotel, he operated the hotel until around 1937-1938. Mrs. Allen fell and broke her hip in 1937, requiring an extended hospital visit and nursing home in Livingston, cared for by Jack. It forced him to lock up the hotel. He passed away Dec. 10, 1944 at age 92, and was interred in Mountain View Cemetery in Livingston, Mont. Right Top : Advertisement for the Cosmopolitan Hotel, from the Livingston Enterprise , 3Oct1885 Right Bottom: Cosmopolitan Hotel in 1923. The following is an excerpt from an interview with him from the Big Timber Pioneer, 17Jun1937. Thanks to the Cooke City Museum for posting this interview: “I am the last of the real pioneers of Cooke City,” says J.P. Allen, now in his 85th year. “I went to Cooke in 1882, soon after the country had been taken out of the Crow Indian reservation, and I have outlasted all others . . . When the Cooke stampede started in 1882 after the Indian reservation was moved, I went there and took up some claims. There was no road from Mammoth Hot Springs; only horseback trails up the Yellowstone, the Lamar and Soda Butte creek. We did have Baronette’s bridge across the Yellowstone, saving a wet crossing. At Cooke we were completely isolated, except for horseback transportation for mail and supplies. I worked out my claims that summer, and in the fall I went to Livingston and ran a restaurant. Then in 1883 I went back and built my hotel in Cooke, starting its operation in 1884. I have run the hotel ever since, except that I had it leased two years ago while Mrs. Allen and I spent a year on the Pacific coast . . . I was postmaster at Cooke during two different periods. Sometimes the mail came through from Gardiner on time, but often it was badly delayed by heavy snows. Once, for a time, the mail was carried from Columbus up the Stillwater and over the mountains to Cooke. But with plenty of groceries and lots of wood we were comfortable and happy—the little group of us who made our home in Cooke the year round." Above Left : Photos of the Cosmopolitan Hotel with inserts of Mr. & Mrs. J.P. Allen. [Livingston Enterprise , 1Jan1900] Above Right : "Allen Hotel, Cooke City, Montana." Undated real-photo postcard, perhaps ca1940s - the building to the left has been torn down. Curl House John F. Curl was born in 1853 in Pennsylvania and moved to Cooke City in 1883 to prospect for gold. He often partnered with pioneers Adam “Horn” Miller and George Huston in his various mine holdings. John married Zona Frazea, also of Cooke City, in June 1890. Together they built the Curl House that served as a combination hotel, restaurant and boardinghouse. Curl and his wife Zona sold their properties in Cooke City and moved to Gardiner around 1915 and ran the Cottage Hotel on East Main Street. The family moved after 2-3 years to Bozeman so that his children Mary Margaret (born 1898) and Thomas (born 1902) could attend college. The couple moved to Bozeman around 1918, perhaps due to health issues. John died October 1, 1924 at 71 years of age and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Livingston. His pallbearers included W.A. Hall and Herb French. Zona Curl moved to New Haven Conn. after John’s death and passed away in Feb. 1929. Her body was shipped back to Livingston for burial. Above Right : CurL House at right. [Courtesy Cooke City Chamber of Commerce ] Left : Curl House on left, with A.O. Saloon to its right. Real Photo postcard ca1930s Right : Isabel Haynes across from the Curl House ca 1920s. [FJ Haynes photo, Mont. St. Univ. #1507-002064] Shaw's Camp & Lodge In 1919, Walter Shaw , formerly a partner of the Shaw & Powell Camping Co. in Yellowstone, established the rustic Shaw’s Camp in Cooke City in 1919. He later setup Shaw’s Goose Lake Tent Camp by Goose Lake along the trail to the famed Grasshopper Glacier near Cooke City. The trail to the glacier was twelve miles one-way and required a 10 to 12-hour round-trip on horseback. The savvy traveler could spend the night at Shaw’s Camp and be able to spend more time in the area and not be so rushed. Shaw also maintained a guide service in Cooke City with saddle and packhorses and experienced guides. The trail to the glacier was opened up in 1921 and the camps were in use at least through 1928. In 1928 the camp was honored to welcome Ernest Hemingway and his wife for a brief respite during their travels through Montana and Wyoming. They stayed in a warm cabin and were surprised at the quality of the food in so remote of an outpost. According to the Circular of General Information Regarding Yellowstone (NPS): “At Cooke City are local hotels, but the organized Glacier Service is from the Shaw Camp which maintains a good string of saddle horses, operated by competent and experienced guides. The round trip can be made in one day by hardy travelers, and occupies ten or twelve hours, the ride over good mountain trails requires between three and four hours, the distance one way being around twelve miles. It is better to use more time and to spend the night at Shaw’s Goose Lake Tent Camp. This camp brings one within a mile of the saddle summit beyond which the great glacier lies. The climb to this saddle covers about 1000 feet of elevation and for a part over rough rocks, but for the greater distance over a very fair path.” Walter died in June 1925 while crossing the Gardiner River near Gardiner. His wife Lillian continued to operate the Shaw Camp & Cabins in Cooke city until at least 1935 and perhaps later. In 1946 the Shaw Camp was taken over by Sam & Euphie Fouse, who operated the business until 1959. Around 1965, Don & Ada Ellis purchased the lodge and advertised it as the Anvil Inn. In 1974 they removed to Livingston. It is now known as the Antler’s Lodge. ​ One traveler noted that, “I spent a day or so at the Walter C. Shaw tourist camp at Cooke City. It was opened to the public July 16 and it is certainly a credit to the country. The camp is right in Cooke City and Mr. Shaw has tents and cabins to accommodate 150 people each day. There is a large dining hall and tourists can secure pack horses and saddle horses at the camp, Mr. Shaw takes his guests to the Grasshopper glacier, making the trip up one day and returning the next.” [Billings Gazette, 21Jul1921] Above Right : Ad for Shaw's Camp, with Mrs. Walter Shaw, Prop. [Billings Gazette , 16Jun1935] Above Right : Ad for Shaw's Camp, with Sam & Euphi Fouse, Prop. [Billings Gazette , 9Jul1946] Below Left : Postcard view of the log Shaw's Camp lodge. [Sanborn Souvenir Co. #Y-1040] Below Right : Shaw's Camp late 1930s-40s, with Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. buses. It was probably a mid-day stop between Red Lodge Mt. and Mammoth Hot Springs. The route traversed the recently completed Beartooth Highway. Selected Historic P ersonages of Cooke City John F. Curl was among the earliest businessmen in the mining camp of Cooke City in 1883 where he operated the Curl House hotel. He was involved in mining and in partnership with George Huston and Adam "Horn" Miller. Curl and his wife Zona sold their properties in Cooke City and moved to Gardiner around 1915 and ran the Cottage Hotel on Main Street. John died October 1, 1924 at 71 years of age and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Livingston. ​ Adam “Horn” Miller discovered gold in the Cooke City area with Bart Henderson and others in 1869-70, naming their mine the Shoo Fly Mine. The next few years he helped Henderson build the road from Bottler’s Ranch to Mammoth. Miller was one of the scouts under Gen. Howard during the Nez Perce War of 1877. Later on he settled down in a cabin across the Yellowstone River from Yankee Jim. He died in 1913 and an obit described him as a "man of sterling character, a man without enemies of any kind, it is said, and a citizen who always had a kind word for everyone." ​ George A Huston In 1864 George Huston conducted a party of 30-40 miners up the Yellowstone River into the Lamar and Clark’s Fork drainages. Later in the year he led another party up the Madison and Firehole rivers. In 1866 he guided a small group of miners through the west entrance of Yellowstone up the Madison River to the geyser basins and prospected around Yellowstone Lake, Hayden Valley, Mirror Plateau, and Lamar Valley. Huston was also heavily involved in the Cooke City gold mines and was one of the original Cooke City founders and townsite residents. One of his properties was known as the ‘Cache of Ore Millsite,’ part of which the Cooke City General Store was built after his death in 1886. ​ Colonel George O. Eaton Was a native of the State of Maine. During the rebellion he enlisted in the army and served in the volunteer service, and after the war was appointed a cadet at West Point at the age of twenty. He later entered the cavalry service of the regular army, and in that capacity was over the whole western country, serving as member of Gen Sheridan's staff. Having become interested in mining and in stock raising, he resigned his commission in the army and gave his attention to those interests. In 1881 he came to Montana, having made large investments at Cooke the year previous. He owns personally some of the most valuable mining property at that place; he is president of the Republic Mining Co., which includes the “Great Republic,” the “Greeley,” the “Houston” and the "New World” mines; is also president of a large placer company located in Bear gulch, a tributary of the upper Yellowstone. He has disposed of his interest in stock-raising and devotes his attention to mineral interests. Col. Eaton was elected a delegate to the first constitutional convention of Montana and served as a member of that body. [Excerpts from "History of Montana 1739-1885", Michael L. Leeson, 1885] ​ Nels E. Soderholm Nels Nels and Elizabeth Soderholm purchased the Cooke City Store in July 1908 for $3,000 with $500 as a down payment, and $500 per year for five years. Nels became Postmaster in Cooke in January 1909, and held that position for many years. With his death in 1939, his wife Elizabeth was appointed to take his place. She passed away Nov. 17, 1959. His obit read, “Death came yesterday morning to Nels E. Soderholm, for the past 39 years a resident of Cooke City, in a Butte hospital He was born in Parke. Sweden, but had lived in the United States for the past 70 years. He resided in Kansas before moving to Cooke City, where he owned a mercantile store. Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Soderholm; a son-to-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. William Bross, and two grandchildren. The body will be forwarded today from the Richards funeral home to Livingston for services and burial.” [The Montana Standard , Butte, 13Jan1939, p5] Beartooth Highway Until the mid-1930’s, Cooke City was mostly at the end of the road, blockaded by the vast Beartooth Mountains. A crude road existed from Cooke City to Cody via Sunlight Basin and over Dead Indian Pass. The road was narrow, steep and winding and hazardous in inclement weather. That situation changed when plans were made in 1933 to construct a 70-mile highway from Red Lodge, over the almost 11,000’ high Beartooth Pass and into Cooke City. With a railroad spur running from Billings to Red Lodge, visitors could enter or leave the Park via Cooke City allowing the area to become another Gateway to Yellowstone. Journalist Charles Kuralt once called it, “the most scenic drive in America.” Cooke city ceased to be the terminus of a dead-end road anymore (except in winter), and people could comfortably enjoy a drive over one of the most breath-taking roads in the country. The highway officially opened to the public June 14, 1936. The Yellowstone Park Co . ran White Motor Co. buses from Red Lodge over the pass to Yellowstone for many years. The road usually closes for the winter sometime in October and reopens in May, depending on weather conditions. It may close periodically, as snowstorms in that high elevation can occur during any month of the year. Above Left : Real-Photo postcard of a portion of the Beartooth Highway that went Red Lodge, over Beartooth Pas at an elevation of almost 11,000 feet, down to Cooke City. Above Right : "On the Red Lodge Highroad to Yellowstone National Park in June. Epilog In the 1880s, the miners and Montana businessmen fought Congress and Yellowstone Park advocates over the creation of a railroad line that would extend from Cinnabar through park lands and into Cooke City. This would be the only way the miners could really profitably exploit the riches of the area. Hauling ores from Cooke to Cinnabar by wagon or mule train was slow and costly, eating up most of any potential profits. Mining and ore processing continued in the hopes that the railroad would save their town and mines. Park proponents eventually beat down the railroad plan in the early 1890's, squashing the miner's hopes for riches. Mining continued on and off for the next century, with various new generations of investors hoping to make a buck off the mineral wealth. Attempts in the 1980-90's to begin a new round of metals mining generated intense opposition due to environmental factors and the New World Mining district plans were thwarted in 1996 by President Clinton. ​ Realizing that mining was no longer their ticket to fame, local businessmen promoted other avenues of prosperity to enhance their economy. These included, snowmobiling, hunting, hiking, 4-wheeling and tourism, and have helped to keep the local economy alive. The introduction of wolves to the northern tier of Yellowstone, although opposed by many, has added another dimension to the economic community as thousands of wolf-watchers annually trek to the Lamar Valley to scan the valleys and hills for the elusive canine, bringing extra dollars into the Cooke community. ​ As the old saying goes, “Gold is where you find it.” These days finding gold is perhaps more easily mined from the pockets and billfolds of the Greater Yellowstone area visitors, than it is from the earth below them. I will not attempt to explore the vast and complicated history of the Cooke mining district, as it is beyond the scope of this article. However, a link to the Montana Dept. Environmental Quality website will provide much of the basic information. For additional detailed material on the history of the Cooke City area, please viisit the Cooke City Museum website.

Hotels in the Yellowstone Norris Hotels 1887-1892 & 1901-1916 ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. The First Norris Hotel - 1887-1887 ​ Variously known as the Norris Lunch Station, Norris Hotel, and Larry's Lunch Station, there were five different facilities at Norris between 1883 and 1916. In 1883 the Yellowstone Park Improvement Co . (YPIC) established tent hotels at various locations throughout Yellowstone Park, including the Norris Geyser Basin. ​ The first hotel opened up in the spring of 1887, even though construction was apparently incomplete. A workman started a fire in an unfinished chimney that set the hotel ablaze on July 14. The Livingston Enterprise reported that there were many guests in the hotel, but that all were saved. A bit of furniture was rescued, but all else was lost. Afterwards tents were set-up for guest use. The Jamestown Alert in North Dakota reported that, “the Norris hotel at the National park was burned Thursday and a loss of $50,000 sustained. Sam and Mrs. Matthews, who were at the hotel in the capacity of managers, have not been heard from as to personal loss or injury. Their friends trust all is right with them.” Left: The 1st Norris Hotel, Spring of 1887. [F.J. Haynes Stereoview, YNP #345] Above: Close-up of the front of the hotel, Spring 1887. [YNP Archives #50792] The Second Norris Hotel - 1887-1892 ​ By the end of 1887 a temporary wooden hotel was completed with 20 sleeping rooms. It was long and narrow, built with 1" board siding. The Helena Weekly Herald noted on Aug. 18, 1887, “The Norris Basin hotel, burned a short time ago, is already replaced by a comfortable temporary structure with ample accommodations for more than a half hundred guests. Contrary to that report, Acting Supt. Capt. Moses described it as "cold and open, with no appliance for heating beyond a sheet iron stove in the common hall." Fire again caused havoc in 1892 and this building burned down. Much of the silverware, bedding and furniture were saved this time. Once again, the fire was believed to have resulted from a stovepipe or chimney problem. The view below would have been taken from the Norris Soldier Station, currently the Museum of the National Park Ranger. The bridge crossed the Gibbon River. Rare view of 2nd Norris Hotel by Emily Sibley Watson from Rochester NY on 20Aug1889, during her tour of Yellowstone. [Photo courtesy Univ. of Rochester , NY, Memorial Art Gallery] Round-format camera view of the 2nd Norris Hotel in 1890. Photographer unknown. The Third Norris Hotel - 1901-1916 A New Hotel. Larry Mathews , who is so well known in connection with' the Yellowstone Park, writes us that the new hotel recently built at Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Park, will be opened to the public Friday evening, Aug. 2nd. A 5 o'clock dinner will be served, after which a grand ball will be given. Ice cream, lemonade and all kinds of fruit will be served during the evening. It is expected that about 5,000 people will be present. This hotel is built on the formation, where all the large geysers of the park can be seen from the front porch, is a large affair costing $150,000, including fixtures. A large silk flag 80x47 feet will be erected over the center of the building. 'Mr. Mathews will have the management of the hotel, and is considered by the park association as the best manager in the park. [Post and Record (Rochester, Minn), 2Aug1901] A new lunch station and hotel opened in 1901 on the Porcelain Terrace at Norris. It was located on the edge of the Basin and from the front porch, one could gaze at the various geyser erupting. It contained about 25 rooms and continued to service the lunch crowd passing through. Larry Mathews managed he new hotel in 1891, and was moved to Old Faithful and managed the old "Shack Hotel Tent Camp" in 1902-03. As with the Fountain Hotel, decreased travel times in 1917 due to motorized buses, eliminated the necessity of the lunch station. It closed after the 1916 season and was razed in 1928. There are no longer any lunch or overnight facilities at Norris. Above: ca1905 view of Norris Hotel. Photographer unknown. Below: Norris Lunch House, ca1912. [Acmegraph PC #6501] Above: ca1905 view of Norris Hotel. [YPA Brochure, 1905] Below: Norris Lunch Station, ca1912. [Haynes-Photo, No. 194] From the 1901 Dept. of Interior Annual Report: "A new and very comfortable little hotel has been constructed at the Norris Geyser Basin. It has been built on a far better site than that occupied by the old lunch station, which was some distance from the geyser basin – entirely too far for the majority of tourists to walk. The new hotel is so conveniently located that the tourists can now sit on its broad and sheltered veranda, after having their luncheon, and while awaiting the arrival of their coaches, they will be greatly interested in watching the playing of the geysers in the distance below them; or if they prefer to do so, they can stroll leisurely through the basin and await the arrival of their coaches at the Monarch geyser, where comfortable seats and a shelter have been provided. This hotel has been greatly needed for a long time, and will be frequently patronized by people who can not afford the time to go entirely around the park, and also by many who wish to go out of the park by the Monida route." End of the Norris & Fountain Hotels . . . ​ The Yellowstone Park Hotel Company is now engaged in razing the old Fountain hotel and the Norris basin lunch station, which have not been utilized since the stage coach days of 10 years or more ago. These institutions went out .pf use with the inauguration of the motor bus service. Materials .contained in these structures will be used in other construction work. [Great Falls Tribune, Mont., 26 Jun 1927, p.26] Norris Hotel with stages, 1906. [Stimson Collection, Wyoming State Archives ]

Yellowstone Post Cards Vol. 2 ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. While this page is under construction, please visit my Postcards Page that has been saved at Archive.org. ​ https://web.archive.org/web/20141106110519/http://geyserbob.org/postcards2.html Visit my Home Page to see which of my pages are completed and available. It's a long trip . . . Thanks for your patience. ​

Coaching in the Yellowstone Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. ​ YNPTCo Stagecoach Operations 1892 - 1897 YPTCo Stagecoach Operations 1898 - 1916 YNPTCo Stagecoach Operations 1892 - 1897 ​ Yellowstone Park Association (YPA) transportation privileges were revoked Nov. 1, 1891 after Silas Huntley of Helena received the 10-year transportation franchise on March 29, 1891. He was allowed 14 months to begin operations by the Interior Dept. He brought in his brother-in-law Harry W. Child and Edmund Bach , Child’s brother-in-law. Together they formed the Yellowstone National Park Transportation Co. (YNPTCo) which was incorporated May 20, 1892 with capital of $250,000. Aaron and L.H.Hersfield were also partners in the operation, and Huntley became general manager.Yellowstone Park Association (YPA) transportation privileges were revoked Nov. 1, 1891 after Silas Huntley of Helena received the 10-year transportation franchise on March 29, 1891. He was allowed 14 months to begin operations by the Interior Dept. He brought in his brother-in-law Harry W. Child and Edmund Bach, Child’s brother-in-law. Together they formed the Yellowstone National Park Transportation Co. (YNPTCo) which was incorporated May 21, 1892 with capital of $250,000. Aaron and L.H.Hersfield were also partners in the operation, and Huntley became general manager. Left : YNPTCo coach at Mammoth Hot Springs, ca1896 [Stoddards Yellowstone Park Travelogue] Right : YNPTCo coach No.46, courtesy Yellowstone Gateway Museum. In reality, YNPTCo actually began stage operations in March 1891 when George W. Wakefield lost his YPA contract. YPA then leased all of their transportation equipment and facilities to YNPTCo, who appointed Wakefield as President. A year later, the new company purchased the old Yellowstone Transportation Company and the Wakefield & Hoffman operations for $70,000 and was granted exclusive transport of NPRR passengers in Yellowstone National Park. The following February (1893), YNPTCo received leases for six parcels of land in Yellowstone to erect barns, corrals and other facilities. The company began with some 500 horses and 75-100 coaches of various types. In Yellowstone Park How to Travel Through Wonderland Pall Mall Gazette, London, England, July 10, 1897 “The company is divided into departments, and each is presided over by a most competent man. The head stables are at the Mammoth Hot Springs. They consist of several large buildings containing the 550 horses, excepting those which arc going through the park and a number of saddle horses at the various hotels, on which the tourists make short trips. Then there are the long rows of wagon sheds, blacksmith shop, harness shop, saddle shop, repair shop, washing stand, a dozen houses for the drivers, and a hospital for the sick horses. The company employs over 100 men. These include a veterinary surgeon, three blacksmiths, harness maker, wheelwright, washers, painters, stablemen and drivers. The stables and other buildings owned by the company form quite a little settlement of their own, and are always a source of interest to the tourists, who are surprised to see such a plant away up in the mountains. The park season lasts but a little over four months in the year, and the expenses of maintaining such a plant are large. It costs 5.000 dols. a year to paint the coaches, and an equal sum is expended in incidentals, including new tyres, harness, axle grease, horseshoes, etc. The board bill for help alone is 10,000 dols. for the four months and a few days. In that time the horses eat 1,000,000 lb. of oats and the same amount of hay. As the plant now stands, it represents an investment of over 200,000 dols., and with only about a third of the year in which to do business.” YPTCo Stagecoach Operations 1898 - 1916 ​ Harry Child, Huntley, and Bach formed a new company called the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. (YPTCo) in 1898 that took over the operation of the YNPTCo. They received a 10-year lease on March 31. Silas Huntley passed away three years later and his shares reverted to the NPRR’s North West Improvement Company (NWIC). Bach sold his shares to NWIC in 1902 due to health concerns and died of Bright’s Disease in the spring of 1904, leaving Harry Child as the prime operator of the company. Above : YNPTCo coaches ca1903. [Yellowstone Park Association brochure, 1904 Above : YNPTCo Tally-Ho coach #12 loaded with tourists leaving Gardiner and headed to Mammoth Hotel Springs. [W.S. Berry Photo, undated, Montana Historical Society] CHANGED HANDS A New Company Will Handle the Yellowstone Business. St. Paul, April 5.—The Yellowstone Park association this afternoon sold out Its entire belongings and interests in the National park to the Yellowstone Park Transportation company, which consists or S. S. Huntley and E.W. Bach of Helena, Mont., and H.W. Childs of St. Paul, the consideration being close to $1,000,000. Among the items transferred were the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel recently built for $200,000; the Fountain hotel, $100,000; Grand Canyon hotel, $100,000, and the Lake hotel, $75,000, besides four lunch stations and other property. J.H. Dean, president of the old company, will be manager of the new and the transportation company is now purchaser of all the property in the great national park. [The Anaconda Standard, April 6, 1901] ​ With the purchase of the YPA hotel system in 1901 and the deaths of S.S. Huntley in 1901 and E.W. Bach in 1904, Harry Child gained control of all the park lodging and transportation concessions, save the various camping company operations. Between 1903 and 1907, four Concord Tally-Ho coaches were purchased for use on the Gardiner to Mammoth route. Previously, two Tally-Ho had been acquired between 1886 and 1889. In 1901, a Northern Pacific brochure printed a schedule for park tours using the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. coaches. Throughout the stagecoach era standard tours were generally 5-6 days duration, beginning and ending at the north entrance. In later years shorter tours were available, and travelers could eventually enter or exit the park at West Yellowstone and Cody, Wyo. The following is a typical tour schedule for 1901 and similar in later years. ​ TIME SCHEDULE IN THE PARK The following approximate time schedule will give a comprehensive idea of the park itinerary: First Day —Leave Livingston at 8.30 a.m., arrive Cinnabar 10.45 a.m.; leave Cinnabar at 11.00 a.m.; arrive Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel 1.00 p.m., taking lunch, dinner and lodging. Second Day —Breakfast. Leave Mammoth Hot Springs at 8.00 a.m., arriving at Norris at noon for lunch; leave at 1.30 p.m., and arrive at Fountain Hotel, Lower Geyser Basin, at 5.50 p.m. for dinner and lodging. Third Day —Breakfast at Fountain. Leave for Midway and Upper Geyser Basins at 8.00 a. m. Lunch at Upper Geyser Basin. Return from Upper Geyser Basin to Fountain Hotel at 4.30 p. m. Dinner and lodging at Fountain Hotel. Fourth Day —Breakfast at Fountain. Leave for West Arm of Yellowstone Lake at 7.00 a.m. Lunch at lake and leave the lake after lunch for Yellowstone Lake Hotel at lake outlet. Dinner and lodging at Lake Hotel. Fifth Day —Breakfast at Yellowstone Lake. Leave for Grand Caiion at 9.30 a.m. via Sulphur Mountain; arrive Grand Canon at 12.30 p.m. Lunch, dinner and lodging. Sixth Day —Breakfast. Leave Grand Caiion at 10.00 a.m., arrive Norris at 12.30 p.m. Lunch. Leave Norris at 1.30 p.m., arrive Mammoth Hot Springs at 4.30 pm. Dinner. Leave Mammoth Hot Springs at 6.30 p.m., arriving at Cinnabar at 8.00 p.m.; leave Cinnabar at 8.15 p.m., arrive Livingston at 10.30 p.m. Left : The new horse and coach barn at Mammoth, 1903 [YNP Black Scrapbook] ​ Right : Gardiner Wonderland article about the barn dance, 4Jun1903 edition. In 1903 the company built a new coach and horse barn and related buildings at Mammoth, near the current Aspen Lodge site. The barn was a beautiful structure designed by Robert Reamer. Construction began in February and on May 7 the Gardiner Wonderland announced that, “The new transportation barn is nearing completion.” By the end of the month it was announced the building was complete and ready for occupation. A barn-warming dance was held the following week. The Tally-Ho coaches were housed in Gardiner to meet the trains, but most of the other coaches were stored at Mammoth and various locations throughout the park. ​ That same year the Northern Pacific RR opened up passenger service at the depot in Gardiner. Now the Tally-Ho coaches would have a shorter drive to Mammoth. A new Reamer-designed depot was built on the edge of town to host the tourist crowds. Above : YPTCo coaches in front of the Northern Pacific RR depot in Gardiner, 1905. [YNP 22954] In 1906 YPTCo constructed a new horse barn and carriage house, along with a bunkhouse/mess hall for the drivers and workers in Gardiner . They were located where some of the current Xanterra Parks and Resorts facilities are located above the Gardiner River. They were designed by Robert Reamer, using local stone and wood construction. The bunkhouse/mess was originally two separate buildings, but later joined by a breezeway. It still stands and is still used as employee housing by Xanterra. Sadly, the unique barns were torn down in 1926 to make way for the new concrete bus storage barn. The Butte Daily Post announced on May 6, 1906, “The Transportation company anticipates a large business. The company is erecting a mammoth barn at Gardiner. There are sixty men now employed on the structure, which will house many of the horses used by the company. The company has a great barn at Mammoth Hot Springs, from where all its passengers make the start throughout the park, but it was found desirable to have stables at Gardiner, where stages meet the trains.” Left : The new horse and coach barn at Gardiner under construction, 1906. [Author's digital collection] ​ Right : YPTCo Tally-Ho barn in foreground, with horse barn to the rear. [1914 NPRR brochure] Left : YPTCo barn on left, carriage barn in center, and bunkhouse & mess hall on right. [Original negative, Copyright: Goss Collection] Left Top : 9-Passenger Abbot-Downing coach. [1905 YPA Brochure] ​ Left Bottom : 11-Passenger Abbot-Downing coach. [1905 YPA Brochure] ​ Right : Map of Yellowstone Park and the hotels and road system. The stages typically travelled in a clockwise direction, usually beginning at Mammoth for the YPTCo coaches. [1904 YPA brochure] In 1915, an event occurred that held huge ramifications for Yellowstone and the country. The Panama-Pacific Exposition was being held in San Francisco from February to November. Visitors flocked to the West Coast to view this stupendous fair. Most travelers relied on railroad travel, yet many folks chose to travel cross-country by automobile, many planning on visiting Yellowstone enroute. Anticipating a heavy travel season, all the stage transportation companies purchased additional coaches and horses to meet the demand. Records show that visitation in 1915 reached almost 52,000 tourists, significantly more than the 20,000 of the previous year. Unfortunately, the investment by the companies would last a mere two years, as in 1917 the stagecoaches and horse wagons were banned from the park roads. Above : Real-Photo postcards of the true-to-size replica Old Faithful Inn built by the Union Pacific RR. The rustic interior was used for fine dining at lunch & dinner, and also for twice-daily orchestra concerts with plenty of room for dancing. [Real-Photo poscards, author's collection] Pressure had been building for many years to open the park to autos, but efforts had been unsuccessful. Mid-season 1915, Yellowstone and the Interior Dept. relented and on August 1, the first auto officially entered Yellowstone National Park. Over the previous year the roads and bridges had been improved to allow for motorized traffic. However, autos shared the roads with stagecoaches during 1915 and 1916. It became quite apparent that such a system would not be successful in the long run. The government mandated the conversion to motorized vehicles of all concession vehicles. Late in the fall of 1916, all of the transportation operations were to be consolidated into one company operating under a monopoly lease. These companies, which included Frank Haynes Yellowstone & Western Stage Co ., Cody-Sylvan Pass Motor Co., and the Wylie and Shaw & Powell camping company coaches, came under the control of YPTCo and Harry Child. Child arranged with the White Motor Company to purchase 117 10-passenger auto stages to be used in the park beginning in 1917. The Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. kept it same name until 1936, when all the Child and Wm. Nichols' enterprises were combined into the Yellowstone Park Company. Left : Stagecoach passing through the Roosevelt arch in Gardiner, ca1910. [Bloom Bros. postcard #A-6865] Right : YPTCo White Motor Co. auto-stage passing through the Roosevelt Arch in Gardiner, ca1923. [Bloom Bros. postcard YP62] Stagecoach Robberies in Yellowstone: ​ (1) 7/4/1887 - Near Split Rock in Gardiner Canyon - 1 stagecoach. (2) 8/14/1897 - 3 miles west of Canyon Hotel - 6 coaches and 1 military wagon robbed. (3) 8/24/1908 - Near Turtle Rock in Spring Creek Canyon on Craig Pass - 17 stagecoaches and 8 wagons. (4) 7/29/1914 - Shoshone Point on Craig Pass - 15 coaches. (5) 7/9/1915 - 1 mile south of Madison Jct. - 5 coaches. Perhaps the greatest stagecoach hold-up in Yellowstone occurred on Aug 24, 1908, near Turtle Rock, enroute from Old Faithful Inn to Lone Star Geyser and Lake Hotel A single bandit held up 17 coaches and wagons. Upon completetion of his dastardly deed, the hold-up man escaped and was never captured. In an excerpt from the 1908 Yellowstone National Park annual report, the Park Superintendent briefly describes the robbery: "The unfortunate event, the hold-up of seventeen coaches, surreys, and spring wagons on August 24, and the robbery by one man or many of the passengers therein at a point on the main road between Old Faithful Inn and the Thumb of Lake Yellowstone, and about 4 1/4 miles distant from the former, took place about 9 a. m. on August 24 . . . Four of the looted coaches belonged to the Yellowstone Park Transportation Company, five to the Monida and Yellowstone Stage Company, and eight to the Wylie Permanent Camping Company. As near as can be learned by the separate memoranda handed in by the passengers the losses sustained by them in the robbery aggregated $1,363.95 cash and $730.25 in watches and jewelry. Upon being liberated the first coach of those robbed drove rapidly to the camp of the road sprinkling crew, located about 2 miles east of the hold-up point, where notice was given and a messenger dispatched to Old Faithful Inn—distant 6 miles—with news of the robbery." Upon safe arrival at the Lake Camp, members of the Wylie Camping Company involved in the robbery reflected on their escapade as what would no doubt be the most exciting adventure of their lives. Mr. H.B. Mitchell of Great Falls describes their meeting that evening: ​ “That evening [24Aug1908] we had a meeting of the sufferers ait the lakeside hotel, and adopted resolutions which have already been published . . . “The American people have the faculty of seeing the humorous side of even a serious matter, and this case was no exception. The holdup man was hardly out of sight before we were laughing at each other, and the various incidents that had not seemed so funny while the man had his gun upon us. Besides the association mentioned above, the Wiley [Wylie] tourists organized the "Lone Star Involuntary Benevolent association" in memory of the occasion, and for the fun we could get out of it. I was elected president and the ‘Not on Your Life’ girl, as she was called for the rest of the trip, secretary. We had our inaugural meeting around the camp fire with toasts by various members of the suffering party, songs written for the occasion and general jolity." [Great Falls Tribune, 29Aug1908, p5] Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell reached Butte yesterday. He had the honor of being elected president of the “Lone Star Involuntary Benevolent association," a society to which only those traveling with the Wylie company and who were in the hold-up are entitled to membership. This organization celebrated the event with speeches and much merry-making the evening of the affair at the Lake Hotel camp and still look back upon the hold-up as the real event of their trip. Mr. Mitchell said those In the holdup look back upon it as something not to have been missed—the real event of the trip, and one never to be forgotten. The "Not on Your Life" girl mentioned previously is explained by Mr. Mitchell: "In the last coach were five ladies besides the driver. The first one was Miss Stasia Riley, of Austin, Minn. He demanded her money. *Not on your life,” replied Miss Rilev. 'Here’s a dollar,. and that’s all you set from me." Evidently he admired the nerve for he passed to the next without further demands." [Great Falls Tribune, 29Aug1908, p5] Stage Robbery 9Jul1887 Yellowstone Journal Stage Robbery 15Aug1897 Los Angeles Heraldl Stage Robbery 25Aug1908 Billings Daily Gazette Stage Robbery 30Jul1914 Daily Ardmorite, OK Stage Robbery 16Jul1915 Glascow Courier, MT

Camping in Yellowstone - The Bassett Brothers 1881-1898 ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Please visit my Basset Brothers page under the Transportation Tab .

Yellowstone Biographies I - J - K - L ​ ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Ingersol, Truman Ward. T.W. Ingersoll was one of the most important photographers and producer of stereoviews in Yellowstone National Park. He also published over 4000 different US and world-view stereos. His views produced in the 1880’s were of the highest quality. There were four different series featuring Yellowstone views during that time. He attempted to compete with larger commercial stereoview publishers such as Underwood & Underwood and the Keystone View Company with lower quality copy views. Buyers however, were not fooled and sales suffered. Between the years 1905-10 he produced three higher quality new black & white stereoview series, under the names Ingersoll View Company and High Grade Original Views. Ingersoll also sold the right to some of his views to other publishers such as Sears Roebuck & Co. and the American Novelty Company. He later sold the commercial part of his St. Paul photography business to Buckbee Mears Company. After his death June 9, 1922 in St. Paul, his negatives passed on to the Keystone View Company. Today they are part of the Keystone Mast Collection at the University of California at Riverside. Ingersoll was born February 19, 1862 in St. Paul and had studios under the names of Zimmerman & Ingersoll, Ingersoll View Company, and Juul-Ingersoll Company. In 1883 Ingersoll accompanied a man named Brooks from Connecticut who built a boat in Livingston, Montana and attempted to make a 4,000 mile river voyage to Louisiana. It is not currently known if either man completed the voyage. [Helena Independent; 9/22/1883] [The Yellowstone Stereoview Page] [Minnesota Historical Society Website - Directory of Minnesota Photographers] Jackson, David. David Jackson was an early fur trapper and co-owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Co. in 1826. Jackson's Hole and the town of Jackson, Wyoming were named after him. Jackson was born in 1788 to parents Edward and Elizabeth Jackson in Randolph County in what is now West Virginia. He spent his early life in the wilds west of the Shenandoah Mountains. Jackson died in 1837 at age 49. [25L;57] [Wikipedia] Jackson, George J. George Jackson received a permit to operate a stage station in 1882 at Soda Butte and shared the homestead with Jim Cutler. Supt. Conger gave George verbal permission to live on Rose Creek (current Buffalo Ranch) in 1882. However, Supt. Carpenter kicked them, along with other squatters in the area, out of the park in the fall of 1884. The site became the location of the Buffalo Ranch in 1907. [113] [30] Jackson, William Henry. William Henry Jackson (W.H. Jackson) was born in Keeseville, New York in 1843, he became a self-taught artist. He later moved to Vermont and enlisted for the Civil War in 1860. While present at the Battle of Gettysburg, he saw no action. He went west in 1866 and was photographing the progress of the UPRR in 1869 when he met Ferdinand Hayden. Hayden asked Jackson to accompany him in 1871 on his expedition to Yellowstone. Jackson took most of the first photographs of the park that were used in the effort to convince Congress to set aside Yellowstone as a park. Photographer Joshua Crissman of Bozeman accompanied Jackson on this trip, and the two took many pictures side by side. Crissman actually had his negatives printed and viewed first, but he never received the acclaim that Jackson did. Jackson also accompanied the Hayden expeditions of 1872 and 1878. In 1879 he moved to Denver and opened a new photographic studio and founded the Jackson Photo Co. He joined the Detroit Publishing Co. in 1897 and assigned his stock of negatives to them in exchange for cash and company stock. Detroit began publishing Private Mailing Cards (predecessor of post cards) with Jackson’s Yellowstone images in 1898-99. He worked for them until 1924 when the company went out of business. Jackson died on June 30, 1942 at age 99 and has been credited with producing over 54,000 negatives. [25g] [79u;Jackson] [119b] Jump, William ‘Billy’ . Billy Jump opened a mail station in Harry Yount’s old cabin at Soda Butte in 1883. He had received permission to do so by Supt. Conger in the spring of 1882. In 1884, Jump, George Jackson, Jim Cutler, and other squatters in the area were asked to leave the park by park authorities. The buildings were reportedly burned. Jump moved to Jackson Hole for a time, but at least by 1899 he was tending bar at the Pisor Saloon in Horr. One of his customers was Calamity Jane. By 1902 he was married with two sons, Bill and Tom. Jump also tended bar in Jardine and did carpenter work, assisting with the construction of the officer's frame houses at Mammoth. [106d] [114] [71c] Kammermeyer, Fred E. F.E. Kammermeyer was Transportation Superintendent for H.W. Child and the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. (YPTCo) from 1917 to the 1940’s. He had been a military transport officer during WWI and was hired by Child to set up and organize the operation of the new fleet of 117 White Motor Co. buses in 1917. These buses replaced the stagecoaches that had been used up until that year. He retired Sept. 30, 1948 as Manager of Transportation Div., Yellowstone Park Co. Fred E. Kammermeyer was born June 30, 1888 in Burlington, Iowa to parents Fred Christian Kammermeyer and Lidia Wilhelmina Tillman. Sometime after 1920 Fred married Evelyn Johnson, born 1888 in Ohio. In the fall of 1924 Fred was an Engineering Extension Student with the University of Wisconsin. In a letter to the college Extension Division, Fred commented upon his employment in Yellowstone that summer: “We handled nearly 150,000 tourists this season, and I supervise six garages and 322 busses and trucks with all the grief that goes with it; so you can readily understand that I could not give study any concentrated thought – much less time – as I put in about 18 hours a day trying to keep up with the problems.” The Polk Guides list Fred’s residence as Livingston in 1943, Billings, 1944, and Bozeman in 1950. According to the Allday family website, Fred died of a gunshot wound to the head on December 21, 1967 at Sun City, Arizona. He was buried in the Sunland Cemetery. Evelyn died March 20, 1969 in Glendale, Arizona. [39-49] [25g] Karst, Pete. Pete Karst founded Karst Stage in 1902 to haul freight and loggers from Bozeman to a logging camp on Taylor Creek in the Gallatin Canyon area. In 1908 he built the Karst Stage Stop Inn about 35 miles south of Bozeman, Montana. It became the first ‘dude ranch’ in the canyon and transported mail, freight, and passengers from Bozeman and surrounding areas to his ranch. He also operated tours in Yellowstone. He motorized his fleet in 1917 when stagecoaches were no longer allowed on park roads. He established the Gallatin Canyon Bus Line in 1924. “Gail’s Golden Guide of the Beartooth Mountains” of 1935 lists Karst’s Kamp as having guest cabins, coffee shop, general store, garage, indoor plunge, and orchestras playing on Saturday nights. Karst sold the business in the early 1950’s and although the dude ranch is no longer in business, Karst Stage, Inc. still operates and provides bus service to the western US and Canada. [25g] [Karst Stage website] Kayser, Albert. Albert Kayser was the owner of the German language newspaper “Oakland Journal” and began issuing postcards, then known as ‘mailing cards’, with mostly California views. One card printed in 1897 featured eight different Yellowstone images on it that appeared to be F.J. Haynes photos. It is suspected that he did not have Haynes’ permission for the images. This card is believed to be the 1st known postcard using Yellowstone images. In 1898 Kayser sold his business and Edward H. Mitchell, a San Francisco publisher of western-image postcards, acquired the postcard portion. Mitchell reissued the Yellowstone card in 1898. [97;Vol.2;No.3,Michael Bodell] Keeney, Elias Joseph. Joe Keeney was a miner and long-time pioneer in the Yellowstone-Cooke City-Boulder country. He was born Aug. 22, 1847 in Linn Co, Oregon Territory. His father, Jonathan Keeney, was a trapper with William Sublette, Kit Carson and Jim Bridger in the Yellowstone, Snake and Columbia River drainages. Joe came to Montana in 1875 with a herd of wild horses and ended up in the Gallatin Valley. Because he did not have a bill of sale for the horses, he was suspected of being a horse thief. Attracting the attention of the Vigilantes, he soon left town. In 1877 he became the first man to locate mining claims on the Boulder River in the Independence area. He also owned land with George Huston that became the townsite of Cinnabar. Joe operated a hotel, restaurant and saloon in Cinnabar for a time. He filed numerous claims in the Cooke City and Clark's Fork area in the 1880's. Keeney was an assistant superintendent in the park around 1882, but got into political trouble when he tried to arrest a judge for leaving a campfire burning. His diligence ended up getting him fired. He died Sept. 25, 1938 at the age of 91 in Livingston Mt. [Thanks to Joe's great-grandson Greg Keeney for this information] Killion, R.T. R.T. Killion owned the Yellowstone Park Ice Co., which was incorporated January 26, 1959 to operate ice plants and ice vending machines in the park. He subcontracted to Yellowstone Park Co. to operate the ice plant and ice vending machines at Fishing Bridge, Lake, West Thumb, Old Faithful, Mammoth, and Canyon. [25L;60] Kingman, Lt. Daniel. Lt. Dan Kingman was with the Army Corps of Engineers when they arrived in Yellowstone in August of 1883. Kingman was placed in charge and was responsible for the design, planning, and construction of the basic park road system until 1887. He was responsible for the basic figure-8 design that is still used today. He designed and built the wooden trestle and road through the Golden Gate Canyon in 1883 that bypassed the steep and harrowing Snow Pass road. The next two years he rerouted the Gardiner to Mammoth ‘high road’ to the route currently used along the Gardiner River. He left the park as a Captain. He had a boat called the U.S. Pinafore, which was test run on Swan Lake in 1885. Kingman retired from army service in 1916 as a brigadier general, and died in November of that year. [25L;60] For a detailed history of the Yellowstone Park road system, visit this NPS Road History website. Klamer, Henry Ernst. Henry Klamer was born in 1858 in Kahoka, Clark Co. Missouri, he moved west at least by the early 1880’s. He was a member of the road crew in the park under Supt. Norris in 1881. He applied to be an Asst. Park Superintendent in 1882, but was passed over for the position. When George G. Henderson assumed control of the Marshall Hotel in 1885, he brought Klamer into the deal with him. They built cottages, a new store, and renamed it the Firehole Hotel. The Cottage Hotel Association, run by the Henderson family in Mammoth, may have taken over the operation in 1886. The Yellowstone Park Association (YPA) came into possession of the property sometime in 1886, by unknown means. Klamer managed the park beef herd for John Harvat in 1890 and the next year received the beef contract to supply the hotels and camps in the park himself. He brought the herd into the park in the spring, pasturing them on Swan Lake Flats, with the slaughterhouse near Indian Creek. This business continued through the 1890’s until Van Dyke & Deever of Gardiner took over the contract in 1901. Klamer married Mary Henderson, daughter of G.L. Henderson in 1892, and in 1897 they established the H.E. Klamer general store at Old Faithful. They were granted a 10-year lease and 2 acres of land to operate the business. The original building was a rather plain, frame-style 2-story building. General merchandise, tourist supplies, Indian goods, and curios were sold and a post office was also located in the store for a short period of time. In 1899 they received permission to establish bathing facilities for the tourists. The distinctive rustic portion of the store facing Old Faithful was added in 1903-04 and featured 20-inch diameter upright logs for porch supports. It was around that time that the log braces were installed around the eaves of the roof, adding to the rustic character. They expanded the store with a 16’ addition in 1913-14, but Henry died that last year on August 12. Mary and her brother Walter Henderson operated the business until 1915 when she sold it to Charles Hamilton, who received financing from Harry Child. Huntley Child, Harry’s son, had an opportunity to buy the business, but turned it down. Hamilton built a large addition in 1923-24 and the store continues to do a booming business. As of 2003, the Hamilton stores came under the ownership of the Delaware North Parks Co. [25k] For additional information, please visit my Klamer General Store page. Klamer, Mary. Mary Klamer, nee Mary Rosetta Henderson, wife of Henry Klamer. (See ‘Henderson, Mary’) Knowles, John S. John Knowles came to Montana in 1876 and worked a claim at Emigrant Gulch. By 1882 he began mining on Crevice Creek, which feeds into the Yellowstone River near the North Entrance to the park, and built his cabin there around 1898. He was told to move out when it was discovered his cabin was within the park boundaries. In a letter to the park superintendent in 1899, Knowles claimed he built his cabins before the park was established and had occupied them since 1880. However, since the park was formed before he even came to Montana, he obviously exaggerated those time periods in order to claim legitimacy for his holdings, as he was trying to sell them to the government. He listed 18’ x 20’ and 12’ x 16’ houses, a 16’ x 18’ cabin, a stable and shed. He was asking $200 for the lot of them, which were located near the mouth of Crevice Creek. [113] [YNP Army Files Doc.2631] LaDuke, Julius J. (Jules). Julius J. LaDuke (originally spelled LeDuc) and his family built the LaDuke Hot Springs resort in 1902. Located a few miles north of Gardiner along the Yellowstone River, it was the site of a small resort with hot springs soaking and bathing facilities. The river was crossed by means of a boat and later cable ferry and swinging bridge. The business only lasted until around 1908 when they could no longer compete with the nearby Corwin Springs Hotel and the family moved to Livingston. Water rights to LaDuke Hot Springs were transferred to the new company at Corwin Hot Springs and a ditch was dug to supply the hotel and plunge. Sons Julius and Albert LaDuke had previously moved to the Aldridge area by 1907 and operated the tramway between Aldridge and Horr. Julius LaDuke Sr. owned business properties in Livingston that included the Bucket of Blood saloon and the LaDuke Pool Hall. Ugly divorce proceedings in 1914 caused Julius to lose his residence and most of his business properties. Eventually becoming a broken man, Julius died in the Livingston Poor House December 8, 1927 and was buried in the Livingston Mountain View Cemetery. [Goss, Taking the Cure at LaDuke Hot Springs] Click Here for detailed history of La Duke Hot Springs Langford, Nathaniel Pitt N.P Langford was a member of the Washburn Expedition of 1870. He helped promote the idea of preserving Yellowstone as a public park (under sponsorship of the Northern Pacific RR) with a series of tours and lectures. While accompanying the Hayden Expedition of 1872, he claimed to have scaled the Grand Teton with James Stevenson. He was the 1st superintendent of the park in 1872, but served his five years without pay and spent little time actually in the park. [25L;64] Larkin, G.A. The Yellowstone Park Fuel Co. was organized in 1929 by Jack Haynes to supply firewood to the auto campgrounds and housekeeping cabins. He owned 41 shares and G.A. Larkin owned 15 shares and acted as president. E. M. Allen had 1 share and was secretary. The business incorporated in Minnesota on April 18 and operated under yearly permits. In 1934 Haynes sold his shares to Larkin who then had 55 shares. Mrs. Larkin became secretary with one share and Mrs. Vernon Goodwin owned the other share. [25L;64] Lindsley, Chester A. Chester Lindsley began service in the park as a civilian clerk for the Interior department in 1894, holding that position until 1916. On October 16, 1916 he was appointed as Acting Supt of the park and served until 1919 when the transition between the Army and Park Service rule ended. Horace Albright became park superintendent and Lindsley served as his assistant until 1922. He served as Postmaster at Mammoth from 5/21/1922 to 11/24/1935. He died in Livingston on Nov. 24, 1938 at age 66. Lindsley was born around 1872 in New York to parents who were natives of that state. He was married to Maude B. Lindsley who was also a native of New York. They had one daughter named Marguerite Lindsley who was born around 1902 in Wyoming. Nicknamed "Peg", she became the first female naturalist in the National Park Service. [US Census 1920 & 1930, Wyoming] [39-49; p.163] Link, Lawrence. Lawrence (Larry) Link came to Montana from his father’s farm in Wisconsin to work on the Northern Pacific RR’s new tunnel on the Bozeman Pass. With the advent of the Park Branch Line to Cinnabar in 1883 he established a freighting and contracting business with 6-horse teams to furnish supplies to Ft. Yellowstone and later to Cooke City. By 1892 he was operating a saloon in Cinnabar with a combination pool and billiard table. He married Florence Bigelow in Nov. of 1893. Knowing that the NPPR line would eventually be extended to Gardiner, he purchased property in town. He built the stone house on E. Main St., next to the VanDyke house on the corner in 1903. The following year he supervised the construction of the stone community Union Church on the street behind the W.A. Hall store. Link, Hall, Holem, Scott, and LH Van Dyck were all active in the fundraising and building of the church. Link was also in the fuel business, acted as secretary/treasurer of the VanDyck meat packing company, and was manager of the Gardiner Electric Light & Water Co. He served as a County Commissioner from 1906-1908. He was instrumental in the formation of the Gardiner Opera House (Eagles Hall), the Eagles Lodge, and the fire department. Around 1914 he and Frank Holem built a second story addition to the stone school house. He died of a heart attack on Oct. 8, 1918 at about 54 years of age, after a bout of influenza. He was a member of both the Livingston and Gardiner Elks Club. [LE;6/4/1892] [L. Link bio, YNP Vert. Files, Biography] Lowe, Herrick. Herrick Lowe was the son-in-law of Wm. Nichols and was added to the Board of Directors of Yellowstone Park Co. in 1959. He became Chairman of the Board and president of the firm in 1962. [25L;65] Ludlow, William. Capt. William Ludlow, a career engineer in the military, was chief engineer of the Department of Dakota and lead a scientific expedition to Yellowstone in 1875 that included George Bird Grinnell and "Lonesome Charley" Reynolds, who was guide and hunter for the expedition. He was ordered to make a "Reconnaissance from Carroll, Montana, on the Upper Missouri, to the Yellowstone Park and Return." He later authored "Exploration of the Black Hills and Yellowstone Country." Ludlow was born November 27, 1843 to William H. and Frances L. (Nicoll) Ludlow on Long Island, New York. He attended colleges in New Jersey and New York, graduated West Point in June of 1864, and served in the Civil War 1864-65. He oversaw numerous civil and military engineering projects during his life and from 1888-93 was military attaché to the US embassy in London, and military governor of Havana from 1898-1900. He achieved the rank of brigadier-general in 1900. [Richard Bartlett, A Wilderness Besieged; Who's Who in America, 1902] Lyall, Alexander. Alexander Lyall was born June 24, 1861 of Scottish parents. Lyall constructed Jennie’s Ash’s new store and post office at Mammoth in 1895-96. He married Jennie’s sister Barbara Henderson in 1898. He operated a contracting business and worked on several of the government buildings at Mammoth. Alexander went into business with Jennie and became Postmaster at the store in 1906. In 1908 Jennie transferred ownership of the business to her brother Walter Henderson and Alexander, who operated it until 1913 under the name of Lyall & Henderson. They sold the store and post office business to George Whittaker in 1913. The building is the former Hamilton’s store. After the sale Lyall moved to his residence in San Diego with his family. [25j] [1900 Federal Census, YNP] Click Here for my web history of the Henderson-Ash store at Mammoth. Lycan, Alfred. Alfred Lycan operated the Lycan Camping Co. in the park for most or all of the years between 1895 and 1913. For more information check out my web page on the Smaller Camps.

Auto Stages in Yellowstone Yellow Busses White Motor Company Models & Specs. ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. TEB - 11 Passenger 1917-23 3/4T, 140” wheelbase truck with 45hp GEC engines, 4-spd transmissions, and open-side bodies. Front tires were 34” x 5” pneumatic with 36” x 6” on the rear. There were four pairs of doors opening onto seats for three passengers, allowing for 11 passengers and the driver. Although in practice, only one passenger sat in front with the driver. The left-hand doors were sealed to prevent opening onto traffic. The transition between the hood and dash was squared off, while the windshield was a solid 2-piece unit (upper & lower). Kerosene running lights were located below the windshield and under the frame supporting the rear boot. They were powered by acetylene bottles on the driver’s side running boards. A canvas boot covered the rear wooden platform that was supported by a steel frame. A canvas top was supported by detachable bows at each bench and celluloid side curtains could be put up in inclement weather. Plate numbers 1-135. 108 vehicles purchased from 1917-1923. (Image YNP Archives #115013) 15/45 - 11 Passenger 1920-25 Similar body to the TEBS, except the transition between the hood and windshield was rounded and the windshield was split into four pieces - upper/lower and left/right. The wheelbase was slightly longer (143-1/2”) with an updated chassis and improved 4-cylinder GN motors. The later 1923 models had 50hp GR motors, as did later deliveries. Front tires were 34” x 5” and rear 36” x 6”. Other amenities were mostly identical to the TEBs. The 1922 models had Scott bodies, while the 1923 and later models had Bender bodies, without LH doors. The rear contained an enclosed trunk instead of a boot. Four oval-shaped windows graced the tonneau cover on the sides at the rear. A canvas top was supported by detachable bows at each bench. Celluloid side curtains could be put up in inclement weather. Acetylene bottles were carried on the driver’s side running boards to power the headlights. Plate numbers 137-349. 214 vehicles purchased from 1920-1925 . Model 50 - 25 Passenger 1923 There were six side doors opening onto seven wide benches to seat 25 passengers plus the driver. The Bender body had a 198” wheelbase with a 4-cylinder GN motor. The roof was solid and luggage could be stored on the roof rack, accessed by a folding ladder from the rear of the bus. Side window curtains could be rolled down in inclement weather. It was the first model to feature electric lights. They had Budd steel disc wheels and electric lights. It utilized 36” x 6” tires all around, with duals on the rear. As the heavy buses were slow at climbing hills, they were mostly used on the West Yellowstone to Old Faithful run. Plate numbers 930-931. (Originally numbered in the 330s) 2 vehicles were purchased in 1923. [Photo: YNP Archives] Model 614 - 14 Passenger 1931 There were four doors to seat 14 passengers. The roof was open with a roll-back canvas, with roll-up glass door windows. The luggage area was enclosed in the rear with two side-opening doors. There was a single, slanted windshield. It was powered by 75hp overhead valve 6-cylinder White 3A engines, with four-wheel Lockheed hydraulic brakes, 4-speed manual transmission and glassed-in Bender bodies. The bus was wider and more comfortable than the other buses used and were primarily run on the longer Cody to Lake Hotel route. The ccanvas top could be rolled back in nice weather to allow passengers to stand up for better view or photographs. Plate numbers 351-358. 8 vehicles delivered in May 1931. [Photo: YNP 114504] Model 706 - 14 Passenger 1936 There were 27 of these 14-passenger buses introduced in 1936. They had two squared-glass windshields, roll-down glass windows and lantern-style rear running lights. The bodies were produced by Bender bodies with an open roof and roll-back canvas tops that tied down along the edges. Each seat had grab handles for passengers to hold on to while standing to view the park through the open roof. The 1937-38 models had improved 16Ah motors. They sat on a 190” wheelbase chassis and were powered by a White 318 cu.in. six-cylinder 16A engine. Renowned industrial designer, Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky was responsible for the radiator cowling and grill design. Plate numbers 361-460. 98 vehicles purchased from 1936-1939. 7-Passenger Touring Cars These cars had a 137-1/2” wheelbase with 37” x 5” tires all around. They had a model GM 4-cylinder, 16- valve motor. They featured four doors, front bucket seats, a rear bench seat, and two rear jump seats, as well as a canvas convertible top and a storage compartment under the rear seat for side curtains. VIPs as well as more affluent visitors to Yellowstone toured the park in vehicles of this type, which were later supplemented by Lincoln touring cars. [NOTE: Information & details on these vehicles is inconsistent & incomplete] ​ Plate numbers 700-717; 720-767. 65 ?? vehicles purchased from 1917-1925. [Photo Yellowstone NPS Collection] ​ ​ 8-Passenger Touring Cars No Photo Plate numbers 718-719 2 vehicles purchased in 1920. Touring Cars in Yellowstone 1917-1939 Lincoln - Ford - Buick Lincoln Touring Cars - 29 Known Vehicles ​ 1925-1927 - Lincoln 7-Passenger Sport Touring [23] Nos. 801-822; 824 33” x 5” Tires; 136” W.B.; Style 124 body w/rear luggage carrier 1926 - Lincoln Sport Phaeton [1] No. 822 33” x 5” Tires; 8-cyl Motor; 136” W.B.; Style 123B body w/ rear luggage carrier 1926 - Lincoln 7-Passenger Berline [2] Nos. 825-826 33” x 6.75” Tires; 8-cyl Motor; 136” W.B.; Style 147B body w/ rear luggage carrier 1928 - Lincoln 7-Passenger Sport Touring Car [1] No. 828 33” x 5” Tires; 8-cyl Motor; 136” W.B.; Style 124 body w/ rear luggage carrier; 4-wheel brakes. 1922 - Lincoln 7-Pasenger Sport Touring Car [1] No. 827 33” x 5” Tires; 8-cyl Motor; 136” W.B.; Leland Body 1931 - Lincoln Limousine [1] No.829 Ford Touring Cars - 17 Known Vehicles 1925 - Ford Model ‘T’ Touring Car [3] Nos. F50 - F52 30” x 3.5” Tires, Electric starter; Electric lighting 1925-1927 - Ford Model ‘T’ Slip-On Roadster [8] Nos. F1 - F8 30” x 3.5” Tires, 100” W.B.; Electric starter; Electric lighting 1927 - Ford Model ‘T’ Roadster [2] Nos. F9 - F10 30” x 3.5” Tires, 100” W.B.; Electric starter; Electric lighting 1928-1929 - Ford Model ‘A’ Roadster [3] Nos. F12 - F14 30” x 4.5” Tires, 103.5” W.B.; Electric starter; Electric lighting 1931 Ford 14-Passenger Car [1] No. 359 Buick Touring Cars - 7 Known ​ 1935-1938 - Buick 7-Passenger Touring Cars [7] Nos. 831-835; B1, B3 Left: Lincoln Touring Car, probably used by Wm. "Billy" Nichols. [YNP #185328-94] Right : Western States Buick Distributors at Yellowstone, showing off their various models, 1922. [YNP #19388] For additional information, visit the Buses of Yellowstone Preservation Trust Above Right : A Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. Lincoln Passenger Touring Car, faithfully restored by the Buses of Yellowstone Preservation Trust.

Camping in the Yellowstone Wylie Permanent Camping Co. ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. William Wallace Wylie The Wylie Camping Company, with its humble beginnings in 1883, arose to become the premier camping experience in Yellowstone National Park until 1917. Originated by William Wallace Wylie, the operation, with its goal of providing for a safe, comfortable, and enjoyable camping experience, became the standard to emulate by other camps companies in Yellowstone and other western national parks. Sold by Wylie to AW Miles and HW Child in 1905 the company continued to expand and improve the Wylie Way operations through 1916. After that time a mandated consolidation of the camping, hotel, and transportation companies by the National Park Service forced the merger of the Wylie and Shaw & Powell companies into a new organization that became known as the Yellowstone Park Camping Company. Through a succession of ownership and management changes the new company was eventually absorbed into the Yellowstone Park Company in 1936. (See my Yellowstone Park Camps Co . page) Mary Ann (Wilson) & Wm. W. Wylie [Photos courtesy Museum of the Rockies Online Archive, Bozeman, MT] William Wylie, a native of Ohio and later a school principal and superintendent in Iowa, moved to Bozeman Montana in 1878 to accept a position as school superintendent. His wife Mary and their children joined him the following year. In 1880 he conducted his first commercial camping tour of Yellowstone with paid visitors. He undertook two tours that summer and continued to explore and tour the park the next several summers. Beginnings of the Camping Tours In 1883 Wylie embarked on 10-day park tours using moveable camps, spending the night in various locations as he and his guests explored the multitude of scenic wonders. He named his business the Wylie Camping Company in 1893 and received permission from the Interior Dept. to establish semi-permanent camps at various locations along the grand loop. However, he was only allowed annual permits, with no guarantees of permissions for the following seasons. Although his business generally increased in size every year, it was difficult to obtain investment funds for improvements without any security of future operating ability. Finally after several years of political maneuverings, Wylie managed to secure a longer-term lease for his operation and permission to establish permanent camps in 1896. Left: In 1881 WW Wylie and Henry Bird Calfee began lecture tours promoting the wonders of Yellowstone with Oxy-Hydrogen lighted photographic slides. [St. Paul Daily Globe, 22Dec1881] Right: Wylie published his guidebook entitled, "The Yellowstone National Park, or the Great American Wonderland" in 1882. [Bozeman Avant-Courier, 31Aug1883] : Click to enlarge The Permanent Camps Take Shape By 1898 Wylie had set up permanent camps at Apollinaris Springs (Willow Park), which was moved to Swan Lake Flats in 1906, Upper Geyser Basin (near Daisy Geyser), Yellowstone Lake Outlet (current Lake Lodge site), and Canyon (on Cascade Creek). Lunch stations were established at Gibbon Falls and West Thumb. In 1908 a camp was established at Riverside, just inside of the west entrance, and in 1912 a camp was erected at the east entrance of Yellowstone. Wylie’s camping system became popular with the traveling public as it was a less expensive way for tourists to be able to tour the park, and without the necessity of having to 'dress up,’ as was considered proper in the hotels. A 7-day Wylie tour cost only $35.00 while the hotels charged $50 for a 6-day tour at the hotels. The camps featured a nightly campfire with songs and entertainment that helped provide a sense of camaraderie among the guests. Of course Wylie was not alone in the camping business – there was competition aplenty: David A. Curry (of later Yosemite fame) conducted camp tours out of covered wagons from 1892-98; Shaw & Powell began a moveable camps operation in 1898; Frost & Richard operated from Cody WY in the early 1900s; Tex Holm ran out of Cody in 1906; Marshall Brothers camps from Livingston MT; Lycan Camping Co . from Gardiner, along with many other small operators. But Wylie and Shaw & Powell became the main competition in the camping world of Yellowstone. In 1901 Wylie accommodated 1371 guests during the season. McMaster Camping Car According to the Livingston Enterprise in early July 1892, ​ “A camping car was among freight destined for the Park Tuesday, it having arrived in this city from the factory at Lockport, Illinois, Monday, consigned to Prof. W. W. Wiley [Wylie] of Bozeman. It is intended for the comfort of tourists who will be taken through the Park under direction of the Wiley excursion agency. As its name implies it is fitted up with sleeping apartments and will prove much more comfortable in disagreeable weather than the tents heretofore used by the company for tourists.” It was said to be fitted out with all the necessary implements for dining and sleeping. A ruckus later that summer over road safety concerns caused Wylie to be escorted out f the park for a time, and the temporary pause in the continuation of the vehicles through the park. It was an expensive experiment that ultimately failed. The roads were narrow, and the large wagon interfered with other stage traffic. Ahead of it time, at least in Yellowstone, this horse-drawn RV seemed to be used only for one season. Left: "Above photo represents a McMaster Camping Car in use. A line of these Cars will be placed in Yellowstone National Park, beginning with season of 1892, for Tourists desiring to spend more time than is given regular coupon tickets, with all the charms of a camping trip without its usual hardships. The cars are handsomely finished and furnished, and afford eating and sleeping accomodations for four passengers inside." [YNP #127596] Right: Drawing of a McMaster Camping car from a patent application, May 28, 1889. ​ Wylie Hotel - Gardiner In 1897 WW Wylie leased the Park Hotel in Gardiner MT for his tour headquarters. The Northern Pacific RR had been serving Cinnabar MT (about 5 miles north of Gardiner) since 1883 and the hotel allowed his guests coming to the park by train accommodations before or after their park tour. The rail lines were extended to Gardiner in 1903 and the Wylies prepared for this event by constructing a new hotel for his guests on Main St. opposite the WA Hall Store. The Gardiner Wonderland announced in April 1903 that the Wylie’s had purchased lots on Main St., north of the new W.A. Hall store. By the end of May lumber was on the ground and construction had started. By August the hotel was essentially complete. After A.W. Miles took over the company in 1906, he had a large addition built to the hotel. The Wylie Hotel was a permanent fixture in Gardiner until early in 1935 when it was destroyed by fire. Little is known about the management of the hotel during the years between 1917 and 1935. The Lark Lunch as in operation there for a number of years. Top Left: Wylie Hotel, on the west end of Main St., behind the W.A. Hall store, undated. The store to the far left was Moore's Souvenir store. [YNP #9555] Top Right: Wylie Hotel in 1915. By this time the hotel has been remodeled or enlarged. [Photo Album of Latisha Vanderpool, internet auction] ​ Bottom Left: William Wylie's office on East Park St. The sign on the building at left reads, "Wylie Camping Company." The building at far left is the Gardiner Hotel, with C.B. Scott's saloon next to it. The Shaw & Powell Hotel replaced some of these buildings around 1908. In later years The Town Club & Motel occupied much of that block. [Author Digital Collection] Bottom Right: Wylie barn and stables, probably also on East Park. St. [YNP #964] William W. Wylie Leaves Yellowstone ​ The Wylie Permanent Camps Company continued to prosper yet Wylie seemed to lack the financial backing to expand and improve his operation and compete with the profusion of rival camping companies. By 1905 he had been struggling in the business for 25 years and opposition from the hotel company and Northern Pacific RR had been badgering him since the early days. In addition, many of the Acting Park Superintendents (under jurisdiction of the US Army) viewed the camping companies as a necessary evil at best. It was probably a constant effort for Wylie to persevere in face of the opposing forces. Now about 57 years old, he no doubt wearied physically from his annual efforts. So, later in the fall of 1905, Wylie announced that he was selling his beloved operation. A.W. Miles, a prominent Livingston businessman, purchased 1/3 of the company shares, while A.L. Smith purchased the other 2/3 for silent partner H.W. Child, who was owner of the Yellowstone Park Association hotels and the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. It has been said the Miles may have called in Wylie’s loans that had accrued from Mile’s hardware business. The Montana newspaper Fergus County Argus interviewed W.W. Wylie while on a visit and reported, ​ “that last season was the banner year for the transportation companies doing business in Wonderland. Mr. Wylie recently sold out his business, and will devote his time to his extensive ranch interests near Bozeman He said today at the Finlen hotel, where he is stopping, that he did not expect to again enter the transportation business. "No." he said. “I am through with it. I was offered a large salary to take charge of the business I recently sold out, but had I desired to remain in it to that extent, I would not have disposed of the company." Left: Envelope from WW Wylie's Camps Company, depicting one of their stages in front of the old Wylie office on Park St. in Gardiner. It was postmarked 1905. [Author Digital Collection] Right: Card of introduction from W.W. Wylie, signed by Livingston Agent John A. McKee, possible relative of Wylie's daughter Elizabeth Wylie McKee. [Author Digital Collection] Wylie Permanent Camping Co. ​ The new company was called the Wylie Permanent Camping Company and now, seemingly blessed by Interior, received a 10-year lease for operations – the very thing Wylie had unsuccessfully lobbied for these many years. Within the next two years camps were added at Tower Junction, near the Yellowstone River, and Riverside, just east of West Yellowstone which would serve incoming visitors from the soon-to-be established Union Pacific railhead in town. The Apollinaris camp was moved to the south end of Swan Lake Flats. During this next decade the operation would be popularized as the “Wylie Way” of touring Yellowstone. Now with solid financial backing the new company proceeded to upgrade and improve operations at all the camps. They also commenced an active and aggressive advertising program under the auspices of Howard Hays, who in later years presided over the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park Co. and gained ownership of the Glacier National Park Transportation Co. The Camps Camp brochures were published every year expounding on the wonders of camp life in Yellowstone. A brochure from 1908 describes five and six-day tours costing $35.00 and $40.00 respectively. Four-room tents, along with tents having two beds and tents with single beds were available with board floors and rugs. Every tent had a wood stove, beds with fine mattresses, and "good clean sheets, blankets, quilts, etc." The tent canvas was candy-striped and meals were served in large dining tents with white table cloths and dishes. Each camp also featured milk houses, cold storage, warehouses, photographer's dark rooms, swings, and hammocks. Transportation was provided in seven and eleven-passenger Concord coaches, or five-passenger Mountain Wagons. Evening entertainment was provided in the form of a large campfire with singing, storytelling, games, and fresh cooked popcorn. In later years dining tents were raised a foot above ground with wooden floors and support posts, with wainscoting along the walls. Capacity was about 80 guests and recreation tents were also featured nearby. Willow Park Camp “We spent our first night at Willow Park camp, which lays near a small stream, in a picturesque part of the forest of pine trees. There were 15 large tents and a dining tent and kitchen. Each tent was partitioned off in four compartments, with pine floor, and contained four beds, with the cleanest of blankets and comforts. A stove heated by wood fire, washstand with plenty of warm water and easy chairs made us as comfortable as anyone would desire to be. Out of doors a bright campfire and jolly company made the evenings long to be remembered. Each camp has cows and the table is supplied with plenty of fresh butter and milk and the best of everything that the market affords. There were 50 horses and 12 stage coaches carry us away on the next day’s journey. Many of the waitresses and guides are students from Montana State college who are spending their vacation in honorable service at the park.” [2Oct1902, Daily Notes, Canonsburg Pa.] Swan Lake Camp From E.H. Moorman’s autobiography, “In the early spring [1896] the Willow park Camp was dismantled and the moveable equipment hauled to Swan Lake, where the new camp of the Wylie Permanent Camping Company was established. A.W. Miles was then the President and General Manager of the company. He constructed a much better camp than the one at Willow Park, bought a much better type of tents, wainscoted the tent from about four feet from the board floors and bought many new tents and much camp equipment; also had better kitchen and dining-room equipment. He installed flush toilets in this camp.” Top Left: Willow Park Camp. Manz ColorType, Chicago.[Author Digital Collection] Top Right: Swan Lake Camp Souvenir/Office Tent [YNP #199718-232] Right: Swan Lake Camp. !910 Wylie brochure.[Author Collection] Bottom Right: Swan Lake Camp, Detroit Postcard #71637 [ Author Collection ] Bottom Left: Young lady seated in an antler chair at Swan Lake Camp in 1907. Gibbon Lunch Station Gibbon lunch station was located about the half-way point between the Swan Lake Camp and Old Faithful Geyser camp. It was located along the south side of the Gibbon river below Gibbon Falls. At that point the Mesa Road cut across the plateau to the Firehole River road. The coaches usually arrived around noon, leaving for Old Faithful after an hour and half lunch break. If one was lucky, they might see a bear or two scrounging around through the garbage bins. After 1908, the lunch station would have been available to those traveling through the west entrance with Wylie. Those guests arrived at 11am and left at noon, upon the arrivals of those from the north. (Shaw & Powell also had a lunch station nearby). Top Left: Gibbon Lunch Station, 1909 Konen-Archibald Album. [Author Digital Collection] Top Right: Departing Stages at Gibbon Camp. Tammen PC #9470 [Author Collection] Geyser Camp - Upper Geyser Basin The Geyser Camp was located toward the lower end of the Upper Geyser Basin, upon a hill near Daisy Geyer. It was the largest camp in the park and had a capacity of 140 guests, and was often used for 2-night stays in order to completely view the Old Faithful Geyser Basin and surrounding area. Water for the cook tent was obtained by a pipeline from the Punch Bowl Geyser. ​ A Visit to the CANVASS CITY Upper Geyser Basin, Wylie Camp. Rows and rows of tents on both sides of passage-ways, or as they are called, “Ways”—Pleasant Way, Rough Way, No Way, Tough Way, Simple Way, Narrow Way, Wrong Way, Right Way, Broadway, Forbidden Way. Going down Forbidden Way, where the girls live, the tents are named: Do Drop Inn, Seldom Inn, Do Come Inn, Sneak Inn, Rough House Inn, Noisy Inn, Paradise Inn. In walking through Forbidden Way, with the “come-hither look” in my eye, and throwing an x-ray on the different Inns, and handing out a few comments just to let them know I was there, a number of them appeared. An athletic girl, six feet, weight 210 pounds, from Rough House Inn. came out and gave me a look, expressing about the same kindly feeling as a Grizzly when you are trying to get friendly with her cubs. All at once she spoke, her voice sounding like the roar of a geyser: “Girls, shall we trough him?” I wasn’t long getting back to the protection of my wife. 1 tell you it’s not safe to go wandering around the Park alone. I asked someone what “troughing” meant. They said: “You see that trough over there? Well, it’s picking a person up, carrying them over and dropping them in, and the wafer is so much colder than the air that the air can’t freeze it,” [What Jim Bridger and I saw in Yellowstone National Park, 1830-1913," by Adams, Charles Francis, Published 1913, p12-13] Top Left: Landscape view of the Wylie Geyser Camp in 1908. [Shipler Photo #356, BYU] Top Right: Postcard view of the camp ca1915, when private automobiles were allowed into Yellowstone. [Haynes PC No. 233. ​ Bottom Left: One of the "Ways" in the Geyser Camp . [Real-Photo postcard, undated] Bottom Right: The Office and Souvenir tent at the Geyser Camp in 1915. [YNP #964] West Thumb Lunch Station In 1898 the Wylie Permanent Camping Co. was permitted to establish four night camps and two lunch stations in the park. One lunch station was at Gibbon Falls and the other West Thumb. It was located west of the West Thumb road junction, at about the midway point between Old Faithful and Lake camps. Unfortunately, the site lacked readily available water, which was about a mile away. It was also subject to dust from passing stagecoaches and wagons. For these reasons, the Wylie company requested that they be able to move their camp. The new camp was located to a point north of the soldier station in an close to the tourist cabins. It also began offering night camping facilities. Top Left: Undated glass slide view of some of the wood-sided tent cabins. FJ Haynes photo. [Author Digital Collection] Top Right: Log outbuildings at the Thumb camp, ca1917. [YNP #199718-232] Lake Camp The camp was located northeast of Lake Hotel, close to the lake shore. E.H. Moorman , described the Lake Camp as “beautiful. The tents formed a huge semi-circle with a camp-fire place at the opening. When the full moon shone across the Lake and practically into the camp, - it was a wonderful sight.” The camp lasted through 1916, and the following year became a part of the Yellowstone Park Camping Co., and eventually Lake Lodge. Top Left: 1917 view of the Old Faithful Camp. Postcard from the Yellowstone Park Camps Co., successors to the Wylie and Shaw & Powell companies. [Author Digital Collection] Top Right: Lake Camp Office and view of Yellowstone Lake in 1913. [ Author Digital Collection ] Bottom Left: Dance Hall tent at Lake Camp, [Shipler Photo #12505, BYU] Canyon Camp This camp was established by 1898 and was located on the east side of Cascade Creek, which comprised a deep ravine at that point. Ed. H. Moorman’s, long-time camps and Yellowstone Park Co . employee, mentioned in his autobiography that in 1899, “The old and first Canyon Camp site was a poor camp location. Water was obtained from Cascade Creek by means of a windlass - a heavy wire line from the bank to the creek on which a pail was sent down, filled with water, and then drawn to the top by means of winding about 100 feet. Many an hour did I spend filling the barrels.” In 1903-04, the steel arch Cascade Creek Bridge was erected farther upstream from the old, wooden, Crystal Falls Bridge, located near the Yellowstone River. The junction of the Norris and Lake roads were changed to conform to the new road over Cascade Creek. The new road from the bridge passed through the middle of the Wylie Camp, which was moved to an area near the current entryway to the Upper Falls parking lot. This camp was abandoned after the merger of the camping companies in 1917. Top Left: View of the old wood bridge over Cascade Cr. and the new steel arch bridge upstream. The 1st Wylie camp was located on a slight hill to right of the bridge. The 2nd camp was moved to an area a ways left of the bridge [Tammen PC #8395, Author Collection] Top Right: 2nd Canyon Camp in 1911, ordered with almost military precision.. [ Shipler Photo #12533, BYU ] Bottom Left: Coaches and stables at Canyon Camp, 1911. [Shipler Photo #12504, BYU] Sylvan Camp In 1912, A.W. Miles, manager of the Wylie Permanent Camping Company, worked out a deal with Tex Holm and park authorities to use the Sylvan Lake Lodge facilities that summer. The Wylie company established an office in Cody and at Holm Lodge to serve their guests desiring to travel through the east entrance. Holm Transportation Co. carried the Wylie guests by automobile from Cody to Holm Lodge where they spent their first night. In the morning Wylie coaches carried the travelers to Sylvan Lodge (Holm Lodge No.2) for a lunch stop before continuing onward to Yellowstone Lake. The following year Wylie built a new camp at the east entrance of the park near the soldier station and discontinued use of Sylvan Lodge and Holm Lodge, although Holm still provided transportation to and from Cody. After the 1915 season and Holm’s bankruptcy, “Kid” Wilson, longtime Holm employee, carried the Wylie guest from Cody to Sylvan Camp. In 1924, the camp became a new Sylvan Lodge with a comely log lodge, lasting for 10 seasons. [Information from “Holm on the Range,” by RGoss, Annals of Wyoming, Winter 2010] Tex Holm's Sylvan Lodge, atop Sylvan Pass near Sylvan Lake, 1911 [Buffalo Bill Historic Center, Holm Family Album] Excerpt from 1913 Wylie Brochure . . . Upon the arrival of the train at Cody, Wyo., at 12.00 noon, Wylie tourists are driven to the Irma Hotel for luncheon. At 1.30 p.m. automobiles leave Cody for Wylie Camp Cody, at east boundary of the Park. No matter what the traveler has seen elsewhere, at home or abroad, the afternoon ride marshalls an array of canyons, cliffs, mountain streams, lakes and forests that will hold him enraptured by their rugged majesty and unspoiled beauty . . . The route follows the river—now narrow and turbulent—to its confluence with Middle Creek and then turns westward up the latter stream. About 6.00 P.M. tourists cross the eastern boundary of the Park, pass the Soldiers’ Station and arrive at Wylie Camp Cody for dinner, lodging and breakfast. Leaving Camp Cody at 7.00 a.m., the road climbs gradually up the steep slopes of the Absaroka Range, winding and twisting to lessen the heavy grade and effects a passage at Sylvan Pass, over ten thousand feet in elevation. The descent on the westernslope of the range to the Park plateau, although circuitous, is easy and gradual. Sylvan Lake, half-hidden waterfalls, Turbid Lake and occasional glimpses of big game add zest to the late morning ride. At 12.00 noon tourists arrive at the Lake Camp on the main “loop” road. At 1.30 p.m. coaches leave camp for the Grand Canyon, sixteen miles distant. Riverside Camp The Riverside Camp, with tents, barns, stables, and outbuildings, was located a few miles inside of the west entrance to the park, along the Madison River, near to the Riverside Barns, Monida-Yellowstone ’s stable, coach and barn facilities. Both operations started in 1908, when rail travel entered the area courtesy the Oregon Short Line (Union Pacific RR). The Wylie camp shut down after the 1916 camp consolidations. “Before our arrival at Yellowstone station (West Yellowstone), we were met by Wylie coaches and taken to Riverside camp, a mile and a half distant. Our first picture of vamp life was a pleasant one, for thls camp was situated beside the Madison river, mirrored by pine trees and grassy hills. We were given an excellent breakfast, and started out again. Most of us travelled in three-seated vehicles with two horses, but there were a number of Concord coaches with four horses.” [The Albion Argus, Neb., 2Aug1912] Top Left: "Departing for trip through Park in Wylie Coaches, at Riverside Camp." cac1912. [Acmegraph PC #9477, Author Collection] Top Right: Riverside Camp [ Marist Collection #16003, Cannavino Library ] Bottom Left: Coaches leaving Riverside Camp, ca1911 [Utah State Historical Society] Roosevelt Camp Roosevelt Tent Camp was established by A.W Miles and the Wylie Permanent Camping Co. in 1906. A bathhouse was built at nearby Nymph Spring, which had been used since at least the 1870s as a bathing/soaking spring by early pioneers and explorers. The guest accommodations were wood-floored tents covered with blue and white candy-striped canvas and furnished with simple, rustic furniture. The camp could handle up to 125 guests. A communal dining tent served family-style meals. The area appealed to those who desired a more isolated area and catered to fisherman, wildlife enthusiasts, and horseback riders. Camp Roosevelt was originally named by the Wylie Camping Co. to honor President Theodore Roosevelt, who was rumored to have camped on the site during his camping trip in 1903. The actual camp site was located at the old Tower Soldier Station, about one and a half miles south of the camp. The camp was not a part of the standard route, buy could be reached by request from Mammoth or over Mt. Washburn from Canyon, at an additional rate. It is little mentioned in Wylie brochures. The camp continued on into the 1920s and later, becoming Roosevelt Lodge . Top Left: 1907 photo of Camp Roosevelt. There seems to have always been a bench around that tree, although it varied in form over the years. [Author Digital Collection] Top Right : Wylie Roosevelt Camp under construction, probably ca1906-07. [#41774 Milwaukee Public Museum] ​ Bottom Left : Wylie Permanent Camp at Roosevelt, ca1906-1907. [#41774 Milwaukee Public Museum] Bottom Right: Advertising stereoview of a typical Wylie Camp. The same photo also exists with a Swan Lake Camp sign - a bit of early photoshopping. [Underwood & Underwood, Keystone-Mast Collection] Lady Mac Margaret J. McCartney, known as "Lady Mac", worked for the camping companies in Yellowstone Park for more than 30 years. She was born September 13, 1864, and grew up in College Hill, Pennsylvania. She began her Yellowstone career in 1902, working for WW Wylie. The Pittsburg Press noted on June 8, 1902, that “Margaret McCartney of College Hill, left Wednesday for Yellowstone Park to be gone all summer.”After a break of five years, she returned to the Wylie Camping Company in 1907, now under ownership of A.W. Miles. She continued to work seasonally until 1934, holding a variety of positions including manager of Canyon Lodge and personnel officer for the Yellowstone Park Lodge & Camps Company, hiring most of the Park's housekeeping and wait staff. McCartney retired to California by at least 1940 and died at the age of 93 at the Presbyterian Rest Home in Glendale, California, on December 24, 1957. Top Left: Miss McCartney, "Lady Mac" Manager Canyon Lodge, 1924. [YNP #33571] The Final Years of the Wylie Camps Co. 1915 was a banner year for the camps and hotel operations as the Panama-Pacific Exposition was being held in San Francisco. Travelers from all over the country flocked to the event that summer. With railroad access to Yellowstone from both the UPRR, NPRR, and CB&Q RR, visitors could easily stop along the way to or from the coast to visit Wonderland. The Wylie company shared this business boon with Shaw & Powell, the Old Faithful Camping Co. (Hefferlin brothers of Livingston), and Tex Holm, all of whom had established permanent camps by this time. Business settled back to normal in 1916, with the major change being that private automobiles now shared the roads with horses and stagecoaches – a combination not mutually beneficial by any means. The following year the horses were permanently put out to pasture and the noisy smoke-belching autos took over the roadways. 1917 was a momentous year in other ways for the park concessioners. The Park Service/Interior decided to put an end to the various competing camps and transportation companies. Monopolies were created that would allow for simpler management by the NPS and with expectations that eliminating the competition would allow for a greater ability for the companies to earn and invest money into the improvement of their facilities and operation. Four types of coaches & carriages in use by the Wylie Camps Top: 3-Seat Carriage, 1915 [Shipler #16405, BYU] Bottom: 3-Seat Concord Coach, Wylie Permanent Camps. The W.W. Wylie era. [ Author Digital Collection ] Top: 4-Seat Carriage at Gardiner Northern Pacific Depot, W.W. Wylie era. [Courtesy Stuhr Museum] Bottom: Wylie Express Wagon, 1912. [ Author Digital Collection ] A New Reality in Yellowstone & End of the Stagecoach Era In 1917, the various transportation outfits were consolidated into the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. (YPTCo) under the direction of Harry Child, who already owned the hotel operations. He was force to give up his shares of the Wylie camps. 117 new White Motor Co. buses were ordered for the new season to replace the now-unemployed horse assemblage. The Wylie and Shaw & Powell companies were merged together into the Yellowstone Park Camping Co., with 51% of shares owned by AW Miles and the rest by Shaw & Powell . Transportation would be provided by YPTCo. The other camps companies were basically shuttered from the park. All the camps were closed except the former Shaw & Powell camp at Upper Basin (Old Faithful), the Lake Outlet Wylie camp, Canyon Shaw & Powell camp (current Uncle Tom’s Trail area), Tower (Roosevelt) Wylie camp, and the Riverside camp. The Riverside camp would soon be shut down and construction of a new lodge and tent cabins at Mammoth began in 1917. ​ It was the end of an era in Yellowstone and the cultural landscape would be changed forever. The tent camps were gradually transformed into more formal lodge operations. The tent houses were eventually converted into wood cabins, and rustic log lodges were erected at each site to provide for meals, recreation, entertainment, and quaint lobbies where guests could gather around a crackling fire to swap adventures and tell tall tales. The Wylie family moves on . . . William and Mary Wylie eventually retired to Pasadena CA. This pause in their business life was not to last for long. With urging by the newly-established National Park Service in 1917, the Wylie family resurrected the Wylie Camping Company in Zion NP and at the North Rim of Grand Canyon NP to serve the tourists that were only just beginning to discover these new Wonderlands of the Southwest. The Wylies of course faced the same financial limitations as they had in Yellowstone. They ultimately relinquished control of the Zion camp in 1923 and Grand Canyon after the 1927 season to the powerful monied-interests of the Union Pacific and the Utah Parks Co. Once again, retirement was short-lived. In 1928, Mary Ann (Wilson) Wylie, age 73, slipped away to be with her Maker. William Wylie, suffering from cancer, followed her to the grave on February 7, 1930, at about 82 years of age. Both are interred at Mountain View Cemetery, Alta Dena California. Ad for Zion Canyon and the Wylie Camp in June 1917, Salt Lake Tribu ne William W. Wylie at his registration office in the Wylie Camp in Zion Canyon, ca1917. Little remains of the permanent camps in Yellowstone, with the exception of Lake & OF Lodges. There are no brochures, monuments or plaques to note their former glory or existence. And yet, countless millions of visitors have strolled by or driven past these sites with no comprehension of their rich history. However, intrepid and knowledgeable explorers can still wander about and find traces of these historic sites and imagine themselves back in those days of yesteryear and perhaps visit the ghosts of former days.

Camping in the Yellowstone ​ Yellowstone Park Camping Company - 1917-1919 Yellowstone Park Camps Company - 1919-1927 Yellowstone Park Lodge & Camps Company - 1927-1936 ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Yellowstone Park Camping Company - 1917-1919 Huge changes were enacted in Yellowstone beginning with the 1917 season when the new National Park Service mandated a concessions consolidation plan. All of the stagecoaches were retired, and replaced with automobiles stages manufactured by the White Motor Co. All transportation would be run by H.W. Child and his Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. The various smaller camping companies were shut down, and the largest - the Shaw & Powell Camping Co . and the Wylie Permanent Camping Co . were combined into one company. This was known as the Yellowstone Park Camping Co. The hotels were mostly unaffected, except that the Fountain and Norris hotels were shut down as unnecessary due to faster travel time in the new auto stages. The general stores were untouched, but Frank Haynes was forced to sell his transportation operation and former stock in the Wylie Co., leaving him in control of the picture shops in Yellowstone. Left: Possibly the 1st newspaper ad for the new Yellowstone Park Camping Co., 22Jun1917, Salt Lake Tribune . ​ Right: Newspaper ads with the new, "The Camp Way" logo showed up early in the summer of 1917. 3Aug1917, Salt Lake Tribune . A.W. Miles gained 51% of stock in the new camping company, while various Shaw and Powell family members shared the remainder. Many of the former camps were abandoned to avoid duplication of services and a new camp at Mammoth was established. Camps located at Canyon, Lake, Riverside, Tower and Upper Geyser basin were retained, while camps at West Thumb, Willow Park, Gibbon Falls, Nez Perce, and the east entrance (Cody Camp) were abandoned. Riverside Camp closed in 1918 due to WWI and never reopened. The company immediately began using the slogan "The Camp Way," a take-off of the Wylie Way motto. The logo itself was reminiscent of the Shaw & Powell logo. The term Camp Way continued to be used in advertising up into the early 1930s. By 1927-28, most of the permanent camps were beginning to be called lodges instead of camps. The “Wylie Way” slogan was no longer used in Yellowstone, but went into use in 1917 at Zion national Park, where Wm. W. Wylie opened up a new camp - the first lodgings in Zion. Photo of a Yellowstone Park Camping Co. truck hauling employees to a camp in Yellowstone for the summer season. A blurb in one of the company’s brochure boasted, "A hostess at each camp look after the comfort and convenience of women guests. The camp atmosphere is clean, informal and pleasurable. There is nothing rough or coarse. There is no “dressing up.” The employees are young folk from private homes—many of them students and teachers. All sleeping tents are framed, floored, wainscoted and heated. The furnishings, while simple, are absolutely comfortable The beds are of the best quality, full sized. A special nightly feature at each camp is the "Camp Fire" and entertainment and dancing in the recreation pavilion. “Camp Roosevelt” is an extra “stop-over" camp for guests who desire to prolong the standard “four and one-half day tour." The government urges prospective visitors to plan if possible, to stay several extra days in the Park. The weekly .rate, American plan, is $30.00." From The Yellowstone News, Spring 1918, published by the Yellowstone Park Camping Co., New method to revitalize your weary bones: “Are you a member of that annual band of tired business men and women, fagged-out teachers and weary hosts and hostesses, worn by the strainn of a hard social season who are looking, during the summer time, for the road which leads to the three “R’s”—Rest. Recreation, and Recreation? . . . You have "nerves?” Can't sleep nights? Then why hesitate longer? Pack your suitcase with a few warm, rough clothes and some stout shoes, wire the Yellowstone Park Camping Company to reserve accommodations for you. and take the first train to Yellowstone National Park, I wager the first morning’sride will smooth the wrinkles from your brow and soothe your tortured nerves; and after your first night’s rest you will awaken feeling reborn and ready for anything.” Yellowstone Park Camps Company - 1919-1927 Howard Hays and Roe Emery purchased the YP Camping Co. in 1919. Walter White of the White Motor Co. was a silent partner and Hays became president of the company. Harry Child, wanting to buy the company very badly, after having to give up his share of the Wylie Co. after 1916, was hoping to get a good deal. While he was waiting for the $150,000 price to come down, Hays unexpectedly came up with the money, with backing by White. Walter White hid his involvement in the business, as he did not want to antagonize Child, who was one of his large customers for White buses. The new owners expanded operations of the camps by building rustic log lodges and recreation halls at all existing locations except Riverside, which closed in 1918 due to WWI and never reopened. A swimming pool was built at Mammoth Lodge around 1920 and a Boys Forest & Trail Camp was established at Roosevelt in 1921 that included a swimming pool, council house, and eight tent cabins. The camp taught boys the fine arts of fishing, mountain climbing, and studying the flora and fauna. For additional information and photos of these camps & lodges, check my "Hotels" web pages: Mammoth ; Roosevelt ; Canyon ; Lake ; Old Faithful . Above: Camp photos from the YP Camps Co. 1922 brochure.. Right: Description of the five camps, from a 1920 YP Camps Co. brochure. From the Director of the NPS, Stephen T. Mather, in his 1924 annual report Vernon Goodwin takes over the helm of the YP Camps Co. The company was sold in 1924 to Vernon Goodwin of Los Angeles, when Howard Hays retired and sold out due to poor health. The Salt Lake Tribune of May 9, 1924 explains: ​ “The Yellowstone Park Camps Company, controlling the camp system in the national playground, has been sold to Vernon Goodwin, wealthy Los Angeles hotel man, according to an announcement received yesterday 'by Daniel S. Spencer, general passenger agent for the Oregon Short Line railroad, from Horace M. Albright, superintendent of Yellowstone park. The consideration was not made public. The property has been controlled by Howard H. Hays, formerly of Salt Lake, and the sale has the approval of S.T. Mather, director of the national parks service, who recently joined with Mr. Albrlght, Mr. Hays and the purchaser in a discussion of the deal in Los Angeles. All officers of the company, with the exception of Mr. Hays, will remain with the organization, it is understood. The sale of the properties was prompted by the ill health of Mr. Hays, who is preparing, on the advice of a physician, for a rest of about six months.” Harry Child kept his involvement in the new company quiet, much as White had done five years earlier. The purchase now cost Child four times what it would cost him in 1919. Goodwin became company President and A.L. Smith served as Secretary/Treasurer. Ed Moorman, who had previously served as Secretary/Treasurer was brought into the deal and became Manager. The company opened the Sylvan Pass Lodge in 1924, located near the East Entrance. The lodge, along the route from Cody to Lake Hotel, provided meals in a log lodge and guests could stay overnight in tent facilities. The lodge operated for ten years. Vernon Goodwin , who had been manager of the Alexandria and Ambassador hotels in Los Angeles, purchased the YP Camps Co. in 1924 for $660,000 with financing by Harry Child. Although it technically became known as the Vernon Goodwin Co. the company continued to be referred to as the YP Camps Co. According to "Greater Los Angeles & Southern California Portraits & Personal Memoranda," Lewis Publishing Company, 1910. Goodwin was "born in Santa Rosa, Cal., Dec. 13, 1871. Chiefly educated in public and high schools. Assistant postmaster of Santa Rosa for three years; resigned to take a law course, and admitted to practice in California Supreme Court, 1894. Principal of grammar school for three years, and later took a special English course at Stanford University. Served as Deputy County Auditor for four years and resigned to accept position with California Gas & Electric Corporation. Came to Los Angeles, 1895; now Secretary of the Bilicke-Rowan Fireproof Building Co., Bilicke-Rowan Annex Co., Alexandria Hotel Co. and Hollenbeck Hotel Co." [Rotarian Magazine, March 1926] The Yellowstone Park Lodge & Camps Co. This company came into existence sometime in 1927 when Vernon Goodwin Co. changed the name. When Goodwin’s wife died in January 1927, her obit mention Vernon being President of the Yellowstone Park Lodge & Camps Co. The company continued the operation of lodges and camps at Old Faithful, Lake, Canyon, Fishing Bridge, West Thumb, Mammoth, and Roosevelt. Although the name changed, Goodwin remained in management with the Child enterprises and was listed as president of the YPLC Co while Ed Moorman was retained as general manager. This new company (just in name) invested $300,000 on new buildings at Canyon, Lake and Old Faithful. Cafeterias were also built at the public auto camps at Old Faithful and West Thumb. The trend now was to focus on a lodge operation as opposed to tent facilities. Gradually the historic striped canvas sides and tops were replaced with more conventional wood structures. When Harry Child died in 1931, his son-in-law Wm. Nichols took over the operation and Goodwin became vice president of the YP Hotel Co. The company struggled during the Depression, as did the hotel andother park businesses. Some camps closed for a year or more, but that the camps were less expensive than the hotels was a distinct advantage. For additional information and photos of these camps & lodges, check my "Hotels" web pages: Mammoth ; Roosevelt ; Canyon ; Lake ; Old Faithful . Advertising from the company's 1930 brochure: "From many years' experience, the Yellowstone Park Lodge and Camps Company has developed a truly remarkable system and service. The Lodges are located at the main centers of scenic interest. In each lodge, guests come first to a great central building, which house lobbies, dining halls, social assembly rooms, business headquarters, curio shops and many of the usual facilities of hotels and clubs. Surrounding the main buildings are the small lodges—of one-room, two-room and four-room capacity. They are of two types - (1.) log, (2.) rustic clap board - all substantially built, comfortable and well furnished. Each lodge is heated by a rustic wood-burning stove (for nights and mornings are cool in the mountains), the beds are full size and of high quality, the furniture plain but adequate. Lodges are electric lighted, of course. The dining rooms serve wholesome, well-cooked food." Yellowstone Park Company - 1936-1979 In 1936 the Yellowstone Park Lodges & Camps Co. merged together with the other Child-Nichols interests into the Yellowstone Park Company. These interests included the Yellowstone Park Hotel Co., Yellowstone Park Transportation Co., and the Yellowstone Park Boat Co. Wm Nichols was president, Vernon Goodwin vice-president, and Mrs. Harry Child remained a principle stockholder. The company embarked on an ambitious renovation plan which including the razing of the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel (Old National Hotel). The North Wing was retained and a new lobby/office complex constructed at the end of the wing. A separate restaurant, recreation hall, and cabins were also erected. Many of the tent cabins at Mammoth Lodge were moved to Roosevelt Lodge and the MHS Lodge was shut down in 1940. It was the beginning of a new era for the company in Yellowstone, but the earlier vision of the tent camp operation became a lost relic of history. The National Park Service's Mission 66 plan in the 1950s closed down the beautifully rustic camp at Canyon, and new facilities were constructed at Canyon Village, a mile or two away. Sylvan Closed around 1934, but Roosevelt Lodge, Lake Lodge, and Old Faithful Lodge remain successful operations to this day, under the auspices of Xanterra Parks & Lodges. Top Left: Mammoth Lodge , 1923. Haynes Postcard #23295 ​ Center: Old Faithful Lodge , 1928, Haynes Postcard #28029 ​ Bottom Left: Lake Lodge , 1922. Haynes Postcard #22032 Top Right: Roosevelt Lodge , 1927. Haynes Postcard #27468 ​ Bottom Right: Canyon Lodge , 1922. Haynes Postcard #22032 ​ Of these five lodges, only Roosevelt, Lake & Old Faithful remain.

Historic Bridges in Yellowstone ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. While this page is under construction, please visit my old Historic Bridges Page at Geyserbob.org http://geyserbob.org/Home-Bridges.html Visit my Home Page to see which of my pages are completed and available. It's a long trip . . . Thanks for your patience. ​

Hotels in the Yellowstone West Thumb Hotel - Lunch Station Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Thumb Lunch Station - 1892-1903 ​ Located along the shores of Yellowstone Lake at West Thumb, a tent camp was established to serve as a lunch station for stagecoaches traveling the route from Old Faithful over Craig Pass to the Lake Hotel . The business opened in 1892 by the Yellowstone Park Association (YPA) and replaced the lunch station that had existed at Trout Creek , located along the previous route to the Lake that traversed the Mary Mountain Road from Fountain Flats. The famous Larry Mathews managed the lunch station that first season, but moved to Norris the following year. ​ YPA was granted a lease to operate boats on the Yellowstone Lake in 1891 and allowed Ela C. Waters to manage the new boat/ferry operation. The ferry service would eliminate the tedious and dusty ride from the Thumb Lunch Station to the Lake Hotel and the "The Zillah" was put into service for that purpose. The steel-hulled, 40-ton steamer was 81’ with a 14’ beam, and could carry 120 passengers and crew. The Zillah’ was assembled on site by Amos Shaw, of the Shaw & Powell Camping Co ., to provide ferry service from West Thumb to Lake Hotel. E.C. Waters would pay the stagecoach drivers fifty cents for each passenger the driver convinced to take the ferry, and then charged passengers $3.00 for the boat ride. Above: The steamship Zillah docked at West Thumb in 1906. [Glass slide F.H. Maude Photographic Co.] Top Left : View of the Thumb Lunch Station tents, ca1890s, as viewed from the boat dock on Yellowstone Lake. [High Grade Original Views stereoview, #1300] Top Right : "Hotel Camp, Thumb of Lake." View of Thumb Lunch Station tents from the edge of the hot springs basin. [Detroit Photographic Co., 86-200-2504, Colorado History Museum, Denver] The 1896 Haynes Guide noted, “There are no less than seven hot-spring areas surrounding Yellowstone Lake; those of the west arm, or Thumb Bay, are by far the most interesting. They comprise over sixty springs and paint pots and several geyser cones; one of which rises above the lake surface just a few feet from shore, standing upon which one may catch trout, and, dropping them into the hot water in the crater of the cone, cook them without removal from the hook.” The Thumb Lunch Station was located near the Thumb Paint Pots, and was short walk from the boat dock up a wooden walkway to the station at the top of the rise. Although primarily serving as a lunch station, a few sleeping tents were available for guests that wished to spend the night. Traveler Chas. Maus Taylor noted in1900, “The tents at Thumb Lunch Station appear plain and unpretentious, but the tourist receives a hospitable welcome, and the food is abundant, wholesome and well served.” Note: the Boardwalk can be viewed at left and above left.] Left : "Hot Spring Basin at the "Thumb" of Yellowstone Lake." In the distance can be seen people walking the boardwalk in front of Thumb Station ca1903. [HC White Stereoview, #12077] Top Right : The boat dock & boardwalk as viewed from near the Thumb Lunch Station. [From the Philadelphia Free Library, #PCDE00495] Carrie Belle Spencer , a young school teacher from Nebraska, Yellowstone National Park in July and August, 1892. She was in the company of her older brother Alvah and his wife Adaline. They were “traveling on their own dime,” as they say, and not with the transportation company. She had this to say about Larry’s: “. . . we were soon on the beautiful waters of the Yellowstone sailing smoothly along toward the Thumb. After a delightful ride of 1 1/2 hr. we landed at the dock on a beautiful beach and saw on a slope not far distant five tents in a row, this is what is known as the Lake Side Lunch station; as we were about ready for lunch and desirous of finding some place to leave our luggage we started in that direction. When not more than half way up the slope a gentleman, with skull cap, white apron, towel etc. started toward us saying "Good morning ladies, good morning", & before we had time to reply he had our luggage in his hands saying "Right this way to the waiting room." & entering this tent, he took me by the arm & pointing out of the tent in an opposite direction he says "Ladies toilet just ahead. . . The waiting room was a tent about 20 ft. sq., dirt floor & contained a few chairs, stove, cigar case & slat benches around the room. The "toilet" was out doors & too cute for particulars, ta ta. After arranging our "twilight" and entering the waiting room this man "Larry" Mathews as he proved to be began asking questions & entertained us in a royal manner until we heard the rattle of approaching hacks, which were of course the expected tourists. "Larry" no longer had time for entertaining individuals as each new comer was greeted in the same manner. It was not long until we heard the call "All register" & "Right this way to hash". Soon 40 ladies & gentlemen were seated on slab benches at long home made tables, and the bill of fare was soon commenced; it was not very extensive but every thing was enjoyed, being season with Larry's Irish wit. "Run in the hens." "Let 'er go pie." It was not long after lunch until the tourists were on the steamer & we were left in our glory with "Larry, wife and baby Lizzie.” Two pieces of souvenir china sold by E.C. Waters at his boat store, who ran the boat & ferry company until around 1907. These pieces were "Made in Germany for M.B. Waters." M.B. being Martha Bustus, EC Waters' wife. Detroit Industrialist Carl E. Schmidt traveled the Yellowstone and other western areas in 1901, and describes the lunch station in his book, A Western Trip : “The growth of timber grows heavier until it ends in a fringe at the shore of the lake. There is found a lunch station, that is, large tents, are pitched. We enter the first one which is a sort of a reception room. On inquiring for a drink the gentlemen of the party are motioned to the rear where a canvas flap is lifted and on stepping through we find ourselves in a smaller tent where eight whisky bottles are set on a shelf in a row, and to our delight each is labeled "Canadian Club”. While waiting around for the lunch to be set on the table a coach party arrives and as soon as they have shaken themselves free of dust we are ushered into the dining room which contains a long deal table with benches along the sides. After all are seated bountiful platters of good, substantial food are set out before us. Capt. Waters, a striking figure introduces himself and arrangements are made with him to cross the lake on his little steamer “Zillah." The "Zillah” is a small steamer that was transported piece-meal over the mountains to this lake.” Tourists gathered around the Fishing Cone at Thumb Bay. Included is chef Larry Mathews, manager of Thumb Lunch Station in 1892. [Keystone View Co. Stereoview #26498] Thumb Hotel - 1903-1916 ​ Construction began on a new wooden hotel and lunch station at West Thumb the end of May 1903. It was a simple frame building designed by Robert Reamer , architech for the Old Faithful Inn, without his usual rustic embellishments. Work proceeded quickly on the $3,000 building and the station was open for much of the 1903 season. The hotel sported 20 simple guest rooms for those who chose to spend the night. When the park transportation system was motorized in 1917, the trip to Lake Hotel from Old Faithful became much shorter and more comfortable in the new White Motor Co . auto-stages. The ferry service from Thumb to Lake became obsolete, and the boats were mostly used for pleasure cruises from the hotel. The hotel and lunch station also became unnecessary and closed down at the end of the 1916 season. The building sat empty until 1919 when Chas. Hamilton gained use of it for a general store. Top Right : Colorized postcard view of the Thumb Lunch Station ca1912. [Haynes Photo No. 208] Bottom Left Thumb Lunch Station, ca1905. [Yellowstone Park Asso. brochure, 1905] Bottom Right : Approach to Thumb Hotel. Notice large tent at left. Not dated. [YNP 1875] The Yellowstone Park Association brochure in 1905 described some of the basics of the lunch station and area: ​ “At the Thumb Lunch Station you will find everything neat and clean, and an appetizing lunch served, notwithstanding the fact that you are more than a thousand miles from a market of any considerable size, and that everything provided for you has been hauled by freight teams nearly seventy-five miles over mountains rising more than 8400 feet above sea level. On the lake you will find an excursion boat which makes regular trips between the Thumb and the Lake Hotel. This is not a part of the regular transportation trip, the steamer being owned and operated by an independent company, and parties desiring to make this trip are required to pay an additional charge.” There is good cheer at this lunch place and much to see in the hour-and-a-half stop. The drive-whetted appetites will find no disappointment here; these good people of the Thumb Lunch Station have one duty to perform, the preparation of the noonday meal, and they do it well; they know just how many are coming; there is never any shortage and the last have just as much and just as good food as the first to arrive, and the Thumb lunch is not the least of the pleasant surprises of this every-way surprising drive. There is an hour-and-a-half wait while the horses feed and rest, so there is time to visit the Paint Pots, and the Cone in the lake where you may catch a fish in the cold water of the lake and cook it in the hot water of the Cone without taking it off your hook. Top Right : View of Thumb Hotel from near the lake. [YNP #82] Middle Right : Thumb Hotel from one of the approaches, nd. [Author Digital Collection] Bottom Right Stagecoach with passengers at loading porch of hotel in 1906. [Wyoming State Archives] Bottom Left : Thumb Paint Pots near the hotel. Tent at left may be the photographer's tent. A building in trees at right, perhaps part of the hotel complex, 1905. [HC White Stereoview, #12078] Hamilton Store at the Old Thumb Hotel - 1919-1923 ​ In 1919 Chas. A. Hamilton made arrangements with the Yellowstone Park Hotel Co . to use the old Thumb Lunch Station as a general store. He was owner of the general store at Old Faithful, and desired to expand his business. He remodeled the interior of this lunch station to establish his first store at the Thumb in 1919. According to Park Superintendent Horace Albright, “He is now engaged in building a fine new store at the Lake which will take the place of the boat company’s store . . . Mr. Hamilton expects to arrange for the maintenance of a store next year in the old lunch station of the Yellowstone Park Hotel Company at the Thumb of Lake Yellowstone where the south approach road joins the belt line system” In 1924, Hamilton built a new log store and abandoned the old Lunch Station, which was torn down three years later. Map of the Lake area showing the Thumb Lunch Station. The Wylie Camp & ranger station were nearby. A Shaw & Powell camp was just north of the hotel along the road to lake. Route of the Zillah are also shown. [Oregon Short Line Brochure, 1899] For additional information on the West Thumb area after the closure of the Thumb Hotel, please check out the Thumb page on my old website, geyserbob.org. Info on the Hamilton & Haynes Stores, Thumb Camp/Cabins; Ranger Station and more. Click Here Right : West Thumb map from the 1936 Haynes Guide

Mountain Men in Yellowstone ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. While this page is under construction, please visit my old Postcard Page at Geyserbob.org http://geyserbob.org/Home-MtnMen.html Visit my Home Page to see which of my pages are completed and available. It's a long trip . . . Thanks for your patience. ​

Hotels in the Yellowstone Sylvan Pass Lodge - Sylvan Pass Lunch Station 1924 - 1934 Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author. Sylvan Pass Lodge & Lunch Station This rustic Sylvan Pass Lodge was the last of the lodge operations to be built in the park. It was designed to serve tourists traveling the 50-mile journey on the Cody Road from the rail depot at Cody to the Lake Hotel . Situated on the eastern border of Yellowstone National Park, the lodge was designed primarily as a lunch station, although tents facilities were available for overnight guests. The site had previously been used by the Wylie Camping Company, who established the Cody Camp there in 1913. The camp closed after the 1916 season, along with several other Camps and Lunch Stations in Yellowstone. Sylvan Pass Lodge - Cody Road. [Haynes PC #24071 The history of the site is unknown between 1917-1923, but the NPS built a free auto camp nearby by the early 1920s. The Yellowstone Park Lodge & Camps Co . began construction of a log lodge on the site in 1923, which opened in 1924, on the former Wylie camp site. The structure was rustic in nature and similar to other log lodges in the park. It was designed by Fred F. Willson of Bozeman, who was also architect for the Old Faithful Rec Hall and Lake Lodge. The first year the lodge was referred to as the Cody Camp, derived from the Wylie days. The name “Sylvan Pass Lodge” became official in 1925. Sylvan Pass Lodge during final construction in Spring of 1924. [YNP Scrapbook, 14a-0131] Sylvan Pass Lodge probably around Spring opening in 1924. [YNP #32187] The Billings Weekly Gazette reported in Sept. 1923 that Howard Hays, head of the YP Camps Company, “Came to Billings for the purpose of conferring with material men on business connected with the latest expansion plan of the Camps company, which is the construction of a lunch station near the east entrance of the park, on the Cody road, 55 miles from that city. The new building is to be 150 feet long by 110 feet deep, and the dining room will have a space of 135x52 feet, wherein 400 guests can be seated at one time. Hauling of material for this new work has been in progress for 10 days, and construction work is to begin at once, the plan being to have the station complete and ready to serve the public entering the eastern gateway the first day of the 1924 season.” Construction was completed for spring opening in 1924. The building was 150’x100’ in size, with a dining room 135’x52’. It served mostly as a lunch stop for travelers coming to the park on the YPTCo. ’s buses from the railroad station in Cody. Sometimes 500 people would have their lunches there. One group of buses would arrive at noon from Cody; and another, coming from the park would arrive at 1 p.m. Oft-times fifty park buses capable of carrying 11 people each would be parked outside the lunch stop. It also served all other travelers in the area for meals and overnight tent facilities. According to Howard Hays at the close of the 1923 season, there were times during the season when 1,000 people were camped at the public auto camp nearby. ​ Mrs. Adelaide Underwood, a long time park employee who managed the Old Faithful Inn for many years, was in charge of Sylvan Pass Lodge. The operation only lasted about 10 years and was torn down in 1940. Left Top : Sylvan Pass Lodge with bus loads of tourists in front. [Real-Photo Postcard, undated] Left Bottom : View of Sylvan Pass lunch Station. [Tamman Postcard #4541, circa mid-1920s] Bottom Photos : Interior views of Sylvan Pass Lodge. The design is very similar to those of Lake, Canyon, and Mammoth lodges. [1926 & 1928 Yellowstone Park Camps Co. brochures ] Yellowstone Yule Carols Fill Park YELLOWSTONE PARK — Christmas carols will fill the crisp mountain air, presents wil] he exchanged and workers will sit down to special dinners today as Yellowstone National Park continues a traditional celebration. The first Christmas in August observance was held during the 1920s at Sylvan Pass Lodge. Since the lodge was small, the number of employes was small and the party begun by the manager was very close. The occasion now is celebrated also in such cities near the park as West Yellowstone, Gardiner and Cooke City as a farewell to park and seasonal employes. New trees are decorated throughout the park, the nation's first, sand the entire crew of park workers and concessionaires — not to mention tourists — join in the celebration. Art Bazata, president of Yellowstone Park Co., will hold a special open house today as part of the observance. Sylvan Pass Lodge was the first overnight stop from Cody, Wyo, The lodge no longer exists. Celebrants opened the festivities Saturday night with a dance. [25Aug1968 Billings Gazette] Couple skiing at Sylvan Lodge in the 1930s. Although the lodge was not open in winter, they may have stayed at Pahaska Tepee or another lodge in Wapiti Valley.

Camping the Yellowstone ​ Click on Link above to begin your tour. Yellowstone Camps 101 ​ The formal hotel system in Yellowstone Park that began in 1883 was designed primarily for the ‘traveler of means' brought in by the railroad companies. The common visitor, or ‘Sagebrushers’, as they were known, were pretty much on their own in regards to lodging and meals, mostly camping along various roadsides. In 1883, William Wylie started the Wylie Camping Company in order to serve this crowd. His rates were considerably less than the hotel's and he offered a more personalized camp experience. Starting with portable camps, he eventually received permission to establish permanent tent camps in 1896 and gradually began building camps at various park locations. Wylie also built lunch stations at Gibbon River, West Thumb, and Riverside. Shaw & Powell entered the business in 1898, utilizing portable tent camps. In 1913 they received permission to establish permanent tent camps at Indian Creek, Old Faithful, Lake, Canyon, Nez Perce Creek, and Yellowstone Lake, just east of West Thumb. Both of these companies also operated stage lines in order to bring visitors directly to their own facilities. In the ensuing years other camping companies entered the scene to compete with Wylie and Shaw & Powell. The main contenders included Tex Holm , Frost & Richard , Marshall Brothers , Old Faithful Camping Co., Bryant Camping Company, Bassett Brothers (probably the earliest camping outfit), Lycan Camping Co., David Curry (later of Curry Camps in Yosemite), and numerous other smaller operations. Mandated changes by the Department of Interior in 1917 brought about the consolidation of the Wylie and Shaw & Powell companies, while the other permanent camp companies were dissolved. With the advent of auto travel and the decreased travel times, many tent camps and lunch stations were closed down after 1916. This new camps company was known as the Yellowstone Park Camping Company (YPCC). YPCC's efforts were concentrated at the major locations in the park - Old Faithful, Canyon, Mammoth, Roosevelt, and Lake. As part of the major changes brought about in 1916-17, their transportation privileges were revoked, and taken over by the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co., headed by H.W. Child . The Yellowstone Parks Camps Company was formed when the Y.P. Camping Co. sold out to Howard Hayes and Roe Emery in 1919. These camp companies were responsible for building lodges with cabins at Mammoth (1917), Roosevelt (1920), Lake , Old Faithful , and Canyon in the early 1920’s. Los Angeles hotelier Vernon Goodwin , with backing by Harry Child, bought the operation in 1924 and renamed it the Vernon Goodwin Co. They established housekeeping cabins and cafeterias at the various auto campgrounds. In 1928 H.W. Child took over complete control of the company and it became the Yellowstone Park Lodge & Camps Company. Improvement continued to be made at the lodges and camps cabins. In 1936 Child merged the camps company together with his hotel and transportation companies into the Yellowstone Park Co. Mammoth Lodge was closed down in 1940 and Canyon Lodge was shut down in 1956 with opening of the new Mission 66 era Canyon Lodge at its current location. Lake Lodge, Roosevelt Lodge, and Old Faithful continue to operate under the auspices of the current park lodging and transportation concessionaire, Xanterra Parks & Resorts.

Yellowstone's Supporting Railroads ​ Northern Pacific RR Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. The Northern Pacific Railroad - Yellowstone's First Rail Access A Pictorial History of the Early Days Jay Cooke ​ Jay Cooke, born in 1821, was an American financier, whose firm raised more than $1 billion in loans for the federal government during the American Civil War. After the war Cooke undertook to raise $100 million for the projected route of the Northern Pacific Railroad from Duluth, Minnesota, to Tacoma, Washington. Cooke became head of the Northern Pacific RR in 1868 and served until 1873. However, the financial burden was too great, and the firm went bankrupt, thus precipitating the panic of 1873, which brought rail building to a standstill until 1879. Cooke's firm never reopened, but Cooke, through mining investments, repaid his creditors and accumulated another fortune within seven years. Frederick Billings took control of NPRR in 1879 and rail building began again at a rapid rate. He was suceeded in 1881 by Henry Villard who oversaw the completion of the rail line in August of 1883. A Last Spike Ceremony was held at Gold Creek, Montana, 59 west of Helena, on September 8. Prior to the 1870 Washburn Expedition, Cooke hired Nathaniel Langford as a sort of publicity agent to help spread the word of the wonders of the western lands that the railroad would be passing through. Cooke City was named after Jay Cooke by the miners in that area in an attempt to attract a rail line to the gold mines there. The Northern Pacific Railroad . . . The NPRR was formed in 1864 when the company was awarded the rights to build a rail line from Lake Superior to Puget Sound. As incentive, Congress granted them about 10 million acres of land along the proposed route. Construction began in 1870 but progress was halted for six years when the Panic of 1873 caused most all rail construction in the US to come to a standstill. The line finally reached Livingston Montana in the fall of 1882 and was completed across Montana to the West Coast in early fall of 1883. That year the Park Branch Line was built from Livingston to Cinnabar and became the first rail access to the park on September 1. Cinnabar was about 3 miles north of Gardiner. A land dispute between the railroad and 'Buckskin Jim' Cutler prevented the rail line from coming all the way into Gardiner. The railroad was the owner or part owner of the hotels in the park until 1907 when H.W. Child acquired all the remaining shares. Beginning in 1883 the railroad attempted to build a line along the northern end of the park to the gold mines of Cooke City. The controversy over the proposal raged on for over 10 years before the railroad finally backed off on the plan. Cinnabar, Mont. Station. Both photos courtesy Burton Holmes Travelogues, 1905 The company was reorganized in 1896 and became known as the Northern Pacific Railway (NPRy). They continued to provide loans and financial backing for the construction and operation of the hotels and transportation fleet in Yellowstone into the mid-1900’s. In June 1902, the company extended their Yellowstone Park Line to Gardiner, with the first passenger train arriving in early July to a temporary depot and loading platform. A rustic log depot was erected in Gardiner at the end of Northern Pacific’s ‘Yellowstone Park Line' in 1903. Robert Reamer, architect of the Old Faithful Inn, designed the building and the firm of Deeks & Deeks was awarded the $20,000 construction contract on April 27, 1903. The rail line was extended into Gardiner and opened June 20, 1902. A temporary depot was used until the new edifice was completed. Visitors exiting the building looked upon a pond and the new stone Arch built at the entrance to the park that same year. ​ The Gardiner Wonderland newspaper commented on July 3rd that, “For the first time the regular passenger train on the Park branch ran into Gardiner and unloaded its passengers at the temporary depot and platform erected in the western part of town. Many of our citizens went down to greet the train and witness the fruition of their long deferred hopes, It may be said now that Gardiner is the terminus.” The Roosevelt Arch Located at the north entrance to Yellowstone. It was built near the Gardiner Depot in 1903. The Arch was constructed out of native stone from a design by architect Robert Reamer. Theodore Roosevelt dedicated it on April 24, 1903 and by September visitors were able to drive through the Arch via stagecoach to enter the park. A stone gatehouse was built near the Arch in 1921 and used as a check-in station until it was razed in 1966. The Arch is also known as the North Entrance Arch. ​ Top Left: Construction of Roosevelt Arch 1902. YNP #16174 Top Right: Roosevelt Arch, 1904. YNP #29448 Gardiner Depot A temporary depot was used until the new edifice was completed in 1903. The rustic log depot building erected at the terminus of Northern Pacific’s ‘Yellowstone Park Line' was designed by Robert Reamer, architect of the Old Faithful Inn. The firm of Deeks & Deeks was awarded the $20,000 construction contract. Upon completion, visitors exiting the new depot could gaze upon a pond and the new stone Arch built at the entrance of Yellowstone Park. Left Top: Construction of the depot in 1902. YNP #16174 Left Bottom: Depot & Arch, Haynes Sepia Post Card, ca1905 Right Bottom: Stages in front of depot. Real-Photo post card, undated. Goss Collecction An excerpt from a 1904 edition of the Railroad Gazette boasting about the new NPRR Depot: ​ "The station at Gardiner was designed to harmonize with the other structures [Arch, etc]. It is essentially rustic and is built of native materials. The foundations and lower parts of the walls are rough boulders. The walls above, including the platform shelters are made of unbarked logs. The roof trusses, gables and ceilings are finished with similar material. The interior contains a large waiting room with fireplace, ticket office, express office, baggage room and toilet rooms. The rustic effect is also carried out in the interior, the doors, windows, settees, chandeliers, hardware, etc., all being in keeping with the general design. The projecting ends of logs are smoothed and polished, and where lumber is used for finishing it is of high grade and finely polished. Wrought nails, bearing on their heads the trade-mark of the company, are used wherever they will show. The fireplace at the end of the waiting room is broad and forms a pleasing feature of the interior." The Northern Pacific RR adopted the Monad Logo 1893. It was patterned after the Chinese Yin-Yang symbol. The two comma shaped halves represent the dual powers of the universe – two principles called Yang and Yin. Their primitive meanings were: Yang, light; Yin, darkness. Philosophically, they stood for the positive and the negative. The bottom of the logo reads "Yellowstone Park Line". The company's headquarters were in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Wonderland of the World ​ The Northern Pacific Railroad began publishing "The Wonderland of the World" guidebook of Yellowstone in 1884 in order to advertise their services. It featured imaginative colored images on the covers. The brochures were supplemented with photos by F.Jay Haynes, Official Photographer of the Northern Pacific RR. It published yearly until 1906 with articles on Yellowstone and other points of interest along the NPRR’s route through the Northwest. ​ Covers from the 1885 and 1897 issues of Wonderland. The Northwest Improvement Company ​ The Northern Pacific Railway sold their interest in the hotels in Yellowstone to their subsidiary, the Northwest Improvement Co. in 1898, making that company the sole owner of the Yellowstone Park Association stock. NWIC continued to be the front company for the NPRy’s financing of H.W. Child’s enterprises in the park for many years. In 1917 financial backing was done jointly with the NPRy, Union Pacific, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads NWIC was also responsible for the opening of the travertine quarries near Gardiner in the 1930’s. The last railroad loan was obtained in 1937 and was paid off by 1955. Yellowstone Comet ​ A Depression-era train between Chicago and Seattle, the Yellowstone Comet was a joint operation of the Northern Pacific and Burlington railroads. Splitting at Billings, Montana, the train offered access to the park via either Gardiner or Cody, Top Left: Yellowstone Park ad from the Wonderland brochure in 1900. ​ Top Right: Poster art from the Northern Pacific's "Yellowstone Park Line." ​ Bottom Left: Brass fob for the Yellowstone Park Line. ​ Bottom Right: Conductor's Badge worn on the Yellowstone Park Line.

Hotels in the Yellowstone Fountain Hotel - 1891-1916 ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Fountain Hotel, from a double-oval postcard by FJ Haynes. Construction of the Fountain Hotel began in 1889 by the Yellowstone Park Association on a small rise on Fountain Flats, close to the Fountain Paint Pots, facing Fountain geyser. It has sometimes been called the Fountain Geyser Hotel. It replaced the old Firehole Hotel, located nearby at the junction of Nez Perce Creek and the Firehole River, which was abandoned in June. It became the first overnight stop for travelers from both the north and later the west entrances of Yellowstone. The Fountain Hotel opened in 1891, the same summer YPA opened a new hotel on the shores of Lake Yellowstone. The structure cost $100,000 and featured electric lights, steam heat, and piped in hot water from a nearby hot spring. Capacity was 350 guests and the interior walls were calcimined with material from the paint pots. Eventually the exterior was painted yellow. The park hotel association now had three 1st class hotels in the park to serve park visitors - the National Hotel at Mammoth and Lake Hotel. Reau Campbell, in his Campbell’s Complete Guide to Yellowstone, 1909, describes the Fountain Hotel: “There are electric lights and steam heat, with the cheerful accessory of a log fireplace in the lobby. The house is three stories, with rooms light, cheery and well ventilated. The dining-room is particularly a cheerful one. It has been said that the walls of the rooms were tinted with material taken from the Paint Pots, and from their soft colors we may believe it. The fine sulphur baths of the Fountain are in grateful remembrance of all who have had the good fortune to enjoy them; the water comes from one of the hot springs near the Paint Pots at an elevation sufficient to send the water to the bathrooms on the second floor of the hotel.” The Fountain Hotel.—This elegant and modernly constructed hotel, is pleasantly situated on the east side of the valley, commanding an extended view of the surroundings. Its appointments are tirst class throughout, electric light, steam heat, and the only hotel in the Park having natural hot water baths. It is the first hotel reached by visitors entering the Park from the west. The adjacent streams are stocked with “Loch Leven” and “Eastern brook” trout, and with the many natural curiosities in this vicinity one can profitably spend several days at the “Fountain.” [Haynes Guide, 1898] Map of the Lower Geyser Basin. From Campbells Guide to Yellowstone, 1909 The Fountain Hotel, No. 115. Published by Haynes-Photo in 1908. In the mid-late 1800, "Taking the Waters" was a popular past-time for folks who believed the mineral hot spring waters were a restorative to body and mind. The water that was piped into the Fountain Hotel was also believed by many to have these properties. If you look closely at the photo at left (click to enlarge), one can see the pipeline (center) that ran from Leather Pool to the hotel. The 1905 YPA brochure claimed, ​ "Here also one may obtain the privilege of bathing in the naturally heated waters of Mother Earth, for the baths at the Fountain Hotel are supplied from a pool of hot sulphur water nearby. These baths will be found extremely refreshing and invigorating, and Doctor Howard Mummery, F. R. S., of London, gave it as his opinion that the hot water that supplies the baths at the Fountain Hotel contains properties that will most effectually act as a remedial agent in case of kidney complaints. Bright’s disease and all kindred ailments. These baths should be continued for one or more weeks to obtain the full benefit of their medicinal value." Top: Rare view/sketch of the lobby of the Fountain Hotel. YNP Scrapbook] Bottom: Front of hotel with stagecoaches. Los Angeles Co. Museum, SCWHR-P-002-2498 Top: Fountain Hotel with Coach [YNP Archives #147588)] Bottom: Rare view of the back side of the hotel. [YNP #20129827] The Bears of Yellowstone ​ One of the popular features of Yellowstone National Park was the legion of bears. Early on, bears were attracted to the hotel dumps at all the park hotels, Mammoth excepted. The first "bear shows" originated at the Fountain Hotel garbage dump, perhaps a 100 yards in the woods behind the hotel. According to a 1904 Yellowstone Park Asso. brochure, this iconic bear photo, "was made by the young son of a former manager of the Fountain Hotel." The manager is believed to be Ellis J. Westlake, who served from 1896 through 1900. His son's name was John, who would have been 16-20 years of age during that time. At some point the "Association" and YP Transportation Co. (both were partly controlled by Hary Child in 1901), began using the photo for the bear-in-Circles logo. The original photo showed the bear standing amidst a plethora old tin cans, but they were eventually "photoshopped' to look like cut logs. F.Jay Haynes published the postcard shown below in 1908, and also in latter years. From Our Friends, the Bears, by James E. Tower, Good Housekeeping, 1901 ​ “At the Fountain Geyser hotel the black bears allow the Kodak fiend to get within thirty or forty feet of them, while feeding. I saw seven bears there in a group, including a mother and two cubs. Not even the rattling of the stage and the sound of human voices prevented a large black bear from coming in full view of a stage load of us, in the woods near the Grand canyon. The expression on a black bear’s face when a snap-shot intruder creeps to within thirty or forty feet, is a study. He gives the visitor a side glance, munching the while on his food, as much as to say: "Well, I guess you’re harmless: this piece of meat is too good to leave, and there wouldn’t be a thing left of you, anyway, if you should get too fresh and compel me to make trouble.” Dooley, a silver-tip cub tied to a tree at the Grand canyon hotel, was so wroth because I snapped my camera at him that he "had it in for me,” as the boys say, the rest of the day: glaring at me, turning his back when he thought I was trying to photograph him. He snapped at visitors - quite pardonably. He was to return to the woods and his mamma in the fall, for silver-tips cannot be tamed, it is said.” Bears feeding at an unknown park dump, tourist nearby, ca1910. [Museum of the Rockies, MOR #92-41-2 From: Book of a Hundred Bears , Frederick Dumont Smith, Rand McNally, 1909 ​ And here we saw our first bears. All the Park hotels have a garbage pile, where the refuse from the kitchen is dumped once a day, and here the bears come from the woods for meals “a la cart(e).” The garbage place at the Fountain is some distance from the hotel, and that summer a particularly ugly old she-grizzly and two cubs had taken possession of it, and it was considered unsafe to go near them. Two of the soldier guards stand there with their riHcs anti heavy service revolvers to keep us from approaching too closely and to guard against the bears. This reassures us. We know they are wild bears; that there is no hippodrome about it. Your first sight of a real wild bear there in his native woods gives you just a little thrill. It is not like a caged or menagerie bear. You realize that there are possibilities of danger and when, just at dusk, they came galloping down the hill—three of them, a mother and two half-grown cubs—it was an event. The mother was very suspicious and, when she stood up to sniff for danger, she looked as big as the side of a house. PIPER IS LOST IN THE PARK Missing From the Fountain Hotel Since Monday Night He Mysteriously Disappeared THOUGHT TO BE INSANE Not a Trace of Him Can Be Found and It Is Feared That He Has Fallen Into Some of the Many Bottomless Holes. All Hope of His Rescue Given Up A Squad of Cavalry Has Been Tirelessly at Work on the Search. Special Dispatch to the Standard. - Livingston, August 2, 1900 Another day has gone by and still there has been found no trace of J.R. Piper, [L. R. Piper] the man who wandered away from the Fountain Hotel in the national park last Monday evening. Searching parties, consisting of soldiers, stage drivers, hotel employees and tourists, have scoured the country in the vicinity of the Fountain hotel since Tuesday morning, but they have been able to discover no trace of the missing man. It seems as if the earth had opened and swallowed him, and, indeed, it is not unlikely that he has stumbled blindly into one of the many pools or bottomless cauldrons of seething mud that are so numerous in the Midway geyser basin. So read the headline of Montana’s Anaconda Standard newspaper of August 3rd, 1900 - a Yellowstone mystery that has never been solved. No trace of Piper’s body was ever found and nothing was ever heard of him again. Leroy Piper was a mild-mannered bank cashier at a bank in St. Mary's, Ohio. Piper's "rich uncle" had died the previous year in California, and Piper was on his way west to help straighten out affairs, and hopefully collect his inheritance. Riding a Union Pacific train, he and a few friends stopped at Salt Lake City to make a side trip to Yellowstone Park. They rolled into Yellowstone Station at the west entrance and proceeded to Fountain Hotel for the first night. On the evening of July 30, 1900, Piper wandered downstairs to the dining room. He ate a leisurely dinner, purchased a cigar from the lobby newsstand and stepped into the night to enjoy a pleasant smoke and fresh mountain air on a peaceful evening . . . . . . and disappeared into the mists of time - never to be seen again, and nary a trace of him was ever found. Still a Yellowstone Mystery to this day. The Man Who Wandered Away:- A Yellowstone Mystery, an article by this author, is a vailable in "Annals of Wyoming " Autumn 2008, Vol. 80, No.4 Left: Fountain Hotel in 1896, Keystone-Mast photo Right: Touring car with Fountain Hotel in background, undated. Prior to the opening of the Old Faithful Inn in 1904, guests often stayed two nights at the Fountain with a day trip to Old Faithful in between. After the Inn opened, the stay was only for one night. With the advent of the motorized bus fleet in 1917, travel times were shortened considerably and the trip from Mammoth or West Yellowstone to Old Faithful could be made in a single day, eliminating the need for facilities at Fountain. The hotel closed after 1916, a mere 25 years of operation. It stood empty and deserted for over 10 years when permission was received to tear it down. It vanished into the past in 1928. Today, little remains of the old hotel - a few crumbled concrete foundation walls, water pipe fragments, concrete supports for the old generator cabin, remains of the old bear dump with sparkling pieces of old glass, pottery, and rusted cans. Left: Article about objects found during the demo of the hotel in 1928. [Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Mn., 17Aug1928] Right: Photo of the foundation supports for the old generator house. Photo by author 2005 SLY MOUSE GHOST OF PARK HOTEL The Davenport Iowa Democrat and Leader, June 13, 1928 Yellowstone Park, Wyo - (AP) At six o'clock of every cold, raw, winter evening a bell in room 203 of the Fountain Hotel would ring. Every night at six o'clock a frightened, but conscientious caretaker made his cautious way to room 203, only to find it empty. Finally even the caretaker's earnestness could not stand the spectral twilight calls, and he fled the hotel in the company of a park photographer. The old hotel was remodeled the next spring, and the workers found that a mouse had made its nest in the wall of room 203 over the wire leading to the bell. It had nibbled off the insulation as that every time it touched it the bell rang. The regularity of the ghostly rings testify to the excellent character of the rodent. Even this explanation has not entirely put down the evil reputation of the hotel, and native, park rangers and general park employees have held for 20 years to their belief in the "haunt." Demolition of the building this spring, however, is expected to lay the ghost forever.

Coaching in Yellowstone ​ Click on Link above to begin your tour. Development of the Transportation Companies in Yellowstone The earliest commercial transportation venture in the Park seems to be Jack Baronett’s toll bridge, built in 1871 near Tower junction over the Yellowstone River. He built a cabin on the bench above the junction of the Lamar and Yellowstone Rivers, and charged a $1.00 a head for man or beast to cross. In 1873, John Werks, George Huston, and Frank Grounds operated a primitive pack and saddle business at Mammoth. Stagecoach service was started in 1874 with ‘Zack Roots Express’ weekly service on Mondays from Bozeman to Mammoth, carrying both freight and passengers. The construction of a primitive road by Supt. Norris and his crew from Mammoth to Lower Geyser Basin in 1878 allowed Marshall & Goff to start a stagecoach business in 1880 to access the Geyser Basins and Marshall’s Hotel. During the next 36 years numerous companies operated stagecoach lines, including Wakefield & Hoffman, Yellowstone Transportation Co., Yellowstone National Park Transportation Co., Monida & Yellowstone Stage Co. (F.J. Haynes), Cody-Sylvan Pass Co., Wylie Camping Co., and Shaw & Powell Camping Co. After the 1916 season, all transportation companies were merged into a monopoly, called the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co., headed by Harry W. Child. In August of 1915, automobiles were first allowed into the Park. That year and the following one was a time of transition with both modes of travel operating under strict guidelines. This act of 1915 brought major changes to the entire way of doing business in the Park. With the shortened travel times now available, hotels were no longer needed at Fountain and Norris. Many tent camps were also closed. The increased travel times and freight tonnage available with motorized trucks eliminated the need for the various dairy and slaughterhouse operations inside the Park. Also, with the elimination of the “weed-burners’, the park’s pastures would no longer be needed for the intense grazing that had been necessary. In 1917 the stagecoaches and stock were sold out, and Child, with loans of over $400,000 from the railroads, purchased 117 White Motor buses and various service trucks. These were headquartered at the barns built in 1903-04 at Mammoth. Plans were finalized for new facilities in Gardiner in 1924, but in March of 1925, the buildings at Mammoth burned, along with at least 93 vehicles. It took a giant effort by the White Motor Company to get new auto stages to the park for spring opening. The new garages in Gardiner were completed later that year. In 1936 the YPTC was merged with other Park concessionaires into the Yellowstone Park Company under Wm. Nichols, Child’s’ son-in-law. As automobiles took over, the need for improvement of the roadbeds became a priority. Gradually, the roads were widened, oiled, graveled, and ultimately paved. The maintenance of the roads was and still is a constant problem. The need for auto campgrounds and gas filling stations became apparent, and eventually facilities were established at all major locations. Yellowstone Park Service Stations currently runs the gas stations and is independently owned. The Railroad Era The influences of the early railroad companies, although now lone gone from the local scene, reaches back into the earliest days of ‘official exploration’ of the Park. Nathaniel Langford of the Washburn Expedition of 1870, was an employee of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Through the influence of his boss Jay Cooke, financial agent of the NPRR, Langford was a strong advocate for the railroad interests in park affairs, as were other influential people connected with the park. By 1883, four railroad companies have achieved transcontinental status, receiving vast tracts of lands adjacent to their right-of-ways as their incentive. In order to recover their costs and increase travel along these lines, the railroads needed to create reasons for people to travel west. These included land sales for homesteading, ranching, farming, and business opportunities in the newly established towns along the way. Promotion of resort areas and natural wonders was another ploy to attract travelers from the moneyed classes. Yellowstone was the target of this last type of promotion by the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1882. In that year surveys had been made into the heart of the park in hopes of extending rail lines to all the important points of interest. Also there was a push to run tracks along the northern border to Cooke City in order the service the gold mines there. Eventually, through the actions of the Secretary of Interior, Congress, and various sportsman groups and concerned citizens, these plans were thwarted. The gateway communities became the ‘end of the line’. In 1883 the NPRR extended a line from Livingston to Cinnabar called ‘the Park Branch Line’. It had stopped there instead of continuing on to Gardiner because of lack of access through certain private lands. Construction of the National Hotel at Mammoth had started earlier this year, and was partially open for business in late summer. This was the first hotel built in the park that hoped to cater strictly to the upper class visitors. By 1911 luxury hotels had been constructed at all major locations with financial backing by the NPRy. Other railroads companies joined in the competition for park business with Union Pacific RR entering West Yellowstone in 1907. The Burlington & Chicago reached Cody in 1901, and the Milwaukee extended service to Gallatin Gateway in 1927. Land claims were eventually settled in Gardiner, and the NPRy reached that town in 1902, with the depot and Arch being built the following year. The railroads continued to exert influence on park business into the 1900’s with outright wnership or majority interests in the hotel companies and some of the transportation companies. By 1907, NPRy had sold its stock and direct interests in the hotels, but continued to actively promote the park and provided loans to H.W. Child for construction and improvements. The railroads continued to provide financial assistance to Park businesses until after WWII. Demand for railroad services after that time decreased rapidly with the increase in the use of automobiles for vacation travel. Regular scheduled passenger railroad service ended in Gardiner in 1948, Cody in 1956, and West Yellowstone and Gallatin Gateway in 1961.

Yellowstone Biographies E-F-G ​ ​ Copyright 2020 by Robert V. Goss. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from th e author. Eagle, Sam P. Sam Eagle came west from Pennsylvania in 1902 and worked as a seasonal bartender in Yellowstone in 1903. He tended bar at Mammoth Hotel and at the Fountain Hotel from 1905-07. A contract dated September 22, 1907 shows that Sam was employed as winter keeper at the Fountain Hotel that winter. He met his future wife Ida Carlson in 1905 while working at Fountain. They married in 1907 and opened a store with Alex Stuart on forest service land on the future site of West Yellowstone. He correctly anticipated the business that would be created by the arrival of the Union Pacific RR passenger service in 1908. Sam continued to work at Fountain Hotel for the 1908 season while his wife and the Stuarts ran the store. Two years later Stuart left and went into business for himself. Sam became Postmaster in 1909 and served for at least 25 years and also operated the telephone exchange beginning in 1926. A soda fountain was added in 1910 and the post office was housed there from 1910 to 1935. The current 3-story building was erected between 1927-30 and a 2-pump gas service was built southwest of the store around 1926. He became Airport Manager when the new airport opened in 1935. Eagle added onto the store in 1966. The business is still owned and operated by the Eagle family and is a landmark in West Yellowstone. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [97s; Eagle Family Collection] [18t] Eaton, Col. George Oscar. Col. Eaton was a native of Maine and served in the Civil War as a volunteer. He attended West Point, graduated in 1873 as a second lieutenant and attended the school of mines at Columbia College in New York. Eaton served in the cavalry in the western states and was a member of Gen. Sheridan's staff. After he retired from the cavalry, he came to Montana in 1881 and invested heavily in the mines at Cooke City. He was president of the Republic Mining Co. that owned mines such as the Great Republic, Greeley, Huston and the New World. He was also president of the company that operated the hydraulic placer mines in the Bear Gulch (Jardine) area and built the first quartz mill in the area. [56m;1118] Eaton, Howard. Howard Eaton came from Pennsylvania (born ca1851) in 1879 and squatted on some land in the Missouri River Breaks near Medora, Dakota Territory (North Dakota did not become a state until 1889). His brother Alden came to the area in 1881 and brother Willis in 1882. The three all established individual ranches, but joined them together in 1883 and it became known as the Custer Trail Ranch. It was located five miles south of Medora, North Dakota. The Eatons welcomed guests from the East to stay with them and in 1882 a visitor paid them to allow him to stay for a long period and have use of a horse. Thus began the early beginnings of 'dude ranching.' He began conducting horseback camping tours through the park in 1882. By 1886 he was conducting annual 3-week excursions of the park, but did not allow women on the trips until 1902. After the terrible winter of 1886-87 that decimated cattle herds over all the Northern Plains, he went into the ‘guest ranching’ business. He continued the guide business into the 1900’s. In 1904 he moved his ranch to Wolf Creek, near present day Sheridan, Wyoming and expanded his trips into Jackson Hole, the Big Horn Mountains, and Glacier Park. The Custer Trail Ranch was sold to Greene and Donaldson, men from New York. He continued his Yellowstone/Teton trips until his death on April 17, 1922. Eaton was responsible for bringing the buffalo from the Allard herd in Montana into Yellowstone in 1902 (see ‘Buffalo Jones’). He died April 17, 1922 at age 71. The 157-mile Howard Eaton Trail was named after him July 19, 1923. [32;202-03] [Bismarck Daily Tribune; 3/3/1904] [No. Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame website; Ranching - Eaton Custer Trail Ranch; www.northdakotacowboy.com/Hall_of_Fame/] Edgar, Robert Robert Edgar - See ‘Geyser Bob’. Emery, Roe. Roe Emery was picked by the White Motor Co. in 1914 to head up the new Glacier Park Transportation Co. He was responsible for setting up the operation of the new motorized bus fleet in Glacier. He later became a partner with Howard Hays in the 1919 purchase of the Yellowstone Park Camping Co. Walter White of the White Motor Co. was a silent financial partner and Hays was president of the company. They changed the name of the company to Yellowstone Park Camps Co. In 1924 they sold out to Harry Child and Vernon Goodwin, and Hays went on to head the Glacier Park Transportation Co. in 1927. Emery continued as a partner with the Glacier Park Transportation Co. until his death. Emery was also the head of the Rocky Mountain National Park Transportation Co. and the Denver Cab Co. [25L;36] Emmert, John W. John W. Emmert became Acting Park Superintendent for three months early in 1936 following the tragic death of Supt. Roger Toll. Toll was killed in an auto accident in New Mexico in February of that year. Emmert also served as superintendent of Glacier National Park from 1944 to 1958 and at Hot Springs NP from 1943 to 1944. [25L;36] Erwin, Col. James B. Col. Erwin was acting Supt. with the 4th Cavalry from Nov. 16, 1897 to March 15, 1899. [25L;37] Everts, Truman. Truman Everts was a member of the Washburn Expedition of 1870 who got separated from the expedition on September 9 and became lost around the southern end of Yellowstone Lake. He eventually lost his horse, glasses, weapons, and wandered by himself for 37 days in the park until found by Jack Baronett and George Pritchett on Crescent Hill in the northern end of the park. The men took him to the Turkey Pen Cabin to recuperate before he could return to Bozeman. George Huston carried Everts on horseback to the other side of Yankee Jim Canyon where Pritchett, Harry Horr and two soldiers continued the journey in a wagon. A $600 reward had been offered by Everts’ friends for his safe return, but neither Baronett nor Pritchett received a cent for their good deed. Everts was born in 1816 in Burlington, Vermont and made several voyages on the Great Lakes as a cabin boy with his father. In 1864 he was appointed assessor of internal revenue for Montana by President Lincoln. At age 65 Everts married a 14-year old girl and settled near Hyattsville, Maryland. He became the father of a son at age 75. He died in that area Feb. 16, 1901. [A.L. Haines, "Yellowstone National Park: It's Exploration and Establishment."] [25L;37] Ferris, Warren Angus. Warren Ferris was an educated man who was born Dec. 26, 1810 in Glen Falls, NY, and raised around Erie, Pennsylvania. He was trained as a civil engineer and by 1829 was living in St. Louis. He was hired by Pierre Chouteau Jr. as a trapper in 1930 and spent the years 1830-35 trapping and exploring the vast Rocky Mountain region in the employ of the American Fur Co. He visited Yellowstone in 1834 after hearing ‘whoppers’ about the geysers from other trappers and wanting to see them himself. Two Pend D’Oreilles Indians accompanied him on May 19-20 as he explored the Upper Geyser Basin and watched Old Faithful Geyser erupt. Upon his return to civilization in 1835, he wrote a story of the marvels of Yellowstone that was printed in the July 13, 1842 issue of the “Western Literary Messenger’, which was published in Buffalo, New York. The article was entitled “Life in the Rocky Mountains - A Diary of Wanderings on the Sources of the Rivers Missouri, Columbia, and Colorado, From February 1830, to November 1835.” The article was re-published in “The Wasp”, a paper from Nauvoo, IL. Ferris’ visit was the first ‘recorded’ visit to Old Faithful. Ferris moved to Texas near what became Dallas and died at his farm in Reinhardt on Feb. 8, 1873. [25g] [2] [Dan Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography] Finch, Celinda M. Mrs. J.B. Celinda Finch was issued a lease on March 6, 1885 to construct a hotel to serve Yellowstone visitors. The site consisted of 10 acres at Canyon on the north side of the Yellowstone River, a mile from the Lower Falls, and a half mile from Cascade Creek. A set of drawings of the proposed hotel was to be submitted within 90 days, along with a survey of the site. By August 1887 no materials had been delivered to Interior and it is assumed they canceled the lease at that time for non-compliance. Celinda and her daughter Coda Gillian Finch ran McCartney's Hotel in 1879-80 and the tent hotel at Old Faithful in 1883-84. In 1886 they managed the Albermarle Hotel in Livingston, Montana. Celinda M. Jackson, born ca1846 in Iowa, married J.B. Finch in the mid-1860s. Daughter Coda was born in 1866 and the family moved to Bozeman in 1868. Mother and daughter are listed in the census of 1870, 1880, and 1900, but no Mr. Finch. The 1900 census listed Celinda at Chico Hot Springs. Coda later married Jesse A. Armitage and moved to California in 1920. Her husband was described as a "Southland builder and influential in extending [the] Pacific Coast Highway through Southern California to San Diego." Coda died December 11, 1958 in Long Beach, California at age 92. [YNP Army Files Doc. 122] [25g] [Bozeman Avant-Courier 8/19/1880, 9/30/1880] [1879, 1880, 1900 Census, Gallatin & Park Co] [Calif. Death Index Coda Gillian Armitage] [1930 Long Beach Census] [Long Beach Independent, 12/13/1958] Fitzgerald, Sellack M. Selleck Madison Fitzgerald was born April 24, 1840 in Van Buren County, Iowa to parents Ambrose Fitzgerald (b. 1806 in VA) and Mary A. (Longwell) Fitzgerald (b.1812 OH). He headed west to California in 1862 as the captain of a wagon train with 175 people at the mere age of 22. He married Mary A. Brown in June of that year at Ft. Laramie. They eventually had 13 children. After suffering farm problems in California, they moved to Oregon and engaged in the stock business. He came to Montana in 1873, settling in the Upper Yellowstone Valley. By 1875 he was living in Emigrant Gulch and advertised in the Bozeman newspaper that, "Tourists and pleasure parties can be supplied with anything they desire . . . "He was an agent for Zack Root's Express that year, being one of the stops on the route to the park. He became one of the first assistant superintendents, serving in 1885-86. In 1885 he was living at the cabin at Soda Butte to patrol activities at that end of the park and erected a 44’ addition to the existing cabin that year. The Soda Butte area also served as the overnight stop for travel from Mammoth to Cooke City. By 1888 he was running a boarding house in Horr. In 1889 he provided several train-car loads of beef and hogs to YPIC. His daughter, Eva, married Walter Henderson in 1889 (Walter was son of hotelier and interpreter G.L. Henderson). By 1897 Selleck operated the Park Hotel and livery service in Gardiner, which he leased to William Wylie for the use of his camping guests. In 1907 he served as an extra scout for the army at Ft. Yellowstone. Selleck and Mary's children were: Ambrose, b.1864; Ransom, b.1865; Henry B., b.1866; Eliza J., b.1868; Mary M., b.1869; Eva S., b.1871; Selleck M., b.1872; Ida B, b.1874; Ella E., b.1875; Emma M., b.1876; Jessie M., b.1878; Pearl E., b.1881; Babe, b.1883. Nine of the children were still alive by 1907. Wife Mary died Apr. 14, 1906 (b. 10-18-1840) and was buried in the Gardiner Cemetery. According to "Montana, County Marriages, 1865-1950", Selleck remarried on Jan. 17, 1908. The marriage notice mentioned he had been previously married or divorced. The bride was Emely (nee Tomlinson) Cole, born 1854, about 13 years his junior. The 1910 Census listed him in Sweetgrass Mont. area with no wife listed and the 1920 Census shows him in Fishtail, Mont., living alone. On Sept. 27, 1927 he was married to an Elisabeth "Bettie" (Mulherin) Bassett in Columbus, Mt (b. ca1863 in Missouri) and living in Fishtail. Apparently by that age he either had money or charm. Selleck celebrated his 90th birthday in Fishtail, Montana and died March 22, 1932. [31] [LE;10/3/1885;6/15/1889;6/2/1897] [106d] [3m] [Bozeman Avant-Courier 5/14/1875; 8/27/1875] [Babcock's History of the Yellowstone Valley - 1907] [Montana Death Index, 1907-2002, STW721] Folsom, David E . David Folsom was a member of the Folsom-Cook-Peterson Expedition of 1869. He first came to the West in 1862 to mine for gold in Idaho. He moved on to Bannack and Virginia City, Montana during the gold rush in those areas. One day he incurred the wrath of bandit George Ives, who attempted to draw Folsom into a fight. Folsom beaned Ives with a pool ball and made his escape with friends. The vigilantes later hosted Ives with a "necktie party." Folsom eventually joined up with friend Charles Cook at Confederate Gulch near Helena. Cook managed the Boulder Ditch Co., which supplied water to the miners in Diamond City. Following the Yellowstone Expedition Folsom went to work in the office of the surveyor general in Montana. There he met Henry Washburn and was able to provide valuable information for Washburn’s expedition the following year. Folsom also made mention to Washburn that the area should be reserved for public use and collaborated with Cook on the article about their visit to Yellowstone. He later became a partner with Walter DeLacy in the surveying business. Folsom served as Montana state senator in the 1890’s and died May 18, 1918 in Palo Alto, California. Folsom was born May 1839 in Epping, New Hampshire, and like Cook, was educated in the Quaker philosophy, which no doubt helped seal their friendship. [31] [25g] [Dan Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography] Fossum, John . John Fossum worked with or for Ole Anderson in the production of ‘coated specimens’ at Mammoth by 1885 and continued the practice at least through 1898. Henderson’s Park Guide and Manual for 1885 noted that the Cottage Hotel Museum, run by Jennie Henderson, was selling “Anderson & Fossum’s Famous Coated Goods.” During the winter of 1889-90 he was employed by the Yellowstone Park Associaition (YPA) to repair the telephone lines in the park. Billy Hofer once described him as the "best Ski runner I ever saw and the best ever in the Park." Hofer also noted Fossum was a photographer and claimed he "got some of the best Buffalo Pictures ever taken of that animal in a wild state . . ."Ernest Thompson Seton, in his book "Wild Animals at Home," published in 1913, tells this story of Fossum: "A friend of mine, John Fossum, once a soldier attached to Fort Yellowstone, had a similar adventure on a more heroic scalp. While out on a camera hunt in early winter he descried afar a large bull Elk lying asleep in an open valley. At once Fossum made a plan. He saw that he could crawl up to the bull, snap him where he lay, then later secure a second picture as the creature ran for the timber. The first part of the program was carried out admirably. Fossum got within fifty feet and still the Elk lay sleeping. Then the camera was opened out. But alas! that little pesky "click," that does so much mischief, awoke the bull, who at once sprang to his feet and ran - not for the woods - but for the man. Fossum with the most amazing nerve stood there quietly focusing his camera, till the bull was within ten feet, then pressed the button, threw the camera into the soft snow and ran for his life with the bull at his coat-tails. It would have been a short run but for the fact that they reached a deep snowdrift that would carry the man, and would not carry the Elk. Here Fossum escaped, while the bull snorted around, telling just what he meant to do to the man when he caught him; but he was not to be caught, and at last the bull went off grumbling and squealing. The hunter came back and recovered his camera. It shows plainly the fighting light in the bulb eye, the back laid ears, the twisting of the nose, and the rate at which he is coming is evidenced in the stamping feet and the wind-blown whiskers; and yet in spite of the peril of the moment, and the fact that this was a hand camera, there is no sign of shake on landscape or on Elk, and the picture is actually over-exposed. [YNP Box H2 History File] [LE; 6/6/1898] [YNP Army Files Doc.#618] French, Augustus T. A.T. French (Augustus T. French) received the Mammoth-Cooke City mail contract in 1889 and took over J.A. Clark’s previous operation. In 1891, W.S. Boom of the Idaho Stage Line received a 3-year contract for that route, but sub-contracted the operation to French. A fire in 1893 near Yancey’s destroyed a barn, stage, two horses, grain and hay that French was using in his operation. He apparently still had the contract in 1897 as he built the old log cabin (still standing) at the lower end of the Mammoth Esplanade. By 1900 French was operating the Cinnabar to Jardine stage route. The 1900 Census for Gardiner, Montana shows he was born around 1857 (age 43) in France and married to Margaret M. French, aged 31. They had 3 children: Herbert S., 12; Florence P., 9; Ambrose T., 5. In 1910 they were still living in Yellowstone, but by 1920 Augustus and Margaret had moved to Harlowtown, Montana. [32] [LE;12/21/1889;5/24/1890;6/27/1891;5/27/1893] [115] [1910-1920 Federal Census] Frost, Ned W. Ned Frost was born around 1881 and came into the Cody country as an infant with his family and settled on Sage Creek. He killed his first grizzly bear around the age of seven or eight and began a life of hunting and guiding. By age 14 he was shooting antelope to supply meat houses in Coulson (Billings), Montana. He helped to build the Corkscrew Bridge on Sylvan Pass in the early 1900’s. In 1903 he discovered Frost Cave in the hills outside of town. He became a partner with Fred Richard in the early 1900’s with each of them homesteading land around Green Creek west of Cody. Ned hunted and trapped, while Fred skinned, stretched and prepared the pelts. Coyote pelts were going for $60 at the time and business was good. They saved up enough to build a large ranch house as a base camp for their enterprises. They formed the Frost & Richard Co. around 1910 and began conducting camping trips into Yellowstone. The two men also guided hunts into the neighboring forest areas that lasted for a month or more. When Prince Albert of Monaco came to Wyoming to hunt in 1913, Fred Richard and Wm. Cody guided him. After 1916 Frost and Richard went separate ways and formed their own guiding and hunting operations. Frost guided many famous hunters during his lifetime, including Saxton Pope and Art Young (Pope & Young Club). Frost Lake, two miles NE of Pyramid Peak was named after him ca1893-95. The Frost Ranch is the current location of the Skytel Ranch. [119y] [113] Check out my Frost & Richard Camping Co. page for more info!! ​ Galusha, Hugh. Hugh Galusha was hired as company controller for Yellowstone Park Hotel Co in 1931 and also served as Harry Child’s accountant and advisor for many years. He maintained this position with Wm. Nichols in the 1950’s, and in 1956 he became one of the first non-family members to serve on the board of Directors of Yellowstone Park Co. He also provided accounting/legal services for Charles Hamilton, Pryor & Trischman and George Whittaker. The Galusha firm is still in business under the name of Galusha Higgins & Galusha. [25L;42] Gardner, Johnson. Johnson Gardiner was an early fur trapper who began trapping in Gardner’s Hole south of Mammoth around 1831-32. He probably came up the Missouri in 1822 with the Ashley-Henry party and trapped in the Rockies for many years. He was known as a rough-and-tough fellow. An article about him in the April 23, 1903 issue of the Gardiner Wonderland newspaper rated him as “an outlaw and in general a worthless, dissolute character.” The Gardner River and Gardner’s Hole were named after him. Those names have at times in history also been spelled with an ‘i’, as in Gardiner. [25L;43] Garrison, Lemuel A. Lemuel Garison was Yellowstone Park Superintendent from 1956 to 1964. [25L;43] George, James James George - See ‘Yankee Jim’. Geyser Bob aka Robert Edgar , was a stagecoach driver for Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. (YPTCo) and 'whipped the lash' for 30 years in the park. He was famous for telling his ‘dudes’ many tall tales. One tale tells of him falling into the Old Faithful Geyser crater and coming out of Beehive Geyser. He told his astonished listener that the trip would have only taken about 10 minutes, except he stopped for a haircut and a shave. He was reported to be a son-in-law of Old Plenty Coups, chief of the Crow Indians. Edgar umpired the first game of baseball played by the Crow and Sioux, and was known to umpire beer-ball games in Gardiner on occasion. He died as he wished - "with his boots on" - and was driving a party of tourists around the park when he suddenly took seriously ill. Geyser Bob was interred in the Gardiner cemetery after his death at Yellowstone Lake on Aug. 23, 1913 at age 70. His headstone was “Erected by his Many Friends.” According to Hiram Chittenden, in his book The Yellowstone National Park (1915 edition), Edgar was born July 13, 1840 in Liverpool England and moved to New York with his parents as an infant. Growing up in the Bowery, he later served in the Civil War and went west afterward and drove a mail stage for many years in the Dakota Territory before arriving in Yellowstone, probably around 1883. See my Geyser Bob history page for an accounting of his life and his 'whoppers.' [LE;5/9/1908] [31] [113] Gibson, Charles Charles Gibson formed the Yellowstone Transportation Co. (YTC) with Thomas Oakes in 1886. Gibson, a St. Louis hotel businessman, was also co-founder of the Yellowstone Park Association (YPA) that same year, along with Nelson C. Thrall and John C. Bullitt. The YTC contracted to YPA for transportation services, but the actual stagecoach services were sub-contracted to Wakefield & Hoffman. The YTC was sold to the Yellowstone National Park Transportation Co. (YNPTCo) in 1892. Gibson sold his YPA shares back to the Northern Pacific Ry in 1898. [25L;44] Gilmer John T. 'Jack. ' Jack Gilmer and Monroe Salisbury formed the Gilmer & Salisbury stagecoach line in the early 1870’s with the purchase of the assets of the Utah, Idaho, and Montana branches of Wells, Fargo & Co. In 1873 this transportation firm was running stages from Fort Benton, Montana to Helena. They bought out the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage, Mail and Express Line in 1876, operating the Deadwood line between Cheyenne and the Black Hills. They began running stagecoaches into the park from the Union Pacific rail line at Spencer Idaho beginning in 1879 and built a stage station at Henry’s Lake in 1881. The route passed through Virginia City, Ennis, Henry’s Lake and Targhee Pass before arriving at Marshall’s Hotel. They became one of the most powerful corporations in the Northwest in the late 1800’s and amassed a nice fortune. In their final days stage lines ran from the Canadian border to southern Utah and from the Great Plains to California and Washington. Gilmer began ‘whacking’ mules and oxen in 1859 for Russell, Majors & Waddell and continued with the firm when Ben Holliday bought it out in 1861. He later became involved in the mining business in South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and California. [18t] [25g] [79o;470-71] Goff, John & Homer. In Jan. of 1905 the two men were given a 4-year contract to hunt mountain lions and lynx in Yellowstone. They received $75/month in pay plus $5 per lion. They utilized a large pack of hunting dogs to kill the animals that were considered a menace to park wildlife. John Goff was the "chief mountain lion killer" of Wyoming. This was an official position created in 1905 due to the great sums of money lost by cattlemen and sheep men from mountain lion depredation on their stock. President "Teddy" Roosevelt offered the position to Goff, who had guided the president on a hunting trip in Colorado a couple of years earlier. Goff moved to the Big Horn Basin from southern Colorado upon acceptance of the position. By the summer of 1906 he had killed several hundred of the big cats in the forest reserves of the Yellowstone region. He maintained a lifelong friendship with Mr. Roosevelt. Goff was born around 1867 and started his career as a "bullwhacker" in the late 1870's. In 1906 Goff built a lodge on leased land along the North Forth of the Shoshone River not far from the east entrance of Yellowstone Park. It later became Goff Creek Lodge and is still in operation. John Goff died March 28, 1937 in Cody, Wyoming. [106d] [Goff Creek Lodge website] [Washington Post; 7-30-1906] Goode, Capt. George W . Capt. Goode was Acting Supt. of Yellowstone with the 1st Cavalry from July 23, 1900 to May 8, 1901. He was born April 21, 1855 in St. Louis, Missouri and entered the US Military Academy July 1, 1875. He became as second lieutenant with the 1st Cavalry on June 12, 1880 and served in the Spanish American War. He later achieved the rank of colonel before his release from active duty in 1918. He died August 20, 1941 at Pasadena, California. [25L;45] [31;456-57] Goodnight, Charles . His ranch in Texas provided three buffalo bulls to the park in 1902 to help build up the herd. He charged $460.00 per head, and Howard Eaton was responsible for transporting them by rail to Yellowstone. Charles Goodnight was known as the "Father of the Texas Panhandle." He was born around 1836 and immigrated to Texas in 1876. His ranch eventually embraced 1,350,000 acres with over a hundred cowboys riding herd on 42,000 head of cattle and 460 horses. The town of Goodnight in Armstrong County, Texas was named after him. He attempted to cross cattle with buffalo, producing what he called "cattalo." They were exhibited at the 1903 Chicago World's Fair and later at the St. Louis Exposition. Charles died December 12, 1929 at his winter home in Tucson, Arizona following a 2-day bout with influenza. He celebrated his 91st birthday by marrying 26-year old Miss Corrine Goodnight of Butte, Montana. They were not related and the wedding was held in Forth Worth, Texas. [25L;45] [Helena Independent; 12-13-1929] Goodwin, Vernon. Vernon Goodwin, manager of the Alexandria and Ambassador hotels in Los Angeles, became one of the co-founders of what later became the Yellowstone Park Lodge & Camps Co. with H.W. Child in 1924. That year they bought out the Yellowstone Park Camps Co. from Howard H. Hays, Roe Emery, and E.H. Moorman and the company became known as the Vernon Goodwin Co. Four years later Child assumed complete ownership of the lodge company, changing the name to YP Lodge & Camps Co. Goodwin continued to work for Child, as did Edward H. Moorman, and upon Child’s death in 1931 Goodwin became vice-president of Yellowstone Park Hotel Co. He continued in this position when the Yellowstone Park Co. was created in 1936 and left the company in 1942 at age 71. According to "Greater Los Angeles & Southern California Portraits & Personal Memoranda," Lewis Publishing Company, 1910, Goodwain was "born in Santa Rosa, Cal., Dec. 13, 1871. Chiefly educated in public and high schools (grad. from latter in 1889), Assistant postmaster of Santa Rosa for three years; resigned to take a law course, and admitted to practice in California Supreme Court, 1894. Principal of grammar school for three years, and later took a special English course at Stanford University. Served as Deputy County Auditor for four years and resigned to accept position with California Gas & Electric Corporation. Came to Los Angeles, 1895; now Secretary of the Bilicke-Rowan Fireproof Building Co., Bilicke-Rowan Annex Co., Alexandria Hotel Co. and Hollenbeck Hotel Co." [25L;45] [Billings Gazette, 5-24-1924] Gourley, James . James Gourley discovered gold in the Cooke City area in 1869-70 with Adam ‘Horn’ Miller, Ed Hibbard, and Bart Henderson. The party also discovered the Hoodoo Basin and gave it the name of ‘Hoodoo’ or ‘Goblin Land’. Gourley also prospected extensively in the Mammoth, Gardiner, and Bear Creek areas. By 1884 he was Recorder for Gallatin County and claimed he knew James McCartney very well for 20 years beginning in 1879, indicating he may have come from New York, as did McCartney. In 1884 Gourley was Secretary of the Bear Gulch Placer Company that was operating two large placers about 2-1’2 miles from Gardiner. [YNP Army Files Doc.137] [32] Graham, Arch and Sarah A. Graham Arch Graham was part of party of tourists in 1874 that went for a boat ride in E.S. Topping's sailboat on Yellowstone Lake. The party included his wife Sarah, William and Sarah Tracy and their two sons. Topping named his boat the Sallie in honor of having the first two women to sail with him on the Lake. Arch Graham was born in 1833 in Kentucky and moved to Nodaway County, Missouri at age 18. There he became county clerk and also acted as deputy sheriff and deputy U.S. Marshall. In 1853 Arch married Miss Sarah A. Wiseman, a native of Ohio. He enlisted at the start of the Civil War and served for the duration on the side of the South. In 1867 the family took a steamboat to Fort Benton and settled in Helena where he operated a livery stable and did carpenter work. They moved to Bozeman around 1871 and Arch served as county clerk and recorder of Gallatin County from 1871-75. He turned to farming in 1876. The Grahams had five children. [From Leeson’s History of Montana] Grounds, Frank. Frank Grounds was a resident of Bozeman, a member of the Big Horn Expedition of 1874, and prospected in the Black Hills for gold. From 1873 to at least 1875 he worked with George Huston at Mammoth guiding and running pack trains into the park for tourists. He also hunted and trapped the greater Yellowstone area. In 1875, He was know to have collected over 1000 elk skins for sale or trade with Huston, James McCartney and others at the Gardiner River Bridge in 1875. He died of pneumonia in the Black Hills in Sept. of 1877. [Bozeman Avant-Courier 4/30/1875; 5/14/1875; Bozeman Times 6/1/1875; 9/27/1877] Gratiot Camp. In 1927, the James T. Gratiot Camping Company of Dubois, Wyo., established a camp at Lewis Lake with housekeeping cabins. It was unsuccessful financially and the 76 cabins were obtained by the YPLCCo in 1928 and moved to West Thumb, probably on or near the old Wylie Camp. These were simple and inexpensive cabins and visitors were generally required to BYO bedding, etc. Tents were added to boost the capacity to about 100 guests. A cafeteria was built to serve the camp.