HAVING TIME ON MY HANDS TODAY, I decided to spend a couple hours wandering around the collection of buildings on the south side of Yellowstone Street, directly across the street from my hotel. They're grand buildings built in the "Rustic" architectural style, designed (I think) by the same architect who chose the Rustic style for many of the historic National Park lodges and related buildings.
Yellowstone was designated as a National Park by President U.S. Grant in the 1870s. It was remote, inaccessible wilderness at the time. In fact, when the first explorer's reports came back East they were so incredible and fantastic that many people dismissed them as fiction, or Western tall tales. It wasn't until a subsequent expedition, including an artist and two photographers, sent back more tangible evidence that the place was taken seriously.
A photo of a reproduction of the painting that helped convince Congress that Yellowstone is indeed a special place. I believe the original is in the Smithsonian's collection.
Within a few years the railroads, sensing a business opportunity, entered into partnerships with the government to provide rail service, combined with stagecoaches for "last mile" passenger delivery plus actual Park access, to the area of the Park. Several railroads, among them the Northern Pacific, Chicago Burlington and Quincy, Union Pacific, and a couple others, established spurs terminating at various places surrounding the Park. The Union Pacific chose West Yellowstone, which effectively caused the town to spring into existence.
They built a large station, plus associated Dining Lodge, and numerous affiliated buildings (lumber sheds, employee housing, etc.) along and near Yellowstone Street.
The front of the station, including the monumental "Union Pacific" ranch gate style log portico.
Next to (west of) the station itself is "The Beanery", or dining hall, where passengers could get a meal before transferring to the stagecoaches (later, buses) that would take them into the Park. Guests were welcomed by singing waitresses.
Stage employees and passengers alike wore these light-colored linen dusters to reduce the dirt on their clothes. Passengers were strictly limited to 25 pounds of luggage so the dusters were used to help keep their clothes, well, less dirty if not "clean".
An unusual amenity for a railroad station: a changing room. Here incoming and outgoing passengers could access luggage and clothing that had been or would be left behind, to be collected again on exiting the park. If someone was departing from a point other than where they entered their luggage would be forwarded. Each access point had an assigned luggage tag color, making it easy to determine which bags needed to be routed where.
I came away with the distinct impression that visiting Yellowstone was definitely an "adventure" in the early days. In fact it wasn't until the post-WWII era, when large numbers of visitors began arriving by private automobile, that things really began to change.
The Park's roads, rough, rugged, and sparse at the beginning, had been, and are still being, gradually expanded and improved. Motorized buses of various types, including the classic White model I showed in yesterday's entry, have long since supplanted the stagecoaches, of course. Still, the effects of harsh winters, severe weather, a short summer season, and heavy use continue to make road maintenance a difficult challenge even today.
Finished with the museum proper I ambled a little farther down Yellowstone Street, to where my attention had been drawn earlier by some of the municipal equipment. Some is historic, some still in use.
More recently the town has acquired two of these "snow cutters". The auger blades are made of what looks like 3/8 or 1/2 inch steel. This one, surprisingly to me, came from Pakistan. Once I thought about it, though, it occurred to me that the Himalayan parts of that country must also have significant snow clearance tasks to perform.
This is one of the operators, who just happened by as I was taking photos. He explained that they use the plows and road graders to push the snow into the middle of the street then use the snow cutters to load it into dump trucks. It's hauled to a vacant area at the edge of town and dumped there. He also said they're very inefficient: for every hour of operation this one takes about three hours of maintenance.
Finally, returning to the hotel, I had a very pleasant conversation with Garrett. He and his wife Sarah own and operate the Historic Madison Hotel. They're friendly, accommodating, and just all-around good folks. I've enjoyed my time here, in no small measure to their gracious and easy hospitality.
Garrett. Accommodating, obliging, easy to chat with.
