Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
RAILROADS, AUTOMOBILES & MASS
TOURISM
The Northern Pacific Railroad arrived in Livingston, Montana, in 1883, the same year Con-
gress allocated funds to begin construction of the Grand Loop Rd in Yellowstone National
Park. Park tourism and the railways were intimate bedfellows and it was the railways that
ushered in the era of modern mass tourism in Greater Yellowstone.
MILLION-DOLLAR MICROBES
In 1966 microbiologist Dr Thomas Brock isolated a unique enzyme in a thermophilic micro-organism called
Ther-
mus aquaticus,
or 'Taq,' which he extracted from the 158°F+ Mushroom Pool in Yellowstone's Lower Geyser Bas-
in. Brock's discovery ultimately facilitated the replication of DNA for fingerprinting and genetic engineering,
sparking an ongoing debate about 'bioprospecting' and the commercialization of public domain resources.
The National Park Service (NPS) continues to issue around 50 free research permits per year to scientists study-
ing microbes. 'Extremeophiles' harvested for free have generated hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue for
patent holders, including over $100 million a year for the Taq enzyme alone. Only recently has the NPS begun to
benefit financially from benefit-sharing agreements.
Not all research efforts are strictly commercial. NASA has studied the biogeochemical signature of cyanobacteria
found around hot springs in an attempt to match this signature with a similar one on Mars, which would help to de-
cide where to land on the red planet when attempting to confirm the existence of ancient volcanoes and hot springs.
Other startling discoveries include the DNA sequencing analysis of an organism found in a hot spring in the Hay-
den Valley. This revealed what is considered to be the living entity most closely related to the primordial origin of
life.
Researchers estimate there are at least 18,000 active thermal features in Yellowstone National Park, and that as
many as 99% of species present in Yellowstone's extreme environments have yet to be identified. And with more
thermophiles estimated to live in one square inch of a hot spring than the number of people living on earth, there's
plenty of room for research.
Early park visitors rode the rails to West Yellowstone (via the Union Pacific Railroad),
Livingston and later Cinnabar (Northern Pacific), Cody (Burlington) or Gallatin Gateway
(Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul & Pacific) and then transferred to stagecoaches for a six-day
park tour that still mirrors today's overnight stops. The 'dudes' (tourists) would brave dust
clouds and holdups to stay in classy hotels attended by 'savages' (concession employees)
and beanery girls, entertained at night by string quartets, while generally behaving badly
