Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
during the day - throwing handkerchiefs into geysers, bathing in hot springs and (later)
feeding the bears.
The railroad's grand plans to monopolize
public access to the park even went as far as a
plan to extend rail tracks through the park it-
self, though Congress put its foot down at this.
Ultimately, it was the arrival of the automobile
that would scuttle the railroad's bid for domin-
ation of concession and transportation in-
terests. Whereas over 80% of Yellowstone's
52,000 visitors in 1915 arrived via railroad, by 1940 nearly all of Yellowstone's half milli-
on visitors entered the park in private automobiles.
In 1905 completion of the skeleton of what is known today as the Grand Loop Rd by
the US Army Corps of Engineers established the blueprint of the standardized Yellow-
stone tourist experience. Lobbying by motoring clubs persuaded the NPS to admit auto-
mobiles in 1915. Constant clashes between cars and stagecoaches over right-of-way on
the narrow one-way roads led to the banishment of horse-drawn wagons in 1916.
Establishment of the nation's first forestry reserve, the Yellowstone Timber Reserve
(part of today's Shoshone and Bridger-Teton National Forest) in 1891, Jackson's National
Elk Refuge in 1912 and Grand Teton National Park in 1929 opened up Greater Yellow-
stone's south flank to public visitation. East Coast philanthropist John D Rockefeller's
200,000-acre land grant in 1949 added the final pieces of Grand Teton National Park and
marked the tipping point in Greater Yellowstone's transition from a resource-based region
to a tourist-driven economy.
To get a sense of how important the railways were
to the development of the park, visit West Yellow-
stone's Yellowstone Historic Center, the Depot
Center in Livingston or Gallatin Gateway Inn - all
three are former railway depots.
Modern intensive development of a small
area (about 1%) of Yellowstone National Park
for tourism, however, has not been without
controversy. The park is now home to more
than 2000 buildings, thousands of employees
and tens of thousands of nightly tourists. His-
torian Richard White has argued that rather
than being a vestige of wild America, Yellow-
stone is 'a petting zoo with a highway running
Yellowstone Park's Heritage & Research Center in
Gardiner is home to the park's archives and boasts
90,000 photographic prints and negatives, 20,000
books and 35,000 archeological artifacts. Behind-
the-scenes tours of the archives take place every
Tuesday morning.
through it.'
Herein lies possibly the biggest challenge facing Greater Yellowstone today - is it pos-
sible for swarms of wilderness- and wildlife-seekers to enjoy solitude and appreciate
nature en masse?
