Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
line. Land was added to the park here in 1932, when a New York City game preservation com-
pany bought and presented it to the U.S. government. The goal was to provide winter range for
pronghorn. Trees and shrubs were planted on this land by the Civilian Conservation Corps as
a nursery area to beautify the park.
In this area also you may notice exclosures west of the river constructed by the long-term
Gardiner Basin Restoration Project. The aim is to return this area to pre-settlement grassland
conditions, to benefit the pronghorn in particular.
G
ARDINER,
M
ONTANA
G
ARDINER
A
IRPORT
Population: 875 2 mi. (3.5 km) NW
Gardiner had the reputation of a wide-open, freewheeling town when the park was new. There
were 21 saloons in the 1880s. All sorts of undesirables tended to gravitate here and to nearby
Mammoth Hot Springs.
Later, until train service ended in 1948, Gardiner was an outfitting station for horseback
excursions into the park. The town still caters to hunters in the fall season and to park visitors
year round. It's home to many people who work at park headquarters in Mammoth. Here also
are warehouses and other adjuncts of the hotel and restaurant concessionaire Xanterra, and
the headquarters of the Yellowstone Association.
A travertine quarry is located above town on a very old terrace not unlike those found
at Mammoth Hot Springs. An old gold mine at Jardine, about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of
Gardiner, reopened for a few years in the 1980s and '90s, but did not prove profitable.
The Yellowstone River Trail
begins outside the park but soon enters park land and fol-
lows the Black Canyon for many miles. To reach the trailhead, take the Jardine Road where
U.S. 89 turns south in Gardiner, before crossing the Yellowstone River. Turn in at the private
Rocky Mountain Campground and ask for parking information at the store.
